LIBRARY aHveolaijical ^cmiuary, 5037 .T67 1844 ?oplady, Augustus Montague 1740-1778. The works of Augustus T nn 1 d v -- . . : T The John IW. lin Us Donation. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 20.14 https://archive.org/details/worksofaugustustOOtopl_0 THE WORKS AUGUSTUS TOPLADY. B.A L/VTE VICAR OF BROAD HEMBURY, DEVON. COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME. PRINTED VERBATIM FROM THE FIRST EDITION OF HIS WORKS, 1794. LONDON : J. J. CHIDLEY, 123, ALDERSGATE STREET. MDCCCXLIV. 1. BILLING, PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION OF THE WORK- Soon after the decease of Mr. Toplady, many persons, who loved his principles and revered his memory, expressed an earnest desire to have a complete edition of his works. Nothing of the kind was, however, attempted, until the year 1792, when the undertaking- was finally determined upon. Materials were accordingly collected, and application Avas made to some gentlemen of literary character, whose principles coincided with the Author's, to undertake the arrangement for publication. Their assistance was promised, but the conditions were afterwards found to be such as could not be assented to, without proving injurious to the work, and probably giving it the appearance of an imposition on the public. Apprehensive that the world would thus be deprived of a considerable part of the writings of a justly admired author, the proprietors determined to proceed in the under- taking, and the superintendence devolved on one whose abilities (in his own estimation) were disproportioned to the task. He is satisfied with having secured from oblivion so large a portion of valuable com- positions, and throws himself upon the candour of the public, without any studied or affected apologies. The peculiar object in the writings of Mr. Toplady was to bring vital Christianity to view, and to display its principles, defended with arguments drawn from the same source. His admirable pages are a masterly and consistent defence of the Divine Attributes, in unison with the writings of the Old and New Testament. For it will be self- evident, to those who will only consider, that the perennial opposition made to the doctrines of discriminating grace, in the absolute love of the everlasting Father, proceeding forth from Him in His beloved Son, and communicated to a peculiar people by the Holy Spirit, are the identical objections reiterated against the purposes of the Almighty, respecting the restriction of the volume of Revelation. It must be perceivable that the very reception of the Scriptures, among any people, cannot be supported but on the principles of our Author. For the question has been asked, and often repeated, If the Divine records are acknowledged to be " A light to them who sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death," and a directory "To guide their feet in the paths of peace," how is it to be accounted for, that millions of the inhabitants of the globe are without its saving and salutary influence ? Taking a survey of human nature, what reason can be given that so many of our fellow creatures are worshipping the idols of their imagination with obscene and barbarous rites, and PREFACE. others sunk in the very dregs of brutal voluptuousness? Why are the Vodam, the Zend-Avesta, the Sadder, and the Alcoran, received and acknowledged with all their fanciful conjectures and chronological chimeras, and the deposit of sacred writ not so much as heard of in the midst of the rubbish of those absurdities ? and where the vivifying Ijcams of revelation are displayed, as they are in this country, and at this period of time, how is it that the intellectual darkness of the mind is not dissipated so as to perceive its radiance ? Who upon earth can give a satisfactory reason for these facts, or develope to the human mind the various dispensations of God, in denying or w ithholding the light of revelation, without resolving it into the divine will, and ul- timately taking up the words of Him who spake as never man did, "Even so. Father, for so it seemeth good in thy sight." These weighty investigations, which the importance of the subject brings under consideration, were some of the principal topics which employed the abilities of our Author. From those who are not iniiuenced by a saving knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus no- thing is to be expected, in the perusal of these writings, but the most inveterate opposition, hasty censure, and unbridled license of decla- mation ; while tliose who are taught from above cannot be brought to abandon a belief so full of enlivening consolations, and attested to their consciences by irrefragable documents; they will be induced to contemplate the inconceivable gi-eatness, the inaccessible height, the unfathomable researches, and immeasurable extent of these heavenly excellencies, and exclaim, with the apostle Paul, " O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out !" While meditating on this preliminary state of things, the thoughts will expand with an earnest desire to that eventful period when a far nobler scene shall be opened, when this faint twilight shall be preceded with the blaze of an eternal day ; and when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. NOTE. The Proprietors desire to acknowledge publicly, in terms of the warmest and most sincere gratitude, their obligations to the promoters of the work, and particularly to Mr. Hussey, for the many marks he has shown of liis disinterested attention, as well as for his cheerful communication of tlie remain- ing manuscripts of his dear deceased friend. C O N T E N T S. TAOB I AN Account of the Life and Writings of the Author . 1 l.Hst Will . . . . . . 41 Elegiac Poem on the death of the Author . .42 INTnODUCTION. Occasion of the present undertaking. Frce-willers punished with imprisonment by king Edward VI. and our first reformers. Harmony between Popery and Arminianism. Remarkable particulars con- cerning John Goodwin the Filth-monarchy man. Case of departed iufanu considered . . 4G SECTION I. Frec-willers the first dissenters of the reformed church of England. Calvinism of King Edward, and of the Lord Protector Somerset. That king a prodigy of parts, piety, and learning. Vindica- tion of his character from the nibbling of Papists and Arminians . . . .59 Modem Geneva arminianized, through the abolition of ministerial subscriptions. Some particulars respecting Dr. Christopher Potter. Arminianism proved on the church of Home. Pope Leo X. anathematizes Luther for denying the doctrines of free will and perfection. Luther's undaunted 'I'he council of Trtut called, with a view to stem t:ie progress of the Calvinistic doctrines. The ■ '.ccisions of that council, and therein of the Ko- mish church at large, in favour of free-will, con- ditional predestination, merit, and justification by works . . . . .69 SECTION IV. The Arminianism of the church of Rome farther evinced in her treatment of Jansenius and Ques- neL Concise history of Jansenius and Quesnel. Couc'se history of Jansenius, and of the cele- brated five propositions. Extracts from the hun- dred and one propositions of Quesnel. Bull Unigenitus 71 SECTION v. The supposed Calvinism of Tho... '.quin.is con- sidered. Summary of St. .\u=lii. > tloctrine con- cerning grace . . . . . . 75 Some account of the Ranters, and the.r principles. Doctrinal agreement between that sect and many of the modern Arminians . rminianism not the doctrine of the four first cen- turies. The judgment of Barnabas, of Clement, of Ignatius, and of Polycarp, concerning tliose articles of faith which stand between CalvinisLs Judgment of sor antecedently those -points. The .Mbigenses and Waldenses. .Sketch of Gotteschakus' doctrines and sufferings. Uemigius of Lyons. Florus Magister . SECTION X. Judgment of several eminent persons in England, previous to the Reformation. Bede, Bishop Groithead, Dr. John WicklifT, Archbishop Brad- wardin, Lord Cobham . . . .99 SECTION XI. The charge of Mahometanism refuted and retorted 1 14 SECTION XII. Judgment of eminent English Martyrs, prior to the settlement of the Reformation. Sawtree, Clay- don, Bilney, Bainham, Tyndal, Lambert, As- cough, Barnes, Hamelton, Fiith, Wishart . . 116 SECTION XIII. The judgment of our English reformers. Arch- bishop Oranmer, Bishop Ridley, Bishop Latimer 124 SECTION XIV. Judgment of the English Reformers continued. Bishop Hooper, Bishop Peter Martyr, Doctor Bucer 1« SECTION XV. Of Calvin's share in the Rcforinn.tion of the church of England. Honours paid to hi-i name by our old bishops and divines. His cordial approbation of episcopacy '59 Thejudgment of the most eminent English Martyrs "and Confessors who suffered death, or persecu- tion, after the overthrow of the Reformation, by Queen Mary I SECTION XVII. Thejudgment of the Martyrs concluded . . 178 SECTION xvin. The re-estr.blishment of the Church of England by Queen Elizabeth 191 SECTION XIX. state of the C.-ilvinistic Doctrines in England, from the death of Elizabeth, to that of King James L 2-27 The introduction of Arminianism by Archbishop Laud. Short review of the Calvinism of our Bi- shops and Universities, antecedently to that ajra. Objections answered ; and the whole concluded . 251 A word concerning the Bathing-tub Baptism . 279 Chronology of England, from Egbert to Henry the Eighth 28l> Free Thoughts on the projected application to Par- liament in the year 1771, for the abolition of Ec- clesiastical Subscription - . . . .3(lU A caveat against Unsound Doctrine .... .W7 Postcript '24 Jesus seen of Angels 323 SERMON IV. (;od*s mindfulness of man 333 6EBMO.V V. .'Icrical Subscription no Grievance: or the Doc- ti incs of the Church of England proved to be the Doctrines of Christ 340 CONTE NTS. Good news from from Heave joyful sound Joy in Heaven over one Repenting Sinner The Existence and the Creed of Devils considered ; with a Word concerning Apparitions . Moral and Political Moderation Recommended Reflections on the Conversion of Matthew . Life a journey ...... A short Essay on Original Sin . . . An Essay on the various Fears to which God's peo- ple are liable Christmas meditations A meditation for New Year's Day A Description of Antinomianism .... Thoughts on Rev. vii. 14. 15 Considerations on Heb. vi. 4, 5, (J Remarks on Eccles. vii. 1(J ..... Observations on 1 Cor. xv. 28 . Explication of Rom. viii. 4 .... An explication of that remarkable passage Rom. An illustration concerning 1 Cor. XV. 23 Explanation of that Declaration of the Apostle, 1 Cor. XV. 5. . A Sacramental Meditation on Cant. viii. 14 . Meditations on the Collect for the first Sunday in Advent ...... Concise history of the Apostle's Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed, and the Te Deum Query, concerning a passage in the marriage cere- mony staled and resolved A cursory review of valour, patriotism, and friend- sliip, occasioned by a late celebrated author ex excluding them from the list of virtues . On sacred poetry .... Reflections for the beginning of the year 177G Thoughts on the assurance of faith Spetch delivered at the Queen's Arms, Newgate- street, on the following question, " Whether tin world is to be destroyed ? and what are the ap- proaching symptoms of its dissolution ?" . Speech delivered at the Queen's Arms, Newgat street, on the following question, "Whether un- necessary cruelty to the brute creation is nol Speech delivered at the Queen's Arms, Newgate street, on the following question, Whether oui good works will add to our degree of futur* glory?" .... Questions and answers relative to the National Debt The manner of stoning a criminal to death, among The manner of whipping among the ancient Jews Reiriarkable description of St. Paul's person Some account of Mr. John Knox, translated from the Latin of Meichior Adams . Life of Mr. Fox, the Martyrologist Life of Dr. Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury Some account of Dr. Carleton, Bishop of Chicheste Memoirs of Lord Harington, Baron of Exton Some account of the life of Herman Witsius, D.D translated from the Latin Oration which Mar Tiius delivered before the University of Leydcn .Some account of the Rev. Mr. Alsop . . 479 Some accountof the Rev. Dr. Thomas Wilson, late Bishop of Sodor and Man . . .481 Some outlines of the life of Dr. Isaac Watts . 484 Someaccountof Mrs. Elizabeth Rowe . . 488 An attempt towards a concise character of the late Rev. Mr. Whitefield . . . .494 Anecdotes, Incidents, and Historic Passages . 495 Sketch of Natural History, with a few particulars respecting Birds, Meteors, Sagacity of Brutes, and the solar system . . . .518 Observations and reflections . . . 53ft Excellent passages from eminent persons . . 5jG Christianity reversed . , . .6"? A sketch of modern Female Education . . ViS Important remarks . . . .609 The Church of England vindicated from the charge of Arminianism . . . .810 Doctrine of absolute predestination stated and as- serted . . . . .663 Preface. General observations concerning Predesti- nation, Providence and fate . . . ibid Life of Zanchy . . . . . 6«i9 Introductory view of the Divine .\ttributes . G75 Explanation of terms CHAP Of predestination at large Of reprobation .697 CBAPTER V. On the preaching of these doctrines . . .701 Short dissertation concerning fate . . . 716 Letter to the Rev. Mr. Wesley, relative to hisabridg- ment of Zanchius on predestination . . .719 More work for .Mr. Wesley, or, a vindication of the decrees and providences of God . . . 729 .^n old fox tarred and feathered, occasioned by Mr. Wesley's calm address to the American colonies . 762 Particulars of Pope Joan 766 A contemplation on snow 767 Reflections on a thunder storm . . . . 7li« Thoughts on Perseverance 769 A course of family prayer . . . . .77' A cursory thought on the use of forms of prayer . 782 Sketch of a sermon on John vii. 38, .19 . . ibid The scheme of Chiistian and philosophical neces- sity asserted, preface to 784 Necessity defined. Short account of fate, and the order observed in the chain of things. Necessity perfectly compatible with voluntary freedom . 786 CHAPTER ti. Man a compound being. Sensation the only source of his ideas. The soul's extensive dependence on the body, during their present state of connec- tion. An argument drawn from thence, for the necessity of human volitions. Queries proposed » of self-determination . . 788 Probable equality of human souls. Brutes i selves not merely material Necessity c with the morality of actions; and with reward and punishment, praise and blame; and with the retributions of the judgment day. No cert^iinty, nor possibility of a final judgment, on the At- minian principles of chance and self-determina- tion. Anti-necessitarians unable to cope with in- fidels. Coincidence of christian prede: with ph.l.tsophlcal necessity C 0 N T E N T S. CHAPTER IV. Specimens of Scripture attestations to the doctrii of necessity. Probable that men are, by natu uncivilized animals. Total dependency of events, and of all created beings, on God Proofs that Christ himself was an absolute necessi- tarian. This argued from several passages in his sermon on the mount ; from his miracles; from his foreknowledge : from his prophecies ; from his occasional declarations; and from the whole his- tory of his life and death recorded in the gospels Ifcessity in the moral world analagous to attrac- tion in the natural. Prodigious length to which Descartes is said to have carried his idea of free- will, il/ors and /a?Hm, why reciprocated by the ancient Romans. God the sok .leterminer of hu- man life and death. Shock'ilg attempt of some modern free-willers to divest the Divine Being, not only of his decrees and providence, but of The supposed gloominess of necessity refuted. Ori- gin of doctrinal necessity. Concise history and summary of Manicha-ism. Methodists more gross Manichaans than Manes himself. Remark- able conversation pieces of three modern philo- sophizers. The Westminster and other assem- blies of divines vindicated. Arminianism itself, when hard pushed, compelled to take refuge in necessity. Conclusion of this Essay . Consisting of a dissertation on the sensible qualitii of matter Advertisement to the collection of letters Letter I. Mr. Toplady to Mr. E. II Mr. Morris m. Mr. Philips IV. Mr. Rutter V. Mr. Bottomley . VI. Mr. N. . VII. B. S., Esq. VIII. Ambrose Serle, Esq. IX. Mrs. G. . X. Mr. Samuel Naylor XI. Mr. B. E. XII. Richard Hill, Esq. XIII. Mrs. Bacon XIV. Ambrose Serle, Esq. XV. Rev.Dr. B.,Salisbur' XVI. Mrs. S. H. XVII. Ambrose Serle, Esq. XVIII. Richard Hill, Esq. XIX. Mr. Ryland, Jun. XX. Rev. Mr. P. . XXI. Mrs. Maraulay . XXII. Mrs. Macaulay . XXIII. Rev. Dr. Gifford XXIV. Rev. Mr. B. P. . XXV. Rev. Mr. Rom.iine XXVI. Ambrose Serle, Esq. XXVII Mr. Pollard XXVIII Mr. Burgess . XXIX. Ambrose Serle, Esq. XXX. Mrs. Macaulay . XXXI. Ambrose Serle, Esq. XXXII. Ambrose Serle, Esq . XXXIII. Mrs. Macaulay . XXXIV. Ambrose Serle, Esq XXXV. Rev. Mr. Romaine XXXVI. Mr. X. XXVII. XX.WIII. XXXIX. XI, . XLI. XLII. XLI II. XLIV. XLV. XLVI. XLVII. XLVIII. XLIX, L. LI. LVI. LVII. LVIIL LIX. LX. LXI. Lxn. LXIII. LXIV. LXV. LXVI. LXVIl. LXVIII. LXIX. LXX. LXXL LXXII. LXXllI. LXXIV. LXXV. LXXVl. LXXVII. LXXVIII. uly to Mrs. Macaulay . . 8.W • • Rev. M r. De Coellogon ibia • ■ Mr. G. F. . . . 85B • • Mr. H. . . . ibid ■ ■ Mrs. Macaulay . . 85? • ■ Rev. Mr. Madan . 858 ■ ■ Rev. Mr. Romaine . ibid ■ ■ Ambrose Serle, Esq. . 859 Rev 866 Rev. Mr. Ryland . 866 Ambrose Serle, Esq. . ibid Mrs. Macaulay . , 667 Mr. L. C. . . ibid Mr. Francis Toplady . 869 Rev. Mr. . . 870 Rev. Dr. Gilford . ibid Messrs. Val]ance& Co. fl72 Lady Huntingdon . I173 Mr. L. . . . Uiid Mr. F. Mr. Vallance . Mr. T. W. Rev. Dr. Priestley Mrs. Fowler Mr. Hussey Mr. Hussey An answer to a question, whether popular applause can yield solid satisfaction to a truly great mind An answer to a question, whether a highwayman or a cheating tradesman is the honester person Juvenile poems on sacred subjects Preface Petitionary hymns Euchaiistic hymns Paraphrases on select parts of holy writ Occasional pieces on the death of friend An appendix, consisting of several pieces not pro- perly reducible to any of the preceding heads Poetical compositions written in mature years I. To the Hoh Spirit . II- A contemplation suggested by Rev. 7. III. Happiness found . IV. Affliction V. The method of salvati VL The evil heart VII. Thy kingdom come . VIII. The propitiation . IX. Assurance of faith . X. To the Blessed Spirit XI. Divine breathings . Psalm c 849 XIII. Hebrews x. 19. We have boldness to ibid enter into the holiest by the blood 850 ibid ibid XIV. A propitious -^ale longed for 911 851 XV. All in all ibid 852 XVI. Weak believers encouraged ibid ibid XVII. Christ the light of his people . ibid XVIII. Leaning on the Beloved . 912 854 XIX. Before hearing .... ibid ibid XX. C O N T E N T S XXI. A chamber hymn .... XXII. A prayer, living and dymg XXIIJ. To the Trinity . . . . XXIV. 2 Tim i. 9. Who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling; not ac- cording to our works, but accord- ing to his own purpose and grace, which was given us before the world began .... He hath borne our gr ef &c '']bid XXVI. Faith iu the promises 913 XXVII. . ibid XXVIIl. Almighty power . ib!d XXIX. Mercy experienced . . 914 XXX. . ibid XXXI. Written in illness. Psalm civ. 34. My meditation of him shall besweet . ibid ibid XXXII. The dying believer to his soul . . ibid MEMOIRS OF THE Rev. AUGUSTUS MONTAGUE TOPLADY, A. B \Jn perusing the pages of biography, we find therein delineated the achievements of vari- ous persons exhibited to the world, according to the caprice and mutability of human opi- nion. But when we turn our views to the infallible leaves of inspiration, we discover a just discrimination of characters, with that mark of distinction stamped upon them from heaven, that stands in everlasting force, and admits of no exception. According to Scrip- ture testimony, the righteous and the wicked are the only two classes that mankind are divided into ; whatever becomes of the ungod- ly, the sacred records inform us, that it shall be well respecting the present and eternal prosperity of believers. For, " the foundation of the Lord," or his immoveable purpose re- specting his people, " standeth sure, having this seal," this authentic and inviola!)le sanc- tion, "The Lord knovveth," the Lord loves, and will ever continue to take care of, " them that are his." We have many striking illustrations of the wonderful preservations experienced by the worthies of the Old and New Testaments, their whole history presents us with little else but a continued chain of miraculous provi- dences. Wh?n God has had any particular employment for tliem to be engaged in, how suitably has he prepared and equipped his work- men for the work he has appointed them for! If, for example, we look at Elijah, we shall per- ceive a plain, blunt, honest prophet: a stran- ger to refinement, and to the blandishments of the world, but formed to speak of God's testimonies before princes, without being ashamed. It was Elijah against all Israel, and all Israel against Elijah. " But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong, by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob." How eminently is this ex- emplified ill the history of Isaiah, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, and the apostle Paul, who were copiously furnished for that sphere of action unto which they were appointed ! If we descend from Jewish to modern times, many peculiar instances will occur to eluci- date this remark. Luther had inflexible ene- mies to withstand, and he strove with them roughly. His nerves were like steel, his bow like iron ; his voice like thunder, and the force of his pen has been compared to the weight of Hercules' club. He was destined to en- gage with dangers and fierce persecutions ; and God armed him for the war accordingly. Calvin was a complete gentleman, and a polite scholar, his feelings were fine, and his nerves delicate. He was not appointed of God for such hard public work as Luther: and, com- paratively speaking, he met with little violent persecution during the course of his life. In our own coimtry, Mr. Whitefield was designed of God to be the grand and honour- ed instrument of restoring the truths and the power of the gospel in England. He was therefore fitted for his employ. He feared the face neither of men nor devils. Like an eagle, he flew from country to country, sounding intrepidly the gospel trumpet as he flew. Mr. Hervey was not prepared, neither was he called to, the same dangerous and difficult department. The holy rector of Weston was formed more for study than for public action ; it was his delight to cultivate the elegant parts of learning in retirement and obscurity ; and to speak for Christ rather by his pen, than as an apostolic itinerant. Mr. Toplady was peculiarly set apart to ex- hibit and defend the prominent ftatures of revelation. He has pushed his adversaries with more inflexibility, intrepidity and vigour, than was ever done by any preceding cham- pions. His animated warmth was justly pro- portioned to the cause he had espoused. The objections that have been reiterated against the doctrines of grace appeared to have been collected into one focus, and held up to his view with an air of triumph, and with the confidence of certain victory, but under the divine auspices, and in the spirit of sincerity MEMOIRS OF THE and truth, he was enabled to repel those attacks, that were made against the bulwark of Christianity, in such a manner as almost to supersede any eulo6[ium that can be passed upon his uncommon abilities. The last illustrious ciiaracter, who is the subject of these memoirs, was son of Richard Toplady, a major, who died at the siege of Carthagena, soon after his birth. His mother's maiden name was Catharine Bate. She was sister to the late Rev. Mr. Julia Bate, and the Rev. Mr. Bate, rector of St. Paul's, Deptford; by whom they were married at the above church, December 21, 1737- They had issue one son named Francis, who died in his infan- cy, and afterwards our author. He drew his first breath at Farnham, in Surrey, November the 4th, 1740. His gudfathers were Augustus Middleton, and Adolphus Montague, Esquires ; in honour to whom he bore the Christian name of the one, and the surname of the other. He received the fir.st rudiments of his education at Westminster-school, where he early evinced and increased a peculiar genius. From his studies al that place, he accompanied his honoured parent in a journey to Ireland, to pursue claims to an estate which she had in that kingdom. Notwithstanding the solitary state in which his mother was left, she anxi- ously watched over him, with the deepest sympathy of affection, and persevered in a plan for his education and future views in life, which were the principal concerns of her maternal solicitude. The son returned her tender care with the utmost afl'ection. Indeed, so great was the obligation which he always conceived he owed her, that he never menti- oned her but in words expressive of sensibi- lity and gi atitude. As this son of the prophets was improving those natural talents he was so eminently en- dowed with, it pleased God in his providence, when he was about the age of sixteen, to direct his steps into a barn, at a place called Codymain, in Ireland, where a layman was preaching. The word of God, then deliver- ing, was fixed upon his conscience, " in de- monstration of the Spirit and with power." Let it not rashly be deemed the enthusiasm of a visionist, or the igtius fatuns of religious distraction, when we assert, " That his faith did not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." There was nothing pecu- liar in the place, nor instrument, to work upon the fancy or passions: therefore, to attempt to explain the effect, by any logical or meta- physical investigation, would be ridiculous, while we have the Scriptures in congeniality with facts, to inform us that " it pieaseth God, by the fooiishr.ess of preaching, to save them that believe." A few years after the above memorable cir- cumstance, Mr. Topiady reflects upon it in the foilowing words: "February 2i), l'^^, at night, after my return from Exeter, mydesiies were strongly drawn out, and drawn up to God. I could, indeed, say, that I groaned with the groans of love, joy, and peace ; but so it was, even with comfortable groans that cannot be uttered. That sweet text, Ephe- sians ii. 13, " Ye, who sometimes were far off, are made nig,h by the blood of Christ," was particularly delightful and refreshing to my soul ; and the more so, as it reminded me o, the days and months that are past, even the day of my sensible espousals to the Biide- groom of the elect. It was from that passage that Mr. Morris preached on the memorable evening of my effectual call ; by the grace of God, under the ministry of that dear messen. ger, and under that sermon, I was, I trust brought nigh by the blood of Christ, in August, 1756. " Strange that I, who had so long sat undei the means of grace in England, should be brought nigh to God in an obscure part of Ireland, amidst a handful of God's people met together in a barn, and under the minis- try of one who could hardly speil his name ! Surely it was the Lord's doing, and is mar- vellous! The excellency of such power must be of God, and cannot be of man • the rege- nerating Spirit breathes not only op. whom, but likewise when, where, and as he liMeth." On the perusal of this event, no douht hut the sceptic will rage, the deist sneet, anrt the person who assumes the character of a rati- onal Christian will coiitumaciou.'iiy ask. How can these things be ? Rather let such in a spirit of humility fall piostrate before God, and intreat him to make them recipients of the grace of conversion, which bringeth sal- vation. For, without this experience, real vital Christianity will appear futile and fallacious, and the Divine Records seem as volatile as the sybil leaves. Our author early made it appear, that he was not afraid of literary labour ; the valuable years of his youth were devoted to useful and honourable studies, rather than to frivolous oc- cupations, such as too often engross the minds of young men at his age. He laid a solid basis for future years, and the superstructure was beautiful. Between the age of fifteen and eigh- teen, by way of relaxation from his studies, he employed himself in writing little poetic pieces, which were printed in a l2mo. volume, at Dublin, in the year 1759. They are by no means deficient in spirit and force ; some of the verses are truly poetical, and many of the thoughts new. Amidst the small inaccuracies of these juvenile compositions, there are indu- bitable marks of genius. The youth and in- experience of the writer must be looked upon as an extenuation, so as to preclude every idea of criticism. The ardour of piety and religion, which irradiated the morning of his life, was increased "with lustre in his aiaturer years REV. AUGUSTUS TOPLADY. 3 Richly replete with a variety of gifts, and divinely instructed into those doctrines re- quisite for a Christian and a minister, he received imposition of hands on Trinity Sun- day, the 6th of June, 17()2. He entered upon the ministerial function, not only as a scholar, and as one professing religion, but as an honest man. He mentions, that he subscribed to the articles, homilies, and liturgy, five separate times, from principle ; he did not believe them because he subscribed them, but sub- scribed them because he believed them. He was well persuaded, that after such an awful declaration made by every candidate for holy orders, the man that can draw back, or pal- liate, for any sinister purpose, the doctrines he has subscribed, so as to insinuate himself into the favour of men, to avoid persecution, or for any aggrandisement, must be devoid of every upright principle, and openly prove him- self an apostate from the Church, a traitor to the cause he once avowed, and a liar to the Holy Ghost. Shortly after his initiation into the ministry, he was inducted into the living of Blagdon, in Somersetshire, which was procured by friends, in a manner very usual ; but so scrupulous was he, when acquainted vvitli the circumstance, that he was not easy until he had resigned it. In the year 17''8, he took possession of the vicarship of Broad-Hembury, near Honiton, in Devonshire, which he held until his death. By the love and lenity he had to his people, the whole produce of the living did not amount to 80/. per aniDim. — He was by no means sedu- lous after temporal profits, or desirous of pur- suing ecclesiastical preferments. It was his pre-eminence to merit the highest, and to be content with the lowest. In this situation he composed the greatest part of tliose writings, rt'hich will be esteemed and valued, while the genuine principles of Christianity continue to be revered. To bring the reader more intimately ac- quainted with this excellent character, we shall insert a Diaiy found in his manuscript papers, entitled " Short Memorials of God's gracious Dealings with my Soul, in a Way of spiritual Experience, from Dec. (i, 1 767," with this motto, " Bethel visits ought to be remembered." They contain an intense union of the most exalted sentiments in the engage- ment he was dedicated unto, and display the feelings of a soul in devout and ardent desires towards the Father of Spirits, unconnected with a heated imagination, or a stupid stoicism of devotion. Suuday, Dec. 6, 1767. In the morning, read prayers and preached, here at Fen-Ottery, to a very attentive congret^ation. In the afternoon, the congregation at Harpford was exceedingly numerous ; and God enabled me to p-each with great enlargement of mind and fervour. The doctrine did indeed seem to descend as the dew, and to be welcome as refreshing showers to the grass. O, my Lord let not my ministry be approved only, or tend to no more than conciliating the esteem and affections of my people to thy unworthy mes- senger ; but do the work of thy grace upon their hearts : call in thy chosen ; seal and edify thy regenerate ; and command thy ever- lasting blessing on their souls ! Save me from self-opinion, and from self-seeking ; and may ihey cease from man, and look solely to thee ! Monday, 7- Received a letter from Mr. Luce, and answered it. Gracious God, dispose of the event, to which it relates, as seemeth best to thee ! Choose thou my heritage and iny lot ! Let it be thy doing, not mine ! This afternoon, I received a letter from my honoured mother, and my chest from London. It is a satisfaction to receive these presents and pledges of an earthly parent's love : but all the relations, and all the good things of this life, are less than nothing, and vanity, when compared with the love of Christ that passeth knowledge, and with one glimpse of thy special favour, O thou gracious Father of spirits. Tuesday, 8. Was much refreshed, and sensibly comforted, in the evening, while read- ing Dr. Gill's sermon on the Death of Mr. Fall. JVednesday, 9. A good deal of company dined here. How unprofitable are worldly interviews ! Spent the evening much more advantageously in reading Dr. Gill's sermon on " The Watchman's Answer," and that great man's tract on final perseverance. Lord, grant me more and clearer evidences of my interest in that everlasting covenant, which is ordered in all things, and sure ! Thursday, 10. Heard that Mr. Duke has had a relapse into his fever. Pity, that so amiable a person in other respects should want the one thing needful ! How much has he suffered, since I knew him, by drinking too freely ; and how many narrow escapes has he had of his life ! Yet, I fear, he goes on still as an ox to the slaughter. " It hath set him on fire round about, yet he knows it not : it burneth him, yet he lays it not to heart." I bless God, who has enabled me to be faithful to the soul of my friend ; and put it into my mind to write him that letter of remonstrance, from London, above a twelvemonth ago. But, alas ! I have only delivered my own soul. Neither experience of present evils, nor the re- monstances of friends, will or can have any true effect on a sinner's heart, except thou, O Almighty Spirit, vouchsafe to reveal the arm of thy grace, and quicken the dead in sin, by the effectual working of thy glorious power! As overseer of this parish, I went down, in the morning, to view two of the poor-houses, and see what repair they want. Lord, what am I, that thou hast cast my lot in fairer ground, and given me a more goodly heritage! MEMOIRS OF THE Sureijr, in a way of providence no less than in a way of grace, thou hast made me to differ ; and I have nothing which I did not receive from thee. In the evening wrote to mymother. Some particulars, in her last letters to me, obliged me, in my answer, to make the following observations, among others : " God has ful- filled his promises to me, so often, and in so many ways, that I think, if we could not trust his faithfulness and power, we should be doubly inexcusable. That he works by means, is certain ; and I hope to try all that he puts into my hands. In the mean while, let us cast our care on him ; and remember that he that believeth shall not make haste. There is one tiling that pleases me much, about Broad-Hembury, and makes me hope for a blessing on the event, viz. that it was not, from first to last, of my own seeking : and every door, without any application of mine, has hitherto flown open, and all seems to point that way. As a good man some- where says, ' A believer never yet carved for himself, but he cut his own fingers.' — The all-wise God, whose never-failing providence ordereth every event, usually makes what we set our hearts upon unsatisfactory ; and sweetens what we feared : bringing real evil out of seeming good ; and real good out of seeming evil ; to shew us what short-sighted creatures we are, and to teach us to live by faith upon his blessed self. If I should really exchange my present living for Broad-Hembury, it will, I believe, be soon after Christmas. In the mean while add your prayers, that God him- self would be pleased to choose my heritage and fix my lot ; command his gracious blessing on the event ; turn the balance, as seemeth good in h:s sight ; and make it entirely his own doing, not mine. Do not let your tenderness for me get the better of your con- fidence in God ; a fault, I fear, too common, even with believing parents. Poor Mr. D. is relapsed, and his life is despaired of. Alas ! what is wealth, with its usual attendants, the lust of the eye and the pride of life, when death stares us in the face ! An interest in the covenant of grace is of more value than all the worlds God hath made. Riches profit not in the day of wrath : but righteousness, even the obedience, blood, and intercession of Christ, delivereth from the sting of temporal, and from the very possibility of suft'ering eternal death. In hira may we be found, living and dying ! " In my chamber, before I went to bed, was much comforted while singing praise to the great Three-One, the author of all the bless- ings I enjoy, and of all I hope for. I can testify, by sweet and repeated experience, that singing is an ordinance of God, and a means of grace Lord, fit my soul to bear part in that song for ever new, which the elect angels, and saints made perfect in glory, are now singing before the throne and before the Lamb ! Friday, I I. Rode to Broad-Hembury, on a visit to Mr. Luce, where I spent the day, and stopped all night. Before I went to bed, God was with me in private prayer. Saturday, 12. After breakfast, left Broad- Hembury, and returned home to Fen-Ottery, taking Ottery St. Mary in my way, where I called on my friend Mr. Johnson. In the evening read bishop Newton on the Pro- phecies. At night, was earnest with God, in private prayer, for a blessing on my to- morrow's ministrations ; and received an answer of peace. Lord, evermore increase my mental dependance on thy Holy Spirit. I am less than nothing, if less can be: and O! I am worse than nothing, for I am a vile sinner. But thou art infinitely gracious, and all power is thine. Sundaij, 1 3. The Lord was with me both parts of the day. Water, O God, the souls that heard ; and the seed of thy word, sown in weakness, do thou raise in power. Between morning and afternoon service, read through Dr. Gill's excellent and nervous tract on predestination, against Wesley. How sweet is that blessed and glorious doctrine to the soul, when it is received through the channel of inward experience ! I remember a few years ago, Mr. Wesley said to me, con cerning Dr. Gill, that " he is a positive man and fights for his opinions through thick and thin." Let the doctor fight as he will, I am sure he fights to good purpose : and I believe it may be said of my learned friend, as it was of the duke of Marlborough, that he never fought a battle which he did not win. Monday, 14. This morning, one William Towning, about nineteen years old, was brought here before Mr. Penny, for breaking open and robbing farmer Endicott's house yesterday afternoon, in time of service, while the family were at church. My honest parishioner, it seems, just before he went out, stepped back into his room, he knew not why, and put away a considerable sum of money into a more secret place than where it had lain for some time past ; by which means he was only robbed of little more than thirty shillings in money. How evidently providential ! Just before the unhappy young man was going olF from Mr. Penny's for Exeter Jail, his father, who had heard of his son's situation but an hour or two before, came up to the house with a look that too ulainly declared the agonies of his heart. Unable to face his parent, the young man burst into tears, and retired into the orchard, whither his guard and his father followed him. Lord, if it be consistent with the counsel of thy will, be the comforter and the salvation of this sinner and his aflilicted family ! Bad as he is, thy grace can melt him down. By nature, I am as REV. AUGUSTUS TOPLADY. 5 vile as he : yet I am, I trust, a monument of mercy, and a tiophy of thy ledeeming power. Blessed be the Lord, my New-Creator ! Blessed be the Lord my faithful keeper ! On all occasions of this sort, I would recollect that excellent line, " Aut lumus, aut fuimut, vel posiumus esse, quod hie est." Before I came out of my chamber to-day, I was too hasty and short in private prayer. My conscience told me so at the time ; and yet, such was my ingratitude and my folly, that I nevertheless restrained prayer before God. In the course of the day, I had great reason to repent of my first sin, by being permitted to fall into another. It is just, O Lord, that thou shouldest withdraw thy pre- sence from one who waited so carelessly on thee. May I never more, on any pretext whatever, rob thee (or rather, deprive my own soul) of thy due worship ; but make all things else give way to communion with thee ! The Lord, however, was pleased, in a few hours, sensibly to heal my backslidings ; and open the intercourse of love between himself and me. I never so feelingly wonder at my own depravity, nor so deeply abhor myself, as when the fire of divine love warms my heart, and the out-pourings of God's Spirit enliven my soul. Surely, the knowledge of salvation is the most powerful incentive to repentance ; and not only the most prevailing, but an absolutely irresistible motive to uni- versal holiness ! Began Le Clerc's " Ars Critica." A most learned, and, in many respects, useful per- formance : yet sadly interlarded with scep- ticism and profaneness. God keep me from being a mere scholar. As a specimen of this learned Frenchman's religion, I transcribe the following passages, from that part of his book I have hitherto read. Page 52, " In N. T. omnia fere pietatis officio, sacrificii nomine, intcrdiim indigitantur Mors Christi sacrificium quo'/ite vacatur, quodfuerit pcecipua ejus pietatis pars ; ^ qucedam habeat sacrificiis similia." Page 106, " Reiitrio Ckristiu7ia non est ita caeln integra delupsa, nt nuUam rationem haheat religinnnm, qua antea erant ; sed omnia nova hominibus afferut .- contra est veluti re- Ugionis Judaica; surf:ulus,at ipso trunco major ac viridior : " which latter clause is no more than a cold, paltry compliment, added, I sup- pose, to qualify, in some measure, the rudeness of what goes before. But, surely, primitive Judaism and Christianity are not two re- ligions, but one and the same religion, undei two diflFerent dispensations. Page 122, he positively asserts, that there are very many things in the Old Testament, " quce intelligi nequeunt : " for proof of which, he assigns six reasons ; but such as even J, with my little knowledge, can see through the fallacy of, and, fo my own satisfactioii, at least, refute. Page 126, he does, in fact, deny that Hebrew can be understood at ail with cer- tainty ; some Jews, says he, did about a thou- sand years after Christ, begin to compose Gram- mars and Commentaries on Scripture. " Sed quum quicquid Judcei rccentiores dixerunt hunc ill rem, nitatur vel authoritate Massoretharum, vel veterilnis versiunibus, vel eormn conjec- turis ; necesse est eos " [i. e. the Christian writers] " non miniis fluctuare ac cceteros interpreles. Massoretha; enim — Mcnda sui codicis coiisecrarunt." The preceding part of the citation represents the language- itself as hardly intelligible : but the latter is such a home thrust at the Scriptures, as, I am apt to think, never fell from the pen of any other writer that called himself a Christian. Pre- sently after, he tells us, that the Samaritan Pentateuch is preferable to the Hebrew ; as being free from many smaller blunders, with which the latter " passim," evei y where, abounds. He ranks it among Rabbinical con- jectures, to suppose " Codicem hodiermim carere mendis, [<^] liiiguam Hebra'icam per- fectissimam esse." Page 126, he falls foul on Grammars and Lexicons : as things in which very little confidence can be reposed : adding, by way of crown to all the rest, " Itaque fateiidum est, eum conari X'^"/ ''^ipaav ptya Kvpa ^oKaaaris qui sperat se, subsidiis memo- ratis" [namely, the Hebrew Scripture itself; all commentators, whether Jewish or Chris- tian ; and all Grammars, Lexicons, &c.] " adjutnm, mediocrem adepturttm cognitionem lingncE Hebraicce." If so, farewell to all knowledge, not only of the Hebrew, but of every dead language whatever. Even Lexi- cons and Grammars are not to be trusted. But is not this the very quintessence of scep- ticism ? And should not such a critic, with all his pomp of literature, be hissed out of the learned world ? I mean, so far as he endeavours to sap the foundation of learning itself, and (which will always, in some mea- sure, stand or fall with it) sound religion. Yet this is the writer, whose theological works (which I never desire to see) were so strenu- ously recommended to me, some years ago, by my friend, the present bishop of Clogher '. Friday, 18. Rode to Honiton ; when I bought Whitty's Sermons, the excellent professor Waleeus's Works, and two volumes of the Cripplegate Lectures In the evening, on my return to Fen-Ottery, had some short but sweet rays oi comfort from above. Saturdui;, I'.l. \Vas afflicted with wandering in private prayer. Lord, melt down my icy heart, and gi.itit me to wait upon thee aSiaajragoig. G, when, to use the language of the seraphic Mr. Ilen ey, will my devotions be no longer "like the motes, which fluctuate to and fro in the air, without any vigorous impulse or certain aim ; but like the arrow, which springs from the strained bow, and, quick .i 6 MEMOIRS OF THE lightning, flies to tlie marl< !'' My God, I want the dbiaig tvipynixivi], the inwrought prayer (as Mr. Henry justly translates James v. 16), the prayer of the heart, wrought in the soul by the Holy Ghost. Sniidai/, 20. VVas indisposed the former part of the day. Read prayers and preached in the morning, b,ut languidly. In the after- noon God renewed my strength ; and I read prayers and preached, at Harpford, with much freedom of soul, to an exceedingly large congre- gation. O the difference, the inexpressible difference, between enjoying God's presence, and pining in its absence! This day, my soul has been like a chariot without wheels; and, afterwards, mounted as on eagles' wings. Blessed be God, for tempering distress with joy ! Too much of the former miglU weigh me quite down ; too much of the latter might exalt me above measure. It is wisely and kindly done, O God, to give rae a taste of both. Monday, 21 . In the morning, married John Court and Susanna Carter, at Harpford. On my return hither, spent the after part of the day, reading the late Mr. Whitty's Sermons ; not without some sensible comfort and joy in the Holy Ghost : yet, evangelical as the matter of these discourses is, the style in which they are written will not suffer me to think that the worthy author himself ever intended them for publication. It is a pity but the editor had first let them pass under the tile of some able friend. Nevertheless, the inaccuracies of com- position are greatly over-balanced by the sweet savour of that precious name and ador- able grace, which, to the believing soul, are as ointment poured forth. Tuesday, '22. All day within. The former part of it I was considerably out of order: and experienced something of what it is to have a body without health, and a soul without com- fort. But, while I was musing, the fire kindled, and the light of God's countenance shone within. I found a particular blessing in read- ing Mr. Mayo's Sermon (Morning Exercises, vol. iv. serm. iv.) on our " Deliverance by Christ from the fear of death." Ileb. ii. 15. Several things, in that choice discourse, struck me much ; among the rest, the observations that follow: "The apostle says, (1 Thess. iv. 14.) that Jesus died ; but that the saints sleep in him : the reason why the phrase is varied, is, because he sustained death with all its terrors, that so it might become a calm and quiet sleep to the saints. Satan desired to have Peter, that he might sift him as wheat ; and with what did he sift and shake him ? \\'hy, it was with the fear of death. Peter was afraid they wovdd deal with him, as they were dealing with his master It was his slavish fear of death, that made him deny Christ ; hut anon, he recovered himself, and got above this fear ; how came this about? It was by means of faith. Christ had prayed for him that his faith should not fail. It may be said of those who are fearful of death, that theyai e of little faith. It is usual with God to give his people some clusters of the grapes of Canaan here in the wilderness; to give them some drops of that new wine, which they shall drink in the kingdom of their Father. This sets them a longing to have their fill thereof; even as the Gauls, when they had tasted the wines of Italy, were not satisfied to have those wines brought to them, but would go to pos.sess the land where the vines grew.'' In the afternoon, my indisposition was, in great nieasure, removed. Surely the shedding abroad of divine love in the heart, and a good hope through grace, frequently conduce as much to the health of the body as to health cf soul. This is not the first time I have found it so. Thursday, 24. My faith was weak, and my comfort small, this whole day; especially in the evening. Yet, this is my rock of depend- ance, that the foundation of the Lord standetli sure ; his love is unchangeable ; his purpose according to election, cannot be overthrown ; his covenant is from everlasting to everlasting; and he girdeth me when I know it not. Friday, 25. Read prayers, preached, and administered the holy sacrament, here at Fen- Ottery, in the morning. Farmer T- e (whom I happened to meet at Miktam, no longer ago than last Wednesday evening, so drunk that he could hardly sit on his horse) presented himself at the Lord's table, with the rest of the communicants; but I past him by, not daring to administer the symbols of my Saviour's body and blood to one who had lately crucified him afresh, and had given no proof of repentance. He appeared surprised and abashed. Lord, make this denial of the outward visible sign, a means of inward and spiritual grace to his soul ! In the afternoon, read prayers and preached to a very large con- gregation at Harpford. Drank tea at Farmer Carter's. Spent part of the evening at Mr. Leigh's, at Hayne. Thence, returned home, to Fen-Ottery.— A day of most intense cold. I would observe, that I have, through the blessing of God, been perfectly well through this whole day, both as to health, strength, and spirits ; and gone through my Church duties with the utmost ease, freedom, and pleasure, yet I have experienced nothing of that spiritual comfort and joy, which I sometimes do. A demonstration this, that they are prodigiously wide of the mark, who think that what be- lievers know to be the joys of the Holy Ghost are, in fact, no other than certain pleasing sen- sations, arising from a brisk circulation of the blood, and a lively flow of the animal spirits. In this light the consolations of God are con- sidered by those who never experienced them But if what the regenerate declare to be the sweetness of divine fellowship, is, in reality. REV. AUGUSTUS TOPLADV. 7 no more tlian, what the cold formalist imagines, the mere result ewjiof gon of pride in REV. AUGUSTUS TOPLADY. 13 pieces before the ark of thy merits. Demolish, by the breath of thy Spirit, the wails, the Babel of self-righteousness and self-opinion ; level them with the trodden soil, grind them to powder, annihilate them for ever and ever. Grace, grace, be all my experience, and all my cry! Amen. Amen. Stmday, 14. In the morning, read prayers and preaclied here at Fen-Ottery, to a pretty full auditory. In the afternoon, read prayers at Harpford, and preached Mrs.MaryWheaton's funeral sermon, to an exceedingly great congre- gation indeed. I could not forbear observing, " that God had spared her to a good old age ; that she was born in the year 16/5, ten years before the death of Charles II. and about fourteen before the coming in of king William III.; that she lived in the reigns of sev^n monarchs, and died last Tuesday, aged ninety-three." Great was my fervour and enlargement nf soul ; nor less, to appearance, the attention of them that heard. Nay, they seemed to do more than attend ; the word, I verily believe, came, with power and weight, to their hearts. I never yet saw my Church so full (insomuch that there \ras hardly any standing) and, 1 think, seldom, if ever, beheld a people that seemed to relish the gospel better. Neither they nor myself were weary, though I detained them much longer than usual. Since my intention of changing livings with IVlr. Luce has been publicly known, a spirit of great earnestness and life appears to have been poured out on my people. And yet, I trust, I see my way plainly pointed out, and that it is the will of God I should leave them. A wonder- ful combination of providential circumstances leaves me scarcely any room to doubt of my call to Broad Hembury. Lord, bring me not up thither unless thy presence goes with nie ! Take care of thy own elect (and so thou as- suredly wilt) here and in this neighbourhood ! And give us, O give us, some more parting blessings ! — Mr. Holmes, of Exeter, came thence this morning to hear the unworthiest of God's messengers. This gentleman was at my churches both parts of the day ; and, from what conversation I had with him, appears to be one who knows and loves the truth as it is in Jesus. IVcdncsday, 17. In my chamber, this even- ing, those words, 2 Tim. i. 7, " God halh not given unto us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind," were im- pressed much upon my heart, and my medita- tion on them was attended, not only with great peace and sweetness, but with joy in the Holy Ghost. My sense of union and communion with God was very clear : and I was enabled to see myself one of God's regenerate people, by finding within myself (through the riches of grace alone) those three infallible evidences of conversion, which that delightful text lays down. The spirit of Christ was to me a spirit of power, when he eft'ectually called me to the knowledge of himself in the year 175(), at Codymain, in Ireland, under the ministry of Mr. James Morris : he has been, and is, a spirit of love, in my soul, to all the divine persons ; and, as such, the principle of saiscti- fication : and he has been to me a spirit of a sound mind, by leading me into, and cotihim- ing me in, the light of gospel truth, in its lull harmony and consistency ; which I verily be- lieve, for my own part, to be a branch, at least of that au)ippoviaiioQ (which, among other sig- nifications, denotes wisdom and instruction), mentioned by the apostle in that passage ; and may not, I apprehend, be improperly rendered soundness of judgment. Yet, the aitxppovia/ioc, abstracted from the Swa^iie and the aya-rri], is not, of itself, a certain evidence of regene- ration ; it is the divine power, and the love of God shed abroad in the heart, which render soundness of judgment not only comfortable, but a mark of saving grace. Blessed be God for my experience of all the three ! Sunday, 2\ . Read prayers, and preached, in the morning, at Harpford ; and in the after- noon, here at Fen-Ottery. I have great reason to be thankful for the strength and presence of mind with which I was enabled to go through with my public duties, both parts of the day ; and to be humbled in soul, for my want of spiritual liveliness and fervour. Lord, I am and can be alert in thy work, no longer than I feel the efficacy of divine attraction ; may I, if it please thee, feel it more and more for the sake of thy rich mercy in Jesus Christ. Amen. In the evening, I was enabled to d.aw much spiritual improvement from that passage, John xi. 40, " Said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God ?" Lord, cause me to do the one, and to see the other ! Tuesday, 23. Awoke very early this morn- ing, with those words full and deep upon my mind, "I will give unto you the sure mercies of David." I cannot say that I had an immedi- ate sense of covenant-interest in that glorious promise; yet the impression of it was at- tended with a satisfactory sweetness, and its signification was, as it were, spontaneously opened to me, in a manner too clear and pleasing to express. It seemed to oje (and 1 can find no reason, still, to think otherwise) that the passage ra oma t^ujiii ra Triga, may be literally rendered " the sacred'' [i. e. the inviolable and] " faithful things of David :" for, why may not oo-ioc, which signifies holy, just, and sacred, have, in this connexion, the signification of inviolable ; and denote the firmness, certainty, and perpetuity of those spiritual blessings, which are given and made over to God's elect, by virtue and in conse- quence of the Father's covenant of grace made in their behalf, with Christ, our antitypica; David? This, at least, must be granted; 14 MEMOIRS OV THE that the words, as they lie in the New Testament, will bear the translation I have given : and my translation and sense of them seem exactly to coincide with the original passage, as it stands in the prophet, whence the apostle quoted it. Sunday, 28. The Lord was with me in the discharge of my ministry both parts of the day ; especially in the afternoon at Harp- ford. O, niy faithful God, bless the word spoken ! IFednesdai/, March 2. In secret prayer, this morning, before I left my chamber, the fire of divine love kindled, and the Lord sensibly shone upon my soul. I could not for- bear saying, " O, why art thou so kind to the chief of sinners ?" I was so taken up, and as it were circunifused, with the love of God, and the perception of my union witli him, that I coald hardly ask for pardon. — Thus I walked in the light of his countenance, for, I suppose, two or three minutes : when, alas ! evil wanderings intervened, my warmth of joy suddenly subsided, and I was, in great measure, brought down from the mount. Yet the sweetness and peace of this heavenly visit remained after the blessed visitant was with- drawn. Though the sun himself retired from view, yet (if I may so express it) I enjoyed the refraction of his beams. He did not dis- appear, without leaving a blessing behind him; sufficient, I trust, for faith to live upon until I .see him again. In the afternoon, wrote several letters: among the rest, one to my honoured friend. Dr. Gill, which I concluded thus : " You see, sir, ray letter is the very reverse of Ezekiel's roll. And with reason. Since, when God puts gladness into the heart, why should not the lips overflow with praise ? —Though I am certain that you are immortal until your work is done, and that God will perform the thing that is appointed for you, lam yet enabled to bear you, in the arms of prayer, to the throne of grace ; and presume to request, that, at the seasons of access with joy, you will not forget the meanest of God's people, and the unworthiest, the most impotent (yet not the least favoured) of his messengers. I need not tell you, that I mean, honoured and very dear sir, your obliged, &c." Thursday, 3. Upon a review of this day, in which my mind has been variously exercised, I have great reason to stand astonished at my own baseness ; nor less so, at the several in- stances of mercy, both temporal and spiritual, with which God hath favoured me since I awaked this morning. I can, through grace, adopt David's language, and close the even- ing with his sweet hymn of thanUssriving : Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgiveth all thy sin, and healeth all thine infirmities ; who saveth thy life from destruction, and cro.vneth thee with loving kindness and tender merciei ; who satisfies thy mouth with good things," the good things of his providence, and thy heart with the better things of his grace ; " making thee young and lusty as an eagle." Psalm ciii. Sunday, 6. In the morning, read prayers and preached, at Harpford ; and, in the after- noon, here at Fen-Ottery ; would I could say, with the fervour and sensible joy I sometime, experience. But, 1 was rather in a coU frame the whole day. Lord, pardon my un- worthiness, and wash away the iniquity of my holy things in the blood of him thou hast provided for a burnt offering ! Thou art faithful, who hast promised : nor is my interest in thee the less secure because I have not always eyes to see it clearly. Tuesday, 8. Our family dining early to-day, Mr. Harris (of Wellington) and myself took a walk, about two in the afternoon, to the top of Fen-Ottery Hill. Looking round thence, I observed to him how plaiiily we could see the two churches, of Harplord and Fen-Ottery, in the vale beneath us. Perceiving, however, a pillar of smoke rising into the air, at a little distance from Harp- ford tower, I asked my companion, " What he thought it was ?" He replied, " I sup- pose they are burning stroll." Imagining this to be the case, we continued our walk for, I believe, full three hours, round Ailsbear Hill, and other parts of the common. Com- ing, at last, to Micktam in our circuit, we called on old Farmer Francke ; and were hardly seated, before he asked us, " Whether we had heard of the fire at Harpford :" Adding, that, " according to the best of what his eldest son could discern, it was Farmer Endicott's house that was burning." The wind being pretty strong. North East by East, I knew, that, if it was Endicott's house, or any of the adjoining ones, the vicarage-house and offices must be in imminent danger. I posted away for Harpford, without delay ; and, being got within near view of the village, plainly perceived, by the course of the smoke, that the vicarage had actually taken fire. By the time I arrived at the wooden bridge, 1 met a man coming to acquaint me with what had happened ; upon seeing me, he saluted me with " Sir, your house is burnt down to the ground." E'.tering the village, I found it almost literally true. The dwelling- house, the barn, the linhays, the stable, &:c. with the back house rented by John Wood- ford, were, as it were by sympathy, all in flames at once, and more than half consumed. — Thomas Wilson's house, and that in which Henry Bishop lately lived (from which latter mine caught fire), were totally destroyed. When I saw the vicarage irrecoverably lost, I returned to Fen-Ottery, and took hor.se for Exeter ; where I arrived between eight and REV. AUGUSTUS TOPLADY. nine in the evening, and put up at Mr. Lathbury's. Being fatigued with my hasty ride, I thought it best to apprise Mr. Gearing (agent for the London Insurance Office) by a note of what had happened ; who, in his an- swer, desired to see ine the next morning. What I chiefly enter down this account in my diary for, is this : namely, as a memento of God's great goodness to me, both in a way of providence and grace. Though I was not certain whether the expense (I mean, all above the insurancel of rebuilding the vicar- house, with its appendages, might not even- tually fall on me (notwithstanding my resigna- tion of the living last January 23,) by Mr. Luce probably refusing, in consequence of this misfortune, to complete our projected ex- change ; yet neither the report, nor the sight, of this alarming visitation, made me so much as change countenance, or feel the least de- jection. This could not proceed from nature ; for, my nerves are naturally so weak, that, in general, the least discomposing accident oversets me quite, for a time It was there- fore owing to the supporting goodness of God, who made me experience the truth of that promi.se, " Thy shoes shall be iron and brass ; and as is thy day, so shall thy strength be." Surely, we can both do, and endure, all things, through Christ enabling us. Had any one told me beforehand, " You will see the vicarage all in flames, without the least emo- tion of mind," I should have thought it im- possible. But the strength of God was made perfect in my weakness ; and therefore it was that my heart stood fast, believing in the Lord. O, may thy grace be ever sufficient for me ! Spent the evening not only in a comfort- able, but even in a rejoicing frame of mind ; and never rested better afterwards. Thou, Lord, canst make the feeble, as David. Thus, the 8th of March was a day to be particularly noted, not in my book only, but in my latest remembrance ; on account of that wonderful support with which I was favoured : which not only made my feet as hind's feet, and caused me to walk on the high places of Jacob; but which even bore me up, as on eagle's wings, above the reach of grief, fear, and \veal. Continued at Exeter until after dinner. Called on Mr. Gearing, and Mr. Geare. Found, upon inquiry, that, the fire at Ilarpford happening after the living was vacated by my resignation of it, the ex- change will certainly stand good, and the me- lancholy event there cannot possibly affect me. Who would not trust in the Lord, and wail until a cloudy dispensation is cleared up? Through grjfce, 1 was enabled to do this ; and the result of things has proved that it would not only have been wicked, but foolish, to have done otherwise. O, that I may always be as well enabled to adopt and realize that divine apothegm, " Me that believeth, shall not make haste." Spent about an hour and a half \v\th good Mr. Holmes, whom I found in great distress of mind, on account of his only surviving son being given over in a fever. During our in- terview, God so opened my mouth, and so enlarged my heart, that, I trust, both iny friend and myself found our spiritual strength renewed, and were sensibly and powerfully comforted from above. In the evening, re- turned to Fen-Ottery. Thursday, 10. Drinking tea, this afternoon, at Farmer Carter's, I had an opportunity of seeing more leisurely, the devastation at Harpford. The whole vicarage is one large mass of ruins. What a providential mercy was it, that I resig!;ed the living before tliis misfortune happened ! O God, how wise, and how gracious, art thou, in all thy ways ! Friday, II. After breakfast, rode to iSroad- Hembury, wheie 1 dined with Mr. Luce ; m lio bears the late afflictive providence atHarpfoi d better than I could have expected. Sunday, 13. In the morning read prayers and preached here at Fen-Ottery ; and, ir. the afternoon, at Harpford (from Rom. viii. 28.) to an exceeding large congregation. I have much reason to bless God, for the gre>it measure of bodily strength, vouchsafed nie to-day : yet my soul was by no means in a lively frame. Neither triumphant, nor di~ pressed, my mind seemed to resemble the time mentioned by the prophet, in which the day will be neither clear nor dark. Zech. xiv. 6. At night, before I went to bed, was much troubled with coldness and wanderings in secret prayer. Monday, 14. Looking over one of my journals this morning, I could not help bless- ing God for such a series of mercies as my life has been made up of ; upon which, these words were instantaneously and sweetly sug- gested to my soul, " I will carry thee on." Amen, gracious Lord ! Sunday, 2!). In the morning, read prayers, and preached, at Harpford, to a very full con- gregation : but without any ray of sweetness or enlargement ; at least, to myself. Between moriung and afternoon service, I was much dejected and bowed down in spirit. I was so far left to the doubtings and evil surmisings of my own unbelieving heart, as even to dread the remaining public duties that lay before me. But the glorious Lord was better to me than my fears, and graciously disappointed my ungracious misgivings ; for, in the after- noon, lie \\as with nie, both in a way of streniilb, and in a way of consolation. I read prayers and preached here at Fen-Ottery, with gre.U frecddin, and considerable live liness to a crowded Cluirch. 16 MEMOIRS OF THE About six in the evening, being alone in my chamber, I was still more sensibly led forth beside the waters of comfort. I tasted some sweet droppings of the honeycomb, and could say, " My Lord, and my God." The embers were blown aside, by the breath of the Holy Spirit ; the veil of unbelief was rent ; and the shadows fled away. Light sprang up, and the fire kindled; even the light of God's countenance, and the fire of his love. Yet my comforts did not amount to the full triumph and ecstatic bliss I have sometimes experienced ; but were gentle, peaceful, and serene ; attended with a mild, refreshing, lenient warmth ; which melted me into conscious nothingness before God, and made me feel him and rest upon him as my all in all. The very state tliis, in which, if it be his will, I could wish both to live and die : for I look upon such a placid reception of his gently-pervading influence, where all is soft and sweet and still, to be the most desir- able frame of soul on this side heaven. But I desire to leave all to the disposal of Hiin who best knows how to deal v/ith his militant people ; and who will be sure to lead them to heaven by the right way, and me among the rest. Monday, 21. Between ten and eleven at night, in my chamber, a little before I betook myself to rest, the Lord favoured me with some gracious outgoings of affection toward himself. My meditation of him, and com- munion with him, were sweet ; and the intimations of his love to me drew forth my love to him. The cherishing south wind of his loving Spirit breathed upon the garden oi ray soul, and the spices thereof flowed out. I could say, and still can, " Whom have I in heaven, but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of thee. Come, O my beloved, into thy garden, and eat thy pleasant fruits ! " Thus, though affected, ever since the afternoon, with a slight head-ach, my bodily indisposition was more than compensated with the peace that passeth all understanding; and I could rejoice in the sense of union with Christ, my exalted head ; a head that is never out of order. Thursday, 24. In the afternoon, the Lord gave me this word of comfort, " I have put away thy sin." It came with power, and I was enabled to believe the testimony of the Holy Spirit. Towards evening, I was in a very comfortable frame of soul, while making some considerable additions to my sermon on John ii. 19. How greatly do these occasional visits from above cheer and strengthen a sin- ner on his way to Zion ! Surely, there is a river, and not only the streams, but even a few drops of it, make glad the city of God. Friday, 25. This afternoon and evening, but especially at night, the Lord has been very gracious to my soul, i could see myself loved with an everlasting love, and clothed with Christ's everlasting righteousness. My peace flowed as a river ; and I found the comforts of the Holy Spirit to be neither few nor small. My sense of justification was unclouded, as when the clear shining of the sun giveth light. " My beloved is mine, and I am his." Under these sweet, unutterable manifestations, I have scarce any thing to pray for ; suppli- cation is swallowed up in wonder, love, and praise ; Jesus smiles, and more than a ray of heaven is shed upon my soul. " I will greatly rejoice in the Lord ; my soul shall be joyful in my God ; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered ire with the robe of righteousness, as a bride- groom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a biide adorneth herself with her jewels." My harp is taken down from the v/illows, and I can sing the Lord's song in a strange land. Saturday, 25. A letter from London in- forms me, that poor old hidy Goring is lately turned Papist. Surely, it is a debt 1 owe to God, to truth, my own conscience, and to the friendship with which that unhappy lady formerly honoured me, to write to her on this sad occasion. Lord, keep me steadfast in the purity of thy blessed gospel, and, if it please thee, lecover her from this snare of the devil ! Was indisposed, great part of this day, with the head-ach ; but enjoyed, toward even- ing, a measure of the peace of God. At night, a little before I went to bed, the Lord was pleased to give me a full assuiance of his being with me in a way of grace and strength, and carrying me comfortably through the duties of the ensuing sabbath. I could no more doubt of his giving me a sabbath- day's blessing, than if the sabbath had been passed, and the blessing actually received. Sunday, 27. Palm-Sunday. Between eight and iiine this morning, the Lord visited my soul with a lively sense of his salvation. My comfort, joy and triumph were unutterable for some minutes ; and the savour of his precious ointment, thus divinely shed abroad in my heart, abode ivith me, more or less, through the course of the whole dny. In the morning, my congregation here at Fen-Ottery was very full ; and I was enabled to read prayers, and to preach, with more inward liberty, and consolation of spirit, than I have done for some Sundays back. The gospel ordinances were sweet to my taste, and I experienced that animating promise, " He that watereth, shall be watered also himself." In the afternoon, read prayers, itnd preached at Harpford, to a congregation indeed. " Behold the Lamb of God," was my sub- ject : O Lamb of God, caus" nie, and REV. AUGUSTUS TOPLADY. 17 those who heard me this day, to behold thee, here, in the light of special faith ; and here- after, in tne light of endless glory! Though I have a violent cold upon me, with a tendency to a sore throat, yet I was carried through my duties, not only with great comfort, but with unusual strength of body and voice. A worse church to speak in I never knew, tnan Harpford ; yet I am con- fident I was well heard by all present ; whose number, 1 apprehend, was at least seven hundred ; which, I dare believe, I should not have been, considering my hoarseness to-day, had not my soul been particularly happy in the Lord. The sense of his presence giveth power to the faint, and makes men act beyond themselves. Under the influence of his Spirit, the meanest believer becomes like the chariots of Aniniinadih, and goes forth like a giant refreshed with wine : the places of God's vvoiship are, each, a banqueting house ; and the means of grace are so many niountainsof spices. Tuesday, 29. That sweet text, " This God is our God for ever and ever ; he shall be our guide, even unto death :" proved a cordial to my soul this morning. Blessed be his name, I could adopt those words of triumph, and still can, in the assurance of faith. I am, through grace, as clearly satisfied of my interest in the blessing they contain as if they were addressed to me by name. I remember a delightful paraphrase of this golden passage, written by Mr. Hart ; which 1 cannot help putting down here ; and the rather, as it is the very language of my soul at present : This fiod is the God we adore, In the afternoon, began, and about half finished, a sermon on Phil. ii. 8. which, if the Lord please, I hope to deliver from the pulpit next Friday. The Lord has already, while writing it, made it a means of grace to myself ; and gave me to experience the power of that dying love which the te.xt and the preceding context so sweetly cele- brate. O Lamb of God, slain for me ! Thy blood is balm; thy presence is bliss ; thy smile is heaven. Through thy precious righteous- ness, sinners and salvation meet together. Thou hast knit me tn thyself in the bsmds of an everlasting covenant which shall not be forgotten and cannot be annulled. Thou hast set me as a seal upon thine arm, and hast set the seal of thy Spirit upon my heiirt. I can sing, with one of thv saints, now in heaven Love mov'd thee to die ; April \. Good-Friday. In the morning, read prayers, preached, and administered the blessed Sacrament, at Harpford. Both in the pulpit, and at the Lord's table, my joy, con- solation, and enlargement of soul, were great: and, I think, I never saw communicants more humble, serious, and devout. God's presence seemed to be manifested among us in a very uncommon manner. In the afternoon, read prayers and preached here at Fen-Ottery : and the glorious majesty of the Lord our God was evidently upon speaker and hearers. This has been a Good Friday indeed to my soul ; and, I dare believe, to the souls of many beside. Lord, make the sensible unction of thy Spirit not only to descend upon us, but to abide with us ! Saturday, 2. After breakfast, rode to Exeter : where I dined at Mr. Holmes's. Found that dear and excellent man not only more resigned to the will of God, but even more cheerful than I could well have con- ceived. Mrs. Paul, of Topsham, and Mr. Lewis, a worthy Baptist minister, dined with us. Our conversation at table was on the best subjects ; and I found our Christian dis- cussions sensibly blest to my soul. After tea, myself and four more followed the remains of master Holmes to Eade, about two miles out of the city, where they were interred- Mr. Cole, curate of the parish, read the funeral service ; and I preached a sermon, suitable to the solemn occasion, to a large auditory, and one of the most attentive ones I ever saw. I had a violent hoarseness upon me all the afternoon, which made me apprehensive I should both speak and be heard with difficulty. But, upon my entrance into the pulpit, while the first psalm was singing, I lifted up my heart to God, and prayed, "Lord, help me, this once." Nor was niy supplication lost. I was helped indeed. I preached forty minutes, with great ease to myself, and with great strength, leadiness, and distinctness. It was a blessed season to my own heart ; and, I earnestly trust, to the souls of many that heard The word did indeed seem to come with the demonstration of the Spirit, and with power Returning to Exon, I supped witli Mr. Holmes and the company ; and thence, between eleven and twelve at night, returned home to Fen-Ottery Sunday, 3. Easter-Sunday. Rose this morning, with such a cold, and hoarseness on my voice, that I could hardly speak either audibly or intelligibly. Read prayers, how- ever (if it might be called reading) heie at Fen-Ottery, and administered the bles.sed Sacrament ; but, knowing it would be in vain to attempt preaching, ordered the clerk to make an apology to the congregation. At the table of the Lord, the Lord of the table was with me of a truth ; and made my soul rejoice, amid all the weakness of my body. 13 MEMOIRS OF THE In the afternoon, rode to Harpford ; where, after reading prayers to a very great congregation, as well as I could, which was veiy badly, 1 was in some doubt whether I should attempt to preach or not. Considering, however, that, if I found I could not make myself heard, I could but cease ; and grieving at the thought of sending away such a multitude, without even endeavouring to break to them the word of life; I went up into the pulpit, and besought the Lord to manifest his strength in my weakness : and he graciously did. I preached three quarters of an hour, with wonderful strength and unusual enlargement of soul. Awe and attention were visible on every face. I was enabled to exert myself greatly, and to pour out my whole soul in the ministry of the word. The sense of God's presence, together with the sweetness and dignity of the subject I was upon, melted me so, that, I think, I was never more strongly car ried out. Once in particular, I could scarce refrain from bursting into tears. Hoarse and disagreeable as my voice sounded, yet, I am convinced, the voice of the Holy Spirit made its way to many hearts. Indeed all were struck, if there is any judgment to be formed by appearances. My wonder, at the ability with which I ivas endued, and my gratitude to the blessed God, for the comforts that were experienced, will hardly suffer me to desist from saying more of this memorable oppor- tunity. Lord, who would not trust thee ? Who would not love thee ? The work, O God, was thine ; and thine be all the glory ! Amen, Amen. Tnesda;/, 5. My hoarseness, blessed be God, begins to go off Drinking tea, to-day, at Mr. Leigh's, at Hayne, the company went away early, and Mr. Leigh and I had the remainder of the afternoon to ourselves. Our conversation took a very improving turn. We talked much of death, the assurance of faith, and the invincibility of convei ti'ig grace. My conversation on the latter subject never seemed to come to him with so much con- viction and power, as now. He almost gave up his Arminianism, and drank in what I was enabled to say, with a seriousness and sensibility I never saw in him before. He even appeared to relish the doctrine of grace, and to feel some of its power. Lord, let not thy Spirit leave him, until thou hast made him cry, from the depth of his heart, " O, sovereign grace! I am nothing! thou art all !" On my way home to Fen-Ottery, especially as I was riding over Tipton-bridge, my soul was in a very comfortable frame. 0, the unutterable sweetness of sensible interest in God's election, the covenant of giace, and righteousness of Christ ! I trust, I can say, they are all mine. Wednesday, 6. (t^ This afternoon, about two o'clock, i received institution, at E.xeter, to the living of Broad-Hembury. While on my knees, the chancellor was committing the souls of that parish to my care, my own soul was secretly lifted up to God for a blessing ; which, I humbly trust, will be given, for his mercy's sake in Jesus Christ. Immediately after I was instituted to Broad- Hembury, Mr. Luce was instituted to Harpford. Thurisduy, 7. That gracious promise was given me to-day, " I will inform thee and teach thee in the way wherein thou shalt go ; and I will guide thee with mine eye." I had been, previously, much dejected in spirit, and exercised with various doubts ; but that v/ord of comfort came with such power and effect, that I was soon set to rights again. Friday, 8. Mr. Luce dined here to-day, we walked, in the afternoon, to Harpford ; where I inducted him into that living. In the course of this day, I was favoured with some comfortable glimpses of my heavenly Father's countenance. O, that I could ever have a heart warm with love ! But it is better to catch fire now-and-then, than to be always cold. Blessed be the Comforter of God's elect, a live coal, from the golden altar which is before the throne, is sometimes dropt into my heart; and then I can sing, Lov'dof my God, fur him a^iu Chosen i»f thee ere time began. To have a part and lot in God's salvation, is the main thing ; but to have the joy of it is an additional blessing, which makes our way to the kingdom smooth and sweet. Saturday, !). In the evening, while return- ing from Broad-Hembury (where I dined to-day) ; and at night after my return hither to Fen-Ottery ; I had the comfort of sweet communion with God, and not only enjoyed that peace which the world cannot give, but was favoured with some delightful assurances of God's everlasting love to me a sinner. I was, like what is said of Naphthali, " satisfied with favour ; " even with the favour of him, whose name is as ointment poured forth ; whom to know, is life eternal ; and whom to converse with, is heaven. The Spirit himself bore witness to my spirit, that 1 am a child of God, and a joint heir with Christ. Lord, doubtless thou art my Father ; O enable me to love thee as such, and to walk worthy of my heavenly pedigree ! Sunday, 10. Did duty, this day, at the churches here, for, I suppose, the last time. In the morning, read prayers and preached at Fen-Ottery ; and, in the afternoon, read prayers and preached at Harpford, to a very great congregation. At the latter church, God did indeed open to me a door both of knowledge and of utterance ; insomuch that I could not possibly confine myself to my notes ; but was carried out with extraordinary enlargement, readiness, and presence cf mind ; especially REV. AUGUSTUS TOPLADV. 19 while speaking of the certain perseverance of God's regenerate people, and of the utter im- possibility of being justified by works. I did not take any leave of my dear people. Fare- well-sermons, in my opinion, carry in thein such ail air of self-importance, that I have long resolved never to preach one again. — Let me rather close niy ministry in this place, with, 1. Secretly begging pardon of God to- night, for my manifold sins, omissions, and infirmities, both as a man, and as a minister. 2. I earnestly intreat my gracious Lord to maKe me thankful for the innumerable mercies I have experienced, since I had the care of these parishes upon me. 3. I pray God to command his efficacious blessing on my weak, sinful, and unworthy labours here ; most humbly beseeching him to own the messages of salvation 1 have delivered from time to time, and to grant that the seed he has enabled me to sow, may be found alter many days. 4. 1 beg him to stay with these that stay, and to go with me when I go from them : that his presence and his blessing may be their portion, my portion, and the portion of those among whom I expect shortly to minister. O thou God of power and of grace! all hearts are in thy hand, and all events are at thy disposal! Set, O set, the seal of thy almighty fiat upon each of these petitions! And supply all our need, according to thy riches in glory by Christ Jesus ! Amen, Amen. Tuesday, 12. At night, the Lord gave me to experience some gracious meltings of heart. How sweet are the humiliations of penitential love ! I desire no greater bliss, than to lie at my heavenly Master's foot-stool, dissolved in wonder, gratitude, and self-abasement. Friday, 15. Several words of comfort were, this day, at diflerent times, spoken to and sealed upon my heart : particularly these three, "Fear not; I will be with thee." — " Trust me." — " I will uphold thee with the right-hand of my righteousness." At another time these were powerfully suggested to my soul, " Be joyful in the Lord." To many, all this would appear as the most palpable enthusiasm ; and there was a time, when I myself should have thought so too. But blessed be God the comforter, I know what it is to enjoy some degree of communion with the Father, and the Son by him. And, ex- clusively of this inward (\tyxoq, which is, to myself, equivalent, in point of mental satis- faction, to ten thousand demonstrations ; my experiences of this kind, considered even in the most rational view, cannot, I am well persuaded, be justly counted enthusiastic, or the offspring of a heated imagination ; for, I. They are attended with such a powerful sweetness, and such commanding weight, such satisfactory clearness, and such a perfect con- sistency with the promises of Scripture, as leave me no cause to doubt of its being indeed the voice of Goo to my soul. 2. My mind, on these occasions, is as absolutely passive as my body can at any time be on hearing any person speak with whom I converse. 3. I argue from events. I can, to the best of my remembrance and belief, truly say, that I never yet have had one jnomise, nor assurance, con- cerning temporal things, impressed on me beforehand in a way of communion with God, which the event did not realize ; 1 never, tha^ I know of, knew it fail in any one single in- stance. I do not say, that a particular as- suranc», concerning any particular futurity, is always given me beforehand : far from it: but when it has, two unisons never harmonized more exactly than my assurance and the subsequent providence. And, if this has, hitherto, been the case with nie in temporal concerns, and matters of Providence ; why should similar indulgences from above, re- specting spiritual things, and matters of grace, be treated as fanciful ? At night, in my chamber, the Lord gave me several solid assurances of his future pro- vidential goodness to me. I was enabled to know the voice of Him that spake within, and to cast the anchor of faith on what he said. My complacency and satisfaction of soul were equally comfortable and unutterable. O my God, that, which thou hast promised, thou ait able also to perform. Saturday, Hi. In the evening, rode to Broad-Henibury ; where, at night, before I went to bed, the Lord gave me some comfort- able assurances in secret prayer. Sunday, l/- In the morning, read prayers and preached, at Broad-Hembury, to a larye congregation. I opened (if I may so speakj my spiritual commission, by discoursing from those words, 2 Cor. iv. 5. " We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord." In the afternoon, read prayers and preached, ibid, to a very numerous congregation, from Jude 3 ; and baptized two infants. Great was my reason for gratitude and thankfulness to the gracious Author of all good. I was enabled, both parts of the day, to go through the duties of it with much satisfaction and presence of mind ; and the word preached seemed to be relished by many, and to be well received by all. In the evening, returned to Fen-Ottery; where I read, with great comfort and joy in the Holy Ghost, Mr. Hervey's sermon on " 'The Way of Holiness." In secret prayer, too, before I went to bed, the channel of comfortable intercourse was opened between God and my soul. All weakness and all unworthiness as I am, I have, in Christ, both righteousness and strength ; and God, through him, is my portion for ever. In his favour is life : and that life is mine. Monday, 18. Late to-night, when the rest of the family were retired to rest, the reading of Jenks's Meditations was much blessed C 2 MEMOIRS OF THE to my soul. Truly, my fillo%vshii) is with the Fallier, aiui with his Son Jesvis Christ, whose precious blood, in away of expiation, cleanseth me from all sin. T/in>:ida>/,2\ . Riding home, to-night, from Exeter, the Lord was with me in a way of spi- ritual communion. Applying to him for a blessing on ray intended removal to Broad- Ik'uibury, this answer was given me, " Go, and I will be with thee :" and, a little while after, " Thou shalt shake off every weight.'' Friday, 22. Before I left my chamber, this morning, I was enabled to hold sweet inter- course with the Father of spirits in secret prayer. For a minute or two, my comforts, not to say raptures, were of a very exalted kind. Yet, within an hour after, 1 was grieved with the bubblings up of indwelling sin ; and was, for some time, in a very uncomfortable state of inward temptation ; but the Lord kept me from mine iniquity, and withheld me from actually falling. Towards evening, while finishing a sermon on Psalm xxxii. 1, I experienced some gracious meltings of soul, and sensibly enjoyed the i-ays of my heavenly Father's presence. Saturday, 23. After dinner, rode to Broad- Hombury ; where, at night, in my chamber, a little before 1 went to bed, tny soul was ha- rassed, in a sad and very unusual maimer, with doubts and fears and unbelief. I was in spiritual darkness, even darkness that might be felt. I do not know that I ever was so much given up to the evil surmisings of my own heart, since I have been in orders. I could hardly act faith at all. Had it not been for fear of exposing myself and disturbing the family, I should have roared for the disquietness of my heart. My heavenly Pilot disappeared; 1 seemed to have quite lost my hold on the rock of ages; I sunk in the deep mire ; and tlie waves and storms went over me. Yet, at last, in prayer, I was enabled, 1 know not how, to throw myself, absolutely and at large, on God, at all events, for better for worse : yet without comfort, and almost without hope. I was, in short, almost in a state of despair. My horror and distress were unutterable. And in this condition I remained, until it pleased God to give me some sleep. Snnday, 24. When I awaked this morning, I had peace of soul, and a considerable measure of confidence in God. — Read prayers, and preached with strength of Dody and enlarge- ment of mind. — After my return from public morning service, my consolations from above were inexpressible. Heaviness did indeed endure for a night ; but joy came in the morning. My soul could magnify the Lord ; and my spirit rejoiced ir God my Saviour. — Read Bishop Wilkiiis' Preacher, with great ap- probation and pleasure, and not without im- provement.— In the afternoon, read prayers, and preached to a very large congregation : and God was with me of a truth. My own soul was richly watered, and there seemed to be showers of blessing all around. I never preached so much extempore, in my life before. My whole introduction was off-hand ; nor did I evei express myself more freely, pertinently, and to my own satisfaction. My text, both parts of the day. Psalm xxxii. 1. O, what in- finite amends has God made me for the dis- tresses of last night ! Might I choose for myself (which, however, I am not qualified for, nor yet desirous of doing,) I should hardly, I think, care how much God humbled me in private before him, so I might but enjoy his presence and blessing in the discharge of mv public duties. What a day has this been ! A sabbath-day indeed ; a day of feasting to my soul ; a day of triumph and rejoicing. He brought me into his banqueting-house, and his banner over me was love, I never wa? more assisted from above, th-n this afternoon ; very seldom so much. Lord, bless the people as thou hast blessed me '. Here let cie leave it on thankful record, f'>r my comfort and support (if it please God) in future times of trial and desertion, that I never was lower in the valley than last night; nor higher on the mount than to-day. The Lord cliastened me, but did not give me over unto death. And he never will. He may, indeed, for a small moment, hide his face from me ; but with everlasting kindness will he have mercy on me. Saturday, 30. After dinner, rode to Broad- Hembury ; where I spent the evening, and lay at Mrs. Pynsent's. Very different, through the tender mercy of God, was my frame of mind, to- night, from what it was the Saturday before. I was now enabled to rest, with comfortable complacency, on the power, faithfulness, and grace of my heavenly Father. What a poor, feeble creature is a believer, when faith is not in exercise i He is like an eagle, whose wings are pinioned. But, when the south-wind of the Holy Spirit breathes upon the soul, and fans the smoking flax, the Christian grows as the lily, and casteth forth the root as Lebanon. He is, for the time being, almost tempted to sing that requiem which David, in similar cir- cumstances, sang to his soul, "I shall never be removed ; thou, Lord, of thy goodness, hast m de my hill so strong." May\. Sunday. Read prayers, and preached, morning and afternoon, at Broad-Hembury. The Lord was with me both parts of the day. — In private, spent several hours in reading Seed's Sermons. Elegant, and masterly, is the composition ; nervous, and refined, the reasoning: but the main thing, I apprehend, is wanting; even that spiritual unction, that vital vein of gospel experience, without which, the correctest performances of this kind are, to me, powerless and tasteless. — Read also Wall's Critical Notes on the New Testament ; in which are many things useful and ingenious: yet I cannot help thinking that the alterations (improperly styled, amendments,) which the REV. AUGUSTUS TOI'LAUV. 21 learned author would make in the orijjinal text, are, for the far greater part, extremely flighty and conjectural ; often quite injudicious ; and, sometimes, astonishingly daring. Besides, the dead fly of Arminianism mars and taints the whole pot of ointment. Thursday, 5. My honoured and most dear mother's birth-day. Gracious God, crown her inestimable life with many years to come ; and crown each year with additional grace and re- doubled happiness ! — After dinner, removed, for good, from Fen-Ottery to Broad Hembury : where, being arrived, I spent tlie evening in a comfortable frame of soul ; humbly trusting, that the God and guide of my life, who fixeth the bounds of our habitations below, will, himself, vouchsafe to be the dwelling place of my soul, here and ever. At night, there was some thunder; during which especially, I was favoured with a sweetly awful sense of God's majesty and love. How happy, O Lord, is the soul which is enabled to wrap itself in thee! Friday, G. Enjoyed the peace of God to-day: particularly at night, before bed-time ; when my communion with the Father of spirits was near and sweet. I could indeed say, "My Lord, my love, my all!" Saturday, 7- Was occasionally comforted from above. Blessed, O God, unutterably blessed, is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee ! Thy secret is with me ; and thou hast shewn me thy covenant. Sunday, 8. In the morning, read prayers, and read the Thirty-nine Articles, and the De- claration of Conformity. In the afternoon, read prayers, and preached, to a very large congregation. Between morning and afternoon service, I experienced much of God's presence, alone in my study, v/hile revising the sermon I intended to preach. My comforts and joys did not only flow as a river, but rose like the waves of the sea. — In the evening read Tur- letin's Theologia : true is that great author's observation, and most happily expressed, " aQavaaiag fides est fundamentum tvQavaaiaq." Read also Dr. Sibbes's " Soul's Conflict:" in which the following observations are equally important, certain, and comfortable : " The angel troubled the waters, which then cured those that stept in : it is also Christ's manner to trouble our souls first, and then to come with healing in bis wings. — As for crosses, he doth but cast us down, to raise us up ; and empty us, that he may fill us ; and melt us, that we may be vessels of glory : loving us as well, in the furnace, as when we are out ; and standing by us all the while. — In the worst condition, the church hath two faces : one towards heaven and Christ, which is always constant and glorious ; another towards the world, which is, in appearance, contemptible and changeable. — In all storms, there is sea- room enough, in the infinite goodness of God, for faith to be carried with full sail. — Places and conditions are happy or miserable, as God voucbsafeth his gracious presence more or less. — God is nearest to his chililicTi, when be seems farthest off. — It is as natural for sin to raise doubts and fears in the conscience, as for rotten flesh and wood to breed worms. Sin, like Achan in the camp, or Jonas in the ship, is that which causeth storms within and with- out.— Of all tioubles, the trouble of a proud heart is the greatest. — The greater part of our troubles we pull upon oui selves, by not parting our care so, as to take upon us only the care of duty, and leave the rest to God ; and by ming- ling our passions with our crosses ; and, like a foolish patient, chewing the pills which we should swallow down." Tuesday, 10. Whilst taking my evening walk, by myself, on the hill that overlooks this village, and surveying the lovely vales, that lie beneath on either hand, the Lord melted me into gratitude and praise. I was not alone ; for the great Father of all was with me. — On my return, wrote part of a sermon, after suji- per, on 2 Cor. v. 8. and my peace and joy in believing were great. Sunday, 16. In the morning rode to Sheldon ; where I read prayers and preached to a very attentive congregation ; a small church, but well filled. After service, returned home to Broad-Hembury ; where, in the after- noon, 1 read prayers and preached to a great auditory ; and the Lord was with me in an especial manner. Spent the evening very com- fortably and profitably, in writing part of ii sermon. At night, those words dwelt mucn upon my mind, and were greatly blest to me, "TheLord is my portion, saith my soul :" through the influence of his good Spirit, I could see and rejoice in God as my portion indeed. Sunday, 22. Whitsunday. In the morn- ing, read prayers, preached, and adniinisteied the holy sacrament to thirty-six communicants. In the afternoon, read prayers, and preached, to a very large congregation. I trust the ordinances were blest to some : but, as to myself, I can only say, that I went through the duties of the day with strength, ease, and presence of mind. I desire to be thankful for this ; yet am grieved, that 1 was not more fervent in spirit, and higher on the mount of divine love. I could ever wish to be Fain would I moiint ; f:.in would I glow ; Friday, 27- Notwithstanding my aggra- vated sinfulness and my absolute unworthiness, God gave me, this night, to drink of his con- solations, as from a river. " Pardon and sunc- tification,'' was my prayer : " iMercy, pardon and salvation," was the gracious answer. Sunday, 28. This evening, I was enabled to rejoice in spirit. God gave me not only a good hope in his grace, but tlie assiiraiif" of 22 MEMOIRS OF THE faith. Finished a sermon on Rev. ii. ] 7. I do think and trust that I can say, that text is verified in me, even me, a sinner. Through the blood of the Lamb, I believe that I shall overcome ; I am often fed with the hidden manna of communion with God; there are times when I can set to my seal, that the white stone of absolution and justification is mine ; and that I have the new name, the pri- vileije of adoption into the invisible family of God ; the consciousness of which is attended with such comfort as is only known to those that receive it. To Father, Son, and Spirit, be all the glory ! Sunday, 29. Read prayers, and preached, morning and afternoon, to a much larger con- gregation, both times, than I expected, con- sidering the wetness of the weather. God has watered the earth, to-day, with his rain, which has been, for some time, greatly wanted: but the spiritual shower of divine love did not de- scend upon my soul, until I retired to my study, this evening, after family prayer. I had then some short, but comfortable intercourse with God. An observation which I met with to-day, in reading Downame's " Christian Warfare," struck me much ; speaking of the Holy Spirit as the sealer of the elect, he asks, " How is it possible to receive the seal, without feeling the impression ?" O that I might feel it, more and more ! June 5. Sunday. This morning, I read prayers, and preached, to a large congrega- tion ; and, in the afternoon, to a very large one. My God was present with me, both times ; and, I trust, I have reason to hope, that my labour was not in vain in the Lord. Visited and prayed with farmer William Taylor, twice to- day. The first time, particularly, I had great freedom of .speech, in conversing with him on spiritual matters. He has, probably, not many days to live ; and, I would hope, is not without some sense of divine things. Visited also, and prayed with Edward Granger: a very ignorant person, and full of what are called good resolutions, if God should restore him again to health. It is a melancholy thing, that, in a Protestant country, a minister should liave so much ignorance to combat with, in most of the common people. I thank thee. Holy Father, if I am, in any measure, enlight- ened into the knowledge of thee ; and beseech thee to make me an instrument, in thy hand, of giving light to others, so far as my little sphere extends. Was, through grace, very comfortable in my own soul, several times this day. Thximday, .9. In the morning, visited and prayed with farmer William Taylor. One thing, which he said, I took notice of with sa- tisfaction : his words were, "My pains are nothing to my hopes." Dined and drank tea at Grange. At night, after my return thence, 1 was happy in the Lord. I was enabled. from a sense of interest in Christ, to sing those sweet lines, JesuB, thoa art mr ■f^ht«ousueii, For all my siti< were thine, &c. Sunday, 12. Read prayers, and preached, morning and afternoon. Might I judge of what others felt, by the comfortable enlarge- ment I experienced myself, both parts of the day, I should trust that the arm of the Lord was revealed. The afternoon audience was very great ; and God was with me of a truth. A door of knowledge, and of utterance, was opened to me : and I humbly hope, God opened to himself a door into the hearts of some that heard. I cannot forbear observing, that last night, and to-day, the Lord gave me some special assurances of his being with me in the discharge of the public duties of this sabbath : and his gracious intimations were verified indeed. The promises of man fre- quently exceed the performance ; but God's performance exceeds even his promises. Saturday, 18. All day at home. Wrote several hymns ; and, while writing that which begins thus: " When faith 's alert, and hope shines clear," &c. I was, through grace, very comfortable in my soul ; so, indeed, I have been the whole day. Read bishop Hopkins's Works, which were sent me from Exeter yesterday, with much spiritual improvement. From morning until now, i. e. until eleven at night, I have enjoyed a continual feast within. Christ has been unspeakably precious to my heart, and the blessed Spirit of God has visited me with sweet and reviving manifestations. Temptations, of a particular kind, beset me more than once ; but the Lord hfted up his standard, and I fell not; the gates of hell at- tacked me, but did not prevail against the grace of God which was with me. Glory be to God on high, who spreads a table for me in the wilderness, making me to banquet on his love ; and who has caused my cup of joy to overflow this day. Yea, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord, and be myself his house, for ever. Sunday, 19. Though somewhat out of order in the morning, God carried me well through the duties of the day. Read prayers and preached, twice, as usual. In the after- noon, the congregation was very large. This has not been such a rejoicing day to my own soul, as yesterday was ; but, 1 trust, the word preached was not powerless altogether. Yet this, I fear, I can truly say, that my lot has never hitherto been cast among a people so generally ignorant of divine things, and so totally dead to God. I know of but three per- sons, in all this large and populous parish, on whom, I have solid reason to trust, a work of saving grace is begun : and these are, Mrs. Hutchins, farmer William Taylor, and Joan Venn. But this I verily believe, that, if God had not some elect souls to call, he would not REV. AUGUSTUS TOPLADY. 23 have sent me hither. When vicar of Ilarpfovd, I laboured among that people for a greiit piirt of two years, before I could perceive a sensible out-pourin!> of God's Holy Spirit upon tlietn : and yet, before I left them, God seemed to have owned my ministry in a very great and un- expected manner. Lord, grant, if it please thee, that I may have the same consolation here ! fVednesdaii, 22. Calling on Mrs. Hutchins this evening, I found Joan Venn there, from whom I had the comfort of hearing that my unworthy ministry has, in general, been at- tended with gieat power to her soul: but, above all, on the 24th of last April, in the afternoon, under that sermon from Psalm xxxii. I. Lord, carry on thy work in her soul and mine, to the day of Christ! Friday, 24. Visited and prayed with Sarah Granger. Li the evening, had a very comfort- able interview with old farmer VVilliara Taylor, who, though better than I ever expected to see him, is not, in all probability, far from the in- visible world. God enabled me to pray with him extempore ; and I never yet saw him so affected. If the Lord gives ability, I think to lay aside forms of prayer, in my future attend- ance on the sick. 1 generally find, that prayer, on these occasions, offered up as God gives utterance, is more blest to the souls I attend upon, as well as to my own. Lord, may thy good Spirit, which maketh intercession in thy saints, be ever present with me, to help my infirmities, and teach me to pray as 1 ought. There are, certainly, particular exigencies, and cases, which few, if any, prescribed forms can reach. With regard to this, and every other part of my duty as a minister, my help stand- eth in the name of the Lord, who hath made heaven and earth. I only wish that my natural diffidence was less, and my faith greater ! Sunday, 26. A sabbath of joy and blessing. Was somewhat cast down, last night, and early this morning, at the prospectof the public duties lying before me, as I have been, for some days past, troubled with a cough, which grows upon me more and more. But God heard my petitions, and was better to me than my expectations. I read prayers, and preached, in the morning, to a large congregation ; and, in the afternoon, to ail exceedingly full one ; with unusual freedom of utterance, and strength of body, both times. After morning service, visited and prayed with Sarah Granger. In prayer, she was quite melt- ed down, and wept greatly. God gave me both words and matter, suitable to her case. In the evening, visited and prayed with farmer William Taylor; and, on tliis occasion too, I was enabled to pray with much liberty of speech, and comfort to myself. In the course of our conversation, he told me, that " Being alone yesterday evening, and oegging of God to hearken to his sup jlications, he thought he heard a voice say, ' I will hear thy prayers : ' and that his hope of acceptance has been ever since, greater than usual." Hew this really was, I dare not say ; but would choose to sus- pend uiy judgment about it. Tiiis, however, I am glad to observe in him, namely, that he is most earnestly desirous of gaining the assu- rance of his justification. Surely, if the foun- dation of true faith were not laid in his soul, he would hardly be so desirous of having the top-stone brought forth with joy. At night, finished a short morning sermon, which 1 began yesterday, on 1 Kings xvii. 21. Tuesday, 2S. In my way to Grange (where I dir\ed and spent the evening), visited Sarah Granger. I found her surrounded with weep- ing friends and relatives, and herself little more than alive, in point of bodily strength, but perfectly sensible. My mouth was opened to speak much and pertinently to her case ; and the Lord gave me very great freedom, enlai ge- ment, and warmth in prayer. I hope it was made a season of blessing both to her and to those who were present, as, though grace, it was to myself. She, strongly, and in a most affecting manner, requested me to have an eye over her children when she was dead and gone, and to do what I could in furthering them in the way to the kingdom of God. I assured her, that nothing in my power should be wanting, if I lived, which might conduce to their spiri- tual or temporal welfare. Friday, July 1. Drinking tea, this after- noon, at Priory, we were surprised with a very unexpected storm of rain, thunder, and light- ning. The flashes were so frequent, and so very violent, that Mrs. Sydenham proposed shutting the windows, letting down the cur- tains, and having candles brought in ; which was done accordingly. I dropt an intimation of my readiness to go to prayer ; but the hint was not accepted. After about two hours, the weather being fair again, I took that oppor- tunity of returning home to Broad-Hembury. On my way, the thunder and lightning were renewed ; but there being no rain, I kept on, and, blessed be God's good providence, arrived safe at the vicarage. The Lord preserved me from a slavish fear ; but I felt a very desirable awe on my mind, even such as I would always wish to feel, on such a commanding occasion, I conversed much with God in mental prayer, and desire to bless his name, that the awful manifestations of his power were not commis- sioned either to hurt or destroy. I have heard much loudi-r thunder; but never, I believe, saw such prodigious lightning ; unless my being more exposed to it, than I ever was before, makes me think so. Thou, O Lord, command- est the waters ; it is the glorious God who maketh the thunder: and (adored be the riches of thy mercy) it was Thou who didst bid the lightnings alarm, but prohibit them to strike. O take me, and seal me thine for ever ! Saturday, 2. God gave me, this night, some very exjjress and comfortable assurances of his 24 MEMOIRS OF THE blessing me in the course of the public duties to-inoi row. Lord, I humbly say, Amen : I beg that it may be so ; I believe that it will be so. Sunday, 3. Pearly this morning, took horse for Fen-Ottery; where, being arrived, I went to captain Penney's. After being with him about half an hour, we walked to church. As we were going, the captain suddenly took hold of my left-arm : I, imagining he might have something particular to say to me, went closer to him ; when he fell on me, with all his weight. At first, I supposed he might have stumbled, and lost his footing; hut was alarm- ed when I found him continue motionless in my arms. In less than half a minute, became to himself; and was as well as ever. It seems, he has, several times before, been struck in a similar manner: and, had I not been by his side, he must have fallen prostrate. O, that he may, in this his day, know the tilings that be- long to his everlasting peace, before they are hid from his eyes ! Being come to the church, I read prayers, and then preached, with very great enlargement and liberty both of mind and utterance If I might judge by the tears, which some shed, under the word preached (and, indeed, I myself did with great difficulty refrain from weeping, toward the conclusion), the message of salvation seemed to be attend- ed with power. After dinner, rode to Harp- ford ; where I read prayers, and preached, to a very great congregation. Though my cough was somewhat troublesome, at intervals, I detained my old audience for fifty minutes, and great was my strength of voice and fer- vour of spirit ; nor less their attention. After drinking tea at farmer Carter's, I returned to Fen-Ottery ; where I lay at captain Penney's. Upon a retrospective view of this Lord's- day, 1 find abundant reason to adore, admire, and praise the goodness of God. Mr. Luce's being at Plymouth, rendered it necessary for me, as a friend, to assist him, by officiating at his churches ; and the Lord has been very gra- cious to me in my unworthy ministrations. I have had also, the additional satisfaction of delivering the tidings of peace and salvation to a people of whom 1 had, lately, the charge, and whom I afi'ectionately love in the Lord. Thou God of all grace,command thy omnipotent bless- ing on what tliey have heard ! Tuesday, 5. Laying at Otterton last night, I took an airing, this morning, with Mr. Duke, in his coach, to Budleigh, Knowle, Tidwell, and Salterton ; and the Lord enabled me, at times, to hold comfortable communion with himself by the way. Saturday, 9. The merciful and gracious Lord was sensibly with me, the latter part of to-day. — " Awake and sing," and, presently after, "Arise and shine," were spoken to my •soul, from above, with power and sweetness. Late at night, God was again pleased lo give me the knowledge of a sahbath-ilay's bless- ing to-morrow. Such comfortable and peremp- tory convictions of God's future presence and support on a succeeding Sunday (with which I have been so often favoured before-hand) I in tend, henceforth, as often as God is pleased to grant them, to distingui^h by the name of Satur- day-Assurances. Assurances they are indeed; so clear, positive, and satisfactory. I never knew them once fail, nor deceive my trust. I have often been dejected and fearful, at the ap- proached of a sabbath on which I was to minis- ter publicly; and God has frequently. Hot to say generally, been better to me than my unbe- lieving fears ; but, on those happy days (and, blessed be his name, they have, of late especi- ally, been very many) when previous assurances have been given me of his help and presence on the Sunday following, those assurances have always been made good. The Lord has often disappointed my doubts, and the evil surmis- ings of unbelief; but he never once disappoint- ed my hope, when he has said, previously, to my soul, "I will be with thee." Sunday, 10. God has made this a comfort- able sabbath indeed. In the morning, read prayers and preached to a considerable congre- gation ; and, in the afternoon, to an exceeding great one, with great readiness, strength, and presence of mind, each time. In the evening, God delivered me out of a grievous temptation, and saved me from falling by it. Visited and prayed with Sarah Granger. I was heartily glad to find that the Lord has made her sensible of the deceitfulness of her heart. Her fears that she is not sincerely earnest in seeking God, and, to use her own expression, in her " long- ings alter the Lord Jesus ;'' are to me, favour- able signs of her being so. In praying with her, God gave me enlargement of mind, and great freedom of speech. Visited old Mrs. Hutchins, who longs for the assurance of faith; but whose fear of death rather increases than abates : I was enabled to speak a word in season; and trust it was not wholly in vain in the Lord. At night read Polhill's Treatise (late the property of the excellent Mr. Pearsall), entitled, " Pre- cious Faith." It is a precious book, and on a precious subject. Friday, 15. God shone upon my soul greatly this evening. Sunday, 17- In the morning, read prayers and preached ; but not with that sensible com- fort which I sometimes enjoy. In the afternoon, Mr. Savery was so kind as to read prayers and preach in my stead. My cough was rathei' troublesome to-day. After evening service, I was much cheered and refreshed in soul, while reading Mr. Erskine's sermon, entitled, "Faith's Plea on God's Word and Covenant." Sunday, 24. In the morning, rode to Shel- don ; where I read prayers and preached. Ke- turning thence, I read prayers and preached here, atBroad-IIenibury, in the afternoon, with uncommon strength and livelir.ess, and to the REV. AUGUSTUS TOPLADY. 25 largest congregation I have yet seen in this place. Blessed be the God of all comfort, for the distinguished mercies of this delightful sabbath. I was carried, through the duties of it, as on eagles' wings ; and, amidst the vast auditory, the word preached seemed to reach some hearts with power and the demonstration of the Spirit. May it be fastened as a nail in a sure place, and be found after many days ! Sunday, 31. Read prayers, and preached, both morning and afternoon, with strength and some liveliness, but with little spiritual joy. At night, was visited with some taste;, of comfort, and with the sweet rays of my heaven- ly Father's countenance, in reading Erskine's sermons. Read likewise, not without sensible improvement, some part of the acts of the synod of Dort ; particularly the judgment of the British divines, "De Perseverautia Sanctorum." Saturday, August 6. Was much dejected in soul to-night ; but, in seeking the Lord, re- ceived some comfortable intimations. Sunday, 7. In the morning rode to Plym- tree ; where I read prayers, and preached, with very great freedom, strength, and enlargement, to a serious, attentive congregation ; some of whom seemed to experience as much of the Holy Spirit's power as I did. After dining at Mr. Harward's, I returned to Broad-Hembury : where I read prayers, and preached, to a pro- digiously full church, with equal fervour and liberty both of mind and utterance, as in the morning. I can never enough adore thy good- ness, O thou God of all grace ! Monday, 8. I caimot help noting, to my shame, and as a mark of my exceeding depra- vity, that, after all the Lord's sabbath-day's mercies to me jesterday, I was never, that I know of, more cold, lifeless, and wandering, than I was in secret prayer last night, just before going to bed. Pardon, dearest Lord, my vvai\t of love ! Alas, if I loved thee more, I should serve thee better. During the course of the present day, God gave me some very humbling and instructing views of myself. Ab- stracted from special, efficacious grace, nothing- ness (or, if anything, utter sinfulness; may be written on all I have, and am, and do. Blessed be God, that I have some ground to hope myself interested in a better righteousness than my own ! Sunday, 14. Read prayers, and preached, morning and afternoon. Was, in general, great- ly depressed in soul this day ; but not so much during the seasons of public worship, as before and after. In the evening, and at night, my heart aspired to God with groanings that cannot be uttered. Yet,whilereadingWhitty's Sermons, I experienced a great degree of divine power, and, now and then, some sweetness ; but I could not rejoice in the Lord; nor is it fit that such a sinner always should. Deal with me, O God, as thou wilt : but, O, seal me to the day of redemp- tion, and make me be found in the number of thine at last ! Thursday, 18. At Exeter, to-day, I spent some time with that excellent Christian, good old Mr. Brewer ; and, in the course of our conversation, I experienced much of the divine presence. Among other matters, he mentioned some particulars, spoken in a charge lately given at the ordination of a young dissenting minister, which I put down here, as they are too good to be lost. " 1 cannot conclude," said the old ambassador of Christ, " without reminding you, my young brother, of some things that maybe of use to you, in the course of your ministry. 1. Preach Christ crucified, and dwell chiefly on the blessings resulting from his righteousness, atonement, and inter- cession. 2. Avoid all needless controversies, in the pulpit ; except it be, when your subject necessarily requires it ; or when the truths of God are likely to suflFer by your silence. 3. When you ascend the pulpit, leave your learn- ing behind you : endeavour to preach more to the hearts of your people, than to their heads. 4. Do not affect too much oratory. Seek rather to profit, than to be admired." In the after- noon, returned to Broad-Hembury. Sunday, 21. In the morning, attended my friend, Mr. Savery, to Sheldon ; where he l ead prayers and preached. Returned, by dinner, to Broad-Hembury, where I read prayers, and preached, in the afternoon, to a large con- gregation, with a spirit and life that seemed to reach the hearts of most present. It was a Sabbath-day's blessing indeed. Surely, notliiiig but heaven itself can exceed such a golden opportunity! " Bless the Lord, O my soul ; and ail that is within me praise his holy name." Saturday, '27. In secret prayer, to-night, God gave me a Saturday-assurance of a blessing to- morrow ; and I was enabled to believe that it would be unto me even as the Lord had said. Sunday, 28. Read prayers, and preached, both parts of the day, with uncommon strength of body, and with vast enlargement of soul. Between morning and afternoon service, being in my study, and comfortably engaged in secret prayer, the Lord visited me with a refreshing shower of divine love : so that my soul was like a watered garden. I never felt so intense a desire to be useful to the souls of my people ; my heart was expanded, and burnt with zeal, for the glory of God, and for the spiritual wel- fare of my flock. I wished to spend and be spent in the ministry of the word ; and had some gracious assurances from on high that God would make use of me to diffuse his gospel, and call in some of his chosen that are yet unconverted. — In the afternoon, the congregation was exceedingly great in- deed. I was all on fire for God ; and the fire, I verily believe, caught from heart to heart. — I am astonished, when I review the blessings of this Lord's day. That a sinner so vile, so feeble, so ill, and so hell-deserving, should be thus powerfully carried beyond 26 MEMOIRS OF THE himself, ^nd be enabled to preacb with such demonstration of the Spirit. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach, among the gentiles, the unsearchable riches of Christ. Lord, let thy word run, and be glorified ! Out of weakness, I am made strong; to thy name alone be the entire praise! And goon, O, go on, to own the counsel of thy unworthiest messenger, and to make the feet of him that sent me sound behind me ! Thy mercies to me, both as a man, as a believer, and as a minister, have already been so wonderful, that there is hardly any thing too great for me to hope for at thy hands. Monday, 29. This evening, after my return from Grange, God was very gracious to my soul. My meditation of him was sweet, and he gave me songs in the night season. I had sweet, melt- ing views of his special goodness, and of my own utter unworthiness. The united sense of these two keeps the soul in an even balance. I am then happiest, as well as safest, when my very exultations lay me lowest. IP'ediicidav, 31. Writing, this afternoon, to Mrs. Browne, of Bath, I could not help enu- merating some of God's chief mercies to me, both in a way of providence and grace, since I saw her last. Among other things, I ob- served as follows : " God has also given me, in general, a much greater portion ot health and strens;th than usual ; and crowned his other mercies, by enabling me to dispense his gos- pel, for the most part, with a liveliness and fervour which I have seldom experienced for so long a time together. 1 sing, and ought to sing, of mercy and loving kindness. I can indeed set up my Ebenezer, erect a monument of thankfulness, and inscribe every separate blessing with David's motto. This hath God done. May his grace lay me low at his footstool, as a Christian ; and his al- mighty Spirit command success on ii.y unworthy labours, as a minister! The Lord go on to make you, madam, happy in his love, and an instrument of extensive good to his people below. In the exercise of the grace be has given you, and in the discharge of the duties he has allotted to you, may your joy and peace flourish as the lily, and your comforts cast forth the root as Lebanon. Amid all your bodily complaints, may his strength be perfected in your weakness, and his right hand sustain you ; until, by the blood of atonement, and the faithful guid- ance of his Spiiit, he has brought you to that land of light and rest and joy, where the glorified inhabitant shall no more, in any sense whatever, say, I am sick. I propose, if Providence permit, to set out for London, the latter end of September ; where I hope to spend the ensuing winter with my honoured mother •. happy should I be, in the mean while, to hear, that your health is at least no worse than usual. — I rejoice to find, from several gentlemen of Dorsetshire, that Mr. 's health is greatly improved. I have not taken the liberty of writihg to him since last March was twelve-month ; one reason of which is, lest he should think I had any interested views to serve : which I am sure, is verv far from being the case ; my present living being vastly more eligible, than any, of which my honoured friend is patron. When you send next to Frampton, you will oblige me in condescend- ing to mention my name, and tendering my most respectful compliments. My affectionate remembrance, and best wishes, attend the three young gentlemen, your nephews ; nor can I give a sincerer proof of both, than by praying that they may flourish as olive branches in the courts of the Lord's house ; be made wise unto salvation, by his Spirit ; and increase with the increase of God. Mr. and Mrs. Derham have my affettionate compliments : they may wonder, perhaps, that I have not done myself the pleasure of writing to them ; but dear Mrs. D. deserves only a scolding letter (if I could find in my heart to send her such an one), for leaving London, last autumn, without seeing me, though she knew I was' then in town ; and the friend, at whose house she was, and who informed me afterwards of these par- ticulars, was engaged to drink tea with me the very day Mrs. Derham set out for Bath." Friduy, September' 2. Received, this morn- ing, a letter from a gospel friend ; informing me, that Mr- Morris, of the county of Wex- ford, in Ii eland, whose ministry was, a little turned of twelve years ago, blest to my con- version, is waxing cold in the work of the Lord. Upon which, I thought it a debt due to friendship, and to the cause of God, to write him a letter. Saturdat/, 3. God was graciously pleased, this night, to give me an assurance of his bless- ing on the public work of to-morrow. How tenderly and bountifully does the Father of consolations deal with his sinful messengers ! Surely, doubting is doubly a sin in me ! Sunday, 4. In the morning rode to Sheldon; where I was enabled to read prayers, and preach, with great comfort to myself, and, I have reason to hope, with power to them that heard. On my return, being part of the way over Hembercombe (more properly, Hembury Common), a most violent storm of rain obliged me to turn back, and take shelter at Richard Lane's. After half an hour's stop there, I re- turned to Broad-Hembury ; where, in the afternoon, I read prayeis, and preached, with the greatest freedom and fervour, to a most attentive and (in appearance) affected congre- gation. Wet as the afternoon has proved, a great number of strangers were at church ; and, I verily think, the presence and power of God was atiiongst us. — After service good old Mrs. Hutchings, and Joan Venn, drank cofTee KEV. AUGUS-'US TOPLADY. 27 with me at the vicarage. Our conversation was, for the most part, savoury and comfort- able. Was rejoiced to hear, that the word of God from my hps has been greatly blessed of late, to those two persons ; to farmer Copp, and his eldest son ; to old Mr. Thomas Granger, faimer Smith, and several other of my parish- oneis. Since I came down last into Devonshire from London (i. e. not quite a twelvemonth ago), God has owned my ministry more than ever ; particularly, at Harpford, and here. Blessed Lord, the work is thine alone : go on, I most humbly beseech thee, to speak to the hearts of sinners, by the meanest mouth that ever blew the trumpet in Zion ! At night, 1 was much comforted in spirit, in reading bishop Beveridge's Private Thoughts. Monday, 5. Had some sweet, refreshing in- tercourse with God, several times to-day. Upon a review of my experience durii-g the former part of last year, and occasionally in the course of the present, I cannot help observing, that great humiliations are, often, the best pre- paratives for ministerial usefulness. Salurday, 10. God refreshed and satisfied my soul to-night, with a Saturday's-assur^mce. " I have blessed thee, and will bless thee again." was the answer I received. Sunday, 11. In reading prayers^ and in preaclnng, the Lord was signally with me, both parts of the day. In the afternoon, especially, the word, I verily trust, went forth with power and was glorified. Saturday, \7- Received some satisfactory and coniforiable intimations of a Sabbath-day's blessing to-morrow. Surely, the Loid is in- deed good to those that wait for him, and to the soul that seeUeth him ! Sunday, 18. Read prayers, and preached, morning and afternoon, with very great fervour, strength, and enlargement. That God is doing his work of grace upon the hearts of some, I have all the proof, both public and [)rivate, that the nature of the case will admit of. The Lord hath been to my soul, this day, both in my study, and in the temple, a place of broad rivers and streams. This evening, 1 met with a paragraph from archbishop Usher, which well deseivcs to be entered here: — " I must tell you," says the ex- cellent prelate, as niy autlior relates it, " that we do not well understand what saiictitication and the new creature are ; it is no less than for a man to be brought to an entire resignation of his will to the will of God ; and to live in the ottering up of his soul contiiuially, in the flames of love, as a whole burnl-oltering to Christ." I trust, I have experienced and do frequently experience, something of this blessed work, in myself: Lord, make the little one become a thousand 1 Saturday, 24. Dined at Ottery, to day, at Mr Dare's. Our conversation tinned partly on historical, partly on religion-, subjects. We talked, particularly, on the nature of rege- neration: and I took occasion, among other things, to observe that the whole process of the new-birth seems included in that three- fold conviction, mentioned by our Lord, and declared by him to be the office of the Holy Ghost : namely. Conviction of sin, or of our total depravity by nature and practice ; of the impossib.lity of our being justified by works ; of our liableness to the whole curse of the law ; and our absolute inability to help, save, or re- cover ourselves, whether in whole or in part: 2. Conviction of righteousness, i. e. of the perfection, necessity, and ellicacy of Christ's righteousness, in order to justification before God : 3. Conviction of judgment, or that act of the Holy Spirit on the soul, whereby " the prince of this world is judged ;" brought, as it were, to the bar ; found guilty of usurpation ; and dethroned : from which happy moment, the sinner is brought into sweet subjection to God, his lawful sovereign, sin is weakened as to its dominion (in order to its final extir- pation), and the regenerate soul is more and more conformed to the image of God's holi- ness. So that, I suppose, conviction of sin is only another name for evangelical repentance; conviction of righteousness, for true faith in Christ ; and conviction of judgment, a peri- phrasis for sanctification : which three capital graces are the constituents of regeneration. — Toward evening returned to Broad-Hembury. Sunday, 25. In the morning, read prayers, and preached ; and the power of God appeared to accompany the word spoken. Young Mr. Minifie, in particular, was, I am informed, greatly affected from above. In the afternoon, the congregation was by far the greatest 1 ever yet saw here ; the people flocked like doves to the windows ; and such an auditory, and that auditory so solemn and attentive, was a most awfully aft'ecting sight. I read prayers, and preached, with a fervour, strength, and live- liness, which only God could give. His word seems to run like fire which none can quench. Lord, pardon my unworthiness, and accom- plish the work of thy grace upon the hearts of them that hear, and on the base, sinful heart of me the feeblest and most undeserving of thy messengers ! After evening service, Mary Ellis called on me. If ever a soul was truly convinced of sin, I believe she is so. I endeavoured to administer balm to her wounded spirit, by opening up the promises, and un- folding a little of the unsearchable riches of Christ. This morning, as I was going to church, Joan Venn put a paper into my hands. Last Tuesday, she gave me an account of God's past dealings with her soul ; and I have seldom seen a person, of the truth of whose conversion I had so little cause to doubt. In consequence of our interview that day, slie has had some exercises of mind, as 1 hiul from this paper, which, omitting what relates to 28 MEMOIRS OF THE my unworthy self, runs thus : " I have had veiy deep thoughts, and very great trouble, since my last discourse with you. I have looked into my hfe past ; I have ransacked my soul, and called to mind the sinful failings of my youth : and I find it very hard and difficult, to make my calling and election sure. I have earnestly desired to leave no corner of my soul unsearched ; and I find myself a very grievous and wretched sinner. I have com- mitted grievous sins, very grievous sins, such sins as are not fit to be named before God's saints. I have examined my soul by each par- ticular commandment, and find myself guilty of the breach of all, and that in a high de- gree. And now, when I look upon the glass of the law, and there see my own vileness, I find God's justice and my own deserts even ready to surprise me and cast me down into the nethermost hell, and that most righteously: but O, see the goodness of a gracious God, in that he hath given me a sight of my sins I And I am inclined to think, that, if God did not work with me, this sorrow could not be. O, sir, I cannot but let you know, that some- times I have some blessed thoughts of God ; and O, how sweet are they to my soul ! they are so ravishing, that I cannot possibly declare it; but they are like the morning cloud and early dew, soon gone, and then I am afraid. I have had abundance of trials and temptations in these three years almost; but if I could think that my dear Lord had shed his blood for me, I should not be so much shaken ; and, because I cannot apply these things to myself, my heart doth mourn within me. I am greatly afraid of the deceitfulness of my heart, lest that should deceive me. But let the righteous smite me, and it shall be a kindness; and let him reprove me, and it shall be excellent oil which shall not break my head. O, that the Lord Jesus Christ would but sprinkle what I have said with his precious blood ! And, now 1 have opened my soul to you, I most humbly beg and desire your advice concerning these weighty matters ; for tliey are matters which concern my never dying soul. — And I have a high esteem for you : but what is my esteem ? The esteem of a poor worm, of a poor sinful creature. O that the Lord would let me see, more and more, my own vileness I Now I have declared to you what the Lord, through grace, hath revealed to me ; though I am unworthy to write to such," &c. O, that all ray parishioners were, not only almost, but altogether such, in spirit, as this woman ! Illiterate she is, and, I believe, chiefly supports herself by spinning : but, when God teaches, souls are taught indeed. October 2. Simday. In the morning read prayers, and preached, to a large and affected auditory : afterwards, I administered the blessed sacrament Last Whitsunday, I had but thirty- six communicants : to-day, I had the comfort of counting sixty-one. It was a season of spiritual joy and refieshment. Duty is plea- sant, when God is present. — In the afternoon, read prayers, and preached, to a still more crowded church than ever. Great were my strength and joy in the Lord ; and the word, I verily trust, was armed with divine power. Mr. Pratt, of Dal-.vood, in Dorsetshire, with two other gentlemen of the same place, were here, both parts of the day. — I know not that I ever spent a more comfortable and tri- umphant sabbath. How is it, O thou God of love, that thy tender mercies should thus accompany and follow the vilest sinner out of hell ! That, to me, who am less than the least of all saints, this grace should be given, that 1 should both experience and preach the un- searchable riches of Christ ! Monday, 3. Good Mr. Bampfield, of Shel- don, called on me this morning; and our con- versation, though short, was chiefly on the best subjects. Having been informed, yes- terday, that Mr. Rutter, a worthy dissenting minister in Honiton, was seized, a few days ago, with the palsy, and disabled from the work of the ministry, I wrote him a letter. Decemher 3. Saturday. Mr. Bottoniley, a worthy person, for whom I have a very great esteem, but who has long been an Arininian, put a paper into my hands, last night, at the Queen's Arms, after the club broke up, con- taining some of his chief objections to the Calvinistic scheme. It is a copy of a letter, sent by him, some time ago, to Mr. Roniaiue ; and runs in an humble, modest style ; very difl'erent from the bigotry and fury, the abuse and wilful misrepresentations, too usually found in the productions of those who pretend, anoidst all, to be advocates for universal love in the Deity; but of which they seldom shew any traces in themselves. I gave my friend the substance of my thoughts in a letter. We have now to take notice of Mr. Top- lady, as entering the polemic field; and cannot help viewing him with a mixture of love and admiration. As a writer of true genius he has given scope to his own abilities, and thought as well as read. He has carried a classical taste into subjects which have been too often treated in a dry, jejune, and insipid manner. Though the track has been beaten, he has brought out something new on every subject he has entered upon. His style was chaste, animated, simple and grand, and so varied as to suit the different topics he canvassed. He had the peculiarity of spirit to strike oflF glow- ing images, and to seize the ridicule of cha- racter. The union of strength with elegance and precision characterises his diction, and en- titles him to a distinguished rank amongst the- ological writers. There was a singular unhappiness attending REV. AUGUSTUS TOPLADY. our author in meeting with an opponent who should have been passed by in silent pity. The person alluded to was the Rev. Mr. John Wesley, a clergyman ordained in the church of Ent;land, but whose eccentric principles, and palpable deviations from his ecclesiastical parent, and from what has been received as sound principle in Protestant churches, was a peculiar trait in his character. His popularity as an itinerant preacher, by an assiduous per- severance, procured him a considerable number of votaries, who attached themselves to him as their leader. He published seveial books extracted from the writings of other men, which also conduced to render him conspi- cuous. His understanding, strictly speaking, was but ordinary. His imagination was fertile in littleness. The reader is disturbed and dis- gusted by the indistinctness of his ideas, and the inconclusiveness of his reasonings, the glaring misrepresentations and the plagiarisms of his pages. His arguments have been made up of undigested materials, heterogeneous and repugnant, without either shape or form, the frivolousness of their design and application have been completely destroyed by being only set in array against each other If a prize had been given to dulness and the most superlative conceit, this gentleman might have started with the certainty of triumph. His resent- ment towards those who differed from him was intense. His self-importance was asto- nishing, so that no reprehension given, in ever so mild a way, could instruct him. Those who have taken a cursory review, and were unacquainted with the parties, have taken our author's energy for indignation, his spirit for invective, and his retorts for passion and outrage. We pretend not that he was impec- cable, we acknowledge the ebullitions of a little subacid humour now and then, and that we find him sometimes indulging himself in a flow of witticism, which may appear to the fastidious as bordering upon levity — but what is this but light and shade reciprocally setting off each other It should be remembered, that those small faults, if they may be called such, are more than ci-aipensated by that great solidity and depth of thought, which, like a golden vein, runs through the whole of his writings. Controversial divinity has been held in much disrepute, by tlie ill informed zeal with which it has been managed by various dis- putants. It has often produced a spirit of opposition and rivalship. The setting up of a party, as also bigoted attachments to certain ceremonies, of particular modes of thinking. The naked simplicity of truth has been covered under the shreds and patches of declamation. The result of which has been, that the demon of discord has too often found a lace in the very sacred sanctuary, so as to break that cement that unites professing Christians to one another. It has had such a disagreeable aspect to those who have been making a serious inquiry after divine knowledge, as to promote a lassitude and indifference towards the inves- tigation of subjects that are of everlasting im- portance. Therefore, while on the one hand we reprobate every idea of an unbecoming asperity in things truly trifling, and of no con- sequence, let it not be supposed that, because strong truths prove offensive to weak eyes, a minister ought in any degree, by a wretched, dastardly, pusillanimity, to be so disingenous as to make any apology, for not contending earnestly for that faith once delivered to the saints, though it should expose him to the uncan- did virulence of habitual dissention. Mr Toplady, though so strenuous an advocate for the essentials of Christianity, so as not to recede an iota from his principles, was notwithstanding possessed of enlarged and expanded views. His intimacy and friendship with several valuable characters in the dis- senting communion, evidently evinced the generous and liberal sentiments of his breast. He expressed great esteem for those who were engaged in promoting the Redeemer's interest among mankind : how much soever they may have differed on unimportant topics, they uni- formly found in him the urbanity of a gentleman, accompanied with that suavity of disposition which rendered him agreeable to all who had the happiness of his acquaintance. It was his intention, had his health permitted, to employ his pen in endeavouring to refute opinions ad- vanced by Dr. Priestley, in his book, entitled, " Disquisitions on lilatter and Spirit." Though the doctor's theological principles and his were as opposite as it were possible to con- ceive, we cannot help anticipating, that if such an intellectual feast had taken place, from the specimen of their correspondence, we should have seen the truest respect given, by Mr. Toplady, to a great genius, and the moral in- tegrity of the man, without sacrificing truth, by a fulsome adulation, or for one moment countenancing those destructive tenets which degrade the person, and annihilate the work of Christ in the redemption of sinners. In the year 1768, six students were expelled the University of Oxford ; much investigation relative to the cause took place, and several pamphlets were written on the occasion. It was in some degree the means of reviving an enquiry respecting the Calvinism or Armi- nianism of the church of England. Had some of the persons concerned in the dispute adhered to observations and facts, it would have saved much superfluous time, in repeating what others have said again and again before them. For it is undeniable, that to be zealously attached to the Articles, Homilies, and Liturgy of the establishment, the epithet of Calvinist is certain to be prtfixed to the character who espouses those doctrines. The name of any man, how- ever highly sanctioned, should be of nj avail, 30 MEMOIRS OF THE in enforcing or determining the belief of any one. We know of no infallible spiritual optimist : it is to the Scriptures every appeal must be made : nevertheless, so far as Calvin, " or any other venerable character appear to embrace, and ardently stand forth to maintain the unadulterated system of the gospel, we have no objection to arrange ourselves under their banners, and to follow them so far as they followed Christ. Dr. Nowel peremptorily asserted the Ar- minianism of the chuich of England in answer to Pietas Oxoniensis. This called forth the pen of our author, in a treatise published in the year 17(i9, with thefollowing title: "TheChurch of England vindicated from the Charge of Armi- nianism, in a Letter addressed to Dr. Nowel." He has therein shewn, by the clearest deduction of argument, unconnected with laboured so- phistry, or the studied distictions of thesubtilties of the declaimer, on which side the church leans. In the same year our author published a tract in English, from the Latin of Jerom Zanchius.with this inscription, "The Doctrine of absolute Predestination stated and as^erted, with a Preliminary Discoujse on the Divine Attributes, accompanied with the Life of Zan- chius." This piece was finished by Mr. Top- larty when he was about twenty years of age, but bya modesty of disposition, bordering upon timidity, it was not announced to the public until nine years after. The translation was undertaken with a view to illustrate the prin- ciples of tlie reformation, and obviate objections that have been urged, that the doctrine of predestination was but partially received by those eminent men, who had then lately left the church of Rome, at the same time the principles are discussed upon Scripture pre- mises, and in analogy with the divine atti ibutes. Mr. John Wesley, in a printed sheet of paper, that it might be distributed with the greater facility, endeavouied to impose on the public a few mutilated extracts from the last mentioned pamphlet, signed with the initials of our author's name ; the notoriety of such a weak procedure, if it had been left unregarded, would, in time, have shewn the imbecility of the attempt, and proved that uprightness had nothing to do with Mr. Wesley or his prin- ciples. It however appeared to Mr. Toplady of consequence enough to call forth his pen on the occasion, in a letter from the press, in the year 177", "To the reverend Mr. John Wes- ley, relative to his pretended Abridgment of Zanchius." A few months after, a second edi- tion was called for, which was enlarged with a postscript to the reverend Mr. Sellon. His sentiments were manly and spirited, conveyed in a close and nervous style. This publication was succeeded by a dis- course preached at St. Ann's church. Black- friars, entitled, " A Caveat against Unsound Doctrines." Mr. Toplady in this sermon asserts a few of the essential doctrines of ic- velation that were stigmatised with every op- probrium, he appeals, and avows his principles, from the confession of faith asserted in that church, of which he was a minister. To those who depreciate every system, as the compo- sition of men, liable to prejudice and error, and may therefore advance propositions which the Bible will by no means support, he places the Scripture as the grand object, and enforces the doctrines by arguments, solid and incom- pressible. Mr. Toplady here presents himself before us as a public speaker, in which situation he stood eminently distingui.-ihed. A specimen of his judgment and perspicuity, accompanied with a nobleness of sentiment and sublimity of expression, are now before the public. Never did we see a man ascend the pulpit with a mo e serious air, conscious of the momentous work that he was engaged in. His discourses were extemporary, delivered in the strains of true unadulterated oratory. He had a great variety of talents, such as are seldom seen united in one person : his voice was melodious and affecting ; his manner of delivery and action were engaging, elegant, and easy, so as to captivate and fix the attention of every hearer. His explanations were distinct and clear ; his arguments strong and forcible ; and his ex- hortations warm and animating ; his feelings were so intensely poignant, as to occasion, in some of his addresses, a flow of tears ; which, as it weie by a sympathetica! attraction, have drawn forth a reciprocal sensibility in his auditory. He despised those rhetorical tricks, that captivate and allure the multitude, and yet so numerous have been his assemblies, that the churches where he preached in the metropolis could not contain the heareis. He had an extensive knowledge of the several avenues to the human mind, so as by a subli- mity of reasoning to astonish his adversaries. He was no servile imitator of any one, a pleasing originality in his manner was peculiar to him- self, and had the appearance of an immediate perception. For to discourse well, something more than learning is wanting; the happy art of expressing with facility and elegance must, in a great degree, be born with the speaker, and is the immediate gift of heaven. A man may be unacquainted with the Grecian and Roman orators, or any preceptive treatise on the subject, and yet enter into the spirit of those great originals. Notwithstanding he was possessed of whatever study and application could impart, or learning, judgment, and genius could combine, we find him estimating all human attainments as of little consequence in divine things, without the eff'ectual agency of the Holy Spirit. It was this that cast a lustre upon his abilities, and peculiarly charac- terized him a minister of the New Testament. He had the pleasure to see the work of the REV. AUGUSTUS TOPLADY. 31 Lord prosper in his hands, and many souls given him, which will be his crown of rejoic- \n«r in the day of the appearance of the Lord Jesus. Ill the year 1771, were published, three sermons, by Mr. Toplady, preached in his church, at Broad-Hemlniry, Dec. 25, 17/0, two of which were entitled, " Jesus seen of Angels," and the third, " God's Mindfulness of Man." In these elegant compositions, there is a novetly of sentiment in matters of the most common discussion : the beautiful pathos with which they abound, must at once e.Kcite the notice of the most cursory reader. The publication of these discourses was succeeded by a pamphlet, entitled, " Free Thoughts on the projected Application to Parliament, in the year 1771, for the Abolition of Ecclesiastical Subscription." Our author therein acknowledges himself a defender of subscriptions to articles of faith, and that a community has a right to demand it from those whom ihey invest with any office in religious concerns, as a fence for keeping principles inimical to their views from entering among them, at the same time he enters his protest, and looks upon it as a grievance, that it should he exacted from the laity, particularly, those* who take the academical degrees in law or physic, and asserts, that no body of men what- soever has any plea to obtrude their opinions upon others. It was his uniform sentiment, that the empire of the mind is peculiar to the dominion of God, in religious concerns ; that, to exercise any authority over it, in any case, or in any degree whatever, is a sacri- legious invasion of the divine prerogative, and one of the highest oft'ences that can be com- mitted against God and man. He was a stren- uous advocate for Christian benevolence, and for the unrestrained toleration of Protestant Dissenters, with an enlargement of mind, that has a tendency to unite good men of difl'erent persuasions into one bond of union, which is the great design of the gospel of Christ. We find our author, in the year 177^, en- gaged again in vindicating the principles he patronised and avowed in his translation of Zancbius, in a publication under the title, " More Work for Mr. John Wesley, or a Vin- dication of the Decrees and Providences of God, against a Paper called the Consequence Prov- ed.'' The decrees of God, or his immanent de- termination respecting either angels or men, are so inscrutable, that all human researches must utterly fail, when attempting an investi- gation. The bounds which should circumscribe our thoughts have been most indecently leapt over, so that in endeavouring to account for the divine procedure, and to reconcile what has been supposed to carry an incongruity of prin- « Hy a;, act 1!) 0,.o. 111. tl.e Dissenters arc tolerated to worsiiip God, aciordiug to tlieir consrjeiii es, on tnljBcnbing the Scriptures instead of the Articlej. ciple, have lead the inquirers to canvas the in ■ defeasible prerogative of Deity. The result of which has been, they have found themselves enveloped in a maze of contradiction, and, in- stead of acknowledging the ambiguity attending human reasoning on such topics, they have substituted frivolous and vexatious objections, contradicting the analogy of divine revelation. We read, that when Christ entered decisively upon the subject, in the (ith chapter of St John's gospel, some of his disciples peremptorily as- serted, that " It was a hard saying," and asked, "Who can bear it?" Our Lord reiterated the doctrine to them, in the same discourse, and many of them, we are there informed, were so inveterate against him, that they left his pre- sence, " and walked no more with him.'' As it was then, so has it been in every period of time. Fol- almost every sect, however they may have disagreed upon other subjects, have unanimously coincided to explode, with a de- grading menace, the doctrine of predestination. Persons of atheistical, and deistical principles, with those unacquainted with the Scriptures, have joined in one decisive adherency of opinion ; not considering that the counsel of God must stand, and that he will do all his pleasure, his decrees being, like niniself, immu- table. Ml . Toplady, in this tract, canvasses the objections urged against God's prescience, with that acuteness of penetration, which carries a pleasing ingenuity in his explanations, clothed with a vigeur of language deserving com- mendation. On the 12th of May, 177-, our author was appointed to preach a visitation sermon before the clergy of the archdeaconry of Exeter, held at Columpton, which was published a few weeks after under the title " Clerical Subscrip- tion no Grievance, &c." This discourse is richly laden with evangelical treasure, we wish it were put into the hands of every candidate for the sacred ministry, on examination it will be found to contain a choice epitome of sacred truths, enforced to the conscience, by several ap- posite texts of Scripture, shewn to comport with the fixed principles of the church of England. Animated at all times with a laudable ardour for the interest of the established church, he unremittingly endeavoured to retard its decay, and to restore it to its primitive piinciples, by bringing to appearance the excellent edifice of her doctrines, as erected on marble columns, instead of posts, crumbling to putrefaction. This is paiticularly exemplified by referiing to a work of his in two vols, octavo, published in the year 1774, inscribed "Historic Proof of the Doctrinal Calvinism of the Church of England, &c." In these volumes, he has shewn great classical taste, splendour of erudition and critical acumen, for while he is attending to the merit of others, he is raising a monument of his own abilities. In this history he investigates the principles of many of those great worthies who 32 MEMOIRS OF THE were the agents, under Divine Providence, of bringing in the dawn of the morning, into the dark abodes of barbarism and ignorance. The light they were the means of diffusing has gra- dually increased, and continued as it proceeded in the midst of intervening clouds, until we in our day have experienced something descriptive of its meridian brightness. To that keenness of understanding so necessary to form a true critic, he has added that perseverance of in- vestigation, and accuracy of research, which were essential in delineating the portraits of those great characters. In the details of the extracts, and examination of their principles, he gives an immediate transcript of the feelings of his own mind, and indisputably proves the Calvinism of the church he was so zealously espoused to In the year 1 774, were published by Mr. Top- lady, two sermons, one preached at St. Ann's Blackfriars, May 25th, with the inscription " Free Will and Merit fairly Examined, or Men not their own Saviours." The other was preach- ed at the Lock Chapel, June 1 9, entitled, " Good News from Heaven, or the Gospel a joyful Sound," both delivered in the above year. These two discourses are a desirable acquisition to the lovers of evangelical religion and sound rea- soning. The material principles contended for are comprised in narrow limits, their connec- tion and existence are made to appear to depend on one another. The arguments are well distin- guished and arranged. The clearness and pre- cision of the definitions are such, that every thing extraneous is thrown up, and nothing redundant retained, which is not directly ad- herent to the points immediately in view. The topics introduced are prosecuted with great judgment, accuracy, and caution, so as to steer clear of Arminianism on one side, and Libertinism on the other In the beginning of the year 1774, a reli- gious pamphlet was printed, called The Gospel Magazine ; being a new series of a former work under that name, which was continued statedly. The utility of such a periodical publication must be obvious, for the contents, when executed with discernment, will be various, interesting, instructive, and entertaining, and may be easily purchased by those v/ho have scarcely means to procure a number of books. The above journal was carried on with reputable distinc- tion for a few years. From December 1775, to June 177c, Mr. Toplady was the editor, which enhanced the sale considerably; some of the anonymous parts he composed therein shine conspicuous. Heoftenappeared underthe modest characterof Minimus. Sometimes he adopted the descriptive signature of Concionator, and a few papers with theinitials of his own name. With the assistance of ingenious and lear?ied correspond- ents, he continued for a time to enrich and diver- sify this monthly entertainment for the public. In the year 1 7/5, Mr. Toplady published an 8vo. vol. entitled, " The Scheme of Chris- tian and Philosophical Necessity Asserted." In this work he appears not only as a respect- able divine, but as a philosopher and a man of taste ; he adopts the opinion in behalf of phy- sical and moral necessity, and rescues the doc- trine from the pretended charge of irrationality brought against it by the self-taught opinion- ist ; he combats the notion of man's determin- ing power, and analyses the two component principles with much ingenuity, and with a palatable mixture of science and pleasantry. He vindicates God's preterition of some of the fallen race, as a Scripture doctrine, at the same time gives his opinion from circumstances, that the far greater part of the human race, are made for endless happiness. To this tract is sub joined a dissertation concerning the sensible qualities of colour, illustrated from the cele- brated Mr. Locke. Our author, in his reason- ings, by a natural and easy turn, carries per- suasion into the heart of the reader without fatiguing him ; and though there may not be always an agreement with the peruser and writer in metaphysical or philosophical matters, he must be a very nice critic who is not much taken with many parts of it, as an uniformity of opi- nion on some speculative subjects b almost impossible. It may be remembered, that during the war between Great Britain and a large part of the inhabited globe of America, that the feuds and dissensions of party were carried to a consider- able extent, discussions began to take place on subjects which before were held too sacred to be entered upon. It was well known that Mr. Toplady was against those coercive measures that had taken place, and was of opinion that no plea could be set up in justification of the proceedings of this country against the colo- nies, which could be defended on constitutional principles. He was so explicit as to confess, that the ciril rights of mankind rank next in value, dignity, and importance, to the gospel of Christ. That the good Christian, and the good Englishman, are characters perfectly compatible, and that no book is more unfavour- able to the claims of arbitrary power than the Bible. His sentiments were, that if ever Eng- lish liberty perish, its perdition must be owing to want of spirit and of virtue in the English. While they as a people arc wise to understand, virtuous to love, and firm to defend the palla- dium of their own constitution, no weapon formed against it can ultimately prosper. Eng- land must be a Jeto de se, and fall by political suicide ; that is, she must tamely resign her throat to the knife of despotism before it be possible for her constitutional existence to fail, and that no such degeneiate miscreants may ever arise to dishonour the name and betiay the rights of Britain, were his fervent wishes on many public and private occasions. As an enemy to passive obedience, and unlimited sub- REV. AUGUSTUS TOPLADY. 33 jection to civil government, he was exposed to the malicious insinuations of those, who had an ingenuity in misrepresenting his motives, and traducing his character as a Republican in piinciplej indeed, so ridiculously prejudiced were some of his friends, that it occasioned a suspension of that mutual endearment that apparently subsisted between them in the paths of common amities. It happened very season- ably, that an occasion presented for him to remove the obloquy that had been thrown on his character, by his being appointed to preach at St. Mildred's Church, in the Poultry, on Friday, Dec. 13, 177(> ; being a day which was set apart for a general fast. His text was from Phil. iv. 5 The sermon was printed the begin- ning of the ensuing year. In this discourse, he unequivocally delivered his political senti- ments, suitable to the clerical character, ex- pressing a sincere attachment for the English constitution, and to legal liberty, with that subjection to a mild and equitable authority, which was the result of his good sense, pru- dence, and moderation. It was the infelicity of our much loved friend to have a capacious soaring mind, inclos- ed in a very weak and languid body ; yet, this by no means retarded his intense application to study, which was often prolonged until two and three o'clock in the morning ; this and the cold moist air that generally prevails in Devonshire, which isextremelypernicious to weak lungs, it is more than probable laid the foundation of a consumption, which terminated in his death. He endeavoured to exchange his living for one in a southern part of the island, but could not obtain it. As his strength and health were greatly impaired, he was advised by the faculty to remove to London, which he accordingly did in the year 1 775, and notwithstanding his debi- litated frame, he continued to preach a number of sermons in the churches, for the benefit of public charitable institutions. Having no settled situation in the metro- polis to preach in, and many of his friends being desirous of receiving the advantages of his ministry, they procured, by an engagement with the trustees of the French Calvinist reformed Church, in Orange-street, Leicester Fields, their chapel for divine service, on Sunday and Wednesday evenings. Mr. Toplady accord- ingly preached his first lecture there on Sunday, April 11 th, 1776, from the 44th of Isaiah, verse the 22d. It was on that spot vvhere he closed his ministerial labours, which continued there for the term of two years and three months. In his addresses from the pulpit in that chapel, he appeared often, as it were, divested of the body, and to be in the participation of the happiness that appertains to the invisible state. It was not the mechanical process of preaching, regu- lated by the caprice of the moment ; what he delivered he felt, and his feelings proceeded from thoughtfulness, meditation, and experi- ence; an experience illuminated by divine know- ledge, which continued copiously increasing the nearer he approached his heavenly inheritance. During the time of his residence at Orcnge- street chapel he published, in the year 1776, a collection of Psalms and Hymns, for public and private worship. The compositions are four hundred and nineteen in number ; they are ju- diciously selected, and some of them altered, where the phraseology is exceptionable. The whole tenour of them is truly evangelical. In an excellent and sensible preface, prefixed to this manual of sacred poetry, Mr. Toplady ob- serves, that, " with regard to the collection, he could only say, that (excepting the very few hymns of his own, which he was prevailed upon to insert), it ought to be the best that has ap- peared, considering the great number of volumes (no fewer than between forty and fifty), which had, more or less, contributed to the compila- tion." A spurious edition has been printed, but so retrenched and augmented, as to leave no resemblance to the valuable original, which is replete with the richest odours of gospel truth. The apprehensions entertained, for some time past, by those who loved him, that his health was on the decline, began now to be confirmed. For, on Easter Sunday, the 19th of April, 1778, as he attempted to speak from Isaiah xxvi. 19. " Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise," &c. his hoarseness was so violent, that he was obliged, after naming the text, to descend from the pulpit. But so ardently abounding was he in the ministry of the word, that when the least abatement in his disorder gave him a little strength, he entered upon his delightful work with that alacrity of spirit, as if he was in a state of convalescence : when done preach- ing, he has been so enfeebled as to create the most exquisite sensibility in the breasts of those who have beheld him. After the above Sunday, he preached four times, and on each occasion his words were to the congregation as if he should never see them more, until he met them in the kingdom of heaven. While this gieat and invaluable Christian was waiting, and earnestly desiring a dismission from the body, and having, as himself expressed, settled all his concerns, respecting both worlds, so as to have nothing to do but die, he received a shaft from a quiver unexpected. Mr. Wesley, and some of his followers, had propagated, that Mr. Toplady had receded from his former principles, and had a desire to protest against them, in the presence of Mr. Wesley. Letters from the country were sent to him, mentioning his recantation, as also some verbal intimations from those who were present, when the intelli- gence was given. The suggestion of such a report was certainly prematurely made on the presumption that Mr. Toplady was in such a state, that it would not be communicated to him, and if it should, that his tongue and D 34 iMEMOlRS OF THE pen would be so torpid, as to render him un- able to enter his protest against the flagitious turpitude of such a procedure. When the above transactions were rehearsed to him, it rekindled the dying embers that remained. He acquainted his physician with his intentions of going before his congregation again, and to make a solemn appeal in reference to his past and present principles, so as to counteract the baneful effects of party rage, and misrepre- sentation, concealed under the robe of virtue, or Christian purity. He was informed, that it would be dangerous in him to make the attempt; and, that probably he might die in the execu- tion of it. He replied, with his usual magna- nimity, "A good man once said, he would ra- ther wear out, than rust out ; and I would ra- ther die in the harness, than die in the stall." On Sunday, June the 14th, he came from Knightsbridge, and, after a sermon by his as- sistant, the rev. Dr. lUingwortli, he went up into the pulpit, to the inexpressible surprise of his people, and made a short, but affecting ex- ortation, from the 2nd Epistle of Peter, chap. i. ver. 13, 14. " Yea, I think it meet, as long as 1 am in this tabernacle, to stir you up, by put- ting you in reiuembrance : knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me." When mentioning the sensible peace he was a re- cipient of, and the joy and consolation of the Holy Spirit, that he participated of for several months past, and the desirable expectation, that in a few days he must resign his mortal part to corruption, as a prelude to his seeing the King in his beauty ; the effect this had upon his auditory cannot be described or anticipated ; but must be seen and felt, to be justly related. He closed his address, respecting the purport of his coming there, in substance as follows, which was printed in a week after, entitled, " The Rev. Mr. Toplady's Dying Avowal of his Religious sentiments :" "Whereas, some time since, a wicked, scanda- lous and false report was diffused, in various parts of this kingdom, by the followers of Mr. John Wesley ; purporting, that 1 have changed some of my religious sentiments, especially such of them as relate more immediately to the doctrines of grace, I thought it my indispensi- ble duty, on the Sunday after 1 received tliis information, which was the 13th of June last, publicly to declare myself, from the pulpit in Orange-street Chapel, to the following effect : ' It having been industriously circulated, by some malicious and unprincipled persons, that during my present long and severe illness, 1 expressed a strong desire of seeing Mr. John Wesley before I die, and revoking some par- ticulars relative to him, which occur in my writ- ings : Now, I do publicly and most solemnly aver, that 1 have not, nor ever had, any such intention or desire ; and that I most sincerely hope my last hours will be nriuch better em- ployed than in conversing with such a man.' To which 1 added: 'so certain and so satisfied am I, of the truth of all that 1 have ever written; that, were I now sitting up in niy dying bed, with a pen and ink in my hand, and all the re- ligious and controversial writings I ever pub- lished (more especially those relating to Mr. John Wesley, and the Arminian controversy), whether respecting facts or doctrines, could at once be displayed to my view, I should not strike out a single line relative to him or them.' " Matters rested thus, when I received a letter, dated July i 7, 1/78, from a friend who lives near a hundred miles from town, in which letter is the following passage : ' I cannot help feeling an uncommon emotion and surprise at the report that you have recanted all that you have written and said against John Wesley, and many like things ; and that you declared as much, to your congregation, a few weeks ago I was told this, by two persons, who said, they were there present at the time. How am 1 amazed at such falshoods ! The party, and name, and character, that are established by lies, have no good foundation, and therefore can never stand long. "This deteimined me to publish the presen address to the religious world. I pray Uod t; give the perfect liars grace and repentance tc the acknowledgment of the truth. And may every blessing, of the upper, and of the nethet springs, be the portion of those who maintain, who experience, and adorn, the glorious gospel of the grace of God ! " Should any hostile notice be taken of this paper, I do not intend to make any kind of re- ply. I am every day in view of dissolution And, in the fullest assurance of my eternai salvation (an assurance which has not been clouded by a single doubt, for near a year and a half last past) am waiting, looking, and longing for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. " I once intended subjoining to this paper, the specific outlines of my religious sentiments ; but on farther reflection, I believe it may be more expedient to refer the reader to the se- veral * writings I have published : every one of which I do hereby, as a dying man, ratify and declare to be expressive of my real religious principles, from any one of which principles I have never varied, in the least degree, since God enlightened me into the clear knowledge of his truth ; which is now within a few weeks of twenty years ago. " I was awakened in the month of August, 1755, but not, as has been falsely reported, under Mr. John Wesley, or any preacher con- nected with him. "Though awakened in 1 755, 1 was not led * If ihe reader wishes to see a doctrinal compendium of these, he wi)l find it in a sermon of mine, entitled, " A Caveat against unsoimd Doctrines ;" every part of which I hereby avow to be declarative of my fixed and ultimate judgment. REV. AUCiUSTUS TOPLADY. into a full and clear view of all the doctrines of grace, till the year 1758, when, tluougli the great goodness of God, myarmiiiian piejudices received an effectual shock, in readiiif^ Dr. Manton's Sermons on the xviith of St. John. "I shall remember the years 1755, and 1758, with gratitude and joy, in the heaven of heavens, to all eternity." A. M. TOPLADY. Knightsbridgc, July 22, 1778. We have followed this ambassador of Christ in his public character, and have now to behold him in the closing scene of life mmoveable and unappalled. The doctrines of the gospel which he so sweetly accented, and which were his constant theme in the house of his pilgrimage, proved his support and comfort, when his fabric was gradually falling to dissolution. His divine master was pleased to confer a peculiar honour upon him in his last hours, by sustain- ing him in that trying conflict, and by giving him a view by faith of the glory that awaited him. The Psalmist's words were verified in him. That" light is sown for the righteous, and gladness foi the upright in heart." How does the histure of wliat men call great, and the splendid actions by which they are dazzled, ap- pear to fade, and prove to be as illusive shadows, when we view a believer in his dying moments, felicitated in the bright and unclouded prospect of eternal felicity ! We shall here introduce a few extracts from a small narrative, published a short time after his death. Some of his observations and re- marks were, by a few persons, who were present, committed to writing, that they should not be elfaced from the memory, and for the satisfac- tion of others. In conversation with agentleman of the fa- culty, not long before his death, he frequently disclaimed, with abhorrence, the least depend- ance on his own righteousness, as any cause of his justification before God, and said, that he rejoiced only in the free, complete, and ever- lasting salvation of God's elect by Jesus Christ, through the sanctification of the Holy Spirit. We cannot satisfy the reader more than by giving this friend's own relation of intercourse and conversation. "A remarkable jealousy was apparent in his whole conduct, for fear of receiving any part of that honour which is due to Christ alone. He desired to be nothing, and that Jesus might be all, and in all. His feelings were so very tender upon this subject, that I once undesignedly put him almost in an agony, by remarking the great loss, which the church of Christ would sustain by his death, at this particular, juncture. The utmost dis- tress was immediately visible in his countenance and he exclaimed to this purpose : What ; by my death? No! By my death? No, — Jesus Christ is able, and will, by proper instruments, defend his own truths. — And with regard to what little I have been enabled to do in this way, not to me, not to me, but to his own name, and to that only, be the glory. " Conversing upon the subject of election, he said that God's everlasting love to his chosen people; his eternal, particular, most free, and immutable choice of them in Christ Jesus ; was without the least respect to any work, or works, of righteousness, wrought, or to be wrought, or that ever should be wrought, in them or by them : for God's election does not depend upon our sanctification, but our sanctification depends upon God's election and appointment of us to everlasting life. At another time he was so affected with a sense of God's everlasting love to his soul, that he could not refrain from bursting into tears. " The more his bodily strength was im- paired, the more vigorous, lively, and rejoicing, his mind seemed to be. From the whole tenor of his conversation during our interviews, he appeared not merely placid and serene, but he evidently possessed the lullest assurance of the most triumphant faith. He repeatedly told me, that he had not had the least shadow of a doubt, respecting his eternal salvation, for near two years past. It is no wonder, therefore, that he so earnestly longed to be dissolved and to be with Christ. His soul seemed to be constantly panting heaven-ward ; and his desires increas- ed, the nearer his dissolution approached. A short time before his death, at his request, I felt his pulse ; and he desired to know what I thought of it? I told him, that his heart and arteries evidently beat (almost every day) weaker and weaker. He replied immediately with the sweetest smile upon his countenance. Why, that is a good sign, that my death is fast approaching ; and, blessed be God, I can add, that my heart beats every day stronger and stronger for glory. " A few days preceding his dissolution, I found him sitting up in his arm chair, and scarcely able to move or speak. I addressed him very softly, and asked, if his consolations con- tinued to abound, as they had hitherto done ? He quickly replied ; O, my dear sir, it is im- possible to describe how good God is to ine. Since I have being sitting in this chair this afternoon (glory be to his name !) 1 have en- joyed such a season, such sweet communion with God, and such delightful manifestations of his presence with, and love to my soul, that it is impossible for words, or any language, to express them. I have had peace and joy un- utterable ; and I fear not, but that God's con- solations and support will continue. But he im- mediately recollected himself, and added. What have I said ? God may, to be sure, as a sovereign, hide his face and his smiles from me ; however, I believe he will not ; and if he should, yet still will I tuist in him : 1 know I am safe and secure ; for his love and his covenant are everlasting." To another friend, who, in a conversation 36 MEMOIRS OF THE with him upon the subject of his principles, had asked him, whether any doubt remained upon his mind respecting the truth of them ; ne answered ; Doubt, sir, doubt ! Pray, use not that word, when speaking of me. 1 cainot endure the term ; at least, while God continues to shine upon my soul, in the gracious manner he does now: not (added he) but that I am sensible, that while, in the body, if left of Him, I am capable, through the power of tempta- tion, of calling into question every truth of the gospel. But, that is so far from being the case, that the comforts and manifestations of his love are so abundant, as to render my state and condition the most desirable in the world. I would not exchange my condition with any one upon earth. And, with respect to my princi- ples ; those blessed truths, which I have been enabled in my poor measure to maintain, ap- pear to me, more than ever, most gloriously indubitable. My own existence is not, to my apprehension, a greater certainty. The same friend calling upon him a day or two before his death, he said, with hands ciasp- td, and eyes lifted up and starting with tears of the most evident joy, O, my dear sir, I cannot tell you the comforts I feel in my soul : they are past expression. The consolations of God to such an unworthy wretch are so abun- dant, that he leaves me nothing to pray for, but a continuance of them. I enjoy a heaven already in my soul. My prayers are all con- verted into praise. Nevertheless, I do not lorgel, that I am still in the body, and liable to all those distressing fears, which are incident to human nature, when under temptation and without any sensible divine support But so long as the presence of God continues with me ill the degree I now enjoy it, I cannot but think that such a.de5pondiiig frame is impossi- ble. All this he spake with an emphasis, the most ardent that can be conceived. Speaking to another particular friend upon the subject of his " dying avowal," he ex- pressed himself thus, My dear friend, those great and glorious truths which the Lord, in rich mercy, has given me to believe, and which he has enabled me (though vf ry feebly) to stand forth in the defence of, are not (as those, who believe not or oppose them, say) dry doctrines, or mere speculative points. No. But, being brought into practical and heart-felt experience, they are the very joy and support of my soul ; and the consolations, flowing from them, carry me far above the things of time and sense. Soon afterwards he added : So far as I know my ;iwn heart, I have no desire but to be entirely passive ; to live, to die, to be, to do, to suffer, 1 whatever is God's blessed will coriceri'.ing me ; ] being perfectly satisfied, that, as he ever has, ! so he ever will do that which is best concerning t me; and that he deals out, in number, weight s and measure, whatever will conduce most to his own glory, and to the good of his people. ( , Another of his friends, mentioning like- 1 wise the report that was spread abroad of his ; recanting his former principles, he said, with t some vehemence and emotion, I recant my t former principles ! God forbid, that I should i be so vile an apostate. To which he presently 1- added, with great apparent humility. And yet I that apostate I should soon be, if I were left , to myself. To the same friend, conversing upon the ; subject of his sickness, he said : Sickness is , no affliction ; pain no curse ; death itself no i dissolution. I All his conversations, as he approached nearer and nearer to his decea.se, seemed more I and more happy and heavenly. He frequently called himseli the happiest man in the world. O ! (says he) how this soul of mine longs to be gone ! Like a bird imprisoned in a cage, it longs to take its flight. O, that I had wings like a dove, then would I flee away to the realn>« of bliss, and be at rest for ever! O, that some guardian angel might be commissioned ; for I long to be absent fiom this body, and to be with my Lord for ever. Being asked by a friend, if he always enjoyed sucli manifestations J he answered : I cannot say, there are no intermis- sions ; for, if there were not, my consolations would be more and greater than I could possi- bly bear ; but, when they abate, they leave such an abiding sense of God's goodness, and of the certainty of my being fixed upon the eter- nal lock Christ ,)esus, that my soul is still filled with peace and joy. At another time, and indeed for many days together, he cried out, O, what a day of sun-shine has this been to me ! I have not words to ex- press it. It is unutterable. O, my friends, how good is God ! almost without interruption, his presence has been with me. And then, repeat- ing several passages of Scripture, he added. What a gi eat thing it is to rejoice in death ! Speaking of Christ, he said. His love is unutter- able ! He was happy in declaiing, that the viiith chapter of the epistle to the Romans, from the 33d to the end of the six following verses, were the joy and comfort of his soul. Upon that portion of Scripture he often des- canted with great delight, and would be fre- quently ejaculating. Lord Jesus ! why tariiest thou so long ! He sometimes said, I find as the bottles of heaven empty, they are filled again; meaning, probably, the continual comforts of grace, which he abundantly enjoyed. VV'hen he drew near his end, he said, waking from a slumber; O, what delights! Who can fathom the joys of the third heaven ? And, a little before his departure, he was blessing and praising God for continuing to him his under- standing in clearness ; but (added he in a rap- ture) for what is most of all, his abiding pre- sence, and the shining of his love upon my soul. The sky (says he) is cleai- ; there is no cloud : Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly ! REV. AUGUSTUS TOPLADY. 37 Within the hour of his tleath, he called his friends and his servant, and asked them, if they could i;ive him up ? upon their ansu eriiij; in the affirmative, since it pleased the Lord tobesosjra- cious to him, he replied; 0, what a blessing it is, you are made willing to give me up into tlie hands of my dear Redeemer, and to part with me : it will not be long before God takes me ; for no mortal man can live, (bursting, while he said it, into tears of joy) after the glories, which God has manifested to my soul. Soon alter this he closed his eyes, and found (as Milton finely expresses it) A gentle wafting to immorlal life. On Tuesday August 11 th, 177B, in the 38th year of his age. While rehearsing these particulars, we can- not help laying down the pen to drop a tribu- tary tear to the revered memory of tliis highly respectable minister of Jesus Christ. ■ Yet a little time and all painful lecoUection and sensations of this kind will be at an end, we shall have no more occasion to mark the vicissitudes of human affairs, nor to reflect on the nature and mixture of all earthly enjoy- ments; the transient duration of mortality shall never more be experienced, for the lustre of all that is great and lovely in the human charac- ter will be absorbed in the presence and in the perfect fruition of the adorable Trinity. On Monday, August the 17th, 177^, at four o'clock in the afternoon, his remains were brought from Knightsbridge, to Tottenham Court Chapel, to be interred. Though the time was kept as private as possible, there were notwithstanding, several thousands of persons present on the solemnity. It was his particular request that no funeral sermon should be preached, he desired to slip into the tomb un- noticed and unregarded. His soul disdained to borrow posthumous fame. He had no wish to have his memory perpetuated by those little arts and finesses so often practised ; he knew that his record was on high, and that is name was written in the Lamb's Book of Life. He sought for no eulogiiim while living, and any panegyrics bestowed upon him when his course was run, he knew could be of no service, and that they are too often justly construed to proceed from pride, vanity, and weakness. The Rev. Mr. Rowland Hill, prior to the burial service, could not refrain from innocent- ly trespassing upon the solicitation of his de- parted friend, by addressing the multitude on the solemn occasion, and embraced the opportu- nity of affectionately declaring the love and veneration he felt for the deceased. The beau- tiful simplicity of his pathos, and the incom- parably exquisite sensibility he shewed, were more than equivalent to the most studied harangue, furnished with all the trappings of meretricious ornaments. The funeral obsequies were read by Dr. Illingworth, and concluded with a suitable hymn. The cabket which held this intrinsic jewel now lies eulombed in the family grave of Mr. Hussey, 13 feet deep, under the gallery opposite the pulpit in the above chapel, whereon is fixed a plain stone, with only his name and age inscribed. His clay tenement rests there until the morning of the resurrection, when the trump of God, and the voice of the archangel, shall call forth his sleeping dust to join the disembodied spirit, now in the realms of bliss and glory. The precious remains of this good man had not been long in the earth, when Mr. Wesley publicly asserted that he died blaspheming, and in the horror of despair ; such unparalleled virulence of conduct undoubtedly exposed the personal enmity that rankled in Mr. Wesley's breast towards Mr. Toplady. Men have a natural propensity to divide in opinion, an aberration from the purest system may attend the path of the most cautious traveller, and no impeachment whatever may be charged upon his benignity or integrity ; but when materials, or facts of an important tendency, are acces- sible, and these are reserved or distorted by an in terested falsehood, a display of conduct so mischievous in its consequence must lose all pretensions to veracity, and be too obvious to need any comment. Sir Richard Hill, a character of eminence, who has for many years appeared as a disin- terested volunteer in behalf of evangelical religion, and whose excellent virtues have at the same time adorned his Christian profession, stood forward, unsolicited, and detected the malignant conduct of Mr. Wesley, on this oc- casion, in an anonymous letter in a morning paper, and in a few weeks after he addressed him again in a small pamphlet, signed with his own name, and acknowledged himself the writer of the former. As these particulars are of material consequence in this narration, we shall not make any circuitous apology for inserting them here verbatim, with only this observation, that Mr. Wesle made no reply in any way. Copy of a Letter addressed to the Rev. John Wesley, which appeared in the General Ad- vertiser on the eight day of October last. Rev. Sir, I give you this public notice, that certain persons M'ho are your enemies, perhaps only because you keep clear of their calvinistic doctrines, have thought proper to affirm, that you and some of your preachers, have been vilifying the ashes, and traducing the memory of the late Mr. Augustus Toplady. Nay, it was even positively alleged, that you told Mr. Thomas Robinson of Hilderthorpe, near Brid- lington, in Yorkshire, and the Rev. Mr. Greaves, curate to jMr. Fletcher of Madeley, that the account published concerning Mr. Toplady's 38 MEMOIRS OF THE death was a gross imposition on the public ; foi' that he died in black despair, uttering the most horrible blasphemies ; and that none of his friends were permitted to see him. All which was repeated at Bridlington, by one of your preachers, whose name is Rhodes, who further compared Mr. Toplady's case to the awful one of Francis Spira ; and added, " that the dreadful manner in which he died, had caused a woman who attended him to join your societies." Now, sir, as many living, respectable wit- nesses can testify that Mr. Toplady departed this life in the full triumph of faith, and that the account published to the world of the state of soul he was in during his long illness, and at the hour of dissolution, was strictly and literally a true one, you are earnestly requested, for the satisfaction of your friends, thus publicly to assure the world, that you never advanced any thing of this sort to Mr. Robinson, Mr. Greaves, or to any other person ; or else that you will produce your authority for your assertions ; otherwise, it is to be feared, that your own character will suffer much, for having vented a most gross, malicious falsehood against a dead man who cannot answer for himself, in order to support your own cause and party." I am. Rev. Sir, Vour sincere well wisher, Verit.\s. Letter to the Rev. Mr. John Wesley. Ilawkslone, Nov. 29, 1773. Rev. Sir, The cause of my thus publicly addressing you, is owing to an information I received that you wished to know who was the author of a letter which appeared in the General Adver- tiser, on Friday the 8th of October last, wherein were some queries put to you con- cerning certain reports which it was supposed you had spread, relative to the illness and death of the late Mr. Augustus Toplady. I was further given to understand, that you had declared your intention of answering that letter, if the writer would annex his name to it. This being the case, though no names can at all alter facts, yet as I really wish to be rightly informed myself, and as the re- ports which have been propagated about Mr. Toplady have much staggered and grieved many serious Christians, I now (under my real signature) beg with all plainness, and with no other design than that the real truth may be known, again to propound those questions to you which were put in that letter, of which I confess myself to have been the sole author. And as I hear you have been pleased to call the letter a scurrilous one, I should be glad if you would point out to me wherein that scur- rility consists ; for though it was anonymous, I am not in the least conscious that there was any thing in it unbecoming that respect which might be due to a gentleman of your venerable age and function ; and when you have shewn me wherein I have been culpable, I shall then readily and submissively ask your pardon. The lettt r itself I shall annex to this. The queries contained in it maybe reduced to the following. \st. Did you, sir, or did you not tell Mr. Thomas Robinson, of Hilderthorpe, near Brid- lington in Yorkshire, that Mr. Toplady died in black despair, blaspheming ; and that a greater imposition never was imposed on the public than that published by his friends relative to his death? 2dly. Did you ever tell the same in sub- stance to the Rev. Mr. Greaves,* curate to Mr. Fletcher of Madely, or to any other person ? 'Sdly. Did you, or did you not say, that none of Mr. Toplady's friends were permitted to see him during his illness? I now beg leave to tell you, that the cause of my offering these queries to you was owing to the following letter, which I received just before, (rom a kind friend, and worthy minister of the gospel at Burlington (or Bridlington) in Yorkshire : " Honoured and dear friend, " Grace, mercy and peace be multiplied unto you from the Father, and from Jesus Christ, by the blessed Spirit. On the 21st day of August, 1/79, I received from Mr. Thomas Robinson, of Hilderthrope, the follow- ing awful, and no less shocking, account re- specting the death of Mr. Toplady. He said, Mr. J. Wesley told him, that Mr. Toplady died in black despair, blaspheming ; and that a greater imposition was never imposed on the public, than that published by his friends relative to his death. He added also, that none of his friends were permitted to see him in his illness ; and that one of Mr. John Wesley's preachers, whose name is Rhodes, did on the 20th instant, declare, that Mr. Toplaly's case was equal to that of Francis Spira ; and that the servant who waited upon him did, after his death, join Mr. Wesley's societies, signify- ing that there was something very awful. f Now, dear Sir, as I know nobody more capable of giving me some satisfation respecting this heart-atfeoting report than what you are ; please to excuse the liberty I have taken in troubling you ; wishing and beseeching you, to give me if you can, a true account of this gloomy story, and you will very much oblige one who wishes you the peaceable enjoyment of every temporal and spiritual good. Believing, nevertheless, * I hope thii worthy gentleTaan, forwhom I profess a sincere esteem, will pardon my having introduced his name without asking his permission. + I cannot believe so ill ot Afr. Rhodes, as to sup- pose he himself invented this horrid tale. He best knows whence he had it. But Mr. Wesley and he being at Burlington about the same time, there is reason to suppose he received it from the same quarter Mr, T. Robmson did. HEV. AUGUSTUS TOPLADV. that the foundation of God standelh sure, hav- ing this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. The redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singinff unto Zion, &c. '* Dear Sir, believe me to be your sincere, affectionate friend, and humble servant, in the gospel of Christ Jesus our Lord, J. Gawkkodgeb." BridhDgton, August 30, 1779. Methinks, sir, this letter breafcnes the lan- guai^e of real Christianity, and of a neart deeply concerned and interested in the welfare of one from whose works I know, that Mr. (i. had received the highest delight and satis- faction. He had read the account of Mr. Top- lady's illness and death ; he rejoiced to see the doctrines of the gospel confirmed and esta- blished in the experience of that eminent servant of Jesus Christ ; and his own heart found strong consolation wliilst he meditated on the triumphant victory which his late brother in the ministry had obtained over the king of terrors, through faith in our glorious Immanuel. Amidst these views and meditations, he is told, by a pious friend and neighbour of his, that Mr. John Wesley had assured him, " that Mr. Toplady died blaspheming, in black despair ; that none of his friends were permitted to see him in his illness; and that the account of his death, published by his friends, was a gross imposition on the public ; and that a preacher of Mr. Wesley's had moreover as- sertem a letter which I received from a worthy clergyman, a friend of Mr. Toplady's, soon after his de- parture ; his words are as follow : " V'ou will be pleased with the two follow- ing remarks made by Mr. Toplady, not long before his death : ' To a person interested in the salvation of Christ, sickness is no disease, pain no affliction, death no dissolution.' The other was an answer to Doctor (iiflord, in con- sequence of the Doctor's expressing ho[)es that Mr. Toplady might recover, and be again useful. Mr. Toplady heard what his friend had to say, and then expressed himself nearly in the fol- lowing words : ' I believe God never gave such manifestations of his love to any creature, and suffered him to live.' " — Thus far, my friend. We can now look to no other source whence these reports may have flowed, than to the most deliberate malice of Mr. Toplady's avowed foes, among whom^ notwithstanding your continual preaching about " love, love ; peace, peace, my brethren," I fear you are chief. Till therefore you produce your autho- rity for what you told Mr. Thomas Kobinson and others, I have full right, nay, I am abso- lutely necessitated to fix upon you, rev. sir, as the raiser, and fabricator of this most nefarious report ; which I cannot look upon merely as a common falsity, but as a malicious attempt to invalidate and set aside the testimony which God, the eternal Spirit himself, was pleased to bear to his own truth, and to his own work, upon the heart of a dying believer ; and even turn that testimony into the blasphemies of Satan. And in this view of it, how far short it falls of the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost, must be left to your awful consideration. When one Jane Cowper, a person belong- ing to your societies, died, you were ready en- ough to give your iuiprimature and recommenda- tion to every wild Hight of fancy she uttered, as " all strong sterling sense, strictly agreeable to sound reason." " Here, (says Mr. Wesle\ in his preface) are no extravagant flights, no mystic reveries, no unscriptural enthusiasm The sentiments are all just and noble." The cause is 'ilain. The Lord (it seems) had pro ' 40 MEMOIRS OF THE mised this Jane Cowper, " that Mr. .1. Wesley's lattei' works should exceed his former," there- fore she must be canonized ; * but Mr. Toplady, in his dying avowal, had borne his open testi- mony both against Mr. Wesley and his princi- ples, therefore, " the devil himself could not have invented any thing worse than what he bad uttered," and he must be sent blaspheming and desparing into the bottomless pit. Be- bold ! Sir, what self partiality and a desire to make known your own importance leads you to. The like spirit runs throughout all your publi- cations, whether sermons, journals, appeals, preservatives, Arminian magazines, &c. &c. in all of which, it is too evident, that the grand design in view is that of trumpeting forth your own praises. Tedious and fulsome as this ap- pears in the eyes of men of sense and judg- ment, yet a gentleman of Mr. Wesley's cun- ning and subtlety can, hence, suck no small advantage, as there are multitudes amongst your own people who, through a blind attach- ment to your person, and a no less blind zeal to promote your interests, look upon it as perfectly right and proper ; and are at all times, and upon all occasions, ready to pay the most implicit obedience to your ipse dixits, and to believe, or disbelieve, just as you would have them. But I have nothing to do with such bigots : to endeavour to open their eyes, by ar- gument, would be as vain as to attempt to wash the ^Ethiopian white, or to change the leo- pard's spots. There are, however, many persons of good sense and true piety in your societies, who, in spite of all your artifices, begin to form a judgment of you according to facts. It is for the benefit of such pers'ins, as well as to vindicate the memory of a departed saint from your foul aspersions, that you are presented with this epistle ; though I confess I was some /ime befoie I could bring myself to write or print it. I considered, that a misjudging, pre- judiced world would be happy to take advantage from its contents, and to cry " There, there, so wouldwe have it ;" "the methodistsf are all fallen together by the ears, and are discharging their artillery at one another." I considered again, that as to expose you was not my motive, so to bringyou toany submission was never in human power. I nad well nigh resolved to be silent. * Kot\iitbstanding this young woman might, in some instances, be under the influence of a spirit of enthusiasm, yet far be it from me to aifirm, that the whole of her experience was a delusion. On the contrary, I am persuaded she was a sincere, devoted ; she 1 of Methodist, as It is indis reproach to all who have Qately given by way of zeal for religion tiian ith the fashion of the times, 1 have no desire to shake ofl'; on the contrary, I would glory in it as the badge which every real Christian is allotted to ore than 1 do On the other hand, I perceived that the sealing testimony which God vouchsafed to his own truths in the experience of Mr. Toplady, during his illness, and at the time of his death, was not only denied by you, but even construed into a gross imposition of his friends to deceive the public, and thereby the good etiects which might justly have been hoped for were in great measure counteracted ; that his enemies were hardened against the truths he maintained and so ably vindicated; andeven his friends staggered by the shocking accounts forged and propa- gated : I say, when I saw this to be the case, 1 determined (to adopt an expression of your own) to " write and print." I said. Let God be true, and every man a liar. If you make no re- ply, I cannot avoid construing your silence into an acquiescence of your being guilty of the matter brought against you. If you do " write and print" in answer, let me beg you, for once, to avoid quibbles and evasions. I am, rev. sir. Your sincere well wisher, &c. and most humble servant, Richard Hill. " We whose names are underwritten are willing to testify upon oath, if required, that all the particulars published to the world in the late Memoirs, relative to the illness and death of the late rev. Augustus Montague Toplady, are strictly true ; we ourselves having been eye and ear witnesses of the same. And therefore we all heartily join the author of the foregoing letters, in calling upon Mr. John Wesley, to produce his authority for what he told to Mr. Thomas Robinson of Hilderthorp, the rev. Mr. Greaves, and others, as specified in the letter. Andrew Gifford, D.D. British Museum. John Kyland, senior, Northampton. • Thomas Evans, Apothecary, Knightsbridge. William Abington, Beaufort-buildings, Strand. Thomas Hough, Surgeon, 3, Coventry street ^VillialU Cowley, Barbican. JoliD Cole, Upper Seymore-street, Portman sq. Thomas Jarvis, Charing-cross. Thomas Burgess, Mill-street, Hanovcr-square. William Hussey, j Coventry-street. Susannah Hnssey, ) + Elizabeth Sterlmg, Nurse. James Matthews, No. 18, Strand. It would be an unpardonable omission, not to take notice of the nervous reprehension Mr. Wesley received on his unjust assertions, by a pious dissenting minister, who expostulated with him, in a pamphlet, in the following • Mr. Evans attended Mr. 1 oplady the whole time of bis last illness until his death. 1 Mrs. Elizabeth Sterling was the only nurse who attended Mr. Toplady until his death, and of coarse must be the person falsely charged by Mr. Wesley, to have joined his societies iu consequence of his ( Jlr. Toplady s) awful deparliire. A charge equally false I all Mr. VVesle i othe REV. AUGUSTUS TOPLADY. 41 words:* Mr. Wesley, and his confederates, to whom this letter is addressed, did not only persecute the late Mr. Toplady during his life, but even sprinkled his death-bed with abomin- able falschoiid. It was given out, in most of Mr. Wesley's societies, both far and near, that the worthy man had recanted and disowned the doctrines of sovereign grace, which obliged him, though struggling with death, to appear in the pulpit, emaciated as he was, and openly avow the doctrines he had preached, as the soul sup- port of his departing spirit. Wretched must that cause be, which has need to he supported by such unmanly shifts, and seek for shelter under such disingenuous subterfuges. O ! Mr. Wesley, answer for this conduct at the bar of the supreme. Judge yourself, and you shall not be judged. Dare you also to persuade your followers, that Mr. Toplady actually died in despair ? Fie upon sanctified slander ! Fie ! fie!" ffe here subjoin a copy of the last Jfill and Testament of Mr. Toplady, ratified six months prior to his decease. In the name of God, Amen. I, Aug\istus Montague Toplady, Clerk, Batchelor of Arts, and vicar of the Parish and Parish-church of Broad-Hembury, in the county of Devon, and diocese of Exeter ; being mindful of my mortality, (though at present in a competent state of bodily health, and of perfect mind and memory) do make and declare this my last will and testament (all written with my own hand, and consisting of three folio pages), this twenty-eighth day of Feburary, in the year of our Lord, One Thousand, Seven Hundred and Seventy eight, in manner and form following: That is to say. First : I most humbly commit my soul to the hands of Almighty God ; whom I know, and have long experinced to be my ever-gracious and infinitely merciful Father. Nor have I the least doubt of my election, justi- fication, and eternal happiness, through the riches of his everlasting and unchangeable kindness to me in Christ Jesus his co-equal Son ; my only, my assured, and my all-sufficient Saviour : washed in whose propitiatory blood, and clothed with whose imputed righteousness, I trust to stand perfect and sinless and complete, and do verily believe that I most certainly shall so stand, in the hour of death, and in the king- dom of heaven, and at the last judgment, and in the ultimate state of endless glory. Neither can I write this my last will without rendering the deepest, the most solemn, and the most ardent thanks, to the adorable Trinity in Unity, for their eternal, unmerited, irreversible, and * Sen a tract, entitled, *' The Fouudry Budget Opened," printed for Johnson, 1780, by the; reverend Mr. Macgowan, author of the Shaver, Death a \'ision. inexhaustible love to me a smner. 1 bless God the Father, for having written, from everlasting, my unworthy name in the Book of Life ; even for appointing me to obtain salvation, through Jesus Christ my Lord. I adore God the Son, for his having vouchsafed to redeem me by his own most precious death ; and for having obeyed the whole law for my justification. I admire and revere the gracious benignity of God the Holy Ghost, who converted me, to the saving knowledge of Christ, more than tvvo-and- twenty years ago, and whose enlightening, supporting, comforting, and sanctifying agency is, and (I doubt not) will be, my strength and my song, in the house of my earthly pilgrimage. Secondly : As to my body, 1 will and desire it may be interred in my chancel, within the parish church of Broad Hembury, aforesaid, if I should be in Devonshire, or near to i.iat county at the time of my death. But, in case I die at, or in the neighbourhood of, London ; or at any other considerable dis- tance from Devonshire ; let the place of my interment be wheresoever my executor (herein- after named) shall choose and appoint; unless, in writing or by word of mouth, 1 should here- after signify any particular spot for my place of burial. Thirdly : Let me be buried where I may. my express will and desire is, that my grave be dug to the depth of nine feet, at the very least, irom the surface of the ground ; or (which would be still more agreeable to my will and desire) to the depth of twelve feet, if the nature of the soil should admit of it. I ear- nestly request my executor to see to the perform- ance of this article, with particular care and exactness. Fourthly : My express will is, that my funeral expenses may not, if possible, ex- ceed the sum of twenty pounds sterling. Let no company be invited to my burial. Let no rings, scarves, hat-bands, or mourning of any kind, be distributed. Let no funeral sermon be preached. Let no monument be erected.* Fifthly : whatsoever worldly substance and effects I shall die possessed of ; and whatsoever worldly substance and effects I may be entitled to, before, at, or after, the time of my decease ; whether money, plate, china, books, coins and medals, paintings, linen, clothes, furniture, and all other effects, of whatsoever kind, and to what amount soever, whether in town or coun- try, at home or abroad ; together with all ar- rears, and dues, of every sort ; I do, hereby, give and bequeath the whole antl every of theui (excepting only such single sum as shall be herein-aftervvards distinctly named and other- ways disposed of) to my valuable and valued friend Mr. William Hussey, china and glass- dealer of Coventry-street, in the county of Middlesex, and parish of St. James, in the Li- berty of Westminster ; and who [viz, the said * Some part of this was altered by his own verbal direction. 42 MEMOIRS OF THE Mr. William Hussey] wlien not resident in town is likewise of Kensington-Gore, in the said county of Middlesex, and parish of St. Marga- ret, Westminster. And I do hereby nominate, constitute, and appoint him, the said William Hussey, the whole and sole executor of this my last will and testament, and my whole and sole residuary legatee. Sixthly : My will is, that my effects, so left and bequeathed, as above- Baid, to the aforenamed William Hussey, shall be, and hereby are, charged with the payment of the clear and neat sum of one hundred and five pounds, good and lawful money of Great Britain, to Elizabeth Sterling, now or late of Snow's-Fields, in or near the Borough of Southwark in the county of Surrey, spinster. Which said sum of one hundred and five pounds lawful money of Great Britain, as aforesaid, I will and desire may be paid, clear and free of all deduction whatever, to the said Elizabeth Sterling, by my before named executor, Mr. William Hussey, within three months, at farthest after my decease ; for and in consideration of the long and faithful services, rendered by ner, the said Elizabeth Sterling, to my late dear and honoured mother of ever-loved and revered memory. Seventhly : Let all ray manuscripts of what kind soever (I mean, all manuscripts of and in my own hand-writing,) be consumed by fire, within one week after nij interment.* Eighthly : Whereas, it may seem mysterious, that I leave and bequeath no testamentary memorial of my regard to any of my own re- lations, whether by blood or by alliance, and whether related to me by my father's side or by my mother's, it may be proper just to hint my reasons. In the first place, 1 am greatly mis- taken, if all my own relations be not superior to me, in point of worldly circumstances. And, secondly, as ray said relations are rather nu- merous, I deem myself mure than justified in passing them all by, and in not singling out one, or a tew, in preference to the rest; especi- ally seeing ray good wishes are impartially di- vided among them all. Ninthly: VVith respect to many most valued and honouied persons, whose intimacy and friendship have so highly contributed to the happiness of my life, though not related to me by any tamily tie ; these I likewise omit, as legatees. First, because they are, in general, abundantly richer than myself; and, Secondly, because they tooai e so extremely numerous, both in tuu-n and country, thiit it is absolutely out of my power to bequeath, to each and every one of them, a substantial or very valuable memento of the respectful love which I bear to then, in Christ our common Saviour ! and to distinguish only some of them by legacies, might carry an implication of in- gratitude to the rest. — In testimony of all which premises, (and at the same time, utterly revok- * Tbis was revoked by his own desire, ami left to the discretion of his executor. ing, cancelling, annulling, and rescinding every and all other will o: wills by me heretofore made) I hereunto set my hand and seal, the day and year first above written, viz. Saturday, the twenty eighth day of February: and in the year of our Lord, One Thousanu Seven Hun- dred and Seventy-eight ; and of the reign of his majesty, king George the Third, the eigh- teenth year. Augustus Montague Topladv. (L. S.) Signed, declared, and published, as and for the last will and testament of him, the said Augustus Montague Toplady, in the presence of us, who subscribe our names in the testa- tor's presence, and at his request. John Bernard Junther, Thomas Wilks- We have now exhibited with much difiB- dence the outlines of the distinguished cha- racter of him who is the subject of these Me- moirs, without any view either directly or ob- liquely,'to set up or varnish the hypothesis, or the dogmas of a party. We have no connec- tion whatever with any religious department. There is only one Master unto whom we bow and acknowledge implict obedience, and unto whose doctrine and discipline we profess a cordial attachment. The religion of Jesus Chiist we take up as the only solid basis of truth, our guide and comfort through thi.s world, our hope and support in death, and our felicity in an immortal state, to which we are hastening. In order to rescue from oblivion the folloteing small frugmcut which necessarily attends the destiny of some fncritive Pieces, and at the particular solicitations of a few friends, this Elegiac Poem on the death of Mr. Toplady, written by Mr. John Fellows, is inserted. DrscEND, ye shining seraphs from on high! Ye, who with wonder and with praise survey The great Redeemer's love to fuUen man ; Ye, who with ceaseless songs surround the throne Of filial Godhead, tasking in the blaze Of boundless glory ; ye, who burn with love To all the saints ; and have, at Christ's command. Oft join'd in bright assemblage, and come down From heaven's high suuimtt thro' these lower skies. To bear his sons triumphant to his throne. Descend ! and in fidl legion aid the Oight Of a fair saint, who now rejoicing lies On death's cold verge : who, in his God's embrace, Smiling resigns his mortal breath, and stands On love's strong pinions ready to ascend. Salvation to the Lamb who once was slain ! Dominion, glory, majesty, and praise! Dnerring wisdom shines, and boundless might In all his deeds. By his almighty power He hath disarm'd the monster of bis stiug. The tyrant death is now a conquer'd foe. \\ ide as the soimd of mighty seas, let all The heavenly multitudes begin the song. Let all the skies with hallelujahs ring : And each angelic harp resotind bis praise. Thus, as AcGUSTOs yielded up his breath And smiling sank into his Saviour's arm^. His guardian angel sang. Aleanwhile a train REV. AUGUSTUS TOPLADY. 43 Of mighty cherubs, by heaven's King's command, Assembled, wait the signal to descend. And bring the saint in triumph thro' the skies. Michael, the chief of the angelic hosts, With Gabriel, the fast friend of all the heirs Of glory, now commanded : The glad chiefs Prepare their trophies, and with heavenly pomp. Worthy the great occasion, swift descend Thro' the pure ajther. All the shining train. With strong immortal pinions, cleave the skies. Michael, the prince, before the troop descends, Exulting thus to friendly Gabriel spuke : Gabriel, behold with what extatic joy Our favour'd train receive the high To fetch Augustus to the climes of bliss ! With eager haste each cherubim proceeds ; Fix'd to the chariot stand the steeds of fire. Which beat with burning hoofs the sounding plain, And snorting toss on high their beamy heads Reluctant to the rein. The fervid wheels Instinct with spirit, and with love inspir'd. Burn for the course. Each cherub waves his shield. And claps his wings, impatient of delay. If any thing can add to heavenly bliss. Or give new relish to the boundless joys We feel in doing our great Maker's will. It is the holy pleasure wliich expands Our glowing hearts, when from the lower world We bear on high Immanuel'" ransom'd sons, The chosen objects of his early love : But when we bring to his eternal hill Those who have labour'd in his riglitcous cause. Against the rage of Ziou's numerous foes. Our joys are greater ; and these earthly stars We hear to heavenly heights and set to shine In brighter skies. Sut see, the signal made For our departure I Down the steep of heaven As swift as light, ye legions bear away ! Michael. Here ! this ways lies our course ! Behold yon sta Which feebly glimmers thro* the distant void ; And scarce to angels' sight ippears in view. This is the sun that fills the lower skies With light ami heat; and hath, successive years, Po'ir'd from his burning throne the blazing day Which cheers the world where the Redeemer bled. A world where horrid guilt outrageous reigns. And black rebellion seeks to storm the skies : Where haughty man, the lord of all the globe. Presumes with daring insolence t' arraign The conduct of his Maker ; break his law. And disbelieve his word. A world where hell's Black Horrid king in ceaseless tiiiTiult reigns. Fomenting rage, and cruelty, and war, all 1 Illy hps This is the cause. The joyful cause which wings our present flight Nor is a common saint our precious charge ; But one whose love and labours well are known On heavenly ground. How often have his prayers Ardent ascended thro' thick ni^lit, and l um'd Like grateful incense, which heaven's King receiv'd With pleasing smiles which brighfned all the sky. The sons of grace and heirs of glory dwell. Here they are kept at distance from his thrc And from surrounding evils safe preserv'd By powerful grace ; and here th( y undergo Such discipline as trains them for the skies. On their account it is that vengeance stays, And heaven's rich blessings crown this wicked world In wide profusion. When the last of all The ransom'd race hath pass'd the gates of death. Almighty vengeance, like a flood, will burst From heaven's high throne, and wrap the world in fire. Michael. These are the nbierts of his choice regard Whom the hri-ht ii;ili\ rs of the sky adore. Who once V' ^ i\' I Imii lues and reigns for ever. He keeps ti , i.i . . his power supports In every tr m > hour of death His amis rri >n i lii. 'n . ..ml his guards he sends In shining squadnms. Ins chernbic guards. To fetch thoui to his throne. of light, How oft amongst the happy s Hath the Redeemer spoke his servant's praise; And, smiling, held him up to heavenly view, As a defender of his righteous cause ! Mention'd his labours, and his holy zeal With approbation ; and enjoin'd the throng Of listening cherubs to adorn their harps With flowery garlands, and prepare new songs Against the joyful, th' appointed day Which brings him to the skies ! Gabriel. How oft with joy And holy wonder hath the ardent train Of warrior angels, when from earth's low plains They brought some precious saint to heavenly heights And taught their unfledg'd win^^s to scale the skies. Heard them relate, how from their native night And heavy slumber on the brink of hell. They were awoke to see their dreadful state. And sue for mercy, by the mighty power Of sovereign grace, which to their hearts apply'd Some powerful portion dropping from the lips Of that dear servant of the Lord, who now Demands the care of our surrounding shields. Our Wiftest pinions and our sweetest songs .' And with what transport have we often heard. As we ascended thro' the trackless void With some fiir rli;irt;e, how the liudeemer's love Was first di pl iv'.! In . li. . r their dronpine: hearts By some dwe.-l " nr. Is « liirl, lii-ivvenly power apply'i Warm fvi.ni tin h.. ,l mhI lluwing from the lips Of this di-ir 111.111 ' M" . li iM' till- s-.ints been warn'i Not to erect their b..i!.'„,.. th, s mil. But on Ih' eternal l; • i. 'i : M. 1 1 's powers Can never shake ! IN . 1-fs been clear' By the full blaze 111 1, i I'.I-iwwere Their minds enlighl Wit 'Tis true, he was indeed A burning and a shining light ; set up By heavenly power to lead the ransom'd race Safe thro' the darkness which o'ershades the land. The heights of science in his youth he gain'd. And with a rapid course explor'd the' extent Of learning's province. Then, by powerful grace, Call'd out, and to his Saviour's vineyard sent. His ardent soul, inspir'd with love divine, Pour'd all her faculties and all her strength Into the noble work ; and all her powers Burn'd to display a bleeding Saviour's love. And teach a wond'ring world Immanuel's praise. Michael. The great Redeemer's glories to reveal. And make the saints more ready to embrace To shew the wretched state of native* man. How from the bitter fountain of the fall. In every stream, the dire pollution runs. Corrupt and wicked all the rising race Of Adam stands. Not one but in his heart Dares to withstand his INIaker's sov'reign will. And all his father in his soul rebels. For this devote to death each sinner stands And heavy vengeance hangs o'er all the race ; Which none escape but thro' a Saviour's blood. Gabriel. 44 MEMOIRS OF THE Of the dear saint for whom we now descend : While in his powerful, soul-affecting strain The great Redeemer in full glory rose ! How glow'd each heart with ioy while he display'd His glorious person, his amazing lore. His great salvation, his victorious deeds. And pardon preach'd to sinners through his blood. Michael. How did the skies with acclamations ring, When new ascended souls, on heavenly plains. Beneath the trees of life, were heard relate To listening angels, in what powerful strain He spake the glories of th* incarnate God ; And the exalted Lord of life display'd In the full hlaze of Deity supreme : Ador'd, as such, by all the happy throng Of saints and angels, while he fills the skies With boundless glory. — Hence, ye impious throng ! Whose darken'd minds and eyes unu^'d to light. Ache at the glories of the Son of God. Ye, whose bold pride presumes such daring heights As would degrade the sovereign of the skies ; And will not worship at the glorious throne Where every bright archangel veils his face, And falls with deepest reverence. But, vain man Would fain be wise ; and in his native filth Boldly rush in where angels dare not tread. And make a god himself can comprehend ! Gabriel. And with what clearness did the pious saint. Whose voice on earth will now be heard no more. Display the glories and the mighty power Of .Sovireign Grace ! Not by the will of man. He plainly shew'd, but the all-conquering might Of God the Spirit, is each sinner call'd. 'Tis his resistless po .ver that hrst begins. Maintains, and, tliro* each stage, he carries on The noble work; prevailing o'er the filth Of ruin'd nature, 'till it stand complete. In heavenly glory. All the ransom'd race. Safe-guided thro' the wilderness, shall find Their Father's house. Not one of all the train Shall ever perish. All the powers of hell, Tho' all their rage unite against one saint, C in never pluck him from his Saviour's arms. But sinful man, such is his native pride. Would fain he sharer in this noble work ; Of his own doings a proud structure raise. And from its summit boldly mount the skies. But heaven, with anger, views the impious toil Of all such builders ; mocks their vain attempts, O'erturns their boasted fabrics, in its ire, *' And buries madmen in the heaps they raise." Michael. How great the folly of mistaken man, To think his works are w orthy to appear On heavenly ground ! Who hopes to share the praise Of his salvation ; and with dirty feet Would dare pollute the bright transparent stream Of love divine ; which, from th' eternal throne. Flows pure and clear, and in this lower world Streams like a fountain thro' a Saviour's blood. But will not with the muddy waters mix Which rise from nature's fountain. Gabrii l. Whether pride, Or stupid folly in mistaken man. Most calls for censure, is a puzzling question No angel can resolve. How much of each They all betray, when they presume to rise Against the glories of a sovereign God, Who sits enthron'd, amidst the boundless blaze Of uncreated hrinhtiiess and that light No mortal can behold ! He from his throne , At one vast comprehensive view, beholds The universe, and all created things, Past, present, and to come. How oft have we And all the heavenly multitude, retir'd With trembling awe, while the eternal King Hath in surrounding darkness veii'd his throne ; And not the tall archangel durst presume To pry into the secrets of bis reign ! But man, vain man ! can boldly dare to blame. Oppose and cimtradict bis high decn e : In his own narrow limits would couliou Eternal love, nor give heaven's Sovereign leave To choose amongst his creatures whom he will. And bring the baopy objects of his choice Safe to his throne by his almighty power. Because proud man can see no reason why. Michael. But see the world, to which we wine our way. Appears in view. Behold the clouded sphere Of earth and water form'd. The darker parts Are spacious seas ; the lighter solid land. The seat of man. See, in triangular form Great Britain rise, and swell upon the sight. Here, in fu'l peace, the heirs of glory dwell, Ard sit beneath the gospel's joytiil sound. And from this favour'd land each day we bring Numbers of shining saints, and bear on high, To people aU the sties. Gabriel. What cause for praise Hath every native of this happy land ! Happy ! thrice happy ! knew they how to prize Each precious privilege which they enjoy. Since their dehverance from th' oppressive power And purple tyranny of haughty Rome. But, cold and careless grown, they sit supine, And her ungrateful sons behold the place. Without emotion, where their fathers bled : And, fearless now, they with the serpent play. By whose deceitful wiles, and bloody rage, A world hath smarted. Michael. See, the tools of Rome With demons join'd, how cunningly they bide Their base designs ! How, in the dark, they work. And on unwary and unstable minds Too much prevail ; v/hile, like a lamb they paint The papal monarch ! But if once he rear His bloody standard, this revolted land Will hear him like a dreadful lion roar : And late, by sad experience, will be taught That the old dragon has not lost his sting. Gabriel. And now to bring about her base designs. See, how the fraud of Rome hath undermin'd The British counsels ! For tlie land declines In strength and glory, while the sword of war She hath, by madness urg'd, and cruel rage. In her own bowels plung'd.* Michael. But see, we stand On earthly ground, and at our journey's end. Just rising from the frozen arm$ of death. And from the change of matter* now broke loose Our charge appears. His guardian angel smiles To see our squadron. Not unknown, he views Each cherub's features ; and presumes the cause For which we left the skies. Guardian Angel. H.iil I ye bright train Of happy angels 1 Welcome to the land Where great Immanuel trains his chosen sons For boundless glory ! And, when fit to rise. Having perform'd his holy work and will. Sends his bright guards to bear them to his throne. Such is the cause which brings you now from heaven. With ardent joy I your assembly j in, And to your care commit my precious charge, Who bums with heavenly love, and longs to rise With you to worship, and to join your songs. Gabriel. Sing, all ye seraphs, the deserved praise Of our incarnate God I who reigns on high And dwells amidst the unutterable blaze Of uncreated light. Him all the skies. With awful reverence, and with holy joy. Adore and praise : and his immortal deeds Will find fresh matter for our soaring songs. When we, assembled, sit on heavenly bills; Nor can eternal ages e'er exhaust The boundless theme. Salvation to the Lamb ! * This Poeiu was n-ritten during' the Americati war. Edittj*. REV. AUGUSTUS TOPLADY. 4; Immortal glory, honour power and praise, Are iustly bis ! He triuaiphs over death, The yawning grave, and all the powers of hell. Soul. WhAt songs are these which charm my wond'ring And till with growing joy, unknown before I [mind, What stream of heavenly harmony is this Which breathes my welcome to the immortal shores ! And sings the triumphs of the mighty God Whom all my ardent spirit burns to see. Say, ye bright natives of the heavenly land. Who ill transcendent glory shines around ; Who cheer me with your condescending smiles, And fire me with your songs! for I perceivu You also worship at ImmanueVs throne, And all your heavenly harps resound his praise. Tell me ! Oh, tell me, for my vigorous powers Burn to behold my Saviour and my God, Where shall I find him t which way thro* the sky Lies my long journey? Or will you, blessM traiu Permit me with your squadron to ascend. And learn the way to the Redeemer's throne 1 Michael. Yes, happy saint! we come, at the command Of heaven's Supreme, from his eternal hill; And a bright chariot bring with steeds of fire, To bear thee up in triumph thro' the sky, And lodge thee in thy dearest Lord's embrace. For know, thy labours and thy arJeut love Are not in heaven unknown : nor will they fail To find their full reward. The heavy toil Thou hast sustain'd ; and now remains the rest, Thine are tlie bliss, the glory, and the joy. Soul. But say, bright armies of the heavenly King ! Whose condescending love brings you ao far From your bless'd home ; for, strange it seems to me You on such errand should forsake the sky ; What need is there of this amazing pomp t Or why should your bright legions take such care Of one that's most unworthy ? while the praise Of the Redeemer claims your ct■^.seless songs ; And the great King who fills th' eternal throne. Your constant worship '{ Michael. Think not heaven so thin Of happy natives, or th* eternal throne So slightly guarded, but the Lord of all Can numbers spare to fetch his chosen sons. Nor think the blessed objects of his choice So little honour'd by the sons of heaven That we should be unwilling to bestow Such tokens of respect as our great King Comm;inds. Nor would the brightness of our train Employ thy wonder, had thine eyes beheld The various beauties of the heavenly land, The boundless glory of th' eternal throne, And the transcendent grandeur of the courts Of our exalted King! Gabriel. Blest soul ! thy need Of our cherubic guards thou wilt perceive Far greater than at present may appear. Thro' the vast trackless void thy journey lies, ^And great th-.- distance from this world to heaven. Thy unexperienced flight might miss the way. And far aside explore with devious wing The dreary waste. Besides, th' apostate crew Of wicked spirits, whose dominion lies Between the earthly Jind th' :ctlierial plains,— These, though thevcould not wound, mightmuch annoy And want not malice to attempt their worst. They, by their arts, might shake the trembling air With mimic thunders ; and their lightnings play Full in thy face ; wliile with delusive powers They raise around thee various horrid forms To shock thy peace and make thy courage faiU MlCUAHL. Or if these airy terrors miss'd their end. And, still unmov'd, thou could'st thy flight maintaii They might assume the drapery of the skies, Array'd in light, attract thy wond'ring view. And seem bright cherubs to thy erring sight. Then bold delusive scenes of pleasure draw Green shades and silver fountains might be seen. And heavenly music seem to charm thine ear ; But all deceitful, tending to ensnare, And lead thee far away from real joy. Gabriel. These are their arts, but, of our power afraid. They tremble when our squadrons come in view. For heavenly glories shock their aching sight, And gloomy, murmuring, they in haste retire. Howl o'er the waste, and shelter in their dens. WTiat reason have I then to love and praise The great Redeemer ! Who to guard me safe Thro' every danger, sends his winged train Of warrior angels to protect my flight. And you, bright heavenly messengers, demand My warmest gratitude. — But let's ascend! My spirit burns to mount the bless'd abodes. To join your praises, learn your noblest songs. And worship with you at Immanuel's throne. Adieu ! my dearest brethren and my friends. Whom heavenly providence had made my charge Whose souls I watched for with unceasing care Both day and night : and, to my utmost power. As grace assisted and occasion serv'd, Labour'd to fix you on the Rock of ages. And build you up in every gospel truth. Mourn not for me I hut rather lift your eyes To where the great Redeemer lives and reigns. He can repair your every loss, and give Such portions of his Spirit as may fill Your ardent souls with heavenly love and joy. Your teachers die, but your Uedeemer lives I Shout, all ye saints 1 your Jesus lives for ever! Guardian Angel. Now happy soul thy painful labours end, And thou art rising far above the reach Of all that would disturb, or wound thy peace Thine and the gospel's foes may strive iu vain With falsehood and deceit to blast thy name. They cannot hurt thy Master's cause, nor thee Chorus op Angels. Now we ascend, and thro' the skies proclain Glory to God ! Salvation to the Lamb 1 Him all the armies of the sky adore : His glories shine thro' all the heavenly plain Thy God, 0 Israel 1 thy Redeemer reigns I 46 HISTORIC PROOF OF THE DOCTRINAL CALVINISM OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. ADVERTISEMENT. For prevention of mistake, I request leave to apprize the reader, 1. Tbat in tlie following Essay I use the words Calvinism and Calvinist merely in com- pliance with custom. The doctrinal system, es- tablishe!l in England, which Luther and Calvin ■were the honoured instruments of retrieving, sub- sisted, from the beginning, in the faith of God's elect people, and in the sacred Scriptures. But, " Dandum aliqud consiietudini." 2. I use the terms Pelagianism and Armin- lANlSM in their literal and proper signification, as denoting the system originally fabricated by Pelagius, and afterwards rebuilt by Arminius. Though, in strictness of speech, that system should rather be denominated, Morganism and Van Harminism ; the real name of Pelagius having been Morgan, as that of Arminius was Van Harmin. 3. By the word Methodists, which likewise frequentlyoccnrs, 1 mean the approvers, followers, and abettors of Mr. .loiiN Wesley's principles and practices, and them only. If some folks, either through want of knowledge, or want of candour, apply the name of Mephodist to such as agree in all points with the Church of England, it cannot be helped; nor have I the least objection to being involved under that title, in this sense of it : but I myself never use the term, except in the nieaning above defined- 4. Mention is often made of the Anabaptists, and of their theological enormities. Be it, there- fore, observed, that the Anabaptists of the six- teenth century were a very different sort of people from the baptists of the last century, and of the current ; consequently, what is observed of the former, does by no means affect the latter. 5. I foresee one objection, in particular, to which the ensuing work is liable : viz. that the two Pelagian Methodists, namely, Mr. John WESLEVand Mr. Walter Sellon, whose fraudu- lent perversions of truth, facts, and common sense, gave the first occasion to the present un- dertaking, " are not persons of sufficient conse- quence to merit so large and explicit a refuta- tion." I acknowledge the propriety and the force of this remark. It cannot be denied, that the Church of England has seldom, if ever (at least since the Civil Wars), been arraigned, tried, and condemned, by a pair of such insigniticant ad- versaries. Vet, though the men themselves are of no importance, the Church and her doctrine are of much. Which consideration has we ght enough with me, not only to warrant the design and extent of the following vindication, but also to justify any future attempts of the sdme kind, which the continued perverseness of the said dis- comfited Methodists may render needful. I mean, in case the united labours of that junto should be able to squeeze forth any thing which may carry a face of argument. For, otherwise, I have some thoughts of consigning them to the peaceable enjoyment of that contempt and neglect due to their lu.ilice and incapacity. Lord Bo- lingbroke somewhere observes, that " To have the last word is the privilege of bad writers :" a privilege which I shall never envy them. Mr. Wesley and his subalterns are, in gene- ral, so excessively scurrilous and abusive, that contending with them resembles fighting with chimney-sweepers, or bathing in a mud-pool. So they can but raise a tfmporary mist before the eyes of their deluded adherents, they care not what they in\ ent, nor whereof they affirm. 6. Let it not, however, be supposed, hat I bear them the least degree of personal hatred ; God forbid ; I have not'so learned Christ. The very men, who have my opposition, have my prayers also. I dare address the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls in those lines of the late Dr. Doddridge : HKSt lllou a lamb, in all thy flock, I would disd.iu to (e.d? But I likewise wish ever to add, ^ 1 fear ihy cause to plead i Grace, mercy, and peace, be to all wht> love, and who desire to love, our Lord Jesus Christ in sin- cerity. INTRODUCTION. Before I enter on the principal design of the present^ undertaking, it may be proper to throw together some preliminary observations, by way of Preface, that the main thread of our historic enquiry may, afterwards, proceed the more evenly and uninterruptedly. In Feburarv 1769, I published a pamphlet, en- titled, " The Church of Enpland vindicated from the Charge of Aruiinianism, and th?Case of Armi- nian Subscription particularly considered:" which I addressed to a learned and respectable Oxonian, who had lately presented us with an apology for the Arminian principles ; and whose arguments against the real doctrines oi our Established Church my counter vindication was designed to obviate. That Omniscient Being, to whom " all hearts are open," knows, that a feeling regard to his glory, and a tender solicitude for the honour of truth, were my sole determining motives to that INTRODUCTION. 47 humble attempt. I could sincerely adopt the appeal of archbishop Bradwardin, who wrote on a similar occasion, and in defence of the same doctrines : Scis, quud iiusijnaiii virtule mea, sal tuA, coii/isits, tanlillus aggndmr taiilrim can.sniii {a). Far, e-Kceeding far, from iircsuinini; on imy im- agiuary abilities of my own, and equally rernoie from wishing to distinguish myself on the stage of public observation, I resolved to conceal my name; though 1 could not resolve, by continuing entirely silent, to foi e jo my allegiance to God, and my duty to the. church. Tlie controversy had, indeed, been recently in the hands of a person whose zeal for the princi- ples of the Reformation adds diijnity to his rank and lustre to his talents ; 1 mean the able and learned author of PielasO.i utiii ii.us: and I freely confess, that I was under some dmibt, whether it might not carry an implication of sell-contidence, should 1 glean up, and lay before the public, a few of those authentic facts and testimonies, the men- tion of which had, for the most part, been omitted by that masterly writer. Considering, however, that, of old, even those persons who had but a mite to throw into the treasury, were not there- fore wholly exempted from the duty of contribu- tion ; 1 tiuctuated no longer ; but hastily threw together such observations as then occurred, and in a few weeks transiiiitted them to the printer. I have much reason to bless God for their publi- cation. That tract, hurried and untinished as it was, met with a reception, which, in such an age as the present, I could n-uther expect nor Upwards of two years after, i. e. in the sum- mer of 1771, a Mr. \Valter Sellon (who stands in the same relation to Mr.,John Wesley, that Celestius did to Pelagins, and Berlins to Arminius ; viz. of retainer-general and white-washer in ordinary) hands a production into the world, designed to prove that Arminianism and the Church of Eng- land are as closely connected as the said Alessienrs Walter and Jolinare with each each otlier. The piece itself is the joint offspring of the two as- sociated heroes. As, therefore, in its fabrication, those gentlemen were united, even so, in its confu- tation, they shall not be parted. Arminianism is their mutual Dulcinea delTo- boso. And, contrary to what is usually observed among co-enamoratos, their attention to the same favourite object creates no jealousy, no uneasiness of rivalsiiip, between themselves. High mounted on Pine's Kosin;oite, forth sallies A^C.Iohu from Wine-street, Bristol, brandishing his reed, and vowing vengeance against all who will not fall down and worship the (A) Dutch image which he has set up. With almost an equal plenitude of zeal and prowess, forth trots Mr Walter from Ave-raaria- lane, low mounted on Cabe's halting dapple. The knight and the squire having met at the rendez- vous appointed, the former prances foremost, and, with as much haste as his limping steed will permit, doth trusty Walter amble after his maslei. How successful these combatants are, in their (n) In Pref. ad libros Pr Citii.fu Dei. {b) Pelagianism was revived in Holland, undei the new name of Arminianism, toward the beginning of the last century. attack on my first defence of the Doctrinal Calvin- ism of the Church of England, I cheerfully leave to the decision of the Public. This, however, I may venture to say, that, after a tedious incuba- tion of six-and-twenty months, they ought to have hatciied an answer that might carry some shew, at least,of plausible argument. Hut even craft itself seems, in the main, to have discharged them froin her service, 'l.'re is neither subtlety, nor solidity. 1 am, in f.ict, going to encounter a phantom. No laurels, therefore, will crown the con(|nest; and the poor phantom should, forme, have stalked unmolested, had not the importance of the subject retrieved, in some measure, the in- significancy of the performance. One of them (for it is not always easy to dis- tinguish the immediate speaker) cliaiges me with " crying up the abilities of some against whom I have written, only that 1 myself may ap.pear to have greater abilities of my own, in vanquishing sucii able antagonists." Malice has here t.jryed an accusation too ignoble even for malice to believe. 'J'he brace of brothers are, indeed, either too blind to see, or too disingenuous to acknowledge, the excellencies of any from whom they disaent ; else they would never have termed those great re- formers, Luther and Calvin, a pair of "weather- cocks ;" ((•) nor have contemptuously styled St. Aiiatiii the " giddy apostle of the Calvinist." (rf) For mvown part, 1 ackowledge, with pleasure, the eminent talents of very many worthy persons, from wnom 1 ditfer extremely in opinion. Mr. Sellon, however, may make himself easy as to this p irticular. Unless lie should improve mira- culou^ly, 1 shall never cry up his abilities. 1 must want coniiiion sense, to suppose him a man of parts; and 1 must want common modesty, to re- present liim as such. 1 can distinguish a barber's baboii from a helmet; of course, all the fruit to be reaped from the contest now depending, is, not an ovation for mysJf, but the acquisition of a tributary pepper-corn to the doctrines of the Church. INlr. Wesley should have laid the burden of his alliance on other shoulders than those of Mr. Sellon. The lot could not possibly have fallen on a more incompetent man. Pie is much too uiikno ,v- iiig. and too hot, to come off with any degree of credit, in an engagement which has foiled so many of the wise and prudent. He should have re- membered the example of Dr. Waterland and others. As the Church is now internally constituted, her Calvinism is impregnable ; while she lives, this is immortal. The legislature have it, indeed, in their power (God forbid they should ever have the inclination !) to melt down her Liturgy, Homilies, and Articles ; and, when her component parti- cles are severed by state chemistry, to cast her into the .•\nniuian mould : but, until this is really done, all the artifice of man will never be able to fix the banner of Arminius in the citadel, how daringly soever some of his disciples may display it on the walls. Our pulpits may declare for tree- will ; but the desk, our prayers, and the whole of our standard writings as a Church, breathe only the doctrines of grace. (c) I'age 11. (d; Page 7. 48 INTRODUCTION. Several respectable mm have reduced them- selves to a state of pitiable embarrassment, in attenipting to disprove this, during, and since, what has been properly enough denominated, the ecclesiastical reign of archbishop Laud. Had that prelate been a Calvinist, and had tlie Ciilvinists of that ag'e joined hands with the enemies to civil and religious liberty, the Calvinism of the Church of England would, (.robably, have passed uncontested to the present hour : but that prelate attached himself to the new system (and it was then very new indeed) of Arminius ; and, wliicli veiglied still more against them in the Court balance, the Cai- vinists were friends to the civil rights of mankind ; they (observe, 1 speak only of the doctrinal, not of the disciplinarian Calvlnists) wpre steady to the true religious and political constitution of their country. They opposed, with equal firmness. Laud's innovations in the Church, and Charles's invasions of civil freedom. Unhappily both for the nation and the Church, and no less fatally for himself, Charles, nurtured in despotism, deemed it his interest to support the Arminians, for pur- poses of state. I shall have occasion, in the progress of the ensuing Essay, to trace this evil to its source. lu the meanwhile, I return to Mr. Wesley and his understrapper ; whom though I shall not constantly persist to mention together, bat hold tliem up to view, sometimes singly, some- times conjointly, as just occasion may require : the intelligent reader will not fail to notice, that every cxhiliition of Mr. John involves his man Vi'alter ; and that Walter cannoc be exhibited without iovcilving Mr. John. Monsieur Bayle has an observation, perfectly applicable lo the two furiosos above-mentioned ; had the cap been made for them, it could not have fitted them more exactly. " In hot consti- tutions," says that able critic, " zeal is a sort of drunkenness, which so disorders the mind, that a man sees every thing double and the wrong way. The Priestess of Bacchus, who fell upon her own son, whom she mistook for a wild hoar, is an image of that giddiness which seizes the zealots." (e) 1 am very far from peremptorily affirming, that Mr. Sellon is as intimately connected with Bac- chus, as waithe above Priestess ; but his conduct certainly bears a strong resemblance of hers. He pretends, that the Church of England is his mo- ther ; now, his supposed mother is an avowed, thorough-paced Calvinist ; but Mr. Sellon abo- minates Calvinism, and yet wishes to be thought a churchman. What can he do in so distressful a dilemma Necessity dictates an expedient. Amidst some qualifying professions of filial re- spect, this petty Nimrod bends his twelve-penny bow against her he calls his mother ; and pre- tends, all the while, that he is only combating a wild beast, which has chanced to find its way from Geneva to England. But the Church, and the truths of God, have nothing to fear from the efforts of this jaculator. Parthians might aim their arrows at the sun ; wolves may exhaust their strength by howling at the moon ; yet, neither t!ie weapons of those could wound the one, nor can the clamour of these so much as alarm the other. The sun persists to shine, and the moon to roll, unextinguished and unimpeded by the impotence of rage, and the emptiness of menace from below. I have heard, or read, of a picture, which exhibited a view of the apostate angels, just fallen from their state of blessedness. Every attitude and feature were expressive of the extremes! horror, indignation, and despair. An artist, into whose possession it came, by only a few touches with his pencil, transformed the shocking repre- sentation into a master-piece of loveliness and beauty ; so that seraphs seemed to smile and sing, where tormented fiends appeared before to blaspheme for rage and to gnaw their tongues for pain. Mr. Sellon has pursued a plan directly contrary to that of the amiable artist. The ine- thodist's grand business (in which, however, he utterly fails) is, to deform the gospel picture, and to disfigure the beauty of the Church. He labours to metamorphose, if it were possible, the wisdom and glory of God into a caricature equally frightful and ridiculous : but all his cavils are infra jugultim ; they come not up to the point. Mr. We-ley and his auxiliaries resemble the army of Mithridates, who lost the day, by mistakenly aiming their arrows, not at the persons, but at the shadosvs, of the Roman soldiers. Supposing the prmciples of the Church of Eng- land to be ever so exceptionable in themselves, the mode of assault, adopted by the mock vindicators, is by no means calculated to ^ain its end. The far greater part of mankind can readily distin- guish fury from zeal, and abuse from argument. A writer, like Mr. Sellon, who dips his pen in the common-sewer, injures and disgraces the cause he seeks to advance. " The wratli jf man workelh not the righteousness of God." It is so far from being a part, that it is the ver\- reverse, of that righteousness which the example of God pre- scribes, and his written will enjoins. I am charged with violating the meekness I recommend, and with bemg no less than " a persecutoi '" of the Arminians. (/) .Aggressors are often the first to complain. When Mr Wesley thinks proper to scatter his firebrands, " zeal for the Lord of hosts," and " earnest contention for the faith delivered to the saints," are the varnish which his abusive rage assumes : but if no more than a finger be lifted up in self-defence, the cry is, " Oh, you are without gospel love ; you are a persecutor of Mr. John ; you will not let the good old man descend quietly to his grave." As to intolerancy and persecution, I have al- ready declared this' to be my steadfast opinion, that " the rights of conscience are inviolably sacred, and that liberty of private judgment is every man's birthright : " yet Mr. Wesley cannot fully avail himself of this concession ; for, by having solemnly set his hand to the Articles, Homilies, and Liturgy of the Established Church, he comes within the exception immediately added, and which 1 here repeat : " If, however, any like Esau have sold their birthright, by subscribing to Articles they do not believe, merely for the sake of temporal profit or aggrandizement, they have only themselves to thank, for the little cere- mony they are entitled to." (^) It is not necessar^• to be timid in order to be meek. There is a f.-ilse meekness, as welt as a Hist. Diet. vol. 3. p. 53S, Art. Huu.iins. (/) P. 32. (g) See my CaTcat against I nsound Doctrines, p. 17. INTROin.'CTION. iHlse cliarity. Genuine cliarity. nrcordincr to the Apostle's description of it, rejoicetli in the truth. The conduct of our Lord himself, and of tlie first disciples, on various occasions, demonstr.ited, that it is no part of christian candour, to hew millstones with a feather. Rebuke them sharply ((jTToro^dif , cuttingly,) says the Apostle, con- cerning the depravers ot doctrinal Christianity ; n ish well to their persons, but g-ive no quarter to their errors. The world have long seen, that unmixed politeness, condescending generosity, and the most conciliating benevolence, can no more soften Mr. Wesley's rugged rudeness, than the melody of David's harp could lay the North wind, or still the raging of the sea. i\Ir. Ilervey, in his famous Eleven Letters, has handled Mr. Wesley with all the delicacy and tenderness that a virtuoso would shew in catching a butterfly, whose plumage he wishes to preserve uninjured ; or a lady, in wiping a piece of china, which she dreads to break. Did Mr. Wesley profit by the engaging meekness of his amiable and elegant refuter.' nay, but he waxed worse and wor^e : like Saul, he strove to stab the name of that in- estimable friend, whose gospel music was cal- culated to dispossess him of his evil spirit. Like the animal, stigmatized in the Iviiith Psalm, he stopped his ears, and refused to hear the voice of the charmer, though the strains were no less sweet than wise. Kve;y artifice that could be invented has been thrown out, to blacken the memory of the most exemplary man this age has produced. Mr. Wesley insulted him, when living, and con- tinues to trample on him, though dead. He digs him, as it were, out of his grave, passes sentence on him as an heretic, ties him to the stake, burns him to ashes, and scatters those ashes to the four winds. Rather than fail, the wretched Mr. Walter Sellon is stilted to oppose the excellent Mr. Her- vey; and most egregi )usly hath the living sinner acquitted himself against the long-departed saint ! Jn much the sauie spirit, and with just the same success, as the enemy of mankind contended with Michael the arch-angel, about the body of Moses. Every Reader may not, perhaps, know the true cause (at least, one of the principal causes) of Mr. Wesley's unrelenting enmity to Mr. I lervey ; an enmity, which even the death of the latter has not yet extinguished. When that valuable man was writing his Theron and Aspasio, his humility and self-diffidence were so great, that he con- descended to solicit many of his friends to revise and correct that admirable work, antecedently to its publication. He occasionally requested this favour even of some who were enemies to several of the doctrines asserted in the Dia- logues; among whom was Mr. John Wesley. The author imagined, that the unsparing criticism of an adversary might observe defects, and sug gest some useful hints, which the tenderness and partiality of friendship might overlook, or scruple to communicate. Several sheets having been transmitted to Mr. John (an honour of which he Boon shewed himself quite unworthy,) he altered, idded, and retrenched, with such insolence and wantonness of dictatorial authority, as disgusted even the modest and candid Mr. Hervey. The consequence was, Mr. Wesley lost his supervisor- ship, and in return, sat himself to depreciate the performance he was not allowed to spoil. By what spirit this gentleman and liis deputie; aregnided, in their discussion of controverted sub- jects, shall appear, from a specimen of the horrible aspersidns wliirh, in " The Church vindicated from Predestination," they venture to heap on the Almighty himself. The recital makes me trem- ble ; the perusal must shock every Reader, who is not steeled to all reverence for the Supreme Being. May the review cause the daring and unhappy writers to tail down, as in the dust, at the footstool of insulted Deity I Wesley and Sellon are not afraid to declare, that, on the hypothesis of divine decrees, the justice of God is " no better than the tyranny of Tiberius." (A) That God himself is '• little better than Mo- loch." (/) — " ,\ cruel, unwise, luijiist, arbitrary, and self-willed tyrant. — "A being voi) Page 18. (C) I'age lir. (. insinuations, raillery, perver.sion of Scripture and the Church Articles, self contradiction, self-suffi- ciency, haughtiness, pride and vanity, glaring in almost every page (/)." Thus, enthroned in my easy chair, dignitied with titles, and accurately developed as a writer, I only want a suitable address, to render my mag- nificence complete ; and who so well qualified to prepare it, as the eloquent Mr. Sellon ? Lo, be attends ; and, respectfully advancing, pays mc the following compliments : " Unhappily daring, and unpardonably bold, thy tongue imagineth wicked- ness, and with lies thou cuttest like a sharp razor. Thou hast loved unrighteousness more than good- ness ; and to talk of lies more than righteousness. Thou hastloved tospeak all woids that may do hurt, O, thou false tongue '." (g) Such are the candour and politeness of these Methodists ; and such are the arguments, by which they would persuade us, that Arminianism is the religion of the Church of England. These are the men that set up for " universal love ;" who call one another by the cant names of " precious believers," " most excclleut souls," " charming children of God," " sweet christians," and "the clean-hearted." If their hearts are no cleaner than their mouths, they have little reason to value themselves on their " sinless perfection." These are they who seek to bottom election on faith and goodness foreseen ; of which foreseen goodness, humility and benevolence, meekness and forbearance, are, I suppose, some of the in- gredients. Woe be to those " sweet christia^js," if their election has no better foundation than their "sweet" tempers, words, and works. And why all this torrent of abuse .' The plain truth is this : I detected Mr. Wesley's forgeries, and chastised the forger. Hhic ille lacrymce. Hence the outcries of John himself, together with those of Thomas Olivers and Waller Sellon The camp of the Philistines gave a scream, when they saw the levelled stone penetrate the brass of their Goliath's forehead : but of all the tribe, none screamed so loud as the frighted Walter ; of \rbose talent at screaming, a specimen has been exhi- bited to the reader. Let me whisper a friendly hint to this notable screamer. If you wish your scurrilities to obtain belief, restrain them within the hanks of probability ; malice, when loo highly vrought, resembles a cannon too highly charged, which recoils on the engineer himself, instead of reaching its intended object of direction. I might, with the most justifiable propriety, have dediijed joining issue, in controversy, with a person of .Mr Sellon s cast, who is, by those that know him, deemed ignorant and unpolished, even to a proverb : he is, indeed, to borrow the lan- guage of another, " a small body of Pelagian divinity, bound in calf, neither gilt nor lettered." I once hoped, that his friends were too severe, in branding him with such a character ; but he has been so weak as to publish ; he has gibbitted him- self in print. I am fully convinced, that his friends were in the right, and my charitable hope mistaken. Let none, however, suppose, that I harbour any ('egree of malevolence against either him or his master Whatever I have already written, or may hereafter have occasion to write, in opposi- (7) Page -2. 25. INTROUUCTION. 51 lion to them, or to any otners, on whom tlie toil of defoiulini; them may devolve, lias been, and, 1 trust, ever will be, designed, not to throw odinm on their persons, nor to wound their cause unfair- ly, but, simply, to strip error of its varnisli ; to lipen tlie eyes of delusion ; to pluck the vizor from the face of hypocrisy ; to bring- Arininian Methodism to the test of fact and arttunicnt; to wipe off the aspersions thrown, by the despairing hand of defeated heterodoxy, on the purest Church under heaven ; and to confirm such as liave believed through grace. Indued, the purity of my intention speaks for itself. At a time of sucii general defection from the doctrines of the Church Established, I cannot possibly have any sinister ends to answer, by as- serting those doctrines. It cannot be to gain applause; for, were that my motive, I should studi- ously swim with the current, and adopt the fash- ionable system ; neither can it be to acquire pre- ferment, tor the doctrines of grace are not the principles to rise by. In the reigns of Edward VI., Elizabeth, and the former part of James 1., the Calvinistic points were necessary steps to advance- ment, anil led directly to the topof the Church: but the stairs have been long turned aiuitiier way : what M as, once, the cait\n sine qita nnn of ascending, is now a cn/;v« prnptcr quain mm ; or, considered as a reason for keeping unfashionable divines as low on the ecclesiastical ladder as possible. I bless God. for enablinff me to esteem the re- proach of Christ greater treasure than all the ap- plause of men, and all the preferments of the Church. When I received orders, 1 obtained mercy to be faithful ; and, from that moment, gave up what is called the world, so f ir as 1 conceired it to interfere with faith and a good conscience. The opposition which 1 have met with, in the course of my ten years ininistrv.has been nothing, compared with what I expected would ensue, on an open, steady attachment to the truths of God ; and what insults have been thrown in mv « av came, for the most part, from aqnarter equallv abusive and con- temptible ; 1 mean, from Mr. ,John Wesley, and a few of his unfledged disciples ; whose elforts give ine no greater apprehension than would a Hy that was to settle on mv hat. Some'readers may suppose, possibly, that, in the course of the annexed 1 reatise. 1 ha\ e handled my assailants too severely : I reipiest, that such willsuspend their judgment, until they have perus- ed the performance u hich gave rise to the pre-ent. The r opinion, lam persuaded, will then be re- versed ; and they will wimder, eiUier at my deign- ing to take any notice at all, of an invective so exceedingly low and frivolous; or, at my not chas- tising the authors of it with a .severity propor- tioned to their demerits: but, for abstaining from the latter, I had, among others, two re:isons : 1. 1 should have smned aiamst meekness ; and. 2. Ihe poverty of Mr Sellon's talents, i:i |iarticular, is so extreme, as to render him an object ralln-r of |-ily than of resentment. As tlie man cannot riasun, nor even write grammatically. I olten allow limi to rail with impunity. If a malicious ignoramus comes against me with a straw, sell'-detencc does not oblige me, and christian charity forbids me, to knock him down with a bludgeon. Moreover, the period may arrive, when this very person, as also his commander-in-chief, may see tlie justness, and experience the energy, of those heavenly truths which they now unite to blas- pheme : they may even preach the faith to which they have snbscribr-d, and which they impotently labour to destroy. If iiiivingonce been an Armi- niau, were ineoni]iat:ilile uitli future conversion and salvation, we iiiiLHit indeed asU, who then can be saved For every man is born an Arminian. Unrenened nature spurns the idea of inheriting eternal life as the mere gift of Divine Sove- reignty, and on the footing of absolute grace. I will not affirm, that all, who heartily embrace the Scripture system of Calvinism, are savingly re- newed by the holy Spirit of God ; for St. Stephen teaches us to distinguish between the circumcisiju of the ears, and the circumcision of the heart. Thus much, however, 1 assert, wilhout he- sitation, that I know, comparatively, very few Calvinists, of whose saving renewal 1 have reason to doubt. I will even go a step farther : sincerely to admit and relish a system so dianie - ti ically oppiLsiie to the natural pride of the human heart,' is, with me, an iucontestible proof, that a man's jnd:;nK'ut, at least, is brought into sub- jection to the obedience of Christ : and, to every such person, those words may be acconimodaterl, " flesh and blood have not revealed this to thee, but my Father who is in heaven." 1 cannot give the two Pelagian gentlemen stronger evidence of my concern for their v. el- fare, than by wishing them to renounce those un- happy principles, which, under pretence of ex- tending the grace of God, by representing it as a glove accommodated to every baud, and which lies at the option of free-will either to make use of, or to fling behind tl;e fire, do, in fact, annihi- late all grate \i liatever, by ultimately resolving its efficacy into the power, merits, .■iiid caprice of num. Mr. Wesley and i\lr. Sellou may lind, in Strype's Collections, a form of recantation, ready drawn to their hands. The histoiiau introduces it thus : " Another letter there was, writ (A. 1). 155.5) by one in prisim (fur the I'rdtcstant taitli, during tlie Marian persn iitinn ), u liu had lately been one of tliese Tree - \i illi rs f ), hut now changed ill his juugnirni, t.i ( citaiii of that persuasion, in prison also fdi the 'ji>-|n l." The persecution of I'rotestants was so indisei imiuate, that not onlv the bishops, clergy, and iiienibeis of the Cliiirch of Engbind, felt i'ts iron hand, but even sonie of the Free-will Men (.as they wore then called), who d.ssented from tlie Church, and bad formed a separate conventicle of their own, came in lor a taste of the common trouble : bnt, though a feiv of the lew Free-willers (for their whole number was then exceeilingly small) w ere imprisoned for a while, I cannot find thai so much as one of ihein (/i) Ihlri of Ri 5-2 INTRODUCTION. either dieil in confinement, or was brought to tlie stake. If Mr. Wesley and his friend can give authentic evidence, that so miicli as a single Free- willer was hurned by the Papists, let tliein point him out by name ; and, at the same time, remem- ber to adduce their proofs. Such an instance, or instances, if producible, will reflect some Imnonr on the Pelagians of that a;ra, though unable to turn the scale in favour of Pelagianism itself. I now return to the letter of the converted Free- will man. in it, says the historian, he lamented " the loss of the gospel (i.e. the revival of Po- pery by queen Mary) ; shewing the reasons of if; whereof one he made to be, that they {vix. him- self and his Pelagian brethren) bad professed the gospel (i. e. Protestantism) with their tongues, and denied it in their (») deeds : another, that they were not sound in the doctrine of predesti- nation. In this letter he mentioned what a grief it was to him, that he had endeavoured so much to persuade others into his error of Free-will ; and that divers of that congregation of Free-will men began to be better informed ; as namely, Ladley and Cole, and others unnamed : the re- port of whom gave him and liis prison-fellows much rejoicing, (adding) that he was convinced (i. e. converted from being a Free-will man) by certain preachers in prison with him, who recon- ciled St. Paul and St. James together, to bis great satisfaction (A)." A great part of this choice letter is published by Mr. Strype, at the close (/) of the volume re- ferred to below. For Mr. Wesley's sake, and for the sake of tliose who arc led captive by him at his will, I lipre tr;in,fnbe the f.dlowing passages, ■which may serve him as a model of retracta- tion, in case it should please God to grant him repentance to the acknowledgment of ihe truth. " What high lauds, thanks and praise, am 1 bound to give always to God, who hath certified my conscience, by his spirit, that he will not im- pute niy sins unto me, f>r his son Jesus Christ's sake, in whom he halh chosen his elect before the foundations of the world were laid ; and preserv- eth us all, so that tliere sliall never any of us finaily p'-rish, or he dBinned. " I, for my part, repent, that ever I was so bitter unto tliem that were the teachers of this undoubted truth : vtrily, I am not able to ex- press the sorrows that 1 have in my heart : must especially, in that 1 went about, by all means, to persuade others, whereby thev might he one with me in that error of Free-will. With joy un- speakable I rejoice, giving thanks to God night and day, in that it hath i)leased him to vouch nie (0 Tliis is one proof, among l million, that the doctriDi s of Free will iinil of Jiistiticition by W orks (both which were stitlly contended lor by these I'ela- gians, and to which most of them added the belit-f of sinless perfection) are not doctrines really calculated to promote holiness of life, whatever the . assertors of those tenets may pretend. Observe, they " were not sound in the doctrine of Predestination ;" and ** tbeir deeds" were so dishonourable to a go,spel pro- fession, as to amount even to a " denial" of it. — As it nerally speaking. — ['nsouiidness aJJd unholiness seldom fail to walk arm in arm. (k) Strype's Kccles. Memorials, vol. 3. p. 2-17. Edit. 1721. (0 ibid. Append. No. xliii. p. lift— 123. worthy his fatherly correction at this present shewing me what I am by nature ; that is to say fullof impietyand all evil: therefore, thegreatgrief which I daily feel, is, because 1 see the horrible- ness and the great dishononr, that the filthy Free- will of man doth render unto God. I sigh and am grieved, because I soake evil of that good I knew not. " Wherefore, my beloved, I am provoKed by the Holy Ghost, to visit vou with my letter ; hop- ing, and believing, that God will give it good suc- cess : weereby God's glory may be the more set forth. For I have a good opinion of you, my dear brethren ; trusting in God, that he will reveal unto you the knowledge of himself : for I believe verily, that you will be vessels of God's mercy ; therefore I am assured, that you shall lack no necessary article of your salvation. I have good cause so to judge ot you ; not only because God hath opened his truth to me alone, but I also see how mercifully he hath dealt with many of our brethren, whom you do know well enough, as well as though I did recite them by narne. God forbid that I should doubt you, seeing it hath pleased God to reveal himself, in these days, to them that heretofore were deceived with that error of the Pelagians, yea, and suffered (wi) imprisonment in defence of that which now they detest and ab- hor. God be thanked for them. This is the Lord's doing : and it is marvellous in our eyes. "Like as you have the truth, as concerning the Papists' sacrament, in despising and hating that, as I do, it is well worthy : so likewise is Free- will a great untruth, undoubtedly. " 1 tliink that God will receive me home unto himself shortlv ; therefore, I am moved to signify unto you in what state I stand, concerning the controversy between the opinions of t' e truth of God's predestination and election in Chrl, fbey were liable to imprisonment, and some of tliem actually were imprisoued, for not being Popish e. ough, in the Articles of Image-worship and Transubstantiation. '1 iieir troubles, unuer Alary, futeiy unnatural -uid inexcusable. INTRODUCTION. 53 " I would wish, that men sliou'd not allow the fruit of faith to be the cause of faitli. Faith bringeth forth good works, and not good works faith ; for then of necessity we must attril)ute our salvation to our good works ; which is great blasphemy against God and Christ so to do. " But, 1 thank God, I do allow good works in their (proper) place. For I was created in Christ unto good works : wherefore I am bound to allow them, according to the Scrip- tures ; and not to the end to merit by them any thing at all ; for then I were utterly deceived ; for Esay saith, all our righteousnesses are as a filthy cloth, and are not as the law of God requireth them : wherefore, I acknowledge, that all salvation, justification, redemption, and re- mission of sins, Cometh to us wholly and solely by the mere mercy and free grace of God in Jesus Christ, and not for any of our own works, merits, or deservings. I myself could not understand St. Paul and St. James, to make them agree together, till our good preachers, who were my prison-fellows, did open them unto me. I praise God for them, most humbly; and yet I cannot be so thankful for them as 1 ought to be. " Paul saith, faith only justifieth, and not the deeds of the law : aud St. James saith, failh, with- out deeds, is dead. Here are contraries to the carnal man. When I saw these two Scriptures plainly opened, I coiild not stand against the truth therein: and thus were they opened unto me; that faith only doth justify before God; and the good deeds which St. James speaketh of, justify befope the world. " I thank God that they, who I thought would have been my enemies, are become my friends in the truth : as in sample, by our brethren Ladley and Cole, and such like : if it had lain in their own wills, they would have been enemies to that excellent truth which they do now allow : praised be God for them ; for it is he who worketh both the will and deed. If he had not been merciful unto them and to me, and pi evented our wills, we had been still wallowing in the mire. The prophet Jeremy saith, " Turn thou me, and I shall be turned ; heal thou me, and I shall be healed." And David saith, " The Lord hath pre- pared the hearts of the poor, and his ear hearken- eth unto them : " so that it is the Lord who doth all that good is. And again, David saith, " Ascribe all honour and glory to God, who alone is wor- thy ; for no man comcth unto me, saith Christ, except the Father, who hath sent me, draw him." And again he saith, " All that the Father hath given me, shall come unto me ; and him that cometh to me, I cast not away." " Therefore, 1 believe that we shall, every one, be preserved and kept, in him and lor him, according to his own word. 1 dare boldly sav, with our everlasting Saviour Jesus Christ, that all the elect shall be preserved -.uul kept for ever and ever : so then, none of tlicm shall be damned at any time. They who say that any of them may be lost for ever, do as nmcli as in them lieth to make (i. e. to represent) Christ unable to pre- serve and keep them : denying the power of Ciirist, in so saying : for he saitli, he loveth his unto the end ; which love remainelh, and shall never be extinguished, or put out ; and is not as the love ol uian, which is sometimes angry, and sometiioe! pleased. God, at no time, is so dis- plraie.! with any of his elect, to the end that he will dc|irive them of the purchased possession, which he hath laid up in store for them in Christ belore, and were elect according to the fore- knowledge of God the father, through sancti- fying of the Spirit, imto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jcsns Christ ; which Lamb was killed from the beginning, according to God's divine will and providence. Christ was ordained to die in the flesh ; and all was for our sins. Christ was ordained in this respect ; that the Father, seeing the fall of Adam, for that purpose only he ordained Christ, to the end that ho would preserve a remnant of the posterity of Adam, even as it pleased his godly wisdom. " What, will some say a remnant, and not all St. Paul saith, Like as all died m Adam, &c. And St. John saith, Not for onr sins ocly, &c. Ah ! will these Free-will men say, Where is your remnant now become To whom 1 answer by the Scriptures, whereas Christ shall say, in the last day, Depart from me, ye cursed ; I know you not : I pray you, tell me, did not God know them, as concerning their creation, and also their wickedness '\'es, verily : but he knew them not for his elect children. " The true Church of Christ doth understand these all {viz. the all, and the whole redeemed world, mentioned by St. Paul and St. John,) and p.ll other such like Scriptures, to include all the elect children of God. None otherwise I atn sure, that these a'l can be understood except we should make the Scripture repugnant to itself; which were too much ignorance, and too great an absurdity, to grant. " I affirm, that all they be blasphemers to God, that do slander the truth in predestination ; that say, If I be once in, I cannot be out, do what evil I will or can : all such do declare them- selves to be reprol)atos, and children of God's ire and wrath, rather than any of his. For who- soever delighteth in those things which God hatetli and abliorreth, doth declare himself to be none of God's : but, il he be any of his, he will give him repentance, for to know the truth, by his Spirit. For the Spirit niaketh intercession for the saints, according to the pleasure of God. For we know that all things work for the best, unto them that love God, who are called of pnr- pose. For those which he knew before, he also ordained before, thatthey should be like fashioned unto the shape (i. e. here, to the g arions, here- after, to the glorious, resemblance) of his Son. " And seeing God hath made all his elect like to the shape (the spiritual and moral simili- tude) of Jesus Christ, how is it possible, that any of them can fall away Whosoever he be, that doth so hold, is against God and Christ ; and may as well say, that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ may perish as any of them ; for Christ said unto the Father, Tliou hast loved them as thou hast loved me : although Christ spake these words to the comfort of his disciples at the present, so likewise is it to the comfort of all us, his chosen. Those that St. I'aiii speaketh of that God knew before, he meant by it, all his elect; and immediately he addeth, saying. Whom he appointed before, them also he callc.l ; and whom he called, them also he justified ; und 54 INTRODUCTION. whom he iustified, them also he glorified. What shall we then say to these things ? If God be cn our side, who can he against us That is to say, if God h;ivo appointed to glorify us and to save us, who can then deny (deprive) him of any of us, or take us out of hi.; hands ? '• My sheep, saith Clirist, hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me ; and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. O, most worthy Scriptures '. which ought to compel us to have a faithful remembrance, and to note the tenor thereof ; which is, the sheep of Christ shall never perish. " Doth Christ mean part of his elect, or all, think you ? I do hold, and affirm, and also faithfully believe, that he meant all his elect, and not part, as some do full ungodly affirm. I confess and believe assuredly, that there shall never any of them perish ; for I have good authority so to say ; because Christ is my author, and saith, if it were possible, the very elect should be deceived. Mrgo, it is not possible that they can be so deceived, that they shall ever finally perish, or be damned : wherefore, whosoever doth afiirm that theie maybe any e. any of the elect) lost, doth affirm that Christ hath a torn body."(7<) The above valuable letter of recantation is thus inscribed : " A Letter to the Congregation of Free-willers, by One that had been of that Persuasion, but come off, and now n Prisoner for Religion : " which superscription will hereafter, in its' due place, supply us with a remark of more than slight imp'irtance. To occupy tlio place of argument, it lias been allcffcd that " .Mr. Wesley is an old man ;" and the Church of Rome is still older than he. Is th it any reason why the enormities, either of the mother or the son, should pass unchastised } h has also been suggested, that " Mr. Wesley is a very laborious man : " not more laborious, I presume, than a certain active being, who is said to go to and fro in the earth, and walk up and down in it : (o) nor yei more laborious, I should imagine, than certain ancient Sectarians, concern- ing whom it was long ago said, " Woe unto you Scribes, Phari.sces, hypocrites; for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte : ''(p) nor, by any means, so usefully laborious, as a certain diligent member of the community, respecting whose variety of occupations the public have lately received the following intelligence : " The truth of the following instance of industry may be depended on : a poor man, with a large family, now cries milk, every morning, in Lothbury, and the neighbourhood of the Royal Exchange ; at eleven, he wheels about a barrow of potatoes ; at one, he cleans shoes at the Change ; after dinner, cries milk again ; in the evening, sells sprats ; and at night, finishes the measure of his labour as a watchinan."('/) Mr. Sellon, moreover, reininds me fp 128.) that, " while the shepherds are quarrelling, the wolf gets into the sheep fold ;" not impossible : but it so happens, that the present quarrel is not among "the shepherds," but with the "wolf" himself ; which " quarrel " is warranted by (nl Strype, «• s- (o; i- 7- with 1 Pet. v. 8. every maxim of pastoral meekness and fidelity. I am farther told, that, while I am " be- rating the Arminians, Rome and the devil laugl ill their sleeves." Admitting that Mr. Selloi might derive this anecdote from the fountain- head, the parties themselves, yet, as neither thev nor he are very conspicuous for veracity, I con- strue the intelligence by the rule of reverse, though authenticated by the deposition of their right trusty and well-beloved cousin and counsellor. Once more : I am charged with " excessive superciliousness, and majesty of pride : " and why not charged with having seven heads and ten horns, and a tail as long as a bell-rope After all, what has my pride, or my humility, to do with the argument in hand ? Whether 1 am haughty, or meek, is of no more consequence either to that, or to the public, than whether I am tall or short : however, I am, at this very time, giving one proof, that my " majesty of pride " can stoop ; stoop even to ventilate the impertinences of Mr. Sellou. But, however frivolous his cavils, the prin- ciples for which he contends are of the most pernicious nature and tendency. I must repeat, what already seems to have given him so much offence, that Arminianism " came from Rome, and leads thither again." Julian, bishop of Eclana a coteniporary and disciple of Pelf.gius, was one of those who endeavoured, with much art, to gild the doctrines of that heresiarch, in order to render them more sightly and palatable. The Pelagian system, thus varnished and pal- liated, soon began to acquire the softer name of Semipelagianism Let us take a view of it, as drawn to our hands by the celebrated .Mr. Bower, who was himself, in the main, a proffssed Pela- gian, and therefore less likely to present us with an unfavourable portrait of the system he ge- nerally approved. Among the principles of that sect, this learned writer enumerates the following : " The notion of election and reprobation, in- dependent on our merits or demerits, is main- taining a fatal necessity, is the bane of all virtue, and serves only to render good men remiss in working out their salvation, and to drive sitmers to despair. " The decrees of election and reprobation are posterior to, and in consequence of, our good or evil works, as foreseen by God from all eter- nity."(r) Is not this too the very language of modern Arminianism ? Do not the partizans of that scheme argue on the same principles, and express their objections against Calvinism even in the same identical terms Should it be said, " True, this proves that Arminianism is Felagianism revived ; but it does not prove, that the doctrines of Arminianism are originally Popish :" a mo- ment's cool attention will make it plain that they are. Let us again hear Mr. Bower, who, after the passage just quoted, immediately adds, " on these two last propositions, the Jesuits found their whole system of grace and free-will ; agreeing therein with the Semipelagians, against the Jan- senists and St. Austin." (j) The Jesuits were '•■) Bower's Hist, of the Popes, vol. i. p. 350. INTRODUCTION. 55 njculdcd into a regular bodv, towards the middle ot the sixteenth century : toward the close ot the same ccnturv, Arminiiis bi'£;an to infest the Pro- testant churches. It needs therefore no great penetration, to discern from what source he drew his poison. His joiirnev to Rome (though Mon- sieur Bayle affects to make light ot the interences which were at that very time deduced from it) was not for nothing. It. however, any are dis- posed to believe, that Armiiiius imbibed his doc- trines from the Socimaiis in Fohiiid. with whom, It IS certain, he was on terms of intimate tnend- ship, I have no objection to splittina: the dif- ference : he might import some ot his tenets from the Racovian brethren, and vet be indebted, for others, to the disciples of Loyola. Certain it is, that Armimiis himself was sen- sible, how greatly the doctrine ot predestination wiuens the distance between Pl•ote^tantls:n and Popery. " There is no point ot doctrines (savs he) which the Papists, the .Anabapisis, and the (new) Lutherans more hercely oppose, nor by means ot winch they heaj) more discredit on tlie reformed Churches, and bring the retonned sys- tem Itself into more orluim ; tor they {t. <•. the Pajiists. kc.) assert, that no fouler lilasphemy against God ran be thoiioht or expressed, than is coniaincd in the doctrine of predestination, (/) I'or which reason, he advises the reformed world to disrard predestination iroin their creed, in order that tliev may live on more brotherly terms with llie Papists, the Anabaptists, and such like. ! lie Arminian writers make no scruple to seize and retail each other s arguments, as com- mon pro[)erty. Hence, Samuel lloord copies from Van Harniin the self-same observation which I have now cited. '■Predestination (savs Samuel) is an opinion odious to the papists, opening their toiil mouths, against our Church and relia-ion : («) consequently, our adopting the opposite doctrines ot universal grace and free-will, would, bv briug- iiig us so many degrees nearer to the Papists, coadiiee to shut their mouths, and make tlieni regard us, so tar at least, as their own orthodox and dearly beloved brethren : whence it follows, that, as ArniiiiKiiiisni came from Rome, so ''it leads thither anaiii." If the joint verdict of Arminius himself, and of his LuL'iisli proselyte Hoord. wilt not turn the scale, let us add the lestimony of a prolessed Jesuit, bv wayot making up lull weiulit. \V lieu archbishop Laud s papers were exjimiiied. a letter was found among them, thus en.i]iti.i:f, ft i.iiTtifraui acnus oppiigiieiit : perque 1 - IT, iiri-iris pra\iiis invidiam con- 1 M Ilium in odium vocent : ' ' ' in, adviTsus lii-um lilas- pN'' i. ii n M iiri \ti-bis protcrn posse. Ar- mu.ius, n, ()|,r,. ,,. 110. Ludg. le2il. (u) Hourd, ui bislinp Davuuant's Animadversions, Camb. unexpected calliner of a Parliament. We liave now many strings to our bow. We have planted that soveraigne driigge Arminianisnie, wliicli v/e hope will purae the Protestants from their hercsie ; and it Hoiirisheth and beares fruit in due .season. For the betier preveiitinn of the Piiritaues. the Arininiaus have already locked up the Duke s (of Biickinaliaui) eares ; and we have those of our owne relmion, which stand continually at the Duke s chamber, to see who troes in and out : we cannot be too circumspect and careful! in this reirard. I am. at tnis tune, transport r,l with joy, to see how happily all instnimi : Is .u 1 1 1 IS 1 well great as lesser, co-ojiei ale ii r.') o ur piir].oses. But, to return unto the mauie l.iln irke :— Our foundation is Aruiinianisuie. llie .Ai projectors, as it appearcs in the iirci 11 s ithtb mutation, lliis we second and e..t lice bv pio- bahle ar!niments."(.i) Tlie " sovereiirn drug, Armiiiiani \Ulir , said the Jesuit. " we e. w Papists) have planted '■ in liiigland. did indeed bid tair " to purge our Protestant Cliui t li i-'iectiiaily. How merrily Popery' and Ariiiiniaiusiii. at that lime, danced hanil in hand, may be learned from iiiidal: " riie churches were adorned with paintinr)'S, iinai^es. altar-pieces, »S:c. and, instead ot coniinuniiui tables, altars were set up, and bowinijs to theui and the sacramental elements enjoined. I he predestinariau (ioctrines were forbid, not only to he preached, but to be printed ; and the Arminian sense ot li.e Articles was encourai^ed and propagated. (//) llie Jesuit, theretore. did not e.xiilt without cause. llie " sovereign driu;-. so la'elv '• planted, did indeed take deeji root downward, and brinir forth fruit upward, nniler the chenslung auspices ot Charles and Laud. Heylvn. too. acknowledges, that the state of things was truly described bv another Jesuit ot eth weary of Itself, 'llie doctrine (by the Ar- niinians. who then sat at the helm) is altered in many things, for which tlie:r progenitors forsook the Church of Rome : as /i,n/jus patnim ,- prav?r tor the dead , and possibility of kei])ing God s commandments ; and the accoiintin(r ot Calviuisni to he heresy at least, it not treason, [z) llie maintaining of these positions, by the Court divines, was an •' alteration ' indeed ; which the abandoned Heylvn ascribes to the ingenuity and moderation found in some pro- fessors of our religion. ' If we sum up the evidence that has been given, we shall hnd its amount to be, that Arminianism came from the Church ot Rome, and leads back again to the pit whence it was digged. The mention ot Rome naturally enough paves the way tor saying something about John Oood- win : and the rather, as Mr. ScUon seriously supposes that I paid his friend Wesley a very great compliment, when I styled him, which 1 still do, the John Goodwin ot the present ai;e. The greatness ot this compliment will appear, from the following short particulars, whicn some Instorians have transmitted to posterity, concern- ing the said Goodwin. (J) Hidden worlts of darliness. p. 80, flO. Kdit. IMS. (v) Imdafs Contm. of Itapin, vol. J. octavo, li5s. {z) Lite of Laud. p. 2^)8. IN TRODUCTIO.V. About Uie year 1652, when Cromwell's design of usurping the sovereign power became more ani more apparent, a set of visionaries, known by the name of Fifth-Monarchy Men,(a) grew (a) The leading principle, and the extravagant spirit, of these double-dyed enthusiasts, will appear, in part, from the titles of two famous 'i racts published by them, .i, i ;, "-The sounding of the last Tru.np t . : . il \ i-iMiis, declaring the universal nvcrtjiM up of all earthly Powers in England , , ,, ..Ih.r Things foretohl, which shall cm.- I , VearlGSO, lately shewed uutc George t' ^t; r, wlio w is commanded to print them." — 2. Sion's approaching Glory ; or, the great and glo rious Day of the Lord King Jesus's appi-aring ; before whom all the Kings of the Nations rau,t fall, and never rise again. Accurately des-r !K-d, according to the Prophets, Christ, and his Apostles, in Three and-forty Sections: by James Freze, Merchant, 1W2." See Grey'a Notes on Hudibras, v..l. 2. p. 24.5. 'Ihe Filth.i\Ion:irthist3 were not entirely extin- guished, at th ■ Rest .r ition of Charles II. " That king II .l i tiu-in. 1 iiey scoured the streets before them, and III . li- a L^rrat pru^r..ss; they killed a great m.any ; but V. ere :e.I, U t us into ' the true knowledge of the unp.i- " taking up arms for king Jesus {I shudder at the blasphemy), asauist the po.vcrs of the earth, the king, the duke of York, general .Monk, &c. assuring them, that no weapons litrmrd against them (i. t\ against their own sect) should prosper, nor an hair of their heads be touched ; for one should chase a thousand, and two put ten tliousand to liight. Upon which they got a declaration printed, enlitled, A Door of Hope opened : in which they said and dec lared, th.it Ihey would never sheath their swords, till I; . vI m ihi y (till) tliere be left neither remnantT- i ; that, when they had led captivity i ,t}i . i , 1 . they would go into France, Spam, in i nnn \ , cv> , ,Liid rather die, than take the wicked oaths ui supreinacy and allegiance : that they would not make any leagues with monarchists, but would rise up against the carnal to possess the gate, or the world ; to bind their kings in chains and their nobles in fetters of iron." The historian then gives a circumstantial account of Ven- ner's insurrection, in consequenc& of these godly re- »oiu1ious : but he, and nineteen others, being at length overpowered and t.iken, were tiied at the Old liailey, '* for treason and murder ; which being fully very turbulent and conspicuous. Their grand ring-leader was John Goodwin, the Arminian; wlio had also rendered himself remarkable, by aspers- ing the Calviuistic doctrines of the Church of England, and by publishing a folio Vindication of King Charles's Bcheaders : yet, behold the art of this crafty Arminian I tliough the Fiflh- Moiiarrliy Men were not a little odious and formidable to Oliver Cromwell, and though Joha Goodwin was actually at the head of those odious and formidable fanatics, Goodwin, notwilhstanding pljcd Cromwell so assiduously with flatleryand obsequiousness, as to gain no small measure of that ifsurper's confidence : even the dissembling Oliver was, in part, over-reached bythe still more exquisite dissimulation of master Goodwin. Let not the candid reader imagine, that my co- louring is too strong, or laid on too thickly : to cut off the very possibility of such a surmise, I shall express what 1 farther have to observe con cerning the sly Fifth-Monarchy Man, in the words of others : not forgetting, at the same time, to subjoin, from bishop Burnet, as much as may sufiice to au;henticate what has been already placed to John Goodwin's account. " The Fifth Monarchy Men seemed (viz. A. D. 1652 and 1653,) to be really in expectation, every day, when Christ should appear. John Goodwin headjd these ; who first brought in .Armiuianism among the sectaries. None of the preachers were so thorough- paced for him (i. e. for Cromwell) as to tenipoial matters, as Goodwin w;is ; for he (Goodwin) not only justified the putting the King to death, but mairnified it as the gloriousest action men were capable i f. He (Goodwin filled all peoplewitb such expect.ition of a glorious thousand years speedily to begin, that it looked liha a madness possessing them (Aj." S'lch being tlie principles of John Goodwin, what a master-piece of political cunning must his conduct have been which could fix him so tightly in the saddle of Cromwell's esteem ! On the one hand, Cromwell was taking large strides toward the throne ; and, soon, actually acquired kingly power, though (by spinning his thread of aflected moderation too finely) he missed the name of King. On the other hand, Goodwin, who had long represented kingship as the great Antichrist which hindered proved on Vtnner and sixteen of the rest, when sen- tence was pronounced against them, and Loid Chief Justice Foster seriously charged Venner with the blood of h s unhappy accomplices, Venner impu- dently replied. It was not he, but Jesus, that led them. Being sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered, Venner and llodgkius w ere, on the 19th of January, executed, over against their Meeting-house, in Coleman-street." Echard's Hist, of Engl. vol. 3. p. 42 — 14. Bishop Kennett affirms, that most of the Fifth- Monarchy Men, who were executed on account of \ enner's insurrection, died " raving, and threatening judgment, and calling down vengeance on the king, the judges, and the city" of Loudon. Complete Hist. u. s. And yet Mr. John Wesley and Mr. Walter Sellon are for referring us to the writings of John Goodwin (the very man who was at the head of the Fifth-mou- archy Men, and whose Meeting house in Colemaa- stree't appears to have oeen the rendezvous and head quarters of the party,) as the school of orthodoxy, wherein we are to learn what are the genuine doctrine* of the Chuich of England '. "—Crctlat Jutlaus ayella . (b) Burnet's Own Times, vol. i. p. C7. IXTKODUCTION. 57 Christ's h?\ng set nn his throne (c)," carried him- self fairly wilh tlie Protector, wlio was, every day, visibly approximating nearer and nearer to that very "kingship" whicli Goodwin abhorred as "the great Antichrist" that excluded the Messiah from possessing his right. A little to save appearances, Cromwell canted, occasionally, to Goodwin, and the rest of the Fifth-Monarchy Men; and in return, Goodwin as cantingly pretended to be convinced of Cromwell's holy and upright intentions ! It surprised every body, says Burnet, that John Goodwin, who had been so furious and ac- tive against Charles I. should come off with im- punity .after the restoration of Charles II. "But (adds the right reverend historian), Goodwin had been so zealous an Arminian, and had sown such di- visionamongallthcsectaries, on these heads, that, it was said, this procured him friends (rl)." It has long been universally known and acknowledged that Charles II. himself had been, for some time before the commencement of his reign, a concealed Papist ; and that he continued such, to the last moment of his life. No wonder, therefore, that Goodwin's Arminianism (e) atoned for the ran- cour and frenzy of his political principles and behaviour. " Goodwin had, so often, not only justified, but magnified, the putting the king to death, both in his sermons and books, that few thought he co\ild have been cither forgot or ex- cused; for (Hugh) Peters and he were the only preache\-s who spoke of it in that strain (/)." Who will say, that John Goodwin knew not how to balance a straw .' During tlie civil commotions, the ranter kept himself secure, by his abhorrence of monarchy. After the nation was resettled, lie preserved his neck, and his treasons were overlooked, on account of his zeal for Arminian- ism. He had been already serviceable to the Popish cause, by " sowing divisions" among Pro- testants ; and he was suffered to live, by a Popish pince wlio aimed at arbitrary power, in order to his being farther useful in the same laudable department. So much for Goodwin, as a politician : a word or two now, concerning him as a divine, and an individual ; for it is, chiefly, in these latter re- spects, that I have honoured Mr. John Wesley with, what Mr. Sellon calls, " the great commend- ation" of being the John Goodwin of the pre- sent age. Dr. Calamy informs, us, that, on the Resto- ration, Goodwin, "not being satisfied with the terms of the Uniformity-act, lived and died a Non-con- formist. He was a man by himself; was against every man, and had every man almost against him. He was very warm and eager (in) whatso- ever he engaged in (g)." The same writer observes, that Goodwin " wrote such a number of contro- (c) Burnet, ibid. (rf) Burnet, ibid, p. 163. (e) Goodwin, however, soon after the coming of Charles II. trembled for his ueck, and thought proper to lie hid for a season. The immediate occasion of which panic was tliis : in August l6tS0, " was called in a book of John Goodwin (then lately a Minister in Colemau-street, London), entitled. The Obstructors of Justice ; written in defence of the sentence against his Majesty Charles I. At which time also the said Goodwin absconded, to prevent justice." (Wood's Al'tena, vol. i. col. 882. Edit. 1091.) The fox, however, at length, ventured out of his hole, and was not earth- ed till 1065. (/•) Burnet, ibid. (t) Account of Ejected Ministers, p. 53. versial pieces, tliat it would be no easy thing to reckon them up with any exactness (A)." If instead of the word " wrote," we only substitute the word " pilfered," the whole of these two passages will lit both the Mr. Johns as neatly as their skins. A very humorous circumstance, respecting Goodwin, is related by Antony Wood ; an ingeni- ous writer of that age published a book against Goodwin, with this facetious title : " Colenian- street Conclave visited ; and that grand impostor, the Schismatic's Cheater in Chief (who hath long slily lurked therein) truly and duly discovered ^ containing a most palpable and plain Display of Mr John Goodwin's Self-conviction, and of the notorious Heresies, Errors, Malice, Pride, and Hypocrisy, of this most huge Garagantiia. Lon- don, 1648." The title is curious ; but Ihe frontis- piece, prefixed, was exquisitely laughable, and most justly descriptive of the original. " Before the title (continues Wood) is John Goodwin s pic- ture, with a windmill over his head, and a wea- thercock upon it, with other hieroglyphics, or em- blems, about him, to shew the instability of the man (i)." The writer of tlie above piece was Mr. John Vicars, the famous author of " The Schis- matic sifted ;" who, if he sifted all schismatics as searchingly as he appears to have sifted John Goodwin, the schismatics of that age had no great reason to be much in love cither with the sifter, or the sieve. What a masterly sifting would such a man have given to John Wesley and Walter Sellon! But they must now content themselves with Good- win's legacy of the windmill surmounted by a weathercock. Goodwin had an excellent talent at scurrility and abuse ; whereof take the following concise example : Mr. Nedham had written two treatises against him; the one entitled, "Trial of Mr. John Goodwin at the Bar of Religion and right Reason :" the other, " The great Accuser cast down ;" on which the inflammable Arminian im- mediately took fire, and gave vent to his rage in explosions not the most gentle. He characterized Nedham as having "afoul mouth, which Salan had opened against the truth and mind of God," as being " a person of infamous and unclean cha- racter for the service of the triers ; ' as " a man that curselh whatsoever he blesseth, and ble>.selh whatsoever he curseth (A-)." And yet John Good- win is represented as having beeo, like Mr. John Wesley, "a meek, loving-hearted" Arminiaa ! Let me add, concerning the first of these Johns, that (among a multitude of other refnters) he was taken to task, in 1653, by the learned Mr. Oba- diah Howe, in a performance entitled, ' the Pagan Preacher silenced (/)." 1 question, if any of Goodwin's Pagan preachments are still ex- tant ■ but such of his Pagan treatises as have reached the present times, are, I find, the very Bible and Common Prayer-book of Mr. Walter Sellon. I shall close these remarks on Goodwin with some of the encomiums heaped on him by his said admirer. John Goodwin, saith this saga- cious critic, was a man " whom envy itself cannot but praise; a glorious champion for the truth of (A) Continuation, vol. i. p. 78. (0 AtkcncE, vol. ii. col. 8.;. (A-) Athviix, vol. 2. col. 4(» : (/) Ibid. 538. 58 INTRODUCTION. the cfospel, and for the genuine doctrines of the Church or England (;«)■" Thus chaunts the godly and loyal Mr. Sellon : the veracity, the modesty, and the propriety of -.vhose panegyric, may be amply collected from the foregoing testimonies, which I have produced, concerning the rantiug- Fifth Monarchy Man, J. Goodwin. Mr. Sellon is no happier in deducing conclu- sions, than in the drawing of characters: witness his judicious commentary on a passage of mine, whence he labours to distil no less than the doctrine of universal salvation. In my remarks on Dr. Nowel, I testified my firm belief, that the souls of all departed infants are with God in glory: that, in the decree of predestination to life, God hath included all whom he decreed to take away in infancy ; and that the decree of reprobation hath nothing to do with them (n). From these premises saysSt-llon, it follows that '• Mr. Toplady himself mamtains general redemption, and even the uni- versal salvation of mankind." Logica Sclloriiana. As if all mankind died in infancy. " Oh, but you quoted Matthew xviii. 14, to prove the salva- tion of infants ;" true : I did so. Let us review the text itself. " It is not the will of your Father which is in Heaven, that one of these little ones should perish." Supposing this to be spoken of infants, literally so called, it certainly proves, that all who die in that state are saved. " Oh, but our Lord says nothing about Con- sult verse 10, "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones ; for I say unto you, that their angels (i e. as I understand it, the souls of such of them as die in infancy) do always behold the face of my Father who is in Heaven'" Now, 1 should imagine it impossible for the angels, or souls, of little children, always to behold the face of God in Heaven, unless their souls were previously dis- lodged from their bodies by death : consequently according to my view of the passage, our Lord, in the 14th verse, speaks of such little ones, and of such only, as actually die in infancy. "Oh, but the word angels means guardian angels, ap- pointed to take care of children." Before I can subscribe to this, I must see a grain or two of (OT) Sellon, p. 26. ' ~ (n) See my Vindication of the Church of Eng'acd from Armicianisro. that ilccessary thing called proof. That children, no less than adults, are objects of angelic atten- tion, in tlie course of Providence, I am far from denying : but, in my present conceptions of the passage under consideration, I cannot believe that exposition to convey the true sense of this parti- cular text. Among other reasons, the following is one : how can those superior spirits, who are (upon very probable grounds) supposed, very fre- quently, if not constantly, to attend on infants, be yet said to behold always the face of our Fa ther, in heaven .' In order, therefore, to prove, that the word angels, in this declaration of our Lord, means angels, properly so termed, it must be first proved, th.at angels, properly so termed, can be present in more places than one, at one and the same time. " Oh, hut angels may some- times attend children on earth, and at other times be present in Heaven :" likely enough: but the angels, here spoken of, are said always to behold the face or glory of God, and that in Heaven: an affirmation which can never be reconciled to pro- priety, or even to truth, if they are supposed to be absent from Heaven at any period, or on any oc- casion. " Oh, but if angels are long-sighted, they may see into Heaven while they are on earth." I never met with a treatise on the optics of angels, and therefore cannot say much to this hypothetical objection. On the whole, if " little ones in gene ■ ral," whether they die young, or lire to maturity, be (as Mr. Sellon contends) entitled to salvation, his own title to happiness is incontestible. If little reasoning, less knowledge, and no regard to truth or decency, be a passport to the skies, this exotic star will glitter there, like a diamond of the first water. In the mean while, I should be obliged to the said star, if he would, with the help of Mr. Wesley's irradiation, shew me what becomes of departed infants, upon the Arminian plan of con- ditional salvation, and election on good works foreseen. From two Arminians, let me, for a moment, pass to a third. It will be found, in the following Historical Disquisition, that I have made some use of Dr. Peter Heylyn's testimonies in favour of the grand argument : and I admit his depositions, on the same principle by which men of the most exceptionable cast are sometimes allowed to turn king's evidence. 5!) HISTORIC PROOF OF THE DOCTRINAL CALVINISM OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. SECTION I. Free-tvillers the first Separatists from the Church of Eni^land. — Character and Vin- dication of King Edward VI. Time has been, when Arianism was more Sjenerally predominant throughout the Christian Church, than even Arminianism is at present. The whole world, says history, wondered, to see itself become Arian. It was Athanasius aijainst all the world, and all the world against Athanasius. Hardly were the clouds of Arianism dis- persed when the Pelagian darkness overspread a considerable part of the ecclesiastical horizon; and its influence has continued, more or less, to obscure the glory of the Christian faith, from that period to this. Yet is the eclipse far from total. We have a multitude of names, even in our present Sardis, who defile not either their doctrinal or their moral garments ; and there is very good reason to believe, that their number, in this kingdom, both among clergy and laity is continually increasing. it is no novelty for the doctrines of grace to meet with opposition ; and, indeed, few •doctrines have been so much opposed as they. Swarms of fanatical sectarists were almost coeval with the Reformation itself. Such is the imperfect state of things below, that the most important advantages are connected with some inconveniences. The shining of truth like the shining of the sun, wakens insects into life, which, otherwise, would have no sensitive existence. Yet, better for a few insects to quicken, than for the sun not to shine. I shall not here review the tares which sprang up with the Protestant corn in Germany; but content myself with just observing, that there was one congregation of Free-willers in London, during the reign even of the pious king Edward VI. and notwithstanding the vi- gilance of our first Protestant bishops — I say, there was one congregation of Free-willers ; or, as they were then most usually called. Free- will-men : and it should seem, that there was then, in the metropolis, no more than one con- venticle of this kind, held by such as made profession of Protestanism. For that valuable letter of recantation, preserved by the impartial Mr. Strype, and of which so large a part has been quoted in our Introduction, was inscribed (as before observed) with the following re- markable title : " A Letter to the Congrega- tion of Free-willers." London, however, was not the only place in England where Pelagianism began to nestle, while good king Edward was on the throne. Some of the fraternity iippcared likewise in two of the adjoining counties: viz. in Kent and Essex. Observe, I call the Free-willers of that age Pelagians ; because the new name of Ar- miiiians was not then known. The appearance of Free-will-men in Kent and lissex is assigned by Strype to the year 1550, v/hich was ten years before Arminius himself was born. " Sectarists," savs the historian, " appeared now («-. A. D. 1550), in Essex and Kent, sheltering themselves under the profession of the gospel. Of whom complaint was made to the Council, These (i. e. these Free-willers) were the first that made separation from the Church of England ; having gathered congre- gations of their own {a) ;" viz. one in London, one at Feversham in Kent, and another at Bocking in Essex. Besides which, they used to hold some petty bye-meetings, when a few of them could assemble with secresy and safety. Before we proceed, let me interpose a short remark. — So far is the Church of England from asserting the-spiritual powers of free-will, and from denying predestination, that the de- niers of predestination, and the asscrtors of free- will, were the very first persons who separated from her communion, and made a rent in her garment, by " gathering" three schismatical " congregations of their own." Thus, the Free-willers were the original, and are to this day some of the most real and essential, dis- senters from our evangelical establishment. I now return to the historian, who thus goes on : " The congregation in Essex was mentioned to be at Bocking ; that in Kent was at Feversham, as 1 learn from an old register. (a) Strvpc's Memorials Ecclesiastical, vol. ii. b.*u cll.29. p. •2Uii. 60 THE DOCTRINAL CALVINISM. From whence (j. «. from which same old regis- ter) I collect, that they held the opinions so far as free-will and predestination are concerned) of the Anabaptists and Pelagians (A)." These Free-willers were, it seems, looked upon in so dangerous a view by the Church of England, that they were complained of to the Privy Council ; and, for the more peaceful se- curity of the reformed establishment, their names and tenets were authentically registered and enrolled. Mr. Strype, after giving us the names of fifteen of them, adds as follows : " Their teachers and divers of them were taken up, and found sureties for their appearance ; and at length brnught into the Ecclesiastical Court, where they were examined in forty-six article!', or more (c)." Were (which God forbid) all Freewill-men to suffer equal molestation in the present age ; were all Anti-predestinarians to be " taken up," " registered," " find sureties for their appearance," and at length be " ex- amined in the Ecclesiastical Court ;" what work would it make for constables, stationers, no- taries, and bishops' officers ! But to resume the thread. " Many of those, before named, being desposed e. put to their oath) upon the said articles, confessed these to be some sayings and tenets among them: " That the doctrine of predestination was meeter for devils than for christian men. "That children were not born in original sin. " That no man was so chosen, but he might damn himself; neither any man so re- probate, but he might keep God's command- ments, and be saved. "That St. Paul might have damned him- self if he listed. " That learned men weie the cause of great errors. " That God's predestination wiis not certain, but upon condition. " That to play at any manner of game for money is sin, and a work of the flesh. " That lust after evil was not sin, if the act were not committed. That there were no repro- bates. And, " That t!ie preaching of predestination is a damnable thing ."(d) So much for these Free-willers, who were the first Separatists from the Church of En- gland ; and whose tenets Mr. Strype (though not a Calvinist himself) justly allows to be Anabaptistical and Pelagian. How exactly do the doctrines of Wesley and Sellon, on the points of election, reprobation, and free- agency, chime in with the hot and muddy ideas of their Pelagian forefathers! I cannot help in- dulging a very suitable speculation. What a delicious pastor would Mi-. Sellon in particular have made to the Free-willers of Booking, or Feversham, had the icra of his nativity com- menced about 200 years sooner ! He would ,e) ll)id. (rfJStiype, u. s. p. 2SC, 23^. liave fed them, not, indeed, with knowledge and understanding, but, after their own heart*. His lack of learning, his being " an exotic with- out academical education," would have been no impediment to that piece of promotion : nay, the flock would have liked him the better for it ; seeing in their estimation, " learned men are the cause of great errors." The spirit of which maxim, aided by his blasphemies against predestination, would have made hitu (next tuFree-will itself ) the very idol of the sect. Instead of bei,:g, as now, Mr. John Wes- ley's pack-horse, ycu miglit have sat up for yourself; and, as a reward for your meritorious denial of election, been elecied Tub Orator to the Pelagians of Feversham, or Booking From such samples, as history has recorded, of the vigour (not to say the rigour), with which Free-will men were proceeded against, in the days of PIdward VI. under whom the re- formation of the Church was accomplished, it necessarily and unanswerably follows, that the Church herself was reformed from Popery to Calvinism, and held those predestinarian doc- trines, which she punished (or, more properly, persecuted) the Pelagians for denying. The persons who boie the main sway in Church and State at the time last referred to, were the King, the duke of Somerset, and arch- bishop Cranmer. Over and above the matters of fact, in which that illustrious triumvirate were concerned, and which neither would nor could have been directed into such a channel, had not those personages been Doctrinal Cal- vinists ; there are also incontestible written evi- dences, to prove that they were, conscientiously and upon inward principle, firm believers of the Calvinistic doctrines. This shall he proved of Cranmer, in its proper place, when I come to treat of the Reformers. The same will sufficiently appear, as to Somerset, under the Section which is to treat of the influence which Calvin had on theEnglish Reformation. The eoi.'- tolary intimacy, which subsisted between CaWn and Somerset; the high veneration in which that foreign reformer was held by the latter; and the readiness with which the first Liturgy was altered, in consequence of the same reformer's application ; plainly demonstrate that the duke of Somerset, no less than his royal nephew king Edward, and good archbishop Cranmer, had (happily for the Church) heartily adopted Calvin's doctrine, though (no less happily) not proselyted to Calvin's favourite form of ec- clesiastical regimen. To th<=se considerations let me add another, drawn from that most excel- lent prayer, written by himself, upon his being declared Protectorof the Realm and governor of the King's person during his majesty'sMinority It is entitled, " The Lord Protector's Praj'er for God's Assistance in the high Office of pro- tector and Governor, new committed tohim." (e) !>•) See Strype's B'-positorv of Oriciii;'!5, iinnextd to the second vol. of Ecclcs. Meinor. p. IS. OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 61 A man of the Duke's extraordinary piety can never be thought to trifle with God, and to prevaricate on his knees. The prayer itself, therefore, proves him to have been a Cal- vinist. Part of it runs thus : " Lord God of hosts, in whose only hand is life and death, victory and confusion, rule and subjection ; I am the price of thy Son's death ; for thy Son's sake thou wilt not lese (i. e. lose) me. I am a vessel for thy mercy ; thy justice will not con- demn me. I am recorded in the book of life; 1 am written with the very blood of Jesus ; thy inestimable love will not then cancel my name : for this cause, Lord God, I am bold to speak to thy Majesty: thou. Lord, by thy providence, hast called me to rule ; make me therefore able to follow thy callinp; : thou. Lord, by thine order, hast committed an anointed Kinjj to my governance ; direct me therefore with thine hand, that I err not from thy good pleasure : finish in me, Lord, thy beginning ; and begin in me that thou wilt finish." When this illus- trious peer fell, afterwards, a sacrifice to the machinations and state intrigues of Warwick (who, himself, within a short time, paid dearly for his insidiousness and ambition,) Somerset, tluring his imprisonment in the Tower, and a little before his death, " translated, out of French into English, an epistle wrote to him by John Calvin (on the subject), of Godly Conversation, which he received while under his confinement, and was printed at Lon- don." (/) As to the Calvinism of king Edward him- self, every religious transaction of his reign sets it beyond a doubt. The reformation of the Church upon the principles she still professes, might suffice to comprehend all proofs in one : hut this excellent prince was not content to establish the Church of England ; be himself voluntarily and solemnly subscribed lier Arti- cles. " A book, containing these Articles, was signed by the King's own hand."(g-"l And Edward wa.s too sincere a Christian, to sign what he did not believe; a species of prevarication reserved for the more accomplished iniquity of after- times ; and which bids fair to end in the utter extirpation of all religion from amongst us. Neither would king Edward have honoured what is commonly called Ponet's Catechism (of which, more hereafter) with his own pre- fixed letters of recommendation, had his Majesty not been a thorough Calvinist : nor would he, just before the agonies of death came upon him, have set his seal, as he did, to the doc- trine of election, had not that doctrine been an essential and predominant article of his faith. " Lord God (said the royal saint, a little before he expired), deliver me out of this miserable and wretched life, and take me among thy chosen." (A) (/) Collins's Pt-erage. vol. i. p. 160. Edit. 1708. I .Stvype's Ecclcs. Mcinor. vol. ii. p. 368. (/») Bunn t'i Historj of the Rolonnation, vol. ii. p. 212* I unwillingly descend from one of the most wonderful and valuable princes that ever adorn- ed a throne, to the meanest and most rancor- ous Arminian priest that ever disgraced a surplice. How extreme, how immense the transition, from king Edward VL to Mr. Walter Sellon ! Hut 1 must let the reader see, in what way this factor for Methodism pietends to ac- count for the Calvinistic measures of king Edward's administration. Even thus: "Some rigid Calvinists in power had imposed upon that good young King, and made use of his authority to impose their notions upon the Church (Sell. p. 53)." A certain sort of peo- ple stand in particular need of good memories. Mr. Sellon's forsakes him in the very next page; where the " some rigid Calvinists" are d'A'indled into one. " Up starts rigid Ponet, and gets poor young king Edward, whom he had brought to his lure, to command all schoolmasters within his dominions to teach the youth this catechism (Ibid. p. 54)." What is this, but calling "poor young king Edward" a poor young fool? An insi- nuation as false and unjust to the real character of that extraordinary prince, as I should be guilty of, were I to insinuate that Mr. Sellon is a man of sense, learning, and good manners. But sup- posing we should, for a moment, admit (con- trary to all fact and truth), that the " poor young King" was indeed a flexible piece of tape, which Ponet, bishop of Winchester, could easily twist round his finger at pleasure; yet, can it be imagined, that Ponet was an absolute monopolizer of the tape royal ? Was he the only haberdasher who made property of the said tape? Could not a soul beside come in for a yard or two ? Where (for instance) wej e Cran- mer, and Ridley, and Hooper, and Latimer? Was it possible, that a transaction of suoh con- sequence to the Church of England, as the public sanction ot Ponet's Catechism, could take effect, without the participation and concurrence of the other Er.glish bishcqjs, and of the Con- vocation, and of the King's Council ilstlf? Every reasonable man will say no: besides, however liable to imposition " poor young king " Edward may be represented, by the Arminians of the present age, yet, surely, his Majesty's next successor but one (under whom that same Catechism was revived, and publish- ed with enlargements, by Dr. Nowell, dean of London) cannot be thought to have been very soft and pliable : but, I dare say, Mr. Sellon, by way of answer to this remark, will content himself with crying out, poor young queen Elizabeth ! King Edward was by no means that duc- tile, undiscerning prince, for which Mr. Sellon's cause requires him to pass. As this defamt r, under the impulse of his inspirer, Mr. V\'eslt y, has thought proper to fasten this obliquity on that King's memory, I shall give a short .-uni- mary of his character, drawn by the best au- thorities ; and the rather, as Edward's reputa- THE DOCTRINAL CALVINISM tion is very closely interwoven with the credit of the Church of England, which chiefly owes her present purity and excellence to the pious and paternal authority of that young, but most respectable Josiah. Bishop Latimer had the honour to know him well ; and no man was ever less prone to flatter, than that honest, unpolished prelate. " Blessed (said he) is the land, where there is a noble king; where kings be no banqueters, no play- ers, and where they spend not their time in hunting and hawking. And when had the King's majesty a Council, that took more pains, both night and day, for the setting forth of God's word, and profit of the common-wealth ? And yet there be some wicked people that will say (and there are still some wicked Pelagians who continue to say), Tush, this gear will not tarry ; it is but my Lord Protector's and my Lord of Canterbury's doing : the King is a child, and he knoweth not of it. Jesu, have mercy ! how like are we Englishmen to the Jews, ever stub- born, stiiF-necked, and walking in by-ways ! Have not we a noble King? Was there ever king so noble, so godly brought up, with so noble Counsellors, so excellent and well-learn- ed schoolmasters? I will tell you this, and speak it even as I think ; his Majesty hath more godly wit and understanding, more learning and know- ledge, at this age, than twenty of his progeni- tors, that I could name, had at any time of their life." (i) Bishop John Bale, the Antiquarian, could also speak of the King upon personal know- ledge ; and his testimony is this : " He is abun- dantly replenished with the most gracious gifts of God ; especially, with all kinds of good learning, far above all his progenitors, kings of this imperial region. The childhood of youth is not in him to be reproved ; for so miglit king Josiah have been reproved, who began his reign in the eighth year of his age." The occasion of Bale thus vindicating king Edward, was the petulance of one whom he styles " a frantic Papist of Hampshire," who had insolently term- ed his Majesty, " a poor child :" which was much the same with Mr Sellon's contemp- tuous language of, " poor young king Edward." Mr. Strype, to whom I am indebted for the above quotation from Bale, goes on : " Then he (i. e. Bale) comes closer to this papist, so blasphemously reporting the noble and worthy king Edward, then in the fifteenth \ear of his age, and the fifth of his reign." Bale added, '* His (Majesty's) worthy education in liberal letters, and godly virtues, and his natural apt- ness in retaining of the same, plenteously de- clared him to be no poor child, but a manifest Solomon in princely wisdom." {k) Even bishop Burnet offers the following chaplet at Edward's tomb : " Thus died king (i) Latimer's Sermons vol. i. p. 89. 90. Octavo, Krs. (*J See Strypc's Eccles. Memor. vol. ii. p. 377. 378. Edward VI. that incomparable young prince. He was then in the sixteenth year of liis age, and was counted the wonder of that time. lie was not only learned in the tongues, and other liberal sciences, but knew well the state of his kingdom. He kept a book, in which he writ the characters that were given him of all the chief men of the nation, all the judges, lord- lieutenants, and justices of the peace, over England ; in it he had marked down their way of living, and their zeal for religion. He had studied the matter of the Mint, with the ex- change and value of money, so that he under- stood it well, as appears by his journal. He also understood fortification, and designed well. He knew all the harbours and ports, both of his own dominions, and of France and Scotland ; and how much water they had, and what was the way of coming into them. He had acquired great knowledge in foreign aflfairs, so that he talked with the ambassadors about them, in such a manner, that they {viz. the foreign ambassadors) filled all the world with the highest opinion of him that was possible ; which appears in most of the histories of that age. He had great quickness and appre- hension ; and, being raistrastful of his memory, used to take notes of almost e%'ery thing he heard. He writ these, first, in Greek cha- racters, that those about him might not under- stand them : and, afterwards, writ them out in his journal. He had a copy brought him of every thing that passed in Council : which he put in a chest, and kept the key of that always himself. In a word, the natural and acquired perfections of his mind were won- derful. But his virtues and true piety were yet more extraordinary. "(/) Mountagu, bishop of Winchester, in his Preface to the Works of king James I. makes very observable mention of Edward, con- sidered even as a writer. " Edward the Sixth, though his dayes were so short, as he could not give full proofe of those singular parts that were in him ; yet he wrote divers epistles and orations, both in Greek and Latin. He wrote a treatise de fide, to the duke of Somerset He wrote an history of his owne time. Which are all yet extant, under his owne hand, in the King's library, as Mr. Patrick Voung, his Majestie's learned Bibliothecarius, hath shewed me. And, which is not to bee forgotten, so diligent an hearer of sermons was that sweet prince, that the notes, of the most of the sermons he heard, are yet to he scene, under his own hand ; with the preacher's name, the time, and the place, and all other circumstances. "(m) It were endless, to adduce the praises which have been deservedly accumulated on this most able and most amiable Monarch. But I must not overpass the character given of him by (0 Burnet's Hist, of the Reform, vol. ii. p. 212. & alibi. («0 Bp. Mount, n. s. edit. 1018 OI' THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 63 Jerom Caidan, the famous Italian physician, who, the year preceding king Edward's death, spent some months in England. That foieignei-, amidst all his acknowledged oddities, was still a person of very extraordinary genius and learning; so that his ahility, to judge of the King's capacity and attainments, is indis- putable. And the consideration of his being also a Papist, will not suffer us to suppose, that his encomiums have any mixture of party pre- judice in this prince's favour. Moreover, Car- dan wrote and published his testimony in a country, and at a time, which rendered it (ii) impossible for him to have any sinister interest in view. " All the Graces," says he " were apparent in king Edward , and, for the tongues, he was not only exact in the English, French, and Latin ; but understood the Greek, Italian, and Spanish, Nor was he ignorant of Logic, the principles of Natural Philosophy, or Music: being apt to learn every thing. The sweetness of his temper was such as became a mortal ; his gravity becoming the majesty of a King ; and his disposition suitable to his high degree. In short, that child was so bred, had such parts, and was of such expectation, that he looked like a miracle of a man. These things are not spoken rhetorically, and beyond the truth ; but are indeed short of it. He began to love the liberal arts, before he knew them ; to know them, before he could use them. And in him there was such an effort of nature, that not only England, but the world, has reason to lament his being so early snatched away. How truly was it said, of such extraordinary persons, that their lives are short ! He gave us an essay of virtue, though he did not live to give us a pattern of it. When the gravity of a king was needful, he carried himself like a man in years : and yet was always affable and gentle, as became his youth. In bounty he emulated his father, who in some cases may appear to have been bad ; but there was no ground for suspecting any such thing in the son, whose mind was cultivated hy the study of Philosophy. "(o) Mr. Guthrie's character of him is far from being excessive. The outlines of Edward's por- trait, as drawn by the masterly hand of that able Historian, shall terminate our present review of this great prince. " Henry VIII. was the Romulus, and Edward VI. the Numa Pompilius, (Cardan's^ residt-iu e at ^the ^English Court. Much The philosopher's conduct on tliat occasion. tliouglHt hon"our'^on''°™s*- ""^^''J,''^'" prinriple, reflects some refused fsays he), a purse of live hundred pieces certain *th-""' '.' "''''t ' 1 cannot as- knowledge oue of the King's titles, in prejudlce^of the Pope's authority." See Bayle's Diet. vol. ii. p. (0) See the Acta Regia, d 439. Edit. 1734. of English Reformation. The former laid its foundation in blood and rapine ; the latter reared its fabric, by justice and model ation. Learning is the most trifling part of Edward's character. The rod may make a scholar ; but nature must form a genius. Edward had ge- nius. His learning, indeed, was extraordinary; but in that he was equalled, if not excelled, by others of equal years, and of a different sex. Perhaps his sister Elizabeth, and his designed successor, the lady Jane Giay, at his age, knew the languages better than he did. But Edward discovered a genius for government, beyond what, perhaps, ever was known in so early a bloom of life. He soon fell in with those walks of knowledge which lead to the glory and hap- piness both of prince and people. He under- stood the principles ot trade, and the true maxims which the English ought to pursue with foreign countiies, to much greater per- fection than any author who wrote at that time on those subjects. The pa|)ers which remain in his writing, concerning a mart^ and the reformation of abuses, might be suspected not to be of his composition, did we know of any person in those days, who could write so clearly and intelligibly, and, by consequence, so ele- gantly. His Journal contains, so far as it goes, an account of all the important trans- actions falling within it ; penned in such a manner, as amply proves its author to have known the hotto.m of every subject he touches. His perpetual attention to commerce gave him, towards the end of his reign, a true notion of that conduct, which England ought to pursue, in those disputes upon the Continent, which endanger tlie balance of power theie. It helped him to form great schemes for the im- provement of his maritime force, for the security of his coasts, for the protection of his ships ; and, in his project of opening free marts in England, there is somewhat that points towards introducing a new and better system of mercantile afi'airs, than has yet, per been rsued. He acquired a taste for elegant magnificence ; and, in this, he seems to have been single in his Court. His ap- pearances, on public occasions, were some- times, perhaps, too Eastern : but he seems tc have corrected this extravagance, by striking; off a great deal of useless expense. Had Providence been so well reconciled to Eng. land, as to have indulged Edward in a longer reign, he had private virtue sufficient to have brotight private virtue once more into re- putation : while his judgment was so strong, as, at once, to re-animate, and employ the public spirit of his people. The application of this royal youth laid the corner-stones on which the commerce of England is founded, and which alone gives her the rank of a Queen among nations. It was his piety, that purged her religion from superstition ; it was his good sense, getting the better of his prejudices, that 64 ARMINIAXISM PROVED ON saved her possessions from ruin, and rescued her Clergy from contempt. It was his ex- ample, which fued the young nobility and gentry of his own years, with that generous emulation, which pushed them into every glo- rious pursuit, when their manly qualities, in a following reign {viz. in the reign of Elizabeth,) raised their drooping country to glory and to empire. It is owing to Edward's compassion, that, at this day, in England's capital, the helpless orphan finds a father ; that erring youth are provided with instruction ; and that Heaven receives the sounds of praise and gratitude from the mouth of the infant. His wisdom prepared a check for the intemperate, and correction for the idle. His cares make gray hairs go down, without sorrow, to the grave. His bounty embellishes those places, which his charity endowed. And his own per- son was the habitation where love and learn- ing, the graces and the virtues, delighted to dwen."(p) Let me just add, that whosoever has read king Edward's Treatise against the Supremacy of the Bishops of Rome (published at London, in 1682), will cease to be surprised at that ad- miration, with which the English historians celebrate the parts and piety of the royal au- thor. The merits of that performance, in particular, are so transcendent, that a most ingenious acquaintance of mine once doubted, whether it was possible for so young a prince to be the composer of so learned and masterly a work. But my friend (eminent for possessing one of the finest collections of natural and ar- tificial curiosities that ever fell to the lot of a private person) has been so happy as to add to his treasures the original manuscript, in Ed- ward's own hand writing ; which places the authenticity of the book above dispute. Judge now, whether Ednard, thus endued with the whole circle of princely qualifications could be that weak, supple, facile, waxen image of a king, which Mr. Wesley's malice and Mr. Sellon's ignorance combine to represent. In trying at which, they not only violate all his- toric truth, but labour also to blacken the Church of England ; bv defaming the Protes- tant Monarch who was, under God, its father and visible head: a monarch, who, like Al- fred, was horn for the good of mankind ; and the lustre of whose crown was eclipsed by the virtues of him that wore it. King Edward's being a Calvinist is the unpardonable crime for which Arminian Methodism seeks to lay his memory in the dust. Under him it was that the English Liturgy was compiled, reformed, and perfected ; the Homilies composed ; the Articles of Religion framed; and Ponet's Ca- techism drawn up ; which two latter, viz. the Articles and the said Catechism, " were in ge- neral received and subscribed to all over the (p) Guthiic's Hist, of England, vol. iii p. I. i2i-m. kingdom." (q) These were the crimes of Edward and his refoj ming bishops, for which, Peter Heylin, John Wesley, and Walter Sellon, labour to heap odium on the best of princes and the best of prelates. SECTION II. Armimamsm charged and proved on the Church of Rome. Mr. Sellon acknowledges his absolute ine quality to the task he has undertaken. " I know nothing at all," says he, "how to fence or push :"()■) i. e. he can neither attack, nor defend. A very proper person to set up for a champion, and to style himself a vindicator! But there was no need of such an explicit confes- sion. His production sufficiently demonstrates that its producer can neither fence nor push. AVitness the opening of his very first assault, in pag'? 3, where I am presented with a tierce, not of blunderbusses, but of blunders. " In that point," says the blunderer, " which you stickle so mightily for, viz. the doctrine of absolute, irrespective predestination, though all the members of the Church of Rome do not fall in with it, because they are not com- pelled to it, as all the members of the Church of Geneva do, because they are compelled to it ; yet, if the testimony of Dr. Potter, some time dean of Windsor, be to be depended upon, there are ten Catholics, that hold this point of Genevan doctrine, for one that is so much an Arminian as to deny it." Such a cluster of glaring untruths deserves no answer. Byway, however, of shewing, what an honest and ac- curate opponent I have to deal with, I'll give the paragraph a thorough sifting. 1. " All the members of the Church of Geneva are compelled to fall in with " the doctrine of predestination. So far is this from being true, that the doctiine itself, of pre- destination, has been expelled from Geneva, for vei-y considerably more than half a century back. Geneva, which was once dreaded by Papists, as one of the head quarters of Cal- vinism, and termed, by them, for that reason, " The Protestant Rome," is now, in that happy respect, Geneva no longer. The once faithful city is become an harlot. The unworthy soa of one of the greatest divines that ever lived (1 mean Benedict, son, if I mistake not, of the immortal Francis Turretin) was a principal instrument of this doctrinal revolution. And, to the everlasting dishonour of bishop Burnet, he, during his exile, contributed not a little to the inroads of Arminiaiiism at Geneva, by prevailing with the leading persons there to abolish the test of ministeiial subscriptions, (i) Guthrie, a. s. p. 114 ^r) Page 123. THE CHURCH OF ROMIi. 66 about the year 168fi. («) After his return to EnglAnd, and his adraiicenieiU to the episcopal bench, there is great reason to believe, that he would very willingly have played the saaie game here ; and lain the Church of England under a similar obligation to " his warmth and the weight of his character," by releasing (to continue the language of his filial biographer) our clergy too from " the folly and ill consequence of such sub- scriptions." But, through the goodness ot Providence, the people of England were not such implicit trucklers to his lordship's "elo- quence and credit," as were the citizens of Geneva. No " alteration, in this pratice " crowned his wish.(<) The time for the destruc- tion of our establishment was not yet come : and, I trust in God, it is still very far off. To the unspeakable mortification of such as Mr. Sellon, the fence is, hitherto, undemolished. Should our governors in church and state ever suffer the fence to be plucked down, farewell to the vineyard. But, till the barrier of sub- scription (that stumbling-block to Arminians, who, nevertheless, for divers good causes them thereunto moving, make sliift to jump over it) actually be taken out of the way, let no man of common knowledge or of common modesty, call our Calvinistic doctrines the tenets of Geneva. If it be any real honour, or dishonour, to drink of the Lemain lake, the Armiriians, as matters stand, have it all to (s) " He WIS much caressed and esteemed by the principal men of Geneva. He saw they insisted strongly on their consent of doctrine (a t'ormularly commonly known by the name of the Consensus), which they required all those to subscribe wlio were admitted into orders. He therefove employed all the eloquence he was master of, and all the credit he had acquired among them, to obtain an alteration in this practice. He represented to them the folly and ill consequence of such subscriptions. The warmth, with which he expressed himself on this head, was such, and such was the weight of his character, that the Clergy of Geneva were afterwards released form those subscriptions." Life of Burnet, annexed to his Hist, of his Own Time, pages 692, 693. Fol. 1734. (t) Bishop Burnet, failing in his desire of aboUsh- Ing our ecclesiastical subscriptions, was forced to content himself with singing to tiie tune of He would if ne could : in these plaintive and remarkatjle words : " The requiring subscriptions to the XXXIX Articles is a great imposition." [Hist. O. T. 2. 634.] An impo- sicioQ, however, in which his Lordship prudently ac- quiesced, and to which he was the means of making others submit, rather than he would forego (to use an expression of his own) the " plentiful oishopric" of S..rum. How much more disinterested and heroic was tlie conduct of that honest Arminian and learned Arian, Mr. VVilli.am Whiston ! The account is curious : so take it in his own words. " Soon aflcr the ;irce.ssion of the House of Hanover to the throne, Sir Joseph Jekyl, that most excellent and upright master of the rolls, and sincere christian, Dr Clark's and my very good friend, had such an opinion of us two, that we might be proper persons to be made bishops, in order to our endeavouring to amend what was amiss iti the Church ; and had a mind to feel my pulse, how 1 would relish such a proposal, if ever it should be made me. My answer was direct and sudden, that 1 would not sign the Thirty-nine Articles, to be archbishop of Canterbury. To which Sir Joseph replied, thai Dishops are not obliged to sign those articles. I s.iid, 1 never knew ao much before. But still, I added, if 1 were a bishop, I must oblige others to sign them, which would 2. Our author pompously appeals to tbe authority of " Dr. Potter, dean of Windsor." He should havesaid, dean of Worcester. Pot- ter was, indeed, promised a canonry of Wind- sor; but never obtained it. (h) This Chris- topher Potter, in the noviciate of his ministry, had been lecturer of Abingdon, where he was extre melypopular, and regarded as a zealous Calvii^ist. But, as Wood observes, " when Dr. Laud became a rising favourite in the royal court, he [Potter] after a great deal of seeking, was made his [Laud's] creature (.r)." The editor oi editors of the Cambridge Tracts, published in 1719, affect to think {y), that Laud paid his court to Potter, instead of Pot- ter's being a suitor to Laud. To me, Mr Wood's account more than seems to prove the contrary Besides, the archbishop was emi- nently stiff and supercilious ; but the lecturer was as remarkably supple and obsequious. The prelate could have very little advantage to hope for from the acquisition of the lecturer, but the latter had much to hope for from the good graces of the prelate. I conclude therefore, that Potter was a cringer at Laud's levee, and " after a great deal of seeking," i. e. in modern style, y.tter long attendance and much servility, being found very (;;) ductile and obsequious, he was entered on the list of the aichbishop's dependants. go sorely against the grain with me. However, I ad- ded fuL-ther, that supposing I should get over that scruple, and esteem the act only as ministerial, which would by no means imply my own approbation ; yet, when 1 were a bishop, 1 should certainly endeavour to govern ray diocese by the Christian rules in the Apostolical constitutions, and in St. Paul's Epistles to Timothy and Titus : which, as [namely, in this geu- tieinan's opinion] they woulvl frequently contradict the laws of the land, would certainly expose nie to a priemunire, to the forfeiture of all niy goods to the And lliis, concluded 1, would Ij.'^ i m , in! . l I ish^r Whis.on. Sol thought nomn,, \ Memoirs of his own Life and win , .1 i i («) His letter to Laud, in \\Uu \, - j,,. n ,,)■ ,1 the continuance of that prelate's iut.n -t, lor his appoint ment to a stall in St. George's chapel, is worth tran- scribing. " My most honoured Lord, I humbly thank your Grace for very many de- monutratiojis of your love to me : .and particularly for your last tavouraljle mediation to his Majesty in my behalf, for a prebend in Windsor. The couveni- ency of that preferment (if my sovereign master please to confer it upon me) I shall value more than the proHt. But, however, I resolve not to prescribe to your Grace, much less to his Majestie ; or, with immo- desty, or impunity, to press you. The obligations, which I have to you, are such as 1 can never satisfy, but with my prayers : which shall be constant, that your Grace may long live, with honour and comfort, to serve God, his Majestie, and this Church, which daily feels the benefit of your wisdom and goodness. Your Grace's, in all humility. See Cant. Doome. p. 356. Chk. Potter." Potter, however, was distanced in adulation, by the bishop of Cork, in Ireland ; who thus wrote to Laud : " What 1 had, or have, is ot your Grace's goodness, under Him who gives iife, and breath, and all things ; and under our gracious Sovereign, who is the breath of our nostrils." V.ni. p. 355. (x) Athen. II. 44. (i/) See the Preface to those Tracts. (t) The ductility of ouryung divine will he put bo- yond all reasonable doubt, bythe letter that followa He F 66 ^RMINIANISM PROVISi, ON Laud's plan of civil and religious tyranny is well known ; and the only way for Potter to preserve the favour he had taken so great pains to acquire, was by a round recantation of the Calvinistic doctrines ; which were, at all events, to be discountenanced and smothered, as a ne- cessary pre-requisite to our union with Rome: an union which Heylin himself once and again frankly acknowledges to have been one of the grand objects in view, (n) To promote this design, and still further to ingratiate himself with his patron. Potter writes a treatise entitled, A Survey of the New Platform of Predestination : the manuscript copy of which fell into the hands of the learned Dr. Twisse, who gave himself the needless trouble of refuting it. Upon the credit of this renegado Calvinist and pretended dean of Windsor, (6) we are told. had, in his better days, unwarily written an answer to a Popish treatise, published by one Knott, a noisy Jesuit of that age, A second edition of Potter's An- swer was, it seems, called for, about, or soon after the ajra of his connection with Laud. This furnished the author \vith a fair opportunity of complimenting that prelate, by requesting his Grace to garble the book, and weed it of what offensive passages he pleased prior to the new impression. On this occasion he thus addressed his patron : " My most honoured Lord, October 6, 1634. " The copies of my Answer to The Mistaker are most sold, and a new impression intended. 1 am now reviewing it. I shall be glad to receive from your Grace by your servant, master Dell, any direction to alter, or correct, if any thing therein be offensive to you. 1 humbly commend your Grace to the blessed protection of the Lord Almighty ; and will be ever Your Grace's, in all humility Cant. Doome, p. 251. Chr. Potter.'' His Grace did, accordingly, with his own hand, purge the book of several passages which, in his judgment, bore too hard on the Pope and Church of Rome ; and, the very next year, this Potter (for not being made of too stiff clay) was appointed dean of Worcester ! (a) But why was the revival of Popery one of the grand objects at that time ! The cause is easily traced. King Charles, indisputably, aimed at arbitrary power. To this end, Popery must be revived, not for its own sake, but as the most convenient prop to des- potism. And no method either so effectually, or so expeditiously, conducive to tlie firm erection of this prop, as the introduction of Arminianism. These were the three constituary segments of that polirical circle, into which the Court and Court Bishops, that then were, wished to conjure the Protestants of Eng- land. Or, if you please, such was the plan of that goodly pillar, which was to be erected, as a trophy, on the grave of departed liberty. Arminianism was to have been the base ; Popery the shaft ; and ty- ranny the capital that should terminate the whole. (b) Mr. Sellon seems to have been led into this mistake, respecting Potter's deanery, by the title page prefixed to a letter of Potter's, preserved in the Cambridge Tracts already mentioned. A proof, by the way, of the accuracy and faithfulness with which those tracts were compiled. A proof, moreover, of the many inconvenient stumbles to which such writers as Mr. Sellon are exposed, who content them- aelves with borrowing their information from indexes and title pages. I have, above, stiled Dr. Potter a renegado. Such, in outward profession, at least, he certainly was ; and such, no doubt, L tud esteemed him to be. But, after all bis tergiversation, the Abingdon lecturer does not appear to have embraced Arminianism ex c^.imo aud upon principle. Like the magnetic needle 3. That " there are ten Papists, who hold the doctrine of predestination, from one that denies it." Every man who knows what Popery is ; every man, who is at all ccquaintcd either with the ancient or present state of when disturbed, he seems to have been in a stale of continual vibration, uneasy till be recovered primitive direction to the good old Calviniitic point. This 1 infer from his own words. In that very letter to which Mr. Sellon carries his appeal ; in that very letter which underwent the necessary corrections and alter.ations of the good Cambridge Arminians who flourished in the year 1719 ; even in that letter of Christopher Potter, pruned and amended as afore- said, I find the following passages. " You are af- fected,'- says he, to his friend Vicars (who had ch.irged him, and not temerariously, with inconsistency in mat- ters of religion), '• you are affected with a strong suspicion, that I am turned Arminian : and you further guess at the motive, that some sprinkUng of Court holy water, liice an exorcism, hath enchanted aud con- jured me into this new shape." The virtue of Covrt holy water is doubtless very efficacious, as an alter- native. No transformations, recorded in Ovid, can vie with the still more wonderful Metamorphoses, which thb potent sprinkling hath occasioned both in patriots, politicians, and divines. Potter's corres- pondent had exactly hit the njirk. It was indeed the application of Court holy water judiciously sprinkled by the hand of Laud which had made Christopher cast his skin, and come forth, in appearance, a sleek Arminian. But, when hard pushed by honest Mr. Vicars, he was ashamed (as well he might) to set his avowed probatum est to the powerful virtues of the said water. And how did he parry off the charge t Even by denying himself to be an Arminian at a I. His words are these : " I desire you to believe, that I neither am, nor ever will be Arminian. 1 love Calvin very well ; and, I must tell you, I cannot hate Arminius. I can assure you, I do not depart from 'ny ancient judgment ; but do well remember what 1 af- firmed in my questions at the act, and have confirmed it, I suppose, m my sermon ; so, you see, I am still where I was." The questions, which he here alludes to, and which had been maintained by him at the Ox- ford act in the year 1627, were these three : EJicacia gratia non pendet a irbero influiu arbilrii ; Cluristus DivinceJusHtia, vice nostra, yropric ^ integrc satis/ceil; ipse actus Jidei, rb crodere, non imputatur nobis in justitiam sensu jiroprio : i. e. " the efiScacy of Grace is not suspended on the free influence of man's will ; Christ did strictly and completely satisfy God's justice in our room and stead ; the act of believing is not, itself, properly imputed to us for righteousness." In his farther vindication of himself from the charge of Arminianism, Potter makes very honourable mention of seven predestinarian divines, whom (let the reader mark it well) he terms the *' worthiest doctors " of the churches of England, France, and Germany. Nay (let Mr. Sellon hear it, and weep), he even stiles the Arminians, what iudeed they are, dissenters from our own national Church. " The Arminians," continues he, " dissent from us only in these four questions [viz. concerning Predestination, Redemption, Grace, aud Perseverance]. The Lutheran Churches maintain against us all these four questions, and moreover a number of notable dreams and dotages, both in matters of ceremony and doctrine: among others, you remem her their absurd ubiquity and consubstantiatioD. Now notwithstanding all their [i. e. the Lutherans'] foul cor- ruptious, yetl presume you know,for it is apparent ont of public records, that our better reformed Churches in England, France, Germany, &c. by the advice of their worthiest doctors, Calvin, Bucer, Beza, Martyr, Zanchius, Ursin, Pareus, have stdl offered to the Lu- therans all christian amity, peace and communion ; though those virulent, fiery adders of Saxony" [i. e. the Lutheran divines] *' would never give ear to the voice of those wise charmers." In the mature judgment, therefore, even of Potter himself, Calvin, Zanchius, and the other five, were wise charmers, and our worthiest doctors. Let us next hear what the same gentleman thought concerning Mr. Sellon's favourite doctrine of election upon faith and works foreseen. " Can you deny," continues he, " that many learned, piou^ Catholic bishops of the uU THE CHURCH OF ROME. C7 that Church ; must consider such an assertion, as the most false and daring insult that can be offered to common sense. Have not the doc- trines, called Calvinistic, been condemned in form, and the assertors of them pronounced accursed, by the Council of Trent ? Did any man ever read a single Popish book of contro- versy, written within a centui-y after the Reform- ation, in which the Protestants are not uni- versally charged (as we still are by the Armi- niansj with making God the author of sin, only liecause they universally held predestination ? And, for the modern Popish books of contro- versy, I have hardly seen one, in which the writers of that communion do not exult, and impudently congratulate the Church of Eng- gland on her visible departure from those doctrines. And, God knows, the Church of Rome has, in this respect, but too much reason for triumph. Many nominal Protestants are saving Papists the trouble of poisoning the people, by doing it to their hands. What Heylin quotes, fiom a Jesuit who wrote in the time of Charles I., is in great measure true of the present times : " the doctrines are altered in many things: as for example, the Pope not antichrist ; pictures ; free-will ; predestination ; universal grace ; inherent righteousness ; the merit" [which Heylin softens into, or reward rather] of good works. The Thirty-nine Arti- cles seeming patient, if not ambitious also, of some Catholic sense; Umbus patricm ; justifi- cation not by faith alone, &c." (c) cbmch taught predestmation for foreseeu faith or works? and suppose them herein to have erred, as, for my part, I doubt not but they did ; though upon other grounds than the bare assertion of Calvin, Beza, or .Senensis ; yet, can you deny, that notwithstanding this error and others, they were then, and still since, accounted holy Catholic bishops?" He adds: "I resolve never to be an Arminian, and ever to be moderate.'* For the above passages, see the Cambar. r. from p. 230 to p 244. The Header, perhaps, may think that I have thrown, away too much time on this Dr. Potter. I did it to shew, on what flimsy props Mr. Sellon rests the weight of his cause. At the very utmost, the doctor was a kind of amphibious divine. In thesematters, Laud aeems to have had no great reason to boast of him as a proselyte ; any more than Mr. Wesley's friend Wat has to tirust him as a referee. This will appear farther, from another very remarkable passage, occurring in a sermon, preached by the same Dr. Potter, at the con- secration of his uncle Barnaby to the see of Carlisle. 1 give the quotation, on the credit of the editors of the above letter. The passage itself is this : " For our controversies, first let roe protest, I favour not, 1 rather suspect any new inventions ; for ab antiquitate non rer.edo nisi inritus : especially renouncing all such" \"ia. all such new inventions] *' as any way favour or flatter the depraved nature and will of man, which I lonstantly believe to be free only to evil, and of itself to have no power at all, merely none, to any act or thing spiritually good. Most heartily embracing that doctrine, which most amply commends the riches of Gud's free grace, which I acknowledge to be the whole and sole cause of our predestination, conversion, and •alvation : abhorring all damned doctrines of tho Pela- gians, Scmipelagians, Jesuits, Socinians, and of their rags and reliques ; which help only to pride and prick np corrupt nature : humbly confessing, in the words of St. Cyprian (so often repeated by th:vt worthy champion of grace, St.Augustin,) in nullo gloriandmn est, quandoquidem nostrutn niliiL est. It is God that worketh in us both the will and the deed : and there- fore let him that glorieth glory in the Lord." Cambr. Tr. p. 226, 227 . I canrot help thinking (for human nature is prone The thirty-nine Article themselves :ue nei- ther patient nor ambitious of what the Jesuit called a Catholic sense. How patient, or even ambitious, of a Popish sense, some of the sub- scribers to those Articles may be, is another point. Stubborn experience and incontestible fact oblige us to distinguish, with Dr. South, between the doctrines of the Church, and of some who call themselves churchmen. Studious as I am of brevity, I cannot dismiss the shameless objection, drawn from the pretended Popery of Calvinism without additional animadversion. The slander does, indeed, carry its own refutation stamped upon his -forehead : which refutation the following detail of facts may serve to confirm. I shall demonstrate, in its proper place, that the principles of John Wickliff, and of his celebrated proselyte John Huss, were the same with what have since acquired the name of Cal- vinistic. An extract from the bull of pope Martin V. fraught with anathemas against the memories of those holy men, and published A.D. 1418, will evince the detestation and the alarm with which the attempted revival of these doctrines was received by the Church of Rome. Some of the Articles, against which his Holiness inveighed so fiercely, were as fol- low : (rfj "There is one only universal Church, which is the university" [or entire number] " of the to speculate) how dextrously Dr. Potter played his game ; and how neatly Dr. Laud, though a kiaowing one, was taken in. The former (if we are to believe Lis own solemn protestations) bad still very ample mental reserves in favour of Calvinism : while the latter supposed him a sincere convert to Arminianism, and promoted him accordingly. — This reminds me of auother very famous instance of worldly wisdom. The elder Vossius published, in the year 1618, a learned History of Pelagianiam. Wherein (say the compilers of the Biogr. Diet. vol. ii. p. 317.) " he affirmed, that the sentiments of St. Austin, upon grace and pre- destination, were not the most ancient ; and that those of the Remonstrants [i. e, of the Arminians] were different from those of the Scmipelagians." This book delighted Laud so much that, at his earnest recommendation, Charles L made its author a pre- bendary of Canterbury, with permission to reside stiU in Holland. Seems it not a little strange, that, rather than a vigorous effort in favour of Arminianism should pass unrewarded, a prelate, of such high principles as Laud, should obtain a stall, in the metropolitan church of all England, for one who was, by birth, a German, and, by education and connection, a Dutch Presbyterian ? There was, indeed, no preferment, to which Vossius's merits, as a scholar, did not entitle him : his learning and virtues, however, would never have cleared his way to Canterbury cathedral, had he not contributed to the advancement of that new scheme, which Laud had so deeply at heart. But what will the reader say, should he be told, that, after all. Laud wfts mistaken as to the sincerity of Vossius's Arminianism ? Take the account, in the words of Dr. Potter above mentioned : " He " [i. e. Vossius] " hath declared himself, in his last book, De Scrip- toribus " [1 suppose, it should be Historicis] " Latinis, to be of St. Augustin's mind in these questions" [viz. concerning predestination and grace ;] and is allowed, by the states, public professor at Leyden, where no Arminian is tolerated." Cambr. Tr. p. 237. So con venient is it, on some certain occasions, for a divine to look (like Janus, or like the Germanic eagle) two '""(O^HeyHn's Life of Laud, p. 238. (d) Foi's Acts & Mon. vol. i. p. 739. Edit. 168i. F2 ARMINIANISM PROVED ON predestinate. Paul was never a member of the Devil, although" [before his conversion] " he did certain acts like unto the acts of the church malignant." " The reprobate are not parts of the" [in- visible] " Church ; for that no part of the same finally falleth from her: because the cha- rity " [or grace] " of predestination, which bindeth the Church together, never faileth." " The reprobate, although he be sometimes in grace according to present ju.stice" e. by a present appearance of outward righteous- ness], " yet is he never a part of the Holy Church" [in reality] : "and the predestinate is ever a member of the Church, although some- time he fall from ^VAceadveatitiu, but not from the grace of predestination : ever taking the Church for the convocation of the predesti- nate, whether they be in grace or not, according to present justice i. e. whether they be con- verted already, or yet remain to be so, the pre- destinate, or elect, constitute, as such, that invisible Church, which God the Father hath chosen, and God the Son redeemed. " The grace of predestination is the band, wherewith the body of the Church, and every member of the same, is indissolubly joined to Christ their Head." Nothing can be more innocent and scriptu- ral than these positions. But the religion of the Bible is not the religion of Rome. Hence, in the bull above mentioned, the Pope thus ful- minates against those doctrines and their abet- tors : " certain arch heretics have risen and sprung up, not against one only, but against divers and sundry documents of the Catholic faith : being land-lopers, schismatics, and sedi- tious persons ; fraught with devilish pride and wolvish madness, deceived by the subtilty of Satan, and, from one evil vanity, brought to a worse. Who, although they rose up and sprang in divers parts of the world, yet agreed they all in one, having tUeir tails as it were knit to- gether ; to wit, John Wickliff, of England ; John Huss, of Bohemia; and Jerom, of Prague, of damnable memory, who drew with them no small number to miserable ruin and infidelity. We, therefore, having a desire to resist such evil and pernicious errors, and utterly root them nut from amongst the company of faithful Christians, will and command your discretions, by our letters apostolical, that you that are archbishops, bishops, and other of the clergy, and every one of you by himself, or by any other or others, do see that all and singular persons, of what dignity, office, pre-eminence, state, or condition soever they be, and by what name soever they aie known, who shall presume, obstinately, by any ways or means, privily or apartly, to hold, believe, and teach the articles, books, or doctrine of the foresaid arch-hertics, John Wicklitf, John Huss, and Jerom of Pra- gue ;, that then, as before, you see and cause them, and every of them to be most severely punished ; and that you judge and give sentence upon them as heretics, and that, as arrant here- tics, you leave them to the secular court or power. Furthermore, we will and command, that, by this our authority apostolical, ye ex- hort and admonish all the professors of the Catholic faith, as emperors, kings, dukes, princes, marquisses, earls, barons, knights, and other magistrates, rectors, consuls, pro-consuls, shires, countries, and universities of the king- doms, provinces, cities, towns, castles, villages, their lands and other places, and all other exe- cuting temporal jurisdiction, that they expel out of their kingdoms, provinces, cities, towns, castles, villages, lands, and other places, all and all manner of such heretics ; and that they suffer no such, within their shires and circuits, to preach, or to keep either house or family, or to use any handy-craft or occupations, or other trades of merchandize, or to solace themselves any ways, or to frequent the company of Chris- tian men. And furthermore, if such public and known heretics shall chance to die, let him and them want Christian burial. His goods and substance also, from the time of his death, according to the canonical sanctions, being confiscate ; let no such enjoy them to whom they appertain, 'till, by the Ecclesiastical judges, sentence upon his or their crime of heresy be declared and promulgate." The rea- der, who is desirous of perusing the whole of this bull, may see it in Fox, vol. i. from p. "37 to 742. But the sample here given may suffice to shew that Calvinism appeared as dreadful to the eyes of Popery, as it can to those of John Wesley or Walter Sellon. The see of Rome relished these doctrines no better in the century that followed. Three years after the rise of Martin Luther, another flaming hull was issued against that reformer, by Leo X. : of this bull these were some of the roarings: "Rise up, O Lord, and judge thy cause, for foxes are risen up, seeking to destroy thy vineyard. Rise up, Peter, and attend to the cause of the holy Church of Rome, the mother of all churches ; against which, false liars have risen up, bringing in sects of perdi- tion, to their own speedy destruction, whose tongue is like fire, full of unquietness, and re- plenished with deadly poison ; who, having a wicked zeal, and nourishing contentions in their hearts, do brag and lie against the verity. Rise up, Paul, also: we pray thee, who hast illumi- nated the same Church ^vith thy doctrine and martyrdom, for now is sprung up a revv Por- phiry, who,as the said Porphiry did then unjust- ly slander the holy Apostles, sosemblahly doth this man" [meaning Luther] " now slander, revile, rebuke, bite, and bark against the holy bishops, our predecessors. Finally, let all the holy universal Church rise up, and, with the blessed Apostles, together make intercession to Almighty God, that the errors of all schisma- tics being rooted up, his holy Church may be THE CHURCH OF ROME. «onserved in ))eace and unity. We, foi the charge of our pastoral office committed uuto us, can no longer forbear, or wink at the pestiferous poison of these foresaid errors ; of which errors, we thought good to recite certain here, the tenor of which is as followeth." A long cata- logue of pretended heresies is then given : among which, are these two; In every good work the just man sinneth. Freewill, after sin [i. c. ever since original sin], is a title and name only [/. e. a mere empty word, without reality or foundation in truth]. On these and the other articles asserted by Luther, pope Leo thus continues to descant: " all which errors, there is no man in his right wits, but he knoweth the same, in their several respects ; how pestilent they be, how pernici- ous, how much they seduce godly and simple minds, and, finally, how much they be against all charity, and against the reverence of the holy Church of Rome, the mother of all faith- ful, and mistress of the faith itself ; and against the sinews and strength of Ecclesiastical disci- pline, which is obedience, the fountain and well-spring of all virtues, and without which every man is easily convicted to be an infidel. Wherefore, by the counsel and assent of the said our reverend brethren, upon due consider- ation of all and singular the premises ; by the authority of Almighty God, and of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own, we do condemn, reprove, and utterly reject all and singular the articles or errors aforesaid, respec- tively : and, by the tenor hereof, we here decree and declare, that they ought of all Christian people, both men and women, to be taken as damned, reproved, and rejected. And there- fore forbidding here under pain of the greater curse and excommunication ; losing of their digiiities, whether they be ecclesiastical or tem- poral ; and to be deprived of all regular orders and privileges ; also of losing their liberties to hold general schools, to read and profess any science or faculty ; of losing also their tenures and feoftments, and of inability for ever to re- cover the same again, or any other; moreover, under pain of secluding from Christian burial, yea and of treason also : we charge and com- mand all and singular Christian people, as well of the laity, as of the clergy, that they shall not presume, publicly or privately, under any manner of pretence or colour, colourably or expressly, or howelse soever, to hold, maintain, defend, preach, or favour the foresaid errors, or any of them, or any such perverse doctrine." (rf) This instrument, of which I have hardly retailed the tenth part, is dated June 15, 1520. Honest Luther laughed at this Ecclesiasti- cal thunder and lightning. He published an answer, whose purport did equal honour to his integrity and intrepidity. " A rumour reached me," says the adamantine reformer, " that a certain bull was gone forth against me, and circulated almost over the world, before I had so much as seen it : though, in right, it ought to have been transmitted first and directly to my hands, I being the particular object at whom it was levelled.'" The fact was, the Pope's bull (somewhat like Mr. Wesley's Abridgment of Zanchius) was, as Luther expresses it, of the owl or bat kind; it flew about surreptitiously and in the dark. Noctis ^ tenebrarum filia, timet tocmv!(ivith three others, to support the Life," says he, " is the enrolment of those papal chair. And suppose I was to make the who are ordained to life eternal. Whoever is effigy of Arminius serve as a leg to my chair, in present possession of grace, is, by virtue of would it thence follow that I am an Arminian? that very possession, deserving of eternal life. As little does it follow, that the doctrine of This ordination, however, sometimes fails, for, predestination asserted by St. Austin, is the some people are ordained to have eternal life, received doctiine of Rome, only because the by the" [inherent] " grace they possess, which Pope aflFects to sit on the shoulders of Austin's eternal life, they, notwithstanding, come short wooden image. If my adversary has only such of, by the commission of deadly sin. They wooden arguments to urge, the interests of his who are appointed to life eternal, not by God's dearly beloved Arminianism will be as ridicu- predestiiiation, but only through the grace" lo"sly and as feebly supported, as is the Pope s [they are partakers of], "are said to be wiitten C-) ^hair by the worm-eaten effigy. Is it true, in the Book of Life, not absolutely, but under f'at the system of grace, maintained by Austin, certain limitations." (i/) Let me add a word is espoused by the Roman Church ? Quite the from this author, concerning justification, which l everse. The writers of that communion do. (i/) Est cnira liber vitse conscriptio ordinatorum in vitam Kti-miiiu. Quicunque enim gratiam babtt, ex hoc ipso est dignus vita ieterni. Kt ha?c ordinatio deficit interdum : quia aliqui ordinati sunt, ex gratia habits, ad habendum vitam teteniani ;i qu4 tamen deficiunt per peccatura mortale. lUi qui sunt ordinati ad habendum vitam eeteriiam non ex pra^destinatione divinas, sed soliim ex gratia ; dicuntur esse scripti in libro vitEe, non simpliciter, sed secundum quid. Aquin. Summ. pt. 1. qu. 23. art. 3. page. til. Edit. Antverp, 1535. (z) Homo autera secundum propriam naturam habet, qu6d sit liberi arbitrii : et ideo, in eo, qui babet usum liberi arbitrii, non fitmotio a Deo, ad justitiani, absque niotu liberi arbitrii. Aqmn. ibid. 1. 'Zdm qutest. 113. art. 3. p. 245. (a) Thesaurus sprntualis est congregatio meritorum: quai sunt fuudamentum futuri adificii, quod nobis prEcparatur in ca;lo. Quia tota praparatio futura: £lori£e est per merita, quae atquirimus per gratiam, quae est principium merendi. Ejusdem Lect. 4. in I. to!a. vi. p. 410. Edit. Antverp. 1820. (b) After all, what if none of the four supporting images should be really representative of St. Austin? I am aware, that the contrary has been affirmed, by authority incomparably more credible than that of Mr. Sellon. 1, therefore, only start the query as a bare possibility. But, were it even fact, it would not be the first mistake of the kind into which the Holy luafallible See hath fallen. Witness the following famous instance. " Till the year 1069, the bishops of Home thought they had a pregnant proof, not only of St, Peter's erecting their chair, but of his sitting in it himself : for till that year, the very chair, on ■which they believed, or would mike others believe, he [St. Peter] had sat, was shewn, and exposed to public adoration, on the 18th of January, the festival of the said chair. But while it was cleaning, in order to be set up in some conspicious place of the Vatican, the twelve labours of Hercules, unluckily, appeared to be engraved on it. " Our worship, however," says Giacomo Bartolina, who was present at this discovery, .ind relates it, " was not misplaced : since it was not to the wood we paid it, but to the prince of Apos- tles, St. Peter." Bower's Hist, of the Popes, vol. i p. 7. AND SAINT AUSTIN. 77 indeed, make very pompous use of St. Austin's name, and pretend to pay no little deference to his authority : but with just as much sin- cerity, as Mr. Sellon professes to revere and vindicate the Church of England. Papists dazzle the vulgar by the mention of St. Austin, that the brightness of his name may render their apostacy from his doctrines im- preceivable. With what propriety St. Austin's image lends its shoulder to the Pope's haunch, may be judged from the following brief sketch of Austin's doctrine : which I shall give in the words of the honest and learned Mr. Du Pin. " Sinners," says St.Augustin, "sin volun- tarily, and without compulsion : and they cannot complain that God hath denied them his grace, or the gift of perseverance, since he owes his grace to no-body."(c) The historian goes on : " He [Austin] again insisteth upon the same matter, and upon the same principles, in both the books which he writ in answer to Hilary's and Prosper's letters. The first is, of the predestination of the saints ; and the second, of the gift of perseverance : wherein he demon- strates, that the beginning of faith and good piirpsoes is the gift of God ; and that so, our predestination, or vocation, doth not depend upon our merits. The second book concerns the gift of perseverance ; which he shews to depend equally on God, as the beginning of our conversion. St.Augustin composed these treatises in the year 429. (rf) " St. Augustin's principles, concerning pre- destination and reprobation, do exactly agree with his opinion touching grace. Both those decrees, according to him, suppose the fore- knowledge of original sin, and of the cor- ruption of the whole mass of mankind. If God would suffer all men to remain there, none could complain of that severity, seeing they are all guilty and doomed to damnation, because of the sin of the first man. But God resolved, from all eternity, to deliver some, whom he had chosen out of pure mercy, with- out any regard to their future merits ; and, from all eternity, he prepared, for them that were thus chosen, those gifts and graces which are necessary to save them infallibly : and (c) Dupin's Hist, of Ecclesiastical Writers, vol. 3. p. 203. (rf) ibid. (e) ibid. p. 205, 206. These citations demonstrate the justness of Mr. Bayle's following remark. " It is certain,*' says this shrewd, perspicacious writer, "that the engagement, wliich the Church of Rome is under, to respect St. Austin's system, casts her into a per- plexity which is very ridiculous. It is manifest to all men, who examine things without prejudice and with Buflicient ahilities, that Austin's doctrine, and that of Jausenius, are one and the same ; so that we cannot, without indignation, hehold the Court of Rome boast- ing to have condemned Jansenius, and yet to have preserved St. Austin in all his glory. These are two things altogether inconsistent. More than this, the Council of Trent, in condemning Calviu'a doctrine of free-will, did necessarily condemn that of St. Austin : for no Calvinist ever denied, or can deny, the con- currence of the human will, and tlie liberty of the soul. these he bestows upon them in time. All those, therefore, that are of the number of the elect, hear the gospel, and believe, and per- severe in the faith working by love, to the end of their lives. If they chance to wander from the light way, they return, and repent of their sins : and it is certain, that they shall all die in the faith of Jesus Christ. "(?) Let the reader but compare the above sum- mary of St. Austin's doctrine with the deter- minations of the Council of Trent, quoted in the 3d of the preceding sections ; and he will, at first view, perceive, how little stress is to be laid on the Pope's reposing his loins upon St. Austin's effigy, while he tramples the leading (/) doctrines of that predestinarian saint under foot, and anathematises all who embrace them. Had I any kind of intercourse with his Arminian holiness of Rome, I would advise him to cashier the image of St. Austin from serving any longer as a support to his easy chair. I would recommend to him a log, made of Ledsham ash : which he might soon obtain, by ordering one of his emissaries (whereof he has a pretty many) in this kingdom, to procure an effigy of Mr. Walter Sellon, as nearly re- sembling the original, as it can be made ; to serve — not, indeed, upon due recollection, as a stay to his Holiness's throne — nor even as a prop to his foot-stool — but, which would be perfectly in character, as a leg to a certain convenience (a sella perforata, though not the sella porpht/retica,) whereon, I presume his Holiness deigns, occasionally, to sit : and which, the wooden effigy of this wooden Ar- minian would, with all imaginable propriety and gracefulness, assist in supporting. SECTION VI. The Charge of Ranterism refuted and retorted. Pass we, now, to a slander against the Calvinistic doctrines, drawn from a very dif- ferent topic. " Antinomianisra and Ranterism are," according to my adversary, "the genuine efi'ects of absolute predestination." As to Antinomianism, I have, elsewhere, (g) shewn what it is, and demonstrated that it no more in that sense which St. Austin has given to the words concurrence, co-operation, and liberty. So that when they [/. e. the Papists] boast of having St. Austin's faith, it is only meant to preserve a decorum, and to save their system from tlie destruction whicli a sincere confession of tlio truth must necessarily occasion." Bayle's Hist. Diet. vol. i. art. Augustin. (/) This is evident, amoog other proofs, from the following instance : some of St. Austin's works, con- cerning grace and ajiainst free will, are actually 'Uider the black mark of the Romish index th]uiif;iiforius. For the knowledge of which, I am indebted to the information of Spanhemiiis. " In doctrinam illius [AuRustini] de gr;iti;i et liberii arbitrio, iaicjuiora sunt sa'pe judicia famili;e Jesuitaruni et obvia. Ncc pauca inquisitores Hi^panici et index Expurgatorius in Au- gustine damn int, obelo iis contigenda. Spaulicm» Operum, toin i. 925. (S) See my Caveat against Unsound Doctiioeb. 78 THE CHARGE OF RANTERISM follows from Calvinism, than midnight from joining, or not joining, memselves to this pre- the sun. But, as the charge of Rantei ism may tended family of love : consequently, 2. That carry a new appearance to those who are salvation did not extend beyond the purlieus of unacquainted with the scurrilities of the super- their own sect : 3. That faith was not to be anniiHted Arminians, from whose quiver Mr. kept with any but themselves : and, 4. That Sellon has borrowed his shafts, I will not dis- men might, in the present life, be in a manner miss it without some examination. without sin."(/) Their tenets, therefore, Tlie sect who, in the reign of Charles I., appear to have been a farrago of Felagianism, justly went by the name of Ranters, were no Popery, and enthusiasm. other than the spawn, or continuation, of the Heniy Nicholas, a native of Amsterdam, (A) Familists, who made so murh noise under and the founder of this sect, had, it seems, the administration of Elizabeth. To judge, began to sow his tares in England, many years therefore, of the branch, we must review the before the £Era assigned by Camden : though parent-tree. To trace the rise, and ascertain it was not perhaps, until about the year 1580, the principles of the Ranters, we must follow that the Familists were sufficiently numerous the stream to the spring, by carrying up our and daring to alarm the vigilance of govern- enquiries to the Familists themselves. ment. But the enthusiast had before taken a The learned Camden, in his history of voyage hither, in the reign of king Edward VI., Queen Elizabeth, informs us, under the year and, joining himself, at first, to a Dutch church 1580, that "not only perfidious subjects, butalso in London, perverted "a number of artificers foreigners, out of Holland, a country (0 fruitful and silly women."(m) of heretics, began, at this time, to trouble the From a paper, subscribed by one of these peaceof the Church and commonwealth in Eng- sectarians, and published by Mr. Strype, we land. Under a shew of singular integrity and may derive still stronger light into some of sanctity, they insinuated themselves into the their distinguishing principles. It seems, in affection of the ignorant, common people ; the year 1581, Dr. VVolton, bishop of Exeter, and then instilled into their minds several deprived the rector of Lidford, in Devonshire, for damnable heresies, manifestly repugnant to being a Familist, or Ranter. This ranter's name the Christian faith : using uncouth and strange was Anthony Randal : who, among other hetero- kind of expressions. These named themselves doxies, held, that the Mosaic history of Adam's of the Family of Love, or House of Charity. Temptation and Fall was a mere allegory : They persuaded their followers, that those only " moreover, that as many as receive Jesus were elected, and should be saved, who were Christ and his doctrine, did fully keep all the admitted into that family ; and all the rest, re- moral law, and lived pure without sinning."(ji) piobates, and to be damned: ai'd that it was In the summary of assertions, which the said lawful for them to deny, upon their oath, before Anthony Randal acknowledged under his own amagistrate, whatsoever they pleased; or before hand, I find the following passages: — "He any other, who was not of their family." He saith, that he cannot put down" [i. e. safely adds, that their leader, Henry Nicholas, " with commit to writing] " what he hath learned of a blasphemous month, gave out, that he partook predestination, or Providence, without speak- of God, and God [partook] of his humanity." ing, or at least seeming to speak, against the King James I. has given us a miniature law of the realm. He saith, he hath taught drawing of these people, sketched with his openly, and will teach, during his life (being own hand : " That vile sect," says his Majesty, not forbidden by the prince,) that as many as " called the Faniilie of Love, think themselves receive Jesus Christ and his doctrine, do fulfil, only pure, and, in a manner, without sinne ; keep, and do, all the moral law given by God the only true church, and only worthie to be to Moses : and so to live clean and clear without participant of the sacraments ; and all the rest sinning, or the act of sin. And moreover, of {he world to be but abomination in the sight that every one that preacheth any doctrine God."(A) contrary to this, neither knoweth God, nor his Hence it appears, that these wretched Christ, nor yet the power and strength of the fanatics (like some others I could easily name) Holy Spirit,''(o) Let me make a short stricture held, 1. That men's election or reprobation was on these two paragraphs. It is sufficiently conditional ; and that the condition was, their plain, I. That the ranter denied predestination. (A) Fuller's Church History of Britain; b. x. a. 2. y. 33. (i) 1 do not wonder at this remark of the Historian. Nor will any other unprejudired person, who con- siders that, among the rest, Arminius (at whom, and his adherents, Mr. Camden strongly seems to glance in this sentence) was a Dutchman. (*) BasUicon Doron, Pref. p. 8. Edit. 1603. (1} Of this sect was Vclsius, an Hollander, who, in the year 1563, made much disturbance araon^ the Dutch cnnerepBtinn io T. 83. so THE JUDGMENT OF But what IS empty speculation, if unproductive of substantial practice ? herein, likewise, ray worthy assailant comes not a jot behind the foremost of the primitjve Ranters. For, what are his written works, but one continued series of ranting against the sovereignty and grace of God, and against all who affirm with the Church (art. xvii.) that predestination to life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby, before the foundations of the world were laid, he hath constantly decreed, by his counsel, secret to us, to deliver from curse and dam- nation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of mankind? And yet (so exactly does he tread in the footsteps of the " Family of Love,") Mr. Sellon would, like them, fain cajole his readers into an opinion that he is no sectary, nor doth vary, nor swerve, from the established religion of this land ! " Thus, though he has reason enough to be ashamed of his relations, the Ranters, he can hardly, I imagine, have the assurance to disown them. Should he, however, be sufficiently case-har- dened, to deny the consanguinity ; he bears the family-likeness so strongly, that in vain would he attempt to shuffle off the name, while every feature and line of his doctrinal phy- siognomy compels us to write Ranter upon his toreliead. SECTION VII. j^ii Enqniry into the Judgment of the earliest Fathers, concerning the Points in Question. In my letter to Dr. N. I took occasion to observe, that there is the utmost reason to believe that the main body of the Christian Church (in which 1 do not include the Arians of those times) were, for the four first cen- turies, unanimous believers of the doctrines now termed Calvinistic.(a) For this obser- vation, I assigned two reasons: 1. The uni- versal horror and surprize, which the broaching of Pelagius's opinions, about the beginning of tne5th century, occasioned in the whole Chris- tian Church ; and, 2. The authority of Dr. Cave, who asserts, in express terms, that Peia- gius hceresin novum condidit, " was the founder of a new heresy." From whence I inferred, and infer still, that, if the non-imputation of Adam's offence to his posterity, and the bot- toming of predestination and justification upon human worthiness, were (as all historians concur to affirm) branches of Pelagius's new heiesy ; it follows, that the opposite doctrines, of Adam's transgression imputed to his off- spring, and of predestination and justification by grace alone, were, and must have been, branches of the old faith universally held by the Church for the first 400 years after Christ. These two arguments Mr. Sellon, very pru- («) Chmch of Engl. vind. from Anam. dently, passes over, uneanvassed and unmentU oned : and skips to my ninth page, from whence he gleans an incidental remark, on which he thus descants : " Your telling us, p. 9 that, during the four first ages of the Christian Church, predestination and its concomitant doctrines were undisputed, for ought appears to the contrary, is no reason at all." It, cer- tainly, is a strong presumptive reason, though not offered as direct proof, for, two of the direct reasons had been given before, and still remain, not only undemolished, but untouched, by my cautious adversary ; who, with all his furious zeal for Arminianism, chose rather to let those reasons keep possession of the field than run the risque of burning his own fingers in assaulting them. I will attend, however, to what he delivers concerning the " no reason at all." He grants, that those doctrines were, for the four first ages, undisputed : which he thus affects to account for ; " because it does not appear that there were any that held them." We shall presently see that they were held, and held firmly too, by those of the primitive fathers who are commonly distinguished by the title of Apostolical, from their having lived nearest to the Apostles' times, i. e. within t)ie first Christian century. In the mean while, let us weigh the mode of argumentation adopt- ed by Mr. Sellon: "The doctrines of grace were therefore undisputed, because it does not appear that they were believed." I hardly think, this will stand the test. Here is an ab- solute, peremptory assertion, built (not so much as on a phantom or a shadow, but on a mere non-appearance. Besides : does it not, at least, seem more probable, that these doc- trines were therefore unopposed, because they were generally held? For, daily experience evinces that, to this day, those same doctrines meet with opposition enough from the persons by whom they are not held: and, I am apt to think, that human nature, as such, is just that, now, which it was in the four first centuries. Had the primitive times swarmed with Armi- nians, as the latter times have, the doctrines of grace would have been no less opposed and disputed against then, than they have been since. Another consideration also merits our at- tention. Not only every Church, or collective body of professing Christians ; but likewise every individual man, who thinks religion and philosophy worthy of attending to, must, ne- cessarily, form some judgment or other con- cerning the points in debate, I may venture, therefore, without taking any undue advantage, to lay it down as a datum, that the christians of the four first ages (who certainly had the scriptures in their hands, and heard them read in their public assemblies) could not possibly be neutrals, on a subject of such importance as that of predestination and grace ; hut must, unavoidably, have either believed that doctrine. THE EARLIEST FATHERS. or disbelieved it : they were on one side, or on the other. Indeed, had the ho)y scripture made no mention at all of predestination, neither for, nor against, it is possible (and but barely possible,) that the primitive Churches nuf^ht have thought little or nothing about that sublime article. But it is undeniable, that the scriptures make very express, ample, and re- peated mention of it : and the mention there made of it must be understood in some sense or other. Now, if predestination and its de- rivative doctrines were at all thought of by the first Churches ; and if, for ought that can be proved to the contrary, those doctrines pass- ed undisputed till contravened by Pelagius in the fifth century ; does it not (to say the least) look as if they had been universally received and embraced, during the first (6) 400 years after Christ ? We will suppose, a moment, for argument sake, the doctrines of grace to have passed undisputed among English Protestants, from the aera of the Reformation down to the emersion tif Mr. John Wesley. What, in such a case, would have been the natural inference?Not, that nobody held these undisputed principles : but, that tliey would and must have been con- troverted, long before, had they not been held universally. Why is the e.\istence of a certain luminary, called the sun, undisputed? Surely, not because its existence is disbelieved ; but, on the contrary, because it is universally known and ac- knowledged. I must, therefore, repeat my ques- tion, which seems to have given JMr. Sellon and his fiaternity so much disquiet : where was not the doctrine of predestination, before Pelagius ? The Arminians treat election, as Gardiner, the Popish bishop of Winchester, treated the doctrine of free justification. Before the Homily on Salvation was published, archbishop Cranmer and others sent for Gardiner, and shewed him that excellent Homily, " wherein was handled the matter of justification ; en- deavouring to persuade him to allow of it, by reasoning with him concerning it. But Win- chester pretended, whatsoever they said could (6) The m,-isterly compilers of that learned and Taluable work, entitled, The History of Popery, ex- pressly aftirm what I only advanced ;.s probable. '*This doctrine," say they, l ii. that ' God besloweth his de- termining grace on whom lie will, and to whom he will he denieth it ■,' "This doctrine continued general- ly ill the Church, till about the year 405, at which time a certain Briton, bred up in the monastery of Bancor, oriRinally named Morttan (but that word, in Welch, signifying, of or belonging to the si-a. he was thence in Latin called Pelagius,) hi-nan to .set on foot several errors : as, denying original sin ; alliruiing the number of the elect and reprobate not to be defiiiito, but indefmite and indeterminate &c." Hist, of Pope- ry, vol. ii. p 355. (f) Strype's Eccles. Mem. vol. 3. p. 278. (d) Calvin touches this point, with jveat judgment and elegance, in one of V < en * n; i i l,!e composi- tions which any .age hrts ^ < I I ,11 i I, Dedication of his Institution to I'l i ! . i i i i. e. In ttiat highly-finished apology t m m,, i h,i, - t.nit religion, the apostolical reformer t!iii> ; i)ea^s : " Improbis cla- moribus nOK obruunt, ceu patrutn conteraptores et ad- verwrios. Nos verb adei) illoa non contemnimus, ut ai not salve his conscience; and cliallenged them to shew any old writer who taught as that Homi- ly did." (c) If the tesimtony of old writers was needful, to confirm the good old doctrines, there are old writers enough at hand, to confirm all and every one of them. But it suffices for me, that we have the suffrages of the oldest writers ; I mean, the Prophets and Apostles. The holy Scriptures are the truest and the purest anti- quity, (of) While these are for us, it matters not who are against us. However, the Cal- vinists of later ages are very far from standing alone, in their resolute adherence to the scrip- ture doctrines. The learned bishop Beveridge, whose acquaintance with the monuments of primitive antiquity is incontestible, treating, (for instance) of regeneration by the efficacious grace of God, expresses himself thus ; and avers, that the first Churches believed as fol- lows: Our Lord "doth not say, there are some things you cannot do without me, or, there ai e many things you cannot do without me ; but, without me ye can do nothing : nothing good, nothing pleasing and acceptable unto God. Whereas, if we could either prepare ourselves to turn, or turn ourselves when pre- pared, we should do much. And, to put it out of doubt, the same Spirit tells us elsewhere, it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do, of his good pleasure. It is he who first enables us to will what we ought to do, and then to do what we will. Both the grace we desire, and our desire of grace, proceed from him. And therefore it is requisite, in order to our conversion, that the understandingbe not only so enlightened as to discern the evil from the good ; but that our wills be also so recti- fied as to prefer the good before the evil. By this rectifying, or bringing of the will into its right order again, its liberty is not destroyed, but healed : so that it is free, after, as well as before conversion ; free to God and Holiness, as it was before free only to sin and wicked- ness. And this was the doctrine of the Prinii- id prEesentis instituti esset, nullo negotlo mihi liceat meHorem eorum partem eorum, qii^e hodit^ a nobis dicunter, ipsonim suffragiis comprobare. Sic tamen in eorum Scriptis versamur, ut semper nieminerimus, omnia nostra esse, qua; nobis serviant, non dominen- tur. Nos autem unius Christi, cui, per omnia, sine ex- ceptione, parendum sit. Hunc delectum qui non tenet, nihil in relisione constitutiim^ habebit quando 1 am by no means -singiilar in my admiration of the above Dedicatory I'p.-tle " is -nu. of tlinse three or four prefatory pieces, so much ;el);,iied, Tb.\inius'3 Epistle Dedicatory, and f;a-^, 11,1, oil's I'lelaee tol'olybius. iai e of \ir. I'elissoi'i, on the works of Sarrasin." Had Mv, liayle seen W ilsius's Dedication of his Oeconomia Fnederuiii, to King WiUiam ; and could he have lived to see Dr. Samuel Johnson's Preface to his edition of Sbakespear; a critic of his taste and discernment must certainly have added those ntasterly perform- ances to the admired number. G 82 THE JUDGMENT OF live Church. St. Augustin, in whose clays of St. Austin is worth a thousand of most other Pelagius fir.st rose up against tliis truth, hath fathers ; but one page of St. Paul is worth a written several volumes to this purpose."' (e) thousand of St. Austin's. I speak not this, to St. Jerom, who was coteniporary with St. depreciate the labours of such learned persons Augustin, addressed him, not as the founder, as have trod the paths of v/hat is called prirai- but as a principal restorer, of the doctrines of tive antiquity; but simply to profess the idea, grace; "Thou art famous," said Jerom to I cannot help entertaining, of the vanity and Austin, " through the world. The orthodox unprofitableness, with which I apprehend this revere thee, as the re-builder of the ancient kind of chace to be generally attended. If any faith." (/) And I am much mistaken, if St. are otherwise minded, let them follow the Jerom, who lived more than thirteen hundred chace, and prosper. years ago, was not better qualified to judge There are, however, a few writings, still and pronounce concerning the faith of the an- extant, which, in point both of antiquity and cients, than all the followers of Van-Harniin value, appear to rank next below the inspired, taken together. The chief of these are the remains of Barna- There are cases, wherein a man's own tes- has, Clemens Uomanus, Ignatius, and Polycarp timony, even in his own cause, is not only ad- A few citations, from these venerable divines missible, but weighty and respectable. Of this and martyrs, will serve to evince the falsehood kind 1 consider the following declaration of of Limborch's assertion, where he tells us, St. Austin. " We have shewed (says he, direct- that, " prior to the rise of St. Austin, the pri- ing his speech to the Pelagians,) by invincible mitive Churches knew little or nothing about authorities, that the holy bishops, who lived predestination." If that proverbial remark be before us, taught the same faith v/hich we true, the nearer the fountain the clearer the maintain; and overthrew the arguments which stream; the testimonies, brought from these you make use of, not only in their discourses, early writers, must come with weight little, if but in their writings also. We have shewed at all, short of decisive. you their opinions, v/hich are very particular I. Very frequent mention is made of Bar- •and clear. I hope their testimonies will cure nabas, in the New Testament. He was origi- your blindness, as I wish it: but, if you con- nally a Jew by religion, a Cypriot by birth, tinue obstinate in your error, which God forbid, and for some time a companion of St. Paul in you are no more to look for a tribunal to justi- his journies for the gospel. Dr. Cave (A), and ty you, out for those wonderful defenders of the others, are of opinion, that he was one of the truth to accuse you, St. Irenaeus, St. Cyprian, seventy disciples who were sent out by Christ RUeticius, Olympius, St. Hilary, St. Grego- himself (Luke x.) to preach the word. But ry, St. Ambrose, St. Basil, St. John Chrys- it is certain, that, some years after our Lord's ostom, &c. with all those who communi- ascension, he was expressly fi.xed upon, by the cated with them, that is to say, the whole peculiar designation of the Holy Ghost, to be Church." (g) a preacher at large ; Luke xiii. 2. It is proba- I once devoted a considerable share of time ble, that he at last received the crown of mar- and attention to the fathers. But, I scruple tyrdom in his native island of Cypnis. not to acknowledge, that, after a while, I de- From the fragment of an epistle retrieved sisted from this study as barren and unim- by the leai ned archbishop Usher, and generally proving. Some excellent things are, indeed, admitted to be the authentic work of Barnabas, interspersed in their writings : but the golden I select the following passages, grains are almost lost amidst an infinity of That he held the absolute freeness of divine rubbish. " It a man,'' says Dr. Young, " was grace, appears from this remarkable assertion : to find one pearl in an oyster of a million, it " When Christ" says he, " chose his own would hardly encourage him to commence Apostles who were to preach his gospel, he fisherman for life." So say I, of the fathers chose them when they were wickeder than all in general. Even supposing (what I can by wickedness itself; to demonstrate, that he came no means grant,) that the harvest of instruc- not to call the righteous, but sinneis to repen- tion would recompense the toil of breaking tance." (/) That he was far from being startled up the ground ; a life-time would hardly suffice at the doctrine of reprobation, seems more to read the fathers with care: and, perhaps, than probable: else, I should imagine, he would two life-times would scarcely enable a reader scarcely have represented the incarnation and to digest them completely. That knowledge death of Christ to have been designed for fiii- which is truly important, lies in a much nar- ing up the measure of Jewish iniquity. His rower compass I am quite of his mind, who words are these : " Therefore did the Son of said Uiius Angustinis, prce mille Patribus ; et God come in the flesh, to this very end, that he wius Paiiliis prcemille Augustinls. One page might finish and bring to perfection the sins of (c) .Sishop Beieridge's Exposition of the Thirty- nine Articles. \Tt. lu (/) See a book, entitled. Melius Inquirendum, p. 51, written by Mr. Alsop, the learned and ingenious author of Anti-Sozzo. \g> Dupin's Hist, of Eccles. Writers, p. 2Jl, 202. (h) Hist. Literar. toI. i. p. II. (i) Epist. Bamab. Sect, x.—l follow the eJition of Coterelii ». THE EARLIEST FATHERS. 83 those who had persecuted his pi-ophets unto death. For this reason" [i. e. this was one reason for which] he suffered. (/j) If a modern Caivinist was to e-xpress himself in this manner, what a hideous outcry would be raised, as if heaven and earth were falling! Far from representing the death of Christ as a contingency, or as an event which might, or might not have taken place ; Barnabas avers that it came to pass necessarily : " It was Christ's own will that he should thus suffer. It was requisite that he should suffer on the tree. For the prophet saith concerning him, Deliver my soul, &c."(/) Speaking of regeneration and conversion, he ascribes the power, by which those super- natural effects are accomplished, entirely to God : " When God hath renewed us by the remission of sins, he hath formed us into a quite different likeness ; so that we have a child-like mind: forasmuch as he himself fashions us anew."(ni) Again : " behold we have been formed afresh : as he speaketh by another prophet ; Lo, saith the Lord, I will take away from them, that is, from those whom the Spirit ot the Lord fore-viewed, I will take away from them [their] stony hearts, and I will send fleshly hearts into them."(j() In the following Paragraph, Barnabas seems to glance at the specialty of redemption : " The Lord saith again " [i. e. Christ, the second person in the Trinity,] " In whom shall I appear before the Lord my God, and be glo- rified ? He answereth : I will praise thee in the Church, in the midst of my brethren; and sing to thee in the midst of the Church of the Saints. "(o) If this venerable writer only glances at particular redemption, in the last passage ; he more than glances at it, in this which follows : " Understand, therefore, O ye children of [spiritual] gladness, that the Lord hath made all [these] things manifest to us beforehand, that we might know to whom we should gratefully render thanks in all things. Since therefore the Son of God, though he is Jehovah, and will judge the living and the dead, suffered, that his punishment might make us alive ; let us rest assured, that the Son of God could not have suffered but for us "(;)) The sense evidently is, that the essential dignity of Christ, as Kupioc, or Sovereign Lord, will not permit us to believe that it was possible for him to suffer and shed his blood in vain, or for those who are not, eventually, " made alive by his (7) punishment '' in their room and stead. To the same effect he thus speaks, in the person of Christ : " Wherefore ? " [i. e. wherefore (*) Ihiri — Father Menard, a learned Frencn Papist, who, in his Commentary on this Episfle, is .studious of Pelagianizing as many parts of it as he can ; has yet a very striking, because a Tcry honest, note on this passage : " Profert atiam causam adventiis Cliristi ; nt colligeretur et subduceretur veluti summa peccatorum Judieorum : hoc eat, ut consumarentur pecnata eoruro, additi Christi morte, eorumque impoenitentiJ ad necem, &c." was the sin-offering, under the law, to be eaten by the priests alone ] " Because 1 am to offer up my flesh as a sacrifice for the sins of the new people : "(r) i- e. for the sins of those who shall be made new creatures in Christ by the Spirit and grace of God: who can say, with Barnabas, in the words already quoted, "He himself fashions us anew: behold, we have been formed afresh." And these surely, are far enough from including the whole of mankind. It is plain, IVlenardus understood this passage (as every unprejudiced reader must) of Christ's offering up himself only " for the sins of the new, or renewed people," as mili- tating very strongly against universal redemp- tion ; else, in his pert note on the place, he would not, like many other annotators, have flown directly in the face of the te.xt, and pre- sumed to charge Barnabas with being in an error ; " Aas th Kaivn, i. e. popuU novi. Non ita rccU : (juia Christus pro uuiverso mundo passHS est." Barnabas, however, thought otherwise. And so would his angry commen- tator, had he duly weighed the notion, of in- discriminate redemption, in the balance of the sanctuary. Barnabas's judgment, respecting the cer- tainty of perseverance, may be concluded from his connecting evangelical hope with final sal- vation. Though hope is, perhaps, one of the lowest on the round of Christian graces ; yet, a Christian grace it is : and the hope, which has the finished redemption of Jesus for its object, shall be crowned with everlasting glory, hy him who will never break a bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax: " They, who hope in him, shall live for ever."(s) Much less shall the stronger graces fail : " Whosoever eateth of these things shall live everlastingly." "He" [i. e. God] " saith whosoever shall hear those that call, and believeth, shall live eternally."(0 Accordiiig to this truly apostolic writer, free-will has nothing to do in the affairs of spiritual and future salvation. Speaking of God's true Israel, he asks, " But, from whence is it, that they come to consider and understand these things ? We, who consider his com- mandments aright, speak as the Lord willeth us to speak. For that end, he hath circum- cised our ears and our hearts, that we might understand these things. "(!') Again : " He, giving us repentance, hath led us into the incorruptible temple. The person, therefore, who is desirous of salvation, looketh not unto man, but to him that dwelleth in man and speaketh by man."(,r) I shall chose my citations, from Barnabas, (I) Jhid. (m) Ibid. Sect. vi. (w.; 2bij (0) Ibid. if) Ibid. Sect. vii. \q) 1 have ventured to render irXmn by the general word punishment : Ihout^h it strictly signilieB a blow, a stripe, a wound. (r) Ibid. (s) Ihid. .Sect. viii. (0 Ibid. Sect. xi. (!«) Ibid. Sect. x. (X) Ibid. Sect. xtI. (5 2 84 THE JUDGMENT OF with but one testimony more : " Issue not thy commands to thy maid-sei vant, or to thy man- servant, in an acrimonious manner, lest thou fear not that God who is master both of you and them : for he came not to call men, an irpo(Twffoi', accordin;^ to their outward condition in life, but [his call is] unto those whom the Spirit hath prepared,"(!/) be their outward con- dition what it may. II. Clemens (z) Romanus is said to have been a disciple of the apostle Peter : and is universally allowed to be that Clement, whom St. Paul numbered amons; his fellow labourers, and whose name he peremptorily affirmed to be in the book of Life. Phil. iv. 3. He was made bishop of Rome, probably, about A. D. 64, or 65. But it is very uncertain at what time, and ill what manner, he was honoured with martyrdom. His First Epistle to the Corinthians is celebrated, by many of the ancient writers, as one of the finest and most vahiable productions of the apostolic age. So hit;hly was it esteemed, that, for several centuries, it made a part of the public service of the primitive Church : being read in their assemblies, and revered as inferior only to the books of the New Tes- tament. Nor does a learned modern (Mon- sieur Du Pin) betray the least want of judgment, in declaring the Epistle, now under con- sideration, to be, " after the Holy Scriptures, one of the most eminent records of antiquity." It seems to have been written before the de- struction of Jerusalem by the Romans: conse- quently, much within forty years after our Lord's ascension; and about six or seven years after the death of the apostle Paul, with whom, and with several others of the apostles, Clement was personally and intimately acquainted. The testimonies of such a writer, in favour of the great truths called Calvinistic, deserve the reader's attention. Among which testi- monies, are the following : The ICpistle opens thus : " The Church of God, which dwelleth at Rome, to the Church of God dwelling at Corinth, called and set apart by the will of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord." (i) Hinting at some violent tumults and dissentions which had lately agitated and divided the Corinthian Church, he terms such proceedings " a criminal and unholy sedition, strange and unseemly in the elect of God." (c) Reminding them of the exemplary care with which they had formerly attended to the per- formance of every good work ; he observes, " your contest, day and night, was for the whole brotherhood ; that the number of his elect might be saved with mercy and with [a good] conscience." (e) Nor did Clement con- (V) Iliid. Sect. xix. (5) Vide Cave's Hist. Liter. Tol. i. p. 17. Also, bis Apostolici, p. 78. And Dupin's Eccles. Writers, sider the salvation of the elect as pecarious, or their perseverance asunceitain. " It being the will of God," says he, " that all his beloved ones should be made partakers of repentance ; he hath established them firmly by his own Al- mighty purpose." (/■) Hisjudgment, concerning the extent of re- demption, may be inferred from the two follow- ing passages. In the first, treating of Rahab's deliverance by the line of scarlet depending from her window, he considers that event as typical of salvation by Christ's atonement : hereby says he, " They [i. e. Rahab, and as many of her friends as were collected under her roof for preservation] made it manifest, that redemption by the blood of the Lord should accrue to all who believe and hope in Gi)d."(g) Again : the Messiah's " Life is taken from the earth ; because of the iniquities of my people. He went unto death." (,h) That this primitive bishop had the most ex- alted ideas of the immutability, the certainty, and the omnipotence, of God's decrees, is evi- dent beyond all contradiction. Witness his description of the all-controlling power with which God's providential disposals are attended: " In pursuance of his will, the teeming earth produces, at the proper seasons, abundant pro- vision both for men, and for wild beasts, and for all the animals that are upon it; without vary- ing from, and without altering, aught of those things which were decreed by him." (i) With a sublimity both of sentiment and style, whicl would do honour even to Homer or Demos - thenes, he thus asserts the independency, sovereignty, and invincibility, of the divine ap- pointments : " By the word of his Majesty he hath constituted all things ; and he is able, by a word, to overturn them. Who shall say unto him. What hast thou done ? or who shall resist the might of his power ? He hath done all things at what season he pleased, and in what manner he pleased : and not one of the things which have been decreed by him shall pass away. All things are open to his view, nor hath any thing absconded from his will and pleasure." (A) Far from supposing that the precious doc- trine of election conduces to immorality, he re- presents election as the main ground-work of sanctification, and as the grand inducement to virtue and obedience : " Let us draw nigh to God with holiness of mind, lifting up chaste and un- polluted hands, loving our gentle and compas- sionate Father, who hath made us a part of the election unto himself For so it is written : When the Most High parcelled out the nations, and when he dispersed the sons of Adam, he appointed the boundaries of the nations (b) Clem. Ep. 1. ad Cor. Sect. i. (c) loid- (c) /IM. Sect. iii. (J) Ibid. Sect. viii. ^g) Ibid. S<-ct. xii. ill) Ibid. Sect. xtS. (i; Ibid. Sect. xx. ik) Ibid. Sect, xivii. THE EARLIEST FATHERS. according to the number of his angels. His people Jacob were the Lord's portion ; Israel was the line of his inheritance. And, in an- other place, he saith : Behold, the Lord taketh to himself a nation from the midst of the nations, as a man taketh the first-fruits from his corn-Boor." (*) Under the ravishing view of interest in this unspeakable blessing of election, well may the excellent father add, as he does presently after : " Since, therefore, we are the portion of the Holy One, let us practise all the works of holiness: avoiding slanders, and defiled and unchaste embraces, drunkenness and innovations, together with abominable desires, detestable adultery, and loathsome pride." (/) How far, how infinitely far, is the believing consideration of God's electing love from leading to licentiousness ! Nothing can be more scriptural than this writer's doctrine concerning the soverignty and freeness of divine grace. " Let us," says he, " closely and steadfastly adhere to those persons unto whom grace is given of God." (jh) To this grace, thus freely given, he ascribes the exercise of the social virtues ; " Equity and lowliness of mind and meekness, are found in those who are the blessed of God." (li) Speaking of the Old-Testament saints, he refers the whole of their good will, good works, justification and eternal felicity, to the dis- criminating favour and sovereign pleasure of God alone: "AH these persons were glorified and magnified, not by themselves, or by their own works, or by the righteous practice which they wrought; but by his will. We too, being called by his will in Christ, Jesus are justified, not by ourselves, nor byourown wisdom, or understand- ing, or piety, or by the works which we have performed in holiness of heart; but by faith, whereby Almighty God hath, from eternity, justified all those." (o) i. e. all those whom it was his will to justify. Clement easily foresaw that the doctrine of free grace and unmerited justification, as stated by him in the above passage, might be cavilled at by legalists and merit-mongers, as tending to the consequential exclusion of good works. He, therefore, discreetly antici- pates this cavil, by entering a just caveat against an inference so unnatural and malici- ous. " What then shall we do, brethren ?" says he, in the very next paragraph: " Shall we desist from well-doing, and renounce our love" [to God and our neighbour] ? " May the Sovereign Lord never permit this to befal us by any means ! Nay, but let us be in haste to accomplish every good work, with earnestness, and with full propensity." (p) He most carefully guards against the sa- (*) JIM. Sect. xxix. {I) Ihid. Suet. xxx. (7/1) Let U3 be intimately associated with the blameless and the righti^ous : for these me tlie elect of God. As much us to say : Innocency .miX righteouaness of life are tlie marks by whuh (Jod's elect are visibly and piactically known aud crilegious encroachments of free-will and self- righteousness : " It is by Jesus Christ that we can steadfastly look into the heights of Heaven. It is by him that we shall behold his spotless and most exalted countenance. By him the eyes of our heart have been opened. By him our foolish and dark understanding springs up afresh into his marvellous light. It was the will of the Lord that we should by him taste of that .knowledge which can never die." {q) "He that made and formed us hath introduced us into his world : having afore prepared his bene- fits for us, even before we were born. As, therefiire, we have all things from him, we ought forall things to give him thanks." {r. Dissuading the Corinthians from casting blocks of offence in each others way he thus enforces his prohibition : " Reine m.Der the words of our Lord Jesus : for he hath said. Woe to that man ; it were good for him rather not to have been born, than that he should cause one of niv elect people to stumble." (s) Though the elect themselves may stumble, i. e. though it is possible for them both to offend, and to be offended; yet, according to Clement's Theo- logy, none of them can finally miss of glory. They shall all, eventually, be completely sancti- fied, and made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. " All the elect of God are made perfect in love." (i) He adds : "It was of love that the Lord accepted us. It was through the love which he bore to us, that our Lord Christdid, by the will of God, give his blood for us, and his flesh in the room of our flesh, and his soul in the room of ours." This eminent saint believed, and expressly as- serts, that pardon of sin does not extend beyond the pale of election. His words are these : " It is written. Blessed are they whose iniqui- ties are remitted, and whose sins are coveied : blessed is the person to whom the Lord will by no means impute sin ; nor is there deceit in his mouth. This blessedness accrues to those who have been elected of God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (x) The Royal Psalmist was, no doubt, one of God's elect : and he is, accordingly, so styled by our apostolic author : " elect David saith, I will confess unto the Lord, &c." {x) I cannot close my citations from St. Clement more suitably, than with that most excellent prayer, which almost con- cludes his epistle : and which 1 most earnestly beg of God, the Holy Spirit to engrave indeli- bly on the reader's heart and mine: " May the all-seeing God the Sovereign of spirits and the Lord of all flesh, who hath elected the Lord Jesus Christ, and us into a peculiar people through him ; grant, to each soul that calls on his holy and exalted name, the graces of (n) Iliid. Sect, xxx . (u) IMd. Sect, xxxii. (p) Ibid. Soct. xxxiii. (q) Jbid. Sect xxxvi. ()•) Ibid. Sect, xxxviii. (i) Ihid. Sect. xlvi. (<) Ibid. Sect.xlix. (ti) Jbid. Sect 1. (.i) Ibid. Sect. liii. U) Ibid. Sect. Iviii,. 86 THE JUDGMENT OF "faith, fear, peace, patience, long suffering, temperance, purity, and soundness ot judgment ; through our high-priest and defender, Jesus Christ."(?/) 1 have made the large extracts from Bar- nabas and Clement, because their two epistles appear to be the oldest remains of uncanonical antiquity. Indeed, the first epistle of Clement to the Corinthians was evidently composed iriany years prior to some of the writings of the New Testament itself. For, if that epistle (as there is the strongest reason to believe) was antecedent to the final conquest of Jeru- salem by Titus, it must have been written con- siderably earlier than the Gospel of St. John, his three Epistles, and the book of Revelation. A circumstance, however, which I should not have noticed here, had I not thought it neces- sary to ofier some apology to my readers, for having detained them so long with these quo- tations, in a work, which, as I transcribe it from the rough copy, I am designedly rendering as concise as may consist with justice to the argument : — the genuine Epistles of Ignatius and Polycarp, though extremely ancient, yet are not of quite so high antiquity as the two preceding : for which reason, I shall present the reader with the fewer citations ; but those sufficiently weighty and express, to convince any impartial, attentive enquirer, that these two venerable preachers and martyrs were, in deed and in truth, earnest contenders for the faith which was once delivered to the saints. III. Ignatius is said to have been ordained bishop of Antioch in Syria, A. D. 66, (z) and to have held that see for upward of 40 years. He was a disciple of St. John, and had the happiness of being particularly intimate with that apostle. Under the third general perse- cution, i. e. about the year 107, Ignatius, having asserted the divinity of the Christian religion in the emperor Trajan's own presence, was sentenced to be thrown to wild beasts, on an amphitheatre at Rome : which was accord- ingly executed. On his way from Antioch to Rome, this blessed prisoner of Christ, loaded with chains, and led as a sheep to the slaughter, wrote those six Epistles (of whose authenticity there seems no just reason to doubt,) addressed to the Christians in Ephesus, MagnesiaTralles, Rome, Philadelphia, and Smyrna. As to the Epistle inscribed to Polycarp, though thought genuine by Vossius, it is rejected as spurious by arch- bishop Usher ; and considered as doubtful, even by Dr. Cave. In the exordium of his Epistle to the Smyrneans, Ignatius addresses them as " Filled with faith and love, and indefectible in every gift of grace."(a) And, indeed, the gilts of (y) Ibid. Sect. Iviii. (r) See the article Ipnatius, in a w-ork, entitled, The Great Historical, GeoRraphiciil, and Poetical Dic- tionary. Edit. Lond. 1694. grace would stand us in little stead, if inde- fectibility was not their certain attendant. So far was this holy bishop from doubting the final perseverance of those who are really endued " with faith and love ;" that he tells them, in terms of the fullest assurance, " I glorify Jesus Christ our God, who hath made you thus [spiritually] wise. For i have under- stood, that ye are knit firmly together in im- moveable faith, even as though ye were both in flesh and spirit nailed to the cross of Jesus Christ our Lord ; and that ye are made stedfast in love, through the blood of Christ. "(6) He believed the redemption wrought by Christ, to be co-extensive with the Church of God's peculiar people : " Christ," says he, " suffered all these things on our account, that we might be saved."(c) He would not allow the grace of true repentance to be in a man's own power : for, speaking of some persons, whom he styles "wild beasts in human shape," he adds, " you ought not only to refuse re- ceiving such, but, if possible, you should even avoid meeting them. You ought only to pray in their behalf, if they may by some means repent; which, however, is exceeding difficult: but the power of this [viz. of making them repent] rests with Jesus Christ our true life."(rf) Sensible of his inability to undergo the tortures of martyrdom, in his own strength, he thus expresses his reliance on the strength of grace : " The nigher to the sword, the nigher to God. When surrounded with wild beasts, I shall be encompassed with God. It is only by the name of Jesus Christ that I shall so endure all things as to suffer with him ; he enduing me with strength who was himself perfect man."(e) That he held God's sovereign and righteous pra;terition of some, appears from the follow- ing expression : " Whom some men ignorantly deny ; or, rather, have been denied of him."(y) Nothing can breathe a more genuine sense of christian humility, than his absolute re- nunciation of merit in all its branches : " It is by the will of God, that I have been vouch- safed this honour" [namely, the honour of being in chains for the gospel:] "not from conscience " [i. e. from my own uprightness, or conscientiousness,] " but from the grace of God."(^) On the same principle, speaking of one Burrhus, a deacon, who was to be the bearer of this Epistle to Smyrna, and from whose tender friendship Ignatius had reaped great consolation, he thus prays in his behalf : " May grace make him retribution !"(A) His Epistle to the Ephesians, opens thus: " Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the Church which is at Ephesus in Asia, blessed by the greatness and fulness of God the Father ; (a) Ipmat. ad Smyrn. p. 1. Edit, \ossi, ixn^J. .USO. (0) II id. p. 1, 2. (c) Jhid. p. 2. (rf) Ihid. p. 3. (< I Ibid. p. 4 U) Ibid. (g) Ibid. p. 8. (A) Ibitl. p. B, THE EARLIEST FATHERS. S7 predestinated ever, before timy, unto the glory which is perpetual and unchangeable, united and chosen \i. e. fixed upon to be the ever- lastinjr residence of the saints] by the will of the Father, and of Jesus Christ our God, throui^h the true suffering.'Xi) That is, through the humiliation and sufferings of Christ the true propitiation. Congratulating the Ephesians, on the nar- mony which subsisted among themselves, he takes occasion to intimate, that the Church, which is Christ's mysiic body, is as firmly united to Christ as Christ himself is united to the Father.(A) Is it possible to express the infallible certainty of final perseverance, in stronger terms? And would not one almost believe, that Ignatius designed the above passage as a comment on those words of our Lord, Because I live, ye shall live also? How remote he was from crying up the pre- tended abilities of free-will, may sufficiently appear from what follows : " Carnal men," ?". e. men unrenewed by the Almighty Spirit of God, " are not able to perform spiritual things — ye do all things," i. e all spiritual things, *' by Jesus Chi ist,''(/) or by grace and strength derived from him. In the inscription of his Epistle to the Philadelpbians, he observes, of the clergy of that Church, that Christ had, in pursuance of his own will, firmly established them in sted- fastncss, by his holy Spirit. "(»0 A glaring proof, that, in the judgment of Ignatius, saving grace is not that evanid, loseable thing, which Arminianism represents it to be. As the acquisition of it is not owing to the will of man ; so neither is it dependent on man's will for preservation and continuance. In the course of the same Epistle, he has a similar remark : " Although some have been desirous of seducing me after the flesh, yet that Spirit which is of God is not seduced ;" (n) i. e. not to be seduced. Making mention of one Agathopus, who attended him from Syria toward Rome, at the manifest hazard of life; he terms him " an elect person, who bears me company from Syria, having renounced the present life."(o) He styles the Church at Tralles, " elect and esteemed of God : " (/)) and, in the same Epistle, gives another very strong attestation to the doctrine of final perseverance. For, treating of some heretics, who denied the literality of Christ's sufferings, he thus descants : " Avoid those evil shoots " [that spring up by a Chris- tian Church, like suckers by the side of a tree,] " which bring forth deadly fruit, whereof, if a man taste, he presently dies. These are not of the Father's planting ; for, if they were, the branches of the cross would appear, and their fruit would be incorruptible" /. c. imperishable and immortal : " through which he doth by his passion [;. e. by virtue of his own suf- ferings and death,] call you who are his members. For the head cannot be born without the members : (iod, who is the same [/. e. who is always himself unchangeable, and without shadow of turning,] having passed his word for tlieir union. "(y) Yet, though this apostolic bishop was thus rooted and grounded in a belief of the essential per- petuity of grace ; he still was of opinon (and so, 1 am confident, is every Calvinist under Heaven,) that, without constant and intense watching unto prayer, the exercise of grace is liable to a partial and temporary failure. " I am yet in danger, [says the blessed martyr: i. e. in danger,] if left to my own strength, of deny- ing Christ with my mouth, in order to avoid the torments of death." But his self-diffidence (and who can be too diffident of self !) did not, however, make him lose sight of God's faith- fulness to him, which, he well knew, could, alone keep him faithful to God : for he immediately adds, in the very next words, " nevertheless, my Father in Jesus Christ is faithful to fulfil your prayer and mine."(r) And so he found him to be. God did hear his prayer, and make him faithful unto death. Reader, may the same happy coalition of fear and faith ; may the most absolute self-distrust, united with an unshaken confidence in the stability of divine grace, be your portion, and mine, till we enter the haven of everlasting joy : where we shall no longer stand in need of faith, to fill our sails, nor of fear, to steady us with its ballast ! In his Epistle to the Romans, Ignatius has an observation, which shews that he was far enough from holding the tenet of free-will, in the Arminian sense of it : "A Christian is not the workmanship of suasion, but of great- ness : "(.?) i. e. men become real Christians, not by the power of moral argument, but by the mighty operation of divine agency. Whoever denies the ability of free-will, in spirituals, mustj with that, deny the meritoriousness of human works. And so did Ignatius. Witness that passage, where, speaking of the savage treatment he received from the soldiers who were guai ding him to Rome, he says, " They behave themselves the worse to me for my beneficence to them. I reap, however, the more instruction from their injurious be- haviour. Yet, I am not justified by this."(<) He knew, that neither the sufferings, which he was enabled to endure for Christ ; nor his kindness to his persecutors ; nor his improving their barbarities into profitable instruction ; constituted any part of that righteousness, for the sake of whicii he was justified before God. He considered them as valuable fruits (fi) Ep. ad Trail, p. 4B. (q) fljicl. p. 52. (J-) JOirt. p. 54. (.5) Ep. ;id Horn. p. V, (0 JOid. p. 58. 88 Thii JUDGMENT OF of the Spirit, mid as proofs of grace received : hjt not as matter of raei it ; not as causes or con- ditions either of his present or future acceptance with the Majesty of Heaven. Yet this consider- ation did by no means render him negligent to obey, or reluctant to suffer. Warmed with the faith that worlis ; qui cun. .liMS .ss.t , l,„„:i tini Hist. Eocl. Compend. p 140. .See ;i iiuuii l.irt^cr account of this good mun iu Usiior dc Ecci. Clu istiuu. Succussione, c. 8. (i) Vide Maestnchtii Opern, p. 112!. (*) Dis.sertations on tlie I'rophecies, vol. 3. p. I?7. Lord Lyttelton bas a simii.ir remark ; who observes, that the doctrine of the Albi^en.scs, &c. Was unic b Mezeray, " they had almost the same opinions as those who are now called Calvinists." (A) It will, I apprehend, be easily made appear. that their on vere not only almost, but altogether the same. Nor did they soon dev ate from the evangelical system of their fore- fathers : (or, so low down as the tcm of the Reformation, I find that " they sent to Zuing- lius for teachers, and afterwards to Calvin : of whose sentiments," add the compilers of the work I quote, " the remainder of them, called the Vaudois, continue to be." (/) Their first rise was ol very considerable antiquity. The Romish Council, assembled, by order of pope Alexander III. at Tours, in May 1163, prohibited all persons, under pain of excommunicatiosi, from having any inter- course with these people ; who are described as teaching and professing "a damnable here- sy, long since sprung up in the territory of Toulouse." (ni) Van Maestricht assures us, that they wrote against the errors and super- stitions of the Church of Rome, in the year 1100. According to Pilichdorffius, (o) the Waldenses themselves carried up the date of their commencement as a body, as high as three hundred years after Constantine, i. u. to about the year 637. For my own part, I be- lieve their antiquity to have been higher still. I agree with some of our oldest and best Pro- testant divines, in considering the Albigenses, or Waldenses (for they weie, in fact, one and the same,) to have been a branch of that visi- ble Church, against which the gates of hell could never totally prevail ; and that the uninterrupted succession of Apostolical doctrine continued with them, from the primitive times, quite down to the Reformation : soon after which period, they seem to have been melted into the com- mon mass of Protestants. Neither does this conjecture limit the extent of the visible Church in former ages to so narrow a com- pass, as may at first be imagined. For they were, says Poplinerius, (/)) " Diffused, mt only throughout all France, in the year 1 1 00, but through almost every country in Europe. "And," says be; "to this very day, they have their stubborn partizans in France, Spain, England, Scotland, Italy, Germany, Bohemia, Saxony, Poland, Lithuania, and other nations.'' Archbishop Usher, whose enquiries were never superficial, and whose comtlusions are never piecipitate, lays great stress on a re- markable passage in Reinerius, a Popish in- buerunt Eccle.sia; Waldenses ; earumque Confessit Catecbeses, jam Anno M C. script* adversus en et supevstitiones Ecclesia; Roniana;." Opera, p. (0) Vide Us cap. 8. p. lOff. (7^) Apud Usher. \x. 90 JUDGMENT OF EMINENT PERSONS quisitor, who died about the year 1259. The passage is this : " Of all the sects w hich as yet exist, or ever have existed, none is more detrimental to the Church," i.e. to the Romish Church, " than the sect of the Waldenses. And this on three accounts : 1 . Because it is a much more ancient sect than any other. For, some say, that it has continued ever since the Pope- dom of Silvester: (y) others, that it has sub- sisted from the time of the Apostles. 2. It is a more extensive sect than any other : for there is almost no country, in which this sect has not a footing. 3. This sect has a mighty ap- pearance of piety : inasmuch as they live justly before men, and believe all things rightly concerning God, and all the articles contained in the Creed. They only blaspheme the Roman Church and Clergy." ;r) I have premised enough, concerning the people. Let us now enquire into the particu- lars of their faith. There is extant, a short Waldensian Con- fession, written in the year 1120, and consist- ing of XIV. Articles. The 1st Article pro- fesses their agreement with, what is usually teimed. The Apostles Creed. The 2nd ac- knowledges Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, to be the one God. The 3d recapitulates the canonical books of the Old and New Testa- ment, just as they now stand in the Protestant Bibles ; and excepts against the Apocrypha, as uninspired. The 4th asserts, that, " By the disobedience of Adam, sin entered into the world, and we are made sinners in Adam, and by Adam." The 5lh runs thus : " Christ was promised to our forefathers ; who received the law, to the end that, knowing their sin by the law, and their unrighteousness and insufficien- cy, they might desire the coming of Christ, to satisfy for their sins, and, by himself, to accom- plish the law." The 6th affirms, that " Christ was born at the time appointed by God his Father." The 7th, " Christ is our life and truth, and peace and righteousness, and ad- vocate, and master, and priest : who died for the salvation of all those who believe, and is raised again for our justification." {s) Six of the remaining articles are levelled at the super- stitions of Popery : and the last testifies their due subjection to the civil powers. (7) There were two Popes of this name. Silves- ter 1. died A.I). 335. Silvester II. A.D. 1003. (r) Usher De S iccess. p. 78 Dr. Cave also lays as much stress on this testimony as does archbishop Usher : see his Historia Literaria, vol. i. p. 632. And BO does the great Spanhemius, Oper. vol. iii. col. 1129. (,s) History of the Popes, vol. i. p. 423. 424. (t) " Crediaius ct fatemur, satorem atque fidei salutis datorem esse Deum Onmipotentum, iu Deilatis siibtantii \inum, in persoiiis ver" Trinum, P.-itreni, Filiiun, Spiritumque Sanctum." Fa.^cic. Kerjug. it expet. vol. i. p. 163. («) '* Cujus merito, solus genitor, secundum pro- positum electionis suae, salutem operatur." Jbid. (,r) " Qui, in solo gratiie residens fidelis advoratus, interpellat pro his, qui ha;reditatem gloria: percepturi • unt." Jbit/. Almost 400 years afterwards, the descend- ants of those ancient and evangelical Churches gave proof, that they were, m no respect whatever, degenerated from the purity and simplicity of the gospel. For, in the begiri- ning of the year 1503, 1 find them presenting a large account of their faith, in three sepa- rate papers addressed to L'ladislaus, king of Hungary. " We believe," say they, " and con- fess, that Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, three in person, but one in the essence of Deity, is the producer of faith and the giver of salvation " (<) They say, speaking of Christ, " By whose merit the alone Father accomplishes our salvation, according to the purpose of his own election.'' (u) They affirm, that " he intercedes for those who shall pos- sess the inheritance of glory :" {x) and that " he forsaketh not his Church, for which he offered up himself unto death;" but is ever present with her, " in a way of grace, effica- cy, and help, which are his free gift." (y) They define the holy, universal Church to be " the aggregate of all the elect, from the be- ginning of the world to the end of it : — whose names and number he alone can tell, who hath inscribed them in the Book of Life." (z) To these persons, grace is given: " The fiist and principal ministry of the universal Church is the gospel of Christ, wherein are revealed the grace and truth which he hath painfully pur- chased for us by the torture of the cross ; which grace is given to the elect, who are called by the Holy Ghost and God the Father unto salvation, with the gift of faith." (a) Under the article, entitled Commnuin Sancto- rum, they come, if possible, more roundly to the point. Nothing can be clearer than their meaning ; though the persims who drew up the confession were far from cnnimanding a good style in Latin. " It is manifest," say they, " that such only as are elected to glory become partakers of true faith, grace, righte- ousness in the merit of Christ, [and] eternal salvation." (4) What they deliver concerning the doctrine of purgatory, though rather uncouthly ex- pressed, deserves to be laid before the reader. "There is no other chief place of determinate purgatory, but the Lord Christ ; of whom it (5) " Ecclesiam suam, pro qui scipsum obtnlit ad mortis snpplicium, grati*, virtute, auxilioque, done gratuito, non deserit." Jbid. (2j ** Credimus, sanctam Catholicam ecclesiam — esse numerimi omnium electorum, a mundi exordio, usque ipsitis consunimationem : — quorum nomina, nu- merumque, ille solus scit, qui ea in vitse Ubro exara- vit." Ibid. p. 164. (o) " Primum et potissimum Ministeriom Eccle- siae Catholicae, est Evangeliiun Chr.sti ; quo gratia et Veritas, crucis tormento laborios^ acquisita, manifes- tatur : quse gratia electis, vocatis done fidei a spiritu sancto, Deoque Patri, in salutem largitur." Jbid. (6) " Palam itaque est, quod tantuinmodo electi, verae fidei, grantia;, justitias in Christi merito, ad gloriam, salutis aetemse participes stuit.'* Ibid. p. 167. BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 9\ was ti-uly said by the angel, he shall save his people from their sins. And sosaith St. Paul : having made a purgation of sins, he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. Every one, therefore, who shall be saved, must draw from this full fountain of righteousness and goodness. By grace alone, through the gift of faith, whosoever is to be saved cometh to the purgation by Christ Jesus ; as saith St. Paul : a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ; and we believe in Christ Jesus, that we maybe justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law. And Christ himself saith, he that be- lieveth on me hath eternal life." (e) I take leave of this confession, with one citation more. " St Paul says, Christ loved his Church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify it, &c. It is not said that he might prepare her for hell ; but for heaven and for repose, after her present toils. For it is certain, that only the elect of God are blessed ; and God leadeth them into that righteousness which we have already treated of. Concerning them, the apostle saith. He hath elected us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love. And again, he saith ; whom he did predestinate, them he also called ; and whom he called, them he also justified." (d) Archbishop Usher presents us with another concise profession of faith, transmitted by these good people to Francis I. of France, in the year 1544: which, though subsequent to the opening of the Refc rmation, is too excellent to be wholly unnoticeo in this place. A single ex- tract, however, shall suffice. "We believe, that there is but one God ; who is a spirit, the maker of all things, the parent of all men ; who is overall, through all, and in us all, and is to be worshipped in spirit and in truth, whom alone we hope for ; the distributor of life, food, and raiment ; the distributor also of health and sickness, of conveniences and inconven- iences. Him we love, as the author of all ab aiigelo, ipse t onem peccatoret goodness : him we dread, as the inspector of hearts. "We believe Jesus Christ to be the Son and image of the Father, in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the godhead ; by whom we come to the knowledge of the Father, and who is our mediator and advocate : neither is there any other name under Heaven, given unto men, whereby to be saved. " We believe that we possess the Holy Ghost, the comforter, proceeding from the Father and the Son ; by whose inspiration, we are enabled to pray ; and by whose efficacy we are born again. He it is who worketh all good works in us ; and by him are we led into all truth. " We believe that there is one Holy Church, viz. The congregation of all God's elect, from the beginning to the end of the world, whose head is our Lord Jesus Christ. Which Church is governed by the word, and led by the Spirit of God. " We believe, that the pious, and those who fear God, will approve themselves urto him, by being studious of ifood works, which God hath prepared before hand, that they should walk in them : such are love, joy, peace, patienre, kindness, honesty, modesty, temperance, and what other works we find applauded in Scrip- ture." (e) It would, perhaps, be difficult to meet with so much genuine gospel, comprised within so small a compass, in any writings, ex- cept the inspired. If the reader be desirous to know the horrid and almost unparalled perse- cutions, which the Albingenses sufiered at the hands of the Romish Church, from age to age (after the more open apostacy of that Church from the original faith of the gospel,) even to the extinction of no fewer than ten hundred thousand lives; he may, among others, consult that excellent work, entitled. The (/)Histoiy of Popery, a book which it is pity that any Pro- testant should be without, and Mr. Samuel Clark's General (g) Martyrology. That most excellent jjrince, Lewis XII of France, was diligimus,^tanquaui 0] 11 quo oniiiis plenitudo Deitati JUS nos liabere consolatoreni latre ft tilio procedenteni ; cuj ur, ct etiicacio regeneraniur. opera eliicit : atque per eum nodo coelum, in quit'teni, post prasentes labores. Qi; certum est, quiid soli beati sunt elect! IJei ; et ill ducit Deus iu earn justitiam, quam superii^s posuimu de quibus apostolus dicit, elegU nos in ipso, ante co stitutioneni nmnde, ut essemus san«ti et inmiacul: inconspectu ejus in cliaritate. Et iterum dicit ; qu prajde.stinavit, bos et vocavit : ct quos vocavit, bos jusiitif.avit." Jhid. 179. ((') " Credinius unum tantvim esse Deiim, qui s) Vitus est, rerum cunctaruni conditor, palor omniui super et per omnia, in nobis omnibus, adorandus npiritu et veritate, quern solum expcclamus ; datori litiE, atimenCorum, indunientoruni, pr.ispera; item v electoruni Uei, a consfitutione ad tinem niiii gregationem ; cujus caput est Dominus nosti Christiis. Hanc verbum Dei gubernat, spiriti bonis dium, pax, patientia, benignitas, probitas, mod temperantia, aliaque opera in scripturis commend UsLer, Ue Succession, cap. 10, p. 151. (/■) Comprised in two volumes, small quarto; printed at London, 17.-i5. (g) Folio, London, lOUO. 92 JUDGMENT OF EMINENT PERSONS actuated by a better spirit. When incited to persecute the VV'aldenses, he returned this truly great reply : God forbid that I should persecute any for being more religious than myself. From whole Churches, let us, for the present, pass to particular persons. Gotteschalcus, sometime a Benedictine monk in the monastery of Orbez, and diocese of Soissons, flourished about A. D. 840. He is thought to have obtained the sirname of Fnl- gentius, or the shining, on account of his un- common attainments in literature ; (A) though, perhaps, his agreement in doctrine with the famous Fulgentius (bishop of Ruspee, in Africa, who was counted the St. Austin of his age, and died in the year 533) might have given the lirst occasion to call him by that name. Archbishop Usher has written the history (i) of this worthy and learned pei son, and of the controversies concerning predestination and free-will, which his {i. e. Gotteschalcus's) writings and sufferings were the means of re- viving in the ninth century. To this elaborate performance of the great prelate, I stand in- debted for most of the particulars which I am now going to lay before the reader. It seems uncertain, whether Gotteschalcus was a native of Germany, or of France. His name appears to indicate the former. (A) His deep acquaintance with the writings of St. Austin brought him into love with the doctrines of grace; and he determined to avow them, at all events. In such a Church as the Roman, and in a period of such religious darkness as the ninth age, it was no wonder that his ardent espousal of the evangelical sys- tem, and the unyielding firmness with which he openly maintained it, should involve him in a series of persecution, which, at length, sunk him to his grave. Hincmar was made archbishop of Rheims, A. D. S45, and soon distinguished himself as Gotteschalcus's inexorable oppressor. This prelate had a mind unsoftened with any one of the humane feelings : (/) and, for his leligion, it was Christianity reversed. Wean, sanginuary, and imperious, by nature ; he bad, moreover, imbibed some of the grossest diegs of I'ela- iganism : {in) which he obtruded on others with an enthusiastic vehemence, bordering on madness ; and with a fierceness nothing short of brutal. From a metroplitan, thus disposed and thus principled ; armed, too, with that ex- M Cave's Hist. Liter, vol. i. p. 558. (/) Entitled, Gottesclialci et Fraedestinati na Controversiie ab eo luota*, Historia. Dublinii, 1731. (A-) Gott enim Germaiiis Deum, S. Ualck servum, denotat, ut Gotteschalcus, eioiaXov, sive Dei ser- vum, «o.net. Usserii Gotesc. p 14. (0 He caused his own uephew and name's sake, Hincmar, bishop of Laon, to be depo>cd from his see, in 871, and thrown into prison, where both his eyes were put out ; because, in a dispute between the I'ope and the French King, he had sided with the forraer, contrary to the judgment of his ui^.cle. tent of authority which ecclesiastics of hi? rank then possessed ; Gotteschalcus had no- thingto look for, but that unrelenting hatred and severity, which superior merit [especially, when it ventures to deviate from the beaten path] seldom fails to experience, at the hands of those, in whom ignornnce and bigotry are united with the powers of mischief. Among the articles which Hincmar charged this holy man with maintaining, were the three following. 1. That, "As God hath predestinated certain persons to life eternal ; so hath he, likewise, pre-ordained other certain persons to eternal death. 2. " It is not the will of God, that every one of mankind should be saved : be willeth the salvation of those only who [eventually] are saved. All are saved, whom God wills to save: consequently, whoever perish, it was not the divine pleasure to save them. For, if all those are not saved whom God willeth to be so ; it would follow, that God does not act according to his own will : and, if he wills more than he is able to perform, he is no longer omnipotent, but impotent ; but the scrip- ture affirms that he is omnipotent; for he doth whatsoever he pleased to do. All things that the Lord would, hath he done in heaven, and in earth, in the sea, and in all deep places. Psalm cxxxv. G. Again ; O Lord, the King Almighty, the whole world is in thy power; and, if thou hast appointed to save Israel, there is no man that can gainsay thee- Thou art Lord of all things, and there is no man that can resist thee who art the Lord. Esther xiii. 9. Jl. 3. " Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was not crucified and put to death for the redemp- tion of the entire world, i. e. not for the ransom and salvation of the whole of mankind; but only for such as aie saved." To these were aftervvai ds added, as doctrines of Gotteschalcus : " They who are predestinated to destruction cannot be saved ; and they who are predesti- nated to the kingdom cannot perish. "Ever since the fiist man fell by his free- will, none of us are able to use their fiee-wills unto good, but only to evil.'' (o) Gotteschalcus's opinions were, undoubtedly, stated by Hincmar in the most rigorous and exceptionable terms. For this reason, let us hear the judicious and learned martyr speak for (m) Nor was he a Pelagian only, but a violent Anti-triniUrian also ; as appears from the following remarkable incident, mentioned by Dr. Cave : *' In- teriit liber a Batramno scriptus pro defensione bymni cujusdam vetusti, cui versicul. in istum (te Trina Deltas unaque poscimus] Hincmarus expungi ju&se- rat ; te summa Deltas, deioctps, in ecclesia sui, can- tari pra^cipiens." Hist. Lit. p. 530. sub Art. Bertramus. (,11) Usserii Gottesch. p. IS. 16. Necnon VossU Histor. Pelagian. 1. 7. par. 4. p. 738. (o; Usser. Ibid. p. 2B. BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 93 himself. This he continues to do, in two sepa- rate confessions of his fiiith penned by his own hand, and which are. hiippiiy, still preserv- ed." ip) " I believe," says he, " and acknowledge, that the Almii{hty and unchangeable God jiratuitousiy foreknew and predestinated the holy angels, and elect men, unto life eternal." St. Austin asks, " wherefore, said our Lord to the Jews, ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep? Because (saith Austin) " our Lord perceived that they were predesti- nated to everlasting destruction, and were not purchased with the price of his blood. What mischief, then, can the wolf do ? What hurt can the thief and robber do ? They can destroy those only who are predestinated thereunto." The same St. Austin, speaking of the two worlds, expresses himself thus : ' The Church is a (q) whole world, and there is also a whole world which hateth the Church. The world [of the reprobate] hateth the world [of the elect] : the world of tliose who are at enmity with God bateth that world which is reconciled to him ; the world of the con- demned hateth the woild of the saved ; the world of the impure hateth the world of the holy.' Austin saith again : ' There is a world, of which the Apostle says. That vie should not be condemned with the world, 1 Cor. ii. 32. For this world, our Lord doth not pray.' So also speaketh St. Isidore ; (r) " There is a double predestination : of the elect, unto happiness ; and of the reprobate unto death " (*) The above extract is from Gotteschalcus's smaller confession. His larger one runs in the form of a most pious and solemn address to Almighty God. It were needless to cite any parts of it, after what has been already pro- duced. Whoever pleases, may see it, at full length, in Usher's History, referred to below. ' For thus believing, the great and good man was degraded from the order of priesthood, and imprisoned in the monastery of Hault- Villier. He was, moreover, sentenced to undergo the punishment of scourging: which inhuman discipline was continually repeated, with the most merciless severity, 'till, by mere dint of torture, they had compelled him to (p) Apud Usser. Ibid. « p. 211. ad. p. 237. iq) Witsius has a similar thought ; but much more elegantly expressed. " Electi fideles, post vocaliom-m efficacem, et considerati cum eiorn^inte cos gratii Dei; licet minor, melior tamen muiidi pars, c-t i m- mundi mundi mundus sunt." De Oecon. Feed. 1. 2. c. 9. s. 13. ()•) 1 suppose, the person, here quoted by Oottes- chalcus, was that Isidore, who fixed his seat of retire- ment at, or near, I'elusium (now Belbeis) in Egypt ; whence he is commonly called, Isidorus Pelusiota He flourished about A.D. 412. (v) Credo et conlitcor, Deum omnipotentem et in- commutabilem priescisse et prajdestinasse angelos sanctos, et homines elcctos, ad -vitam gratis ajternam. Bfcfttus Augustinus ita dicit, Quare commit one of his own books to the flames, which he had written, in favour of predestina- tion, against Rabon, archbishop of Mentz. His sntt'erings might, at anytime, have been e.\- chiingf I tdi- liberty and ease, had he hut dis- seml)le(l his jiicigment, and ceased to avow his faith. But he was enabled to continue stead- fast, to the very last. No torments could in- duce him to deny, with his mouth, the grace which he loved in his heiirt. In nim was emi- nently realized that saying ascribed to Ignatius: Stand firm as a beaten anvil. It is the part of a magnanimous combatant, to be torn to pieces, and yet to overcome. (<) I have termed Gotteschalcus a martyr. And such, in fact, he was. I grant his execu- tion was more tedious and lingering than that of those who are usually crowned with that venerable name. His sutt'erings did not termi- nate with the pain of an hour, but were ex- tended through a long series of years : and nothing, inferior to the Almighty pou-er of God, could have kept him faithful unto death. Exhausted, at length, by an uninterrupted suc- cession of hardships, be breathed out his soul into the hands of Christ, A. D. 8/0, in about the one and twentieth year of his imprisonment. Hincmar, to whose restless persecutions this man of God stood indebted for most of his ca- lamities, did not always ride triumphant on the wheel of prosperity. About twelve years after the death of Gotteschalcus, the Nordnians, swarming from the North of Europe, made ir- ruptions into France ; on wb.ich, the prelate of Rheims thought proper to consult his per- sonal safety, by deserting his Hock. Abdicat- ing, therefore, the see, which he had so un- worthily tilled, he retreated {Barbaras a Barhar 'is) to a more solitary and secure part of the kingdom : in which melancholy retirement, surruuiuled with woods and morasses, he died (probably of a broken heart) A.D. 882. 111. Remigius, archbishop of Lyons, and Gotteschalcus's cotemporary, deserves to be mentioned here, as an eminent assei tor of the doctrines of grace. Hincmar of Kheims had written a letter of complaint against Gotteschalcus, addressed to the Church of Lyons. This v.'as replied to by Remigius ; part of whose answer ran thus. "The blessed fathers of the Church do, with dicit Dominus Judaiis, vos noc credites, quia non estis ex ovibus nieis ? Nisi quia videbat eos ad sempi- ternum ititeritum pra?destinalos,non ad vitam eeternam sui sanguinis pretio comparatos. Quid potest lupus ( Quid potest fur et latro ? non perdit nisi ad interitum praedestinatos. Item, de duobus loquens mundis : Totus mtxndus ecclesia est, et totus muiidua edit ecclesiam. Mundus igitur oilit mundum : inimi- cus, reconciliatum : danmatus salvatum : inquiuatus, mundatum. JUm. Est mundus, de quo dicit apos- tolus. Ne cum hoc mundo damncmur. Pro isto mui.do Dominus 7ion rogat. Unde dicit et S. Isi- dorus : (ifiiiina est priedf stinatio, sive elcctorum ad requiem ; sivi- rt'proborum, ad mnrtum." Apud Usaer. u. s. p. 211. 212. {I) Ib'nat. ad Polyc. JUDGMENT OF EMINENT PERSONS one consent, with one voice, and as it were with one spirit, display and celebrate that im- moveable truth of God's prescience and pre- destination, respectinf^ both its parts, viz. con- cerning the elect, and reprobate : to wit, [the predestination] of the elect, unto glory; and of the reprobate, not unto sin, but unto punish- ment. And in these particulars, they [z. e. the fathers] openly affirm that the unchangeable series of God's disposals is demonstrated to us ; which divine disposals are not temporal, neither did they commence in any period of time, but are strictly eternal. Nor is it possi- ble for any one elect person to perish : or that any of the reprobate should be saved, because of their hardness and impenitency of heart. This both the verity of the sacred writings, and the authority of the holy and orthodox fathers, harmoniously declare, and inculcate on us as a point to be believed and held by us without the least doubt or scruple. Pursuant to the foregoing account of the universal faith, Ahnighty God did, Ironi the beginning, prior to the formation of the world, and before he had made any thing, predestinate (for certain just, and immutable reasons of his eternal counsel) some certain persons to glory, of his own gratuitous favour: of which certain per- sons, not one shall perish, through his mercy protecting them. Other certain persons he hath predestinated to perdition, by his just judgment, for the evil desert of their ungod- liness, which he foreknew : and, of these, none can be saved. Not because of any compulsive violence offered them by the divine power, but because of the stubborn and persevering naugh- tiness of their own iniquity." (?t) Remigius expresses himself with a prudential guarded- ness, which reflects no little honour on his judgment. He acknowledged, as the present Calvinists also do, 1. That there most certainly are a two-fold prescience and predestination, terminating on two sorts of persons, the elect and reprobate. 2. That God's disposals, or decrees, are strictly eternal: and, 3. That they are unchangeable. 4. That, consequently, not one elect person can perish ; nor, 5. any repro- bate be saved. 6. That the election of the former was absolutely gratuitous and unmerit- ed : 7. That the punishment of the latter (observe : not their reprobation itself, but their (w) *' Ecce beatissimi patres ecclesias uno sensa uno ore, quia et uno spiritu, Divina; prasscientiai et prajdestinationis immohilem veritatem, in utraque parte, electorum, scilicet et reprobouni, predicant et contmendant : electorum utique, ad gloriam ; repro- borum ver6, non ad culpani, sed ad poeiiam. Et in his, non temporalium, neque ex alioquo tempore in- clioantium, sed sempiternarum, dispositionura Dei immutabilem ordiuem nobis demonstrari confirmant : nec aliquein electorum posse perire, nec uUum repro- borum (propter duritiani et inipoenitentiam cordis sui) posse salvari. Hoc et Divinarum scripturarum Veritas et sanctorum atqiie orthodo\orum patrum auctoritas constantL-r annuntiaiit, iiutuljiianttr iiot»is credendum et tenendum iuculcaut. Jiixtu pra missam l.'atho- liCeB fidei ratioiiem, omnipoteiis Deits, ante constituti. onem muodi, anttMiuam quicquam aaccrct, .i principio perdition, or actua. damnation) is owing to their foreseen ungodliness. Which foreseen ungodliness results, i*. not from any compulsive force offered to them, or put upon them by God himself, but from that "stubborn and persevering naughtiness of their own iniquity," which God is, indeed, able to remove, but under the power and guilt of which it is his inscruta- ble will to leave them. Among the illustrious partizans of grace, I must not omit to number, IV. Floras, sirnamed Magister, a deacon of the Church of Lyons; who, about A.D. 852, published A Defence of Predestination, in opposition to a Semipelagian treatise on that subject, written by the famous scholastic, Duns Scotus. The drift of Florus's book (drawn up, it seems, in the name of the whole Church of Lyons) was, says Vossius, to prove, "That there is a double predestination : viz. of some, who are elected into life ; and of others, who are destined to death. That men have, by na- ture, no free-will, except to what is evil. That the elect are compelled to good. But that the reprobate are not compelled to sin : they are only compelled to undergo the punishment which, by sin, they have merited." (x) I am inclinable to doubt, whether Vossius (whose " Pelagian History" might, with more truth, be styled. An Apology for Pelagianism) has, in the above passage, stated the Theses of Florus with sufficient candour. 1 can hardly suppose a man of the judgment and learning, which Florus seems to have possessed, would ever assert, that " The elect are compelled to what is good." We may, perhaps, learn his senti- ments on this subject, with greater certainty and precision, from his own words, largely cited by archbishop Usher, (y) " Our Lord himself," says Florus, " plain- ly shews, that the very first commencement of what good vve have is not of ourselves, but of him : Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. John xv. 16. Thus, likewise, the apostle speaks to believers : He who hath begun a good work in you, will perfect it even unto the day of Christ. Phil. i. 6. And again ; Unto you it is given, in Christ's behalf, not only to believe, but also to suffer for his sake. Phil. i. 29. The blessed apostle, St. John, affirms. Not that we loved God, but that he certis et justis atque immutabilibus causis seterni con- silii sui, quusdam ad regnura, gratuiti bonilate sua, ex quibus uemo set pcrituius protegentc misericordi^ sua ; et quosdam pra^destinayerit ad interitum, justo judicio suo, propter meritiun, quod prsescivit, impiet- tatis eorum, ex quibus nemo possit salvari. Non prooter violenti.am aliquam Divina; potestatis ; sed propter indomahaem et perseverautem ncquitiam pro- pria; iniquitatis." Remigius apud Usser. Gottesc. p. 29. The masterly comment of Remigius, on that con- troverted passage : — who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. I Tim. ii. 4. may be seen at large in Usher, u. s. p. 31. I wish it was not too prolix for insertion here. (X) Vossii Histor. Pelagian, p. 745. (J/) Oottesch. Hist. cap. x. per totum. BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 9b loved us, and gave his Son to be the piopitia- tion for our sins. 1 John iv. 10. And again, a blessed apostle says, Let us run with pati- ence, the race that is set before us, looking anto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith. Heb. xii. 2. If, therefore, we desire to be true members of the universal Church, let us faithfully put all to the account of grace. The Lord chuseth his saints ; not they him. Gud himself both begins and accomplishes what is good, in his believers. He first loves his saints, in order that they may also love him. Man has not, of himself, a will to that which is good: neither has he, of himself, the power to perform a good work. Both one and the other are received from him, of whom the apostle saith. It is God that worketh in us, both to will and to do, of his own good plea- sure. Through his mercy, he himself is before- hand with the will of man : as saith the Psalmist: My God will prevent me with his goodness. He himself inspires man with the grace of thinking rightly ; according to that of the apostle : Not that we are, of ourselves, sufficient to think any thing, as of ourselves ; but our sufficiency is of God. He is himself the cause of our having a good will. He is himself the cause of our desiring and accom- plishing what is holy. And he not only work- eth these things, at present, in his elect ; but he hath also, before the formation of the world, predestinated them, by his grace, that they should be holy and blameless before him. Bph. i. 4. Whoever, then, does not believe that this grand and most efficacious cause" \_viz. God's predestination and grace] " precedes our will, in order that we may will and do that which is right, doth manifestly oppose the truth, and stands convicted of Pelagianism." (3) It is true, that, in these passages, Florus nervously asserts the efficacy of divine influence : but says no- thing about forcible compulsion. And, indeed, there was no reason why he should. The oper- ation of grace renders itself effectual, without offering the least violence to the human mind. (z) Florus Magist. apud Usser. u. s. p. 143—148. (a) According to Mr Locke, compulsion may then be said to take place, " When the beginning or contin- uation of any action is contrary to the preference of the mind." (See his Essay on Understanding, Book ii. ch. xxi. sect. 13.) If, therefore, this acute logician was in the right, it will follow, that, in the super- natural agency of grace on the heart, compulsion is quite excluded, he t at agency ever so effectual : since, the more efTectually it is supposed to operate, the more certainly it must engage the ** preference of the mind." And, where the preference of the mind is thus engaged, won over, and secured, (the accomplish- ing of which is the very business of grace) tliere compulsion can have no manner of footing or, existence. Another remark of Mr. Locke's deserves to he well considered : " voluntary is not opposed to necessary, but to involuntary. For a man may prefer what he can do, to what he cannot do :" [he may, for instance prefer] " the state he is in to its absence or change, though necessity has made it in itself unalterable." /Airf. Sect. U. I :im apt to think, that th3 prcceduig citations from Locke will make Mr. Sellun stare. I Open a blind man's eyes to see the sun, and he will need no compulsion to make him admire it. Suppose there was a person, to whose ceaseless bounty you owed every comfort you enjoy, but of whom, notwithstanding, you never had so much as the sight. Should that person, in process of time, favour you with a visit ; would you stand in need of compulsion, to make you speak to him? must you be dragged by the hair of your head, into his presence ? No. You would, at once, fly to hiin, and bid him wel- come. You would, freely, yet irresistibly (such is the sweetly captivating power of gratitude,) thank him, and give him your best accommo- dations, and wish your best were better for his sake. Similar is the free, though necessary, tendency of an enlightened soul to God and Christ. Calvinism disclaims all compulsion, (a) properly so called. It pleads only for that victorious, conciliating efficacy, which is inse- parable from the grace of divine attraction : and acknowledges no other energy but that to which the apostle sets his comprobatnm est, where he says, The Love of Christ consti aineth us. SECTION IX. The Judgment of some embient Persons, prior to the Reformation, continued. If we carry down our enquiries to the cen- tury preceding the Reformation, we shall find that period illuminated by several very distin- guished advocates for the doctrines of free and soverign grace, as now held by those who are since called (6) Calvinists. V. John Huss, the well-known Bohemian martyr, was converted to the tiuth of the gospel, next under God, by reading the works of our renowned countryman John Wickliff. He took his batchelor of arts' degree in the Uni- versity of Prague, A. D. 1393, and was emi- nent for learning (as learning then went), but more so for the exemplary sanctity of his life, (c) I need not relate the perfidy of the Council of Constance, who condemned him to the wish the citation next ensuing may not make him swear. If the " Exotic" can get any body to lend him Locke's Essay, he will find in the-14tli section of the chapter above referred to the following observations : W hether man's will be free, or no," is " an unreasun- abli , because unintelligible, question. It is as insigni- ficant, to ask, whether man's will be free ; as to ask, whetner his sleep be swift, or his virtue square. Liberty being as little applicable to the will, as swiftness of motion is to sleep, or squareness to virtue." How far such concessions, as these, are reconcilable with some parts of that great man's theological system ; or even with some of his own favourite metaphysical principles, I leave to the determination of more com- tepent readers. (6) It seems, we are, originally, indebted to the Church of Home for this appellation. " Calvinists : A name given by Papists to the reformed of France, Swisserland, Germany, and the Low-Countries." Great Hist. Diet. (c) Vir, ipsis fatentibus advcrsariis doctrinU illusfris, pietate conspicuus. Wharton, in App. ad Cavii Hist. Liter, p. 7U. 96 JLDGMENT OF EMINENT PERSONS flames, in open violation of the safe-conduct which had been solemnly granted him by the Emperor Sifjismund Suffice it to observe, that this infamous synod acted up to their own maxim, of " No faith to be kept with heretics :" and that he was burned, A. D. 1415. His dying prediction at the stake is, however, too re- markable to be omitted. " He behaved himself, at his m irtyrdom, with a wonderful chearful- ness ; and seems to have had a spirit of pro- phecy : for whereas Huss, in the Bohemian tongue, signifies a goose, he told them, You now roast a goose ; but, after an hundi ed years, a swan .shall rise out of ray ashes. Which was fulfilled in Luther, who just an hundred years after Huss's death, began to appear in opposition to the Pope." (rf) Among the articles of pretended heresy, which this excellent man was arraigned and put to death for maintaining, were the fol- lowing : (e) " There is but one holy, universal, or Catholic Church, which is the universal com- pany of all the predestinate. I do confess," said Huss, " that this proposition is mine ; and [it] is confirmed bv St. Augustine upon St. .lohn. " St Paul was never any member of the Jevil, albeit that he committed and did certain acts like unto the acts of the malignant Church" [i. e. St. Paul, prior to his conversion, acted like a reprobate, though he was, secretly, and in reality, one of God's elect]. "And like- wise St. Peter, who fell into an horrible sin of jierjury and denial of his master ; it was by the permission of God, that he might the more firmly and stedfastly rise again and be con- firmed." To this charge, Huss replied, " I answer according to St. Austin, that it is ex- (d) Hist, of Popery, vol. ii. p. 193. Mr. Rolt, in his Lives of the Reformers (p. 17, IS,) gives a more circumstantial account of Dr. Huss's Martyrdom and prophecy. *' Dr. Huss," says that judicious compiler, hv.n-d his sentence, without the least emotion. He Lneelutl down, with his eyes lifted toward Heaven, jjnd s:iid, with all the spirit of primitive m.irtrydom, May thy infinite mercy, O my God, pardon this in- justice of niy enemies. Tliou knowest the injustice of my accusations, how deformed with crimes I have been represented ; how I have iK-en oppressed by worthless witnesses ard an uiiiust condemnation. Yet, ') my God. let the mercy ol tlime, which no tongue can express, prevail with thee not to avenge my wrongs. l"he Bishops, appointed by the Council, Btript him of his priestly garments, degraded him, and put a niiti e of p;ipcr upon his head, on which devils were panit, il. "ith lln^ insiription, A ring-leader of hcntn s. I , ' ;i ri\r rt ceived this mock-raitre with a L 1 . I I i . iicem. that seemed to give him cli i I. i Mi>prare. A serenity, a joy, a coniijnMii. , , 1 )" 'I I'-is looks, which indicated that Ills soul lia i mt <■» many staces of tedious journey in her way to the point to eternal joy and peace. The Bishops delivered Huss to the Emperor, who put him into the hands of the duke of Bavaria. His books were burnt at the pate of the Church, and he was led to the suburbs to be burnt alive. When he came to the place of execution, he fell on his knees, sang l-ortions of Psalms, looked stedfastly toward He.aven, and repeated these words ; Into tliy hands, O Lord pedient that the elect and predestinate should sin and offend." (,f) " No part or member of the Church doth depart, or fall a way, at any time, from the body : forsomuch as the charity of predestination, which is the bond and chain of the same, doth never fall." Huss answers ; This pro- position is thus placed in ray book : " As the reprobate of the Church proceed out of the same, and yet are not as parts or members of the same ; forsomuch as no part or member of the same doth finally fall away : because that the charity of predestination, which is the bond and chain of the same, doth never fall away. This is proved by Cor. xiii. and Rom. viii. All things turn to good, to them that love God : also, I am certain that neither death nor hfe can separate us from the charity and love of God, as it is more at large in the book." Another article, objected against him, was, his being of opinion that " the predestinate, although he be not in the state of grace according to present justice, yet is he always a member of the universal Church.'' He answers: "Thus it is in the book, about the beginning of the fifth chapter, where it is de- clared, that there be divers manners or sorts of being in the Church : for there are some in the Church, according to the mis-shapen faith ; and other some according to predesti- nation : as Christians predestinate, now in sin, shall return again unto grace." The good man added : "Predestination doth make a man a member of the universal Church ; the which [i. e. predestination] is a preparation of grace for the present, and of glory tocome: and not any degree of" [outward] "dignity, neither election of man" [or, one man's designation of another to some office or station,] "neither do I commit my spirit ; thou hast redeemed me, O most good and faithful God. \\ hen the chain was put about him at the stake, he said, with a smiling countenance, My Lord Jesus Christ was bound with an harder chain than this, for my sake ; and why should I be ashamed of this old rusty one t When the fagots were piled up to his very neck, the duke of Bavaria was officious enough to desire him to abjure. No, said Huss ; I never preached any doctrine of an evil tendency ; and what 1 taught with my lips, I now seal with my blood. He said to the Executioner, Are you going to burn a goose i in one century, you wUl have a swan, whom you can neither roast nor boil. If he was prophetic, he must have meant Luther, who had a swan for his arms. The flames were then applied to the fagots ; when the martyr sang an hymn, with so loud and cheerful a voice, that he was heard through all the cracklings of the combustibles and the noise of the multitude^ At last, his voice was cut short, and he was consumed. The duke of Bava- ri.i ordered the exccutiuuer to t'uruw all the martyr's cioaths into the tlanics : after which, his ashes were carefullv i r 11. i ti d, :iiul c:,st into the Rhine." (( , 1 "\ s A( t- ,n.l Mr.uumeut, vol. i. p. 603. i/ i L t II, it tin r. ukr imagine, that I approve of the uii..'.ir<[rd ni.iii.i.-r, m which Mr. Huss here ex- presses himself. I i nly give his answer, faithfully, as 1 find it. His meaning, 1 doubt not, was this , That by the incomprehensible alchymy of God's infinite wis. tlom, even moral evil itself shrill be finally over-ruled to good. BErOUE THE REFORMATION ."7 any sensible sign" [?. e. predestination does not barely extend to the outward signs, or means of grace: but includes something more and higher ;] " For the traitor Judas Iscariot, notwithstanding Christ's election " [or appoint- ment of hira to the apostlesl.ip,] and the tem- poral graces which were given him for his office of apostleship, and that he was reputed and counted of men a true apostle of Jesus Christ ; yet was he no true disciple, but a wolf covered n a sheep's skin, as St. Augustin saith.'' " A reprobate man is never a member of the holy Church. I answer, it is in my book, with sufficient long probation out of the xxvi. Psalm, and out of the v. chapter to the Ephe- sians : and also by St. Bernard's saying. The Church of Jesus Christ is more plainly and evi- denl ly his body, than the body which he delivered for us to death. I have also written, in the fifth chapter of ray book, that the holy Church " [/. e. the outward, visible Church of professing Cliris- tians, here on earth] " is the barn of the Lord, in the which are both good and evil, predestinate and reprobate : the good being as the good corn, or grain ; and the evil, as the chaff. And thereunto is added the exposition of St. Austin." " Judas was never a true disciple of Jesus Christ. I answer, and I do confess the same. They came out from amongst us, but they were none of us. He knew from the beginning, who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. And therefore I say unto you, that none cometh unto me, except it be given him of my Father." Such were some of the allegations, brouglit against this holy man by the Council of Constance ; and such were his answers, when he stood on his public trial, as a lily among thorns, or as a sheep in the midst of wolves. How easy it is for me to write in defence of these inestimable truths, which (through the goodness of Divine Providence) have now, in our happy land, the sanction of national establishment ! But with what invincible strength of grace was this adamantine saint endued, who bore his explicit, unshaken testi- mony to the faith, in the presence and hearing of its worst foes, armed with all the terrific powers of this world ! Prior to his execution, Mr. Huss made his (g) See this appeal, at full length, in Fox, ii. s. p. 695, 6flt). ;//) Fox, ibid. p. 700. (i) Fox, ibiri. (k) See a curious tract, inserted into tlie F.isricu- 1119 Rerum fugienilaruni el expetuniLiniiii.eiititleii, Ra- tiooes et Motiva ac Reprobation, 's ArlH ulonin. Wick- lefi et sequacis ipsius Jobaiinis Has, in Concilio Con wliicli tlic council of Constancc''tliere a'ssign, for their rejection and condemnation of Huss and his doctrines, the reailer will immediately see from what magazine Ariuinianisni pilfers its arguments. By way of speci- liieu, take tlie following extract : The papists, in the above council, charged the martyr, and not untruly, with holding, that Omnio de necessitate absoluti cve- Biunt. On which position they thus descant : Ista propo.-.itio est falsa el enoiiea : cjuia ei ipsa sequitur. solemn appeal to God, from the judgment of the Pope and Council. In this appeal {g) (the whole of which would well repay the reader's perusal,) he again repeats his assured faith in the doc- trine of election ; where he celebrates the will- ingness with which Christ vouchsafed, "By the most bitter and ignominious death, to redeem the children of God, chosen before the founda- tion of the world, from everlasting damnation." Much farther proof might be given of Huss's Calvinism. Enough, however, has been pro- duced. Yet will I request my reader's patient attention to the passage that follows. He was accused of having affirmed, that " Christ doth more love a predestinate man, being sinful, than any reprobate, in what grace possible soever he be."(/i) To which, his reply was : " My words are in the fourth chapter of my book, entitled. Of the Church. Anditis evident, that God doth love the predestinate being sinful " [?'. e. the elect, even prior to their conversion ;] than any reprobate, in what [seeming] grace soever he be for the time ; forasmuch as he [i. e. God] willeth that the predestinate shall have perpetual blessedness, and the reprobate to have eternal fiie. The predestinate cannot fall from grace : for they have a certain, radical grace rooted in them, although they [may] be deprived of the abundant grace for a time."('') As to what he says above, concerning the love which God bears to the predestinate, even while sinful ; though it be, perhaps, rather incautiously phrased, it still is, in effect, affirm- ing no more than the Apostle has affiimed before him : God, who is rich in mercy, for the great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace ye are saved. Eph. ii. 4, 5. It is very observable, that the Popish Council of Constance charged Huss with being a Fatalist : (A) and opposed the doctrine of i)redestiiiation, which he held and taught, by the same identical cavils which have been, since, so greedily licked up, and so plentifully disgorged, by Messrs. Wesley, Sellon, and others of that fraternity. These gentlemen blush not to whet their bills on the door posts of Popery itself, rather than not be enabled to peck at those Protestant doctrines, to which 1. Superflua esse prjecepta prohibitioues, leges, con- silia, et monitiones. '2. Sequitur, obliquitates, defor- mitates, et peccata toUi. Sequitur, 3, omnem actum laudabilem, virtuosum, meritorium, etiam prafUiium et liherumarbitrium, excludi. [4.] Quia non laudamur, nec -vituperamur, nieremur, aut pramianiur, nisi de iis quae sunt in potestate nostr.i ad utramque partem contradictionis flexibilia. Fascic. vol. i. p. iSS. i. e. '* If," say the Roman Confessors, " all things come to pass by an absolute necessity, then, 1. all precepts and prohibitions are vain. 2. The very nature of sin is taken away. There can, 3. be no such thing as a laudable, virtuous, meritorious, or even rewardahle action. Consequently, 4. we can neither be praised, nor blamed, we can neither merit by, nor he rewarded for, any thing we do." So spake the Popish doctors, in the year 1115. And %o spe.ak the Arminians in tha JUDGMENT OF EMINENT PERSONS they (I will not say, for divers good, but) for divers weighty causes, have, themselves, most so- lemnly, though most hypocritically, subscribed. Next after the testimony of John Huss, naturally follows that of his intimate friend and faithful fellow-martyr, Jerom of Prague. As they were united in their lives by the most sacred ties of religious and learned regard, so in their deaths they were almost undivided : for they were both executed within a twelve- month of each other. VI. Jerom, surnamed of Prague, from the place of his nativity, was a lay gentleman, of competent fortune, and of very extraor- dinary learning. Having taken his master of arts' degree, in the university of his native city, he visited most of the countries in Europe. In the course of this tour, the universities cf Paris, Cologne, and Heidelburg, successively complimented him with the same degree which he had taken at Prague. The writers of the Biographical Dictionary (?) seem to think it probable, that the university of Oxford like- wise favoured him with the same mark of respect. It is, however, certain, that, during his progress, he was over in England ; where he copied out the books of Wickclilf, and returned with them to Prague. ()?;) In proving the Calvinism of Dr. John Huss, I have proved the Calvinism of his brother in the failh, the learned and pious Jerom. " I knew him," said Jerom, speaking of Huss, " to be a just and true preacher of the holy gospel: and whatsoever things Mr. Huss and Wickliff have held or written, I will affirm, even unto death, that they were holy and blessed men."()i) In pursuance of this declar- ation, delivered before a full meeting of the Council of Constance, he v/as condemned to death : and, in the very sentence of con- demnation, the Council alleged this reason, among others, why they proceeded against him to the ultimate severity, viz, because he had " affirmed, that he never, at any time, had read any errors or heresy in the books and treatises of the said WicklitF and Huss, and because the said Jerom is an adherent and maintainer of the said Wickliff and Huss and their errors, and both is and hath been a favourer of them."(o) As he suffered for the same blessed cause, so he suffered on the same spot of ground where his friend Huss had been executed : and his persecutors gave the strongest proofs they were able of their meanness and malice, by fixing him to a stake which had been shaped into an image, resembling his brother-martyr, who had so lately and so gloriously set his life as a seal to the truth in that place.(;)) (I) Vol. Tii. p. 39. Rolfs Lives of the Rcfonners, p. 19. (n) See Fox's Acts and Monume ts, vol. i. p. 722. (0) im. p. 723. (p) See Fox, ibid. p. TOJ. (?) Rolt, p.Tje 2 . (r) Basle's Hist. & Crit. Diet. vol. v. p. 540. (s) " Deus, ab oetemo, condidit lilnum, in quern Yet, though no circumstance was omitted which might tend to shake his fortitude and to disconcert him in his last moments, " he suffered with all the magnanimity of Huss. He embraced the stake, to which he was fastened with the peculiar malice of wet cords. When the executioner went behind him, to set file to the pile. Come here, said Jerom, and kindle it before my eyes ; for if I dreaded such a sight, I should never have come to this place, . when I had a free opportunity of escaping. The fire was kindled, and he then sung an hymn, which was soon finished by the incircling flames. (y) VH. John de Wesalia was another eminent witness for the doctrines of grace, and suffered much for his adherence to them. " He was," says Monsieur Bayle, " a doctor of divinity ; and was very ill treated by the inquisition in Germany, for having taught some doctrines which disgusted the Catholics. "(r) Another writer informs us, more particularly, what those doctrines were, which gave the Church of Rome so much disgust. Diether Isenburgh, archbishop of Mentz, convened an assembly of Popish doctors, A. D. 1479, to sit in judg- ment on this pretended heretic, who was then, on account of his religious principles, a pri- soner in a convent of that city. A long cata- logue of articles was laid to his charge : of which, the following were some : " God hath, from everlasting, written a book, wherein he hath inscribed all his elect : and whosoever is not already written there will never be written there at all. " Moreover, he that is written therein will never be blotted out of it. " The elect are saved by the alone grace of God : and what man soever God willeth to save, by enduing him with grace, if all the priests in the world were desirous to damn and ex- communicate that man, he would still be saved. Whomsoever, likewise, God willeth to condemn, if the whole clan of pope, priests, and others, were desirous of saving that man, he still condemned would be. " If there had never been any Pope in the world, they, who are saved, would have been saved notwithstanding. " They who undertake pilgrimages to Rome, are fools. " I will not look on any thing as sinful which the scripture does not call so. " I despise the Pope, his Church and his Councils. But I love Christ. Let the word of Christ dwell in us abundantly. " It is a difficult thing to be a [true] Chris- tian."(.v) The Church of Rome took fire at these scripsit omes suos electos. Quicunque autem in eo noil est scriptus, nunquara inscribetur in ipsum in se- ternum. Et qui in eo scriptus est, nunquam ex eo de- lebitur. " Sola Dei gratia salvanturelecti. Et qaem Detis vult salvare, donando sibi gratiam, si omnes sacer- dotes vellunt iUum damuare aut excommuuicare, adbuc BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 99 propositions. The affair was carried before the trihunal of the inquisition. In the course of his examination, another heinous heresy was laid to his charge : viz. that he had given it as his opinion, that St. Paul contributed nothing toward his own conversion by the help of his own free-will. (<) A man need but look into the 9th chapter of the Acts, to be fully con- vinced that Dr. VVesalia was in the right. How exactly, by the bye, does Mr. Sellon jump with these Romish inquisitors, who has declared, totidem verbis, that, in converting St. Paul, " The Lord did wait for St. Paul's compliance and improvements ! " /. e. at the very time when God struck Saul to the earth, he waited for Saul's consent to fall ! Had the Almighty waited for the compliance of him who was breathing out threats and slaughters against the gospel, he might have waited long enough, and waited for nothing at last. Wesalia, it seems, was extremely old and in- firm when he underwent the above inquisitorial examination. Being, says Mr. Bayle, " Broken by age and diseases, he was not able to express his thoughts before such a dreadful tribunal : " hence proceeded the retraction, into which he was trepanned. It is plain, that his retraction was not considered as sincere, from his being condemned to perpetual confinement and penance " in a monastery of the Augustins ; where he died soon after."(!0 SECTION X. The Judgment of several eminent Persons, who flourished in England, antecedently to the Reformation. From among the ancient worthies, natives of our own land, and remarkable for having been led into an acquaintance with the distin- guishing doctrines of the gospel ; Bede, Grost- head, Wickliffe, Bradwardin, and Lord Cob- ham, may be selected, as none of the least conspicuous. If our island be disgraced with having given birth to Pelagius, she is also honoured with having been the mother of such sons as have cut up Pelagianism both root and branch. I. Beda, or Bede, whom all succeeding ages have concurred to surname The Venerable, was born A.D. 6/2, or 673, in the county of Dur- salvaretur ille. Et quern Deus vult, damnare, si omncs Presbyteri, Papa, et alii, vellent hunc salvare, adhuc cste damnarctur. *' Si nullus unqtiam Papa fuisset, adhuc salvati fuissent hi qui salvati sunt. *' Peregrinantes Romam fatui sunt. *' Quecunque non dicuntur esse peccata in sacra scriptura, ea non pro peccatis hahebo. "Contemno Papain, Ecclesiam, et Consilia. "Res est difficilis esse Cbristianum." Fascic. Rerum, vol. i. p. 32r), 3'2«. [t) " Opiuatur quod beatus Paulus, in sua conver- eiono, nihil fecit suo libero arbitrio pro sua conver- ■ione." Ibid. p. 331. («; Bayle, u. a. p. 512. ham, somewhere near the mouth of the Tine.( r) nr. Fuller styles him "the profoundest scholar in that age, for Latin, Greek, Philosophy, History, Divinity, and Mathematics : " and adds, that " homilies of his making were read, during his life-time, in the Christian Churches : a dignify afforded to him alone :"(»/) He died A. D. 734. (z) An incident, which occurred in his last moments, is of so singular a nature, that I cannot help giving it to the reader. " One of the last things he did, was the trans- lating of St. John's gospel into English. When death seized on him, one of his devout scholars, whom he used for his secretary or amanuensis, complained, My beloved master, there remains yet one sentence unwritten. — " Write it then quickly,'' replied Bede: and summoning all his spirits together (like the last blaze of a candle going out) he indited it, and expired." Thus, adds the historian, " God's children are im- mortal, while their Father hath any thing for them to do on earth : and death, that beast, cannot overcome and kill them, till they have first finished their testimony. Rev. ii. 7- which done, like silk-worms, they willingly die, when their web is ended, and are comfortably en- tombed in their own endeavours. "(a) I should offer an insult even to the most unknowing reader, were I to observe, that the very name of Arminius was unheard of for many centuries after this early period. But if Arminius himself was unborn, the doctrines of which that Dutch schismatic was the reviver and the varnisher, had, about the beginning of the fifth century, been broached by Pelagius, who was the Arminius of that age. With what horror and detestation our learned and pious Anglo-Saxon reviewed that heretic and his heresies, appears from what he says of both, in the course of his ecclesiastical History of the English Nation. (A) He goes even so far, as to style the free-will system, "The Pelagian plague." {c) Archbibhop Usher, in his History of the Predestinarian Controversy, already referred to so often, cites some of Pe^agius's piopo- sitions, together with Beda's refutations of them, in the very words of each writer. The following extract will enable the reader to form an exact judgment of Beda's Calvinism. " Whereas Pelagius says, that we are not impelled to evil by the corruption of our nature, (X) Dupin's Eccles. Writ. vol. vi. p. 89, {yj Church Hist. cent. 8. p. 98. (2) Idem. Worthies of Kngland, part 1. p. 202. (a) FulU r's ri.i,., :, Hi^t. u. s. p. 99. ih) Pai li( iil ii K 111 :n' I . rap. 10. which chapter is entiU. <1, "1 I, ..ti . J'elagius, lirito. con. tra firatiaiii I ' i , . i i, l,i .susceperit." And cap. Jiritanniani i.^an^, i l pnmo maris, pnstinodum Pelagianoruin, teniprst.iti in, divina virtute, seda verit."— p. 12. and 18. — Edit. Antverp. l.'i.'iO. (c) " RenascentibiiN virgultis Pelagina; pestis lib. 1. cap. 21. p. 25. H 2 100 JUDGMENT OF EMINENT PERSONS seeing we do neither good nor evil without the compliance of our own will ; he herein con- tradicts the apostle, who affirms, " I know, that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing." Rom. vii. — Moreover, when Pelagius asserts that we are at liberty to do one thing always" [i. e. to do always what is good, if it be not our own faults,] " seeing we are always able to do both one and the other," e. in Pelagius's opinion, free-will has a power of in- difference to good or evil ; to either of which it sovereignly inclines, according to its own in- dependent determination : to this Beda replies] " He herein contradicts the prophet, who humbly addressing himself to God, saith, I know, 0 Lord, that a man's way is not his own ; it is not in man that walketh to direct his own steps: Jer. x. 23. Nay, Pelagius maketh himself greater than the apostle, who said, With my mind I myself serve the law of God, but with my flesh the law of sin." Rom. vii. 25.{d) On one hand, Pelagius had affirmed, " That, in the expulsion of Adam from Paradise, and in the assumption of Enoch into heaven, God himself had given a demonstration of man's free-will : since Adam would not have merited punishment at the hand of a just God, nor would Enoch have deserved to be elected, unless each of them had it in his power to act the reverse of what they did. In the very same manner, adds Pelagius, we must judge con- cerning the two brothers, Cain and Abel ; and concerning the twins, Esau and Jacob." To this Beda opposes the following simple, strong, scriptural answer : " Pelagius here runs counter to the apostle, whose decision is, the children being not yet born, neither having done good nor evil, that the purpose of God,- according to election, might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth, it was said. The elder shall serve the younger : as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." Rom. ix 11 — 13.(e) Pelagius had asserted, that " The just God could never command us to do any thing im- possible ; nor can the merciful God condemn a man for doing what he could not avoid." Beda replies, " The former proposition is true, if spoken with reference to that succour which we derive from him, to whom the universal Church thus prays. Lead thou me forth in the path of thy commandments. Psalm cxix. 35. But, if a man trust to his own powers, he is refuted by that most true saying of Christ, Without me can ye can do nothing. John XV. 5. And whereas Pelagius declares, that he who is gracious will not condemn a man for doing what he could not avoid ; he, in this, flatly opposes the assertion of the same gracious Redeemer and just Judge ; who avers, that, except a man, even infants themselves included, be born again, of water and the Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom ot God." John iii. 5.(/) II. Robert Grosthead, born at Stradbrook, in Suffolk, was made bishop of Lincoln, A. D. 1235 (,g) Mr. Camden terras him, "a much better scholar and linguist than could be ex- pected from the age he lived in : an awful reprover of the Pope, a monitor to the king, a lover of truth, a corrector of prelates, an instructor of the clergy, a maintainer of scholars, a preacher to the people, a diligent searcher of the Scripture, and a mallet to the Romanists."(A) This great luminary was translated to Heaven, October I, 1253. Few ecclesiastics make so bright a figure in the annals of theii country. " He was," says Rapin, " a prelate of resolution and courage, neither to be gained by court-favours, nor to be frightened by the Pope's menaces. Wholly intent on following what appeared to him reasonable and just, he little regarded the circumstances of the (d) Quod dicit [Pelagius] nos vitio uaturre ad tnalum nou impelli, qui nec bonuni, sine voluntate, nee nialuDi, faciinus ; repugnat apostolo, diceuli, scio quia non habitat iu me, hoc est in came mea, bouum. Kom. -vii. 18. Quod dicit, libenim nobis esse unum eempcr agere, cum semoer utrujjique possimus, cou- tradicit propbfitte, qui Deo suppler loquitur, dicens, Scio, domine, qui non sit honimis via ejus ; nec tiri est, ut ambulet et dirigat gressus suos. Jer. x. 23. Sed et apostolo majnrem se t'acit qui dixit, ego igitur ipse, mente, servio legi Dei ; carne, autem, legi peccati. Rom. vii. 25. Beda, apud lisser. Gottescb. p. 6, 7. (e) " Pelagms : Adam de Paradiso ejicitur ; Knocii de mundo rapittir. In utroque, Dominus li- bertatem arbitrii ostendit. Non enim a jusfo Deo, aut ille puniri meruisset. aut hic eligi, nisi uterque utruuque potui^set. Hoc de Cain ct Abel fratril.us, boc etiam de Esau et Jacob geminis, intelligendum est. — Beda : contradicit apostolo, qui, de eisdem lo- quens, ait, cum enim, necdum nati fuisseut. &c." Apud llsser. Ibid p. 7. (/")" Pelagius : Nec impossibile aliquid potuit im- perare, qui Justus est ; nec damnatunis est hoininem pro eo quod vitare non potuit, qui plus est. — Beda quod dicit, domimun non impossibile aliquid praicepisse qui Justus es ; verum proiectb dicit, si ad ejus respicit auxilium, cui catbolica vox supplicat. Deduc me in semita mandatorum tuorum. Psal. cxix. 35. Si vera viribus aninii sui iidit, refell iteiun veridica ejusdem justi conditoris sententia, qua dicit. sine me nibil po. testis facere. Johan. xv. 5. — Quod dicit, eum, qui pius est, non damnaturum esse hominem, pro eo quod vi- tare non potuit ; contradicit eju>dem pii redemptoris et justi iudicia sentential, qua, etiam de parvulus, ait, nisi quis renatus fuerit ex aqui et Spiritu, non potest videre regnum Dei.*' Apud Usser. u. s. p. 8. (g) Vide Cav. Hist. Litter, i. 716.— Necnon God- winum, de pra:5ulib. AngliK, p. 289. edit. Cantabr. 1743. sol. (/i) Britannia, vol. i. col. 565 — edit. 1722.— Part of bishop Grosthead's character, as drawn by Camden, is given in the words of Alatthew Paris. The whole portrait is worthy of being seen at full length. " Fuit ille [i. e. Grosthead] domini papas et regis redargutor manifestus, prslatorum con-eptor, nionachorum cor. rector. Presbyterorum director, clericoruni instructor, scholarium sustentator, populi pradicator, incontinen- tium persecutor, scripturarura sedulus perscrutator diversamm, Romanorum malleus et contemptor. In mensa refectionis corporalis dapsilis, copiosus, etcivilia hilaris et affabills : in mersa veri) spirituali devotus, lachrymosus, et contritus ; in otBcio pontificali sedu- lus, venerabilis, et infatigabilis." Mat. Paris. Apud. Godwinum, u. s. p. 291. BEFnaE THJD REFORMATION. 101 times, or the quality of persons; but equally opposed the king's will, and the pope's pleasure, accordins; as it happened. He could not see, without indignation and concern, the best pre- ferments in the kingdom bestowed on Italians, who neither resided on their benefices, nor un- derstood English. Refusing to institute an Itali- an to one of the best livings of his diocese, he was presently after suspended : but, regardless of the censure, he continued his episcopal functions. He even refused, at that very time, to admit of new provisions from the Pope in favour of other Italians, declaring, that to en- trust thecuie of souls to such pastors was to act in the name of the devil, rather than by the authority of God. Soon after, Grosthead touched the Pope in a very sensible part, by computing the year ly (»') sums drawn by the beneficed Italians out of England. Innocent IV., who then sat in the papal chair, sent him a menacing letter, which would have frightened any but him. Grosthead returned a very bold answer, which put Innocent into a terrible rage. What ! said the Pope, has this old dotard the confidence to censure my conduct ? By St. Peter and St. Paul, I will make such an example that the world shall stand amazed at his punish- ment. For is not his sovereign, the king of En- gland, our vassal ? Nay, is he not our slave.' It is but, therefore, signifying our pleasure to the English Court, and this antiquated prelate will he immediately imprisoned, and put to what further disgrace we shall think fit. The annals of Lannercost inform us, that the bishop was t'.xcommunicated, a little before his death : but lie, without regarding the censure, appealed to the court of heaven. Several historians add, that Innocent moved, in the conclave, to have the body of Grosthead taken up and buried in the highway : but to this the cardinals would not consent. Be this as it will, if be was ex- communicated, he paid no attention to il, but continued to discharge his functions. Neither were the clergy of his diocese more scrupulous than their bishop : for they obeyed him until the day of his death." (k) (i) These sums, remitted to beneficed foreigners, amounted, in the yp-ir 1252, to .seventy tlionsand marks : while the king's revenue hardly rose to twenty thousand. See fuller's Church Hist, book iii. p. 65. (*) Rapin's Hist of Engl. vol. iii. p. 214—218. (0 Grosthead also passed, among some of the vulgar, for a magician : only because he was well skilled in Greek and Hebrew, and had a bias to the study of Astronomy. Hence those old verses, written in the reign of king Richard II. For of the greet clerk Grostest 1 red, how ready that he was Upon Clergy and hede of brasse To make, and forge it, for to tell Of such things as befell. And seven yeers bysiness He laid : but, for the lacknesse Of half a minute of an houre, Fro first that he began labour. He lost all that he had doc. Vide Hist, et Autiq. I'niiers. Oxon. i. p. 82. (m) " (Jratia est bona voluntas Di i, quA vult nobis It was not without much imaginary reaSOh that the Pope was so violently exasperated against Grosthead: who might well stand, in his Holiiiess's books, for a rebel and a heretic. (/) Of his rebellions, some account has been now given. Of his heresy take the following passage for a sainple: " Grace is that good pleasure of God, whereby he willeth to give us what we have not deserved, in order to our benefit, not to his. It is manifest, therefore, that all the good which is within us, whether it be natural, or freely conferred afterwards, proceeds fi oin the grace of God : for there is no good thing of which his will is not the author ; and what he wills is done. He himself averts our will from evil, and converts our will to good, and makes our will to persevere in that good. — A will to good, whereby man becomes conformed to the will of God, is a grace freely given : for the divine will is grace. And grace is then said to be infused, when the divine will begins to operate on our will." (m) The humility of this great and good man is evident from what he says in one of his Epistles, written while he was arch-deacon of Leicester. " Nothing that occurs in your letters ought to give me more pain than your styling me, a person invested with authority, and endued with brightness of knowledge. So far am I from being of your opinion, that I feel myself unfit even to be a disciple to a man of authority : and perceive myself enveloped with the darkness of ignorance, as to innumerable matters which are objects of knowledge. But, did I in reality possess any of those high qualities which you ascribe to me, he alone would be worthy of the praise, and it would all be referrible to him unto whom we daily say. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thy name give the glory."(ji) The same spirit of modesty and self abasement accompanied him to the Episcopal chair. Hence he usually styled himself, in his subsequent Letters, Robertuf, permhsione Divine, Lin- culniensis Ecclesice Minister humilis ; " Robert, dare quod non merimus, ut nobis ex dato heni sit, et Don nt ipse donanti aliquid inde proveniat. Patet itaque, quod omne bonum, quod in nobis est, sh e sit gratium, sive naturale, a gratia Dei est ; quia nullum est bonum, quod ipse non velit esse : et ejus vi lle est facere. Non est igitur bonum, quod ipse non faciut. Aver.'sionem igitur voluntatis A malo et convrrsionem ad bonum, et perseveranti.im in bono, ipse tacit. Bona autem voluntas, qui est homo confornils voluutati di- vinae, est gratia data a gratia qua- est voluntas divina : et tunc dicitur gratia iufundi, ciim v oluntas divina in nostram voluiitatem incipit operari." Giosthead, De Grat. et Justif. In Fascic. Her. vol. ii. p 262. ('( ) " Nihil autem, in Uteris vestris, mihi magis debet esse molestum, qu^m quod dixistis, quocunque unimo iUud dixeritis, me verum autoritate et sciential claritate pvKditum. Cfim adhuc ad discipulatum viri authentici me sentiam minus idoneiim, et innumerabihum sciendorum ignorantiae tenebris perfusum. Quiid si aliquid hortim essct in me, ille solus ex his laudandus, et tottnn illi tribucnduui, rui quotidie dicimus, Non nobis, Doniiiie, non nobis, sed nomini tuo, da gloriam." Idem, id. p, 309. ' 102 JUDGMENT OF EMINENT PERSONS by Divine permission, the poor Minister of the Church of Lincoln." (ol I ackno\vled2;e, that, on the subjects of grace and fiee-will, Giosthead does not always pre- serve an invariable consistency. The wonder, however, ought to be, not that he saw no better, but that he saw so well as he did. Like Apollos, he was, as to the main, eloquent, mighty in the scriptures, fervent in spirit, speaking and teaching boldly the things of the Lord : though, like the same excellent Alexandrian, he some- times needed an Aquilaand Priscilla to expound to him the way of God more perfectly. (/)) III. John de VVickliff, surnamed The evan- gelical Doctor, enlightened and adorned the succeeding centuiy. He was born in the parish of Wicklift", near Richmond, in Yorkshire, about A. D. 1324. The historical particulars, relative to the life of this extraordinary man, are so in- teresting and numerous, that I forbear to enter on them lest they lead me too far. Mr. Guthrie,' in his History of England, observes, that Wickliff " seems to have been a strong predestinarian." (c/) It will presently appear, that he more than seemed to have been such ; and that Luther and Calvin themselves were not stronger predestinanans than Wickliff. I shall open the evidence, with two propositions, extracted from his own writings : 1. "The prayer of the reprobate prevaUeth for no man. 2. " All things that happen, do come abso- lutely of necessity.'' (r) The manner, in which this great harbinger of the reformation defended the latter prorosition, plainly shews him to have been (notwithstand- ing Guthrie's insinuation to the contraryja deep and skilful disputant. " Our Lord," says he, "affirmed that such or such an event should come to pass. Its accomplishment, therefore, was un- avoidable. The antecedent is infallible: by parity of argument, the consequent is so too For the consequent is not in the power of a created being, forasmuch as Christ affirmed so many thinns" [before they were brought to pass.] " Neither did Christ [pre-] affirm any thing accidentally. Seeing, then, that his affirmation was not accidential, but nccessaiy ; it follows, that the event affirmed by him must be necessary like- wise. This arguranet," adds Wickliff " re- ceives additional strength, by observing, that, =T what way soever God may declare his will oy his after-discoveries of it in time ; still, his determination, concerning the event, took place before the world was made : erg-b, the event will surely follow. The necessity, therefore, of the antecedent, holds no less irrefragably for the necessity of the consequent. And who can either promote or hinder the inference, viz. That this was decreedof God before the founda- tion of the world?" (s) I will not undertake to justify the whole of this paragraph. I can only meet the excellent man half-way. I agree with him, as to the necessity of events : but I cannot, as he evidently did, suppose God him- self to be a necessaiy agent, in the utmost sense of the term. That God acts in the most exact conformity to his own decrees, is a truth which scripture asserts again and again : but that God was absolutely free in decreeing, is no less asserted by the inspired writers ; who, with one voice, declare the Father's predestination, and subsequent disposal, of all things, to be entirely founded, not on any antecedent necessity, but on the single sovereign pleasure of his own will. The quotation, however, proves, that Wickliff was an absolute Necessitarian. And he improves, with great solidity and acuteness, the topic of prophecy into (what it most certainly is) a very strong argument for pre- destination. As the prophecies of the Old and New Testaments are such an evidence of the divine inspiration of the sacred writers, and such a proof of Christianity, as all the infidels in the world will never be able to overthrow; so, on the other hand, those same prophecies conclude, to the full, as strongly in favour cf peremptory predestination. For, if events were undecreed, they would be unforeknown : and if unforeknown, they could not be infallibly (0 predicted. To say, that ' events may be (o) .SimiLir wao the humilty of the ever memor- able bishop Hall ; whose last will began thus : " In the name of Gnd, Amen. I, Joseph Hiill, D.D. not worthy to be called bishop of Norwich, &c." Fuller's Worthies, part ii. p. 130. Still more demiss were the modestv and self-abasement of that thrice emine t prodigy of holiness, Mr. Bradford, the martyr : who subscribed himself. The sinful John Bradford : a very painted hypocrite, John Bradford : (he most miser- able, hard-iiearted, .and iinthankful siunc), John Bradford. See Fox's Mart. tol. iii. (p) Acta xviii. H—ie. (q) See Rolfs Lives of Reform, p. 10. (rj Fox's Acts and Mon. vol. i. p. 513. (s) •* Christus asseruit, hoc esse futui-um : erg\ hoc est, fuit, vel crit. Antecedens est necessarium : erg6, et consequens. Non enim est in potestate quando Christus talia multa asseruit. Nec et ide6, sicut necessarib i illud eveniet. Confinnat hoc : quoctmqu futuro signato, ante inundi constitutionem Deus de- terminavit hoc fore. Ergft, hoc erit. Quanta erg6 erit necessitas ia antecedente, tanta est necessitas i:i consequente. Et quis enim potest facere vel impedire, quin Deus detei-minavit hoc ante mundi constitat:- onera 1" WicUiff, in Trialog. vide Fascic. Rer vol. i. p. 250. (r)Iti5 very observable, that Wickli6fs argumen* for predestination, drawn fron* the prophecies of our Lord, and cited at large in the preceding note, S) puzzled the then archbishop of Armagh (whose name I know not, nor do I think it worth hunting out,) that it furnished his Popish grace with employment for two years together, to reconcile the free-will cf man with the certain completion of prophecy. jV task, however, which after all his labour, the Ronmli prelate found too hard for him. Yet, his Lordship that he might not be forc-d to acknowledge pre- destination and give up free-will, thought proper t»» I ire tip the infallible prescience of Christ himself; blasphemously afhrraing, ♦hat " it was possible fc- BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 103 foreknown, witliout falling undi^r any effective or permissive decree ;' would be saying either nothinir to the purpose, or worse than notliia>j;. For,if"God can, with certainty, foreknow any event whatever, which he did not previously de- termine to accomplish or permit ; and that event, barely foreknown but entirely undecreed, be so certainly future, as to furnish positive ground for unerring prophecy ; it would follow, 1 . That God is dependent, for his knowledge, on the things known ; instead of all things being dependent on him : and, 2. That there is some extraneous concatenation of causes, prior to the will and knowledge of God, by which his will is regulated, and on which his knowledge is founded. Thus Arminianisin, in flying from the decree, jumps over head and ears into the most dangerous and exceptional part of that very stoicism which she pretends to execrate and avoid. I return, now, to doctor Wickliflf, whose strictures led me into this digression. What he little mors than intimates, in the citation given above ; he delivered, it seems, more plainly and peremptorily, elsewhere. Among the 62 articles, laid to his charge by Thomas Netter (commonly called, Thomas of Walden, who flourished about the year 140.9,) and for which that writer refers to the volunie and chapter of Wickliff's works ; are these three : That " all things come to pass by fatal necessity : That " God could not make the world otherwise than it is made : and. That " God cannot do any thing, which he doth not do.'' («) This is fatalism vvith a witness. And I cite these prepositions, not to depreciate Dr. Wicklitir, whose character I admire and revere, as one of the greatest and best since the apostolic age ; nor yet with a view to recom- mend the propositions themselves : but, simply, to shew, how far this illustrious reformer ran from the present Arminian system, or rather no-system, of chance and free-will. But, con- cerning even those of Wickliff's assertions, which were the most rash and unguarded ; candour (not to say, justice) obliges me to observo, with Fuller, that, were all his works ext^mt, " ue niii^ht theiein read the occasion, intention, and connexion, of what he spake: together with the limitations, restrictions, dis- tinctions and qualifications, of what he main- tained. There we might see, what was the overplus of his passion, and what the just measure of his judgment. Many phrases, heretical in sound, would appear orthodox in sense. Yea, some of his [reputedly--] poisonous passages, dressed with due caution, would prove not only wholesome, but cordial truths : many of his expressions wanting, not grauum pouduris, but gramim salis ; no weight of truth, but some grains of discretion." {x) What I shall next add, may be rather styled bold truths, than indiscreet assertions. He defined the Church to consist only of persons predestinated. And affirmed, that God loved David and Peter as dearly when they grievously sinned, as he doth now when they are possssed of glory. (»/) This latter position might, possibly, have been moie unexceptionably ex- pressed ; be it, substantially, ever so true. Wicklift' was sound in the aiticle of gratu- its |)aroudon and justification by the alone death and righteousness of Jesus Christ. "The merit of Christ," says he, "is, of itself, sufficient to redeem every man from Hell. It is to be understood of a sufficiency of itself, without any other concurring cause. All that follow Christ, being justified by his righteousness, shall be saved, as his offspring." (-) It has been already observed, and proved, that he had very high notions of that inevita- ble necessity, by which he supposed every event is governed. Yet, he did not enthusi- astically sever the end from the means. Wit- ness his own words : " Though all future things do happen necessarily, yet God wills that good things happen to his servants through the efficacy of prayer." Ui) Upon the whole, it is no wonder that such a profligate factor for Popery and Arminianism, as Peter Heylin, should (pro more,) indecently affirm, that " Wickliff 's field had more tares than wheat ; and his books more heterodoxes than sound Ca- tholic doctrine." (A) His character, as briefly drawn by bishop Clirist to he mistalen in his prophecies, and to misin- form his Church as to future events." 'The passage is ao uncommon, that I will give it in the writer's own words. " Dicit advcrsarius [scil. Wicklift',] quoad istud argumentum, domiiiura Arniachanuni per duos annos stu.luisse pro ejus dissolutione, et finalitc-r nescivit (ut snmem mliul'' Ca thoVicuMut dYcFt''* W ret. Et sic viilctiir ponere Domiiium Armachanura extra iiutuerum Catholicoium.' Gulielm. Wodford contra Wicklesmu, Vide Fascic. Ker. vol. i. p. '250. (u) Fuller's Church Hist. b. iv. p, 134. What this valuable liistorian premises, concerning Wickliff, be- litio he enters on his acconnt of him, deserves to be Hjiied, I luteiid," says Dr. Fuller, "neither to deny. dissemble, defend, nor excuse, any ot his faults. We have this treasure saith the Apostle, in earthen vessels : and he, that shall endeavour to prove a pitcher of clay to he a pot of gold, will take great pains to small purpose. Vea, should 1 be over officious to retain myself to plead fcfr \V icklift's faults, that gloridus saint would sooner chide than thank mo." (xjlhid. p. VJS /iif/. p. 134. See AIHk's Remarks on tlie Albigenses, chap, xxiv. p. -229. Dr. Allix farther observes, that Wick- litf " rejects the doctrine of the merit of works, and falls upon those who say, that ' (Jod did not all for them,' but think that ' their merits help.' Heai us. Lord, for nought, says \\ icklifl' ; that is, for no merit of ours, but for thy mercy." Jbid. p. 229, 230. (a) See Allix. u. s. p. ■2,1.'). (6) Miscell. Tracts, p. 343. 104 JUDGMENT OF EMINENT PERSONS Newton, and a word or two from Mr. Rolt, shall conclude his article. Bishop Newton terms him, " the deservedly famous John Wicklilf, the honour of his own, and the ad- miration of all succeedinjf, times. Rector only of Lutterworth [in Leicestershire] he filled all EngLind, and almost all Europe, with his doctrine. He began to grow famous, about the year 13G0. He {r) translated the canonical scriptures into the English language and wrote comments upon them. He demon- strated the antichristianity of Popery, and the abomination of desolation in the temple of God. — His success was greater than he could have expected. The princes, the people, the university of Oxford, many even of the clergy, favoured and supported him, and embraced his opinions. — This truly great and good man died of a [second stroke of the] palsy, the last day of the year 1387. But his doctrines did not die with him. His books were read in the public schools and colleges at Oxford, and were recommended to the diligent perusal of each student in the University, till they were condemned and prohibited, by the council of Constance, in the next century. He himself had been permitted to die in peace ; but after liis death, his doctrines were condemned [again,] his books were burnt, his very body was dug up and burnt too, by a decree of the council of Constance, and the command of Pope Martin V. executed by Richard Fleming, bishop of Lincoln. His followers, however, were not discouraged ; and many of them wit- nessed a good confession even unto death." (rf) " I am informed," says Mr. Rolt, (e) " by a gentleman, who lives near Lutterworth, that the gown, which Dr. Wickliif wore, now covers the communion table in that Church, if) And, as this eminent man may justly be considered as the author of the Reformation, not only in England, hut throughout all Europe ; surely, some decent respect should be paid to his worth, and a public monument erected to his memory. The VVickliffites were opressed, but could not be extinguished. Persecution served only to establish that faith which be- came general at the Reformation, about a hundred years after these restraints were mo- derated. The whole nation then unanimously embraced the doctrine which Wickliff began ; and Popery was abolished in England, that the purity of religion might increase the blessings of liberty.'' Let me just add ; surely Armin- iar.ism must blush to call herself I'rotestant, when he, whom all unite to consider as (under God) the " author of the Reformation, not in England only, but in all Europe," was not merely a Calvinist, but more than a Calvinist ; and carried the doctrine of predestination to such an extreme height, as even Luther, Calvin, and Zanchius, did not fully come up to. Mr. Hume is sufficiently moderate, and not at all above par, in affirming Wickliff to have " asserted, that every thing was subject to fate and destiny, and that all men are pre- destinated either to eternal salvation or re- probation." (g) IV. Thomas Bradwardin, personal chaplain to king Edward HI. and at last archbishop of Canterbury, may rank with the brightest lumi- naries, of whom this or any other nation can boast. Mr. Camden observes, that Bradwardin Castle, in Herefordshire, " gave both original and name" to this famons archbishop ; " who for his great variety of knowledge, and his ad- mirable proficiency in the most abstnise parts of learning, was honoured with the title of Dr. Profundus, "(/i)or the profound doctor. That his ancestors had been seated in that part of Herefordshire mentioned above, is admitted by the general stream of writers, who have treated of this great man. But he himself was certainly born in Sussex. Sir Henry Savile seems to have had very sufficient reason for determining our prelate's birth-place to the city of Chich- (c) A Specimen, or two, of WickJilPa franslation of the New Testament, into the old English of that period, may not be displeasing to the reader. " Matth. xi.W, 26. In thiike tynie Jhesus ans- weried and seid, 1 knowleche to thee, Fadir, Lord of Hevene and of earthe, for thou hast hid these thinpis fro wise men and redy, and hast schewid hem to Iilil children. So, Fadir ; for so it was plesyiige to fore thee. " John X. 26—30. Yebeleven not, for ye ben not of my soheep. My scheep heren my vois, and I knowe hem, and thei sucn mc. And I gyve to hem everlastyinge life, .ind thei schiUen not perische, with- outen end ; and noon schal rauysche hem fro myn hand. That thing that my Fader gaf to me, is more lhan alle thingis : and no man may rauysche from my Vadirs hond. J and the Fadir ben oon. " Romans ix. 11—21. Whuinie thei weren not ghit borun neithier hadden doon ony thing of good, either of yvel ; that the purptis of God schulde dwell bi eleccioun, not of works, but of God clepying ; it was seid to him, that tin- more schnlde serve the lesse: as it is writun, I louyde Jacoh, but I hatide Esau. What therlbre schulcn we scie t wher wickidnesse be anentis God ; God lorbede. For he seith to Aloises, 1 s'.'liai have mercy on whom 1 liave mercy, and I schal gyre mercy on whom I have mercy. Therefore, it is not neither of man willyn ge, acither reu nynge; but of God hanynge mercy. And the Scriptures seith to Farao, For to this thing have £ styrrid thee, that 1 sehewe in thee my vertu, and that my name be teeld in a crthe. Therefore, of whom God wole, he hath mercy : and whom he wole, he endurith. Thanne seeith thou to me, what is sought ghit, for who withstondith his will ? Oo man, what art tboa that answerist to God I Wher a maad thing seith to liim that made it, What hast thou maad me so ? Wher apottereof cley hath not power to make, of the same gobbet, oo vessel into onour, a nothir into '^'''^^Vaien from Lewis's edition of M'ickliff'S Transl. N. Test.— Loud. 1731. foho. (rf) Dissertations on the Prophecies, vol. iii. Diss. 24. part 1. (c; Lives of the Reformers, p. 12. (/) I, too, remember to have heard, but how authentically I cannot affirm, that the pujpit, in which Wickliff used to preach, b still preserved in tlie Church of Lutterworth. (g) Hume's Hist, of Engl. vol. iii. p. 57. octavo 1767. (A) Camden's Britannia, vol. i. cel. 686. BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 105 ester, (i) The year that gave him to the world, was probably \2'M, about the middle of the reign ot Edward I. During the reign of Edward II. he was admitted into Meitori College, Ox- ford : and was proctor of the Univer.sty, A. D. 1325. He made himself perfect master of the philosophy of Aristotle and Plato. But his chief talent lay in Mathematics and Theology: to these he devoted his main application, and in these he distanced the brightest of his co- temporaries. Sir Henry Savile had in his possession a large manuscript volume of as- tronomical tables, comp ised by this e.\traordi- nary man ; on wiiirli that most learned writer sat a very high value, and of which he speaks in very respectable terms. if Sir Henry admired Bradwardin as a philosopher ; he revered and was in raptures with him as a divine. " It was in divinity," says he, " that the archbishop snatched the prize from all his coevals. That single volume [De CausA Dei,'] of which I am the editor, vvritten to unravel and expose the false- hood of Pelagianism, is alone sufficient to crown him with the most consummate the- ologist of that century. We have the sad, but resistless conviction of experience, that the Pelagian heresy has been a growing evil, for ages back. To this, therefore, our accom- plished author opposed his artillery. Some lectures, which he had formerly delivered at Oxford, were the basis of this most noble per- formance. At the earnest entreaty of the Merton students, to whom those lectures had been read, he arranged, pohshed, enlarged, and reduced them into form, while he was Chancellor of the diocese of London. No sooner was the work completed and given to the public, than vast multitudes of hands were employed in transcribing it, and copies of it were diffused throughout the greatest part of Europe. No treatise could be more eagerly sought and received. Hardly a library was without it. It captivated the very muses ; for Chaucer the father of English poetry, who flourished within a few years after the arch- bishop's decease, puts him in the same rank 'vith St. Austin, ia these lines, so pleasingly remarkable for their antique simplicity of style : Af"'r'"llic upiu'iolf of ''cf-'l'in'dc'rkis'"" U'iliK«sc of liini th«l any cIcTke H, ■\'m' hath 'bein ^f' ariiundred''thous»'nd men. Iliit 1 ii« cannot lioiilt it to the brcn, Jr Boece, or tile bishop if Uradv. ardiii'(t) ." Our excellent prelate, being a most exact mathematician, has, conformably to the rules of the science he so much admired, thrown his theological arguments into mathematical order: and, I believe, was the first divine who pursued that method. Hence, his book against the Pelagians is, from the beginning to end, one regular, strong unbroken chain. This does, indeed, render his work abstruse and difficult, in some measure, to such as peruse it superficially: but, at the same time, it con- duces to make his reasonings intrinsically firm, conclusive, and invincible."(/) Having, for some years, sat as Divinity Professor, at Oxford, with the most exalted reputation ; he was admitted to the friendship of Richard de Bury, the learned bishop of Durham : and, at length, went to live with him as one of his family. Seven other persons (mostly Merton men) conspicuous for genius and learning, were also transplanted, from Oxford, to the house of that munificent prelate, who had a very high relish for the pleasures and improvements resulting from literary con- versation."(jn) Such was the modesty of Bradwardin, that his preferments flowed in upon him, not only unsought, nut undesired.lt was with great diffi- culty, that he was prevailed upon to let a canonry of Lincoln be annexed to his chan- cellorship of London, though the revenue of the latter was far from large. At length, his vast learning, and the invariable purity of his life, rendeied him so famous, that he was nominated by John Stratford, then archbishop of Canterbury, to be chaplain to his sovereign. King Edward III. In this capacity, he at- tended that great Prince, during his long and successful wars in France. With a warpless integrity, rarely found in those who wait on kings, he made it his business to calm and mitigate the fierceness of his master's temper, when he saw him either immoderately fired with warlike rage, or unduly flushed with the (i) " Dc loco natiTitatis, putabam aliquantio apud Bradwardin castrum et vicum natum fuisse : sed me ab hie sententii non improLabili revocJrunt ex. pressa verba ipsius BraJwardini ubi noii obscurf ut mihi videtur, innuit, se Cicestrii oriunduin. Verba sunt : Per similem etiam rationem quicqiiid nunc scribe Oxonia;, scriberet pater meus Cicestria; ; quia genuit me scribentem im6 arus & proavus, &c. (De caus^ T3ei, 1. 3. cap. 22.) Ut non nmltiim aberrasse videantur Bala?us, et antiquitatum Britannicarum ailctor, qui Hartfeldia; natum asserunt, in diocesi Ciceatreusi : quibus auctoribus, aut quibus permoti argumentis, nescio. Apud me, ccrU iUa auctoria verba pra;pondeiant, dum aliquid certius ab aliis afferatur." BavUii pra;f. ad lect. Bradwardini operi, de causi I'ei prefix. (A) Chaucer's lines have, perhaps, at present, little else besides their rust to recommend them. But Sir H. Savile's version of them into Latin, is highly elegaot and classical. Non evenire non pntest, quicquid Deus Praescivit : ita fert crebra doctorum cohirs. Hie literatum quem libet testem voco, Quantis utrinque fluctibus lis ha'C schoUs Trivit, teritque : pene inextricabili Ingenia nodo centies mille implicans. Excutere nudos haec adusque furfures (Quod ab Augustiuo pra-stitum, et BoPthio. Ac Bradvardino episcopo) non sum potis. (0 Savil. in Pra:f. u. s. ("0 Anglia Sacra, vol. 1. p. 760. E.lit. lOtfl. 106 JUDGMENT OF EMINENT PERSONS advantages of victory. Nor weie his piety and watchfulness limited to his monarch. He often preached to the army with such meek- ness and persuasiveness of wisdom, as re- strained them from many of those savage violences, which are too frequently the atten- dants on military success. On the death of Stratford, the church of Canterbury unanimously chose Bradwardin for then- archbishop. But the king being still engaged in France, refused to part with him. John Ufford was then put in nomination for that see : but he dying soon after his election, Bradwardin was chosen a second time, and the king yielded to the choice. He was, accordingly, consecrated at (n) Avignon, in 1349, and returned into England soon after. But he did not long adorn the metropolitical chair. He died, at Lambeth, the October following ; (o) and was interred in St. Anselra's chapel, by the south wall, within the cathedral of Canterbury : disgraced with a most wretch- ed (p) Epitaph, wliich is only worthy of pre- servation for its having once marked the tomb of so great a man. I have dwelled the longer on the outlines of Bradwardin's History, because I find them so superficially hurried over by the generality of our English writers. A species of neg- ligence, not easily excusable, where a cha- racter, so peculiarly illustrious, was the object of investigation. The Protestant cause is more indebted to this extraordinary prelate, than seems to be commonly known. He was, in some sense. Dr. Wickliff's spiritual father : for it was the perusal of Bradwardin's writings, which, next to the Holy Scriptures, opened that proto- reformer's eyes to discover the genuine doctrine of faith and justification. "Bradwardin taught him " [i. e. taught Wickliff ] " the nature of a true and justifying faith, in opposition to merit-mongers and pardoners, purgatory and pilgrimages."(y) I now beg my reader's permission to lay before him a few passages from Bradwardin's golden work, entitled, "The Cause of God :" written as an antidote against the Pelagian poison, and to demonstrate the absoluteness both of providence and grace. This inestim- (H) Bradwardin was a known predestinarian : a circumstance which by no means weighed in his favour with the Pope. Accordingly, on the day of the archbishop's consecration, after the ceremony was over, he was insulted, as he sat at dinner, by a buffoon mounted on an ass for that purpose. The person who procured him this low affront was the cardinal of Tudela, the Pope's near kinsman. — Anglia Sacra, vol. i. p. 43. (0) Vide Savile, ubi supra. {p) Doctor doctorum Bradwardin hac jacet uma, Nonna pastorum laudabiHs et diuturna. Qui invidiA caruit, vitara sine crimine duxit. Et ex ore suo quicquid sit scibile fiuxit. NuUus sub sole est, cui sic fuere omnia nota. Cantia, nunc dole : tristeris et Anglia lota. Voa qui et transitis hie omnes, atque reditis, Dicite quhd Cbristi pietas sit promptior isti. Weever's Ant. Funer.al Mon. p. 25. able performance was printed, A. D. 1618, by the united care (and, it should seem, at the joint-expense) of the pious Dr. George Abbot, archbishop of Canterbury, and the most learned Sir Henry Savile. Bradwardin laments the Pelagianism of his own times, in terms but too applicable to the present : " What multitudes, O Lord, at this day, join hands with Pelagius, in contending for free-will, and in fighting against thy ab- solutely-free grace ; and against that great spiritual champion for grace, the Apostle Paul! By how many is thy unmerited grace looked upon with scornful abhorrence, while they proudly insist, that free-will alone is sufficient to salvation ! or, if they make use of the word grace, and slightly pretend to believe that grace is necessary ; to what purpose is this pretence, while they boast of its being in the power of free-will to lay thy grace under obli- gation ? thus making grace itself no longer gratuitous, but representing thee as selling it, instead of giving it.(r) " Some, more haughty than even Lucifer, are not content with barely lifting themselves to an equality with thee ; but are most dar- ingly desirous to govern and control thee, who art the King of kings. Such are they, who dread not to affirm, that, even in a common action, their own will walks first, as an independent mistress ; and that thy will follows after, like an obsequious handmaid : that they themselves go foremost, like sove- reign lords ; while thou walkest behind them, like a hired servant : that they issue their orders, as kings ; and that thou like an im- plicit subject, actest according to the imperial nod of their determining will."(s) By such nervous reasoning, and by such well adapted images, did this christian hero cut in sunder the very sinews of what was then termed antecedent merit ; but which is now suppled into the smoother phrase of, " conditional grace : " the same thing in sense, though of softer sound. Among the first positions, which Brad- wardin undertakes to prove, are these : that " God is, not contingently, but necessarily, perfect. That he is incapable of changing. That he is not (for instance) irascible and (?) History of Popery, toI. ii. p. 164. (r) *• Quot domine, hodi^ cum Pelagio pro libero arbitrio contra gratuitam gratiam tuam, pugnant et contra Paulum, pugilem, gratiae spiritualem ! Quot etiam nodie gratuitam gratiam tuam fastidiunt, solum- que liberum arbitrium ad salutem sufficere stomachan- tur ! Aut si gratii utantur, vel perfunctori) i:>nl. cap. e, i.a^e ISl. (c) " Scientia Dei est duplex : scil simplicis cog- nitioDCS, seu notitiae, etapproliatiouis et complacentia?, quEB, ultra siraplicem copnitiouem, seu uotitiam, addit approbationem, beneplacitum, et complacentiam voluntatis." Jbid. cap. vii. p. 183, ubi plura %idesis. (ri) Lib. i. cap. xv. (e) " Scire namquc est magna perfectionis in Deo. Si ergo scientia Dei causetur a scitis, ipse re- cipit perfectionem ab alio. Erg6, non est, ex se, summe perfectus. Item, tunc non esset per se salfi- cientissimus : indigeret enim scitis, a quibus posset suffragia sua? scientia; mendicare. Quomodo ergo erit incomparabilitir gloriosus, qui mcudicetis suSiragiis gloriatiu- ?— Item, si scita essent causa; effectivie di- vinie scientias, prtecederent ilia. Tempore, vel natura. Sed quomodo, c^m ista sint tempor.ilia, haec ajtema 1 Si etiam ita esset, Deus aliquo mode pateretur ab eis :— quarc et, aliquo modo, similiter mutaretnr. Quapropter et esses quoquo modo inferior et igno- bilior rebus scitis. Item, tunc intellectus divinus de se esset in potentii et iuditierentia ad scendum hoc, vel suum oppositum ; et sic non esset actus summus, nec primus." Ibid, lib i. cap. xv. p. 214, 215. (/) •' Sua [j c. Dei] enim scientia est causa entis : ens autcm iiostrae scientse. Sententia AristoteUs et Averrois est, Deum non intelligere aliud a se, a q n perficiattn-, vil quod sit causa intellectionis uj»i-« " Jbid. p. 215. E. (gi Ihiil. p. -217. I). BEFOlt!'; THE UEFOKMATION. 109 he intended to create. Amidst all the innumer- Hble revolutions of advancing and departing ages, the knowledge of God is neither lessened nor improved. No incident can possibly arise which thou didst not expect and foresee, who knowest all tilings : and every created nature is what it is, in consequence of thy knowing it as such." (It) We are not to suppose, that Bradwardin contended for what may be called the mere knowledge of God, nakedly and abstractedly considered. He asserted the infinity, tlie inde- pendency, and the efficacy of the divine know- ledge as founded on, and resulting from the eternal sovereignty, and irresistibility, of the divine will. "The will of God,'' says he, "is universally efficacious and invincible, and ne- cessitates as a cause. It cannot be impeded, much less can it be defeated and made void, by any means whatever." (i) What follows is ex- tremely conclusive : " If you allow, 1. That God is able to do a thing : and, 2. That lie is willing to do a thing ; then, 3. I affirii., that thing will not, cannot, go unaccomplished. God either does it now, or will certainly do it at the destined season. Otherwise, he must either lose liis power, or change his mind. He is in want of nothing that is requisite to carry his purposes into execution. Whence that remark of the philosopher : He, that hath both will and power to do a thing, certainly doth that thing." (k) Again : If the will of God could be frustrated and vanquished, its de- feat would arise from the created wills, either of angels, or of men. But, could any created will whatever, whether angelic or human, counter-act and baffle the will of God ; the will of the creature must be superior, [either] in strength, [or in wisdom,"lto the will of the creator : which can by no means be allowed." (Z) The absolute immutability of God effectu- ally secures the infallible accomplishment of (h) " Dicitque Pctrus Lumbardus. Si scitaesseut causBe diviuie scientiie, ips;i niulta adjuvarent eum in sciendo et darent sihi cousiimm et ostenderent illi agenda : et sic fattms homo, vel asinus, esset adjutor necessar^us, consiliarius et doctor sapientissimi Dei iiustri. 1 era Augustinus : uuiversas autem creaturas suas, spirituales et corpor,ales, non, quia sunt, ideb novit ; sed ideo sunt, quia novit : non enira nescivit, quae suerat creaturus. Cdm decedent et succedant tempora ; non decedit aliquid. vel succedit, scientiie Dei. Quid improvisum tibi, quinosti omnia ( Et nulla natura est. nisi quia nosti earn." Jbid. p. 217, 218. (i) •' Nunc autem restat ostendere consequentir quod diviua voluntas est universalit6r efficax, insuper abilis, et neccssaria in causando : non impedil.ile, nec frustalibus, alio modo." Lib. i. cap. X. p. 105, (*) " Quis ergb nesciat, optimi consequi, si Deus potest aliquid facere, ct vuit aliquid facere, facit illud ; aut faciet pro texnpore destinato, potentia, et Toluntate mancnte : nihil enim ei deest ad facere requisitum. Dicitque jjUilosophus. — Si potuit, et voluit, egit ; omnes cniin, cvlm potentes veiint, agunt." JOid. (I) " Item, si voluntas divina frustraretur ab aliquo, vel etiam vinctjretur ; hoc maximi videretur voluntBte creati, angelica vel humani. Erg6 haic i)lam excederate ill virtute : Quod 1. suppositio non concedit." IbUt. his will: whence our great English Austin justly observes, that " both the divine know- ledge, and the divine will, are altogether un- changeable : since, was either one or the other to undergo any alteration, a change must fall on God himself. \m) Pursuant to these maxims, he affirms, that, "whatever things come to pass, they are brought to pass by the piovidence of God " (ji) Nor could he suppose, that the great and blessed God is, in point of wisdom, fore-cast, and attention, inferior even to a prudent master of a family, who takes care of every thing that belongs to him ; and makes pro- vision beforehand, according to the best of his knowledge and power ; and leaves nothing un- regulated in his house, but exactly appoints the due time and place for every thing." (o) The sentiments of this learned writer, re- lative to the doctrine of fate, are too judicious and important, to be wholly passed over. "We must,'' says he, "beyond all doubt, admit, there is such a thing as a divine fate." (p) By a divine fate, he means, the decree which God hath irrevocably pronounced, or spoken : for he seems to agree with those who derive the word Fatum, "either a fando, or from fial ; i. e. from God's speaking or commanding things to be. Whence he adds : " Is it not written, that in the beginning of the creation, God said. Fiat lii.r, let there be light, and there was light? Is it not written again. He spake and it was done ? Now, that divine fate is chiefly a branch of the divine will, which is the effica- cious cause of things." (y) This seems to have been the real sense, in which the doctrine of (r) fate was maintained by those of the ancients who were truly wise and considerate. And, in this sense, fate is a Christian doctrine in the strictest import of the word Christian. Nay, set aside fate, in this meaning of it, and 1 cannot see how either natural or revealed (ni) '• Post bii?c autem reputo demonstrandum, qutid tarn scientia Dei, quam ejas voluntas, immutabllis sit omnino : si enim base mutaretur, vel ilJa, commu- taretur necessario ipse Deus.'* Lib. i. cap. xxiii. d. 237. ^ (71) " Voluntio Dei est efficax, rec potest fnretrari: patent ergii omnia quae eveniunt a Divini Providen- tia eveniri." Lib. i. cap. 27. p. 26J (0) " Item, bonus pater familias omnia eum con- cernentia curat, et providet, quantfim scit et potest; nec quicquam relmquit inordinantum in domo, sed omnia suis locis et temporibus ordinal curios^." J6ui. p. 202. A. (1) ) " Fatum yerd di^-inum est procul dubio con- cedendum." Lib. i. cap. 28. p. 265. (q) Ihill. (r) " Virgil, in the beginning of his Mneid, Mys, every thing that happened to this hero was Vi .Supenim; and Homer says, The quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon, with all its direful consequences, was by the will of Jove. When Cicero says, reason obliges us to lywn that every thing is done by fate ; he means just the same by that word [riz. fate,] as Homer does by ^i.ot /3«An, and Virgil by his Vi superum: Fatum est quod Dii fantur, vel quod Jupiter fatur. Cic. de div. 1. 52." Tindal's Abridgment of Spence's Pojymetis, p. 23. 110 JUDGMENT OF EMINENT PERSONS religion can stand. St. Austin was of tlie very same mind. " All that connection," says he, "and that train of causes, whereby every thing is what it is, are by the stoics called fate : the whole of which fate they ascribe to the will and power of the supreme God, whom they most justly believe to fore-know all things, and to leave nothing unordained. But it is the will itself of the supreme God, which they are chiefly found to call by the name of fate ; because the energy of his will is unconquer- alby extended through all things." (s) Another passage of St. Austin's, quoted also by Brad- wardin, is no less pertinent and judicious : " We are far from denying that train of causes wherein the will of God has the grand sway. We avoid, however, giving it the name of fate ; that is to say, unless you derive the word from faudo. For wecannot but acknowledge, that it is written in the Scriptures, God hath once spoken, and these two things have I heard, that power be- longeth unto God; and that mercy is with thee, for thou wilt render to every man according to his works. Now, whereas it is here said, that God hath spoken once ; the meaning is, that he hath spoken unchangeably and irreversibly : even as he foreknew all things that should come to pass, and the things which he himself would do. The kingdoms of men are absolutely appointed by Divine Providence. Which if any one is desirous, for that reason, to attribute to fate, meaning by that word, the will and power of God, let him hold fast the sentiment, and only correct the phrase." (<) Bradwardin observes, that fate may be distin- guished into active and passive. " Active fate is no other than the declaratory decree, or pronounced determination, of the will of God, considered as the disposer of all things. Pas- sive fate may be taken, as the term itself im- ports, for that subjective effect and inherent tendency, with v/hich things themselves are imbued, in consequence and by virtue of the (s) Stoici (-muem com'exionem seriemqiie c.'iusa- rum, quA sit omne quod sit, fatum appellant : quod totum Dei sumtui tribuunt voluntati et potestati, qui veracissim«^ creditur cuncta prEescire, et nihil iuordi- natuni relinquere. Sed ipsam pra;cipu<^ Dei stimmi TOluntatem, cujus potestas insuperabiliter per cuncta porrigitur, fatum appeUare probantur." Augustin, apud Bradwardin, u. s. (t) " Ordinom autem causarum, ubi voluntas Dei plurimum potest, neque negamus, neque fati vocabulo nimcupamus, nisi forti; ut fatum a fando dictum intelligamus, id est, a loqiiendo. Non enim abnuere possumus esse scriptuni in literis Sanctis, Eemel locutus est Deus, duo hjec audivi, quoniam po- testas Dei est ; et tibi, domine, raisericordia, quia tu reddes uni cuique secundum opera ejus. Quod enim dictum est, semel locutus ; intelligitur, immobiliter ; hoc est, incomrautabiliter est locutus. Sicut novit incommutabilitir omnia quie futura sunt, et quae ipse facturus est. — Prorsiis Divink Providenti* riget constituuatar : qua: si proptcrei quisquam fato tribuat, quia ipsam Dei volunlatcm vel protestatera fati nomine appellat ; sententiam teneat, linguam cor- rigat." Idem, apud Eundem, u. s. (m) *' Adhuc autem est alia distinctio a fato bi- raembris. Uno enim modo accipitur fatum active, pro famine, seu fatione, voluntatis divinae, seu Dei omnia isponeutis. Alio modo passive, sicut et nomend afore-said pronounced determination." («) He adds, from Aristotle and Isidore, that the fable of the Three Fates is not without its reality. A'.ropos denoted v/hat is past ; La- chesis, the future ; Clotho, the present. But all the three names were only designed to shadow forth God himself, as Plato strenuously affirms." (a-) The speculations of the celebrated Boethius (i/) as cited by Bradwardin, on the articles of Providence and Fate, are not unworthy of perusal. Though far from une.xpectionable, they are subtle and ingenious. " Providence is but another name for the Divine Wisdom it- self, which stands at the helm of all things, and by which all things are regulated. — On the other hand, fate is that inherent disposition in things themselves, by which Divine Providence con- catenates all things in their proper successions and dependencies. Providence comprehends all things, together and at once, however those things may differ from each other, and however intinite their number may seem. But fate reduces each particular thing into actual order, by a proper distribution as to motion, pace, form, and season : insomuch that, this actual evolution of the series of causes (which evolution is temporary, or brought to pass in time,) may be termed Providence, if considered as united and gathered to a point in the divine view. This simple connected view of all futuri- ties, which is a perfection essential to the un- created mind, may also be called fate ; if you consider that view as gradually opened and un- folded in the several successions of time ; for, though fate and Providence are not strictly the same, yet the former is dependent on the latter. Thrt series of causes and effects, which is ordered by fate, takes its rise from the sim- plicity of Providence As some curious artifi- cer first forms, in his own mind, a design or plan of the piece of workmanship he intends to make, and then begins to take the work it- magis sonat, pro etfectu et dispositione passivA liujus fati, ipsis rebus dispositis inhierente." Lib. et cap. u. (i/J Boetliius was descended from one of tire most noble families in Rome. He studied, eighteen years, at Athens ; where, says Dr. Cave, Omnium artium, omnium discipliniirum, non modo elementa, sed et reconditiora mystcria, penitiis imbibit :" insomuch that he was deemed the prince of scholars. In the year 487, he was sole consul of Rome. After a life strangely variegated with prosperity and affliction, this great man fell a sacrifice to the tyranny of Tlieodric, and was beheaded in prison, at Pavia. A. D. 524. During his exile to this place, he wrote liis book on the Trinity ; and during his imprisonment, he composed his Treatise on the Consolation of Philo- sophy ; which latter was so admired by our matchless king Alfred, that he used conitantly to carry it about him.— This illustrious linguist, philosopher and poet, was interred at Pavia, in the Church of St. Austin, uxtder the following epitaph ; Mjeoni-^ et latii lingu& clarissimtis, et qui Consul eram, hir pcrii, missus in exilium. Et qmd mors rapuit ? Probitas me vexit ad aojas Et nunc fama viget maxima, vivit opus. See Cave, Dupin, ic. BEFORE THE REFORMATION. Ill self in hand, carrying into execution, through a regular and successive progress, the idea which he had, before, simply and readily modeled : so God, by his providence, orders and settles, particularly and firmly, the things that are to be accomplished ; and, by fate, manages, in all their multiplicity and temporary successions, the tilings so ordered and settled. Whether, therefore, fate be rendered actually operative by the ministry of those unembodied spirits who are the servants and executors of Divine Pro- vidence; or by the human mind ; or by the v/hole concurrence of subservient nature ; or by the motions of the celestial orbs ; or by the power of the good angels ; or by the mani- fold subtlety of diemons ; whether the chain of fate he complicated by any or all of these ; thus much is certainly evident, that God's pro- vidence is the pure, immoveable model, accord- ing to which, matters are conducted ; and that fate is the moveable connection, and temporary train, or series, of those things which the Divine Providence hath appointed to be accomplished. And from hence it is, that all things, which are subjected to fate, are likewise subjected to Pro- vidence; for Providence is the supreme regula- tress, to which fate itself acts in subserviency." (z) Thus far Boethius. The reader, perhaps, will be inclinable, with me, to ask, what need of labouring the point so nicely ? To what end, is the thread so finely spun ? one thing, how- ever, is plain : viz. that, by Providence, he understood God's eternal foresight ; and, by fate, that temporary disposure of events, which we now call Providence, (a) To the former, he might be induced by the literal import of the word providence. If I rightly remember, Cicero, somewhere, shews himself of the same mind, and assigns that very reason for it. It should also be noticed, that, according to Boethius's doctrine, the divine fore-knowledge is not a naked, idle speculation of what barely would come to pass ; but is tantamount to an (:) Providentia est ipsa divina ratio, in summo omnium principe constituta, qua? ciincta disponil : fa- tum Terrt inhserens rebus mobilibus dispositio, per quam Providentia suis quaeque nectit ordinibus. Pro- videnua naraque cuncta pariter, quamvis diversa, quamvis infinita, complectitur : fatum verb singula digerit, in motu, locis, formis, ac tomporibus dis- tributa ; ut ha;c temporalis ordinis esplicatio, in divinas mentis adunatu prospectii, providentia sit : eadem Ter6 adunatio digesta atque explicata teniporibus, fatum vncetur ; qua;, licet diversa sint, alteram tamen pendit exaltero. Ordo namque fatalis ex providentiaj siraplicttate procedit. Sicut enim artifex, faciendas rei formara mente percipiens, movet operis eftectum : et quod simplicitfir, praesentari^que prospexerat, per temporales ordinis ducit ; itii Deus Providentii quidem iingulariter, stabiliterqiie, disponit facienda : fato vero haec ipsa, qua; disposuit, multipliciter ar tem- poralitir administrat. Sive ijitur, famulantibus quibusdam providentise Divina' Spiritibis, fatum exer- cemr; seu animi; seu toti inservicnte natiiid ; sen coelestibus siderum motibus ; seu angelii i virtute ; seu doemonum varil solertii ; seu aliquibus honim, seu omnibus, faUlis series texitur ; illud certi mauifestum, est immobilem simplicemque gerendarura formam rerum esse providentiam ; fatum vero corum, quae divina simplicitas gerenda disposuit, mobilem nexum, atque ordinem teuiporaleni. Quo sit, ut operative, effective determination of what certainly shall come to pass. For he supposes absolute fate itself to be no more than a sub- ordinate adminstrator, whose business it is to see that all events exactly correspond to that active knowledge of them which God had from everlasting. He expresses this, very clearly, in another subsequent passage, quoted by Bradwardin, wherein he reciprocates the terms providence and fate : " this series of fate, or providence, tightly binds down the actions and circumstances of men, by an indissoluble concatenation of causes." (i) To this Brad- wardin himself heartily accedes, in a remark- able paragraph adopted from St. Austin : " Our wills have just so nmch ability, as God willed and foreknew they should have Con- sequently, they cannot avoid being indued with whatever ability they possess ; and what they are to do, they absolutely shall do : for, both their ability and their works were foreknown of God, whose foreknowledge cannot be de- ceived (c)." What Bradwardin professedly delivers, con- cerning the subjection of our most voluntaiy actions to the decrees and providence of God ; what he adds, concerning the co-incidence of permission, and design ; with several other correlative points of religious metaphysics ; I purposely omit : not for want of inclination but of room. I shall, therefore, for the present, conclude my extract from his testimony, with a short sample, or two, of what he hath ad- vanced, concerning predestination itself, the powers of free-will, and the perseverance of the saints. Predestination is the only ground on which the divine fore-knowledge and providence can stand. Abstracted from the will and purpose of God, neither persons, northings, nor events, could have any certain futurition : conse- quently, they could not be certainly fore-know- able. And providence must regulate every omnia, quae fato subsunt, ProyidentiEe que subjecta sunt : cui etiam ipsum quoque subjacet fatum.'* Boethius, apud Bradward. L. & C, u. s. (a) Tlie folio edition of Bailey's Dictionary has a paragraph ( under the word fate), in which it is ob- served, that " fate primarily implies the same with effatum, a word, or decree pronounced by God ; or a fixed sentence, whereby the Deity has prescribed the order of things, and allotted every person what shall hefal him. The Greeks call it etjuap^cvti, as tiiough a chain, or necessary series of things, indissolubly link- ed together ; and the moderns call it providence." The folio editors of the above work endeavour to ex- plain away this judicious passage. But it is no wonder that a set of men, who are for excluding the Son and Spirit of God from the divine essence, should be for expunging predestination and its correlative articles from the Christian Creed. (h) " Ha!C fati series, seu providentia, actus for- tunasque hominum indissolubili causarum conuexione constriugit." Boeth. apud Eund. p. 267. (c) " Quapropter at voluntatis nostra: tantum valent, quantum Deus easvalere voluit atque pra-scivit. Et ideo, quicquid valent, certissime valent : et (juod factura: sunt, ipsa; omnino facturiesunt : quia valituias ac facturas iile pra;scivit, cujus prjescicutia falli non potest." Auguatin. apud Eund. ibid. 112 JUDGMENT OF EMINENT PERSONS punctilio ot its dispensations, by the same pifconstiucted plan ; or it would follow, that God is liable to unforeseen emergencies, and acts either ignorantly, or contrary to his own will. The great Bradwardin was so clearly and deeply convinced of this, that he defines predes- tination to be (what in reality it is) neither more nor less than " JEterna prcBvolniio Dei, sive prce-ordinatio voluntatis divina, circa futurum: God's eternal prevolition, or pre-determination of his will, respecting what shall come to pass."(rf) He treats the mysterious articles of election and reprobation in particular, with such force and compass of argument, united with such modesty and judgment, as may, alone, suffice to class him among the ablest reasoners that ever wrote. On the subject of liberty and necessity, he acknowledges that there is such a thing {e) as free-will in God's reasonable creatures: and, I believe, every Calvir.ist upon earth acknow- ledges the same. The point, in dispute between us and the Arminians, is, not con- cerning the existence of free-uill; but con- cerning its powers. That man is naturally endued with a will, we never denied : and that man's will is naturally free to what is morally and spiritually evil, we always affirmed. The grand hinge, then, on which the debate turns, is, whether free-will be, or be not, a faculty of such sovereignty and power, as either to ratify, or to baffle, the saving grace of God, according to its \i. e. according to the will's] own independent pleasuie and self-deter- mination ? I should imagine, that every man of sense, piety, and reflection, must, at once, determine this question in the negative. If some do not, who are nevertheless possessed of those qualifications, I can only stand amazed at the force of that prejudice, which can induce any reasonable and religious person to suppose that divine wisdom is frustrable, and the divine power defeatable, by creatures of yesterday, who are absolutely and constantly dependent on God for their very being (and, consequently, for the whole of their operations) from moment to moment. Bradwardin believed, that the human will, however fiee in its actings, is not altogether pxempt from necessity. He supposed, that what the understanding regards as good, the will must necessarily desire ; and what the understanding represents as evil, the will must necessarily disapprove. (/) A remark this, not spun from the subtleties of metaphysics ; but founded in fact, and demonstrable from (rf) Lib. 1. c.ip xlv. p. 421. (<■) Lib. H. cap. i. (/) Lib. ii. < Kp. ii. per totum. te) Lib. ii. cap. V. per totum. (A) Ibid. cap. vi. It) '• Quo tentati omnii superant tentamenta ; et tine quo in oranibus superantur." Cap. \i. p. 4S9. (*) " Secundvim data fscil. Pclagi.ina) homines every man's own hourly experience. The will, therefore, is no other than the practical echo of the understanding: and is so far from being endued with a self-determining power, or with a freedom ot indiff'erence to this or that; that it closes in with the dictates of the intellect, as naturally, as necessarily, and as implicitly, as an eastern slave accommodates his obedience to the commands of the grand seignor. As the un- derstanding is, thus, the directress of the will ; so, ten thousand different circumstances con- cur to influence and direct the understanding: which latter is altogether as passive, in her reception of impression from without, as she is sometimes active in her subsequent con- templation and combination of them. It follows, that if the understanding (from which the will receives its bias,) be thus liable to passive, subjective necessity; the will itself, which is absolutely governed byafaculty so subjecttone- cessitation, cannot possibly be possessed of that kind of freedom, which the Arminian scheme supposes her to be : since, if she was, the hand-maid would be above her mistress ; and uncontrollable sovereignty would be the im- n\ediate offspring of constringent necessity. Hence Bradwardin observes, that the human will cannot so much as conquer a single temp- tation, even after God's regenerating power has passed upon the soul, sine alio Dei auxilio speciali,{ff) " without a fresh supply of God's particular assistance : " which particular essis- tance he defines to be, voluntas Dei invicta (A) the supernatural influence, resulting from the unconquerable will of God: "armed with which, his tempted children get the better of every temptation ; but destitute of which, every temptation gets the better of them (j).'' And, indeed was not this the case, " The number of the elect and predestinate would," as Bradwardin nervously argues, " depend more on man than upon God Men, by ante- cedently and casually disposing their own wills to this or that, would leave God no more to do, than to regulate his after decrees in a subservient conformity to the prior determi- nations of his creatures, and in a way of sub- jection and subordination to their will and pleasure (A) : " than which supposition, nothing can be mere impious and irrational. Besides, as he presently adds, if free will was possessed of these enormous powers, "It would be vain and idle in a man to pray to God for victory over temptation, or to give him thanks for victoiy obtained (I)." When free-willers kneel down to petition God for magis disponunt electos et praedestinatos in numero, quam faciat Deus ipse ; nam antecedent^r et causaliter quia homines disponunt voluntates suas, hoc modo, Tel illo : ideo Deus, subservienttr et subexecutiv^, dis- ponit numerum electorumtantumvel tantum." P 480. (I) *' Vanum esset orare Deum, ut tentationem aliquam superaret : vanura csset, pro tcntationi* %ictovii, gratias agere Domino Deo nostro." Ibid, BEFORE THE REFORMATION 113 any spiritual blessinjf, what is such conduct, leai-c ot BraJwaidin, and put an end to tins but a virtual renunciation of their own dis- lonsf Section, by just dropping a word, tmi) Martin, Ibid, (q) Voltaire's Essay on Universal His:, vol. i. p. 4-1. Dr. Nugent's edition, 1761. (r) Brown's Travels, p 361. {s) Hervey's Eleven Letters to Wesley, p. it>5. I 2 16 CHARGE OF MAHOMETANISM After all, there is not thiit conformity be- t.veeii the Cliristian and the Turkish doctrine of predestination, which Mr. Wesley and his consistory would have us believe. Do Maho- metans assert an election in Christ to grace and glory? Do they maintain, that, in the pre- ordination of events, the means are no less pre- ordained, than the end ? Do they consider the Son of God, as joint agent with his Father, in the providential disposure of all things below? Do they hold the eternal covenant of grace, which obtained among the persons of the godhead, in behalf, and for the salvation, of a peculiar people, who shall, by the regenerating efficacy of the Holy Ghost, be made zealous of good works ? Do the Mahometans believe any thing about final perseverance, and the iii- amissibility of saving grace ? No such thing. I can easily prove their denial of these gospel doctrines, whenever that proof shall be neces- sary. And even as to the predestination of tem- poral events, the disci|)ies of Omar (so far as I can hitherto find, and unless their doctrine be greatly (uis-represented) seem to have exceed- ing gross and confused ideas. They appear to consider predestination as a sort of blind, rapid, over-bearing impetus, which, right or wrong, with means or without, canies all things vio- lently before it, with little or no attention to the peculiar and respective nature of second causes. Whereas, according to the Christian scheme, predestination forms a wise, regular, connected plan ? and Providence conducts the execution of it in such a mannei as to assign their due share of importance to the correlative means ; and secure the certainty both of means and end, without violating or forcing the intel- lectual powers of any one rational agent. I have already scrupled to enrol Mr. Wesley himself on the list of mussulmen. Some of his tenets, however, are so nearly related to the worst branches of the Mahometan system, that he might very readily be mistaken, at first sight, for a disciple of Hali. Survey the dark side of Mahometism ; and you will almost aver, that the portrait was intended for the mufti of Moorfields. " The Mahometans would have us believe, that he [viz. Mahomet] was a saint, from the fourth year of his age: for then, say they, the angel Gabriel took him from among his fellows, wl-.ile at play with them ; and carrying him aside, cut open his breast, and took out his heart, and wrung out of it that black drop of blood, in which (say they) was contained the fomes pcc- cati : so that he had none of it ever after (t)." — So much for Mahomet's sinless perfection. " They hold it unlawful to drink wine ; and to play at chess, tables, cards, or such-like re- creations ()()• " They esteem good works meritorious of heaven (x). (I) Pudeaux's Life of M.ihom. p. 141. («) Ross's Vii-w of all Heligions, p. IS4. edit. 1683. U-, Mahometism. (/. 335 (A ill} iiisliop Biinu't eit this time, to the di-atii • the c)iant;e of counsi ],- occasiioued.— Hist, of tl; (f) In ihe year 15-11. . at St Antlioliu'-s brouclit matter allcdged : justification l,v {. will, anj aqaiiist /'<;./. 350. QgfTCe The world rather than Christ v/)." Her family and connections were of considerable rank {g) : and, unless I am much mistaken, she herself seemed t j have possessed atone time, some post of honour in the court of queeti Catharine Parr For the wit, delicacy, and good sense, with which she embarrassed the lord mayor of London, bishop Bonner, bishop Gardiner, and others, in the course of her examinations, the reader may consult Strype, Fox, and Burnet. She had been so inhumanly racked, during her imprison- ment, that she lost the use of her limbs, and was forced to be conveyed to Smithfield in a chair. Three persons of the other sex suffered martyrdom at the same time ; and were not a little strengthened in the last stage of their warfare, by the example, prayers, and exhor- tations of this excellent woman : who, notwith- standing, was so weakened and disabled by the brutal hardships of her confinement, that two Serjeants were obliged to support her at the stake, till the fagots were kindled. Amidst" all these outward infirmities, her heaven-born soul continued triumphant and alert. She was filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Her faculties were so entire, and her presence of mind so extraordinary, that, as she stood at the stake, she frequently corrected Shaxton, while he was preaching the execution-sermon, when he advanced any thing contrary to the doctrines of Scripture. Sermon being ended, (which was preached in the open air,) the lord chancellor Wriothesley ofl'ered the King's pardon to the four martyrs, as they stood at their respective stakes, on condition of recantation. They all nobly refused. Not one of them would so much as look at the papers when held out to them. Mrs. Ascough, in particular, answered " I did not come hither to deny my Lord and Master." The lord mayor then gave the word of command, fiat justitiu : and the flames were immediately kin- dled. Thus these blessed martyrs ascended in chariots of fire to Heaven. The spot whereon they were executed was that open part of Smithfield, which lies over against the gate that leads to St. Bartholomew's church. Mrs. Ascough was not 25 years of age (/i). That she believed the doctrines of grace, iMo .489. St-e Strype's Eccles. Memorials, Tol. i. p. 337. {//J In tlie History of Popery, vol. ii. p. 4>ii, apiece of spiritual Poetry is preserved, which was WTitten and sung by Mrs. Ascough, while she lay under sentence of death in Newg ite. Considering it as the production of a Lady, whose constitution was quite broken with suU'erings ; and not forgetting, that it was composed above two hundred and twenty years ago, (riz. A. D. IdiC.) it will reflect tlie reverse of dishonour on the aniialjlc authoress, to insert it here. ; as the armed knight appointed ^ I to the field, fight, and laith shall be my shield Faith is that weapon strong, which will not f;ul at need : My foes therefore among therewith I will proceed. As it had in strength and force of Christ his way BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 121 and experienced theii- power in her own heart, is evident, from the drift, both of the few writ- ings she left behind her, iwid of her religious behaviour in general. I shall, particularly, in- stance this, in the article of final perseverance. In an account of her sufferings, written by herself, after observing that the lord chancellor Wriothesley assisted in torturing her on the rack, with his own hands, till she was almost dead ; and that, after she was taken off from the rack, she sat for near two hours on the bare floor, disputing with the lord chancellor, who vehemently importuned her to renounce the faith : she adds, "But my Lord God, I thank his everlasting goodness, gave me grace to per- servere, and will do, I hope, to the very end.'* Wha% under the pressure of those languishing circumstances, she only expressed an hope of, she shortly after expressed her full assurance of: "I doubt not," said she, " but God will perform his work in me, like a sf e hath begun."t I desire no stronger proof of her Calvinism. Whosoever "doubts not," that the work of grace is of God's beginning, and shall be of God's completing, must either adopt such in- coherencies, as would disgrace the meanest understanding, or be clear in those other articles of the gospel with which these are so intimately and necessarily connected. VIII. I must not forget the eminently learned Doctor Robert Barnes ; of whose con- version, pious Mr. Bilney had been the instru- ment. Lord Cromwell's fall (who was beheaded July 28, 1540.) seems to have involved in it the doom of this illustrious Protestant, who was bdrned for the gospel on the 30th of the same iiionth. Heylin's Arminian pen shall, for the pre- sent, suffice to prove the Calvinism of Dr. Barnes. " It is no marvel," says that virulent Pole- mist, "if we find somewhat in his e. in Barnes's] writings, agreeable to the palate of the Calvinists and rigid Lutherans. From whence it is, that, laying down the doctrine, of predestination, he e. Dr. Barnes] dis- It will prevail at length, tlin' all flio Devils say nay. Faith ill the fathers old to fear no world's distress. and hope bids me do so : for Christ wil. take my part, and ease me of my woe. Thou sayest, Lord, whoso knock, to them wilt thoxi attend : Llndo therefore the lock, and thy strong po^'r down send. More enemies I have, than hairs to crown ray head, Let them not me deprave, but fight thou in my stead. On thee my care I cast , for all their cruel spight : 1 set not by their haste, for thou art niy delight. I am not she that list my anchor to let fall [Vox, ii. Jb8. courseth thus : But yet, sayest thou, that he [God] giceth to the one mercy; and, to the other, none. I answer, what is that to thee ? Is not his mercy his own ? Is it not law- ful for him to give it to whom he will ? Is thine eye evil, because his is good? Take that which is thine, and go tliy way. For, if he will shew his wrath, and make his power known, over the vessels of wrath ordained to damnation ; and to declare the riches of his gloiy, unto the vessels of mercy, which he liaih prepared and elected unto glory ; what hast thou there- with to do ? — But here will subtle blindness say, ' God saw before, that Jacob should do good : he saw also that Esau should do evil ; therefore did he condemn him.' Alas, for blind- ness ! what! will you judge of that which God foresaw? These children being yet unborn, they had done neither good nor bad : and yet one of them is chosen, and the other of them is refused. St. Paul knoweth no other cause, but the will of God ; and will you needs discuss another ? He saith not, I will have mercy on him who I see shall do good ; but, I will shew mercy to whom I will. "God, of his infinite power, lets nothing be exempted from him, but all things to be subject unto his action : and nothing can be done by them, but by his principal motion. So that he worketh in all manner of things, that be either good or bad : not changing their nature," [i. e. God is not the author of sin, as though he changed any thing to bad from good,] "but only moving them to work after their natures, so that good worketh good, and evil worketh evil : and God useth them both as instruments. And yet doth he notliing evil, but evil is done alone through the will of man; God working by him, but not evil, as by an instrument (i)." Old father Heylin, who cties these judicious passages, is not very well pleased with them. He is particulary disgusted with, what he calls, the subtlety in the close thereof : and, because he cannot distil the least drop of Arminianism from these flowers of paraoise, he sagely concludes, that Barnes draws nearer to for every drizzling mist : ray ship's substantial. Not oft use 1 to write, in prose, nor yet in rhj-me : Yet will 1 shew one sight, which I saw in my time; but in her s'tcad"^'was on'e Absorb'd was righteousness, ^ as by a raging llooil ; Suck'd up the guiltless blood. Then thought 1— Jesu, Lord, when thou Shalt judge us all, hard is it to record on these men what will fall. Yet, Lord, 1 thee dtsiie. for what they do to nu-c Let them not taste the hire Of their iaiquitee. (i) Barns, as quoted bv Heylin in his .Miscel. Tr n. 544, 545. t [libd.] 122 JUDGMENT OF EMINENT MARTYRS " the Zuinglians, touching God's working on the will, than possible may be capable of a good [i. e. of an Ai minian] construction." Will the reader permit me to subjoin the testimony of two worthy persons, who suffered for the gospel in Scotland, prior to the Refor- mation ? I ara sensible, that their suffrage does not strictly pertain to the argument of the pre- sent Section. It is not, however, entirely foreign to it ; as martyrs, of all nations, are brethren ; and as it will conduce to demonstrate, that the first Protestants of that country, no less than of our own, were companions in faith as well as in patience. I. Mr. Patrick Hamelton was a person of very illustrious descent; nearly related, both by father's and mother's side, to James V. the then reigning king of Scotland (A). Early in life, he was made Abbot of F'ernie ; and his subsequent preferments would have been very great, had not God opened his eyes, to see the Antichris- tianism of Popery. Making the tour of Germany, he became acquainted with Luther and other learned Protestants ; whose conversation was blessed to the conversion of this excellent man. On his return to his own country, he was very assiduous in communicating to others the spi- ritual light he had received. His sermons were animated with great zeal against the doctrinal coriuptions which then prevailed; and his la- bours were crowned with such success, as alarmed the ruling ecclesiastics ; who, from that time forward, marked him for the shambles. Being cited to answer before James Beton, arch- bishop of St. Andrew's; such was the martyr's courageous zeal, that he made his appearance early in the morning, some hjurs befoie the time appointed. The prelate, and his consistory of bishops and abbots, being totally unable to re- sist the wisdom and spirit with \i hich he asserted the doctrines of Christ, realized the old Popish argument, " you have the word, but we have the sword '' by condemning him on the spot : and, in such haste were they to dispatch him, that he was burned the same afternoon, which was either the last day of February, or the first of Mnrch, 1527- "Learned men," says Mr. Fox, "who communed and reasoned with him, do tesiify, that the follo>viiig are the very ar- ticles foi which he suffered : " 1. Man hath no free-will. " 2. A man is only justified by faith ii> Christ. " 3. A man, so long as he liveth, is not without sin. «•) Burni t's Hist, of the Reform, vol. l. p. -i'Jl. (/, Fnx's A. t- ,111(1 Moa. ii. ls:i. (" III.. Ml ' 1.1, Tits a distill, t article to him- hij/ .111,1 1 Ill, 11,1, Ii „i utliors: Ll'si-, inyOcta?™ would ."v/ell to a Foliu, i liml iiiysi'lf obliged to be supertiiial, in o.'der to be tolerably concise. Vet let me just observe, t.iat Mr. Frith might vie with Calvin, or with Zuing- lius, or even with Luther himself, at :i predestiDariaD. 4. He is not woithy to be called a Chris- tian, who doth not believe that he is in grace. " 5. A good man doth good works ; good works do not make a good man. " 6. An evil man bringeth forth evil works : evil workS) being faithfully repented, do not " 7- Faith, hope, and charity, be so linked together, that one of them cannot be without another, in one man, in this life (/)." In exact conformity with the above articles, part of the sentence of condemnation, pro-, nounced on him immediately after his trial, ran thus : " We, James, by the mercy of God, arch- bishop of St. Andrew's, primate of Scotland ; — have found Master Patrick Hamelton many ways infamed with heresy ; disputing, holding, and maintaining divers heresies of Martin Luther and his followers, repugnant to our faith: — that man hath no free-will: that man is in sin so long as he liveth ; that children, in- continent after baptism, are sinners ; that all Christians, who be worthy to be called Chris- tians, do know that they are in grace ; that no man is justified by works, but by faith only ; that good works make not a good man, but a good man doth make good works ; that faith, hope, and charity, are so knit, that he, who hath one, hath the rest. — With divers other heresies and detestable opinions ; and hath per- sisted so obstinate in the same, that, by no counsel nor persuasion, he may be drawn therefrom to the way of our right faith. — All these premises being considered. We — do pro- nounce, &c. (wi)." This great and holy martyr, who was ex- ecuted in the 2.3d year of his age, drew up a short sketch of Evangelical Divinity, which was afterwards published, with a recommendatory preface, by an eminent martyr of our own country, the learned and pious Mr. John Frith who suffered death, at London, in 1533. The whole of this concise treatise is inserted into Mr. Fox's inestimable Martyrology. An extract from it will, I hope, both please and profit the reader. Mr. Hamelton well knew, that half of our religious mistakes arise from not cleary ascer- taining the dirt'erence between the law and the gospel, and from not exactly distinguishing the true nature of each. This he does, with g-eat judgment and accuracy in the following remarks. "The law saith. Pay thy debt. {riz. the debt of perfect obedience to God). The gospel saith, Christ hath paid it. Heylin affirms, that, in this respect. Frith soared higher than even Mr. Tyndal's penetrating sight could follow : and yet, as I have shev^n in this very Section, I'yndal looked as far into predestination, as most men ever did. But, it scenes, Fritlt could contemplate the gi^^rious lustre of tliat Sun, with a still more acute and less daz- zled eye. No wonder, therefore that Heylin shoiild stare with aflrightnient, at what he terms ** Fritb's liich-flying conceits ot p'edestination." See Heviin' ■\iisc. Tr. p. 544 and ,147. BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 123 "The law saith, thou art a sinner; despair, and thou shall be damned. ' The gospel saith, thy sins are forgiven thee, be of comfort, for tliou shall he saved, " The law saith, make amends for thy sins. The gospel saith, Christ hath made it for thee. " The law saith, the Father of Heaven is angry with thee. The gospel saith, Christ hath pacified him with his blood. " The law saith, where is thy righteousness, goodness, satisfaction ? The gospel saith, Christ is thy righteousness, goodness, and satisfaction. "The law saith, thou art bound [over] to rae, to the Devil, and to Hell. The gospel saitli, Christ hath delivered thee from them all." On the subject of faith, he observes, that this important term signifies, "To believe in Christ, and to believe his word, and to believe that he will help thee in all thy need, and de- liver thee from all evil." He affirms, that " Faith is the gift of God," Vrfhick he thus proves • " Every good thing is the gift of God. "Faith is good. "JErgo, faith is the gift of God." Nor does he stop here ; but immediately adds this consecutory proposition ; " Faith is not in our power." Which he likewise argues syllogistically : " The gift of God is not in our power. " Faith is the gift of God. "Therefore, faith is not in our power." On the doctrine of works, he expresses himself with great perspicuity and strength of reason. " No man," says he, " is justified by the deeds of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Moreover, since Christ, the Maker of Heaven and Earth and all that is therein, behoved to die for us ; we are compelled to grant, that we were so far drowned and sunk in sin, that neither our deeds, nor all the trea- sures that ever God made or might make, could have holpen us out of it. Therefore, no deeds or works [of our own performing] may make us righteous." He then obviates an objection which, he foresaw, either the ignorance or the perverseness of some might possibly alledge : " If works make us neither righteous nor un- righteous, then (thou wilt say) it is no matter what we do. I answer: If thou do evil, it is a sure argument that thou art evil, and wantest faith. If thou do good, it is an argument that thou art good, and hast faith ; for a good tree beareth good fruit, and an evil tree evil fruit. Yet good fruit makes not the tree good, nor evil fruit the tree evil. A man is good, ere he do good deeds ; and evil, ere he do evil deeds. " Whosoever believeth or thinketh to be saved by his works, denieth that Christ is his \0) The description of Mr. Wishart's person, dress, and demeanour, drawn by one who had been his pupil, at Cambridge (for Mr VN'ishart received his education. Saviour. For how is he thy Saviour, if thou mightest save thyself by thy works ? or whereto should he die for thee, if any works [of thine] might have saved thee.' — VVhat is this, to say Christ died for thee? Verily, that thou shouldest [else] have died perpetually ; and that Christ, to deliver thee from death, died for thee, and changed thy perpetual death into his own death. For thou madest the fault, and he suffered the pain : and that for the love he had to thee be- fore thou wast born, when thou hadst done neither good nor evil. Now, seeing he hath paid thy debt, thou needesl not, neither catist thou pay it ; but shouldest be damned, if his blood were not [shed]. But, since he was punished for thee, thou shall not be punished. " I do not say, that we ought to do no good deeds: but I say, we should do no good works to the intent to get the inheritance of Heaven, or remission of sin. For if we believe to get the inheritance of Heaven through good works, then we believe not to get it through the pro- mise of God. Or if we think to get remission of our sins by our deeds, then we believe not that they are forgiven us ; and so we count God a liar. For God saith. Thou shall have the in- heritance of Heaven, for my Son's sake ; thy sins are forgiven thee, for my Son's sake : and you say, it is not so, but I \vill win it through my works. " Thus, you see, I condemn not good deeds, but I condemn the false trust in any works : for, all the works, wherein a man puttefli any confidence, are therewith poisoned, and become evil. "Wherefore, thou must do good works; but beware that thou do them not [with a view] to deserve any good through then(; for, if thou do, thou receivesl the good, not as gifts of God, but as debt to thee, and makest thyself fellow v/ith God, because thou wilt take nothing of him for naught. And so shall thou fall, as Lu- cifer fell for his pride." Is it not astonishing, that so young a man, a native and inhabitant of Scotland, should write with such precision, arid in so masterly a style, almost two hundred and fifty years ago? II. No person, who knows any thing of the Scottish history, can be entirely unacquainted with the character and sufferings of the famous and venerable Mr. George Wishart, who was burned at St. Andrew'sj A. D. J 545. His re- markable history, and the spirit of prophecy with which he more than once proved himself to be endued, are so well known, that I shall enter (o) directly on the ev'idence of his Cal- vinism. On his examination, before the cardinal archbishop of St. Andrew's, he was accused of representing God as the author of sin. " Thou, and spent some years in that UDiversit>), present us with an artless, hut lively, picture of autique simplicity, too singular to be overlooked. " He was a man of tall 124 JUDGMENT OF EMINENT MARTYRS false heretic, saidest, that inan hath no free-will, but is like to the Stoics, who say, that it is not in u.an's will to do any thing; but that all concupiscence and desire cometh by God, what- soever kind it be of (p)." Mr. Wishart in his answer, utterly denied that the doctrine of sal- vation by grace is pregnant with so blas- phemous a consequence : " My lords, I said not so. I say, that as many as believe in Christ firmly, unto them is given liberty ; conformably to the saying in St. John, If the Son make you free, then shall ye verily be free. On the contrary, as many as believe not in Christ Jesus, they are bond-servants of sin. He that sinneth is bound to sin (9).'' What is this, but to say? 1. That man's will is not free to good, until after he is converted to the faith of Christ. 2. That, piior to converMon, and in a state of nature, man cannot but oflend God. 3. That man can only be made free indeed, by the grace of Christ breathing faith into his heart. — If this be not Calvinism, I am at a loss to know what is. A clause, occurring in one of Mr. Wishart's ast supplications to God, shall conclude this Section : " We desire thee heartily, that thou conserve, defend, and help thy congregation which thou hast chosen before the beginning of the world ; and give them thy grace, to hear thy word, and to be thy true servants in this present life (»■)." SECTION XIII. The Judgment of our English Reformers. Very little need be said, to prove the Cal- vinism of those illuminated divines, who were nmde, by Providence, the instruments of ex- tending and fixing the English Ileformation. The whole series of our public service, the uniform tenor of our articles, and the chain of doctrine asserted in each Book of Homilies, are a standing demonstration, that the original framers and compilers believed in, and wor- shipped, the God of their fathers, after that way which Papists and Arminians term heresy. Even Mr. Sellon does not, in his / th page, so much as attempt to call in question the Calvinism of our reformers. Finding himself stature, Ijald-headed, aud on tlu- - iiur 1 m iml I'rcuch cap of thii best ; judgfd (o hv i.l in. toin- plexion, by li.s physiognomy. 111,,. liaii. d. long, bearded, comely ot personage, will spoken, alter Lis country of Scotland, courteous, lowly, lo\ely, glad to teach, desirous to learn, aud was well travelled. Having on hnn, for his habit, or clothing, never but a mantle, or frieze gown to the shcu s ; a black Milan fustian doublet ; plain black hoseii ; 1 i>,ii^' ii< w w in\ass for his shirts ; and white falling )>,m,,'- , m. it his hands. All the whieh apparel li, i v , M,„,r ; some weekly, some monthly, ? ,11 > i. he liked: saving his l-'rrnch cap, win ^ 1m i : j I ., h(de fearing God. 'ai. i li.auL- . nM tiMi^iu ^s : lor rh.iriiy one meal in thrci-, one (lu> 111 tinir. Inr ihe most part; except something to couilbrt nature, lie lay hard. hard drove, he fairly gives up the point : ex- claiming, however, at the same time, that the reformers brought their Calvinism with them from the clmrch of Rome. "Let me tell you," says the angry conceder, "that our first re- formers, in the point of predestination, did say over those lessons which they had learned in the Roman schools." I agree with my adver- sary, in acknowledging, that the reformers were predestinarians ; but I pity his weakness in venturing to assert, on the lame authority of Christopher Potter, that those excellent men imported their doctrine of predestination frome Rome. I have already shewn, that it has, for ages and ages back, been the rulin-j- en- deavour of Popery to stifle, demolish, and exterminate, the whole system of Calvinism, both root and branch. You might as reason- ably affirm, that the glory which beamed from the face of Moses was kindled at Hell-fire ; as insinuate, that we are indebted to Rome for any of our Thirty-nine Articles. Mr. Sellon's concession, however, induces me to offei him a plain query. To what end have you scrib- bled a libel, with a professed view to Armini- anizethe Liturgy, Articles, and Homilies, which you yourself acknowledge to have been com- posed by Calvinistic divines? Can any man in his senses, really believe, that a set of predesti- narians would draw up a plan of national faith and worship on the Arminian model ? Impos- sible. Your quotation, therefore, from Christo- pher Potter, which you have adopted for your own, has stabbed the whole hypothesis of your pamphlet to the very heart. In vain do Messieurs Wesley and Sellon dis- consolately walk arm in arm, round about our established Zion, surveying her walls, and shaking their heads at her bulwarks; but un- able either to find or to make a breach, whereat to enter. Happy would they deem themselves, could they prove that the reformers were Arminians. But, alas! the church of England was settled under King Edward VI. hmg be- fore Arminius himself was born: and after- wards re-settled by Elizabeth, when the same Arminius was an infant in bis cradle. Pelagians were (if I may so phrase it) the Arminians of those times ; and Pelagians are, expressly and by name, branded tor " vain talkers," in the upon a pufl'of straw ; and coarse new canvass sheets which, when lie changed, he gave away. He had commonly by his bed-side, a tub of water ; in the which (his people being in bed, the candle put out, and all quietj, as I being very young, being assured, often heard him ; and, in one light night discerned him. He taught with great modesty and gravity ; so that some of his people thought him severe, and would have slain him : but the Lord was his defence. Aud he, after due correction for their malice, by good ex- hortation amended them, and went his way. His learning was no less sufhcient than his desire : al- ways prest and ready to do good in thft he was able, both in the house privately and in the school publickly ; professing and reading divers authors." See Fox, vol. ii. p. 521. (p) Ibid. S24. (q) Ibid. 5S4. (r) Ibid, ili. BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 125 ninth article. It clearly follows, I. That the oria;inal compilers of the articles were not Pelaiiians. And, 2. That they could not be Arniiiiians : for Armiiiiiis was then unborn and unbegotten (s). Bishop Burnet himself, as I have elsewhere observed, was compelled to grant, That " In Ensjland, the first Reformers were generally Sub-lapsarians (<) : " tacitly admitting, that the rest of those apostolic men were (dreadful news to Mr. Sellon !) Supra-lapsarians (ji). 1 could corroborate this assertion, if need re- quired, from other very plain and conclusive passages, scattered through Burnet's historic writings. Waving, however, at present, the farther testimonies of that prelate, I shall adduce the attestations of two more modern historians : neither of whom can incur the remotest suspicion of leaning toward Cal- vinism. These are, Mr. Tindal, the reverend continuator of Rapine ; and David Hume, Esq ; whose history, considered merely as a compo- sition, does honour to the author and the age. I begin with the former. " In England, a middle course was steered : " [/. e. we admitted the doctrines, but rejected the discipline, of Geneva]. "Though the articles of religion are a plain transcript of St. Austin's doctrine, in the controverted points of original sin, predestination, justifi- cation by faith alone, efficacy of grace, and giiod u oi l n .!,;. ,11, 1 1,1 See Downe's Ln. s ul ilM- ( ,,;up,l. is, \\lr,t 1 shall farther add, I give from an aulhovity iiicumparabiy more decisive and respectable. " Our Church of England," says bishop Stillingfleet, " hath omitted none of those oJiices wherein all the ancient Churches were agreed : til (priniitive]I!ritish or Gallican [CWirch] differed from not follow.-^ taking our .Stillingfleet The (.'allica it, not from Rome the beginning of the tiltli centui been originally franunl by i'o The learned bishop pives a hxTf basis of that no%v esta'bl'isVu d : tonn imposedbytht. Roman bish I present] Church hath' the other. And there- <(mably charge us with e Church of Rome." iiicr, cliap. 4. p. 237.— udy difierent from the ems, into England, in 126 THE JUDGMENT OF OUR this natural question to the reader : Would the En{{lish reformers have established a summary of doctrines " asjreeable to that of the Cal- vinists," if the said reformers had not been Calvinists themselves ? To solve this enquiry, we need only propose another: would such men (for instance) as Pelagius and Arminius, have drawn up such articles, in particular, as the yth, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, and I8th? Let us next attend to the florid and inge- nious Mr. Hume. " The first reformers in England, as in other European countries, had embraced the most rigid tenets of predestina- tion and absolute decrees : and had composed, upon that system, all the articles of their reli- gious creed. But thtse principles having met with opposition, [viz. about sixty years after,] from Arminius and his sectaries, the contro- versy was soon [/. e. soon after the rise of Arminianism in the Dutch provinces, at the period aforesaid] biought into this island, and began here to diffuse itself ()/)." Again : "all the first reformers adopted these principles." viz. the principles of " Absolute deciees (;:)." No wonder, therefore, when the Arininians started up to oppose the ancient faith, that, "Throughout the nation, they laid under the reproach of innovation and heresy. Their protectors were stigmatized ; their tenets canvassed ; their views represented as danger- ous and pernicious '■«)." Hitherto, we have dealt in generals. We lihall now (though so plain a case is far fiom requiring it) de^.cend, briefly to particulars. Those divines, to whom, under God, this kingdom is chiefly indebted for its reformation from Popery, were Wickliff, who laid the basis ; and Craiimer, Ridley, Latimer, Hooper, Martin, Bucer, and I'eter Martyr. Though the two latter were foreigners, yet, as they greatly assisted in that important work, they deser- vedly stand high on the list of English refor- mers, WicUliff's Calvinism has been already proved. I proceed, therefore, to the rest. I. Dr. Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, went as far as he could, or at least as far as he dared, in promoting the Protestant cause, during the last boisterous years of Heni y VIII. For some time after his elevation to the primacy, he was far from di) Hume's H St. of Engl. vol. vi. p. 211.— octavo edit. 1767. (hi ■ ' I \- was not yet convinced of the falsi li, Ml. I .1 I I. -I iiuiiition, but continued a stiff niaintaiuLV nt llu > f\ pmal presence ; as appears from his being unhappily tauicerned in the prosecution of Lambert, who was burnt, Nov. 20, 1538." Downes, ubi snpra, p. 13. (c) In my pamphlet, entitled, The Church of En- gland Vindicated, &r.— Ur. John Ponpt wa.s translated, from Rochester to Wincliester, in 1550. According to Godwin, he was one of the most learned persons of tlie age. Gracam linguam callebat ad amussim, ma. possessing that strong evangelical light, which he afterwards attained. God led him from step to step. He advanced lather slowly, but solidly and surely. He was not (for instance) clear, even as to the manner of Christ's pre- sence in the Eucharist, until after the year 1538 {/)). But the path of the just is alight that shines more and more to the perfect day. His knowledge of divine things was abundantly brighter, when Edward VI. ascended the throne in 1547. The famous catechism, ascribed to bishop Ponet, and of which I have elsewhere (c) given an account, received the sanction of Cranmer's own subscription. We must, therefore, admit, either that Cranmer was as absolute a predestinarian as Calvin himself ; or charge the venerable archbishop with such extreme dissimulation and hypocrisy, as are utterly incompatible with common ho- nesty. For, this catechism (as I have shewn in my tract referred to below) asserted the doctrines of predestination, eflBcacious grace, free justification, and final perseverance, in the fullest, strongest, and most explicit terms : and, if solemn subscription to so strict a test be not a sufficient proof of a man's real belief, all integrity and social confidence are at an end. That Cranmer actually did set his hand to it, appears from the unexceptionable tes- timony of his brother-bishop and brother martyr. Dr. Rid ey. " A catechism," says Mr. Strype, " for the instruction of children in the fundamentals of true religion, passed the same synod [viz the synod of 1552]: but who was the author, was not known in those days. Bishop Ridley was charged to be the author and publisher thereof, by Ward and Weston, in the disputa- tion with him [held, in the succeeding reign of Mary, prior to his martyrdom] at Oxford. Ridley declared he was not: but confessed, that he saw the book, perused it after it was made, and noted many things for it ; and so consented to the book. Weston then told Ridley, that he [viz. Ridley], being then a bishop in his ruff, had made him [/. e. had made Weston] subscribe it. But Ridley re- plied, he [had] compelled no man to subscribe : indeed, he [himself] had set his hand to it, and so did Cranmer; and that then it [i. e. the catechism] was given to others of the con- thematicarum porr6 scientiarum ad ntiraculum usque peritds i. e. a most masterly Gnecian, and a pro- digy for his skill in mathematics. He excelled also in the mechanic part of Philosophy : witness the cnnous clock, which he constructed for the use of Henry VIII. It not only pointed to the hours, and to the day of the mouth ; but shewed the lunar variations, to- gether with the ebbing and flowing of the sea. While Eaward VI. lived (who had loved him from his earliest childhood, and had reapi d much benefit from his ser- mons) the good bishop enjoyed an uninterrupted se- ries of honours and repose. But on the .iccession of Mary, he retired to Germany, where he died at Strasburgh, August 11, 1556, aged only 40 years. Vide Godwin. De Prieful. Angl. p. 237. 238. ENGLISH REFORMERS. 127 vocation to set their hands, but without compul- sion (rf)." Tliis passage merits a remark or two. I. The catechism abovementioned (by some called King Edward's Catechism ; by some, oishop (c) Ponet's ; by others. Dr. Alexander Nowel's, because afterwards enlarged and re- published by that learned dean, in the reign of IClizabeth) was approved and passed by a pub- lic synod, held at London, under the express warrant of king Edward himself. 2. The synod which approved, passed, and subscribed this catechism, was the self-same synod, or convo- cation, which proved, passed, and subscribed the book of articles {/) : though the latter were not published until the summer following. Consequently, 3. The Church of England is indebted for those articles which at this day are subscribed by her clergy, to the care and piety of that very synod, who publicly and solemnly set their seal to that catechism. 4. The catechism being fraught with the highest Cal- vinism, they who subscribed it (and Cranmer among the rest,) were either temporizing hy- pocrites, or sincere Calvinists. 5. Bishop Ridley evidently had a hand in compiling it: witness his own words, already quoted, testifying that he had " noted many things for it ?" i. e. in modern language, he had furnished some hints towards the materials out of which it had been framed. G. He owned and assented to the con- tents of it, in the face of the Popish court at Oxford, by whom he was tried and condemned to the flames. 7. From what passed on that occasion, it is conspicuous, that nothing gives the Church of Rome so much ofi'ence as the Calvinistic doctrines asserted in that Protes- tant catechism : Mr. Sellon, therefore, is prodi- giously mistaken, in affirming, that, as Predes- tinarians, " Our reformers did only say over again those lessons which they had learned in the Romish schools." 8. The use of this catechism was enjoined by the united authority of Church and State. Both the synod and the (rf) Strvpe's Eccles. Memorials, vol. ii. p. .S06. (c) Mr. Strype believed, tliat Dr. Alexander Nowel had the cliiL-f hand in framing this catechism. I suppose it is on the authority of bishop Bale, that it is sometimus singly attributed to Dr. Ponet- Possibly Ponet migiit (iit,'est and throw it into form. But its rough materials were, most probably, furnished by the joint care of the reformers in general, and of Cranmer in particular, who was one of the prime agents, in every thing that related to religion during this whole reign. (/) " While the parliament was sitting this win- ter, a synod also was held, wherein was framed and concluded a book of articles of religion, purified and reformed from the errors of Popery and other sects;— for the avoiding of controversy ill opinions, and the establishment of a godly concord in certain matters of religion. A catechism, for the instruction of childem in tlie foundamentals of true religion, passed the said syniid." .Strype ; lit siij/ra. Dr. Fuller also ascribes the catechism to the same person who drew up the articles : /. c to the refor- mers themselves. " With these " [/. c with the articles of religion agreed upon in convocation,] " wns bound a catechism, younger in age fas bearing date of the next year,) but of the same extraction, (relat- ing to this convocation.] as author thereof." Where king's privy council concurred in giving it their sanction. " In May, the next year," says Strype, "viz. 1.5.53, the council sent their letters abroad in behalf of this catechism, enjuining it to de taught to scholars, as the ground and founda- tion of their [religion*] learning; as it is ex- pressed in the Warrajit Book ^r)." Whence it is evident 9. That the reformers and Protes- tant clergy of England considered the belief of predestination, and its relative doctrines, as es- sential and fundamental to the very existence of Christianity itself. 10. The injunctions of the council respecting this catechism were issued at the same time that the articles themselves were published, viz. in May, 1553. The cat- echism, therefore, was designed as a larger display of those evangelical principles, which were virtually, but more briefly, contained in the articles. The reason is evident. The ar- ticles were intended for the clergy, who were supposed not to need so extended and minute a detail of doctrine : a compendious suannary would, to them, answer the end, full as well. But the case was judged to be different with the laity of that time. It seemed necessary, that the Church articles should be explained to them in a more particular and expanded man- ner ; esoecially, to young persons : and there- fore the catechism was enjoined, as a kind of familiar and copious elucidation of the articles comprized in a narrower compass. The articles were (if I may so speak) the text : the cate- chism was the commentary. Peter He^lin's concession, in favour of this catechism, is very observable. " For my part," says that Arminian, " I can see no possible in- convenience which can follow on it, in yield- ing so far as to admit the passages befor reci- ted," [viz. the passages cited by Prynne from the said catchisra, which happened to be the very same passasies which I too shall presently cite from it in this Section] " to be fully con- sonant to the true, genuine sense and proper let it be ol)served, that the reformers resided per. sonally in this convocation, and were the very life and movers of all that was acted in it.— Fuller goes on : " indeed it [riz. the catechism] was first compiled (as appears by the King's Latent prefixed) by a single divine, charactered ' pious and learned : ' bu* afterwards perused and allowed by the bishops, and other learned men, &c. and by royal authority com- manded to all subjects, (and) commanded to all school- masters to teach it their scholars." Fuller's Church. Hist, book 7. p. 421.— The " single divine," charactered, in the King's patent, as " pious and learned ; " was probably, bishop Ponet ; to whom the care of revising and methodizing the catechism seems to have been committed : and whom Heylin himself cnaracteriies as " an excellent Graician, well-studied with the an- cient fathers, and one of the ablest mathematicians which those times produced." Heylin also observes, concerning the catechism itself, that it was " bound up with the book of articles, countenanced by the King's letters patent piefixed before it, approved by many bishops and learned men, and generally voiced to be another of the products of this convocation : * though himself, for reasons sufficiently obvious, aft'ects to doubt of the latter circumstance. Misc. Tracts, p. 5.51. 553. (g) J bid. p. 369. THE JUDGMENT OF OUR meaning of all, but more especially of our 9th, 10th, lJ3th, 16th and 17th articles, then newly comi)osed. So that whatsoever is positively and clearly affirmed in this catechism, of any of tl>e points now controverted, may be safely implied as the undoubted doctrine of our Church and articles (/i)." The sum of all, so far as concerns Cranmer, is ; that, if he was an honest man (which I see no reason to suspect), he must have been, what Arminians would now call, a rigid jiredestina- rian. Nor is this alternative limited to that good archbishop. It holds equally true of all and every divine, who had any hand in our ex- cellent reformation. As my former Vindication of the Church of England, from the Charge of Arminianisni, has been long out of print ; an extract from the above celebrated catechism, though already given in that pamphlet, seems due to the rea- ders of this ; and the rather, as Mr. Sellon has been so indecently rash as to affirm (p. 53) that this va'uable monument of good old Church - doctrine " does not contain much more sound divinity than the old Koran of Ma- homet." Whether Cranmer, and those other excellent men, who were the fathers of our English reformation, deserve the name of Ma- hometans, with which this ignorant, foul- mouthed writer dares to brand their venerable memories, will best appear, from the following passa;;es which occur in the catecliism itself. The speakers are supposed to be master and scholar. " As many as are in this faith stedfast, were fore- chosen, predestinated, and appointed to everlasting life, before the world was made. " Witness hereof, they have within their hearts the spirit of Christ, the author, earnest, and unfailable pledge of their faith. Which faith only is able to peiceive the mysteries of God ; only brings peace unto the heart ; only taketh hold on the righteousness which is in Christ Jesus. " Master. Doth then the spirit alone, and faith (sleepe we never so securely, or stand we never so rechless or slouthful), so worke all things for us, as without any belpe of otu' owne, to carry us idle up to Meaven ? " Scfiol. I use, Master, as you have taught me, to make a difference between the cause and the effect. The first, principal, and most proper cause of our justification and salvation. Is the goodness and love of God, whereby he chose us for his, before he made the world, ^fter that, God granteth us to be called, by the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, when the Spirit of the Lord is poured into us : by whose guiding and governance we be led to settle our trust in God, and hope for the per- formance of his promise. — From the same Spirit also Cometh our sanctification ; the love of God and of our neighbour ; justice, andupright- nesse of life Finally, to say all in summe : (/;) Hejlia's Mi; Whatever is in us, or may be done of us, honest, pure true, and good ; it altogether springeth out of this most pleasant rocke, from this most plentiful fountain, the goodness, love, choice, and unchangeable purpose of God. He is the cause : the rest are the fruits and effects. " Yet are also the goodnesse, choice, and Spirit of God, and Christ hiraselfe, causes, con- joinde and coupled each with other; whiche may be reckoned among the principal causes of salvation. As oft, therefore, as we use to say, that we are made righteous, and saved, by faith only ; it is meant thereby, that faith, or rather trust, alone, doth lay hand upon, under- stand, and perceive our righteous-making to be given us of God freely, that is to say, by no deserts of our own, but by the free grace of the Almighty Father. Moreover, faith doth ingender in us love of our neighbour, and such workes as God is pleased withall ; for, if it be a lively and true faith, quickened by the Holy Ghost, she is the mother of all good saying and doing. " By this short tale it is evident, whence, and by what means we attained to be righteous. For, not by the worthiness of our deservings, were we either heretofore chosen, or long agoe saved ; but by the only mercy of God, and pure grace of Christ our Lord : whereby we were, in him, made to doe these good workes, that God had appointed for us to walke in. And although good works cannot deserve to make us righteous before God, yet do they so cleave unto faith, that neither faith can be found without them, nor good workes be any where found without faith. " Immortality and blessed life God hath provided for his chosen, before the foundations of the world were laid. " As for the sacrifices, cleansings, wash- ings, and other ceremonies of the law ; they were shadows, types, images, and figures, of the true and eternal sacrifice that Jesus Christ made upon the crosse ; by whose benefit alone, all the sinnes of all beleevers, from the begin- ning of the world, are pardoned by the sole mercy of God, and not by any merits of their owne. " As soon as ever Adam and Eve had eaten of the foi bidden fruit, they both dyed: that is, they were not only liable to the death of the body, but they likewise lost the life of the soule, which is righteousnesse. And forth- with the dinne image is obscured in them, and those lineaments of righteousnesse, holi- nesse, truth, and knowledge of God, which were exceeding comely, «ere disordered, and almost obliterated. The terrene image only re- mained ; coupled with unrighteousnesse, fraud, carnal affections, and grosse ignorance of divine and heavenly things. From thence, also, proceeded the infirmity of our flesh. From thence, that coiruption and confusion of the c. Tracts, p. 585. ENGLISH REFORMERS. nffections and desires. Hence, thiit plii^jiie, htnce thai seminary and nutriment of all sinne, with which inankinde is infected wiru li is called original sinne. Moreover, nature is so depra- ved and cast downe, that unlesse the good- ness and mercy of Almighty God had helped us by the medicine of grace, as in body we are thrust downe into all the miserys of death, so it was [/'. e. it would have been] necessary that all men of all sorts should be cast into eternal torments, and fire which cannot bee <)uenched. " The Holy Ghost is called holy, not onely for his owne holinesse, but because the elect of God are made holy by him. The Church, is the company of those who are called to eterniil life by the Holy Ghost, by whom she is guided and governed : which, since she can- not he understood by the light of sense or nature, is justly placed among the number of those things which are to be beleeved. And it [i. e. the church] is therefore called the Catholicke, that is, the universal assembly of the faithful ; because it is not tied to any cer- taine place " From the above extracts, an idea may be formed of the doctrines, which Cranmer, and his fellow-reformers, and the members of the church of England, maintained in those days of I'rjtestant purity. In such '".gh estimation was this evangelical catechism held, that king Edward himself honoured it with a prefatory epistle (dated at Greenwich, May 20.) " Com- manding and charging all schoolmasters what- soever, within his dominions, as they did re- verence his authority, and as they would avoid his royal displeasure, to teach this catechism, diligently and carefully, in all and every their schools : that so, the youth of the kingdome might be settled in the grounds of true reli- gion, and furthered in God's worship." Add to this, that it was not only published in English, and annexed to the church-articles, for the in- struction of the King's own subjects ; but also in Latin, that foreigners might, with the more certainty, judge for themselves, and see, with their own eyes, what were the genuine and authentic doctrines of our reformed church. Archbishop Craiimer's Calvinism did not expire with the reign of king Edward. The great and good prelate had, it seems, soon after tlie accession of Mary, been falsely accused of temporizing in some religious matters, with a view to ingratiate himself with the new Popish Queen. This he courageously disproved, in a printed paper, to which he set his name ; and wherein, among others, is the following remark- (i) Fox, vol. iii. p.7r. (*) Dr. Edwards cites a passage from this re- nowned archbishop which may serve to confinn the Rcneral tenor of the evidences already prnducetl In words, it seems, occur : " Onr Savinvir Christ, accord- ing to the will of his eternal Father, whi n the ;ir e tliereof was fully accomplished, taking ouruuture upon able paragr.ipli • " And although many, either unlearned or malicious, do report that I\lr. Peter Martyr is uTilearned ; yet, if the Queen's highness will grant thereunto, 1, with the said Mr. Peter Martyr, and other four or five, which I shall cliiise, will, by God's grace, take upon us to defend, not only the common prayers of the church, the ministration of the Sacraments, and other rites and ceremonies, but also all the docti ine and religion set out by our soveieign loid, king Edward VI., to he more pure and according to God's word than any other that hath been used in England the. pardon and full remission of sins to all liis elected See _i:d card's Veritas Redux, p. aiO. O) Burnet's Hist of the Relorui. vol. ii, p. 2SW. 130 THE JUDGMENT OF OUR I shall oespn with a general, but a very deci- sive proof of it ; I mean the extreme venera- tion, in which, to the end of his life, he held that excellent catechism of the church of England, published in 1553. The abstracts from it, which have been already laid before the reader, demonstrate that it was drawn up in the highest strains of Calvinism. The two following passages, written by bishop Ridley, during his imprisonment, and just before his martyrdom, v/ill, consequently, demonstrate him to have been a very high Calvinist. " Fi- nally, I hear say, that the catechism, which was lately set forth in the English tongue, is now [viz. after the restoration of Popery, by queen Mary] in eveiy pulpit condemned. Oh, devilish malice ! and most spitefully inju- rious to the redemption of mankind purchased by Jesus Christ! Indeed, Satan could not long suffer that so great light should be spread abroad in the world fnj." In his admirable farewell-letter to his relations, he observes, that, while Protestantism flourished under pious king Edward, " the church of England had, through the infinite goodness and abun- dant grace of Almighty God, gieat riches of heavenly treasure ; great plenty of God's true, sincere word ; the true and wholesome ad- ministration of Christ's holy sacraments; the whole profession of Christ's religion, truly and plainly set forth in baptism ; the plain de- claration and understanding of the same, taught in the holy catechism, to have been learned of all true christians (o)." Another general proof of Ridley's sound- ness in the faith may be taken from the pa- thetic anguish with which he lamented the abolition of the Homilies and Articles. The church of England, says he, "had also holy and wholesome Homilies, in commendation of the principal virtues. She had, in matters of controversy, articles so penned and framed after the holy Scriptures, and grounded upon the true understanding of God's word, that, in short lime, if they had been universally re- ceived, they would have been able to have set in Christ's true religion, and to have expelled many false errors and heresies. But alas! I may well cry out, O God, the heathens are come into thy heritage : they have defiled thy holy temple and made Jerusalem a heap of stones. These thieves [meaning the Pa- pists, superinduced by queen jNlary] be of Samaria. These Sabeans and ChaldeanS) these robbers (T^J have rushed out of their dens, and robbed the church of England of all the fore- (/!) Fox, ihid. p. 3/2. (o) Fos, ibid. p. 432. ( p ) Would to God, that the present age afforded none of these ! No Protestant Sabeans, no Samaritans in crape ! who even while they depriye their main- teiiance from the breasts of the church seek to rob lie.- of her choicest Holy treasure,'* the doctrines triiich are her crown of glory. — The dortri-ies which the robbers themselves kneeling at G d's altar have solemnly vowed to maintain — The doctrines to which they have also deliberately affixed the subscription of the hand— The doctrines, to which they have not cnly su)>scrit>ed and vowed at the time of their ordi- said holy treasure of God Cq)," viz. of her catechism, liturgy, homilies and articles. Thus did this plaintive nightingale warble forth his woes. Thus did he hang his harp upon the willows, and mourn over the ruins of Zion. — Blessed be God, there were mercies in reserve for this kingdom, which the weep- ing martyr little imagined, and which soon re- versed the face of things. Ridley was exe- cuted, October 16, 1555. On the 17th of November, 165S queen Mary went to give an account of her butcheries to God ; and Eliza- beth mounted the throne. The above general evidences of bishop Rid- ley's principles are extremely strong and conclusive. I shall, however, lay before the reader some farther proofs still more explicit and particular. The doctrine of election, or predestination to life, appears to have been a favouiite article with this eminent servant of God. Making mention of bishop Farrar, bishop Hooper, Mr. Rogers, and others, who had lately poured out their souls unto death for the testimony of Christ ; he observes, these " were burned at Smithfield in London, with many others in Essex and Kent : whose names are written in the book of life fr)." Again : "I doubt not in the infinite goodness of my Lord God, nor in the faithful fellowship of his elect and chosen people fsj." His definition of the true invisible church is not a little remarkable : by the church of England, says Ridley, " I mean, the congregation of the true chosen children of God in this realm of England : whom I ac- knowledge, not only to be my neighbours, but rather the congregation of my spiritual breth- ren and sisters in Christ ; yea, members of one body, wherein, by God's grace, I am and have been grafted in Christ {fj." In his pathe- tic "farewell to all afflicted for the gospel,'' he thus concludes : "farewell, farewell, O ve, the whole and universal congregation of the chosen of God, here living upon earth ; the true Church Militant of Christ ; the true mystical body of Christ; the very household and family of God, and the sacred temple of the Holy Ghost; farewell! Farewell, O thou little flock of the high, heavenly pastors of Christ: For to thee it hath pleased the heavenly Father to give an everlasting and eternal kingdom. — Fare- well, thou spiritual house of God, thou holy and royal priesthood, thou chosen generation, thou holy nation, thou won spouse ; farewell farewell 00" God's election of his people is founded on nation, but ratified both vow and subscription by immediately receiving the symbols of Chrisrs precious body and blood as a seal to the whole !— If incontesta- ble fact did not compel us to the contrary, we could hardly believe it possible for the utmost depravity of human nature to aim at the subversion of a Church which the intentional subverters axe tied by snch • chain of engagements to support- (?) Fos./dfrf. p. 432. (r) See Fox, iii. p. 374. (>-) fbid. p. 432, (I) Ibid. p. 432. 'u) Ibid. p. 439, LNGLISH REFORMERS. his free love to them from everlasting. This love is unalterable and perpetual. Whence the following just observation of Ridley : " In all ages, Gud halh had his own manner, after his secret and unsearchable wisdom, to use his elect, sometimes to deliver them, and to keep them safe ; and sometimes to sutter them to drink of Christ's cup, i. e. to feel the smart and to feel the whip. And though the flesh smarteth at the one, and feeleth ease at the other ; is glad of the one, and sore ve.Ked in the other; yet the Lord is all one toward them, in both : and loveth them no less when he suffereth them to be beaten : yea, and to be put to bodily death, then when he worketh wonders for their marvellous delivery. — This his love toward them, howsoever the world doth judge of it, is all one. He loved as well Peter and Paul, when (after they had, accord- ing to his blessed will, pleasure, and providence, finished their courses, and done their services appointed them by him, here, in preaching of his gospel) the one was beheaded, and the other was hanged or crucified by the cruel tyrant Nero ; as when he sent |his angel to bring Peter out of prison, and [as when] for Paul's delivery he made all he doors of the prison to fly wide open (.i)." As Ridley thus believed the love, with which God embraces his people, to be un- changeably and for ever the same, amidst all the varying dispensations of Providence; he must, by virtue of that principle, have likewise believed the final perseverance of those who are thus loved and chosen. According to him, perseverance is the special gift of God : " I wish you grace in God," says he, " and love of the truth : without which, truly established in mens' hearts by the mighty hand of the Almighty God, it is no more possible to stand by the truth in time of trouble, than it is for wax to abide the heat of the fire (z)." Om- nipotent grace being the only root of persever- ance, the martyr cannot help bieaUiiig out, elsewhere, into tiiis pious exclamation 1 " Well is he, that ever he was born, forwboni thus graciously God hath provided 1 having grace of God, and strength of the Holy Ghost, to stand stedfastly in the height of the storm ! happy is he, that ever he was born, whom God, his heavenly Father, has vouchsafed to appoint to glorify him, and to edify his church, by the effusion of his blood (a) ! " It was an essential branch o f Ridley's Theology, that this great gift of perseverance (x) Ibid. 446. (z) Ihid. 372. (o) Ihid. 446.— To the saine effect he speaks in his conference witli Latimer : " The number," says Kidley, " of the criers under the altar must needs be fulblled ; if we be secrerated thereto, happy be we. It is the greatest promotion that God giveth in tliis world,, to be sucli IMiilip]jiaus, to whom it is given not only to believe, but also to sulVer. But who his able to do these things " [viz. to believe in Christ, and to •uffer for hia s^ike !] Surely, all our ability, all our •ulficiency is of God. He requireth, and promiseth " is vouchsafed to all the elect. " The Father," says he, " who guides them that be Christ's to Christ, is more niii^lity than all they, [i. e. than all the persecutors of his people ] and no man is able to pull them \i. e. to pull those who belong to Christ] out of the Father's hands (4)."— What a strong affiance in this grand article, do his following words display ! " Blessed be God, who has given you a manly courage, and hath so stiengthened you in the inward man, by the power of his spirit, that you can contenm, as well all the terrors, as also the vain lia.teries and allurements, of the world : esteeming them as vanities, meie trifles, and things of nought. Wlio hath also wrought, planted, and surely establislied, in your hearts, so stedlast a faitli and love of the Lord Jesus Christ ; joined with such ccnistancy, that, by no engines of antichrist, be they never so terrible or plausible, ye will sutler any other Jesus, or any other Christ, to be forced u|ion you, besides him, whom the Prophets have spoken of (c)." — He that is in us is stronger than he that is in the world : and the Lord promiseth unto us, that, for the elects' sake, the days of wickedness shall be shortened {d)." "Ye, therefore, my brethren, who pertain unto Christ, and have the seal of God marked in your foreheads ; that is, to wit, who are sealed with the earnest of the spirit to be a peculiar people of God ; quit yourselves like men, and be strong. Ye know, that all that is born of God, overcometh the world : and this is our victory that oveicometh the world, even our faith. Let the world fret, let it rage never so much, no tnan can take us out of the Father's hands, for he is greater than all. — Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect ! It is God that justitieth ; who then shall condemn ? — Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ? — We are certainly persuaded, with St. Paul, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that no kind of thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Chiist Jesus our Lord (?)." 1 shall cite him but once more on the head of perseverance : " I consider the subtleties of Satan, and how he is able, by his false per- sua.sions, to deceive, if it were possible, even the chosen of God (/)." Ridley's view of Providence was equally Calvinistic. "Know ye, that the heavenly Father hath even a gracious eye and respect toward you, and a fatherly provision for you : so that, without his knowledge and permission. [i. c. he promises to work in us the duties and graces he requires of us] — " Pray for ine ; pray for nu- ; I say, pray for me. For 1 am sometimes so fearful, that I would creep into a mouse-bole. Sometimes, God doth visit me again with his comfort. So he comefh and goelh, to teach me to feel and to know my inhi mity ; to the intent to give thanks to him that is worthy ; lest 1 should rob him of his due, as many do, and abnost all the worlj," Fox, Ibid. p. :)08. (b) Ihid. p. 370. (t) Ibid. 371. {d^ Ibid. (t) Ibid. -ATI. (/) ihid. 4-12. K 2 132 THE JUDGMENT OF OUR nothing can do you harm. Let us therefore cast all our care upon him, and he shall pro- vide that which shall he best for us. For if, of two small sparrows, which both are sold for a mite, one of them lighteth not on the ground without your Father, and all the hairs of our heads are numbered ; fear not, saith our master Christ, for ye are of more value than many small sparrows (g)-" His doctrine, concerning the necessity and efficacy of divine influence, may he learned from that striking prayer of his : " The Lord vouchsafe to open the eyes of the blind, with the light of grace ; that they may see, and per- ceive, and understand the words of God, after the mind of his spirit (/i)-" And that he supposed redemption to be limited to a certain number, the following passage clearly evinces : "The death and passion of Christ our Saviour was, and is, the one, only, sufficient, and ever- lasting available sacrifice, satisfactory for all the elect of God, from Adam, the first, to the last that shall be born in the end of the world (i)." So much for the doctrine of this great man. A word or two, concerning his general character, and usual manner of living, may not be unacceptable to the reader. He was born in that part of Northumber- land, called Tynedale, near the borders of Scotland ; and received the finishings of his education, partly at Paris, and partly at Cambridge. " His behaviour," say the com- pilers of his article in the Biographical Dictionary, " was very obliging, and very pious ; without hypocrisy, or m(mkish auste- rity : for, very often, he would shoot in the bow, and play at tennis ; and was eminent for the great charities he bestowed (A)." While he resided on his vicarage of Herne, in Kent, Providence directed him to the perusal of Bertram's celebrated Treatise on the Lord's Supper, written about seven hundred years before (/): which effectually convinced him of the falsehood and absurdity of transubstantia- tion. By his acquaintance with Cranmer, and other excellent men of that time ; and, above all, by his unwearied application to the Holy Scriptures ; his eyes were farther and farther opened : and he settled by degrees into aconsistent, evangelical Protestant. Afterhis appointment to the see of London, his exal- tation only served to render him more humble, affable, and useful. Nothing could exceed the tenderness and respect with which he treated Mrs. Bonner, mother to his predecessor the superseded bishop of London. " Bishop (gl Ihid. 437. ill) lliid. 44.'). (i) Ibid. 440. (*) Biog. Diet. vol. xii. p. 304. (/) Bertram, or Ratramus, was contemporary with Cotteschalc. (m) See Fox, iii. 360. (j!) Biogr. Diet. vol. xii. p. 306. (0) He was a person small in stature, but great in earning : and profoundly read in divinity. His tine ^larts, and hia great improvements in all the branches Ridley, being at his manor of Fulham, always sent tor this Mrs. Bonner (who lived in a house adjoining) to dinner and supper ; with one Mrs. Mungey, bishop Bonner's sister: saying. Go for my mother Bonner. He al- ways placed her at the head of his table, evett though any of the king's council were pre- sent (m)." " His mode of life was, as soon as he had risen and dressed, to continue in private prayer foi half an hour. He then retired to his study, till ten : at which time he went, with his family, to common prayer : and, every d.'iy, read a lecture to them. After prayers, he adjourned to dinner ; where his conversa- tion was, always, wise and discreet ; some- times, merry and cheerful. This conversation he would indulge for an hour after dinner, or else, in playing at chess. The hour for un- bending being expired, he returned to his study, where he continued till five; except suitors, or business abroad, otherwise re- quired. Then he went to common prayers in the evening : and, after supper, having diverted himself another hour as before, he re- turned to his study, where he continued till eleven at night. From thence, going apart to private prayer, he retired to bed : where he, and his household (made virtuous by his ex- ample and instruction) enjoyed the sweet re- pose of a day well spent. A little before king Edward died, he was nominated to the bishop- ric of Durham. But, great as the honours were, which he received, and were intended him ; the highest were reserved for him under queen Mary : which were, to be a pri- soner for the gospel, a confessor of Christ in bonds, and a martyr for his truth (h)." He was esteemed the most learned of all the English reformers : and was inferior to none of them in piety, sanctity, and clearness of evangelical light (o). His doctrinal system was, as I have already shewn, formed entirely on the plan of Scripture ; to which sacred volume his love and attachment were inexpres- sible. " In a walk in the orchard at Pembroke Hall (Cambridge), which is to this day called Ridley's Walk, he got by heart almost all the epistles in Greek (/j).'' To this circumstance, himself alludes, in the following passage, writ- ten a little before his martyrdom : " Farewell, Pembroke Hall, of late my own college, my cure and my charge. What case thou art in now, God knoweth : I know not well. Thou wast ever named, since I knew thee, which is not thirty years ago, to be studious, well learn- ed, and a great setter forth of Christ's gospel, of literature necessary to a divine, gave him the first rank iu his profession ; and his life was answerable to bis knowledge. He had a hand in compiling the Common- Prayer Book ; and of all, who served at the altar of the Church of England, he bore, perhaps, the most useful testimony, both in life and death to her doctrine." Rolfs Lives of the Reformers, p. IT* (p) Ibid. p. 305. ENGLISH REFORMERS. 133 Md of God's true word. So I found thee, and blessed be God, so I left thee, indeed. Woe is ine for thee, my own dear college, if ever thou suflTer thyself by any means to be brought from that trade. In thy orchard (the walls, butts, and trees, if they could speak, would bear me witness) I learned without book almost all St. Paul's Epistles : yea, and, I ween, all the ca- nonical epistles, save only the Apocalypse. Of which study, though in time a great part did depart from me, yet the sweet scent thereof, I trust, I shall carry with me into Heaven. The profit thereof, I think, I have felt in all my life-time ever after {q)." Were more of our modern divines thus intimately versed in the book of God, the Church of England would not be in such danger from the Arminianism of some who call themselves her sons. III. Mr. Hugh Latimer, son.» time bishop of Worcester, was another of our reformers and martyrs. Though he did by no means shine as a scholar, but appears to have been lather deficient in human learning ; he was, nevertheless, conspicuous for his piety, zeal, and undisguised simplicity. His talents, as a preacher, were plain; and not unpopular. His sermons, more practical than speculative (r) were chiefly calculated to expose the reigning immoralities of that age, in a style (though he often preached at court) altogether suited to the capacities of the vulgar and the unlettered. But the coarse sounding of Latimer's ram's- horn was, perhaps, as useful to the common people, as the softer music of the silver trum- pet modulated by Cranmer, Ridley, and the other reformers, was to the learned and polite. Though we must not always expect to find iti the discourses of Latimer, that exactness of logical accuracy, and that strictness of sys- tematic harmony, which mark the performances of more accomplished divines ; still we shall be sure to meet with genuine signatures of a gracious heart, and with lively vestiges of the knowledge that comes from above. And, not- withstanding the Arn\inians affect to claim this reformer for their own, the absolute want of truth, on which that claim is founded, will abun- dantly appear from the many striking and decisive passages, which I shall shortly lay be- fore the reader. Before I produce those passages themselves, permit me, as usual, to premise a general ob- servation, in favour of our martyr's Calvinism. I mean the terms of respect and affection, in which he mentions the names of Austin, Luther, and Peter Martyr, who were all strenuous champions for absolute predestination. St. (q) Fox, iii. 434. (r) His zual and sincerity inspired him with figures of speech, to which learning and study cannot rise. His discourses were directed, rather to the leformation of manners, than to the controversies of religion. In short, Latimer, with a moderate share of teaming and ab'ilities, was a much greater man, a much better Christian, and a much worthier bishop. Austin, whom Mr. Sellon ignorantly and abu- sively styles " The great and giddy apostle of the Calvinists ;" this same St. Austin is called, by Latimer, " A good Christian, and a defender of Christ's religion and of the faith (i)." — Mr. Sellon terms Luther " A weather-cock :" but Latimer terms him, "That wonderful instrument of God, through whom God hath opened the light of his holy word unto the world (<).'' — Nor does Latimer speak less respectfully of Peter Martyr : " There are yet among us," said he, in a sermon preached before king Edward, " two great learned men, Peter Martyr, and Bernard Ochi- nus, which have an hundred marks apiece: I would the King would bestow a thousand pounds on that sort («)•" The hand likewise, which Latimer had in drawing up the first part of our book of Homi- lies, must be considered as a loud and standing evidence of his Calvinism. He had resigned his bishopric (which he never afterwards re- sumed), about seven years before the death of Henry VIII. on the passing of the six arti- cles (!«) : and, about a twelvemonth after, was committed prisoner to the tower ; where he lay till the accession of Edward VI. On his release, " he accepted an invitation from his friend archbishop Cranmer, and took up his residence at Lambeth : where he assisted the archbishop in composing the Homilies, which were set forth by authority in the first year of king Edward {x)." These homilies are still a part of our ecclesiastical establishment. Let any man but read them ; and then doubt if he can, whether the composers were not Cal- vinist ; !. e. Anti-Pelagians ; for, at that time, and long after, the very name of Arminians was utterly unknown. Now for some particular proofs of Latimer's orthodoxy. In producing these, I shall begin, (1) With what he advances concerning election, or predestination unto life. " Cursed be he that doth the work of God negligently, or guilefully. A sore word for them, [i. e. for those ministers] that are negligent in discharging their office, or have done it fraudu- lently : for that is the thing that maketh the people ill. But true it must be, that Christ saith ; Many are called, but few are chosen (;/)." " Some will say, now, why need we preachers then ? God can save his elect with- out preachers ? A goodly reason ! God can save my life, without meat and drink : need I none therefore ? God can save me from burning, if 1 were in the fire : shall I run into it therefore ? No, no. I must keep the way that God hath than many of his order, who have shone with a more conspicuous figure." Rolt, p. 174. {s) Latimer's Sermons, vol. i. p. 185.— Edit. 1758 («) Ihid. vol. ii. p. 669. (:/) Ibid. vol. i. p. I? (w) Parliamentary History, vol. iii. p. 156. (r) Biogr. Diet. vol. vii. p.3i)3. (y) Latimer's Sermons, vol. i p. 44. THE JUDGMENT OF OUR oidaiucd, and use tliat oidhiary means that God liath assij;ned (z)." According, theiefore, to Latimer (and, indeed, according to the Scrip- ture and right reason), the decree of predesti- nation does not render the use of ordinary means unnecessary. On the contrary, the decree is that very root, from whence the means orif;inally derive their efficacy. Every Calvinist maintains, that good works are the consequence, and the evidence, of elec- tion : and, of those good works, restitution, to such persons as we may have wronged, is certainly one. Bishop Latimer was exactly of our mind. " Some examples have been, of open restitution : and glad may he be, that God v.'as io friendly unto him, as to bring him unto it in this world. I am not afraid to name him : it was master Sherington ; an honest gentle- man and one that God loveth. He openly confessed, that he had deceived the king ■ and he made open restitution. O, what an argu- ment may he have against the devil, when he shall move him to desperation 1 God brought this out, to his amendment, ft is a token, that he is a chosen man of God, and one of his elected («)." The passage immediately follcv ing, though it may tend to prove the vanity of making any calculation respecting those times and seasons which the Father hath put in his own power ; demonstrates, however, the undoubting firm- ness, with which Latimer held the doctrine of election. "The world was ordained to endure, as all learned men affirm, and prove it with Scripture, six thousand years. Now, of that number, there be passed 5652 : so that there is no more left, but 448. And, furtheremore, those days shall be shortened. It shall not be full 6000 years. The days shall be shortened tor the elects' sake {I/).'' " St. Paul, that elect instrument of God, shewed a reason wherefore God layeth afflic- tions upon us (c). We cannot come to that unspeakable felicity, which God hath prepared for his, except we be clean in our hearts (rf)." The hypocrisy of too many religious pro- fessors, and the frequent deceitfulness of ap- pearances, occasioned Latimer to make the following remark : " There is no great differ- ence, here in this world, between the elect and the reprobate. For the veiy unfaithful give alms, &c. So that, I say, we cannot tell, as long as we be here in this world, which be elect, and which not. But at the last day, then it shall appear who is he that shall be saved ; and, again, who shall be damned (e)." 1 iKMe were some, howevci-. of wliose elec- (h) lliid. p. 36j. I. . / ./,/. ^„l. .1. (<0 J!'"l- p. .->U'J. " . / .„/, ,,. .,71. I / I Ihid. p. H-l(). (-1 //-/./. i>. MS. (A) lb. p. 88G, S87, so iie.iin, p. S ' mught you, liow to try out your elf Christ : for Christ is the accouuting-b of Cod : eveu iu the siiuic book. Ih.it tton Lill tlie names ot thc^ el.cl. tion the good bishop could have no doubt : witness what he said, above, concerning " master Sherington." He justly observes, that the certainty of our election is to be inferred from the truth of our conversion. No Calvinist says (nor, indeed, will the nature of the case permit any reason- able man to argue so perversely and absurdly), I am elected, and therefore I shall be saved, whether I am converted or not. On the con- trary, this is our language : God would not have converted me, if he had not elected me. We are for beginning at the bottom of the ladder, and for taking the chain by the right end. Hence (as bishop Bancroft very properly observed at the Hampton-court conference), we argue, not descendendo, but asceudendo : i. e. we rise to the fountain, by following the stream ; or arrive at the knowledge of our own particular election, by the solid marks of sanc- tification. We judge of God's objective pur- poses concerning us, by that subjective work of grace which he hath wrought within us. As election is the radical cause of regeneration ; so regeneration, and its fruits, are the clue, bv which we are guided to the sight and sense of election. This was the precise view in which Latimer considered the point: whence he says, and we say with him, " We need not go about to trouble ourselves with curious questions of the predestination of God : but let us rather endeavour ourselves that we may be in Christ. For, when we be in him, then are we vrell : and then we may be sure that we are ordained to everlasting life (/)." Again, " When you find these three things in your hearts, \y>x. repentance, faith, atid a desire to leave sin,] then you may be sure your names are written in the book, and you may be sure also, that you are elected and predestinated to everlasting iite fir)-" Elsewhere, he comes more expressly to the point: "If thou ait desirous to know, whether thou art chosen to everlasting life, thou mayest not begin with God ; for God is too high : thou canst not comprehend him. Begin with Christ, and learn to know Christ, and wherefore he came : namely, that he came to save sinners, and made himself subject to the law, and a fulfiller of the law, to deliver us from the wrath and danger thereof. If thou knowest Christ, then thou mayest know further of thy election (A)." Speaking of Joseph and his afflictions, he adds, " Here you see how God doth exercise those which appertain to everlasting life (i). Treating of the last day, he still keeps God's neither yet in the high couusel of God. ' Where then sliall I iind my election ? ' In the counting-boot of tiod which 13 Christ." The sum of Latimer's reasoning is this: If I helieve in Christ alone for salvation, 1 am certainly in- ti iested m Christ ; and interested in Christ I could iu,t lie, if I was not chosei. and elected of God. Which is .-iscending to election, by the right gradationi. lO tlild. p. 858. ENGLISH REFORMERS. 135 election in view: "The trumpet shall blow, and the ansjels shall come and gather all those that offend, from among the elect of God. All the elect shall be gathered unto him, and there they shall see the judgment ; but they themselves shall rot be judged, but shall be like as judges with him. After that the elect are separated from the wicked, he shall give a most horrible and dreadful sentence unto the wicked (A). Then shall the elect shine as the sun in the kingdom of God ( I)" Thus, says this worthy martyr, will Christ come, " in great honour and glory, and will make all his faithful like unto him, and will say, unto them that be chosen to everlasting life, Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess that kingdom which is prepared foryou from the beginning of the world We shall find this valuable roan no less clear and .scriptural, (2). In his sentiments concerning Provi- dence. " Remember the hair how it falls not without God's providence. Remember the sparrows, how they build in every house, and God provideth for them. And are you not much more precious to me, saith Christ than sparrows, or other birds ! God will defend you, that, before your time cometh, ye shall not die, nor miscarry. God hath appointed his times, as ple.iseth him : and, before the time cometh that God hath appointed, they shall have no power against you. Till thy time come, thou shall not die (u)." According to Latimer, God's will is dis- tinguishable into secret and revealed. His secret will is his will of decree, known only to himself: His revealed will is his will of command, discovered and made known in his written word. His .secret, or decreeing will, is the rule of his own conduct : His revealed or preceptive will ought to be the rule of our conduct. Christ, says Latimer, " Teacheth us to pray, thy kingdom come thy will be done. Here we must understand, that the will of God is to be considered after two sorts. First, as it is omnipotent, unsearchable, and that cannot be known to us. Now, we do not pray that his will, so considered, maybe done : for his will, so considered, is, and ever shall be fulfilled, though we would say nay to it. For nothing either in Heaven or earth, is able to withstand his will. Wherefore it were but folly for us to pray to have *it fulfilled, other- wise than to shew thereby that we give our consent to his will, which is to us unsearchable. But there is another consideration of God's holy will ; and that consideration we, and all faithful Christians, desire may be done : and, so considered, it is called a revealed, a mani- fested, and declared will ; and it is opened unto us in the Bible, in the New and Old Tes- tament. There God hath revealed a certain {*) ibid, p 867. (0 Ibid. p. 872. (m) Ibid. p. C8/. (h) Ihid. p. 295 , 296, 297. (01 Ibid. . p. 369. 370. {j>) Ibid. p. 3i4 will : therefore, we pray that it may be done, and fulfilled of us (o)." Latimer has already pronounced God's secret, or " unsearchable " will, to be " om- nipotent : " i. e. God's decrees must and shall be accomplished and brought to pass by his providence. No wonder, then, that our re- former, in exact harn.ony with that grand maxim, should assert as follows : " He [i. e. God] filleth the earth ; " that is to say, he ruleth and governeth the same : ordering all things according to his will and pleasure {p)." From whence it is very naturally inferred, that *' We ought to be at his pleasure : whensoever and whatsoever he will do with us, we ought to be content with all {q)." That is, in modern lan- guage, we ought to believe, whatever is, is right : seeing " all things" are " ordered accord . ing to God's will and pleasure." Does not Lati- mer speak tlie very quintessence of Calvinism? One would imagine, that, if any of man- kind might be supposed to be more exempt, than others, from the immediate and constant controul of absolute Providence, kings and sovereign princes would be the men. Yet even these, according to honest Latimer's, theology, are as much tied and bound from above, as the meanest of the human race. "God salth. Through me kings reign. Yea, they be so under God's rule, that they can think nothing, nordo any thing, withoutGod's permission. For it is written. The heart of the king is in the hands of the Lord, and he turneth the same whithersoever it pleaseth him. All those great rulers, that have been from the beginning of the world ti'l now, have been set up by the appointment of God ; and he pulled them down, when it pleased him (r)." Wealth and poverty are distributed by the hand of Providence. "It is written. The blessing of God maketh rich. Except God bless it, it \i. e. human labour] standeth to no effect : for it is written. They shall eat, but yet never be satisfied. Eat as much as you will, except God feed you, you shall never be full. So likewise, as rich as a man is, yet he cannot augment his riches, or keep that he hath, except God be with him, except he bless hlai. Therefore let us not be proud : for we be but beggars the best of us (^)." To the same effect he speaks elsewhere : We must labour ; for so we are commanded to do : but we must look for the increase at God's hands. For, though a man labour much, yet, for all that, he shall have no more than God hath appointed liim to have : for even as it pleaseth God, so he shall have. For the earth is the Lord's, and all is therein (<)•" I have already shewn, that Latimer believ- er) Ibid. p. 3i5. (r) Ibid. p. 351 (j) Ibid. p. 4t7. (<) Ibid. p. 653. 136 THE JUDGMENT OF OUR ed that the duration of every man's life is fixed and predestinated by God. The good bishop inculcates the same great truth, again and again. " Every man hath a certain time appointed him of God ; and God hideth the same from us : for some die in young age, some in old age, according as it pleaseth him («)■" Once more: "of that we may be sure, there sijall not fall one hair from our head, without liis will : and we shall not die, before the time that God hath appointed unto us. Which is a comfortable thing: especially in time of sickness, or wars (iv)." Latimer, very justly, maintained, that afflictions also are an effect of God's predes- tination and providence : from whence he drew this practical conclusion : " Let us learn not to be peerish, when God layeth his cross upon us. Let us not despair, but call upon him. Let us think we be ordained unto it (■t).'' Again, " Seeing that there is nothing done without his will, I ought to bear this cross which he layeth upon me, without raur- mering or grudgii\g (?y)." Notwithstanding Latimer was thus so strenuous an assertor of God's decrees and pro- vidence ; we yet find him making use of the word chance. But he evidently means, Dy that term, the occurrence of some event, unexpected and unforeseen by us ourselves. For, he takes care to let us know, that, by this word, he still intends no other than a providential dispensation. " Now,'' says he " when I come to poverty by chance, so that God sendeth poverty unto me ; then I am blessed, when I take poverty well, and with- out grudging (z)." Every Christian will allow, that the putting of Christ to death, was, in itself, infinitely the greatest crime ever perpetrated by man. And yet, so absolute a predestinarian was Latimer, that he represents this greatest of crimes as e.tactly corresponding to the predestination and providence of God concerning it. Nay, lie even supposes, that Satan would have hindered the Messiah's crucifixion, but was not able to hinder it, because " God's council and purpose " were, that the Messiah should be crucified. Let us attend to Latimer's own words. " After that, when Christ was born into the world, he [i.e. Satan] did what he could to rid him [r;:. Christ] out of the way: tlierefore he stirred up all the Jews against him. But, after he perceived that his death [)'. e. the death of Chri.n] should be our deliverance from everlasting death ; he [Sat.an] did what he could to hinder his death ; and therefore he stirred up mistress Pilate, who took a nap in the morning, as such fine dames are wont to do, that she should not suffer her husband to give sentence against Christ. For, as I told you, when he [Satan] perceived that it was to be bis [Satan's] destruction, he wouU hinder it, and did what he could, with hand and foot, to stop it. But yet he was not able to disannul the counsel and purpose jf God (a). ' Far be it from me to vindicate the whole of this remarkable paragraph. On the con- trary, I think it very exceptionable, in more respects than one. But it certainly proves, that Latimer carried his idea of predestination to the highest pitch it is possible for man to do. 'Tis now time, that I should produce his judgment. (3 ) Concerning original sin, or man's total fall from (iod : on which important article, no less than on the preceding ones, the doctrine of this reformer was essentially different from that embraced by the sect of of Arminius. " It was not for nought," says Latimer, that " Jeremiah describeth man's heart in its colours : the heart of man is naughty, and crooked, and a froward piece of work (b)." But, how came the human heart to be thus spiritually and morally depraved ? Latimer traces it all to the sin of our first parent. " Our fore-father Adam wilfully ate of the apple forbidden. Wherefore he was cast out of the everlasting joy in Paradise, into this corrupt world, amongst all vileness : whereby of himself he was not worthy to do any thing laudable and pleasant to God ; ever- more bound to corrupt affections, and beastly appetites ; transformed into the uncleanest and variablest nature that was made under Heaven : of whose seed and disposition, all the world is lineally descended. Insomuch that this evil nature is so diffused, and shed from one into another, that at this day there is no man or woman living, that can of themselves wash away their abominable vileness : and so we must needs grant of ourselves to be in like displeasure unto God, as our father Adam was. By reason hereof, as I said, we be, of our- selves, the very children of the indignation and vengeance of God : the true inheritors of Hell, and working all towards Hell. Which is the answer to this question, made to every man and woman by themselves, what art thou (c)?" I will add but one citation more • " This our nature David, the holy king and pro- phet, describeth with few words, saying, Lo, in iniquity am I 'born, and in sin hath my mother conceived me. He doth signify by his words, what he had inherited of his parent Adam ; namely, sin and wickedness. And he speaketh not of himself only, but of all man- kind. He painteth us out in our own colours • shewing, that we all are contaminate, from our birth, with sin ; and so should justly be fire-brands in Hell, world without end. This the holy prophet shewed in these words to put us in remembrance of our own metchedness : (II) lo'ii. p. 4'2fl in) riiid.-p. tW. (j; Joid. p. 40U. (y) Jbid. p. 4S4. (:) Ihiil. p. 501. (a) ihid. p. ?74, 775. (b) Ihld. p. 139. (c) Iliid. p. 907. ENGLISH REFORMERS. 137 to teach us to despair of our own holiness and righteousness, and to seek our help and com- fort by that Messias whom God hath promised to our fore-fathers. Another Scripture signi- fieth to us, farther, what we be of ourselves, of our own nature : for it is written, all men are liars. Therefore, man is not clean ; but full of falsehood, and deceit, and all manner of sin and wickedness ; poisoned and corrupt with all manner of uncleanness. What found he [(. e. God], when he made inquisition ? marry, this: all men have declined from God ; there was none that did good, no not one. Here, we may perceive what we be of ourselves, of our own nature (d)." Such being Latimer's view of original sin, and its effects, no wonder, that, (4.) He utterly denied those powers, which Arminians ascribe to what they term man's free- will. The unceremonious prelate even goes so far as to suppose, that the will of Satan, and the will of man, are joint warriors against the will of God. " We desire," says Latimer, on those words, Thy will be done; " We desire, that he Iviz. our heavenly Father] will fortify and strengthen us, so that we may withstand the Devil's will, and our own, which fight against God's will (e)." But in vain is the will of God fought against : for, as the martyr ob- serves in another place, " No man's power is able to stand against God, or disappoint him of his purposes (/)."' lie likewise pays a very rough compliment to free-will, in the subsequent passage: "I am, of myself, and by myself, coming from my natural father and mother, the child of the ire and indignation of God, and the true inheritor of Hell ; a lump of sin, and working nothing of myself, but all towards Hell, except I have better help of another than I have of my- self (g)." What is the influence of this truth upon the hearts of those who are born again and converted to God ? The bishop shall tell us. *' Here we may see, how much we be bound and indebted to God, who has revived us from death to life, and saved us that were damned " [t e. who were natually condemned by the divine law] : " which great benefit we cannot well consider, unless we do remember what we were of ourselves, before we meddled with him and his laws. And the more we know our feeble nature, and set less by it, the more we shall conceive and know in our hearts what God hath done for us : and, the more we know what God hath done for us, the less we shall set by ourselves, and the more we shall love and please God. So that, in no condition, we shall either know ourselves or God ; except we rf) /bid. p. 747. (c) /hid. p. 372. (J) Ihid. D. 6fi3. R) /bid. p. 903, 904. (A) /bid. p. fl03. (i) /bid. p. 134. (k) /bid. p. 135. (I) /bid. p. 234. do utterly confess ourselves to be mere vileness and corruption (h).'' Whoever has such an opinion of human nature and its powers, must likewise hold, that man is, in no respect, nor in any degree, the architect of his own salvation. Hence, (5.) Latimer believed, that, in the whole business of conversion and sanctifieation, God's free and efficacious grace is all in all. With an eye to this point, we find him expressly de- claring, that his ministry was nothing, unless God made it effectual : " Whether it be un- fruitful, or no," says he, " I cannot tell. It lieth not in me to make it fruitful. If God work not in your hearts, my preaching can do but little good (i)." Speaking of some, who reviled him for preaching the gospel, he acknowledged that the grace, by which alone those persons could be amended, was solely at the sovereign dispo- sal of God himself: "As for me, I owe them no ill-will ; but I pray God amend them, when it pleaseth him (A)." Again : " Preachers can do no more but call : God is he that must bring in. God must open the hearts, as it is in the Acts of the Apostles. When Paul preached to the women, there was a silk- woman, whose heart God opened. None could open it, but God. Paul could but only preach : God must work ; God must do the thing in- wardly (/)." On those words of our Lord, If ye then be- ing evil, &c. ; he observes, that Christ here *' Giveth us our own proper name : he paint- eth us out ; he pincheth us ; he cuttelh off our combs ; he plucketh down our stomachs. And here we learn to acknowledge ourselves to be wicked, and to know him to be the well- spring and fountain of all goodness, and that all good things come of him (m)." If this ".s not " pinching" and " cutting the comb" of free-will, I know not what is. In his third sermon on the Lord's Prayer, he remarks, that, in the petition of hallowed be thy name, Christ would have us to confess our own imperfections, that we be not able to do any thing according to God's will, except we receive it first at his hands. Therefore he teacheth us to pray, that God will make us able to do all things according to his wM and pleasure («). Farther, by this petition, we be put in remembrance what we be, namely, cap- tives of the Devil, his prisoners and bondmen ; and not able to come at liberty through our own power (o). Wherefore, we may say, with St. Austin, Lord, do thou with me what thou coramandest, and then command what thou wilt. For we, of our own strength and power, are not able to do his command- ments ip)." Latimer, in another place, quote* (m) /bid. p. 329. (n) /bid. p. 353. ' ("J /bid. p. 357. (p) /bid.p at'S. 13B THE JUDGMENT OF OUR St. Austin's word more exactly : " Like as St. Augustin saith, Lord give that thou command- est, and then command what thou '.vilt : as who would say, if thou wilt command only, and not give ; then we shall be lost, we shall perish {q)." Which, by the way, is another proof of Latimer's agreement with Au.siin on the article of grace. One or two testimonies more shall conclude this head. Except a man be born again fiom abov , he cannot see the kingdom of God. He must have a regeneration. And what is this regene- ration ? It is not to be christened in waier, these fire-brands [i. e.the papists] would have it. How is it to be expounded then? St. Pe- ter sheweth, that one place of Scripture decla- reth another. St. Peter saith, And we be born again. How? not by mortal seed, but by im- mortal. What is this immortal seed ? By the word of the living God : by the word of God preached and opened. Thus cometh in our new birth (r). This is a great commendation of this office of preaching. It is God's instru- ment, whereby he worketh faith in our hearts (s)."' As Latimer thus believed that men are re- generated, not by themselves, nor by the mere water of baptism, nor simply by the word preached, but by the power of God himself " working faith in their hearts of which su. pernatural power the word preached is no more than the usual instrument and channel : so he taught, that, after the work of regeneration has passed upon the soul, man's own ability can no more preserve hiiu in a state of grace, than it could at first bring him into it. " St. Paul saith, Be strong iu the Lord. We must be strong by a borrowed strength : for we of our- selves, are too weak and feeble. Therefore let us learn where we shall fetch our strength from ; namely from above. For we have it not of our own selves {()." " This is a good doctrine, which admonish- eth us to give all praise unto God : and not to ascribe it to our own selves (h). It shall be ne- cessary unto all men and women of this world, not to ascribe unto themselves any goodness of themselves ; but all unto our Lord God («')." Surely, if Latimer was a free-willer, there is no meaning in words ! (6.) Let us consult him, next, on the im- portant doctrine of justification. According to this good old Churchman, justification in the sight of God is absolutely free and entirely unmerited by man ; and accrues to us only by an interest in the active obedience, or per- sonal righteousness, of Jesus Christ. [t.] For the absolute freeness of justifica- tion. " We must believe that our Saviour Christ hath taken us again into his favour, (?) Ibid. p. 4S3.— Domine da quod jubes, et jule quod vis. (< ) Ibid. p. 18J. (s) Ibid. p. AS9 (0 Ibid. p. S17. («) md. p. 369. that he hath delivered us by his own body and blood, and by the merit of his own passion, of his own mere liberality(.i)." " Do 1 now, in forgiving my neighbour his sins which he hath done against me; do I, I say, deserve, or merit, at God's hand, forgive- ness of my own sins ? No, no : God forbid. For, if this should he so, then farewell Christ. It taketh him clean away. It diminisheth his honour, and it is very treason wrought against Christ. Remission of sins wherein consisteth everlasting life, is such a treasure that passeth all men's doings. It must not be our merits that shall serve, but his. He is our comfort ; he is the majesty of God ; and his blood-shedding it is that cleanseth us from our sins. Therefore, whosoever is minded contrary unto this, he robbeth Christ of his majesty, and so casteth himself into everlasting danger. As touching our salvation, we must not go to work, to think to get everlasting life by our own doings. No. This were to deny Christ's salvation, and remission of sins, and his own and free gift (i^). Thou must beware, as I said before, that thou think not to go to Heaven by such remitting of thy neighbour's ill doings. But, by such for- giving, or not forgiving, thou shalt know whe- ther thou have faith or no (z)." '' There be many folk, which, when they be sick, say, O, that I might live but cue year longer to make amends for my sins ! which saying is very naught and ungodly : for we are not able to make amends for our sins. Only Christ, he is the Lamb of God which taketh away our sins. As for satisfaction, we cannot do the least piece of it (a)." " Reward ! This word soundeth as though we should merit somewhat by our own works. But we shall not think so: for ye must under- stand, that all our works are imperfect ; we cannot do them so perfectly as the law re- quireth, because of our flesh which ever letteth us. Wherefore is the kingdom of God called, then, a reward ? because it is merited by Christ. For as touching our salvation and eternal life, it must be merited : but not by our own works, but only by the merits of our Saviour Christ (6)." " All the Papists in England, and especially the spiritual men [i. e. their priests], be the enemies of the cross of Christ, two manner of ways. First, when he is a right Papist, given unto monkery, I warrant you he is in this opinion. That with his own works he does merit remission of his sins, and satisfieth the law through and by his own works : and so thinks himseif to be saved everlastingly. This is the opinion of all Papists : and this doctrine was taught, in times past [;'. e. in the Popish times], in schools and in the pulpits. Now, all those. (a ) Ibid. p. 903. (x) Ibid. p. 22S. (a) Ib d. p. A3i. (s) Ibid p. 437. (a) Ibid. p. 4S8. (o) Ibid. p. S13. ENGLISH REFORMERS 139 that be in such an opinion, are the enemies of the cross of Chrisl, of his passion and blood- shedding. For they think in themselves'' [(. e. such an opinion is tantamount to thinking, that] "Christ needeth [needed] not to die: and so they despise his bitter passion. They do not consider our birth-sin, and the corrup- tion of our nature : nor yet do they know the quantity of our actual sins, how many times we fall into sin ; or how much our own power is diminished, or what might and power the Devil hath. They consider not these things : but think themselves able with their own works to enter into the kingdom of God. And, there- fore, 1 tell you, this is the most perilous doc- trine that can be devised (c). We must do good WO' ks : we must endeavour ourselves to live according to the commandments of God : yet, for all that, we must not trust in our doings. For, though we do to the uttermost, yet it is all imperfect, when ye examine them by the rigour of the law : which law serveth [not to justify us, but] to bring us to the knowledge of our sins, and so to Christ ; and, by Christ, we shall come to the quietness of our con- science. Therefore, it is not more necessary to do good works, than it is to beware how to esteem them. Therefore take heed, good Christian people : deny not Christ ; put not your hope in your own doings : for if ye do, ye shall repent (rf)." " He will reward our good works in ever- lasting life, but not with everlasting life ; for our works are not so much worth, nor ought to be esteemed so, as to get us Heaven. For it is written. The kindom of Heaven is the gift of God. So likewise St. Paul saith. Ye are saved freely, without works. Therefore, when ye ask. Are ye saved? Say, yes. How i many, gratis ; freely. And here is all our comfort to stay our consciences {e)." We read, in a book, which is entitled 'The Lives of the Fathers,' that there was once a great, holy man (as he seemed to all the world) worthy to be taken up into Heaven. Now, that man had many disciples, and, on a time, he fell into a great agony of conscience ; inso- much that he could not tell what in the world to do. Now, his diciples standing about him, seeing him in this case, they said unto him. How chanceth it that ye are so troubled, father ? for, certainly, there is no body so good a liver, oi more holy than you have been ; therefore you need not fear ; for, no doubt, you shall come to Heaven. The old father made them answer again, saying. Though 1 have lived up- rightly, yet for all that, it will not help me, I lack something yet. And so he did indeed. For.cer- lainly, if he had followed the counsel of his dis- ciples, and put his trust in godly conversation, no doubt he should have gone to theDevil (f)." Bishop Latimer was immoveably radicated ides (//). As Dr. Hooper was thus a resolute assertor of virtue, so he asserted, with no less resolution, those grand evangelical doctrines, from the experimental belief of which, all genuine N-irtue flows. He observes, that, in Heaven, (Oj Set Fol.vol .ii. p 110. ji) Keior. vol. lii. p. 440 (q) Btrnct, Ibid. p. 2)9, 210. (r) Fox iii. 132. :s) Ibid. p. 133. (0 Ibid. p. 135. the souls of the faithful are " for ever praising the Lord, in conjunction and society everlast- ing with the blessed company ot God's elect, in perpetual joy (r)." And he mentions it as one capital i;istance of the patience of God'» people on earth, that "They wait until the number of the elect be fulfilled (<)." With an eye to the same precious doctrine of election, he adds, in a letter, written a few weeks before liis martyrdom, that the glorified spirits of them who had, in all ages, suffered death for the cause of Christ, were joyfully expecting the happy day, " When they shall receive their bodies again in immortality, and see the nuna- bei of the elect associated with them in full and consum mate joys ()." He is equally explicit, as to the necessity of grace. He justly observes, that true content- ment under affliction is the fruit of supernatural regeneration. " It is not the nature of man that can be contented, until it be regenerated and possessed with God's spirit, to bear patiently the troubles of the mind, or of the body (u)." Again : "These things" [viz. the knowledge and love of heavenly objects]" are easy to be spo- ken of, but not so easy to be practised. Where- fore, seeing they be God's gifts, and none of ours to have of our own when we would, we must seek them at our Heavenly Father's hand {x) Howbeit, no man of himself can do this [i. e. can pray and ihope aright] ; but the Spirit of God, that striketh the man's heart with fear, prayeth for the man stricken and feared, with unspeakable grianings iy)." Once more: " Christ saith to every one of his people. By your own patience yc shall continue ynur life: not that man hath patience in [i. e. of] himself, but that he must have it for himself of God, the only giver of it (z)." On the great article of justification, also, Hooper was a thorough Calvinist. This appears from the confession of faith (an extract of which is preserved in Burnet), which was signed, not only by Hooper himself, but by two bishops besides, and seven eminent minis- ters ; all, at that time, prisoners for the gospel ; Oiz. Coverdale, bishop of Exeter ; Farrar, bishop of St. Darid's ; with Taylor, Philpot, Bradford, Crome, Sanders, Rogers, and Law- rence. In this excellent declaration, the heroic sufferers publicly certified, (that they " held jus- tification by faith; which faith,'' said they, "is not only an opinion, but a certain persuasion, wrought by the Holy Ghost, which doth illumi- nate the mind, and supple the heart to submit itself unfeignedly to Gud." Tliey add, that they " acknowledged an inherent righteous- ness; yet they believed that justification, and pardon of sins, came only by Christ's righte- ousness imputed to them (a)." (u; /sibile bomini, ut Lencfariat indiir..lMs. Sed deturret tantum et depelht ab eo, ut judicia D> mini iudicemus : osten- drns, hoc esse extrema: impu.lentia; et impietatis." liufcr. Ilnd. p. 456. is) " Claie docemur, qui abquaiid.i Christo possuut excidi-re, eos Christi uunquam fuis-.i-: eoque ■•1 jritus tiliorani fuisse nactos : sed oi nia illmnm 150 THE JUDGMENT OF OUR On those words of Christ, Ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, Bucer thus remarks : "They were not of our Lord's sheep, t. e. they were not in the number of those who were given to him by the Father ; they were not elected unto life. Therefore it was, that they were totally destitute of God's good spirit, and were utterly immersed in flesh : neither were they able to believe in our Lord, nor to embrace him as a Saviour {t)." A little farther on, we find this admirable commentator observing as follows: "My sheep hear my voice, &c. In these words our Lord expressly teaches, that all good things are dependent on God's election ; and that they, to whom it is once given to be sheep, can never perish afterwards. Christ here tells us, that they alone hear his voice : that is, they who are indeed his sheep, are made par- takers of faith. Now, whence is it, that some people are Christ's sheep, or susceptible of his doctrine, while others are not ? Undoubted- ly, because the former are inspired by the good Spirit of God, whereas the latter are not inspired at all. But whence is it, that the former are endued with the Holy Spirit, and not the latter ? For this reason : because the former were given to Christ, to be saved by him ; but the latter were not given him. Let us therefore allow God the honour of being the bestower of his own Spirit, without sup- posing him to need or receive any of our as- sistance. Christ adds, and 1 know them : i. e. they are committed to my trust ; I have them in especial charge. And, doubtless, from hence it is, that his sheep follow him, and live the life which never ends. The Father gave them to him, that he might endue them with life eternal, and they can no more be plucked from nil nisi hypocrisin esse, quantumlibet sancti, et piptate praestabiles, ad tempus, sese fingant. Quos enim Christus diligit, in finem usque diligit ; et quos pater iUi dat, neque ipse abjicit ; neque rapere de nianu ejus quisquan potest. Ideo etsi cadanthujusmodi, exciduiit tanicn nonquam. Electi enim sunt ad vitam : qiiam Dei electionem nulla potest creatura reddere irritam. Siquidem ut secundem electionem prepo- situm Dei maneat, non ex operibus, sed ex vocante ; non solum elegit suos, priusquam nati sint, ar boni aut mali quicquam fecerent ; sed antequdra jacerentur fundantenta orbis a constitutione mundi. Lnde et de apostolis Dominus dicebat. Non pro niundo logo sed pro iis rogo quos dedisti mihi ; quia tui sunt : id est, electi abs te ad vitam. Proinde, ut Christo non quam noti sunt rcprobi, iti nunqnam ignoti electi : quan- tunvis, in illis, pietatis species aliqua adblandiatur ; et, in his invisa impietatis saepe forma conspiciatur; Eoque, ethi, sicut pra-destinati et vocati sunt, sic tan- dem ad imagiiiem Christi ret'orraabuntur : et illi, detractrt persona filiorum Dei factitia, sui similes apparebunt, juxta hoc quod ase auditurus Lie testatur [Christus]." Bucer. in .Matth. rii. 22. Apud ejus in sacr. quatuor Evang. Enanat. Perpet. pag. 76. b.— Edit. Rob. Steph. 1.553. U) " Non er.ant ex ovibus Domini ; hoc est donatis Christo a Patre : non erant ex elt ctis ad vitam, Ine6 omni spiritu Dei bono careljant : animales toti. Neque potuerant Domino credere, aut ut scrvatorem Ipsum aniplecti." Bucer. Ihi>l. in Job.x. 25. (k) Oves mx voccm,*■. col. 107. (A) '* Si per fatum intelligant, vim qiiaiid;ini lua- n^ntera ex astris, et connesioiieiu cAusaruin im-xpus- nabilem qu^ etiam ipse Deiis copnatur ni oiUinem ; no- intelligant, onliium l ausarum, r|ni TUi Miluntate pii. bernetur : ca II s \ idci-i iiou |m.:, st pictate aliem- : Mart. Lo'c. Com. y. .il i. — i;>lit — Ih.'i.. (i) " Simt iMtdti qui somtiit-nt latalem quand;iM^ nere.s^atam IVir .nn, vel adaiuaiiiii-.am, sideribu.-- 1 1 doctrines ; he acquitted himself so much to the satisfaction of the king, and the rest of the reformers here, that he was made canon or Christ-church, and a prebendary of Canter- bury. Nay, so much was he admired and re- vered by queen Elizabeth herself, that, alter she ascended the throne, " she invited him to return into England, and there to accept of what preferment he pleased (g).'' But, it seems, he " modestly refused " the offer ; being fearful lest Popeiy might get the ascen- dency in this kingdom again : in which case, he might run the risk of being a martyr in reality, as well as name. He therefore con- tinued at Zurich; where he died in peace, A. D. 1562. So much for the good man himself. Now for his Calvinism. (i.) " If" says he, " by fate, be meant, a certain power resulting from the stars, and an irresistible implication of causes, by which God himself is reduced within the bounds of restiaint — vve justly reject the word fate, in this signification of il. But if by fate, you mean a train of causes governed by the will of God — such a late as this, can by no means seem injurious to true religion, however expe- dient we may think it to abstain from using the word (Aj." He very justly observes that the wiser stoics themselves asserted fate, in the Chris- tian sense of the term. " There are some, who dream of an iron or adamantine fatality^ impressed on the stars and natural causes, unalterable by God himself. This is errone- ous ; nay, 'tis impious : 'lis even contrary to the judgment of the ancient sages themselves ; for they plainly declare, that, by fate, they mean no more than the will and providence of ihe Supreme being. Witness those verses of Cleauthes the stoic : FathtT, and kintr of Hcav'n, my footsteps guide : Mv wish w ith ihy ttecrecs shitU coiucidt;. Were 1 rfluft,iril,\lill the ehnin proceed/; Whiif must be borne aud dose, resi^'d or do. now, " (continues Peter Martyr,) though fate is strongly asserted in these lines ; still, the reigns and government of fate are placed in the hand of God : for the philosopher in- vokes the Supreme Father, and supplicates the guidance of him, whose will is affirmed to be certain and infallible (;').'' causis naturalibus affixam, quam nec Deus immutare possit. Quod est erroneum, impiuui, et etiam a ve- teribus sapientibus alienura : qui diserte ostendunt, se, per fattim, intellesisse voluntatcm et admiuistra- tiooem dirinam. Carmina Cleantbis stoici qu* de hac rescripsit, Seneca, in lib. 18. Epist. fecit Latina. lUa vcr6 sunt hujusmodi : Due me. parens, celsi'jue dominator poH, Quocun<]Ue plaeuit. Nulla parendi mora est. Adsum iuipii^cr. Kac nolle, comitabor gemeni. Pncunt volciitem fata ; nolentem trnhunt : Malii5<]ue patiar, quod pati licuit bouo. quamvis, his carminibus, fat.sm st^tuatur, ejus tamen guhcriiatio in raanu Deipouitur; nam invucjit sinu- ENGLISH REFORMERS CONCLUDED. 153 Nothing can be more judicious, than Martyr's reasoning, relative to the true mean- infr of that bhimeless fate, which was so wisely and so solidly asserted by the best philoso- phers of the portico. And our reformer's vin- dication of that doctrine, as settled and ascer- tained in the golden verses which he quotes, is a very conclusive proof of his own candour, good sense, and regard to truth. I wish I could have done justice to those admirable lilies, by translating them better : but, even as 1 have rendered them, the maxims which they convey, and the implicit submission to Providence which they inculcate, most cer- tainly breathe the very language of Christiani- ty. They express what Milton so finely sings, in those majestic words, which he supposes to be spoken by God the Father : The verses of Cleanthes are cited, by Peter Martyr, as they stand in Seneca's translation of them into Latin, Seneca's beautiful lines, are, however, rather a paraphrase, than a version. Cleanthes' prayer ran thus, as cited by Epictetus (/) : A7e 6ti /if, w Zei-, (t. trv, »j ntTpw/ievrj, Uav de u»i c^eXo), ovk i,TTOv e^/o/iai. I.carl mf, O .Tove, and thou, O fate, By Jove, is meant the God and Father of all. By fate, not a power independent on him, or a separate deity in joint-commission with him; but his o.vn superintending providence. When I consider such exalted sentiments as these; sentiments, so directly tending to give unto God the honour due to his name, and so com- pletely calculated for the general happiness of man ; I cease to wonder at those tributes of high, but just encomium on the ancient stoics, which have fallen from the pens even of some learned Arminians themselves. Dr. Cave in- forms us, that, "Of all the sects of philosophy, St. Panttcnus principally applied himself to the stoics, with whose notions and rules of life he was most enamoured. And no wonder," says the learned Doctor, "seeing, as St. Jerom observes, their doctrines [i. r. Jhid. p. 331. Ik) Par. Lo>t. b. vii. 17 >. {(•) Knclur. rap. Ixxvii. p. 02.— Edit. Bcrkcl. {t/i'i Here kt iiie a very natural and reason- able ij ipstion. If the .Si(.ic3, who believed an abso- good man miserable : that the deity was per- petually concerned for human affairs ; and that there was a wise and powerful Providence, which particularly superintended the happiness of manlund : that, therefore, this God was, above all things, to be admired, adored, and worshipped, prayed to, acknowledged, obeyed, praised ; and that it is the most comely and reasonable thing in the woi ld, that we should universally submit to his will, and aa-rraiiiaGai tK bXiji Djj 4"'XtS ovr]{iaivovTa ravra, cheer- fully embrace, with all our souls, all the issues and determinations of his Providence : that we ought not to think it enough to be happy alone, but that it is our duty awo KapCiag (jiiKuv, to love men from our very heart ; to relieve and help them, advise and assist them, and contribute what was in our power to their health and safety : and this, not once, or twice, but throughout our whole life ; and that unbiassedly, without any lit- tle designs of applause or advantage to ourselves : that nothing should be equally dear to a man, as honesty and virtue ; and that this is the first thing he should look at, whether the thing he is going about be good, or bad, and the part of a good, or a wicked man ; and, if excellent and virtuous, that he ought not to let any loss or damage, torment, or death itself, deter him from it. Whoever runs over the writings of Seneca, Antoninus, Epictetus, Arrian, &c. will find these, and a great many more, claim- ing a very near kindred with the main rules of life prescribed in the Christian faith. And what wonder, if Saint Pantaenus [or, indeed, every other saint] was in love with such ge- nerous and manly principles ? which he liked so well, that as he [ t)/z. St. Pantaenus] always retained the title of the Stoic Philosopher, so, for the main, he owned the profession of that sect, even after his being admitted to eminent ofiices and employments in the Chris- tian Church (7i)." I must make two short remarks on this observable quotation. 1. We see, that, in the judgment of St. Jerom, St. Pantaenus, and Dr. Cave himself, the main branches of the stoical theology and ethics were supposed to come very near the theology and ethics of Christian- ity : yea, that there was " a very near kindred" between them. So different was the idea, which those eminent persons entertained, con- cerning stoicism, from the illiterate and un- generous prejudices which breed in the bosoms of some puny, piddling sciolists among the Ar- minians, against that ancient and respectable philosophy. 2. May not the lives and morals of the stoical fatalists put the generality of ftee-willers to the blush ? lute, over powering fate in all things, were, neverthe- of all the heathen i^hilosophers^ wi^h what dirency can it he insinuated by Arn.inianisni, tliut the Chris- tian doctrine of predestinatiun has an> degree of ten- dency to practical ungodliness ? (n) Cave's Apostolici, p. 167. 164 THE JUDGMENT OF OUR One testimonial more, and that from a very capable hand, shall finish this digression. " I cannot but think," says the learned and cele- brated Mr. Ditton, " that the doctrines of that sect [meaninsj the stoics] have been much misrepresented. And the truth of it is, that there is, generally speaking, a nearer approach to Christianity, in the morals, discipline, and doctrines of that noble sect, than in those of any other sect whatsoever (o). " But I willingly return, from even the excel- lencies of Paganism, to the school of Christ. Let us now listen to those precious, satisfying ♦ruths of the gospel, vvhich do indeed render the soul wise unto salvation, and, beyond all the exterior disquisitions in the world, make glad the city of God. Peter Martyr, the thread of whose testi- mony I now resume, shaU set before us some of those precious truths, pure and genuine as he drew them from the oracles of Scripture. We have heard his judgment concerning fate : let us (2.) Attend to him on the subject of pre- destination. " Forasmuch as God worketh all things by his determinate purpose, and doth nothing by chance, or accidentally ; it is a most indu- bitable axiom, that whatsoever he creates and makes, is destined by him to some certain end and use. Consequently, neither ungodly men, nor Satan himself, nor even sins themselves, can be exempted from predestination : for, of all these, God makes what use he pleases. Hence, those of the unrighteous, who are de- voted to final condemnation, are stiled by St. Paul, o-Kf wij, or vessels, i. e. God's vessels : ves- sels, in whom God makes known his wrath. Thus it is said, respecting Pharaoh, To this very end have I raised thee up, that in thee I might display my power. Talieq\ie enim, cum creasset res eas sibi ipsis reliquit ; iuiu ipso in illis est, easque perpetuo agitat ; in ipso enim viyi- His rebus fatutii etiam est affiiie. A quo, si accipia- tabili qua; a vi astrorum pendeat, patres nierito absti uuerunt. Sed si nihil aliud signiticat qudm certam temere aut fortuito, sed Dei pro\idcnti^ gubeniatur, proque ejus voluntate mutari possit non video cur res ipsa debeat a quoquaui respui. " Martyr, ut siipr. it) *' Sitigitur reprobatio, sapientissimuiii Dei pro- posituni, quo, ante omuem a;temjtatem, deerevit eou- stanter absque ullA injustitiA eorum tion miseri, quos non dilexit, sed prajteriit." Martyr. Ihid. p. 317. fwj " Deinde Deus est, qui gratiam suam homiui- bus subjucit ; qui subtracts, necesse est ut illi labantur. " God withholds his grace from [some] men : which grace being withheld, those men cannot but fall. " He even ventures to add, that, " since we all live and move by actuation from God, it is certain, that all the deeds which we perform, are, of necessity, some way or other, wrought under a divine impulse." Yet though he expiesses himself with such strength and plainness, he will not admit that this doctrine makes God the author of sin: "There is no need," says he, " for God to infuse additional evil into our l.earts. There is enough the;e already. We have it sufficiently, of ourselves: partly, through the foulness of original sin ; and partly, because a created being doth, of him- self, degenerate, without measure and without end, unless he is succoured by God {)(;." From hence, we may easily anticipate his opinion (().) Concerning free-will. " Paul plainly saith, It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. Our salvation is the work of G .d, and not the atchievement of our own strength. For he it is who woiketh in us both to will and to ac- complish. Before God thus worketh in us, he has to do [as it were] with stones : for our hearts are hearts of stone, till Christ trans- forms them into hearts of flesh (x)." "They who are born again ought never to forget, that they ob.ained this freedom, not by their own desei ts, hut by the favour of God. It was owing, not to themselves, but to their heavenly Father, that they were drawn to Christ. For unless God the Father had in- wardly won thenj over by main efficacy, they would have shunned and avoided Christ, even as others {y)." Luther, in his answer to Erasmus, had, after his blunt, but nervous manner, compared the human u ill to a horse : " If grace," says he, " be in the saddle, the will moves to what is good ; but man's will, if rid by the Devil, is sure to rush headlong into sin." This com- parison, unceremonious as it is, was adopted Ciimque illius agitatione omnes et vivamus et movea. mur, omnia certe opera quae facimus, necesse est, ut, quoquo modo, ejus inipulsu fiant. Quanquam nihil opus est, ut ab illo nobis infundatur nova malitia. Eam enim, turn propter lal em origini>, satis abundi habenius ex. nobis ipsis : tfim etiam, proptereu quoj creatura, si a Deo non juvetur, per seipsam in tlete- rius vergit sine modo et fine." Mart Ibid. p. Sir. (.,) " I'aulus rtisserte ait, non est volentis, lu que curreiitis,^sed miserenljs Dei : illins enim opus est gui operatur'in nobis et velle et perlicere!^''Vn't™uaia id priestet, si quid nobiscuni agat, aut lege, aut doc- triiia verbi, cum lapidibus agit. Corda enim nostr.i sexea sunt, nisi ea Cbristus transmutet in cariica." Mart. Ilihl. p. 109. ','/) "^Qui iti renati sunt, nunquain liebent ooli- sed benetieio Dei Is enim eos retinxit, et pro corde iap;deo, cor carneum in illis possuit. Denique, lion i-s. seipsis, sed expatre ca-Iesti habuerunt, ut ad CLrill- tum traberentur. Nisi euim fuissent, a Deo patre, Dif.gni efficacii, intus in animo pcrsuasi ; a Christo, non minus qu-m ali., refugissent.'' Mart. Ibid. p. 117. 156 THE JUDGMENT OF OUR and sul)sciil;ed to by Peter Martyr ; whose words are, " Cluist liath said, Ye shall then be free, when the Son makes you so : from whence it follows, that so long as men are unregenerated, they cannot, with truth, he pronounced free. Besides, the tyranny of Satan is such, that he detains men in cap- tivity, till they are rescued by Christ : for our Lord has declared, That the strong man armed keeps peaceable possession of his palace, and continues master of the spoils ; till One stronger than he, arrives, and dispossesses him by force. Likewise, in the 2d Epistle to Timothy, the apostle affirms, that such as op- pose the truth are kept prisoners by Satan at his will. And it is a well-known illusitration, that the will of man resembles a horse, which sometimes has grace for his rider, and some- times the Devil. Now, perhaps, it is set in motion by the former: anon, it is whipp'd and spurr'd by the latter. Human liberty, there- Icne, is cut short by manifold slavery. Aiid, SLeing the freedom of the will is so exceedingly sinal), during the present state of things, it is wonderful to me, that men do not, with Luther, rather term the will a slave and a bond -woman, than free. If a man was shut up in prison, manicled and ffttered ; could he justly call iiimself tree, only because he were able to move his head and lift up his eye- lids (z) ? " Thus much for free-will. (7.) Now for justitication. So far was Martyr from supposing that men are justified and accepted of God cn account of their works, that there is a sense, in which he would not admit justification even by faith itself. And very justly. For, though the grace and princi|)le of taith are of God's giving, and of God's inlusiiig, yet faith, as acted and exer- cised by us, is attended with extreme imper- fection : and we cannot be justified, in the strict meaning ot the term, by any thing which is defective. Hence the following remark of our judicious reformer : " If faith itself be considered as our act, 'tis impossible we should be justified by it : because faith, in this view (;) *' Ciinstiis quoqiie dixit, Si lilins vos liberave- (ii.iljuti tyr.iunis ai'ccHiit : qui Ituiiiiiies. aiite(]iiani Cliri^ti siiit, c.iptivos detiiiet. Cliriatus eniiii dixit, rtirti-ui .iriii-itiini i-iistndiru atrium sumn in p.ice, et spiiha dt-tiiifi e capti\ a, (luoad fortior \flit'iil, ijui ea dinpi.it. Et in Episloirt ad Tnuothuiitii "2, lialjctur, iit, volnntati-ni instar cqiii esse/t'runl, (jU"d pussct ciipat ini»\Lre, aut ofulos at- tolere .' " Mai t. IhhI. p. 086. («) "t)n:n tliam, i lides ipsa, (pi.i nostrum opus est consideretur ; f justilii-ari nmi possnmus : cum of it, is lame and imperfect, and falls far short of that completeness which tlie law requires. But we are therefore said to be justified by faith, because it is by faith that we lay hold upon, and apply to ourselves, the promises of God and the righteousness and merits ot Christ. A beggar (we'll suppose) extends his foul and leprous hand, to receive an alms from a per- son that offers it : certainly it is not from the leprosy and foulness of his own hand, that he derives any benefit ; but from the donation given, and which he receives with such a hand as he has (a),'' This single paragraph is so full to the point, that it supersedes the neces- sity of multiplying quotations on the subject in question. Let us hear him (8.) On the article of perseverance. " If we consult the sacred writings, we shall there find, not only, in geneial, that God is good and powerful ; but likewise, that he is food and powerful for our particular benefit" I. e. for the particular benefit of us who truly believej : " and that in consequence of his power and goodness, he'll so confirm our will, that it shall never entirely revolt from him. For he will not sufl'er us to be tempted above what we are able to bear; but will, with the temptation, make a way for our escape. He will establish you, even unto the end, blame- less to the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom ye are called. Very numerous are the Scripture attestations which promise us perseverance through Christ, and the establishment of our wills [in holiness] (6)." So much shall suffice, at present, for Peter Martyr's judgment concerning the points in contest. And let it be further observed, that this excellent divine appears to have had some hand in drawing up the articles of religion adopted by the Church of England. Heylyn himself confesses as much : tho' he labours, as usual, to mince, and qualify the concession by every diminishing quirk, in his power to apply. I can compare him to nothing, but lo a miser, who, forced, against the grain, to pay opus fit et mancimi et inipcrfecium, longe deterins quam lex rt'qunat. Sed illd jiistilicari dicimur, quia proniiss-ones et Cliristi iiistitiam mericaque, per ipsam appreliendinuis, et no:.is applicamlis. Fillgas tilji uieiidici liomiiiis fa'dissimani et lepvosun Dianiim qu* cpiat eleemosynam ab oilere.ite ; eerie, nieudi- cus iUe a tufuitate sen lepra sua? maiius batidquaquam juvatiir, sed, eleemosyns quam xuauu qualicuDque ac- i ipit." Mart. Hiiil. p. MS. [h) " Equidem, si consultamus sacras literas, non tantvini intelligemus, Denm ceneraliter boiluni esse et poteiitem: sed etiam eum uobis ipsis esse bonuni et propitinm [nientla, proi-oteutem] : ideoque couliriua- ttirum uostrani \oIuDtateni, lie uncjuam al> eo deliciat. T^ani, ut l*auK> alite comuiemora\ imus, non patietiir nos tentari supra id quod possinius sustinere ; sed f id, Ciini taut atioue, exitum. Et, i. ad Cor. cap. I. Coutirniabit \os usque ad linem, inculpatits in diem Domini nostri Jcsu t'biisti. Fidelis eoim Ueus, per queni »ocrtti estis. Sunt pneterei alia per niulta testi- mouia in sacris Uteris, rju.t nobis pollicentur et pe*-- .so^ erantiam, et contiruiatioiicm voluntatis, per tjhris- tatn. iMartyr, IbiiU p. 3.-7. ENGLISH REF-ORMERS CONCLUDED 157 a sum of money, counts it out, with grudging reluctance, and draws it back again and again, till obliged to part with it indeed. Heylyn's words are these: "Though Heter IVIartyr lived to see the death of king Edivard, and conse- ijuently the end of the convocation, Anno 155'i, in which the articles of religion were first composed and agreed on ; yet there was little use made of him in advising, and much less in directing, any thing which concerned that business, tho' some use might be made of him as a labouier to advance the work (<,■)." There are testimonies of Martyr's ortho- doxy and usefulness still in reserve ; able, if need required, to enlarge these gleanings into a harvest. But I must not dismiss this great reformer and ornament of our church, without observing, that he and Bucer were the prin- cipal instruments of persuading Dr. Hooper into a compliance (as far as he did comply) witli king Edward's reformation, respecting some matters of exterior ceremony : which (however indifferent those matters were in their own nature,) became important, because adopted by the church, and enforced by the state. Few readers need to be informed, that, when Hooper was nominated to the see of Gloucester, he entertained some unhappy scruples, more nice than necessary, concerning the form of the episcopal habit. He supposed, that the robes, in which a bishop was expect- ed to appear, favoured more of superstition and Popish ()onip, than comported with the scriptural simplicity of Protestantism. Amaz- ing, that a person of Hooper's learning, piety, and exalted sense, could look for Popery in the fold of a garment ; and extract superstition out of an angular cap! Groundless, however, and ill-timed, as his scruples were, they had such weight with himself, that he refused to be consecrated after the usual mode, and even suffered himself to be imprisoned in the Fleet, for his contempt of legal authority. But I must also do him the justice to add, that he lived long enough to see the weakness and absurdity of opposing things which the law of God has left indifl'erent. The severities of Mary's reign taught the honest, but over- scrupulous, bishop that Popery consisted in something more than a robe, a scarf, or a four- cornered cap. While Hooper's obstinacy continued, Bucer and Martyr took all imaginable pains to solve his objections, and, if possible, reduce him to conformity. They gained on him so far that he consented to wear the usual habit on some principal occasions. One of Martyr's letters to him may be seen at full length, in an ap- pendix to {d) that edition of his Common Places, which has supplied me with the pre- (ci Heylyn's Misceil. Tracts, p. 087. (d) Viz. the Edition of I6i6.— p. 7CI, 762, 763. ceding extracts. It is written with such modes- ty, learning, candour, and force of reason, as are a standing honour to the writer, and demon- strate that his attachment to the Church of England extended to her rites, as well as her doctrines. The letter itself being very long, I shall only give the substance of .Martyr's argumentB} in Mr. Rolt's judicious abridgement of them. " He commended Hooper, for his pains in preaching ; but advised him not to exert his zeal on points that are indefensible, or things of little moment, lest the people should from thence be led to call in question the judgment of the reformed preachers, and give no credit to «hat they delivered on the most important articles. In answer to one objection of Hooper's, that we ought to have an express warrant from Scripture for every thing be- longing to religion ; Martyr told him, that, if the ge leral rules of order were observed, lha governors of the church had a discretional y la- titude in little matters. Thus, for instance, our receiving the communion in a church, in a forenoon, not in a reclining posture, [nor] in a congregation [consisting] of men only ; stood upon no other than ecclesiastical, that is, upon human authority : to which [neverthe- less], he presumed, Hooper had always sub- mitted without any scruple. He told him, further, that it would be difficult to produce any warrant, from the New 'i'estament, for singing Psalms in public worship. And that the Christian church, from the beginning, had a regard, in many particulars, to the Jewish polity : especially, in the great festivals of Easter and Whitsunday. Supposing, what he [Martyr] could not grant, that the episcopal habit and vestments had been introduced into the church by the see of Rome ; yet he did not think the contagion of Popery so very malignant, as to carry infection into every thing which it touched. That to govern by such narrow maxims would lay an inconve- nient restraint on the Church of (Jod : and that our ancestors moved much more f.eely, who made no difficulty of turning heathen temples into Christian churches ; and of translating, to pious uses, the revenues [once] sacred to ido- latry (e)." Had Martyr's coolness and mo- deration been universally prevalent in the Pro- testant world, how much vain wrangling and party-division would it have prevented ! Bucer was no less assiduous, than Martyr, in respectfully combating the pertinacity of Hooper. They united in assuring him " That in the business of religious rites, they were for keeping as close as possible to the huly Scriptures, and to the most uncorrupt ages of the church : but, however, they could iu)t go so far as to believe that the substance of reli- (t'j bee Kolt'b Jjves of the Kcl'ormers, page l£)8 THE JUDGMENT OF OUR gi;)ii was effected by the clothes we wear ; and they thought things of this nature altoge- ther indifferent, and left to our liberty by the word of God (/)." Thus, it incontestably appears, that these two learned Caivinists, Bucer and Martyi-. were church of England men not in word and tongue only, but in deed and in truth. Before I conclude this Section, I beg leave to subjoin an observation, that would more properly have fallen under the immediate article of Bucer ; but which, though omitted in its due place, is too important to the design of this undertaking to be entirely passed over. It has been affirmed (and what is theie, which some Arminians will not affirm ?) that Bucer held the doctrine of justification by works, and believed human obedience to be meritorious in the sitfht of God. That he was once of this opinion, is not at all wonderful, when we consider that he was born and educated in the bosom of the Romish church, with whom the tenet of legal justifica- ton is a fundamental piinciple. And, for a considerable time after God had called him out of Papal darkness, his improvements in divine knowled-f^e were progies^ive. His spiritual growth resembled the gradual vegetation of an oak ; not the rapid prosiliency of a mushroom. Bucer seems to have expressed himself the most incautiously, in theci'^putation at Leipsic, A. D. 15.i9; yet, even then, he roundly de- clared, that " those good works, to which so great a reward is given, are themselves the gifts of God (g)." And that passage, wlilch Vossius quotes from Bucer, falls extremely short of proving that the latter was, even at the early period in which he penned it, an assertor of justification by performances of our own. Impartiality obliges me to subjoin that celebrated passage, which so many Arminians and merit-mongers have since caught at, as if it made for the Popish doctiine of justification. " I cannot but wish," said Bucer, in the year J5"29, " a more sound judgment to some per- sons, who have disturbed majiy in this our age with this paradox, that we are saved by faith only : tho' they saw tlie thing was carried so far, as to confine righteousness only to the opinion of the mind, and e.\clud'ng good works. Where is their charity, who refuse to cure this evil by one word or two ? It is only to say that, vvhen faith is formed, we are jus- tified ; and that, through laith, we ob- tain a disposition to good works, and, con- sequently, a righteousness : or, that faith is the foundation and root of a righteous life, as Augustin said (A)-" Is there a single sentence. (O Rolt, Iliiil. p. 96.— N.B. Two of Bucor's let- ters, "oj;. One to Hooper, and the other co \. Usco, both in viudicatinyi of the received modes, are ex- tant in Stiypc's Ecfl. Mem. vol. li. Aijpendix, Horn p. 118 to p. lii. The whole letter to .\. Lasco w,as (says Mr. Strype, p. 225.; " translated into Englisli, in this paragraph, to which the strictest Chlvin- ist v/ould not consent? Observe the order in which Bucer arranges faith, justification, and obedience. Faith goes before ; justification follows faith ; and practical obedience follows justification : we first belie%'e ; we no sooner believe, than we are justified ; and the faith which justifies disposes us to the after-perfor- mances of good works: or, inotherwords, justi- fying faith "is the root and foundation of a righ- teous life." Says not every Calvinist the same.' As Bucer advanced in years and experience, he learned to express his idea of justification with still greater clearness and precision, than he had done on some past occasions. Finding that the enemies of grace had greedily laid hold of some inadvertent phrases, and taken unge- nerous advantage of some well-meant conces- sions, which he had made, before his evangeli- cal light was at the full ; he deemed it necessary to retract such of his positions as countenanced the merit of works; and to place justification on the scriptural basis of the Father's gratuitous goodness, and the Son's imputed righteousness : still, however, taking care to inculcate, that the faith, by which we receive the grace of God and the righteousness of Christ, is the certain source of all good works. For being thus honest to his convictions, fie was loaded, by his adversaries, with accumulated slander and reproach. How modestly and forcibly he viudicated his conduct, may be judged from the following passage: "The Lord," says Bucer, " has given me to understand some places [of scripture] more fully than I former- ly did : which, as it is so bountifully given to me, why should I not impart it liberally to my brethren, and ingenuously declare the goodness of the Lord? What inconsistency is there, in profiting in the work of salvation And who, in this age, or in the last, has treated of the Scrip- ture, and has not experienced, that, even in this study, one day is the scholar of another (i) .' " Indeed, no stronger proof need be given, of Bucer's soundness in the article of justifica- tion, than the rapture and admiration with which he mentions the English book of Homi- lies. " No sooner," says Mr. Strype, " were the homilies composed, and sent abroad ; but the news thereof (and the book itself, as it seemed, already translated into Latin ) came to Strasburgh, among the Protestants there : where it caused great rejoicing. And Bucer, one of the chief n.inisteis there, wrote a gra- tulatory cpis,tle hereupon to the Church of En- gland, in November, 1547 "■ which was printed the year after. Therein that learned and moderate man shewed, how these pious scr- .ind set foi-th, not f-r fr-^ni the hegiuniag of queen Elizaheth's rcinn, fcr the use of the church, that then was exeicsed afresh with the same contro- ^^'^ ^ ig) Ro't. Ii>''^- P- K*"- ('•) Ro!t. P- 38. I) Kelt, p. Se. ENGLISH REFORMERS CONCLUDED. 159 mons were come among them, wherein the peo- ple were so godlily and efi'ectunlly exhorted to the readina; of the Holy Sciiptiires ; and faith was so well explained, whereby we become Christians ; and justification, whereby we are saved ; and the other chief heads of the Christian religion so soundly handled. And therefore, as he added, these foundations being rightly laid, there could nothing be wanting in our Churches, requisite towards the building here- upon sound doctrine and discipline. He com- mended much the Homily of Faith, the nature and force of which was so clearly and soberly discussed; and wherein it was so well uistin- guished from the faith that was dead. He much approved of the manner of treating Concerning the misery and death we are all lapsed into, by the sin of our first parent ; and how we are rescued from this perdition, only by the grace of God, and by the merit and resurrection of his Son (AJ." No wonder, that this excellent man was, soon after, called into England, to assist in perfecting that reformation, whose beginnings he so heartily approved. When here, vast deference was paid to his judgment and ad- vice, by Cranmer and the other Piotestant bishops. This is confessed, even by Burnet himself; whose words are, "About the end of this year (,1550), or the beginning of the next, there was a review made of the Com- mon-Prayer Book. Martin Bucer was con- sulted in it : and Alesse translated it into Latin for his [;'. e. for Bucer's] use. Upon which, Bucer wrote his opinion ; which he finished the 5th of January in the year following: and, almost in every particular, the most material things, which Bucer excepted to, were correct- ed afterwards (/) ." This acknowledgement of Bishop Burnet's confirms what is delivered by Guthrie: who, in his English History, observes, concerning Bucer and Peter Martyr, that their authority was great in England (m) ." SECTION XV. Of the Share which Calvin had in the Refor- mation of the Church of England. To what has been already observed, con- cerning our principal reformers, a word or two must be added, relative to that grand ornament of the Protestant world, Dr. John Calvin. It has been furiously aflSrmed, by more than one Arminian, that Calvin had not the least hand, directly or indirectly, in any part of our English reformation. Old Heylyn (A) Sti-ype's Memorials Ecclesiastical, yo\, ii. p. 31, 32. (I) Bumefs Hi.st. of Reformat, vol. ii. p. 147, 148. im) See Roll, p. 115. (n) Peter Heylyn's Historic. & Miscell.Tracts,p. 548. plays to this tune : " Our first reformers had no respect of Calvin (»)■" And again : they " had no regard to Luther or Calvin, in the procedure of their work (o)." To Heylyn's pipe, dances Mr. Samuel Downes ; with the same reverential glee, as poor Wat Sellon squeaks to the quavers of Mr. John Wesley. Let us, however, examine for ourselves, and attend to facts. Mr. Rolt informs us, from Guthrie, that Bucer's " remonstrances, to- gether with those of Martyr a d Calvin, pre- vailed with archbishop Cranmer, and the other prelates of the reformation, to suHer it [i. e. to suffer the liturgy] to be revised and cor- rected {p)." Such an acknowledgment, frona a historian of Guthiie's principles, must have decisive weight with every rational enquirer. Sa must the testimony that follows. " Calvin advised Bucer how to conduct him- self before king Edward VI. He [i. e. Calvin] corresp(mded with the duke of Somerset " (who was the king's uncle, protector of the realm, and, in concert with Cranmer, the main instrument in conducting the reforma- tion) "and gave him his opinion how the re- formation should be carried on. In one of his [z. e. of Calvin's] letters to the lord protector, he expressed his dislike of praying for the dead. Calvin, in his epistolary correspondence with the protector, was instrumental, not only in pushing some severity against the Papists, but in some advances towards bringing the Church of England to a nearer conformity with the Churches abroad, where the worship was more plain (y)." The Church, therefore, stood indebted for part of her purity and sim- plicity, to the discreet and friendly offices of this most eminent divine, " whose decisions " (as an elegant modern historian truly observes) " were received among the Protestants of that age, with incredible submission (>•)." Even bishop Burnet takes some notice of Calvin's correspondence with Somerset. " Cal- vin wrote to the protector, on the 29th of Octo- ber (1548), encouraging him to go on, not- withstanding the wars, as Hezechias had done, in his reformation. He [z. e. Cab in] lamented the heats of some that professed the gospel : but complained, that he heard there were tew lively sermons heard in England, and that the preachers recited their discourses coldly. He much approves a set form of prayers, whereby the consent of all the Churches did more manifestly appear. But he advises a more complete lelormation. He taxed the prayers for the dead, the use of chrism, and extreme unction, sin.ce they were no where recom- mended in Scripture. He (C;alvin) had heard, that the reason why they (the English reform- Co) Heylyn's Life of Liiud, Introd. p. 3. (■p) Rolfs Lives of the Reformers, p. ) la. (?) Rolt, liiit, p. 134. Cr) Robertson's Hist, of Scotland, vol. i, p. ^-19. Octavo 160 OF CALVIN'S SHARE IN THK ers) went no further, was, because the times could not bear it : but this was to do the work of G.>d by political maxims ; which, though they ought to take place in other things, yet should not be followed in matters in which the salvation of souls was concerned. But, above all things, Calvin complained of the great impieties and vices that were so com- mon in England ; as swearing, drinking, and uncleanness: and prayed him (the lord pro- tector) earnestly, that these things might be looked after is)." Calvin did not remonstrate in vain. The communion office underwent a farther reform, in 1550: as did the whole liturgy, in 1551 ; when among many other alterations, the chrism in baptism, the unction of the sick, and prayers for the dead, were totally ex- punged tO. That the reasonings and representations of Calvin had great influence on the protector, and on the conduct of ecclesiastical affairs in England, is evident, amidst a multiplicity of additional proofs that might be offered, from what is observed by the candid and learned Mr. Hickman : than whom, no person, per- haps, was better acquainted with the religious history of this kingdom. " Bucer, at Cam- bridge," says that excellent writer, " under- stood that Calvin's letters prevailed much with Somerset : and therefore intreats Calvin, when he did write to the protector, to ad- monish him not to suffer the churches to be left void of preachers (?*)•" Heylin himself, ii; his History of the Re- formation, virtually contradicts what he else- where delivers, concerning the " no-respect " which, he would have us believe, was shewn to Calvin. Speaking of king Edward's first liturgy, he says, " And here the business might have rested,'' [i. e. the liturgy would not have been reviewed and reformed] " if Calvin's pragmatical spirit had not interposed (if). " Theconcession is important, though raahciously expressed: for, what is this, but allowing, that the Church of England was obliged to " Calvin's interposition," for lier deliverance from the alb, the cope, the introits, the exor- cism, the trine immersion, the unction, prayers for souls departed, &c. which were all retained (.5) Burnet's Reform, vol. ii. p. 83. Dr. Ful- ler gives a much more satisfactory abstract from Cal- vin's letter, than does his lordship of Sarum. " Mas- ter Calvin," says Fuller, "is therein very uositive for a set form : whose words deserve our translation and ooservation. Formulam precum [saith CaUin] et rituum ecclesiasticorum, valde probo, ut ccrta ilia ex- istet ; a qua ne pastoribus disedere in functione sui liceat : 1. Ut consulatur quonindam simplic'tati et im- peritise. i. Utcertiis coustet omnium inter se eccle- siarum consensus. 3. Ut obvium ineatur desultoris quorundam levitati, qui novatinnes quasdam afiectant. Sic igitur statum esse catechismum oportet, statam cum fnrmulam. That is : I do highly approve that there should be a certain form of prayer, and eccle- siastical rites ; from which it should not be lawful for the pastors themselves to disrede. 1 . That provision may be made for some people's ignorance and unskil. fulness. 2. That the consent of all the churches among themselves may the more plainly'appear. 3. by the tirst nturgy ? Surely, if Heylyn's i:om- plaint be justly founded, that " if Calvin's pragmatical spirit had not interposed " the first liturgy might have stood as it did, it will folio V, 1. Thar the Protestant religion in Eng- land is under the highest obligations to Calvin, for his successful zeal in occasioning all this rubbish to be wheeled away : and, 2. That Heylin himself, by whom this very circum- stance is affirmed, was guilty of a most pal- pable deviation from truth, in asserting, else- where, that " Calvin offered his assistance to our reformers, and that his interposition was refused (x)." 'Tis not a little amusing to see such rank Arminians, as Heylyn, pressing themselves, whether they will or no, into the service of truth. Take, therefore, a farther taste of his testimony, occurring in another work of his. He observes, that " Cranmer, Ridley," and " the rest of the English bishops " concerned in the reformation, resolved that "they would give Calvin no oflence (i/)." The Arminian found himself constrained even to add, that Calvin, " In his letters to the king and coun- cil, had excited them to proceed in the good work which they had begun : that is, that ihey should so proceed as he [i- e. as Calvin] had directed. With Cranmer he is more par- ticular, and tells him, in plain terms, that, in the liturgy of this church [viz. the first litur- gy], as it then stood, there remained a whole mass of Popery, which did not only blemish, but destroy, God's public worship (z)." It appeared, by the subsequent revisal and refor- mation of that liturgy, that king Edward, his council, and archbishop Cranmer [or, as Heylyn himstlf there, for a wonder, vouchsafes to ex- press it, " the godly king, assisted by so wise a council, and such learned prelates "] were entirely of Calvin's mind. Doubtless, those good and great men reformed the first liturgy, more from a conviction of the force of Calvin's arguments, than from a principle of mere de- ference to Calvin's authority. Mr. Heylyn, however, inclines to the latter supposition : and, by a concession which places Calvin's authority with the reformers in the most ex- alted point of view, expressly declares, that " the first liturgy was discontinued, and the That order may be taken against the uusettled levity of such as delight in innovations. Thus there ought to be an established catechism, an established admi- nistration of sacraments, as also a public form of pray- er." Fuller's Church Hist, book vii. p. 426. (t) See Strypc, Burnet, Dowues, A:c. sub annis 1550 et 1551. (M) Hickman's Animadvers. on Heylyn, p. 149. (V) Heylyn Hist, ot the Reform. Pref. p. 3.— Mr. \\ histon, likewise, honestly confesses, that king Ed- ward's first liturgy was then [i. r. in tlie year 1551.] " plainly altered out of human prudence, and out of compliance with Calvin and other toreipllers. " \\ his- ton's Memoirs, vol. ii. p- See Hcyiyn's Uuinquart. Hist. Ch. viii. s. 2. Misc. Tr. p. 54S. And yet this very Heylyn, in tlie very next page but one, says, that the first Utiirgy, " being disliked by Calvin, was brought under a re- view." Jbid. p. 550. Oj) Heylyn's H.st. of the Presbyterians p. 204 (:; Hist. Fresh, p. 20C. ENGLISH REFORMATION. Uil second superinduced upon it aftri- this it view, to give satisfaction unto Crtlvin's cavils , tiie curiosities of some, and the mistakes of others, of his friends and followers (a)." In such esteem was Calvin held at the English court, that Bncer (thou<;h invited hither by the king himself, and the archbishop of Canterbury) would not, on his arrival here, wait on the lord protector, till he had obtained, from Calvin, letters of introduction and re- commendation to that personage. " Of this," says Heylyn, viz. of the state of religion in England, " he (i. e. Bucer,) gives account to Calvin ; and desires some letters from him to the loid protector, that he might find the greater favour, when he came before him: which was not till the tumults of the time were composed and quieted (i).'' What, moreover, shall we say, if it appear, that Calvin's interest was so considerable as to be a means of extricating Dr. Hooper from the Fleet-prison, to which he had been com- mitted on account of his aforenientiimed ob- jections to the episcopal habit ? Let us, once more, attend to Heylyn. " In which con- dition of affairs Calvin addresseth his letters to the lord protector, whom he desireth to lend the man {viz. Hooper) a helping hand, and extricate him out of those perplexities into which he was cast. So that, at last, the differences," adds Heylyn, "were thus com- promised, that is to say, that Hooper should receive his consecration, &c. (c) " Add to this, that, according to the said Heylyn, the order for removing altars, and placing communion tables in their room, was chiefly owing to the influence of Calvin. "The great business of this year (1550) was the taking down of altars in many places, by pub- lic authority : which, in some few, had for- merly been pulled down by the irregular forwardness of the common people. The prncipal motive whereunto was, in tlie lirst place, the opinion of some dislikes which had been taken by Calvin against the (first) litur- gy (d)." A correspondence was also carried on, between Calvin and archbishop Cianmer. Nay, so high did Calvin stand in the regards of king Edward himself, and so thoroughly satisfied was Cranmer, of Calvin's abilities and integrity, that " Cranmer admonished Calvin, that he could not do any thing more profitable than to write often to the king (e)." Nor was Calvin unworthy of the distin- guished honours that were every where shewn him, by the learned and moderate of all deno- minations. " He was '' (says Dr. Edwards,) " reputed a great man, not only at Geneva, but in England, and, accordingly, he had a great stroke here, and his judgment was much valued by our Church : as is evident from this, (o) Hist. Presb. p. 207. (0) His.. Ref. p. 79. (O Heylin, I/jid p. 91. (rf) Heylln, ////./. p. 95. See also his Hist, of the Presbyterians, p. 200. (e; Hickuiau, uOi yritis. p. 149. that, when son:? tliin[rs in the first English litiii ;,'y uiTe disliked by him, there was pie- scntly an alteration made in it, and another edition of it was put out, with amendments( j";. That accomplished prelate, Bishop Andre.i s, said, that Calvin was an illustrious person, and never to be mentioned without a preface of the highest honour. (Determ. Theol de Usur.) Bishop Bilson tells us (Dial. p. 5(9) that Mr. Calvin was so well known, to those that aie learned and wise, for his great pains and good labours in the church of God, that a lew snarling friars could not impeach his gc; Us. Polity) he styles him, a worthy vessel of God's glory. Bishop Morton speaks as honourably of him. For under.staiuiing the Scripture, he was endued with an admirable gift of judg- ment, saith Mr. Lively, the famous Hebiv.v professor. And the generality of our church- ineii, in those times, were ready to bestow on him that brief encomium our Bishop Stillin;;- fleet gives him, viz. that excellent servant of God(g-)." Now, as Dr. Edwards farther ob- serves, " It is certain, that our churchmen did not admire and esteem Calvin and Bezn, and their followers, for their ecclesiastical govern- ment, and some other things which were pe- culiar to their churches ; therefore it niust be their doctrines which they had a respect for (/;).'' It would be almost endless to refer to the just praises with which Calvin's memory has been honoured. "Joseph Scaliger, who scarce thought any man worth his commending, couid not forbear admiring Calvin : whom he owiv. d for the happiest of all the commentators, in apprehending the sense of the prophets. And Pasquier says, Calvin was a good writer, both in Latin and French ; and our French tonyne IS highly obliged to him, for enriching it with so great a number of fine expressions (i).'' The character given of him, by the im- mortal Monsieur de Thou, is, Johannes Cal- vinus, " ucri vir ac vehementi ini^eiiio, et uil- mirabili fanmdiu praditas ; inter Prottntaiitij.i viagni iiominis theologus ; a person endued with a quick and lively genius, and of admi- rable eloquence ; a divine highly accounted of among Protestants (/5)." " Bishop Hooper so much valued Calvin, that he wrote to him, even when he [Hooper] was imprisoned ; saluting him with the coni- pellation of vir prcestantinsime, earnestly beg- ging his church's prayers, and at last subscrib- ing himself, Tute pivtatis studiosinsimtn, Johannes Hooperus (;).'' " Whenever he was quoted, in the press, or in the pulpit, it was done with epithets of honour; as, the learned, the jud'cious, the ( / ) Veritas Redux, p. 529. (i;; Verit. Red. p. 550. (h) Ib\il. p. 5.'>1. (i) Rolfs Lives, p. U5. (k) See Leigh ".s Relig. and Learoed Men, p. 149. (l) Hickmau, «. jir. p. 149. M 162 OF CALVIN'S SHARE IN THE pious Cjilviii. And I am more than confident, there cannot be produced one writer of credit, in tlie established Church of England, that ever fell fnul on Calvin, 'till about 60 or 70 years after his death, when the tares of Ar- minius began to be sown and cherished among US. Dr. Featly styles him, that bright, burning taper of Geneva, as warm in his devotions, as clear and lightsome in his disputes (Ep. Ded. to Dippers Dipt). How respectfully do Jewel, Abbot, Usher, &c. mention him(m) ! " Calvin has been taxed with fierceness and bigotry. But bis meekness and benevolence were as eminent as the malice of his traducers is shameless. 1 shall give one .single instance of his modesty and gentleness. While be was a very young man, disputes ran high between Luther and some other refornie[S, concerning the manner of Christ's presence in the holy sacrament. Luther, whose temper was na- tully warm and rough, heaped many hard names on the divines who diftered from him on the article of consubstantiation ; and, among the rest, Calvin came in for bi'j divi- dend of abuse. Being informed of the harsh appellations he leceived, he meekly replied, in a letter to Bullingei, " Sapc dicere suVttus sum, etiamxi me diahvhnn vocarct, me tamen hoc illi honoris hahitnrum, lit insignem Dei servum agnoscam ; qui famcn, iit pallet eximiis virtutibus, ita magnis vitiis luboret : i. e. 'Tis a frequent saying with me, that, if Luther should even call me a devil, my veneration for him is, notwithstanding, so great, that I shall ever acknowledge him to be an illus- trious servant of God ; who, tho' he abounds in extraordinai y virtues, is yet not without considerable imperfections {ii)." The same learned historian, who relates this, has an observation, concerning Calvin, which deserves attention. "John Calvin," (says he,) " was a man whose memory will be blessed in every succeeding age. He instructed and enlightened, not only the church of Ge- neva, but also the whole reformed world, by his immense labours. Insomuch that all the reformed churches are, in the gross, fre- quently called by his name (o)." Thus wrote this candid Arminian, so lately as the year 1734. I might here add some account of the consummate veneration in which the name and doctrines of Calvin were held, by our bishops and Universities, before the clergy of our establishment were debauched into Ar- minianism by Laud. But this shall, if Pro- vidence permit, be the subject of some suc- ceeding Section. In the mean while, I should be equally unjust to the church of England, and to the moderation of Calvin, if I did not anne.s a (». , Hist, of Pouery, vol. ii. p. 3J9, ."50. '«)Turretini (Job. Alpli.) Histor. Kccles. p. 352. (o) " Vir benrdictje in cmne a-vum memoi'ia;, Jo- linnius Calviniis ; immcnsisque laboribus, non Gonc\ ciiseui modb ecclcsiain, sod et totum reformatum passage or two, from Mr. Strype, relative to the remarkable candour with which Calvin expressed himself, concerning the ceremonies and discipline of our religious establishmcn!. " The mention of Calvin," (says this excel- lent bistorian,'^ " must bring in a very remark- able letter, which he wrote in the month of August this year [1561], concerning certain ecclesiastical rites, used iis our office of private prayer [an evident mistake for common-prayerj newly [re-] established [on the accession of queen Elizabeth]: which were scrupled by some of the English exiles, upon their return ; chiefly, because not used by the reformed Church in Geneva: concerning which they had sent to Calvin, for his resolution and judgment . Wherein he gave his opinion generally in fa- vour and approbation of them (p) ; " i. e. in favour of the " ecclesiastical rites": which the historian particulaiizes in several instances: and then adds . "To this judgment of this great divine, concerning rites used in this Church, I will briefly subjoin his approbation of the episcopal government of the Church : which is alledged out of his institutions, by Dr. Whitgift: ' That every province [saith Calvin] had among their bishops, an archbishop; and that the council of Nice did appoint patriarchs, who should be, in order and dignity, above archbishops ; was for the preservation of dis- cipline. Therefore for this cause especially were those degrees appointed, that if any thing should happen, in any particular Church, which could not be decided, it might be re- moved to a provincial synod. This kind of government some called Hieraichia: an im- proper name. But if, omitting the name, we cor.oider the thing itself, we shall find, that these old bishops did not frame any other kind of government in the Church, from that which the Lord hath prescribed in his woid.' And so much concerning Calvin's sense of our Church's liturgy and government (g)." Nor did Calvin's learned colleague and suc- cessor, the illustrious Beza, entertain a less respectful idea of our national establishment. Towards the decline of queen Elizabeth's teign, when puritanic opposition ran high against the outworks of the Church, the opposers affect- ed to give out, that their objections were au- thorized, and their measures countenanced, by the most learned foreign Protestants: and, es- pecially, by Beza. This being soon known at Geneva, that great man thought it his duty to exculpate himself from a charge so ungener- ous and unjust: which he took care lo do, in a letter to Whitgift, then Archbishop of Can- terbury. "While the archbishop," says Strype, "was endeavouring to suppress the male-con- tents against episcopacy and the Church of orbeni, enidiit atque illustravit ; ade«^ ut, de ejus no- niiiie r; formati, quanti quant) sunt, non rani appel- lentur." Job. Turretin. ». s. p. 243. { 7<) Strype's Hist. Ref. uuder Qu. Eliz. chsp. xii p. 240. (g) Strype, lOiri. p. 248. ENGLISH REFORMATION. England in its present establishment, he receiv- eth, March 8th [1591], a letter from Theodore Beza, the chief minister of Geneva, wherein he by owning, with all respect, the archbishop, and ihe rest of the English bishops, and their go- vernojent of this Church, gave a notable check to these new reformers, who bore out themselves much with his authority. It seemed to have been written by him, in answer to one from the archbishop, blaming him for his (supposed) meddling with the Church and state of En- gland, without any lawful commission. In de- fence of himself, be (Beza) returned an an- swer; part whereof was as followeth: That whereas his lordship thought it meet, in his letters, to move them (i. e. to nu)ve the Gene- va divines) to think well of thb kingdom, and of the Church here, and the go%-ernment thereof: it indeed troubled both him and Sadeel (another of the ministers of Geneva}, in some sort : as being greatly afraid, lest some sinis- ter rumours were brought to him (to the arch- bisop) concerning them ; or lest what they had written, concerning Church-government pro- perly against the antichristian tyranny [of the Koman church], as necessity required, might be taken, by some, in that sense, as tho' they ever meant to compel to their order those churches that thought otherwise. That such arrogancy was far from them : for [added Beza] who gave us authority over any church: And that they by no means thought, so substantial matters were kept, that there ought nothing to be granted to antiquity, nothing to custom, nothing to the circumstances of places, times, and persons.'' So wrote Beza: or, to use Mr. Strype's own words, on the occasion, " Thus did Beza and Sadeel, in the name of their church, profess to the archbishop their re- spect, honour, and approbation of the Church of England (r)." About two years afterwards. Dr. Bancroft (who at length became archbishop of Canter- bury), in a treatise, which he published against the obstinacy of some restless Puritans, " pro- duced divers letters of Zanchius, in appro- bation of episcopacy ; and of Bullinger and Gualter, to several English bishops, in dis- (r) Strype's Life of Whitgift, p. 378, 379. (t) Ibid. p. 404.— In another work, of Mr. Strype, that Qsefo] and laborious coUector gives a large ac- count of Zanchius's attachment to charch-goveniment by archbishops and bishops. " We do not disallow the fathers," said Zanchy, " in that, after a diverse way of dispensing the word, and governing the church, they multiplied divers orders of ministers. It was lawful so to do : seeing they did it for honest causes, appertaining, at that time, to the order, decency and edification rf the church.— For this reason, ti":. that the nurseries of dissentions and schisms might be taken away, we thmk that those things which were ordained before the council of Nice, concerning arch- bishops, nay, as touching the four patriarchs, may be excused and defended." Some others of the reasons assigned by Zanchy, for his approbation of the hier- archy, were, l.The practice of the primitive church, pre- sently after the apostles' time. 2. Because he thought it his duty to have regard to tLose reformed churches [the chorches of England and Ireland, for instance] which retained both bishops and archbishops. And, 3. Because all the reformed churches generally, al- allowance altogether of those innovators (»\" As to Beza, if he was afterwards so far wrought upon, by dint of mbrepresentation, as to countenance, in any measure, the for- wardness of the more rigid disciplinarians ; it ought, in justice, to be imputed, neither to any levity, nor duplicity, in him (for he was equally incapable of both j ; but to the wrong informations that were sent him : by which, a foreigner, who resided at so great a distance from England, might, easily enough, he liable to undue impression. SECTION X\l. The Judgment of the mon eminent English Martyrs, and Confes»sors, who suffered Death, or Persecution, after the Overthrow of the Reformation hy Queen Mary I. We have seen in the three preceeding Sections, 1 . That the reformers of the Churcn of England were zealous Calvinists, as to matters of doctrine : 2. That Calvin himself had a very considerable hand in reducing our liturgy to that purity and excellence which it still retains : and, 3. That Calvin, Beza, Zanchius, Sadeel, BuUinger, and Gualter, entertained very respectful and affectionate sentiments, concerning the ritual, decency and order, together with the episcopal regimen, of our incomparable Church. And, to the approbation of those most learned persons, might be added (if need required; that of many other foreign Cal^'inists, who are de- servedly numbered among the first ornaments of that century. While pious king Edward lived, tlie Church of England saw herself at the very pinnacle of spiritual prosperity. Her supreme visible head was a prodigy of ^visdom, know- ledge, and undefiled religion. Her bishops were luminaries of the first brightness : men glowing with love to God ; clear in the doc- trines of the gospel, and zealous in main- taining them ; of eminent learning, for the most part ; assertors, and patterns, of every good word and work. Had Providence bee.i though they had changed the name«, yet, in effect, they kept the authority : as where they had superin- tendents, &c. " And what," added Zanchius, ** can be shewed more certainly, out of hi^turies, out of the councils, and out of the writings of ail the an- cient fathers, than that those orders of ministers, of which we have spoken, have been ordained and re- ceived in the church, by the general consent of all Christian commonwealths! And who then am 1, that 1 should presume to reprove that which the- whole church hath approved ! " See Strype's Annals, vol. ii. p. 653 , 6M. On the whole, it appears, that the learned, the modest, the jadicioos Zanchy, was a fast friend, not only to the doctrines, but also (a circumstance not very usual with the foreign Protestants of that agei to the hierarchy, of the church of England- Nor was the church unmindful of his worth and aiTection : for, by the voice of the University of Cambridge, in the year I5a5, this great man was, expressly, and by name, numbered among "the lights and ornaments" of our established church.— See my account of Zanchy, pre- fixed to myXranslationof hisTreatiseon Predestination. M 2 164 THE JUDGMENT OF OUR pleased to have extended the felicities of that reign, what might not have been expected from a Prince of Edward's accomplishments ; and from a choir of prelates, whom grace, abilities, and almost every useful attainment, concurred to render venerable ? But God (whose disposals are not less wise, just, and gracious, for being at present unsearchable,) was pleased to reverse the scene. The Iting's death opened Mary's way to the throne ; who ruled not with a sceptre, but a sword. That bigotted princess, and her Popish counsellors, knew, that the doctiines of gra- tuitous election, invincible grace, and justifi- cation without worlis, enter into the very basis of genuine Protestantism. No wonder, there- fore, that, to rid the two Universities of all predestinarians, was a primai y object of her attention. Free-will, conditional justification, and the merit of works, were doctrines so essential to the interests of Popery, tliat not to aim at (J) restoring them, would have been doing matters by halves. Therefore, "A re- solution was taken, to bring into the Univer- sities a test for purging them of all Protestants, and to prevent their re-admission for the future. This was done by way of oath, as foUows : "You shall swear, by the holy contents of this book, that you shall not keep, hold, main- tain, and defend, at any time, during your life, any opinion erroneous, or error of Wick- liff, Huss, Luther, or any other condemned of heresy : And that you shall, namely and spe- cially, hold as the Catholic church holdeth in all these articles, wherein lately hath been controversy, dissention, and error ; as con- cerning faith, and works, grace and free-will, &c. (k)" Now, I have before demonstrated (particularly, in the 3d and 4th Sections of this essay), that " in all these articles," which concern " faith and works, grace and free- will," the church of Rome is avowedly Armi- nian throughout. Consequently, by tendering the above oath to the members of the Univer- sities, queen Mary's design was to clear those seminaries of all Calvinists ; the better to make way for the re-introduction of Popery. With the same view, a proclamation was issued, in 1555, to prohibit the sale, the read- ing, or the keeping of any book or books, writings or works, made or set forth by or in the name of Martin Luther, O. Ecolampadius, Zuinglius, John Calvin, Bucer, Peter Martyr, Latimer, Hooper, Coverdale, Tyndal, Cran- mer {w)," and other predestinarian Protestants (t) It deserves particular notice, that, A.D. I.'j54 (which was the year after Mary came to the crown), Bonner published a book, for ^e re-instruction of his diocese in the principles of Popery, entitled, A Proiit- able and Necessary Doctrine, containiii'; an H.\pi)si- tion on the Creed, Seven Sactaraents, 1 . n Conimand- rocnts, the Pater-noster, Are Maria, &c. A consider- able part nf which was taken out of the Pia et Catlio- lica Institutio, which had been published in the reif^n of Henry VUl. See the Biogr. Diet. vol. ii. p. 201. — whose names are tnere enumerated. 'Twas added, that all persons, possessing any books written by the above authors, " Shall, within the spaee of fifteen days next after the publica- tion of this proclamation, bring, or deliver, or cause the said books, writings, and works, and every of them, remaining in their custody and keeping, to be brought and delivered, to the ordinary of the diocese, to be burnt," or other- wise destroyed. On which order the pious Mr. Fox makes this obvious remark : What a-do is here, to keep down Christ in his se- pulchre ! and yet will he rise, in spite of all his enemies (r). The truth is, queen Mary and her Spanish husband, in whose names that proclamation ran, well knew that Calvinism is the very life and soul of the reformation : and that popery would never flourish, 'till the Calvinistic doctrines were eradicated. I have already given some intimation (p. 3h)), from bishop Burnet, of a brief confession of faith, which was drawn up and signed by the Protestant bishops and Clergymen who were then imprisoned in London, shortly after the coronation of iMary. But as Burnet'^ ex- tract is (according to custom) very partial and superficial, I shall here present my readers with the entire paragraph, to which that his- torian so lamely refers. " Fourthly, we believe and confess, concerning justification, that as it Cometh only from God's mercy through Christ, so it is perceived and had of none, who be of years of discretion, otherwise than by faith only. Which faith is not an opinion, but a certain persuasion wrought by the Holy Ghost in the mind and heart of man ; wherethrough, as the mind is illuminated, so the heait is sup- pled to submit itself to the will of Godunfeign- edly ; and so sheweth forth an inherent righ- teousness, which is to be discerned ((". e. which inherent righteousness is to be carefully distin- guished) in the articles of justification, from the righteousness which God endueth us with- al, justifying us ; although inseparably they go together. And this we do e. we preserve this important distinction between imputed and in- herent righteousness] not for curiosity, nor con- tention sake ; but for conscience sake ; that it might be quiet ; which it can never be, if we confound, without distinction, forgiveness of sins and Christ's righteousness imputed to us, with regeneration and inherent righteousness." Thus spake these excellent divines : adding, immediately after, " by this," {i.e. by this view of justification,) " we disallow Papistical doc- trine of fiee-will, of works of supererogation, of merits, of the necessity of auricular confes- Thus SeTlon's Arminian letter to the vicar of Broad Hcmbury, as also Ur. N.'s answer to the Author of Pietas Oxoniensis, are fraught with arguments bor- rowed from that self-same Popish storehouse (i the l*ia et Catholica Institutio) which furnished Bonner with materials for his pastoral letter to the diocese of London. Arminianisni cares not what it eats. Tlie foulest food will go down, so dear free will is b .t kept from starving. (k) Rolfs Lives Ref. p. 116. (u ) Fox, iii. p. i-ZS. (r) Ihid. KNGLISH MARTYRS. siDii, and satisfaction to God-waids (jj)." Tliis vala ible paper was dated the 8th day of May, A.D. 1554, and subscribed by Uobi'i Edward Crome. John Rogers, Laurence Saunders. EiJmund Laurence J. P. T. M. Ferrar, late bishop of St. David's. Uovvland Taylor. Julia philpot. JutiU Bradford. John Hooper, late bishop of Worcester and Qloucester. At the bottom of all was written, " To these things abovesaid, do 1, Miles Coverdale, late (bishop) of Exeter, consent and agree, with these mine afflicted brethren, being prisoners : mine own hand." Now, can any person question the Calvinism of these blessed men of God, by whom the tenets of free-will and of justification by inherent righteousness, were expressly numbered among " Papistical doctrines ; " and classed with " works of supererogation, merits, and auricular con- fession ? " A great number of God's faithful servants, both ministers and people, were brought to the stake, for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of his patience, during the short, but sharp reign of this sanguinary woman. Cran- mer, Ridley, Latimer, and Hooper, ha\'ing been treated of already, I shall proceed to the brief mention of some others. And here, amidst the noble army of Eng- lish Martyrs, 1 find myself encompassed with so great a cloud of witnesses to the doctrines of grace, that I scarce know whom to select, or wliom to omit. Was I to introduce them all, I should exceed every reasonable limit of bre- vity. I am obliged, therefore, to suppress tlie attestations of many precious sufferers for Christ, who witnessed a good confession even unto death, and who will be found with hon- our and praise and glory at his appearing. Among the few I shall produce, as vouchers fur the rest, those that follow : I. Mr. John Rogers, prebendary and divi- nity-lecturer of St. Paul's, and vicar of St. Se- pulchre's, London, had the honour of beijig the first that was burned for the gospel, under the bloody auspices of Maiy. He suffered in Sinithfield, February 4, 1555. His judgment, concerning the Calvinian doctrines, is suffici- ently apparent, without adducing any other proofs, from the above mentioned declaration of faith, to which he set his hand during his last imprisonment. rr. Mr. Laurence Saunders, a clergyman of birth and fortune, eminent as a scholar, but still more respectable for the grace given him of God, was lecturer, first, at Fothering- hay ; next, reader in thecathedral of Litchfield ; and, lastly, rector of Allhallows, in Bread - street, London. He was burned at Coventry, F(b. 8. 1655. Though his hand, likewise, was to the declaration of faith, quoted above ; I will annex one or two addi tional evidences of his Calvmism : in hope, that, while they demonstrate the clearness of the martyr's head, their piety may warm and impress the reader's heart. In a letter, sent from prison to his wife, he thus expressed his triumph of faith : " I do not doubt but that both I and you, as we be written in the book of life, so we shall together enjoy the same everlastingly, through the grace and mercy of God our dear Father, in his Son, our Christ. I am meriy, I thank my God and my Christ ; in whom and thro' whom I shall, 1 know, be able to fight a good fight, and finish a good course {z)." In another letter to Crannier, Ridley ^nd Lati- mer (then prisoners at Oxford), this seraphic man observes: "We walk in faith: which faith, although, for want of outward appear- ance, reason reputeth but as vain ; yet the chosen of God do know the effect thereof to bring a moie substantial state and lively frui- tion of very felicity and perfect blessedness, I !ian reason can reach, or senses receive. Vcr may be assured, by God's grace, that you shctll not be fiustrate of your hope of our constant con- tinuance in the cheerful confession of God's everlasting verity. For even as we have re- ceived the word of trath, the gospel of our salvation ; wherein we believing are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of oui inheritance (which Spirit certifi- eth our spirit that we are the children of God, and therefore God hath sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father) ; so, after such portion as God measureth unto us, we, with the whole Church of Christ and with you, reverend father the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, 1 believed, and therefore have I spoken ; we also believe, and therefore speak. Knowing, most certainly, that though we have this trea- sure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of this power might be God's, and not ours ; yet shall we not be dashed in pieces : for the Lord will put his hand under us. To communicate with our sweet Saviour Christ in bearing the cross, it is appointed unto us, that with him also we shall be glorified («).'' Elsewhere Mr. Saunders sets his seal to the doctrine of final perseverance, in terms, if possible stronger still : " Now that he hath, in his dear Christ, repaired us (being, before, utterly decayed ); and redeemed us, purging us unto himself as a peculiar people, by the blood of his Son ; he hath put on a most tender good- will and fatherly ali'ection towards us never to forget us (6)." Again : " Praised l)e our gracious God, who presei-veth his from evil; and doth give them grace to avoid all sulIi offences, as might hinder his honour, or hui t his Church (c). " Once more, " I take occasion of much rejoicing in our so gracious God and merciful Father, who hath, in his immeasuia- ble mercy, by faith, hand-fasted us his chosea C») Fox's Acts & J^on. toI. iii. p. 83. (z) Ibid. p. IH. (a Ibid. p. 112. (b) Ibid. p. 113. (r) /i-ii 166 THE JUDGMENT OF OUR children unto his dear Son our Christ (rf)." " We may boldly, with our Christ, and all his elect, say. Death, where is thy sting (e)?" No self-righteousness lay at the foundation of this holy man's triumph. His whole trust was in the covenant-merits of Jesus the Savi- our. Hence, in a short letter, which is en- titled. To his wife, a little before his burning, Ater desiring her to send liim a shirt in which he was to suffer, he breaks out into this sweet prayer, " O, my Heavenly Father, look upon me in the face of thy Christ ! or else, I shaU not be able to abide thy countenance ; such is my fihhiness. He will do so ; and therefore I wiU not be afraid what sin, hell, death, and damnation, can do against me (/)." His spiritual consolations continued with him to the last. When arrived at the place of exe- cution, he kissed the stake ; saying, in a tran- sport of joy, Welcome, the cross of Christ; welcome, everlasting life ! HI. Dr. Rowland Taylor was rector of Hadley, in Suffolk. We may form a judg- ment of that wonderful out-pouring of the Holy Spirit, and of the diffusive spread of di- vine knowledge, which attended the preaching of the gospel in the age of the reformation, from what Mr. Fox delivers, concerning the state of religion in that particular town. " The town of Hadley was one of the first that re- ceived the gospel in aU England, at the preach- ing of Mr. Thomas Bilney ; by whose Indus- try the gospel of Christ had such gracious success, and took such root there, that a great number in that parish became exceeding well learned in the Holy Scriptures, as well women as men. So that a man might have found amongst them many, who had often read the whole Bible through, and who could have said a great sort of St. Paul's epistles by heart, and very well and readily have given a godly, learned sentence in any matter of controversy. Tlieir children and servants were also brought up and trained so diligently in. the right knowledge of God's word, that the whole town seemed rather an university of the learn- eu, than a town of cloth-making, or labouring people ; and, what is most to be commended, they were, for the more part, faithful follow- ers of God's word in their living. In this town was Doctor Rowland Taylor, doctor in both the civil and canon laws, and a right perfect divine, parson {g)." What a melan- choly contrast, alas ! are the present times, to tiiose ! How has the Introduction of Armi- nlanism poisoned our Protestant streams, and cankered our evangelical gold ! Dr. Taylor was a very uncommon man, both for grace and gifts. He had the piety of Calvin, the intrepidity of Luther, and the orthodoxy of both. When bishop Bonner came to degrade him, in the Poultry compter, prior to his martyrdom, he [Bonner] desired the magnanimous prisoner to put on the sacerdotal habit, that he might be divested of it in form. " I am come, [quoth Bonner] to degrade you : wherefore put on these vestures. No, saia Dr. Tayloi, 1 will not. Wilt thou not? an- swered the bishop ; I shall make thee, ere I go. Quoth Dr. Taylor, You shall not, by the grace of God. Then he charged him, upon his obedience, to do it : but he would not do it for him {h)." 'Tis usual, it seems, in popish degradations, for the bishop to give the degraded person a slight stroke on the breast, with a crosier. Bonner was afraid (for persecutors are generally cowards) to perform this part of the ceremony on Taylor. "At the last," says Mr. Fox, "when he should have given Dr. Taylor a stroke on the breast with his crosier-staff, the bishop's chap- lain said, My lord, strike him not, for he will sure strike again. Yea, by St. Peter, will I, quoth Dr. Taylor : the cause is Christ's : and I were no good Christian, if I would not fight in my master's quarrel. So the bishop laid his curse upon him, but struck him not. Bonner being gone, the doctor returned up stairs : and when he came up, he told Mr. Bradford (for they both lay in one chamber) that he had made the bishop of London afraid; for, said he, laugliing. His chaplain gave him counsel not to strike me with his crosier-staff, for that I would strike again ; and, by my troth, continued he, rubbing liis hands, I made him believe I would do so indeed (/).'' That this eminent messenger and martyr of Christ was one who rightly divided the word of truth, the following short extracts will suffice to shew. His judgment was, that the Mediator died for those only who are endued with faith : " Christ gave himself," said he, " to die for our redemption, upon the cross ; whose body, there offered, was the propitiatory sacrifice, full, perfect, and sufficient unto salvation, for all them that believe in him (A).'' He held the doctrine of assurance : and no wonder ; for God had favoured him with the gift itself. Hence, four days before his exe- cution, he thus subscribed his last will and testament: "Rowland Taylor, departing hence in sure hope, without doubting, of eternal salvation ; I thank God, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ my certain Saviour, Amen. The 6th of February, anno 1555. The Lord is my light and my salvation : whom then shall 1 fear ? God is he that justlfieth : who is he that can condemn ? In thee, O Lord, have I trusted : let me never be confounded." All assurance of salvation, not grounded on certainty of perseverance, is, in the most superlative degree, baseless, contradictory, and enthusiastic. But this good man's assur- ance was not thus built on a bubble. " I am," said he, " unmovably settled upon the rock: nothing doubting, but that my dear God will perform and finish the work that he hath begun in me and others (/) ' 1 will only add (it) /hi,/, p. I io. (/; /i/rfp 118. (r) Ihid. (g) Fox, \ol iii. p 13". EN'GLISH MARTYRS. 167 a judicious remark of his, concerning jnstiti- cation : " Abraham's justification by faith, by grace, by promise, and not by worl. iW. (0. (C) Ibid. p. 353. (/I H id. p. 521. ENGLISH MAItTYRS. his liand. Oh, the bottomless mercy of God, towards us miserable sinners (k) ! " XVIII. Mr. Bartlet Green, a gentleman of the law, was converted at Oxford, by hearing the divinity-lectures of Peter Martyr. But, being young, and rich, and naturally of a gay turn, he was permitted, for a time, to relapse into a worldly spirit, and lose sight of that gloiy and virtue to which he bad been called by grace. God, however, who will never lose a chosen vessel, recalled the wanderer ; and even enabled him to lay down his life for the .sake of Christ. And thus, as the pious Mr. Fox remarks on this occasion, " We see the fatherly kindness of our most gracious and merciful God, who never sulfereth his elect children so to fall, as to lie still [i. e. to the end] in security of sin : but oftentimes quickens them up by some such means as, per- haps, they think least of ; as he did, here, this his strayed sheep (/)." He ascended from Smithfield, to Heaven, in company with six other martyrs, who were burned in the same fire, January '27, 1556. This valuable person touches on the doc- trine of grace with much judgment and pro- priety. " God " says Mr Green, " is not bound to time, wit, or knowledge ; but rather choos- eth the weak things of the world, in order to confound the strong. Neither can men ap- point bounds to God's mercy : for I will have compassion, saith he, on whom I will shew mercy. There is no respect of persons with God, whether it be old or young, rich or poor, wise or foolish, fisher or basket-maker: God giveth knowledge of his trath, through his free grace, to whom he list (m)." On one of his examinations before the Popish delegates, he offered to debate matters with them, in form ; provided they would first allow him to con- sult " Calvin, and my lord of Canterbury's books Indeed, the writings of Calvin and Cranmer were desei-vedly numbered among the most efficacious antidotes against the poi- son of Popery : and, the Arminian weed not having then over-run the Protestant garden, Canterbury and Geneva were considered as much nearer neighbours than the new sprung dibciples of Van Harmin are willing to con- fess. I cannot take leave of Mr. Green, with- out citing the pious and not inelegant distich, which he several times repeated, both on his way to execution, and after his arrival at the stake : XIX. Mr. William Tyms, a young clergy- man, in deacon's orders, and curate of Hock- le), was burned, in April, 1556. When he was first seized and brought before Gardiner, the Popish bishop of Winchester, he was very meanly dressed (such were the distresses of God's people, at that time of trouble, rebuke. (k) riiid. p. 5W. (I) Ihirt. p. 5?. (»0 //«■(/. p. 523. («) I/jii/. p. 524. and blasphemy) : ne went not to th/ 'shop, .says Mr. Fox, in a gown, but in a coa. ; and his stockings were of two colours. Gardiner insulted him on the poorness of his habit: " Sirrah, are you a deacon ? You are not appa- ralled like one." Mr. Tyms with great smart- ness replied. My lord, your own dress is no more like that of the apostles, than mine is like a deacon's. This gentleman's agreement with the Pro- testant Church of England, in the points which relate to grace, may be collected from the fol- lowing passages. Writing to a penitent back- slider, he says, " Since I have heard of your earnest repentance, I have very much rejoiced, and praised Almighty God for his mercy shew- ed to you, in that he has not left you to your- self, but, since your denial, hath shewed his mercy on you, by looking back upon you, as he did on Peter, and so caused you to repent : Whereas, if God had left you to yourself, you would have run forward, from one evil to another (o)." In the same letter, speaking of such false, nominal Protestants as had fallen back into a profession of Popery, he observes that such would perish, "except they do re- pent and amend : which grace, that they may so do, I beseech the eternal God, for his Christ's sake, it it be his good will, to give them in his good time (/))." He justly ascribes the " perception" and "feeling" of " grace and peace" in the " heart," to " the mighty working of the Holy Ghost the comforter {rj) :" and says, " I am surely certified of this, that he who hath begun a good work in you shall go forth with it e. go through with it, maintain and complete it] 'till the day of Jesus Christ (r)." Adding: "The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, shall, his own self, after you have sufTered a little affliction, make you perfect ; shall settle, strengthen, and stablish you.'' XX. XXI. and XXII. Three persons were burned at Beccles, in Suffolk, May 21, 1556. Their names were Thomas Spicer, John Denny, and Edmund Poole. One of the articles, for which they were condemned to death, ran in these words : " Item, They affirmed no mortal man to have in himself free-will to do good or evil W." XXII. — LVI. The historian mentions thirty- four persons besides who were persecuted and expelled from the towns of Winston and Men- dlesham, in Suffolk, in the same month of May, 1556. These, though it does not appear that they were all eventually brought to the stake, yet deserve to be ranked with those that were : inasmuch as they suffered greatly for the same blessed cause. Among the reasons assigned by the martyrologist, for the hard usage of these excellent people, is the following : " Fifthly, They denied man's free-vviU, and (o) /hid. p. 574. (}>) Ibid. (q) Ibid. p. .'i;6. (>■; Ibid. p. 576. (s) Ibid. p. 590. THE JUDGMENT OF OUR held that the Pope's church did err : rebuking their [i.e. the Papists] false confidence in works, and their false trust in man's righteousness. Also, when any rebuked those persecuted, for going so openly, and talking so freely ; their answer was, they acknowledged, confessed, and believed, and therefore must speak : and that their tribulation was God's good will and providence, and that, of very faithfulness and mercy, God had caused them to be troubled ; so that not one hair of their heads should perish before the time, but all things should work unto the best to them that love God : and, that Christ Jesus was their life and only righteousness ; and that, only by faith in him, and for his sake, all good things were freely given them ; also forgiveness of sins and life everlasting. Many of these perse- cuted were of great substance, and had pos- sessions of their own (<)'' Now I would ask of Mr. Wesley and Co. 1. Were not these good old Church-of-Eng- land-people Calvinists ? 2. Can the Church of Rome be, with any shew of reason, or with any shadow of truth, considered as well- afFected to Calvinism ; seeing one grand motive why she persecuted the primitive Protestants, was, because they held the Calvinistic doctrines ? 3. Must it not be the very essence of slander and falsehood, to object against those doc- trines as productive of practical remissness : when the persons who maintained them with the greatest zeal took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, relinquished their wordly pos- sessions, rather than dissemble any part of their faith, and went even to prison and to death for the sake of those very principles ? If any man seriously supposes that Calvinism rela.xes the sinews of evangelical or moral duty, let him only consider the holiness, the honesty, and the heroism, of those Calvinistic saints, whose sufferings and deaths redden the Protestant Calendar, and who resisted even unto blood, striving against sin. LVII.— LXX. Eleven men, and two wo- men, were burned, in one fire, at Stratford le Bow, near London, June 27, 1556. It should seem, that they had temporized, or at least concealed their faith, for some time after the return of Popery under queen Mary. My chief reason for this supposition is, because their own words appear to imply something of this kind. They speak, as persons who had once let go the profession (though not the possession) of grace : and ascribe their re- covery, not to their own free-wills, but to the unfailing faithfulness of God's unchangeable Spirit. "Although," said they, in their united declaration, " we have erred for a certain time, yet the root of faith was preserved in us by the Holy Ghost, who hath reduced us into a full certainty of the same ('()." LXXI. Mr. John Careless, of Coventry, bore a glorious attestation to the doctrines of the Church of England. Though he died in the King's-bench Prison, and so, as Mr. Fox observes, " came not to the full martyrdom of his body; yet is he no less worthy to be counted in honour and place of Christ's mar- tyrs, as well for that he was, for the same truth's sake, a long while imprisoned, as also for his willing mind and zealous affection which he had to martyrdom, if the Lord had so determined («')•" What this eminent servant of God believed, and delivered, concerning predestination, will appear from some remarkable passages which passed at his examination before Dr. Martin, the Popish commissary. The commissai-y having told Mr. Caieless, that he had autho- rity to question him on any articles of faith whatever ; Careless answered, "Then let your scribe set his pen to the paper : and you shall have it roundly, even as the truth is. I believe, that Almighty God, our most dear, loving Father, of his great mercy and infinite goodness, did elect in Christ. " The Popish Doctor. Tush, what need all that long circumstance ? Write, I believe God elected : and make no more a-do. " Careless. No, not so, Mr. Doctor. It is a high mystery, and ought reverendly to be spoken of. And, if my words may not be written as I do utter them, I will not speak at all. " Popish Doctor. Go to, go to : write what he will. Here is more business than needeth. " Careless. I believe, that Almighty God, our most dear, loving Father, of his great mercy and infinite goodness (through Jesus Christ), did elect and appoint, in him, before the foundation of the earth was laid, a church or congregation, which he doth continually guide, and govern, by his grace and holy spirit ; so that not one of them shall ever finally perish (x)." " The crafty fleering Papist then asked Mr. Careless, "Why, who will deny this?" To which the honest, unsuspecting prisoner made answer, " If your mastership do allow it, and other learned men when they see it, I have my heart's desire." " Popish Doctor. It was told me also, that thou dost affirm, that Christ did not die effectually for all men. Careless. Whatsoever hath been told you, it is not much material to me. Let the tellers of such tales come before my face, and I trust to make them answer. For indeed I do believe, that Christ did die effectually for all those that do effectually repent and believe ; and for no other (;/)." " Popish Doctor. Now, Sir, what isTrew's faith of predestination ?" " Truly, I think, he doth believe as your mastership and the rest of the clergy [/. e. the Ibid. p. 59S. (y) Ibitl. p. 5110. .ENGLISH MARTYRS. Popish cleigyl do believe of piedestination : that we be elected, in respect of our good vvorl) Hii to hr'ng him off from the profession of religion, tnan any other. But he, knowing the truth and goodness of his cause. i-eable. While he was ; steadfast ; lison, he sp nt his time in preaching twice evfry fcunrtay, in v/riting many letters and discourses, praying, reading, conferring, disputing: sleeping but four hours in the nii;ht {»■)." It had been at the importunate instigation of Martiti Bucer that Mr. Bradford entered into holy orders. Oil iJlieei's expressinfr his car- nest desire of seeing him in the ministry, Brad- ford declined the proposal, from a supposi- tion, that he had not sufficient talents to speak in the name of God. Bucer's answer was me- ■ morable: If ynu cannot feed the people with fine manchet, feed them with such barley- bread as God may give yon. In the end, Bu- cer's expostulations prevailed : and Mr. Brad- ford received both his ordination and his pre- ferments from the apos'olic bishop Ridley. The brightest abilities are usually rooted in self-difSdence. Mr. Bradford's powers, as an orator, and the blessing, with which his la- bours were attended, as a minister of Christ, were equal to the fear and trembling with which he entered on Hie arduous employ. Of bis usefulness in king Edward's reign, bishop Ridley wrote as follows : " He [i e. Bradford] is a man by whom, as lam assuredly informed, God hath and doth work wonders, in setting forth his word." And, on another occasion, Ridley said of Bradford, " In my conscience I judge him more worthy to be a bishop, than many of us, that are bishops already, are of being parish priests {j:)." But his course, though'illustrious, was short. Queen Mary made him pass through the fire to heaven, in June, 1555 (i/). Let us now see, whether (.5) Ibitl. p. 725. (t) [hid. p. 728. (M) " Bradford and Latimer, Crunni' r and Kidley, four prime pillars of the reformed Churcb of Eng- land ; whom this bloody year [1558] executed in the flail -StrypeV {w) btrype, Ibut. p (x) Strype's Life ot fyj At the same st burned one John Leaf a not twenty years of a^;e .:on7.ert..d in king iidward' of Mr. Rogers, the proto ith Mr. Br.idford Tl, is elect youtli had I F.Dg iring Leafs impri 'nt him two pay Protestautism, which if he be spared : and A Summary lixed. The 3 □ fi'ered him, ) do with the ling the I'r, ordered Boi ent for the gospel, ayers. ilz. A Recantation e wo\ild sign, his life w-s iry ot the Protestant con- artyT, on this alternative ely refused to have any ition. Not being ahle to L his hand w ith a pin ; and sprint- nt confession of faith with his 1 lood, i messenger to shew it to his master, determined resnlution to Jay dow.. THE MARTYRS CONCLUDED. 179 this " prime pillar of the Church of England " was, or was not a Calvinist. On Iiis first appearance before Gardiner, the Fopisli bishop of Winchester, we are in- formed, that Gardiner " began a long process, concerning- the false doctrine wherewith the people were deceived in the days of ls h< le um .1 by Mr. Brad- earth ; so have I sworn, that I would not be angry with thee, nor rebuke thee. For, the mountains shall remove, and hills fall down : but my mercy shall not depart from thee, nei- ther shall the covenant of my peace fall away, saith the Lord that hath compassion on thee. Be certain, be certain, good master Hales, that all the hairs of your head your dear Father hath numbered. Your name is written in the book of life. Therefore upon God cast all your care, who will comfort you with his eternal conso- lations (i)." 3. " Tn Mrs. M. H. a godly gentlewoman- eomffirtiiiir her in that common heaviness and god' li/ sorrow, which the feeling and sense of sin work- etk in God's children . " As Satan lahoureth to loosen our faith, so must we labour to fasten it, by thinking on the promises and covenant of God in Christ's blood: namely, that God is our God, with all that ever he hath. Which covenant dependeth and hangeth on God's own goodness, mercy, and truth, only; and not on our obedience, or worthiness, in any point: for then should we never be certain. Indeed, God requireth of us obedience, and (e) worthiness : but not that thereby we might be his children, and he onr Father ; but because he is our Father and we his children through his own goodness in Christ, therefore requireth he faith and obedience. Now, if we want this obedience and worthi- ness which he reqniieth, should we doubt whe- ther he be our Father? Nay. That were to make our obedience and worthiness the cause, and so put Christ out of place, for whose sake God is our Father. But rather, because he is our Father, and we feel ourselves to want such things as he requireth, we should be stirred up to a sliamefacedness and blushing, because we are not as vve should be. And thereupon should we take occasion to go to our Father, in prayer, on this manner : Dear Father, thou, of thy own mercy in Jesus Christ, hast chosen me to be thy child : and therefore thou would- est that I should be brought into thy church and faithful company of thy children, wherein thou hast kept me hitherto ; thy name there- fore be praised. Now, I see myself to want faith, hope, love, &c. which thy children have, and thou requirest of me. Wheiethrough the devil would have me to doubt, yea utterly to despair of thy Fatherly goodness, favour and mercy. Therefore I come to thee, as to a merciful Father, through thy dear Son Jesus Christ: and pray thee to help me good Lord. Help me, and give me faith, hope, love, &c. and grant that thy Holy Spirit may be with me forever, and more and more, to assure me that thou art my Father ; that this merciful covenant (which thou madest with me, in re- fnrd, does not, in tliis connection, signify merit, or desert ; but a suitableness of practice, becoming of, correspondent to, and such as may he expected to follow upon, a profession of conrers'on. And, in this sense, the word very treqtiently occnrs in our old writvrs. Just as the adjectives Af.otr and Dignus are often used by writers more ancient still. 180 THE JUDGMENT OF spect of thy grace, in Christ and for Christ, and not in respect of any my worthiness) is always to me. On this sort, I say, you must, pray, and use your cogitations, when Satan would have you doubt of your salvation. " Might not [God] have made you blind, deaf, lame, fiantic, &c. ? Might he not have made you a Jew, a Turk, a Papist, &c. ? And why hath he not done so ? Verily, because he loved you. And why did he love you ? What was there in you to move him to love you ? Surely, nothing moved him to love you, and therefore to make you, and so hitherto to keep you, but his own goodness in Christ. Now, then, in that his goodness in Christ still re- maineth as much as it was, that is, even as great as himself, for it cannot be lessened ; how should it be, but that he is your God and Father ? Believe this, believe this, my good -'ister : for God is no changeling. Them whom he loveth he loveth to the end (rf).'' 4. " To another religious friend^ who was in darkness and distress of soul, Mr. Bradford wrote as follows : " His [(. e. God's] calling and gifts be such, that he can never repent him of them. When he loveth, he loveth to the end None of his chosen can perish. If he had not chosen you (as, most certainly, he hath), he would not have so called you, he would not have so justified you, he would never have so glorified you with his gracious gifts : he would never have so excercised your faith with temptations, as he hath and doth, if he had not chosen you. If he hath cliosen yon, as doubtless he hath, in Christ ; then neither can you, nor ever shall you, perish. For, if you fail, he puttelh under his hand : you shall not lie still [in sin]. So careful is Christ your keeper, over you. Never was mother so mindtul over her child, as he is over you. And hath not he always been so? Think you God to be mutable ? Is he a change- ling? Doth not he love to the end, them whom he loveth? Are not his gifts and calling such, that he cannot repent him of them ? for else were he no God. If you should perish, then wanted he power : for, I am certain, his will toward you is not to be doubted of. Hath not the Spirit, wliich is the Spirit of truth, told you 60 ; and will you now hearken, with Eve, to the lying spirit, which would have you (not to despair ; no he goeth more craftily to work: but) to doubt and stand in a mammering ? And so should you never truly love God, but serve him of a servile tear, lest he should cast you off for your unworthiness and unthankfulness: as though your thankfulness, or worthiness, were any cause with God, why he hath chosen you, or will finally keep you! Your thankful- ness and worthiness are fruits and effects of your election : they are no causes. You have a shepherd, who never slumbereth nor sleepeth. No man, nor devi', can pull you out of his hands. Therefore, inasmuch as you are indeed the child of God, elect in Christ, before the beginning of all times : inasmuch as you are given into the custody of Christ, as one of God's most precious jewels ; inasmuch as Christ is faithful, and hitherto hath all power, so that you shall never perish ; I beseech you, I pray you, I desiie you, I crave at your hands, with all my very heart, I ask of you with hand, pen, tongue, and mind, in Christ, through Christ, for Christ, for his name, blood, mer- cies, power, and truth's sake, that you admit no doubting of God's final mercies towards you, howsoever you feel yourself (e).'' 5. " 7'o Mr. John Hall, and his wife ; prisoners in Newgate for the gospel. " He [i. e. your heavenly Father] hath brought you where ye be. And though your reason and wit will tell )ou it is by chance, or fortune, or otherwise ; yet know for certain, that whatsoever was the riean, God your Father was the worker hereof (/)." 6. " To Mr. Richard Hopkins, sheriff of Coven- try : and prisoner in the Fleet, for the faithful and constant confessing of God's holy gospel. " The Apostle saith. Not many noble, not many rich, not many wise in the world, hath the Lord God chosen. Oh then, what cause have you to rejoice, that, amongst the not manj', he hath chosen you to be one (if) ! " 7. " To my good sister, Mrs. Eliz. Brtwri. " Patience and perseverance be the proper notes, whereby God's children are known from counterfeits. They who persevere not were always but hypocrites. Many make g"dly beginnings ; yea, their progress seemelh mar- vellous : but, yet, after, in the end they fail. These were never of us, saith St. John : for, if they had been of us, they would have con- tinued to the very end (A)." 8. " To a godly gentlewoman Ironlled and af- flicted by her friends, for not coming to mass. " It your cross be to me a comfort or token of your election, and a confirmation of God's continual favour, how much more ought it to be so unto you (/) ? " 9. " This is the difference betwixt God's children, who are regenerate and elect before all times in Christ, and the wicked, always : that the elect lie not still continually [i. e. finally] in their sin, as do the wicked ; but at length do return again, by reason of God's seed, which is in them, hid as a sparkle of fire in the ashes: as we may see in Peter, David, Paul, Mary Magdalene, and others. For these, I mean God's children, God hath made all things in Christ Jesus, that they should be his inhe- ritance and spouses (k)." 10. " To certain of his friinds, .V. 5. and R C. " I believe, that man made after the image of God, did fall from that blessed, state to the condemnation of himself and all his posterity (d) Vnx-x Acts and Mon. vol. iii. p. 271,27it. {e) JItid. p. 273, 274. (/; Ibid. p. 27S. (^) Ibid. p. M?. (t; Ibid. p. Hi. (A) Ibid. p. 2^a. (*; Ibid. p. D 0 THE MARTYRS CONCLUDED. 181 I believe, that Cliiist, for man beiii^ thus fal- len, did oppose himself to the justice of God, a mediator : paying the ransom and price of redemption for Adam, and his whole poste- rity that refuse it not finally (/)." In the judg- ment, therefore, of Mr. Bradford, Christ did not ransom and redeem those of Adam's posterity who finally refuse the redemption which he wrought : or, in other words, ac- cording to this divine, Christ did not die for any who do not eventually believe in him for salvation : which is particular redemption, with a witness. Christ, says the above para- graph, " paid the price of redemption" for as many of Adam's whole posterity, as finally accept of it by faith : consequently, for those who finally refuse it (and these, 'tis to be feared are more than a feiv) the pi ice of re- demption was not paid. And I should much wonder if it had : since what good end would it have answered ? Mr. Bradford goes on : " I believe, that all who believe in Christ, I speak of such as be of years of discretion, or partakers of Christ and all his merits ; I be- lieve, that faith, and to believe in Christ (I speak not now of [that] faith which men have by reason of miracles (John ii. 11. Acts viii.) ; or by reason of earthly commodity (Matth.xiii.), custom, or authority of man ; which is com- moidy seen ; the hearts of them, that so believe, being not right and simple before God ; but I speak of that faith which is indeed the true faith, the justifying and regenerating faith ; I believe, I say, that this faith and belief in Christ is the work and gift of God ; given to none other than to those which be the children of God : that is, to those whom God the Father, before the beijiiming of the world, hath pre- destinate in Christ unto eternal life (m)." Mr. Bradford's reasoning stands thus : Christ died not for those who finally refuse his redemption ; but for those who are justified and regenerated by faith in him : which justifying and regene- rating faith is the gift of God, given to those persons only whom he predestinated to eternal life before the world began. Thus it appears, that there is nothing discouraging in the doc- trines of eternal election and particular re- demption. Not in election ; because God gives faith to his people, as a token and pledge of their sure interest in his covenant-favour : and as to those who may, at present, be seem- ingly destitute of faith, we know not how soon God may give it them, or stir them up to seek it. Neither does limited redemption tend to the discouragement of any who seriously desire to be saved in God's own way, i. e. in the Bible-way of faith, repentance, and new obe- dience: forasmuch as Christ "paid the ran- som and price of redemption, for Adam's whole posterity who do not finally refuse it." Thus scripturally and discreetly does the ad- mirable Mr. Bnidford state and assert these illustrious doctrines of the gospel. Another remark of his deserves well to be considered : " For the certainty of this faith [i. t'. of the justifying faith] search your hearts. If you have it, praise the Lord ; for you are happy, and therefore cannot finally perish : for then happiness were not happiness, if it could be lost. When you fall, the Lord will put under his hand, that you shall not lie still. But, if ye feel not this faith, then know, that predestination is too high a matter for you to be disputers of, until you have been scholars in the school-house of repentance and jus- tification ; which is the grammar - school wherein we must be conversant and learn- ed, before we go to the University of God's most holy predestination and providence ()i). Thus do I wade in predestination : in such sort as God hath patefied and opened it. Though, in God, it be the first ; yet, to us, it is the last opened. And therefore I begin with creation, from thence I come to redemp- tion, so to justification, and so to election. On this sort, 1 am sure that warily and wisely a man may walk in it easily, by the light of God's spirit in and by his word ; seeing this faith not to be given to all men, (2 Thess. iii.) but to such as are born of God, predestinate before the world was made, after e. accord- ing to] the purpose and good will of God. Which will we may not call in disputation, but, in trembling and fear, submit ourselves to it, as to that which can will none otherwise than that which is holy, right and good, bow far soever otherwise it may seem to the judg- ment of reason : which [i. e. the judgment of reason, so far as it opposes the doctrine of predestination,] must needs be beaten down to be more careful for God's glory, than for man's salvation, which hangeth only thereon, as all God's children full well see (o)." 11. " ro Sir Thomas Hatl, and Father Traves, ofBlaMy. " Christ alone is our full, suflScient Saviour ; for in him we be complete : being made, through liis death and one only oblation made and offered by himself upon the cross, the children of God, and fellow-heirs with him of the celestial kingdom, which is the free-gift of God, and cometh not of merits, but of the mere grace of God. He that is of God hear- eth the word of God : John viii. Will you have a more plain badge, whether you are the elect child of God or no, than this text {p) !" 12. Mr. Strype has preserved a valuable paper, entitled, John Bradford's Meditation of God's Providence and Presence. Part of it runs thus : " This ought to be unto us most certain, that nothing is come without thy pro- vidence, O Lord : that is, that nothing is done, good or bad, sweet or sour, but by thy know- ledge ; that is, by thy will, wisdom, and ordi- nance; for all these knowledge doth compre- hend in it. As, by the word, we are taught, in many places, that even the loss of a sparrow (J) Ithl. p. i9l. (in) Ibid. 182 THE JUDGMENT OF is not without thy will ; nor any liberty nor pof/er upon a poor porket [?. e. swine] have all the A-Mh in hell, but by thine own ap- pointment and will. And ive must al.vays be- lieve it, most assuredly, to be all just and good, howsoever it may seem otherwise unto us. For thou art marvellous, and not compre- hensible, in thy ways ; and Holy, in all thy works. But hereunto it is necessaiy for us to know, no less certainly, that, although all things be done by thy providence, yet the same thy providence to have many and divers njeans to work by ; which [means] bemg con- temned, thy providence is contemned ((/)" Such ample attestation did this faithful martyr, and "prime pillar" of the Church of England, bear to "The doctrine taught in king Edward's days !" A very remarkable and important confir- mation of Mr. Bradford's zeal for doctri- nal Calvinism, as maintained by the Church of England, occurs in Strype's memorials of Cranmer, Book iii. chap. xiv. A confirma- tion which also involves additional proof of the Calvinism of archbishop Cranmer, bishop Ridley, bishop Latimer, bishop Ferrar, Dr. Rowland Taylor, and Mr. Philpot, who (toge- ther with Bradford himself) were all martyrs for the church. Strype acquaints us, under the year 1554, when I'apal persecution began to wax warm, that, among such Protestants as then filled the public prisons in London, there was a mixtuie of free-will, men : i. e. of men who " held free-wiU, tending to the derogation of God's grace; and refused the doctrine of abso- lute predestination, and original sin." (Memor. of Cranm. p. 350). The historian adds, that these free-wiU prisoners, though men of strict lives, were "very hot in their opinions and disputations, and unquiet." Divers of them, it seems, were confined " in the King's Bench, where Bradford and many other gospellers [i. e. Protestants] were : many whereof, by their conferences, they e. the free-will men] gained to their own persuasion. Bradford had much discourse with them. The name of their chief man was Harry Hart, who had writ something in defence of his [free-will] doc- trine. 'Trew and Abingdon were teachers also among them: Kemp, (Jybson, and Cham- berlain, were others. They ran their notions as high as Pelagius did, and valued no learn- ing : the writings and authorities of the learn- ed they utterly rejected and despised. " Bradford was apprehensive that they might now do great barm in the church : and therefore, out of prison, wrote a letter to Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer, the three chief heads of the reformed, though oppressed. Church in England, to take some cognizance of this matter, and to consult with them in remedying it ; and with him joined bishop Fer- rar, Rowland Taylor, and John Philpot." (Memor. of Cranm. ut supr.). The letter itself, sent on this occasion, I3 extant in the Appendix to the above ' Memo- rials of Cranmer,' p. 195. No. Ixxxiii. Tis entitled, "Bradford to Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer, concerning the free-willers." fhesu- perscription of it, written by Bradford himself, ran thus : ' To my dear fathers, Doctor Ciaumer, Dr. Ridley, Doctor Latimer, prisoners in Ox- ford, for the testimony of the Lord Jesus, and his holy gospel.' Part of the letter is as follows; "AlmightyGod.our Heavenly Father.more and more kindle your hearts and affections with his love. As for your parts, in that it is com- monly thought your staff standeth next the door" [i. e. you are among the first who are to be burnt for Christ], " y > have the more cause to rejoice and be glad, as they which shall come to their fellows under th-; altar. To the which society, God, with you, bring me also, in bis mercy, when it shall be his good pleasure. Herewithal, I send unto you a little treatise" [written in favour of predestination], " which I have made, that you might peruse the same. All the prisoners here about, in manner have seen it, and read it: and as therein they agree with me, nay rather with the truth, so they are ready, and will be, to signify it, as they shall see you give them ex- ample " Good Mr. Bradford then observes, that his motive to writing this letter arose from the apprehensions he entertained of the "Great evil, that is like hereafter to come to ptisterity, by these men," i. e. by the free- willers : adding, "The which thing that I might the more occasion you to perceive, I have sent you here a writing of Harry Hart's own hand : whereby ye may see, how Christ's glory and grace is like to lose much light, if your sheep quondam be not something holpen by them that love God, and are able to prove that all good is to be attributed only and wholly to God's grace and mercy in Christ, without other respects of worthies than Christ's merits." The holy and judicious mar- tyr next proceeds to give the following true and just account of the free-wiilers. " The effects of salvation they so mingle and con- found with the cause, that, if it be not seen to, more hurt will come by them, than ever came by the Papists. In fiee-will, they are plain Papists ; yea, Pelagians : and ye know, that modicum fermenti to- tam massam corrnmpit. They utterly con- temn all learning. But hereof shall this bringer" [i. e. shall the bearer of this letter] " shew you more." The whole concludes thus: "My brethren heie with me have thought it their duty to signify this need to be no less than I make it, to prevent the plantations which may take root of tnese men. ** Yours in the Lord, '* Robert Ferrar, " Jolin Bradford, " Rowh.ind Taylor, " John Philpot." Such was Bradford's e.>cccllent letter (y) Strjpe's F-ccles. Mem. vol. iii. .\ppend.No. 29. p. 82. THE MARTYRS CONCLUDED. 183 against the free-will men. And what effect had it on Cianmer, Ridley, and Latimer? It filled those illustrious martyrs with deep and solemn alarm, lest the corrupt leaven of free- will, though little at the time (few I'rotestants, comparatively, beiiij^ infected with it), might, as Braoford also seemed to fear, go on to spread its defilement. " Upon this occasion," says the historian, " Ridley wrote a Treatise on God's Election a. id Predestination. And Bradford wrote another upon the same subject, and sent it to those three P'athers in Oxford for their approbation: and their's" [/. e the ap- probation of Cranmer, Ridlpy, and Latimer] " being obtained, the rest of the eminent di- vines, in and about London, were re.idy to sign it also.'' (Strype's Jlem. of Cranm. p. 350.) ■'I have '' adds Mr. Strype, " seen another letter of Bradford, to certain of tho.se men who were .-aid to hold the errors of the Pelagians and Papists concerning man's free-will : by which letter, it appeared, that Bradford had often resorted to them and conferred with them: and, at his own charge and hindrance, had done them good. But, seeing their obsti- nacy and clamours against him, he forbore to come at them any more : but yet wrote letters to them, and sent them relief. They told hira, he was a great slander to the wo:d of God, in respect of his doctrine ; in that he believed and affirmed the salvation of God's children to be so certain, that they should assuredly enjoy the same : (or, they said, it hanged partly on our perseverance to the end. Bradford [by way of answer] said, it [(. e. salvation] hung upon God's grace in Christ ; and not upon our perseverance, in any point: for then were grace no grace. They charged him, that he was not so kind to them as he ojght, in the distribution of the charity-money (which was then sent by weU-disposed persons to the pri- soners of Christ, in which Bradford was the purse-bearei) ; hut he assured them, he never defrauded them of the value of a peimy : and at that time sent them 13*. 4rf. and, if they needed as much more, he promised they should have it." Though Mr. Bradford broke the errors of the free-will men to pieces with the hammer of God's word: he yet observed ;in that shall be im- puted ; because I am born of God by faith. Therefore I am blessed, as saith the prophet. Because the Lord imputeth not my sin : not (A) Fox, vol. iii. p. 6?5. THE MARTYRS CONCLUDED. 187 because I have no sin, but because God hath not imputed my sin. Not of our own deserv- inir, but of his free mercy, he hath saved us. Where is now your free-will that you speak of? If we have free-will, then our salvation Com- eth of our own selves, and not of God : which is a threat blasphemy against (Jod and his word. " For Siint James saith, Every good j^ift, and every perfect gift, cometh from above, from the Father of Light, with wiiom is no variableness. Of his own will begat he us. For the wind" [i e. the regenerating breath of the Holy Spirit] " bloweth wheie it listeth. It is God that worketh in us the will, and also the deed. Seeing, then, that every good gift conieth from above, and lighteneth upon whom it pleaseth God, and that he worketh in us both the will and the deed ; methinks all the rest of our own will is little worth, or nought at all, unless it be wickedness. And as for original sin, I think I have declared my m\n5 therein, how it reniaineth in man : which vou cannot deny, Uiile:;s you deny the Word of God. " Dr. Langilale. Say what you can : for it availeth me to say nothing to you. I was desiied to send for you, to teach you; and there will no words of mine take place in you ; but you go about to reprove me. Say what you will, for me (z)." The truth is, the Popish examiner had the wrong end of the argument : and he was glad to shuffle oft' the Calvinistic prisoner, as well as he could. Mr. Woodman, however, was not so easily shuffled oft': for, to one who came in during tlie debate, the intrepid martyr said, " He [/. c. Di-. Landgdale] saith, I de- nied original sin ; and it was he himself (that denied it), for lie went about to prove that man hath free will (A)." This Protestant nero's last examination, at the close of which he received sentence of death, was held in the Church of St. Mary Oveiy, (now St. Saviour's) Southwark. Him- self informs us, that his judges and condem- ncrs were, Gardiner " the bishop of Wiiiclies- tei-, (Christopherson) bishop of Chichester, the aich-deacon of Canterbury, Di'. Langdale, Mr. Roper, with a fat-headed priest, I cannot tell his name (/)." We shall soon see, what a jest this "fat-headed priest," whose name Mr. Woodman could not tell, made of predestina- tion, and justification by faith alone. Happy wou:d it have been for the Protestant cause in general, and for the Church of England in particular, if those doctrines had, to this day, been exploded by Papists only. But there have, since, been too many " fat-headed priests," of more than one Piutestant denomi- nation, at whose hands the docti iiies of election and free justification found no better reception than at those of the nameless fat-headed priest &bove-mentioned. I wish the same remark may not extend to more than a fev," lean-headed priests likewise. The commissioners beingsat, Mr. Woodman was called upon to give an account of his faith This he did, as follows; " I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and eaith, and of all things visible and in visible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ my Saviour ; very God, and very man. I believe in God the Holy Ghost, the comfor- ter of all God's elect people ; and that he is equal with the Father and the Son (»«).'' The bishop of Winton and the arch-deacon of Canterbury told him, in the cant so usual with persecutors, " We go not about to condemn thee, but to save thy soul, if thou wilt be ruled, and do as we would have thee. " Wonilman. To save my soul? Nay; you cannot save my soul. My soul is saved already: I praise God therefore. There can no man save my soul, but Jesus Christ. And he it is that hath saved my soul, before the foundation of the world was laid. " The fat Priest. What a heresy is that, my lord I Here's a heresy ! He saith, his soul was saved before the foundation of the wor'd was laid ! Thou canst not tell what thou sayest. Was thy .soul saved befoie it was [i. e. before it existed] ? " IFoodman. Yes, I praise God, I can tell what I say ; and I sav the truth. Look in the first of Ephesians, and there you shall find it: where Paul saith. Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who liath blessed us with all manner of spiritual blessings, in hea- venly things byChi ist: according as he hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world was laid, that we should be holy and wilh- out blame hefoi e him, through love ; and there- to were we predestinated. These be the words of Paul: and 1 believe theybe most true. And therefore it is my faith in and by Jesus Christ that saveth ; and not you, nor any man else. " The fat Pr'mt. What ! Faith without works? St. James saith. Faith without works is di-'ad. And we have the free-will to do good v/orks " IVuodman. I would not that any of you should think that I dissallow good woiks: for a good faith cannot be without good works. Yet not of ourselves : it is the gilt of God. It is God that worketh in us both the will and the deed (»)•'' What could the Popish free willers and merit-mongers do with this inftexihle heietic? Convince him they could not. The shortest expedient, therefore, was to burn him out of the way : which they accordingly did. Let me now introduce Mr. John Clement to my readers ; a man of great grace, and dis- (0 Ibid. p. 6S4. (*) md. P.-686. 138 THE JUDGMENT OF tinguished usefulness ; coiiceniiug whom, Mr. Stiype thus writes : " There were now, [viz. in the year 1556] abundance of sects and danfjcrous doctrines ; wliose maintainers shrouded themselves un- der the professors of the gospel [i. e. tliey af- fected to pass for Protestants]. Some denied the godhead of Christ : some denied his man- hood. Others denied the godliead of the Holy Ghost, original sin, the doctrine of predestina- tion and free election, the descent of Christ into hell (which the Protestants here generally held), the haptism of infants. Others held free will, man's righteousness, and justifica- tion by works : doctrines, which the Protes- tants, in the times of king Edward, for the most part disowned. By these opinions, a scandal was raised on the true professors [i. e. on those who had sufi'ei ed, and who were then suffering persecution and death for their attachment to the Prote^tant Church of Eng- land]. Therefore it was thought fit now, by the orthodo.x, to write and publish summary confessions of their faith, to leave behind them when they were dead : wherein they should disclaim these doctrines, as well as all Popish doctrines whatsoever. " This was done by one John Clement, this year (1556), laying a prisoner in the King's Bench for religion : (whose declaration is) en- titled, A Confession and Protestation of the Christian Faith. In which it appears, the Protestants thought fit (notwithstanding the condemnation and burning' of Cranmer, Rid- ley, Latimer, Hooper, Rogers, Saunders, Brad- ford, for heretics), to own their doctrine" {viz. 'the doctrine of Cranmer, Ridley, Lati- mer, Hooper, Rogers, Saunders, Bradford, tkc.') as agreeable to the word of God, and " them as such as scaled the san>e with their own blood. This confession may be looked upon as an account of the belief of the professors " [i. e. of the Protestant Church of England- men] in those days. Copies thereof were taken, and so dispersed, for the use of good men : one whereof is in my hands. Thus we see how industriously they [the Protestants of those days] disowned all Arians, Anabaptists, and such like, who being not of the Roman faith, the Papists would fain have joined them with all the Protestants, to disgrace and dispa- rage the holy profession (n)." ' Before 1 quote the (■oiifrssi .n itself, let me observe fj-om the above passage, l.That, so far as appears, Arians, Socinians, and such like, were the only pr'>testants who, in those times, denied the " docltines of predestination and free election :'' and that the piotestants, " in the times of king Edward," did for the most part "disown the doctrines of free-will, man's righteousness, and justification by works." And no wonder : " for the most part'' of the then Protestants were sincere members of the Church of England ; which church then did, and still does, assert " predestination and free election;'' and deny " (ree-will, man's righ- teousness, and justification by works.'' 2. 'Tis evident, that such as dissented from the Church of England in those points strove to take ad- vantage of the afflicted, persecuted state which the Church was in, under the reign of Mary ; and to palm themselves upon the world, as churchmen: lahouiing to persuade the igno- rant, that the doctrines, for which the martyrs bled, were the same doctrines whicli were held by these san-e Arians, free-willers, and work- mongers. With as much audacity, and with as little truth, as Wesley, Sellon, and others of that stamp, now afl'ect to shelter their Pela- gianism under the wing of our present estab- lishment. 3. The surviving Protestants, who were imprisoned for the faith, and had not yet (as many of them soon afterwards were) been brought to the stake, took no small alarm at the inipudence and falsehood of these free- willers : and thought it incumbent upon them- selves, as well they might, to clear the suffer- ing Church of England and her godly martyrs, from the unjust insinuatiotis of the Arian and Pelagian party. They deemed it, says Mr. Strype, " a scandal,'' to be numbered with those few, but insolent fanatics, who " denying predestination and free election,"' held " free- will and justification by works. '' 4. The more openly to " disclaim" and the more elTec- tually to " disown," all connexion with these intruding free-willers, " the orthodox," sayc Mr. Strype, " thought fit to own," i. c. pub- licly and unanimously to avow, " the doctrine of Cranmer, Ridley, Latijner, Hooper, Rogers, Saunders, and Bradford, as agreeable to the word of God,'' and to the faith of the reformed Church of England : and to own " them," i. e. to own the said martyrs, Cranmer, &c. to have been "such as sealed the same [doctrines] with their blood.'' To this end, 5. it was re- solved on, by the evangelical prisoners, to draw np, and publish, an explicit confession of faith, prior to their own martyrdom : which confession might remain " behind them, when they were dead," and be a standing proof of their union and coirimunion in matters of doc- trine, with Cranmer, Ridley, kc. and the other foregoing martyrs of the Chut ch of Eng- land. 6. Framing this confession, and the digesting of it into form, was committed to Mr. Jolin Clement : who executed his trust with such care, fidelity, and ability, that (says Mr. Strype) the said confession maybe looked upon as an " account of the belief of the pro- fessors in those days :" i. c. of the " Protes- tants in the times of king ICdwaid," thousands of whom were afterwards persecuted, and hun- dreds cf whom were put to death, under the succeeding tyranny of Mary. So much by the way of preliminary to this («) Strype's EccIo.<. MiM.i vol. iii. D. 3(i.l-;.M. ENGLISH MARTYRS CONCLUDED 189 famous confession. Now for a concise view, of the confession itself. Tlie reader that pleases to peruse the whole of it may see it in Strype (/)). It observes, towards the beginning, the manifold subtlety of Satan in corrupting the human mind from the glorious gospel of the blessed Uod : " Some denyinge the doctrine of Code's firm predestination and free election in Jesus Christe : which is the very certayntie of our salvation. And as he" [). e. tlie devil] " hathe caused them to denye all these thiiiges, even so hathe he made them to affirm many madde and foolish fantasyes, whiche the worde of God dothe utterlye condempne : as free- will, man's righteousnesse, and justifying of workes ; withe dyvers suche lyiie; to the great dishonoure of God, to the obscuringe of liis glorye, the darkeninge of his truthe, to the gieat defacynge of Cliriste's deathe ; yea to the utter destruction of many a simple soule that cannot shifte from these subtill sleightes of Satan, excepte the Lord shewe his great mercye upon tbeni. I do undoubtedlye beleve in God the Holy Ghoste, who is the Lorde and gever of lyfe, and the sanctifier of all Code's elect. Futhermore, I do confesse, and un- doubtedlye beleve, that I, and every lyvely mem- ber of this Catholyke church, is and shall be redeemed, justified and saved, oneley and solve by the free grace and mere mercye of God in Jesus Christe, throughe his moste precyious deathe and bloudsheaddinge : and in no part by or forany of our ovvnegood workes, merites, or deservings, that we can door deserve. Not- witlistandinge, I confesse, that all men ought, and are bownde by the worde of God, to doe goodwoikes, and to knowe and kepe God's commandmcntes : yet not to deserve any part of our salvations thereby; but to shewe their obedience to God, and the frutes of faythe unto the vvorlde. And this salvation, redemp- tion, and justification, is apprehended or recea- ved of us, by the onely faithe in Jesus Christe : in that sence and meanynge, as is declared in the homilye of justification, which was ap- poyntcd to be reade in the peculiar Church of Englande, in good kynge Edward's dayes the syxte. Which homilye, with all the reastc, then set furthe by his authoritie, I do affirnie and beleve to be a true, holesome, and godlye doctryne for all Chrystian men to beleve, ob- serve, kepe, and folowe. *' Also i do beleve and confesse, that tlie last boke, which was geven to the Churche of Englande by the authovitie of good kynge Ed- warde the syxte and the whole pailianient, contayninge tlie manor and fournie ot Com- mon Prayer, and min:stration of the blessed sacranientes in the Churche of Enylande ; ojght to have been leceaved with all rea- (.'yiies of niynde, and tliankfiillnes of harte. WiO I do accepte, beltve, and alowe, for a very truthe, all the godlye articles that were agreed upon in the Convocation-house, and published by the kynge's majesties authoritie (I nieane, kynge Edwarde the syxte), in the last yeare of his most gracyous reigne. " I doe confesse and beleve, that Adam, by his fall, lost, from himself and all his poste- rity, all the fieedome, choyce and power of man's will to doe good : so that all the will ami imaginations of maniie's harte is onelye to evil, and altogether subject to synne, and bonde and captive to all manner of wickednes. So that it cannot once tliinke a good thought, much lesse than doe any good deede, as of his owne worke, pleasaunte and acceptable in the syght of God, untill suche tymc as the same'' \i. e. until such time as the will] " be regene- rate by the Holy Ghoste. Until the spiiite of regeneration be given us of (iod, we can nei- ther will, doe, speake, nor thinke, any good thynge that is acceptable in his sight. As a man that is deade cannot rise up himselfe, or worke anye thynge towards his resurrection ; or he that is not, worke towardes his i realion ; even so the naturall ;nan cannot worke any thynge towards his regeneration. As a bodye, without the soule, cannot move but downe- wardes ; so the soule of man, without the Spirite of Christe, cannot lyfte up himselfe. He must be borne agayne, to doe the workes that be spirituall and holye. And by ourselves we cannot be regenerate by any meanes : for it is onlye the worke of God. To whom let us praye, with David, That he will take away our stoiiye hartes, and create in us new hartes, by the mighty operations of his Holye Spirite. " 1 do now acknowledge, confesse, and un- dijubtedlye beleve, that God, our eternal Father (whose power is incomprehensible, whose wis- di/me is infinite, and his judgments unsearch- able) hath, onelye of his greute aboundant mercye, and free goodnesse, and favoure, in Jesus Christe, ordeyned, predestinated, elected, and appointed, before the foundation of the vvorlde was layd, an innumerable multitude or Adam's posteritie, to be saved from their synnes thoioughe the merites of Christe's deathe and bloudsheaddinge onelye ; and to be (thoioughe Christ) his adopted soniies, and heres of his everlasting kingdome, in whom his great mercye shall lie magnified for ever : of which moste happye number, my fyrme faith and stedfast beleve is, that I, althouglie uiiworthye, am one, onelye throughe the mercye of God in Jesus Christe our Lorde and Savyour. " And I beleve, and am surely certified, by the testimonye of (iode's good Spirite, and the unfallyble tiuthe of his most holye worde, that neither I, nor any of these his chosen children, shall fynally perishe, or be danipned; al- thoughe we all (if God should entre intojudg- ( r) ll>'"t- Append. No. Ixi. from p. 210 to M5. 190 THE JUDGMENT OF OUR ment with us, according to our dedes (have 'ustly deserved it, But suche is Code's greate meixye towards us, for our Lorde Jesus Cliriste's sake, that oui synnes shall never be imputed unto us. We are all geven to Clii iste to kepe, who will lose none of us : nei- ther can any thinge pluck us furthe of his hatides, or separate us from him. He hathe niaryed us unto him by faythe, and made us his pure spouse without spot or wrincle in his sight, and will never be devorced from us. He hathe taken from us all our synnes, myseries, and infirmities ; and hathe put them upon himselfe : and hathe clothed us with his righteousness, and enriched us with his merits, and mercyes, and most loveinge benefites. And he hathe not onelye done all this, and much more, for us ; but also, of his s^reate mercyp, love, and kyndnt'ss, he dotlie styll kepe the same most suielye safelye for as, and will doe so for ever ; for he lovethe us unto the ende. His Father hathe committed us unto his safe custodye, and none can ever be able to plucke us furthe of his hands. He hathe regcsterd our names in the boke of lyfe, in suche sortu that the same shall never be raced out. In consideration whereof, we have good cause to rejoice, to thanke God, and hartelye to love him ; and, of love, unfaynedlye to doe whatsoever he willeth us to doe: for Ire loved lis firste. " Fynallye, Chiiste testifyethe, himselfe, That it is not possible that the elect shoulde be deceaved. Veielye then, can they not be dampned " [i. c. damned] : " Therefore I con- fesse and beleve, with all my harte, soul), and mynde, that not one of all Gode's elect chil- dren shall fynallye perishe or be dampned. For God, who is their Father, both can and will preserve, kepe, and detende them forever. For, seynge he is God, he wanted no power to do it : and also, seynge he is tlieir moste deare lovynge Father, he lacketh no good will towardes them, I am sure. How can it be, but he will perfnurme their salvation to the utlermoste, sythe he wanteth neither power, nor good will to do it? " And this moste heavenlye, true, and comfortable doctrine dothe not bringe with it a fleshelye, idell, carnall, and careless lyfe, as some men unjustlye doe report of it : whose eyes God open, and pardon their ignorance and rashe judgmentes. But rather it dothe mayntayne and bringe with it all true godly- nes, and Christain puiite of lyfe, with moste earneste thankefullnes of harte, in respecte of Gi.de's greate mercye and lovynge kyndnes onlye. " As for reprobation, I have nothinge to saye of it : for Sainte Paul saythe. What have we to doe with them that ai e without ? The Lorde encrease our faythe and tr ue feelynnge of our election. Notwithstanding, as " [the gospel] " is unto some the savor of lyfe unto lyfe ; even so is it, unto other some, the savor of death unto death : as Chiiste himselfe is, unto some, a rocke to ryse bye ; and to other some, a stone to stumble at." Thus believed the primitive members of the Chur ch of England. Thus held, and thus taught, those Protestant worthies, who, when the truths of God were at stake, loved not their lives unto death. Let me once more observe (the remarks are very important, or I would not repeat them) (hat, by the acknowledgement even of Mr. Strype himself, 1. This confession of faith was drawn up by Mr. Clement, at the desire of the imprisoned Protestants in gene- ral : 2. That it was a declaration of their common belief: 3. That " Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer, Hooper, Rogers, Saunders, and Bradford, sealed the same " [i. e. the same doc- trines which this confession asserts] " with their own blood." 4. That this confession " may be looked upon as an account of the belief of the Protestants in the times of king Edward, and of the professors in those days." Would to God, that the same creed was as generally held, in the days that are now ! Mr. Clement, whose pert was particularly employed in this laudable ^ervice, has, in the concluding part of the above confession, an observation or two, respecting himself, which breathe almost the very spirit of an apostle, "I doe not depende upon the judgment of any man, farther than the same dothe agree with the true touchstone, which is the Holye Scrip- tures: wherein (I thanke my Lorde God) I have bene continuallye exercised, even fioin my youth up; as they that have knowne my bringynge up can tell : and some persecution I have surt'ered for the same And now it hath plea^ed God to make me a pr isoner fur the teslimonye thereof ; and I thynke, that shorle- lye I must give my life for it, and so confyrme it with my hloude ; whiche thynge I am well contented to doe. And I moste heartelye thanke my Lorde Gode therefore : that is to saye, for this his specyall gifte of per secution for righteousness sake. And thoughe, for my synnes, God might justlye have condempned me to hell-fyre for ever, and also have caused me to suffre bothe shame and persecution in this lyfe, for evyll doynge ; yet hathe he (of his greate mercye in Jesus Christe, according to his owne good-will and purpose) dealte more mercyfulle with me : as to geve me this grace and favour in his sight, that 1 shall suffre persecution of the wicked, with his elect people, for the testymonye of his tiuthe (17). " This was dated in April, 1556. The good man did not long survive. It was one of the last services, which he render ed to the Church (•) " Precious, in the sight of the Lord, is the death of his saints. Thus have I given a sample (and it is but a sample) of those authentic attestations, which onrmaj tyrs bore to the Hocti ines of the Church of Eiii(land. And, even from these instances, 'lis manifest, that those of our present clergy and laity, who have fallen in with Arminianism, have palpably revolted from those giand truths tor ubich our martyis bled, and which our Church still continues to assert in her li- turgy, articles, and homilies. Nor was the belief of the Calvinistic piin- clples confined to our bishops, cleigymen, and maityrs only. It was common to the main body of Protestants : i. e. to all who were not open, professed dissenters from the church. The Norfolk and Sufl'olk supplication, addres- sed to queen Maiy's commissioners, may serve for one instance. In it, the Protestants of those counties term the late king Edward " A most noble, virtuous, and innocent king ; a very saint of (iod ;" adding, that " The reli- gion, set forth by him, is such, as every Chris- tian man is bound to confess to be the truth of G id " Again : " VVe certainly know, that the whole religion, set out by our late most dear king, is Christ's true religion, written in tne Holy Scripture of God, and by Christ and his Apostles tangbt to his Church. O merci- ful God have pity upon us ! we may well la- ment our miserable estate, to receive such a commandment, to reject and cast out of our churches all these most godly prayers [mean- ing the English litui'gvj, instructions, admoni- tions, and doctrines [meaning the homilies and articles] This religious remon- strance, though it produced no good effect on ()•) Strype, Ihiri. p. 364. (J) Fox, vol. iii p. 579, ct seg. (I) Strype II. s. Appvnd p. 103. (t/) Fox, «. ^. p. Let it l)e observed, that, of those who were imprison. -d lor the faith, all \vi'r<' not crowned with martyrdom : some were by the good pro« vidence of God, reserved to see better times. Among these, was Mr. John I.itli.nll : whose ex- amination, before the liishop of London's Cli:ini:ellor, is related by Mr. Fok.— " Vou boast very much, every one of you," said the chancellor to this holy prisoner, of your faith and belief. Let me hear, therefore, how you believe." * 1 believe, answered Litbiill, ' to be justified really by Christ Jesus, without e ther deeds or works, orany thrng that maybe invented by man." The chancellor replied, '■ Faith cannot save, witliout works."—' That,' rejoined Lithall ' is contrary to the doctrine of the Apostles.' The reverend Mr. John Melvin was also of the njuibcr, who, 1 believe, by some means or other. the Popish (]ueen and her commissioners ; yet tends to shew, how tenaciously the metnoers ot our church embraced and held fast her excel- lent principles. An anonymous lette'', sent to Bonner, shews that the writer of it was (and, at that time, what Church of England-man was not ? ) a Calvinist. After dissuading that iidiumaii prelate from persisting to imbrue his bands in the blood of the saints, it follows : " I say not this, for that I think thou canst shorten any of God's elect cbddien's lives before the time that God hath appointed by bis divine will and pleasure : but because I would fain see some equity, Sec. (<). " I Ciinnot better conclude the foregoing ex- tracts from our martyrs, than by inserting part of that admirable prayei , which seems to bave been generally used by those who pour- ed out their souls in defence of the gospel. It is intitled, " A I'rayer, to be said at the stake, of all them that God shall account woithy to suffer for his sake." In it are these wotds: " I most humbly pray thee, that thou wouldst aid, help, and assist me with thy heavenly grace ; that, with Christ thy Son, 1 may find comfort ; with Stephen, I may see tliy pre- sence and gracious power ; with Paul, and all others who for thy name's sake have suffered affliction and death, I may find so present with me thy gracious consolations, that I may by my death glorify tby holy name, confirm thy church in tby verity, convert some that are to be converted, and so depart foitli of this mi- serable world, where I do nothing but daily heap sin upon sin. Dear Father, whose 1 am, and always have been, even from my mo- ther's womb ; yea, even before the world was made (,u]." SECTION XVIIl. The Re-Estahlhhment of the Church of Eng- land, by Queen Elizabeth. Ql-een Mary's death, in November, 15.'38, quite changed the face of religious affairs in England. The princes? Elizabeth, during the reign of her half-sister, v as so obnoxious to the latter, both on a domestic and a religious account, that her life bad been in perpetual escaped hurninc. He was however, a prisoner in Newgate : and dated, from that prison, a very valua- ble letter to his Christian friends; in which he ex- pressed himseU as follows. '• Most certain it is, dearly beloved, that Christ's elect he but few, in conipavison of that great number wbich go, in the broad way, into everlasting perdition. Most certain it is .ilso, that our Saviour Jesus Christ hath and knowelh Ins own, whose names are written in ttie book of life ; redeemed with the most precious blood of our .SaMonr Jesus Christ. So that the eternal Father knoweth them that are his. 0..r Saxiour loseth nm,- of all them ''s'.i ,i„'.,i,.,M...i. -.'.I'l. li... I 1 .1 lit Church of Engl.ind-ineii [ln.s,. who were la. ninl, and those who escaped, ( in beli' \ ing, professing, and holding fast, the precious Calvinistic doctrines of the Bible and of the Church. STATE OF CALVINISM danger. Mary, whose politics were as con- temptible, as her cruelty and superstition were detestable ; would, more than once, have very willingly dispatched Elizabeth to the other woild. But this design was constaritly over- ruled by king Philip. That Prince is suppos- ed, by some, to have screened Elizabeth, from a hope of marrying her himself, in case of Mary's death, whose state of health grew con- tinually worse and worse. This might possibly be one motive, to the protection which he gave the princess : for, after the decease of queen Mary, Elizabeth was hardly seated on the throne, before Philip actually solicited her hand. Hut, piobably, what operated mo.st strongly in Elizabeth's behalf, was, the close connection that subsisted between France and Scotland. So far back as the beginning of the reign of Edward VI. the plan seems to have been laid, for the Dauphin's marriage to Mary queen of Scots : which projected mai riage took effect in 1558. Philip knew, that, on the demise of his own queen, none (r) stood be- tween Mary of Scots and the crown of Eng- land, but Elizabeth. It was necessary, there- fore, to preserve Elizabeth alive ; lest France, in right of the Daupbiness, should be ag- grandized by the addition of England and Ireland: which would have been throwing too much weight into the French scale. It was, probably, owing to a similar consideration (j) The duchess of Sufifolk's descent is no excep- tion to tliis remark : as her mother was but the younger daughter of Henry VII. (//) If it be possible for any reasonable being seri- ously to question, whether those ecclesiastical stan- dards are truly and thoroughly Calviuistic ; let him only peruse, with more attention, the standards themselves, 1 shall here make no extracts from them : having already done it, partly, in my Caveat a|;ainst Unsound Doctrines ; aod more largely, in niy Vindi- cation of the Church fr. m Arniiniani^ni. However, as I am now on the subject, let the remarks of Dr. Peter Heylyn (than whom a more outrageous Arminian never existed j stand, as a striking monument of that irresistible^ force, v\ifh which truth is son|etimes proUigate minds. The remarks, which I here subjoin, consist of inferences, deduced from the seventeenth article, which treats of predestination and election. If such a writer, as Heylyn, should be found to ac- knowledge, that the said seventeenth article speaks the undoubted language of Calvin ; our wonder will be, not that the article should speak that language (for, of this, no considerate person can sincerely doubt), but that so virulent a party-man, as Peter, should, by any transient gleam of regard to veracity, publicly avow some of his real convictions, and trans- mit that avowal to posterity. " Predestination to life," (says he,) " is defined, in the 17th article, to be the everlasting purpose of God, whereby, before the foundations of the world were laid, he hath constantly decreed, by his counsel, secret to us, to deliver from damnation those whom he hath chosen iu Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation [as vessels made to honour]. In which detinition," {adds Hey- lyn,) " there are these things to be observed : 1. That predestination doth pre-suppose a curse, or state of damnation, in which all mankind was presented to the sight of God. 2. That it [riz. predestination to life, or the decree of election] is an act of his from everlasting ; because, from everlasting, he foresaw that misery into which wretched man would fall. 3. That he founded it, and resolved for it, in the man ;;nd mediator Christ Jesus, both for the purpose and of policy, that, in the succeeding centory, Charles I. when prince of Wales, was suf- fered to return hither from Spain. In al] likelihood, Philip IV. would have made the prince pay very dear for his roman. tic ramble to that court, if the king of Bohe- mia had not, in right of his consort, been next heir to the crown of England. Thus does the secret, but efficacious, direction of di- vine providence, make even the political wis- dom of this world instrumental to the accom- plishment of the divine decrees ! When Elizabeth mounted the throne, the Chui ch of England, with all its doctrinal Cal- vinism, became, once more, the pure religion of this nation. The proofs are so numerous, that 1 must only abstract a few. I. Th» Liturgy, the XXXIX Articles, and the supplementary Homilies added to those of king Edward, are such glaring evidences on the side of (i/) Calvinism, as might well sup- ply the place of all evidence beside. These being so well known, I shall can y my appeal to other facts, which lie more out of the way of common notice. II. The only commentary on the 39 arti- cles, which was published in the reign of Eli- zabeth, is that of Mr. Thomas Rogers, rector of Horninger, in Suffolk. He dedicated it to archbishop U'hitgift : by whom (says Fuller) it was countenaced {z}." A subsequent edition performance. 4. That it was of some special ones alone ; elect, called forth, and reserved in Christ, and not generally extended unto all mankind, 5. That, being thus elected in Christ, they shall be brought by Christ to everlasting salvation. And, 6. That this counsel is secret to us ; for though there be revealed to us some hopeful signs of our election and predes- tination to life, yet the certiiinty thereof is a se- cret hidden in Cod, &c." Life of Laud, Introd. p. -19. Though the above concessions are not entirely without their flaws, (or, at least a few small Armi- nian cracks ,) yet it is amazing, that the cracks are 80 few and slight, wiien we consider by what hand But the seventh bead is the most wonderful of all. " Such," says the stringer, " is the Church's doctrine, in the point of election, or predestination unto life. But in the point of reprobation, or predes- tination unto death, she is " [to wit, in the seven- teenth article] "utterly silent: leaving it to be ga- thered upon logical inlerences from that which is de- livered by her in the point of election. For contra- riorum tontrariu tst ratio, as logicians say. Though that which is so gathered ought rather to be called a dereliction, than a reprobation." lOid. p. 30. W e will not quarrel with Peter, about the term reprobation. Dereliction ircludes as much reproba- tion as need be contended for. And I wish Dr. Hey- lyn may not be reprobated by Mr. Wesley, for con- ceding, that " reprobation, or predestination unto death,'' is to be " gathered " by '• logical inferences," from the seventeenth article. To make up a round number, Peter shall annex an eighth bead to the preceding seven. He very justly observes, that the prayer, in which our Church beseeches God " to accomplish the number of his elect," doth " conclude both foi a number, and for a certain number, of God's elect." Miscel. Tr. p. 559. Query : Was not Peter, during some luminous mo- n;ents, " dereli ted " by Ai ininianisni, and taken cap- tive by truth? 1 wish, .Mr. Wesley and his man S( lion may profit by the example, be seized in like sort, and permanently experience the same " dere- llCtl,.ll." Church Hist. b. a. p. 173. UNDER ELIZABETH. of it, in IfiO/, the author dedicated to arch- bishop Bancroft, whose chaplain he vras. As it is not a very scarce book, I shall make no transcripts from it: but only intimate that the Commentary does not (as is too often the case) vary from the text, but is perfectly and judiciously Calvinistical, from begirininfr to end. The only people to whom it gave offence in those days were Papists, Presbyterians, and such as leaned to either of those extremes. Now, I would ask, whether a professedly pre- destinarian analysis and exposition of the 39 Articles, dedicated to two arclibisliops of Can- terbury, and approved by both of them, is not one conclusive proof that doctrinal Calvinism wds, all through the reign of Elizabeth, and in the beginning of James I., considered as tlie true and undoubted system of the clmrch of Eingland? nr. The marginal notes, which occur in the Bibles that were published during Eliza beih's reign, unanswerably prove the same point. Observe, 1 speak not of the Geneva Bible, translated, commented on, and publish- ed by the English who had been exiles in that city : which edition, however valuable on some accounts, was never received as authentic by tie Church and State of England. But I speak of such Bibles, and of such only, as passed the review of the leading ecclesiastics at home, and came out by the warrant and under the sanc- tion of " the queen's most excellent majesty.'' Of these warranted Bibles there were, prin- cipally, three kinds. The first was commonly denominated. The Great Bible. Another went by name of The Bishop's Bible. The third was the Quarto Bible for the use of families. (I.) Of the Great Bible, otherwise called Archbishop Cranmer's Bible, there had been more than one edition, antecedently to the ac- cession of queen Elizabeth. It was complet- ed for the press, A. D. 1537, in or about the 28th year of the reign of Henry VUI. It was by lord Cromwell's interest with the king that Cranmer obtained the royal license to trans- late and publish the Scriptures ; and this was the first English Bible that was printed by authority. The care of the translation lay wholly on Cranmer; assigning little portions of this holy book to divers bishops and learned men to do. And, to his inexpressible satisfac- tion, he saw the work finished in this year (1537), about July or August («)." When the care of the translation is said to have lain whol- ly on archbishop Cranmer, wejnust understand no more, by that expression, than that Cran- mer, on this occasion, revised and corrected the translation made, six or seven years before, by Mr. William Tyndal, the martyi'. This ap- pears, not only on comparing the text of Cranmer's, or the great Bible, with the text of Tyndal's ; but is also noted, by the exactly care- ful compiler of Cranmer's History. The Bible, of i",jx speaks, had been printed in the year \U) Strype's Mcmoriuls of Cranmer, p. 57. 1532, and reprinted again three or four years altc]-. The printers were Grafton and Whit- church, who printed it at Hamburgh. The coriector (of the press) was John Rogers, a learned divine, afterivai ds a canon of St. Paul's, in king Edward's time, and the first martyr in the next reign (r/r. in the reign of Mary). The transLitor w.is William Tv iclal, another learned martyr; with the hcdp of Miles Cover- dale, afteru'aids l)ish.,p i.t lOxcler, hut, before all this second edition was hnisi.ed, Tyndal was taken and put to death for his religion, in Flanders, in the year 153(), and his name then growing into ignominy, as one burnt for a heretic, they c: the printers] thought it mii^ht prejudice the book, if he should be named for the translator thei eof ; and so they used a feigned name, calling it Thomas Matthews's Bible. In this Bible were certain prologues (prefixed at the head of the respective books) and a special table collected of the coinmoii places in the Bibles, and texts of Scripture for proving the same ; and chiefly the common places of the Lord's Supper, the marriage of priests and the mass : of which [i. e. of the mass] it was there said, that it was not to be found in Scripture, This Bible giving the (Po- pish) clergy offence, was gotten to be restrained. Some years after, came forth the Bible afore- said [i. e. the Great Bible, otherwise termed, Cranmer's], wherein Cranmer had the great- est hand ; which, as 1 suppose, was nothing but the former [/. e. Tyndal's] corrected; the prologues and tables being lelt out (6)." So much for the origin of Cranmer's Bible. Let us now consult that Bible itself ; whxh (besides the light it will throw on our general argument) will contribute, not a little, to confirm what has been already asserted and proved, concerning the Calvinism of that great and good archbishop. Though Cranmer's, or the Great Bible, was prepared for publication in 1537, I cannot find that it was actually published till 153.9. It is a very scarce and curious book ; of which, however, I have been able to procure a sight. It is entitled, " The Byble in Englyshe, ii-.c. prynted by Richard Grafton and Eduard Whitchurch, 1539." It is a large folio, on a black letter, ornamented with small wooden cuts ; and divided into chapters, but not into verses. The margin has Scripture references, but no expository notes. The deficiency of noies is remedied by a summary of contents, pLaced at the head of each chapter. From a sample of which summaries, archbishop Cran- mer appeals to have been, even at that early period, much enlightened into the doctrines of grace. The contents to Rom. iii. run thus : " Both the .Jewes and Gentyls are under syime, and are justyfyed only by the grace of God in Chryst.'' Contents to Rom. iv " He [i. e. St. Paul; (6) Strype'3 Memorials ol Craniner, p. iS, 5J. 194 STATE OF CALVINISM declareth, by the example of Abraham, that fayth justyfyeth, and not the lawe, nor the workes thereof.'' In the prefixed " summe and content of all the Holy Scripture," good Cranmer ob- serves, that God is he "Of whom all thinges proceade ; and without whom ther is no- thynge which is ryghteous and mercyful ; and who worketh all thyngs in all, after hys wyll : of whom it may not be demaunded, wherefore he doth thys or that." The reader will not consider the above extracts as an absolute di- gression from the times of queen Elizabeth, when he recollects that the Great Bible, and two others which are next to be mentioned, were the current Bibles in the beginning of her reign ; 'till the scarcity and dearness of these occasioned the publication of what was called the Bishops' Bible. The other two, which appeared before Eli- zabeth's accession, were, the folio edition of 1549; and the quarto edition of 1552. Both printed in the reign of king Edward VI. and under the care of archbishop Cranmer. These, likewise, I have consulted ; and from them I copy the passages hereafter given. That of 1549 is on a small, neat, slenderly- blackish letter, somewhat approaching toward the saxon style of character. It is dedicated to king Edward, and has prologues to the re- spective books of both Testaments. The marginal notes being exceedingly few, I shall give proof of the pure divinity which then ob- tained among the Protestants of the Church of England from the valuable " table of the prin- cipal matters," which runs alphabetically, and is prefixed to the Old Testament. Under the head of election we thus read : " Our eleccyon is by grace, and not by workes. Few are electe, or chosen. We are electe of God the Father, thorow his good vvil, before the con- strucyon of the world, that by the grace and merite of Christ, we should have health [i. e. salvation], serving al men by charitie. The elect cannot be accused, forasmuch as God jus- tifieth them " Under the head of predestina- tion, we read thus : " The predestinate are sainctes, or holy people, made lyke to the image of the sonne of God, and called, jnsti- fyed, and glorifyed by him. God had predes- tynate, before the makyng of the world, for to redeme us by the bloud of his Sonne, for to save and make us hys chyldren by adopcyon, accor- dynge to the purpose of his wyl. The carnal and sensual people cannot comprehende the eleccyon and predestinacyon of God : because they stryve for to save themselves, by theyr owne workes and merites ; which cannot be." Under the article of will, it is affirmed that the will of God is immutable, and the which no man can resist. And, under the head of per- severance, or continuance in grace, it is asser- ted that perseTcrance in the truth is geven of Christ unto the faithful. Thus speaks Cran- mer's Bible of 1549. The quarto edition, of 1552, is on a black letter with wooden cuts ; divided into chap- ters, but not into verses. The translation appears to be Tyndal's. In this curious Bible (wliich was re-printed under Elizabeth, in 1566), a note, subjoined to the 3d chapter of Romans, nins thus : " God, in his lawe, doth not onely requyre of us an outv.-ard ryghtewes- nes, but also an inward perfection. That is to saye, we are not onely bounde to fulfyll the workes of the lawe, outwardly, in ourlyvinge; but, also, inwardly, in our heartes : to he most syncere ; to love God entirely, above all thinges ; and our neyghbours as ourselves. But our nature is so corrupted, that no man living is able to do the same. Wherefore no man can be justified by the workes of the lawe." The note to Rom. ix. is this: " It is evident by this texte, that our workes or me- rytes do not justifye us, but that our salvation doth wholly depende upon the free election of God ; whiche, beynge the lyghtewesnes itselfe, doth chose whome it pleseth hym unto lyfe everlastynge." The note to Rom. xi. is: "God doth presen-e his elect, even in the middest of thousandes of idolaters." Thus wrote Cran- mer, and our other bishops, in 1552. (2.) Come we now to the Bishops' Bible: emphaticcJIy so called, because it was set on foot, promoted, and completed, chiefly under the auspices of Parker, the first Protestant archbishop of Canterbury after Cranmer. A beginning was made in it, A. D. 1565, and the seventh of Elizabeth : but the work was not published, 'till 1568. The other principal prelates concerned in this edition were, Sandes, then bishop of Worcester ; Guest, bishop of Rochester ; Parkhurst, bishop of Norwich ; Davies, bishop of St. David's ; and Cox, bishop of Ely (c). "This is supposed to have been the first I5nglish Bible whose chapters were sub- divided into verses. It is a large folio, on a black letter ; and, in fact, no more than an improved edition of Cranmer's or the Great Bible, already mentioned. I have not had it in my power to see the original edition of this the Bishops' Bible, printed in 1568. What I have consulted is a re-publication of it, six years afterwards; viz. the edition of 15/4, illustrated with archbishop Parker's arms and preface, and Cranmer's original preface an- nexed. Queen Elizabeth's prelates did by no means warp from the doctrinal purity of their Pro- testant predecessors under the blessed king Edward. Witness the following passages, which occur in the preface to the New Testa- ment of the Bishops' Bible. "By him [/. c. by Christ] hath he [i. c. God the Father] de- creed to geve, to his elect, the lyfe evsrlasting." And again, " Here may we beholde the eternal ((•) See Strype's Life of arclibishop Parker, p. 208, 209. UNDKR ELIZABIII'H. 195 legacies of the New Testament, bequeathed from God tlie Father, in Christe his sonne, to all his clecles." In what is entitled, "the Summe of the whole Scripture," prefixed (as it was also to Cranmer's own edition of 1539), it is observed, tlat God is he "from whom al thinges do come; without whom there is nothing at al: who also worketh al in al, after his owne wyl ; to whom it is not lawful to say, wherefore he doth thus or thus." On Rom. iii. 20, the note is, " He includ- eth here the whole lawe, both ceremonial and moral ; whose workes cannot justifie, because they be imperfect in al men." On Rom. ix. 11. "The wyl and purpose of God is the cause of the election and repro- bation : for his mercy and calling, through Christ, are the means of salvation ; and the withdrawing of his mercy is the cause of damnation." On Rom. x. 4. " Christ hath fulfilled the whole lawe ; and therefore, whosoever believ- eth in him is counted just before God, as wel as (if) he had fulfilled the whole lawe himselfe." On Rom. xi. 35. "By this the apostle de- clareth. That God, by his free wyl and election, doth geve salvation unto menne, without any de- sertes of theyr owne." On 1 Pet. i. 2. " The free election of God is the efficient cause of our salvation : the ma- terial cause, is Christe's obedience." On 2 Pet. i. 10. " Albeit it [viz. election] be sure in itselfe, forasmuche as God cannot change; yet we must confirm it in ourselves" [j. e. we should get a subjective assurance of our election] " by the fruite of the Spirite : knowing that the purpos? of God electeth, calleth, sanctifieth, and justifieth us." So spake these excellent prelates, in the famous Bishop' Bible. (3.) The Quarto Bible, published in queen Elizabeth's reign, apears to have been de- signed as a still farther improvement on the preceding. Though the explicatory notes are more numerous and difl'use, yet the reduction of the type, and the consequent reduction of the size, rendered it cheaper than the former editions ; and of course, better calculated for private and domestic use. Of this Bible, the first edition (according to Strype) appeared in 1576 (rf). Another in 1582 (e). That which I have now before me is the edition of 1()02, published by Barker, the queon's own printer. The marginal re- marks, and some other matters, with which this presents us, will prove that Calvinism continued to flourish in the Church of England (t. e. the church continued to abide by her own fundamental principles), to the very close of Elizabeth's life : for the reader need not be reminded that lf>02 was the last year of that queen's reign. C; Strype'i Annals, vol. ii. p. 458. edit. 1735. From this Bible I extract the following notes, in lieu of a multitude which might be cited. On Matth. xi. 26, the remark is : " Faith Cometh not of man's will, nor power ; but by the secret illnmiiiation of God, which is the de- claration of his eternal counsel." On Matth. viii. 31. "The devil desireth ever to doe harme ; but he can do no more than God doeth appoint. On Matth. ix. 37- it is observed, thatChrist compares " The number of the elect to a plentiful harvest." On Matth. xxi. 33. "The vineyard is the people whom he had elected." On Matth. xxv. 34. " Hereby God declar- eth the certainty of our predestination ; where- by we are saved because we were chosen in Christ before the foundations of the world." On the 35tb verse of the same chapter : " Christ meaneth not that out salvation de- pendeth on our works, or merits ; but teacheth what it is to live justly according to godlinesse and charitie ; and that God recompenseth his, of his free mercy, likewise as he doth elect them.'' Matth. xxvi. 24. " To the intent his diciples might know that all this" [viz. the sufferings and crucifixion of Christ] " was appointed by the providence of God.'' Mark iv. 9. " God doth not open all men's hearts to understand his mysteries." And 'tis presently after added that there are some, meaning the reprobate, who, "attaine not to the pith and substance" [of religion], " but onely stay in the outward rinde and barke." Mark xiii. 22. " The elect may waver and be troubled, but they cannot utterly be deceiv- ed and overcome.'' Mark xiv. 21. " This declareth that nothing can be done without God's providence." On the 49th verse of the same chap'er : " Which declareth, that no man can do any thing contrary to God's ordinance." Luke i. 30. " Not for her merits, but onely through God's free mercy, who loved us when we were sinners, that whosoever rejoiceth should rejoice in the Lord." On verse 32. Christ " is the true Sonne of God, begotten from before all beginning ; and manifested in the flesh at the determinate time." Luke vii. 35. " He [/. e. Christ] sheweth that the wicked, altho' they turne from God, shall nothing hinder the elect to continue in the faith of the Gospel." Luke viii. 3. " Whereby they acknow- ledged they had received of him ; and also shewed their perseverance, which prooved their knowledge to be of God." Such, therefore, as do not persevere were never made wise with the knowledge that cometh from God. Luke X. 21. " He [Christ] attributeth it to the free election of God, that the wise and worldlings know not the gospel, and yet the poore base people understand it." O -2 STATE OF CALVINISM On verse 31, the phrase "by chance" is thus interpreted : " so it seemed to man's judg-- ment ; altho' this was so appointed by God's counsel and providenf^e.'' Luke xvii. 37 " Nothing can hinder the faith- ful to be joined to their head, Jesus Christ." Luke xxii. 22. The text says, Truely the Sonne of man goeth as it is appointed : the commentary adds, " by the secret counsel of God." Luke xxiii. 35. The text calls Christ the chosen of God. On which the marginal note thus remarks : " wliom God hath before all others appointed to be the Messias. Other- wise the Scripture calleth them the elect of God, whom hee hath chosen, before all begin- ing, to life everlasting." Luke xxiv. IC. "This declareth, that we can neither see nor understande, 'till God open our eyes." Verse 28. " Christ did both shut their eyes, and open them : he would keepe them in sus- pence, 'till his time came to manifest himself unto them." , John iv. 14. "He" [i. e. the true believer] " shall never be dried up, or destitute." John vi. 37- " God doeth regenerate his elect, and canseth them to obey the gospel." John vii. 33. Christ " sheweth unto them, that they have no power over him, 'till the time come that his Father hath ordained." John X. 15. "As the Father cannot for- get him" [;. c. cannot forget Christ himself,] " no more can he forget us." Verse 17- "Christ, even in that he is man, hath deserved his Father's love and ever- lasting life, not to his flesh onely, but to us also, who, by his obedience and perfect justice" [i. e. perfect righteousness,] "are imputed righteous." Verse 2G. The text says, Ye believe not, for yee are not of my sheepe ; i. e. because ye are not in the number of my elect. The mar- ginal note judiciously says, " The cause where- fore the reprobate cannot believe." John xiv. 21. "He" \i. e. the assured believer] " shall sensibly feele, that the grace of God abideth in him." John xvii. 3. The text runs, That hee should give eternal life to all them that thou hast given him. The margin says : " Which are the elect." Verse 6. " Our election standeth in the good pleasure of God, which is the only foun- dation and cause of our salvation ; and is de- clared to us in Christ, through whom we are justified by faith, and sanctified." Verse 12. The text styles Judas a child of perdition. The marginal note say«, that " He was so called, not only because he perished, but oecause God had appointed and ordained him to this end." Verse 19. " Christ's holinesse is our's." On Acts ii. 23, the observations are: " God caused their wickednesse " c. the wicked- ness of Christ's betrayer and crucifiers] " to set foorth his gloiy, contrary to their mindes. As Judas's treason, and their crueltie toward Christ, were most detestable ; so were they not only knowen to the eternall wisdome of God, but also directed, by his immutable coun- sel, to a most blessed ende," On chap. iv. 21. "God hath put a ring thorow the wicked's noses, so that he stayeth them from their mischievous purposes." VVas it not a little unmannerly in queen Elizabeth's bishops, to represent sovereign free-wiUers as a company of bears, restrained by the decree, and led captive by Providence, with rings in their noses .' On the 28th verse of the same chapter, the right reverend commentators scruple not to affirm, that " All things are done by the force of God's purpose, according to the de- cree of his will." Chap. xiii. 48. " None can beleeve, but they whom God doth appoynt, before all be- ginnings, to be saved." In a short, but excellent, preface, prefixed to the Epistle to the Romans, and entitled, "The Argument;" the heads of the Church of England thus expressed themselves : " The great mercie of God is declared towards man in Christ Jesus, whose righteousnesse is made our's by faith. For, when man, by reason of his owne corruption, could not fulfil the law ; yea, committed most abominably, both against the law of God and nature ; the infinite boun- tie of God ordeined, that man's salvation should only stand in the perfit obedience of his Sonne Jesus Christ. And to the intent that none should thinke that the covenant which God made to him [/. e. with Abraham] and his posteritie was not performed ; either be- cause the Jewes received not Christ, or els be- leeved not that he was the true Redeemer ; the examples of Ismael and Esau declare, that all are not Abraham's posteritie, which cume of Abraham according to the flesh : the veiy strangers and Gtntiles, grafted in by faith, are made heires of the promise. The cause whereof is the only will of God ; forasmuch, of his free mercy, he electeth some to be saved, and, of his just judgment, rejecteth others to be damned : as appeareth by the testimonie of the Scriptures." From these introductory remarks, the rea- der may sufficiently ascertain the complexion of those subsequent notes on the epistle itself, with which the Calvinistic prelates enobled its margin. For brevity's sake, let the few fol- lowing stand for all. Rom. ii. II. There is no respect of per- sons with God : " As touching any outward qualitie " [such as high hinh, learning, riches, &c.]. " But, as the potter, before he make his vessels, he doeth appoynt some to glory and others to ignominie." Chap. iv. 4. Now to him that workelh not, &c. " That dependeth not on his UNDER EtTZABETH. 197 works, neither tliinketh to merite by them." Ibid. \ev. 25. Christ was raised " To ac- complish and make perfect our justification." Chap. V. 17. "The justice" [jusiitia, i. e. the righteousness] " of Jesus Christ, which is niputed to the faithful." Chap. viii. 35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ? " Wherewith he loved us, or God in Christ : which love is grounded 011 his determinate purpose ; and Christ is the pledge thereof." Chap. xi. 29. " To whom God giveth his Spirit of adoption, and whom he called effec- tually, he cannot perish ; for God's eternal counsel never changeth." 1 Cor. iii. 3. " The hardnesse of man's heart, before he be regenerate, is as a stonie table, Kzek. ii. 19. and xxxvi. 2f). But, being regererate by the Spirit of God, it is as soft as flesh ; that the grace of the gospel may be written in it, as in new tables." Ibid, verse 9. " The gospel declareth, that Christ is made our righteousness." Ibid, verse 13. " The Jews' eyes were not lightned, but blinded ; and so could not come to Christ." Chap V. 21. The text says, That we are made the righteousness of God in Christ: the margin add?, " by imputation." On Gal. i. 7 " What is more contrary to our free justification by faith, than the jus- tification by the law ; 01 [by] our workes ? Therefore, to joyne these together, is to joyne light with darknesse, death with life ; and doeth utterly overthrow the gospel." Ibid. iii. 12. "The law condemn- eth all them which in all points doe not fulfil it." And how is this condemnation to be es- caped ? By our own righteousness ? Cer- tainly not. For our own works do not " in all points fulfil" the law. But by the imputation of Christ's righteousness, who actually did " fulfil" the law, and lhat "in all points." Ephes. i. 4. "This election, to life ever- lasting, can never bee changed. But, in tem- poral offices, which God hath appointed for a certaine space, when the term is expired, he changeth his election : as we see in Saul and Judas." Ibid, verse 23. " That is the great love of Christ toward his church, that he counteth not himself perfect without us which are his mem- bers : and therefore the church is also called Christ [i. e. Christ mystical], as 1 Cor. xii. 12, 13." Titus iii. 5. " God doth not justify us for respect of any thing which he seeth in us : but doeth prevent us [i. e. he is before hand with lis] with his grace, and freely accepteth us." So, chap. i. 2. God hath promised eternal life before the world began. " Of his meere li- beralitie, without forseeing our faith or works (/) Arminiiis's children, of whom nine survived him, were 80 unacioantaUy wc.ik, as to insert this as a cause to move him to this free mercie." On James ii. 14, the note is : " St. Paul, to the Romanes and Galatians, disputeth against them which attributed justification to works ; and here St. James reasoneth against them which utterly condemne workes. Therefore Paul sheweth the causes of our justification ; and James, the effects. There [/. e. in Paul's Epistles] it is declared, how we are justified : here [i. e. James's Epistle], hovve wee are knowen to be justified. There, works are ex- cluded as not the cause of our justification : here, they are approoved, as effects proceed- ing thereof. There, they [i. e. good works] are denied to go before them that shall be jus- tified : and here they are sayd to follow them that are justified." Ibid, verse 22. " The more his [i. e. Abra- ham's] faith was declared by his obedience and good works, the more was it knowen to men to be perfect ; as the goodnesse of a tree is knowen hy her good fruite : otherwise, no man can have perfection in this world; for every man must pray for remission of sinnes, and increase of faith." 2 Pet. i. 10. Give diligence to make your calling and election sure : " Albeit it be sure in itselfe, forasmuche as God cannot change ; yet we must confirme it in ourselves, by the fruits of the Spirit : knowing, that the pur- pose of God electeth, calleth, sanctifyeth, and justifyeth us." Jude 4. " He confirmeth their heart, against the contemners of religion, and apostates ; shewing, that such men trouble not the church at all adventures, but are appointed thereunto by the determinate coun- sel of God." Thus speak the excellent prelates, who were concerned in the editions of our Pro- testant Bibles, published cum privilegio Regies majestatis. IV. The professed Calvinism of our church may be farther argued, from the learned and orthodox Francis Junius's Commentary on the Book of Revelation, bound up with the Bibles of those times. One citation from which com- mentary shall here suffice. Rev. xiii. 8. Whose names are not written in the book of life, Ike. "That is," says Junius, "such as are not, from everlasting, elected in Christ Jesus." Let it be observed that this was the same Junius, who overthrew Arminius, in a debate concerning free-will ; the particulars of which debate were transmitted, at large, to poste- rity (/). V. The questions and answers concerning predestination, inserted into the authorized Bibles of that age, are another proof that the doctrines of Calvin were owned to be the doctrines of our establishment. Mr. Strype was able to trace up the inser- dispute into their father s worlt^. Vide Anninii Opera, i p. 44S. ad pa. 610. Edit. Lngd. 1620. 198 STATE OF CALVINISM tion of these questions and answers into queen Elizabeth's Bibles, as far as the year 15S2 (g) (and I myself have lately seen an edition of 1683, wherein those questions and answers stand) ; a period twenty years earlier than that, in which the edition, which I am now making use of, was printed. That historian, whose fidelity, in his relation of facts, is unimpeach- able, is not always very happy in his conjec- tures. The questions and answers, says he, were "joined to the Bible without any public licence and authority, as it seems (/>)■" I am persuaded, that, had the vast multitude of ma- terials, which this industrious compiler was digesting into an orderly series, allowed him leisure for due consideration, it would have "seemed" even to himself, utterly impossible for the said questions and answers to have crept into these editions of the Bible, " with- out public licence and authority,'' under the government of a queen so tenderly jealous of her ecclesiastical supremacy, and amidst that unrelaxing vigilance for which both her coun- cil and her bishops were so remarkable. Can any body coolly suppose that, at such a time, her majesty's own publisher would have ven- tured to fly in the face of church and state, by foisting in these questions, without proper au- thority ? " Oh, but the authority is no where recorded." Nor was there any reason why it should, in a case so palpably plain. The simple circumstance of their being admitted thereat all is proof enough that they were admitted by au- thority. Bjt, supposing it even possible, that tney might have stolen in at first ; would not the iiistrusion have been presently detected ? And would not the questions and answers, if veal interlopers, have been displaced from the subsequent editions ? Would they have been permitted to keep their station, all through the remainder of queen Elizabeth's reign (for more than twenty years elapsed, from their lirst insertion, to the death of that princess), if tliey had not been introduced by due license ? And would they have been, moreover, con- tinued in all the editions of the Bible, which were published, after her decease, during the first twelve years (at least) of her successor king James ? Come we now to the questions and answers themselves. In the editions of 1583, 1602, and 1614, I find them prefixed to the New Testament. The title they bear, is, " Certaine questions and answeres, touch- ing the doctrine of predestination, the use of God's word, and sacraments." They begin thus : " Question. Why do men so much vary in matters of religion? " Answcre. Because all have not the like measure of knowledge, neither do all beleeve the gospel of Christ. " Quest. What is the reason thereof? " Answ. Because they only beleeve the gospel and doctrine of Christ, which are or- dained unto eternall life. " Quest. Are not all ordained unto eternal life? " Answ. Some are vessels of wrath, or- dained unto destruction ; as others are vessels of mercie prepared to glory. " Quest. How standeth it with God's jus- tice, that some are appointed unto damnation? " Answ. Vei y well : because all men have in themselves sinne, which deserveth no less. And therefore the mercy of God is wondeiiull, in that he vouchsafeth to save some of that sinfull race, and to bring them to the know- ledge of the trueth. " Quest. If God's ordinance and determi- nation must of necessitie take effect ; then, what need any man to care ? for hee that liveth well must needs be damned, if hee be there- unto ordained ; and hee that liveth ill must needs be saved, if hee be thereunto appointed ? " Answ. Not so : For it is not possible, that either the elect should alwayes be without care to doe well; or that the reprobate should have any will thereunto. For, to have either good will, or good worke, is a testimonie of the Spirit of God, which is given to the elect onely ; whereby faith is so wrought in them, that, being graft in Christ, they grow in holi- nesse to that glory whereunto they are ap- pointed. Neither are they so vaine, as once to thinke that they may doe as they liste them- selves, because tliey are predestinate unto sal- vation ; but rather they endeavour to walke in such good workes as God in Christ Jesus had ordained them unto, and prepared for them to bee occupied in, to tlieir owne com- fort, stay and assurance, and to his glory. " Quest. But how shall 1 know myself to be one of those whom God bath ordained to life eternal ? " Ansiv. By the motions of spiritual! life, which belong onely to the children of God : by the which, that life is perceived, even as the life of this body is discerned by the sense and motions thereof. " Quest. What meane you by the motions of spirituall life? " Answ. I meane remorse of conscience, joined with the lothing of sinne, and love of righteousnesse ; the hand of faith reaching unto life eternall in Christ ; the conscience comforted in distresse, and raised up to con- fidence in God, by the worke of his Spirit ; a thankful! remembrance of God's benefits received ; and the using of all adversities as occasion of amentment sent from God. "Quest. Cannot such perish, as at some time or other feele these motions within them- selves ? " Answ. It is not posible that they should : for, as God's purpose is not changeable, so hee repenteth not of the gifts and graces of his (^) (Strype's Annals, toI. iii. p. 107. (*; Ibid. UNDER ELIZABETH. 199 adoption ; neither doth hee cast off those whom he hath once received. " Quest. Why then should we pray, by the e.taniple of David, that he cast us not from his face, and that hee take not his Holy Spirit from us ? *' Aiisw. In so praying, we make protes- tation of the weaknesse of [our] flesh, which mooveth us to doubt : yet should not wee have courage to aske, if wee were not assured, that God will give, according to his purpose and promise, that which we require. " Quest. Doe the children of God feele the motions aforesaid alwayes alike ? " Aiisiv. No, truly : for God, sometime, to prove his, seemeth to leave them in such sort, that the flesh overmatcheth the spirit ; whereof ariseth trouble of conscience, for the time. Yet the spirit of adoption is never taken from them that have once received it : else might they perish. But as, in many dis- eases of the body, the powers of bodily life are]| letted; so, in some assaults, these mo- tions of spirituall life are not perceived, be- cause they lye hidden in our manifold infirmi- tys, as the fire covered with ashes. Yet as, after sicknesse, Cometh health ; and, after cloudes, the sunne shineth cleare ; so the j/owers of spirituall life will, more or lesse, be felt and perceived, in the children of God. " Quest. What if I never feele these mo- tions in myself? Shall I despaire, and thinke myself a cast-away ? " Ansiv. God forbid. For God calleth his, at what time hee seeth good : and the instru- ments, whereby he usually calleth, have not the like effect at all times. Yet, it is not good to neglect the meanes, whereby God hath 3. Nowell's improved edition of Ponet's cate- chism : and the said houses of convocation cannot, with any shew of reason and justice, be supposed to have beep either so ignorant, or so infatuated, as to approve two contrary systems of religion, at one and the same time. Consequently, the Calvinism of the catechism is an additional argument that the articles are Calvinistic ; and the Calvinism of the articles is an additional argument to prove the Cal- vinism of the catechism. Say not, that this kind of reasoning is circular, and therefore inconclusive. For, as contraries are often ad- mitted to illustrate each other ; so may cor- relatives. Heylyn found himself extremely hampered by the above argument : %vhich indeed proved a circle, that hemmed him tightly round. His subsequent concessions, and subsequent twist- ings, demonstrate, that this was a circle which, on his own Arminian principles, he knew not how to square. For his twistings, I refer my readers to his book itself. But his concessions merit a place here. He confesses, that the two following pas- sages are a part of Nowell's catechism. " To the Church do aU they properly belong, as many as do truly fear, honour, and call upon God, altogether applying their minds to live holily and godly, and with putting all their trust in God, do most assuredly look for the blessedness of eternal life. They that be sted- fast, stable, and constant in this faith, were chosen and appointed, and (as we term it) predestinate, to this so great felicity." The other passage which Heylyn cites is : " The Church is the body of the Christian common- wealth : that is, the universal number and fellowship of the faithful, whom God, through Christ, hath, before all beginning of time, ap- pointed to everlasting life." Heylin observes, that those passages have been alledged, from Nowell's catechism, "to prove that Mr. Noweli had no communion with Arminians." And what says Heylin, in answer to this ? He was forced to acknowledge the justness of the inference : which he does, in the following remarkable woi ds : " To say truth, he [i. e. Noweli] could have no com- munion with the Arminians, as some please to call them, though he had desired it : Armi- nius being not born, or but newly born, when Mr. Noweli wrote that catechism. And Mr. Noweli had been dead some years before the name of an Arminian had been heard in Eng- land (r)." So much having been said, concerning this good man's catechism, it may not prove disagreeable to the reader, to be informed ■>{ some particulars relative to the good man himself: which I have therefore subjoined, in the note (s) below. (s) " Dr. Alexander Noweli was bom, A.D. J510, of a knightly family, at Read, in Lancashire. At thirteen, he was admitted of Brazen-Nose, Oxford : UNDER ELIZABETH. 203 X. The great, the general, the just alarm, occastiuned by the surreptitious publication of such boolvs (which now and then made shift to steal from the press) as tended to counte- nance the doctrines of man's free-will, and the possibility of sinless perfection in this life ; is another glaiing proof, how totally those cor- rupt tenets were then supposed to deviate from the pure system of the Church of England. Let one example stand for several. " The free-will men," says Mr. Strype, un- der the year 1581, "at this time, gave some disturbance by their doctrine. And now they had procured Castalio's books to be printed here, or brought over hither <"<)." This Cas- talio was, by birth, a Frenchman : extremely poor, but very learned and ingenious. Though he always continued a layman, he was yet a perpetual dabbler in divinity : his peculiar notions in which, he sought to obtrude upon other people, with much bigotry, and some- times with little decency. While he kept within any tolerable bounds of moderation, he experienced a generous and affectionate patron in Calvin : but, by degrees, his im- patient, dogmatizing zeal put him upon run- ning to such blasphemous lengths against pre- destination, as obliged Calvin to turn him adrift. Such, however, were Calvin's benevolence and candour, that, if Castalio's own account is to be relied on, he was dismissed from Geneva with a very favourable attestation to his cha- racter. Retiring to Basil, he obtained a Greek professorship : and died there, in 1663. His professorship was far from yielding him a maintenance. It is even said, that he was forced to divide his time between study and manual labour. His mornings were appro- priated to literature : his afternoons to dig- ging, like a common workman. But all would not afford him and his numerous family a com- petent support. He wanted necessaries to the whire he took hia bachelor's, master's, and doctor's degrees, and obtained a fellowship. He was, siicces. sivuly, school-master of Westminster, canon uf West- minster Abbey, canon of Windsor, and dean of St. Paul's. " He was so fond of fishing, that his picture, kept in Brazen-Nose College, represents him sur- rounded with his hooks, lines, and other apparatus of the same sort. During the reign of Edward VI. he distinguished himself much, as a promoter of the Protestant religion. But after the accession of Mary, while Nowell indulged himself in his favourite amuse- ment of catching fishes, Bonner was catching of No- well, and designed him for the shambles: whither he had certainly been sent, had not a friend of Noweil's safely conveyed him beyond the seas. Without of- fence (says Fuller), it may be remembered, that No- well, after one of bis fishing expeditions, happening to leave a bottle of ale in the grass, he found it some days after, no bottle, but a gun, so loud was the sound at opening thereof; and this is believed to have been the original of bottled ale in this kingdon> *' Queen Mary being dead, and Eliz.ibetn nnving ascended the throne, Nowell returned from Germany to England, and was the tir.st of the exiled Protes- tants, who, on that happy change, revisited their na- tive country. Soou after his arrival, he wa-s chose member of Parliament for a borough in Cornwall ; hul his election was declared void, on account of his bcine in de.lcon's orders. " Eliza'H'th (;uickly raised liim tu iho Oeinry of very last. Hence his melting complaint, to an opulent friend : You distill your oyl but by drops, into my lamp. How discommendable soever his heterodoxies might be d'.-emed, the reflections of candid posterity must for ever bear hard on the learned men of that age, for suffering a person of Castalio's fine acquire- ments to languish under the pressure of such complicated difficulties. When the writings of this classical free- wilier began to appear publicly in England, the friends of our established Church took immediate alarm. Among these, was Sir. Francis KnoUis, treasurer of the queen's hous- hold : " who," says Strype, "thought it highly convenient to have the book searched for, and the reading of it hindered («)." With this view, he wrote a letter to the lord treasurer, and to the earl of Leicester. His letter seems to have had the intended effect. It ran thus : " My very good lords, "Your hableness and readiness to do good, in these perilous days of traiterous practices both against God and against her majesty, doth embolden me to presume to remember your good lordships, that, by your good means, order may be taken, that the true authors and favour- ers of the setting forth of Castalio's book, with the {a:) abuses of the bishop of London in that behalf, may be.diligently examined and bolted out: that, the hypocrisy therein used, being known, the pestilent doctrine thereof may be the more soundly suppressed. Foritseemeth to me, that these free-will men, or Anabaptistical sectaries, do follow the same scopes that the deified men of the Family of Love (afterwards known by the name of Ranters) do follow : saving that the same perfection which the Fa- mily of Love do pretend to obtain by virtue of love, the same perfection do Castalio's sectaries pretend to obtain by the virtue of faith (y). But it is not by faith, in believing to be saved London ; and (adds Dr. Fuller) for bis meek spirit, deep learning, prudence, and piety, the then parlia- ment, and convocation both, chose, enjoined, and trusted him to be the man to make a catechism for public use ; such a one, as should stand a rule, for faith and manners, to their posterity. For thirty years together, he preached the first and last sermons in Lent, before the queen ; wherein he dealt plainly and faithfully with her, and yet never incurred her displeasure. He was a learned man ; charitable to tlie poor, especially if they had any thing of the scholar in them ; and a great comforter of afflicted consciences. He died in I60'2, aged more than ninety years. But, like another Moses, his eyes were not dim, nor did he ever make use of spectacles to read the smallest print. A man of most angelical life ; a great defender of justification by faith alone, and yet a great practiser of good works." Wood's Athense, i. '271. FuUer's Worthies, p 115, et ejusd. Church Hist. (t) Strype's Annals, vol. iii. p. Cu) Strype. ubi ^j^.,.- V.*; li. IS veiy uDseivable, that, in those days, ajl the frec-willers were, to a man (so far as appears), open revilers of the Church of England, and virulent defamers of the bishops. (y) Mr. Wesley has improvad upon the plan both of the Ranters and of Castaliu, by associating the principle of each. The Methodistical perfcc- tion preteuds to be composed of faith and love to- getrer. STATE OF CALVINISM in the iiicnis ot Christ; but by a faith in believ- ing thut every man is able to fulfil the law of God ; and that the cause why men do not fulfil the law, is the want of this Castalio's belief. Now both these sects [i. e. both tiie Familists, or Ranters ; and the followers of Castalio] do isei-ve the turns of the Papists : as all free-will men, and justiciaries, or justifiers of them- selves, do. Vet, this difference is betwixt the Papists and these sectaries (1 do mean touch- ing their practices here in England) : for these sectaries [i. e. the free-will men and perfec- tionists] are more hypocritical, and will sooner deny their doctrines and assertions, to avoid puniskment, than the Papists will. "London, September 29, 1581 (z)." Such were the sentiments, then entertained, concerning the poisonous nature and danger- ous tendency of the principles advanced by the free-will men ! XL Mr. Sellon's impertinence obliges me to repeat a very remarkable incident in the Religious History of queen Elizabeth's reign, which I have had occasion to mention in a former (a) publication : namely, the case of Thomas Talbot, parson of St. Mary Magdalene's, in Milk-street, London. This Talbot presented a petition to the bishops and clergy assembled in convocation ; which petition set forth, that the said parson Talbot, and some private per- sons who concurred with him in opinion, were "mightily cried out against" by the members of the Church of I'jngland, because the said Talbot and his associates believed that God doth only foreknow, but not predestinate, any "evil, wickedness, or sin." For thus believing, the petitioners complained, that they v/ere "esteemed and taken, of their brethren the Protestants, for fautors of false religion ; and are constrained, hitherto, to sustain at their hands, daily, the shameful reproach and in- famy of free-will men. Pelagians, Papists, Epi- cures, Anabaptists, and enemies to God's holy predestination and providence; with other such like opprobrious words; and threatnings of such like, or as great punishments and cor- rections, as, upon any of the aforesaid errors and sects, is meet and due to be executed." The petitioners next entreat, that they may enjoy their opinion of ' God's not being the author and predestinator of man's sin and damnation,' " Without any prejudice or sus- picion, to be had towards them, of the oppro- brious infamy of such heretical names above named : and, that none of tho.se corrections, punisliments and executions, which the clergy hath in their authority, already, and hereafter, by the authority of this present parliament, from henceforth shall have in their authority, to exercise upon any of the aforesaid errors and sects, or any other, shall in no wise, ex- tend to be executed upon any manner of per- son or persons, as do hold of predestination as that the same person or persons do, by their express words or writings, affirm, or maintain, that man, of his own natural power, is able to think, will, or work, of himself, any thing that should, in any case, help or serve towards his own salvation, or any part thereof (6)" Hence, among several other conclusions, 1 in- ferred, and still infer, that our Protestant bishops and clergy were, in Elizabeth's reign, more highly Calvinistical, than perhaps, the Scripture itself will warrant: for they roundly affirmed God to be the author both " of man's sin and damnation :" That such persons, as did not hold this, were looked upon as "dif- fering from the rest " of our Protestant Church- men : That those few people, who supposed God " not to be any cause of man's sin and damnation," were "mightily cried out against," by the main body of our reformed Church, as " fautors " or " favourers of false religion : " that "free-will men" were ranked among " Pelagians, Papists, Epicures, Anabaptists, and enemies to God's holy predestination and providence : that, to be called " a free-w ill man," was looked upon as a " shameful re- proach " and "opprobrious infamy:" yea, that a free-willer was deemed "heretical;" and not only so, but exposed to the " correc- tions, punishments, and executions" of the civil magistrate : that the few opposers of predestination were then both more modest, and more orthodox (or, rather, less heterodox), than the generality of our modern Arminians. More modest : in that the Jlilk-street parson only requested a bare toleration for himself and his Semipelagian brethren; which request argued both a consciousness, and an acknow- ledgement, that he and they dissented from our established Church. More orthodox : in that, as we have seen from the very phrase- ology of their own petition, they were ready to consent, that any ecclesiastical censure or civil penalty should be inflicted on such of their number, as should "affirm and maintain, that man, of his own natural power, is able to think, will, or work, of himself, any thing that should in any case help or serve towards his own salvation, or any part thereof." I, therefore, ask, again ; where is now the Anni- nian, who would make such a concession as this ? Nav, vbere is now the Arminian, who does not si. -By maintain the very reverse? Whence 1 infer, that our new Anti-calvin- ists are as much degenerated from the de- cency even of their Pelagian fore-fathers, a.s those Pelagian fore-fathers v.-ere degenerated from the purity of the Protestant faith m general, and from that of our own national Church in particular. And now, what say Mess. Wesley and Sel- lon, by way of answer to my argument for the Calvinism of the Church of England, drawn f. Ki-t file wholei f this mcTnoraWe pptition.in -Sfrvpe's Anil ,:8, sub An. 1502, vol. i. chap. 28. p. 331—333. UNDER ELIZABETH. 205 from '.lie tenor of the above-cited petition ? Instead of answering, the astonished Armi- nianji descant as follows : " Good God ! To what a pitch of tyranny and wickedness was the Calvinistic faction gotten, in Elizabeth's days ! It is plain that Dr. Heylyn says true, when he tel.'s us. It was safer for any man, in those times, to nave been looked upon as an heathen or publican, than an Anti-calvinist. This shews, what a deplorable state the Church was at that time in : reformed from bad to worse ; from Popish superstition to Calvinistic blasphemy. These bishops and clergy " [viz. the bishops and clergy in the convocation of 1562, to whom Talbot's peti- tion was presented ; who were also the very identical bishops and clergy that then settled the present liturgy, and framed the present XXXIX Articles of the Church of England], " These bishops and clergy were a company of silly men, to say no worse (c)." The Church IS much obliged to Mr. John and his man Wat, for their complaisance to her. Un- happily, however, for themselves and their cause, they have, in the ferment of their scur- rilous heat, unwarily set their seal to the whole of the argument I plead for. They acknow- ledge (who could ever have thought it?) even John Wesley and Walter Sellon do, them- selves, acknowledge, that the Church of Eng- land was " reformed from Popish superstition to Calvinistic " principles ; and that, in good queen Bess's golden days, when Calvinism had no harm in it, "it was safer for any man to have been looked upon as an heathen or pub- lican, than an Anti-calvinist." Granted. And what is this, but the very point for which I contend '^d) ? XII. I must repeat another instance, than which it is hardly possible, perhaps, to allege an incident more strong, striking, and conclu- sive, in favour of the absolute Calvinism of the Church of England: I mean, the advice, offered and recommended by queen Elizabeth's bishops themselves, that "Incorrigible Arians, Pelagians or free-will men, be sent into some one castle, in North Wales, or Wallingford; and there to live of their own labour and exer- cise ; and none other be suffered to resort unto them, but their keepers : until they be found to repent their errors (e)." This most remarkable paper of advice is thus introduced by Mr. Strype : " Another thing also was now drawn up in writing, by the archbishop [Parker], and bishops, for the (c) SelloD, p. 55—57. ((I) The compliment, which this brace of Metho- dists pass on the bishops, &c. who threw our 30 articles into their present form : viz. tliilt " they were a company of silly men, to say no worse " of them yea (p. 56) that the said bishops and clergy were '* an ^erd of persecutors ; " reminds me of ano- ther very e.egant compliment offered, by the said brace, to the memories of those great and good men who trans.ated the Holy Scripture into English -ver- sion now used : vn. that they were " blunderers and blasphemers," (p. 110). And yet, one of these railers, t'i-;. Mr. Wesley himself, tclln us, in the preface to hio further regulation of the inferior clergy. This paper consisted of interpretations and further considerations of certain of the queen's injunc- tions, for the better direction of the clergy, and for keeping good order in the church. It was framed, as it seems to me, by the pen of Cox, bishop of Ely ; and revised by the arch- bishop (/)." Let it be noticed, that dean No well's catechism, together with the "second book of homilies, as we have them at this day in our homily book (g)," was compiled and published ; as also the " articles of faith to be subscribed to by ministers, and the form of declaration '' [i. e. the declaration of conformity to the liturgy and rites] "to be by them openly spoken and professed were likewise framed," about (/i) the same time, and by the self-same bishops who advised the queen to shut up all incorrigible free-will " men in some one castle in North Wales, or Wallingford." From my former Vindication of the Church of England, permit me to transcribe a brief remark or two, which I then made, on this extraordinary advice offered by queen Eliza- beth's bishops and clergy in convocation as- sembled. I observed, I do not quote this mortifying paragraph [mortifying indeed, to Arminians and Arminianizers], from any ap- probation I entertain of the expedient recom- mended ; for I abhor every thing that even looks like persecution, for principles merely religious. But I cannot help deducing two conclusions from this curious portion of our ecclesiastical history. 1st, That free-will men were considered, by the Church of England, when in her purity, as some of the most dan- gerous recusants she had to grapple with : else, she would never have advised the confin- ing of them in a remote prison, where none should be permitted to have access to them, their keepers only excepted. 2ndly, That free-will men were, at that time, very few in number : otherwise, " One castle," however spacious, would not have been thought large enough to contain them. I heartily congra- tulate our present free-willers, on their living in an age of liberty. And I still congratulate them, with the utmost sincerity. Among which congratulated number, I include even Mr. Wesley and Mr. Sellon. Had the advice of the episcopal bench been followed, and had it continued in force to this day, Mr. Wesley, instead of ranging the three kingdoms, like a bird of passage; would have been caged on the dreary summit wretched bundle of plagiarisms on Uie New Testa- ment, that there is something in the very diction of our English translation which is, in his estimation, pi cuharly veneralile. lliat is, bhmders and blasphe- mies are, in Mr. W.'s judgment, peculiarly Tenerable! 1 should have imagined as much, without his informa- tion : they being, literally, two species of commodi. ties, in which Le drives a larger traffic th.m any other blunder-merchant this island has produced. (f) See Strjpe's Annals, vol. i. chap. xvii. p. 114. (f) Strype, n. p. 213. (g) Strype, u. J. p. -m. (/i) Strj'pe. Ibid. 206 STATE OF CALVINISM of A Welsh mountain : or, compelled to fix his nest in some hole of Wallingford Castle, must have beat time to the music of the winds. The iiielodious Mr. Sellon, likewise, instead of im- proving and ravishing the public with his mellifluous notes, must have followed his mas- ter to the coop : and warbled his harmonious woes to the dull, dark, damp, solitary walls ; or whistled his pensive strains to the owls and to the bats. I mean if these two Arminians had stood to their principles : of which I stand in much doubt. I am glad the sweet singers are at full liberty to hop from spray to spray in pursuit of flies, though I cannot wish them a large capture. And whereas I had reasonably and naturally inferred, that free-willers were once very few in number, from the circumstance of a single castle's being deemed sufficient to hold them all ; I am well pleased that the said nightingales should have it in their power to counter-act ray inference with this sage objection (p. 39.): to wit that "One castle would have held all the avowed Protestants in England, in queen Mary's days." But this happens to be a mistake. For, though many Protestants fled, as opportunity ofl'ered, into other countries ; yet the multitude of those that remained was so great, thnt Mary's Popish bishops were tired, and her Popish adminstra- tion were ashamed, of the imprisonments, the sufferings, and the slaughters, by which her detestable reign was distinguished. Let Strype testify, whether " One castle would have held all the avowed Protestants in England." That authentic historian affirms, that, in London only, "The Tower, the Fleet, the Marshalsea, the King's-bench, Newgate, and the two Coun- ters were full of them (/)." It was even com- puted, that no fewer than twenty thousand persons, who had been, from the very first, bigotted Papists, were, during the persecu- tion, converted to Protestantism, in the course of one twelve-month only (A). A very elegant and masterly historian, now living, confirms the falsehood of Mr. Sellon's conjecture. "The patience and fortitude with which the martyrs for the reformation submitted to their suffer- (i) Eccles. Mem. vol. iii. p. 140. (*) llnti. p. 285. (t) Robertson's Hist, of Charles V. Book xi. vol. iy. p. 182. Octavo. Cm) Let the accomplished Dr. Jewell, bishop of Salisbury, whose able defences of the Church of Eng- land have stamped immortality on his name, stand as one proof for all, of that thorough-paced Calvinism which was universally adopted by the valuable fathers who graced the right reverend bench, in those times of doctrinal purity. *' God " says bishop Jewell, " hath chosen you from the beginning. His election is sure for ever. The Lord knoweth who are his. You shall not be deceived with the power and subtlety of anti- christ. You shall not fall from grace. You shall not erish. This is the comfort which abideth with the thful. when they behold the fall of the wicked ; when they see them forsake the truth and delight in fables ; when they see them return to their vomit, tind wallow again in tlie mire. When we see these ings ; the heroic contempt of death, expressed by persons of every rank, and age, and sex ■ confirmed many more in the Protestant faitn than the threats of their enraged persecutors could frighten into apostacy. The business of such as were entnisted with the trying or heretics grew upon them, and appeared as endless as it was odious. The queen's ablest ministers became sensible, how impolitic, as well as dangerous, it was, to irritate the people by the frequent spectacle of public executions, which they detested, as no less unjust than cruel. Even Philip was so thoroughly con- vinced of her having run to an excess of rigour, that he assumed a part, to which he was little accustomed ; becoming an advocate for mo- deration and lenity {I).'' In supposing there- fore, that " all the avowed Protestants in England, might in the days of Mary," have been comprehended in " one castle ; " Mr. Sellon rashly estimates the integrity of the martyrs, by his own : but he should remember, that they were conscientious Calvinists, and him- self is a prevaricating Arminian. On the whole, it follows, that one castle would not have held all the professed Protes- tants in queen Mary's reign : But that one castle would have held all the Protestant free- willers in the reign of queen Elizabeth. XIII. The avowed and undeniable Calvin- ism of those prelates, with whom that discern- ing princess took care to fill the metropoliticai see of Canterbury, during the whole of her reign, supplies another argument, for the pal- pable Calvinism of the church. Indeed, the same care was taken of the inferior sees : witness the venerable Calvinistic names of Sandys, Hutton, and Matthew, archbishops of York ; Aylmer, and Bancroft, bishops of Lon- don ; Horne, Watson, and Cowper, bishops of Winchester; Cox, Barlow, Jewell, Gheast, Babington, Parkhurst, Young, Scambler, Pilk- ington, and many others, who were rather ornaments to the mitre, than the mitre to them. I should expatiate on too large a field, were I (as I once designed) to enter on the proof, which history affords, of tlie orthodox prin- ciples of those and the other leading (in) things in others, we must say, Alas tley are examples for me, and lamentable examples. Let him that standeth take heed that he fall not. But God hath loved me, and hath chosen me to salvation. His mercy shall go before me, and his mercy shall follow in me. His mercy shall guide my feet, and stay me from falling. If I stay by myself, 1 sUy by nothing ; I must needs come to ground. He hath loved me ; he hath chosen me ; he will keep me. Neither the ex- ample nor the company of others, nor the enticing of the devil, nor my own sensual imaginations, nor sword, nor fire, is able to seperate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is the comfort of the faithful. Whatsoever falleth upon others, though others fall and perish, although they forsake Christ and follow after antichrist, yet Go l hath loved yon and given his Son for you. He hath chosen you, ai-d prepared you unto salvation, and batb written your names in the book of life. But her UNDER ELIZABETH. 207 bishops in that reign. I must therefore, con- fine myself to the prelates of Canterbury : who were Parker, Grindal, and Whitgift. (1.) Dr. Matthew Parker was consecrated arbhbishop, Dec. 17> 1559, in Lambeth chapeL Almost immediately afterwards, his grace re- ceived a letter from Calvin: which letter he ommunicated to the queen's privy council, who, when they had seriously considered itg contents, ordered the archbishop to transmit their thanks to Calvin for his pains and kind- ness. I shall recite this matter more at large, in the historian's own words. A letter was sent, this year (1560), to archbishop Parker, " From the hands of a !;reat divine, John Calvin : importing, how he u/r. Calvin] rejoiced in the happiness of Eng- and, and that God had raised up so gracious a queen to be instrumental in propagating the true faith of Jesus Christ, by restoring the gospel, and expelling idolatry, together with the bishop of Rome's usurped power. Calvin then made a serious motion of uniting Pro- testants together, as he had done before (n) in King Edward's reign. He [now] intreated the archbishop to prevail with her majesty to sum- mon a general assembly of all the Protestant clergy, wheresoever dispersed ; and that a set form and method e. of public service, and government of the church] might he estab- lished, not only in her dominions, but also among all the reformed and evangelical churches abroad. This was a noble offer : and the archbishop soon acquainted the queen's council with it. They took it into consideration, and desired his grace to thank Calvin, and to let him know, they liked his proposals, which were fair and desirable : yet, as to the government of the church, to signify to him, that the Church of England would still retain her episcopacy (o)." And it was Calvin's desire that she might. Nay, that great reformer (as hath been already observed) wished for the introduction of Pro- testant episcopacy into the reformed churches abroad. Witness, farther, what Mr. Strype immediately subjoins: " This was a great work, and created serious thoughts in the archbishop's mind, for the framing a proper method to set it on foot: but he had considered but a little while of these matters, when news arrived at court that Calvin was dead. How Calvin stood alfected in the said point of episcopacy, and how readily and gladly he and other heads of the reformed churches would have received it, is evident enough from his writings and epistles. In his book of the necessity of reforming the Church, he hath these words : Talem nobis Hierarchiam exhibeant, ^c. Let them give us such an hierarchy, in which bishops may be so above the rest, as they refuse not to be under Christ, and depend upon him as their only head ; that they maintain a brotherly society, &c. if there be any that do not behave them- selves with all reverence and obedience toward them, there is no Anathema, but I confess them worthy of it (p).'' Calvin's opinion being may we know that God hath chosen us ? how may we see this election ? or how may we feel it ? tlie Apos- tle saith, Through sanctification, and the faith of truth. These are tokens of God's election. This [i ;;. the Holy Spirit] comforteth ua in all temptations; and bear- eth witness with our spirit that we be the children of God ; that God hath chosen us : and doth love us, and hath prepared us to salvation ; that we are the heirs of his glory ; that God will keep us as the apple of his eye ; that he will defend us ; and we shall not perish." Bishop Jewell's Exposit. of the Epistles to the Thessalonians, p. 143, 14!. Lond. 1611. (n) " The sentiments of the foreign Protestants concerning the present English state " [nil. concern- ing the church and condition of England under the government of king Edward VI.] " deserves a parti- cular remark. They took such great joy and satisfac- tion in this good king, and his establishment of reli- gion, that BuUinger, Calvin, and others, in a letter to him, offered to make him their defender, and to have bishops in their churches, as there were in Eng- land ; with a tender of their service, to assist and unite together." (Strype's Memorials of Cranmer, p. 20r.) Nothing could be more wisely, or more bene- Tolently planned than this excellent scheme. It was, however, frustrated. And frustrated by whom ? By the Papists of that time : who were, to the last de- gree, stung and alarmod at the prospect of a general union among the reformed. The council of Trent was then sitting : some artful members of which under- took, by dint of collusive management, to disconcert a measure so formidable to the interests of Rome. For thus the historian goes on : "'ITiis" [proposal of Calvin's to king Edward and the Church of England] " nettled the learned at the council of Trent, who came to the knowledge of it by some of their private intelligencers ; and they verily thought, that all the heritics, as they called them, would now unite among themselves, and become one body, receiving the same discipline exercised in England : which if it should happen, and they should have heretical bishops near them in those parts, tUey concluded that Rome and her clergy would utterly fall. Whereupon were sent two of their emissaries from Rotterdam into England, Who were to pretend themselves Anabaptists, and preach against baptizing infants, and preach up re- baptizing, and a fifth monarchy upon earth. And, besides this, one D. G. authorzied by these learned men {i.'e, by the Popish synod assembled at Trent], dispatched a letter, written in May, 1549, from Delft in Holland, to two [of the Popish deprived] bishops [here], whereof [Gardiner, bishop of] Winchester was one ; signifying the coming of these pretended Ana- baptists, and that they should receive them, and che- rish them, and take their parts, if they should chance to receive any checks : telling them, that it was left to them to assist in this cause, and to some others whom they knew to bo well affected to the mother church. "This letter is lately put in print. Sir Henry Sidney first met with it in queen Elizabeth's closet, among some papers of queen Mary's. He transcribed it into a book of his, called. The Romish Policies. It came afterwards into the hands of archbishop Usher ; and was transcribed thence by Sir James Ware." (Strype, u. s. p. 207, 208). The Romish church had reason to dread the pro- jected coalition of Protestants : and the restless intri- gues of her emissaries, who, under various characters and appearances, went about, sowing divisions, and seeking to unsettle the minds of the people ; doubt- less, contributed much to impede and dissipate the intended salutary tmion It would, however, in all probability, have taken affect, at the long run ; if the state-animosities and factions, which divided king Edward's court, together with the early death of tho good king himself, had not superseded the excellent See more of Cranmer's correspondence with Cat- vin, in Mr. Strype's above-quoted Memorials, from 40S(, -o p. 413. (0) Strype's Life of Parker, p. 69. (p) Life of Parker, p. 69, 70. The historian men. tions another very remarkable pro.if, both of Cahin s regard for episcopacy, and of the manner in which a 203 STATE OF CALVINISM so favouiable to the Eiiglisli episcopacy, it was no wonder that he and the archbishop of Canteibuiy were on terms of most friendly and intimate correspondence. The truth is, they were reciprocal admirers of each other, and agreed no less in matters of discipline than of doctrine. In the year 1563, Musculus's Common Places, which contain a complete and very excellent system of Calvinistical divinity, were translated into English, and the translation dedicated to the said archbishop Parker. Nay, in the opinion of Mr. Strype, the archbishop himself honoured the book with the prefatory admonition to the reader, concerning Church- discipline and ceremonies. " Musculus's Com- mon Places came forth, this year, in folio ; translated out of Latin into English, for the use of English divines and others, in order to instruct them in a body of sound divinity purged from the errors of Popery. The author [viz. Musculus] was a learned professor of divinity, in Bern, Switzerland ; and reckoned among the most profound doctors that had written in the Church of God. The translator was Mr. Man, head of Merton College, Oxford ; who dedicated the book to our archbishop." (Strype's Life of Parker, p. 150.) In this book, the doc- tiines of absolute predestination and grace are wrought up to the highest standard. I have the Latin edition by me, and number it aiiiong roy choicest literary treasures. Let me ask, whether the archbishop would not only have permitted the English version of it to be dedi- cated to himself, but also have prefixed to it a " pieface of his own," if his grace had not indeed looked upon that performance as, what Mr. Sirype justly terms it, " a body of sound divinity ? " The extraordinary countenance afforded by the same archbishop to the Geneva Bible, is a strong accessory proof of his doctrinal Calvin- ism. One Mr. Jolm Bodleigh began to prepare a new edition of that Bible, in \56'J, and, " applied himself to the queen's secretary, Cecil. But the secretary suspended giving his fur- therance, till he had heard the advice of the archbishop, and the bishop of London. Both the archbishop and bishop willingly gave their letters to the secretary, in Bodleigh's behalf; writing to him, that they thought so well of llie first impression, and the review of those who had since travelled therein, that they, [viz. the bishops of Canterbury and London] wished it would please him [secretary Cecil] to be a means, that twelve years longer term might be, by special privilege, granted him [i. e. to Bod- leigh], in consideration of the charges, by him seeming difference arose between the plan of eccle* siastical govcniuient adopted by that reformer, and the plan of epis. opal government adopted by the Church of England. A curious paper, in archbishop Abbot's own hand-writing, found among archbishop Usher's manuscripts, and published by Mr. Strype, ran as follows : " Perusing some papers of our pre- decessor, Matthew Parker, we find, that John Calvin, and others of the Protestant Churches of Germany and elsewhere, would have had episcopacy, if per- mitted. And whereas Calvin had sent a letter, in the reign of Edward VI., to have conferred with the clergyi of England, about some things to this effect ; two [Popish] bishops, I'iz. Gardiner and Bonner, in- tercepted the same : whereby Mr. Calvin's offerture perished, and he received an answer [from Gardiner and Bonner] as if it had been from the reformed di- vines of tliose times ; wherein they checked him, and slighted his proposals. From which time John Calvin and thv Church of England were at variance in seve- ral poults [respecting Churcb government] : which, otherwise, through God's n.evoy, bad been qualified, if those papers of his proposals had been discovered to the queen's majesty [i /z. to queen Ehzabeth] dur- ing John Calvin's life. 13ii;, being not discovered un- til, or about, the sixth year of hi-r reign, her majesty much lamented, they were not found sooner ; which she expressed before her council, in the presence of her great friends Sir Henry Sidney and Sir William Cecil." Strype's Life of Parker, p. 70. So wrote that most respectable prelate. Archbishop Abbot ; whose evidence may be thus summed up ; Calvin's last letter concerning episcopacy, sent to the ruling clergy of England in the reign of Edward VI. was craftily intercepted by lionner and Gardiner ; who (to quash Calvin's scheme lor episcopizing the foreign Protestant Churches) lorged a surly, snappi.sh answer letter had been addressed, but « Imse h.mds it had never reached. Calvin, being disgusted at the rude- ness with which he supposed his OA erturi- had been received here, dropt all thoughts of making any far- ther advances on the subject. And thus, had not tlie fraudulent malice of two Popish ext'iiguisbers put out the design, Calvin had admitted the discipline iif the Ciuirch of England, with as much zeal and heartiness as the Church of England actually adopted Calviii's doctriues. Let me add, that queeu Eliza- beth's " much lamentation before her coimcil," on the detection of the above Popish fraud, demonstrated how fair Mr. John Calvin stood in her majesty's esteem. A very remarkable passage occurs, likewise, in the examination of Mountagu's Pelagian and Arminia i appeal, written by the excellent bishop Carleton, who had been one of the representatives of the Church of England at the ever memorable synod of Dort. A passage, which demonstrates, that the affection of the foreign reformed Churches, to a Protestant and pri- mitive episcopacy, did not expire with the life of Calvin. When wee [i. e. when we English divines, who attended that synod] were to yeeld our consent to the Belgic confession at Dort ; I made open pro- testation in the synode, that whereas, in that con- fession, there was inserted a strange conceit of the parity of ministers to be instituted by Christ, I de- clared our dissent utterly in that point- 1 shewed, that, by Christ, a parity was never instituted in the Church. And herein I appealed to the judgment of antiquity, and to the judgment of any learned man now living ; and craved herein to be satisfied, if any man of learning could speak to the contrary. (My lord of Salisbury is my witness; and so ara all the rest of our company, who spate also in the same cause.) To this there was no answere made by any. Whereupon, we conceived that they yeeldt d to the truth of the protestation. And somewhat 1 can say, of my own knowledge ; for I had conferences with divers of the best learned in that syuode. I told them, that the cause of all their trouldis [l iz. of all the dissentions occasioned and fomented in the Dutch Churches by the Arminians) was this, that they had not byshops among them : who, by their authoritie, might represse turbulent spirits that broached novel- ties. Their answer was, that they did much honour and reverence the good order and discipline of tlie Church of England ; and, with all their hearts, would be glad to have it established among them : but that could not be hoped for, in iheir state. Their hope wi^s, that, seeing they could not doe what they desired, God woqjd be merciful to them, if they did wbat tliey could. This was their answere. The trutbe is. they grn.me under that burden [viz. the biurden of mini.'ite- rial parity,] and would be eased, if they could. Tui* is well knowne to the rest of niv associates there." Bi-..liop Carlcton's Eiau.inatlou, &c. p. Ki, lii Loud. 1G2U. UNDER ELIZABETH. 2C9 and his associates, in the first impression, and the review sitlience sustained (7)." Thus, though the Geneva Bible never had the ex- press autliority of the state to reLo.nnieiid it, it had the approbation of the principiil eccle- siastics in the Church of Eni^land. But the translation, called, the Bishops Bible, mentioned above, and from which some striking extracts have been given, put stlie Calvinism of archbishop Parker (who had the chief hand in that version) beyond all contro- versy. " The archbishop took upon him the labour to contrive, and to set the wliole work a going in a proper method ; by sorting out the whole Bible into parcels, and distributing those parcels to able bishops, and other learned men, to peruse and collate each the books allotted them: sending, withal, his instructions for the method they should observe, and they to add some short marginal notes for the illus- tration or correction of the text. And all these portions of the Bible being finished, and sent back to the archbishop, he was to add the last hand to them, and so to take care for printing and publishing the whole (r)." All which was accordingly done. History records many other proofs of archbishop Parker's or- thodoxy (the modelling of the XXXIX Arti- cles, for instance ; and his concurrence with the rest of the bishops, in the proposal for confining " incorrigible free-will men,'' to hard labour and discipline, "in some one castle with various particulars besides, all tending to the same point): but the few, already speci- fied, shall, at present, suffice. This good archbishop, dying in 1575, was succeeded, in the see of Canterbury, (2.) By the learned and pious Dr. Edmund Grindal : a prelate, in whose breast the entire assemblage of Christian giaces met, and in whose life every moral virtue shone. A re- markable incident is related of him, when a boy. He was, from his infancy, biassed by a strong propensity to literature : and used to Diake some valuable book or other the constant companion of his solitary walks. Passing, one day, through a field, with his coat or waist- coat buttoned half-way up, and a volume rest- ing in his bosom, an arrow, from some un- known quarter, lighted on his breast, and must have killed him immediately, if the book had not intercepted the point of the weapon in its way to his heart (.s). Being transplanted from his native county of Cumberland, to Cambridge ; he there be- came fellow of Pembroke Hall ; and, in con- sideration of his distingui; bed abilities and merit, was nominated by bishop Ridley to be one of his chaplains ; his other two being Mr. John Rogers and Mr. John Bradford,' who were both (as was their lord, the bishop him- self) afterwards martyred in the reign of Mary. fi7) Strype'9 liife of archbishop Parker, p. 2nfi, '207. {r) J'oid. p. 208. (ij Strype's Lile of arclibishoD Dr. Grindal would, probably, have been l i.p- tized with the same fiery baptisn), iiatl nut that watchful Piovidence, whose caie he ei:i - neiitly experienced from his earlit^t yiM-, enabled hiin to escape into (!einia"y; 10 he stayed till ICIiiiil.cth became (I'.u cn. < !r. his return to Ei;gland, he was, siicci ssivcly, bishop of London, archbishop of Ycik, aiul at last of Canterbury. He died A. U. l ::v-;-!, and lies buried in the chancel of Croydon Chnicli. Pious king Edward VL, sensible of (irindal's worth, had nominated him to a bishopric, a little before his [the king's] dectaso , but Providence leserved our prelate's adv.mcement; to the more fixed and settled times of Eliza- beth. His attachment to the Calvinistic prin- ciples has never, so far as I can find, been dis- puted. And, indeed, his extraordinary zeal for that pare, Protestant sjstein, ua^ the reason why this good archbishop has been so maliciously pecked at, by more than one Ar- miniaTi traducer ; particularly, by the infamous Peter Heylin. A person need but look into Mr. Fox's inestimable Martyrology, and he will piesently perceive, that predestination and its connected doctrines are the threads of gold and scarlet which pervade the whole of that performance. The venerable author was indebted, for mucL assistance in his work, to the pains and care of Grindal (<)■ " Many accounts of the acts and disputations, of the sufferings and ends, of the godly men under queen Mary, came, from time to time, to Grindal's hands : and, as they came to his hands, he conveyed them to Fox. Nor did he oidy do this; but, withal, fre- quently gave Fox his thoughts concerning them, and his instiuctions and counsels about them. 1 find Grindul, soon after Bradford's martyrdom, sending Fox his history, together with many of his holy letters. Grindal wrote him likewise, that he had a great heap of such papers : to whom Fox [replied], he doubted not that he would, with the like vigilancy and faithfulness, peruse and digest them. Indeed, Grindal had greater opportunities of knowing Bradford, and getting his papers, than others [had] : they two having been fellow chaplains together to [Ridley] the bishup of London, and to the king [viz. Edward VI.], and fellow- prebendaries of St. Paul's ; and 1 might add also, fellows of the same college (!()•" Doctor Grindal also furnished Fox wiili the accounts of Cranmer, Ridley, and others of the eminent martyrs. By which it appears, " How earnest an assistant Gnndal was to Fox, in compiling his Martyrology ; both by his continual counsel, and by supply uig him with materials tor it : much lihereof he sent him drawn i p and methodized by his own pen, in English 1 have already proved, that Peter Martyr Grind.il, p. 4. (() 'itrypi 's Life of :i ndal, p. !>. 13. ' 'I) lOii. 1. 18. I.., I id. p. 21. 210 STATE OF CALVINISM was a Calvinist of the truest dye : and under his ministry it was, that Grindal sat, during the exile of the latter in Germany, while Maty swayed the sceptre in England. For, thus wrote Grindal, in a letter to the imprisoned bishop Ridley : " We [i. e. the Protestant refugees] be here dispersed in divers and se- veral places. Certayne be at Tigurye ; good students, of either University, a number ; very well entreated of Maister BuUinger, &c. An- other number of us remayne at Argentine, and take the commodity of Maister Martyr's les- sons, wlio is a very notable father (;/)•'' On his return to England (which was in the very next month after queen Elizabeth's accession), he was one of the principal com- missioners, appointed to the revisal of tlie Book of Common Prayer. The Calvinism therefore, of the liturgy, evinces the Calvinism of Grindal. The review of the Common Prayer was quickly finished : and it was read, for the first time after its restoration, on Sunday, May 12, 1559, in the queen's chapel ; and on the succeeding Wednesday (May 15), it was solemnly read in St. Paul's church, after a prefatory sermon, preached by Grindal. No reader, at all versed in the History of the Reformed Churches, need be told, that the famous Jerom Zanchius subscribed to some Lutheran peculiarities, concerning the Lord's Supptr, under certain salvoes and restrictions of his own framing, and which he explicitly avowed. On this occasion, Zanchy wrote to his old friend. Dr. Grindal, then bishop of London. " Grindal answered Zanchy's letter, in one dated in August [1563], from Fulham: wherein he [bishop Grindal [signified, that, for his own part, he attributed so much to Zanchy's piety and prudence, that he had a good opinion of all his actions ; especially, since he had the opinion of such a learned man as Calvin, in what he had done. This, the bishop said, much confirmed him : being apt to attribute much to his e. to Calvin's] judgment." The excellent prelate concluded with commending Zanchy to God, " Who, he doubted not, would give him a mouth and wis- dom which the adversaries of the truth could not resist («).'' In a foregoing (a) part of this work, I have taken some notice of one Justus Velsius, a Duch free- wilier, who, (A. D. 1563,) made much noise in London. He was what would now be called an Arminian-perfectionist. "The bishop of London [Dr. Grindal] was concerned with this man, both as he was of the Dutch congregation, and had made disturbance there, over which our bishop was superintendent ; as also because his opinions came as far as the ears of the court. For he [Velsius] presumed in the month of March, to write hold letters to the secretary [of state] ; nay, to the queen herself : superscribing to the queen, Ad pro- prias manm : sending withal his book unto them. Which he did, also, two months before, to the bishop : avowing it to be by him con- ceived and writ from the enlightening of the spirit of Christ. "The bishop, therefore, thought very fit, and that upon the secretary's advice, to write shortly some animadversions upon it [i. e. upon Velsius's heterodox book]. Therein he [the bishop] observed, 1 . That he [Velsius] set forth no confession of faith, as he ought ; but prescribed a rule, according to which he would have all consciences to be tried. Nor was there any mention of faith. And that he craftily passed over justification by faith ; and what he thought of the powers in man, and free-will, and what concerning works. (2.) That, in those things, it was most certain, he had, in foreign parts, desperately erred, and dis- quieted men's consciences, and taught mat- ters contrary to orthodox doctrine ; and that there were m messes then in England of it (6)." Beside the tenet of free-will, and justification by works, wherein the bishop affirmed this Pelagian to have " desperately erred ;" there were several other monstrous opinions, for which that able prelate severely censured the said Velsius : such as the doctrine of a two- fold regeneration, to wit, of the outward man, and the inward ; and that a believer is godded into God. But the bishop's judgment, con- cerning Velsius's mad tenet of sinless perfec- tion, deserves particular notice : " Hence it appeared, why he [Velsius] had said before, w-e are that which Christ is, and Christians are gods in men : because he had a mind to affirm perfection, which he feigned to be in a Christian, and that all Christians were gods, that is, free of all spot and fault. Which ar- rogance, how detestable it is, there is no pious man but sees. He could not more openly reject the doctrine of faith, and the remission of sins, and so set up a new gospel (c)." Nothing could be more wild, and remote from truth, than Velsius's corrupt doctrines : nothing more sober, sound, and scriptural, than good bishop Grindal's Calvinistical animadversions. In conclusion, Velsius was "Cited before the ecclesiastical commission ; where the bishop of London [Dr. Grindal], and the bishop of Winchester [Dr. Home], and the dean of St. Paul's [Dr. Alexander Nowell], conferred roundly with him, exposing the errors of his book before mentioned : which he stubbornly endeavouring to vindicate, they at last charged him, in the queen's name, to depart the king- dom (f/)." This was the same Velsius, with whom Calvin himself had held a public dis- putation, concerning free-will at Frankford, in 1556 ((, 21S STATE OF CALVINISM XV It was during Elizabeth's reign, that one Campneys,a restless and abusive Pelagian, sought to disturb the peace of the Chuich, by publishing a defamatory tract in opposition to the received doctrine of predestination. This Campneys had, some years before, rendered himself very obnoxious to the Pro- testant government, in thj time of king Ed- ward VI. His affection to Popery, and his abliorrence of the reformation effected under the auspices of that prince, had been so tur- bulently and so indecently expressed, and were so generally known even in the succeeding century, as to wring out the following reluctant concession from the pen of Peter Heylyn him- self; viz. that this Campneys was "of a sharp and eager spirit ; " and " not well weaned from some points of Popery, in the first dawn- ing of the day of our reformation (?)." The truth is, his insolencies against the reformed Church of England laid him open to the laws: and he " was made to bear a fagot at Paul's Cross, in king Edward's time; the learned and pious Miles Coverdale [bishop of Exeter] preaching a sermon when that punishment was inflicted on him." When queen Elizabeth had restored the true religion, Campneys began to play his old pranks ; i. e. to cause disturbance, by nibbling at such who were deservedly honoured and preferred in the Church: publishing a pam- phlet, to which he had not courage enough to affix his name, against predestination This pamphlet was encountered by Mr. John Veron, a chaplain to the queen, and reader of the divinity lecture in St. Paul's Church: as also by Mr. Robert Crowley, sometime fellow of Magdalene College in Oxford, at that time a famous preacher in London. Both these put out answers to Campneys: and ths-ir answers were both licensed and approved [by public authority] ; and Veron's [book in favour of predestination] was dedicated to the queen herself. Whereas Campneys's virulent pam- phlet came forth surreptitiously : neither author nor printer daring to put their names to it («)." I learn, from Heylyn, that the answer, written by Mr. Veron. and dedicated to the queen as aforesaid, was entitled, "An Apology, or Defence of the Doctrine of Predestination.'' Wherein her majesty's chaplain terms Camp- neys, " The Blind Guide of the Free-will Men : a very Pelagian, and consequently a rank Papist : the standard-bearer of the fiee-will men {x), &c." Would a chaplain to the queen, and the divinity lecturer of Sr Paul's Cathe- dral, have made so free with tree-will men, in a book inscribed to his royal mistress, and published cum auctoritate, if the doctiinal system of the Church of England had not been deemed incontrovertibly Calvinistic ? XVI. Among- the particulars which I have already, in their due place, noted, concernmg Martin Bucer, the reader must be reminded of two : viz. that, during his life-time, it was hardly possible for man to wind up the doc- trine of predestination to a greater height, than was done by that great reformer ; and that, after his decease, when queen Mary intro- duced Popery again, his bones, together with those of the learned Fagius, were dug up, at Cambridge, and publicly burned in the Market- place there, by order of cardinal Pole. At the time of their exhumation by the Papists, Dr. Scot, the Popish bishop of Ches- ter, alledged, as one reason of that indecent revenge, that Martin Bucer, in particular, had drunk in the heresy of Wickliff, who asserted, omnia fato et absohita necessitate fieri : i. e. that whatever comes to pass is the result of fate and absolute necessity («/)." Dr. Perne, the Popish vice-chancellor of Cambridge, preached a sermon on the occasion : wherein, " among other things, he told how Bucer held opinion, as he himself heard him confess, that God was the author and well-spring, not only of good, but also of evil: and that whatsoever was of that sort, flowed from him, as from the head and maker thereof {z)." Dr. Watson also, another zealous Papist, took the oppor- tunity of making a public harangue ; in which he exclaimed, " How perilous a doctrine is that, which concerneth the fatal and absolute necessity of predestination ! And yet they [meaning Bucer and Fagius] set it out in such wise, that they have left no choice at all in things : as who should say. It skiUeth not what a man purposeth of any matter, since he had not the power to determine otherwise than the matter shoald come to pass. The which was the peculiar opinion of them, that made God the author of evil : bringing men, through this persuasion, into such careless security of the everlasting eternity, that, in the mean sea- son, it made no matter, either toward salvation or damnation, what a man did in his life. These errors were defended by them [i. e. by Bucer and Fagius] with great stoutness (a)." So spake the Romish doctors, in the reign of Mary : and thus (like too many ostensible Protestants since) did they slander and distort the holy and blessed doctrine of predestination. Queen Elizabeth had a better opinion of Bucer and Fagius, and of the pure Protestant doctrine which they had maintained. She had not long been on the throne, when her majesty gave a very promising presage of her intention to restore the Church of England to its chas- tity of Calvinism, in commanding the insults, which had been offered to the remains of Bucer and Fagius, to be, as far as was practicable, publicly and solemnly reversed, in the face of the whole University; and all possible honours to be rendered to the memories of those dis- tinguished Cnlvinists. For which purpose, (/) Ueylyii'8 Miscell. Tracts, p. 5B0. {U) Uioknian's Animad. on Heylyu's Quinq. Hist, p. 193, iSi. edit. 1C74. (r) Oeylyn's Misc. Tr. p. 594. (V) See Fox's Acts and Mon. iii. «5. (.j) Fox, Ibid. p. 646. {a) Foi, Ibid. 6«. UNDER ELIZABETH. letters of commission were issued to Parker, archbishop of Canterbury ; to Grindal, then bishop of London : and to others. Mr. Acworth was, at that time, public orator of Cambridge. Fox gives us the entire speech which that gentleman delivered at, what was termed, "The restitution of Martin Kucer and Paulus Fagius." In the course of his oration, Acworth observed, concerning Bucer, " We saw [viz. in king Edward's reign], with our eyes, this University flourish- ing by his [Bucer's] institutions : the love of sincere religion not only engendered, but also confirmed and strengthened, through his con- tinual and daily preaching. Insomuch that, at such time as he was suddenly taken from us, there was scarce any man, that, for sor- row, could find in his heart to bear with the present state of this life: but that either he wished, with all his heart, to depart out of this life with Bucer, and, by dying, to follow him into immortality ; or else endeavoured himself, with weeping and sighing, to call him again into the prison of the body, lest he should leave us as it were standing in battle without a captain. Oxford burnt up the right reverend fathers, Cranmer, Ridley, and Lati- mer, the noble witnesses of the clear light of the gospel. Moreover at London perished those two lanterns of light, Rogers and Brad- ford : in whom, it is hard to say, whether there were more force of eloquence and utter- ance in preaching, or more holiness of life and conversation. What city is there, that hath not flamed with the burning of holy bodies ? But Cambridge played the mad bed- lam against the dead. The dead men (viz. Fagius and Bucer), whose (holiness of) living no man was able to find fault with, whose doctrine no man was able to repiove, were, by false slanderers, indicted; contrary to the laws of God and man, sued in the law ; con- demned ; their sepulchres violated and broken up ; their carcasses pulled out, and burned with fire. Bucer, by the excellency of his wit and doctrine, known to all men ; of our countrymen, in manner, craved ; of many others intreated and sent for, to the intent he might instruct our Cambridge men in the sin- cere doctrine of the Christian religion; he, being spent with age, and his strength utterly decayed, forsook his own country ; refused not the tediousness of that long journey ; was not afraid to adventure himself upon the sea ; but had more regard to the dilating and ampli- fying the Church of Christ, than to all other things. So, in conclusion, he came. Every (fr) Fox, Ibid. p. 649, 650. (c) Strype's Life of Parker, p. 85. (rf) " Oa the 11th of January [1561], happened a remarkable action at Oxford : viz. the solemn restoring of Catherine Vermilia (sometime the pious wife of Peter Martyr) to honourable burial, after a strange Indignity oftered [by the Papists, in 1556] to her corpse. For our archbishop [Parker], together with Grindal bishop of London, Richard Goodrick, Esq. and others' by virtue, as it seems, of the queen's ecclesiasticaj man received and welcomed him. Afterward, he lived in such wise, as it might appear he came not hither for his own sake, but for our's. For, he sought not to drive away the sickness which he had taken by troublesome travel of his long journey. Albeit his strength was weakened and appalled, yet he regarded not the recovery of his health; but put himself to immoderate labour and intolerable pain, only to teach and instruct us. Toward this so noble and worthy a person, while he lived were shewn all the tokens of humanity and gentle- ness, reverence and courtesy, that could be. He had free access into the most gorgeous buildings and stately palaces of the greatest princes : and, when he was dead, could not be suffered to enjoy so much as his poor grave (6)." I have largely shewn, in a foregoing Sec- tion what the doctrine of Bucer was. And the particulars, cited under the present arti- cle, demonstrate, that, in the judgment of the Protestant Church and state of England, reg- nante ElizabethA, Bucer's Calvinistic doctrine was esteemed and taken to be " sincere [i e. pure, genuine] religion ; " doctrine, which no man was able to reprove;" yea, "the sincere doctrine of the Christian religion:" and that Bucer himself was a " noble " and "worthy" person ; who, at bis death, left oui Church-of-England-Protestants almost "with- out a captain." Let me add, that Dr. Pilkinton, then Margaret professor of divinity, and soon after, bishop of Durham, preached the resti- tution-sermon, from Psalm cxi. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, &c. in honour of the said Bucer and Fagius: and that "the entrance and walls of the Church were all hung with verses in their praise. An account of this restitution the University, on the 3d of August [1560], sent up to the archbishop and the commissioners ; acquainting them, with what great joy, and triumph, and applause, it was generally done : and that as soon as their (the commissioners) letters (enjoining this public restitution of honours to the memories of Bucer and Fagius) were read to the senate, and the injuries offered (in the foregoing reign of Mary) to the dead bodies, by them mentioned ; they were all presently on fire to honour them (c)." The next year, in respect to the great Peter Martyr, then living beyond sea, the remains of his wife (who had died and been buried at Oxford) were trans- ferred from a dunghill, to which queen Mary's Papists had maliciously removed them, and honourably re-interred in Christ's Church (rf). commission; deputed certain fit persons in that Uni- versity to enquire into a barbarous and inhuman usage of that virtuous woman's dead body ; who, [more than] two year* after her burial, had been digged up, and carried away, and buried in a dunghill belonging to Dr. Marshall, then dean of Christ's Church ; whereof he himself was the great actor, by authority from Car- dinal Pole. ** Her restitution was accordingly performed after this manner : The 'lersone, appointed for this business. 220 STATE OF CALVIXISM So careful was the restored Church of Eng- land to testify her grateful regard for whatever had any relation to her pious, learned, Calvinis- tical reformeis. XVII. It was in the orthodox reign of Elizabeth, tliat the learned Dr. Willet's ines- timable book fii st appeared, entitled, Synopsis Papiumi, or, A general View of Papistrie. In this pej foi iiiance, dedicated to the queen, and pul)lislicd by authoiity, and which is one of the very liest batteries that were ever raised for the demolition of Popery, no fewer than fifteen hundred " heresies and errors" are charged on the church of Rome, and most ably refuted, by that profound and indefati- gable divine. 1 cannot immediately recollect the exact date of the first edition. But a third came out, in IfiOO. My copy is of the fifth edition, ifi34. The author was a prebendary of Ely, and most zealously attached to the Church of England. Not a grain of Puritanism mingled itself with his conformity. Let us hear what Strype says, relatively to the admirable work now under consideration. "Now also [A. D. ICOO] Dr. Andrew Willet set forth a third edition of the Synopsis Papismi : which book gave a large account of all the controversies between the church of Rome and the Protestant reformed church ; with particular confutations of that degenerate church's eriors. Or, as he himself saith of it, containing the whole sum of that holy faith and religion, which the queen maintained, and the Church of England professed (p)." cited those who had been concerned in digging up the body ; who, being chdrged, shewed them the place where she was first buried , which was near St. Frideswide's tomb, on the north part of Christ's Church. Then requiring where they had conveyed the corpse, they were conducted towards Dr. Marsliall's stables : and there out of a dunghiil, it was digged up, not quite consumed. Which they caused to be carefully decosited in a convenient receptacle, and so brought back therein to the said cliurch : leaving it thus to be watclied by the officers of the cliurch, 'till they might couvcTiiently celebrate the re-interment. " There were, belonging to the said church, two silk bags, wherein the bones of St. Frideswide were wrapt up and preserved : which were wont, on solemn days, to be taken out, and laid upon the altar, to be openly seen aiul reverenced by the superstitious people. For the prexenting any future superstitions with those reli' s (and yet that no indecency might be used towards the said saint and foundress's bones), and, withal, for the better securing of this late buried holy woman's bones from being disturbed any more ; by the advice of Mr. Calfhill, the bones of both were mixed and put together, and so laid in the earth, in one grave, 'n the upper part of the said church, towards the east : after a speech had been made, to a very great auditory, declaring the reason of the present under- taking. And, on the next day, being the Lord's day, one of the society, named Rociersou, preached a learned and pious sermon on the occasion ; and therein took notice of the cruelty exercised by Papists to the bodies of innocent and good nien, which they burnt alive ; and then, of the horrible inhumanity shewed to this pious matron's dead body ; whose life he pro- pounded as an excellent example to imitate. For her farther honour, the Univer.sity hung upon the church doors many copies of Latin and Greek verses, composed by eminent members thereof. This is the ma of what Calfhill, one of the chief managers wrote to bifhop Grindal concerning this matter. ^ Of that " holy faith," which was " mi in- tained by the queen," and " professed by the Church of England," the Calvinistic doctrines were an essential and an eminent part. This will appear, by the following short passages, extracted from the Synopsis itself. (1.) Concerning predestination. "Pre- destination is the decree of God, touching the salvation and condemnation of men. " God's prescience is not the cause of pre- destination ; for, how can the effect go before the cause ? God's will is the cause of predes- tination. "As he hath made all men, so hath he free- ly disposed of their end, according to the coun- sel of his own will : selecting some, to be vessels of honour ; and rejecting others, to be vessels of wrath. And this very well standeth both with the mercy and justice of God, to save some, and reject others : for he might justly condemn all to eternal death (/)." {2.) As to universal grace. " If God give grace unto some, to obey their calling, ar.d thereby to be converted, and not to others ; we must not be inquisitive to search, but leave it unto God, whose judgments may be hid and secret, but are always most just : for he hath mercy on whom he will. " It cannot be literally understood, that God would absolutely have all men to be saved : for, why then should not all be saved ? For who hath resisted God's will ? Neither can it be answered here, as sometime by the old Pelagians, that God's will is not fulfilled, " The Papists have been twitted, by Protestants, with the base usage of this good woman : and they, to lessen their fault, have laboured to disparage and defame her. One of them called her Fnstiluggs ; being somewhat corpulent. This occasioned Dr. George Abbot [afterwards archbishop of Canterbury] in his excellent answer to that Romanist, to say some things remarkable of her : which he had the oppor- tunity of knowing, being, himself, of the I niversity of Oxford, and living in or near t'hose times. She was, said he, reasonably corpulent ; but of most matron like modesty : for the which, she was much reverenced by the most. She was of singular pa- tience, and of esc^ilent arts and qualities. Among other things, for her recreation, she delighted to cut plum stones into curious faces and countenances : of which, exceedingly artificially done, I once had one. with a woman s visage and head-attire on one side, and a bishop with his mitre on the ottier ; which was the elegant work of her hands. By divers, yet living in Oxford [A. D. 160-1], this good woman is remem- bered, and commended, as for her other virnies, so for her liberality to the poor : which, by Mr. Fox, writing how she was treated after her death, is rightly mentioned. For the love of true religion, and the company of her husband, she left her own country, to come into England, in king Ed«ard's days. And so good was her fame here, that, when Papists, in queen Jl.ary's time, being able to get nothing against her, being dead, would needs rage upon the bones of lier! a woman, and a stianger ; and took them out cf hir pra\e from Christian burial, and buried them in » dunghill. Whereupon one made these verses: Hoc ^/i tu quadras ; lacilis re&poiisio datida eat : Corpora Hon curaot mortua : viva pctunt." Strype's Life of Archbishop Parker, p. IOC, 101. (e) Life of WTiitgift, p. 5-13. k/) Synopsis Papismi, p. 881. 883. UNDER ELIZABETH. because man will not : for this were to make met. mightier than God (g)." (3.) Limited redemption. " Here we are to consider the beginning of election, the progress thereof, and the end. The begin- ning : in that God, according to his good plea- sure elected his, in Christ, before the founda- tion of the world. The progress : in that he hath given the elect unto Christ, to be saved and redeemed by him. The end is, that he hath purposed to bring them unto glory. " Christ only was given to die for the com- pany of the elect. Not that it \_vh. Christ's death] is not sufficient for the whole world, in itself ; but because the efficacy and benefit of Christ's death is only applied by faith to be- lievers ; and faith only is of the elect. Christ died, only for those that should believe in him. But it is not given to all, to believe ill Christ, except only to the elect which are ordained to life. Ergo, for them only Christ died (/<)." (4.) Concerning free-will. "They that affirm that God offereth grace and faith equally to all ; and that God would have all men to be- Reve ; and if they believe not, 'tis not for want of grace, but the fault is only in them- selves ; do consequently hold, that, to be- lieve, is either wholly, or in part, in man's power. The absurdity of which opinion, we declare thus : " All cannot have failn ; but such as or- dained and elected thereunto : John x. 26. John xii. 39. Acts xiii. 48. Faith, and every good gift ; the beginning, perfection, and end; is only of God : Rom. ix. 16. Phil. ii. 13. John XV. 5. John vi. 44. They that are drawn cf God must needs come unto Christ. " The patrons of common grace do fall into a flat point of Pelagianism, whose asser- tion was this : f'itim (eterraim cmnibus paratam esse, quantum ad Dcttni ; iiuantum ad arbitrii Ubertatem, abeiseum apprehendi, (jnispoiite Deo crediderunt" [j. e. the Pelagian system main- tains,that eternal life is, on God's part, provided for all men ; and is, on the part of free-will, to be lain hold upon by as many as .spontane- ously believe in God]. " This did the old Pelagians hold ; this do the new Universalists affirm (i). " A freedom of will, from necessity, we grant to have been in our first parents : whereby it was in their power to have chosen either the good or the evil way. But since that by Adam's transgression, the whole power of nature was shaken, a.id all the [spiritual] gifts and graces of creation decayed ; there remaineth no freeness of will, unto good, in man : but only a voluntary promtpness and inclination to evil without constraint (&)." (5.) Hear him on justification. Under the head of " Popish subtle sleights and distinct- ions," he deservedly places the anti-chri.stian doctrine of " two justifications : the first, which is only of grace ; and the secom!, wherein we proceed daily by good works." By way of antidote against this palpable poison.'Dr. Willet observes, that " The Script- tiire speaketh of but one justification [before God], which glorification followeth : whom he justified, them he also glorified ; Rom. viii. 30. If, then, this one jiLstification do bring us to glorification, what need a second (I) ? He adds, elsewhere. " Faith doth not justify us, by the worthiness and dignity thereof ; or as it is a quality inherent in man, by any meritorious act, or by the work of believing ; or as a proper, efficient cause ; but by way of an instrument only ; being as it were the hand of the soul, whereby we do apprehend the righteousness of Christ. " Faith, whereby we are justified, is pas- sive in apprehending the promises of God in Christ, and applying Christ with all his bene- fits : in which respect, faith only justifieth. It is also active, in bringing forth good fiiiits, and in quickening of us to every good work ; but so it justifieth not [except before men]. Faith, then, is inseparably joined with hope and love, and necessarily yieldeth in us good fruit : but none of all these do concur with faith in the act of our justification: but it is the office only of faith to apply unto us the righteousness of Christ, whereby only we are made righteous before God (m)." , (6.) His testimony to the great doctrine of final perseverance shall close these ex- tracts. " These patrons of universal and conditional election and grace \yiz. the Pa- pists and Pelagians], who affirm, that men are no otheruibe elected, but with condition, if they believe; and so long are they elected, as they continue in faith ; do consequently also hold, that men may both lose their elec- tion, and lose their faith : and, of vessels of honour, if they fall from faith, become vessels of wrath. Now, on the contrary, that both our election is sure before God, neither that the faith of the elect (though it may fail and impair, yet) cannot utterly be lost, we are as- sured by the evident testimony of Scripture. " All that are elected shall be assuredly raised up to life eternal. And God, to such as he hath chosen, will give grace to con- tinue. They, therefore, that finally fall away, were not elected in the beginning. And that faith which some have made shipwreck of, is not the justifying faith of the elect ; hut a temporary, or historical faith. Men's falling away from faith; then, cannot make God's election void, as the apostle saith : Shall their unbelief make the faith [i. e. the unalterable faithfulness] of God without effect? Rom. iii. 3. («) (g) Ibid. p. 8S6. (/i) Ibirl. p. 803, 894. (i) Ibirl. p. 908, 909. '*) Ibid. p. 031, 932. (1) Ibid. p. 993. (m) Ibid. p. 9»3, 8S6. (Ti) Ibid. p. 9U, 913. 222 STATE OF CALVINISM "The Papists say, a man may fall away from the faith whicli once truly he had, and be deprived altogether of the state of grace, so that he may justly be counted among the reprobates. " Om- sentence [i. e. the judgment and opinion of us church of England men] is this : that he, who once hath received a true, lively faith, and is thereby justified before God, can never finally fall away. Neither can that faith utterly perish, or fail in hira. Though it may, for a while, somewhat decay, and be impaired ; yet shall it revive, and he be raised up again (o). Such were the doctrines which queen Elizabeth " maintained" and the " Church of England professed." XVIIl. Another conclusive argument, to the same effect, may be drawn from the learned Dr. William Fulke's confutation of the Rhemish Testament, published about the middle of tliis reign. The occasion was as follows : The English Papists in the seminary at Rhcims, perceiving, as Fuller observes, that they could no longer " blindfold their laity from the Scriptures, resolved to fit them with false spectacles ; and set forth the Rhemish transla- tion (p)", in opposition to the Protestant ver- sions. No man fitter, in point either of learn- ing, or of grace, to stand forth, in the name of the Church of England than Dr. Fulke, Mas- ter of Pembroke Hall, and Margaret professor of divinity, in Cambridge, He accordingly un- dertook, and successfully accomplished, an en- tire refutation of the Popisli version and com- mentary. The late great and good Mr. Her- vey (who, from an exuberance of candour, was sometimes rather too sanguine and in- discriminate, in his public recommendation of books ; witness the high strains of undue panegyric, in which he condescended to cele- brate Bengelius's Gnomon) passed a very just encomium on Dr. Fulke's noble performance : which he styles, a "Valuable piece of ancient Controversy and criticism, full of sound divi- nity, weighty arguments, and important obser- vations." Adding: "Would the young stu- dent be taught to discover the very sinews of Popery, and be enabled to give an effectual blow to that complication of errors ; I scarce know a treatise, better calculated for the pur- pose (y)." It was dedicated to the queen, and did honour to the royal patronage. Two or three brief extracts will suffice to shew what is Po- pery, and what is Protestantism, in the esti- mation of the church of England. 1. In their note on Matt. xxv. 20, the Romish-Rhemish commentators express them- selves thus : " Free-will, with God's grace. (0) Ihid. p. 1009, 1010. (p) See Fuller's account of Dr. Fulke, in the English Worthies ; Lond. 219. (J) Theron and Aspasio, vol. ii. p. 436. Edit. 1767. doth merit." No, says Fulke ir. his answjr, " The will, the work, and tlie fruit thereof^ and the faith from whence it floweth, ara all the gifts of God, and no merit of man (r). ' The Papists affirmed that Christ "work- eth not our good, against our wills ; but our wills concurring." The protestant Doctor replies, "Man hath no free-will to accept God's benefits, before God, of unwilling, by his only grace maketh him willing («)." The Catholics admitted, as some moderate Arminians do now, that man " was wounded very sore in his understanding and free-will, and all other powers of soul and body, by the sin of Adam : but that neither understanding, nor free-will, nor the rest, were extinguished in man, nor taken away.'' Fulke answers : " Against this vain collection by allegory, the Scripture is plain, that we are all dead in sin, by the sin of Adam. So that neither the will, nor the understanding, have any heavenly life in them (/).'' 2. 'Tis amusing to observe, what a curious hash (bishop Latimer would have said, mingle- mangle) the Catholic expositors tossed up, of merit and grace, free-will and predestination, in their note on Rom. \iii. 30. They observe, that "God's eternal foresight, love, purpose," &c. are " the gulph," whereon " many proud persons" have founded " most horrible blas- phemies against God's mercy, and divers dam- nable errors against man's free-will, and against all good life in religion ;" but that " this said eminent truth, of God's eternal pre- destination, doth stand with man's free-will and the true liberty of his actions, nor taketh away the means or nature of merits, and co- operation with God to our own and other men's salvation." In opposition to which wretched jumble, our Church of England champion thus replies : The eternal predes- tination of God excludeth the merits of man, and the power of his will thereby to attain to eternal life : yet forceth not man's will, to good or ill ; but altereth the will, of him who is ordained to life, from evil to good (?()• The aforesaid Papists affirmed, that " God is not the cause of any man's reprobation or damnation." On the contrary. Dr. Fulke in- sisted, that " God reprobateth, justly, whom he will ; and condemneth the reprobate, justly, for sin {x)." ■The Catholics would have it, that, toward the effecting of conversion and salvation, grace and free-will contribute, each, its quota: with this difference, however, that grac; is the principal, and free-will the subordinate, contributor. " We may not," say they, with heretics, infer, that man hath not free- will, or that our will worketh nothing, in our conversion, or coming to God. But this (r) Fulke's Ci nfutotion of Rhem. Test. p. SU Edit. Lond. 1617. (i) Ibid. p. 166. («) P. 195. («) P. 462. (T) P. 464 UNDER KHZABKTH. 223 only : that our willinj;, or working, of any good, to our salvation, cometh of God's special motion, grace, and assistance ; and that it [viz. free-will] is the secondary cause, not the principal." Excellent, and full to the point, is Dr. Fulke's demolition of this artful but insufficient sophism ; which he demolishes thus : " Our election, callinsf, and first coming to God, lieth wholly in God's mercy ; and not either wholly, or principally, or any thing at all, in our own will, or works. But whom God electeth before time, he calleth in time, by him appointed ; and, of unwilling, by his grace maketh them willing to come to him, and to walk in good works unto which he hath elected them. So that man hath no free-will, until it be freed (y)-" 3. 1 shall only add a passage or two, from each side, concerning justification. At, and soon after, the Reformation, the Papists, finding themselves hard pushed by the numerous Scriptures which assert justifica- tion without works, were driven to the false and absurd resource of there being more justi- fications that one. That great ornament of our reformed church, bishop Downame, seems to have considered cardinal Bellarmine as the first broacher of these multiplied justifica- tions (z). But, let them have been invented by whom they would, the Romish divines caught at the multiplication, with no little eagerness. The plurality of justifications soon passed as current, in that church, as Peter-pence ; and like the hunted slipper, cirulated, with all possible glibness, from hand to hand. Among the rest, thus speak the Remish translators : " Not faith alone, but good works also do justify. There- fore, St. Paul meaneth the same that St. James. The first justification [is] without vvorks : the second, by works. St. Paul speaketh of the first, specially ; St. James, of the second." Agreeably to this ridiculous distinction, they affirm the first justification to take place, " when an infidel, or ill man, is made just, who had no acceptable works before to be justified by." Which man, it seems, must, some time afterwards, be justified over again : and this second, or over-and-above justification they define to be, " An increase of former justice, which he, who is in God's grace, daily proceedeth in, by doing all kind of good works ; and for doing of which, he is just indeed before God." Observe, by the way, how wretchedly these two Popish justifications hang together. The first makes us just : the second makes us just indeed. As if being just indeed was not included in being indeed just ! We have heard the popish distinction, and the Popish explication of that distinction. Let me now administer Dr. Fulke's Protestant antidote against the poison of both. ** Vour distinction of the fir.Ht and secoi.d justification before God, is but a new device, not three- score years old, [and] utterly unherad of among the ancient fathers. For whom God justifieth by faith, without works, he also glorifieth ; Rom. viii. 30. And that which you call the second justification, or increase of justice, is but the efTect and fruits of justification before God ; and a declaration before men, that we are just. And so meaneth St. James : that Abraham, who was justified, or made just, before God, through faith, was also justified, or declared to be just, before men, by works. We affirm, that God justifieth us , when he imputeth justice [i. e. righteousness], to us, without works : by which imputation we are not falsely accounted, but are indeed by God truly made just, by the righteousness of Christ, which is given unto us, and which we apprehend by faith (a)." XIX. I cannot help touching on another proof of that exquisite, but not undue, jea- lously and care, with which the doctrinal Calvinism of our church was watched and guarded in the reign now under consideration. So jirecious a palladium were the sister- doctrines of free predestination and of jus- tification by faith only, then deemed ; that whosoever lifted but a finger against either was supposed to touch the apple of the Church of England's eye. Witness what Mr. Strype relates, concerning a poor handful of free-will men, who could not assemble in a private conventicle without attracting the rod of ecclesiastical censure and suffering, by the archbishop of Canterbury's means, the rigorous penalty of imprisonment itself. *' There was a religious assembly now [A. D. 1586], taken notice of (whereof one Glover was a chief, and, as it seems, a min- ister), complained of, for their opinions, to the archbishop [Whitgift] : which Glover, with some others, was imprisoned. But whatsoever this society was, they seemed so excusable to the lord treasurer Burleigh, that he wrote a letter to the archbishop in their favour. In which letter may be seen, what their tenets and doctrines were : namely, about the sense of justification and predesti- nation. Followers, perhaps, of Dr. Peter Baro and Corranus (6)." In all probability, lord Burleigh's humane application to the primate, in behalf of these theological delin- quents, procured them a gaol-delivery, and set the free-will men corporally free. So, at least I conjecture, from the letter of thanks, written, by the said Glover, to the said lord treasurer : which letter whoso listeth to read may find in Strype's volume and page before- mentioned. Thus much, however, I shall observe from it ; that Mr. Glover, the free- will man, lays all the cause of his and his (») P. 465. (z) See Bishop Downame on Jus nfic»t-.on, p. 452 & 5.12. Edit. 1633. 224 STATE OF CALVINISM brethren's imprisonment, on their dissenting from Luther's doctrine of justification without works, and from Calvin's doctrine of uncon- ditional predestination ; and loudly complains of the "Iniquity and tyianny" of their prose- cutors: which included a tacit fling ?t the archbishop himself. Aiid, to say the truth, the bishops, that then were, had just as much regard for the free-will men, as St. Paul had for the viper he shook into the fire. XX. One proof more shall finish our re- view of queen Elizabeth's ecclesiastical ad- ministration. And that proof shall be drawn from the order that was issued, and which was as punctually obeyed, for the placing of good Mr. Fox's Calvinistic maityrology in all the parish churches of England, for the in- struction and edification of the people at the intervals of divine service. Hence it is, that, in some of our churches, we see those inesti- mable volumes preserved to this day. Nor, per- haps, could our present secular and ecclesias- tical governors do a more substantial service to the souls of the common people, than by renewing that well-judged command, and taking care to have every church re-furnished with those venerable records of Protestant antiquity : which with their suitable compan- ion, the Book of Homilies, might be more conducive to the expulsion of the religious darkness that now overwhelms this land, than all the apostolic travels of a thousand Lancashire missionaries. " This history of the church [viz. Fox's Martyrologyj was," says Stiype, ■' of such value and esteem for the use of it to Christian readers, and the service of our religion re- formed, that it was, in the days of queen Elizabeth, enjoined to be set up, in some con- venient place, in all the parish churches, together with the Bible, and bishop Jewel's Defence of the Apology of the Church of England : to be read, at all suitable times, by the people, before or after serxnce (c)." Nor was this all. By the canons of the convocation, held under archbishop Parker, in St. Paul's cathedral, A. D. 1571, it was en- joined, that each of the archbishops, and every bishop should procure the holy Bible of the largest edition, and Fox's Martyrology, and other similar books, conducive to religion ; and place the said books, either in the hall of their respective dwelling-houses, or in their principal dining-room : that so those books might be serviceable both to such company as might come to visit the sa.o dignitaries, and like- wise to their own servants and domestics (rf)." Moreover, every dean was enjoined by the canons aforesaid, to see that each cathedral church, respectively, was furnished with the books above mentioned : which books were to be placed in such an open and convenient part of each cathedral, that they might be both heard and read by the priests, vicars, minor canons, and other ministers, and also by such stran- gers and travellers, as might occasionally resort to the said cathedrals. The word " heard " [ut commode audiri et lec^i possitit^ seems to indicate, that Fox's Martyrology was publicly and audibly read by the clergy (in the nave, or some other capacious part of each cathedral church, at such times as dirii.e service was not celebrating in the choir), to those persons who attended, out of church hours for that purpose. It is much to be wished that the same laudable practice was still continued. To all this, I must add, that, by the same ecclesiastical injunctions, passed in full convo- cation, every dean, prebend, canon residentiary, and archdeacon, was to procure the said pre- destinarian Martyrology, and phce it in some conspicuous and frequented room of his house, for the benefit of servant*, visitors, and all comers and goers. The same order, according to Anthony VVood, (e) was extended to all the heads of colleges, in the two Universities ; who were required to place the Martyrology in their college halls respectively. Let us next examine, whether Fox's Mar- tyrology be indeed a Calvinistic performance. Proof has already been given of the am- ple testimony which that history bears to the Calvinism of those excellent men, whose mar- tyrdoms it records. Nor does it bear less tes- timony to the Calvinism of the admirable hi>^- torian himself. Witness what immediately follows : " The secret purpose of Almighty God," says Mr. Fox, " disposeth all things (/)." A golden sentence, which, alone, might suffice to show what complexion his book is of. But the complexion, both of him and it, will appear, still more explicitly, from an abstract of what he delivei s, in that part of his work which professedly treats on election and re- probation. '•As touching the doctrine of election,'' says this most venerable master in our protes- tant Israel, three things must be considered : (c) Stryp^'s Annalu, vol. iii. p. 503. (ft) Qiiivig archif'piscopus, ct episcopus, habebit Domi su.e Sacra Biblia, in ainplissiuio volmnine, nti nuperrime Loiidini exi usa sunt ; et pleiiain illam ^ ^us.leiii illnglil)r..9, qtins pr^-^ iiiu- divimiis, Dc. ani.s ^rali, t-ju^modi iu lovo, xit a vic.inis. ci !i.in'^:jbus canonicis, ct ministris ecricsiae, et ab advenis, et peregrinis, commode audiri et legi possiut. Eosdem libros illos decanus, et primarins quisqne resideutiarius, quos appellant eccle.«ia; digritatcs, onient suo quisque famulitio ; ensqne, npportuno aliqiu) in loco, Tel in auli, vel in cocnaculo. Joc;.bui:t. Qtiivis arcbidiaconiis babebit. Domi suse, et alios iiliri s, et nominatim eos, qui iBSoribuutiir, roonumeDta Sec bishop Sparrow's collections, p. 227, 43*. — Edit. ie.'S4. (e) Athen. 1. 1S7. (f) Acts «. Mm. iii. 761. . 'JNDER ELIZABETH. "I. What God's election is, and what is »lie cause thereof. "2. How God's election proceedeth in work- ing our salvation. "3. To whom God's election pertaiiieth, and how a man may be certain thereof. " Between predestination and election, this difference there is : predestination is as well [i. c. relates as much] to the reprobate, as to the elect ; election pertaineth only to tliem that be saved. "Predestination is the eternal derreement of God, purposed before in himself, what shall befal on all men, either to salvation or dam- nation. " Election is the free mercy and grace of God, in his own will, through faith in Christ, liis Son, choosing and preferring to life such as pleaseth him. " In this defin'rtion of election, first goeth before the mercy and grace of God, as the causes thereof; whereby are excluded all works of the law, and merits of deserving, v/hether they go before faith, or come after. So was Jacob chosen, and Esau refused, be- fore either of them began to work. In that tills mercy and grace of God, in this definition is said to be free ; thereby is to be noted the proceeding and working ot God not to be bounded to any ordinary place, succession of chair, state or dignity of person, worthiness of blood, &c. but all goeth by the mere will of his own purpose. It is added, in his own will. Dy this falleth down the free-will and purpose of man, with all his actions, counsel, and strength of nature : according as it is written. It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. So we see how Israel ran along, and yet got no- thing. The Gentiles later began to set out, and yet got the game. So they, who came at the first hour, did labour more ; and yet ti.ey, who came last, were rewarded with the first. The working will of the Pharisee seemed better ; but yet the Lord's will was rather to justify the Publican. The elder son [in the parable] had a better will to tarry by Itis father, and so did indeed ; and yet the fat calf was given to the younger son that ran away. i " Whereby we are to understand, how the matter goeth, not by the will of man ; but by the will of God, as it pleaseth him to accept ; according as it is written, Who were born, not of the will of the flesh, nor by the will of man, but of God. "God's mercy and free grace bringeth forth election. Election worketh vocation, or God's holy calling. Which vocation, through hearing, bringeth knowledge and faith of Christ. Faith, through promise, obtaineth •ustification. Justification, through hope, waiteth for glorification. " Election is before time. Vocation and fdith come in time. Justification ana glorifi- cation are without end. " Election, depending on God's free grace and will, excludeth all man's will, blind for- tune, chance, and all peradventures. " Vocation, standing upon God's election, excludeth all man's wisdom, cunning, learn- ing, intention, power, and presumption. " Faith in Christ, proceeding by the gift of the Holy Ghost, and freely justifying man bj God's promise, excludeth all other merits ot men, all condition of deserving, and all works of the la»v, both God's law and man's law, with all other outward means whatsoever. "This order and connection of causes is diligently to be observed, because of the Pa- pists, who have miserably confounded and inverted this doctrine ; teaching, that Almighty God, so far forth as he foreseeth man's merits before to come, so doeth he dispense his elec- tion. As though we had our election, by our holiness that folio veth after; and not, rather, have our holiness, by God's election going before. " If the question be asked, why was Abra- ham chosen, and not Nachor ? why was Ja- cob chosen, and not Esau why was Moses elected, and Ph.araoh hardened ? why David accepted, and Saul refused ? why few be chosen, and the most forsaken ? It cannot be answered otherwise but thus — because it was so the good will of God. " In like manner, touching vocation, and also faith. If it be asked, why this vocation and gift of faith was given to Cornelius the Genlile, and not to Tertullus the Jew? why the beggars, by the highways, were called, and the bidden guests excluded ? we can go to no other cause, but to God's purpose and election ; and say, with Christ our Saviour, Even so. Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. " And so for justification likewise. If the question be asked, why the Publican was jus- tified, and not the Pharisee ? why Mary the sinner, and not Simon theinviter? why har- lots and publicans go before the Scribes and Pharisees in the kingdom ? why the son of the free woman was received, and the bond woman's son, being his elder, was reject- ed \ why Israel, which so long sought foi righteousness, found it not ; and the Gentiles which sought not for it, found it ! We have no other cause hereof to render, but to say, with St. Paul, Because they sought tor it by works of the law, and not by faith : which faith Cometh not by man's will (as the Papist falsely pretendeth), but only by the election and free gift of God. " Wheresoever election goeth before, there faith in Christ must needs follow after. And again, whosoever believeth in Christ Jesus, throu^'h the vocation of God, he must needs be partaker of God's election. " Whereupon resulteth now the third note, or consideration : which is, to oonsidei', whe- ther a man, in this life, may be ceituin of his election ? Q 226 STATE OF CALVINISM " Allhouj^h our election and vocation simply indeed he known to (lod only in h\ni- se\f, d priorc ; yet, no' hn ithstandinjr, it may be known to every paiticular faithful man, a pn.stcr'tnre ; that is, by means : which means, is failh in Christ Jesus crucified. And there- fore it is truly said, De ekctione jndicandnm est d posteriory : that is to say, we must judge of election by that which comet h after : i. e. by our faith and belief in Christ, which cer- tifieth us of this election of God. For albeit that election be first certain in the knowledge, of God ; yet, in our knowledge, faith only, that we have in Christ, is tlie thing that giveth to us our certificate and comfort of this election. Election [is] first known to God, and last opened to man (g)." So speaks the book, with which the arch- bishnps, bishops, archdeacons, prebendaries, and canons residentiary, weie enjoined to enrich their principal apartments : which all deans were commanded to place in their (Jathedrals : which all heads of colleges were required to exhibit in the public halls of each University : and which constituted p- rt of the religious furniture of every parish church, throughout the kingdom. Well, therefore, might bishop Davenant affirm, that Land's paiasite, Samuel Hoord the Arniinian, " so farre f>rtn as he seemech to oppose tlie absolute decree of predestination, and the absolute decree of negative repro- bation, or non-election ; reducing them to the contrary, foreseen conditions of good or bad acts in men ; he crosseth the received doctrine of the Church of England (k). I will," adds the bishop, " lay down such fundamental doc- trines, concerning predestination or election, as I conceive are grounded upon the XVlIth Article, and have always been taken for the common received doctiine of oiu- Cliurch : the contradictory [doctrines, vh. the doctrines of Pelagius and Arminius] having been always, when they were broached, held and censured for erroneous by our Universities and reverend bishops (0- As for those, whom you [viz. you Samuel Hoord] term Sulilapsarians, you should have taken notice, that in this nu.i.I.er you must put all who embrace St. Augustin,- s doctrines, and who have subscribed to the XVIIth Article of our Church. So that, by joining yourself with the remonstrants [i. e. with the ArminiansJ, you have as clearly for- saken the doctrine of the Church of England, as [you have forsaken the doctrine] of Beza, Zanchius, or Piscator (A). Our Church of England was more willing and desirous to set down expressly the doctrine of absolute pre- destination, 1 mean of predestination causing faith and perseverance, than it was of [setting down so expressly] absolute negative repro- bation. It was wisdom, which made our Church so clear in the article for absolute predestination, and yet so reseiTed in the other [viz. in the point of reprobation]: easily perceiving, that [the] predestination of some men [to eternal lifej cannot be affirmed, but non-predestination [to life], or preterition, or negative reprobation, (call it as you please) of some others, must needs therewith be under- stood. For the truth of absolute reprobation, so farre forth as it is connected and conjoined with absolute predestination ; when the main intent of the remonstrants is, by opposing the former, to over-throw the latter, it importeth those, who have subscribed to the l/th article, not to suffer it to be obliquely undermined (/)." The learned prelate's reasoning is masterly and just. For, l.The predestination of some to life, asserted in the l/th article of our Church, cannot be maintained, without ad- mitting the reprobation of some others unio death. 2. This reprobation, though not ex- pressly asserted in the article, is palpably de- ducible from it: yea, so necessary is the infer- ence, that, wirhont it, the article itself cannot stand. Consequently, 3. Whoever opposes reprobation "obliquely undermines" the l/th article. And, 4. All, " who have subscribed" to the said article are hound in honour, con- science, and li.w, to defend reprobation, were it only to keep the l/th article upon its legs. So argues bislnjp Davenant. From the proofs, which this Section hath alledged, of the Calvinism of our established Church, through the entire reign of queen Elizabeth ; it follow? (no less clearly than reprobation follows from our 17th article) that the established religion of this land was, ori- ginally; remained, successively; and still con- tinues to be, intrinsically ; as remote from, and as essentially the reverse of, Pelagianism and Ai niinianism, in ever y point and respect whatsoever, as any two things, within the whole compass of existence, can be remote and diffeient from each other. A conviction of this most plain and certain truth made Dr. Carleton, bishop of Chichester, express himself in these positive, but not too positive, terms : " I am well assured, that the learned bishops, who were in the reformation of our Chuich in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, did so mucli honour St. Augustine, that, in the collecting of the Arti- cles and Homilies, and other things in that reformation, they had an especial respect unto St. Augustine's doctrines (wi) " This I much suspect to be the chief cause of Mr. Wesley's unappeasable wrath against the memory of old queen Bess : though his ostensible reason is, the behaviour of that princess to her female neighbour of Scotland. It is curious to observe the tiffing vehemence, wherewith the petty dragon spits his harmless (g) Fox's Acts & Mon. iii. 292, 29.^. (h) Bishop Davenant's Aniin;idversion9 on Ho^rd, 5. Cambridge, 18*1. (i) /Airf. p. 7, 8. (k) Ibid. p. 28, 29. (I) Ibid. p. 55, 5B. (M) Carleton's Examin. of Mouctu, y. ^ UNDER ELIZABETH. fire at tlio dead lioness. " What then was queen Elizabeth? As just and meiciful as Nero, and as good a Christian as Mahomet (n)." Let the following authentic account of the truly pious manner, in which that great mon- arch closed her life, determine what degree of credit is due to the spitting journalizer ; and shew, whether she was a Mahometan or a Christian. " She [queen Elizabeth] had several of her learned and pious bishops frequently about her, performing the last offices of religion with her. Particularly, Watson, bishop of Chichester, her almoner ; the bishop of Lon- don ; and chiefly, the archbishop [Whitgift] : M'ith whom, in their prayers, she very devoutly, both in her eyes, hands, and tongue, and with great fervency, joined ; making signs and shews, to her last remembrance, of the sweet comfort she took in their piesence and assist- ance, and of the unspeakable joy she was going unto. " Her death drawing near, the archbishop exhorted her to tix her thoughts on God ; the better to draw oil lier mind from other secular tilings, concerning her kingdom and successoi-, which some of lier cuurt then propounded to her. To which good advice, she answered liim, she did so ; nor did her mind wander from God. And as a sign thereof, when she c'luld not speak, she was obseived much to lift up her eyes and hands to Heaven. " Her Almoner rehearsing to her the grounds of the Christian faith, and lequiring lier assent unto them by some sign ; she readily gave it, both with hand and eye. And, when he proceeded to tell her, that it was not enough, generally to believe that those articles of faith wf re true ; but that all Christian men weie to believe them true to tliem, and that they themselves were members of the tiue Church, and redeemed by Jesus Christ, and that their sins were foigiven to them ; she did, again, with great shew of faith, lift up her eyes and hands to Heaven, and so stiiyed them long, as A testimony she ga\e of applying the same unto herself (o)." " This queen, says lord Bacon, as touching her religion, was pious, moderate, constant, and an enemy to novelty. For her piety, though the same were most conspicuous in her acts, and the form of her government ; yet it was ponrtrayed also in the C(mimon course of her lite, and her daily comportment. Seldom would she be absent from hi aring divine ser- vice, and other duties of religion, either in her chapel, or in her privy closet. In the reading of the Scriptures, and the writings of the fathers, especially of St. Augustine, she was very frequent: and she composed certain tjrayers, heiself, upon emergent occasions. vVithin the compass of one year, she did so (») Wesley's Journal from 1705 to 17CS, p 124 (n) StTpi-'a Life ot Wliitgift, p. ,■>«". r-' <. (y) She was fi\e feet and elcvti. t'.ii-;,..,, in !tt ij^t t. establish and settle all matters belonging to the Church, as she departed not one hair's breadth from them to the end of her lite. Nay, and her usual eustc.m was, in the beginning of eveiy parliament, to forewarn the houses not to question or iimovate any thing already established in the discipline or rites of the Church. " Her (7^) stature [say Guthrie, Welwood, and Bacon] was sonicu hat t:;ll, and her com- plexion fair. She uii,lc_Mstu,,(l the Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, Fri nc h, an.l Dutch langi. ages. She translated several pie>es Irom Xenophon, Isociates, Seneca, Boctliius, and other an- ciejits, with taste and accuracy. The Augustan age was revived in her reign : and the true religion was so well established before she left'the world, that her leign ought justly to be termed the gokkn age of the Church of England (5)." SECTION XIX. State of the C::lvinistic Doctrines hi England, fro'ni the Death of Elizabeth to that 0/ King James the First. Jamks the First's accession to the crown of England was, for many years, followed by no shadow of alteiatiun in the theological prin- ciples of our inling ecclesiastics. The king himself was a Ci'.h inisf intheoiy: but more, by virtue of outward and visible education, than of ini'-ard and spiiitual grace. His own personal n, orals did by no means comport with the rectitude of his speculative system. England had seen few princes more warmly orthodox ; and not very many, » hose private manners were so thoroughly i>iotligate and eccentric. A proof, that the purest set of religious tenets, when :lieyfiuat merely on the surface ot the understanding, and are no otherwise received, than scholastically, as a science, without reai,liing the heart, aie suie to leave the life and manners uncultivated and unrenewed. The legenerating influence of God's holy spirit on the soul, is the best door for the doctrines of giace to enter at. When they flow to ns through the channel of celestial experience, they cannot fail to throw our hearts, our tempers, and our morals, into the mould of holiness. There arc two soits of persons, whose condition is eminently danger- ous : those, who know just eiuni^h of the gospel system, to hate it; and thnsi , who profess to love if, but hold it in nurighteous- ness. King James, amidst all bis deviations from virtue ; amidst all his mental weaknesses, and political aljsurdities ; was the most learned secular prince then in Europe. His talents as a scholar, were far frc.m being so extremely two inches taller than .\custus the Uouum em. eror. Derham's Phys. Th ol. p. 331 (5) Rolfs Lives of the Reformers, p. 202. 223 STATE OF CALVINISM desjjicable find superficial, as his defect of wisdom and his excess of ^elf-l>p^Ilion have led some historians to suppose. Had his judgment and his virtues borne any proportion to his acquirements, his name would have adorned, instead of dishonouring, as it does, the catalogue of kings. His two sons, prince Ilenry, and Charles the first, though they had not half the literary attainments of their father, yet eclipsed him totally, even as a man of parts, by force of superior genius, and by possessing a larger s;ock of private virtue. Vice (especially ttiose spec'es of it, to which James was enslaved) has a native tendency tf) debase, enfeeble, and diminish, the pou-ers of the mind. To which must be added, that the erudition, as well as the whole personal and civil cotiduct, of this mean prince, appeared to peculiar disadvantage, after the wise, the shining, the vigorous administration of Eliza- beth : who was immensely his superior, both in elegant learning, and in the art of govern- ment. That James was a speculative Calvinist, his own writings abundantly declare. Mr. Hume gives a sort of ambiguous intimation (?•) that, towards the end of his reign, he adopted the principles of Arrainius. I wish that polite, but not always impartial historian, had favoured us with the authorities (if any such there be) on which that implication was grounded. I should be extremely glad, to see it proved, that James actually did apnstatize, in his latter years, to the Arminian tenets. For he really was no honour to us. King as he was, the m-eainest Calvinist in his donninions might have blushed to call him brother. It «ere pity, that a man of so corrupt a heart should live and die with a set of sound opinions in his head. But I have never been able to find, that tliere is the .'raallest shadow of foundation, for supposing, that he ever dropped, what Mr. Hume pleases to term, " The more rigid prin- ciples of absolute reprobation and uncondi- tional decrees." On the contrary, his religious tenets, and his principles of political tyranny, seem, like flesh and spirit, to have been in [..erpetual conflict with each other, during the last years of his life. Let me explain myself. The point is curious : and not altogether un- interesting. James was wicked enough to hunger and thirst after the liberties of his people. But, with all his boasted king-craft (as he called it), he was, providentially, destitute both of wisdom and spirit, to carry his wish into ex- ecution. Much of his reign was wasted, in contemptible striving to balance matters be- tween the Protestants and the Papists ; the lattei- of whom he affected to keep fair with, (r) Hist, of Eng. vol. v. p. 572. ~~ (,f) Observe ; tlie " Arminian tenets " did not "bepn " to " spread in Engliind," till after the said tenets had been condemned " by the synod at Don." on account of theii ijeing, as he phrased !t, " dextrous king-killers." Just as some Indians are said tn worship the devil, for fear he should do them a mischief. For sometime before his death, James's wretched politics took a turn, somewhat dif- ferent. His royal care was to trim between the Calvinists and the Arininians (though the latter, at that time, hardly amounted to a handful) : or, rather, to play them off against each other, v. hile he buckled himself the faster into the saddle of despotism. Tiie Calvinists, though, even in his own judgment, religiously orthodox; were con- sidered by him as state heretics, because they were friends to the rights of uiankind, and repressed the encroachments of civil tyranny. On the other hand, the Arrainians (then newly sprung up ; or rather, newly imported from the Dutch coast) were detested by James, for the novelty, and for the supposed ill ten- dency, of their religious sentiments. The Ar- minians had, therefore, but one card to play, in order to .save a losing game ; which was to compensate for their religious heterodoxies, by state orthodoxy. They were forced even to avoid the inconveniences of persecution it- self (for James had given proof that he could burn heretics as well as any of his predeces- sors), to fall in with the court-measures for extending the prerogative. This card the Arminians accordingly play- ed. It won : and gave a new turn to the game. It not only saved them from civil penalties, but (of which, probably, at first they were not so sanguine as to entertain the most distant expectation) they even began to be re- garded, at couit, as serviceable folks. Hence, trom being exclaimed against, as the very pests of Christian society ; they gradually obtained connivance, toleration and countenance. To sum up all: they got ground in the close of James's reigu; and, in that of Charles, saw themselves, for the first time, at the top of the ecclesiastical wheel. Every one who is at all acquainted with the history of James's administration, knows that I have not over-charged a single feature. For the sake, however, of such readers as may not be versed in this kind of inquiries, I con- firm the account, already given, by the fol- lowing extract of Tindal. " Soon after the accession of king James, the canons of the church were confirmed by the king and convocation. Things were in this state, when a great turn happened in the doctrine of the church. The Arminian, or remonstrant tenets, which had been con- demned by the synod at Dort, began to spread in England («). The Calvinistical sense of the [39] articles was discouraged ; and in- Wiich condemnation by that synod took place, A. D. 1619; about sixteen yea ? after James's accession to the English crown, an! little more than five years before his majesty s death. Of such very modem UNDEIl JAMES I 229 jimctims were published against preaching iipoii predestination, election, efficacy of grace, is:L-. while the Arminians were suffered to in- culcate their doctrines (t)'' without control. So much for the conduct of James and his court. Now, for the reason of tliat conduct. This the above historian immediately assigns, ill manner and form following: " As Arminianism was first embraced by those who were for exalting the [king's] pre- rogative above law; all, who adhered to the ^ide of [civil] liberty, and to the Calvinistical sense of the articles, tho' ever so good church- men, were branded by the court with the name of Puritans. By this nu-ans the [real] Puri- tans acquired great strength : for the liulk of the people and clergy were at once confounded with them («)," under the absurd, new in- invenled names of doctrinal and state-puritans. What, if to the testimony of this whig historian, we add that of a toi v coiupiier ? " The whole nation, was now" [tv^. A. D. 1622.] "divided between the court and the CDuntiy parties. All the Papists, and the Av- niinians (who were by this tune formed into a sect in England), espoused the cause of the king. Those who professed the tenets of Ar- minius were now as much caressed as they had been formerly detested, by the courtiers. And William Laud, who had adopted this faith, was promoted to the bishoprick of St. David's (a-).'' It is plain, then, that the reason why James I. was " insensibly engaged towards the end of his reit;n to favour" [for it does not appear that he ever adopted] " the milder theology of Arminius (//),'' was, because the partizans of that new theology were much '• milder" and more friendly to James's solierae of setting himself above law, than were the parlizans of the established Calvinistic doc- trines. The moving cause, why that weak and vicious prince laboured to ram Arminian- ism down the throats of his Protestant sub- jects, was, the innate titness of Arminianism to subserve and promote the purposes of arbi- trary power. At the very time that James manifestly appears to have abhorred the re- ligious tenets of Arminius, considered as reli- gious, he professedly patronised the maintain- eis of those identical tenets, because he re- garded both the tenets and their niaintniners as the best state-engines he could employ, to effectuate that plan of secular tyranny, on which he had so vehemently set his heart. To what an unprincely and uncomf.irtable dilemma had James reduced himself! He could not persist in carrying on his old theo- logical war against Arminianism, without weakening the foundations of the tyrannical labric be intended to rear. Nor could he pro- atanding, in England, is that Arminianism, whicii, loming to its full growth uuder Charier thu First, P;r pnpulos eraiam, metflteque per clidis iirbcm, llM OVBlia, divutoque sitii puscvbst Itoiiotck ! claim peace, without rendering himself, to the last degree contemptible for nis inconsisten- cies. On one hand, conscience, religious con- viction, and a regard to his own character, united to dissuade him from taking the Ar- minians into his alliance: and haunted him with, O my soul, go not thou into their secret ; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united. On the other hand, his " king-craft,'' i. e. the shallow cunning of a mean and vici- ous policy, suggested to him, in behalf of the Arminian sect he so deeply hated, if ye be come peaceably unto me, to help me, my lieart shall be knit unto you. To help him, they accordingly tried. Ai:d knit to them, as a state party, he certainly was, for the last four years of his life. Should it be asked, ' What could render the friendship of the Arminians so important in James's idea, seeing their number was then so very few?' The answer is obvious. The new and few Arminians were joined by the whole body of Roman Catholics: and it was this junction of forces which augmented their weight. Each of these two obnoxious parties lying open to the lash of the law, wished to recommend themselves to the favour of the court. Effectually to do so, they adopted and propagated the then court-maxim of unlimited obedience to princes, with all possible fervour. A coalition of interests naturally produces a coalition of parties. It was no wonder, there- tore, as the Papists and the Arminians had one and the same end to promote, and promoted that end by the self-same means, that they should, as a state faction, swim hand in hand with each other. Nor was the association, considered even in a religious view, at all un- uatmal. Arminianism pulls up, and removes, five, at the very least, of those ancient land- marks (might I not say five and twenty ?) by which Protestantism and Popery are severed from each other. Such a theological and po- litical coincidence might well produce (as it actually did) a civil union between the parti- zans of Rome and the disciples of Arminius. They both aspired, in amicable conjunction, .to the favour of James : and James caught at their alliance, with as great eagerness, as they aspired to his. But the accession of such recruits, as these, reflected no honour on tlie king ; and, in reality, did him no service. It added to the national jealously, and quickened the na- tional resentment. In all appearance, James died just at the time when matters were ripening to a crisis between him and his people. Had his reign been protracted much longer, 'tis probable, either that his crown would have trembled on his brow ; or, that its security must have been purchased by (<) Tiuital's Cont. of Rapin, vol. iii p. 279, 280. Octavo. (K)Tindal, Jbld. 2t,0. (a ) Smollett's Hist. vol. viL p* 8"- Octan |7.';n. (5) Kuiue. vol. V. p. S72. STATE OF CALVINISM a n\iraber of i':st and necessary concessions to a brave and injured nation. With wliat propriety and decency this prince affected to cheiish Arminianisin, let the productions of his own pen tesrify. But, before 1 hriefiy appeal to these, let James's best historioirrapher, the honest Mr. Arthur Wilson, supply us with an introduction to them. " Our neighbours of the Netherlands had" [in the beginning of the seventeenth centuryl " a tire kindled in their own bosoms : [namely,] a schism in the church, and a faction in the state. The tirst author of the schism was (z) Arminius : who had been divinity-professor at Leyden. He died in the year 1609 ; leaving behind him the seeds of the Pelagian heresy. " This rupture in the bowels of the church [of Holland] grew so great, that it endanger- ed the body of the state. The chief rulers and magistrates, in the several provinces, being tainted with this error, strove to esta- blish it by power : among whom, Barnevelt was a i;-;incipal agent. He, by the as^istance of Iloogenberts of Leyden, Grotins of Rot- terdam, and Leidenburgh, secretary of Utrecht, with others their adherents, drew on tne design : which was to suppress the Pro- testant reformed religion, and establish the tenets of Arminius ; being fomented by the kings of France and Spain, as the immedi- ate way to introduce Popery. This went on so smoothly that the orthodox ministers were ejcpelled out of their principal towns, and none but Armiuians admitted to preach to the people : which, in some places, bred many combustions, that tended to nothing but popular confusion. " But, long before this time, our king James L) saw the storm coming upon them [vis. that was coniii];^ on the Dutch provin- ces]. For in the year I'il 1, he forewarns the States : telling them, that, by the unhappy succession of two such prodigies in one sphere, as Arminius and Vorstius, some dread- fkll mischief would succeed. " For, Arminius was no sooner dead, but those that drew on the dositjn had an eye on Vorstius, his [i. c. Armiiiius'sJ disciple, to make him divinity professor in his place. Which the king hearing of, and having read some of Vorstius's blasphemous writings, (z) For some account of this Armuiius, see a ramphlet of mine, entitled. More Work for Mr. John Wesley. (a) Wilson's Life and Reicn of Kinc James I. in.serterii"*" bishop heiinct's Complete Hist, of Eng. vol. ii. p. 714, 715. (6) Complete Hist. u. s. p. 715, 71fi. (e) Paul's Cross, of \vl\ich so fn qut ut mention ia made in the religious l.istory nf tliis kingdom, was situated in the church-y;ird ln-!on;iiriy to the Cathi-- dral of St. Paul, on the north m<1i of th;it church, towards thc-e.ist end, where a tree- now stands. (See Dufrdalc's Hist. of St. Paul s, p. UO. And the octavo edition of Latimer's sermons, vol. i. p. It seems to have been st tn» o. UNDEK JAMES I. le&son, assigned by James hip.iscif toi- a step so very humiliating to the lu w Aiiniinuii paity, was, wliat his majesty styles, the " im- pudence " of Bei tius ; who was another chip of the said Arminian blocl<, Vorstius's intimate friend, and who, together with Voistius, had been Arminius's pupil. Does the reader ask, ' Wherein the " im- pudence "of Bertius consisted ? ' King James shall answer the question. Bertius had written against the hnal perseverance of the elect; and, not content with barely that, was, says his majesty, " so impudent, and so shameless, as to maintain, that the doctrine, contained in his book, was agreeable with the doctrine of the Church of England ! Let the Church of Chri.st then judge whether it was not high time for us to bestir ourselves." But it may be worth while to hear the king's own words at full length. " Some of Vorstius's books were brought over into Eng- land ; and, as it was reported, not without the knowledge and direction of the author. And, about the same time, one Bertius, a scholar of the late Arminius (who [viz. Armi- nius] was the first in our age that inlecttd Leyden with heiesy) was so iuipudent as to send a letter unto the archbishop of Canter- bury, with a book, entitleJ, De Aposlasia Suiictoriim. And, not thinking it sufficient to avow the sending of such a book (the title whereof only were enough to make it worthy the fire), hee was moreover so shameless, as to maintain, in his letter to the archbishop, publicly read ■ ifunry from li.rd barons. t!ie dean of fuud of a thousand miirks, commodatioQ of such as i sums ; payable again in oi equivalent pledge was tii that the doctrine contained in his booke was agreeable with the doctrine of the Church of England. Let the Church of Christ then judije, whether it was not high time for us to bestir ourselves, when as this gangrene had not only taken hold amongst our neerest neighbours, \viz. the Dutch], so as non sulum park's proxiiiiHs ja)ii urdchut, not only the ne.\t house was on fire, but did also begin to creep into the bowells of our own kingdom. For which cause, having first given order that the said books of Vorstius should be publicly burnt, as well in Paul's Church-yard, as in bothe the Universitys of this kingdom ; we thought good to renew our former request unto the States (of Holland), for the bani!.liment of Vorstius ((/)." This curious king text deserves a com- mentary. And let us note, l.What a hor- rible opinion James entertained of Arminius him.Nclf : whom his majesty teimed, an infector of Leyden with '* heresy.'' This was neither more nor less than calling the said Van Har- niin an heretic ; yea, an heresiarch, or an heretical ringleader. 2. Observe, how vigor- ously the king asserted the doctrine of hnal perseverance. He denominates the contrary tenet, of the defectibility of the saints, " a gangrene : '' and aflfirms, that the very " title- page alone '' of Bertius's Treatise, rendered both title and treatise " worthy of the flames." 3. His majesty stared (and well he mightj, with wonder and amazement, at Bertius's " impudence," in presuming to send " such should, ill his st-Muuii, di-claru, tlint tin- pl. ilge would be sold within luurtt-cn «Ujs, ii imt ri.-tric\fu littorc." In the eleventh of Kkhiird II. i. i. ahuut tin- year 1388, Robert de Braybrckr, bishop of L.iuJun, issued letters to the clergy of his diucesc, dt-Miinp tin m to solicit the contributions of tlie people for tlie repair of Paul's Cross, whirh had la eu nji..h shattered Ijy storms. He styled it, Crir, ,dln, n, ,inij„ri r, uwtcr.u ecclesilF nostra ratln ilrtilis, iili't i > ruum Ih i >-fn\ii, i il }/opulo 'prtrtlicuri , I'nnjinnn /'.ee y / i " <{ insigni : "'the hi-h rru^ .taieiin^ in larj 1 ' liiy- ing. ground belnngiug to the t^atheilral. uliere the word of God liud been usually prea, he-d to Ihc people, as a place emiiientl.y public and renowned." tiisc Dugdale, u. s. 3.) In process of time, the old Cross being much dilapidated by years and weather, a new one was erected, on the same spot, by Thniu.'.B Unupe, l.i>l:o;i of London, who died in 1489. ('i imin l-imi.n, m (says Bishop Godwin,) qua naii>- )vrinu ^••nuLur, comtruxit : Kerope built up Paul's ^.'ro.ss in the same manner as it still appears; " /. t. as it then appeared, in 1UI6. (De Pra:s. Aug. ji lnii| I cannot find, that this stru, rure. v. liile it re- mained, underwent any fartaer alleraiKHis, Irem that tiuie. But, when God was pleased tu >iMi this land with the beams of the Keformation, Paul put to a nobler use than ever. Jt ii-iiihr i city fountain. I'ruiii which the streams n't trine replenished the metropolis, aim t Here, our great reformers pre.u lu il, iii Edward the good ; and, here, the great the of life, through the long reign of Elizabeth, ire three distinguished (I had almost said sacred) ot grnuud, which, I thinlc, no genuine, coii- :e Eiiglishiiian can survey, without some emotion :ul rapture. I mean, that part of St. Paul's yard, ^\liicb was beautified by the feet of the ers , Smithheld, whence so many of our Pro- : l;lijahs ascended, ii " ' the Egha present stands, t ground, large tors. Eor, bishop Je\\el, in friend, that nothing cuntrilj nple to sing psalins ; that i 111, than the im iting it this was h. gun in quickly spre u itselt". places ; and tha would be six thi (added bishop Je city but etinics, at Paul'-. people singing togethei died of rage. [the Popish This to the Papists. Imp of \^ incliester] Kef. vol. iii. p. -iM.) that the books of , file disciple and successor of Arminius, were burned, in the year Ititl, by the express 1 king James I. And it was almost the only lis whole reign that reflects honour on his For, could a juster sacrifice, than Vorstius'; Armiuiiin writings, be consumed at the prolestant shrine of Patil's Cross ? (ft) Works of king James 1 S5). Loud Jtie. STATE OF CALVINISM a book (a bjok which in^iiiituiiii^d thiit saints might Cf,i-,c- to persevere) to an archbishop of the (-hipch of England ; who, as a fathe r in that church (and she never had a wortliier father than ai chbishop Abbot), could not hot abhor tlie Pelagian dream of falling finally from giace. But, 4. Behold the royal surprize wound up to the highest astonishment, at the accumulated cflroutery of Bertius. It was " impudent " in the said Arminian to make a present of his book, against perseverance, to the archbishop of Canterbury : but for the presentmaker to insinuate, that "the doctiine, contained in his booke, was agreeable with the doctrine of the Church of England," was indeed "shameless" beyond all suHerance : seeing the church herself avers, in the 17th article, that they who are endued with the excellent benefit of election, or predestination unto life, do, at length, actually attain to ever- lasting felicity . Observe, 5, The anxiety, with which king James uiaiked the progress of Arminianism in Holland. He trembled, lest the "gangrene" should extend to England also. He considered the Dutch Netherlands as his next-iloor neighbours : and, their house being " on fire " with the Arminian heresies, he was apprehensive lest the heretical flames might, by Popish winds, be blown over to Britain. 6. He expressed a fear, that Ar- minianism had already " begun " to " creep " into the bowels of his kingdom. His fears, however, at that time (e) seem to have been premature. 7- But the king's fears, Bertius's " impudence," and Vorstius's impieties, all conspired to produce one very good effect : to wit, the burning of Vorstius's hooks. 8. Let it be added, that James had been almost nine years On the throne of England, when he burned the books aforesaid. A j)roof that he did not soon discountenance the doctrines of the Reformation. His xeal for those doctrines was red-hot, till he happened to find out that his orthodoxy and his politics stood in each other's way. Nor nmst I omit, that his own writings, which have supplied me with the (e) It ivas not 'till ten or eleven years after this period, tbat, as Fuller quaintly expresses it, " many English souls took a cup too much of Belgic wine : whereby their heads have not only grown dizzy, in matters of less moment ; but their whole bodies stageer in the fundamentals of tbeir religion.*' Church. Hist, of Brit Book x. p. 61. By the Bi-lgi^ , or Dutch wine, Dr. Fuller meant Arminianism. Which wine, though made m Holl;:ud, was pressed from the Italian grape. Rome and .Socinus supplied the fruit, and Arniinius squeezed out the (/) It must be acknowledged, that Vorstius laid himself very open to this formidable charge. Among the tenets, for which he was stigmatized by the king of England, were the following : God is not unchangeable in his will. God's foreknowledge is, in some sort, conjectural ; as having to do with things of uncertain event. Future contingencies may, comparatively speaking, be said to be less certain, even to God himself, than things past or present. If all things whatever, and ev ery event whatever, were precisely determined from eternity, God's pro- videoce would cease to be neciUul. materials whence the above cnncl•JsioIl.^ tire diawn, furnish me likewise with another proof that his perseverance in defending the faith was long, though not final. For, the edition of his works which I am now making use of was printed 1616, which will spin out his Calvinis- tic majesty's perseverance to, at least that year; and that year was the fourteenth of his reign. We have seen that what king James en- titles his Declaration against Vorstius, is not only pregnant with threatnings, and almost with slaughters, against that learned Ar- minian ; but likewise breathes a very bitter spirit of implacable resentment against the memory of Arminius himself, who had been then dead about two years. Not satisfied with terming Vorstius a " wretched heretic, or rather atheist (.//," a " monster," an "Anti- St. John," and a " Samosatenian (g-) ; " the king hardly gives better quarter to Arminius, from whose root Vorstius had sprung. His majesty's instructions to his ambassadoi in Holland have these remarkable words : " You shall repaire to the States General, with alt possible dilligence, in our name : telling them, that wee doubt not, but that their ambas- sadours, which were with us about 2 yeais since, did inform them of a forewarning, that v/ee wished tlie said ambassadours to make unto them in our name, to beware, in time, of seditious and heretical preachers ; and not to suffer any such to creepe into their State. Our principal meaning was of Arminius : who though himself was lately dead, yet had hee left too many of his disciples behind him (li).'' The king added, that " the above-named Ar- minius " was " of little better stuff ((')," than his disciple Vorstius. Arminius's own writings bear full witness to the justness of James's l emark. And, continued his majesty, " though [Arjninius] himselfe be dead, he hath left liis sting yet living among them (k)." In a letter to the States themselves his majesty informs them, " It was our [i. e. king James's own] hard hap, not to heare of this Arminius, before he was dead, and that all the Doctor Fuller, the historian, was not mistaken in giving the following character of Vorstius and his system. "This Vorstius had both written and received several letters from certain Samosatenian heretics in Poland, and thereabouts : and it happened, that he h id handled pitch so long, that at last it stuck to his fingers, and [he] became infected therewith. Whereas it hath been the labour of the pious and learned in all ages, to mount man to God, as much as might be, bv a sacred adoration fwhich. the more humide. the more higbj of the di ine incomprehensibleness : this wretch did seek to stoop God to man, by debasing his purity ; assigning him a material body ; confining his immensity, as not being every where ; shaking his immutability, as if his will were subject to change : darkening his omnisciency, as uncertain in future contingents ; with many more monstrous opinions, fitter to be remanded to hell, than committed to writing." Church Hist. x. 60. In short, if Vorstius was (as he strongly appears to have been) a materialist, the king did him no injury in calling him an atheist. (g) James's Works, p. 349 , 350. 365. .V7. (Ii , King Jame.s's Works, p. 3.H). 'i) ma. (/. ) fhM. UNDER JAMES I. 283 n.formed churches of Germany had with open Arminius, during his life time, and so little mouth complaiued of him. But as soon as progress had Arminiaiiism then made, that wee undei stood of that distraction in your the king had never so much as heard of Armi- State, which after his death he left behind nius 'till after the said Arminius " was dead." him, we did not faile, taking the opportunitie A circumstance, which James lamented, and when your last extraordinary ambassadors were called by tlie name of " hard hap :" intimaC- here with us, to use some such speeches unto ing, that had he known of Arminius's schism, them, concerning this matter, as wee thought while the schismatic himself was in the land of fittest for the good of your State, and which the living, the royal pen would have been drawn we doubt not but they have faithfully reported no less against Van Harmin himself, than it imto you. For, what need we make any was, afterwards, against Vorstius. 4. As soon question of the arrogance of these heretiques, as Arminius's Pelagian innovations became or rather atheistical sectaries, among you ; known, the protestants were struck with when one of them [viz. Bertius, already noted], alarm : " All the reformed churches in at this present remaining in your town of Germany,"' and elsewhere " complained of Leyden, hath not only presumed to publish, of him," i. e. complained of Arminius, " with late, a blasphemous booke of the apostacie of open month." When king James became ac- the saints, but hath, besides, beene so im- quainted with Arminius's tenets, conduct, and pudent as to send, the other day, a copie character, his majesty pronounced him to have thereof, as a goodly present, to our archbishop been, " A seditious and heretical preacher :" of Canterbury, together with a letter wherein Yea, a monster with a " sting," and an " eiie- he [Bertius] is not ashamed (as also in his my of God. " 6. James also declared the new booke) to lie so grossly, as to avow, that his Arminians, or (as himself expressed it), tlie heresies, conteined in his said booke, are " too many disciples" whom Arminius agreeable with the religion and profession of " left behinde him,'' to be " arrogant here- our reformed Church of England. For these tics," and " atheistical sectaries." 7- In the respects, therefore, have we cause enough, judgment of the said king, Bertius's Treatise very heartily to request you to roote out, with against Perseverance was d " presumpiuous" speed, those heresies and schismes, which are and a "blasphemous" book: and the aulhor beginning to bud foorthe among you : which himself an " impudent heretic," and a " gruss if you suffer to have the reins any longer, you liar." Terms these 1 acknowledge utterly cannot expect any other issue thereof, than unfit for a king to make use of : but James the curse of God, infamy tnroughout all the had no more of politeness in his composition, reformed churches, and a perpetual rent and than he supposed the Arminians to have of distraction in the whole body of your State. Christianity in their system. 8. He " very But if, peradventure, this wretched Vorstius heartily" requested the Staler General to should denie or equivocate upon those blasphe- " root out" the Arminians, aa " heretics'' and mous poynts of heresie and atheism, which " schismatics :" and enforces his exhortation, already he hath broached ; that, perhaps, may under the penalty of God's "curse," of " ii!- moove you to spare his person and not cause famy" among men, and of pei pelual " rent" him to bee burned (which never any herelique and " distraction" throughout the whole body of better deserved, and wherein we will leave the Dutch Provinces. 9. He desires them to him to your owne christian wisdome'i : but to divest Vorstius of his promotion : 10. To ban- suffer him, upon any defence, or abnegation, ish him from their dominions : and, 11. In his which hee shall offer to make, still to continue plenitude of outrageous zeal, he diops a and to teach amongst you, is a thing so pretty broad hint, that the magistrates of Hol- abominable, as we assure ourselves, it v.'ill not land would greatly oblige the king of Bng- once enter into any of your thoughts (0-" land, were they to "cause" Vorstius "to be More matter for disquisition! hut my re- burned:" a death, says his majesty, "which marks shall not be exuberant. Observe, tlien, never any heretic better deserved." A hoi rid 1. That Bertius's book against final perseve- intimation! but worthy of the sanguinary ty- rance, and his presenting a copy of it to the rant that gave it ! The Calvinistic doctrines, re- archbishop of Canterbury, but chiefly bis hav- tained by such an ungracious bigot resembled ing affirmed that he [Bertius] and the Church (what some naturalists have feigned) a pearl of England were of one mind in that point; in the head of a toad. 12. Let it not be were insults, which James's orthodoxy could overlooked, that James's declaration against ueither forget nor digest. 2. In his majesty's Vorstius, in which the above cited particulars opinion, Vorstius was an " heretic" a " mon- occur, is solemnly dedicated and inscribed, by ster,"and an " atheist ;" and Arminius was the king himself, to Jesus Christ (m). I see, "of little better stuff." 3. So obscure was theiefore, no reason to doubt of the sinceiity (I) Ibid. p. 355. (ill) That fiivolous pride, which displays its plumes, in order to attract the admiration of our fHlow mortal.^, froths and evnporates into v.iiiitv- But the solenii. (iiidr, v.hiih dares imfurl ifsell" to the eye of Heayen, blackens and conden.ses into impiety. 'Tis hard to say, whether James discovered .Saviuiir of uinners, ia a style, which breathed more of 231 STATE OF CALVINISVf with which he opposed Arminianism. Bad as he was, he was certainly in earnest. Though some other ingredients, besides that of mere zeal for the Protestant doctrines, had, 'tis pro- bable, a share in the violent counsels with which his Britannic majesty so officiously pes- tered the States of Holland. It was, however, no new thing with James, to hate and oppose Arminianism. Of this, he had before given sufficient proof, during the coiiferetice held at Hampton Court, in the very infancy of his English reign. The severity of Elizabeth's laws against the puritans, had retained a great number of that body within ihe visible pale of the Church estiblished, and forced tl.em into a sort of outward conformity to institutions which they were extremely remote from cordially ap- proving. These, and a very few others, whom no coercive penalties had induced to temporize, flattered themselves, that James, who was by profession a Presbyterian, would on succeed- ing to Elizabeth's throne, relax and widen the terms of communion. It is extremely problematical, whether James, even when king of Scotland only, en- tertained any serious intention to favour those people, should he ever have it in his power. He seems, fiom the hrst, to have drunk very deeply into the low arts of a narrow subtlety, which disfigured and discoloured all the lead- ing actions of his life. Twelve or thirteen years before he ascended the throne of Eng- land, he laboured to ingratiate himself with the Scotch kiik, by an indecent (and, as heir presumptive to Elizabeth, by a very impolitic) censure of the English ritual. " As for our neighbour Kirk of England,'' said he, standing in an assembly of his clergy, vvith his head un- covered, and his hands (in one of which, he held his bonnet,) raised toward heaven; "As for our neighbour Kirk of England, their ser- vice is an evil mass said in English. They want nothing of the mass, but the liftings. 1 charge you, my good ministers, doctors, el- ders, nobles, gentlemen, and barons, to stand to your purity, and to e.short the people to do the same. And I, forsooth, as long as I brook my life, shall maintain the same." This was in 1590. Eight years afterwards he told his parliament, that he had no intention " to bring in Papistical or Anglican bishops («)." Such were his compliments on the ciiurcu ^^f England. But he was no sooner at the head of that Church, than he either dropped the (o) masque, or was proselyted by the English prelates, who had seasonably and discreetly gained his ear. The Puritans in this kingdom quickly found, that they had mistaken tiieir man : for James was shot up, all at once, into a very high church-man. Under pretence of trying to bring matters to an amicable compromise between the Epis- copalians and the Presbyterians, a conference was opened at Hanjpton Court, between the two parties, on Saturday, the 14th of January, I 004. But, on the king's side, the whole in- terview was only a mere state manoeuvre, and no otherwise designed from the first. Every circumstance demonstrated, that it had been resolved, before hand, to let all things con- tinue as they were. Dr.Wellwood is undoubt- edly right in afErming, that the conference at Hampton court " was but a blind to introduce episcopacy into Scotland : AH the Scotch no- blemen, then at court, being designed to be present ; and others, both noblemen and ministers, being called up from Scotland, to assist at it, by the king's letter (/))." How contemptible James rendered himself, ill the coQise of the three days' debate, abun- dantly appears, even from the well-glossed narrative of Barlow. So far from preserving the dignity of a king, or the candour of a pub- lic father, or even the decent coolness of a moderator ; he behaved, on one hand, with all the weakness of a dupe : and, on the other, with all the insolence of a buily. His majesty and Bancroft, bishop of Lon- don, monopolized much of the conference to themselves. That prelate has been represen- ted has having leaned to Arminianism : but, fi;r my life, I could never find any proof of it: Sure I am, that, during the said Hampton conference, his lordship acquitted himself, in all theological respects, like a sober, judici- ous, well-principled Calvini«t. Dr. Reinolds, one of the four who appeared for the Puritans, moved, that part of the equality, titan of adoration ; sitbscriiiiDg liimself our Lord's " Most humble, and most obliged sirv;iat, jAMts, by the grace of God, Knig of (Jreat Britaiu, France, aud Ireland ; ileftuder of the Faith." Works, p. 343. («; See Harris's Life (,f James 1. p. ^5, valid, his hypocrisy is certain, and placed Ijiyolid dispute. For, says Karlow, Lis majesty professed, at the Hampton coiifereuce, that thougli, in the fore- gojng part of his liie, lie tiad " lived among Puritans, aDd was kept, for the most p..r , as a ward uncer them ; yet, since be was of the age of bis sonne, ten years old, he ever disliked their opinions : as the Saviour of the w orld said, though he l.ved among them, he was not one of them." i Summe and subs', of the Conference, ice. p. 20. edit. 1025.) I'biis was James not ashamed to confess himself an hypocrite from the tenth to the thirty-seventh year of bis age: i. c. an hypocrite of seven and t.v enty years standiog ! And (which crowned this unblushing declaratlOU with the most shocking impietyj :he adorable Redeemer of men, in whose mouth was r.o guile, is profanely lugged in as a pander to the dui,licity of the mof-t contemptible disscmller that ever entangled the reins of government. il; Compl. Hist. vol. ii. p. 660. UNDER JAMES I. 16th article iiiifjlit he explained ; mid that the fa:nons Lamheth articles might be incorpor- ated with the 3!) (7). Jj'i'.ies, it seems, had never henrd of those Laiiibeth articles before : and therefore, says Harlov/, " His majesty could not S'jddenly an- swer ; because he understood not what tlie Doctor meant by those assertions, or pro- positions at Lambeth. But, when it was in- formed his majesty, that, by reason of some controversies, arisino; in Cambridge, about certaine points of divinity, my lord's grace" [viz. Whitgift archbishop of Canterbury] " assembled some divines of especial note, to set doivne their opinions, which they drew into nine assertions ; and so sent them to the University, for appeasing of those quarrels : Tlien his majesty answered, 1. That, when such questions arise among schollers, the quietest proceeding were to determine them in the Universities, and not to stuffe the booke \_viz. the 3!) articles] with conclusions theolo- gical. 2. The better course would be, to punish the broachers of false doctrine, as occasion should be offered : for were the articles never so many and sound, who can prevent the contrary opinions of men 'till they be heard ? " Ilence it appears, 1. That one reason of James's declining to super-add, by express authority, the articles of Lambeth to the nine and thirty established articles of the church, was, not any disapprobation of the Lambeth articles themselves ; but beciiuse he was un- willing to " stuffe," i. e. to enlHrj;e, the 39 articles with more " conclusions theological," than were needful. And, herein, the king judgeil wisely enough. There was no s )rt of necessity for inserting the La.mbeth propositi- ons : since they do not affirm any single doc- rine, which is not, either expressly, or virtu- ally, contnined, in th? 39 articles already es- tablished. I observe, 2. That the king, on being informed what the Lambeth articles wt-re, and on what occasion they had been framed, did tacitly allow the orthodoxy of the said articles : for he gave the company to under- stand, that thei'e was the less need of embo- dying those articles with the thirty-nine, as himself stood in constant readiness to " pun- ish" the " broachers of false doctrine :" i. e. to punish those who might broach any doc- trine contray to that of the Lambeth articles, a id of the 39 articles of the Church of Eng- la.id. No sooner did James intimate this his design of punishing the " broachers of false doctrine," than a certain person, then present, took the alarm, and began to enter a caveat in his own behalf. Thi^ was Dr. John 0\'erall, at that time dean of St. Paul's, and who died bishop of Norwich. He was sup- |#t>sed, by some, to have been a sort of mon- 235 grel divine ; half-Calvinist, and half-Arminian. Hut 1 a'li not disposed to judge so harshly of thut learned man. The only article, in which (so far as I can hitherto recollect) he appears to have deviated from the Protestant system, was, respecting the possibility of a total, though he denied the possibility of a final, fall from justification. " Upon this," i. e. instantaneously on James's professing his intention to punish the broachers of false doctrine as occasion should be offered, " the deane of Paules, kneeling downe, humbly desired leave to speak : • signi- fying unto his niajes'y, that this matter somewhat more neaily concerned him \yiz. the speaking dean], by reason of controversie betweeiie him and snme other in Cambridge, upon a proposition which he had delivered there: namely, that whosoever, although before justi- fied, did commit any grievous sin, as adultery, murder, treason, or the like, did become ipso facto, subject to G^)d's wrath, and guilty of damnation ; or were in state of diimnation, quoad prcBsenteni statnin. untill they repei>- ted ()•)." Thus spake the kneeling dean : and the sum of his opinion certainly amounted to this, that a justified man might totally lose his jus- tification. But whether the said dean (who, doubtless, kept his eyes steadily fi.xed on the king, and acutely watched every motion of the royal face) actually discerned any symptoms of incipient displeasure lowering on his ma- jesty's brow ; or whethei the prudent eccle- siastic only intended to guard himself, in ge- neral, agiinst all p )ssible "punishment" as a broaclier of f.ilse doctrine ;'' cannot, at this distance of tin:e, be infalliblv di'termi led. Thus nui-h, howevei-, is certa'in : that, for some present reason or other, the dean, in the very midst of his oration, suddenly wheeled about, and positively denied that justification could be even totally, much less finally, lost. For thus the narrative proceeds : " Adding heieu.ito," i. e. dean Overall, immediately af.er declaring thiit justified persons, who faU ifiti; atrocious sins, are in a state of damnation, (jHoad prcBxentem statum, until they repent; subjoined, in the same breath, "That those which were called and justified according to the purpose of God's election, howsoever they might, an.l did, sometime fall into grievous sins, and th'!reby into the present state of wrath and damnation ; vet did never fall, eiMier totally, from all the graces of God, [so as] to be utterly destitute ot all the parts and seed thereof, nor finally from justification : but were in time renewed by God's spirit, unto a lively faith and repenta ice, &c. (*)." This seasonable salvo saved Overall's credit with his majesty James, whose science lay more in terms than in things, was extremely well satisfied with his dean's orthodoxy. Aj •;,) SummB of the Cnnf. p. 24. & 39. (rl Su mno of thi' Conf. p. 41 , 42. («) Ibid. p. 41. STATE OF CALVINISM long as some ostensible respect was paid to the two words, totul and tiiml ; the royal dis- putant looked no farther. The kinx, however, embraced this oppor- tunity of entering " into a longer speech of predestination and reprobation, than before ; and of the necessary conjoyning repentance and holinesse of life with true faith : concluding, that it was hypocrisie, and not true justifying faith, which was severed from them. For although," added Ills majesty, " predestination and election depend not on any ([ualitits, ac- tions, or works of man, which bL- mutablt ; but upon God's eternal and immutable decree and purpose : yet, such is the necessity oi repen- tance, after knowne sinnes connnitti d, ;is that, without it there could not be either reori- ciliation with God, or reuiission of those sins (■<)." Should the reader ask, ' Why I so careful- ly recite what passed, in the Hampton Court conference, respecting predestination ? ' I answer; To siiew the total want of truth, with which some late Arminian writeis insinu- ate ihat predestination was not, at that time, a sacred article of faith with James and the ruling clergy. In this same conference it was, that Ban- croft (then bishop of London, and, shortly afterwards, archbishop of Canterbury) suggest- ed that scriptural and judicious caution, con- cerning predestination, which has been already referred to in a preceding part of thij work. That great and able prelate's own words shall close our present sketch of the Hampton in- tei-view. " The bishop of London took occa- sion to signifie to his majesty, how very many, in these daies, neglecting holiness of life, pre- sumed too much ot persisting of grace, laying all their religion upon predestination ; [arguing thus with themselves], if I shall be saved, I shall be saved : which he [the bishop] termed [and with great reason] a desperate doctrine, contraiy to good divinity, and the true doctrine of predestination ; wherein we should reason rather, ascciideudo, than descendendo, thus : I live in obedience to God, in love with riy neighbour ; I follow my vocation, &c. there- fore I trust, that God hath elected me, and predestinated me to salvation. Not thus, which is the usual course of aigument, God hath predestinated and chosen me to lile, therefore, thoiiyh I sin never so grievously yet I shall not be damned (m)." In this excellent caveat against the abuse of predestination, Bancroft goes no farther than Calvin himself had gone before, Sitigi- tiir hcec nobis inquiremli riu nt exordium suma- vins a Dei vocatiouc ; says that illustrious re- (l) Ifriil. p. -13, 44. ]uitc fiiiL-in c1ectu8 cEse nof> Paulus admcDet, ut former : i. e. In aU our enquiries into pr^iie*- tination, let us never fail to begin with eilec- tual calling (x). Again: There are some who go on, securely, in sin ; alledging, that, if they are in the number of the elect, their vices will not hinder them from going to heaven. Such execrable language, as this, is not the holy bleating ot Christ's sheep ; but, as Calvin very justly styles it, fiKdus pureurum grunnitns, the impure grunt- ing cf swine. For, adds that incomparable man, we learn fioin St. Paul, that we are elected to this very end, even to holiness and blamelessness of living Now, if saiic'ity oi life is the very end, scope, and drift of electiou itself; 'twill follow, that the doctrine of elec- tion should awaken and spur us on to sanctili- cation, instead of furnishing us with a false plea for indolence (y). Thus perfectly were Calvin and Bancroft agreed. Almost fifteen yeais after the Hampton Court conference, king James and the Church of Kngland gave the nmst pjblic proof of their continued Calvinism, by the distinguished part they bore in the transactions of tiic synod of Dort. The disturbances, raised and fomented by the Arminian faction, in Holland, were, in the year 1618, (;. e. about nine years after Ar- uiinius's decease,) risen lo such a height, as threatened to involve both the church and state of the United Provinces in one common masj of total ruin. What emboldened the Ar- minians, was, the secret encouragement they received from foreign and domestic Papists. We have already heard, from Wilson, that the kings of France and Spain clandestinely blowed the Arminian flame, in Holland, " as the immediate way to introduce Popery." And Mr. Camden has preserved the name of one of the French agents, who were privately dispatched to Holland on that laudible errand. "July 27, neus was brought [viz. to the English court], of Bossis, a Frenchman, being sent into the Low Countries, to strengthen the Catholic and Arminian parties (z)." Sir Dudley Cailton, also, who was ambassador from the English court to the States General, makes express mention, in a letter to arch- bishop Abbot, of " the French ambassador's l)rivate practices in favour of the Arminian party (a)." Could the Dutch Arminians justly complain, if they were treated as enemies to their country r Treated so they undoubtedly were, for a time : and no faction upon earth ever de.served it more. They artfully attempted to make Europe believe, that they were persecuted, entirely, on account of their religious tenets. sanctum ac inculpatam vitajn traducamus. Si electionis Scopus est Tit£t sanctinionia, luagis ad earn alacrtter meditaudam expergefacere et stimulare nos deljet qu.ini ad desidee prartextum v;dcre. C ilvinus, li.M. c.ip. 23, s. 1. (z) Camden's Anp..^!! of King James 1. sub. An. It'H. (a) See tbe U'ttirs .nnnexed to Mr. Ualea's Ke- maiiis ; p. 176. Edit. 16(3. UNDER JAMES I. But it was no such thinaf. Thi-y 'vere re- piesspd as public enemies to the Sufe. Tlie (iaiilfer, indeed, and the venom of tlieir politi- cal views conduced, very natuially, to brinij their theological principles into additional discredit. Yet were they persecuted {as they called it), not merely as Arminians but as traitors. " On the 19th of August [1618], the prime ring-leaders of the sedition, Barnevelt, Hoo- genberts, and Grotius, were seized on at the Hague, as they were entering the Senate, and committed to several prisons. This cast a general damp on the spirits of the remon- strants [for so t!;e Arminians called them- selves], as if they iiad been crushed in the head (c)." Of the three delinquents, only Barnevelt was sacrificed to the justice of his injured country. He suffered decapitation at the Hague, May 14, 1619. The sentence by which he was condemned, enumeiattd, without any exaggeration, the principal crimes whereby he had violated the duties of a good citizen. Among others, he was justly charged with hav- ing endeavouied to disturb the peaca of the land; with kindlina fire of dissention in the provinces ; raising soldiers in ihe diocese of Utrecht; revealing the secrets of the State ; and receiving presents and gifts from fin-eign princes. Even Peter Heylyn confesses to have heard that the Spanish court secretly fomented the designs of Barnevelt (d). Nor could any thing be more ini'ural. Philip 111. still considered tb.e United Pro- vinces as a parcel of his own dominions : and, indeed, they had shaken olF his yoke but a very few years before, and were not acknow- ledged by Spain, as a free state, till thirty years after, viz. the year 164S. No wonder, therefore, that king Philip sought with eager- ness to avail himself of the Arminian schism ; a schism, which at once bade fair to extermi- nate the Protestant religion from the Dutch Netherlands, and to reduce them afresh to the obedience of Spain. Hence arose Philip's se- cret tamperings with Barnevelt, the secular head and protector of that Arminian sect, from whose doctrinal innovations and political intrigues the Spanish monarch had so many advantages to expect. But the wisdom, cou- rage, and activity of Maurice, prince of Orange, were the means, which Providence used, to defeat the iniquitous schemes of the Arminian and Spanish faction. The seizin e of the principal rebels and incendiaries, together with the execution of Barnevelt, in whom both those characters were united ; laid, once more, that foundation of national liberty and rafety, which the Dutch to this day enjoy, and which have since conduced to render that illns- (c) Wilson, «. s. p. 718. (rf) Hist, of tlie Presbyteriai (e) " Ad eandem [fii. Synodi ^ strnR. or minUfrn^ scnioresque, exquisita 1 r. ciiis, ditioniuus, Tiras ; ex vicin trious republic of such weight and importance in the European scale. VV'hat prince Maurice did for the State, the council of Dort did for the church of Hol- land : as if pure religion and civil liberty were irreversibly fated to fall and rise together. The Reformation appears to have been first introduced into the Dutch Provinces by the numerous French refugees, who fled thi- ther about the middle of the sixteenth century. For some time. Protestantism diffused itself insensibly among the natives, who were then subject to the crown of Spain. By degrees, the progress of evangelical truth became so extensive, and the number of its partizans grew so considerable, that, about the year 15()7, they ventured to draw up a confes- sion of faith, formed entirely on the system of Calvin. Their Spanish governors soon took the alarm. To check the spreading heresy, and to restrain the Dutch within the bonds both of Popish and of Spanish obedience, the inquisition was established by force ; and that bloody tribunal dispatched multitudes of souls by a short way to Heaven. Civil and ecclesi- astical grievances were, at length, so multi- plied and aggravated, that the people, ha- rassed by a never-ending train of intolerable oppressions, were compelled to seek relief in themselves. Every tyranny has its crisis ; which having attained, the mock-sun declines more rapidly than it rose. Providence suc- ceeded the pious and patriotic efforts of the Dutch. After some years' noble and obstinate struggle, those Provinces threw off Popery and slavery together. The pure religion of the gospel continued to shine, with uninterrupted beams, for the most part, on that free and happy people; 'till Arminius darkened and disturbed their hemisphere. The commotions, began by that pestilent schismatic, and raised to almost a ruinous height, by his immediate followers, were, as has been already intimated, suppressed by prince Maurice and his patriots, so far as concerned the Stale. To extinguish the fire which had half consumed the church, and to re-settle its faith on its original Calvin- istic basis, was the task assigned to the synod at Dort That famous assembly began to sit, on Tuesday morning, November the thirteenth, 1618. The States of Holland intended,- at first, that the synod should consist of no m<'ie than their own provincial divines. It was at the persuasion of (e) king James I. (whose request was signified and seconded by Maurice prince of Orange), that select ministers, de- puted from England and from other refoim- ed countiies, were admitted to assist in the deliberations at Dort. His majesty, doubtless, wished to seize so fair an occasion of avowing, publicis, (Ilia? leligior gratid magnae Britannia' repis, ft mxr consilium adhibito. celi-brrriiuos tht-r; Actasvnodi Dordrecht. In Dcgermanus, Sibelius, (iomarus, Polyander, Tl.ysius, Walicus, Scult- tetus, Altingius, Deodatus, Carleton, Davenant, Hall; exclusively of the many other first-rate worthies, who constituted and adorned this ever memorable assembly ; and doubt, if you can, whether the sun could shine on a living collection of more exalted piety and stupen- dous erudition ! That low and virulent Arminian, John Goodwin, the fifth monarchy man, compares the synod with Herod, who, " for his oath's sake, contrary to his minde, caused John the Baptist's head to be given to Herodius in a plat- ter (/<)." Intimating, that the Dordrechtan fathers had, before the commencement of their synodical business, taken an oath to condemn the Arminians at all events. Dr. Fuller is even with Goodwin, and repays that libeller in his own coin, by comparing him to Pilate. " See here," says the historian, " how this suggester, though at first he takes water, and washes his hands, «iih a ' far be it from me to subscribe the report ;' yet af- terwards, he crucifies the credit of an whole synod, and makes them all guilty of no less than damnable perjury. " I could have wished, that he had mention- ed, in the margin, the authors of this sug- gestion. Whereas, now, the omission thereof will give occasion to some to suspect him for the first raiser of the report. Musing with myself on this matter, and occasionally ex- changing letters with the sons ot bishop Hall, it came into my mind, to ask them Joseph's question to his brethren, Is your father well i the old man, of whom you spake, is he yet alive ? And, being informed of his life and healtli, I addressed myself, in a letter, to him, for satisfaction in this particular ; who was pleased to honour me with his return, herein inserted : " Whereas you desire from me a just relation of the carriage of the businesse at the synod at Dort : and the conditions required of our divines there, at or before their admission to that grave and learned assembly ; I, whom God was pleased to employ as an unworthy agent in that great work, and to reserve still upon earth, after all my reverend and worthy associates doe, as in the presence of that God to whom I am now daily expecting to yield up my account, testifie to you, and (if you will) to the world, that I cannot, without just indig- nation, read that slanderous imputation, which Mr. Goodwin, in his Redemption Redeemed, reports to have been raised and cast upon those divines, eminent both for learning and piety, that they suffered themselves to be bound with an oath, at, or before their admis- sion into that synod, to vote down the remon- strants [i.e. the Arminians] howsoever; so as they came deeply pre-engaged to the decision of those unhappy difl'erences. Tnily, (i) Fullei, Iltid. p. 78. (A) See Fuller, w. i. p. 84. UNDER JAMES I Sir, as 1 hope to be saved, all the oath that was ie(iuired of us, was this : After that the mo- derator, assistants, and scribes were chosen, and the synod formed, and the several mem- bers allowed, there was a solemn oath re- quired to be taken by every one of that assem- bly ; which was publicly done, in a grave n.anner, by every person, in their order, standing up, and layin;^ his hand upon his heart, calling the great God of Heaven to wit- nesse, that he would unpartially proceed in the judgments of these controversies, and no otherwise: so determining of them, as he should find in his conscience most agreeable to the Holy Scriptuies. And tliis was all the oath that was either taken, or reijuired. And farre was it from those holy souls, which are glorious in Heaven, or mine (who still, for some short time. to give this just witnesse of our sincere integrity), to entertain the least thought of any so foul corruption, as, by any over-ruling power, to be swaved to a pre-judgment in the points controverted. Sir, since I have lived to see so foul an aspersion cast upon the memory of those worthy and eminent divines, I blesse God that I yet live to vindicate them, by this my knowing, clear, and assured attestation; which I am ready to second with the solemnest oath, if I shall be thereto required. Your most devoted friend, &cc. " Jos. Hall, B. N." (/) " Hlgham, Aug. 30, l(J51." Judge now, what degree of credit is due to »lie malevolent insinuations of John Goodwin The wretch lived no fewer than ten years after Dr^ Fuller's publication of the above letter. Yet he never, so far as I can find, either retracted the slander he had advanced or even apologized for it. So hardened was his front, and so thoroughly was he drenched in the petrifying water of a party (m) ! King James's heart was quite wrapt up in he .synod ; and all his attention seemed col- lected to u point, as long as the divines were Hall recit im Deo, qu ill t..td hie synodali aclione, qui iostituetur grah,-i I perpetuo xdsit. i promise, before Ood, whom I believe wor,lup as tbc- ev.r present .Sprrrh" of tbe Zir act'™'„f*';i" ' '° Susine*ra.^d sitting. With such eagerness and anxiety did lie interest himself in the condemnaiio'n of Ai ioinianism, that he commanded his British divines to send him "a weekly account of all memorable passages transacted at[Dort]. Yet It happened, that, for a month, or more, the king received from them no particulars of their proceeding : whereat his majesty was most highly offended. But, afterwards, under- standing that this defect was caused by the countermands of f n higher King, even of him who gathereth the winds in his fists, stoppino- all passages by contrary weather ; he was quickly pacified : yea, highly pleased, when four weekly d spatches (not neglected to be orderly sent, but delayed to he accordingly hi ought) came altogether, to his majesty's hands in)." The royal baby of fifty-three re- ceived his rattles, and was contented. For, by James, religion itself seems to have been re- garded chiefly as a plaything, which contributed to his amu'^eiiient ; or, at most, as apedestal, on which his vanity might display it.self conveni- ently. Two or three y>-ars, indeed, after the period of which we are now treating, he con- sidered it under the more serious idea of a commodious engine, which he thought him. self capable of working and managing to much pohtical advantage. Two and twenty sessions had elapsed, ere any thing was done by the synod, relative to the Arniinians (o): and yet those people com- plained (for they came with a resolution to complain at all events), that suflicient time had not been allowed them to prepare their papers of defence. As if they had not known, seven or eight years (/;) before the synod was called, that such an assembly was to be con- vened ! And as if, even after the synod began to sit, ample space had been denied them, wherein to provide for their appearance ! Determined to clog and interrupt, as much as possible, every wheel of public business, the Arniinians, with Episcopius at their head, affected openly to resent their being cited to the synod as delinquents, instead of being invited to sit in it, as judges. A wonderful hardship indeed, that criminals indicted for famous Five Points, and the intricacies arising from letn, as concerniiif; all the other doctrinal matters): that 1 will net admit of any human writings, but alledgc the word ol Cod only, as the certain undoubted evi'r to luys If tl''!" ' V" ""'^ing m hat- of Cod, th-'-'p^ace of '■(bVcburcb,''rnd' esTe'ciTlly'the prcst n ation ol pure doctrine. Alay my Saviour Jesu.>. Christ so be merciful to me ; whom I most earnestly beseech, that he would, by the grace of his spirit, be ever present with me in this my purpose and resolution. J, T.. - ^ Acta .Synodi Dordr. p. 68. » » '"s Reader need not be told, that what the oath stiles ■• the famous Five Points," were, the doc- trines of election, limited redemption, the spiritual inahiUty of the human will through original sin, the invincible efficacy of grace in regeneration, and the tmal perseverance of truly converted persons. (n) Fuller, p. 79. (<)) See Mr. Hales's Letters, p. 28.— Necnon Acta Synodi, p. 55. 240 STATE OF CALVINISM transgressing tlie laws of their coixitry, should not be invited to take their seat on the judicial bench ! For the farther deal ing of this supposed grievance, let it be considered, I. That the then Arminians of Holland (for it is of the Dutch Arminians, and of those only who were llien livinsj, that we are now treating) had, by kindling a flame in the Church, formed like- wise a very dangerous faction in the State ; even sucli a faction, as menaced the loss, not only of religious, but of civil, liberty, to the whole community at large. Hence, 2. They rendered themselves, by every law of society whatever, responsible to that public, whose ruin they had so nearly accomplished. Es- pecially, 3. When it was found, that the Po- pish coui ts of France and Spain (those natu- ral enemies, whose power the United Provin- ces, then in their infancy of stren!;th, had so just reason to dread) were actually grafting political machinations on these ecclesiastical disputes, by aiding, seconding, and encouraging the Arminians to effect the total overthrow of the new-born republic. Should it be said, that " Though these heinous political offences deserved punish- ment, yet their punishment should have been a.ssigned, not to the synod of Dort, but to the secular courts of justice;" I answer, 1. An injured State, whose legal forms of procedure (like those of Holland at the above period) have not attained their full maturity, digestion, and establishment, by the length of time, the regularity of equal custom, and the lei- surely wisdom of general deliberation and con- sent, requisite to such a fixed settlement ; a State so circumstanced, is at full liberty to re- fer the cognizance of it's domestic disturbers to what court soever it's self may please to authorise. 2. The synod of Dort not only as- !iembled and sat by vutue of the civil authority; but was, intrinsically, both an ecclesiastical and a civil court. It ivas far from consisting of ecclesiastics only. Lay assessors (or, as they were termed, "political delegates ") sat, witli the spiritual deputies, in that great as- sembly. Consequently, 3. A court, formed on this mixed plan, was the properest court in the world to judge a set of misdoers, whose crimes were of a mixed nature. The Arminians had sinned, equally, against Church and State. The civil power contenti d itself with laying hold on two or three of the most dangerous and inflHmmatory : and consigned the rest to a mixed tribunal, consisting of churchmen and of laymen. Could any government have acted with more prudence, temper, and equity ? 4. iq) Before matters were reduced aEiain, to their first Protestant si ttleiuent. li- the syiind of Dort, it is thj"'disciples'i^l^ Ari..i..H,i lur lia\ illg 'so wantonly aufl \inIentH iininiimd tlie piii-lir peace — "All," says Monsieur Bayle tiom (Jiircell:, us. ■' was man wm more exposeit to t;ie inipreratio. s of the po- pulace, Uiaii the most leavueu amoue the Arminiaiis ; Aft£r all, what if some of the Arminians refused to alt in the synod, when that favour was offered them ? We shall soon see that this was ac- tually the case. " But the synod of Dort did not profess to condemn these delinquents, for their stato- offences ; but for their doctrinal devialiort from tlie puiity of the Protestant faith." Be it so. The Arminians were liable to two very heavy charges : viz. of undermining the public safety ; and of seeking to overthrow the re- formed religion. When two indictments thus hang omer a man's head, one of which, if proved, will suffice to incapacitate him, for ever, from doing any further mischief, and the man be actually found guilty of that one; what l eason can be assigned for trying him on the other? He could but he condemned, if con- victed of a thousand crimes. The synod of Dort fixed on one of the two charges against the Arminians. It was a matter cf indifference, on which of the two they should procee'*- That single charge being demonstratively proved, there was no sort of occasion for their examining the merits of the second. All the purposes, both of Church and State, were an- swered, without farther trouble ; and without exposing the mal-practices of the Arminians, beyond what absolute necessity required. That sect were, already sufficiently the (9) objects of public indignation. It would have been unmerciful, to have needlessly 1 ipt open the whole of their criminality ; when amply enough of it appeared, to justify every hostile step, taken against them by the synod. Thirteen Armiuian (r) teachers were sum- moned to appear at Dort. On their arrival in that city, their three chiefs {viz. Episcopius, Corvinus, and Fwinglon) waited privately on our bishop Carleton, in hopes of being able to prejudice him in their favour. That sound and trusty Church of England man gave them an exceeding cool reception. " They entreated me,'' says his lordship, "to mediate for them, that Grevinchovius might be admitted to their company. I told them, that the [Dutch] Church had deposed Grevinchovius, and the States had approved the deposition : and therefore I could not meddle in that thing. Yet they were very earnest. I told them, I would send for my colleagues ; and they shoidd have a common answer. Whilst we staid tor my fellows, I fell into some speech with Cor- vinus, concei ning soiiie things which he had written : and found him nothing constant in those tMngs which he hath published. When the rest [of the British divines] came, they gave the same answer because they were looted upon as the first cause of these disorders." Vol. ii. p. 7M. (r) Their names follow : Leo, Wezek, HoUinger, Episcopius, Corvinus, Dwinglon, Poppius, Rijckwaerl, Pynacker, Sapma, C.oswinius, Mathisius, and Niellius. Acta Syn. p. U.. 19. Of all these, Episcopius was, by far, the ablest and most learned. He and Grotius were the greatest men the Ariuinians and Socinians ever had to boai^t of. UNDEU J.U!^3 r. 241 "Corvinus came to Mr. Mayer, llie pro- fessor of Basil, and told him, that he [viz. Corvinu-.] was drawn into these troubles Jine courses by others : and sliewed some dislike, as if he meant to withdraw himself fruiu them [i. e. from .the Arminian party, by whom he hart been inveigled] («).'' The bishop adds : " We hear, that the Jesuits aie much offended at the synod. It must be some great good, that offends them (t)." The Jesuits, it must be confessed, had reason enough to be "offended" with the meeting of this glorious Protestant synod. But it makes very little for the credit of any professed Protestants, to stumble at clie same stone with the disciples cf Loyola. Nothing could exceed the insolence, the perverseness, and the studied chicanery, with which the Arminians, through the course of their appearance in the synod, exercised the humility and patience of the venerable as- sembly. Had the Arminians been required to hold up their hands at the bar of that court, it had been no more than strict justice would have authorized. But, instead of thus tieating them with ignominy, the synod, with much candour, desired them to sit; for which puipnse, a long table had been provided, surrounded with chairs and forms, in the middle of the synod-house(?(). As soon as they were seated, the piesident politely informed them, that he had, at their request, moved the synod to grant them longer time; but that the deputies of the States were pleased to order their appearance then, and that they should have liberty to open their cause themselves {x). Kpiscopius, instead of reciprocating the civilities which himself and his party had re- ceived, rose sullenly from his chair, and gave the assembly to understand, that he and his associates were come, ad collut'wuein institnen- dam ; i. e. not to appear as defendants, hut to open a conference %vith the synod : and that they [the Arminians] were ready, even at that present, to begin the business they came for, without farther delay (?/). Polyander, the Leyden professor, took oc- casion to animadvert on the haughtiness of the above speech. '• The Arminians " (said that great man) "ought to know, that they were not sent for, to hold a conference : nor does the synod sit here as an adverse party to them. Conferences have been held with them often enough, in time past : and all to no purpose. They should recollect, that they were not now called hither to confer, but were cited to give in their opinions, with the re.isons by which those opinions are supported. The synod .sit as judges, not as opponents, of the Arminians (.z)." To provoke the synod into rigorous mea- sures, seems to have been the wisli and design (.0 BUhop Carletou's t,. i;,M Irom Dort, to the Jirclibishop of Cauteibury. Ilah ■-. Kt in. i;:). ir5. See hito, p. S3 (/) Jbid. p. 175. of the Aiiiiinian faction; that tlicy niifht have some plausilile colour of cc mplaiiit, and be able to spread an artillLial mist be'oie the public eye: just as the euti kii-.li, wlien in danger oi being taken, Ciiiits an i:i;^y I'uld, to daikea the water, and t..v. :h- its escape. " V'ou are iiicoinpeteiit juil;;es," s li.l the Ar- minians to the synod: " Vnu a;e sehi^inatics, innovators, and cherishcis of schism. Not you, but the civil magistiale, Imve a right to adjust our controversies («)•" Could any thing be more insolent, more scurrilous, and more untiue.' llcie is a hand- ful of novel schismatics, who^e separation from the reformed churches had beg ui but about fourteen or fifteen years before, eliarging the reformed churches themselves with schism and innovation ! Ravaillac, who nr.udered Henry the fourth of France, might with equal reason, modesty, and truth, have laboured to transfer the name of assassin from himself to Henry. But what reply did the president, as mouth of the synod, return, to the audacious, inde- cent, and false invectives of the Arminians? He answered, with all the dignity and gentle- ness which might be expected from so great a man. " When it shall be made plain to the synod," said he, " what the received doctrine of the Church has been ; then will it appear, who they are that have receded from her doc- trine, and on which of the two parties the guilt of schism is justly chargeable. If you except against us members of this asseinblyj merely because our religious sentiments arc different fiom your own, by what tribunal would you wish to be tried ? I'y yourselves ? or by the Papists? or by the Anabaptists ? or by the libertines ? or by some other faction in these countries? Even supposing we actually were the schismatics you have stiled us ; yea, were we Scribes and Pharisees, or worse than they ; yet would the present synod, as such, be a lawful court. For, it is called and cm- poweied by the civil government, whose au- thoiity cannot be questioned. It is cfmiposed of delegates and lepiesentatives, regularly chosen and deputed. Every individual has also taken a solemn oath, to decide according to justice. If all this will not suffice to render us competent judges, what can (b) ?" The Ar- minians had nothing to offer, in opposition to president Bojermaiin's cod and solid reason- ings, but saucy cavils and vain janglings. The learned Mr. John Hales very justly wonders at the shameless indecency of Kpisco- pius and his comrades : " It was much, Iliat they should grow to that boldness, as that, openly, they should call the synod, the secu- lars, the chief magistrates, yea, the prince (.f Orange himself, schismatics (c).'' But the Dutch Arminians had not yet learned the | io- fitable lesson of absolute obedience to the civ, 1 (M) Mr. Kalcs's Letters to Sir D. C.TiIt. p. -Jit. Ix) Ibid. (i/i Ihid. (:) Ihiri. |i. Ull. (a; Jbhl. I . .vs. (hi .S.e ////(/. p. 35 {i-j Ibid. p. 39. 242 STATE OF CALVINISM power. Their brethren in England were wiser ; and, almost as soon as they arose be- gan to profess an bounded subjection to the will of the chief magistrate. This it was that saved them from James's iron hand, and even lifted them into favour. 'Twas by this clasper, that the tendrils of Arminian novelty twined lound the royal leg of James ; and, after- wards, under Charles the First, flourished as a green bay-tree in the court of the king's house. After the synod of Dort had long borne with the grossest insults at the hands of the Arminians, it was agreed, that the said Ar- rainians should be admonished to behave, for the future, with more decency and respect. At the same time, a decree of the States was read to those sectarists : importing, that whereas the Arminians had made many dila- tory answers to the injury [i. e. to the hinder- ance] both of the ecclesiastics and seculars ; it was decreed by them \i. e. by the States], that they [the Arminians] should lay aside all frivolous exceptions and dilatory answers, and forthwith proceed to set down their mind con- cerning the five articles, for which end they were come together (rf). Episcopius now began to draw in his horns, and pretend to some degree of veneration for the States. " In the imputation of schism," said he, " we include not the seculars, but the ecclesiastics only." Ridiculous ! As if the eeclesiastics and the seculars were not of one mind, and embarlfed in the same cause ! Tlie president then urged the Arminians to give an answer, whether or no they would set down their minds concerning the points in controversy. But they still flew from the poi.it: alleging, as before, that "the synod were not their competent judges." The presi- dent asked , By whom then are you willing to be judged ? They insolently replied, " That's a question which we will not answer : suffice it, that we except against this synod." Re- member said the secular president, that you are subjects, and ought to shew decent re- spect to the laws of your country. " The magistrates," answered the Arminians, " have no authority over our consciences (e)." True. But this was not the article in question. The magistracy did not pretend to prescribe to the Arminians what they should believe ; but only claimed a right to know, from their own mouths, what they did believe. They were called thither by the State, not to have a creed obtruded upon them, but ut sententiam mam di- lucide et perspicu^ exponerent et defenderent : i. e. in order to give them an opportunity of fairly and clearly proposing and defending their own doctrinal principles (/J. What (d) Hales, Ihii. p. 39. ff) laid. p. 39, 40. Also, Acta Synod! ; i p. 89. arl p. 92. where the whole of that afternoon's debate is much more largely and more accurately related shadow of magisterial, or of ecciesiastial ty- ranny was there in this ? Still the Arminians refused to Jfive any ac- count of their own positive tenets. They would not so much as carry on the confer- ence they had pretended to desire, unless (hey might be permitted to begin with an attack on the doctrine of reprobation (g-) : to which the synod objected. Reprobation, or preten- tion, is but a negative consequence of election. ElecSon, therefore, ought, as first in order of nature, to be first considered : for how absurd would it be, to discuss the naked conclusion, without antecedently canvassing the pre- mises ! So that, in proposing such a wild and illogical method of procedure, the Arminians at the synod of Dorl acted neither as men of peace, nor as men of honesty, nor as men of sense. They pretended, indeed, that it was " a matter of conscience with them, to put re- probation foremost." But, as the synod very reasonably observed, " The pretext of con- science was idle and absurd. Conscience is conversant with matters of faith and practice. But how car. conscience be interested in what relates simply to the mere order and arrange- ment of a disputation as, whether pretention, or election, should be handled first." Great complaint had been made, by the Arminians, against the Palatine catechism and confession. A paper, containing their objections, was delivered to the synod. Hear Mr. Hales's remarks on that frivolous paper, no far as related to the confession. " These considerations are nothing else but queries, upon some passages of the [Palatine] confes- sion, of little or no moment. So that it seems a wonder unto many, how these men [i. e. the Arminians] who, for so many years past, in so many of their books, have threatened the churches with such wonderful discoveries of falsehood and error in their confession and catechism, should at last pioduce such poor impertinent stuff. There is not, I persuade myself any writing in the world, against which, wits, disposed to wrangle, cannot take abun- dance of such exceptions (//). ' The affair of reprobation was again, with equal art and insolence, resumed by the Armi- nians. Nothing would content them, but making reprobation take the lead of election : and the stale plea of " conscience" was re- peatedly urged. " As for conscience," re- plied the synod, " the word of God is the nile of it. Only prove from scripture, that God has prescribed the mode of disputation you contend for; we'll immediately admit that mode to be a matter of conscience, and allow you to proceed in your own way (?)•" Mr. Hales very justly remarks, that, by thus stiQy than in the English letters. (/) Hales. Ibid. p. 41. (ff) Hales, Ibid. p. Si (A) Ibid. p. 55. (0 Ha'es, Ibid. p. 50. UNDKR JAMES I. urg-r^ tbeli [pretence of] conscience, the Armiuians did exceedingly wrong the decree of States and synod, as if by them something a;;ainst the word of God, some impiety, were commanded (k) : Whereas, in reality, the com- mand was only, that firstly should go before secondly ; that the chain of disciuisition should commence, at the right link ; and that every point of enquiry should proceed regularly, and in its own natural order. " No," rejoined Episcopius in the name of his Arminian brethren: "unless we be at absolute liberty to pursue what method of argumentation we please, and to begin with whatever article we ourselves choose, we will not move a step. For, we are resolved, agere pro judicio nostra, non pro judicio synodi ; to act according to our own pleasure, and not according to the pleasure of tJie syncd(/)." You stand, replied the synodical pre- sident, in the presence of God, and in the pre- sence of your lawful magistrates. 'Tis, moreover, a cause wherein the church of Christ is concer- ned : the peace of which church such behaviour as your's is by no means calculated to promote. " My conscience will not let me act other- wise," answered Episcopius. Which imperti- nent allegation the president, with much dig- nity of patience and strength of reason, re- pelled as before : Adde verbum Dei, shew us upon what text of Scripture your con- science is grounded ; otherwise, you wrong both the magistrates and the synod (m). But Episcopius and his brethren had no such pas- sage of Scripture to produce. What could the synod do ? The Armiiii- ans would not dispute, unless they might be permitted to dispute backward, as a crab walks : i. e. unless they were allowed to turn all due method up-side down, and to obtrude their own perverse and unheaid of rules on the synod. Neither would they give a fair and direct answer to such questions as the synod should put to them. In a word, so refractory and untractable were these new sectarists, that they would neither sit in (*) Hales, Ibid. (I) Ib d. p. 60. (m) On observing the obstiuacy, with wliich the Arminians insisted upon opening the trenches against reprobation, antecedently to election ; the learned Lydfus took occasion to remind the synod, that " It ■was the jsual practice of those who taN Ourud Pela- gianism, to begin with kicking up a dust against reprobation." Nothing can be more true. (n) Though the Dutch Arminians, both as a poli- tical and as a scbismatical sect, were extremely ob- noxious to the laws of their country, and very criminal enemies to its civil and religious constitution : yet, by an almost unparalleled excess of candoiu- and mode- ration, the synod of Dort actually permitted Epis- copius anc" the other Arminian delegates from L'trecht, to take their seats in the synod, as members and judges: and, in the said synod of Dort, the said Ar minian delegates might have continued to sit, had they agreed to a few necessary and equitable con- ditions ; fi:. 1. If they would promise and engage, not to consider themselves as determined devotees to a party, but as candid investigators of truth at large: 2. If they would neither aid, counsel, n r abet tlie other cited Arminians: Nor, 3. preiiiaturciy di- Tulge the acts of the synod: Nor 4. delay it's pro ceedings by any needless or unseasonable interruptions the synod as members of it ; nor yet appear before it, in quality of (what they indeed weie by all the legal authority of the civil power) a cited party. Mr. Hales, writing from Dort to Sir D. Carleton, who was then at the Hague, thus expressed himself, in relation to the contu- macy and petulance of the Arminians : " The slate of our synod now sutlers a great crisis ; and, one way or other, tliere must be an alte- ration. Either the remonstrant [?. e. the Ai- minian party] must yield, and submit himself to the synod, of which I see no great proba- bility ; or else the synod must vail to them : which to do \i. e. for the synod to accommo- date itself to the perverse humours of the Ar- minians], farther than it hath already done, I see not how it can stand with their honour [i. e. with the honour and dignity of the synod]. But the synod, bearing an inclination to peace, and wisely considering the nature of their people, resolved yet farther, though they had yielded sufficiently unto them already, yet to try a little more, &c. (o)." The president re- commended to the assembly, " To consider, whether there might not be found some means of accommodation, which might mollify the remonstrants [/. e. soften the obstinacy of the Arminians], and yet stand well with the ho- nour of the synod {j>) " What could be more healingly and more meekly said ? but the Ar- minian fierceness was too harsh and stubborn to be moderated by any lenient measures. And, hitherto, none but softening measures had been tried. For, those decrees of the sy- nod, extorted fiom the synod by dint of inso- lence, and which carried any implication of seeming severity, were, as Mr. Hales ohseives, " mere powder without shot, which gives a clap, but does no harm (q) :" Insomuch that, the same unprejudiced writer adds, " Some thought the synod had been too favourable to the remonstrants already ; and that it were best now not to hold them, if they would be going : since hitherto, they [the remonstrants, The Arminians rejected these reasonable terms of alliance ; and, in consequence of this their liaugh. ttness, refractoriness, and temerity, tliey thetiiseh es as fairly vacated their own seats (See Hales, u. s. p. 34.). as ever James the Second vacated the throne of England. On the whole, I am quite at a loss to know, what a very capital writer intends, by tlie "proud cruelty" of the synod of Dort. (See The Confessiouiil, p. 77). I can discern no glimpse, either of cruelty or nf pride, in any part of that svnod's behaviour to the Armi- nians. But, in the behaviour of the Anniiiiaiis to llic synod, I can see pride, envy, m;ilice, and uiu harit- ableness^ little short of Lucilerian. Nor did the President at all exaggerate, when he told tiicm at their final dismission from the assembly, sinceritati, Icnitati, niansuetudiui synodi, fraudes, artes, mendacia opposuistis. He might have added, arrogantiain, et inurbanitatem One of the Arminian ministers, Sapma by name, crowned the insolence of his party, with the following speech, when he quuted the syno.l : i:xeo, said be, turning on hi» heel, ex ecclesi.i malignanllum I i. c. "Thus depart I from the congregation of malif nants ! " Hales, lOiil. p. 77. (o) Hales, u. s. p. 03. Cji) Ibi(l.\J.M. [qj Ibid. 244 STATE Of CALVINISM or Arminians] had been, and for any thing appeared to thecontrary, meant hereafter to be a hinderance to all peaceable and orderly proceedings {r)." And such they most un- doubtedly were in every respect, and on every occasion. As they persisted in a peremptory refusal to give any account, either of their faith, or of the reasons on which it was grounded ; there re- mained but one thing for the synod to do : which was to convict them of error, from their own writings, which they themselves had formerly published to the v. orld (s). In the discussion of which Aruiinian writings, the following departments fell to the British divines, in consequence of a plan previously settled among themselves: " We have now,"' said Dr. Balcanqaul, " divided the business among us. Dr. Ward's part is, to refute the Arminian doctrine of a decree to save men, considered as believers. My lord of LandafF's part is, to answer and solve such arguments, as the Arminians are wont to urge, in behalf of that general decree. Doctor (<) Goad's part is, to refute the Arminian tenet of elec- tion on faith foreseen : and to prove in oppo- sition to it, that faith, is [not the cause, or condition, but] the fnait, and effect of elec- tion. Doctor Davenant's part is, to vindicate orthodox doctrine of election, from the objec- tions alleged agai.ist it by the Arminians. My part is, to encounter all the arguments in general, which the Arminians bring, against the orthodox [i. e. against the Calvinistic] scheme The Arminian teachers were, in the end, deposed from their ministry, by the synod ; and the sentence of deposition was ratified by the States. The divines from England, having first entered a proviso in favour of episcopacy, testified their entire consent to the (s) Dutch confession of faith, so far as matters of doc- trine were concerned. Which testification of consent was as strong a proof as they could give, of their rooted attachment to the strict- est principles of Calvin (y). "On the 29th of April [1619], the synod ended. The States to express their gratitude, be.'-towed on the English divines, at their de- parture, two hundred pounds, to bear their charges in their return (z). Besides a golden medal, of good value, was given to every one of them, whereon the sitting of the synod was artificially represented. And now these [five British] divines, who, for many months had, in a manner, been fastened to their chair and desks, thought it a right due to themselves, that, when their work was ended, they might begin their recreation. Wherefore they view- ed the most eminent cities in the Low Coun- tries : and, at all places were bountifuUyreceiv- ed, Leyden (a) only excepted. This gave oc- casion to that passage in the speech of Sir Dudley Carleton, the English ambassador, when in the name of his master, he tendered the States public thanks, for their great re- spects to the English divines ; using words to this effect : That they had been entertained at Amsterdam, welcomed at the Hague, cheer- fully received at Rotterdam, kindly embraced at Utrecht, &c. and that they had seen Ley- den (4)." It must not be forgotten, that the reformed Churches in France would very gladly nave deputed a select number of their body, to re- present them at the synod at Dort, and to as- sist in the condemnation of Arminianism : but the French king, like a sturdy Catholic, re- strained them from this step, by his peremp- tory prohibition. He could not, however, re- strain the protestant clergy of that kingdom from solemnly receiving and approving the decisions of Dort, in a national synod, held a Alez, in 1619 (c). On the return of our five divines to Eng- land, their first care was, to wait on king James. As they entered the Palace-court, his majesty saw them from a window, and said with an emotion of sensible pleasure, " Here come my good mourners :" they being in mourning for the queen, who had died during their absence. " Then," adds Fuller, " after (r) H.iIps, Ibirt. (s) Ibid. p. 60 & 74. (t) Doctor Hsil liiuing been forced to retire from Dort, oil account of his ill state of health, the king sent over in his room, Dr. Thomas Goad, archbishop Abbot's chaplain. (u) Dr. Balcanqual to Sir D. Carleton ; Append, to Hales, !/. s. p. Ti, 73. (x) Fuller's Church Hist, boot x p. 81. (u) See the Dutch Confession, at full length, in the Syntagma Confessionuni, p. 163. 185. (s) That the bishop and clergymen from England might be able, while in Holland, to support a style of living, suitable to the dignity of the church they represented, they were allowed by tlie States General, ten pounds sterling per day. At the conclusion of their spiritual embassy, they received an additional present, as Fuller informs us .ibove. of to defray their expences homeward Mrs. Macuulay in name superior to all encomium) acquaints us, that each of them received that sum, to bis own repective share ; that they werejointly complimented with " an acknow- ledgmrnl of the excellency of the constitution of the Cliurch of England ; and that the Di:trh regretted the conveniency of their own State did not adroit cf the same system of subordination." Mrs. Macaulay's HisU of Engl. vol. i. p. 117. Octavo. It seems, the apartment, in which the synod was held, and the seats, on which tlic members of it sat, are to this day, carefully preserved at Dort, in statu quo, and shewn to travellers. See the Complete Syst. of Geogr. vol. i. p. 57.1. (a) The cold reception, which our divines, who had been so eminently active in the synod of Dort, metwith, at Leyden, is easily accounted for. Arminius, Vorstius, and Episcopius, had successively tilled the divinity chair of tliat University ; and as king James expresses it, had " infected" many of the academies *' with heresie." But in a short time after the synod was held, the " infection" ceased aud the University of Leyden, recovering, at once, it's orthodoxy and its credit, has since given both education and residence to as great men, as ever adorned the Republics of re. ligion and learning. In the present age, indeed (ro- ferenti dolet), both learning and religion seem to be at a dead stand, in almost every part of Europe. (6; Fuller, u. s 82. (c) Du Pin's Hist, of the church, vol. iv. p. J4J- Edit. 17-24. Duodecimo. UNDER JAMES I. 246 courteously entertaining them, he favourably dismissed them ; and, afterwards, on three of them bestowed preferment : removing (rf) Car- letoii [trom the bishcprick of LaiidaffJ to Chichester ; preferring Davenant to [the see of] Salisbury ; and bestowing the mastership of the Savoy on Balcanqiial. So returned they all, to their several professions: bishop Carleton, to the careful governing of his diocese : Dr. Davenant, besides his collegiate cure, to his constant lectures in the [Univer- sity-] School : Dr. Ward, to his discreet or- dering of his own college : Dr. Goad, to his diligent discharging of domestical duties in the family of his lord and patron ; and Mr. Balcan- qual to his fellowship in Pembroke-hall (e)." Some pacific disquisitions, concerning the extent of redemption, having an.icably and privately passed, among the English divines at Dort, several Armiiiian writers (equally dis- posed to magnify a barley-corn, into a moun- tain, or reduce a mountain to a barley-corn, as convenient occasion may require) have laboured to raise, on the narrow bottom of that slender incident, the following enormous pile of falsehood : viz. that the said divines were for absolutely unlimited redemption. But it so happens, that those excellent divines, though dead, are yet able to speak for them- selves. Consult the records of the synod itself, and then judge. And for the mere English reader, the ensuing passage, from a letter, written at Dort, by the British divines themselves, and sent to the archbishop of Canterbury, subscribed by the hands of them all; will at once demonstrate, how infinitely distant our religious plenipotentiaries were fioni arminianizing in the article of redemp- tion. That passage runs, vsr/xitim thus : " Nor do we, with the remonstrants, leave at large the benefit of our Saviour's death, as only propounded loosely to all, ex cequo, and to be applied by the arbitrary act of man's will ; but we expressly avouch for the behoof (rf) Bishop Carleton was appelate of very elevated parts, and of very distinguished literature : and no m.ln ever adhered more ste.idily to the doctrines of the Church of England. Let me briefly exemplify this latter feature of his character, by two very strik- ing proofs. 1. He coul 1 not endure the tenet of a reilemption absolutely universal : utterly denying it to be (they are his own words) '-a truth of the .Scrip- ture, or the doctrine of the Churcli of England." For, as his lordship unanswerably argueil," wheresoever the gr,ice of redemption goeth, there goeth also remission of sins : " so that, if we admit the grace of redemption " to he common to all," we iiiust *' admit also, that hU men have remission of sins." See his Letters, annexed to Hale's Rem. p. ISO. 2. Many years af- ter in the Arminian reign of Charles 1. his lordship published, in direct opposition to the court system, his valuable Defence of the pure D ictrincs of the the low aspersions of that learncJ, but profligate Pelagi.an tlieorist, Dr. Richard iMontaKU : whom the positive and misguided Charles raised, soon after, to nn episcopal chair, in open defiance of Church, of Parliament, and of every prudential and religious Our good bishop Carleton acquitted himself, at the synod of Dort, so much to king James's satisfaction, Uial be translated him to Chichester, within about of the elect, a special intention both in Christ's ottering, and tiud the Father accepting: and, from that intention, a particular applica- tion of that sacrifice, by conferring faith, and other gifts, infallibly bring the elect to salva- tion (/)." The transactions of the synod of Dort have given grievous offence to more than one class of men. A late respectable compiler, to whose literary endeavours the friend s of civil and of religious liberty are under consider- able obligation, raises two objections, in par- ticular, against that renowned assembly. As I honour the memory, and value the labours, of tlie worthy objector, I shall weigh his re- marks attentively, though with brevity. (1.) We are told, that " Whoever calls to mind the deprivations, and banisliment, which followed the decibions of this synod, of such great men as Episcopius, Utenbogart, Cor- vinus, &c. and the persecution, which ensued, throughout the United Provinces, against the Arininians ; will be apt to entertain but a poor opinion of those men who were actors in it (g).'' To clear this matter, let it be re- membered, 1. That, if the decisions of the synod were followed by any thing that resem- bled a persecution of the Arminians, such seeming persecution was the act, not of the synod, but of the civil power : and how were the members of that synod accountable for the conduct of the seculai magistrate ; es- pecially, for a conduct which did not take place, 'till long enough after the synod had ceased to sit ? 2. Even supposing (what I can by no means grant) that the synod actu- ally did persecute the Arminians ; yet, certain it is, that the Arminians themselves gave the first blow, and persecuted the Dutch Protes- tants, long before the Dutch Protestants are feigned to have persecuted the Arminians. And, though nothnig can justify persecution even when it amounts to no more than a re- taliation ; still it is but too natural for a per- four months after his return. His next tianslation was to Heaven, in 1628. On whose decease. Dr. Montagu, aljovementioned, became his unwurlhy successor at Chichester ; with such a high hand of insult did Arminianism, under Charles and Laud, begin to carry all before it ! Mr. Camden's attestation to Carleton's merit, deserves to be noted : " I loved him," said that learned antiquarian, " for his excellent proficiency in divinity and other polite parts of learning." Sec Biogr. Diet, vol. iii. p. 68. (f) Fuller, IbUI. p. 84. (/) Added to the end of Hales's Rem. p. 18T. The grosf slander, cast, by cer ain writers, on the above divines, as though the latter were in Arminius's licentious scheme of indiscriminate redemption ; re- minds me of a similar falsehood, launched by Mr. Wat Seilon, to-wit, that archbishop Usher, and bishop Davenant, died Arminians. To this flat untruth I, at present, only oppose a flat denial ; because the said Seilon does no more than nakedly affirm the premises, ■without clothing his affinnation with a single rag ol proof. My simple negatur, therefore, unclothed as it is, needs not be ashamed. A naked no, is as good as a naked yes. Let me add, however, tiiat 1 am rea^y to cloihe my side of the question (though a negative) with proof, when called upon to produce It. (e) Dr. William Harris's Life of king James tha First, p. 127, 12S. STATE OF CALVINISM secuted party (as the Dutch Calvinists had un- deniiiliiy been) to take the first opportunity of turning the tables on their oppressors Wlien the Arminian faction, in Holland, began to gather strength and come to ahead ; so fiercely intolerant ivas the bigotry, with which they espoused their new system, that they meditated, and in part accomplished, an absolute suppression of such magistrates, min- isters, and even military officers, as discovered a resolution to abide by the old doctrines of the reformation (A). Legal magistrates were riotously deposed ; legal pastors were depri- ved by violence ; and the orthodox even among the commonalty were liable to loss of pro- perty, loss of personal liberty, and to every vexatious injury, which the new sect were able to devise. So furiously did the Armini- ans drive, at first setting off; that, as far as their power extended, not a Calvinistic minis- ter was suffered to exercise his function. All freedom of conscience was denied: nothing would content the drivers, but a total ex- tinction of the reformed interest, and that Arminianism should reign without a partner and without limitation. Sedition, tumult, rapine, imprisonment, and banishment, were the gentle instruments, made use of by the Arminians, to establish their pretended theory of universal Icve ! All this happened a considerable time be- fore the synod of Dort assembled : and was, in reality, one reason why that synod was con- vened. Complaints, therefore, of persecution, would have come with an exceeding ill grace from the mouths of the Arminian faction, if the synod had even meted to them the same measure which themselves had so liberally dealt to their innocent neighbours. But I must add, 3. that the Arminians were not persecuted in return, so far as I have been able to find. Punished, in some degree, they were : but punishment and persecution are essentially different. Social enormity justly exposes an offender to the former : though no religious errors, how great and many so- ever, can justly subject a person to the latter. Shall the twelve judges of England be styled tv.'elve persecutors, because they vindicate the majesty of law against its transgressors Shall legal prosecution, and legal punishment be denominated persecution, where the offence is of a secular nature, and adequate in de- gree to the inflicted penalty? Weigh the political vices of the first Arminians ; and then pronounce them persecuted if you can. Nor must I omit to observe, 4. on the credit of a very candid and capable writer, that not- withstanding the due indignation of the Dutch States against the social crimes of the pri- mitive Arminians ; the said States, highly calvinistic as they were, consented that " the mere Arminian,'' who did not connect turbu- lence and sedition with religious mistakes should be " continued and cherished in the bosom of the Church (i')." The same learned and accurate author adds, that Episcopius himself, even that very Episcopius who had flown in the face of the synod and of his country, was hardly displaced from his Leyden professorship, before he was permitted, "both at Rotterdam and Amsterdam, to enjoy an honourable and gainful preferment (A)." With such exemplary moderation did the Dutch Calvinists use the victory which God had given them ! (2.) Dr. Harris's other complaint is, that " The kings, princes, and great men concern- ed [in the synod of Dort], had undoubtedly, v7orldly views, and were actuated by ihem : for though purity of doctrine, peace of the Church, extirpation of heresy, were pretended ; the State-faction of the Arminians was to be suppressed, and that of Maurice, prince of Orange, exalted (/).'' I am glad, that the im- partiality of this respectable writer induced him to terra those Arminians a " State," i. e. a secular or political faction : for such they were. And, if so, why might not political persons, legally invested with just authority, seek to tie up the hands of a pernicious poli- tical faction from doing any farther political mischief? Be it so, then, that prince Maurice had his "worldly views" in filingdown the tusks of some restless Arminians. "The preservation of the United Provinces from relapsing under the yoke of Spain, was, indeed, a " worldly view," but a very lawful and a very expedient one. Antecedently to the assembling of the synod, Providence had so ordered events, that the interests of pure religion and of public po- licy were happily twisted together. Hence resulted the Dordrechtan ' alliance between Church and State.' A consequence whereof was, that two birds of prey were disabled at one shot : viz. doctrinal error, and civil se- dition. Nor unreasonably : for, the poison being compound, why should the antidote be single? Sir Richard Baker, though a very high principled historian, mentions the synod of Dort, in terms of remarkable moderation and respect. It was assembled, says he, "to ex- amine and determine the doctrine of Armi- nius, 1 . Concerning God's predestination, elec- tion, and reprobation : 2. Concerning Christ's death, and man's 'edemption by it : 3. Con- cerning man's corruption, and conversion to God ; 4. Concerning the perseverance of the saints. In all which points, the doctrine of Arminius was rejected, as also of Vorstius ; and the true doctrine established by a general consent, together with the approbation of the Loids and States. Which yet the Papists (h) .See Wilson's Hist, of James I. Comple'e Hist. Tol. ii. p. 715. 718. Also Hickman against Heylyn, p. 101, 102. (i) Hiclunan, «. s. p. 114. (A) Ihid. p. 115. («; l ite of James, p. I2S. UNDER JAMES I. 247 nnade so little reckoning of, that one of them, in scorn, made echo to sensuie it [i. f. to sen- sure the synod] in this aistich : Pordracl Synodue f Nodus. Chorus integer? Alger, Couveiitus f Ventus. Sessio Stramen ? Amen. But who knows not, that ill-will never speaks well? and that nothing is so obvious in the mouth of an adversary, as scandals and invec- tives (m) ?" let this be a word in season, to Mr. Wesley and his man Watty : and restrain them in time to come, from singing in chorus with " the Papists," by traducing the synod of Dort. Thus have we traced king James's doctri- nal perseverance in orthodoxy, down to the year 1619, inclusively : and the church kept pace with his majesty. His having interested himself, so zealously, in the condenmation of Arminianism, struck the secret favourers of that system, in England with a temporary stupor. Even Laud was forced to lie still, and to roll his principles, in private, as a sweet morsel under his tongue ; until a more favour- able day should invite them to walk abroad with safety. James was always very suspici- ous of Laud's orthodo.xy : and the reluctance, with which he lifted him to episcopal rank, supplies us with another very strong proof of t;ie monarch's Calvinism. The authorized Bibles, during the first nine years of James's reign, were those of queen Elizabeth : enriched with such marginal anno- tations, as we have produced sufficient samples of, in the preceding Section. James desired to signalize his own reign, by a tianslation more exactly conformable to the original lan- guages of the Old and New Testaments. In 1611, that translation (used at this day) was finished by the excellent divines, to whose care this great work had been assigned, and who had spent about three years in the important employ. Instead of human annotations, the margin of this version is very pi operly filled with references to parallel Scriptures : so that the Bible is now a commentary on itself. If it be asked, 'Whether the ancient notes were omitted, with a simple view to render the Scripture it's own interpreter ?' I must con- fess, that this is a question which I can an- swer by conjecture alone. And my conjecture is, that James's suspicious policy was afraid to (m) Baker s Chronicle, p. 419. n) Since tlie above was written, I recollected to have formerly met with something, in the account of the Hampton-court conference, relative to the omission of marginal notes from the present translation of ttie Bible. On recurring to that account, I fiml myself warranted to assign the reason already hniti d, not as a conjecture of my own, but as tlie true and undou bted cause of the said omis-sion. Bishop Barlow informs as, that the king complained, he had ne\ er yrt seen a Bible " well translated in English: Init thr v. -u^f of all, his maifwty thought the Geneva IJibl, tn l . . ' « reason which quickly follows. The Iio\.ii i . . then expressed his intention of having a , > lation undertaken : " .ind this to bee il.iui h , iii, I , m learned in both the llnivcrsities ; after tli. ni. u> l.f reviewed by the bishops, and the chief.' Ii anit d i.f ibc Church ; from them, to be prcsenti-d tn tlio privie counsel; and, lastly, to be ratified by bis royall uutbo- rify ; and so this wliole Church to bee bound unto it entrust even the bishops and clergymen of the Church of England, concerned in this transla- tion, with the insertion of any marginal notes at all ; lest some remark or other, might slip in, tending to emblazon the wickedness and ab- surdity of despotic power. He was a better textuaiy, than to be ignorant, that there are a multitude of passages, and of instances in the inspired volume, which grind the doctrine of non-resistance to powder, and disperse its atoms in empty air. Better, therefore, in James's opinion, to forego all explications whatever, than to run the risk of rendering those unfavourable passages more visible than they render themselves. This I (h) con- ceive to have been the true cause of the sim- plicity, by which our present version is dis- tinguished. As to the calvinistic doctrines, there is no need, nor was there any need from the first, of erecting marginal banners, to dis- tinguish in what places of Scripture they are to be found. What I observed, several years ago, concerning the Liturgy ; 1 now observe, concerning the Bible : open God's word where you will, Calvinism stares you in the face. In the year 1621, the English Arminians began to recover from the panic, into whi( h they had been thrown, two years before, liy the proceedings at Dort. The king's enor- mous (o) concessions to the Church of Rome, in order to facilitate the conclusion of the Spanish match, gave new life to the Popish party, who had the comfort to see themselves objects of court indulgence, their religion openly protected, and their imprisoned priests enlarged. Where is the wonder, that Arminianism also, taking advantage of a juncture so favour- able, should rear its head, unseal its eyes, and venture into open day ? " The king's mercy and indulgence extending towards the Papists, taught many men to come as near Popery as they could stretch ; finding it the next way to preferment. So that Ai minius's tenets flew up and down, from pulpit to pulpit, and preach- ing was nothing but declamation, little tend- ing to edification ; such orthodox ministers, as strove to refute these erroneous opinions, being looked upon as Puritans and anVi-mo- narchial (p)." To crown the infelicities of and none other. Marrie, withal, hee gave this caveat (upon a word cast out by my lord of London) that no marginal notes should be added : having found, in them which are annexed to the Geneva translation, wliich hee saw in a Bible given him by an Kiirrlisli lady, some notes, very partially untrue, seditious, and savouring too much of dangerous and traiterous conceits. As for example : Lxod. i. I'.l. where the niarginall note alhiweth disobedience unto kings."— Bishop Barlow's Summe of the Conf. p. 47, 4S. (o) • It has ever been my wav," smd .1 in. ^. " to S'. with the Church of Rome, . ,/ ' - ' /. r. ; symbolize with that Cliurch, in i:, i ,,-. I 1 luit, and'policy might require. ' ... ^^^_■u^ \U.t. vol. ii. p. 7(i7.) Indeed, the ji-ipal su|.r. n.a, y ov.T kings themselves, and the laulnlnessol king killing, seem to have been the only I'opish doctrines wbieh be considered as indigestible. (;)) Wilson, m Compl. Hist. vol. ii. p. 751, 732. STATE OF CALVINISM ?liis memorable year 1621, Dr. LTiid found means (thout;h not without much diiBculty and many hard strugf,'les) to climb from the deanery of Gloucester to the hishoprick of St. David's. He was consecrated to that see, November (17) 18. A darU day iii the annals of the Church of England. It was not without reason, that even the impolitic and undiscerning James, prognosti- cated the bad effects, which would probably ensue fiom Laud's promotion. That incident (Iri'w after it a train of consequences, which sadly warranted the justness of his ma- ji'siy's misgivings : and resulted in a compli- cation of catastrophes, too ruinous and fatal, for a much wiser prince to have ((ueseen. In fact. Laud owed his bishoprick, not to the king, but to the duke of Buckingham : into the g'xul graces of whom, the Arniinian ecclesias- tic had insinuated h'mstlf, wiih extreme la- bour and art, and by a long series of servile and obsequious adulation. What 1, in this place, can but barely intimate, shall ajipear, with sufficient extent, if Providence give me health and leisure, to complete my intended History of Archbisli'>p Laud's Life and Times. This prelate had n^it worn lawn sleeves nmch longer than eight months, before he be- came instrumental in procuring, and in draw- ing up, a well-known court paper, entitled. Directions concerning Preacheis. The third article of these directions enjoined, " That no preacher, of what title soever, under the de- gree of a bishop, or dean, at the least, do, trom liencef(jrth, presume to preach, in any popular anditoiy, the deep points of predesti- nation, election, reprobation ; or the univer- sality, efficacy, resistibility, or irresistibility, of God's grace; but leave those themes rather to be handled by the learned men [in the two Universities] : and that moderately and mod- estly, by way of use and application, rather than by way of positive doctrines ; being titter fur the schools, than for simple auditories (r)." This w:is the first blow, given by royal autho- lity, to the doctrinal Calvinism of the estab- lished Church, since the death of Mary the bloody. For, though it prima facie, seemed to muzzle the Arminians, no less than the Calvinistic clergy ; yet its design was, to bridle the latter, and leave the former at libel ty to spread their new princi[)les without restraint. The above paper of direc- car, riz. IdTi, ^^\wn the following i:rM. I,s v.pi-,- :,5if,a to by Jaioos, the Spanish tvi alv : iMinoly, I hat no laws, rcpi.pnnnt to the Roman Catholic leliRion, should, at any time lirrcafter, diri-i.tly, or indire< tlv, be rnnimandcd to be put in cxer lition ; that the king shovlUl swear lo this. That the king and the prince of W ales s hsiiild' inter' pose their authority, ind do all that in them lay, lo n»ake the pai-lianient revoke and abrogate all laws, both general and particular, which had been enacted against Koman Catholics ; and, that neither the king, tions was dated from Windsor, August 4,1G2U. Let not the reader, however, suppose, that the king took this extraordinary stride, out of mere complaisance to Laud. That insidious prelate, in piomoting and in helping to frame the said directions, only struck in with the op- portunity, and av;iiled himself of certain po- litical circumstances, which had peviously soured and embarrassed the mind of James. The case stood thus. His majesty, in or^ der to strengthen his unnatural and ill judged union with Spain, was (v) projecting a gene- ral toleration of Popery thruii^hout the Brit- ish dominions. So far is certain. And, per- haps we should not overshoot the mark, were we to suspect, that something more, than a mere toleration, was remotely in view. When two houses are to be thrown into one, you must down with the partition wall. The Calvinistic doctrines of the Church of England were considered as the interposing barrier between her and Popery. Though the king was attached to those doctrines, in his heart ; yet, as they stood in the way of his po- litical schemes, he lent his authority to cer- tain Aimiiiian engineers, who lust no time in beginning (not to assault and batter, but) lo undermine and sap the said wall. Add to this, that when James consented to publish the above Directions concerning Preachers, his mind was chased and nettled, by a recent quariel with the parliament. He had flattered himself, for some time, that his designs in favour of Popery were formed with such secrecy, as to elude the vigilance of the house of commons. But he perceived his mistake, when word was brought him, that those wise and zealous guardians of the church and nation had prepared n very strong remon- strance against Popery, and against the illegal encouragement alieitdy shen'n to Papists. He was stung to the quick, at receiving this intel- ligence ; and prohibited the house from present- ing him with an address so peculiarly unac- ceptable: giving them to understand, that these were '■ matters above their reach and capacity ;" and tended to his " high dishonour, and breach of his prerogative royal (,t).'' What had chiefly offended him in the remon- strance (of which he had procured a copy), was, the patriotic wish, expressed by the na- tional representatives, that his majesty would break with Spain, and marry his son to a Pro- nor the prince of Wales when king, should ever, at any time, consent to the passing of any new laws to the prejudice of the Catholics. The oath of each privy counsellor ran in these words : I, A. B. do swear, that 1 will truly and folly ob- serve, as nmch as belongeth to me, all and every of the articles which are contained in the treaty of marriage between the most gracious Charles, prince of \\ ales, and the most gracious lady. Donna Alaria, Infanta of Spain. Likewise, I swear, that I will neither commit to execution, or cause to be executed, either by myself, or by any inferior officer servicg under me, any law made against any Roman Catholic whatsoever, nor will execute any punishment indicted by those laws, &c. See Mrs. Macaulay's Hist. vol. i. p. 203. UNDEK JAMES I. testant princess. Several altercations passed lietvreeii his anjesty and the commons. The latter, who liad saj^acity to discern, and inte- grity to pursue, the real The learned and orthodox Dr. Lauucelct An- drews waa this bishop of Winchester ; a prelate, wiio, his "calvlnis i! \"o'''l.itnse' f,'^\k'e''r'goor^coirrtie'" w hen necessity or convcniency required. But if his lord- ship could discreetly throw a mantle over his relii^ious principles, to conceal them from Charles, king of England (or, rather, superinduce a veil of gauze over Ihem, by occasional c6urt-coni|.liance, to rcndef them not 80 glaringly visible) ; yet he d.ired not dissemble with God, the King of Heaven. On his knees in bis orthodox, as"" Abbot, Usher, Carletnn, or Ua'iei.al't! Witness, among many others the toliovviug p.'L.->u5es, which occur in his private devotions; and «luch, though they passed the transhiting pen of an eni.iieiit nio '.ern Armmian (for 1 never met with the Greek original), lun m this truly evangelical strain. " Hold tnou me in, with bit and bridle, when 1 would break ttvvny from thee. O thou hast invited me, compel me to come into my own happiness!'' "From thee O " 2. In our conversation, regeneration, oH' [nianifestative] "justification: which I termed the embryo of eternal life " 3. And last of all, in our coronation when full possesion of eternal life is given us. " In aL these. I shewed it to he x^P'"!^") or the free gift of God, through Christ ; and not procured, or pre-meriled, by any spe- cial acts depending upon the free-will of men. The last point, wherein I opposed the Popish doctrine of merit, was not disliked. The se- cond, wherein I shewed, that effectual voca- tion, or regeneration, whereby we have eter- nal life inchoated and begun in us, is a free gift; was not expressly taxed. Only the first was it which bred the offence : not in re- gard of the doctrine itself, but because, as my lord's grace [i. e. Ilarsenet, archbishop of York] said, the king had prohibited the debas- ing thereof ((/)." What was the consequence of the excellent bishop's presuming to assert predestination to the face of the Arminian king and his whole court? "Presently after my sermon was end- ed, it was signified unto me, by my lord of York, my lord of (r) Winchester, and my lord Chamberlain, that his majesty was much dis- plea.sed that I had stirred this question, which lie had forbidden to be meddled withal, one way or other. My answer was, that I had de- livered nothing but the received doctrine of our Church, established in the seventeenth article . and that I was ready to justify the truth of what I had then taught. Their an- swer was, that the doctrine was not gainsayed ; but his highness had given command, that these questions should not be debated : and therefore he took it more cfit- nslvely, that any should be so bald, as, in his own hearing, to break his royal commands. " My reply was only this : that I never tmdcrstood his majesty had forbid the hand- ling of any doctrine comprized in the articles of our Church; but only the raising ot new questions, or adding of new sense thereunto: which I had not done, nor ever should do. Christ, the anointed, let me have the unction of thy chosen." " Think upon the congregation which thou hast purchased and redeemed of old." •• W hat shall thy servant say ? That I will pay thee all? Oh, no I 1 do most truly and sorrowfully confess, that I have nothing at all to pay." " I have neither undei stand- ing, to discern ; nor power to effect ; nor, as 1 ought to have, even will to desire and seek, my truest and best gO'id." " W e have sinnvd, and have all become as an unclean thing : our righteousnesses are like liltby rags." " In me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing." " i believe his providence, by which the world, and all things in it, are preserv ed, governed &nd perfected." " Turn thou ns, O good Lord, unto thee ; and so shall w e be turned." " O let Christ he an etlectual propitiation lor my sins, who is a suflicient propitiation for the sins of the whole world." " Thou hast sent, " Thy Christ, the son of th\ love, that, by his sjiotless and holy life, he might fulhl the obedience of the law ; and, by the sacrifice of his death, might take away the curse." "Visit me with the favour which thou hear^ st unto thy cho.sen." iJean Stan- hoyv'a Ivanslatimi ol Bishop Andrews's Devotions, p. 10, 20. 22. 26. 41. 52. 55 , 66. 59. 71. 73. 03. 100. STATE OF CALVINISM This was ali that passed betwixt u.'-, cn Sunday night, after my lennon. The raatter thus rested, and I heard no more of it, 'till coming to the Tuesday sermon, one of the clerks of the council told me, that 1 was to attend at the council table, the next day at two of t!ie clock. I told him, I would wait upon their lordships, at the hour appointed. " When I came thither, my lord of York made a speech of well-nigh half an hour long, aggravating the boldness of my offence, and shewing the many inconveniences which it A'as likely to draw after it. When his grace had finished, I desired the lords, that since I was called thither as an offender, I might not be put to answer a long speech on the sodden ; but tha' my lord's grace would be pleased to charge me, point by point, and so to receive my answer : for I did not yet understand, wherein I had broken any com- mandment of his majesty's, which my lord in his whole discourse took for granted. Having made this motion, I made no farther answer : and all the lords were silent for a while. " At length, my lord's grace said, I knew, well enough, the point which was urged against me : namely, the breach of the king's declaration. Then I stood upon this defence: that the doctrine of predestination, which I taught, was not forbidden by the Declaration, (1.) Because in the Declaration, all the [thirty nine] articles are established : amongst \vTiich, the article of predestination is one. (2.1 Be- cause all ministers are urged to subscribe unto the truth of the article [_viz. of the l/th ar- ticle, which concerns predestination], and all subjects to continue in the profession of that, as well as of the rest. Upon these and such like grounds, I gathered, it e predesti- nation] could not be esteemed among for- bidden, curious, or needless doctrines. "And here, 1 desired, that, out of any clause in the Declaration, it might be shewed me, that, keeping myself within the bounds of the article I had transgressed his majesty's com- mand. But the Declaration was not produced, nor any particular words in it. Only this was urged, that the king's will was, that, for the peace of the Church, these high questions should be forborne (s)." His lordship, after discreetly promising a general conformity to his majesty's pleasure, saluted the council, and withdrew. Fuller observes, that the bishop, at his first coming into the council chamber, pre- sented himself, before the board, on his knees. A circumstance of mortifying indignity, which the spiteful Laud was in all probability, the procurer of. A very strange sight, to behold a bishop of Salisbury, one of the most respect- able peers of the realm, constrained to that humiliating posture, only for preaching a doc- trine to which he had solemnly subscribed ; and which was confessed to be a true doctrine, by the very persons themselves who were the inflicters of the di.sgrace, and at the very time when the disgrace was inflicted! This we learn from the bishop's own narrative: "Though it grieved me,'' says Davenant, " that the esta- blished doctrine of our Church should be di»- tasted ; yet, it grieved me less, because the truth of what I delivered was acknowledged even by those who thought fit to have me questioned for the delivery of it (t).'' With what face could Charles's Arminian bishops reprimand so great a prelate as Davenant, for inculcating a scriptural tenet, to which the reprimanders themselves had set their own hands, and even then admitted to be a truth of the Bible and of the Church ? On his knees he might have remained, during the whole time of his continuance be- fore the privy council, " for any favour he found from any of his own function there pre- sent. But the temporal lords bid him arise, and stand to his own defence ; being as yet only accused, not convicted («)." Bishop Laud, who had, 'tis likely, been one of Davenant's auditory at Whitehall, when the oS'ensive sermon was preached; and who was evidently, the contriver of the preacher's embroilment, contented himself with having already effect- ually played his part behind the curtain : and, though present as a privy counsellor, slily re- frained from assuming any visible share in the examination of Davenant. " Doctor Harsenet, archbishop of York, managed all the business against [Salisbury]. Bishop Laud, walking by, all the while, in silence, spake not one word (x)." But every body knew, by whose magic this court storm had been raised. The storm, however, was quickly laid. Within a short time, good bishop Davenant was admitted to kiss the king's hand. What passed, on that occasion, is worthy of perusal. " When 1 came in, his majesty declared his resolution that he would not have this high point" [viz. the high point of predestination] " meddled withal, or debated, either the one way or the other ; because it was too high for the people's understanding : and other points, which concern reformation and newness of life, were more needful and profitable. I promised obedience therein : and so, kissing his majesty's hand, departed (.v)." Was not the king a hope- ful proficient in Laud's Arminian school ? He "would not have " predestination " meddled with, or debated, either one way or the other;" i. e. he pretended to prohibit the opposing, no less than the asserting, of that doctrine. But he meant no more than half of what he said. Montagu (to mention a single instance, out of many) was encouraged and promoted, foi opposing predestination : i. e. for literally transgressing the king's ostensible injunction. (i) Idem, apud eund. Ihiil. p. 1.19, 140. Ibid. p. 139. («} Fuller, Ibid. p. 138. (.r; Faller, Ibid. (J/) Ibid p. 140. UNDER CHARLES 1. 255 Who sees not the drift and design of all this? Let me add, that the absolute sovereignty of the most high and only ivise God, manifested in the free predestination of men, according to the purpose of his unerring will, was con- travened, with an exceeding ill grace, by such a monarch as Charles, who was for rendering his own authority absolute over the lips, the actions, the property, the persons, and even the religious opinions, of ail the men who lived within the limits of the British dominion. An earthly prince may establish an unbounded authority, and be blameless ! but the King of Heaven cannot dispose as he pleases of his own, without being tyrannical and unjust ! 11. The other instance, which I shall just mention, of the methods by which Laud sought to graft Arminianism on the creed of these nations, discovers no less of insidious artifice, than his foregoing treatment of Davenant dis- plays of open insolence and coercion. 1 mean the thin craft and the shallow subtlety, with which he pretended to supersede those articles of religion which had been solemnly recog- nized and admitted by the bishops and clergy of Ireland, assembled, in full convocation, at Dublin, in the year 1615. Of those articles, the following are some. " God, from all eternity, did, by his un- changeable council, ordain whatsoever in time should come to pass. Yet so, as, thereby, no violence is offered to the wills of the reasona- ble creatures : and neither the liberty, nor the contingency, of the second causes, is taken away ; but established rather " By the same eternal council, God hath predestinated some unto life, and reprobated some unto death, of both which, there is a certain number, known only to God, which can neither be increased nor diminished. " The cause, moving God to predestinate to life, is not the foreseeing of faith, or per- severance, or good works, or of any thinij, which is in the person predestinated ; but only the good pleasure of God himself. For, all things being ordained for the manifestation of his glory, and his glory being to appear both in the works of his mercy and of his justice ; it seemed good to his heavenly wisdom to choose out a certain number, towards whom he would extend his undeserved mercy : leaving the rest to be spectacles of his jus- tice. " All God's elect are, in their time, in- separably united unto Chiist, by the effectual and vital influence of the Holy Ghost, derived from him [i. e. from Christ], as from the head, to every true member of bis mystical body. And being thus made one with Christ, they are truly regenerated, and made partakers of him and all his benefits (2)." More of these excellent articles may be seen, in the performance referred to below. The Lambeth Articles, and also as many of our own 39 as directly relate to the Calvinistic doct l ines, were incorporated with the Irish Confession ; and the whole ratified by the authority of king James J- ♦he then reigning prince. His son Charles had filled the throne, be- tween 9 and iO years, ere Laud would venture to nibble publicly at the said confession. With what low arts of intrigue and address he, at length, in the year 1634, feigned to have compassed his point, may be learned from Heylyn (a). Matters were conducted with such duplicity, that even the learned and sagacious archbishop Usher did not penetrate the more than Jesuitic slyness of Laud, Straf- ford, and Bramhall. Witness that part of Usher's letter to his friend Dr. Ward (the same Dr. Ward who had assisted at the synod at Dort) ; wherein the upright, unsuspecting primate thus apprizes Ward of what had passed in the Irish convocation of 1634. " The articles of religion, agreed upon in our former synod. Anno 1615, we let stand a.s they did before But, for the manifesting of our agreement with the Church of England, we have received and approved your articles also" [i. e. the 39 articles], " concluded in the year 1672 ; as you may see in the first of our canons (6)." The archbishop was in the right. But Laud and his party endeavoured to infer, that the Church of Ireland, by receiving and ap- proving the 39 Articles of the Church of England, had actually quitted and abolished the Irish articles antecedently established m 1615. This was the quirk which Laud had in view from the first. But it was a quirk, and nothing else. For, by " receiving" and " approving" the English articles " also" ; the Irish prelates and clergy did neither cancel nor supersede their own prior articles, but only " manifested," or publicly and de- liberately avowed, their doctrinal " agree- ment " with the Church established on this side St. George's Channel. So that Laud's Arminian policy amounted to no more, after all, than a stroke of mere chicane ; which shewed, indeed, the sophistry and deceit whereof he was capable, but which, in reality, left the old articles standing in full force " as they did before." The articles of 1615 are, to this day, a part of the national creed established in Ireland. They were solemnly admitted by the ecclesiastical power, and as solemnly rati- fied by the civil. They could only be repealed and abolished by the same authority which had established them. But this has never been done. Consequently, they are in full force, to this very hour ; and, together with our (z) Anti-Armin. p. 17. 20 {a) Life of Laud, p. 2jS. 2Sa. 266 STATE OF CALVINISM 33 (admitted " also," merely by way of de- claiTitively " manifesting" or acknowledging the "afrreeinent" between the two churches), constitute tlie leijal standard of faith in that Uin;,'di)in. F'eve- ridge. But further, than the rei-n of that queen, this deponent saith not. II. Now for a sketch of the former state of religion in the two Universities. ICvery body knows the situation in which religious affairs were left by Heniy VIII. That monarch, as Luther smartly and justly express- ed it, " killed the Pope's body, but saved his soul alive (^)." i. e. his majesty stabbed the Papal (u) supremacy ; continuing, however, to the last hour of his life, a devoted bigot to the essential doctrine of the Roman Church. But, " After the death of Henry, by the in- dustrious zeal of Calvin and his disciples, more especially Peter Martyr, the [English] Universities, schools, and churches, became the oracles of Calvinism. Hence it happened, that when it was proposed, under the reign of Edward VI. to give a fixed and stable turn to the doctrine and discipline of the Chuich [of England], Geneva was acknou'ler (n)." So fared t with canon Hi.nso i. .\ V). \C>\4. carried the king's written promise, wjis detained be yond tbe day appointed. iSews was broucbt to Rome, that a libel bad been published in I n gland against the court of Kome, and a farce acted before the kir-c in derision of tbe Pope and arUinals. Tbe Pope ai,igns of barring out I'opery and I'elagian- ismj " there was a eneral tendency onto his e. to Calvin's) opinions.'' (/;) The same Arminian adds, tiiat Calvin's Book of Insti- tutes was, for the most part, the fuinida- tion on which the young divines of those times did build their studies." lie even confesses that he coid.' " find" but two Anti- Calvinists in the whole University of ()x- foi d, at the period here treated of : which poor " two" were, Buckridiie, tutor to Laud ; and the above suspendt-d Dr. Honson. Well, t'lerefore, may the said Ileylyo observe (: hough we should have known it nithont his information), that, iu the two Uniier^i- ties, the Anti-Cnl>Tinans were " hut lew in luinibfr, and make but a veiy thin appear- a ce." ('•) ICxireniely few and thin indeed, it ihcir whole nunihcr amounled to no more than two! So that Heylyn should not have i pplied (as he does) that line to the case in hand, Apparent rnri nanirs in Giirgite raslo; but should rather have altered it to A]'pnr(i// ^entiiii i/nit/ts hi Gur^iff vnsto : I mean, s 'piloting Dr. Huckridge was really not a Calvinist. Uf ivliicli, houever, 1 stand ill >un,e ib.uht. J^hould my doul)t be well gmuuded, Virgil's line must undergo a second alteration : and we must say of soli- tary liouson, Apparet solus natans in Gnrgite vasto. If Buckridge was then an Anti-Calvinist, he seems to have been a hidden one : else would not vice-chancellor Abbot have sus- ])ended the fellow of John's with as little scruple, as he inflicted that censure on the canon of Christ's Chinch ? Heylyn's even number, therefore, of two, does not hang well together. Divide his two Arminian doctors, by one ; and in all probability the remainder will give the (d) quotient. Unhappily fur the credit of Arminianism, Laud himself, its grand heroin ICngland, in- curred no little danjjer and mnlestation, at Oxf;e were of the vice-cliancellor's mind, both as to the excellency of Calvin, and as to the malignity of Land. For Heylyn adds : " W hich ad- vantau'e being taken by Dr. Abbot, he so violently persecuted the poor man [i.e. poor Mr. I. and], and so openly branded him for a Papist, or at least I'opishly inclined : that if was almost made an heresy, as I have heard from his [viz. from Laud's] own niouth, for any one to be seen in his com- pany ; and a misprision of heresy, to give liim a civil salutation as he passed the streets. " ( /) They saw what materials he was made of, and stigmatized him accord- ingly. Eight years after Laud's public disgrace, above lecited, to wit, A. D. 1614, when the said Laud had risen to the presidentship of St. John's College, the spirited and active I)r Abbot [iiot'ihe areh'.ishop, but the bi- shop] took him openly to task, in a very sacred place, and on a veiy solemn occa- sion: or, as Heylyn jjltrasts it, " Fell vio- lently foul on Dr. William Laud, whom, in his sermon at St. Peter's, on Easter-Sunday, he (Abbot) publicly ex[)osed to contempt and scorn, under the notion of a Papist ; as Barret's doctrines bad been formerly con- demned at Cambridge" [and with ample reason], " by the name of Popery." ig) As to Barret, he justihed the suspicions which were entertained of him at Cambridge, by actually declaring himself a Papist, shortly after. (A) And for Laud, a few years made it sufficiently plain, that the Oxonians were not very wide of the mark, in questioning the genuine Protestaricy of that unhappy gentle- man. Considering the zealous orthodoxy of the University in those days, Laud was well off, to escape without expulsion. Various were the subsequent toils which Laud met with ; many a weary step did he take, and many a mortifying repulse did he suffer, ere he could climb the hill of promo- tion, to which he so ardently aspired. Heylyn (b) He s H Hi I I of pul>ni nppositlml \n wliole at tlllit loiip pr ford. •' Of any men," posed the t alv'"*'^" " nf^ei the hepn ciinieds that J for gro STATE OF CALVINISM laments, very pathetically, the difficulties which this his patron had to surmount, on his first attempts to ascend the ladder eccle- siastic. " At this time," says he, viz. about the year 1624, and the last of lf which I gii e a sample, sec the same Book, from p. 242 to 251. IN THE UNIVERSITIES. 263 fame with that doctrine of predestination, ifhich in our own times, Calvin hath taught. " Prcescientia Dei cetcrno decreto omnia vrdinantis, non pugnavit cum arbitrii liber- tate primis parentibus concessa. — The fore- knowledge of God, who ordaineth all things by his eternal decree, did not clash with that freedom of will which he granted (in the state of innocence) to Adam and Eve. In the reign of James I. the Oxonian Doctors maintained the following and sim- ilar positions, for that degree in divinity : " Tota salut electorimi est mere gratuita. — The salvation of the elect is, from first to last, absolutely free and unmerited. " Elecli debent esse, et sunt tandem, sum salutis certi. — The elect ought to be assured of their salvation ; and, sooner or later, they an so. "Reprobus quisque sua solius perit malitid. — Every reprobate perishes in con.sequence of his own wickedness only. " An, qui in Christo sunt perirc possint F Nbg. — Tliey, who are in Christ, cannot perish. " An certi sabitis snce omnes salventur ? Arr. — All, who are assured of their salvation shall surely be saved. " An, fiddles possint certa fide, statuere remissa esse peccata P Aff. — Believers may, with an assured faith, conclude that their sins are forgiven. " iVott est liberum arbiirium. — Man's will is not free. " Sancti non possnnt excidere gratia. — Ueal saints cannot fall entirely from grace. " An, homo possit se praparare ad gra- tiam recipiendum?' Neg. — Man cannot pre- pare himself to leceive grace. " An, homo possit scire, se habere gra- tiam ? Aff. — A man, who has grace, may know that he has it. "An, electio sit ex prcevisis operibns ? Nf.o. — Election is not occasioned by God's foresight of good works. "An, decretumreprobationis sit absolutum ? Aff. — The decree of reprobation is abso- lute. " An, Deus avtor peccati, juxta reforma- torum sententiam, statuatur ? Nkg. — The Doctrine of the reformers, or of the reform- ed divines, does not make God the author of sin. "An, gratia regenerationis omnibus offer- atur ? Nko. — The grace of regeneration is not offered to all men. " A », gratia regenerationis possit resisti P Neg. — The grace of regeneration is irresis- tible. "An, voluntas, in prima conversione, ha- fimt s^ tantum passive P Aff. — The will of man is entirely passive, in the first reception of grace " An, reconciliatio per mortem Christi sit siigulis horainibus impetraii PNza. — Christ's death did not procure reconciiation with God for every man. " An, lapsus Adami, dioerao respeciu, did possit necessarius et contingens ? Arr, — The fall of Adam wa.s both contingent and necessary. *' An, decretum, de dandd fide, stt, in mente divinCt, prius decreto de dandd salute P Neg. — God first decreed to save his people; and, in consequence of that decree, resolved to give them faith. " An,semel vere justificatus semper maneat justificatns P Aff.- — The man who is once truly justified continues justified for ever. " An, voluntas humana resistere possit gratice Dei efficaci P Neg. — Man's will can- not resist the efficacious grace of God. "An, post Adama lapsum, libertas ad bonum sit prorsus amissa P Aff. — Ever since the fall of Adam, the human will has utterly lost all its freedom to [spiritual] good. " An omnes baptizati sint justificati ? Neg. — All baptized persons are not there- fore in a state of justification. " An, ipse actus fidei nobis imputetur pro justitid legis seymi propria P Neg. — Strictly speaking, the act ot believing is not imi)uted to us for legal righteousness. " An, fides, et fidei justitia, sint propria electorum P Aff.— Faith itself, and the right- eousness of faith, are peculiar to the elect." Among others, the Theses, which next fol- low, were asserted by the Oxford doctors, even after the accession of Charles I. when Calvinism ce.ised to enjoy the sunshine of court encouragement. Anno 1625. "An,prcedestinatio sitex prcs- visafide, veloperihusP Neg. — Predestination to life is not for faith and good v.'orks fore- seen." Anno. 1 627. ' 'An,prcBdestinatio ad salutem sit mutabilisP Neg. — Predestination to life is an unchangeable act of God. "An, fides semel habita, possit amittiP Neg. — True faith, once had, can tiever be lost. "An, vera fides cadat in reproiumP Neo — No reprobate can truly believe. "An, ejjicacia gratice pendcat a libera infiuxu arbitrii P Neg. — The efficacy of di- vine grace is not suspended on the free influence of man's will. "An, Christus divincB justitice , vice nos- tra proprie et integre satisfecerit P Aff. — Christ did, literally and completely, make satisfaction to the justice of God, in our room and stead." Anno 1628. " An, arbitrium humanum determinet gratiam divinam P Neg. — God's grace is not determined by man's wiU." Examples might be multiplied, to a volume. But the reader may judge of the crop, by the small gleaning here presented to his view. The Church of England, in those day's might boast of Oxonians who believed. 2(54 STATE OF CALVINISM as well as subscribed, her Thirty-nine Ar- ticles. Nor did the other " oculvs Angliee " the University of Cambridge, yield a jot to her elder sister, in point of (irthorioxy. The eminent Dr. Samuel Ward, in May 1628, thus wrote, from Cambridge, to archbishop U.sher ; " As for our University, none do pationise these {i. e. the Armiuiaii) points, either in schools, or pulpit. Though, be- cause preferments at court are conferred on such as incline that way, causeth some to Inok that way." (p) In the same letter, he blames a Dr. Jackson, who had lately " pro- fessed himself an Arminian : " and adds, concei ning tlie said Jackson, " I do conctive all that which he disjjuteth in his book, against negative lepiobation, as not sorting with the antecedent will ot Ciod, for the sal- vation of all, to be against the seventeenth article of religion, which plainly averreth a gratuitous predestination of some and not of all. Therefore, fiom thence e. from trie seventeenth article of the Church of England) is inferred, a not election of others to that grace : which is that wliich, properly, is styled, reprobation. " (r/) More than six year s after, viz. in June, '634, when Aiminianismliad waxed both old-, ei' and bolder, the same Dr. Ward wrote as follows, to the said great and good arch- bishop: "We have had some doings heie (at Cambridge) of late, about one of Pem- broke-hall (iiis. Mr. Tournev); who, preach- ing in St. Mary's nhovX the begiiming of Lent, upon James ii. 22, seemed to avouch the insufficiency of faith to justification, and to impugn the doctrine of our eleventli ar- ticle o: jnstiticatiori by faith only : for which he was convented by the vice-cliancellur, who was willing to accept of an easy ac- knowledgment. But the same party, preach- ing his Latin sermon, pro irradu, the last week, upon Kom. iii. 28; he said he came not Palinodiam caiicre, seel eandcm CautUenam cunere. Which moved our vice-chancellor. Dr. Love, to call for his sermon : which he refused to deliver. Whereupon, on Wed- nesday hisf, being Bariiaby day, the day ap- pointed for the admission of the batchelors of divinity, which must answer. Die Comi- tio!'Jim ; he (tv'r. the Armini in preacher) was staved (?. e. stupt ot his degree) by the major part of the sulii iiges ot tue docVirs of tlis faculty. And though sundry doctors did tavoui- him " (even as many as w^^hed to recommend themstlves at cnuit and at Lam- beth) " anil would have had him to be the man tliat shoidd answer, Die Comiriornm ; yet he is put by : and one Mr. Flatkers, of our {viz. of Sydney) college, chosen to an- swer, wliose lirst question is, sula fides jus- tificat. — The truth is, that there are some heads among us that are great abetters of Mr. Tourney, the par ty above mentioned ; who, no doubt, are backed by others. I pray God, we may persist in the doclrine of our Church, con'ained in our articlbs and homilies ! innovators are too much favoured, now-a-days. Our vice-chancellor hath car- ried business, for ma'ter of religion, both stoutly and discreetly. — It may be you are willing to hear ot our University affairs, may truly say, I never knew them in worse condition, since I was a member thereof, which is almost forty-six years. rvs of our college. The (late) vire- chancellcir, Dr. Love, did well perlorni bis )iart ; especlallv, in encountering with one Franciscus the main source. With regard to eccle siastical matters, the triumpharii Sectarists did but nnish what Laud had bfiruii. That p'-plate 'abi urcd to aestroy the internal doctrine-s of the Church : and the lepnhliciin zealot^ fol- lowed the blow, bv demolishing the whole fabric. In the unsettled times which intervened between the execution ot Char les \. and the restoration of his family to the crown, the chuich lav in ruins. A violent extreme very fiequently engender s its opposite. As Laud had directed much of his zeal and force towards his favourite point of re-bap- ti/iiig the church into the grossest absurdi- ties of splendid superstition, his enemies were no sooner masters of the field than they bent things too much the other way, and opened a channel to the wildest extravagan- cies of fanaticism. The elegant simplicity, with which the national worship had been so- lemnized during the reigns of Elizabeth and James L, gave place, in many instances, to naked and slovenly modes of celebration, that rendered the public performance of di- vine offices rather matter of contempt and disgust than steps to decent and reasonable devotiun. It must, indeed, be acknowledged, that, during the period now trea ed of (viz. the usurpation), manyeminent divines flourished, wliose piety and learning, abihties and can- (t) See the preface to the quarto edition of arcV bishop t'shrr 8 Sermoii.*;, Edit, ltii»;i. 2f)6 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. fiiiur, would have adorned any denomination, aiid have done lionour to any party, what- eier. Mr. Stephen Charnock, for example, ill whom all those illustrious qualities were united, and to a very uncommon degree, may rank with the best and most respectable men, to whom this island ever gave birth. Vet is it equally true that no small number of the then authorized teachers were im- merged in the thickest dregs of ignorance, bigotry, and fanaticism. For, the plan (now adopted by Mr. John Wesley, and which has ever been in fashion among the Turks) was then too generally pursued in England : viz. that of prostituting the ministerial function to the lowest and most illiterate mechanics, persons of almost any class, but especially common soldiers, who pretended to be pregnant with " a message from the Lord," had free access to the pulpit. If the preacher was hardly "letter-learned'' enough to read his text, that very circumstance was, in the opinion of many, but a stronger demonstration of his being supernaturally " gifted." It is easy to conceive what an inverted and distorted figure the Protestant doctrines must have made, when viewed through the medium of such ministrations. Corruptio optimi est passima. It was this unhappy circumstance which opened the chief door to those floods of licentious ridi- cule and burlesque, poured on the most venerable and important truths, in the sub- sequent days of Charles II. (h) Among the lay preachers who most signalized them- selves during the usurpation, was John Goodwin, the Arrainian leveller and fifth monarchy man ; with whom must be joined his co-adjutant in the work of the ministry (for they both occupied one pulpit), the renowned Mr. Thomas Venner, no less emi- nent for the insuirections which he raised, for the murders he committed, and for his horrible dying behaviour at the gallows, than for his skilfulness in hooping barrels (which was his proper trade), and for the ardour wherewith he propagated Armin- ianism. Monarchy and the Church of England revived together, in 1663. By the Church of England, 1 here mean, the frame and the forms of the Church : or, in other words, her hierarchy, discipline, worship and reve- nues. Does the reader ask, why I express myself with such precision and limitation ; I would rather answer this question in the words of another, than in words of my own. — " Upon the Restoration, the Church, though she stiU retained her old subscrip- tions and articles of faith, was found to have totally changed her speculative princi- ples." (x) That is, though the liturgy, articles, and homilies, were not weeded of their Calvinism, yet very many of the new clergy were tinged with Armiiiianism. To preserve appearances, the old doctrines were permitted to keep their place in the printed standards; but a great number of the new subscribers had, in reaUty ranged themselves under a different banner. — Thus, no sooner had the goodness of Divine Providence re- trieved the Church from the hands of her declared enemies, than she suffered by the doctrinal desertion of her ostensible friends. Not that the desertion then, any more than now, was universal. But those who em- braced that odd species of dissenting con- formity, known by the name of Arminianism, appear to have constituted the majority : (y) and have done so from tliat day to this. IV. Let me now proceed to the venti- lation of such objections, raised against the doctrinal Calvinism of the Church of En- gland, as I have either omitted to confute, or have but lightly touched upon, in my former publications. 1 . We are gravely tnld, by one Arminian after another, that the principles of our e>- tablished Church arc, " not Calvinian, but Melancthonian." If this was true, what would theArminians get by it? just nothing at all. For, as I have {z) elsewhere proveo, Melancthon carried the doctrine of predesti- nation to as high a pitch as Luther and Calvin themselves. Nor did he ever retract a single syllable of what he wrote on that subject. But Melancthon, how orthodox soever, does not appear (and I have studied these matters with as much attention, I believe, as any Arminian among us) to have had the least hand, or the least influence, di- rectly or indiiectly, on any part of the En- glish Reformation. He was, for aught I have ever been able to find, no more con- cerned in fabricating the Church of England, than was Zoroaster or Confucius. Let the Arminians prove the contrary, and we will (u) The folldwinff portrait of Charles II. though sketclif (1 i>\ a tni i ii:!! hand, ronvevs a strikinerlike- ncs^ ,>1 i.r"l I mI hlndinnus'tsr.liit. Fuit is ///''■' . (Uqin' liabeJlS ; PrO' - i.i'^is.iit securius rtpia- ■■ifii II III itiiiiiiiiii !■ Ill . I.I. he was a drudsfe to iust ; a contemptuous disre^arder of every tliinj^ serious and sacred ; a Protestant in pretence, to secure himself on the throne ; hut, in his last mo- ments, he 80 far threw off the masque, as to receive the euchaiist, &c. after the manner prescrihed by the Popish ritual. — Joh : Alph. Turrettint Hist. Eccles. p. 403. (X) Huiues Hist. 5. 57.1. (.») "Tisremarkaijle that application was made to Charles the Second, to revive queen ElizabetJi's order for placing Fox's History of the martyrs in the common halls of the archbisliops, bishops, deans, archdeacons, collejres, 4;c. To which request, tna crafty king seemed to smile asfent. But he toik care to leave the thing undone.— See Wood's Athen. I. 187. (:) .See my translation of Zanchius on Predes- OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 267 weigh their proofs in the exactest balance of candour and attention. — I go still farther ; and add, so remote was Melancthon from being an English reformer, that I never yet heard of any church at all whose reforma- tion he was the instrument of effecting. I know, indeed, that he is generally numbered among the foreign reformers ; but he seems to have that honour assigned to him, more by the courtesy of some authors, tlian by virtue of historical fact. His framing the Augsburgh Confession does not prove him a reformer : for that pacific department was committed to his care, by princes whose churches were already reformed to his hand. Nor did his pious endeavours to assist Her- man the archbishop of Cologne, in reform- ing that city, entitle him to the above name ; for both the archbishop's efloits, and his own, proved entirely unsuccessful. As I am on the subject of Melancthon, I will digress into some other particulars con- cerning him. Mr. Hume is abundantly too severe to the memory of that learned man, in num- bering him among those whom he imperti- nently traduces, as " wretched composers of metaphysical polemics." (a) Melancthon, with all his supposed "wretchedness" of parts, had more solid knowledge in his little finger, than Mr. Hume has of infidelity, from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot. Add to which, that this censure, if admitted, would involve, not only the greatest Chris- tian divines of all ages, but likewise more than half the philosophers of antiquity: who dealt as much in " metaphysics," and in "polemics," as any believing priest whatever. Besides : who has dabbled more in " po- lemical metaphysics," than Mr. Hume him- self ? and a metaphysical polemist, is a me- taphsiycal polemist, let his metaphysics and his polemics be of what cast they will. More- over, the sneer could not have fallen more wide of the mark : for no divine of Melanc- thon's eminence, then living, had a less me- taphysical head, or dealt more sparingly in polemics than he. — Let the ingenious de- claimer read before he declaims : and his conclusions will be less precipitant. Amidst all my just veneration for the name and memory of Melancthon, I must observe, that he possessed one quality, which threw no little shade on the lustre of his virtues and of his talents. I mean that timid, temporizing spirit, which, either through weakness of nerves, or weakness of (a) Hist. vol. iv. p. 134. (b) When disputes ran high in Germany, be- tween the advocates for Popery, and the patrons of llie Reformation, Charles V. ordered a system of tlieoloffy to be drawn up, in which be required both parties to acquiesce, till a general council should meet to settle the agitated controversies. Hence the book itself was called. The Interim. It was first published in the diet of Augsburgh May 15, 1548, faith, appears to have been the evil that most easily beset him. Dr. Robertson re- marks, that, in 1550, after the artful busi- ness of the (6) Interim had been successfully carried by the power and intrigues of the emperor Charles (a step which he would not have found so easy, had the honest and courageous Luther been living) ; Melanc- thon, now deprived of the manly counsels of Luther, which were wont to inspire him with fortitude, and to preserve him steady amidst the storms and dangers that threatened the Church, was seduced into unwarrantable concessions, by the timidity of his temper, his fond desire of peace, and his excessive complaisance towards persons of high rank. '' (e) On this, as well as many other occasions, throughout his life, Melancthon's com- plaisance was indeed excessive, to a fault. The name Dydimus, which he once assumed (when he published a tract under the rose), suited but too well with that duplicity of conduct, which put him so often upon trim- ming and shuffling in the things which per- lain to God. At bottom, his principles were sound : and he (rf) hated, in reality, the pain- ful ambidexterousness wherewith he thought it prudent to balance between the friends and the enemies of the Reformation. " All Europe was convinced that Me- lancthon was not so averse as Luther to an accommodation with the Romanists : and that he would have sacrificed many things for the sake of peace."(6') Of this, Melanc- thon gave proof upon proof : but never more enormously, than at the Augsburgh conference, in 1530, wlien he appeared to be in a humour to sacrifice, not only manv things, but every thing, for the sake of a coalition with the Church of Rome. He agreed, "That men should not be said to be justified by faith alone, but by faith and grace [z. e. by faith and inherent grsice or holine^s] : That good works are necessary [viz. to justification] : That reprobates are included in the Church : That man has a free-will : That the blessed saints intercede for us and may be honoured ; That the body and blood of Christ are contained in both elements : That those of the laity are not to be condemned who receive the eucliarist only under one kind : That the usual vene- ration should be given to the holy sacra- ment: That mass should be publicly cele- brated with the usual ceremonies : That the Popish bishops should hold their ancient and, though composed with much studied ambiguity of expression, in order to trepan the Protestants with greater facility, yet, almost every one of the Popish tenets was either expressly or Tirtually as- serted in it. See Robertson, vol. iii. p. 4S1. ((■) Robertson's Hist, of Charles. V. Tol. iv. p. 10. (d) See Strype's life of Cranmer, p. 40S. e) Rolt's Lives of the Reformers, p. 103, from Bayle. OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. jurisdiction : and that the parish priests should possess a power of excomni jnication, and be subject, in spiritual matters, to the Siiid Koman bishops." (/) This was " saciificir.g" with a witness. But, it seems, the good man would have sacrificed still more, if Luther and the other Protestants, by whose commission he [Me- lancthon] treiitcd with tlie Homish divines, had not taken fire at the extrava^^ant con- cessions already madi-, and restrained him fromgiiinjr on. " Mulanctlnm, who was very much inclined to peace'' [i. e. to patch up a I'eace with the Chnrch of Rome, by allow- ing hiT tvtry point she wa ited], " mi^ht have cunie nearer, if he had been invested with ample powers. But the rigid RkjIcs- tants had been di.ssatistied with !iis conde- scensions, and ordered him to advance no farther." (g) — Thus acted the man, who de- clared himself to be, what he most certainly was in his heart, so convinced " of the truth of Luther's doctrine," that he " would never torsake it Nor does it appear that he ever did inwardly forsake the doctrine of Luther. But can I con\mend him for his pusillanimous flexibihty, which induced him to curry human favour at the expense of divine truth ; and for straining his own con- science, in order to shake hands with Rome ? 1 commend him not. Take another instance of Lis ductility. " Melarcthim was consulted upon the lii- vorce wnich Henry VIII. was determined to have against Catherine of Spain : ami he gave his opinion, that the law in Leviticus is dispensable, and that the marriage [viz. the king's mairiage with his brothvi's widow] might be lawful ; and that, in these matters, states and princes might make v.'hat laws they pleased " (0 Throw this artful piece of court casuistiy wliich way you will, 'twill pitch upon its legs, and stand plum upon all tour. It told Henry, in effect, that he mii;ht either retain his conjugal sister, or put her away, just as appetite should serve. For what was past, his majesty had incurred no sin : because in these matters the law of God may be dispensed with by princes. And, as to the future, if the king did not clioose to persist in exerting his right to dispense with God's law, he might at any time rid himself of a stale wife by giving her a bill of divorcement. Such was Meianc- thon's " excessive complaisance to persons of high rank !" The advice he gave to fficolampadius bore the same impress of artifice and du- phcity. The Lutherans and the Zuinglians differed concerning the na'uie of the holy sacrament. The former supposed, that the ( f) Roll's Lives of the Reformers, p. 106. M Rott, Ihid. (h) Ibid. p. 102. real body and blood of Christ were constib- stantiated with the element", though the elements were not trans-substantiated into the real body and blood : but that both subsisted together, as fire subsists in and with a red-hot iron. The Zuinglians, on the other hand, believed that tiie conse- crated symbols were no more than a merely commemoiative representation. A confer- ence was opened, upon tins matter, be- tween some divines of each party. CEco- lampadius wrote to Melani thon, requesting him to terminate the dispute, by declaiing himself in favour of the Zuinglian opinion. Observe Melancthon's answer : " I canuot approve the opinion of the Sacramentarians ; but, if you Would act politicly, y ju should speak otherwise : for, you know, there are many learned men among them, whose fi iendship would be advantaijcous to me. "(A) Luther could never bring himself to hunt with the hound and run with the hare. He was formed of materials too heroic, not to abhor collusion, and all its narrow, skulk- ing aits. Hence, he often rallied Melanc- thon, and sometimes chid him in terms of severity, for his religious cowardice. These friendly stimulations roused and quickened ISlel incthon, for a short while : but he soon relapsed into Melancthon again. Let a man espouse what system he will, he must unavoidably displease some party or other. But the man who affects to adopt s ich a system as may render him obnoxious to no party whatever, very rarely acquires that measuie of esteem from any, which he fondly expects to receive fr om all. Melanc- thon hoped, that his extreme moderation would have exempted him entirely from the feuds of enmity and opposition. But he was disappointed : and the disappointment had an unfavourable effect on his spirits. In anijling, with so much anxiety, for universal applause, he incurred that suspicion, which is the usual reward of irresolute fluctuation. A great part of the Protestants disliked him, for not seeming Protestant enough : and most of the Papists hated liim, for not being sufficiently Popish. The consequence was, that he led a very uneasy life between the two. " Nature," says Monsieur Bayle, "which gave Melancthon a peaceable temper, made him a present ill suited with the time in which he was to live. He was like a lamb in the midst of wolves. His moderation served only to be his cross. No body liked his mildness. "(/) — " He was never out of danger : but might truly be said, through fear, to be all his life-time subject to bon- dage. Thus he declared in one of his works (i) Ibid, p 107. (k) Ro!t. p. 104. (l) Hist. Diet, vol.iv. p. 187. OBJECTIONS ANSWiiUED 26? that he bad held his jjrufcssoi's place [at WittenbuigJ lorty years, witiioiit being ever sure that he ^honld not be turned out of it before tiie end of the week."(»«) Hoiiocy is the best policy. Who \rould ^v■i^h, by disguising his sentiments, to trea the iir- lificial and painful path of the triuiniiiig Melancthon ? Notwithstanding his acknowledged defect of courage, he yet ventured to as^ert the strongest predestination. A learned Pa- pist even goes so far as to chcir^e Calvin himself with boriowing some of the argu- ments, by which he supports that ductiine, from Melancthon. This accusation, though false, shews the agreement which subsisted between those two divmes upon that im- portant article. Our own bishop Davenant, who was a consummate judge of these matters, ob- serves, that " Melanc'.hon took offence at the manner of delivering the doctrine of predestination and reprobation, insisted on by some : but, for the substance of doctrine, he ai,kiuJwU (Iged his aureement with Cal- vin. That 11. en mu-st come to the know- ledge of the.r election, from their taitli and liolv lili', "as Mel.uuthou's opinion : but that tlieir foreseen failh and holiness was the cause, or couditlon, or motive, upon which Gvliicii the ene- mies of truth only deserve, viz. that he stank amongst learned and yood men, himself lie- ing deceived by the devil. How much Me- lancthon esteemed those books of Mr. Calvin, himself testifies in his epistles, which are in print."(p) Melancthon, as well as Calvin, was a (q) Sublapsarian. In tnose times, Arminanism was a term utterly unknown in the Ciirist- ian church. Melancthon died, A. D. 15()0, i. e. tiie same year, in which Arminius was (m) Biosrraph. Di t. vol. -riii. p. 325. (») Srondanus. See Bayle, vol. ii. p. '272. (0) Bishop Davenant against Hoord, p. 72. (j>) ClarkV Mnrrow of Hist. p. •29.1. lie »ddainiis, '>. ' ii-n; .tin .ir . r:.t; . t • >. .•. tli.,i>iiuii, tecnvi, loquor, ej'iiui; et ductimimc P/iili/ipe. (r) i. e. All good men unite in acknowledging your uncommon learning and piety. But it is no less true that we likewise unite in beseeching God to endue you with a larger poition of courage and boldness. See how free the least considerable, but not the least respect- ful, of your friends, ventures to make witii you." Envy is, perhaps, not often honoured with residence in so valuable a mind as that of Melanctlion. At the very time, however, when his intimacy with Luther was at it.s hei-jht, he seems t j have viewed the ascen- dency, which that relormer had acc|nired amoiii; Protestants, with jealousy and poii;. I wish tiie following incioent could be re;i- sonably ascriljed to a less ungenerous pim- ciple. " l\ielai;cthon often exhorted Buei r not to yield so much to Luther."(*) lie seems to have reiterated this secret exhort- ation, not only by word of mouth, but also by letter : and Bucer, wearied and disgirsted with Melancthon's teazings, seems to liave at last communicated the matter to Luther himself. So at least I conjecture, from the aspect of «hat follows : " He e. Melanc- thon] himself writes, that Lutlier \v as so enraged against him, about a letter n ( i .ved from Bucer, that he [Melancthon] thought of nothing but withdrawing himself for ever from Luther's presence. He lived under such continual constraint from Luther, &c. and was so oppressed with labour and vex- ation, that, being quite spent, he wrote to his friend Camerarius : I am in bondage, as if I were in the cave of the Cyclop (for I constare potest. Qnin et fuerunt qui ad rigidiss'in* Supralapsarioriumplacita(quil.u6 tuuntuDprocedvre baud dubitarent ; ut Beza et /nmhius : ad niitiora deflexit Melancthon."- J . A. Tioi ttiiii Hist. Vccl.s. p. 328 — Let me iust hint, that tins l,.ai i.ril n>3 \ IS mistaken in placitj? Zanihius on the list ol t>u- pralapsarians. (r) Zanchii, Opfra, torn. 'iii. p. 148. 's) Bayle, Tol. vi. p. li'O. 270 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. cannot disguise my sentiments to you), and I have often thoughts of making my es- cape."(0 Atone time he entertained the romantic design of retiring into the Holy Land, and of spending the remainder of his days in the identical cai-erns formerly occupied by St. Jerom. (a) But, the storm abating, that whimsical scheme subsided with it. Is it not very extraordinary, that a person of Melancthon's tender spirits and goodness of heart should justify and applaud the magistrates of Geneva, for punishing Ser- vetus's religious mistakes with death ? ' ' They acted right, " says Melancthon, " in bringing tliat blasphemer to the stake, after having first granted him the priWlege of a fair trial." (x) Alas, what is man ! No less inconsistent were Melancthon's nibblings at the doctrine of fate, in the sense wherein that doctiine was held by some Stoics. The astrological fate, or a destiny resulting from the positions and influence of the planets, is a very absurd and a very profane tenet. Melancthon would have done rightly in entering his caveat against it, had his caveat been sincere. But, even here, he acted with his usual dissimulation. In his heart, he leaned very strongly toward that exceptionable species of illegitimate fatality " I will observe, " says Bayle, " that he [Melancthon] was credulous, as to prodigies, astrology, and dreams." (y) Mr. Rolt adds, " from Melancthon's Epistles it may be ob- served, that he was a believer in judicial Bstrology, a caster of nativities, and an in- terpreter of dreams. Strange weakness in so great a man ! (z) — So far, therefore, was he from really denying predestination and fate, that he lield those doctrines even to excess : i. e. in the most irrational, gloomy, and superstitious point of view in which it is possible for the human mind to entertain them. The reformers were, however, sensible of Melancthon's well meaning piety, though the strange mixture and variegation of his spiritual complexion made them often at a loss how to deal with him. — -Each fliidhig, as a friend, Sometk'mg to blame, and something to commend. Luther had a very great regard for hira, but perceived it needful, both to refrain him, and to spur him on, as occasion required. Calvin held him in considerable estimation, and treated him with the most benevolent tenderness. He was also honoured ii'ith the correspondence of archbishop Cranmer ; who conceived a favourable idea of his learn- («) Ba>Ie, vol. vi. p. 191. (a) Ibid. p. 188. (l) Melancthon mugistratus Genevfnses recti jiidicat,^, inte'rticerint. TurettUii (Fran.) Institu- tioiiis, Theologiae, vol iii. p. 374. Edition, Lugd. 1606. (V) Vol. iv. p. 187. ing and humility. But they who insinuate that he [Melancthon] was concerned with that prelate in reforming the Church of Eng- land, seem to have advanced a conjecture totally un warranted by a single grain of proof. I can find no more than two occasions on which he was invited into England (but they were only invitations, for he never came) : namely, in (a) the reign of Hen. VIH., whom he had pleased to the life, by his gentle cas- uistry, concerning that monarch's divorce : and again a httle before the death of Ed- ward VI., who intended to have given him a quiet retreat in England, from his troubles in Germany, by fixing him at Cambridge, after the death of Bucer. (6) But when the first invitation was given hira, Henry had no design to reform (nor did he, to his dying day, reform) the doctrinal system of the Church. And when the second invitation was signified to Melancthon, the Church had been reformed already, by the care of king Edward, the duke of Somerset, Cranmer, Ridley, Bucer, Martyr, Calvin, and others. Certain it is, that Zanchius was actually in- vited hither, in due season, " to assist in carrying on the reformation :'' (c)and that the reformers of our Church were disappointed of his help, by his preferring a settlement at Strasbourg ; the divinity chair of that city yeir.g ofTered him while he was on his journey towards this kingdom, (rf) 2. It is objected against the Calvinism of our established Church, that " in several parts of the liturgy, &c. she herself seems to speak the language of Arminius." — Ira- possible ! for the Church (as we have already observed) having been reformed and esta- blished long enough before Arminius existed, she can never be supposed to have borrowed either her sentiments or her language from a man who was then unborn. A number of passages have been amassed, by some desparing Arminians, in order to prove, from the liturgy and homilies them- selves, that the Church of England is but a sort of shoot from the Arminian stock. The passages, however, are no more to the pur- pose than if they were alleged to prove that queen Elizabeth was Adam's wife and the mother of all mankind. Notwithstanding this, I have given each of them a distinct consideration in a pamphlet which has long lain by me ; and which shall be com- mitted to the press whenever the indulgence of the public shall call for its appearance. In the mean while 1 shall weigh two pas- sages, which are urged with great triumph, and not without some colour of seeming plausibility, by Mr. John Wesley and Co. (z) Lives of the Keformers, p. 111. {a) Strype's Ecclesiafidcal Memoirs, roi. p. 231, 232. (6) Strype's Eccles. Mcmor. vol. ii. p. W\, (c) See Hickman, u. s. p. 1,11. Id) See my Life of Zanchius. OBJtSirJlUNS AINSWt-KhL). 271 The first of these two citations is selected I'om the liturgy where, in the communion .>.crvice, the officiating minister, at the deli- very of the holy elements, says, to every re- ceiver, " The body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was ijiven for thee :" and " the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for thee." — Does not this look something like absolutely universal redemption ? Not, when soberly considered : unless it could be proved that every individual of the whole human race, from Adam to the last of man- kind, have been, are, and will be, communi- cants in the Church of England. — " Oh but it proves that all wlio do so communi- cate are, in her judgment, redeemed by Christ." Granted. And why does she sup- pose them redeemed ? Even because she in- vites none to the Lord's table but those who do " truly and earnestly repent them of their sins, and are in love and charity with their neighbours, and intend to lead a new life, following the commandments of God, and walking from henceforth in his holy ways." (e) As, therefore, the Church takes for granted that all who present themselves at that solemn ordinance are partakers of these graces, she very consist- ently infers that they are likewise all re- deemed by the blood of Christ ; for who can question the redemption of penitents and saints ? " Uh, but there is reason to be- lieve that all communicant's are not peni- tei.ts and sabits." Whether they are, or are not, must be left to the decision of God. It is enough, to the present point, that the Church describes the redeemed of the Lord under the characters of penitent and holy : and, thereby (in exact harmony with scrip- ture), virtually excludes, from a visible inte- rest in Christ's redemption, those who do not repent and obey. For each converted and sanctihed receiver, the Church affirms that the " body of Christ was given," and, " the blond of Christ was shed." What is this but sayi.ig, by necessary consequence, that we have no i ight to extend the death of Christ to such persons as are not con- verted and sanctified ? So that the very words themselves, of the administration, are a proof, not of an unlimited, but of an ex- ceedingly restrictive, redemption. Tlie second quotation is taken from one ol the homilies. " In the homily of alms- aoing," say Wesley and Sellon, "there is this apocryphal text, that alms make an atonement for sins." — I know not what ade- <)uate atonement these two Arminians can Riake to the church, for the slander and lalsehood of that insinuation, which they u.^ftn to convey under the cover of this re- n-Mii. Let us consult the homily itself: and its import will be found, not only quite innocent of Arminianism, but positively ot- thodox, and most highly calvinistic. " Ye shall understand, dearly beloved, that neither those places of the Scripture, before alleged ; neither the doctrine of the blessed martyr Cyprian ; neither any other godly and learned man ; when they, in extol- ling the dignity, profit, fruit, andeffect of vir- tuous and liberal alms, do say that it washeth away sins, and bringeth us to the favour of God, do mean that our work and charitable deeds are the original cause of our accepta- tion before God, or that, for the dignity or worthiness thereof, our sins may be washed away, and we purged and cleansed of all the spots of our iniquity : for that were indeed to deface Christ, and to defraud him of his glory. But they mean this, and this is the understanding of those and such-like say- ings : that God, of his mercy and special favour towards them whom he hath appoint- ed to everlasting salvation, hath so ofl'ered his grace especially, and they have so re- ceived it fruitfully, that although, by reason of their sinful living, they seemed before to have been the children of wrath and perdi- tion ; yet, now, the spirit of God mightily working in them unto obedience to God's will and commandments, they declare, by their outward deed and life, in the shewing of mercy and charity (which cannot come, but of the Spirit of God and his esp'f il grace), that they are the undoubted chil- dren of God, appointed to everlasting life. And so, as, by their wickedness and ungodly living" \_mz. before they were converted], " they shewed themselves, according to the judgment of men which follow the outward appearance, to be reprobates and cast-aways ; so now, by their obedience unto God's holy will, and by their mercifulness and tender pity (wherein they shew themselves to be like unto God, who is the fountain and spring of mercy), they declare, openly and manifestly to the sight of men, that they are the so largely and so expressly defines tiie sense in which she admits the justifying power of that good worlf ; the above pair of Arminian defamers are absolutely inexcusable ' lor tiiejr gross and wilful violation of justice and trutli, in laying to the charge of tlie Ciiurch things which she knoweth not. (/,■■) 3. It is "objected, that the Calvinistic doctrines are Puritanic ; and were tenacious- ly held by many, who opposed the estab- lished hierarchy. 1 answer : that the term Puritan, belonged, in its primary application, to those persons, and to those persons alone, who dissented from the government, the discipline, and the ceremonies, of the Church ot England. This will never be controverted by any who arc at all acquainted with the l-.istory ot Elizabeth's reign, in nhose time that word (Puritan) was first coined. Nor was it ever applied to churchmen themselves, till about two ytars before the diath of l this: ti.at theChtinh of E.s:»n.l alfirn.s unixevsal ie-lcm],t,on, in sayiiifr, th.V. " Clirist otVc-idl Inniself our, lor all upon the altar oftlK- rrns>." Now. I Ij-rci.v iiiiorm Mr. Sel- toi. lis Mr. \\c- i v (ii ht t.) ,li,ne before the tl'..r nhi ase 1 1 iz. " once fur all" ti nm the epistle to a.v Hebrew.s: where the on. ii:a! v ord is e^,a,r<.f, •vhich Bisniifies, once onlv. or irrcpeatably ; and :uuantf that Clirist so oltered hiujseif in sacribce, as the Court liveiy : though the king i.ad a suf- ficient character of liim, and was pleased, with asseveration, to protest his \yiz. Laud's .' incentive spirit should be kept unaer. tliat the flame should not break out by any pre- ferment from him. But that was now for- gotten in some measure : and he crept .so into favour, that he svas thought to be the bellows that blew these fires. For the Pa- pists used all the artifices they could, lo make a breach between the king and his people ; that they might enter at the same; for their own ends. Which to accomplish, they slily closed with toe chief ministers c/i state, to put the king upon all tiis projects and monopolies displeasing to tlie people, that they might the more alienate tlieir af- fections from him ; sowing their seeds of division also betwixt Puritan and Protestant ; so that, (like the second commandment) they quite excluded the Protestant [under the false idea of Puritanism] : for all those were Puritans, with this high-grown Ai- minian Popish party, that held in judgment tlie doctrine of the reformed Churches, or in practice lived according to the doctrine pub- licly taught in the Church of England." (i) To such a height did the couii-madness arise, that all were supposed to be tinctured with Puritanism who did not flatter Jaii.es even to blasphemy. " It was too apparent, that some of tiie clergy to make the way the smoother to their wished end, began so to adore the king, that he could not be named, but more reverence was done to it than to the name of God : and the judges, in tiieir itinerant circuits, the more to enslave tiie people to obedience, being to speak of the king, would give him such sacred and oraculous titles, as if their advancement to higher places must nece.-sarily be laid upon the foundation of the people's debase- ent."(A) Hear what the wise and upright arch- bishop Usher told king Charles the first, to his face, from the pulpit, in 1627. " I see, that those, who will not yield to that new doctrine which hath disturbed the Low Countries" [i. e. who will not embrace Ar- minianism], " there is an odious name casi upon them, and they are counted Puritans . which it a thing tending to dissention. We know who aie esteemed by Christ : and never to be offered up a;rain : be poured out his soul unto death, for the first and for the last time. Would politeness gi\e leave, I might laither explain the import of the term e^arraf , or » iiee for ail, by addressing Mr. Sellon thus: < Be i known, once for all, that you aie a most wret»;hed and contemptible ignoramus.' — But rather let iim> advise Mr. \\ esley, once for all, not to expose hif own cause a^am, by entrusting the management o* it to such a very illiterate advocate. (A; See Fuller's Church Hi.story, book. x. y fiT (i) Wilson, apud Kennet's Compl. Ui£t. vol. ii. p. 753. (*; Wilson, Ibid. OUJKCTION'S AN'SVVEIIED. i73 were it not a vile thing to term him a Puri- tan ? — And king James nia nlaiiied ilic same" [ytz. the same Cabinistic doctrines which *lic Church of England lias adopted] : "and ^hall those he coun ed so " [/'. e. be counted Puritans] " who confess those ponits whicli he maintained ! Do not thinl< I speak any thing as being hired on any side. But I foresee, that tlie forecasting of that name upon those who maintain the doctrine published by the pen of our (late) sovereign, will prove a means for the dis- tuvbiag of our peace. — I will not deny, but confess, that, in those five points wliich dis- turb the Loiv Countries, 1 am in the mind of my sovereign. I am not ashamed to con- fess it : nor never will be. — And I do here profess before God, that if I wre an Armi- nian, and did hold those five points which have caused tlinse troubles in the Low Coun- tries, and is like to cause them here among us ; the case standing as it doth, that the greatest number of the prophets blow their horns another way; 1 hold 1 were bound in conscience to hold my peace, and keep my knowledge to myself, rather than, by my unseasonable uttering of it, to disturb the peace of the Church. — This is the last time 1 shall be called to this place: therefore, I will leave this advice; which, if it be neg- lected, peradventure it will be too late easily to stop things." (/)— Observe, here, 1. Tl at, in this prelate's judgment, kin^; James lived and died a doctrinal Cahinist.— 2. That Calvinism was a thing as essentially diffe- rent from Puritanism as light from dark- ness — 3. That if the belief of the Calvinian doctrines be puritanic, it w uld follow that Christ himself was a Puritan. — 4. The good archbishop was not ashamed to avow those doctrines in the presence of king Charles and of his Arminian court. — 5. As he is said to have foretold the massacre of the Irish I'rotestants, so, in the above dis- course, he has plainly predicted the civil wars which, many years after, actu;illy en- sued.— 6. We have his grace's e.xplicit testi- mony, that, even in the reign of Charles the first, " the greatest number" of the estab- lished cleruy " blew their horns," i. e. preached and published, not in the Arminian stiain, l)ut qnite "another way," though in direct opposition to the wind and tide of court encouragement. — 7- He was sensible that, for his honesty and faithful dealing, this was " the last time" he should ever be asked to preach before the king : he there- fore resolved to make, and make he did, the (t) Archbishop Usher's Sermon on 1 Cor. iiy.3.?. Preaehed before the kinpr, a; Greenwich, June 27, ••W. Annexed to the folio edition of his Body »i DiTinitv, London, 1G?8. P. is.-), ifl4. (m) See .Strype's Life of Wijit^.ft, Apiicudii. No. 00. p. 217. ' mos' ofthat last opportunity, by giving his ma- jesty some very wholesome, though not very palatable, " advice." Which advice had the king uniformly followed, he had, probably, savcil the Church from ruin, the thrto king- doms from destruction, and his own head from the axe. — H. The archbishop's integrity is more to be admired, as the king's decla- ration, for imposing silence on pieachers touching the points in dispute, had been published so lately as the year before the above sermon was delivireil. The heroic piel ite thought it right to obey God rather than man. After all, what if the Puritans themselves, truly and properly so called, should be found to have been dissenters, not from the doc- trines, but merely and solely from the rites and regimen, of the Church of England? That this was actually and literally the case, i. e. that the Puritans (in the reigns of Elizabeth and the first James) cordially ap- proved the furniture, though they (lisreli>hed the fabric, of our excellent ecclesiastical house, appears from the most conclusive and incontrovertible evidence. On this subject, archbishop Hutton thus expressed himself, in 1604. " The Puritans, whose fantastical zeal I mislike, though they differ in ceremonies and accidents, yet they agree with us in substance of religion." (m) " People of the same c untry," says Mr. Nicolas Tindal, " of the same religion, and of the same judgment and doctrine, parted communion on account of a few habits and ceremonies." (k) According to this histo- rian, the very Brownists theravelves, though they bear the character of having been ttie most rigid and intiactable of all the then Separatists, were one with the Church, in matters of doctrine. " The Brownists did not differ from the Church in any doctrinal points." (o) With the superficial Mr. Tindal agrees the profound and laborious Mr. Cham- bers : " The occasion of their [i. e. of the Brownists'] separation was, not any fault th( y found with the faith, but only with the discipline and form of government, of the other Churches in England." {p) Even Peter Heylyii found himself con- strained to draw a line between Calvinists and Puiitians. And thus he draws it. "1 must needs say the name of doctrinul Puri- tanism is not very ancient. — Nor am I of opinion, that Puritan and Calvinian are terms convertible. For though all Puritans are Calvinians, both in doctrine and practice ; yet, all Calvinians are not to be counted as (n) Continuation of Rapin's History, vol. iii. p 217.— Edit, quae pr. (0) Tindal, Ibid (j>) Chambcr'.s Dirt, on ftif '^■rrA BrowuisU. T 274 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. Puritans also : whose pratices \J. e. the practices of the Puritans] many of them [?. e. many of the CalvinisttJ abhor, and whose inconformities they detest." (q) A writer, whose portmanteau Heylyn was not worthy to carry, shall clinch the present nail of the evidence. I mean tire very respectable bishop Saunderson : who affirms, th^t to charge Calviiiists with Pu- ritanism, is a "most unjust and uncharitable course ; " whereby his lordship thought the Arminians had " prevailed more, than by all the rest [of their artifices], in seeUing to draw the persons of those that dissent from them into dislike with the State, as if they were Puritans, or disciplinarians, or, at least, that way affected. Whereas, " adds this judicious prelate, "1. The questions in de- bate are such as no vvav touch upon Puritan- ism, either off or on. — '2. Many of the [Calvinists I have as fi eely and clearly de- clared their judgments, by preaching and writing against all puritanismand puritanical principles, as the stoutest Arminian in Eng- land bath done. — Could that blessed arch- bishop Whitgift, or tlie modest and learned Hooker, have ever thought, so much as by dream, that men, concurring with tliem in opinion, should, for some of these very opin- ions, be called Puritans? " (r) — I hope we shall hear no more of the puritanic tendency of Calvinism. 4. Another false and shameless objection a^jainst these doctrines is, that they are " un- favouralile to loyalty." But no insinuation can be more ahominablv unjust. We assert, with Scripture, that the powers which be areorcl:uned of God : consequently, we can- not be disloyal without flying in ths face of that very predestination and Providence for which we so zealously contend. A sp'ir, this, to civ'.l obedience, which Arminianism must for ever want. From innumerable proofs, I select one very pertinent and remarkable instance. Let us contrast the loyalty of the Calvinistic archbishop Usher with that of the Arminian ranter and fifth monarchy man, John Good- win. " The execution of king Charles I. struck archbishop Usher with great horror. The countess of Peterborough's house, where the primate [Usher] then lived, being just over agiinst Charing-Cross, several of her gen- tlemen and servants went up to the leads of the house, from whence they could plainly see what was acting before Whitehall. As soon as his majesty came upon the scaffold, some of the houshold told the primate of it : and asked him, whether be would see the king once more before he was put to death? He was, at first, unwilling ; but, at last, went up : where, as the ceremonial advanced, the piimate grew more and more affected ; and when the executioners in vizards began to put up I he king's hair, the archbishop grew pale, and would have fainted, if lie had not been immediately carried off.'" (s) Very different was that traijical incident relished by Goodwin the free-will man. I have proved, in a foregoing part of this work, (?) that he considered all " kinyship as the great antichrist : " and, in perfect consistency with this mad and detestable principle, he " not only justified putting the king to death, but magnified it as the glori- ousest action men were ciipable of." What half kill d the most reverend Calvinist of Ai match, made the heart of that irreverend free-will man of Colenian-street to leap for joy. Loyal Usher began to swoon at the sight of majesty on a scatlold : but the Armin- ian rebel John (ioodwin vindicated, and in folio too, the stroke of that nefdrious axe which deprived majesty of life. A single question and answer shall, for the present, wind up the topic of loyalty. — Whom did Providence honour with beins; the auspicious instrument of entailing the British crown on the h nise of the amiable and illus- trious mona-.ch who now adorns the tlirone' His Calvinistic majesty king WiOiaiu IIL 5. " Oh, but Calvin himself pronounces the decree of reprobation an hoirible de- cree."— I know not which exceeds : Mr. Sellon's ignorance, or Mr. Wesley's disin- genuity. Calvin no wliere stiles " repro- bation," an "horrible decree." These two /^j-niiiiians, therefore, aj e, in pla'm English, a pair of horrible liars. It is in treating of God's determination to permit the fall of Adam, that Calvin says, Decrctum qnidem horrlbile fateor ; inf! inri tamen nemo poterit, qnin pra'sciveril Djux, qnem exitum esset habiturus homo, aiilei/'iam i/isnm conderet. (») i. e. " I acknowledge this decree to be an awful one : it is how- ever, undeniable, that, before the creation of man, God knew what the event of it would be." I would willingly imagine, that Mr. Wes- ley is not so wretched a Latinist as to be- lieve that he and his subaPern acted fairly, in rendering the word /lorribilis, as it stands in the above connection, by the English ad- jective horrible. Though there is a same- ness of sound, there is no necessary sameness of signification, in the two epithets. We have annexed a secondary idea to the Eng- hsh words "horror" and "horrible ;" which tlie Latin "horror" and " horribilis" do not always import. I shall give two or three (f) Life of Laud, p. 119. (r) Bishop Saunderaoii's P.ix Ecclcsise : p. S3, 61. (i) Biog. Diet. vol. xi. p. 33S. Introduction. >t.j Calv. Instit l ib III. op. xxiii. Sect. f'.l. SHORT ADDRESS TO THE CLERGY. 275 instances : taking care, for the sake of poor Mr. Sellon, to add English explanations of the Latin passages I bring. Wlien Cicero says, Horribile est, causam capitis dicere ; horribiliu.i, prinre loco di- eere : (x) is not this the meaning ? " It is an awful undertaking, to plead a cause in which life and death are concerned, moio awlul still, (() be the first opener of such a cause." — When Virgil 0/) mentions the horribUius irax of Juno ; wiiat are we to undci stand, but the tremendous resentment of tlie god- dess ? — The same poet's(i)/iO)Y6';i;(V/)((,' atntm Kemiis imminet nmhra, must be rendered by, " the impending grove is darl( with solemn shade." Similar (as Servius observed) is that of Lucan : Arboribns situs hnrror iifst : (a) i. e. " There is something venerable in a grove of trees." — Nor did the noble and profoundly learned Daniel Heinsius use an improper term, when, (speaking of Julius Scalisrer) he said, Ciijns uiimeii sine horrore et rsligione commcmorare nun possum :{b) i. e. "The very mention of bis name strikes a sort of religious awe upon my mind." Calvin, "therefore, might weU term God's adorable and inscrnt:ihle purpose respecting the fall of ma'i, il^'crrlunt /mrribile : i. e. not an horrible, but an awful, a tremendous, and a venerable decree. A decree, the divine motives to which can never be investigated by human reason in its present benighted state ; and concerning which, we can only say, in the language of Scripture, " How un- searchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out ! " TO CONCLUDE. From what has been observed, relative to the great Protestant doctrines, now distin- guished by the name of Calvinistic, we may too easily perceive how deeply, and how generally, we are revolted and gone from the religion of Jesus Christ, or (vvhicli is the self-same thing) from the spirit and principles of the religion established in this land. What an ingenious writer remarks, is melancholy, because true : " The Church of England are Predestinarians by their arti- cles ; and preach free-will."(c) The greater the pity, and the greater the shame. For this dreadful declension from the Scripture and from the Church, we are, partly, indebted to that door of endless pre- varication, opened to the clergy by bishop Burnet, in what he entitles his Exposition of the XXXIX Articles ; a performance, for (x) Orat. pro Quinct. (v) Hoc quondam monstro horribiles exercnit I inacliise Juno pesteni meditata juvenciE. Geor. (:) -*:oeid. I. 16!). (a) Pharsal. iii. which (notwithstanding its merit in some respects) the Church of England is, upon tlie sum total, under nc very great obliga- tion to his lordship's art and labour. It is true, that work is not so commonly nor sc assiduously studied, of late years, as it was half a century ago. — Many of our divines have tender eyes : and, for fear of endan- gering those valuable organs, by the perusal of a formidable volume, choose to take mat- ters upon trust, and borrow the needful evasions, viva voce, from one another. Even the lax theology of Tillotson is almost grown obs(dete. Where shall we stop ? We have already forsook the good old paths trod by Moses and the prophets, and by Christ and the apostles : paths in whiidi our own reform- ers also trod, our martyrs, our bishops, our clergy, our universities, a id the whole body of this Protestant, i. e. of this once Calvin- istic nation. Our liturgy, our articles and our homilies, it is true, still keep possession of our church-walls : but we pray, we sub- scribe, we assent one way ; we believe, we preach, we write another. In the desk, we are verbal Calvinists : but no sooner do we ascend a few steps above the desk, than we forget the grave character in which we ap- peared below, and tag the performance with a few minutes' entertainment compiled from the fragments bequeathed to us by Pelagius and Arminius ; not to say by Arius, Sociiuis, and by others still worse than they. Ob- serve, I speak not of all indiscriminately. We have many great and good mep, some of whom are, and some of whom are not, Calvinists. But, that the glory is, in a very considerable degree, departed from our es- tablished Sion, is a truth which cannot be contravened, a fact which must be lamented, and an alarming symptom wliich ought to be publicly noticed. In the opinion of the late Dr. Young, " almost every cottage can shew us one that has corrupted, and every palace one that has renounced the faith." (d) Are matters much mended since that pious and respectable Arminian launched the above complaint? I fear not. Is there a single heresy, that ever annoyed the Christian world, which has not its present partizans among those who pro- fess conformity to the Church of England ? At what point our revoltings will end, God alone can tell. But this I affirm, without hesitation, and on the most meridian con- viction, that Arminianism is the poisonuus wood to which the waters of our national sanctuary are primarily indebted for all their (h) Heinsii. Orat. i. in Obirum Jos. Seal. p. 3. -Edit. hugd. 1615. (c) Letters on the Enfrlish Nation, hy Rattistf An^eloni; vol. ii. Letter 34.p. f.O. K,lit. XTra. This performance i-^, by some, asi-ribcti to \)r. Shcbbeare {d) Centaur m.t fabul. T 2 276 SOLEMN NATURE OF SL'LtC P.il'TlGN. embitteiment. In paiticu'.ar, Aiianisra, So- cinianism, piactical Antinomianism, and in- fidt lity itself, have all made their v\ ay through that bieacli at which Armin.aniMii entered Lefoie them. Nor will th.- {e; otestant religio.i g;aii ground, or finally maintain the g:ouud it has got ; neitlit r is it possible for ihe interests o! morality itself to tlouri.-h ; till tlie Arminian bond-woman and her soni are cast out: i. e. tiU the n 'Uiinal members of our church become realbi Levers of its doc- trines ; and throw the exotic and coiru|jt sys- tem of Van Harniin, with all its blanches an 1 appui tenances, to the moles and to the bats. Let not my honoured brethren of the clergy deem me their enemy, because I pre- sume to remind them of the truth. God is witness that 1 wish you prosperity, ye that aie of the house of the Lord. Perm.t the obscurest of your number to subm.t, without ofl'ence, the foregoing pariiculars to your attentive consideiation. Mi.y none of your venerable order be justly ranked in time to come, among those half-conformists, who fall in with the ceremonies, but fall out with the doctrines, of the Church. Halt not be- tween God and Baal. Give no occasion to our aiiversaries to speak reproaehiuUy of us. Let it not, any longer, be thro.m in our teelh, that " no set of men difierraoi e wide- ly from each other than the present clergy ; though they all(/) subscribe to one and the same form of doctrine." Subscription is, in virtue and in fact, a solemn bond of en- gageii.ent to God, and of security to men, that ff) In the rrign of Elizabt-th, a pamphlet ap- peared, entitled, Tlie Book ol the Generation of An- tichrist ; written, indeed, by a very aciinjonious Puntiiii ; yet, as far as matters of mere doctrine were concerned, perfectly hanjioniziiifi- with the r. eed of the Church of Kn;.;land. Au.oivj; other par- tiuulars, the author, with equal humour aud tiurh, traced out the foUowm^ ;;enealo^y of frte\iil, merit, unholy iivin^, and Fopoy. "'ihe Devil bi- got darkness, Kph. vi.— Darivuess begot I^'uoiai.te, Acts iLvii. — Ignorance bet; ot Error aud bis Lrethri n, 1 Tim. IV.— Error be^ot Fri o-wil! and Self-love, Isa. x. — Free-will begot Aieiits, Isa. Iviii — iticriis bei^ot Forgetfulness of Grace, Rom. x.— Fori-etiulness' of God a Grace bei;ot transj;ression, Rom. ii — Trans- gression begot Mistrust, Gen. v.— Mistr ust be^ot Sa- tisfaction" (i.e. the opinion that human wo.-ks and penances would satisfy God s justice for sini, Aiatt. xvii. — Satisfaction begot the sacrifice of the ^lass, Dan. xii. ' How justly the linLs of this chain are connected ! ( f) I he late learned and candid Dr. Doddridge has a passage, couceroinj: the siicreil name and obligation ot ecc esiastical --ubsc iptiuus, which de- serves to be pondered willi the unno--t ori. osnoss. — He introduces it, unde the article of perjury. " Care should be taken, that we do not impair the reverence due tr an oath, l y using or imposing taths on triflin.r occasions or administering them in I careless manner. The reverence of an oath re- quires that we tike peculiar care to avoid ambigu- ous expressions in it, iumI a I e-n ivocatiou and men- of subscription to ani. li > I i o.i ; these Leiug looked upon as soleu u acri(ni>, iiiul nearly .'Pproach- ing to an oath. Grc.t care o\uA,t to be "tnken, that we subscribe nothing that we do not firmly be ieve " The Doctor then proceeds to particularize the Inoet plaiuible of those fashional le evasions, under the subscriber fairly and honestly, without re- serve, evasion, or disguise, absolutely an-l nakedly btlievcs the things to «hich he sets his hand. — Query : What firm hold could a tt n.pural monarch have on the allegi nee of his sworn subjects, should the same horrid prtv.irications find their w<.y into the minds t.f political swearers, which, it is to be feared, have obtained among some tbcoloyical sub- scribers r A remark of the laie Dr. Daniel \\ aterland's is at once so impoitant and so pertinent, that, though I have foruierlyquoted it in another publication, I cannot restrain myself from introducing it here. " if either siate-oaths, on the one liand, or church sut- scriptions, on the other, once come to be made light of ; ami subtleties be iuvenled, to defend, or palliate, such gross insin- cerity; we may bid faiewell to principles, and religion will be little else but disguised atheism. ' (g') This flame of gross insin- cerity has already, in part, caught hold of the church. And who can tell liow much further it may spread ! The men, who lately petitioned the legis- lature to overthrow the religious constitution of tluir country, and whose party is not ytt extinct, resemble, too much, a certain set of innovators, who, in the last century, be- gan with pecking at the Church, and ended with demolishing the state What security tan such persons give the government that the same leaven of iniquity is not working even now ? " O, they say that they are veiy loyaL" True : and, w hen they subscribed the thin shelter of which some snbscribers (like a certa.u bird, who, when she hides her head, foiid'iy thiuls herself quite concealed) are suppcsi d to Ink. 1 he s;iid evasions are as follow. If the sigiiiLcir- t cm ot the words Le dubious, and we btlioe eithtr sense, ai.d thdt sense in which we do lelitve them is , s natural as the other ; we may, cousisteiitly with integrity subscribe them.— Or, if tie sense in which we l.ere\e them, be less natural, and v.e expl: in that scULe, and that expli.naticn Le aumitted by the pe-.scn reqiiiringsubscription in his own ri^ht ; there can be no just found, tion for a scruple." But, in bo:h these cases, it is easy to cisccrn that subscrip- tion would evaporate into a pompous i.o'hing. The Doctor goes on. ** St me have adced, that, if we have reason to l.elieve, thr'tgh it is not ex pressiy declared, that he, who imposes the subscrip- tion, does not intend th.'it we should hereby 4eclars our a.isent to those articles, I ut only that we should pay a compliment to his authority, aud engage oup- selves not openly to contradict them ; w e may, in this I ase, subscribe what i.^ most directly contiaryto our I elitf: or, that, if « e lifclare our belief in any book, {as for inst.-.lice, i the Bible, it is to be suppost d that we subscril e o'l er art cies only so f..r as they a e lonfistent with thi;t ; beci.use we cannot ima- gine that the law wo. .Id require us to profess our belief of cor.traiy proi^ositions iit the same time." And now. what says the ;. ood Doctor, by way of answer to the three quil bles above started t He overthrows them a'.l. \\i h the srroke of his pen. in the following mi-mot able terms: " But suhscri^tif n upon these principles seenis a very dangerous at- tack upon sincerity and public virtue; etpeciailv in those designed for public otSces." Dr. Doddridge s Course of Lectures, p. M2.— < a o I7C3. d mav also be capable of dissembling with men ? If they did these things in a green tree, what will tl ey do in a dry ! Can civil obligations he considered as binding those slippery consciences, on which the in- finitely supeiii>r sanction of the most reli- gious and sacred sti|)ulation has no force nor tie ? Sh'>uld Providence have so dreadful a judgment in store, for this now highly fa- voured land, as pennissively to ciown the designs of these schemers with elTrct ; actum est may be the epitaph inscribed on the tomb of our nntional Christianity. \Ve may con- vert ourChurches, some into w:lreho^l^es, and others into dancing-rooms ; make one grand b.)nfireof our Articles, Homilies, and Liturgy ; and tear np our Bibles into wa^te paper. "Oh, but the petitioners have a great respect for the Bible." Who says so ? "Why, they themselves." This is just nothing to the purpose. They have demonstrated their iiisiiReritv in othei- matters: and therefore h i-. e no right to drau- a hill of credit on our belief as 'o this. The author of th" Confessional (pity it i<, t'l Ht the master of such line talents sh'iuld empl IV them in >o had a cause), sees, with joy, tlie daring incas ires pursued by that fhauielesx faction which openly seeks to com- pass the ruin of the Cnurch. Let thebis'iops look about them. No less is aimed at than the demolition of the hierarchy itself, 'i'he writer la-t mentioned has thought proper to give more than o .e intimation that, together with the doctrines and formularies of the establi^hment, a blow is meditating against our highest order of ecclesiastics. M v pi oofs are these. "In all exclusive establishments, where temporal emoluments are annexed to the profession of acer'ain system of doctrines, and the u^age of a cer ain routine of f nrms, a id appropriated to an order of men so and so qualitierl ; that order of men will natu- rally think themselves interested that things should continue as they are. A relormation might endanger their emoluments. For though it should only begin with such things as are most notoriously amiss, the alteration tranded may their attempt be !) though declared enemies to the (A) orthodoxy, are s'ronojiy agitated by the levelling principle, of the ancient Pu- ritans. Sh' uld your lordships (which God foibid) eve r condescend to acquiesce in any of the alterations demanded by these fiery claimants, their restlessness and insatiab I115 would still cry out 'or more. V\'ere they to gain but a si igle point, it would encourage them to say, with their predecessors of old, A't' unguium es.ie reliiu/iieiidam. (/) You your- selves would be, at best, the ultima dcvo- rundi. But thereunto it was replied in the words of Moses, A^f ttngular/t (s.'ie reliitqufudam : that they would not leave 30 much as an hoof behind. Meauing thereby, that they wou'd have a total abolition of the Book, without retaining any part or otfice in it in their next new-nothing. Which peremptory answer did much alienate bis [the secretary's] atlVc- tion from them : as afterwards he affirmed to Kne-w- stubs: and Knewstnbs to Dr. John Burges ot (!'i)i 5 hill, from whose pen I have it." Heyl. Hist. Pifbh. p. -iOl, ws. 278 HUMBLE ADDRESS TO THE EPISCOPAL BENCH. Your lordships lament the visible en- croachments of Popery. — Armiiiianism is at once its root, its sun-shine, and its vital sap. Your lordships see, uilh concern, the extending pro:;ress of infidelity. — Anninian- !sm has opened the liatclics to this pernici- ous iniindalion : by goin<; about to evaporate the CDniplete redemption, and the finished salvation, absoluttly wrouglit by Christ, into (what all the art of man can never really make it) a vox, et prteterea nihil. As if the gospel of gj-ace was only a frigid declaration of the terms and conditions on which we are to save nurseU- s ; ami as if Christ him- self was little or nothing more than a moral philosopher. Happ ly for the intrinsic dig- nity of Clii istianity, the leligion of Jesus is not that poor, utiTneaning thing, which the modern misrepresentation induces too many to believe. But can it be matter of reason- able wonder, that they, who are imposed upon by such misrepresentation, should turn their baclts on a seeming phantom which has nothing to recommend it ; and dismiss it, with a sneer, to the shades of contempt? I wish that the workings even of Athe- ism itself may not administer to your lord- ships just ground of indignation and alarm. — For this also, Arniinianism has paved the wav : by despoiling the Divine Being, among other attributes, of his unlimited supremacy, of his infinite knowledge, of his infallihle wisdom, of his invincible power, of his abso- lute independency, and of his eternal immu- tability. Not to observe, that the exemp- ting of some things and events from the providence of God, by referring them to free-will, to contingency, and to chance, is another of those back lanes, which lead, in a direct line, from Armiiiianism to Atheism. Neither is it at all surprising, that any, who represent men as (ioiis (by supposing man to possess tlic divine attribu'e of independent self-determinalion), should, when their hand is in, represent God himself with the imper- fections of a man : l)y putting limitations on his sovereignty; by supposing his knowledge to be shackled with circumspection, and darkened with uncertainty ; by connecting their ideas of his wisdom and power with the possibility of disconcertment and disap- pointment, embarrassment and defeat ; by transferring his independency (hi) to them- selves, in order to support their favourite doctrine, which affirms that the divine will (m) I myself know .several Arminians, who have declared to me, in conversation, tliat, so far as con- cerns the ipsa (fctfrwi/iofio, or the very act of tiie will's determinating itself to one thing- in preference independent of (Jo.i hinis. lf. 1 pv.iy ( iod to 'jive them experimental demonstration tliat ttiey are Mot so iniicDendent as they imapiue ; by brinj^ing them to a better mind. (II) A worthy and Ingenious pen presented the public some years ago with the following: Hues ; in which this topic is very properly handled. and conduct are dependent on the will and conduct of men ; by blotting out his immu- tability ()i), that they may clear the way for conditional, uncertain, variable, vanquish- able, and amissable grace ; and, by narrow- ing his providence, to keep the idol of free- will upon its legs, and to save human reason from the humiliation of acknowledging her inability to account for many of the Jivine disposals : so that according to this scheme, we may write, under tlie majority of inci- dents that come to pass, this motto. Hie Deus nihil fecit. — Who sees not the atheis- tical tendency of all this.' Let Arminianism try to exculpate herself from the heavy, but unexaggerated, indictment. Which if she cannot effect, 'twill be doing her no injus- tice to term her Atheism in masquerade. Your lordships cannot be insensible of the contempt and insignificancy into which many of your clergy are fallen. — Arminian- ism is one grand source of this likewise. Even those of the laity, whom fashion, or prejudice, or inclination hath Arminianized, too well know what judgment to fonn of such spiritual guides as subscribe to the whiteness of snow, though they believe it to be black as jet. Let the clergy learn to despise the sinful pleasures, maxims, pur- suits and doctrines, of this world ; and the world will, from that moment, cease to de- spise the clergy. Your lordships observe with pain the glar- ing and almost universal decay of moral vir- tue.— This has been a growing calamity, ever since the restoration of the Stuart line in the person of Charles II. With that prince, Ar- minianism returned as a flood ; and licentious- ness of manners was co-extensive with it. W'e have had, since that (otherwise happy) period, more than a hundred years' expe- rience of the unsanctined effects which naturally result from the ideal system of free-will and universal redemption. What has that system done for us ? It has unbraced every nerve of virtue, and relaxed every rein of religious and of social duty. In propor- tion to the operation of its influence, it has gcnie far toward subverting all moral obe- dience ; and seems to endanger the entire series even of political and of ecclesias- tical subordination. Taiitum [F.*] rctigio poliiit siiadfre malorum ! Look round the land, and your lordships cannot fail of perceiving that our fieicest *' Shall Wesley sow his hurtful ures, «* And scalier round a ihousand snares ? " Telling how God (rom n rnth mar turn, *• And love Ihe souls he thou^hl lo bum • •* To hale^where h'c h^as vow'd *o i Bui lonifS for whal ha cannot hare. Industrious thus to sound abroad A disappointed changing God ! •* BJnsh, Wesley, blush at thv disfrracrf Haste thee to Rome, thy proper plcct," ftc. See a poem, entitled. Perseverance: by tho lats .1r Thomas Gnriiey. A WORD CONCKRNING THE 13ATHING-TUB BAPTISM. free-willers are, for the most part, the freest livers ; and that the practical belief of utii- t'ersal fjrace is, in too many instances, the turnpilte r.iad to universal sin. Your lordships mark, with becoming dis- gust, the continued existence of Methodism. — Arminianisni is the I'andorean box f:oni which this evil also liath issned. And thuiii;li Methodism appears, at present, rather to resemble a standing pool than an increasing stre.Hui ; we \ as ;i(hniaiNteri(l ? The font was a com- m in baihiiig-tub.— Is it further en(]uired, in \\'h:it cliai)ei did the font stand at the time? Tlie eliapi l was, truly, a chapel in cryptis : to \\ it, a common cellar. — Am I asked, of what cathedr.d was this subterraneous chapel a ])ait? The cathedral or mother church, was neither bettej- nor worse than a cheesemonger's house, in Spiialfields, Lon- dnn. — Who were the witnesses to this under- ground baptism a pai ty, it seems, care- fully gralted from, what Mr. Wesley calls, his classes and bands. And, now, what will that gentleman al- lege, in extenuation of his affected ignorance of this whole matter ? Surely, even he will not persist in pretending to foiget so re- markable a transaction : especially, when such an explicit series of striking circum- stances arises to refresh his memory ! — Pos- sibly, he nitiy, on this occasion, repeat his foiiner climax of " a Cynic, a Hear, a Top- lady." But, I assure him, i will not retali- ate the compliment, by crying out, a Hotten- tot, a wolf, a Wesley. — No. The weapons of my warfare aie of a milder temperature. 1 would mucli rather endure scurrility than olVer it. But 1 still adncre to my primitive de- mand, wilh which 1 sat out several years ago, when the luesriit controveisy with the Ainiinians began to wax warm : iianielv, let Mr. Wesley jdead his own cause, and fight his own bat-les. I am as ready as' ever to meet him with the sling of reason and the stone of (iod's word in niy hand. But let him not fight by proxy. Let his coll- iers keep to their stalls. Let his tinkers mend their brazen vessels. Let his barbers confine themsehcs to their blocks and ba- sons. Let I. is bakers stand to their knead- ing-troughs. Let his blacksmiths iilow moie suitable coals than those of contioversy. Every man in his own order. Should, however, any of Mr. Wesley's life-guard-men, w hether gowned or aproned, Swiss or English, step forth to their totter- jng master's relief, "III squalid If^ions tiriiniitiig from the pre.is, " Like Egypt's insects Hum tlte mud of Nile;" ' shall, probably, not so much as give them the reading. Or, if any of them happen to fall under my perusal, and I deem it proper to rejness the vani'cy of the vain, Mr Wes- ley himself will still be my mark : and I shall, if Providence permit, continue to imitate the conduct of tliat philosopher, who thrashed the master for the ill behaviour of the scholars. Though after all, if Mr. Richard Hill's two masterly pamohlets (one "280 C HRONOLOGY OF ENGLAND. entitled, A Review of tho Doctr ines taught by Ml. John Wesley, wiih ii '.'ana'^o annexed; the other, Logica If^esh'uni.sh-, or the Fur- rifjo double distilled) make no advanta- jreous impression on ' the Joini Goodwin of the present age ;' he may, Irom hencefor- ward ,be, fairly and finally, consigned to the hospital of incurable^. CHRONOLOGY OF ENGLAND. A L'st of the Kinga of Eagland, from Eg- bji t, duivii to his present Majesty. Egbcrt 8i9 838 Henry III. 1216 Ethelwulph 838 857 Edward I. 1272 1307 Efhelbaia 857 860 1307 1327 Ethelbert 860 866 Edward Ili. 1327 1377 Eta.-lrud I. sue 872 Riihard II. l:i77 Alired 8/2 900 H.-nry IV. 1413 Edward I. 900 925 Henry V. 1413 1422 Athelstau 925 941 Henry VI. 1422 1461 Edmund I. 9J1 948 Edward IV. 1401 1483 Kdre.l 9)8 955 Edward V. 1483 Edwy 9.55 9:)9 Richard III. 1 183 1485 EJirar He nry VII. 1135 Edward II. 975 979 He.iry VIII. 1509 1547 Ethelred II. 9/-9 1.JI3 Edward VI. 1547 1553 1013 1014 1553 15. 8 [Ethel II.rest.]l014 Eltlabeth 1538 10.13 Edmund II. 1015 1017 James I. 1603 10 5 Canute loir 1038 Charles I. 1025 1041 Harold I. 1036 1039 [Rep iblic] 1000 Canute II. 1039 1041 Charles 11. 16;i0 Edw Ill.Conf. 1041 1066 James 11. 1685 Harold II. 1066 William III. ■Willi .m C. 1066 1037 Anne 1702 1714 William, R. 108? 1100 George I. 1714 1727 Henry I. 1100 1135 1727 1760 1135 1154 GcCrte ill. 1760 18'0 HeSy U. 1154 1189 Georfre IV. 1820 1830 Richard I. l:S9 1196 [William IV.] 1830 John 1196 1216 EGBKHT, The s'xteeuth king of Wessex (comprehend- ing the pi-esent counties of Hants, Berks, Wilts, D M set. Soint rset, Devon, and Corn- wall, succeeded lirithnc, A.D. 800. He «-as descended frum Cci ilic, a Sax.ni (o) General, wlio resolving t.) sce'< liis fortune in Bri- tain, airived here A. D. 4:)0, and, after hav- ing founded the kingdom of tlie West-Saxuns, and being tuice cro-vned, died in 5.34, lew- ing his dominions to his son Cenric. Du- ring the reign of Brithric, Egbert had ren- dered himself extremely popular in Wessex ; wliiL-h Biitliiic could not observe without jealousy. Egbert perceiving this, found it f ir his safety to fly into France, where he was kindly received by Charles the Great. Brithric, having accidently tasted some poison, which his wife Edburga had mixed up for some other person, died A.D. 799. Edburga « as obliged to Hy the kingdom ; and a sole nn embassy was sent over to Eg- bert, with an offer of the crown of Wessex ; which he accepted. A.D. 809, he totally subdued the Britons of Cornwall. The next year, 810, Andred king of Northumberland (comprehending the counties of Lancaster, Cumberland, Westmoreland, Northumber- land, York, and Durham) submitted to Eg- bert. By the year 829, at farthest, he finished his conquests, and became sovereign of all E igland. (/)) He was, indeed, only in actual possession of Wessex, Sussex, Kent, an 1 Essex ; but he had made the kingdoms of Mei cia, Northumberland, and East-An^lia, tributary to himself. Thus he ended the famous heptarchy, which had lasted, (reck- oning from its original, viz. theanivalof Hengisl, A. D. 449,) about 380 years. Eg- bert dying, A. D. 838, was succeeded by his only son 2. ETHELWUI.PH. (a. D. 838—857.) This prince, A. D. 840, resigns the king- doms of Kent, Essex, and Sussex, (including Surrey,) to Athelstan, his natural son. A.D 852, the t.vo kings gave battle to the Danes, at Okley in Surrey, and gained a complete victory : which however, Athelstan did not long survive. A.D. 855, Ethelwulph goes to Rome, upon superstitious motives ; and his son Ethelbalil takes that opportunity of aspi:ing to the throne. The king returning imme- (o)Theold Saxons were, originally, inhabitants of the Cimbriau Cherso.icsus. now called Jutland- w.:ence being driven bv the Goths, tl.ev settLd in Goraiany, and made themselves masters of those tracts of land lying between th,- Rh.ue and the Eloe. Their territories, boumle ., on tae West, by tae Germ iQ ocean, exteadeJ, E.i.-tw.ird, to the bor- of Saxony, Westphalia, a.. d'as' ^nmV'orthe' Low Countries as lies u;>rtli of the Rhine. As to the very first orig-in of the Saxons, previous to their possession of Chersonesus, we know nothiiiir at all about it. The numerous conjectures that haio been made concerning it only leaving us, if possible, still Nor is the true etymology of the name, Saxon much less difficult to fix. 1. Some derive it from Seax, a sword, or cutlass: Abeuce those old verses : Quippc bret is s'criiiil ap'iti .-'/ev .Saxa vacatur; ViKle sibi Saxo mtmen Irui 'i^M- ptitutur. in like manner, th? Quirites have their name from •Juiris, a ohort spear; and the Scythians, from scytton, k) shoot from a bow — Add to this, that the arms of S-lxony are, at this very day, two short swords in 2. Mr Camden agrees with those who derive the name of Saxon from the Saca?, or Sassones, men- tioned by Pliny . a very a, cient and considerable nation in Asia; and that the Saxons are, as it were, Sacasons, i. f. sons of th,- Sacfe ; and that out of Scythia, or Sannatia Asiatica, they came, by little and little, into Europe, along with the Getae, the Suevi, and the Daci. 3. Scaliper will have them to be descended from the ancient Persians. ip) But his repose was soon disturbed by the Danes, who, A.D . 833, landed at Charmonth in Dor- setshire ; where Egbert, euiiafring tUem, was entirely defeated : and, flving, narrowly escaped with life. A. D. 835, they paid him another viait . but he quite defaced the dishonours of his former defeat, by gain- ing a great victory over them, at Hengston-Hill, in ComwaU. (The Danes had made two descents on England, previous to the.se : the first at Portland, in 789 ; thp sr'cond, in the Isle of Saeppy, A. U SiK.) At the battle of Charmouth, wfre slain, aiEon^ others Hcrcfnrtb, bishop of \\ inche6tcr ; and \\ ig- ferth, bishop ot Sherborne. CHRONOLOGY OF ENGLAND 281 (iiately, is finced to compromise mattors, by rl'^igning Wessex to his son, and reserving only Kent, Essex, and Sussex, to liiiiiself. Ethelwulph outlives this pan'ition but two tears. He was a very conscientious, ixeiii- jilary prince. He died, A. D. 857, leaving f >ur sons, Ethelbald, already in possession jf Wessex ; Ethelbert, who, by virtue of his father's last will, succeeded him in the ltt i^e which stood by the road side. IClfrida to conceal her Clime, had his corpse thrown into a well ; hut it was soon discovered and removed to Shaftesbury. Elfrida (according to the cus- tom of those times), thinkmg to atone for what she had done founded two monasteries: one at Ambresbury, in Wiltshire ; and the other at Wherwell, near Andover ; in which latter she shut herself up, to do penance the rest of her life. 14. ETHELRED 11. A. D. 979—1013. Edward the martyr, (and a martyr he was to the ambition of his mother-in-law, who was determined at all events to see her own son on the throne) was succeeded by CHRONOLOGY OF KNGLAND. 283 hh half-brother, Ethehed the second, Kd- giu's son liy Elfrida. In this king's rei^n was pci pctiated the massacre of the Danes. But Sweyi), king of Denmark, hearing of it, soon took a severe revenge. He landed thrice in England. The two first times he did incredible damage, and carried off immense booty. The third time, which was in the year 1012, or 1013, he made himself mas- ter of the whole kingdom. 15. SWEYN, FIRST DANISH KING. A. D. 1013—1014. Sweyn, king of Denmark, was the fii st Danish king of England. His reign was very short ; for he died suddenly the next year, being 1014. Whereupon, ETHELRED RESTORED. Ethelred was, by the English, recalled to the throne : who, after a reign of conti- nued bloodshed and disquiet, died at Lon- don, A. D. 1015. From his remissness and inactivity, he obtained tho surname of The Unready. He left the kingdom involved in the utmost misery and poverty, confusion and desolation. He was succeeded by his son 16. EDMUND 11. A. D. 1015—1017, our-nanied Ironside, from his great robust- ness of body. The Danes, however, declare for Canute (son of Sweyn) now in England In one year, lOlG, Edmund and Canute fought five pitched battles. The same year, Edmund sent a challenge to Canute ; which the latt'.'r did not accept : but proposed le- ferrin^ the decision of their claims, to a certain number of plenipo'entiai ie<, nomi- nated by each party. The proposal was gladly received by the lords who sided with Edmund ; so he was obliged to acquiesce in it. The congress was held accordingly, in Alney (a little island in the Severn, oppo- site to Gloucester) ; where peace was quickly concluded, by a partition of the kingdom between the two competitors. All the coun- try south of the Thames, together with Lon- don, and part of Essex, was adjudged to Edmund ; the rest of the kingdom to Canute. Matters being thus settled, the two kings met in the Isle of Alney, and, after mutually swearing to keep the peace, each retired to the dominions assigned him. Edmund died the next year, 1017, and was buried at Glastonbury, beside his grand- father Edgar. He was a just, magnani- mous and heroic prince : and, had his suc- cess in life been equal to his merit, he would have vied with the greatest and the best of monarchs. Uy his wife, Alijitha, he left two sons, Edmund and Edward. With him the Saxon monarchy in a manner ended, and gave place to the Danes ; after it had lasted one hundred and ninety years, from the estab- lishment by Egbert : f(-ur hundred and thirty- two, from the founding of the Heptarchy ; and five hundred and sixty-eight years, from the arrival of the Saxons under Ilengist. 17 CANUTE, SECOND DANISH KINO. A. D. 1017— lo;j6. Cannte, already sovereign of great part of England, found means, though not di- rectly by dint of arms, to make himself mas- ter of VVessex ; and, thereby, of the whole reahn. A. D. 1018, or thereabouts, he mar- ries Emma, of Normandy, widow of Ethelred the second. A. D. 1027, he subdues Norway; of which he is crowned king. This conquest satisfying his ambition, he, thenceforward gave himself up to acts of devotion ; and continued to the end or his days, humble, modest, just, and truly religious : a charac- ter very ditVerei.t from that which he bore during the former part of his reign. Dying. A. D. 103(i, at Shaftcsbi.ry, he was buried at Winchester. He left three sons ; 1. Sweyne, to whom he bequeathed Norway : '2. Harold, to whom he gave England: and Canute, commonly called Haidicanute, whom he had by Emma, and to whom he assigned Denmark. 18. HAROLD I. THIHD DANISH NG. A. D. 103G— 1039. Harold accordingly succeeds his father , first in Mercia only, and then, through the interest of earl Goodwin, in VVessex also. His reign was short, and remarkable for nothing of moment. He was surnamed Hare- foot ; bei au-i'. acidi dins to some, one of his feet wa-. hairy all over; accorninp-to otners. because he would never mount a horse, al- ways choosing to walk on foot : but most probably from his swifiness in running. He died at Oxford, A. D. 1039, and was suc- ceeded by his brother, 19. CANUTE II. OR HARDICANUTE, FOURTH DANISH KING A. D. 1039. So called, from the robustness of hi constitution. He was a prince, in whose whole character tin re was nothing of the amiable, the respectable, or the beneficent : being cruel, avaricious, haughty, oppressive, and intemperate. He died, probably in a drunken fit, at Lambeth, unlamented, A. D. 1041. 20. EDWARD III. THE CONFESSOR. A. D. 1041— 10(16. Hardicanute, leaving no issue, the nobles were embarrassed whom to elect. There were, 1. Edward (afterwards named the Con- fessor), son of Ethelred the second, by Emma of Normandy. But then, 2. There was anotlier Edward (son of Edmund Ironside, and who, with his brother 284 CHRONOLOGY OF ENGLANL «ad been sent in the beginning of Canute's •eign, into Hunfrnry, where he now « as), one jegree nearer the crown ; being, as I have said, son to Kdnuind the second, and by consequence, nephew to the confessor. On the other hand, 3. There had been an uninterrnptcd suc- cession of four Danish kings, for twenty- eight ye:irs : and Siveyn, son to Canute the first, was still living. However, Edward, son of Ethelred the second, was chosen by the interest of Earl Cioodwin, whom he had gained. His elec- tion was quickly followed bv a general ex- pulsion of the Danes. Edward (though ■sainted, about 200 years after his death, by Pope Alexander the third) was a prince of weak, narrow genius ; a mean dissembler ; nnsteady, malicious, and revengeful, where he entertained any dislike ; and yet good- nalured, even to folly, where his caprice leaned that way : a despic.ible king ; a very bad husband to a most virtuous and amiable wife (Editha, daughter of earl Goodwin) ; and not only an undutiful, but a cruel son, to his mother, Emma of Normandy. 'Tis true she had disobliged him, by marrying Canute, her first husband's mortal enemy ; but chiefly by one of the marria;ivfly mouaied the throne. 2,1. [-2.] WILLIAM II. A. D. 1087—1100. Duke Robert, eldest son of the Con- queror, should have succecde'l to the king- dom : hut his brother William (surnaiued Rufus, from the redness either of his hair or his coraplexinn) found means to supphint him. riohert was one of the most amiable princes in all res|)ects (if you except his in- dolence), that ever lived; on the contiary, William had every evil quality that could disgrace a man, and degrade a pj ince. His valiur (the only pro|iei ty in him, tliat had even the lea>t appearance of excellence) was more properly a brutal fierceness. A. D. lOyS, he builds V. estminster Hall. A. D. 1100, as he was hunting at Choringham, in the New Forest, in pursuit of a stag he had wounded, one Walter Tyrrel, a French knight, shooting at the same stag, pierced 'as 'tis said) the king in the breast ; who fell dowit dead on the spot, without speak- ing a ivnrd. Thus died VVilliam Rufus quite unlamented, in the f >rty-fourth year of his age; after a reigi, or rather tyranny of almost thirteen years : and was buried at Winchester. 24 [3.] HENRY I. A. D. 1100—1136. Though the youngest of the Concjueror's .«ons, yet he found means to make a strong party for himself ; which became stillstronger ill a short time ; those who were in the in- terest of his brother Robert chousing, at last, to declare for Henry, lest the kingdom should be involved in a civil war. His elec- tion, however, was very ii regular and tu- multuary; being entiiely popular. He was even crowned on the fourth day from Rufus's deaih, before tlie states had confirmed his election. At first, he gave hopes of being a just, beneficent king ; but the mask soon fell oil', and his reign was, for the most part, one series of tyranny and oppiession. A D. 1106, he entirely strips duke Robert liis brother of all Noi mandy ; and having taken that most amiable but unfortunate prince, prisoner, at t e battle of Tinchebray, be brought him over to Enijland, and shut him up in the castle of Cardiife in Cilamorgan- shir3 ; where he Cuntinned a prisoner, till his death, which happened not till twenty- six years after, A. D. 11.'33. Henry did not very long survive his in- jured bmtiier: for having eaten to e.\cess of some lainj)reys, he died December 2, 1135, an as!. >'i-<, r::gn. 36, and was buried at Read- ing. His courage, his capacity, and his ac- quired (q) learning, were great : but then he was haughty, cruel, covetovis, insatiably av-i- ricious, and lustful beycnd most. By his wi e Matilda, (who was daugliter to Malcolm, kingnf tseotland ; by .Maigaret, sister to Edgar Atheling, who was grand- son of Edmund Ironside) he left imb.' one daughter, Matilda, married, A. D. llOi), to the emperor Henry IV. Of hi- surviving na- tural children (which were twelve), Robert, duke of Gloucester, who made so great a figure in the, next reign, was the most emi- nent. 25. [4.] STEPHEN. A. D. 1135— 1154. Henry thought he had secured the suc- cession to his daughter, the empress Matilda, but he was mistaken ; for he was succeeded by Stephen de Blois, earl of Bulogne, bis nephew ; whose mother, Adela, was daugh- ter to William the Conqueror, and married to the earl of Blois, by whom she had four sons, of whom Stephen earl of Bologne was one. Upon the death of Henry (in whose court Stephen had been educated), the clergy led the way, by declaring for his nephew : and the nobility, though they had thrice sworn to Matilda, soon followed the example Stephen's reign was a very turbulent one Desirous to retrench the pride and lux- ury of the clergy, he makes them his de- termined enemies ; and they quickly gain over the people to their side. In this junc- ture, the empress Matilda lands in England, to as.-ert her right to the Crown. Her bro- ther (though illigetimate) Robert, duke of Gloucester, had, some time before, headed a revolt ; the design of which was to place her on the throne : but Stephen having de- feated him, he flies over to his sister, who, at his persuasion, comes hither to head her friends in person. At first she takes up her quarters with Adeliza (daughter to Godfrey, the first earl of Brabant, and fourteen years wife to Henry I.), the queen dowager, in the castle of Arundel. Hence, at the queen s intercession, Stephen generously gives her leave to ijo, unmolested, to Bristol : where, and at Gloucester, she manages so artfully as to gain over both nobles and clergy to her party, and, by their means, ahnost all the people. A civil war breaks out : Stephen is reduced to extreme perplexity, yet pre- serves his intrepidity. At length the duke of Gloucester's forces and those of king Ste- phen engage : the latter is defeated, taken prisoner, and sent to Matilda, who is si base as to lay him in irons, and confine him in the castle of Bristol. After this Stephen's youngest brother, Henry de Blois, at firsi abbot of Glastonbury, now bishop of VVm- chester, sides with Matilda. But her nn- suli'erable haughtiness quickly alienates the (jO Whjjnoe he acrniired the .surname of Bcauclerct. 286 CHRONOLOGY OF ENGLAND. affections of hiin and all her new subjects. The bishop declares again for his brother: the revolt from MatiMa is general : she be- takes herself to the castle of Winchester, where 5he is closely besieged. Making a sally, a battle ensues : her troops are de- feated : the duke of Gloucester is taken pri- soner, and soon after e.xcliantred for king Stephen, who now, once more, sees him- self at liberty. Matilda flvin..;- from place to place, is forced, about four years alter, to ipiit the kingdom, A. D. I \4t), earl Robert having been fir.>t sliin. Thus Stephen is again master of England. But, A. D. 1152, Henry, Duke of Normandy, (afterwards Henry II.) son to MatiUbi, by Geoffrey Plan- tagenet, earl of Anjou (whom, A. D. 1127, she had married, upon the death of her for- mer husband, the Kmperor Henry IV.) looking on himself as undoubted heir to the crovvn, came over hither, in order to strengthen his party. He and .Stephen had given earh other battle, at Wallingford, in Berks, had it not been for the persuasions of the earl of Arundel, who im lined Stephen to peace. In short, Duke Henry and the king held a contcrence on the opposle banks of the Thames twhich, at VVallingford, is very narrow), where they agreed on a truce. The next year it was settled tiiat Stephen should er,joy the ciown for life, but that Henry should be next successor : which he accordingly was. Stephen outli\ed this agreement but eleven months ; dying at Canterbury, of the cholic, October 26, 11,54, an. cet. b(), regit. 19, and was buried at Fevci sham. Stephen, abstracted fjom his ambition in mount- ing the throne, was possessed, not only of the whole circle of virtues ; but, which r.vrely is the ca^e, adorned with every amiable and graceful qualificati which could set off those virtues to advan- tage. After g ving liim such a character, it would be needless to obseive that he was, in particular, valiant, merciful, ju>t, gene- rous, and a lover of his people. 26 [5.] HKNuvir. A. n. 1154—11^9. Pursuant to tre ity, Henry Plantiigenet, (otherwise called Fitzcmprcss) son to the earl of Anjou (by iilatilda, daughter of Henry I. and relict of the emperor Henry IV.) succeeds to the crown without opposition. He lands December 7, and is crowned the 19th. He was in a most flourishing condi- tion, revered every where, and extending his conquests in France, till disturbed by the ingratitude and unparalleled insolence of Thomas a Becket, archbishop of Canter- bury; who was solely indebted to Henry for all his preferments. This haughty pre- late was son of Gilbert Becket, a citizen of London, by Matildis, said to be the daugh- ter of a Saracen, who had taken this Gilbert, Thomas a Becket's father, prisoner, wher> he went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Thomas spent his youth in the study of the law. In process of time he was taken from thence, and made archdeacim of Canterbury Shortly after, the king, taking a fancy to liira, made him lord high chancellor. Now it was that his pride began to be insup- portable. The very bits in the bridles or his horses were silver. Attending the king, in the war of Tholouse, be maintained, at his own expense, JW knights, and 1200 foot. Haughty and insolent as he was to every body else, he was all vubmission to the king ; till Theobald, archbishop of Canter- bury dying, he was promoted to that see, by the king's recommendation. Henry, who imat;ined he should have a pliant archbishop, realy to sacrifice every thing to his will, quickly found himself mistaken. As soon as Becket was consecrated, he sent back the great seal to the king, and affected mortifi- cation and retuement. He knows the king was desirous of reducing the power of the clergy within reasonable hoimds ; and de- termines, from the moment he aiTived at the pinnacle of preferment to oppose it with aU his might. The first occasion of this fa- mous quarrel happened A. D. \163. One I'hilip de Broc, canon of Bedford, having committed a murder, the king would have had him capitally punished ; but this was opposed by Becket, who was for setting all ecclesiastics above king and law too. Matters at length cnme to that pass that Thomas, being condemned to impiisonmeut of body and confiscation of goods, Hies over to Flanders, in disguise, and is received into the piotection of Lewis, king of France. This was the latter end of the year 116^5. A. D. 116(), dies Henry's mother, the empress Matilda, at. at 64, and was buried, according to some, in the abbey of Bee, in Noruiandy ; according to others in the sub- urbs of Roan. On account of her being daughter of a king (Henry I.), wife to an ei/ipeior (Henry IV.), and mother of a king (Henry II.), she had this epitaph; " Orni wagna, viro mnj(ir,sed ma3;ima partu , " H'u- Jacct Henrici Jiiia, spov.ia, ptirens." The breach between Becket and his sove- reign still continued. In November, 116S, they held a conference, near Paris, in the presence of the French king : when Henry made this proposal to Becket; "Pay me the same regard as the greatest of your prede- cessors paid to the least of mine, and 1 shall be satisfied." The pride and obstinacy ot the ecclesiastic would not let him promise this : so the conference came to nothing. In 1169, another was held at a place c^- led Mons Martyrum : but the prelate's in- flexibility rendered it as fruitless as the first. A third was held, in 11/0, at Montmirail, but without effect; and a fourth, the same CHRONOLOGY OF ENGLAND. 287 year, at Amboise, where all difficulties were at length sunnountcd ; chieHy tlirouuh the (jTOod offices of Rotroii, alcllbi^llop of Roan. The reconciliation was sincere on Henry's uart ; who, to convince the world of it, even condescended to hold the mad prelate's stir- rnp, as he mounted liis hor>e. Tlius, after about seven years' exile, the imperious Becket was restored to his hishnpric and his coun- try ; whither he returned, with a resolution to revenge his past disgraces on the King, the veiy first opportunity that ofi'ered. Henry, though the injured pariy, was un- feigned in his reconciliation ; but Bicltet, tlic airgressor, could never forgive his king whom he had iiisulttd. No sooner is the furious priest returned to England, than he suspends the archbishop of York, and ex- communicates the bishops ofLondod, Dur- ham, and Exeter, who had sided with the king. The Christmas-day following, mount- ing his archiepiscopal chair at Canterbury, he solemnly excommunicates two barons ; Nigel de Sackvil and Robert Brock : the first, for detaining (as was alleged) a manor be- longing to the see of Canterbury ; the other for cutting off the tail of a horse, that was carrying provisions to liis palace. The truth is, he was determined to exercise his autliority with a higher hand than ever : and to brave the king, by shewing him be was not afraid to revive the ancient quarrel. The excommunicated bishops appeal to the king, who is still in Noiniandy. Henry, tired and exasperated at being incessantly plagued with the insolence of a subject whom he had raised from the dust, could not help crying out ; " How unliappy am I, tint, among the great numbers 1 maintain, there is not a n.,m dares revenge the affronts I perpetually receive from the hands of a wretched priest." These words were not dropt in %ain. Four barons, who were in waiting, resolved to tri e the kin^; from this enemy. Their names were Reginald Fitzurse, William Tracey, Richard Britton, and Hugh Morvill. Laud- ing in Kent, they repair to Canterbury ; and, on the 30th of December, 1170, entering the cathedral, where the archbishop was at vespers, they first upbraid him with his pride, obstinacy, and ingratitude : to which he returned so resolute an answer as to give them occasion to effect their purpose. One Edward Ryme, who was waiting on the archbishop, had his arm almost cut off, by receiving the first blow that was made at Becket's head, occasioned by the archbishop's having called Fitzurse, " a pimp.'' In short, they hacked the prelate, with their swords, in such a manner, that his blood and brains flew all over the altar. After committing this action they retired peaceably : none offering to stop them. Not daring to re- turn to the king, they went and stayed a yeai at Knaresborough castle, in Yorkshiie, belonging to Hugh Morvill : after which, Hoveden says, they went to Rome, for abso- lution : and were enjoined to go to .lei usa- lem, and do penance detain his illustrious prisoner ; and entered into close treaty with Philip of France, who from motives both of policy and revenge (for they had differed much and often in the Ho!y Land) had nothing more at heart than to embroil Richard's affairs. Meanwhile, Eleanor, the queen dowager, tried all she could to counteract the ambition of her younger son, and procure Richard's enlargement. But the obstacles were many : the Pope refused to interfere in his favour; the emperor, who detained the king, was insatiably covetous ; and the French king, together with prince John of England, had offered the emperor very highly, if he would make Richard's confinement perpetual. How- ever, chiefly through the representations made by the Diet of the Empire, Richard is at length set at liberty upon paying the em- peror 100,000 marks of .silver, and giving hostages for the payment of 50,000 mure. Ttie emperor quickly repented of his bargain : and sent after Richard in hopes of seizing him again : but the king had made too much haste, a'ld arrived safe at Sandwich, March 20, 1194, after four years' absence, fifteen months of whicli he had spent in prison. His subjects received him with great demon- strations of joy. His first care was to quell his brother John's faction ; which done, he is re-crowned ; and causes a sentence to pass against John, confiscating his lands, and de- claring him incapable of succeeding to the crown : but, at the intercession of their mother, queen Eleanor, he pardons John in the year 1 195, at Roan, where, by her means, they had an interview. Being engaged in a war against Philip of France, he besieges Chaluz ; from the walls of which city an archer shot him with an arrow, which fixing in his shoulder, close to his neck, pro»ed his death ; not so much from the real mor- tality of the wound itself, as by the unskil- fulness of the surgeon that drest it. Per- ceiving himself near death, he bequeaths all his dominions to his brother John, and ex- pires, A. D. 1199. By his own desire, ex- pressed in his last will, he was interred at Font-Evraud, in Anjou, at his father's feet ; in testimony of his grief for the many sor- rows he had occasioned him. Richard, though valiant beyond most men that ever lived, was yet, upon the whole, but a very indifferent king ; who spared neither the liies, liberty, nor purses of his subjects. His rebellion against his father; his inex- iJi.guishable thirst of money ; his ungovern- able pride ; anil hi« unbounded lust (even tn the commission, it is said, of the sinagains nature) ; will lor ever, ajui indelibly, sta his memory. He left no issue by his wit'? Berenguella, of Navarre. 28. [7.] JOHN. A. D. 1199—1*216 Prince John succeeded to the throne, solely by testamentary right, i. c. by virtue of his brother's will ; to the prejudice of Ar- thur, duke of Bretagne, son to Geoffrey, (third son of Henry 11. ) John's eliler brother. [It should liaie been observed, in its proper place, that prince John was, in the reign of his father Henry, A. D. 1185, made chief governor of Ireland. The king intended to have crowned him monarch of that island, and the Pope had, for that purpose, sent over a crown of peacock's feathers interwoven with gold : but, on second thoughts, Henry laid aside his design, for fear of strengthen- ing the ambition and enflaming the jealousy of his other son Richard. John was well received in his government, at first ; but, in a short time, so alienated the hearts of the Irish, that Henry was obliged to rccal him.] John's reign in England was a series of disquiet and misfortune, both to himself and his people The chief events were these : 1. The loss of almost all the English dominions in France, conquered from him by Philip Au'justus, the French king. 2. A. D. 1215, the barons take arms in the cause of liberty ; make themselves mas- tr rs of London ; and besiege the king in the Tower : who is forced to yield, and, in fact, tlirovv himself on their mercy. In conse- quence of this success, .3. They oblige him to sign Magna Char- tii ; which he does in the open air, in a meadow called Runnemead, between Staines and Windsor, June 5, 1215, at the same time he signed the Charter of Forests, 4. John, who had signed these charters with no intention to keep them, got the Pope to absolve him of his oath. Retiring to the Isle of Vv'ight, he waits the arrival of foreign troops whom he had sent for ; oa whose coming, as they did in shoals, the barons retreat to London : and the whole kingdom is ravaged by a merciless army of foreign savages, divided into two bodies, one headed by John himself, the other by his natural brother William (surnamed Long- sword) earl of Salisbury, king Henry's son by Rosamond Clifford. Never was England in so sad a condition. The confederate barons, in despair, make an olfer of the crown to prince Lewis (son of Philip, king of France) who afterwards mounted the French throne by the name of Lewis Vlll. King Philip promises to assist them ; vasl preparations are made in France ; prinrr Lewis, in the beginning of 1216, lands a( Sandwich, takes Rochester, and sees himjfli U 290 CHRONOLOGY OF ENGLANO. 1)11 a sudden master of almost all the south of England. But, 6. The meanest thing, which even John the meanest as well as worst of princes ever did, was his resignation of his crown on nis knees, to Pandulph, tlie Pope's legate, in Dover church, A. D. 1213. He laid the crown, and other regalia, at Pandiilph's feet (as representative of the Pope) ; offering at the same time a sum of money bv way of tribute, which the humble legate, to shew the grandeur of his master, spurned with his foot. John then signed a resignation of the kingdom of England and lordship of Ireland to the Pope. The legate kept the crown and sceptre five days ; and then re- stored them to John, as a vassal of the holy see. The next year, 121 , he resigns his crown a second time to the Pope [who was Innocent the Xllth] in the person of Pan- dulph, at Westminster. Whilst Lewis is in England, John, after the misfortune of losing all his baggage by a flood ill the marshes on the borders of Lincolnshire and Norfolk, falls sick, and dies at Newark, October 18, 1216, and is buried, without pomp, at Worcester. From every part of his conduct, both be- fore and after his accession to the crown, it is evident that John was one of the worst men that ever lived ; and one of the worst kings that ever reigned. 29. [8.] HENRY in. A. D. 1216—1272. Henry, son to John by his third wife, Isabel of Angouleme, succeeded his father, at the age of ten years. Prince Lewis of France was still in the kingdom pushing his conquests. But after the coronation of y.iung Henry, Lewis, meeting with little success, returns to France, A. D. 1217. Henry proved a very bad king ; though bad as he was, he appeared to some advan- tage after the reign of a worse, his father and predecessor. Henry's genius was wretched and des- picable, he was a slave to his favourites ; and by his high notions of kingly power made both himself and his people unhappy. He was haughty, capricious, deceitful, and covetous ; yet though covetous, he was not rich ; not having sense enough to manage the money he so insatiably thirsted after. His treatment of the barons ; his confirma- tions and violations of the charters, demon- strate that he paid no sort of regard to his word, his bond, or the most solemn oaths. But, with all his other vices, he was not in- continent. In a word, there have been, in some respects, worse kings in England ; but few characters more truly contemptible than Henry the third. James the first, if any, exceeding him in the latter. Ileturning from Norwich, A. D. 1272, (where he had been to punish some rioters) he was taken ill at St. Edmund's Bury ; buf, continuing his jo.irney, reached London, where he died the sixteenth of November, (Bt. 66, regit. 56, and was buried at West- minster. By his wife Eleanor of Provence, he had two sons, Edward and Edmund ; the former of whom succeeded him. 30. [9.] EDWARD I. A. D. 1272—1307. Edward (the first of that name since the Conquest; but the fourth from Egbert) sur- narned Longshanks, was in Sicily when father's death was notified to him. The English had conceived a very great esteem for him, during the late reign, owing to the proofs he had given both of his valour and clemency ; he succeeded without opposition, the barons even swearing allegiance to him in his absence. He did not arrive in Eng- land until the year 1274 ; after which he was presently crowned. The chief events of his reign were, 1. His wars %vith Lewellyn, prince of Wales ; which, at length, A. D. 1282, ended in his entire reduction of that important country (by the battle of Snowdon, in Caer- narvonshire, in which Lewellyn's forces were defeated, and himself slain) ; which, A. D. 1283, he united to England. After his victory, Edward builds the castle of Aber- conway, at the foot of Snowdon-hill. A.D. 1284, the king had a son (afterwards the unfortunate Edward II.) born at Caernarvon. 2. A. D. 1296, in the battle of Dunbar, he conquers Baliol, king of Scotland ; soon after which, Baliol comes to Kincardin, where Fidward was, and makes a formal resignation of his kingdom to Edward ; sign- ing at the same time an instrument of ex- press conveyance, to which the great seal of Scotland was affixed, and the greatest part of the Scotch barons likewise set their hands. Afterivards, Edward received homage from the states of Scotland, who, repairing to Berwick, swore allegiance to him. (>:=>' Now it was, that Edward removed the Scotch regalia into England ; together with the famous stone on which the inau- guration of the Scotch kings was always performed. The history of this stone is as follows : Keneth II. king of Scots, ha\'ing, A. D. 840 (soon after the succession of Ethel- wulph, the second king of England) given the Picts a total defeat, near the monastery of Scone, placed a stone there (which fabul- ous tradition reported to be the same that seiTed Jacob for a pillow), and enclosed it in a wooden chair, for the inauguration of the kings. It had been brought out of Spain into Ireland, by Simon Ereccus ; afterwards, out of Ireland into Scotland. This stone the Scots, for many Fges, looked upon as their palladium ; on tlue preservation of which, and its continuaiice in their nation, depended their sovereignty and independency CHR0N01.0GY OF ENGLAND. 291 as a kingdom. On it was engiaved the fol- lowing distich : " m f'lllnt fatum, Scoti qvocunque locatum •• Invcnitnt lupidem, regnare tenentur ihidem." This stone Edward conveyed to Westminster Abbey, (where it still continues) to make the Scots believe that the time appointed for the dissolution of their monarchy was reallv come. 3. The next year, A. D. 1297, one Wil- liam Wallace, a man of mean birth but great genius, excites the Scots to revolt. Matters come to that pass that, in 1299, all the En- glish are forcibly driven out of Scotland. A.D.I 306, Edward carries his arms into Scotland, and a third time sees himself mas- ter of that kingdom. But another revolution happening there soon after, Edward, exas- perated to the last degree, resolved (to use his own phrase) " utterly to destroy all Scotland, from sea to sea." Vast preparations were made ; an army was gathered, the finest England had ever seen ; Edn'ard marches to Carlisle, with full intent to make good his threats. But Providence suddenly put an end to his days and his projects. Finding himself taken ill, and knowing he should die. he sent for his son, and exhorted him to these three things : 1. Vigorously to push the war against Scotland and to carry his hones with him, at the head of the army. 2. Never to recal Gaveston (an infamous young man, a great favourite with the prince, but whom the king had formerly banished, as a corrupter of his son). 3. To send his heart to the Holy Land. Then, desirous, if possible, to die in Scot- land, a country he had thrice conquered ; he moved, by easy journeys toward that king- dom. When he had advanced ;is far as the little town of Burgh upon the Sands, in Cumberland, he there resigned his last breath, July 7, 1307, aged sixty-eight, after a most glorious reign of more than thirty- four years and a half. His body was re- moved to Westminster, and interred near Edward the Confessor : upon his tomb is this line : " Edwardus primus, Scotorum Malleus, hie est.'' He was remarkably tall and handsome; but still more distinguished by the excellencies of his mind. His virtue was both eminent and universal ; if we except his implacable enmity to Scotland, and his ambition ; of .vhich latter he had, perhaps, too great a share. His only surviving son, by his wife, Eleanor of Castile, was his succfssor, who ascended the throne by the name of 31. [10] EDWARD II. A.u. 1307—1327. The second of this name, since the Con- que-t; the fifth since Egbert. He was commonly called, Edward' of Caernarvon, from the place of his nativity, no sooner was he on the throne than in violation of his oath made to his father some years back, and of his promise to him on his death-bed, he recalls his old favourite. Piers Gaveston (he was a Gascon by birth ; the handsomest young man of his age, and as profligate as handsome), wliich was the original spring of all his troubles after .vards. ' A. D. 131 1, he is obliged by the barons to re-banish Ga- veston ; but within a few months, recalls him. A civil war being raised, Gaveston is besieged and taken in Scarborough Castle, by the earl of Pembroke, and his head is piesently after struck otf by the earl of War- wick. A. D. 1319, a new brace of favourites having succeeded Gaveston in the king's af- fections, viz. the two Spencers, father and son, Edward is forced to banish these two ; but quiclily recalls them. At length, A. D. 1326, his queen, Isabel of France (infamous for her affection to Roger Mortimer, the younger; to which, however, she was, probably, first induced by the king's criminal passion for the late Gaveston, and afterwards by the continual insults and mortifications she was forced to put up with from the succeeding favourites) found means to raise a faction against him ; which faction being supported hy her brother Charles the Fair, king of France, ends in Edward's deposition, A. D. 1327, by his own parliament, which declare his son (Edward HI.) king in his room. But the prince, being unwilling to accept the crown, without his father's con- sent, solemnly vowed he never would : on which t!ie parliament send deputies to Edward, now in confinement at Kenelworth Castle, to persuade, or rather force, him to resign the crown to his son ; wliich, finding there was no remedy, he was obliged to do. Thus ended the reign of Edward II. ; a prince; not entirely destitute of aU good qualities, but of a very mean capacity, and ruined by an obstinate attachment to his favourites, whom he would never willingly part with, though petitioned ever so humbly and fre- quently by an injured nation. [This un- fortunate monarch, after his deposition, was kept prisoner, by his wife, in Kenelworth Castle, for some time ; but dreading his res- toration, she, in conceit with her paramour, Roger Mortimer, ordered Sir John Maltrav- eis, and Sir Thomas Gurney to remove Ed- ward from Kenelworth to Berkeley Castle : where he was very soon murdered in his bed. A pillow was first laid on his mouth, to pre- vent his cries from being heard ; and then, thrusting a pipe of horn up his body, they ran a red-hot iron through that, and so burnt his bowels. All this happened in the year 1327. He lies in Gloucester Cathedral. As to queen Isabel (her son, the young king, being a minor) she and Moi timer, earl of March, seized on the government until the U 2 292 CHRONOLOGY OF ENGLAND new king should come of age : and, parhy by their infamous and avowed passion for each other ; and, partly, thrnu^li the haughty and oppressive manner in which they gover- ned ; the Ihat victory would probably declare for his troops, purposely leaves the honour of the day to his son, and stood off on a rising ground, where he could see the issue of the fight. The prince having routed the greater part of the French forces, there yet remained one body to reduce, com- manded by the king of Bediemia. Toward this, the heroic prince directed his steps. The enemy give way ; multitudes drop ; the remainder fly, and are p'.n sued with in- credible slaughter. The old king of Bohe- mia was slain, as he wished to be, fighting for France ; and his standard (on which were embroidered, in gold, three ostrich feathers, with this motto. Itch Dien, i. e. I sen'e, al- luding to liis being in the serv ice of France) was taken and brought to the Black Prince, who, in memory of the event, bore from thenceforward, three ostrich feathers in liis coronet (as his successors have done ever since,) and adopted the motto for his own. In this famous battle, the English first made use of cannon : a thin:^ yet unheard of among theFrench. Thefieid of action weretheplains between Aberville and Cressy, in Picardy. The day was Saturday, August 24. France lost eleven princes ; upwards of eightv stan- dards ; 1200 knights; and about 30,000 sol- diers. The Black Prince was just turned of the sixteenth year of his age at this time. 6. A. D. 1347, the king takes Calais (which continued in the hands of the En- glish until the reign of Wary the bloody, when it was taken for the French king, by the duke of Guise, A. D. 1558. 7. A. D. 1348, one half of the nation is swept away by a most dreadful plague. 8. Philip de Valois, the French king, dying, in 1350, is succeeded by his son John ; who being, A. D. 135(), taken prisoner by the Black Prince, at the battle of Poicti?rs, is, the year following, conducted to London. Thus there were, at one time, two kings prisoners in England ; John of France ; and David king of Scotland, who was confined at Odiham, in Hampshire. 9. The king institutes the Order of the Gar.er, A. D. \349. 10. In 1359, he ravages France, to the very gatos of Pans. 11. In 1369, dies Edward's queen, Phi- linpa of Hainault ; to whom be had been m.ariied forty-two yenrs, ;md who was, in eveiy respect, a most excellent prin^jess She lies at Westminster. CHRONOLOGY OK ENGLAND. 293 12. A. D. 1377i that eminent instrument of God, John Wicklifie, began to make a great figure. And this same year dies king Edward, of the shingles, at Shene, (row Kichmoiid, near London) June 21, an. regn. 51, est. 65. He hes in the church of Westminster. In this prince's general character, every thing tliat is great and good was united. His greatest foible was his falling in love with Ahce Pearce (who had been lady of the bed-chamber to his late queen), in his old age, A. D. 1376, and making her his mis- tress, against the united voice of his parlia- ment and kingdom. But where U virtue without a foil ? 33. [12.] RICHARD It. A. D. 1377—1399.- SURNAMED OF BORDEAU. King lidward was succeeded by bis grandson, Richard (only son of Edward the Black Prince, by Johannah of Kent). Were virtue liereditary, this prince had been an ornament to the throne : but in every quality he was the reverse of his il- lustrious father He succeeded to the crown at eleven years of age. His uncles, John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster; and Edmund of Langley, earl of Cambridge, (afterwards duke of York) govern the state until 1380 ; when Thomas de Beauchamp, earl of War- wick, is made sole governor of the king. In 13cides two daugh- ters, four sons ; namely, Henry, his suc- cessor ; Thomas, duke of Clarence ; John, duke of Bedford ; and Humphrey, created duke of Gloucester, by his brother, Henry V. In Henry IV.'s reign flouiished WilUam of Wickham, and Chaucer the poet. 35. [14.] HENBV V. A. D. 1413—1422, Surnamed cf Monmouth, succeeded his father. [He was, from his very childhood, of a warlike, enterprising disposition ; which his father obsen-ing with jealousy, he was soon excluded from ail civil and military employ. Reduced thus to a state of idle- ness, his active genius would not sufFer him to lie still : he accordingly gave into all the excesses, which a prince of spirit and viva- city, corrupted by a set of young courtiers and flatterers, can be supposed to allow himself in. His court was a receptacle of libertines, bufioons, and parasites. And yet, amid all his extravagancies, some rays of generosity, virtue, and magnanimity, would discover themselves on occasion. A parti- cular instance of his moderation, gave hopes to the people that he would one day prove a beneficent king. A favourite servant of his being, in the year 1412, arraigned for fe- lony, before William Gascoigne, the lord chief justice; prince Henry, in hope of overawing the judge by his presence, sat by during the trial. But his presence not hindering the condemnation of the criminal, the prince was so enraged, that he gave the judge a box on the ear. The magnanimous chief justice immediately ordered him to be ar- rested on the spot, and committed prisoner to the king's bench. The prince, conscious of his rashness, and struck, no doubt, with the impartiahty and intrepidity of the judge, suffered himself to be led away to prison, like a private person, without offering the least resistance. He is said to have carried his frolics so far, as among other pranks, to disguise himself, and lay in wait for the re- ceivers of his father's revenues, and in the person of a highwayman, to set upon and rob them. In such rencounters, he some- times happened to be soundly beat; but al- ways rewarded such of his father's officers as made the stoutest resistance. In these CHRONOLOGY OF ENGLAND. 295 wild sallies, the famous Sir John FastolfF (corruptly called Falstaff) was usually one.] Upon his accession, he dismisses all his former riotous companions ; chooses a coun- cil, composed of persons most eminent for integrity and ability ; and gave indisputable proofs of a total reformation. — This great prince, on October 25, 1415, with an army of less than ten thousand men, beat the French army, consisting of a hundred and fifty thousand. This memorable battle was fought in Artois, near the castle of Azin- coui t ; from which the battle itself has taken its name. In short, within the course of four or five years, Henry made himself master of almost all France. At length, he died of a flux (others say, of an acute fever, attended with a dysentery ; and Peter Bas- >ctt, M ho was his chamberlain, that he died of a pleurisy), at Vincennes, near Paris, August 31, 1422, aged thirty-four, after a short, but most glorious reign, of between nine and ten years. He was a prince who raised the English name, and his own, to the highest pitch of glory. He possessed every qualification, both of body and mind, re- quisite to form the best, the greatest, and most amiable of men. His severity to the Lollards, in the beginning of his reign ; and particularly his suffering that great and good man. Sir John Oldcastle, baron of Cobham, to fall a sacrifice to the bigotry and cruelty of Thomas Arundel, archbishop of Canter- bury ; was the greatest, perhaps the only real, blot in his reign. His body was brought into England, and buried at West- minster. His queen (Catherine of France, whom he married in 1419) caused a statue of silver gilt, as large as the life, and ex- tremely like him, to be laid on his tomb : but, about the latter end of Henry VIII. the head, being of massy silver, was broken off and carried away, together with the plates of silver that covered his trunk, which now remains alone, and is heart of oak. By his queen, he left only one son, an infant ; who succeeded him, by the name of 36. [15.] HENRY VI. A. D. 1422—1461. This mean and unfortunate prince was but nine months old when his father died. John duke of Bedford, and Humphrey, duke of Gloucester (sons to Henry IV. brothers of the late, and uncles of the reigning king,) are made the chief managers of af- fairs, the first in France, the latter in England. They conducted their administra- tions with the greatest fidelity to their ne- phew, and with a prudence and vigour which proved them to be persons of the most eminent abilities. The English affairs went on well in France until the year 142.9, when Joan of Arc (a village in Lorrain, where she was born) was raised up by Pro- vidence to turn the balance of success in favour of the French. [This extraordinai v young woman (commonly called the Maid of Orleans, from her being present wlieti the English were forced to raise the siege of that city) was afterwards taken prisoner by the duke of Burgundy at the siege of Coni- piegne, and delivered up to the duke of Bedford, who had her tried and burnt for a Witch at Roiin, where she was executed. May 30, 1431.] Notwithstanding a long train of losses and misfortunes on our side, Henry being about nine years old, goes over, and is crowned king of France, at Paris, in 1430. A. D. 1444, Henry marries Margaret of Anjou, who, instantly perceiving the weak- ness of his genius, so managed as to rule him absolutely from the very day of her arrival. A. D. 1447, was remarkable for the murder of that noble, heroic, and amiable prince, Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, whom Margaret could never forgive, because he opposed her marriage with the king his nephew. She therefore joined with William de la Pole, marquis of Suffolk ; Henry Beau- fort (great imcle to the king) and bishop of of Winchester ; and others of that faction, to accomplish his destruction. Being im- prisoned on some false pretence at Ed- mondsbury, where the parliament was then sitting, he was found the next morning dead in his bed. This and many other acts of violence quite alienated the people from the queen and her ministry : who, at length, became so arbitrary and oppressive that Richard, duke of York (descended from Lyonel, duke of Clarence, son of Edward the third) began to cast a longing eye on the crown. With this view he, at several different times, raises armies. Particularly, in 1455, he engages with Henry, at St. Alban's : where Henry not only loses the victory, but is likewise taken prisoner by the duke of York, by whom he is respect- fully conducted to London : where the par- liament made the duke protector of En- gland ; the sovereignty being still vested in the king. A. D. 1460, the (jueen and her ministry form a project of putting all the Yorkists to death ; on which the duke of York, with other lords, put themselves at the head of forty thousand men. Queen Margaret, who was assembling her forces at Coventry, niarches towards London, in order to give the Yorkists battle. The earl of March (presently after Edward IV.) son of the duke of Y'ork, together with two other lords, is detached, at the head of twenty- five thousand men, to meet her. The two armies engage near Northampton ; where Margaret is defeated, king Henry, who was in her camp, taken prisoner ; and the en- terprizing queen is forced to fly into thi north. But, in the battle of Wakefield, soon after, Margaret is successful, and thj 296 CHUOP^OHXiV OK ENGLAND. duke of Yi>rk sliiin : which his son Edwiiicl, earl of Mmch, heming, loses neither his courage nor his hopes. Heading his trc jps, he defeats the earl of Pembroke (near Mor- timer's Cross in Hertfordshire), who had been sent against him by Margaret. The young earl, marching immediately to London, Mar- garet retires to the north. On his arrival in the city, he is received with open arms, and universal acclamations. Henry is deposed, by the joint consent of the people, and such of the nobility, magistracy, and gentry, as were in town ; and the earl of March mounts the throne, by the name of [Hi.] KUW.\RD IV. [VII.] A. o. 14(il— 1433. [Thus ended, at present, the rei;ni of Henry VL Incapacity for public affairs, and a stupid insensibility of misfortune, appear to have been his chief characteristics. He was, however, remarkably moral ; or rather innocent : not so much from principle as for want of sense, spirit, and activity to be otherwise. After his marria;,'e queen Mar- garet ^'a woman of unbounded haughtiness, and insatiably fond of power) was the go- verning person : and by endeavouring to render the king, (or, rather, herself, who, with her corrupt set of favourites did every thing) absolute master of the lives and pro- perties of his subjects, occasioned her own, her husband's and her son's ruin, together with the ruin of the whole house of Lancas- ter. It may not be amiss to observe, in this place, that Henry was, by the e:irl of Warwick's faction, released from the Tower, on October 25, 14/0, and restored to the throne : on which king Edward (who w is forced to take shelter in the dominions of his brother-in-law, the duke of Burgundy) was, by the parliament which was called soon after, declared a traitor ; his paternal es- tates confiscated ; and the statutes of his reign annulled. But on the fourteenth of March following, Edward lands at Raven- spur, in Yorkshire, and getting together some forces, marched to London : which opening her gates to him, he made his pub- lic entry into the city, April 17, 1471. Mean- xhWe, Henry, who seemed born for no other end than to be the sport and football of fortune, was re-committed to the Tower, ivhence, about si.x months before, he had been taken to remount the throne. Henry did not long survive this reverse of fortune : for Edward, soon after, gaining the famous battle of Tewkesbury (in whicli queen Mar- garet was taken prisoner, together with her son prince Edward, and her general, Ed- mund Beaufort, duke of Somerset, the un- fortunate Henry was despatched in his con- finement : some say by the hands of ilichard, duke of Gloucester (aftenvards Rich rd the third), the brother to king Edw.ird. As to queen Margaret, she was. upon the loss of that battle, shut up in the tower of London ; where she remained a prisoner, tiU A. D. 1475, when she was ransomed by her father (Rene, of Anjou, king of Sicily) for 50,000 crowns. As to her son, the heroic prince Edward, who was eighteen years of age, he was soon dispatched in cold blood ; and the duke of Somerset quickly lost his head on the Scaffold.] King Edward was chiefly indebted for his advancement to Richard Neville, earl of Warwick. And through his incurring the resentment of this earl, he had, two or three years after, almost lost for ever the crown he had gained by his means. The affair was this. In 1465, Edward sends the earl of Warwick on embassy to the French king, Lewis XI. The earl's business was to de- mand Bona of Savoy, in marriage, for his master. Lewis consents, and Warwick is not a little pleased with the success of his negotiation. But while this affair was trans- acting in France, Edward falls in love at home with Elizabeth Woodville, whom he saw by accident in Northamptonshire. This young lady was a widow (but in the fuU bloom of beauty), having been married to Sir John Grey of Groby. She was daugh- ter to Jacquelina of Luxeniburgh, duchess of Bedford (relict of the famous John duke of Bedford, son of Henry IV., and regent of of France, in the reign of his nephew, Henry VI.), who had married Sir Richard Woodville. In short, the king marries her, without sending to consult with the earl of Warwick : who, upon his return, was so in- censed at his being thus mocked, that he never forgave Edward afterwards ; of which he convinced him, by actually dethronini; him, in the year 1470, as we have heard above : but, on Edward's recovery of the crown, the earl of Warwick was slain in the battle of Barnet, which was fought on Easter Sun- day, April 14, 1471. The battle of Tewkes- bury, fought on the third or fourth of May follort'ing, was decisive, and settled Edward firm on the throne for life. A. D. 1475, Edward has a conference with Lewis XI. of France, on Pequigny bridge, near Amiens, with a grate between them. In 1478, George, duke of Clarence, king Edward's brother, fell a sacrifice to the jealousy aiid resentment of the queen, ot his other brother, the duke of Gloucester, and of the king him- self. Being, in a lame, underhand manner, condemned 'or treason ; all the favour riuke George cou'd obtain of the king his brother was the liberty of choosing what kind of death he pleased ; on which, to avoid ap- pearing on the scaffold, he desires to be drow.ied in a butt of malmsey wine : which was done. Edward died the ninth day of April, 1483, (Et. 42, regni. 22, some say, he ilied of an ague .; others of a siirfeit; and CHKONOLOGY OK ENfiLAWD. 297 some, that he whs poisoned by his brother, flichard, duke of Gloucester. He was, per- haps, thL- handsomest man in all Europe : valiant, affable, and naturally generous. But then hf was certainly cruel on some occa- sions ; witness, in particular, the deaths of Henry the sixth's son, prince Edward ; king Henry the sixth himself ; and his own bro- tlier, the doke of Clarence. He was, at all times lustful and incontinent; and could be perfidious upon occasion, when he had any turn to serve by it. His queen, Elizabeth Woodville, brought him three sons and eight dauf»hters. One of his sons died an infant ; the other two were murdered, as we shall soon see. The princess Elizabeth, his eldest daughter, was, in process of time, married to Henry VH. Edward was succeeded by his eldest son. [17.] EDWARD V. [vill.] A. D. 1483. This unfortunate young prince was be- tween twelve and thirteen years old, at the time of his accession. His reign (improperly so called), or rather his life, ended within three months after. He was at Ludlow, in Shropshire, when the king his father died : his uncle Richard manages so that the queen dowager disbands her troops: presently after he seizes on the young king at Stony Strat- ford. The Qiieen mother, perceiving what these steps tended to, takes sanctuary, by night, in Westminster Abbey ; carrying with her the duke of York, her younger son, aged nine years ; and others of her family. The duke of Gloucester conducts the king, in a very respectful manner, to London : where, calling a grand council, he gets himself de- clared protector. Having made such alte- rations at court as he thought necessary in order to his design, he movt s, in council, to have the king's brother, Richard, duke of York, taken out of his mother's hands. The cardinal archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Bourchier, is accordingly sent to the queen at Westminster : who, after much dispute, and with a shower of tears, delivers him up to the prelate ; who (little suspecting what the protector had in view) delivered him to the duke of Gloucester. This designing prince now pretended to carry on the pre- parations for the king's coronation ; and at once, to amuse the people, and favour his own plot, he removes his two nephews, from the bishop of London's house, to the Tower (whence the coronation procession generally used to begin). And now the vil- lian communicates his intentions to Henry Statfoid, duke of Buckingham. This noble- man, (upon a promise of certain lands be- longing to the earldom of Hereford which he liaii claimed during the late reign, but without success), readily caine into Glou- cester's designs. Their emissar ies next en- deavour to scatter reports against the legiti- macy of Edward the fourth and his children. Soon after, they hire one Dr. Shaw, a venal priest, but famous preacher; who, in a ser- mon at Paul's Cross, defamed the late king and his posterity, and extolled Gloucester to the skies. But this having no eftVct on the people, the duke of Buckirtgham harangues the citizens at Guildhall; pressing them to |)etition Gloucester to accept the crown. The people were shocked, and kept a pro- found silence. Buckingham then orders the recorder to address them : after which some of the mob, and others, hired before hand, cried out. Long live king Richard ! next day Buckingham, with the lord mayor and others, waited on the protector, at his house in Thames-street, and offered him the crown • which, after a long scene of afFectation and artifice, he accepted, and was, on June 22, 1483, proclaimed by the name of 39. [18.] RICHARD III. A. D. 1483—1486. Presently after his barefaced usurpation of the crown, Richard resolves on the deaths of his nephews, king Edward and the duke of York. In order to accomplish his bloody design with the less odium to himself, he takes a journey to Gloucester ; whence he sent an express command to Brackenoury, governor of the Tower, to murder the two princes. The governor excusing himself, Richard sends him an order in writing, re- quiring him to deliver to James Tyn eU, the Dearer, the keys and government of the Tower, for one night. Brackenbury obeyed, and Tyrrell broui/ht in his agents (whose names were. Miles Forest, and John Digh- ton) to execute the king's will. That very night the two princes were sn.othercd in their bed, and then buried under a little stair-case. At least, this is what Tyrrell himself afterward confessed, who was ex- ecuted in the reign of Henry the seventh. The bones of the royal brothers were sup- posed to have been found in the reign of king Charles the second, A. D. 1674 ; who, upon the presumption, had them put into a marble urn, and interred in V\'es; minster Abbey. Richard was hardly warm on the throne, when the duke of Buckingham claimed the lands of Hereford, pursuant to promise. But Richard had changed his mind, and refused to keep his word. Some say that it is a mistake ; and that Richard gave him the lands agreed upon. However, it is certain that Buckingham, some way or other disgusted with Richard, retired in dis- content to his castle at Brecknock : where Morton, bishop of El.y, was confined by Richard. Here the duke and the bishop consult how they may dethrone the king. Henry, earl of Richmond, (soon after, Henry VI 1.) was the person on whom they fixed for the crown. [This prince, with his uncle Jasper Tudor, earl of Pembroke, had 298 CHRONOLOGY OF ENGLAND. embarked lor Fiance, A. D. 147!, soon after the battle of Tewkesbury ; but, being diiven on the coast of Bretagne, they were detained by the duke of that county, who assigned them the town of Vannes tor their habita- tion, with an honourable allowance : but though they were treated in a ceremonious manner, they were kept against their wills and very narrowly watched.] The earl of Richmond's mother, Margaret, countess of Richmond, (only daughter of John Beaufoi t, duke of Somerset ; grandson of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, fourth son of Ed- ward III.) was informed of the plot, by one Reginard Bray, whom the duke of Bucking- ham and bishop of .Ely had sent to acquaint her with it. She was told, at the same time, that in order to bring matters to bear the earl her son must marry the princess Elizabeth, daughter of Edvrard IV. and de- sired her (the countess) to apply to the queen mother for her consent : she did so, and obtained it. The countess then sent to her'son (still in Bretatjne), who, imparting the affair to the duke of Bretagne, was en- abled, by his assistance, to appear on the coast of England : but, meeting with a storm, was obliged to put back. Mean while Richard calls a parliament, by which the earl of Richmond is attainted : and it L-eing discovered that the earl's marriage with the princess Elizabeth was the basis of the plot, Richard contrives to make away with his queen (Ann Neville, daughter of Richard Neville, earl of Warwick) in order to marry his niece, the princess Elizabeth, himself : in which, however, he did not suc- ceed. The bishop of Ely having made his escape from the castle of Brecknock, flies into Flanders : the duke of Buckingham is betrayed into Richard's hands, and beheaded at Shrewsbury. — The earl of Richmond, on his return to Bretagne, finding it unsafe for him to stay thire, escapes into France, and puts himself under the protection of Charles Vlll., who resolves to assist him. August 6, 1485, the earl lands at Milford Haven. Thence advancing to Shrewsbury and Litchfield, his army continually increas- ing all the way), he goes to Bosworth, in Leicestershire, where the two competitors met, each at the head of his army. Victory declares for the earl. Richard, seeing the day lost, rushed, in despair, among the thickest of the enemy, and fell covered with wounds : having enjoyed the crown but two years and two months, which he had gained by so many ill actions. This battle was fought August 22, 1483. Richard's body being found among the slain, stark naked, covered with blood and dirt, was, in that condition, thrown across a horse, with his head hanging on one side, and his legs on the other, and so carried to Leicester : where after being two days exposed to public view, it was, without ceremony, interred in St. Mary's church. The stone cofiSn, in which his corpse lay, was made a drinking trough for horses, at the ^Vhite liorse Inn, in Leicester. He was aged about three or four and thirty years. With him ended the race of Plantagenet in England. 40. [19.] HENRY VII. A. D. 1485—1509. Earl Henry, having gained the battle of Bosworth, caused Te Deiim to be sung on the spot ; all the troops, falling on their knees, to bless God for the victory. Presently after he is proclaimed king by his army. [I* may now be proper to trace the pedigree of this prince. Catherine of France, widow of Henry V. married Owen Tudor, a Welsh gentleman, of mean descent, but the hand- somest man of the age. By him she had three sons ; Edmund, Jasper, and Owen. Edmund was created earl of Richmond, by his half-brother Henry VI., who gave him to wife Margaret, only daughter of J .hn Beaufort, duke of Somerset, grandson to John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, fourth son of Edward the third. From this marriage of Edmund with Margaret sprung Henry Vil., who was consequently grandson to Henry the fifth's widow, by his father's side ; and by his mother's, the fifth from Edward III.] With regard to Henry's accession, or rather military election, there is one particular deserves to be considered. Either the next heir of the York line ought to have suc- ceeded; or the next heir of the Lancastrian. If of the former, then Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Edward the fourth, should have succeeded, in her own right, immediately on the death of Richard the third, and earl Henry should have actually married her, pre- vious to his assuming the title of king : or, if the Lancastrian house ought to have suc- ceeded, there was one before Henry : I mean his mother, Margaret, countess dowager of Richmond, who was still living, (r) So that, either way, by Henry's ascending the throne when he did, the line of regular succession was broke. Such a cobweb, such a shadow, is what some pompously call " Indefeasible hereditary right." Marching up to London, he is well re- ceived in that city. There he institutes the veomen of the guard. He is crowned, October 30, previous to the sitting of par- liament, which did not meet imtil Novem- ber 7. And Januaiy 18, 1486, he is married to the princess Elizabeth ; to whom his de- testation of the house of York, made him a very indifferent, not to say bad, husband That same year, he confines his mo*her-in- law, the queen dowager, Edward the fourth's (»■) She did not die iiutil the first of Henry VIII. CHRONOLOGY OF ENGLAND. 2% widow, in the monastery of Bermondsey, Southu ark ; where she continued, deprived both of liberty and estates, until her death, which did not happen until several years after. She was buried at Windsor, by the side of her royal husband, Edward IV. Scarce was Henry warm on the throne, than he was disturbed by Lambert Simnel, a ba- ker's son, who (through the contrivances of one Richard Simon, an Oxford priest) passed with many for Richard duke of York, son of Edward the fourth, who had been mur- dered by Richard the third. Simnel was, at this time, about fifteen years old. Pass- ing into Ireland, he is proclaimed and ac- tually crowned at Dublin. Returning, some time after, to England with an army com- posed of Irish and Germans, and headed by the carls of Lincoln and Kildare, his troops give battle to Henry, June 6, 1487, at Stoke, in Nottinghamshire. Victory declares for Henry ; the earl of Lincoln is slain ; and Simnel himself, being taken prisoner, is made a turnspit in the kitchen of the monarch he sought to dethrone. In the year 1493, Margaret, duchess of Burgundy, (daughter of Richard duke of York, [who was slain in 14G0, at the battle of Wakefield] and sister of Edward IV.) in hopes of dispossessing Henry, and restoring her own house of York to the crown, sat up one Perkin Warbeck, to personate her nephew, Richard duke of York, whom Richard the third, her brother, had murdered in the Tower. [This Perkin Warbeck was son to John Osbeck, a con- verted Jew, of Tournay, who had long lived in London. King Edward IV. being ac- quainted with this Jew, stood godfather to one of his children ; to whom he gave the name of Peter ; whence was formed the diminutive, Peterkin or Perkin. The boy was so handsome, and endowed with qualities so far above his birth, that many suspected him to be the illegitimate child of Ed- ward : and, indeed, it is something ex- traordinary that that prince should stand godfather to one of so mean parentage.] The young imposter acted his part so well that for at least five years together, he gave Henry infinite alarm and uneasiness ; and, more than once, made him shake • in his throne. At length, being forced to sur- render, he was hanged, November 23, 1499: after having been acknowledged for lawful king in Ireland, France, Flanders, England, and Scotland. In the beginning of 1502, Henry's daughter, the princess Margaret, is mar- ried to James IV. of Scotland : from which marriage sprung, in process of time, James the first of England. Toward the latter end of his reign, Henry gave full range to his avarice ; and, without regard to equity, justice, or common humanity, plundered his subjects to fill his coffers. His two chief tools for this pur- pose were Sir Richard Empson, and Edmund Dudley. [But these two infamous ojjpres- sors of their country paid dear for their activity in the following reign ; being both beheaded on Tower-hill, August 17, 1510.J After a reign of nearly twenty -four years, Henry died at Richmond, April 22, 1509, eet. 52. By his (|ueen, Elizabeth (daughter of Edward IV. and Elizabeth Woodville), he had four sons, and four daughters. Prince Arthur, the eldest, died A. D. 1502, at Lud- low Castle (where he was sent to keep re- sidence as prince of Wales), cet. 17, and was buried at Worcester. Henry, his second son, succeeded him. Edmund and Edward died in their childhood ; as did two of his daughters, Elizabeth, and Catherine : Mar- garet (as has been observed) married James the fourth of Scotland; and Mary mat ried first Lewis the twelfth of France ; and after his death, Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk, reckoned the handsomest man of the age. As to the character of Henry, it is very far from an amiable one. His two grand objects were to preserve the crown he had acquired, and to heap up money. In enmity he was implacable ; and his avarice was in- satiable. His temper was gloomy, morose, haughty, and suspicious. His inextinguish- able abhorrence of the house of York, to- gether with his affectation of despotism on all occasions, and his rapacious covetous- Dcss, which knew no bound either of justice or mercy, are indelible stains on his memory. If he v/as, in many respects moral, it seems to have been more owing to the phlegm of his constitution, than to principle. That he was extremely politic, is certain : but this was not so much the effect of genius, as of distrust, which made him for ever un- easy, and for ever on his guard. He lies in his own chapel at Westminster. He rebuilt the palace of Shenc, near London, after it had been burnt down ; and gave it the name of Richmond (from his having been eail of Richmond), which it still bears. 41. [20.] HENUY VIII. A. D. 1509— 1547 Succeeded his father, at the age of eigh- teen years, wanting two months and six days. He had the advantage of a very learned edu- cation, for a prince ; and was also a dis- tinguished master of the heroic exercises then in use. The year he caiue to the crown he maried his brother Arthur's widow, Ca- therine of Arragon ; pursuant to his late father's intention and desire. The principal events of this reign were, 1. The rise, prosperity, and fall of Thomas Wolsey ; who, from being no more than a butcher's son at Ipswich, where he was born, in 1741, was advanced to the highest honours, both secular and ecclesias- 300 FREE THOUGHTS ON tical. He commenced A. B. at Oxo;i, at the age of fouiteeii; was soon after elected Fellow of Magdalen, and A. D. 1500, pre- sented, by the marquis of Dorset, to the recrory of Lymington in Somersetshire : where he h;id not long resided before he was yet in the stocks for drunkenness, and rais- ing a riot at a fair in the neighbourhood. Being made chaplain to Heni y VII. in 1506, he insinuated himself into the favour of Rich- ard Fox, bishop of VVinton ; by whose re- commendation he was sent ambassador from tliat king to the Emperor Maximilian, and, ipon his return, made dean of Lincoln. Upon the accession of Henry VIII. bishop Fox introduced him to the new king, who, for many years together, thought he could never give him sufficient marks of his regard. In 1513, he became prime minister; in 1514, bishop of Lincoln ; administrator of the see of Tournay in Flanders, and arch- bishop of York ; in 1515, he received a cardinal's hat ; was made lurd cliancellor ; adminstrator of the bishoprics of Bath, Worcester, and Hereford; together with the addition of several prebendaries to increase his revenues. FREE THOUGHTS On the projected application to Parliament, in the Year 1771, for the Abolition nf Ecclesiastical Subscriptions. Hold fast that thou hast ; that no man take thy prown. Bev. iii. 2. ' To he iniptifned, from w ithout ; and hetrnyed, from within ; is hest of ^Churches, the Chiirch of Knfhnd, has had^experience of destroying tlie Church of'En^'iand, out of the Papists' ha^nds*! so'a?e would have been contented with her preferments, without either MUmpting to give up her rites and liturifv. or deserting her doc- trint. But it has happened much otherxvisc." Dr. South's Preface to his .Inimadv. on Shcrloclt. In consequence of an advertisment, which made its appearance in the London papers, some clergymen lately met at the Feathers Tavern, in the Strand, to consult upon ways and means, of applying to parliament, for " relief in the matter of subscription to the Liturgy and xxxix Articles. " About four- score, I am told, attended : some from mo- tives of curiosity ; some as observers of the rest ; and some to lend a helping hand to the business in agitation. To the few reverend gentlemen (for, it seems, they were much the minority) who heartily fell in with the purpose of this ex- traordinary meeting, I beg leave to submit the following hints : I. Is not every king of England, for the time being, the supreme visible head of our national Church ? II. Should not, therefore, these ecclesi- astical male-contents have begun at the right end, by first petitioning his majesty for leave to assemble on an occasion, and to deliberate i n a question, wherein not only the forms but the very essence also, of our religious constitution, are so deeply and directly con- cerned ? The king, I am awaie, cannot him- self introduce a bill into the house of com- mons. But, surely, the king's permission was, in law and regularity, absolutely re- quisite, prior to such a public meeting, cal- led for such a purpose. And both the cal- ling and the holding of such a meeting, for such a purpose, was neither more nor less than an open insult offered to the supreme visible head of the Church of England. But we will suppose the male-contents not to have thus stumbled at the threshold, by assembling on such business, without the king's license first had and obtained. We will imagine them to have done no more than appoint a committee to draw up a pe- tition of leave to the throne. Even that step must have proceeded on this horrid and unsurmisable implication, that, to gratify an exceeding small handful of clergymen, the king would forfeit his own royal word, and even violate his still more sacred oath. For, III. Has not the king, solemnly and publicly, declared again and again, that he will inviolably presen'e our present settle- ment in Church and State ? Nay, was not this a very material part of the coronation oath ? Can we then think that his majesty will ever consent to unsettle and new model that Church which he has both promised and sworn to maintiiin and defend ? Im- possible I dare believe the king would sooner fling his crown into the sea. Amidst all the political defects with •which the Revolution was attended, consi- derable care was, nevertheless, taken of the Church. Witness that part of the statute, 1 Will. c. 6. whereby it was " enacted, that the following oath shall be administered to every king or queen, who shall succeed to the imperial crown of this realm, at their respective coronations ; " the form of which oath, so far as relates to the matter in hand, ran thus : " Archbishop, or bishop. Will you, to the utmost of your power, maintain the laws of God, the true profession of the gospel, and Protestant reformed religion established by law ? " The kijig or gueen shall answer : all this I promise to do. After this, laying his or her hand upon the holy gospel.s, he, or she, shall say, the things which I have here before promised, I will perform and keep ; so help me God : and shall then kiss the book." But even this security was not deemed sufficient. A flaw, tantamount to a trap- door, was still supposed to remain. The Church of England might possibly, in after times, be so remodelled, by the joint autho. rity of the three estates, as to be no longec the same identical church it was before : and ON APPLICATinN TC PARLIAMENT. 301 yet, by being re-modelle'1, on the authority aforesaid, niiglit still be, literally, the re- ligion established by law. This trap-door required effectual stop- ping up. And effectually stopped up it was by the act which united England and Scut- land into one kingdom, 5 Ann. c. 8., which celebrated statute enacts, that, " After the demise of her majesty oueen Anne, the sove- reign next succeeding, and so for ever after- wards, every king or queen succeeding and coming to the royal government of the king- dom of Great Britain, at his or her coronation, shall, in the presence of all persons who shall be attending, assisting, or otherwise, then and thei e present, take and subscribe an oath to maintain and preserve inviolably the set- tlement of the Church of England, and the doctrine, worship, discipline, and govern- ment thereof, as by law established within the kingdoms of England and Ireland, the dominion of Wales, and town of Berwick upon Tweed, and the territories thereunto belonging." To a prince, who has both taken and set his hand to such an oath as this, no petition, for leave to innovate on the church, could, with any shew of decency, be presented. And yet, without such leave, the intentional innovators had no shadow of ri(;htto assemble for the purpose they did. Either way, they are hemmed in with insurmountable embar- rassment. What then remains for them to do ? Simply this alternative : ei her to rest contented with the Church, as she now stands ; or fairly to quit her, and, like ho- nest men, avail themselves of the toleration. IV. These very gentlemen, who are so extremely sanguine for an alteration, and who so liberally exclaim against being held down to creeds and articles ; these very gen- tlemen, I am persuaded, would, without any scruple at all, subscribe to Arian Creeds and Arminian Articles ; if the fcjrmerwere three dozen, and the latter thirty-nine hundred. It is not subscription itself, which so much constitutes the grievance complained of ; but the stubborn orthodoxy of the things subscribed. Castrate the liturgy, articles, and homilies, of their Calvinism, and Trini- tarianism, and I will answer foi it subscrip- tion will no longer be considered as " a yoke of bondage, which neither v e nor our fathers were able to bear." — But, V. Why is subscription, even on its pre- sent footing, so tragically decried as "a yoke?" Supposing it to be ever so g^.llieg in itself, it certainly need neier have i;allcd the reverend shoulders of those divines who groan underit. Did any body cjinpel these labourers into the established vineyard No ; but the grapes were so inviting, that the hedge of subscription, with all its suppos- ed piickliness, was delibeialely struggled llirough, notwithstanding conscience was ure to get a few scratches (not to say lare- rations) in the passage. Was there no act of toleration ; were persons, who dissent from the establishment, liablo to positive penalties for that dissent ; were all means of subsistence cut off from Arminian and Anti-Trinitarian preachers : much might be offered in mitigation of con- formity without conviction. This would furnish ample matter of solid complaint. Subscription, in that case, would indeed be a badge of slavery and a yoke of op- pression : even of such oppression as VTOuld make humanity weep ; and of such slavery as would make Pi otestantism trem- ble to her centre. — But, blessed be God, these happy nations know nothing at pre- sent of this black, bigoted, unprotestant in- tolerancy. Such as cannot freely and con- scientiously subscribe to our ecclesiastical forms are at fuU and just liberty to exer- cise their ministry among what denomination they choose. A circumstance, which, how- ever, serves to render those persons quite inexcusable who, for the sake of a larger dividend of the loaves and fishes, solemnly subscribe, and as solemnly testify their un- compelled assent, to certain standards, which at the very same time, they disbelieve, op- pose, and would gladly overthrow : men, who (to borrow the phraseology of a late celebrated doctor), though " never trained," either by grace or sincere inclination, to pace in the trammels of the church ;" are yet so far " tempted by the sweets of her preferments," as to saciitice conscience to profit, principle to ambition, and integrity to promotion VI. Docs t'ne projected plan, for a re- poal of subscriotions, come with a good grace from some of those very ecclesiastics who have, themselves, actually submitted to this imaginary grievance, and who hold all their preferments by virtue of that self same submission ? What can the world think of such divines ? It must think this : that there are certain clergymen, whom no ties how- ever sacred can bind ; who make Scripture, conscience, church, and all things else, bend to secular interest : men who can swallow subscriptions, promises, and declarations of assent, without assenting to what they de- clare, without intending what they promise, and without believing what they subscribe : who having (many of them, at least) taken care, in the first place, to get snugly bene- ficed ; are, by a shameless stroke of after-po- licy, seeking to demolish the gate by which they entered, and to kick away fhe btdder by which they ascended: «ho, in short, while they eat the bread of the Church, are lifting up their hee' against her ; and like the ungrateful boy in the fable, think to en- joy more of the golden eggs, by killing the fowl tliat lays them. 302 FREE THOUGHTS ON " Possibly, however, these non-asseiit- ing clergymen might have subscribed heed- lessly and ignorantly, in their youth ; with- out duly considering what they did. Would you have such dissemble their dissatisfac- tion after they perceive their error?" By no means. Let them avow their dissatisfaction ; but let them also act accordingly. Let them retract their subscriptions, not by word and in tongue only, but in deed and in truth, by renouncing the preferments, as well as the doctrines, of the church ; and all the world will call them honest men. While I was over in Ireland, I was informed that the latt bishop of CI ■ — -r had been advised, b several of his friends, to give this conclusive proof of his integrity. But dear as Arian- ism was to his lordship, a mitre was dearer : {s) and he choose rather to (<) break his heart in lawn sleeves, than by resigning them, to demonstrate that he acted on prin- ciples purely conscientious. With regard to those of our own inferior clergy who are embarked in the present expedition against the Church, their design is, evidently, to burn the title-deed, and yet keep possession of the estate : to shake off silbscription, without shaking off its lucra- tive appendages. Not considering, that, if the requiring of subscription be an unlawful imposition, the advantages resulting from a submission to it must have been unlaw- fully obtained : and what a person has ob- tained unlawfully must, when he comes to a better mind, be surrendered and re- nounced, if he mean to act as a man of principle. Either, therefore, those clergy- men who repent of sul)scribing are not so deeply wounded in conscience as they pro- fess ; or wounds of conscience are, in their estimation, lighter than the dust on the scalo, when weighed against worldly ease, profit and advancement. VII. Had not, and has not, the Church of England as much right as any other so- c^iety to judge for herself what doctrines are scriptural, and to establish them accord- ingly ? I do not mean to insinuate that cur own Chuich, or any church whatever, has the least right to obtrude her own judgment on such individuals as cannot see with litr eyes. And I will venture to be quite posi- tive that the present governors of the Church are perfectly remote from the least desire to tarnish the glory of her moderation, by wishing to bring back the persecuting (.t) 1 must, Iiowevev, ear>. Iiicn so devoted. (•) (Iccasioiied by the apprehensions of a ga- ttin in^' storm, which thickened every day, and bade tail- 1,11 speedily ending in a deprivation, by Ibe joint amiiority of Cliurih and state. APPLICATION' TO PARI.TAMENT. 303 human care and foiesight could devise. If, notwithstandin? aU these prudent piecau- tions, any are' found, who creep into the established ministry, bringing in with them destructive heresies, the Church and consti- tution are not to blame, but the intruders tlieii.selves ; whose conduct proves, that the n.ost solemn tests and engagements have, with these theoli>gicnl Samsons, no more efficacy than a thread of tow, which is bro- ken when it touclieth the fire, (n) " What use of oaths, of promise, ( of test, " Where men regard no God but interest >" (x) Mille nride aitenus, Effugiet tamsn hi]e Dr. AV. continued above: upon which the apotbecai-y could not forbear ex- pressing his great sense of the honour whicli he re- ceived, in being called to the assistance of so ccle braled a person, whose writings be was well ac- way. I mean, subscription to all the Thirty- nine Articles, those only excepted which are directly pointed against the Church of Rome: and to lliem, I dare believe, every Protestant dissenter in the king's dominions ^vould cheerlully set his hand. The toleration is not complete until matters are put on this footing. A swora still hangs by a thread over the heads ol reputed heretics ; which is liable at any time to fall and do mischief. Surely, bare connivance is too slender a security for the property and freedom of any Protestant whatever ! May 1 likewise be allowed just to hint at another real grievance, equally oppressive and absurd ? 1 mean the exaction of sub- scription to the Thirty-nine Articles from those of the laity who take the academical degrees in law or physic. Nay, I have been informed (but I will not venture to affirm), that subscription is required even of those who proceed doctors in music. If so, can any thing be more unreajonable ? As if men could nut be able lawyers, physicians, or musicians, without being (a) orthodox. But this affects not the clergy. It is ab- solutely necessary, for the honour of Chris- tianity, and for the good of souls, that they should be sound in tlie faith, and give suffi- cient securi'y for their being so. Experience proves that some of us are not a little ceii- trirugal. Great care, therefore, should be taken to retain us within the oibit of ortho- doxy. Tliei ehave been instances more than a few, of eccentric divines, who have, indeed, giavitated very stroi gly towards the emo- luments of the Church : but who were, ne- vertheless, exceeding prone to recede from her doctrines. The repelling foice of the Thirty-nine Ailicles themselves proved in- sufficient to restrain those stars-ecclesiastical from availing them-elvts of the en.oluments : nor was ail the attractive pouerof the emo- luments able to procure any quarter for the doctrines. Predestination (for instance) has quainted with. The company si^>ified some sur- prise to find a country apothecary so le irned. But be assur. d them that he was no stranger to the merit and ch. racter of the Doctor, but had lately read his in':enious book, with much pleasure, (en- titled) The Divine Legation of Moses.— Dr.P e, and a Fellow of Magdalen there present, toot pains to convince the apo'Jxecavy of his u.is'ake : while C — n the surgeon ran up s airs with an ac- count of bis blunder loW. who. p ovoked by it into a violent pas- ion, called the poor fellow a pnj py and blockhead, wh must need>. be ignorant in his profession, and unfit to administer any thing to him, and might possibly poison bis bowels : andf^notnith- standing Dr. P e's endeavours to moderate his displeasure, by repre.'^enting the expodiency of the operation, and the man's capacity to perfoni.it; he would hear notliing in bis favour, but ord7red him to be discharged, and postponed the benefit of the clyster until he reached his next stage." Hid- dlet.in's Works, vol. i' p. 484,485. Quarto. As if the apotheca^y was necessarily incapjbic of administerinc a Hvster, only because he adinireti The Divine Legation of Mo.se8 ' A CAVEAT AGAINST UNSOUND DOCTRINES. 307 been dehorted fruni as poison ; while the piefennents appending to the supposed be- lief of it were enjoyed as nectar. What does this prove ? tlius ranch : that, through the depravation and frailty of human nature, the suleinn three-fold band of sub- scription, assent, and approbation, does not vas ah eady observed) perfectly answer the end of its intention. It does not, so univer- sally as mijjht be wished, preclude all diver- sities of opinions fmni the Church, nor establish absolute unity of consent touching true religion. What then f must it (to re- peat the important question) he therefore totally abolished ? Nay: hut if any proper expedients can be i'ai ther devised for that puipose, let it ratlier be strengthened. We will suppose a linsband l>iealis through his marriage articles. Woidd not the in- jured party be insane to imagine that her destroying tho-e articles, by committing them to the flames, would add to her security ? If unsound doctrines make shift to creep now and then into the Church, uotvvith- ■standingthe hedge of subscription by which she is guarded, what would become of her if she di-missed her guard, and the hedge was totally removed ? Oti the whole, I take leave of the subject with the same ardent %visb for the Church of l^ugland which a celebrated historian expressed for the State of Venice : Esto Perpetua ! A CAVEAT AGAINST UNSOUND DOCTRINES. Being the substance of a discourse preached in the parish church of St. Ann, Black- friars ; on Sunday, April 29, 17/0 Seeing^, then, that we have such !n)pc, we use great plsiiiness of Speech. 2Cor. iii.l2. ADVERTISEMENT. This Sermon was first prtiichcd at St. Matthew, Bethnai Green, April 'i'2. Some persous then pre- sent, to whose judjnncnt and request 1 pay the highest deference, desired me to retrieve as much of it as I could, the Sunday following, at St. Anne's; with a view to its being taken in short hand and puhlished. The loss of my neare.st relative, soon after this Sermon w.as preachrd, and the Dniny avocations occasioned by that lamented and linexpecttd e^cnt account hut too well for the delay with which the publication has been attended. HaviiiLS however, transcribed it at last, from fhi. iint<^ i.f the person who penned it at the t in m i -w, 1 now «pectfully inscribed Vn n;' ! ]i friends; whose favours, equally (in m, , , .n,, and un merited, 1 have noothei- pviuli.: oJ acLiiux^ ledgin Loudon, July 3, 1770. r SERMON I. And if there be ant/ other Ihiiig fh/it is contrary to sound doctrine. 1 lim. i. 10. St. Pavi. is commonly, and most probably, supposed to have written this Epistle about A. D. 66, that is, about two years before his own martyrdom, and about thirty-one after our Lord's ascension. He addressed it to Timothy; who, though a very (A) young man, hud been some time in the ministry, and was then entrusted with 'he oversight of the church at I'^pliesus. In the estima- tion of unprejudiced reason, honourable age is not that uhicli standelh in length of time, nor that is measured by number of years : but wixlom is the grey hair unto men, and an unspotted life is old age. (c) But Tiinotliv, though young, was far from robust. He was only strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. His regene- rate heaven-born soul duelt in a sickly in- lirm body. Whence we read of his mvKvat n'yOfveiat, 1 Tim. v. 23, or frequent indisposi- tions : arising, peihaps, originally from a natui'al delicacy of constitution : and, cer- tainly, increased by a rigid ahslcmiDusness, and constant course of ministerial labours. Thus our heavenly Father, graciously se- vere, and wisely kind, takes care to infuse some salutary bitter into his children's cup below ; since, were they here to taste of happiness absolute and unmingled ; were not the gales of prosperity, whether spiri- tual or temporal, counterpoised, more or less, by the needful ballast of afflictiim ; his people (always imperfect here) would be en- riched to their loss, and liable to be overset in their way to the kingdom of God. Where- fore consum-.-.ate felicity, without any mixture of wormwood, is reserved for our enjoyment in a state where perfect sanc- tification will qualify us lO possess ir In heaven, and there only, the inhabitant shall no more say, in any sense whatever, I am sick, (rf) St. Paul, in the opening of his apostolic directions to Timothy, adopts the same sim- ple, majestic, and evangelical exordium, with which the rest of his epistles usually begin. Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ ; ordained and sent forth by the head of the Churcli, the supreme master of the spiritual vineyard : without whose internal, authori- tative commission, none have a real right to minister in sacred things, nor to thrust the sickle into God's harvest. For how can men preach to purpose, so as to be instru- ments of conviction, comfort and sanctiti- cation, exeept they be sent (e) of God, and owned of him ? whence the apostle adds, by the commandment (/) of God our Saviour, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our hope. As an English nobleman, who travels to some foreign court, cannot reasonably ex- pect to be received as the representative of his sovereign here, unless charged with an actual delegation, and able to produce the (/) Kot' eiriTuYiii-, according to the positive junction, or express designation. X2 308 A CAVEAT AGAINST credentials of his mission : no more is any individual authorised to arro[;ate to himself the honour ol a divine embassage, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron, {g) A sufficient degree of gospel light and know- ledge ; an ardent luvc of souls, and a disin- terested concern for truth ; a competent nie;ASure of ministerial gifts and abilities ; and, above all, a portion of divine grace and experience ; a saving change of heart, and a life devoted to the glory of God ; are es- sential pre-requisites to an evangelical dis- char;:e of the sacred function. The first verse may be read thus : Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the express, or authoritative, designation of Jesus Christ our God, Saviour, and Lord. (A) So the passage may be rendered ; and so perhaps it ought to be understood, in its na- tural and most obvious construction. — Now, even supposing that the apostle had not the divinity of Christ immediately in view, at the time of his writing the.se words ; yet, you must either give up his inspiration, or believe that Christ is, with the Father and the Spirit, God over all, blessed for ever : since on a subject of such imspeakable con- sequence, it would have argued a degree of negligence, little short of criminal, had the apostle expressed himself in terms palpably liable to misapprehension. I therefore con- clude that both as a scholar and as a Chris- tian ; as Gamaliel's pupil and as an inspired apostle ; our sacred penman would have de- livered liimself in a far more guarded style, had -not the Son of God been indeed God the Son. Either Je.sus is the God, Saviour and Lord of his people, or St. Paul was guilty of such inexcusable inaccuracy, as every writer of common sense and common honesty would be sure to avoid. He goes on to style the blessed Jesus our hope. Ask almost any man, " Whether he hop-s to be saved eternally?" He will answer in the affirmative. But enquire again, "On what foundation he rests his hope?" Here too many are sadly divided. The Pelagian hopes to get to heaven by a moral life and a good use of his natural powers. The Arminian by a jumble of grace and free-will, human works, and the merits of Christ. The Deist by an interested obser- vance of the social virtues. Thus merit- mongers, of every denomination, agree in making any thing the basis of their hope, rather than that foundation which God's own hand hath laid in Zion. But what saith Scripture ? It avers, again and again, that Jesus alone is our hope : to the exclu- sion of all others, and to the utter annihila- tion of human deservings. Beware, there- fore, of resting your dependence partly on Christ, and partly on some other basis. As surely as you bottom your reliance partly on the rock, and partly on the sand ; S3 cer- tainly, unless God give you an immediate repentance to your acknowledgment of the truth, will your supposed house of de- fence fall and bury you in its ruins, no less than if you had raised it on the sand alone. Christ is the hope of sjlory. (i) — Faith in his righteousness, received and embiaced as our sole justifying obedience before God ; and tiie love of Christ (an inseparable effect of that faith), operating on our hearts, and shining in our lives ; are the most solid evi- dences we can have below of our accep- tance with the Father, and of our being saved in Jesus with an everlastmg salvation. Unto Timothv, mv own son in the faith ; grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Some have thought that Timothy was not converted under the ministry of St. Paul; and they ground their conjecture on Acti xvi. 1, 2; where Timothy is mentioned as a disciple, and a peison well reported of by the Christians at Derbe and Lystra, pre- vious to St. Paul's visitritioii of those places. That Timothy was a nominal professor of religion, and a youth of circumspect beha- viour, are evident from that passa;je : which external form of godliness was probably the effect of the religious (A) eaucatioa he had the happiness to receive from his earliest childhood. But, from St. Paul's compella- tion of him as his own son in the fa th ; it may, I think, be reasjnably inferred that the young disciple was led from the outer court of mere external profession into the sanctuary of heavenly and spiritual experi- ence, either by the private labours, or under the public ministry, of this apostle. And none but those ministers whose endeavours have been blest to the conversion of souls, and those oersons who have been born of God by the;.- instrumentality, can form any idea of that spiritual relation and unspeakably tender attachment which subsist between spiritual farhers and the children of grace whom God hath given them. Timothy had been a tiue believer some considerable time before St. Paul wrote this Epistle. Consequently, by the grace, mercy, and peace, which he prayed might be the portion of his beloved converts, we are to understand, not the first vouchsafement, but a large increase, of those spiritual blessings and comforts : that he might have repeated discoveries and continued manifestations of the Father's electing grace ; of Christ's redeeming mercy ; and experience that sweet peace and joy in believing which are fruits of the Holy Spirit's influence and flow (g) Hcb. T. 4. xp.ro,.. (0 Colosslans i. i: (A; Kut' e».TuY,|„ Ut„„ Za,ri,pt)t KixiKvpfK, (k) i T:m iii. 15. UNSOUND DOCTRINES. 309 from feUowship with him. Privileges these which unawakenedmen will always ridicule ; but to which every real Christian will ar- dently aspire. Time would fail me, should I attempt to consider all the intervenient verses. 1 find cjyself at a loss, not what to say, but what to leave unsaid. However, I shall observe, as briefly as I can, that one grand reason of St. I'aul's writing this Epistle was, to put Timothy on his guard against the dissemina- tion of corrupt doctrines, and tlie insidious arts of corrupt teachers, with wliich the Church of Bphesus, where Timotliy was now stationed, seems to have been particu- larly infested. Unregenerate ministers are much the same in all ages and in every country : an unconverted preacher in En- gland, and an unconverted preacher in Italy, so far as matters merely spiritual are con- cerned, stand nearly on a levd. These all are, what the Kpliesian schismatics were desirous to be, teaclitrs of the law, or legal teachers. And all unco nvei ted people, whether their denomination be Protestant or Popish, desire to be hearers of the law, and are displeased when they hear anything else. We are, naturally, fond of that very law which, unless the rijjhteousness of Clirist is ours, is the ministration of death, pronounces us accursed, and binds us over to everlasting ruin. Tlie pernicious error, against which Timothy was directed to guard his Hock, was a dependence on the law and the works of it, for salvation. And the rea- son why this destructive tenet was taught and enforced by some preachers of that day, and has been taught liy their successors ever since, is assigned by the apostle ; who ob- serves, that those blind guides understood neither what they said nor whereof they "f- firmed : for if they had understood anything of God's inviolable holiness ; of the law's intlexihie rectitude, extent, and spirituality ; of man's total inability to fulfil it perfectly (and without perfect obeHience the law can- not justify); they would, at oi:ce, have ceased to be teachers of the law, and simply pointed sinners to that Saviour alone who ia the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. (I) Fashionable as the doctrine of legal, conditional justification is, we may say to every individual that embraces it, there is one that condemns you, even Moses, in whom you trust, (m) and that very law on which C/)'*Roraans x. 4. (,H) John V. 15. (/i) James ii. 10. 0) Ualatians iii. 10. p) "A gracious si-xht of our vileness," says one of the ablest and most useful writers of the last cen- tury, •* is tlie work, of Christ only by his .Spir^^ The law is indeed a lookinsr-jrlass ; able to represen the filthiriess of a person: but the law f-ivcs not eyc'ii to ste that filthincss. Bring a lookin!r-(;lass, and 11. t it bifore a blind man : he sees no more spots in you rest : for its language is, He thathreak- eth me only in one point is guilty of alluji) and. Cursed is every man that continueth not in all things that are wi itten in the book of the law to do them, (o) Show nie the man who has never offended in one point ; who hath continued in all things prescribed by Jehovah's peifect law ; who loves the Lord with all his heart, and his fellow-crea- tures as himself ; show me the man who, from the first to the last moment of his life, comes up to this standard, and then you will show me a man who can be justified by works of his own. But if no such person could ever be found, Jesus Christ the righteous singly excepted, St. Paul's conclusion stands un- shaken, that they who teach or hold justifi- cation by any other obedience than that of Christ, neither know what they say, nor whereof they affirm. , Yet, notwithstanding we neither are, nor can be, justified by the law ; still the ises of the law are numerous and impor- tant : whence the apostle takes care to add, that the law is good, or answers several valuable puiposes, if a man use it lawfully. Nothing can be more evident than that, by the law, in this place, is meant the moral law. The ceremonial could not possibly be intended ; because it is not now to be ad- hered to, and is no longer in force : whereas the apostle speaks of a law which is, to this very day, uni epealed, and of standing use : the law is good, if a man use it lawfully Of this law there is a two-fold use : or ra- ther, an use and an abuse. The use of the law is, among othet things, first to convince us of our utter sinfulness; and then, se- condly, to lead us to Christ, as the great and only fulfiUer of all righteousness. Now the law does not answer these important ends directly, and of itself ; hut in a sub- serviency to the Holy Spirit's influence ; (;>) when that adorable person is pleased tc make the law instrumental to the conver- sion of a sinner. In which case, liaving shaken us out of our self-righteousness, and reduced us to a happy necessity of closing with the righteousness of Christ ; the law has still another and a farther use, no les.s momentous : for, thirdly, it from that mo- ment forward stands as the great rule of our practical walk and conversation : seeing a true believer is not without law, (avofioQ, a lawless person) towards God; but is ivvojiog. his face than if he had none at all. Though the glass be a (rood glass, still the glass cannot give eyes : yet, if he had eyes, he would, in the plass, si-e his blemishes. The apostle Janus compares the law to a looking-g-lass ; and a laculty to represent is all the law possesselh ; but it doth not inipait a facnl *y to see what it represents. It is Christ .iloiiB J'ho opens the eyes of men to behold their own t'ileness and guilt. He opens the eyes, and then n the law, a man sees what he is ." 310 A CAVEAT AGAINST within the bund of the law to Christ (g) ; not exempted fj om its control, as the stan- dard of moral action ; thoui;h delivered from its power and execration as a covenant of work'i. These are the three i;rand lawful uses o the law. On the other hand, if any of us are so deplorably lost to all sense of christian duty and gospel privilege, as to suppose that by our own partial conformity to the law, how sincere soever it be, wc can work out and work up a righteousness for ourselves, wherein to stand before the tribunal of God, and for which to obtain any favour at his hand, we use the law unlawfully ; we sadly mistake the very end for which the law was promulgated, which was, that, under the efBcMcy of grace, and the teachings of the blessed Spirit, it might bring us to a know- ledge of our (r) guilt, and a sense of our(s) danger; convince us of ourf/^ helolessness, and, as a schoolmaster, bring us to Chiist, that we miiy be justified hy faith, and not by the works of the law; for, by the works of tlie law, as perfornKd by us, shall no flesh be justified, (h) That grand error of the heart (for it is a heart - error, as well as a head - error ; deeply rooted in our corrupt nature, as well as perniciously pleasing to unassisted rea- son), which misfeprp>;ents ja^f.ificafion as at all suspended on causes or conditions of hu- man performance ; will, and must, if finally per>isted in, tiansmit the unbehever, who has opportunities of better inf umation, to that place of torment where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. The apostle goes on : knowing that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the disobedient, &c. The phrase, a righ- teous man, means, in its strictly cvangeli- c il sense, one that is in Christ ; or, who is righteous before God in the righteousness of his Son, appreliended by f.iith. Now, the law, i. e. the damnatory sentence of it, was not desiffned for such a person. Weak be- lievers have sometimes a good deal to do with the law, and are apt to hover about Mount Sinti; but the law has nothing to do with them ; any more than a creditor who has received ample payment from the hand of a surety can have any remaining claim on the original debtor. The law took as it were our heavenly bonds-man by the throat, saying. Pay me that thou owest. And Jesus acknowledged the demand. He paid the double debt of obedience and suf- fering to the utmost farthing. So that, as some render the words under consideration, the law lieth not against a righteous man; (j) ig) 1 Corinthians ix. 21. ()•) Romans iii. 20. (.tj l)euteronomy xxxiii. 2. Heb. s.ii. iS--2!. (*3 Psalm cxix. 96. Romans viii. 3. its claims are satisfied ; its sentence is su- perseded ; its condemning power is abohsh- ed. And whoever have been enabled to fly for refuge to the righteousness of Christ, and to lay hold on the hope set before them, may depend on this, as a most certain truth, that Christ hath redeemed them from the curse of the law, having been himself made a curse for them. ( v) Such are not under the law, whether as a covenant of works to be saved by, or as a denunciation of wrath to be condemned by, but they are under grace : (z) under that sweet dispensation of everlasting love which, when made known to the believing soul, at once ensures the practice of universal godliness, and re- fers the entire praise of salvation to the unmerited grace of Father, Son, and Spirit. I said that the dispensation of grace en- sures the practice of universal godliness : for, considered as a rule of moral conduct, the law most certainly is designed for be- lievers. And, indeed, only behevers can yield real, acceptable, obedience to the law : for without faith it is impossible to please God, (a) and whatever proceedeth not from faith is sin. (6) Therefore, if God hath not wrought living faith in your heart, you have never performed one truly good work in vour whole life. St. Paul next proceeds to draw a cata. logue of sins, against which the denuncia- tions of the law are most eminently le- velled; closing the list with the words first read, " And if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine." A plain intimation, that error, in principles funda- mental, has a very unfavourable influence on practicals : andthat, in propoition as the doc- trines of God are disbelieved, the command- ments of God will be disobeyed. Doctrinals, therefore, are not of that small significance which the injudicious and the heterodox affect to give out. For, though matters of doctrine are, by some, considered merely as the shell of religion, and experience only the kernel; yet let it be lemembered that there is no coming at the kernel but through the shell : and, while the kernel gives va- lue to the shell, the shell is the guardian of the kernel. Destroy that, and you injure this. The apostle, in the words before us, stamps the evangelical doctj ines with the seal of dignity, usefulness and importance: a,s is evident from the epithet he makes use of. He calls the system of gospel-truths sound doctrine : iiyiaivaaii cuacicaXia, salutary, health-giving doctrine ; not only right and sound in itself, but conducing to the spiri- (m) Galatians iii. 24; and ii. 10. (X) AIKOCM VOfitK OV KelTUl. (») Gal. Iii. 1 ». (i) Bom. vi. 14. (a> Keb. s;. (b) Rom. n;v. 23. UNSOUND DOCTRINES. 311 tual strength and lieahh of those that re- ceive it : doctrine, that operates lilie some efRcacious restorative on an exhausted con- stitution ; that renders the sin-sick souls of men healthy, vigorous and tluivina; ; that causes them, through the blessing of divine grace, to grow as the lily, and to cast forth the root as Lebanon, to revive as the corn, and to flourish as the vine, to diffuse their bl anches, and rival tlie olive tree (c) both in beauty and fruitfulness. On the othpr hand, unsound doctrine has the very opposite effects. It impover- ishes our views of God ; withers oiu' hopes ; n akes our faith languid ; lilasts our spiri- tual enjoyments ; and lays the axe to the very root of Christian obedience. We may say of it, as *he Jewish students said, on miodier occasion, there is death in the pot. If you eat it you are poisoned. W ith the utmost attention, therefore, should we at- tend to the apostle's caveat, and avoid every thing that is contrary to sound doctrine. Many such things there are. I have not time even to recite, much less to expatiate on, them all. I shall, therefoie, only endeavour, as God may enable me, to point out a few very common, but very capi- tal errors, which are totally inconsistent with soiuirt doctrine. Previous to my entrance on this part of the subject, I would premise two particu- 1. That wnat I am going to observe does not proceed from the least degree of l)itterness against the persons of any fiom « horn I differ ; and, 2. That 1 am intiniteiy remote even from the slightest wish of erecting myself into a dictator to others. The rights of conscience are inviolably sacred, and liberty of private judijment is every man's birthright. If', however, any, like Esau, have sold their birth-iight for a mess of pottage, by subscribing to articles tliey do not believe, merely for the sake of temporal profit or aggrandisement ; they have only themselves to thank for the littls; ceremony they are entitled to. — With regard to my- self, as one whom (iod has been pleased to put into the ministry ; above all, into the ministry of the best and purest visible church ill the whole world ; I should be a traitor to God, to Christ, to the Scriptures and to truth, — unfaithful to souls, and to my own conscience, — if I did not, without fear or favour, declare the entire council of God, so far as I apprehend myself led into the knowledge of it. Inconsiderable .is I am, niHny of you are, no donbt, acquainted with the variety of reports that have been spread (especially since this time of my being in town), concerning me, and the doc- trines by which I hold it my indispensible duty to abide. I deem myself, tlieicfore, happy, in having one more opportunity to testify the linic that 1 know concerning that mystery of the gospel which God or- dained before the woild for our glory. And I desire in the most public manner to thank the great Author of all consolation for a very paitieular instance of liis favour, and which 1 look upon as one of the most feli- citating eirciiinstaiic:'s of my whole life : I mean my < aily aecpi.iintanec with the doc- trines of grace. Alany great and good men, who were converted lale in life, liave had the wliole web of their |)recedlng ministry to unravel, and been under a necessity of re- ver^ing all they had been delivering for years before. i5ut it is not the snialiest of my distinguishing mercies that, from the very commencement of my unworthy ministra- tions, I have not had a single doctrine to retract, nor a single word to unsay. I have subscribed to the Articles, Homilies, and Liturgy, hve separate times ; and that from piinciple: nor do I believe those forms of sound words because I have subscribed to them : but I therefore subscribed them be- cause I believed them. I set out with the gospel from the very first ; and having ob- tained help from God, I continue to this day, witnessing both to .small and great, saying no other things than Moses and the prophets, (rf) Jesus and his apostles, have sail! before me. And, in an absolute depen- dence on the divine ))ower and faithfulness, i trust that I shiill, to the end, he enabled to count neither health, wealth, reputation, nor lite itself, dear to me, so I may finish my course with joy, and fulfil the ministry which 1 have lecrivcl of the Lord Jesus, to testify the -(.-|m1 ui ti,,. grace of God. (e) If the most accomplished and respect- able person of all heathen antiquity could declare that he " would rather obtain the single approbation of Cato than have a tri- umph voted to him by the senate, " much more will a Christian minister prefer the approbation of God to all the evanid eclats of an applauding universe. I shall arm myself, this afternoon, with a two-fold weapon : with the Bible in one hand ; and our Church-Articles in the other. 1 shall appeal at once, for all I have to say, to the authority of God's unerring oracles ; and to their faithful epitome, the decisions of the Church of England. They who, per- haps, set light by the Scriptures, may yet pay some decent deference to the Church ; i,e,( Acts XX. 24. 312 A CAVEAT ACIAINST aud they who, it may be, pay little attention to Church-determinations, will render im- plicit credit to the Scriptures. So that, be- tween the Bil)le and the Thirty-nine Articles, I hope I shall be able to carry my point, and, as far as my subject leads me, enter a suc- lessful caveat against whatever things are contrary to sound doctrine. In attempting this, 1 shall fix my foot upon Ariniiiianism ; which, in its several blanches, is the gan- grene of the Protestant Churches, and the oredominant evil of the day. What think you, I. Of conditional election? We have, indeed, some who deny that there is any such thing as election at aU. They start at the very word, as if it were a spectre, just come from the shades, and never seen be- fore. I shall waste no time on these men. — They are out of the pale to which my al- lotted plan confines me at present. They cannot be Church of England men who pro- scribe a term that occurs so frequently in her offices and standards of faith ; nor can they even be Chi istians at large who ca- shier, with aftected horror, a word which, under one form or other, is to be met with between forty and fifty times, at least, in the New Testament only. My business now is with those who endeavour to save appearances by admitting the word, while in reality they anathema- tize the things. These profess to hold an election : but then it is a conditional one, and founded, as they suppose, on some good quality or qualities foroeen in the objects of it. Thus bottoming the purposes of God en the precarious will of apostate men ; an 1 making that which is temporal tlie cause of that which was cteinal. "'The Deity, ' say persons of this cast, " foreknowing how you and I would beh;ive, and foreseeing our improvements and our faitlifulness, and what a proper use we shmiUl mal e of our free-will, ordained us, and ail siicli good sort of peo- ple, to everhisting life. " Nothing ci^n he more contrary to sound doctrine, and even to sound reason, than this. It proce eds on a s\ipposition that man is hefoicliand with (iod in the business of salvation ; and th.at the resolutions of God's will are absoluti ly dependent on the will ot his creatures : that he has, in short, created a set of soverei',ni beings, from whom he re- ceives law ; and that his own purpose and conduct are shaped and regulated according Jo the prior self-dcternunations of inde- pendent man. What is this hut atheism in a nia>k ? For wliere is the difference be- tween tl:e denial of a first cause and the assignation of a false one Quite opposite is the decision of inspira- tion, Romans xi. 6 ; wlieie the apostle terms God's choice of his people an election of grace, or agratuilous election : and observes. that if it be of grace, then is it ni more of works ; otherwise grace were no mjre grace: but if it be of works, then is it no more grace ; otherwise, work were no more work. Conditional grace is a most palpable con- tradiction in terms. Grace is no longer grace than while it is absolute and free. You might, with far greater esse, bring the two poles together, than effect a coalition between grace and works in the affair of elec- tion. As far, and as high, as the heavens are above the earth, are the imminent acts of God superior to a dependence on any thing wrought by sinful, perishable man. Consult our seventeenth Ai tide, and you will clearly see whether conditional elec- tion be the doctrine of the Church of Eng- land. " Predestination to life is the ever- lasting purpose of God, whereby, before the foundations of the world were laid, he hath constantly decreed, by his counsel secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of man- kind ; and to bring them by Christ to ever- lasting salvation, as vessels made to honour." Is there a word about conditionality here ? On the contrary, is not election, or predes- tination unto life, peremptorily declared to be God's own " everlasting purpose, decree, counsel, and choice ? " The elect are said to be brought to salvation, not as persons of foreseen virtue and pliableness ; but simply and merely " as vessels made to honour. " Add to this, that the article goes on to stile election a benefit, or gift; " Wherefore they that be indued with so excellent a benefit." — But how could predestination to blessed- ness he so termed, if it were suspended on the foresight of something to be wrought by the person predestinated ? For a condition in matters of spiritual concern is analogous to a price in matters of commerce : and a purchased gift is just as good sense as conditional grace. Our venerable reformers were too well acquainted with the Scriptures, and with the power of God, to err on a subject of such unutterable moment. \\'hence, in the ar- ticle now cited, they took care to lay God's absolute and sovereign election as the basis of sanctification ; so far were they from re- presenting sanctification as the groundwork of election. Our modern inverters of Chi is- tianity, the Arminians, by endeavouring to found election upon human qualifications, resemble an insane architect who, in at- tempting to raise an edifice, should make tiles and laths the foundation, and reser* his biicks and stones for the roof. Quo. sjuit hominum virtutex, totidem sunt Dei dona, said the learned and excellent Du Moulin : and, if sanctification be God's gift, men's goodness could not possibly be a motive to their election : unless we can digest this enormous absurdity, viz. that God's gifts UNSOUND nUCTRINKS may be conditional and meritorious one of .mother. Do you imagine that God could foresee any holiness in men which himself did not decree to give them ? You cannot suppose it, without believing at the same time that God is not the author of all good ; and that there pre, or may be, some good and perfect gift^ which do not descend from the Father of liphts ; and that the apostle was widely mistaken when he laid down this axiom, that it is God who, of his own good pleasure, worketh in us both to will and to do. According to our Church, God's election leads the van ; sanctification forms the centre ; and glory brings up the rear : (f) "Wherefore, they that be endued with so excellent a benefit of God, be called, accord- ing to God's purpose, by his Spirit working in due season : they, through grace, obey the calling ; they be justified freely ; they be made the sons of God by adoption. " Hitherto good works are not so much as mentioned. Why so? Because our reformers were Antinomiiins, and exploded or despised moral performances ? by no means. Those holy persons were, tlieniselves, living con- futations of so vile a suggestion. The tenor of their lives was as blameless as their doc- trine. But they had learned to distinguish ideas, and were too judicious, both as logi- cians and divines, to represent effects as prior to the causes that produce them. They were not ashamed to betake themselves to the Scriptures for information, and to deliver out the living water of sound doctrine, pure and unmingled, as they had dravvn it from the fountains of tiuth. Hence, election, caUiiig, justification, and adoption, are set forth, not as caused by, but as the real and leading causes of, that moral change which, sooner or later, takes place in the children of God. For thus the article goes on : "They be made like the image of his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ ; they walk religiously in good works ; and, at length, by God's mercy, they attain to everlasting 'elicity." This, then, is the order: 1. Election; 2. Effectual calling ; 3. Apprehensive jus- tification ; 4. Manifestative adoption ; 5. Sanctification; 6. Religious walking in good works ; 7- Continuance in these to the end ; Mrhich last blessing must, of necessity, be included, because the article adds that these elect, regenerate persons attain, at length, to everlasting felicity ; whicli they could not do without final perseverance, any more than you or I, upon our departore from this Church, could arrive at our respective honie.i if we finally stopt short of tlieai by the way. Such, therefore, being the chain ai.d pjo- cess of salvation , how impious and how fruitless must any attempt be, either ti> transpose, or to put asunder, what God has so wisely and inseparably joined together! Unless we take absolute election into the account, we must either suppose that God saves no man whatever, or that those he saves, are saved at random and without design. But his goodness forbids the first • and his wisdom excludes the latter. Abso- lute election, therefore, must be taken into the account ; or you at once, ipso facto, strike ofl' either goodness or wisdom from the list of divine perfections. That scheme of doctrine must necessarily be untrue which represents the Deity as observing no regular order, no determinate plan, in an aft'air of such consequence as the everlasting salvation of his people. I cannot acquit of blasphemy that system which likens the Deity to a careless ostrich which, having deposited her eggs, leaves them in the sand, to be hatched, or crushed, just as chance happens. S.irely He, who numbers the very hairs of his people's heads, does not consign their souls and their eternal inti'iests to precarious hazard ! the blessings of i;i ac e and glory are too valuable and important to be shuffled and dealt out by the hand of chance. Besides, if one tiling comes to pa.ss, either without, or contrary to, the will ot God, another thing, nay, all tilings, nuiy come to pass in the same manner : and tlien good bye to providence entiiely. When Lysander, the Spartan, paid a visit to king Cyrus (at Corinth, if 1 mistake not), he was particularly struck with the elegance and order, the variety and magnificence, of Cyrus's gardens. — Cyrus, no less charmed with the taste and judgment of hi.s guest, told him, with visible emotions of pleasure, " Tbe-e lovely walks, with all tl.eir beauty of disposition and vastness of extent, were planiied by myself ; and almost every tree, sbiiib and flowe r, which you behold, was planted by iny own hand." Now when we t:ilic a view ot the church, which is at once the house and garden of the living (iod,- that church which the Father loved — frf whieh the Son became a man of sorrows^ and which the Holy Spiiit descends from heaven, in all his plenitude of converting power, to cultivate and build anew ; — wlien we survey this living paradise and this my.-i tic edifice, of which such glorious things are spoken, (g) and on which such glorious privileges are conferred ; must we not ac- knowledge— Thy sovereign hand, O un- created love, drew the plan of this spiritual lidt ii ! Tiiy liand. Almighty power, set every living tree, every true believer, in the courts of the Lord's house. Thy converted people in Art. xrii. 'g) Psalm lxxxv:i.3. A CAVRAT AGAINST are all righteous ; they shall inherit the land .'or ever, even the branches of thy planting, the work of thy hands, that thou niayest be glorified. (A) Admiltinii election to be thus a complete, eternal, immanent act in the divine mind, and consequently iriespective of any thing in the persons chosen ; then (may some say) "farewell to gospel obedience; all good works are destroyed." If, by destroying good works, you mean, that Ifie doctrine of unconditional flection destroys the merit of good woi ks, and represents man as incapable of earning or deserving the favour and king- domof God, I acknowleds;e the foice of theob- jection. Predestination does, most certainly, destroy the merit of our works and obedi- ence, but not the performance of them : since holiness is. itself, one end of elec- tion (t), and the elect are as much chosen to intermediate sanctification, on their way, as they are to that ultimate ghiry which ciowns their jjurney"s end (A) : and there is no coming at the one but through the other. So that neither the value, nor the necessity, nor the practice of good works, is super- seded by this glorious truth ; our acts of evangelical obedience are no more than marshalled, and consigned to their due place ; restrained from usurping that praise which is due alone to the grace of God ; and from arrogating that office which only the Son of God was qualified to dis- charge. That election, as taught by the Scrip- tures (and thence by onr reformers), not only carries a favourable aspect on univer- sal piety and holiness, but even ensures the practice of both, is evident, among many other passages, from that of the apostle, 2 Thess. ii. 13, We are bound to give thanks, always, to God, for you, bre- thren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath, from the begining, i. e. from ever- lasting, chosen you to salvation through [not for, but through] sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. How very opposite were St. Paul's views of the ten- dency of this doctrine from those of the Pelagian and Arminian objectors to it ! They are perpetually crying out, that it " ruins morality, and opens a ready door to licen- tiousness." He, on the contrary, represents the believing consideration of it as a grand (A) Isa. Ix. 21 (i) Eph. i. 4. C*l "Because we deny salvation by our own deeds," says one of our pood old divines, " the Pa- pists charKC us with being enemies to g-ood works. But am 1 an enemy to a nobl. man because I will not attribute to him those honours which are due only to the king f If I say to a common soldier in an army, Vou cannot lead that arm.y against the enemy ; will he thert-fore say, then I may be grone; there is no need of me ? or, if I see a man at his day-labour, and say to him, you never will be able to purchase an estate of lO.OOOi. per annum, by working in that manner; wUl he therefore give over incentive to the exercise of our grjcfj, and to the observance of moral duty. Let us, snys he, who are of the day, who are en- lightened into the knowledge of this bles- sed piivilege, and can read our names in the book of life ; let us, who are thus of the day, be sober ; putting on tlie breast-plate of faith and love, and, for a helmet, the hope of salvation : for God hath not ap- pointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thess. v. 8, 9. Now, if election secures the performance of good works, and, upon its own plan, renders them indispensably necessary ; I should be glad to know how good works can suffer by the doctrine of election ? Vou may as well say that the sun which now shines into this Church is the parent of frost and darkness. No : it is the source of light and warmth. And you and I want nothing more than a sense of God's pecu- liar, discriminating favour, shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost given to us (i\ to render us more and more fruitful in every good word and work. As an excellent pei- son (hi) observes, " that man's love to God will be without end, who knows that God's love to him was without beginning." II. What think you of that fashionable tenet, so contrary to sound doctrine, con- cerning the supposed dignity and rectitude of human nature in its fallen state r A doc- trine, as totally irreconcilable to reason and fact, as if an expiring leper should value himself on the health and beauty of his person ; or a ruined bankrupt should boast his immensity of wealth. As soon as «e are born we go astray. Nay, I will venture, on Scripture authority, to carry the point higher stiU. All mankind are guilty and depraved before they are born. Behold, I was shapen in wickedness, and in sin did my mother conceiv-e me (71). A thunder-bolt to human piide, arid a dag- ger in the very heart of natuial excellence ! Thus speaks the Bible ; and thus experience speaks. Our own Church, likewise, de- livers her judgment in perfect conformity to both. Article IX. Of Original or Birth-Sin. " Original sin standeth not in the fol- lowing' [or imitation] " of Adam, as the Pelagians (0) do vainly talk • but it is the his work and say he is discouraged' " Mr. Parr's Comm. on Romans, p. 177. (/) Romans v. 5. (m) Dr. Arrowsmitn. {«) Psalm U. (0) In this Article express mention is made of the Pelairians ; but nothing is, by name, said of the Arminians. The re.ison is plain. .At the time when onr .Articles passed the two houst-s of convocation, in the year 1562, Arminius, who was then only two years of age, for he was born A. D. 1560, bad not begun to bow his tares : he was no more that a schismatic in embryo. — Arminianism is a mushmnm of later date than the re-establishment of th .- UNSOUND DOCTRINES. 315 fault" [by imputation], "and corruption [by internal, herditary derivation] " of the nature of every man who naturally is en- gendered of the offspring of Adam : whereby njan is very far gone from original right- eousness, and is, of his own nature, inclined to evil ; so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the spirit. And therefore, in every person born into this world, it" [namely, original, or birth-sin] " deserveth God's wrath and damnation." Now what becomes of those plausible, sophistical similies, which compare the na- tural mind of man to a sheet of white paper ? or, to a pliant ozier, which you may bend, with ease, this way or that ? Or to a ba- lance in aequilibrio, which you may incline to either side, according as you throw more or less weight into the scale ? Or to a wax tablet, on which you may stamp what im- pressions you please ? Alas ! the impression is already made. The thoughts and pur- poses of man's heart, previous to regenera- tion, arc (spiritually considered) only evil, and that continually (p). When converting grace lays hold of us, there is not only a heart of flesh to be given, but a heart of stone to be taken away (q). God must not only write his own law on the minds of his people ; but must obliterate the law of sin and death, whicli has a prior footing in every man tliat naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam. So much for the spiritual and moi al rectitude of man while unregcnerate.. • What think you, in. Of conditional redemption ? An- other modish tenet ; and no less contrary to reason and sound doctrine than the pre- ceding. We are gravely told by some that " Chirst did indeed die ; but he did not die absolutely, nor purchase forgiveness and eternal life for us certainly : his death only puts us into a salvable state ; making Gud placable, and pardon possible." The whole efficacy of his sufferings, according to these persons, depends on our being towardly and complying : wliicli if we are, we then come in for a share in the subsidiary and supple- mentary merits of Christ; ha\ing first qualified ourselves for his aid by a perfor- mance of certain conditions required on our unurch of tnglana by Elizabetn. It was ni the latter ena of her rci-n that Armiiiianis any great footin;,' even in Holland, the seat nativity. 1 say, in HolUmd ; for there this corruption of tlie rcformalion began ; thence it found its way to j:ngland. It was a ew Ar many ye i after to this Articles wc anism i is younger, by about 1*20{) year.s, tl its nature and tendency arc much The sfeminft difference lies in litlli Pelag;iu8 spoke out; Van Harmin i fied and disifuised the poison, tha part, and entitled ourselves to the f-ivonr and notice of God. — According to this scheme (which is only the religion of nature spoiled ; — spoiled by an injudicious mixture of nominal Cliristianity), tl.e adorable Me- diator, ins'ead of having actually obtained eternal redemption (r) for his people, and secured the blessings of grace and glory to those for whom he died ; is represented as bequeathing to them only a few spiritual lottery-tickets, which may come up, blanks or prizes, just as the wheel of chance and human caprice happens to turn. Our own righteousness and endeavours must, first, make the scale of eternal life preponderate in our favour ; and then, the merits of Christ are thrown in, to make up good weight. The Messiah's obedience and suff erings stand, it seems, for mere cyphers ; until our own free-will is so kind as to prefix the initial figure, and render them of value. — I tremble at the shocking consequences of a system which, (as one well observes) considers the whole mediation of Christ as no more than " a pedestal, on which human worth may stand exalted :" nay, (to use the language of another) which " sinks the Son of (iod — how shall 1 speak it ? — into a spiritual huck- ster, who, having purchased certain blessings of his Father, sells them out afterwards to men upon terms and conditions!" But, my brethren, I hope better things concerning you, even the things that ac- company salvation. We have not, 1 trust, so learned Christ ; or, rather, so mis-lcai ned him, and the work he came Irnm heaven to accomplish. God forbid lhat we should be fcnind in the number of those who adopt a principle so highly derogatory from the glory of divine grace, and so dee])ly dishon- our ible to the great Saviour of sinners. To the law and to the testimony. How speaks St. Paul He avers that Jesus, by the one offering of himself hath perfected for ever the salvation of tliem that are sanctilied (s). And our Lord expressly declared, in the most solemn juayerthat ever ascended from earih to heaven, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do (t). Who, then, art tluni, O man, that darest to tack an imaginary supi)lcment of thy own to the finished work ot Christ ? Such a conduct. iionly nailed iiesty, quali- lipht not he remarked, pares the (p) Gem-: (r\ Heb. John ■ 316 A CAVEAT AOAINST ■were to charge incarnate truth with uttering a falsehood ; and would be equivalent to saying, " No ! Thou didst not finish the work of redemption which was given thee to do ; thou didst indeed a part of it ; but I myself must add something to it, or the whole of thy performance will stand for nothing." He appeared once in the end of the world, or at the close of the Jewish dis- pensation,— to do what ? to render ^in barely pardonable, on the sinner's fulfilment of previous terms ? No : but actually to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself (u). The apostle's expression is, that Christ ap- peared, Eic aStrrjaiv ujiapTiaq, unto the ut- ter abolition of sin : so that, by virtue of his perfect oblation, sin should neither be charged upon, nor eventually mentioned to, those for whom he was offered up. The iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall he none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: fori will pardon them whom I reserve (.r). In a word : either the death of Christ was not a real and perfect satisfaction for sin ; or, if it was, then upon every principle of reason and justice, all that sin must be actually torgiven and done away, which his death was a true and plenary satis- faction for — on the supposition that his re- demption was not absolute, it vanishes into no redemption at all. Go over therefore fairly and squarely to the tents of Sorinus ; or believe that Christ is the Lamb of God who, in deed and in truth, beareth and taketh away the sin of the woild {y). How speaks the Church of England, concerning this important matter? I re- fer you to her 31st Article, " Of the one oblation of Christ, finished upon the cross. " The oflering of Christ, once made, is that perfect redemption, propitiation and satisfaction, for all the sins of the whole world, both original and actual : and there is no other sacrifice for sin, but that alone." Do not let that expression, the whole world, stumble you. Vou remember what our Te Deum says : " When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, thou didst open the kingdom of Heaven to all be- lievers." So in the above article ; — The oblation of Christ once made for all the sins (if the whole world : ;. e. the whole world of believers : fi>r God's elect are a world within a world. The whole world is a Scri|.ture term, and the compilers of our articles did well in adopting it. But do you imagine that every individual of mankind is meant ? surely, no ; for, were redemption thus universal, salvation would and must be ot equal extent : otherwise, either God the I'j) Hell. IX- 26 fx) Jer. 1. 20. Father would be unjust, or the blood-shed- ding of Christ could not be (what our arti- rles affirm it to have been) a perfect satis- faction for all sin. Let unlimited redemption be once proved, and I will take upon myself to prove unlimited salvation. There are many Scripture passages, where the phrases world, and whole world, are, and must be undei stood in a restricted sense. So, where St. Paul thus addresses the Roman converts : your faith is spokep of, or celebrated, throughout the whole world, i. e. throughout the wliole belie\'ing world, or Christian Church : for none but believers «-ould applaud and celehrate the Romans for their faith in Christ, Rom. i. .S. — We are of God, says the apostle John, and the whole world lieth in the wicked one, 1 John V. 19. Where, if the whole world denote every individual of mankind, it would follow that both the apostle himself, and the Christians to whom he wrote, were, at that very time, in the wicked one ; and con- sequently, that he was guilty of a self con- tradiction, in saying, we are of God. — In the Book of Revelations Satan is stiled the deceiver of the whole world, chap. xii. 9, and the vvhole world are said to wander after the beast, chap. xiii. 3, meaning a consider- able part of the world. Nay, even in daily conversation, it is customary with us to make use of the word world in a limited signification. So, when we speak of the learned world, the busy world, the gay world, the polite woild, the religious world ; we do not mean that every man in the wculd is learned, busy, gay, po- lite, or religious ; we only mean those in the world who are so. To close this head. Upcm the suppo- sition of a random redemption, and a pre- carious salvation, St. Paul's inference, "Who shall condemn ? it is Christ that died ;'' might he easily answered and overthrown : since, if the Arminian hypothesis be true, millions of those for whom Chiist died will be condemned; and what heightens the absurdity, condemned on account of those very sins for which Christ did die. A sup- position exploded by the apostle as impos- sible.— Surely Christ knew for what, and for whom, he paid the ransom-price of his infinitely precious blood 1 Nor would th« Father purchfse to himself a church o'. elect persons for his own peculiar resi- dence ; and then leave Satan to run away with as many of the beams and pillars as he pleases. Equally contrary to sound doc- trine is, IV. The Tenet of justification by works. All human righteousness is imperfect : and to suppose that God, whose judgment is always according to truth, will by a paltry •1/) Juhn i. 29. uxsoiJNn do(;trines. 317 commutation which he every where dis- claims, and wliich the majesty of his law forbids, be put off viith not only a defective but even a polluted, obedience, and justify men by virtue of such a counterfeit (at most >i partial) coiifoi mity to his commandments ; to imagine that the law accommodates itself to human dcpravati.in, and caniffilion like, assumes the coniplfxion of the sinners with "horn it has to do; — is antinomiaiiism of the grossest kind. It represents the law as ha i^'ini;' out false colours, and insisting on perfection, whik- in fact it is little bet- ter than a formal palt-nl (or licentiousness ; and degrades the adorable la.i-giver himself into a conniver at sin. Add to this, that if God cm consistently with his acknowledged attributes, and his avowed declarations, save guilty obno.\ious creutures, without their bringing such com- plete righteousness as the law demands ; it will necessarily follow that God, when his hand is in, may save sinners without any righteousness at all, since the same fle.\i- bility which (as the Arminians suppose) in- duces God to dispense with part of his law- may go a step frtither, and induce him to set aside the whole. Moreover, if our per- sons may be justified, without a legal (i. e. a perfect) righteousness ; it will follow, on the same principle, that our sins may be pardoned without an atonement : and then farewell to the whole scheme of Christianity at once. There are two grand axioms which en- ter into the very foundation of revealed religion : 1 . Tliat the law will accept no obedience short of perfect, as the condition of justifi- cation ; and, 2. That ever since Adam's first offence, mm has, and can have, no such obedience of his own. What. then must a sinner do to be saved ? He must believe in and rest upon that Sa- viour who was, by gracious imputation, made sin for us, that we by a similar ex- change, might be made tlie righteousness of God in him. (i) If this be the gospel scheme of salvation the apostle's asstriion will be incontcstibie : As many of you as are justified by the law, or seek justification on the footing of your own works, aie fallen from grace, (c) revolted and apostatised from that gospel system which teaches that men are jnstificd by the grace of God, flowing through Christ's righteousness alone {tl). Alas ! bow hardly are ue brought to ac- cept salvation as a gift of mere favour ! We aiefor bringing a price in our hands, and coming with money in our sack's mouth : nutwithstatidiii'^ the celestial direction is. Buy wine and Kiilk, without money and with- out price (e) ; i. e. take as absolute posses- sion of pardon, holiness and eternal life, as if they were your own by purchase ; but re- member that you nevertheless have them gratis, without any desert, nay, contrary to aU desert of yours. — We did not bribe God to create us ; and how is it possible that we should pay him any thing for saving us ? Zeuxis, the celebrated Grecian painter used, towards the liittrr part of his life, to give avvay his pictures without deigning to accept of any pecuniary recompense. Being asked the reason, his answer was, " I make presents of my pictures because they are tjo valu ible to be purchased. — They are above all price." And does not God freely give us a part in the book of life, an interest in his Son, and a title to his kingdom ; nay, does he not make us a presCTit of himself in Christ ; because these blessings are hterally above all price ? too great, too high, too glorious, to be purchased by the works of man ? because we cannot merit them, God is graciously pleased freely to bestow them. It is equally sad and astonishing to ob- serve the ingredients of that foundation on which self-justiciaries build their hopes of heaven. First, there is a stratum of free- will; then of good dispositions; then of legal performances : next a layer of what they term divine aids and assistances, ratified and made effectual byhumnn compliances ; then a little of Christ's meiits ; then faithfulness to helps received ; and to finish tlie motley- mixture, a perseverance of their own spin- ning. At so much pains is a pharisee in going about to establish his own righteous- ness, rather than embrace the Bible-way of salvation by submitting to the righteousness of God the Son. (/) Now, what says the Church of England concerning the cause and manner of our ac- .-cptance with the Father ? Thus she speaks ; and thus all her real members believe : Article XI. Of the Justification of Man. " We are accounted righteous before God only for the merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." One would imagine this might have been enough to establish the point : but, utterly to preclude self-righ- teousness from all possibility of access, the Church immediately adds, " and not for our own works or deservings." Here the old question naturally recurs, " What then becomes of good works ?'' The plain truth is, that, until a man is justi fied by faith he can do no good works at all. Am- CT.K XIII. OfJForks done before Justification. " Works done before the grace of Christ- W Isa. It. 1. 318 A CAVEAT AGAINST and ihe inspiration of his spirit, are not pleasant to God :" and if so, how is it pos- sible that he should justify us on account of them ? But why are they not pleasing to God? "Forasmuch," adds the article, "as they spring not from faith in Jesus Christ." " Well, but," may some say, " admitting that works done before justification do not properly recommend us to God, they may at least, qualify us for believing ; and thereby be remotely a condition, sine qua non, of justi- fication." The Church ivill not even allow of this. For, treating in the above article, of works prior to justification, she adds : " neither do they make men meet to receive gi ace." This clinches the nail ; and cuts up self-righteousness root and branch. But does the Church stop here ? No : to put the whole matter as far beyond doubt as words can place it, she closes her decision thus : "Yea, rather, for ihat tliey are not done as God hath willed and commanded them to be done, we doubt not but that they have the nature of sin." Now if works wrought previiius to justification are sin, it is abso- lutely impossible that we should be justified by works ; unless sin can be supposed to re- commend us to God's favour. Which to imagine, were Aniinomianisra outright. What think you, V I )f the docti ine of unefFectual grace 1 A do,;trine which represents Omniputence itself as wishing and trying and striving to no purpose. According to this tenet, God, in endeavouring (for it seems it is only an endeavour) to convert sinners, may, by sin- ners, be foiled, defeated and disappointed : — He may lay close and long siege to a soul, and that soul can, from the citadel of im- pregnable fiee-will, hantr out a flag of de- fiance to God himself, and by a continual ol'Stinacy of defence and a few vigorous sal- lies of free-agency, compel him to raise the siege. — In a word ; the Holy Spirit, after having for years, perhaps, danced attend- ance on the will of man, may at last, like a disconjfited general, or an unsuccessful pe- titioner, be either put to ignominious flight, or contemptuously dismissed, re infectd, without accomplishing the end for which he was sent. Can then the Lord and giver of life ; can he who, like the adorable Son, is God of God, and God with God ; shall the Blessed Spirit of grace, who is in glory equal, and in majesty co-etenial, with the other two persons of the gotlhead, and has all power both in heaven and in earth ; — shall he who hath the key of David ; who openeth and no man shutteth ; and shutteth and no man openeth ; {f) shall he knock at the door of the human heart, and leave it at the option of free-will to insult him from the win- dow, and bid him go whence he came ? Surely, men's eyes must be blinded indeed, before they can lay down such a shocking supposition for a religious aphorism ; and even go so far as to declare, that unless God is vanquishable by man, " There can be no such thing as virtue or vice, reward or pun- ishment, praise or blame !" The main root of the error consists greatly in not distinguishing between the gospel of grace, and the grace of the gospel. The gospel of grace may be rejected ; but the grace of the gospel cannot. God's written message in the Scriptures, and his verbal message by his ministers, may or may not be listened to ; whence it is re- corded. All the day long have 1 stretched forth my hand to a disobedient and gain- saying people, (h) But when God himself conies, and takes the heart into his own hand ; when he speaks from heaven to the soul, and makes the gospel of grace a chan- nel to convey the grace of the gospel ; the business is effectually done. If God makes a change who can turn him away (i) — What- soever he doth, it sliall be for ever ; nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it : and God doth it that men should feai before him, (k) and acknowledge, that the e^cp|lelloy of "onvertilig puiver ia of hini, ana not of u=. ,/). A modern schismatic, now living, thought he both shewed his wit and gravelled his opponents in saying that, according to the doctrine of our Church, " The souls of men can no more vanquish the saving grace of God than their bodies can resist a stroke of lightning. " I would ask the objector, whether he ever knew of any lightning like that wliich flashed from the Mediator's eye, when he turned and looked upon Peter ? And something similar is experienced by every converted peison. The Lord turns and looks upon a sinner, who then relents and cries out, with his whole heart, O Lord my God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over me; but now by thee, through the energy of thy renewing influence, will I make men- tion of thy name only. — Whoui have I in hea- ven but thee ? and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of thee(m). When God says to the heart. Seek thou my face ; the reply is, and cannot but be, Thy face Loid wiU I seek(n). For God, who in the begin- ning of the creation commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath, by an exertion of power equally invincible, and as certainly effectual, shined into our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of God, as it is (g) ReT.iii.7. fAl Rom. 1.21. (.•■ See tl-L- Marsrinal Trunslatiun of Jtb xi. 10. liccl. iii, 11. (k) 2 Cor. iv. 7. (m) Psalm Ixxiii. (/) Isa. x.tvi. 13. (n) Psah-ixxTii B. UNSOUND DOCTUrNES. 319 iimiiifested in the person and grace of Jesiis Christ (o). \V Ucrefore then do men say, We are lords, and we will come no more unto thee(/)), except we ourselves choose it? — Aliis, alas ! did the nuitter rest with us, we should never choose to come to God at all. If he did not first chantje our wills we should never even will that grent change, that in- ternal regeneration, without svliich no man can see the Idngdom of heaven (i;). God, I am bold to declare, would not have been Lord of any hearts, now under this roof, had he not by the constraining power of his own love effectually gained tlnni over, and in- vincibly attached them to his blessed self. The glorious and independent Creator made us at first Mithont Clir leave ; and yet ac- cording to the modern system, he must ask and wait for our leave before he can make us anew ! Do you desire to know the judgment of the Chuich upon this point ? You have it in her 17th Article; where, speaking of God's elect people, she asserts that " they are called "ccording to his purpose, by his Spirit worlving in due season, " and immedi- ately adds, that " they, through grace, obey the calling. " God's converting call therefore is such as produces obedience to it : i. e. it is triumphantly clBcacious ; and rendered suc- cessful, not by the will and tovvardlinessof the person called, but by the power and grace of him that calleth. Nay, so far is the efficacy of divine influence from being suspended on any internal or external ability of tlie creature, that in our 10th Article, concerning free-will, the Church expresses herself thus: "The condition of man since the fall of Adam, is such that he cannot turn, nor" even "prepare himself by his own natural strength and good works, to faith and calling upon God." VI. What think you of Antinomianism ? By Antinomianism I mean that doctrine which teaches "That believers are released from all obligation to observe the moral law as a rule of external obedience : That in consequence of Christ's having wrought out a justifying righteousness for us, we have no- thing to do but to sit down, eat, drink, and be merry : that the Messiah's merits super- sede the nccessityof personal inherent sanc- tiCcation ; and that all our holiness is in him, not in ourselves : that the aboundings of divine grace give sanction to the com- mission of sin ; and in a word tliat the whole preceptive law of God is notcstablislied, but repealed and set aside from the time we be- lieve in Christ." This is as contrary to sound doctrine, as it is to sound moials : and a man need only act up to these principles to be a devil incarnate. It is impossible that either the Son of God, who came down from heaven to perform and to make known his (o) 2 Car. VI. h. (W Jer. ii 31. Father's will ; or that the Spirit of God, speaking in the Scriptures and acting upon the heart, should administer the least en- couragement to negligence and unholiness of life. Therefore that opinion which sup- poses personal sanctification to be unneces- sary to final glorification, stands in direct opposition to every dictate of reason, to every declaration of Scripture. Indeed the very nature of election, of faith, and of all covenant grace whatever, rcnilers holiness absolutely indispensible ; forasuiucli as, without a spiritual and moral resenihlance of God, there can be no real felicity on earth, nor any future enjoyment of heaven. — Suppose we appeal to expe- rience I speak now to you who know in whom ye have believed ; to you who have received the atonement, and who have been sensibly reconciled to God by the death of his Son. If, at any time, ye have been off your guard, and suffered to lapse into sin : how have ye felt yourselves afterwards Ye have gone with broken hearts and with broken bones (r). Ye have found it to be indeed an evil and a bitter thing to depart, though ever so little, from the Lord. Ye know, hy dismal experience that the way of trans- gressors is hard ; and that sin, like Ezekiel's Roll, is written within and without with la- mentation and mourning and woe. The gall of bitterness is inseparable from the bond of ituquity. Upon the principle therefore of mere self-interest (to go no higher}, a true believer cannot help aspiring to holiness and good works. Heaven must be brought down into the human soul ere the human soul can be fitted for heaven. There must, as the school-men speak, be " a congruity and similitude be- tween the faculty and the object," i. e. there nmst be an inward meetness for the vision and glory of God, wrought in you by his Holy Spirit, in order to render you sus- ceptible of those exalted pleasures, and that fulness of joy which are in his presence and at his right hand for ever. Was thy soul, O unconverted sinner, to be this moment, separated from thy body, and even admitted into heaven (supposing it was possible for an unregencrate spirit to enter there), heaven would not be heaven to thee. You cannot reHsh the blessedness of the new Jerusalem, unless God in the meanwhile makes you partaker of a new nature. The Father chose his people to salvation ; the Son purchased for them the salvation to which they were chosen ; and the blessed Spirit fits and qualifies them for that salvation by his re- newing influences : for as a dead man can- not inherit an estate, no more can a dead soul (and every soul is spiritually dead until quickened and born again of the Holy Ghost) (?) Ji)hn iii. 3. ;r; PBalm li. 520 A CAVEAT AGAINST inherit the kingfloin of God. Yet sanctifi- '^ation and holiness of life do not constitute any part of our title to the heavenly inherit- ance, any more than mere animal life en- titles a man of fortune to the estate he en- joys : he could not indeed enjoy his estate if he did not live ; but his claim to his estate arises from some other quarter. In like manner, it is not our holiness that entitles us to heaven, though no man can enter heaven without holiness. God's gratuitous donation, and Christ's meritorious right- eousness, constitute our right to future glory: while the Holy Ghost, by inspiring us with spiritual life (of which spiritual life, good works are the evidences and the actings) pats us into a rertl capability of fitness for that inheritance of endless happiness which otherwise we could never in the very nature of things either possess or enjoy. " Let it bo observed, " says one of the most learned and judii:ious writers of this age, " that Christ's active ober'ience to the law foi' us, in our room and stead, does not exempt us from personal obedience to it, any more than his sufi'erings and death ex- empt us from corporal death, or from suf- fering for his sake. It is true indeed we do not suffer and die, in the sense he did, to satisfy justice, and atone for sin : so neither do we yield obedience to the law, in order to obtain eternal life by it. By Christ's obe- dience for us we are exempted from obedi- ence to the law, in this sense : but not from obedience to it, as a rule of walk and con- versation, by which to gloiify God, and ex- press our thankfulness to him for his abund- ant mercies." — Travellers inform us, that in Turkey the partisans of the several deno- minations there are distinguished by the colour of their shoes : so that if you meet any person in the streets, you need only look at his feet to know of what religion he is. And may not the truth of grace be discerned to at least a high degree of probability by the life and conversation of those who make a religious profession ? The man who says that he knows God, and in works denies him ; who calls Christ, Lord, Lord, but does not the things that he enjoins ; whose voice indeed is Jacob's voice, but his hands are the hands of(«)Esau; resembles our Saviour's persecutors and murderers of old, who bowed their knees and cried. Hail, King of the Jews! while they spit in his face, and smote him with the palms of their hands. The hypo- crite's profession is dark and opaque : but that of a real saint is oellucid and trans- Cj) a very capital paintpr in London, lately es- hiliited a piece, r'prescnting a Friar, habited in his yor vo-alo think the Fviai- to he in a prayinc atti- tude • hif hands are clafpud toircther, and lield Lori- Hke those of the pu'jlicaii in Ihe go.-pel; and the parent. The rays of grace in a genuine be- liever pervade his whole behaviour; and are transmitted through all the paits of his practical walk. Though eveiy moral man is not therefore a Christian, yet every Chris- tian is necessarily a moral man. When Flaminius, the Roman general did, at the Isthmian games, announce fieedom to Greece in the natne of the Senate and people of Rome, the transported Greeks re- ceived the glorious news with such accla- mations of gratitude, and thunder of ap- plause, that some ravens which were flying over the Stadium, dropt down to the earth, stunned and senseless ; the very games and exercises were neglected, and nothing but bursting eclats of admiring joy engrossed the day. — So when the Holy Spirit of conso- lation announces gospel-liberty and eternal redemption to the souls of the awakened, the love of sin, and the ravens of detested lusts, fall before bis sacred influence. Both the toils and the pleasures of the world are regarded as insignificant when set in com- petition with the one thing needful. Holy wonder, love, and joy, quite engage the powers of the believer's mind, during the spring-tide consolations of his first inanifes- tative espousals ; and a sure foundntion is, from that moment, laid for the performance of all those good works which are the fruits of salvation by grace. While faith is in exer- cise, and asense of divine favour is warm upon the heart, a child of God is as much steeled to the allurements of sin as Octavius was cool to the meretricious charms of Cleopatra. Thus conscientious obedience, though neither the cause nor condition of our justi- fication in the sight of God, nor of our ad- mittance into his glory, is, nevertheless, an essential branch both of privilege and dutyj as well as a necessary indication of our ac- ceptance in the Beloved. This is the point of view in which cur Church considers good works : viz. not as preceding conditions of salvation, but as subsequent testimonies and marks of salvation aheady obtained Article XII. Of good works " Albeit that good works, which are the fruits of faith, and follow after justification, cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of God's judgment ; yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and do spring out necessarily of a true and lively faith : insomuch that by them a lively faith may be as evidently known as a tree discerned bv its fruit.' ^ood man appears to be quite absorbed in humble adoration and devout recollection.— But take a nearer survey, and the deception vanishes ; the book which seemed to lie before him, is di-covered to be a punch bowl, into which the wretch is, all the while, m reality only squeezing a lemon. How lively a represciitatinn of an hypocrite I UNSOUND DOCTRINE. 321 VII. Wliat think you concerning tlie tenet of sinless perfection ? which supposes that tlie verj' inbeiiig of sin may on earth, be totally exterminated from the hearts of the rei^enerate ; and that believers may here be pure as the angels that never fell, yea (I tremble at the blasphemy) lioly as Christ himself. To bold this heresy is the very quintessence of delusion ; but to ima- gine ourselves really in the state it de- scribes were the very apex of madness. Yet many such there are ; some such I myself have known. Indwelling sin and unholy tempers do most certainly receive their death's wound in regeneration : but they do not quite ex- pire until the renewed soul is taken up from earth to heaven. In the mean time, these hated remains of depravity will, too often, like prisoners in a dungeon, crawl to- ward the window (though in chains) and show themselves through the grate. Nay, I do not know whether the strivings of in- herent corruption for mastery be not fre- quently more violent in a regenerate person than even in one who is dead in trespasses : as wild beasts are sometimes the more ram- pant and furious for being wounded. A person of the amplest fortune cannot heip the harbouring of snakes, toads, and other venemous reptiles on his lands ; hut they will breed and neslle and crawl about his estate, whether ne will or no. All he can do is to pursue and kill them whenever they make their appearance ; yet, let him be ever so vigilant and diligent, there will al- ways be a succession of those creatures to exercise his patience and engage his in- dustry. So is it with the true believer in respect of indwelling sin. Would you see a perfect saint ? you must needs go out of the world, then, — you must go to heaven for the sight : forasmuch as there only are the spirits of just men made perfect (f). This earth, on which we live, never bore but three sinless persons ; our first parents in the short state of inno- cence ; and Jesus Christ in the days of his abode behjw. Of the whole human race beside, it always was and ever will be tiue, that there is not a just man upon earth, who doelh good and sinneth not. The most forward and towering professors are not always the firmest and most solid Christians. Naturalists tell us that the oak is a full century in growing to a state of maturity : yet, though perhaps the slow- est, it is one of the noblest, the strongest, and most useful, trees in the world. How preferable to the flimsy, watery, shooting willow ! Our Church enters an express caveat against the pestilent doctrine of Perfection in her 15th article, entitled "Of Christ alone without sin:" where she thus delivers her judgment : "Christ in the truth of our nature was made like unto us in all things, sin only excepted, from which he was clearly void both in his flesh and in his spirit. He came to be a Lauib without spot, who by sa« crifice of himself once made, should take away the sins of the world ; and sin, as St. John saith, was not in hiin. But all we the rest (although baptized and born again in Christ) yet offend in many things : and if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." So it is declared, about the middle of the 9th Article, that the " infection of na- ture doth remain ; yea, in them that be re- generated."— Let me just mention, VIII. One more particular, contrary to sound doctrine : I mean the assertion of some who would fain persuade us that it is im- possible for us to receive knowledge of sal- vation by the remission of sin. Such a de- nial is very opposite to the usual tenor of God's proceeding with his people in all ages. The best believers, and the sirongest, may indeed have their occasional fainting fits of dovibt and diffidence, as to their own particu- lar interest in Christ ; nor should 1 h. ve any great opinion of that man's faith who was to t£il me that he never had any doubts at all. But still there are golden seasons when the soul is on the mount of communion with God ; when the Spirit of his Son shines into our hearts, and gives us boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him {it) ; and when sunt sine nube dies may be the Chris- tian's exulting motto. Moreover, a person who is at all conversant with the spiritual life knows as certainly whether he indeed enjoys the light of God'.s countenance, (.r) or whether he walks in darkness ; (y) as a traveller knows whether he travels in sun- shine or in rain. And as a great and good man {z) observes, " It is no presumption to read what was God's gracious purpose to- ward us of old, when he, as it were, prints his secret thoughts, and makes them legible in our efl'ectual calling. In this case, we do not go up into heaven and pry into God's secrets : but heaven comes down to us and reveals them." It may indeed be objected, that tha Scripture doctrine of assurance when rea- lized into an actual possession of the privi- lege, " may tend to foster pride, and pro- mote carelessness." It cannot lead to pride ; for all who have ta.sted that the Lord is gracious know by indubitable experience (and one fact speaks louder than a hundred (t iteD. xii. 23. (u) £pb. iii. li. (ij) Isa. I. 10. {%) Curnall ; vol. i. p. 127. Y 322 A CAVEAT AGAINST speculations), that believers are then lowest, at God's footstool, when they ai e highest on the mount of assurance. Much indulgence from earthly parents may indeed be pro- ductive of real injury to their childien ; but not so are the smiles of (jod ; for the sense of his favour sanctifies whilst it com- forts.— Nor can the knowledge of interest in his love tend to relax the sinews of moral diligence, or make us heedless how we be- have ourselves in his sight. During those exalted moments, when grace is in lively exercise ; when the disciple of Christ ex- periences " The saitl's calm suimhme, and the heart-felt joy,' corrupt nature (that man of sin within"), and every vile affection, are stricken as ii were with a temporary apoplexy; and the be- liever can no more, for the time being, com- mit wilful sin than an angel of liglit would dip his wings in mud. No : it is when we corns down from the mount, and mix again with the world, that, like Moses, we are in danger of breaking the tables of the law. " But is it net enthusiasm to talk of holding intercourse with God, and of knowing our- selves to be objects of his special love ?" No more enthusiastioal (so we keep within Scripture-bounds) than it is for a favourite child to converse with his parents, and to know that they have a particular affection for him. Neither, in the strictest reason and nature of things, is it at all absurd to believe and expect that God can and does and will communicate his favour to his people, and manifest himself to them as he does not to woild(ff) at large. Yet, though God is thus graciously in- d'tlgent to many of his penple (I believe to all of them at some time or other between their conversion and death); still, if they trespass against him he will not let their offences pass unnoticed nor uncorrected. Though grace itself is inamissible, the com- fort of it may be sinned away. Salvation is sure to all the redeemed ; but the joy of it may be lost. Psalm li. 12. Great peace have they that love thy law ; and they only. Holiness and consolation are wisely and in- timately connected. In proportion as we are enabled to live near to God, to walk humbly and closely with him, and to keep our moral garments clean, we may hope for freedom of intercourse with him, and to assure our hearts before him {h) : like the happy believers of old, concerning whom it is said, that they walked at once in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost (c). Let not, however, what has been ob- served concerning the blessing of assurance, stumble or discourage the feeble of God's flock, on whom, for reasons wise and good- it may not hitherto have been his pleasure; to bestow this unspeakable gift. The Scrip- ture plainly and repeatedly distinguishes between faith ; the assurance of faith ; and the full assurance of faith : and the first may exist where the other two are not. 1 know some who have, for years together, been distressed with doubts and fears, without a single ray of spiritual comfort all the while. And yet I can no more doubt of their being true believers than I can question my own existence as a man. I am sure they are pos- sessed not only of faith in its lowest degree, but of that which Christ himself pronounces great faith (d) : for they can at least say. Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under niy roof ; but speak the word only, and thy servant shall be healed. — Faith is the eye of the soul, and the eye is said to see almost every object but itself : so that you may have real faith without being able to discern it. Nor will God despise the day of small things. Little faith goes to hea- ven no less than great faith ; though not so comfortably, yet altogether as surely. If you come merely as a sinner to Jesus, and throw yourself, at all events, for salvation on his alone blood and righteousness, and the grace and promise of God in him, thou art as truly a believer as the most triumph- ant saint that ever lived. And amidst aU your weakness, distresses and temptations, remember that God will not cast out nor cast off the meanest and unworthiest soul that seeks salvation only in the name of Jesus Christ the righteous. When you cannot follow the rock, the rock shall follow you ; nor ever leave you for so much as a single moment, on this side the heavenly Cai.aan. If you feel your absolute want of Christ, you may, on all occasions, and in every exigence, be- take yourself to the covenant love and faith- fulness of God, for pardon, sanctification and safety ; with the same fulness of right and title as a traveller leans upon his own staff, or as a weary labourer throws himself on his own bed, or as an opulent nobleman draws upon his own banker for whatever sum he wants. 1 shall only detain you farther while I warn you IX. Against another hmb of Arminianism totally contrary to sound doctrine : I mean that tenet which asserts the possibility of falling finally from a state of real grace. God does not give, and then take away. He does indeed frequently resume what he only lent ; such as health, riches, friends, and other temporal comforts : but what he gives, he gives for ever. In a way of gi ace, the gifts and calling of God are without repent- ance (e) : he will never repent of bestowing ti) Matt.Tiii. 8. 10. (c; Rom. xi. "0. UNSOUND DOCTRINKS. 323 them ; and every attribute he has forbids him to revoke them. The blessings of his favour are that good part which shall not be taken from those who have it(/). A parent of moderate circumstances may give his children something to set up with in the world, and address them to this effect : " 1 have now done for you all that is in my poiver to do, and gone as far as my circum- stances will allow : you must henceforward stand on your own feet, and be good hus- bands of the old stock. The preservation and improvement of what I have given you must be left to chance and yourselves. " In this very view does Arminianism represent the Great Father Almighty. But how does Scripture represent him ? as saying, I will never leave thee or forsake thee : — Even to your old age I am he ; and even to hoary hairs will I carry you ; I have made, and I will bear, even I will carry and will deliver you (/i). My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me ; and I give unto them eternal life, and they sliall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand (j). In a word : if any of God's people can be finally lost, it must be occasioned either by their departing from God, or by God's departure from them. But they are certainly and effectually secured against these two, and these only possible, sources of apostacy. For thus runs the covenant of grace ; I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good ; and I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not de- part from me, Jer. xxxii. 40. Now if God will neither leave them, nor suffer them to leave him, their final perseverance in grace to glory must be certain and infallible. Having greatly exceeded the limits I de- signed, I shall forbear to adduce the attes- tations of the Church of England to the doctrines of assurance and perseverance : especially seeing I have done this somewhat largely elsewhere (ft). 1 must not how- ever conclude without observing that irre- versible justification on God's part, and sub- jective assurance of indefectibilily on ours, do by no means invest an offending Chris- tian with immunity from sufferings and chas- tisement. Thus Nathan said to David, The Lord hath put away thy sin, thou shall not die : yet was he severely scourged, though /)Luke X. 42. (s) Heb. xiti. 5. (h) Isa. xlri. 4. ii)John. X. 28. True, said an Arminian schis- matic, prown grey in the service of error, and who still goe^ up and down sowing his tares, seeking whom he may devour, and compassing sea and land to make proselytes; '* True ; Christ's sheep cannot be plucked forcibly out of his hand by others : but they themselves may slip through his hands, and so fall into hell and be eternally lest." They nuiy slip, may they ^ as if the Mediator in preservinu- his peo- ple, held onlv a parcel of eels by the tail ! Is not this a shanieless way a( slipping through a plain text of .Scripture ( But 1 would fiiin ask tl.e slippery sophister l.ow we are to understand that part of the not disinherited, for his transgressions. The tenor of God's immutable covenant with the Messiah, and with his people in him, is this : His seed will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven. If his children forsake my law, and walk not in niy judgments ; if they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments ; then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes : nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. I have sworn once for all, by my holiness, that I will not lie unto Jesus the Anti-typical David, by suffering any of his redeemed people to perish. (/) Hence, as it is presently added, they shall be established for ever, as the moon ; and as a faithful witness in heaven : nay, they shall stand forth and shine when the sun is turned into darkness, and the moon into blood ; when the stars shall drop from their orbits, and the powers of heaven shall be shaken. As an excellent person somewhere observes, "Our own unbelief may occasionally tear the copies of the covenant given us by Christ, but unbelief cannot come at the covenant itself. Christ keeps the original deed in Heaven with himself, where it can neverbe lost." Upon the whole : are these things so ? Then, 1. How great and how deplorable is the general departure from the Scripture doc- trines of the Church of England, and the first principles of the reformation ! 2. How blessed are the eyes that see, how happy are the hearts that feel, the pro- priety and the energy of these inestimable truths ! And, 3. How ought'such to demonstrate their gratitude by a practical glorification of God, in their bodies, and in their spirits, which are his! Resemble thunder in your boldness for God, and your zeal for truth : but let your lives shine as lightning, and flash con- viction in the faces of those who falsely ac- cuse your good conversation in Christ, and as falsely charge the doctrines of God with a licentious tendency. — But let not your zeal be of the inflammatory kind : let it be tem- pered with unbounded moderation, gentle- ness, and benevolence ; and shine forth as the last cited passagewbicb expressly declares, concern- ing- Christ's people, that they shall never perish , since, perish they necessarily must and certainly would, if eventually separated from Christ ; whether they were to be plucked out of his hands, or whether they were only to slip through them. 1 conclude then that the promise made to the saints, that they shall never perish, secures them equally asiainst the possibility of being either wrested from t'hrist s hand or of their own l;il(iiig from it : .siiue, coulit one or othijr be the case, perish they must, and (.'lirist's promise would fall to tlie fiTouiid. (4) The Church of England vindicated from the charge of Arminiani .ni. 11) Psalm Ixxxjx. v;0. Y 2 POSTSCRIPT. sun, with healing in its wings. Remember who it is that hath made thee to differ from others ; and that a man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven, John iii. 27. Not unto us, therefore O Lord, not unto us, but to thy name alone, he the praise of every eift, and of every grace ascribed ; for thy loving mercy, and for thy truth's sake. Amen. POSTSCRIPT. TO THE Parishioners of St. Malthew, Bethnal-Green. Gentlemen, Before the preceding sermon could get through the press, the Rev. Mr. Haddon Smith, who it seems serves you as curate, has thought proper to publish a discourse which he delivered in opposition to this, the Sunday after I had the honour of preach- ing it before you. It would render that unthinking, but I would hope well-meaning, gentleman much too considerable were I either to address him by name, or descend to c.nvass a per- formance wherein heat and scurrility ende.i- vcinrto supply the total vacuity of argument. — For Mr. Smith to enter the lists with such exceeding fierceness against a sermon which he did not hear, and which hitherto he has had no possible opportunity of reading, discovers a weakness and temerity in him, which sink him as low beneath my notice as the established doctrines uf our excellent Church rise superior to his impotence of censure. When the gentleman shall appear to have at all considered the important ar- ticles of faith on which he has presumed to animadvert ; when the sails of his furious zeal shall be counterballasted by some litile degree of judgment ; and when he has learned to express himself, if not with Christian de- cency, yet with common grammatical pro- priety ; then, and not till then, shall 1 deem him a proper object of attention. You, gentlemen, can testify that I never once appeared in your pulpit but at your own particular request : a request which I could not possibly have any interested motives for comidying with, as I never accepted of the smallest gratuity for my attendance. Is it for this that the enraged curate has repeatedly traduced me from the pulpit, and now insults me from the press ? For my own part I am so far from en- tertaining any resentment against Mr. Smith (with whom I do not remember to have ex- changed five words in my life, and whom I should not even know at sight), or from being deterred by his unmerited abuse ; that should I live to see London again 1 shall always deem myself happy to wait on you as usual, whenever either your own desire or the in- terest of your public charity may com- mand. And as so many of you have favoured me with uncommon civility and attention, I am encouraged to offer one request ; a request not in behalf of myself, but of Mr. Smith ; viz. tnat his ill-judged and unbecoming warmth may not so far alienate your afTection from his person as to make you persist in with- drawing those usual proofs of your benefi- cence which formeily you have favoured him with ; and which I am sorry to be informed have of late, through his defect of candour and humility, been considerably lessened. My sermon and his are now before the public. The rashness and seeming malig- nity with which he appears desirous to plunge into the depths of an unequal contest, might in the opinion of some justify me in the am- plest severity of animadversion. But I spare him. I cannot prevail with myself to render evil for evil, or railing for riiling. On the con- trai y, I wish and pray tha", divine grace may cause him to partake of tiie mind which was in C hrist Jesus ; and that he may by the same Almighty influence be made to experience, to believe, and to preach, the inestimable truths of that gospel which Jesus taught. Mr. John Wesley (on whose plan of doc- trine your curate seetns in great measure to have formed his own) is the only op- ponent 1 ever had «hom I chastised with a studious disregard to ceremony. Nor do I in the least repent of the manner in v.-hich I treated him. To have refuted the forgeries f-nd perversions of such a. i assailant tenderly, and with meekness falsely so called, would have been like shooting at a highwayman with a pop-gun, or like repelling the sword of an assassin with a straw. 1 rather blame my- self, on a review, for handling Mr. We-ley too gently ; and for not acquainting the world with all I know concerning the man and his communication. I only gave hiui the whip when he deserved a scorpion. But as to Mr. Smith, he hitherto, amidst all his ignorance and unguardedness, merits a milder treatment. Want of talents and of thought appear in every paragraph of his sermon : but I am willing to believe him not wholly destitute of integrity. Tho igh he opposes the doctrines of the Church oi Eng- land with virulence, yet he seems to do so from principle. Under this persuasion I at present give him rope. Hereafter, should he rise into any thing like a respectable an- tagotiist, 1 may perhaps hook him and pull him in. Until then, I take my leave, both of the curate and of his preachment, with that justly admired line, which is at once, equally picturesque of his behaviour, and ex- pressive of my fi.xed determination ; Tu loqutris lapides: Ego bi/-s:xi verba reponam, I am, with much respect and regard. Gentlemen, Your obliged and obedient Servant AUGl'STVS TOl'LAOV JESUS SEEN OF ANGELS. JESUS SEEN OF ANGELS. (part I.) The substance of which was preached in the parish church of Broad H£mburi/, De- von ; December 2b, 1/70. SERMON H. Seen of angels.— I Timothy iii. 16. Within the compas.s of tliis single verse, St. Paul comprizes seveial fundamental Ar- ticles of the Cliristiaii Faith. The whole passage, so far as it extends, may be con- sidered as a little system of divinity ; and literally deserves the name of the Apostle's Creed. And such couipendiums as this, of which there are many in Holy Scripture, seem to have given the first hint, at least, to the primitive Churches, of declaring their attachment to Jesus and his gospel, in set formularies and confessions of faith. Indeed, the apostle himself appears to intimate something of this kind, vvhen, wri- ting to the Romans, he told them. Ye have, from the heart, submitted to that mould, or On) Rom. vi. 17. ••1„r\oxiaart Se eK KapStar 61! iti Kap€ao6i]Te tvttov T,ir 5i6ax,ic« In allusion, cither to softened wax, which implicitly admits the impression of tlie stamp ; or to mulals. reduced to a state of fusibility, winch assimilate tliemselTes tothe figure ot the mould into which they are cast 1 he acute and learned author of The Confessional seems very unwilling to admit the probability of St. Paur.i re ferring to any tixed formulary of doctrine, either in the passage last cited, or in the correspondent ones ot 1 Tim. iv. 6:1 Tim. vi. 3: and 2 Tim. i. n. I.ct U9 hear this able writer spvak for himself. " Tht- Greek words, in these several pa.ssages which are supposed to signify this standard or fixed formulary, nui thus : Tuirot aijaxnr. 'YTTOTi/TTcucrir iiymi- lor in tnem. a nx,-,i t.u iiiu;ir\ , cm- would think should have a fixed title. Nov is it at all probabt nd the same form of words should be de scribed in terms which may dtriiote an hundre different forms." Confes.sional. p. 0.^,, 96. ."Jd. Edit 1. It matters very little, whether the apostoli formularies, delivered to different persons, were Byllabically, and verbatim, one and the same, or not. iheirbeinft materially and sulistaiitiallv fhr. s.ime, as to their sense and mraiiin'.;-, ^^ -iiiii- i, i,r .... ..^ — e the point aimed The variety of titles, th fixed formularies {for suci is, in reality, no objectio at, 2. Alter all, there is no iir cos^ity for admiltinf? even a verbal diversity nC apostoiic i! st.Tndards; at least, of those drawn up iiy erne and the same apostle. Those, for instance, i,nen by St. I'aul, were, in all probability, not only niaterially, but verbally, alike. Whoever considers this apostle's masterly command of the copious lan- guage in which he wrote, will hardly, I should ima 'ine, be surprized at the variety of titles given, in different parts of his epistles, to perhaps one and the same summary: especially, as those various titles are all coincident in sense, and, one as well as another, strictly compatible with a fixed apos- tolic formulary. Ihus, lor example, the XWIX model of doctrine, into which ye were de- livered (»!). So, likewise in his Second Epistle to Timothy, he thus directs that young divine ; Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me (n) : wh'^re the v'stotvutoiukj, vrtaivovTuiv \oywv, i. e. the cupy, pattern, or outline of sound doctrines, mentioned by the apostle, strongly seems to refer to some elementary sketch, or summary of principles, previously given to Timothy, as a rule by which to proceed, in the doctrines he should publicly deliver as a preacher. So very far are, what have been since called. Creeds and Articles of Faith from being contrary, as such, either to the letter, or to the spirit of the gospel. The expedience, propriety, and even ne- cessity of these, appear, among other con- siderations, hence ; that, without some given model, or determinate plan of doctrine, de- duced from the sacred Scriptures, it will he «iipossiDie, eitnei- for ministers or pe(>ple, to form just and connected ideas of divine things. Unless the pearl-, which are scat- tered at large in the gospel-field, be mar- shalled into some kind of order, and reduced Articles of the Church of England mav he termed (I mean bythe few who believe themj fyTruc (t((iMx,it, 'yTTo-rvTTUKTtt i>-jiat\)vvTtav A(J7a)i/, AtiJ7ui TTfaTeuiv- i^c.and yet remain the nimc identical Articles, under all this vari(;ty ot titles. But the Coufessionalist is inclined to believe, that in Rom. vi. 17, tvttoi (^idux»iT is, in particular, a phrase " absolutely unintelligible,' If not referred to "the exemplihcation of the Clivistn:ii tloctnne.in the practice of pious believers.'- It, liowever, we read the apostle's words, through the meiiiiim of the metaphor to which he(I think, plamlv) :illudes: the absolute umntelligibihty ot which the learned wn ter seems apprehensive, vanishes at once : :ind a sense arises fnot very favourable, indeed, to the main Confessional, but) proper in itself, ( deduction, and ^'.Tv intelligible by all. k sense, too, Avhich is, at least', extremely pro- bable to have been that the eloquent apostle intended to convcv ; as his admirable compositions very fre (jneiitlv . , comitant blood, as to resemhlr, in u iin.r, ,i .ini.ear- ance, mere blood only.— Luke dr Jini-LS, the critic la»t referred to, has a ti ry valuable note on the blessed Jesus experience the first out-pour- ings of his Almighty Father's wrath. Here it was that his righteous soul became ex- ceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Here it was that the spotless victim began to feel the dreadful weight of imputed guilt, and the terrors of avenging justice. — When his inward agony forced his very blood from its veins, which even made its way through his three-fold vesture, and fell (i) clotted to the ground ; when himself lay prostrate on the earth with his garments literally rolled in blood ; when, as the Surety of the covenant, and as the Substitute of his people, he bore the sins and carried the sorrows of the whole believing world ; when, with the names of his mystic Israel upon his heart, our Great High Priest, Jesus, the Son and the Lamb of God, sustaiiied intensively that punish- ment for sin which must otherwise have been levied extensively on sinners to all eternity : when he cried, in the bitterness of his soul, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me ; he was seen, he was heard, he was deplored, of angels They joined with the agonizing petitioner. They united their supplications with his : and the prayers of angels went up, for once, through the hands of a Mediator. But it was not possible for the cup to pass from him. The decree must be ac- complished. The covenant of grace must be fulfilled. God's people must be saved. The Saviour, therefore, must die. Himself Was sensible of this. Hence, though as man his anguish induced him to wish that, if possible, he might drink no deeper of the penal cup ; yet, as party to the covenant of redemption, he, in the same breath, couseiits to drink the dregs and wring them out : ad- diag-, Nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done ; if sinners can be saved, and thy Son not die, let thy Son be spared ; but if otherwise, if my people must perish, or thy Son be slain, O save my people and slay thy Son. — Alternate grief and wonder heaved the celestial bosoms of attending angels : grief, at the sufferings he endured ; won- der, at his magnanimity of love toman; love, which the many waters of divine in- passage : Illud, quasi, non significat, hunc, non fuisse verum sauguinem, sed non fuisse ver^ guttas sanguinis, sed gTittas aqueas mixtas sanguine ; quod etiam fieri possit per u-ituram vim intus patientem, ac proinde per poras ejicientem una cum aqui san- guinem ; pr^sertim ubi corpus est-rarumac aeti- catum, et sanguis subtilis, ut in Christo indubie The note of Bengelius is equally judicious : v-0M/3<" Grumi i 0pe^a,, i. e. Trrifai.— epou;3oi ii/iuTut gutta spisste et concretEe veri sanguinis. Vis par- ticulse oo-ei cadit super 0qoij./3o,, non super ai/inror, utpatet ex epitheto, ejusque plurali, Kara/iaiuoyre^. Sauguis per minores guttulas i poris manans, con- crescebat propter copiam. Si sudor non fuisset sanguineus, mentio sanguinis plani abesse poterat: nam vocabtUom gpoiiflai etiam per se competebat 332 JESUS SEEN OF ANGELS. dignation could not qnencn, nor all the floods of horror and anguish drown. Angels saw him receive the insidious kiss, by which he was betrayed. They saw him arraigned at the bar of the very men who were indebted for their creation to the word of his power ; and who owed the stations they bore to the disposals of his providence. Angels heard and shuddered at the sentence by which he was con- demned to die. They saw him mocked, and strucli, and clothed with insulting scarlet. He was seen of angels when he deigned to wear a crown of thorns. They beheld, and if angels can weep, they wept, when he was tied to the ignominious pillar, and scourged with rods of knotted wire ; when according to the prediction of the royal prophet, The ploughers ploughed upon his back, and made long furrows. Angels saw, and astonishment was in heaven, when he hid not his face from shame and spitting. They saw when, through the extremity of grief and torture, his beauty consumed away, like as it were a moth fret- ting a garment . when he could say. Thy rebuke hath broken my heart ; I am full of heaviness ; I looked for some to take pity on me, but there was none ; neither found I any to comfort me. The man Christ Je- sus, being formed without sin, and by the immediate agency of the Holy Ghost, was doubtless transcendently fair and augustly beautiful. Hence his human nature was compared to the temple : a structure emi- nently holy, and peculiarly elegant. Piior to his sufferings, lie was, literally, fau-er than the children of men. it was not till his blessed person had been disfigured with wounds and emaciated with grief ; until liis face was foul with weepiiig, and on his eye-lids sat the shadow of death ; that he is said to have had neither form nor comeli- ness ; but that his face was marred more than any man's, and his countenance than the sons of men. Angels thronged around the majestic sufferer when he was led forth to cruci- fixion, as a lamb to the slaughter. They saw him nailed to the instrument of death, after he had fainted beneath its weight. And, had I an angel's tongue, I should find it impossible to tell what angels felt, when they heard him groan from the deepest recesses of his agonizing heart, that excla- mation of overwhelmin/j- woe ; — My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me ? — For- saken, cried the deserted Saviour. Angels caught the dismal accents. Forsaken, for- saken, the sad and astonished choir replied. Surely, all heaven was at that dreadful moment emptied of its inhabitants. Surely, not angels only, but the spirits likewise of just men made perfect (who had been saved on the credit of that great sacrifice which was now offering up), started from their thrones, and dropt their crowns ; quitted, for a while, the abodes of bliss, and, with pensive admiration and drooping wings, iiovered round the cross of their departing Lord. If ever sorrow was in heaven ; if ever the harps of the blessed were suspended, silent, and unstrung on the willows of dis- may ; if ever angels ceased to praise, and glorified souls forgot to sing ; if ever the harmony of the sky was, not merely inter- rupted, but, if it be possible, exchanged for lamentation and mourning and woe : — it muni have been during the six tremendous hours (such hours as nature never saw be- fore, nor will ever see again), that the dying Jesus hung upon the tree. Having, amidst all his personal agonies, detained himself on earth until he had looked a dying blasphemer into repentance; and until he had made provision for the maintenance of his widowed mother (who stood, wee|)ing and adoring, at the foot of his cross) by committing hei to the care and guardianship of his best-beloved di>ciple ; he cried, with a loud triumphant voice, " It is finished : I have suffered enough. The types and the prophecies are accomplished. My covenant engagements are fulfilled. The debts of my people are paid. I have finished transgression ; I have made an end of sin ; I have WTOught out and brought in nn everlasting righteousness. The law is mfignified. Justice is satisfied. My warfare is over. My conflicts are past." His spirit- ual desertions were now superseded. The light of God's countenance gave the expir- ing Mediator the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. The Sun of Righteousness goes down without a cloud. He departs in peace, with those comfortable words of filial confi- dence on his lips. Father, into thy hands I commend my .spirit. Words that pierced the earlh to her centre, and shook her in her orbit ; cleft the ponderous rocks ; Tend- ed the vail of the temple, and exposed its sacred, but now superseded, arcana, to com- mon view; unlockied the abodes of death; and threw open the graves of ma'iy a de- parted saint, who probably (as did their triumphant Lord shortly after) rose to die no more, but ascended, in their respective bodies, with him, when he went up from the Mount of Olives. 1 have already observed, that Christ continued alive on the cross for the space of six hours. During the last three, there was darkness over all the earth. The sun hid his beams. The dreadful transanction on Mount Calvaiy "Drove back his chariot. Midnight reit'd the world: A midnight, nature shudder d to bihuld." Why was the earth darkened ? not only to demonstrate the dignity of Him that bled, but, perhaps, to shadow forth that still GOD'S iMlNDFULNESS OF MAN. 33.^ nioie dei'p and dismal darkness, which the soul of the Messiah was then experiencing, under tlie awful withdrawings of his Father's countenance. When his Father's sensible presence returned, and Jesus, with his dying breath, declared liis sufferings fulfilled, light revisited the earth, and the sufferer was re- ceived into. glory. Joy was again in heaven (never to be absent more), when the huin.-in soul of Christ ascended from the cross. With what eclats of admiring transport was he seen of angels, when he rode on cherubs and did fly, and went up to his thione as on the wings of the wind ! GOD'S MINDFULNESS OF MAN. The Lord hath been mindful of us ; be will blesB u>. Psal. cxt. 12 SERMON IV. Psalm viij. 4. (Fhat is Man, that thou art mindful of him ? and the Son of Man, that thou visitest him ? Daviu is supposed by some to have written this Psalm long before his elevation to the Jewish throne, while he m as yet a youth busied in tending his father's cattle on the plains of Bethlehem. And we shall pre- sently see that there are passages in the Psalm itself which seem to justify this con- jecture. It is not only a hymn of praise addressed to the Messiah, but likewise one of the finest pastorals any where extant. David appears to have had almost from his very childhood the sublimest talents for poetry and an exquisite taste in music. His harp therefore was probably his frequent companion in the fields when he exercised the occupation of a shepherd. And having experienced the inestimable blessing of early conversion, he did not debase his poetic ge- nius, nor prostitute his skill in the harmony of sounds, by devoting either of them to the contemptible purposes of versified nonsense and unmanly dissipation ; but his heart being as riifhtly tuned as his harp, his happiness and highest recreation weie, to sing the praises of the God he loved, and to anticipate something of that sublime employ on earth which will in heaven be for ever the business and the bliss of those who are redeemed from among men. It is worthy of remark that this was the or chosen out from ainniif^ the people : i.e. God calls David a man after his V'lNl!lt'l'v a si^'ned Vo7ll,^s I-x'^ alted title is. tliat D.u i.l should (^:s the ap.istle adds wills, purposes and designs of God, respectin^^ '.he time (namely while David was herdsman to his father Jesse, and filled up the intervals of his employment with holy meditation, prayer and thanksgiving), when God himself vouch- safed to mention him under the most glorious appellation that peihaps was ever conferred on a created being ; a man after my own heart (A). A title which does not appear to have been given him so much as once after his advancement to royalty. For though neither height of magnificence, nor depth of abasement, can separate a saint from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus (I) ; yet, even after a work of grace has passed upon the heart in regeneration, such is the power of surviving depravity that not one perhaps in twenty of God's people can, hu- manly speaking, be trusted with prosperity. Let everyafflicted believer therefore rejoicein that he is made low. God deals out our com- forts and our sorrows with exact, unerring hand, in number, vveightand measure. Hence we have not either of joy or adversity, a grain too little or too much. If less tribulation would suffice, less would be given. We are bad enough with all our troubles : what then should we be if we were exercisedwith none ? In order to our entering into the true spirit and propriety of the Psalin before us, we must form to ourselves an idea of David the stripling, and think we see him watch- ing his flocks in a summer's night under the expanded canopy of the skies. — The air is still. The heavens are serene. The moon, arrived at the full, is pursuing her majestic, silent course. The stars (like peeresses on a coronation solemnity) assume their brightest robes to attend the beauteous sovereign of the night, while both moon and stars con- cur to shed a soft undazzling lustre on all the subjacent landscape. David at this happy period a blameless youth ; unpoisoned with ambition and unfascinated by the witchcraft of court-corruption ; his heart unpolluted with lust, and his hands undipped in blood ; is seated on a rising hillock or on the pro- tuberant root of some stately tree. — All is hushed. Not a bough rustles. Not a leaf " trembles to the breeze. " The silent flocks are either caielessly grazing by his side, or slumbering securely at his feet. The birds have suspended their songs until waked by the superior sweetness of his voice and the music of his hand. For, charmed with the piurt , t t ; preserved by providence, in order to be effectually called and converted by grace ; of which we have a striking instance in the jailor at Philippi, Acts xvi. 2/ — 31. If we choose more modern proof of this important truth, some very remarkable passages in the life of Colonel Gardiner, prior to his conversion, may tend to convince us of it. Nay, there is perhaps hardly a single believer eaiijles a glimmering taper, exposed to all the storms that blow, yet unextinguished and inex- tinguishable. Wherefore may it defy the force of descending rains, and the fury of conflicting winds ? because it is fed and guarded by the unseen hand of Him who is ever mindful of his covenant and of his covenant-people. Nor, until he fails, can they. Because I live, says he, ye shall live also. Surely then we have the highest rea- son to breathe, from the inmos* of our hearts, that self-abasing, that grace-admiring question. What is man, that thou art mind- ful of him? To which we may add, II. Or the son of man, that thou visit- est him ? for, not only his mindfulness, but his gracious visitations, in consequence of that mindfulness, challenge our deepest wonder and our warmest priiis;. In a very particular manner might God be said to visit us, when Jehovah the Son was manifested in the flesh — WiR God (a) Gat. iii. 10. (X) Rom. Tiii. 30. John x. 16. (yj Jude i. GOD'S MINDFULNESS OF MAN. 337 indeed dwell with men ? said Solomon at his <1edication of the temple. Yes, may we reply, on the present festival : God did in- deed dwell with men, that men might for evei- dwell with God. The bri^^htness of his Father's glory, and the express (z) image of his person ; he who made and upholds all thin>;s by the word of his power, conde- scended in his great humility to visit earth ; that sinners might be, not transitory visit- ants, but everlasting inhabitants, of the highest heavens. And though he is now entered on his glorified state above, he still vouchsafes, invisibly and spiritually, to visit his people below. He visits them in conversion, as he once literally visited the tomb of Lazarus; and. by the effectual agency of his spirit, calls to himself whom he will, (a) and quickens those who are dead in trespasses and sins, (b) For this unspeakable blessing, man is, singly and solely, indebted to efficacious grace. It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that nmneth ; it is not owing to human piiable- ncss, nor human works, but it is only of God that sheweth merry, (c) After I was turned, I repented, is the language of God's book, (rf) and the experience of God's ueople. We are first turned by him ; and then we repent unto life. As Christ was born into the world for us, so the visitation of his grace gives us to experii nee what our Church justly styles that " new birth unto righteousness," which makes us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Providential dispensations are also to be considered as visits from God. Is affliction the Christian's lot? It is a visit from heaven. Thou hast visited, thou hast tried me, says David. God never uses the flail but when his corn wants threshing. " Our Iie»rt5 are fattened to tke wor.J Bj strong and various ties ; ** But every sorrow cuts a string. Afflictions are as nails, driven by the hand of grace, which ciucify us to the world. The husbandman ploughs his lands, and the gardener prunes his trees, to make them fruitful. The jeweller cuts and polishes hie diamonds to make them shine the brighter. The refiner flings his gold into the furnace that it may come out the purer. And God afflicts his people to make them better. " To thank God for mercies," said a pious divine of the last century, " is the way to increase then. : to thank him for miseries is the way to remove them. — Afflictions are then blessings to us when we can bless God for afflictions : whose single view, in causing us to pass through the fire, is only to sepa- rate the sin he hates from the soul he loves." And in all his dealings with them, let them remember that though he cause grief yet he will have compassion : at the worst of times he will either suit his dispensations to their strength, or accom- modate their strength to his dispensations. And when the faith of an afflicted saint is in exercise his graces, as a good man expresses it, " resemble a garden of roses, or a well of rose-water ; which the more they are stirred and agitated by the storm, the sweeter is the fragrance they exhale." I have already touched on deliverances eminently providential. May not even com- mon preservation and support, from moment to moment, be likewise numbered among tbt. instances of God's never-ceasing minaiui- ness and continual visitation? By him, says the apostle, all things consist. His hand directs, his eye co'. iucts, and his will sustains, the whole univers"; of spirits, men, and things. With regard to ourselves, in particular, have we not each abundant cause to admire the unintermitted influence and superintendency (/) of him who is our life and the length of cur days ? {g) Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit (A). Sanctificatiou, or the soul's recovery of God's spiritual and moral image, is a fruit of the same condescending goodness. As redepmtion from the guilt of sin is owing to the past visitation of God the Son ; so exemption from the dominion of sin results from the continued visitation of God the Holy Ghost (i). His transforming influence (z) Express image, Heb. i. 3.— I should not •cru- ple to rendi-r the word x<^P'"'-"'l> exact coun- terpart : as wax (whence the metaphor seems to be taken) bears the very figure, and is therefore the exact counterpart of the seal or stamp by which it is improscd. (aj Mark iii. 13. (6) Eph. ii. 1. (c) Rom. ix. 16. d) Jer. xxxi. 19. (e) Dr. Young. - . ■ 1 1 (/) •' God can arm all his creatures against sinfiil man. The least and the meanest of them, even a llv, is able to make an end of us, if God give com- luissio.i." Mr. Purr on Bomniis. p. 1 15. Ig) Deut. XXX. 20. (hj Job x. 12. (I) Is it i.ot equally sho( S-iiiR and deplorable, J.at, to believe- in the .-.sei.cy t,f tl.e Holy ^pint, as con-erter, sanctiiier, ;.nd coroforter, should be Oeeil^ed i;y very niauy reputed C'hri-^tiaiis Uie cer- (19 did not always i^arry njii'tcis to aijd moral virtue are the sa n. " 1 suppose we sh.i]i Le told n t that the atone- ment, propitiation, and sacriti of C.irist are only other words for repenlroice. L ' us, witli the clue of the modern explication in our hin J m Jte trial of its value ; and see whether it will rot lead us into a lah>Tin h of nonsense and impiety, instead of ex- tricating usfromthatof supposed enthusiasm. Jesus was led up of moral virtue into the wilderness, to be tempted by the Devil, Matt. iv. 1. And he saw moral virtue descending like a dove, and lighting upon him, A'att. ii. 10. God is a moral virtue, John iv. 24. lliey spake as moral virtue gave them utterance. Acts ii.4. Then moral virtue said to Philip, go 1 ear and join thyself to this chariot, Acts viii. 29, Yc have received the moral virtue of adoptitn, whereby we crv, Abb.i, Father. Moral virtue itself b- reth witness with our virtue, that we are the chi: Iren of God, Rom. viii. 15, Hi. God huth revealed tliem to us by his moral virtue ; for moral virtue searcheth all thinprs, even the deep things of God, 1 Cor. ii. 10. God hath sent forth the moral virtue of his Son into your hearts, Gal. iv. 6. believe, they hope, they love, they rejoice, they obey, imperfectly : they know but in part, and they ai e happy but in part. By and by the interposing vail will be entirely done away : and, from catching a few occasional drops of blessedness at the channel of out- ward ordinances below, they shall derive for ever the fulness of uninterrupted joy from the fountain head abo%-e. Sweet indeed, and inestimably precious, are the minutest, the most glimmering, and most transient views of interest in the Father's electing grace, and in the unsearchable merits of Christ. For the Holy Spirit to visit us with the light of his countenance, and to bless us with the knowledge of sal- vation, by bearing witness with our spiiits that we are the children of God, is at once the certain earnest, and the richest fore- taste, of that consummate bliss prepared for the vessels of mercy before the foun- dation of the world.— But it may be that you walk in daikness ; that your views, or even hopes, of interest in Christ are few in numbe.% and of short continuance : so that you experience very little of the Holy Spirit's visitation in a way of joy and comfort. This was often the case with David himself, the penman of this sweet psalm : Even from my youth up, says he elsewhere, thy terrors have I suffered with a troubled mind. But let me ask, did you ever, at any time, or under any ordinance, so much as once experience fellowship with The communion of moral virtue be with you all, 2 Cor. liii. 14 — Applied to those parts of our Church ofiict!8, likewise, wherein mention is made of the Holy Spirit, the clue will be equally serviceable to the argument of those rational expositors. If we do, in true earnest, wish for the return of moral virtue, we ourselves must first return to the doc- trines whence we are fallen. We must believe them as well as subscribe them ; and preach them as well as believe them ; and practically adorn them by oar own lives as well as preach them; or moral virtue, which already seems rising on the wing, will totally take her flight. 1 will recompense the religions reader for the horror which the interpretation just refuted must have given him, by transcribing two passages from the learned Dr. Stanhope, dean of Canterbury. Everybody, who knows any thing of this respec- table writer, knows that he was, in the main, ex- tremely remote from those of our established doc- trines which now go by the nick -name of Calvin- ism : a term, by the way, which, like raw head ani bloody-bones, seems merely calculated to frighten the children of Arminius from the Bible and the Church In Dr. Stanhope's translation of bishop Andrew's Devotions, this eminent prelat and his worthy translator, thus express therose-^es: I do also believe, that, by the illum'mation and power- ful operation of the Holy Ghost, a peculiar people has been called from all quarters of the world, to be knit into one society, united and distlncuished by belief of the truth and holiness of life." Transl. p. 20. " In the Holy Ghost, 1 believe a power from on high, by operations, supernatural and invisible, but yet with efficacy undeiuable, transforming and renewing the soul to holiness." Ibid. p. 60. May my hearers, my readers, and myself, ex- perience the reality of these blessed truths more and more to the perfect day. (kj Cant. u. 9. GOD'S MINDFULNESS OF MAN. 339 God, or a moment's peace and joy in be- lieving ? If you have, be thankful for it. Jt was a token for good. It was a visit fro m above. God is thine, even though (which , however, is unlikely) you should walk in darkTiess to your dying day. He does not tantalize his people : but having given thee a taste of his love, he will, in his own way, and in his own time, satisfy thee with the fulness of joy. When we part with an earthly friend, one of the most embittering considerations is that we may perhaps see his face no more (I) below ; enjoy no more of his company, and receive no more of his visits. But whe.i the Holy Spirit withdraws the comforts of his presence, and is as one that hides himself, or as one that is gone into a far country, we may be certain of his return. His consolations may stay long, but they will come back at last. You may depend on a fresh visit in due season. They who have felt his gracious influence once, shall feel it again. — There is a true ground of joy in reflecting even on past expe- rience (see Psalm xlii. 6.) Communion with God leaves a calm and a sweetness upon the soul which are remembered after many days : as a vase of rich perfume, or of odoriferous unguent, scents the air with fragance, even after the vessel that con- tained it is stopped up and put by. Once more. God may be said to visit his people when he calls them away from earth to heaven. To them wno are m a state of grace death is no more than a friendly visit from the God of love. " As a person " (to use the comparison of an excellent writer) " that takes a walk in his garden, if he spy a beauteous full-blown flower, gathers it, and gives it a place in liis bosom ; so the Lord takes, as it were, his walks in his gardens, tiie churches, and gathers his lilics,souls fully ripe for glory, and with delight takes them to liimseif." Not satisfied with only depu- ting his angeh to escort believers to the sky, he comes himself, in the manifestations of his presence, and, as it were, takes them by the hand, and leads them safe to Zion his holy mountain. — What is this world out a sort of academy wherein God's children are placed for education ? And when their educa- tion is finished, when they have taken their degree in holiness, and are properly qualified for heaven, the Father of mercy orders out the chariot of death to convey his children home. From that hour he no longer visits them, but they visit him : and are with him for ever and ever. O what a burst of joy, what a scene of glory opens to the ravished view, and beams on the triumphant soul of a saint in the moment of departure ! The death-bed of a Christian is the anti-chamber of heaven. and the very suburbs of the New Jerusalem. When the silver cords of life loosen apace, — when the last pins of the earth- ly tabernacle are taking out, — when the lips of the expiring saint turn pale, and the blush forsakes his cheek, and what little breath he diaws returns cold, — when his limbs quiver, — when the pulse forgets to beat, — when the crimson cuiTent in his veins begins to stagnate, and the hover- ing s-oul is just on the wing for glory — fast as the world darkens upon his sight, fast as the ro ^vt]Tov, the mortal part (2 Cor. V. 4.) of bis composition subsides and falls oflf from the dis-imprisoned spirit; he brightens into the perfect image of God, and kindles into more than an angel of light. Jehovah visits hicn with smiles of everlasting love • Jesus beckons him to the regions of eternal day: the blessed Spirit of God wafts him, with a gentle gale, over the stream of death. The angelic potentates deem it an honour to usher the ransomed soul, and convoy the precious freight. Dis-embodied saints, who were landed long before, throng the blissful coast, to congratulate the new-born seraph on his safe arrival. — When Virgil entered the Roman theatre, the whole auditory tes- tified their respect by rising from their seats. When a believer lands in glory, the whole Church triumphant may be supposed to welcome the new-admitted peer. He makes a public entry into the celestial city, the Jerusalem which is above. As joy is in heaven when a sinner repents, so joy is in heaven when a saint is taken home. God will, indeed, pay his people one visit more, and but one. I mean in the morning of the resurrection, when he shall re-build their bodies into temples of perfection, im- mortality and glory. The souls of the regene-. rate, from the instant they take their flight, are admitted to the sight and fruition of his glorious godhead ; and their bodies lie down in the grave, as a prince retires to his wardt robe, or as a bride withdraws to her closet, to come forth with additional beauty and lustre by and oye. Like a tender watchful parent, God is mindful of his elect while they are fast asleep : and, at the destined season, he will bring them from the east, and gather iheni from the west ; he will say to the north. Give up ; and to the south, Keep not back : bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth, Isa. xhii. 6. Their dust shall praise him. All their bones shall say. Lord, who is like unto thee ? when that which was sown in corruption, weakness and dishonour, is raised in intorruption, power and glory. He, who raised up Jesus from the dead, will also quicken your mortal bodies, by his Spirit that dvvellcth in you, Rom. viii. 11. That 3/0 GOD'S MINDFULNESS OF MAN game divine Spirit, the third person in the godliead, who, on earth, quickens and raises the souls of the elect from a death in sin to the life of righteousness, will be immedi- ately concerned in re-quiclteningtheir bodies, the temples in which lie dwells, and to which he is incompiehensibly united even while tliey lie uiouhkring in the grave. In l-.ia book are all their members written. Every essential atom of their dust stands registered in the volume of omniscience. Eveiy atom is numbered. Every atom is precious in his sight. Nor sh.iU a single atom be lost. Whatever changes their bo- dies may undergo, by a resolution into their first principles, or even by incorporation with other beings ; the constitutent parti- cles requsite to identity shall, when the trumpet sounds, be collected from every quarter of the globe, whither they have been scattered; or, more justly speaking, trea- sured up : for the world is but a vast store- house wherein the dust of the saints is reposited. What though for a fe.v days and nights we lend our bodies to the tomb. Join the dull mass, increase tite trodden soil, And sleep 'till earth herself shall be no more t the grave is but a steward entrusted with our ashes, and responsible for the charge. Socm will the several elements resign their deposit, and give back the loan ; the hal- lowed dust of God's elect ; O death ! no longer thine. While their souls are happy in the converse of Christ and angels, their bodies lie refining in the tomb, until the latter have slept away their dross, tiiat both may be glorified together. — 1 shall only observe further, 1. That God is mindful of his saints, and visits them in all these respects, not for any merit of theirs, but freely, and for his own name's sake. He first gives them grace, and then glory. He makes them saints, and crowns them angels. "We love persons and things," says the excellent Dr. Arrovvsmith, " because they are lovely : but God loves his people first, and makes them lovely after- wards. Our cause of love is in the objects loved ; but the cause of God's love is en- tirely in himself. We were predestinated after the counsel of his own will ; Eph. i. 11. not after the prior good inclinations of ours." And, indeed, the text plainly teaches this most important truth : for, if the righteous were beforeliand with God, i. e. if there were any goodness in the human will, of which God himself was not the absolute author and efficient, David must have asked a very absurd and a vei y heterodox question in saying. What is man, that thou art mind- ful of him ? VI the sun of man, that thou vi*itest him ? ■ 2. If Jehovah in all his persons, if Fa- ther. Son and Spirit are thus mindful of men ; O let men, in return, be mindful of God ! mindful of his truths, mindful of his or- dinances, mindful of his love, mindful of his word, mindful of his providence, mindlul o[ his commandments ! I wish every one of you what I wish for myself ; aclea-head, a warm heart, and a holy life : a mind enlightened into a judicious knowledge and perception of the go.spel doctrines, in all their purity, harmony, and extent ; a heart warmed with the vital experience of grace, with the love of Christ and the consolations of his spirit ; whence will infallibly proceed a life practically devoted to God, and a conver- sation adorned with every Christian and moral virtue. To this end, let the Psalm- ist's prayer be your's : Be mindful of me, O Lord, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people ; O visit u.e with thy sal- vation ! that 1 may, for myself in particular, see the felicity of thy chosen, and rejoice with the gladness of thy nation, and glory with thine inheritance. Psalm cvi. 4. CLERICAL SUBSCRIPTION NO GRIEVANCE : OR, THE DOCTRINES OF THE CHURCH OF ENG- LAND PROVED TO BE THE DOCTRINES CF CHRIST. In a discourse preached at an annual visita- tion of the clergy of the archdeaconry of Exeter, held at CoUumpton, Tuesday, May 12, 1772. Whosoever tmnsgresseth, ond abidelh oftt in the Doctrine of rbrist, hatb not Gud. H ttiAt abidelh in the Doctriae of Chrilt, hatll both the Father nisus Christ liimself f r its chief corner- stone; it eminently behoves those whom Piovidence hath stationed as watchmen upon the walls of Sion to sound the needful alarm, and to put God's professing people CLKRICAL SUBSCRIPTION NO GRIEVANCE. 341 on their gusid, lest, being led away Wilh the error of the wicked, they fall from their own stedfaslness. With a view to drive a nail in the aik ; and to show my willingness at least to con- tribute something, though ever so little, towards a purpose so important ; I have, on this public occasion, made choice of the words now read : to which I was the rather induced, as they naturally open a way for pointing out what those doctrines are, or what that gospel of the kingdom is, which were taught and preached by Him who spake as never man spake. The intentional destroyers of our national Church profess a mighty veneration for the Scriptures : and are perpetually crying out, in the much-prostituted words of the cele- brated Chillingworth, "The Bible, the Bible is the religion of Protestants." It is certain that the Bible ought to be the re- ligion of all Protestants : but it is no less cer- tain that there are some Protestants whose religion has no more concord with the Bible than Belial has with Clirist. Witness the gentlemen who assemble at tlie Feathers Tavern in the Strand, for the laudable pur- pose of smiting their Mother under the fifth rib. Surely the Bible is not the religion of such Protestants ! If they revered tlie ori- ginal, would they seek to demolish the transcript ? If they regarded the fountain, would they labour, first, to poison, and then to cut off, the stream ? I wish the true cause of their enmity against the vine may not be a hatred of the sacred soil in which it grows. They would, perhaps, love the Church better if the Bible and the Church were less agreed. No unprejudiced person will censure this apprehension as hasty and uncharitable who considers the extreme thinness of that partition by which So- cinianism and infidelity are divided from each other. That the whole chain of doctrines com- prised in oiu- public standards as a Church, is perfectly coincident with that system of religious truths which God the Son made the grand subjects of his own personal min- istry on earth will, I hope, be sufficiently (m) Heb. ti. I. (n) Col. ii. 3. (8) Jude 3. (p) Jer. xxiii. 28. (9) Jer. xlviii. 10. (r) Gal. i. 10. (i) Mark viii. ,?8. 1 was formerly well ac- quainted with two woTtliy persons in the ministry, ■who were eminently pious, and extensively useful. One of these died m 1759, the other in 17B1. I thought that if ever any men in the world were faithful to the light God had given thrm, these were. And yet, in their last illnesses, thev had such a feeling sight of their past unfaithfulness as almost reduced them, for a time, to a de.spair of salvition. The former of them said, he " only wished to live, that he might have an opportunity of pre aching the Goapel in a fuller manner th m he had ever yet done." The latter cried out in an agony of distress, " God hides the light of his face from niy soul, and is putting me to bed in the dark, because, out of a proved in the course of our present enquiry. Nor do I think that the meditations even of this reverend and respectable assembly can be directed into a more suitable channel, than by briefly reviewing the first principles of the doctrine of Clii ist, (hi) as declared and asserted by that adorable person in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (n). Permit me, therefore, my honoured brethren, to put you in re- membrance of these things, though I would wish to take for granted that many of us already know them ; and that some of us are established in the present truth. The ar- ticles of the faith once delivered to the saints, (o) are not points of idle curiosity or barren speculation ; but enter deeply into our comfort and holiness as Christians : consequently, they cannot be too frequently reviewed, nor too attentively surveyed. — Let me likewise intimate that they cannot be pointed out with too much plainness and sincerity. If trimming and hypocrisy, du- plicity and adulation, be justly considered as indications both of guilt and meanness, even in the common intercourse of civil and soeial life ; how much deeper guilt must he incur, and what transcendent contempt must he deserve, who, from sinister motives of honour, interest, or applause, would dare to temporize in holy things, and either maim the body of religious doctrine by a partial display of it, or veil and disguise it with the cloud of artificial misrepresentation ! He that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully ; for what is ihe chaff to the wheat, saith the Lord?(p) An inspired prophet hath declared. Cursed be he that rioih the work of the Lord deceitfully, (q) An apostle hath said, Do I seek to please men? If I yet pleased men, [sought to please thtia at the expense of truth,] I should not be the servant of Christ, (r) Jesus Christ himself hath affirmed. Whosoever shall he a^hamed of me, and of my words, i. e. of me and of my doctrines, in this adulterous and sinful gene- ration, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, i. e. him shall the Son of man disown, when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels, (i) A denun- dastardly complaisance to s»me of my hearers I have n^t dwelt enough upon the doctrines of grace, in particularly, in the doctrine of election ; " In which doctrine," added he, " I now see such a glory as I never saw before." Yet both were good men, and went off comfortably at last: though not until they had been led through a tedious, dismal wilderness of keen remorse and distressing conflicts. A death- bed makes even the children of God themselves feel the importance of divine things, with a force which they rarely, if ever feel, until then. Such as .sup- pri ss and keep back any part of Christian doctrine, either through fear of men, or to curry the favour of men ; and consTilt their own ease, advancement, or reput: tion, at the cost of truth and of souls; bare a tremendous valley of pain and horror to pafs through ere they reach the kingdom of heaven. If 342 CLERICAL SUBSCRIPTION NO GRIEVANCE. elation this suflSclent to make every min- ister's ears to tingle, and his heart to tremble I —Be it so then, that a faithful exhibition of the whole counsel of God, so far as he has been pleased to reveal it, may expose his messengers to the risk of being deemed unfashionable preachers. I trust, we are neither to be " ravished with the whistling," nor frightened by the phantom, of a name. For my own part, was it possible for me to preach before the whole universe at once, I would make no scruple to acknowledge it as my heart's desire and prayer, that I may never be ashamed of the gospel of Christ, (<) and that the doctrines of grace may never be out of fashion with me, so long as they remain in the Bible. I wish to assert the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth ; and leave God to take care of consequences. After what has been premised, it may be superfluous to add that the brief hints which en.sue, though delivered with firm- ness, and under the stron^st conTictian of their truth and importance, will yet be otfsred with all possible humility ; and I doubt not of their being received with can- dour : especially, since I will venture to be quite confident that face does not answer face in a glass with greater exactness than the positive determinations of our own Church correspond to the voice of Scripture, respecting the points that follow. The object, then, of our present attention is, To weigh the principles of the Church of England in the balance of the sanctuary, by examining. What were those doctrines which the Lord of life and glory made it his business to inculcate, during his con- tinuance on earth. In elucidating this question, I shall endeavour to be as brief as possible : if, however, I should find myself unavoidably obliged to trespass on your time beyond the limits which custom ordinarily assigns on these occasions, I hope the extent and im- portance of the subject will conciliate your patience, and plead my excuse. I begin, I. With the divine inspiration of the writings of the Old Testament. The authen- ticity of those inestimable books has received the repeated sanction of Christ's unerring attestation. Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concern- ing himself (h). Those writings he fre- quently quoted, and to them he frequently appealed, as sacred and infallible : All saved at all, it will be as by fire, i. e. in a way of an^ish and ditficulty. The blood of .souls stains deep.— Well, therefore, migrht the apostle Paul de- clare. Woe is me, if I preach not the g-ospel, 1 Cor. ix. IB. Thrice happy are theV who can add with him, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I may finish my coarse with joy, and the min- istry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to tefUfy tie gospel of the grace of God.— I take you things, said he, must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalras concerning me. (x) Thither he directed the study of his disciples : Search the Scriptures, fcjr in them ye think, and are right in thinking, that ye have eternal life ; these are they that testify of me When he declares, that the Scripture cannot be broken ; (z) what is it but to say, " The Old Testament is divine : the facts it relates, and the doc- trines it contains, are true : its prophecies are infallible ; and it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than for one tittle of the law to fail." (a) When tempted in the wil- derness of Judea, he foiled the adversary with weapons taken from that sacred re- pository. It is written, (A) was his con- stant reply, and the constant shield whe.reby he extinguished and repelled the fiery darts of the wicked one. — In the same night wherein he was betrayed, he acknowledged his power to command the attendance of angels for his deliverance : But how then, said he, shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be ? (c) — Seeing, therefore, that all these passages relate to the Old Tes- tament only (for they were spoken many years before a line of the New was written), well may the Church declare, (rf) " In the name of Holy Scripture, we do understand those Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament, of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church." Our Lord having thus vouchsafed to make the Scriptures the source whence he drew, and the test to which he refeiTed, every ar- ticle of faith which he proposed to mankind ; no wonder that he should. II. In perfect conformity with that un- erring standard, assert and teach that grand fundamental axiom of all true religion, viz. the unity of the Godhead. We find him quoting and setting his seal to those words of Moses, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, (e) And again. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. (/) — Here, hkewise, the Church of England speaks in exact unison with her blessed Master : " There is but one living and true God ; everlasting ; without body, parts, and passions ; of infinite power, wisdom and goodness ; the maker and pre- server of all things both visible and invisible." (Art. I.)— But, though Christ was careful to maintain, inriolably, the unity of the divine essence; he was no less careful in the Illd place, to assert a plurality of persons to record, this day, that 1 am pure from the blood ot all men ; for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Acts xx. 24. 26, 27. («) Rom. i. 16. (u) Luke Miv. 27. (X) Luie T. 4-J. (y) John t. 39. (z) John X. 35. (a) Luke xvi. 17. (b) Matt. iv. 4.7. 10. (c) Matt. sxti. M. (d) Art. I. (f) Mark xu. Mt. (J) Matt. iv. 10. CLERICAL SUBSCRIPTION NO GRIEVANCE. ill that essence. As to himself in particular he expressly averred. All things that the Father hatU are mine (g) : the same moral attributes ; the same natural perfections ; the same infinity of existence, glory and power. He associates himself vvitli the Father as governor of all thinijs in a way of provi- dence : My Father worketh hitherto, and I work (A). Immediately after relating which words, the evangehst adds, Therefore tlie Jews, in whose hearing this declaration was made, sought the more to kill him, be- cause he had said tliat God was his father, making himself equal with God. Conse- quently, either Christ, considered in his supe- rior character, must be truly and properly a person in the divine nature ; or we must file an accusation against him, as guilty of the blackest impiety in claiming an equality with the Most High. We must either blas- phemously degrade the Saviour of men in- finitely below the level even of that proud and presumptuous cardinal(i), who was deservedly impeaclied for putting himself into co-part- nership witli his eartlily sovereign, by writing in his public letters, "The king and I (k) ;" — we must either do this, or acknowledge the Messiah to be what most certainly he is in concert with the Father and the sacred Spirit, God over all, blessed for ever. Wlien the Jews said to him, For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy, and because thou, being a man, makest thyself God (/) ; would lie not have corrected them in a point of such unspeakable moment, if they iiad really mistaken his meaning ? Would he not, like Paul and Barnabas at Lystra, have disavowed with horror and indignation all pretensions to divinity, if he had not in- deed and in truth been divine i Would he, like impious Herod, have acquiesced in the supposed arrogation of Deity, if he had not been God and man in one person? But so far was he from telling his accusers that they misapprehended his doctrine, and that he laid no sort of claim to the honours of the Godhead ; he on the contrary confirmed the inference they had drawn, by appeal- er) John xvi. 15. John t. 17. (i) Wolsey. See the Parliamentary Hist, of England, vol. iii. p. 44. (k) Speaks not Arminianism the same audacious language t Does not the doctrine of free-will, as com- monly understood and received, represent m.in as God's co-adjutor, and even as a co-efficient with his Maker? Let the two 'ollowing; citations from a brace of modem free-willers stand as a sample. " Thou art courted by Fa'her, Son, and Spirit, thy fellow-la- bourers for thy good. To glad all heaven, assert, rescue, ennoh'e, and with bliss eternal crown thy- self; for without thee, in the con.stituted order of things, Heaven is unable to do it." Centaur not Pabul. Let. vi The well known author of the pre- ceding quotation was a person of learning, sense, and genius. But the indelicate scribbler of that which follows, unable to set hig free-will idol on etilts, is forced to let it crawl in a style as Gothic as his doctrine. One would almost imagine that iiig to the miracles he performed : Though ye believe not me, believe the works ; that ye may know and believe that the Father is in nie, and I in him. Would he have left a positive injunction that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father (m) ; if the Son was not equally di- vine i How would it sound if a lawgiver was to enact, " That all men should honour the angel Gabriel (for instance) with the same honour which they render to God ? " we should tremble with horror ; we should be overwhelmed with consternation, at the pro- digiviusness of such impiety. And why ? Because the honour due to God is peculiar to God, and cannot, without sacrilege, be transfeiTed to any inferior being. I conclude therefore that seeing the Redeemerof sinners lays claim to divine honours, he is and must be a divine person. If not, the consequences would be dreadful indeed. From the Arian and Socinian hypothesis that he is at most but the first and highest of created beings, it would foUow (1 speak it with horror ; but foUovv it inevitably would), that the Jews did right in branding him for a blasphemer, and in prosecuting him as an impostor. There is lio possible medium. Either he was and is what he professed to be, " equal with the Father as touching his Godhead ; " or he must be deservedly ranked with the most impious and execrable of all hiiraan charac- ters. If Christ were not very and eternal God, Christianity would be the most refined system of idolatry, and consequently the most exquisitely dangerous religion under heaven. Nothing short of Trinity in unity could justify the commission which our blessed Lord gave to his apostles and their successors, to baptize in the name or into the knowledge and woisliip of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost («)• If the Son of God were not God the Son, if the Spirit of God were not God the Spirit, the adminis- tration of baptism in their name would be an act of the highest profatieness and idolatry. The doctrine therefore of a trinity of persons he inherited the serpent's malediction. Upon thy belly Shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. He roundly tells us that, in the conversion of St. Paul and others, "The Lord did wait for man's compliance and improvements :" and that the work of God upon the human heart is ■' as much dependent, " for its efficacy on the compliance and improvements aforesaid, as the birth of Isaac was dependent " on Abraham's copulation with Sarah." See Mr. Walter Sellon's libel on the late Mr. Elisha Coles, p. 224, and p. 227. To say nothing of the grossness, and even inde- cency, with which the above libeller conveys his ideas ; I appeal ti every reader, whether Wolsey'e mode of expression was not innocent and humble, when compared with the Arminian phraseology of God and I ?- (0 Jolm 3.. »3. (m) John v. 23. (») Matt, xxviii. 19 844 CLERICAL SUBSCRIPTION NO GRIEVANCE. •n the unity of one divine nature, is a doc- trine of express revelation ; a doctrine of the utmost consequence ; and which lies at the very root and foundation of the Christian system. In te omnis aomMS inclinala rrcvmbit. Give up this, and you give up all. The whole of Christianity is but an empty name with- out it. Blessed be God, the faith of our own Churih respecting this capital point, most exactly harmonizes with the law ai.d the testimony ; for she affirms that " in unity of this Godhead, there be three persons of one substance, power and eternity ; the Father the Son, and the Holy Ghost (o\" And elsewhere she thus speaks : " That which we beheve of the glory of the Faiher, the same we believe of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, without any difference or in- equality (p)." IV. God's everlasting love to his people and his gratuitous election of them to grace and glory, constituted another branch of that doctrine which was taught ind pr eached by Jc.'llS Chri.t the righteous. He declared in a solemn address to his Father, made in the hearing of his disciples. Thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me (q). Now the Father's love to Christ was truly and pro- perly eternal. It knew no commencement nor will know a period. For it follows in the very next verse. Thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. Consequently if the Father loved his people as he loved his Son, he must, according to our Loi d's own words, have loved them fr mi everlasting. Hence proceeded his choice and appointment of them in Christ to eternal hfe as the end ; and to faith and sanctification as the means. That he has so chosen and appointed them is evident from the express repeated decla- rations of Christ himself. I thank thee, says he, holy Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes ; even so Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight (r). Unto you itis given to know the mysteries of thekingdomof iieaven ; but to them it is not given, (.s) Many are called, but few chosen^). Shall not God avenge his own elect who cry day and night unto him (h) ? Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven {x). To sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, except ^y) unto those for whom it hath been prepared of my Father. 1 speak not of you all : I know whom I have chosen (z). There shall aiise false Christs, and false (o) kn i. (p) Ccmnianion Serrice. ,•51 John \rii. 23. (r) .Matt xi. 25, 26. » Matt, jciii. 11. (t) lb. xx. 16. (u) Ijiike ^Tiii. 7. (r) lb. X. 20. (s) \W oic rToiuain.. Matt. XX. 23. Is) John xiii. IS. (a) Matt. xxir. 24. prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders : insomuch that if it were possible they should deceive the very elect (o). For the elects' sake whom he hath chosen he will shorten those days (b). He shall send his angels, and they shall gather together his elect from the four w inds, from under one end of heaven to the other (c). Come ye blessed of my Father, irheiit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation o( the world (rf). On which passages and a multi- tude of others to the same effect, all of which strongly assert a personal and immu- table election ; I do not know a more scrip- tui al and judiciouscomment than those words of our own Church : " Predestination to life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby, before the foundations of the worlds were laid, he hath constantly decreed, by his counsel secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he ha'h chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation as vessels made to honour (e)." Of these "vessels made unto honour,'' she declares the Church at large to c&nsist : " The true Church " says she " is an universal congregation or fellowship of God's faithful and elect peo- ple (/")." Hence, in perfect harmony with Scripture and herself, she prays that God would, " make his chosen people joyful(g-)." that he would " shortly accomplish the num- her of his elec {h) ; " and declares that " Almighty God hath knit together his elect in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of his Son Christ our Lord (i).'' Neither doth this blessed doctrine, if taken as it is revealed in Scripture, and as it stands thence adopted by the Church, tend either directly or remotely to the relaxation of hu- man diligence, or to the detriment of good works. The apostle hath Declared that we are chosen to salvation (ft) through sanc- tification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, and no otherwise. And the Church, who justly aCBrms, on one hand, that " The godly consideration of predestination and of our election in Christ, is full of sweet, plea- sant, and t_nspeakable comfort to godly per- sons {!) ; takes care on the other, to remind her children in the second homily on alms- gi\-ing, that it is " by their obedience unto God that they declare openly and manifestly to the sight of men that they are the sons of God, and elect of him unto sali-ation." V. The covenant of grace and redemption which subsisted between the three dinne persons, betore all worlds, in behalf of the Chiurch and people of God, held a distiD> (b) Matt. xxiT. 22. with Mart xiii. 20. (c) Matt. xxiT. 31. (rf) Matt. xxv. 35. (e) Art. 17. 1 1') Hem. for Whitsundav d. I f^) Daily Senrki;. ( /i ) Funeral Office ?nts, nnnl after theyhiid broken the covenant of worki" ; which latter being first revealed, is therefore styled The Old Covenant. Adverting to which important dis- tinction, i. £. with a view rnot to the manilestation but; to the real date of the covenant of rademptioD, luded to the event of the temptation in paradise, when he termed the instnmient of it a har, and a murderer from the begin- ning (a). In declaring that which is bom of the flesh is flesh 'b), he gives us to under- stand that all mankind are, by nature, des- titute of that moral image of God in which their first father was created. He represents this universjJ, hereditary corruption of the human race as the ssurce whence every actual sin proceeds : From within, out ef the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, deceit, lasciriousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foohshness ; all these evil things come from within, and defile the man (c). Well, therefore, might he observe to Nicodemus, Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ve must be bom again ; for, except a man be born again, born from above, inwardly and outwardly renewed by the supernatural power of the blessed Spirit, whose purifying agency resembles that of water, he cannot see the kingdom of God : frf) he can neither be a subject of the kingdom of grace here, nor have a part and h i ia the kingdom of glory hereafter. Warranted by the>e express and solemn asseverations of Christ, the Church affirms that " original, or birth sin, is the fault and corruption of the nature of every man who naturally is en- gendered of the offspring of Adam ; whereby man is [lyuam lonffitsmc \ gone as far as pos- sible from original righteousness, and is or his own nature inclined to evil." ie) S'l in the first part of the homily for Whit- day, she draws this double portrait of man in the state of nature, and of man in a state of grace : " Man of his own nature is fleshly and carnal, corrupt and naught, sinful and disobedient to God ; without any spark of goodness in him, without any virtuous or godly motion, only given to evil thoughts and wicked deeds. As l:ir tho works of the Spirit, t ie fruits of faith, charitable and godly motions ; if he have any at all in him, they proceed only of the Holy Ghost, who is the only worker of our sanctificatiou, and maketh us new men in Christ Jesus. Such is the power of the Holy Ghost to re- generate men, and, as it were, to bring them forth anew ; so that they shall be nothing like the men they were before." VII. Pardon of sin by the sacrifice of the apostle terms the blood of Christ, the blood o< the everlasting: covenant. Heb. xiii. 20. (n) i.aTifsur., _ tatlws iiedeTo, Luke xxii. 29. (o) John ivii. 1. fp John xvii. 4. lb. xis. 30. (r Isai. xlviii. 16. (s) Art. 17. 't; Te Demn. ,'x) Homily on the Nativiry. (_») ."Second Homily on the Passion. ('=) HomQv on thv Resnrrectiou. (a) John viii. 44. '6 John ii. 6. (c) Mark tU. 21- 23. (dj lb. iii.3-r. (0 Alt ». 346 CLERICAL SUBSCRIPTION NO GRIEVANCE. himself, and by the atonement of hU own propitiatory sufferings and death, was another of those truths which he taught and preached. Prior to Adam's fall, the law insisted only on a sinless, persevering obedience, as the term and condition of our ultimate salvation. But man being fallen, the law steps in with another demand on us, a demand super- added to the former ; namely, that we suffer that penalty which the broken covenant of works denounces against every one who continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them. From this penalty nothing could exempt us but the substitution of Jesus Christ to bear it in our stead. And blessed be the riches of his grace, he, who knew no sin, was made sin, a sin-bearer and a sin-offering for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. He hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, by his own blood, being made a curse for us. Hence he aver- red, that his blood was shed for many, for the remission of sins ; (/) and that the Son of man came not to be minis- fered unto, but to minister, and to give his life ai'TiXurpov, a substitutionary ransom for many(^). In exactly the same point of view does the Church consider the nature and efficacy of his atoning blood. " He came," says our fifteenth Article, " to be the Laiiib without spot, who, by sacrifice of himself once made, should take away the sins of the world." She testifies that God gave his "only Son to be unto us a sacrifice for sin," as well as "an example of godly life(/i);" and, treating professedly of the " perfect redemption," accomplished by his most precious death, avers that " there is no other satisfaction for sin, but that alone (!)." VIII. The justification of sinners by Lis own imputed righteousness is, likewise, a doctrine which Jesus taught. Justification is that gracious act of God by which he reckons and esteems a person perfectly righteous, and finally rewards him as such. Now God, whose judgment is alway accord- ing to truth, (A) can never deem any man perfectly righteous who is not, in some way or other, possessed of a perfect righ- teousness. But, aU mankind being tainted with original defilement, which even the grace of regeneration does not fully exter- minate during the present life, since, in our native state, we are totally sinful, and, in our renewed state, sanctified but in part ; it follows that no man is, in himself, com- pletely righteous. As, thcsefore, forgive- ness of sin can only fjow to us through the channel of Christ's itnputod sufferings ; 'n Mntt.xx>;. M. (g) lb XX. 28. (h) Collect for tbe second Sunday after Easter. so, justification, or acceptance with God, can only flow to us through -he channel of Christ's imputed obedience. By imputation, I mean God's graciously placing that to our account which we did not personally do. Whoever denies the im- putation of Christ's sufferings to us men, is a Socinian in the essential import of the word. And whoever denies the imputation of Christ's own personal obedience must, to be consistent, deny the imputation of Christ's own personal sufferings. You must admit the imputation of both, or you virtually disallow the imputation of either : for if it be deemed unreasonable that God should justify sinners by a righteousness which they themselves did not perform ; what will become of that doctrine which affirms that sinners are pardoned through a ransom which they themselves did not pay, and by a death which they thenv-elves did not undergo ? Explode, therefore, the im- putation of Christ's righteousness, and we are, that instant, in the very gall of Socin- ianism : for the atonement itself stands on one and the same basis with the other. The language of th^ moral law is inflexibly this : " Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength ; and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Do this, and live : but if thou sin, thou diest. Obey me per- fectly, and I pronounce thee justified : break me in any one point, and I pronounce you condemned as guilty of all.'' But where is the man (Christ only excepted) who ever did love God with all his heart and streng h? where is the person who practically loves his neighbour as himself, and who has never broken the law so much as in one point.' Consequently, not a single descen- dent from Adam can be justified by his own obedience to the moral law. We must, if justified at all, be clothed, by imputation, with the obedience of him srho alone, strictly speaking, fulfilled all righteousness ; or yielded such a conformity to the law as was perfect in all its parts, and perfect in the highest degree. Hence he directs us to seek first the kingdom of God and his righ- teousness (/) : the kingdom of God the Son, as our portion, and an interest in the righ- teousness of God the Son, as the procuring cause of it. He shewed the utter impossi- bility of being justified by human works, and the absolute necessity of our being clothed with a better righteousness than our own, in those parts of his sermon on the mount wherein he explained the spirit- uality and extent of the moral law. By de- claring, that causeless and immoderate (i) Art. 31. W Rom. ii. i, (.') Matt. Ti. 33. CLERICAL SUBSCRIPTION NO GRIEVANCE. 347 anger are murder (m), in the estimation of God ; that mere concupiscence is adultery, in the eye of uncreated purity ; and that even to speak a contemptuous word to our neighbour brings us, according to the strict tenor of God's perfect law, in danger of hell-lire (n) ; he gives us to understand, that by the deeds of the law no flesh living can be justified. When our Lord speaks of that wedding garment (o), by which we have free access unto the Father; and of that best robe (p), in which his repenting people stand faultless before the throne ; he means, 1 dare believe, that righteousness of God incarnate, which is to all and upon all thera that believe (q). Very express is the decision of the Church concerning this essential branch of Christian doctrine : " We are ac- counted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith ; and not for our own works or de- servings (r).'' She lays it down as a most certain truth, that " God made his blessed Son obedient to the law for man." (j) She quotes and adopts that remark of St. Ba- sil, that " Paul gloried in the contempt of his own righteousness, and that he looked for the righteousness of God by faith (<)." Nay, she affirms, in so many words, that " Christ is now the righteousness of all them who truly believe in him. He for them paid their ransom by his death ; he for them fulfilled the law in his life ; so that now, in him and by him, every true Christian man may be called a fulfiller of thelaw(«)." Supported by such positive evidence, I will venture to pronounce that the man who denies justification by the im- puted righteousness of Christ is, in the strict- est acceptation of the term, a dissenter from the Church of England. Every real member of that Church will and does adopt that usual saying of one of its brightest orna- ments, " Had I aU the faith of the patriarchs, all the zeal of the prophets, all the good works of the apostles, all the holy sufferings of the martyrs, and all the glowing devotion of the seraphs ; I would disclaim the whole, in point of dependance, and count aU but dross and dung, when compared with the infinitely precious death and the infinitely meritorious righteousness of Jesus Christ my Lord." IX. The doctrine of effectual vocation and conversion, by the influence of insu|)er- able grace, stands high on the list of the doctrines taught by Christ. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me {x), or he made to believe in me, to the saving of their «ouls. The hour is coming, and now is. when the dead, the dead in «in, shall hear the voice of the Son of God ; and, hearing, they shall live (y) : live to God below ; and lire with God, when their spirits return to him that gave them. Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, who are not within the pale of Judaism; thera also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shep- herd (z). To the same effect speaks the Church : " Wherefore they that be indued with so excellent a benefit of God, be called, according to God's purpose, by his Spirit working in due season (a)." Nor can any thing be more truly apostolical than that solemn caveat which she enters against the imaginary powers of free-will, in the first part of the homily concerning repentance : " Even so must we beware and take heed, that we do in no wise think in our hearts, imagine, or believe, that we are able to re- pent aright, or to turn effectually unto the Lord, by our own might and strength. For this must be verified in aU men. Without me ye can do nothing. Again : Of ourselves we are not able so much as to think a good thought. And, in another place. It is God that worketh in us both the will and the deed. For this cause, although Jeremy had said before. If thou return, O Israel, return unto me, saith the Lord ; yet afterwards he saith. Turn thou me, O Lord ; and I shall be turned, for thou art the Lord my God. And therefore that ancient writer and holy father Ambrose, doth plainly affirm that the turning of the heart unto God is of God : as the Lord himself doth testify by his pro- phet, saying. And I will give thee a heart to know me, that I am the Lord ; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God : for they shall return to me with their whole heart." — In her public addresses to God, the Church acknowledges that it is from him " All holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works, do proceed (6) ; and that it is he " Who maketh us both to will and to do those things that be good and accept- able to his divine majesty (c)." Inseparable from the grace of effectual calling, are, X. The sanctifying agency and con- stant inhabitation of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of them that believe. Cyrus is reported to have said to Croesus, "The chests in which I keep my riches are the hearts and affections of my people." With still greater truth may it be said that the souls of the regenerate are the reposit- ories in which God lays up the riches of (IB) Matt. T. 21, 22, 27, 28. (n) Matt. v. 22. (o) Matt. xxii. U, 12. (p) Luke xv. 22. (g) Rom. hi. 22. (r) Art. II. (s) Coll. for the Circumc. (t) Horn, of Salvat. (u) Horn, of Salvat. Part 1. (i) John vi. it (y) John. v. 25. Kai oi ai (j) John X. 16. (b) Daily Evening Servi (c) ConhnuiUjon Olhce. 348 CLERICAL SUBSCRIPTION NO GRIEVANCE. Ms grarc. His best treasure is in the hearts of his people : for there himself resides. If 1 depart, said Christ, I wiO send the com- fiirter unto you : and when he is come, he will convince the world, i. e. the elect be- lieving world, of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment (rf). He convinces of sin, by making his people sensible of their native unbelief and total sinfulness. He convinces of righteousness, by pointing out to tlieir view, and leading them to rely upon, that vicarious obedience of one, even of Christ, through the imputation of which many are made righteous (e) before God. He convinces of judgment, by turning the soul from dead works to serve the living and true God. Satan is, as it were, brought to the bar, jud- ged, found guilty of usurpation, and de- posed(/") from the throne of the converted sin- ner's heart : who, thenceforward, is enabled to live, not to himself, but to the glory of that Saviour who died for him, and rose again. Nor does the blessed Spirit cease to dwell in those who are born again of him. 1 will pray the Father, and he will give you another comforter, that he may abide with you for ever ; even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knovveth him ; but ye know him ; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you (g). Nor must we consider this pro- mise as peculiar to the apostles : for the gracious Promiser declares, He that believ- eth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water ; his consolations shall abound, and the over- flowing streams of practical godliness shall enrich and adorn the whole of his conversa- tion : this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive (A). This divine influence, its intrinsic eflS- cacy, and practical effects, are strongly recognized by our national Church. She teaches us to pray that "we, being regene- rate, and made the children of God by adop- tion and grace, may daily be lenewed by the Holy Spirit ;" that we may, " by the same Spirit, have a right judgment in all things, and evermore rejoice in his holy comfort (i)." She describes "godly per- sons" to be such as " feel in themselves the working of the Spirit of Christ, mortifying the deeds of the flesh, and drawing up their (d) John XTi. 8. (f) Rom. V. 19. (f) When kinp Ri. hard II. ■was deposed by parliament, and the crown ad- judged to the duke of Lanca.n) as a parable or a fact ; the instantaneous conveyance of the former on angels' wings to Abraham's bosom, and the no less instantaneous punish- ment of the lattei' — together with the con- versation which passed, or was supposed to pass, between the glorified soul of Abraham and the tormented soul of the agonizing sinner — plainly prove that the spirit of man is neither extinguished by death, nor reduced to a dormant, insensible state ; but either soars directly into the heights of joy, or di- rectly plunges into the abyss of woe. To this the church subscribes ; or she would not pray, " In the hour of death good (0) Matt. X. 30. (ft) Matt. T. 4 (c) Ibid vl. 26—30. (f 'm'ounttins. TruV. in rte l-<"ii ou' Ood is tbe Salv.tioii of llrael. Jer. hi. 33. SERMON VI. Not unto us. O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy Name, [ire Glory, for thy Mercy and for thy Truth's Sake. Psalm cxf. 1. Some expositors have supposed that this PsalBi was penned by the propliet Daniel, on occasion of the miraculous deliverance (s) Plate, the philosopher, had a nephew rnanied Speusippus) whose morals were so intolerably dis- solute that his parents discarded hira and turned him out of doors. Plato ther took him into tiis own house to live with him. While there, the amiable philosopher did not endeavour to reclaim him by dry lectures and disgrustful expostulations ; but strove to make him in love with virtue, by the brightness of his own example. The expedient suc- ceeded. Speusippus, at once shamed and charmed by the practical eloqui-nce of his uncle's blameless life, grew reformed on principle, and afterwards became himself a very eminent philosopher. — Are we desiroui of winning souls to Christ, and of de- monstrating ourselves to be the children of God ? Our exhortations and our profession must have the sanction of our own example ; which, more than all the studied oratory in fne world ; more than all the cold haraugncs ou the " moral fitness of things," and the " beauty and ex) ediency of virtiAe ;" will bring glory to God, honour to the gospel, comfort to OUT own miada, and solidly edify those to whom of Shadrac, Meshac, and Abednego, when they came out unhurt from the burning fiery furnace, into which they had been thrown by the command of king Nebuchad- nezzar. And, indeed, there are not wanting pas- sages, in the Psalm itself, which seem to countenance this conjecture. As where we read, at the fourth verse (speaking of the idols of the heathens, and peihaps with par- ticular reference to tliat golden image which Nebuchadnezzar commanded to he worship- ped), Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands : they have mouths, but they speak not ; eyes have they but they see not. I dare say, that, in such an auditory as this, a number of Arniinians are present. I fear that all our pubhc assemblies have too many of them. Perhaps, however, even these people, idolaters as they are, may be apt to blame, and indeed with justice, the absui dity of those who worship idols of silver and gold, the work of men's hands. But let me ask : if it be so very absurd to wor- ship the work of other men's hands, what must it be to wurship the works of our own hand' r Perhaps you may say, " God forbid that 1 should do so." Nevertheless, let me tell you, that trust, confidence, reliance, and dependence, for saUation, are all acts and very solemn ones too, of divine worship : and upon whatsoever you depend, whether in whole or in part, for your acceptance with God, and for your justification in his sight, whatsoever you rely upon, and trust in, for the attainment of gi ace or glory ; if it be any thing shoit of God in Christ, you are an idolatoi to all intents and purposes. Very diflerent is the idea which Scripture gives us of the ever-blessed God, from that of those false gods worshipped by the hea- then ; and from that degrading representa- tion of the true God irhich Arminianism would palm upon mankind. Our God (says this Psalm, verse the third) is in the heavens : he hath done whatsoever he pleased. This is not the («) Arminian idea of God : for our we minister and with whom we converse. Thus reasons the apostle Paul ; Thou that teachest ano- ther, teachest thou not thyself? Thou that preachest a man should uot steal ; dost thou steal f Thou that sayest, a man should not comn it adultery ; dost thou commit adultery f Thou that makest thy boast of the law. throuph beaking the law, dishonourest thou God? Rom. ii. 21 — '23. (0 2 Cor. vi. 3—7. (BJ I was lately introduced to the acquaintance of a very learned and sensible Arminian, whose po- litical writings, and whose social virtues, entitle him to no small sliare of public and domestic esteem. This worthy gentleman has sagacity to perceive, and inte£rrity to acknowledge, the prodigious lengths to which'' the free-will scheme, if carried is far as it naturally leads, must inevitably push its votaries. He sees its consequences clearly ; he swallows them without difficulty ; and he avows them very honestly. . , . " God does all he possibly can" [the*e were the gentleman's own words to me in conversation] " God FREE-WILL AND MERIT FAIRLY EXAMINED. 353 free-willers and oiir chance-mongers tell us that Ood does not do whatsoever he pleases ; tha*. there are a gieat number of things which God wishes to do, and tugs and strives to do, and yet cannot bring to pass : they tell us, as one ingeniously expresses it, How does this comport with that majes- tic description. Our God is in the heavens ! He sits upon the throne weighing out and dispensing the fates of men ; holding all events in his own hand ; and guiding every link of every chain of second causes, from the beginning to the end of time. Our God is in heaven possessed of all power ; and, (which is the natural consequence of that) he hath done whatsoever he pleased : or, as the apostle expresses it, (the words are dif- ferent, hut the sense is the same) he {x) worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. Therefore it is that we both labour and suflFer reproach : even because we say (and the utmost we can say upon the subject, amounts to no more than this ; to wit, that) our God is in heaven, and has done whatso- ever pleased hiin. And do according to his own sovereign pleasure he will, to the end of the chapter ; though all the Arminians upon earth were to endeavour to defeat the divine intention, and to clog the wheels of divine government. He that sits in hea- ven (_?/) laughs them to scorn : and brings his own purposes to pass, sometimes, even through the means of those very incidents, which evil men endeavour to throw in his way, with a mad view to disappoint him of his does all he pos-il)l\ < :n). tn Iiiu'lcr t.i t.iI :ini! na- tural evil \,y t , : . 1,1 , V ; ,t pc-rmit God in I. . , I !, - I ti,,- Deity must c. i , ... , " - r, ■ _ — *' Not^unliapiJ\ n, ih, I p,. i.-fl .• I tli.- iv;i.iv j.bi. free-will with -vvlufli lie has indued his rational creatures, he himseli' must be disappointed of his wishes, anJ dcTeatcd of liis ends, and that there is no help lor it, unless he had made us mere machines. He herefore submits to necessity ; and does not make himself uneasy about it." See, on what tremendous shoals free-willers, when honest, run themselves airround! Is their god the liible-God ? Certainly not. Their god " submits" to difficulties which he " cannot help" himself out of, and endeavour ■ to make himself " easy" under mil- lions and millions of inextricable embaiTissmeuts, uncomfortable uisappointments, and mortifvin;; de- fears. Whereas, concerninf; the God of the Bible, it is affirmed that he hath done, and will always con- tinue to do, whatsoever he pleaseth. Observe, reader, the piety and the consistency of the free-will scheme. — This said srbemc ascends. "auM^in ;''tnVtVelrim'dri\sJrf I Vum? "l^at'p'V 'i|ua' into^^^ nie j.ilph of bliiuy.aamantiiie iieces.-ity, in allTntemiiMMi ' ' : . n - ■ Supreme , 1 , .... .1 my respe.-t.i'jle ai.d mvaluaidt. liaend. tUe Hev. Mr. piirposes. All things, saith the Psalmist, sen-e thee (z) : they have all a direct tendency, either effectively or permissively, to carry on his unalterable designs of providence and grace. Observe : effectively, or permissively. For we never say nor mean to say that God is the worker of evil : we only maintain that, for reasons unknown to us, but well known to God, he is the efficacious permitter (not the (a) agent, but the permitter) of whatso- ever comes to pass. But when we talk of good, we then enlarge the term ; and affirm, with the Psalmist, that all the help [i. e. all the good] that is done upon earth, God does it himself (6). I remember a saying of the great Mon- sieur Du Moulin, in his admirable book, entitled, Anatome Arminiauismi. His ob- servation is, that the wicked, no less than the elect, accomplish the wise and holy and just decrees of God : but, says he, with this difference ; God's own people, after they are converted, endeavour to do his v\ ill from a principle of love : whereas they who are left to the perverseness of their own hearts (which is all the reprobation we contend for) who care not for God, nor is God in all their thoughts, the.se pc-rinns resemMe men rowing in a boat, who make toward the very place on which they turn their hacks, (e) They turn their backs on the decree of God ; and yet make toward that very point with- out knowing it. One great contest between the religion of Arminius, and the religion of Jesus Christ, is, who shall stand entitled to the praise and glory of a sinner's salvation ? Conversion decides this point at once : for I think, that without any imputation of uncliaritableness. Uyland, senior, of Northampton (who was present the whole time) acknowledged, after we had taken onr Iea\c of the v/orthy gentleman, that the said philosophic politician is a very honest, and conse- quently, a very unusual phenomenon. (a-) Ephesians i. 11. (y) Psalm ii. 4. (,-) Psalm cxix. 91. Liturgy Version. (a) To say that the doctrine of predestination makes God the author and actuator of sin, is one of the most daring, (and at the same time) most irra- tional cavils, that ever dishonoured Arminianism itself. The state of the matter stands thus.— Since the fall of Adam and his sons (an event, the divine motives to the permission of which we are not en- titled to know), God need only leave men to them- selves by withholding the restraints of grace and providence ; and men's corrupt free ag-ency will, of itself, carry them headlong into all evil. (6)Psalm Ixxiv. 13. (c) The same greatreasoner observes, that '* God over-rules even the follies of mankind, to the pur- poses of his own infinite wisdom ; and makes use of wicked men themselves, to execute his own riphteous 2 A 354 FREE-WILL AND MERIT FAIRLY EXAMINED. 1 may venture to say that every ti-uly awak- ened person, at least when he is under the shine of God's countenance upon his soul, will fall down upon his knees, with this hymn of praise ascending from his heart, Not unto me, O Lord, not unto me, but to thy name give the glory : I am saved, not for my righteousness, but for thy mercy and thy truth's sake. And this holds true even as to the bless- ings of the life that now is. It is God that sets up one and puts down another (rf). Vic- tory, for instance, when contending princes wage war, is all of God. The race is not to the swift, as swift ; nor the battle to the strong, as such (e). It is the decree, the will, the power, the providence of God, which effectually, though sometimes invisi- bly, order and dispose of every event. At the famous battle of Azincourt, in France, where, if I mistake not, 80,000 French were totally defeated by about 9000 English, under the command of our immortal king Henry V. ; after the great business of the day was over, and God had given that renowned prince the victory, he ordered the foregoing Psalm (that is the 1 14th), and part of this Psalm whence I have read you the passage now under con- sideration, to be sung in the field of battle ; by way of ackriowlpfiging that aU success, and all blessings, of what kind soever, come down from the Father of lights. Some of our historians acquaint us that, when tlie triumphant English came to these words which 1 have t^iken for my text, the whole victorious army fell down upon their knees as one man, in the field of conquest; and shouted with one heart, and with one voice. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thy name give the glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. And thus it will be when God has ac- complished the number of his elect, and completely gathered in the fulness of his redeemed kingdom. What do you think your song will he when you come to heaven ? Blessed be God, that he gave me free-will ; and blessed be my own dear self, that I made a good use of it ? O no, no. Such a song as that was never heard in heaven yet, nor ever will, while God is God, and heaven is heaven. Look into the Book of Revela- tion, and there you will find the employ of the blessed, and the strains which they sing. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred and tongue people and nation. (/) There is discrimi- nating grace for you ! Thou hast redeemed us out of every kindred, &c. that is, from {g) among the rest of mankind. Is not this particular election and limited redemption i The Church below may be liable to erf and if any visible Church upon earth pie- tends to be infaUible, the very pretension itself demonstrates that she is not so. But there is a Church which I will venture to pronounce infallible. And what Church is that? The Cliurch of the glorified, who shine as stars at God's right hand. And, upon the infallible testimony of that infalli- ble Church, a testimony recorded in the infallible pages of inspiration, I will ven- ture to assert that not one grain of Armin- ianis-m ever attended a saint into heaven. — If those of God's people, who are in the bond.i of that iniquity, are not explicitly converted from it while they live and con- verse among men ; yet do they leave it all behind them in Jordan (;. e. in the river of death) when they go through. They may be compared to Paul, when he went from Jerusalem to Damascus, and the grace of God struck him down : he fell a free-willer ; but he rose a free-gracer. So however the rust of self-righteous pride (and a cursed rust it is : may God's Spirit file it off from all our souls), however that rust may adhere to us at present, yet when we come to stand before the throne, and before the Lamb, it will be all done away, and we shall sing, in one full, everlasting chorus, with elect an- gels, and elect men. Not unto us, O Lord, not anto us. And ^rhy should not we sing that song now ? Why should not we endeavour, under the influence of the Spirit, to anticipate the language of the skies, and be as heavenly as we can before we get to heaven r Why should we contemn that song upon earth which we hope for ever to sing before the throne of God above ? It is to me really astonishing that Protestants and Church of England men, considered merely as rational creatures, and as people of common sense, who profess to be acquainted with the Scrip- tures, and to acknowledge the power of God, should have any objection to singing this song. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Still more wonderful and deplorable it is, that some who even make profession of spiritual religion, and talk of an inward work of God upon their hearts, should so far lose sight of humility and of truth as to dream either that their own arm helped the Al- mighty to save them, or at least that their own arm was able to have hindered him from saving them. What can reflect deeper dis- honour upon God than such an idea ? And what can have a directcr tendency to engen- der and to nourish that pride of heart which deceive! h men? (d; Psalm IjCTV. 7. (f) Eccles. is. 11. (/) ReT.iT.lO. (l) Ibid. xi7. 4, FREE-WILL AND MERIT FAIRLY EXAMINED. 365 It pleased God to deliver me from the Arniinian snare, before I was quite eighteen. Antecedently to that period there was not (ivitti the lowest self-abasement I confess it) a more haughty and violent free-willer within the compass of the four seas. One instance of my warm and bitter zeal occurs just now to my memory. About a tw elve- month before the divine goodness gave me eyes to discern, and a heart to embrace, the trutli, I was haranguing one day in company (for 1 deenr-ed myselt able to cope with all the prcdestinarians in the world), on the universality of grace, and the powers of hu- man free-agency. A good old gentleman (now with God) rose from his chair, and coming to mine, held me by one of my coat- buttons while he mildly addressed me to this effect : My dear sir, there are some marks of spirituality in your conversation ; though tinged with an unhappy mixture of pride and self-righteousness. You have been speaking largely in favour" of free-will : but from arguments let us come to experience. Do let me ask you one question. How was it with you when the Loi d laid hold on you in effectual calling ? Had you any hand in obtaining that grace ? Nay, would you not have resisted and baffled it, if God's Spirit had left you in the hand of your own counsel? I felt the conclusiveness of these simple, but forcible, interrogations, more strongly than I was then willing to acknowledge. But blessed be God, I have since been enabled to acknowledge the freer.ess and ominipo- tence of his grace, times without number ; and to sing (what I trust will be my ever- lasting song when time shall be no more). Not unto me, O Lord, not unto me, but unto thy name, give all the glory. We never know so much of heaven in our own souls, nor stand so high upon the mount of communion with God, as when his Spirit, breathing on our hearts, makes us lie low at the footstool of sovereign grace, and inspires us with this cry, O God, be mine the comfort of salvation, but thine be the entire praise of it I Let us briefly apply the rule and compass of God's word to the several parts of which salvation is composed ; and we shall soon perceive that the whole building is made up of grace, and of grace alone. Do you ask, in what sense I here take the word grace ? I mean by that important term, the voluntary, sovereign, and gratuitous bounty of God ; quite unconditionated by, and quite irrespective of, all and every shadow of human worthiness, whether antecedaneous, concomitant, or subsequent. This is pre- cisely the scriptural idea of grace . to wit, that it fi. e. salvation in all its branches] is not of hira that willeth, nor of him that runneth ; but of God, who sheweth raeroy(/0. And thus it is that grace reigneth, unto the eternal life of sinners, through the righteous- ness of Jesus Christ our Lord (i). 1. In canvassing this momentous truth, let us begin, where God himself began — ■ namely, with election. To whom are we in- debted for that first of all spiritual blessings ? Pride says. To me. Self-righteousness says, To me. Man's unconverted will says. To me. But faith joins with God's word in saying. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thy name, be tlie whole glory of thy electing love ascribed : thou didst not choose us on supposition of our first choosing thee ; but through the victorious operation of thy mighty Spirit, we choose thee for our portion and our God, in consequence of thy having first and freely chosen us to be thy people. Hear the testimony of that apostle who received the finishings of his spiritual edu- cation in the third heavens. There is a rem- nant, says he, according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then is it no more of works : otherwise grace is no more gi ace But if it [i. e. if election] be of works, thi n is it no more of grace : otherwise work is no more work (A). Let us sift this reason- ing, and we shall find it invincible. There is " a remnant, " i. e. some of fallen mankind, who shall be everlastingly oaved through Christ. This remnant is " ac- cording to election :" God's own will and choice are the determinate rule by which the saved remnant is measured aiui numbered. This election is an election of " grace," or a free, sovereign, and unmerited act of God. The apostle would not leave out the word grace, lest people should imagine that God elected them on account of something he saw in them above others. — " Well, but," (may some say) " admitting election to be by grace, might not our foreseen good works have a little hand in the matter might not God have some small regard to our future good behaviour ?" No, answers the apostle ; none at all. If election be by " grace," i. e. of mere mercy and sovereign love, then it is no more of " works," whether directly or indirectly, in whole or in part ; " otherwise grace is no more grace." Could any thing human, though ever so little, be mixed with grace, as a motive with God for shewing favour to Peter (for instance) above Judas ; grace would all evaporate and be annihilated from that moment. For, as Austin observes. Gratia non est gratia, nisi sit omnino gratuita : Grace ceases to be grace, unless it be totally and absolutely irrespective of any thing and of every thing, whether good or bad, in the objects of it. So that, as the apostle adds, was it possible for election to be " of works," then would it be " no more " an act of (ft; num. IX. 16. (0 Hon.. T. 21. (A) Rom. M. (i.G. y.A2 356 FREE-WILL AND MERIT FAIRLY EXAMINED. " grace ;" but a payment instead of a gift ; ■' otherwise work were no more work." On one hand, " work" ceases to be considered as influential on election, if election is tlie daughter of "grace;" and, fin tlie other hand, " grace " has nothing at all to do in election if " works " have any concern in it. Grace and conditionality are two incompat- ible opposites ; the one totally destroys the other ; and they can no more subsist toge- thei than two particles of matter can occupy the same individual portion of space at the same point of time. Which therefore of these contrary songs do you sing? (for all the art and labour of mankind, united, can never throw the two songs into one) : Ai c you for burning incense to yourselves, saying, Our righteousness, and the might of our own arm, have gotten us this spiritual wealth ? — Or, with the angels and saints in light, do you lay down your biightest honours at the footstool of God's throne ? with Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thy name give glory, for thy loving mercy, and for thy truth's sake. Certainly, election is the act, not of man, but of God : founded merely upon the sove- reign and gracious pleasure of his own will. It is not of works, lest any man should boast ; but solely of Him who has said, I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. God merits of us, not we of him ; and it was his free-will, not our's, which drew the impassable line between the elect and the pretermitted. 2. God's covenant love to us in Christ is another stream, flowing from the fountain of unmingled grace. And here, as in the preceding instance, every truly awakened person disclaims all title to praise ; shoves it away from himself with both hands ; and not only wrth his hands, but with his heart also ; while his lips acknowledge. Not unto us, O thou divine and co-etcrnal Three, not unto us, but to thy name give glory '. How is it possible that either God's pur- poses, or that his covenant concerning us, can be in any respect whatsoever suspended on the will or the works of men ; seeing both his purposes and his covenant were framed, and fixed, and agreed upon, by the persons in the Trinity, not only before men existed, but before angels themselves were created, or time itself was born ? All was vast eternity, when grace was fosderally given us in Christ err the world began : (/) well therefore might the apostle, in the very text where he makes the above assertion, observe, that the holy calling with which God eflec- tually converts and sanctifies liis pco|'!c, in time, is bestowed upon us, not accorciins; to our works, but according to Gcd's own free purpose and eternal devtination. Repentance and faith, new obedience and perseverance, are not conditions of 'n- terest in the covenant of grace (for then it would be a covenant of works) ; but conse- quences and tokens of covenant interest. For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil ; that the pur- pose of God, according to election (which is the standard of covenant mercy), might re- main (»() unshaken, it was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger ; as it is writ- ten, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated (n). Now, whether you consider this passage as referring to the posterity of Jacob and Esau, or to Jacob and Esau themselves, or (which is evidently the apostle's meaning) as referring to both, the argument will still come to the same point at last ; namely, that the divine counsels and determinations, in whatever view you take them, are absolutely irrespective of works, because God's imma- nent decrees and covenant-transactions took place before the objects of them had done either good or evil. Of course, all the good that is wrought in men comes from God, as the gracious effect, not as the cause, of his favour ; and all the evil which God permits (such are his wisdom and his power) is sub- servient to promote, instead of interfering' to obstruct, the accomplishment of his most holy will. I mention God's permission of evil only incidentally in this place: for properly it belongs to another argument. My pre- sent business is to shew that the good and the graces which God works (not permis- sively but effectively) in the hearts of his co- venant people are the fruit, not the root, of the love he bears to them. 3. To whom are we indebted for the atonement of Christ, and for the redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins ? Here likewise. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us ! It was God who found a ran- som (o). It was God who provided his own justice with a lamb for a burnt offering. It was God who accepted the atonement at our Surety's hand, it stead of ours. It was God who freely imparts the blessings of that completely finished redemption, to the com- fort and everlasting restoration of all those who are enabled to trust and to glury in the cross of Christ. Against such persons divine justice has nothing to allege : and on them it has no penalty to inflict. The sword of vengeance having been already sheathed in the sinless human nature of Jehovah's equal (p) becomes to them thut believe a curtana, a sword of mercy, a sword without a point. Thanks to the reconciling mercy of God the Father, and to the bleed- ing grace of our Lord Jesus Christ ! Human free-will and merit had nothing to do with the n\attcr from first to last. 4. As pardon exempts us from punish- (0) Jcb xxxiii. 24. (p) Zcchariah lili. FREE-WILL AND MERIT FAIRLY EXAMINED. ment, so justification (i. e. God's acceptance of us as perfect tuliillers of the whole law) entitles us to the kingdom of heaven. The former is God's TraptaiQ {q), or passing hy of our transgressions, so as not to take notice of tliem ; and God's a^tuic (r), or letting us go finally unpunished. But justification (which is the inseparable concomitant of for- giveness) is not merely negative, but carries in it more of positivity, and exalts us to a higher state of felicity, than mere pardon (was it possible to be conferred without jus- tification) would do. It is God's CiKaiioutQ, or pronouncing of us positively and actually just : not only innocent, but righteous also. St. Bernard somewhere preserves this obvi- ous and just distinction. — His words I re- member are that God is tarn vaUdus ad jus- tificandum quum multtia ad ignoscendum : ".No less mighty to justify, than rich in mercy to forgive." Now the great enquiry is, whether God be indeed entitled to the whole praise of this unspeakable gift? Whether we should, as justified persons, sing to the praise and glory of ourselves ; or to the praise and glory of God alone ? The Bible will determine this question in a moment ; and shew us that Feather, Son, and Spirit are the sole authors, and conse- quently should receive the entire glory, of our justification. It is God [the Father] who justifieth : (s) i. e. who accepts us unto eternal life ; and that freely by his grace (i), through the re- demption which is in Christ, and through the imputation of Christ's righteousness, without works {u) : i. e. without being moved to it by any consideration of the good works, and without being restrained from it by any consideration of the evil works, wrought by the person or persons to whom Christ's righteousness is imputed, and who are pro- nounced just in consequence of that imputed righteousness. Justification is also the act of God the Son, in concurrence with his Father. St. Paul expressly declares that he sought to be jus- tified by Christ (^?). The second person in the Divinity joins, as such, in accepting of his people through that transferred merit which, as man, he wrought for this very end. Now let me ask you, did you assist Christ in paying the price of your redemption, and in accomplis'hing a series of perfect obedi- ence for your justification ? If you did, you arc entitled to a proportionable part of the praise. But if Christ both obeyed and died and rose again without your assistance, it invincibly follows that you have no manner of claim to the least particle of that praise which results from the benefits acquired and secured by his obedience, death, and resur- rection. The benefits themselves are all your own, if he give you faith to embrace them ; but the honour, the glory, and the thanks, you cannot arrogate to yourself, without the utmost impiety and sacrilege. God the Holy Ghost unites in justifying the redeemed of the Lord. We are declara- tively and evidentially justified hy the Spirit of our God {y) : whose condescending and endearing ofiBce it is to reveal a broken Sa- viour in the broken heart of a self-emptied sinner, and to shed abroad the justifying love of God in the human soul (2). Herein the adorable Spirit neither needs nor receives any assistance from the sinners he visits. His gracious influence is sovereign, fi ee, and independent. We can no more command nor prohibit his agency, than we can com- mand or forbid the shining of the sun. The conclusion from the whole is, that not our goodness, but God's mercy ; not our obedience, but Christ's righteousness ; not our towardliness, but the Huly Spirit's bene- ficence ; are to be thanked for the whole of our justification. And it is no easy lesson to say from the heart. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us ! Self-righteousness cleaves to us, as natu- rally and as closely as our skins : nor can any power, but that of an Almighty hand, flay us of it. I remember an instance full to the point : and which I give on the autho- rity of a clergymen, now living, and eminent above many, for his labours and usefulness. This worthy person assured me, a year or two since, that he once visited a ciiminal wlio was under sentence of death for a ca- pital offence (I think for murder). My fiiend endeavoured to set before him the evil he had done ; and to convince him that he was lost and ruined, unless Christ saved him by his blood, righteousness and grace. " I am not much concerned about tliat," answered the self-righteous malefactor ; " I have not, to be sure, led so good a life as some have ; but I am certain that many have gone to Tyburn who were much worse men than myself." So you see, a murderer may go to the gallows trusting in his own righ- teousness ! And you and I should have gone to hell, trusting in our own righteousness, if Christ had not stojiped us by the way. I dare believe that the above mentioned criminal, had the subject been started, would also have valued himself upon his free- agency. Free-agency, it is true, lie had ; and he was left to the power of it, and ruined himself accordingly : Free-will has carried many a man to Tyburn, and (it is to be fear- ed) from Tyburn to hell : hut it never yet carried a single soul to holiness and heaven. (?) Roin. iii. (t) Rom. Tiii. 33. (!/) l!oni iv (i. (!/) ) 0.,v. vi. 11. 353 l-REE-VVILL AND MERIT FAIRLY EXAMINED. Oh Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself ; free- will oau do that for us ; but in me, says God, is tliy help (a). His free-grace must be our refuge and our shelter from our own free- will : or it were good for the best of us that we had never been born (i). In one word, all the glory of our pardon and justification belongs to the Trinity, and not to man. It is one of God's crown jewels, unalienable from himself ; and which he n ill never resign to, nor share with, any other being. It is impossible, in the very nature of things, that he ever should : for how can any of depraved mankind be justified by works (and without being so justified we can come in for no part of the praise) ; how, I say, can any of us be justified by our own doings, seeing we are utterly unable even to think a good thought (c) until God himself breathes it into our hearts. Suffer me to observe one thing more under this article : viz. that if God's Spirit has stript you of your own righteousness, he lias not stript you in order to leave you naked, but w'lW clothe you with change of raiment (d). He will give you a robe, for your rags ; the righteousness of God, for the rotten righteousness of man. Rot- ten indeed wc shall find it, if we make it a pillar of confidence. 1 will say of it, as Dr. Young says of the world, " Lean not upon it :'' lean not on thy own righteousness; if leaned upon, " it will pierce thee to the heart : at best a broken reed : but oft a spear. On its sharp point peace bleeds and hope expires." Self-reliance is the very bond of unbelief. It is essential infidelity, and one of its most deadly branches. You are an infidel, if you trust in your own righteousness. You a Christian ? You a Churchman ? No ; you have, in the sight of God, neither part nor lot in the matter. You are spiritually dead, while you pretend to live. Until you are endued with faith in Christ's righteousness, your body (as a great man expresses it) is no better than " the living coffin of a dead soul." A Christian is a believer (not in himself, but) in Christ. And what is the language (a) Hose'a xiii. 0. (6) I have heard, or read, concerning that excel- lent dignitary of tlie Church of England, Mr. John Btadford (who was also hurned for adhering to her docivines), tliat, one day, on seeing a malefactor pass to execution, he laid his hand to his breast, and lifted his eyes to heaven, sayinif, " Take away the (Trace of G- d, and there goes John Bradford." The great and sood .S-. Austin, long before, of- fered a similar acknowledgment to God. Semper firatia tua et misericordia tua prajvenit me :— prajci- densetiam ante me laqueos peccatorum : toUens occa- sinnes et causas. Quia, nisi tu hoc mihi fecisses, omnia pcccatamundifecissem. Quoniamscio, Domine.quod nullum peccatum est, quod unquam fecerat homo, quod non possit facere, alter homo, si Creator desit, a quo fjctus est homo.— Soliloqu. Cap. xv. Sec. 5. So likewise thoui^ht the author, (whose name I target) of that tender and beautiful line : ^utiuma$, aitl/ulmui, vet poiiumiit rilr, ,,fiiicl hie ell. of a believer > Lord, I am, in myself, a poor, ruined, undone sinner. Through the hand of thy good Spirit upon mc, I throw myself at the foot of thy cross ; and look to thee for blood to wash me, for righteousness to justify me, for grace to make me holy, for comfort to make me happy, and for strength to keep me in thy ways. 5. For holiness, the inward principle of good works ; and for good works themselves^ the outward evidences of inward holiness , we are obliged to the alone grace and power of God most high. We do not make him a debtor to us, by loving and performing his commandments ; but we become additionally debtors to him, for crowning his other gift* of grace, by vouchsafing to work in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight (e). Say not, " Upon this plan, sanctifica- tion is kicked out of doors, and good works are turned adrift." Nothing can be more palpable and flagrantly untrue. Newness of heart and of life is so essential to, and con- stitutes so vast a part of, the evangehcal scheme of salvation, that were it possiblo for holiness and its moral fruits to be really struck out of the account, the chain would at once dissolve, and the whole fabric be- come a house of sand. The Arminians have of late made a huge cry about Antinomians ! Antinomians ! From the abundance of experience the mouth IS apt to speak. The modern (/) Arminians see so much real Antinomianism among themselves, and in their own tents, that Antinomianism is become the predomi- nant idea, and the favourite watch-word of the [jarty. Becau.se they have got the plague, they think every body else has. Because the leprosy is in their walls, they imagine no house is without it. Thus, All looks infected, that tk' infected spy ; As all seems yellow to the jaundiced eye. It is cunning, I must confess, in these people, to rais" a dust for their own de- fence ; and, like some pick-pockets when closely pursued, to aim at slipping the stolen watch or handkerchief into the pocket of an (c) 2 Corinth, iii. 5 — In perfect harmony with this most important truth, our Ctiuvch thus ad dresses the Majesty of heaven: O God, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just work* do proceed. And, a-rain; Grant that, by thy holy in- spiration, we may tliink those things that be good O free-will, free-will ! at how low a rate wast thou estimated by the reformers and the ancient bishops of the Church of England ! (d) Zechariah iii. 4. {€) Hebrews xiii. 21. If) Let it be observed, that I do not here, and in the following strictures, speak of all Arminians without exception: but of such Arminians who come within a certain denomination; and who are no less eminent for their boisterous brawling about works, th.an (as I can prove from too many initance» which have fallen under my own notice; for their practical adoption of bad ones. FREE-WILL AND MER5T FAIRLY EXAMINED. 359 innocent by-stander, that the real sharper may elude the rod of justice. But unhappily for themselves, the Arminians are not com- plete masters of this art. The dust they raise forms too thin a cloud to conceal them ; and their bungling attempt to shift off the charge of Antinomianism upon others rivets the charge but more firmly on them- selves, its true proprietors. The avowed eflVontery with which they openly trample on a certain commandment that says. Thou shalt not bear false witness againt thy neighbour, may stand as a sample of the little regard they pay to the other nine. Pretty people these, to look for justification from the " mei it" of their own works, and to value themselves on their perfect love to God and man ! With regard to saiictification and obe- dience, truly so called, it can only flow, and cannot but flow, from a new heart : which new heart is of God's own making, and of God's own giving. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh ; a soft, repenting, believing heart : and I will cause ye to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them (§■). Now God ac- complishes this promise by the eff'ectual working of his blessed Spirit : by the mys- tic fire of whose agency, having melted our hearts into penitential faith, he then applies to them the seal of his own holiness ; from which time we begin to bear the image and superscription of God upon our tempers, words, and actions. This is our "licentious" doctrine : namely, a doctrine which (under the influence of the Holy Ghost) conforms the soul more and more to God : carefully referring, at the same time, all the praise of this active and passive conformity to God himself, whose gift it is ; singing, with the saints of old. Thou, Lord, hast wrought all our [good] works in us (/i); and for all the work so wrought, — for the will to please thee, for the endeavour to please thee, for the ability to please thee, and for every act whereby we do please thee, — Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thy name, give glory. And, indeed, was not this the truth of the case, i. e. if conversion and sanctification and good works were not God's gifts, and of his operation ; men would have, not only somewhat, but much, even very much, to boast of : for they would be their own con- verters, sanctifiers, and saviours. Directly contrary to the plain letter of Scripture, which asks. Who maketh thee to differ from others, and what hast thou which thou didst not receive (i) from above ? Nor less contrary to tl« scriptural direction. He that gloi ieth, let him glory in the Lord (ft). 6. Once more. Whom are we to thank for perseverance in holiness and good works, to the end ? " Oh" says an old Pharisee, perhaps, " the thanks are due to my own watchfulness, my own faithfulness, my own industry, and my own improvements." Your supposed watchfulness answers a very bad purpose, if you make a merit of it. The enemy of souls cares not the turning of a straw, whether you perish by open licen- tiousness, or by a delusive confidence in your own imaginary righteousness. It is all one to him, whether you go to hell in a black coat or a white one. Nay, the whitest you can weave will be found black, and a mere san beidlo to equip you for the flames, if God does not array viu in the imputed righteousness of his blessed Son. But, for the present, leaving pharisees and legalists to the hands of him who alone is able, and has a right, to save or to destroy ; let me address myself to the true believei in Christ. You were called, it may be ten or twenty years ago, or longer, to the know- ledge of God ; and you still are found dwell- ing under the droppings of the sanctuary, and walking in him you have received ; fol- lowing on, to know more of the Lord ; sometimes faint, yet always wishing to pur- sue ; tossed, but not lost ; occasionally cast down, but not destroyed. How comes all this ? How is it that many flaming profes- sors, who blazed out for a while, like lumi- naries of the first lustre, are quenched, ex- tinguished, vanished ; while your smoking flax, and feeble spark of grace, continue to survive, and sometimes aff'ord both light and heat ? While more than a few, who perhaps once seemed to be rooted as rocks, and sta- ble as pillars in the house of God, are be- come as water that runneth apace ; why are you standing, though in yourself as weak, if not weaker, than they ? A child of God can soon answer this question : and he will an- swer it thus : Having obtained help of God, I continue to this day (1). Not by my own might and power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts (m). And he that kept you until this day will keep you all your days. His spirit, which he freely gives to his people, is a well of water, springing up, not for a year, not for a lifetime, only ; but into everlasting life (n). God's faithfulness to you is the source of your faithfulness to him. Christ prays for you ; and therefore he keeps you watching unto prayer. He preserves you from fall- ing; or when fallen, he restores your sriil, and leads you forth again in the path of (e) EzeUicl xxxvi. 26, 27. (A) Isaiah xxvi. 12. (i) 1 Cor. iv. 7. (*) 1 Cor. i. 31. (I) Acts xxTi. 22. (ro) Zechariah ir. 6. («; Jo'm S60 FREE-WILL AND MERIT FAIRLY EXAMINED. liilhteousness (or his name's sake. He has deciced and covenanted, and promised and sworn, to t;ive you a crown of lite ; and, in order to tliat, he has no less solemnly en- gaged, and irrevocably bound himself, to make you faithful unto death. "Well, then,' says an Arminian, "if these thin<;s are so, I am siife at all events. I may fold up my arms, and even lay me down to sleep. Or if I choose to rise and be active, I may live just as 1 list." Satan was the coiner of this reasoning : and he offered it, as current and sterUng, to the Messiah, but Christ rejected it as false money. — If thou be the Son of God, said the enemy ; if thou be indeed that Messiah whom God up- hoids, and his elect in whom his souldelight- eth ; cast thyself headlong ; it is impossible thou shouldst ((tri^h, do what thou wilt: no fall can hurt thee ; and thy Father has abso- lutely promised that his angeis shall keep thee in all thy ways ; jump, therefo.'f- bold- ly from the battlements, and fear no evil. The devil's argumentation was equally insolent and absurd, in every point of view. He reasoned not like a serpent in his wits, but hke a serpent whose head was bruised (o), and who had no more of understanding than of modesty. Christ silenced this battery of straw with a single sentence : Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God (p). So said the Messiah. And so say we. And this is answer enough to a cavil whose palpable irrationality would cut its own throat, with- out the help of any ansv^er at all. God's children would be very glad if they could " live as they hst." How so ? Because it is the will, the desire, the wish, of a renewed soul (i. e. of the new man, or the believer's regenerate part ; for old Adam never was a saint yet, nor ever will be) ; it is, I say, the will and the wish of a renewed soul, to please God in all things, and never to sin on any occasion, or in any degree. This is the state to which our pantings as- pire : and in which (would the imperfection of human nature admit of such happiness below) we " list" to walk. For every truly regenerated person can sincerely join the apostle Paul in saying, With my mind, I myself serve the law of God, (j) and wish I could keep it better. God's preservation is the good man's perseverance. He will keep the feet of his saints (r). Arniinianism represents God's Spirit as if he acted like the guard of a stage coach, who sees the passengers safe out of town for a few miles ; and then making his bow, turns back, and leaves them to pursue the rest of their journey themselves. But divine g^ace does not thus deal by God's tra- (0) Gen. iii. 15. (p) Mat. iv. 6, 7. (q) Rom. vii iS. (rj 1 Sam. ii. 9. (/) Van. xxiii. ((; Isa. xliii. 2. vellers. It accompanies them to their jour- ney's end, and without end. So that the meanest pilgrim to Zion may shout, wi;h David, in full certainty of faith, Surely, goodness and mercy shall foUow me all my days, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever (s). Therefore, for preserving grace. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thy name give the glory, for thy lov- ing mercy and for thy truth's sake. 7. After God has led his people through the wilderness of life, and brought them to the edge of that river which lies between them and the heavenly Canaan, will he in- termit his care of them, in that article of deepest need ? No, blessed be his name. On the contrary, he (always safely, and gene- raly comfortably) escorts them over to the other side ; to that good land which is very far off, to that goodly mountain and Le- banon. I know there are some flaming Armin- ians wno tell us that " a man may perse- vere until he comes to die, and yet perish in almo'.t the very article of death :" and they illustrate this wretched god-dishonouring, and soul-shocking doctrine, by the simile of of " a ship's foundering in the harbour's mouth." It is very true that some wooden vessels have so perished. But it is no less true, that all God's chosen vessels are "..ifallibly safe from so perishing. For, through his goodness, every one of them is insured by him whom the winds and seas, both literal and metaphorical, obey. And their insur- ance runs thus : Wlien thou pa sest thr.ort'h the waters, 1 wiU be with thee ; and uhcn through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee(?)- The ransomed of the Lord shaU return, and come to Zion, with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads (li) : so far from foundering within sight of land. Even an eartlily parent is particvilarly careful and tender of a dying child : and, surely, when God's children are in that situ- ation, he will (speaking after the manner of men) be doubly gracious to his helpless off- spring, who are his by election, by adaption, by covenant, by redemption, by regeneration, and by a thousand other indissoluble ties. There are no marks of shipwrecks, no remnants of lost vessels, floating upon that sea which flows between God's Jemsalem below and the Jerusalem which is above. The excellent Dr. William Gouge {x) has an observation fuU to the present point. " If a man," says he, " were cast into a river, we should look upon him as safe, while he was able to keep his head above water. The Church, Christ's mystic body, is cast («) Isa. xxxT. 10. (X) Esjoiitton of Epliesiana T. FREE-WILL AND MERIT FAIRLY EXAMINED. ,•361 into the sea of the world, [and afterwards into the sea of death] ; and Christ, their head, keeps himself aloft even in heaven. Is there then any fear or possibility of drown- ing a member of this body ? If any should lie drovvned, then either Christ himself must be drowned first, or else that member must be pulled from Christ : both which are impos- sible By virtue therefore of this union, we see that on Christ's safety our's depends. If he is safe, so are we. If we perish, so must he." Well, therefore, may dying believers sing. Not unto us, O Lord, but to thy name give glory ! Thy loving mercy carries us when we cannot go : and, for thy truth's sake,thou wilt save us to the utmost without the loss of one. 8. When the emancipated soul is actually arrived in glory, what song will he sing then ? The purport of the text will still be the lan- guage of the skies : Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thy name give the praise. Whilst we are upon earth, we have need of that remarkable caution which Moses gave the children of Israel (y) : Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the Lord thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, for my righteousness, the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land. Not for thy righteousness, or for the upright- ness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess this land Understand, therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteous- ness ; for thou art a stiff-necked people. Now, if the earthly Canaan, which was only a transitory inheritance, was unattainable by human merit ; if even worldly possessions are not given us for our own righteousness' sake ; who shall dare to say that heaven itself is the purchase of our own righteousness ? If our works cannot merit even the vanishing conveniences and supplies of time, how is it possible that we should be able to merit the endless riches of eternity ? We shall {z) need no cautions against self-righteousness when we get safe to that better country. The language of our hearts, and of our voices, will be ; and angels will join the concert ; and all the elect, both angels and men, will, for ever and ever, strike their harps to this key : Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thy name give the glory, for thy loving mercy and thy truth's sake. O, may a sense of that loving mercy and (y) I have been informed that, when the news of John Goodwin's death wag brought to his uncle, Dr. Thomas Goodwin, the latter cried out, " Then there is another good man gone to heaven."—" Gone to heaven, SixV answered the person ; " why, your nephew was an Armini^n." The Doctor replied " True : he was an Anninian on earth, but he is not Whether John Goodwin went to heaven or not (which is a question too high for sublunary decision,) certain it is as I have already observed, that not one inhabitant of the celestial city ever carried a single particle of Arminianism with him into the gates of truth be warmly and transformingly expe- rienced in our hearts ! for indeed, my dear brethren, it is experience, or the felt power of God upon the soul, which makes the gos- pel a savour of life unto life. Notwithstand- ing God's purpose is stedfast as his throne, notwithstanding the whole of Christ's righ- teousness and redemption is finished and complete as a divine and almighty agent could make it ; notwithstanding I am con- vinced that God wiU always be faithful to every soul whom he has called out of dark- ness into his marvellous light; and notwith- standing none can pluck the people of Christ from his hands ; still, I am no less satisfied that it must be the feeling sense of all this, i. e. a perception wrought in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, that will give you and me the comfort of the Father's gracious decrees, and of the Messiah's finished work. I know it is growing very fashionable to talk against spiritual feelings. But I dare not join the cry. On the contrary, I adopt the apostle's prayer, that our love to God, and the manifestations of his love to us, may abound yet more and more, in knowledge and in all feeling (a). And it is no enthusias- tic wish, in behalf of you and of myself, that we may be of the number of those " godly persons" who, as our Church justly expresses it, " feel in themselves the workings of the Spirit of Christ, mortifying the works of the flesh, and drawing up their minds to high and heavenly things." (6) Indeed, the great business of God's Spirit is to draw up and to bring down. To draw up our affections to Christ, and to bring down the unsearch- able riches of f:race into our hearts. The knowledge of vvhich, and earnest desire for it, are all the feelings I plead for. And for these feelings I wish ever to plead. Satisfied as I am, that, without some experience and enjoyments of them, we cannot be happy, living or dying. Let me ask you, as it were, one by one, has the Holy Spirit begun to reveal these deep things of God in your soul ? If so, give him the glory of it. And as you prize com- munion with him, as you value the comforts of the Holy Ghost, endeavour to be found in God's way, even the high-way of humble faith and obedient love : sitting at the feet of Christ, and desirous to imbibe those sweet, ravishing, sanctifying, communications of that Jerusalem. Of every Arminian now living, whose name is in the book of life, it may be truly said, that if grace do not go so far as to make him a Calvinist on earth, glory \i, e. grace made perfect^ will certainly stamp him a Calvinist, in the kingdom of God, at farthest, (z) Deut. ix. 4, &c. (a) Phil. i. 9. —The word aioflno-it (rendered judgment in our English translation) literally and properly signifies feeling, or sensible perception. The apostle wished his Philippians not only to love God, but to know that they loved him, and that he loved tlicm : and to know it feelingly. (h) Art. 17. 362 GOOD NEWS FROM HEAVEN. grace, which are at once an earnest of and a preparation for complete heaven when you c*me to die. God forbid that we should ever think lightly of religious feelings ! for if we do not in some degree feel oui selves sinners, and feel that Christ is precious, I doubt the Spirit of God has never been savingly at work upon our souls. Nay, so far from being at a stand in this, our desires after the feeling of God's pre- sence within ought to enlarge continually, the nearer we draw to the end of our earthly pilgrimage ; and resemble the progressive expansion of a river, which, however narrow and straitened when it first begins to flow, never fails to widen and increase in propor- tion as it approaches the ocean into which it falls. God give us a gracious spring-tide of his Spirit to replenish our thirsty channels, to swell our scanty stream, and to quicken our languid course ! If this is not our cry, it is a sign either that the work of grace is not yet begun in us, or that it is indeed at low water, and discoloured with those dregs which tend to dishonour God, to eclipse the glory of the gospel, and to spread clouds and darkness upon our souls. Some Christians are like decayed mile- stones ; which stand, it is true, in the right road, and bear some traces of the proper impression ; but so wretchedly mutilated and defaced that they who go by can hardly read or know what to make of them. May the blessed Spirit of God cause all our liearts this morning to undergo a fresh impression ; and indulge us with a new edition of our evidences for heaven ! O may showers of blessing descend upon you from above ! May you see that Christ and the grace of God in him, are all in all! Whilst you are upon earth, may you ever ascribe the whole glory to him ! And sure I am, that when you come to hea- ven, you will never ascribe it to any other. GOOD NEWS FROM HEAVEN. OR, THE GOSPEL A JOYFUI, SOUND. The substance of a discourse preached in the Lock Chapel, near Hyde Park Comer, on Sunday, June 19, 1774. Hotv excellent is th7 loving-kindness, O God ! Therefore the children of mea put their trust under the shadow of th^ winvi. — Psalm usci. 6. SERMON VII. Blessed are the people that know the joi/ful sound ; I'hey shall walk, O Loril, in Ih, li^/it vf 'thn c It* ntenanee : In. thy name shall fin :i ri /i>i<-< n':! th\ day, and in thy righteousness shall ilu n hi , j /, // -l cannot overthrow it : age cannot impair it. It stands on a rock (/t), and is immoveable as the rock on which it stands : the three- fold rock of God's inviolable decree, of Christ's finished redemption, and of the Spirit's never-failing faithfulness. God is neither an unwise, a feeble, nor a capricious architect. He does not form a wretched scheme, liable to be frustrated, and which will hardly hang together at best : but all is well-ordered ; all is everlasting ; all is sure; and nothing consigned to after-thought or peradventure. God having irreversibly drawn his plan, and Christ having completely accomplished the redeeming work assigned him ; the sacred Spirit has only to breathe upon the hearts of his people in effectual calling, give them faith, imbue them with inward holiness, preserve and increase the holiness he communicates, lead them forth in the paths of outward duty and obedience, exercise them with desertions, visit them with his comforts, keep them from falling, or restore them when fallen, seal them to the day of Christ, and carry them safely through death to heaven. Thus, mercy shall be built up for ever. And as surely as this bo>k is the book of God ; as surely as the Spirit of God inspired It, and inclined David to write these words ; so surely is that a truth which the words themselves convey. No part of salvation is left at sixes and sevens ; but the whole is a plan which does honour to infinite wisdom ; a plan, conceived and hid (/) in the all-wise mind of God from eternal ages, but after- wards externally made known in the written word, or gospel of grace ; and savingly un- folded in the souls of men, when the blessed Spirit begins to turn us from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God (ni). 1 was, yesterday, at some little distance from town ; and received a very refined en- tertainment, in going over a most superb and elegant mansion which, both within and without, exhibited such a combination of magnificence, beauty, and perfection of taste, that I could not help feeling a cu- riosity to know how long that masterly edi- fice ivas in building ? and, on being informed that it was both founded and finished within the compass of ten months only ; I could not help observing, to some friends who were with me, that if human art and human hands could rear so transcendent a fabric as this, in so short a space, why should we think it strange that Jesus Christ was able to finish, and that he actually did finish, the fabric of man's salvation in a course of three-and-thirty years ? Blessed be God, our salvation is a finished work. It neither needs, nor will admit of, supplement. — And here, let us remember, that, when we talk of a finished salvation, we mean that complete and infallibly effec- tual redemption accomphslied by the pro- pitiatory merit of Christ's own personal obedience, and of Christ's own personal sufierings ; both one and the other of which have that infinite perfection of atoning and of justifying efficacy, that it is utterly out of our power to add any thing to the merit or validity of either. Every individual of mankind, for whom Christ obeyed, and for whom he bled, shall most certainly be saved by his righteousness and death, not one of the redeemed excepted ; seeing Christ has paid, completely paid, the debt of perfect obedience and of penal suffering: so that divine justice must become unjust, ere it be possible for a single soul to perish for all or any of those debts which Christ took upon himself to discharge, and which he has absolutely discharged accordingly. Arminianism cannot digest this grand Bible-truth. Hence that poor, dull, blind creature. Bishop Taylor, tells us, somewhere, if I mistake not, that " We are to atone for our great sins by weeping ; and for our little sins by sighing." If our sins have no other atonement than this, we shall go on weeping, and wailing, and gnashing our teeth, to all eternity. But thanks to divine grace, the work of atonement is not now to do. Christ has already put away our sins by the sacrifice of himself (n). We are ac- quitted from guilt, and reconciled to God, not by our own tears, but by the piecious blood of Jesus Christ, as of a lamb without spot or blemish (o) : — not our own sighs, and tears, and sorrows ; but the humiliation, the agony, the bloody sweat, and the bitter death, of Him who did no sin, of Him who was found in fashion as a man, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross ; these, and these alone, are the pro- pitiation for our sins (jt). And as surely as Christ obeyed, as surely as Clirist expired, as surely as he rose again, as surely as he intercedes for all the people of his love ; so certainly will they aU, hr>t and last, be en- abled to sing of his faithfulness to all gene- rations ; and of that mercy which shall be built up for ever in their full, free, and final glorification. This is farther conficmed, by those words of the Psalmist, "Thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens." As much as to say : " When all thy chosen, redeemed, and converted people are assem- bled round thy throne ; then thou wilt, in the very heavens, give an everlasting proof of thy everlasting faithfulness." So far will Otj Matt. vii. 2.5 ; and xvi. IS. (i) Ephes. iii 9. (m) Acts x:tvi. 18. (n) Heb. ix. -ZB. (r) 1 John ii. 2. (o) 1 Pet. i. 19. GOOD NEWS FROM HEAVEN. 305 God be from leaving his people to perish in their passage through the wilderness of lite, or throuis put a negative on God's solemn asseveration, and induces us to question whether he will indeed make good his promise. I am firmly of opinion that the man who reads and professes to believe the Bible must have a large stock of assurance in the worst sense of the word (i. e. of audaciousness and effrontery), if he venture to deny that assurance in the best sense of the word, or a clear perception and conviction of interest in God's pardoning love, is the possible privilege of Christ's converted people. These will certainly con- cur with David in pronouncing them blessed who know the joyful sound : who know it when they hear it, and who know it for themselves ; whose hearts have been plough- ed up by the Spirit of God, to receive the gospel-seed ; and in whom it springs into righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost (z). This, and this alone, comes up to the full idea of knowing the joyful sound. Hence we may learn who the per- sons are that know it indeed. Not Church of England People, in exclusion of others ; not Romanists ; not members of the Church of Scotland ; nor, in short, the partizans of any one denomination in partici.lar. But ♦he many individuals who, through grace, are enabled to know the joyful sound are those whom God takes out of all these and other denominations, to be a people for his name (a) : to wit, the elect of every age, place, and party. All God's converted, all his repenting, all his believing, all his obey- ing people, through the whdle extent of the earth, from under one end of the heavens to the other ; all whose hearts are touched by the attractive power of his divine Spirit- are the people that know the jovful sound. The joyful sound of what? Of that free grace which it is the business of God's mi- nisters to proclaim, saying. Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near (4;. That joyful sound which says. Ho, every one (without exception of time, or place, or person). Ho, everyone that tliirsteth, come ye to the waters (e) of life, joy, and salvation. But observe that even this is not a universal call. God forbid that I should be misun- derstood by any who hear nie this day. Do not imagine that I am hoisting the Arminian colours, and hanging out the false Arminian flag. No, by no means. I suppose there is hardlyamoreindefinitecall, in all God's word, than that v/hich I quoted last. But then, take notice, it is addressed only to those that thirst : i. e. to those who so far know the joyful sound as to wish for an experi- mental participation of the blessings it pro- claims. It would be frivolous to call them to the waters who do not thirst. It would be ridiculous mockery, should we invite the dead to sit down at table, and lay a plate and knife and fork before them, and ask them why they will not eat ? The plain fact is,' they cannot eat nor drink. They must be made alive ere they can have so much as an appetite to either. There is a passage very frequently, hut very idly, insisted upon by the Arminians; as if it were a hammer which would at one stroke crush the whole fabric of free grace to powder. The passage is, Why will ye die, O house of Israel (d) But it so hap- pens, that the death here alluded to is nei- ther spiritual death, nor eternal death : as abundantly appears from the whole tenor of the chapter. The death intended by the prophet is a political death ; a death of na- tional prosperity, tranquilhty, and security. And the sense of the question is fairly and precisely this : What is it that makes you in love with captivity, banishment, and civil ruin ? Abstinence from the worship of images might, as a people, exempt you from those calamities, and once more render you a re- spectable notion. Are the miseries of pub- lic devastation so very alluring as to attract your determined pursuit? Why will ye die ? die as the house of Israel ; and considered as a political body ? Thus reasonably did the prophet argue the case. Adding, at the same time, this no less reasonable declara- tion : As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth. Wherefore, turn yourselves, and live ye. Which imports these two things: 1. That the national captivity of the Jews added nothing to the happiness of God. It brought him no accessiim either of profit or pleasuie. (.r) Lute }. 45. (y) isu. sliii. 25. (:) Rom. xiv. VI. (a) \ fs XT. U. (<■; Ki. Iv. I. (b Is.l. Ivii. in. Cd Ezei. xviii. .11. GOOD NEWS FllOM HEAVEN. 367 And I should wonder much if (philosophi- cally speaking) any thing whatever could add to the divine felicity, which is already infinite ; and consequently insusceptible of ougmentation. — 2. That if the Jews turned from idolatry, and flung away their images, they should not die in a foreign, hostile country, but live peaceably in their own land, and enjoy their liberties as an independent people. And now what has all this to do with the bles.sings of grace and glory ? No more than it has to do with Gog and Magog. Would it not be very absurd, if I was to stand in a church-yard, and say to the dead bodies there interred, Why will ye die Nor, in my idea, would it be less so, were I to ask a spiritu- ally dead sinner, Why wilt thou die i Alas, he is dead already {e) : and to put such a question to one in such a state would be, in reality, to ask a man who is already fallen in Adam (as every man is), Why wilt thou fall in Adam ? Let Arminians rant in this manner if they think fit. They shall, for me, have all the ranting, unenvied and unrivalled, to themselves. I think it will not bear water. Quite a different thing is the joyful sound of gospel grace. It imparts life to the dead, and health to the living. You hath he quick- ened, who were dead in trespasses and sins (f). And, says God, concerning his quickened Church, I will [not tantalize her with an empty offer ; but actually] bring it health and cure (g). Regeneration gives spiritual life, and sanctification gives spiri- tual health, to the soul. How is spiritual health evidenced to ourselves and others ? Not by lolling in the elbow chair of sloth : but by abounding in the work of the Lord. For, however some people may call us Anti- nomians (as Christ himself and the apostles were so (A) called before us, by the unblush- ing Pharisees of that age), and falsely accuse our good conversation (i), as though we were enemies to the moral law ; we are so far from it, that (1 aver it boldly, and let any contradict me if they can) — We who believe salvation to be the absolute gift of grace are the only people that assert the due honours of the law, and establish its autho- rity on an unshaken basis. 1. We assert its honours, by considpring it as a transcript of God's own holiness; as absolutely perfect in all its requisitions ; as the invariable standard of moral excellency; as the sublime rule by which Clirist himself adjusted his own matchless obedience ; and as the school-master which, in subserviency to the Holy Spirit's influence, prepares us (by the ievorify of its discipline) for the re- ception of Christ, and (or hearing, to good purpose, that sound of gospel grace which is joyful to those only whom the law, thus viewed, has (A) instrumentally convinced of sin. 2. We establish its (it) authority, by graft- ing our obedience to it upon the never-dying principle of (m) love to Christ ; by aiming at practical conformity to its precepts, as the grand visible evidence of our part in God's election and in the Messiah's (;j) redemption ; by believing and asserting that it still re- mains in full force, and will so remain while the sun and moon endure, as the rule of our moral walk ; and by beseeching God the Holy Ghost to (o) write it upon our hearts accordingly. For, whatever is absolutely of moral obligation, is and must be, in its very nature, irrepealable. Thus does the joyful sound proclaim the majesty, and even add to the sanctions, of the moral law. To fulfil the whole righte- ousness of that law, and to endure its awful penalty, as a covenant of works, the Son of God Most High bowed the heavens and came down. — To make his ransomed people love that law as a directory of conduct ; and to make them actually transcribe its maxims into their lives, as a medium of their con- formity to God ; the uncreated Spirit de- scends upon their souls as a dove, and works in them both to will and to do. But still we must consider the law as in the hand of (p) Christ : and remember, that the love of God, graciously shed (q) abroad in the heart is that only acceptable principle from which believers act. Now, that joyful sound which the peo- ple are pronounced blts.sed wlio know, con- (e) An infjenious pen lias lately exposed, witl equal strength and delicacy, the impertinent appli tation, which Arininianism makes, of the prophci (/) Eph. ii. 1. („, (li) Matt. .ti. 10, with Rnni, iii. 8. 0) 1 I'et. iii. IG. (ij Gal. iii. i (i) Rom. iii. 31. (m) 1 Cor. xiii. 8. with Matt, xxvi (71) 1 Pet. i 2. („; Heb. (p) 1 Cot. ii. 21 (q) Uoni. 3G8 GOOD NEWS FROM HEAVEN. Vists. greatly, in what the word of God brings to light concerning (r) that eternal purpose of electing grace which he pur- posed in Chiist Jesus our Lord. For, not- withstanding the profane endeavours of some to mi>represent tliat great and pre- cious truth as a gloomy, uncomfortable doctrine, they, whose eyes God has ei.- 'iglitened, and they whose hearts God has touched; know that i'c is not a gloomy, but a joyful, sound : and all their hearts' desire is, O that I might, with more unclouded faith, behold my name shining in the Lamb's Bool< of Life ! Christ himself, that great preacher of predestination, and who cer- tainly w as a competent judge of the questior in hand, considered election as a heart-re- viving doctrine : or he never would have commanded his disciples to rejoice because their names are written in heaven (.s). Who- ever professes to preach the gospel without taking absolute election into the account, that minister turns his back upon the tree of. life, qjenches one of the capital lights which he ought to elevate on a candlestick, and withholds from his people the very root and essence of the joyful sound. What is free remission of sin, through the precious blood and atonement of Jesui Christ ; — what is unconditional and irrever- sible justification, through Christ's right- eousness imputed ; — what is that truth which tells us that the Spirit of Christ is the renewer, the inhabitant, the illuminator, and the everlasting comfortor of God's chil dren ; — what is that word which assures us that the Lord will not turn away from the people of his love, nor suflFer them finally to turn away from him, but that he will seal them his for ever, and preserve them through life and death to glory, though every step they take upon earth is paved with snares, and, if left to themselves a moment, down they must fall into the nethermost hell ; — what is the continued advocacy of Christ, whereby he wears his priesthood upon his throne, and intercedes for his militant peo- ple, so that, while they are travelUng, or fighting, or fainting, he is praying, by the perpetual presentation of himself before God, as a lamb newly slain ; — what are the promises which relate to the succour, support, and deliverance of the soul, in death ; which ensure a bodily resurrection to glory, honour, and immortality; and which ascertain he endless beatification of soul and body together, in the kingdom of God; — What, I say, are aU these, but so many parts and branches of the j oyf ul sound ? <-.nd a joyful sound it is. God make it such to us ! Was the matter left in the hand of our free-will, the joyful sound would soon dar- ken into a dismal one. We should nerer come into a state of grace at all. And, if God was to put us into it, and then rcsi^ us to our own management, we should quickly make shipwreck of every thing. Adam, in the state of iimocence, did not, probably, stand twenty-four hours. And how should the believer, who is in a mixt state of sin and grace, and in whom are (<) the company of two armies, flesh and spirit, at perpetual war with each other ; how could such a person possibly continue, even for four-and-twenty minutes, if the same Almighty love, which put him into the co- venant, did not keep him in it ? A good man of the last century says, and with great truth, "the strongest believer of us all is like a glass without a foot, which cannot stand one moment longer than is is held." And our Lord had a similar view of the matter, M'hen he declared, that he holds all his sheep in («) his hand : as much as to say. Was I to leave you for an instant, down you would fall : therefore I hold you fast, and none shall pluck thee out of my hand. O how comfortable is it, when the Lord makes these truths known, by his Spirit, to the heart ! How blessed are the people that thus know the joyful sound ! Who can see that God has loved them in his Son ; who can feel that Christ died for them, to be their everlasting pe3ce ; who are satisfied that their peace is not now to make, but was completely made and sealed, by the precious blood of his cross, ages and ages before they drew their breath ; who are sweetly assured that the Holy Spirit, wl.o has begun to show them the great things of Christ, will go on more clearly to show them that he will never leave them nor for- sake them, in life, in death, nor even at their journey's end ! This is that joyful sound which God enables his people to know. And what is the consequence of knowing it ? Blessed aie the people that know the joyful sound. Wherefore are they blessed, or happy ? And in what does their bles- sedness consist They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance. As much as to say, we need but know this joyful sound to be happy. We need but know what it is to be loved, chosen, redeemed, and sanctified from among men ; and then that knowledge will cause us to (x) walk upon our higli places, and to triumph in the name of the Lord our God. We shall bask in the smile, we shall enjoy the sun-sbinc, of God's countenance upon our souls. What is the meaning of that phrase. They shall walk in the light of thy coante- MFph.iu.n. ^f) Cant Ti. 13. (s) Luke X. 20. ('«•( John X. 28. See .nlclf; or are Ihiy not? If they be Christ himself, ihen there are thousands of ChrisU in the workL If they be uol Christ, then there is no coming to the Father, by them : because, the coming tj the Father, for peace, pardon, reconciliation, and salvation, is by Christ alone; and by him as the sole way. Salvation i(?ell, therefore, is not the enil proposed, in any good work we do. The ends of our good works are, the manifestation (»f our obedience and siib- jecticm ; the setting forth the praise of God's grace and thereby j^-lctrifyiii;; him in the world ; the doing good to others, with a view to thi ir profit ; and the meeting the Lord Jesus Christ in the performance of duly, where he «ill be found, according to his premise : tliese are some of tlie special ends, for whicu obedience is onlaiii'd, swlvalion being «ettle(t Hun bt foie." Cri>p s Sei f.ion, vol. i. p. C9— 7?. Dr. Gill's Edition. •G:.lalians vi. + H. biews i. 4. tOcot EK Ge.H., (i'ur P.K ./.lu-yor, •:. r. .\. Symb. Nicsn. j Manhew xii.21. |1 Cant. viii. », 372 GOOD NEWS FROM HEAVEN. virtue of that divine righteousness which God the Sop. v.T;u<,'ht out, wliich God ihe Father imjxites, which God the Spirit ap- plies, and felt emptyinsr faith receives. The learned and evangelical Mr. (A) Tho- mas Cole, a renowned and useful minister ot Chiist in the last century, had an obser- vation or two, in his last illness, full to the sense of the clause with which the text con- cludes ; In thy righteousness shall they be ex.ilted. " It would be miserable dying, if we had not something every way adequate to the demands of the law, to ground our hopes of eternal life upon. We have an abundant entrance into the kingdom of God, hy the way of Christ's righteousness. The devil and the law may meet us : yet can- not hinder us from entering into heaven by that righteousness. We shall be sure to meet with the devil, with conscience, with wiclted men, and with the law of God, in our way to heaven : and we can deal with none of them, but by tliat righteousness which hath satisfied all. Let us bring that along with us, and they wiU all flee before it. If a sinner comes in his own righteous- ness, shut him out, sayeth God ; so sayeth conscience ; so sayeth the law. But, when one comes clothed with the rigliteousness of Christ, let him in, sayeth God ; so say- eth conscience; so sayeth the law: and let the devil say a word to the contrary, if he dare. '• I should not dare to look death in the face, were it nut for the comfortable assur- ance which faith gives me of eternal life in Christ Jesus, and for the comfortable and abundant flowings in of that life. It is not what I bring to Christ, but what I receive from him. The beginnings of svhich I see springing up into life eternal. " Some persons think to lick themselves whole, by their own moral righteousness ; but it is the ready way to die in horror of conscience. " If you want the manifestation of the pardon of any sins, carry them to free grace ; which, having blotted them out, knows how to give you a sense of it. The gospel of our salvation is a gospel of free-grace ; and they that would have it otherwise may gather up what they can, and go boasting to hea- ven's gates ; but they will be turned back again." And how was this ureat man of God sup- ported by Christ's righteousness, when in the immediate view of death f Learn what (6) Author of a well known treatise on Regenera- tion, Faith, and Repen aiice. This excellent man died (if so triumphant a passage to glory may bo called death) September 16, I(i9r ; as I learn from a valuable manuscript lormerly put into my haiicls .by a gentleman of l..oudon ; nut of which manuscript (containing Mr. Cole's own account of his spiritual experiences, tOjrether with a memoir, afterwards added, of his dying sayiugs) 1 extracted the passaces ^veii abcTc. And 1 wish I was at liberty to pulilish laoro: or r..thcr that the very respectable and that righteousness can then do for us, by the foUiiwing memorable speech, which he ad- dressed to one of his visitants: "You are come to hear my last dying groans : but know, when you hear them, that they are the sweetest breath I ever drew since I knew Christ Jesus." O thou blessed Son of God, exalt us in thy righteousness, and shake us out of our own ! Ye, that hear me this day, which, O which, are you for? For being found and exalted in Christ's obfdience? or for inherit- ing perdition and damnation in your own ? God enable you and cause you to choose the good part! To cut off, as far as man can do it, all the pleas of proud, self-righteous unbelief, let me conclude with two or thiee pertinent remarks. 1. Why is the gospel news of salvation called the joyful sound ? Not, indefinitely, a joyful, but peculiarly, and exclusively of all other schemes whatever, the joyful sound ? Because it is the vehicle of m.iking known to us that God is love, and that he has (in the blood and rio;litei)usness of Christ) open- ed a channel for his love to exert itself in tlie salvation of the unworthy. The lost are found ; the blind see : the deaf hear : the lame walk : the leprous are clean.sed : the dead are made alive : and all without money, and without price {c). 2. Have you any part or lot in that bles- sedness of which the text speaks ? Any com- fortable views, or hopes of interest in God's election, and in Christ's pi opitiaf ion, and in the Spii it's lenewir.g grace ? Ask, ar.d it shall (not be sold to you for your works and for your imaginary fulfilment of pretended conditions, but a sense of interest shall) be given you : seek, in the alone name and tor the alone righteousness' sake of Christ, and ye shall find the mercies you want : knock, but let it be with an empty hand, at the door of divine clemency, and it shall be opened unto you. Fur every one that asks, receives ; and he that seeks, finds ; and to him that knocks, it shall be opened (d). As surely as God draws you toClirist, so surely will Christ, at his own set time, make you a sharer in the blessedness of them that know the joyful sound. '6. Vou, who have believed with your hearts unto righteousress, (e) give God the whole glory ; and piay that you ihay con- tinually have mure enlivening views of that judicious person who f.ivnured me with a sieht of those choice papers would himself ?ive them to the public, and conuescend to be the editor of them. I should ask his pardon for the freedom 1 take in venturing to print e^en tlie few lines here quoted, without havini^ first solicited his permission, did I not believe that he infinitely prefers the glory cf God and of the gospel to any punctilios derivable fi-om the scruples and delicacies of ceremonious complaisance. (tO Isa. It. I. (d) Matt. vii. 7, 8. (e; Rom. «. la. GOOD NEWS FROM HEAVEN. 373 imputed righteousness, on which he has Ciiused you to trust. As, on the one band, no- thinjj can warrant and animiite your joy; so, on the other (to use the expression of a good m in, noH' with God), " .Nothin;^ can eftectu- ally kill sin, but a cleur beholdini^ of Ciirist's righteousness." ( leave to tliis sure and stedfast anchor, and you will finally rise superior, both to the wa-ves of affliction, and to the mud of your own lusts and cor- ruptions. 4. Make it your predominant object of ambition to walk in the light of (iod's countenance. If you are blessed with his smile, no matter though the whole cieation were to frown. 5. But whether you walk in light or darkneNS, in cooifurt or distress, remember thit you have nothing bnt the name, the covenant, the person, and the work of Christ, to rejoice in and to depend upon. We, says the apostle, aie the circumcision, who wor- ship God the Spii it (/ ), and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. 6. Know whence all your spiritual and eternal ex.ihation aiises. Not fiom your- selves, in any r^sp. ct, nor in any degr. e. Free-will, until sanctified by re^'ener.^tion, is a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint. And works, " done before the gr.ice of Christ and the inspiration of his Spirit are," as our Church justly pronounces them to be, " sinful and displeasing to (iod." (g) Nay, even the best works we can perform after conversion fall immensely short of what God's law requires, in point both of matter and of manner, of quantity and qua- lity, of number, extent, puiity, and weight. What, then, would become of us, if it was n')t for Christ's righteousness St. Paul himself, with all his matchless retinue of holy works and useful labours, must have sunk, even from the scaffold of martyrdom, intc the nethermost hell. Blessed, there- fore, be the free grace of God, for that pre- cious woid of infallible promise. In thy righteousness shall thy people be exalted ! 7. What is it whicii made, and will for ever continue to make, Christ's righteous- ness so infinitely meritorious and eificacious The divinity of his person. All tlie created beings in the universe, whether angelic or human, unfallen, fallen, or restored, would never, by their utmost endeavours united, be able to furnish out and make up a right- eousness of sufficient value to claim the favour of God upon the footing of justice and merit, or to present any one of the cho- sen s,-ed blameless before the burning eyes of infinite sanctity. Such power belongeth only to the righteousness of the God-mau Jehovah incarnate. Nothing but that all- perfect and everlasting merit, which is the complex result of his obedience and of his sacrifice, can exalt and retrieve us to the dignity and felicity of heaven. The divinity of Christ can hardly receive stronger proof from Scripture than that which our text supplies. For the whole two verses, which have been the subject of our meditation this morning, are a solemn ad- dress to the Messiah ; not as man and Mes- siah, but, in liis highest capacity, as God with God, or as the eternally and the only begotten of the Father. Let us give the text a short review, and we shall immediately perceive that it is neither more nor less than a devotional application, explicitly di- rected to the second person of the Trmity : an application formed in the stiiotest terms of worship, even of worship abs.)lutely and propeily divine ; and which cannot, with- out the most gross and damnable idolatry, be offered to any being inferior to God himself. Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound of salvation by thee : They shall walk, O Jehovah, in the light of thy countenance : in thy ii;i.iie s'lall thcv r.joice all the day ; and in thy righieousness shall they l)e e.'ialted. Now, what would you think of the man that was to offer such an address as tliis t > the highest archangel in heaven And what was David, if he could solemnly and deliberately pen this addiess to a created intelligence ; and cause it to be publicly sung by the Levites and cliief singers of Is- rael, and even leave it on record for the se- duction of posteiity? And at a time, too, when the Jewish nation were paiticularly cnreful to execrate and shun every ihini; that had the least tendency to idolatry ? Either Christ is truly God, or David wm the sacri- legi JUS worslii|)per of a false one. If, therefore, any of you should be beset by the cunning cr.iftioess of men who lie in wait to deceive ; should you meet with such as tell you that Christ is 'lot Jehovah, or very and eternal God ; recollect, if no other passage of scripture, yet these two verses, and their context; which will, alone, at any time, suffice to put to flight the sophistry of the aliens. Can we be exalted in the righteousness of a creature ? Would God the Father accept, and command us to trust in, the atonement of a finite bein^ ? By the same rule, we might (with the impudent Pipists) trust in the supposed meiits of the Virgiti Mary, or of St. any body else. And by the same rule, we might descend a step lo.vei', and (with the still more impudent Pelagiatis) trust in our own supposed merits, a.;,l bai o intense to the withered arm of our own blasted free, will. In short, there is no end to the hor- rible impieties, which flow from trampling (/) 0< HveuuuTi 06M Xarpjuoi-TEt, Phil, iii- 3. Irre- frat^iujlu pruuf ul Ui^ uerauualiiy and absolute Deity of the Holy Ghost! (g) Article XIII. 374 Good news from heaven. the divinity and the righteousness of Christ under foot. Moreover, if Chrijit was not God over all, blessed for ever, eacli iiidividuhl of mankind who trusts in the Messiah's merits would come within the circuit of that tremen- dous malediction, denounced by the lips of Him who is able to save and to destroy. Thus saith Jehovah, Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his ,.rm, and whose heart departeth from Jehovah : for he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good conieth, &c. Jer. xvii. 5, 6. Faith in Christ would be the most damning sin under the cope of heaven, and God's law would pionounce us accursed for relying upon him, if he were not as absolutely Jehovah as the Father. And I must add, that this awful text con- cludes equally strong against I'harisees of all sorts and sizes, who trust either in an- gels, or in departed spirits, or in their own wretched selves, for any part of salvation, whether httle or much. Christ alone is to be trusted in for pardon, for justification, for everlasting life, and fur the whole of our afety and felicity, from beginning to end. >Vhence it is immediately added, in the above chapter of Jeremiah, Blessed is the man that trusteth in Jehovah, and whose hope Jehovah is. For he [i. e. the man that trusts and hopes in Jesus only] shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green ; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. 1 perceive the elements are upon the sa- cramental table. And I doubt not many of you mean to present yourselves at that throne of grace, which God has mercifully erected in the righteousness and sufl'erings of his co-equal Son. O beware of coming with one sentiment on your lips and another in your hearts ! Take heed of saying, with your mouths, " We do not come to this thy table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own rif;hteousness ;" while perhaps you have in reality, some secret reserves in favour of that very self-righteousness which you piofess to renounce ; and think that Christ's merit alone will not save you unless you add some- thing or other to make them etlectual. O be not so deceived ; fnr (iod will not thus be mocked, nor will Cliri>t thus be insulted with impunity. Call your works what you will, whe:her terms, causes, conditions, or supplements ; the matter comes to the same point, and Chri>t is equally thrust out of his mediatorial throne, by these or any other similar views of human obedience. If you do not wholly depend on Jesus as the Lord your righteousness (A) ; if you mix your faitb in him with any thing else ; if the finished work of the crucified God be not alone your acknowledged anchor and foundation of ac- ceptance with the Father both here and ever ; come to his table, and receive the symbols of his body and blood at your peril! Leave your own righteousness behind yon, or you have no business there. You are witliout the wedding garment ; and God will say to you. Friend, how earnest thou here ? If you go on, moreover, to live and diem this state of unbehef, you will be found speechless and excuseless in the day of judgment : when the slighted Saviour will say to his an- gels concerning you. Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into outer daikness; for many are called, but few chosen (i). On the contrary, you who can truly say " We do not come to Thee, trusting in our own righteousness," but feel and confess ourselves to be " unworthy of so much as gathering up the crumbs under thy table ;" in thee alone do we seek to be justified, and in thee alone do we {k) glory ; let such " draw near with faith, and take this holy sacrament to their comfort." The Lord enable you to bring your sins and your du- ties, and yourselves and your all, to the great Propitiation ! May he wash us in his own blood, clothe us with his own righteousness, and seal us a holy people to himself by his Spirit ! then shaU we be acceptable guests at his table below ; and ripen fast for the house of glory above : while this is all our plea and all our song — Lord, I am not worthy to come under thy roof, nor that thou shouldest con e under mine ; but the (1) Lamb that was slain is worthy ; and my every particle of hope centres in him, in his covenant, in his obe- dience, cross, humiliation, and e-xaitation. For the sake of his agonies, take away my iniquities. For the sake of his righteousness, receive me graciously. And in the mantle of his imputed merit may I be (?n) found liv- ing, dying, at the judgment-bar, and to all eternity. — JOV IX HEAVEN OVER ONE REPENTING SiNAER : The substance of a discourse preached in the parish church of St. Luke, Old- Street ; on Sunday Morniu/,', October 2'J, 177 o. to the' .%,lZ'iuTmll'm"Se'^VrhJl. ""''"''He'b.'^f'.'xj, & SERMON VIII. Jnv sliall be ill lumev oitr eve sinner that re- pnilrf'h, m- re tlianoirr miieti, nnd iiiue just fer- sons uho netd no repentnnce. Lute -sv. 7. Repentance is one of those graces without which there can be no salvation. It is an essential pre-requisite to spiritual peace on earth ; and absolutely necessary as a pre- (A) .Ter.xxiii. 6. (A) Isa. x>. 25. (i) Mat. xxii. 12. 11. {I) Rev. T. 12. (m) PhU. m. 0. JOY IN HEAVEN OVER ONE REPENTING SINNER. 37b parative for the eternal happiness of heaven. '1 he reason is evident : viz. because every man is a fallen being. VVe must therefore, by the effectual working of God's good Spirit, be made sensible of our fall ; or we shall never feel our need of redemp'ion and restoration from it, throui;h the alone cove- nant-gi ace of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Not that either repentance, or faith, or any of their practical fruits, are in the least respect causal, or conditional, or nueritorious «f pardon, happiness and eternal life. Every ^rtce and every good work are the free gifts of God. From him only " all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works, do pro- ceed (/i)-" He it is who " grants us true re- pentance and his Holy Spirit (o)." Conse- quently, we cannot possibly, in the very na- ture of things, meiit (i.e. earn) or entitle ourselves to his favour, by any grace we exercise, or by any duty we perform. His gifts lay us under infinite obligations to him instead of empowering us to merit anytliing from him. They do not render him a debtor o us, but render us unspeakable and ever- l,ip*-''Tior di'htors to him. Theretore, when we say that no man can oe ultimately saved without such and such qualifications ; we do not mean that those qualifications have any influence in obtaining our salvation (for inherent grace and eternal glory are already obtained, and infallibly secured to all God's elect, by the obedience and blood of Clirist): but that those qualifi- cations (as faith, repentance, and holiness of heart and life) are essential branches and indispensible evidences of this absolutely free salvation. The arg>iment may be illustrated thus. No person can attain to full maturity of manliood, until he has passed through the intermediate stages of infancy, childhood, and youth. And yet it would be very ab- surd, were we to say that a state of manhood is merited by the previous states of youth, childhood and infancy ! — So, in order to the consumm ition of our recovery unto God, it is antecedently necessary that we believe, re- pent, and resemble Christ in holiness. Yet faith, repentance, and sanctification, do not merit the kingdom of heaven, though we cannot reach that kingdom without them. According to the established order of grace, we must be endued with those spiritual gifts before we can receive the gift of glorifica- tion to crown the whole. Just as, according to the established course of nature, we must be children before we can be full grown men. In this only sense then it is that the se- veral graces of the blessed Spirit are so many pre-requisites to final salvation. All the links of the gospel chain are inseparable : but each ranks in its own order, and the concatenation is strictly regular.,^ Inherent grace is the dawning of eternal glory : and eternal glory is the perfection of inherent grace. 'They are parts of one magnificent and undivided whole. Grace is the earnest of glory ; glory is the full possession of grace. Grace is the first fruits : glory the unbounded harvest. And he that has the former shall as certainly have the latter. All religions, except that of Christ Jesus, concur to place self-righteousness as the ground or condition of obtaining the divine favour. Paganism, Popery, corrupted Ju- daism, Mahometism, Arminianism, differ they ever so much in dome respects, most coidially agree in representing man as a helper, if not as a principal, in his own sal- vation. It is the gospel alone, whose pro- clamation runs by grace [not by grace con- sidered as a sanctifying principle communi- cated to us, but by grace considered as it is in God ; viz. by his own unmerited, uncon- ditioned, sovereign goodness] are ye saved through faith ; and that not of vourselves ; it is the gift of God : not of works, lest a iy man should boast (p). It is this that recommends as well as dis- tinguishes the religion of our Lord : which had been no gospel to the lost and to the fallen, but for the unmingled freencss, or absolute gratuitousness, with which all its blessings are bestowed. As Dr. Arrowsmilh somewhere remarks, the mediatorial riches of Christ would have been so many dead commodities, " if it were not for needy, un- done si'nners, who lake them off his hands." I remember a just observation of good Mr. Hervey's : that in the days of our Sa- viour's residence on earth, '* the levee of that prince of peace consisted almost entirely of the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind." Hence it was asked by his enemies, with an air of insult and contempt, have any of the rulers or of the pharisees believed on him ? But this people [o o^^oc «ros,.this mob, this riff-raff, who follow him, and] who know not the law are accursed (<;). Very few rulers, or people of eminent rank and station, few scribes, or men of dis- tinguished parts and erudition, few pharisees, or seemingly rigid moralists, attended the ministrations, and were attached to the per- son, of Him who came to seek and to save them that are lost. No consideration can be more mortifying to human pride than this infallibly certain truth ; that harlots and publicans and sinners, i. e. many of thos?; who weie the meanest in rank, ard wiio.se antecedent lives had been of the most profli- gate stamp, were tlie very people who thirsted for his redemption, and composed his visible (p) Eph. ii. 8, 6. (q) John Tii. 48, 4» 376 JOY IN HEAVEN OVER ONE RtPENTING SINNER. retiDue. These were made partakers of his great salvation : and not one that trusted in his name, though vile as vileness itself, was ever sent empty away. So true is his own gracious declaration : All that the Father giveth me shall come to me ; and him that Cometh unto me I will in no wise, nor on any account, cast out. (r) Consult the first veise of the chapter wlience I have lead you the text, and you will perceive wliat kind of persons they chiefly were who frequented the ministry of (iod manifested in the flesh : Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners to hear him. We never go to Christ until his Spirit has beat us off from every other confidence, and driven us out of every other refuge. Under our first seiioiis imjiressions we usually try a variety of self-righteous ex- ) edients for our own relief. We have re- course to moral refor mation, good resolutions, vows, long prayers, frequent church-goings, monthly sacraments; accompanied perhaps by a train of abstinences, austerities, and rigorous mortifications. While we do these things with a view to spin from them a jiist- tifying righteousness for ourselves, w e are as absolute enemies to the gospel of Christ, and as far from the Icingdom of God, as the Devil and his aufjets. We must come, not as pharisees, but as publicans ; not as scribes, but simply as sinners ; if we would come, so as to be graciously received. And he it carefully n(;ticed that they who were savingly led to Christ experienced his renew ing ])Ower, together with his for- g'ving grace. Though none were rejected for tiieii past ininnnalities (how nnmerous, enoniion , and aL'giaviteii soever), yet the reigning doniinioii oi vice was from that horn ( anceUed in tliem that believtd. Thus for instance, the cxtm tioner of Jericho was sooner converted than his rapacity and oppressiveness were exclianged for benevo- leni e, justice, and liberality. 1 he language cf his heart, of his li[)s, and of his subse- quent practice was. Behold, Lord, the half of my good.^ 1 give to the poor ; and if I have taken any thin<; fiom any man by false accusation, I restore him four-fold (s). Look also at the hailot of M .gc.ula. Though a slave to the impulse of no lewer than seven devils, during her unregeiierate state; effec- tual grace no sooner causes her to believe in Jesus fur salvation than a sanctifying change ensues. She goes in peace, and sins as a prostitute no more [t). And the scribes and pharisees murmured, saying. This man receiveth sinners, and eat- eth with them. I'haj isees always did, and al- ways will murmur at the gospel, and at them that preach it. They murmured at Christ himself ; and no wonder if their successors murmur against us. They can no more ab- stain from carpii g at the Christian scheme of grace, than some di gs can help barking when they hear the sound of a tiuinpet. This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them, said the Arminians (ioned by the Holy Spij it's repeat- ed breathings on the impark which he pri- marily inspired, and which nothing can to- whetlipr it he right before God to obey you, mX God. Acts iv. 19. nc.Onpxe.i/ 3ei Seu, txaW^v n av- fpa)iro- puted ; yet they wish to be more and more conversant with, in order that they may more and more admire, the covenant of It J Job xxxiT. 52. (1/) 1 Cor. x. M. (z) Rom. xu. M. (a) 1 Pet. i. IS. JOY IN HliAVEN OVER ONE REPENTING SINNER. 3P3 grace, as carried into a complete execution by the correspondent work and sufferings of Christ. There is a remarkable passage which gives us to understand (A), that the principa- lities and powers in heavenly places know, by the Chuich, the manifold wisdom of God ; or, tliat the various ranks of angelic beings rise gradually into clearer and more enlarged acquaintance with tlie divinely - concei ted plan of human salvation : partly by observ- ing the tenor of God's gracious dealings with the souls he regenerates ; and partly by attending to those sublime truths which Christ's faithful ministers dispense when they preach his gospel in the congregation of the saints. I question whether there be an individual minister upon eaith who de- clares the whole counsel of God with power, and with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven (c), but listening angels are a part of his auditory, and sometimes reap instruc- tion from the lips of a mortal man. Even the private conversations of God's people, when they speak together concerning what he has done foi their souk (rf), and build up each other on their most holy faith (e), as companions in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ (/) ; at ."iuch seasons of reli- gious fellowship, do not hovering angels join the company ? and may they not derive real imr)rovfcnient, as well as matter of rejoicing, from the spiri'ui:-il experiences of saints > 10. But there ate nmititurtes of persons (and perhaps more th;m a few no.v unter this very roof), who never yet occasioned joy in heaven among the angels of God ; but, by the unbelief and hardness of their impenitent hearts, have gratified the angels of the bot- tomless pit, times and ways without number. Yet, even you shall be received, it yon come as sinners to the sinners' Friend. May God's spirit bend the gospel bow, and wing an ar- row to your hearts ! Which of you is wil- ling to make joy in heaven this morning ? Over what repenting soul shall the angels of God triumph ? For whom shall Gabriel sing, and Raphael strike his narp ? All hea- ven shall exult on your account, if you close with Christ as your wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. 11. I would hope that some penitents are here ; some, in whom that gracious word has had its accomplishment. They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them : I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters, in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble ; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born {g). Come, then, to the Son of God, fur the merit that saves. Look to the Spirit of grace for the influence that sanctifies. The lower you fall at the feet of Christ crucified, the louder praises are angels singing for you above. Be glad, therefoie, and of good courage. God will never be exceeded by angels in loving kindness and in tender mer- cies. He will be very gracious to thee at the voice of thy cry : when he shall hear it, he will answer thee (A). 12. Are any backsliders hearing me to- day ? any who, having formerly known the good ways of God, are now become careless and forgetful of the things belonging to their peace ? May this be the set time for your revival and return ! God, your Redeemer, says. Awake, thou that sleepest ; and arise from the dead, i. e. come out from among your evil companions, renounce your sinful connections, revert to the people and to the ordinances of God, and Christ shall give thee light (?) : He will restore to thee the c 'm- forts of his Spirit, and the joy of his salva- tion, and thou shalt again sing in the ways of the Lord, that great is the glory of the Lord (k). Stay, O stay no longer from thy happiness ! He who received thee once will receive thee anew, and angels shall rejoice over thee afresh, if the cr y of thy heart be this, 1 will go and return to my first hus- band, for then it was better with me than now(/). 13. As joy is in heaven on account of one sinner that is born again by spiritual rege- neration, into the kingdom of grace below, grCftt must be the j ->y when a regener ited soul, loosed fnm the pains and dishonnurs of its earthly pri-on, is boin, at death, into the kingdom of glorj' ab've. Every s.iint at his departure out of the body is cariied off, and carried up, by angels, into Abra- ham's bosom (w) : admitted to the sight of Christ, and introduced to the fellowship and familiarity of spirits that never fell, and of spirits completely restored from their frtll. Who can describe the joy which obtains in heavei. on such felicitating occasions as fH-e! The glorified soul himself rejoices that the imaginary bitterness of death is past, and that he is safely arii\ed at the house not made with hands. Saints, who were antecedently landed on the shores of immortality, welcome their blood - bought brother to his throne. Angels who had been spectators of his conversion upon earth, and who lately acted as vehicles to convey him to glory, congratulate his admission into the mansions of bliss. With profoundest reverence be it added, that all the three persons in the Godhead rejoice, when the infallible designs of eter- nal love are glorified in the actual and ulti- (b) Eph.iii, 10. (r) 1 Pet. i. 12. (d) Psalm Ixvi. 1«. («) Jfudp D (/) Rev. i. 9. («) Jer. xxxi. 9. (i) Isa. XXX. 19. (i) Eph. v. 14. (*) Psalm cxxxTiii. 5. (/) Hos. ii. 7. (»») Luke xvi. 384 THE EXISTENCE AND THE m;ite salvation of a chosen sinner. As the ()ride£;room rejdiceth over the bride, so will the Lord thy (iod rejoice over thee. Thou shrtlt also be a crown of gloiy in tlie hands of the lyord ; anil a royal diadem in the hands of (liy t;oahalt not see evil any more. — The Lord thy God, in the midst uf tiiee, is mighty. He will save, he will re- ]OKe liver tliee with joy ; he uill rest in his love. He will joy liver thee with singing (o). 14. Still higher will be the joy in hea- ven u'hen the whole asNcmbly of the elect, without one absentee, shall im-et, and reign, and shine, and sing together, and " iialk ii ith Cnd, Iljgh in sali'ution and the climes of bliss** But 1 m\i-it let the curtain drop. Who can paint what eye hath n'lt seen, iinr ear heard, n.ir htth entered into the h^^ai t of man to conceive ? May free grace give us at last to knnn- by triuuinhant experience what this blessedness me in . ! 15. In Older to that most desirable end, I't th;iS'' of us who have n ). In this case, angels will rejoice over us whiUt we live, and when we die. Hajipy prelude to our endies" lejoicing with them in the he iven lit heavens ! Thither, O Saviour of sinners, may thy blood and ri jhte msness brini; us. Thither iiiav tliv Holy Spirit iruide u<, and thy in- tei cession keep us. Even unto .Mount Sion, and the eitv of the livi g (iod, the heavenly Jerusalem and the innumerable cimpaiiy of angeU : to the general assemblv and church of the fii st-b irn, wh > were written in hea- ven ; and to G .d the judge of all ; and to the souls of just men made peitect; and to thyself, the Mediator of the r.ew cove- nant (f/) lu the hour of death smile and shine up in us. Revive us with an applica- ti in of those comfortable words. The sun shall be no more thy light by day ; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee : bu' the Loi d sha 1 be thy everlasting light, and thv Go l thy glory (r). Yea, seal us 1 1 that place prepared for us before the foundations of the world ; and concerning which thou hast told us(.v'). The glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. fill Isa. Ixii. 3. 5. 10) Zeph. lii. I '!. 17. p) Matt ill. 8. (fl) Heb. xii. 22. M. THE EXISTENCE AND flRRED OF DEVILS CONSIDERED; WITH 1 WORD CONCERNING APrARlTIONS. A discourse preached in the parish church nf St. Olive, Jewri/, on Sunday Afteruoou, October 29, 1/75. And the Lord laid unto Satnn, u-henc<> comest tbou ? Then Satan ansTCrcd ihe Lord, and 6)iid i From goinij lo and fro in the earth, and from walking .ip and down in it. — Job i. 7. My name ii Legion : for we are many.— Mark r. 9- SER.MON IX. Thou believest that there is one God. Thau doest Kelt. The deuits also beiieie, and tremble. One grand motive which induced St. James to write this epistle was to stifle and repress a most dangerous error which, even in the apostolic times, liegan to gain ground among too many reputed tollowers of Christ. This error was, that a mere naked as- sent to the truths of Christianity, considered as a doctiinal system, without having the heart afl'ected, and without having the life sanctified, would be sufficient evidence of their salvation, and prove them children of God. Against this most dangerous delusion the blessed apostle Ja nes drew his pen. Ai3d the principal driic of this epistle is, not to counieract St. Paul (lor all the divinf writeis speak one uniform, harmonious lan- guage) : but merely to show the delusion which the Gnostics, who were the Antino- mians of that age, were under , and to prove that something more weighty, and more substantial than mere head knowledge, is requisite to stamp us heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. Hence we tind the apostle, at the 14th verse, asking, VVhat does it profit, my bre- thren, though a man say he hath faith, and hath not works ? Can taith save him ? Ob- serve with what caution St. James expres- ses himself. 'He does not say, " what will it profit a man to have faith Without works?" for he knew that to he impossible. But the words aie, What will it profit a man to sav that he hath faith, without works / There is a vast diffeience between believing, and say- ing we believe. The man who professes him- self a believer must offer something more solid than his own ipse dixit, than a mere verbal profession, if he wishes to be credited by those to whom that profession is made. Was I to affirm that I am possessed of a neat hundred thousand per annum, not one of you would believe me. And why ? be- cause I have nothing to show for it. I have no writings to produce as my authentic vouchers. By 'he same rule, when a man comes to yon or me, and says, I have faith ; it is very natural for us to ask. Where are (r) I»a. Ix. 19. (J) ReT. xxi. 23. CREED OF DEVILS CONSIDERED your works ? If thou hast faith, thou hast it t') thyself before God. Faith is a liidden principle, until rendered visible by a holy life and conversation. What does it profit a man barely to say that he has faith ? It pro- fits a man much to have faith ; for if he has faith, he will also have a life correspondent with the holiness of that leading grace. In- deed a man can never be holy till he has faith. To them, says Christ, who are sancti- fied by faith that is in me. — There is no such thing as real holiness without faith ; and there is no such thing as true faith without holiness. These t^vo al« ays go together ; and none but a visionary self-deceiver, or an intentional hypocrite, would ever wish to put them asunder. Can faith, that is, can a bare profession of faith save him, or prove him to be in a saved state ? Far from it. Profession will only sink us deeper into con- demnation at last, unless God give us to feel and to possess those graces to which our lips lay claim. Here a Pharisee may step in, and ask. But will networks save us ? Indeed they will not. Will not fai^h and works together save us ? No. Faith is the evidence, not the cause, of salvati(Mi : just as works are the evidences, not the cause, of faith. I observed, at another end of the town this morning, and I will repeat the observation here : That the religion of JesusChrist stands eminently distingnislied, and essentially dif- ferenced, from any other religion that was ever proposed to human reception, by this remarkable peculiarity : that, look abroad in the world, and you will find that every re- ligion, except one, puts you upon doing so.iiething, in order to recommend yourself to God. A Mahometan expects to be saved by his works. A Socinian thinks to go to heaven by his works. A Papist looks to be justified by his works. A Freewiller hopes for salva- tion by his works, compliances, endeavours, and perseverance. A Pagan, if he believes that there is a future state, expects to be hap- py hereafter, by virtue of the supposed gO(jd he does, and of the evil he leavts undone. A mystic has the same hope, and stands on the same sad foundation. It is only the re- ligion of Christ, which runs counter to all the rest, by affirming that we are saved, and called with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to the Father's own purpose and grace, which was [nut snld out to us on certain c mditions, to be fulfilled by ourselves, but wasj given us in Clirist, be- fore tlie world heni-.n (t). It was long ago remarked by a good man, that " It is the business of all false religions to patch up a righteousness, in which the sinner is to stand before God." But it is the busmess of the glorious gospel to bring near to us, by the hand of the Holy Spirit, a righteousness ready wrought ; a rohe of perfection ready made ; wherein God's people, to all the pur- poses of justification and happiness, stand perfect and without fault before his throne. You may object, " if that is the case, if we are saved and justified entirely by a righteousness imputed, to what purpose are those good works which the Bible every where inculcates, and which the chapter whence the text has been read, so par- ticularly enforces the practice of?" I an- swer, that as robes and a coronet do not constitute a peer, but are ensigns and ap- pendages of his peerage (for the will of the sovereign is the grand efficient cau>e which elevates a commoner to noble rank) ; and as the very patent of creation is onlv an au- thentic manifesto, not cau>al, but derlara- tive of the king's pleasure to make his sub- ject a nobleman : just so, good works do not make us alive to God, nor justify us before him ; nnr exalt us to the dignity and felicity of celestial pf ernge : they are but the robes, the coronet, and the manifesto, shining in our lives and conversations ; and makitig evi- dent to all arouna us that we are, in deed, and in truth, chosen to s.ilvation, justified through Christ, and renewed by the Holy Ghost. I need not apprise you that the gene- rality of those who are de;id to God, either think, or pretend to think, that we who pre.ich, and you w ho believe, absolute sal- vatiim by the finished atonement and the finished obedience of Jesus Christ, rested on by faith alone ; are " opening the flood- gates to licentiousness, and annihilating the necessity of good works." I would wish you to notice the incon- sistency of those objections with which worh ly people assail the go^pel of the grace of God One while, they tell us that we are righteous overmucli, and are more godly than we need to be. At anotiier time we are for no good works at all, but make void the law through laith. Now, these two cavils effectually, and prima facie, de- molish each othf-r, like two equal contrary forces in natural philosophy. Would it not be very absurd if I was to say ot a lady that she is hterally as sraight as an arrow, and as crooked as a rainbow ? They who are acqnainted with themselves, with the love of Christ, and witli the holi- ness of the moral law, know and feel, th .t so far from doiuic too much, they can nevtf do enough for God. This knovvlt-Hge and persuasion elTeL'tn.illy cut np the t\fo inco- herent objections above mentioned. On ope it) 2 Tim. i. tfl. (ll) Acts XI. 24. 2 C 33: THE EXISTENCE AND THE hand, we cannot, even in speculation, be negligent of good works : since we consider, and are zealous for them as the grand visi- ble indications of our appointment to eternal gloiy. — On the other, a sense of those im- mense deficiencies which attend our best obe- dience operates as a most powerful induce- ment to the unintermitted performance of as much good as we can. Not that we are hereby justified. For as I have often asked (and 1 shall continue to reiterate the question as long as I can speak for God), where is the man that ever fulfilled the law of God ? Let us only bring ourselves to the test of the second table, whose precepts are all summed up in this. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Since the faU, no man ever did this but Jesus Christ. As I was going through Holborn the other day, I saw a house on fire. The mob were assembled, and the engines were playing. I felt, with great tenderness, for the immediate sufferers. Yet it instantly occurred to me, that I was not so deeply concerned as when I lately saw my own house in a similar danger. What was the reason ? Because I do not love my neighbour as myself. And was there nothing else to exclude me from justification by ray own righteousness, I should know, from this circumstance alone, that it is ut- terly impossible for me to be accepted of God, and entitled to heaven, thi ough my de- fective conformity to the moral law. In the prosecution of his argument, St. James puts a very obvious case : a case which, I am afraid, happens almost every day. If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace ! be ye warmed and filled ! notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body ; what does it profit ? Intimating that as a stiing of smooth canting words, unac- companied by substantial relief, conveys no service to a distressed petitioner, and is no decisive proof of benevolence in the speaker; so an empty, unactive profession of faith, without a heart and life devoted to God, and to the good of mankind, will stand us in no stead at all. The apostle himself makes the application : even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Are we to in- fer from this that works cause us to live in the sight of God ? No. It would sound very odd in your ears, and with very good reason, if I was to affirm that I am therefore alive because 1 have the honour of preaching be- fore you this afternoon : no. My preaching does not make me alive. It only shews that I do live. Since if I did not live, I could neither move, nor speak, nor act. In like manner, holy works do not endue us with life. They only prove us to be spnuually alive, if the Spirit of God has enabled us, from right principles, and to right ends, thus to bring forth fruit to his honour and praue The goodness of the fruit does not uiaue. but discover and declare, the goodness of the tree : since if this were not good, it could not produce good fruit. The purity of a stream does not make the fountain pure, but proves it to be so. All that we can possibly say and do for God, contribute not one jot or tittle to the acquisition either of spiritual or of eternal life, but only make known that he has infused itito our souls the breath of supernatural regenerating grace, by the pow- erful ministration of the Holy Ghost. A man may say, adds the apostle, thou hast faith and I have works. Show me thy faith without thy works : as much as to say, I defy thee to do it : faith can only be shown by the good works which it produces. There- fore, I will show thee (and every true be- liever says the same), I will show thee my faith by my works : I will adduce these, to demonstrate the reality of that. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou doest well : this is very right, so far as it goes : but remember that the devils also believe this, together with a great deal more, and tremble. The faith of a deist (which is all ultimately resolvable into this solitary article, I believe that there is one God) is at best but a small part of the devil's creed ; and, if it proceed no farther, will leave the soul infinitely short of everlasting salvation. In the text there are three objects of en- quiry : I. Who are the devils here mentioned ? II. What it is that they believe, and how far their faith goes ? III. In what respects their faith differs fiom the faith of God's elect, or from that faith which the Holy Spirit breathes into every converted heart ? I. By the devils here referred to, we are doubtless to understand that whole body of apostate spirits whose names were not in the book of life, and who were therefore per- mitted to fall from that state of holiness, dignity, and happiness, in which they were originally made. Our text styles them devils, faifiovia . probably from their depth of skill, and from the exquisite subtilty of their knowledge. At what precise point of time the angels and these among the rest, were created ; and whether their creation was successive, or si- multaneous, cannot perhaps, be exactly as- certained from Scripture : which only in- forms us at large tliat within the first six days the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the hosts of them. St. Austin thinks that the angels were called into being, when God said. Let there be light. And it seems extremely certain, from a passage in the book of Job, that the angels were created before our part of the universe, or that terra- CREED OF DEVILS CONSIDERED. 387 queous globe which we inhabit, was com- pletely formed into its present state. For we read that no sooner was this portion of our own solar system moulded into its pre- sent scheme, than angels admired the fabric, and blessed the Builder. Whereupon are the foundations of [the earth] fastened ? or who laid the corner stone thereof ? When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy (z). Who were those morning stars ? Who were those sons of God ? The angels of light ; styled morning stars, from their purity, their diguity, their excellency and glory ; the sons of God, because they were of God's own immediate creation. It is likewise plain that the faU of a vast number of these unembodied spirits was antecedent to the fall at least, if not to the creation of man. For we read in the only authentic account of the origin of evil unv where extant, that one of these apostate spi rits was the being who, in a borrowed form seduced the mother of the human race. Should it be asked, " How came any part of those angels, who were created in such a state of natural and moral excellence, to make shipwreck of their holiness, of theii majesty and of their joy ? " I answer, that the origin of evil, whether among angels (with whom evil seems, strictly, to have ori- ginated), or among men, is the most difficult question, perhaps, and the most mysterious part of the divine conduct that ever yet pre- sented itself to human investigation. Clouds and darkness are the seat of its residence ; though wisdom, goodness, and justice, were certainly (in a manner unknown to us) the motives to its permission. It becomes us probably, on such a occa- sion as this, to repress the sallies of imagi- nation, and to clip the wings of idle curiosity. It may be that we cannot answer the ques- tion in better words than in those of our Lord, Even so. Father! for so it seemeth good in thy sight. We may perhaps ven- ture to surmise that, according to our pre- sent views and apprehensions of things, the divine perfections could not have been ma- nifested in equal glory and to equal advan- tage, if nothing but absolute and uniform good had universally and immutably pre- vailed. I was greatly pleased some days ago with the remark of a pious and learned friend, who, in the course of our free conversation on this subject, observed, that " Had evil never been permitted, how could the justice of God have been glorified in punishing it? How could the wisdom of God have been displayed in ovei -ruling it ? How could the goodness of God have been manifested in pardoning and forgiving it ? And how could (s) Job xxxviii. 6, 7. (a) 1 Tim. lii. 6. the power of God have been exerted in sub- duing it ? " Here, probably, is our neplus ul- tra on this subject, until we ripen into that fulness of knowledge which awaits us at God's right-hand. Until our dis-imprisoned spirits rise into a superior state, it becomes as to confess our ignorance and incompe- tency, and to address the uncreated Cause of all things, in those words of (I think) good bishop Hooper, a few moments before his martyrdom, " Lord, I am darkness, but thou art light ! " Should it be enquired, What particular crime it was which drew on the fallen angels that indignation and wrath, that tribulation and anguish, which we read will be their portion ? we are not perhaps altogether in the dark as to that. For where St. Paul ob- serves, that (a) a bishop should not be a no- vice, [v£o0vro<;, newly converted, or lately implanted into Christ], but a person of gra- vity, and wisdom, and long experience in the ways of God ; the reason assigned is, lest a raw, unfledged bishop, being lifted up with pride, should fall into the condenmation of the devil. Whence it seems, that pride and self-admiration were the immediate sins which rendered Satan and his angels ob- noxious to the vengeance of the Almighty. St. Jude likewise, in the 6th verse of his Epistle, gives us some insight into the nature of the sin committed by those degenerate spirits. The angels, says he, who kept not ♦.heir first estate {rtjv cavrrov apx^v, their own proper and original principality), but left their own habitation ; who were not satisfied with that rank in the scale of being, and with that degree of knowledge, dignity, and bliss, assigned them by creating Wisdom, but left their own staticm and deserted the post in which their Maker placed them ; he has re- served in everlasting chains under darkness, to the judgment of thegreatday. Whence we may soberly conclude that the original sin of the apostate angels was a compound of pride on one hand, and of murmuring on the other. Discontent is the daughter of pride. Every discontented heart is a proud heart. Instead of being angry with Providence for not making us greater than we are ; the meanest person of us all, if he rightly knew himself and God, would fall lovv at his foot- stool and adore him for condescending to bestow any thought upon us, or to take any care of us whatever. As I once heard a valu- able person remark, " God is often better to us than our fears ; and always better to us than we deserve." We should be perfectly at ease, under every possible combination of circumstances, if we could but give credit to infinite Wisdom, for doing all things well (/)). Ask of thy mother ei*rth, why onljs ii-ere mode U^} Jove's satellites are less than J07e ? " Fopff. 2 C 2 388 THE EXISTENCE AND THE Some there are in the world who sagely liiii;;!) at the very mention of devils. These .lliiininated rationalists cannot bring them- v..'Ux's to believe that there are any such i.cinus. Let me therefore just drop a cur- soi y hint as to the scriptural evidences, and iht- philosophic reasonableness, of the arti- cle now in question. (1.) There is notliing unscriptural in that doctrine which asserts the real and lite- r.il existence of degraded and malevolent un- ombodied spirits, who retain, amidst all the losses and horrors inseparable from their fallen state, a very e.ttensive portion of knowledge, subtlety and power. The Bible is so far from denying this that, from the fir st to the last of the inspired books, it gives us a large account both of these spirits them- selves and of their various operations. Yea, the Bible is the only source whence any thing certain can be gathered concerning their existence, their history, and their activity. (2.) There is nothing unphilosophical in tlie scripture account of these nefarious a- gents. The whole universe consists of matter and spirit. The positive existence of matter (though it be incapable of absolute demon- .stration, stictly so called, yet) will not ad- mit of a moment's reasonable doubt : and with regard to spirit, we must commence Atheists at once ere we c m deny the real existence of that. God the Father is an un- embodied spirit. God the Son, prinr to his incarnation, was an unemhodied spirit. God the Holy Ghost is an unemhodied spirit. Angels are unemhodied spirits. The glori- fied souls of the departed elect are disem- bodied spirits. Moreover, by the same rule that there are good unemhodied spirits, why may there not be evil unemhodied spirits ? Where is the absurdity of this belief ? (I now consider it merely in a rational point of view). If it be Atheism to deny the existence of good nnenibodied spirits ; then is it not totally imroasonable to deny the existence of bad uaeinbodied spirits ? We know th it ;here are good embodieo stiirits and bud emb >died spirits upon earth, viz. good men and women, and bad men and women. Now, what is a man, or a woman ? an immaterial ray, if I may so speak, united to a machine of dust ; a death- less spirit, implnngid in a mass of dying matter. And why nriy not that spirit exist wiien the matter is droppi d That matter which is so far from enii'^blini;, th \l at the best of times it hangs as a de.id weight upon the incarnated angel within ! I will go still further, and declnr- it as my stedl'ast and m it ire belief, not only that iliere are unemhodied spirits, but also that, jpon s ime special occasions, unemb'idied spirits and disembodied spirits have been permitted, and may again, to render them- selves visible and audible. There is nothing absurd in the metaphy- sical theory of afparitions. 1 do n( t sup- pose that one story in a hundred of this kind is true. But J am speaking as to the naked possibility of such phaenomena. And this I am satisfied of, that if a spirit (like mine or your's for instance), even while shut up in a prison of flesh, can render itself and its operations perceptible to other spirits through the medium of the senses ; and if the bodily powers, quick and acute as they are in some men, be at best but very in- commodious engines of mental action, and (on the sum total) rather clog and impede and embarrass both the faculties and the exertions of the soul, which yet can do such great things, even while in connection with so feeble and depres-sing a vehicle as now hangs about us ; where is the unreasonable- ness of believing (yea, how great is the un- reasonableness of not believing) that a soul, disimprisoned and disentangled from this burden of the flesh, is (so far fr om losing the powers it had) abundantly more at hberty to make itself perceived than when it was connected into one compositum with a ma- terial habitation ? As 1 have ventured, with that intentional humility which becomes me, to set before you my judgment concer ning the doctrine of apparitions ; permit me a moment Icmger to digress from the immediate subjects of our text, while I remind you of two very re- markable Scripture examples quite in point to the case in hand. (1.) Eliphas the Temanite gave the fol- lowing relation of a spectre which he him- self both saw and heard (c). In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep «leep falleth on men, fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face. The hair of my flesh stood op. It stood still, but I could not (distinctly and perfectly) discern the form thereof : (I can only say in general terms, that) an image vas before mine eyes. There was silerrce !,deep and solemn, all around, while the spirit spake) ; and I heard a voice, saying. Shall mortal man be more just than God ? shall a man be more pure than his Maker ? Or, as others render it. Shall mortal man be just before (iod .> sh;ill man be pure in the pr,-- sence of his Maker ? No : nothing can con- stitute us just, in his eyes, but the imputa- tion of Christ's perfect righteousness. Nor can any thing restore us, incohativelv on earth, and completely in heaven, to the pu- rity of God's image, but the omnipoterrt agency of God's' smctifying spirit. yC) Job tv. 13, &C. CREED OF DEVILS CONSIDERED. 3S9 (2.) Carry bacK your views to our Lord's traiisfijjuration on Mount Tabor (rf), and you will read of not one only, but two persons, who descended for a while from heaven to earth, appearing visibly to, and conversing audibly with, the Son of God and three of his disciples. — As Jesus prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his rai- ment became white and glittering. And behold there talked with him two men, who v/ere Moses and Elijah ; who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease, which he should accoiuplish at Jerusalem. From such holy, from such happy, from such jjlorifif d beings as Moses and Elias ; I revert, for the present, to those malignant spirits of whom our text speaks ; to the devils who believe and tremble. Spirits of a very different cast from those above ! Spirits who are bound down, under the chains of Divine providence, and now im- prisoned at large, in the atmosphere that surrounds our globe, till the great audit comes, when they shall be turned into hell, together with all who forget God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. II. I now proceed to the second enquiry : viz. What it is that these devils believe i and how far their faith goes ? To which I answer, in general, that the devils are incomparably more orthodox than nineteen in twenty of our modern divines. Do you think there is such a being as an Arian devil ? or a Socinian devil ? or a Sa- bellian ? Is there an Anti-Trinitarian among the devils ? or an Arminian, or a Pelagian ? No. They endeavour to seduce men into these heresies : but they are too well in- formed to be speculatively heterodox them- selves. They believe the existence of God, and that God is one. So the text may be ren- dered : Thou believest, on o Otog (ig tgri, that God is one in nature and essence : the devils believe as much ; and that in the unity of this Godhead there is a co-existence of three distinct, eternal, consubstantial, and equal persons. Satan and his angels believe also, and tremble in believing, that the second of the Divine persons assumed the nature of man ; and by the perfection of his obedience and atonement, secured the justification and completed the redemption of every elect sinner. They know, too, that the covenant-office nd business of the Holy Ghost is to quick- en, to convert, and bring to eternal lite, all those who are elected by (iod the Father, and sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ. Thev know tliat the Bible is the unerniij^ word of God: that every syllable of it is true : and that a time shall come when they themselves shall be arraigned at the Mes- siah's bar, and receive sentence for all the evil they have done, and for the evil which they have prevailed on men to do. They believe this, and tremble : (j>pia(TH(!i, they are all in hoiTor, commotion and confusiou. The term is borrowed from that violent, convulsive fermentation, which agitates the ocean when it is wrought and lashed into all the turbulence and rage of total tenjpest. Thus do these once dignified, but now de- graded spirits, believe with all the certainty of demonstration, and tremble with all the horrible magnificence of angelic fury and despair. They wait, with anxious dread, the enunciation of that sentence which they know they must receive from the lips of that incarnate God whose crucifixion was brought about through their instigation. They asked him, in the days of his flesh. Art thou come to torment us before the time (e) And they still tremble at the sure expectation of what they are to suffer, when they have filled up the measure of their iniquities, and the destined season of their torment is come. What was observed a few minutes ago concerning the orthodoxy of devils, holds, I doubt not, equally true of every human soul now in hell. When the departed spirits of unregenerate men do (figuratively speak- ing) open their eyes in torments ; they, at the same time, open their eyes on the truths of God. There is not an Arian, a Socinian, a Sabellian, a Pelagian, or an Arminian, weltering in that lake of fire. As there are no heretics in heaven, so there are none in hell. It is only on earth that men have the dreadful prerogative of out-sinning the very devils theniselves. Do not however mistake me, as though I meant to pass sentence of condemnation on any of my fellow-creatures. Whether the souls of such men as Arius, Socinus, and Arminius, who certainly trampled the gos- pel system under their feet, and were the artful and indefatigable instruments of dis- seminating the most pernicious errors ; I say, whether the departed souls of such he- resiarchs and heretics as these are saved or lost (which is among the secret things that belong to God) ; I will venture to declare that Arius is not an Arian now. Sabellius is not now a Sabellian. The two Socinuses are not now Socinians. Pelagius is no longer a Pelagian, nor Manes a Manichean. Arminius is not an Arminian, nor does RoeUus any longer dispute the eternal generation of the Son of (iod. III. Let us consider in .vhat respects does the faith of Jevil, h ! r Irom the evan- vdj Luke ix. 31 390 TME EXISTENCE AND THE gelical faith of the saints, or from that faith which is of the (/) operation of God ? Much every way : but chiefiy in ti.ese. — (1.) The faith of the devils is only a mere assent of the understanding, unaccompanied by any cordial consent of the will and affec- tions, to the truth : a faith without regard to Christ, or any concern for the glory of God. They discern the traces of infinite wisdom shining in the gospel plan ; but they feel nothing of Christ's suitableness and loveliness. They speculatively see, but it is only to hate and blaspheme (and, if it were possible to counteract) the covenant-designs of the Trinity respecting the salvation of sinners. Sorry I am to observe that we have some professors among ourselves who are for shutting out all feelings of grace for Chris- tian experience. I dare do no such thing. On the contrary, I am persuaded that if a cold, dry assent to the written word be that faith which is connected with salvation, all the devils in hell are and must be chil. dien of God. But I cannot bring myself to have so good an opinion of Satan and his legions. Nor, consequently, can 1 suppose that faith to be saving which has nothing to do with spiritual feelings. If once the feeling, or inward perception, of God's Spirit, as a (§•) convincer of sin, and of righteousness, and of sanctification, were to be excluded from faith, there would presently be an end of all vital religion, and the power of godliness would take its flight from that day forward. What is conviction of sin ? It is no conviction to me, unless I feel myself convinced of ray sinfulness and inability. What is conviction of Christ's righteousness ? No conviction at all to me, unless I feel the necessity and value of that righteousness. What are the comforts of the Holy Spirit ? No comforts at all to me, except 1 feel them. Unfelt consolation is a contradiction in terms. Hence our (li) Church teaches us to pray, that by the light of the same Holy Spirit who taught and illumined the disciples in the day of Pentecost, we, too, may have a risjht judgment in all things pertaining to God ; and be enabled evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort. But how can we rejoice in the comfort of the Holy Ghost unless we feel and perceive his visitations ? Where is the enthusiasm of believing that the blessed Spirit of God can make my soul feel, no less vividly, than the impressions of outward ob- jects can make my soul perceive, through the organs of sensation ? Putting Scripture quite out of the question, I am bold to as- sert that no churchman can reprobate re- ligious feelings without reprobating the Church at the same time. For in the 17th Article upon election, or predestination unto life, the Church roundly affirms, that the godly consideration of our election and pre- destination in Christ is full of sweet, plea- sant, and unspeakable comfort to godly per- sons, and to such as feel in themselves the workings of the Spirit of Christ. May we feel these workings more and more, morti- fying the deeds of the flesh, and drawing up our minds to high and heavenly things ! (2.) The faith of the devUs is faith without repentance. Though they saw some- thing of the glory of God before they fell ; yet they do not repent of having fallen. My meaning is, they do not repent of having off'ended God ; though the fear of punish- ment, resulting from self-love, may make them wish they had not sinned. (3.) Their's is a faith without love. Their language to the Almighty is, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. Whereas the cry of those who are endued with the faith of God's elect (j) is. Like as the hart panteth after the water- brooks, so longeth my soul after thee, O God (k). (4.) The diabolic faith is an Antinomiaa faith : a faith without holiness, a faith with- out good works. Whereas the faith of God's people is a faith inseparably connected with holiness, and infallibly productive of practi- cal obedience. Whoever has St. Paul's faith, will and must have St. James's works. (5.) The faith of devils is a faith with- out desire. But that faith which the Holy Ghost works in the hearts of his people, causes them earnestly to desire the favour, the presence, and the image of God in Christ. Nothing will satisfy a renewed soul but com- munion with God, and conformity to him. (6.) The faith of devils is a faith without reliance. Though they know the mercy of God to be immense, and though they see the merits of Jesus Christ to be all-suffi- cient ; yet they have not one grain of reli- ance, nor wish they to rely either upon the one or upon the other. Whereas they who (?) believe through grace are enabled, in some degree, to trust the goodness, the covenant, and the pr omise of God : to trust the blood, and obedience, and mediation of Christ ; to tr ust the grace, the power, and faithtidness of the Holy Ghost. They trust a little, and wish they could trust more. They build a little, and wish they could build higher and deeper, on the merits of Christ. They not only give their assent to the history of his obedience and sufferings ; but rely upon them, and take shelter under them, as the sole procuring cause of pardoa and salvation. ( f) Col. ii. n. (g) Jchn xvi. 8. (h) Collect for Whitsunday. (!) Titus 1. 1. (l) Acti iTiii. ST. CREED OF DEVILS CONSIDERED. (70 While the devils believe against their !viUs, and wish they were not forced to be- lieve so much; the saints belieie with their hearts unto justification, and are ever crying Lord, increase our faith ! (8.) The faith of the infernal spirits does not look to the influences of the Holy Ghost. Wliereas that faith which the Holy Ghost inspires, as it comes from him, so it leads to him ; and causes the soul to see, and to feel, and to rejoice, that all its strength, all its holiness, and all its happiness, are treasured up in the faithful hands of that holy, blessed, and adorable Com- forter. To conclude. What learn we from the whole subject ? 1. That those objections which are com- monly brought against the doctrines of grace, and against the good old Church of England doctrine of predestination in par- ticular ; as if those doctrines carried an im- plication of arbitrariness and cruelty and injustice in God ; all fall to the ground, when we consider how vast a body of apos- tate spirits, much our superiors in natural excellency, and of an incomparably higher order than ourselves, were permitted to fall still lower than we, and are all absolutely passed by, or reprobated, without the elec- tion of so much as one of them to eternal blessedness. Thus God spared not the an- gels that sinned. No sooner did they trans- gress than their punishment commenced ; and Satan, with his rebellious hosts, fell like lightning from heaven (m). Now, if God could pass by milhons and milHons of angels, sparing not one of the whole num- ber ; who dares take divine sovereignty by the throat, and say, concerning its dealings with men, " What doest thou ?" Has not the potter power over the clay, to make, of the same lump, one vessel unto honour, and another to dishonour («) ? certainly he has I hope, and believe, that thousands of those who at present are not enlightened into the Bible and Church of England doctrine of predestination ; nay, who look upon it as if it was a Jezebel, fit only to be thrown out of window and trampled under foot ; I hope the time will come when even these shall experience the blessings with which God's electing love is fraught. 2. Uless the Trinity for distinguishing grace : astonishing it is, that he who is God by nature, as being the everlasting Son of the Father, should, by consent of the two other divine persons, vouchsafe to take our nature upon him, when he passed by the non- elect angels and left their nature alone. Well might those of the elect, unfallen angels, who announced the Messiah's birth, sing Glwy to God in the highest, and on the '(ffl) Luke X. IS. Ut) Rom. ix. 21. earth peace, good-will towards men : lost, guilty, feeble, hell-deserving men to the ex- clusion of revolted seraphs ! O sinner, sin- ner, who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou which thou didst not re- ceive (o) from the sovereign, discriminating bounty of free-grace ? Men are taken and angels left ! Nor does the Father of spirits incur the least shadow of injustice by doing . what he wills with his own ; or by withhold- ing from any of his creatures, whether angelic or human, that grace, holiness, and happi- ness whicn he owes to none. Are you or I unjust in not giving to a person what we do not owe him ? Sur»ly not. And is God un- just who taketh vengeance ? God forbid (p). O ye potsherds of the earth, who presume to cavil at the divine decrees, strive no longer against your Maker, nor madly run on the thick bosses of his Luckier! Remember that you are no more qualified to arraign the glo- rious mystery of predestination, and to com- prehend the whole of God's designs, than the purbhnd mole, peeping from the top of its little cavern, can survey, judge, and pro- no»nce of the universe at large. Fall down therefore at the footstool of the Omnipo- tent ; and acknowledge, without limitation or reserve (what thou wilt surely and clearly discern in a future state), that God is holy in all his ways, and righteous in all his works. Be content to know no more of his motives and purposes than himself has con- descended to reveal. " "emWinB pinions soar . W«il ll.c great tearhcr, aenth ; and God adore A Jiiiriiig in l>e gods, it angels fell i Aspiriiij- to be angels, men rebel." 3. If the faith of the devils is a faith with- out works, it follows that such faith is un- profitable and dead, being fruitless and alone. For as the body without the soul is dead, so faith without works is dead also. Where there is life there will always be some de- gree of motion. And the believer who is truly such, cannot help shewing that he be- lieves, by living unto God, and Ijy (loinns have been ad- mitted. Of those, one hundred and sixty have beo-n apprenticed : fourteen fitted for the sea service : and upwards of three hun- dred have gone to domestic services, or been otherwise decently provided for. On the present establishment, there are now sixty children of both sexes, who are maintained and taught, chiefly by means of those volun- tary contributions which are laised by good people from time to time. Such of you as are alive unto God through Jesus Christ, need no arguments from the pulpit to stir up your pure minds, e\en by way of remem- brance. You do not, you will not, you can- not forget that Christ has made the poor his own receivers-general. I should therefore be guilty of offering an insult to all your fine feelings as men and Christians should I press this matter farther, by detnining you with petitions and remonstrances. They who possess a better faith than that of which the text speaks, will, as lovers and imitators of Christ, rejoice while and as often as they have opportunity to do good unto aU men; and especiallv unto them who are of the h.)U-ehold (.f faith. You know not, but many of these young people, whom you are now going to assist (nay all of them, for any thing we can tell to the contrary), may have theii names itl the Laaib's book of life ; may be useful members of society through the support af- forded them, and in the world to come, through the free grace of God, reign iu life everlasting. That they and you their benefactors may to all eternity sing and rejoice together, ascribing the whole of your salvation to the covenant mercy of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is my heart's desire, and my prayer to the tri-une God. MORAL AND POLI'I'ICAL MODERATION RECOMMENDED. [n a discourse delivered at St. Mildred's in the Poultry, London, Friday December 13, 177(j- Being the day appointed for a general Fast. SERMON X. Let yo7ir moderation be knoivn vnto all Men. Phil. iv. 3. It was a favourite and frequent remark of king Henry VII., that when Christ came into the world, peace was sung ; and when he went out ot i* peace was bequeathed. From the justness ol which observation may be in- ferred the manifest impropiiety on a Chris- tian minister's taking too deep and too acri- monious a part in matters of merely civil concern. Few men indeed have been more prone to dabble in politics than some divines. And it must be added that in general few men have acquitted themselves more lamely upon that sulject than those reverend dau- bers with untempered mortar. For one Dean Tucker, who draws a sensible pen on the oc- casion, a hundred ignorant and mercenary scribblers emerge from their concealments to darken counsel by words without knowledge. The truth is, that those of the clergy who mostly content themselves with paddling in the shallows of a superficial morality, step much beyond the line both of their ability and of their proper department, when they attempt to fathom the deep water of politics. For it is well known that (in past ages at least) politics and molality have had but very slender connexion with each other. As to those of us who deem it our duty to preach the gospel, and to know nothing among our people but Jesus Christ and hiiu crucified, we, of all persons in the world, should religiously abstain from whatever may conduce to cherish the seeds and fan the fire of civil discord. Shocking it is when they who profess to experience, and to preach, the love of Christ, can so far prostitute the dignity and design of their sacred calli::;,' as to offer fulsome incense at the shrine < i' aggrandized authority, or seek to exa~peiKte differing parties against each other; ins'ea'l of labouiing tc preserve unity of spirit, to strengtlier the bond of peace, and to pro- mote righteousne.ss of life. Such bad men in black pay very little attention to that solemn vow which they took at the time of their investiture with the holy order of priesthood: when they pledgen themselves to God and man that they would " lay aside the study of the world and of the flesh; and maintain and set forwards as much as in them lieth, quietness, peace, and love, among all Christian people." Our direct business is with the polity of an invisible and better country ; even of a kingdom which is not of this world. On one hand, we are to sound the trumpet, not of secular, but of spiritual, alaim : and on the other, to proclaim unto them that mourn and to them that believe in Zion, " Th£ joyful news of sin forgiy'n. Of hell subdu'd, and peace with heav'n." Hence it is my stedfast opinion, that pulpits were built to answer far nobler and more important purposes than those of political declamation : and that an occasion must be very singular indeed to waiTant the substi • tution of discussions so exceedingly remote MODERATION RECOMMEXDED 39.J from the letter and spirit of our heiivenly commis-ion. To those therefore who, as ministers of Christ, entangle themselves with the affairs of this life, may that question be fairly accommodated, What dost thou here, Elijah ? There may arise, however, a coinci- dence of circumstances so uncommon in themselves as to admit of some short devi- ation from this general rule. Among these, I deem myself authorized to number that occasion on which I have the honour of addressing you at present. We are assem- bled for a purpose intimately connected with matters of national consideration : namely, to humble ourselves at the footstool of uncreated Majesty; to deplore our own sins, and the sins of our people ; and to supplicate the blessing of heaven on our kiiig and country, the two prime objects of our earthly love. Things standing thus, I find myself con- strained for once briefly to start from my usual sphere. With a view to make my political moderation known to as many as condescend to hear me this day, and in or- der to rectify a few mistakes which have been industriously and unjustly circulated, I request leave to premise some necessary particulars declarative of my civil creed. For notwithstanding my religious and po- litical honesty have on more worldly occa- sions than one apparently stood in my way, yet, through the good hand of God upon me, it is my invariable rule to be strictly and in- violably transparent, even though it were to my own hindrance. We live at a time when virtue of every kind is (for the most part) literally and solely its own reward. And an exceeding great reward is most certainly and inseparably connected vvith it. For who can describe the sweetness of that moral joy which results from the testimony of con- science, that, in simplicity and godly sin- cerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have our conversation in the world ? With this simplicity, I observe, 1. That as I am, in the literal sense of the word, an Englishman, so 1 wish to be such in the best sense of it. Next to the gospel of Christ, I love and revere the constitution of my country. Consequently, 2. I am not a republican. On the con- trary, I am a royalist on principle. I have a most cordial and profound veneration both for the office and for the person of the king : and hold myself obliged, if necessity re- quired, to lay down my life in their just de- fence. Evei>y pulse I have sincerely and strongly beats for the present moderate episcopacy in the Church ; and for consis- titutioual monarchy in the state. Here, if I might be allowed a few mo- ments' digression, I would observe that the notion of a pure republic is a mere ulcn and no more. A commonwealth, truly and strictly so called, never yet subsisted, and never can subsist, exept in the brains of a few speculative men, and in such writings as those of Plato, and Sir Thomas More. The many were always statedly governed by the few : and alwavs must be, while men are men ; i. c. while Providence distributes wisdom, wealth, and power, with unequal hand. A whole nation can no more be civil governors than a whole Church can be clergymen, or all clergymen bishops. I once asked the most respectable republican in this kingdom, whether a single instance can be produced of a genuine republic in the whole compass of ancient or modern history f I knew the answei- must be m the negative-; and so it was. There were, I confess a few short periods when the Athe- nian administration approached the nearest, perhaps, of any other to an entire demo- cracy : but, even then, it fell extremely short of the name. In our own country, when the House of Commons, after the exe- cution of Charles I. assumed the sovereign power ; was England, even during the short continuance of that self-created authority, a real Republic Nay, verily. The three na- tions were three kingdoms stiU. They were goverrad by a multitude of kings instead of one. Though without the name and the splendours, the long parliament f ' til Crom- well tripped up their heels) possessed and exercised all the powers of the most abso- lute royalty : and he that has the substance need care but little for the shadow. Look at those nominal Republics which are now subsisting in several pai ts of Europe. Ask an inhabitant of Holland, of Genoa, of Ve- nice, Geneva, or of the Switz Cantons, whe- tl.ier the government there is completely popular ? No such thing. They are not Republics, but Oligarchies. And Oligarchy is, usually, a species of the most grievous and insufferable tyranny. 3. In my opinion, every true Englishman is a constitutionalist : or, one who considers that happy mixture of the regal, the aristocratic, and the popular rights, estab- lished in this kingdom, to be one of the best and noblest efforts of human wisdom and justice that ever did honour to the human understanding and to the human heart. Yet, let it be observed, that the persons who compose that most august threefold body are not (as some have inaccurately affirmeo) the constitution itself, but the natural and sworn guardians of it. 4. Though the constitution does not con- sist of the three estates, but the three estates derive their very being and importance from the constitution, still the health and safety of the constitution depend on the preservation 394 MORAL AND POLITICAL of that just balance and mutual counterpoise of power which this wise distribution of autho- rity was calculated to effectuate and maintain. If, in some remote age, the regal influence should absorb either the aristocratic or the representative branch of the legislature, or both ; on the other hand, sliould the higher or the lower house of parliament be, in some future period, sufficiently powerful and wick- ed (as the commons in the last centnry were) to annihilate the j'jst prerogratives of the Crown, or the just privileges of the other parliamentary estate ; the constitutional ba- lance will be broken : the several weights, by being thrown into otie scale, will prepon- derate too much one way ; and the sacred ark of generous and equal liberty will kick the beam. In the former case, posterity would be subject to the will of an individual tyrant : in the latter, to the still more terri- ble yoke of many. 6. I believe that the spirit and privileges of the English constitution are analogous to the vital fluids in an animal body : which ought, by a liberal and impartial circulation, to warm and invigorate not only the head and heart, but the meanest and remotest limb. Yea, every single hair is entitled, in its measure, to partake of the common supply. A motley empire, made up of slaves and freemen, could not, from the very nature of so heterogeneous a combination, continue long in that condition. Like the mongrel im- age in Nebuchadnezzar^s vision, it would soon fall and be broken. Despotism has ever proved an in.satiable gnlf. Thrnw ever so much into it, it would still yawn for more. Were liberty to perish irretrievably from any part of the English world, the whole would soon be deluged by the black sea of arbi- trary power. Moreover, Tna re* agitur, paries quum proximus ardet : " When your next neigh- bour's house is on fire, your own is in dan- ger."— Some years ago, a gentleman in Nottinghamshire who had injured one of his feet, by paring a nail to the ^uick, laughed on being told that there was danger of a mortification. " Be it so," said he ; " the foot is a long way from the heart." But, as distant as it was, the ascending mortification put a period to his life not many weeks after- ward. It holds as true in the body civil as in the body natural, that if one member suffer, all the members suffer with it. 6. The English constitution is a system ol qualified liberty. What is liberty? 1. Not an inflammatory turbulence of conduct ; ti(ir an unlimited freedom or indecency of speech ; nor a blind red-hot attachment to party. Party, as one well defines it is, " The madness of many for the gain of a few." Whereas true liberty consists in the legal safety and good order of each, for the advantage of the whole. 2. Liberty is not licentiousness, or a power of committing evil with impunity ; but the privilege of doing all the good we can ; and of enjoying, with- out molestation, and without fear, as much personal happiness as is consistent with the written law of God, the unwritten law of conscience, and the welfare of society at large. Now I would no more reprobate the true modest constitutional liberty, merely be- cause some mistaken zealots may, occa sionally, abuse it to licentiousness, than I would reject the scripture-doctrine of grace, because a few men of corrupt minds may possibly pervert it to Antinomianism. If you wish to know, clearly, what is comprized in the idea of Enghsh hberty, two or three hours' reading will, at any time, thoroughly inform you. Peruse Magna Charta, publicly signed by king John ; and afterwards confirmed, with still greater cir- cumstances of solemnity, by Henry III ; though execrably violated by both. To this, add a persual of the Petition of Right ; very seleranly, but not very sincerely, ratified and recognized by Charles I. — Then run over the Bill of Rights, which received either the hearty, or the dissembled, concurrence of Wilham III. And, lastly, make yourself acquainted with the coronation oath, taken by our succeeding monarchs. Whatever reaches fully to this fourfold standard is constitutional freedom. AU below this united mark is not liberty ; and all beyond it is, in legal construction, licentioumess. Can any thing be more reasonable, and more e«y, than for an Eng^lishman to devote about three hours, out of a whole lifetime, to the knowledge of the constitution of his country ? How astonishingly and how de- plorably general is our politi al ignorance as a nation ; though most of us affect to value ourselves on the excellency of our civil fabric I Like the Jews of old, too many Britons profess to worship they know not what : and too many others set but a slight esteem on a constitution which they would almost worship, if they knew its worth. How inexcusable is English igno- rance, when the shoit labour and trivial expense of so few hours' attention would dissipate the mental cloud, and turn the darkness into day ! 7. Intimately associated with civil, is religious, liberty. This consists, (1.) In that natural and indefeasible right which every reasonable man has from God (and which no human authority can lawfully take away or alwidge). of thinking for himself, of determining foi himself, and of decently declaring his ideas concerning all and every thing that relates to sacred matters. (2.') In worshipping liod, both privately and publicly, according to the MODERATION RECOMMENDED. 395 dictates of his own conscience ; and that as safely, and as fearlessly as St. Paul preached in his hired house at Rome, viz. aKwXvruig, without impedient, and no man forbidding him. Every species of positive penalty for dif- fering modes of faith and worship is at once anti-christian and impolitic, irrational and unjust. While any religious denomination of men deport themselves as dutiful subjects to the state, and as harmless members of the community, they are entitled to civil protection and to social esteem ; whether they be Protestants, Papists, Jews, Mahome- tans, or Pagans. In this respect, among many others, the British legislature, for near a century past, have eminently made their moderation known to all men. And Judge Blackstone, in a treatise which does equal honour to his country and to himself, has lately observed that, " undoubtedly, all persecution and oppression of weak con- sciences, on the score of religious persua- sions, are highly unjustifiable upon every principle of natural reason, civil hberty, or sound religion. But" (as he justly adds) " care must be taken not to carry this in- dulgence into such extremes as may endan- ger the national Church. — There is ahv;iys a difference to be made between toleration and establishment. " Certainly our ancestors were mistaken in their plans of compulsion and intolerance. The sin of schism, as such, is by no means the object of temporal coercion and punish- ment. If, through weakness of intellect, through misdirected piety, through perverse- ness and acerbity of temper, men quaiTel with the ecclesiastical establishment, the civil magistrate has nothing to do with it unless their tenets and practice are such as threaten ruin or disturbance to the state. He is bound indeed to protect the established Church : and if thus can be belter effected by admit- ting none but its genuine members to offi- ces of trust and emolument, he is certainly at liberty so to do : the disposal of offices being matter of favour and discretion. But this point being once secured, all persecution for diversity of opinions, however ridiculous or absurd they may be, is contrary to every principle of sound pohcy and civil freedom. The names and subordination of the clergy, the posture of devotion, the materials and colour of the minister's garment, the joining in a known or an unknown form of prayer, and other matters of the same kind, must be left to the option of every man's private judgment (7)." If we consider this branch of Christian moderation merely in a civil view, nothing will be found more politically wise. The remark of a late (r) philosopher must ever hold good : that " The true secret for the discreet management of Sectarists is to tole- rate them." By which means they are ren- dered less considerable, and of course less formidable. The more the children of Is- rael were oppressed in Egypt, the more they multiplied and grew. Let us now take a survey of moderation, not as a public, but as a private virtue : or rather as a Christian grace, inspired by the Holy Spirit into the hearts of those who are born of God ; and shining in the tempers, words and works of his elect, regenerated children. St. Paul addressed not only the text, but this whole Epistle, to the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi ; and whom he declares to have been partakers of the same grace with himself. To these, whose names were in the book of life, and whose evident justifi- cation by Christ's righteousness entitled them to rejoice in the Lord always, he deli- vers that amiable precept. Let your modera- tion [to tvuiKig vixtov, your lenity, candour, tenderness, equity, and condescending meek- ness] be known unto all men. The lovely constellation of graces, com- prised in this expressive term, are what the apostle means by our participating the mind that was in Christ : even that wisdom from above, which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated ; full of mercy and good fruits, without parti-ality and without hypocrisy. It includes those effects of the blessed Spirit's influence, which are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, and CI ucifixion to the flesh with its affections aiitl lusts. Would you see the import of this sig jifi- cant word exemplified to the hfe Con.sult the following character, or moral portrait of the Messiah ; whom as Man and Mediator r^id the Father thus prophetically described : (*) Behold my servant, whom I sustain ; my elect, in whom my soul delighteth. I have put my Spirit upon him : he shall bring forth judgment [or, make known my gospel and purposes of grace] to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets [t. e. He shall be all mildness, affability, and patience. No bois- terous wrath, nor tumultuous noise, shall discolour any part of his behaviour. Though reviled, he will not revile again ; nor threaten when he suffers. He will avoid every ap- pearance of ostentation, and be as humble as he is good. No fierce opprobrious lan- guage shall issue from his lips. Not the smallest rising of malevolence shall violate his purity of heart. Invincible calmness shall dignify his conduct, and candour dwell upon his tongue], A bruised reed shall he (y) Commentaries, Book iv. Char. 1. (s) I«a. xlii. 30b MORAL AND POLITICAL not break, and the smoking flax shiill he not quench. He shall bring foi th judgment unto truth. May we derive from his fulness, and, like him, thus make our moderation known unto all men ! That (to use the words of a good man long since with God), "As paper receives from the press letter for letter; as wax receives from the seal mark for mark ; and as a mirror reflects face for face, so we raay receive from Christ grace for grace ; and have in ourselves a measure of every virtue that shone so bright in him ! " By viewing the features of some persons you may know from what family they sprang ; and by observing the moral walk of religious professors you may discern to whom they belong. As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. All who have God for their Father, and Christ for their Saviour, have, sooner or later, the Holy Ghost for their Sanctifier ; and their sancti- fication by him is the etfect and evidence of their adoption. By nature the children of God themselves Dear the in.ageof the earthly Adam: butin the very moment of their con- vei sion hy insuperable grace they begin to hear the image of the heavenly. The seal of divine influence is set upon their hearts ; and their lives thenceforward correspond to the transforming efficacy of that sacred im- pression. Being melted down by penitence and conviction of sin, they are cast afresh, and (<) delivered into the gospel mould, where they are shaped and fashioned into vessels of honour tit for the master's use. Like the scion, they are severed from the sinful stock on which they grew; and, being in- serted into Christ the true vine, they bring forth fruit to God. As when a river is turned into a new channel the stream forsakes its ancient bed and pursues a course unknown until then, so the soul of man, when its native captivity to sin and death is turned as the rivers in the south, flows back to God, from whom it ran bf fore ; nor ceases to flow until it has gained the ocean of infinite good. This is the inseparable eftect of union and communion with him. The glorious liberty of the children of God is a liberty from the darkness of unbelief, and from the bondage of moral corruption into the light of faith, the fire of love, and the law of righteousness. That question in the prophet, Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots ? admits of a favourable solution. The converting Spirit of God does that for us which we could never do for our- selves. He makes the ^thinpian in a moral sense, fair as the driven snow, and renders the spotted leopard spotless, in comparison vO St. Paul expresses tbis idea very finely, in Rom. vi. 17. But God be thanked, that Ithough) ye were the slaves of sin, yet in cousoqueuce of your of what he was. The vessals of iniquity be- come vessels of glory ; and the soul tha< once cleaved to the di.st of sensualitr, and lay dead in trespasses and sins, is quickenetl from above, and made to sit in heavenly places with Christ Jesus. When the citadel of the human heart is taken by grace the enemy's colours are displaced ; Satan's usurped authority is superseded ; the stan- dard of the cross is erected on the walls ; and the spiritual rebel takes the vow of wil- ling allegiance to Christ his rightful sove- reign. The strong holds of sin, on one hand, and of self-righteousness on the other, are battered down ; and the soul, from that blessed moment made free indeed, cries out. Other lords have had dominion over me ; but the darkness is past, and the true light now shines : the snare is broken, and 1 am deli- vered. From this experience of the divine power in our own hearts, we cannot but adopt the celestial anthem. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will towards men ! Our moderation becomes known to all ; and some of the practical effects produced by, and connected with, that spirit of holy mo- deration are these that follow : Where lust, that fiery serpent, was wont to crawl, divine love kindles her hallowed flame and raises the affections as on eagles' wings to heaven. Where unbelief, blind and sullen as the mole, lay wrapt in malicious gloom, loving darkness rather than light, and seeking to undermine what she had not eyes to see ; faith ditTuses the brightness of celestial day, and leads the willing soul to him who bouaht her with his blood. Where insensibility, thoughtless as the bird that hastens to the snare, and gay as a victim crowned for the slaughter, sported on the precipice of destruction, and danced on the verge of death ; serious conviction fixes her keen but salutary weapon : and filial fear keeps the avenues of the converted person's heart, and the actions of bis iile, in powerful but sweet restraint. Where envy pined, where malice hissed, where slander sharpened her tonyue, and pride, that bloated snake, lifted her swelling crest : universal charity throws wide her arms, humility stoops to the tenderest offi- ces of beneficence ; and dove-like meekness smiles v/ith benignity in her heart, and the law of candour upon her lips. Where intemperance mixed the intoxi- cating bowl, and lawless riot pushed the su- perfluous glass ; seeking to drown every thought of eternity, and to sink the poor re- mains of human dignity in the poisonous regeneration from above! ye have, from tl>e heart, obeyed that, mould jf doctrine into which ye were delivered. MODERATION RECOMMENDED. 397 draught : there religious moderation marks out the limits, mindful of that more tha'u golden rule, Wlietlier ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory ot God. Where profaneiiess, assuming tlie ma^k of wit, spa« nei) the irreligious jest, and so- liciied the hellish laugh ; prostituting per- haps even the hingiiage of Scripture to the pui p(i>es of licentious mirth, and playing on the very words of the Holy Ghost ; trifling with sacred subjects at which angels tremble, and lightly mentioniny that adorable Name at which angels bow ; there, fiom the mo- ment of conversion, grace inirodnces a total change. The reneu'td sinm r :ihhors him- self, as in dust and a^llL'S, fm all tlmt he has done; and can never sufficiently adore, ad- mire, and revere that infinite goodness, which instead of turning him into lit II has turned him :0 God, and tnade liim a living monu- ment, not of deserved vengeance, but of un- merited mercy. His heart, which until then was a sink of impuiity and prolanation, is fansformed into a house of prayir; and his moutli, once the stat ot bla>pheniy, is con- secrated into an altar of praise. Where avarice sat brooding, tenacious as death, and insatiate as the grave ; unfeeling as marble, and deaf to the cries of disti ess as the adder that stops her ear ; discieet libeiality unlocks tlie heart, and well di- rected beneficence extends her hand to be- stow. The language of the soul is similar to that of Zaccheiis : Behold, Lord, tl)e half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man, by false accusation, 1 restore liim four-fold. The true believer, like his adorable Saviour, goes about doing good, and seeking whom he may relieve. Where discontent, like a wild bull in a net, laged and struggled, turning the rod of afiliction into a serpent, and charging Provi- dence with folly ; reclining patience kisses the hand that smites, and, knowing that in- finite wisdom and goodne^s have mint; led the draught, not only receives, but even relishes, thi' ('U|) ; wliile celestial hope casts her ar.- chor on the inestimable piomise of Him u ho says, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee ; and who has immutably declaied tliat all things, without < xi c pticn, work together for good to tlieni that love (iod, to them that are the called according to bis purpose. Thus docs the follower of Christ, in the communicated strength of the Holy One, take up his cross ; content to bear it as long, and to carry it as far, as God's unerring will shall please'; " Nor tliinks it cliance, nor mui-mnrs at the load ; hut knows wliat uiaii calls lortune is froiu God." Where saci ilegious impiety once robbed Jehovah of his own day, and profaned the Sabbath, either by rioting and excess, or by travelling, or by the transaction of worldly business, or by making it an opportunity of recreation and idle amusement ; thus render- ing the best of days subservient to the worst of purposes, either of atrocious guilt, or of criminal insignificance ; either basely selling, or unprofitably squandei ing, those precious, those irietrievable, hours which should be appropriat< (l to the gloi y of God, and to the spiritual improvement of the soul ; — there, religious regard to divine appointment, and love to the gracious Appointer, consirain the Christian to keep the Lord's day holy to the Lord, and to cultivate an habitual, increas- ing fitness for the enjoyment of that Sab- batism, that everlasting rest, which remain- eth for the people of God. In a woid, where impenitency, armed with ten-fold brass, stiflTetied her neck, and withdrew her shoulder from the yoke of obfdience ; — the once obdurate sinner, being made willing in the day of God's power, cries out, with vanquislied Paul, Lord, what wouldst thou have me to do ? Tears of con- trition flow like water from the smitten rock ; repentance strikes her conscious breast ; and devotion darts her aspiring eyes to heaven. May those of us who have hitherto been unconcerned about the great work of conver- sion beg of (iod to shew them the things belonging to their peace, ire death makes them wise indeed ; wise, perhaps, too late ! And may such of us as at e awakened by grace to the expeiimental knowledge, love, and imitation of Christ, be led farther and deeper into acquaintance with God, and communion uith his Blessed Spirit : gaining day by day brighter evidences of our elec- tion to eternal life, and more substantial marks of our interest in the covenant of grace. Pi ay for the fuU assurance of faith, for the feeling of (iod's favour to you in Christ Jesus, and for the knowledge of sal- vation hy the forgiveness of sins. There aie indeed seasons of darkness and distress, wher ein God's dearest people may be tempted to fear that their mark is not the mark of liis children ; and to say, with them in the Psalmist, We see not our tokens. But let not the doubting believer tliinis himself an alien because he doubts : nor let him imagine that because he sees not bis tokens, he tin refore has nc tokens to see. A hi oken and a contrite heart is an infallible token for good. For justification, fly to the righteousness of Jesus. If you cannot wrap yourself in it, yet throw yourself upon it, and he will not cast you out. For sanctifi- cation, commit yourself in the diligent use of means to the pouer and faithfulness of the eternal Sjiirit, who has inviolably pro- mised and covenanted to write his law upon the hearts of his people. He will i ot send you empty away, nor permit you to seek his face in vain. To seek his face with fasting and sup- 398 REFLECTIONS ON THE plication and mourning, is the duty, and I trust will be the grand business, of us all this oay. And reason enough we have to pros- trate ourselves before the God of armies and the King of kings : for, even as individuals, and much more as a nation, our iniquities are increased and our trespasses are grown up unto the heavens. " What land so favoured of the skiee ? And yet what land so yile V Sin is the source of all the temporal evils which we are met to deprecate. Mr. Soarae Jenyns has justly reminded us tliat, " If Christian nations were nations of Christians, all war would he impos-sible and unknown among them." Be it then our prayer, on this solemn, this interesting occasion, that as the far greater part of the inhabitants of our island are nominal Christians, and have been baptized with water into the outward pro- fession of the gospel; God would please to make us Christians indeed and in truth, by baptizing us with the Holy Ghost, and with the mystic fire of his sanctifying love. We might then hope soon to see the day when war shall be made to cease ; when our suords shall be beat into ploughshares, and our spears bent into pruning hooks. Phoxphnre, redde diem ; May our loved and lionourt-d sovereign quickly behold his empire retiem- bling a city that is at unity with itself. Until that most desirable period shall arrive, let our moderation as Christians, and our loyalty as subjects, be known unto all men, by every word of our lips, and by every action of our lives : ever mindful of this grand scriptural maxim, that we cannot truly be said to fear God, unless we also love the brotherhood, and honour the king. I shall only detain you a moment or two longer by observing that you have now an opportunity of adding another good work to those in which you have already been en- gaged. When Cornelius fasted and prnyed, he crowned those duties with shewing mercy to the poor r and an angel was sent to him from heaven, acquainting him that his pray- ers and his alms-deeds weie ascended as a memorial before God. The Ethelburga So- ciety, who are at the expense of supporting a Sunday evening lecture, and of maintaining a charity-school for the education, board, clothing, and apprenticing, of no fewer than fifty - two children of both sexes, request youi- benevolent contribution, to assist tliem in the suppoi t of this noble and eminently useful institution. I beseech you therefore, brethren, rightly to improve the present sea- son of national humiliation, by duly consi- dering these awful words of God with which I shall conclude : Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not ? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge ? Behold, in the day of your fast, ye find plea- sure, and exact all the things wherewith ye grieve others. BehoW, ye fast for strife ai\d debate, and to smite with the fist of wick-jd- ness. Ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. — Wilt thou call this a fast and an acceptable day unto the Lord ? Is n(jt this the fast that I have chosen ; to loose the bands of wicked- ness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke ? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house ? when thou seest the naked that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself fiom thy own flesh ? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy health shall spring forth speedily. Thou slialt call, and the Lord shall answer ; thou shalt cry, and he shall say Here I am : if thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity. And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul ; then shall thy light ri«e in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon-day. And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought : and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not. REFLECTIONS ON THE CONVERSION OF MATTHEW, RECORDED IN LUKE T. 27, 28. "After these things he [i.e. Jesus] went forth, and saw a puhlicnn named Levi, sitting at the re- ceipt of custom: and he said unto him, Fotlutv me, Atid he left all, rose up, and followed him," Divine grace is the same thing in all ages ; and, when conferred in an equal degree, has the san.e effect in all persons. The reason of this is evident : namely, because the spi- ritual and moral depravity that flows from original sin being as great now as it was the day Adam fell, the very same efficacy of grace is stiU requisite to subdue it that was requisite from the beginning. The pri- mary disease continuing, the pi imary remedy is as absolutely necessary now ai it was at first. Besides, the blessed Spirit of God, who is the nioi al physician of souls, and the author of all that is heavenly and spiritual in the human heart, is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever : and so are his ordinary ope- rations. Sin and grace are things unalter- able in their nature : the l evolution of ages makes no difference. Man is as much a fallen creature at present as he was four or five thousand years ago : nor can less suffice to his renewal now than was necessaiy to his renewal then. This exertion of supernatural grace upon the soul in regeneration is what divines mean CONVERSION OF MATTHEW. ?99 by cffectiml calling. All mankind without exception, God's elect as well as the rest, are by nature dead in sin, and alienated from tiie love of Chi ist and heavenly things : nor is the human will, though free enough to sin, fiee to spiritual good, until the arm of the Lord, or almighty power from on high, is revealed in the soul, and regenerates it after the image of God. In the article of first conversion man is nothing, and grace does all. What has been hitherto observed is a natural introducticm to that concise but comprehensive piece of sacred history now under consideration. " After these things," i. e. after the Son of God had been preach- ing to the Pharisees ; and, among other miracles, had wrought a supernatural cure on the person of a bed-rid paralytic ; " after these things he went forth" by the sea side, as we learn from St. Mark ; "and saw a publican named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom : " inn to TtXuiviov, at the custom- house, or tax-office, erected for the payment and receiving of the toll imposed by the Roman government on all that passed and repassed the sea, or lake of Galilee. In this place, and to receive this toll, sat Levi, or Matthew : the same vvho was honoured with a subsequent call to the apostleship ; and who wrote the gospel which at this day bears his name. Methinks I see the busy officer with his book of entry before him, receiving and noting down the payments of the throng- ing passengers : when lo, in the midst of the hurrying employ, the Son of God comes by. Matthew perhaps at first looks up ; and, mistaking the Lord of life for a common passenger, holds out his hand ex- pecting to receive the usual tax. But the blessed Jesus had a design in coming which Matthew little thought. He came to make the publican a saint and an apostle. Our Lord's going that way was casual and acci- dental to outward appearance : but the true reason of his going was to call and convert a sinner whose name was in the book of life. Matthew was one of the sheep of Christ, given him by the Father, and marked out for glory, and who was therefore to be called by grace from the darkness of unbelief, and from the servitude of sin, into the light of faith and the liberty of holiness. And noiv the blessed moment was come. The time of love before appointed, the season in which he was to be savingly turned to God was arrived, and the efficacious grace of the Holy Spirit made its way into his heait when Christ accosted him with that unexpected, but resistless word, " Follow me." When Christ thus addresses himself to the soul of man, divine grace at the same time lays hold of the heart and captivates the affections into a sweet and willing com- pliance. It is most absurd in theory, and evidently false in fact, to suppose that when God speaks internally he may speak in vain. So far is this from being true, that no word of his shall fall to the ground, nor return again empty, but assuredly accomplish the end for which it was sent. No one who en- tertains a becoming idea of the great God will venture to deny the freeness, the efficacy, and the independency of his operation ; and that when he will work, in vain do the pot- sherds of the earth set themselves in array against him. But, though the event is thus infallibly secured, and, when the influence of grace is savingly exerted, conversion as the effect must necessarily Jind suiely follow (since it is simply impossible that the purpose and the agency of an all-wise and all-powerful Being .should be defeated and miscarry) ; yet this infers no sort of violence on the human will, since all God's dealings with his rational creatures in a way of grace are wisely and wonderfully suited to the facul- ties with which he has thought proper to endue them. In regeneration the will of man is not forced but renewed ; it is not compelled, but amended and set right ; in consequence of which it spontaneously directs its future motions to God, heaven, and tilings divine. When our Lord said to Matthew, " Fol- low me ;" though an invisible power accom- panied the word to the heart, as the plumage wings an arrow to the mark, yet there was no compulsion on Matthew, he was not for- cibly compelled, hut by grace willingly and effectually inclined to follow the Lord that called him. He was not dragged, but drawn, and, being drawn, he ran. From this view of the case, I cannot for ray own part but be of opinion that the laboured attempts of some learned men to reconcile the efficacy of God's grace with the liberty of the human will, are to the full as needless as the methods they have fre- quently taken to do it are unscriptural and dangerous. For to make a shew of recon- ciling what were never at variance is needless ; and to represent the divine will as depend- ing on that of man, is fundamentally subver- sive of those high and great apprehensions of the Deity which even the religion of nature dictates. We know that every reason- able creature is endued with a will, or facul- ty of disliking, on one hand, and of desiring on the other. By virtue of this es.^ential power, the vvill chooses that which is mo.st agreeable to it, and delights in what it chooses. But then this choice is determined to do good or evil, according to the moral and spiritual state in which a man is. In a state of unregeneracy, his will and desire are carried toward that which is evil ; since as 100 REFLECTIONS ON THE is the fountain such is the stream ; and the ir.an himself beinfr moially corrupt, his fa- cullies and his actions must he so too. In a state all i.thers odious to the Jewish nation, and at the same time infamous to a proverb. We may suppose that it was a principle of covrtoiisness and attachment to the woild which induced Mat- thew, uho, as both his names declare, was an Israelite by birth, to engas;e in a way of life which could not fail of rendering liim hateful to his countrymen, who considered every publican, and more especially if he was a native Jew, as a tool to foreign tyran- ny, and a betrayer of his country. Not- withstanding the odium and detestation he was sure to incur. Matthew previous to his converion accepted of the office, and in all pro- bability was asavaricious and oppressive in the execution of it as the rest of his hire- ling brethren. To jee such a man, and in the very midst of his actual employ wrought upon at once by a word speaking ; so wrought upon as instantly to leave all, rise up and follow that blessed, but despised person who had not vrheie to lay his head ; all this evi- dently shows that a conversion so speedy and so total, and of such a perscjn too, could be effected by no less power than that which is omnipotent, and may vie with the greatest miracles which the Son of God performed. It is true indeed tliere was something extraordinary in the call of Matthew. He was called not only to be a follower of Christ, but (ultimately) to be an apostle likewise ; and it was this that justified his forsaking all secular employment, that he might be more at hherty to attend his Divine Master, and then to diffuse his gospel. But 1 ap- prehend that with regard to the conversion of Matthew as a Christian, the grace and power by which it was brought about, were neither more nor less than must be exerted by the good Spirit of God, in order to the conversion of any person whatever. Besides, it is more than probable that Matthew's call to the apostleship was sub- sequent to that call of which the text speaks. For aaght appears to the contrary, this history simply relates to his conversion as a man, not to his mission as a public min- ister, for (except in the single instance of Judas) Christ made men believers before he sent them forth as preachers. It would seem that when the Son of God said " FoUow me," a call to faith and sanctification was chiefly meant ; which graces are equally necessary to the salvation of one as weU as another. Hence our Lord declares, concerning all his people « ithout exception, " My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me;" and St. Paul exhorts us to be " follow- ers," or imitators " of God, as dear children ;" for it is ceitain that the Saviour of sinners says in effect to every sinner he saves, " Fol- low nie" in holiness, in iove, in every good word and ivork : and that grace which stands connected with everlasting life, never fails of iniiucingthose i\hi) partake if it "to deny un- g.)dliiiessand vvorldl.v lusts, and to livesolierly, righteously, and godly, in th^ piesent world ;" to be ornaments to the gospel they profess, and to walk in the blameless footsteps of him who hath redeemed them unto God by his blood, and by whose power and grace they are called CONVERSION OF MATTHEW. t< glory and virtue. Wo iire not indeed rcquir- ed, like Mutihew, to renounce our teinpoial vocHtions, and bid adieu to that lawful st:itc of life and honest labour in which I'rovi- dence hath |)!aced us, for we may rise up and follow Christ withifteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb, for ever and ever.'' LIFE A JOURNEY. " They went forth to go into the Land of Canaan ; and into the Land of Canaan they came." Genesis xu. S. God having decreed to put Abram's pos- terity into posse^sion of the country since called Palestine, commanded that patriarch to leave Chaldea, his native land, and to set out with his family for the place whither Providence should lead hirn. Abram, who had obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful, was not disobedient to the heavenly vision : but, as the inspired penman informs us, he took Sarai, his wife, and Lot, his brother's son, and all the sub- stance they had gathered, and the souls, or persons, which they had gotten in Haran ; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came. The same unchangeable God who had promised to bring them into that lanrl, actually brought them into the land he had promised : and they not only sat out for Canaan, but arrived safely there, according to the purpose and promise of him who had bid them go. Now, since Abram is distinguished in Scripture as fa'her of the faithful ; or as one whose stedfast unsuspecting confidence in the promises was singularly eminent ; and whose faith for that reason stands on record as a pattern to the people of Christ in all succeeding generations ; since he was like- wise a type of the Church collective, which consists of and takes in all true believers, from the beginning to the end of time ; and as the land of Canaan to which Abram travelled is represented in Scripture as a figure of heaven, that better country, to which Eill God's elect people are bound, and to which they shall all be led : for these reasons we shall, I apprehend, put no force on the words of that text which stands as a motto to this essay, nor strain them beyond their due meaning, if (beside their literal signi- fication as a history) we consider them in a spiritual light, as imp Tling the safety of LlFi; A JOURNEY. 403 tliose who, in consequence of being called foi tli from a state of nature by convoi tini; grace, are enabled to set their faces Sion- ward, and to enter on a journey to the king- dom of God. The chief business, thei efore, of the present attempt shall be to shew that, to every real Christian, the present life is only a journev to a better ; and that all they who do in earnest set out for the heavenly Canaar, the Jerusalem which is above, shall certainly get safe to their jour- ney's end, and not one of them perish by the "-ar. Whan a merchant sends out his fleet on : trading voyage he is not sure of the event. Ills ships may arrive at the desired haven, and return with the wished increase ; or they may founder on their passage, and both cargo and crews be lost. — Or, when a person takes a far jr.iirney, he has no assurance of safety. He cannot pre-discern what is before him ; nor whether he shall come back to his house in peace or no. Such is the uncer- tainty of earthly transactions with regard to our foreknowledge of them. We cannot tell what a day, wliat a moment, may bring forth. The issue of things lies hid in the womb of futurity, till Providence and time miike manifest the determinations of God, by bringing those determinations to pass. Not so clouded are the better things which relate to a better life. The feeblest seeker of salvation by the blood of the Lamb, and the meanest hungerer after the kingdom and righteousness of Jesus, may be assured before-hand that the kingdom shall be Ids. The inseparable blessings of grace and glory are styled the sure mercies of David (Acts xiii. 34.) rn oiTia Aa€id ra 'o-t-a, the sacred [t. e. the inviolably certain, and] the faithful thiags of David, i. e. of Christ : or, more conformably to the original passage in Isaiah, the sure benefits of David : meaning, the infallible certainty of those benefits (such as pardon, justuficatioa, saacufiiiatioa, final preservation, and eternal happiness), which are secured to the Church by virtue of that unalterable covenant subsisting between the Father, the Spirit, and Christ the anti-type of David, in behalf of all who shall be made to believe through grace. This everlasting covenant of peace and salvation, entered into with God the Son, by the other two divine persons, St. Paul had in view, when he says, God, willing to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise, the immutabihty of his counsel [/3a\^c, of his decrop], confirmed it with an oath, that by two unchangeable things [namely, his de- cree and oath], wherein it is impossible for God to falsify, we might have strong conso- lation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us, Heb. vi. 17, 18. Now, as .Abram literally sat forward from the land of his nativity • so, in a figura'ivo sense, does every person who is eflfectually t alknl hy grace By nature, we are insen- sible of our sinful state, and ignorant of our c.Mreme danger ; impenitent, and unbe- lieving ; and (which argues the utmost blind- ness and depravation) self righteous, though unholy. This is a compendious map of the natural man. He is a native of Mount Sinai; born under the covenant of works ; fondly expecting to be ju.stified by the deeds of the law ; though he has broken the law, more or less, in every particular. From this legal state of insensibility, im- penitence, unbelief, self-righteousness, and bondage to sin, every child of God is deli- vered, by the effectual operation of the Holy Ghost ; through whose almighty agency, we are caused to turn our backs on the bliiKl road we were pursuing before, and to steer a diS^erent course. No longer insensible of our real condition, we feel that every step we took was leading us farther and farther from God and happiness in heaven. Igno- rant no longer of the danger to which we were obnoxious by reason of original and actual sin, we have recourse to Christ alone as the way, the truth, and the hfe. No mute impenitent, we bewail the depravity of our hearts, and the transgressions of our hands : we love the rectitude we hated, and hate the sins we loved. Retrieved fiom absolute unbelief, we feel the necessity of Christ, and throw ourselves upon the grace of God in him, for deliverance from the wrath to come. No longer habitually self-righteous, we not only most vvilhngly submit to, but most thankfully embrace, and most devotedly rest upon, and triumph in, the righteousness of Christ, as the sole procuring cause of our acceptance in the Father's sight. And no longer quite unholy, we pant after inward conformity to the divine image, and outward conformity to the divine law : thoroughly sensible that without holiness no man can see the Lord ; and that faith, without works, is dead. Whosoever is hrought thus far, is min-e than half-way to the kingdom of heav..n. He has made, through grace, a good progi cs-s on the road to Sion ; and shall go on, from strength to strength, till he appear before the God of gods in glory. When this happy change is effected, and the converted person begins to evidence his new birth by forsaking his old companions in sin, and by leading a new life ; dilTerent people will pass difl"erent censures upon his conduct. One will without ceremony dub him a new-fashioned Methodist. Another will set him down for an old-fashioned Pu- ritan. A third wiU roundly pronounce him a madman, that has lost his senses by being righteous over-much. A fourth, who has more politeness and less ill-nature than the rest, will say to him, I wonder how a person 2D2 404 LIFE A JOURNEY. of your good sense in other things, can be so precise. You will hurt your(i() nerves, and damp your spirits. There is no occasion for all this ado. Take a chetrful glass! Give the rein to your appetites ! and make a merry life of it, thouf;h it be a short one. Thus will multitudes endeavour by vari- ous methods, to call the traveller back, and to diveit him from his Christian course. But he still holds on his way : answering as he passes. We shall see whose life will be merriest in the end. Yet let not the follower of Christ cause the way of truth to be ill spoken of, or bring an evil report on the good land, by needless rigour and by aft'ected severity. Do not sullen- ly reject the gifts of Providence, under a pre- tence of superior sanctity : but use them with- out abusing them. If you have them not, be not anxious after them. If you have them, enjoy them in the fear, and to the glory, of God. There is a sober, restrained sense in which a true believer may say with the poet. The blessings thv free bounty givei. Lei me i.ol cast a,vay : To e°ijoy!»'to obcj.""" Receive gratefully. Distribute cheerfully. Enjoy innocently. Give thanks incessantly. When you set out for heaven, do not set up for a monk : nor look upon those things as criminal which the word of God does not declare to be so. Gnat-strainers are too often camel-swallowers : and the Pharisaical mantle of superstitious austerity is vei y fre- quently a cover for a cloven foot. Beware then of driving too furiously at first setting out. Take the cool of the day. Begin as you can hold on. I kneiv a lady who, to prove herself perfect, ripped off her flounces and would not wear an ear-ring, a necklace a ring, or an inch of lace. Ruffles were Babylonish. Powder was aiiti-christian. A ribband « as carnal. A snuff-box smelt of the bottomless pit. And yet under all this parade of outside humility, the fair ascetic was . But I forbear entering into parti- culars. Suffice it to say, that stie was a con- cealed Antinomian. And I have known too many similar instances. Take heed however, O believer in Christ, of verging to the opposite extreme. Be- ware of a supine, lukewarm, libertine spirit. Watch unto prayer, guard against negligence. Advance not to the uttermost bounds of your liberty. It is a just remark, which I have somewhere met with, thai the best way to be secure from falling into a u eU is not to ven- ture too near the brink. Swim not with the stream, if the tide roll downward ; neither follow a multitude to do evil. It is the duty (u) The late Dr. E n. bishop of St navids, dissuaited a lady from h.'.-. ina \lr. Whitheld pi c;,cb. for fear it mi^'-Ut hurt !»<■!■ nen-es. liut v.-i,at was this, wben weiglte.t Ki^iiitiat the pi:Ty and reliiiicr. of a great chiirchmiin now iii-ina' ! who, no long^er of a Christian not to be ashamed of being' singularly good : especially in an age like this, when so many are not ashamed of being eminently bad. Better go with a few to heaven, than to go with much and polite company to hell. He that fears men, and seeks to please ii.en at the expense of gos- pel truths, or of good morals, is not an honest man, much less a ."^eivant of Christ. And though in matters of mere indifi'erence you ate not ab>oliitely btmnd to abridge your li- berty as a Ctiri>tian, nor is it meet that you should affect to be L^ood any more than to be wise, above that which is written ; yet if you find (as in some iiistunces, you probably will) that even things in them>elvfs indifferent prove a snare, an entang'ement, and a hin- derance to you, in lunning the race that is set before you ; pluck out those things, be they what they may, and cast them from you : though they be useful as a right hand, or tender as a riglit eye. In a word, endeavour to hit the just medium ; so as neither to make too much haste, nor too little speed : neither to loiter, nor to run yourself out of breath. If the behever's journey should prove a long one, i. e. should be live to be far ad- vanced in years, he must expect to meet with diversity of paths. The face of the country will not always be tlie same. Even with regard to temporal things, perhaps, he may experience a vicissitude of ups and downs. Sometimes the road will go rough, sometiii es smooth. To-day it may be he is high on ilie ii.ount ; to-morrow low in the valley. Now his H ay is carpeted with moss : anon it is planted with the pricking briar and the grieving thorn. But remember, O child (if (iod, that both one and the other is thy Father's ground ; that thou art still in the land of Providence, and that the land of Providence is also a land of grace to them who are strangers and pilgrims upon earth. So likewise in a spiritual sense, when faith is in lively exercise, ive may be said to travel through a rich, level, open country ; where all is easy, light-ome, and pleasant. Soon perhaps may faith sicken (sicken it may, but, blessed be God, it cannot die) and hope may flag its wing : fear may set upon tbee, as a strong man armed, and the overshadow- ings of doubt may for a while eclipse thy comforts. In that case, let the believer still go forward as well as he can. I he way will mend, and the prospect brighten, in God's good time. And in the mean while that piecious promise will be fnlfilled. Thy shoes shall be iron at d brass ; and as is ihy day, so shall thy strength be. Deut. xxxiii. 2.5 If thou canst not go on, sit down : but let it a?o than the very last month that ever -wss (if:, in the month of .Au;rust, 1775.1 actually said to a lady of qiialit , " Do r.ot t II uie of St Paol madam : it wDuId have beii; h j-p^ '"-r t\:e Chiistian ibi;rili, if St. Paul had ni \vr wiote a line ol Ins h] isUps." LIFE A JOURNEY 40t> be bv the way-side. Wait : but let it be at J;iC(.'b's well. I'ly the ordiriiii-.cvs of God, and the God of ordinances will come to thee and bless ll ec. When jioor Hagar, over- vvhclnu'd with (li^lle^-. of mind and quite ex- hausted with falii,aic of body, threw herself on the ground unable to «all< a step farther, an angel was sent to p 'int her to a fountain whicli she knew not of, and to give her tlie oil of joy for mourning, and a garment of piaise fur the spirit ot heaviness. GoJly sorrow ever was and ever will be the pe- culiar care and the tendei'esi; object of Almighty love. Travellers need not be told that the weather is not always uniformly the same. At times, the affections of a saint are warm, sublime, and strongly drawn up to God and divine things. Anon, his affections may gra- vitate, grow numbed and cold; and, like an eagle that is pinioned, be scarce able to cieep where once they used to fly. Vet be not cast down. You may, like Samson, be shorn of your locks for a season, but they will grow again, and your strength shall re- turn as heretofore. Remember that com- fortable frames, though extremely desirable, are not the foundation of your safety. Our best and ultimate happiness is grounded on an infinitely firmer basis than any thing in us can supply. The immutability of God, the never failing efficacy of Christ's media- torial work, and the invariable fidelity of the Holy Ghost, aie tlie triple rock on which thy salvation stands. Whence that of the apo>tle : The foundation of the Lord [i. e. ti e decree, or covenant of the Lord] stand- eth sure ; having this seal. The Lord kiiow- eth them that are his. And again: Though we bi lieve not [thou;ih we may occasionally reel and stagger and faint] yet he [faith's unchangeable author and immoveable sup- porter] abideth faithful, and cannot deny him- self. Was he to deny his decree, he must deny himself: for his decree is himself decree- ing. But he cannot do this. He cannot forego his covenant : for his covenant is himself co- venanting. He cannot reverse his promise : for his promise is himself promising. Con- sequently, every believer is safe and can never be ultimately left or forsaken. As surely as effectual grace stiiTed thee up to undertake the heavenly journey, so surely shall glory crown thee at the end of thy pilgrimage. Contentedly, therefore, embrace thy lot, knowing that the whole disposal thereof is of the Lord. Be the weather fair or foul, let the calm prevail, or the storm rage ; be thy mind cheerful or benighted ; be tiiy path dreary with gloom or radiant with sun-shine ; commit thyself in patience and well-doing to God, as to a gracious Creator and an All-wise Disposer. A traveller is not the worse for being weather-beaten. It teaches him to endure hardness as a gooa soidier of Jesus Christ. Besides, he is at the worst of times sure of invisible support ; and every difficulty he encounters by the way will be infinitely overbalanced when he gets home to his Fa- ther's house. For the utmost sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be com - pared with the glory which shall bcreveakd in us. In point, likewise, of affluence and fortune, all the travellers to Canaan are not alike. Some of them are literally rich, and increas- ed in goods. While others have but a small allotment of temporal wealth, barely enough to carry them to their journey's end. The former may be said to be drawn in state to heaven : the latter to trudge it on foot. I say some are drawn thither in state ; for every coach does not take that road. But so we at last get safe to the new Jerusalem, no matter whether we ride or walk. It will be all one by and by. As in death, so in heaven, the rich and the poor who are par- takers of saving grace, will meet together, and then where will be the difference between those who came with a grand retinue, and those who travelled pilgrim-like, with a scrip at their side and a staff in their hand ? On earth, when two persons are literally going to the same place ; and the one is either well moimted or seated in an expedi- tious carriage, and the other goes on foot ; the foot-passenger must needs make the slower progress of the two. But in spiritual things this case is often reversed. The humble foot passenger frequently outstrips the rapid horseman, or the stately charioteer, and is seen not seldom to make swifter ad- vances in the knowledge of God and in the way to heaven : just as Elijah out-ran Ahab's chariot to the entrance of Jezreel. And thus that observation of the apostle is verified : Hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith and heirs of the king- dom ? Yes, he has, and some too who are opulent ; for we read that even Caesar's household, the very court of Nero, was not wholly destitute of saints. But since much wealth too often proves a snare, and an in- cumberance to the Christian racer, let him lighten the weight, by dispersing abroad and giving to the poor : whereby he will both soften the pilgrimage of his fellow travellers, and speed his own way the faster. A passenger to Zion, like most other pas- sengers, must expect to meet with different kinds of company on the road ; different in some respects, though bound to the same place. I suppose that there are scarce ten persons in any civilized nation, whose reli- gious and metaphysical ideas are in every punctilio exactly alike, any more than their faces. Examine the countenance of any man and you will see some peculiar cast, some turn of features which distinguishes that 406 LIFE A JOURNEY countenance from every other. Now, opin- ions are in some sense the features of the mind : and there will always be a diversity of mental features, during the present dis- pensation of things. The elect will never perfectly resemble (x) each other till they perfectly resemble Christ in glory. Hence appears not only the illiberality but also the absurdity, of being at daggers drawn with other people on account of differences mere- ly extrinsic and circumstantial — Narrow as the way is which leadeth unto life, it is yet broad enough to admit persons of divided judgment in things indifierent. There may be several paths in one and the same road ; and shall 1 be so weak, or so malicious, as to suppose that a professing brother is not in the way to everlasting happiness, only because he does not walk arm in arm with me, and tread in my particular track ? I grant that there is but one road to heaven ; namely, an interest in the atonement and righteousness of Christ ; for no man cometh to the Father, but by him. I believe how- ever, and feel myself unutterably happy in believing, that this only avenue to eternal rest admits of much greater latitude than bigots of all denominations are aware of. Let there- fore the travellers to the city of God bear in mind that amiable exhortation of Joseph to his brethren. See that ye fall not out by the way. When persons undertake a journey to a distant unknown country, it is not unusual to have recourse to a guide. During their passage to Canaan, good people may, by mutual exhortation, reproof, and instruction in righteousness, be occasionally guides to each other. But the two grand stated guides of the Redeemer's Church are the Spirit and the word of God : to which may be added in humblest subordination to these two, the ministers of God. Generally speaking, these three guides do best together. A minister without the written word, would bid fair to be a false guide, a mere will-of-the-whisp, a dancing meteor, who would only set you astray. And the word itself, without the Spirit, is but as a dial without the sun, a dead letter, and a book that is sealed. Therefore the way for us not to lose cur way is to re- ceive nothing from man but what bears the stamp of Scripture ; to beg of God that he would shine upon the dial, that we may con- sult it profitably and know whereabout we are, i. e. that he would make us understand (I) This puts mein mindof a candid and iudicioua remark m^de by a valuable Christian brother of a differ- ent denomination from myself, in a letter with which he favoured me some years since. " I have seen a field here, and another there, stand thick with corn. A hedge or two has parted them. At the proper season the reapers entered. Soon the earth wms dis burdened, and the grain was conveyed to its des- tined place : where, blended toirether in the bjirn or in lie stack, it could not be known th.it a h-d-e the Scriptures by the saving light of his bles- s(!d Spirit ; and then to look upon no influ- ence, impulse, suggestion, or direction, as the certain voice of God in the soul, except it harmonize and coincide with that sacred Scripture which himself inspired. — Thus wonderfully and wisely are the means of sal- vation connected ! The word of God directs us to the Spirit of God ; the Spirit of God makes that word effectual; and the tiue ministers of God act in the most absolute subserviency to both. Nor are the Christian travellers guided only, but guarded likewise. And a guard is requisite : for the highway of holiness is in- fested with robbers. Though the celestia. road is inclosed from the common, and made a distinct way of itself, yet it lies through an enemy's country, and the Canaanite is still in the land. Satan will study to annoy those whom he cannot devour. The world will try various arts, both of menace and al- lurement. And indweUing depravity, from whose remains we are never wholly delivered in the present life, will on all occasions be ready to revolt from the obedience of faith, and to bring us into subjection to the law of sin. The foes without, though vanquished, are not slain : and original corruption, that beast within, though wounded, is not dead ; nor motionless, though chained. Happy is it for God's regenerate people that they do not go through the wilderness defenceless and alone. If they did they might well fear, with David, I shall one day perisn by the hand of Saul. But they are under the escort of a truly invincible armada. Providence is for them without ; and grace within. Though they appear as strangers and pilgrims upon earth, they are no less than kings in di.sguise ; kinsjs and priests unto God. His own inviolable faithfulness is their portion ; and his angels, principalities, and powers, think it an honour to guard them : for those exalted beings are all min- istering spirits, sent forth to minister uiuo them that shall be heirs of salvation. Hence in that grand writ of protection recorded in the 91st Psalm, we read. He shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways : they shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou hurt thy foot against a stone. Thou shall tread upon the hon and adder, the young hon and the dragon shalt thou tread under thy feet. The gates of hell n.ay assault, but they shall not prevail. They once separated this com from that. Thus it is with the Church. Here it grows as it were in different fields; severed it may be by various hedges. By-aud-by, when the harvest is come, all God's -wheat shall be gathered into the gamer without one single mark to distinguish that once they differed in the outward circumstantials of modes and forms." To these truly evangelical and tmly benevolent sentiments. I deem it my honour and happiness to subscribe, with h:ind and heart. LIFE A JOL'RNEV. 407 may endeavour to intercept the believer on his passage to Canaan ; but God, who put it into his henrt to go, will be his guardian even unto death. There is no convenient travelling with- out proper sccommodations and a compe- tent supply of provision. Deprived of these, tlie healthiest would become languid, and the most robust would faint by the way. For this reason, the God of all kindness has, figuratively speaking, furnished the road to his kiugdom with houses of rest and refresh- ment, where his redeemed may occasionally turn in and renew their strength. The good things of his Providence may be considered as the temporial accommodations vouch- safed by his bounty for the comfort and sup- port of our mortal part : and the stated means of grace are the spiritual accommo- dations designed to quicken, strengthen, and sustain the soul unto life eternal. When outward ordinances are made effectual to this end through the Holy Spirit's influence, of which they are the ordinary channel, then is it that God's travellers can pursue their way rejoicing, and sing as they go. The King of Sion has brought me into his ban- queting-house, and his banner over me was love. In secret prayer, in public worship, in reading the Scriptures, in sitting under the word preached, and in compassing the altar of the Lord; his saints catcli some de- lightful glimpses of their heavenly Father's countenance, and lay up a stock of expe- riences and consolations for faith to feed upon afterwards, and in the strength of whicli they travel many days. Summer-ex- periences, viewed in the retrospective, are what the soul can sometimes reflect on with comfort during the cold and darkness of wintry desertions : just as the pot of manna reserved in the ark reminded Israel of the months and years that were passed : and re- mained as a token for good, long after God had ceased to rain on his people the bread of heaven, and to feed thera with angels' food. Nor does his goodness only spread a ta- ble for us in the wilderness, by the bounties of his providence, and by the consolations of his presence. He even deigns, perhaps at times, to soften the toils of our warfare, and to sweeten the fatigues of our journey, by shewing us, as in perspective, the city to which we are hastening ; and by giving us, in the full assurance of faith, a taste of Canaan's grapes on our way to Canaan's land. Faith is the mount, and gospel-proniises and gos- pel-ordinances are the pleasant windows whence (like Moses from the top of Pisgali) we survey that good land which is afar off. The nearer we approach to heaven, the clearer, frequentiv, are our views of ;t- Diniftelii fair nnd full in n'-rht The shining hirreh ris< ! I mean, if and when thelignt ot God's spirit: shines upon faith's eye and illuminates the gospel windows. For the keenest human eye can discern no object, and the most transparent windows in the world can trans- mit no prospect, if light be totally excluded. Sin, temptation, weakness of faith, or sense of guilt, may sometimes spread a mist between a child of God and his view of gloiy. But there are also intervals of assurance, seasons of holy rejoicing, when faith is high on the wing, when hope trims her lamp, and when seraphic love (like the ascending Tish- bite's fiery chariot) wraps the elevated soul to heaven. The happy traveller emerges from the dark, deep, naiTow lanes, where his feet were embarrassed with mire, and where the boughs met over his head, and all prospect of the adjoining country was shut out. He mounts the hill. The sky bright, ens, and the prospect widens. All is light, and cheerfulness, and joy. During these golden moments this is the triumphant song : God is my Father. Christ is my righteousness. The Spirit is my sanctifier. The Messiah loved me, and gave himself for rae. He died for my sins : he rose again for my justification : and because he lives, I shall live also." Under such comfortable anticipations of the glory that shall be revealed, when faith pierces within the veil, whither Jesus our fore-runner is gone before, the believer cries out, " O how amiable is even this dis- tant prospect of thy dwelling, thou Lord of hosts !" Or in the language of the spies of old. We have seen the land ; and, behold, it is very good. When shall we drop these mortal bodies ? when shall we get through the desert ? when shall we go up and take possession ? when shall we receive the end of our faith, even the full salvation of our souls? How long, O Lord, holy and true! why tarry the wheels of thy chariot Make haste, my Beloved, to fetch me away ; and be thou like to a roe, or to a young hart on the mountain of spices ! Fear not, thou that longest to be at home. A few steps more, and thou art there. Soon, O behever, it will be said to thee, as it was to her in the gospel. The master is come and calleth for thee. When that word is pronounced, when you are got to the boundary of your race below, and stand on the verge of heaven and the confines of immortality ; then there will be nothing but the short valley of death between you and the promised land : the labours of your pil- grimage wiU then be on the point of con- clusion, and you will have nothing to do but to entreat God, as Moses did, 1 pray thee let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain and Lebanon. Or with David : O send out tliy light and truth, that they may lead mu, and 408 LIFE A JOURNEY. bring ine ti) thy hc;ly hill, and to thy divell- ing-place ! Dread not the interjacent valley ; it is but the shadow of death ; and what is there in a shadow to be afraid of? Dark as it may seem, it will biighteii as you enter ; and the farther you go, the brijjhter will it prove. When soul and body, like two bosom-friends who have travelled long and l.yr tosjether, come to the parting-place, where (like Abi a- nam and Lot) they separate, and each goes a different way, one t the gospel : who the more he was e.xhorted by the m\iltitude to hold his peace, cried out so much the mot e, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. '2. Beware of sin. Shun the remot st appearance of evil. Think it not enough to be for the main io the riglit way ; but ende.ivonr to walk sread ly and erectly in that wav. Though a trulv con- verted person cannot fall, so as to turn bick fi tally, an 1 peri>b everlastingly ; yet, with- out due attention, atid watchittg unto prayer, he may kill bis peace and joy in bel eving, and forfeit that inward testimony of tlieHoly Spirit, that felt fellowship with God, and that sweet tranquillity of c mscience, without which living scarcely deserves the name of life. It is a sad thing when a saint is over- turned on the road, by being o6f his guard. ^ve his ange.s charge concerning thee, and in their hands shall they bear thee: acting as thy invi ib'.e shielas on earth ; and, at last, as thy chariots and retinue, whicli shall convey thee to heaven. Sacb honour hare all tlie ■.:ints '. Hallelujah. A SHORT ESSAY ON ORIGINAL SIN. 409 Though he cannot lose his soul, yot a fall may break the neck of his comforts, dislo- cate his frame, and make him go lialtini; to his journey's end. "Tiic devil," as one justly remarks, "is never better pleased than when he can roll a child of God in the dii t." Beg the Lord, therefore, to hold up your goings in his paths, that your foot- steps slip not. Be it the language of your heart, and of your conduct, I have put off my immoral coat ; hoiv then shall I again put it on ? I have washed my feet ; and al- mighty grace forbid that I should any more defile them. Yet, if you fall, be humbled ; but do not despair. Pray afresh to God, who is able to raise you up, and to set you on your feet again. Look to the blood of the covenant ; and say to the Lord from the depth of your heart. Make those words of the apostle your mot- to : " Perplexed, but not in despiiir ; cast do«'n, but not destroyed." It has been justly observed that "it is one thing to fall into the mire, another thing to lie in it." Away to the cross of Christ, and to the Spirit of God, for cleansiiiir an'-' f"i' healipg. Your Covenant father will then sprinkle you from an evil conscience, and make you recover the time and the ground you have lost. And, when thus graciously restored, look upon sin as the bitterest calamity that can befal you : and consider those who would entice you to it, or be your partners in it, as the very worst enemies you have. Soon shall we arrive where not only sin, but every temptation to it, and eveiy pro- pensity toward it, will cease for ever. As a goo 1 man once said on his death-hed, " HM out, faith and patience ! yet a little while, and I shall need you no longer." — When faith and patience have done and suf- feied their appointed work, the disciples of Christ shall ascend from the wilderness to paradise. VYith joy and gladness shall they be brought, and shall enter into the king's palace : singing, as they mount, " Lift uj) your heads, yc celestial gates ! and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, that the heirs of glory may enter in. We are they, some of whom came out of great tribulation : but all of whom have washed our robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Stirred up by his eftectual grace, wevvent forth to go into the land of Canaan ; and, clothed with his righteousness and preserved by his power, into the land of Canaan we are come." Even so. Amen. — ~ A SHORT ESSAY ON ORIGINAL SIN. By one man's Disobcdkiu-c many were made sin- ners.—Horn. V. 19. SF.LF-knowledge is a science to which most persons pretend ; but, like the philosopher's stone, it is a secret which none are masters of in its full extent. The mystic writers suppose that before th^ fall, man's body was transparent, analogous to a system of ani- mated chrystal. Be this as it miiy, we are sure that, was tlie mind now to inhahit a pellucid body, so pellucid as to make mani- fest all the thoughts and all the evil workings of the holiest heart on earth, the sight would shock and frighten and astonish even the most profligate sinner on this side hell. Every man would be an insupportable bur- den to himself, and a stalking horror to the rest of his species. For which reasons among others. Heaven's Sovereign saves all beings but himself That hideous sight, a naked human heart. The most enlightened believer in die world knows not the utmost of his natural depravation, nor is able to fathom that in- ward abyss of iniquity which is perpetunlly throwing up mire and dirt ; and which, like a spring of poison at the bottom of a well, infects and discolours the whole mass Let the light of Scripture and of grace give us ever such humbling views of ourselves^ and lead us ever so far 'nto the chambers of imi'jrory (vithin, there still are more and greater abominations beyond : and, some- what like the ages of eternity, the farther we advance the more there is to come. The heart of man, says God by the pr ■- phet, is deceitful above all things and despe- rately wicked : who can know it? — In me, said the apostle, that is, iu my Hesh, ab- stracted from supernatural grace, duelleth no good thing. — And, says a greater than both, From within, out of the lieait c.f men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, f iraica- tions, murders, tlietts, covetou-sness, wick- edness, deceit, la.>civiousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man (Mark vii). Is it possible that any w ho calls himself a Chris ian can, after consider- ing the above declaration of Christ, dure to term the human mind a sheet of white pa- per ? No : it is naturally a sheet of paper blotted and blurred throughout. So blotted and defiled all over, that nothing but the in:stiniable blood of God, and the invincible cjpiritof grace, can make it clean and white. Neither the temptations of Satan by which we are exercised, nor the bad examples of others which ive are so prone to imitate, are the causes of this spiritual and moral leprosy. They are but the occasions of stirring up and of calling forth the latent corrupti(ms within. If (as David speaks) our inward paits were not very wickedness, if we were not shapen in iniquity and con- ceived in sin, if enmity to God and holiness was not moulded into our very frame and texture ; temptation and bad example would bid fair to excite out abhoi rencc, instead of engaging our compliance, conciliating our 410 A SHORT ESSAY ON OKlGiNAL SIN. imitHtion, and operating with such general success. The truth is, we all have an inhe- rent bias to bad, which readily falls in with the instigations that present themselres from without. Similis simileni sibi queerit. Inward and exterior evil catch at each other by a sort of sympathy, resulting from a sameness of affection, nature and relation- ship. It is the degenerate tinder in the heart which takes fire fiom the sparks of temptation. Hold a match to snow, and no inflammation will ensue. But apply the match to gunpowder, and the whole train is in a blaze. How must such a heart appear if expo- sed lo the intuitive view of an observing angel ! And, above all, hov/ black mubt it appear in the eyes of immense and uncre- ated purity, of the God who is glorious in holiness, and compared with u hom the very heavens are not clean ! Judge of the infinite malignity of sin by the price which was paid to redeem us from it, and by the power which is exerted in converting us from the dominion of it. For the former, no less than the incarnation and death of God's own Son could avail. For the latter, no less agency than that of God's own Spirit can suffice. The hints already premised give us (as f ir as they go) the true moral picture of a fallen soul : and such would all the descend- ants of Adam appear in their own eyes, and feel themselves to be, did they, by the light of the Holy Spirit, see themselves in the pure unflattering glass of God's most per- fect Jaw. This likewise is the vien- in which 'he Church of England represents the state of man by nature. " Man, of his own nature, is fleshly and carnal, corrupt and naught, sinful and disobedient to God ! without any spark of goodness in him, without any vir- tuous or godly motion, only given to evil thoughts and wicked deeds. As for the marks of the Spirit, the fruits of faith, cha- ritable and godly motions, if he have any at all in him, they proceed only of the Holy Ghost, who is tLe only worker of our sanc- titication, and maketh us nevv men in Christ Strong as this painting is, it is no cari- cature. Not a single feature of our natural corruption is exaggerated or over-charged. You who read, and I who write ; yea, every individual of mankind that now lives or shall hereafter be born ; may with the Church of old plead guilty to the whole indictment, saying, We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. I have read of an English painter who after only once meeting any stranger in the streets, cuuld go home and paint that person's pic- ture to the life. Let us suppose that one whose likeness has been taken in this man- ner should happen to see unexpectedly his own picture. It would startle him. The exact similitude of shape, air, features, and complexion would convince him that the re- presentation was designed for himself though, his own name be not affixed to it, and he is conscious that he never sat for the piece. In the Scriptures of truth we have a striking delineation of human depravity through original sin. Though we have not sat to the inspired painters, the likeness suits us all. When the Spirit of God holds up the miiTor and shews us to ourselves, we see, we feel, we deplore, our apostacy from, and our ina- bility to recover the image of, his rectitude. Experience proves the horrid likeness true ; and we need no arguments to convince us that in and of ourselves we are spiritually wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind and naked. But how came man into a state so differ- ent from that in which Adam was created ? Few enquiries are so important ; and no sub- ject has given occasion to more various and extensive disquisition. Multitudes of con- jectures have been advanced, and volumes upon .olumes have been written concerning the origin of human ill. That moral evil, in almost every possil le branch of it ; and that natural evil, as the consequence of moral; do actualy abound all over the world, are truths too evident to be denied. That the matter of fact is so will not admit of a moment's dispute. But con- cerning the primar\' cause and inlet of these evils, men are not so unajiimoiisly agreed. Some of the more considerable and ju- dicious philosophers of heathen antiquity, particularly the oriental ones (from whom the opinion was learned and adopted by Plato), supposed that the spirits w-hich oc- cupy and animate human bodies were a sort of fallen angels who, having been originally spirits of very superior rank, were, for misbehaviour in a nobler state of pre-e.Kis- tence, deposed from their thrones, degraded into human souls, and shut up in mortal bodies. Of course those philosophers con- sidered this earth as a place of banishment, and bodies as a kind of moving dungeon, where souls wander about like prisoners at large, obnoxious to a vast variety of pains and inconveniences ; by way of penance for past misdemeanors, and as a means of gra- dual purification, prelusive to their eventual restitution to the happiness from which they had fallen. Conformably to this view of things, Plato chose to derive auifia, the Greek word foi body; from <7i;;ua, which signifies a tomb or sepulchre : on supposition that the body (j) HomHy tor Whitsiin.iav, Part 1. A SHORT 12SSAY ON ORIGINAL SIN. 411 is that to a soul wlilcn a (jrave is to the body ; and that souls emerjje from the body by death as a bird flies from a broken cage, or as a captive escapes from a place of painful and dishonourable confinement. Not a few of the eastern sajjes pursued the idea of the pre-existence of souls to such a length as to suppose that the immaterial principles, which undoubtedly actuate the bodies of aiiimalcul.Te, of insects, and of brutes, are no other than fallen spirits, re- duced to a clas.s of extreme degradation : that, in proportion to the crimes committed in their uncmbodied state, they were thrust into uiateriiii vehicles of greater or of less dignity : and that, passing through a suc- cessive series of transmigrations from a meaner body to a nobler, they rise, by con- tinual progression, from animalcuhe to in- sects, from insects to birds or beasts, and from these to men ; till at last they recover the fuU grandeur and fehcity of their primi- tive condition. All these supposed changes and removals from a humbler body to a higher were considered, by the philosophers who adopted this hypothesis, as so many stages both of punishment and of purgation ; by which, as by steps rising one above ano- tlier, the imprisoned spirit grew more and more refined, its powers widened into greater expansion, and itself approached nearer to its original and its final perfection. I must own that this was a train of con- jectures extremely ingenious, and not a little plausible, when viewed as formed by persons who had not the light of the Bible to see by. And I believe that, for my own part, I should have fallen in with this system, as the least improbable, and the least embarrassed, of any other, had not the gracious providence of God assigned my birth and residence in a country where the Scriptures of inspiration kinclly hold the lamp to benighted reason. St. Paul, within the compass of two or three lines, comprises more than all the nuinbeiless uninspired volumes which have been written on the subject. By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin ; and so ['«rwf, in this way, or by this chain of mediums] death (ciriXOtv) went through upon all men ; inasmuch as all have sinned. Rom. V. 12. It is evident, hence, that previously to the first offence of that one man, who was the father of the human race, he was sin- less, and, of course, happy and deathless. — Let us for a moment carry back our me- ditations to the garden of Eden, and endea- vour to take a view of Adam prior to his fall. The sacred oracles acquaint us that the first man was created spiritually and morally upright ; nay, that he was made after the image of God ; and was (in some respects. and with due allowance for the necessary im- perfection inseparable from a creature) the living transcript of him that formed Him. This phrase, the image of God, is to be understood chiefly in a spiritual, and entirely in a figurative, sense. It does not refer to the beauty and to the erect stature of the body ; but to the holy and sublime qualifica- tions of the soul. The grand outlines there- fore of that divine resemblance, in which Adam was constructed, were holiness, know- ledge, dominion, happiness, and immor- tality. But man, being thus made in honour, abode not as he « as made. For reasons best known to that unerring Providence which ordains and directs every event, it was the Divine pleasure to permit an apos- tate spirit (whose creation and fall were prior to the formation of man) to present the poisonous cup of temptation : whereof our first parents tasted, and, in tasting, fell. Whether any of the dismal effects which instantly ensued were partly owing to some physical quality in the fruit itself ; or whe- ther all the effects which followed were simply annexed to that act of disobedience by the immediate will and power of God ; were an enquiry more curious perhaps than important. So also is another question : which re- lates to the particular kind of fruit borne by the forbidden tree. Whether it was a pome- gianate or a cluster of gi apes ; an apple or a citron, Scripture has not revealed, nor are we concerned to know. This only we are sure of, from Scripture, reason, observation, and our own experience ; that mankind, from that day forward, uni- versally lost the perfection of God's image, that ^tta ipvaiQ, and ojioioxrig ti^i ef(;j, or di- vine nature, and likeness to God, as Plato calls it : and sunk into, what the same phi- losopher styles, TO nd(ov, a state ungodlike, and undivine. Our purity vanished. Our knowledge suffered an almost total eclipse. Our dominion was abridged into very nan ow bounds : for no sooner did man revolt from his obedience to God than a vast part of the animal creation revolted from its obedience to man. Our happiness was exchanged for a complication of infirmities and miseries. And our immortality was cut short by one- half : a moiety of us (z. e. the body) being sentenced to return for a time to the dust whence it sprang. The immortality of the soul seems to be the only feature of the di- vine likeness which the fall has left entire. Hence, even fi om Adam's transgression, proceeds that «Ta?ia, or disorder and irre- gularity, both of being and events, diffused through the whole world. Hence it is that the earth brings forth weeds and poisonous vegetables That the seasons are variable. 41'2 A SHORT ESSAY ON ORIGINAL SIN. That the air is irau^ht with diseases. And that the very food we eat administers to our future dissohitioii, even at the time of its contributins; to our present sustenance. Hence, also, proceed the pains and the eventual death of inferior animals. All sub- lunary nature partaltes of that curse which was inflicted for the sin of man. Whether these ranks of innocent beings, which are involved in the consequences of huiiian ffuih shall, at the times of the restitution of all thini^s (a) be restored to a life of happiness and immortality, (which they seem t') have enjoyed in paradise before the fall, and of which they became deprived by a trans- ({ression not their own) ; rests with the wis- dom and goodness of that God whose mercy is over all his works. It is my own private opinion (and as such only I advance it), that Scripture seems, in more places than one, to warrant the supposition. Particularlv, Rom. viii. 19— -M, which I would thus ren- der and thus punctuate : The earnestly wish- ful expectancy of the creation, /. e. of the brute creation ; that implicit thirst after happiness, wrought and kneaded into the very being of every creature endued with sensitive life ; virtually waits with vehement desire, for that appointed, glorious manifes- tation of the sons of God which is to take place in the millenniary state : for the cre- ation, the lower animal creation, was sub- jected to (6) uneasiness, not willing it, or through any volunt:iry transgression com- mitted by tlipoiselves ; but by reason or on account of (' ) him who subjected them to pa n and d vith, in hope, and with a view, tli'.t this vriv cieafion sh^dl likewise be e.i.ancip itcd tr ni the bondage of corrup- tion into the glorious liberty of the children of God. What a field of pleasing and ex- alted speculation does this open to the benevolent and philosophic mind ! liut I retui n to what more immediately concerns ourselves. When Adam fell, he fell not o:dy as a private individual, but also as a public per- son : lUst as the second Adam, Jesus Christ the righteous, did afterward, in the fuhiess of time, obey and die, as the covenant Surety and representative of all his elect people. The first Adam acted in our names, and stood in our stead, and represented our per- sons, in the covenant of works. And, since his posterity would have partaken of all the benefits resulting from his continuance in the state of integrity ; I see not the in- justice of their bearing a part in the calami-. ties consequent on his apostacv We can- (rl) Arts iii. '21. (0^ .S-i the word, fimaioTtr;* here used by the apostlf, may I'airly, and without any straining;, bt? I'c'Tidercd. — Pouitor liaraiovt substantive " pro yn^ ni^ilestia. Pro, r|j;^ vastator, vastitas, vastatio. Ma- not but observe in tne common and daily course of things, that children very frequent- ly inherit the diseases, the defects, the po- verty and the losses of their parents. And if this be not unjust in the dispensations of Providence (for if it was unjust, God would certainly order matters otherwise); whv should it be deemed inequitable that moral as >vell as natural evil, that the cause as well as the ellecis, should be transmitted, b-y a safi but uninterrupted succession, from father to son ? Many of the truths revealed in Scripture require st)me intenseness of thought, some labour of investigation to apprehend them clearly, and to understand thi iii rightly. But the natuial depravation of mankind is a fact which we have proofs of every hour, and which stares us in the face, let us look which Indeed we need not look around us for demonstration that our whole species has lost the image of God. If the Holy Spirit have at all enlightened us into a view of our real state, we need but look within ourselves for abundant pioof that our nature must have been morally poisoned in its source ; that our first parent sinned ; and that we, with the rest of his sons, are sharers in his fall. So that, as good bishop Beveridge ob- serves (in his commentary on the ninth of our Church Article-), " Though there be no such words as original sin to be found in Scripture, vet we have all too sad experi- ence that there is such a thing as original sin to be found in nur hearts." Hea'heus themselves have felt and ac- knowledged that they were depraved beings ; and depraved, not by imitation only, but by nature ; or (as the Church of England well expresses it) by " birth- sin." — Hence that celebrated saying, so usual among the Greek philosophers, Xvfiipvrov av9piu7rotg to iifiap- Tavtiv, i. e. moral evil is implanted in men from the first moment of their existence. I'lato goes still farther in his treatise " Ve Legibiix :" and directly affirms that man, if not well and carefully culiivated, is Zwov uyntio-aTOv uaoan tpvu yt), the wildest and most savage of all animals. Aristotle as- serts the same truth, and almost in the same words with Plato. The very poets asserted the doctrine of human corruption. So Pro- pertius : Unicniqiie dedit vitiam natiira creato ; i.e. "Nature has infused vice into every created being." And Horace obsen-es, "that youth \s cerens in vitium flectl or, "admits the impressions of evil, with all the ease and readiness of yielding wax." — And (r) By him who subjected the brutal world to miserie.'i, unpiocurcd by any sin of their own ; may be uiKierstood Adam himself : or rather, the most high (ioa, whose will it was that the welfare, not only of mankind, hut also of every thins: that lives should be suspended on Adam's obedii iu e. A SH(iRT KSSAY ON ORIGINAL SIN. 413 •n-li' ? Let the same poet infoi in us. Notno *,>ti}s .tine u'lscHur: " The seeds of vice are innate in every num." Whence proceed errors in jude;ment and immoriilities in practice ? Evil tt nipers, evil desires, and evil words ? Why is the real tj 'spel preached by so few ministers, and opp ised by so many people ? Wherefore is it that the viitues have .»o generally took their flight that Fiigere ptulor, rrrtimqiii . fiil' Sqiic ; In quorum subierc lucinii frniid: sq/u , d (■)ri<;inal sin answers all these questions in a moment. Adam's offence was the peccatitm peccans (as I think St. Austin nervously calls it), the sin that still goes on sinning in all mankind : or, to use the just and em- phatic words ot Calvin (Institut. 1. iv. c. 15.) HtFC perversitas uunquam in nobis cessat, sed novos assidni fructus parit ; non seem atque incensa fornax Jlammam et scintillas perpetuo ejfflat, ant scatnrigo aquam sine fine egerit : " The corruption of our nature is always operative, and constantly teeming with un- holy fruits : like a heated furnace which is perpetually blazing out ; or like an in- exhaustible spring of water, which is for ever bubbling up and sending forth its rills." So terrible a calamity as the universal infection of our whole species is and must have been the consequence of some grand and primary transgression. Such a capital punishment would never have been inflicted on the human race, by the God of infinite Justice, but for some adequate preceding of- fence. It is undeniably certain that we who aie now living are in actual possession cf an evil nature ; which nature we brought with us into the world ; it is not of our own acquiring, but was " Cast and mingled with our very frame ; Crew witli our growth, aud strengtbened with our streD^h." We were, therefore, in a state of severe moral pnnishment as soon as we began to be. And yet it was impossible for us to have sinned, in our own persons, antecedent- ly to our actual existence. This reflection leads up our enquiry to that doctrine which alone can solve the (otherwise insuperable) difficulty now started, viz. to that doctrine which asserts the im- putation of Adam's disobedience to all his ofl'spring. And which is, 1. founded on Scripture evidence ; and II. adopted by the Church of England ; and III. not contrary to human reason. I will just touch on these three particulars. I. God's word expressly declares that By the disobedience nf one man many were cimstituted sinners ; Horn. v. 1!). Tliey are i'l the divine estimation considered as guilty of Adam's own personal breach of the pro- hibitory command. Now the judgment of God is always according to truth. He wculd not deem us guilty unless we were so. And guilty of our first parent's offence we car not be, but in a way of imputation. By the ott'ence of one [("i ivog 'arapmrroi- paroq, by one transgression j, judgment came upon all men, unto condemnation ; Rom. V. 18. which could not be unless that one transgression was placed to our account. By one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin : and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Rom. v. 12. Yea, death reigned, and still continues to reign, even over tliem that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression : V. 14. Infants are here designed by the apostle : who have not sinned actually and in their own persons as Adam did, and yet are lialile to temporal death. Wherefore, then, do they die Is not death the wages of sin ? Most certainly. And seeing it is incontestibly clear that not any individual among the numberless millions who have died in infancv was capable of committing actual sin ; it follows that they sinned re- presentatively and implicitly in Adam. Else they would not be entitled to that death which is the « ages of sin, and to those dis- eases by which their death is occasioned, and to that pain which most of them expe- rience in dying. A majority of the human race are supposed to die under the age of seven years. A phenomenon, which we .should never see, under the administiation of a just and gracious God, if the young persons so dying had not been virtually com- prehended in the person of Adam when he fell, and if the guilt of his fall was not im- puted to them. Nothing but the im|)utation of that can ever be able to account for the death of infants, any more than for the viti- osity, the manifold sufl'erings, the imperfec- tions, and the death of men. II. This is the doctrine of the Church of England. " We were cast into miserable captivity by breaking of God's commandment in our first parent Adam." (Second Homily on the Misery of Man.) " Original sin is the fault and corruption of the nature of every man." (Article IX.) The corruption, or defilement, is our's by inherency : we ourselves are the seat of it. But original sin can be our fault only by im- putation, and in no other possible way. " Dearly beloved, ye have prayed that our Lord Jesus Christ would vouchsafe to release [this child] of his sins." (Baptismal ofljce). In the estimation, therefore, of our Church, every infant is not only chargeable with sin in the singular number ; but with sins in the plural. To wit, with intrinsic defilement as the subject of an unholy nature and with the imputed guilt of the first man's ap'istacy from God. HI. There is nothing contrary in all this 414 A SHORT ESSAY ON ORIGINAL SIN. to liuinan reason, and to the usual practice of men. There is not a single nobleman, or per- son of property, who does not act, or who has not acted, as the covenant-head of his posterity ; supposing him to have any. Even a lease of lives signed by a legal freeholder ; and sometimes the total aliena- tion of an estate for ever, are binding on (perhaps the unborn) heii.s and successors of the person who grants the lease, or signs away the property. A person of quality commits high treason. For this, he not only forfeits his own life, but also his blood (i. e. his family) is tainted in law, and all his titles and possessions are forfeited from his descendants. His children and their children to the end of the chapter lose their peerage and lose their lands, though the father only was (we will suppose) in fault. Thus the honours and estates of all the heirs in England are suspended on the single loyalty of each present possessor re- spectively ! Where, then, is the unreasonableness of the imputation of Adam's crime ? Why might not the welfare and the rectitude of all his posterity be suspended on the single thread of his integrity ? And what becomes of the empty cavils that aie let oft' against those portions of holy writ which assure us that ill Adam all die ? But wherein did Adam's primary sin con- sist ? Of what nature was that oft'ence, which " Brought death into the world, and all our woe !" The scholastic writers, whose distinctions are frequently much too subtle, and some- times quite insignificant, seem to have hit the rnark of this enquiry with singular skill and exactness. They very properly distinguish original sin, into what they call pjccatnm orlginans, and peccatum originnttmi. By peccatum originaiig they mean the ipsissimum, or the very act itself, of Ada.a's offence in tasting the forbidden fruit. By peccatum originatum they mean that act considered as transmitted to us. Which transmission includes its imputation to us, in point of guilt ; and that internal heredi- tary pollution which has vitiated every fa- culty of man from that moment to this. With regard to the latter, a very slight ac- quaintance with ourselves must convince us that we have it. And as for the former [viz. the article of imputation], it could not have taken place, if Adam had not sustained our persons, and stood or fallen as our legal re- presentative. Consider original sin as resident in us, »nd it is very justly defined by our Church to be that corrupt bias, '• whereby man is very far gone Iquam hiigissimc di.itet, is re- moved to the greatest dista xe possible] from original righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil ; so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the spirit." (Art. IX). Upon which definition the life of every man is, more or less, a practical comment. But, Honos erit liuic qnorjue porno. Many, and of the utmost importance, are the con- sequences deducible from this great Scrip- ture doctrine. I shall briefly point out a few. 1. We learn hence that which the antient heathens in vain attempted to discover ; viz. the door by which natural evil (as sick- ness, afflictions, sorrow, paiu, death) entered into the world : namely the sin of Adam. Though the reasons why God permitted Adam to sin are as deeply in the dark as ever ; what we do know of God entitles him surely to this small tribute at our ban is, viz. that we repose our faith, with an absolute, an implicit, and an unlimited acquiescence, on his unerring wisdom and will : safely con- fident that what such a Being ordains and permits, is and must be right ; however in- capable we may find ourselves, at present, to discern and comprehend the full propriety of his moral government. 2. Hence, too, we learn the infinite free- ness, and the unspeakable preciousness, of his electing love. Why were any chosen, when all might justly have been passed by ? Because he was resolved, for his own name's sake, to make known the riches of his glory, I. e. of his glorious grace, on the vessels of mercy, whom he therefore prepared unto glory. 3. Let this, O believer, humble you under the mighty hand of God : and convince you, with deeper impression than if ten thDUsand angels were to preach it from heaven, that election is not of works, but of him that calleth. Not your merit, but his unmerited mercy, mercy irrespective of either your good works or your bad ones, induced him to write vour name in the Lamb's book of life. 4. So totally are we fallen by nature, that we cannot contribute any thing towards our recovery. Hence it was God's own arm v^hich brought salvation. It is he that makes us his people, and the sheep of his pasture ; not we ourselves. The Church says truly, when she declares that " We are by nature the children of God's wrath : but we are not able to make ourselves the children and in- heritors of God's glory. We are sheep that run astray, but we cannot of our own power come again to the sheep-fold. — We have nei- ther faith, charity, hope, patience, nor any thing else that good is, but of God. These virtues be the fruits of the Holy Ghost, and not the fruits of man. We cannot think a good thought of ourselves : much less can we say well, or do well of ourselves." (Horn, on the misery of man). We are, in short, what the Scripture affirms us to be, naturally ) A SHORT ESSAY 0\ ORIGINAL SIN. dead in trespasses and sins : and no dead man can make llinl^elf to ditfei' from another. Conversion is a new birth, a resurrection, a new creation. What infant ever begat him- self ? What inanimate carcase ever quicken- ed and raised itself? What creature ever created itself? Boast not then of your fieewill : for it is like what the prophet saith of Nineveh, empty, and void, and waste. They that feel not this, resemble delirious persons in a high fever : who imagine that nothing ails them, while in fact they are at the very gates of death. Nay, mankind in their native state are more than at the gates of death. The traveller, in the parable, who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, is said to have been left half-dead : but the degenerate sons of Adam are, spiri- tuaiiy speaking, stark-dead to God. An un- renewed man has not one spiritual sense left : no hearing of the promises ; no sight of his own misery, nor of God's holiness, nor of the perfect purity of the law, nor of Christ as an absolute Saviour, nor of the blessed Spirit as the revealer of Christ in the heart ; no taste of the Father's everlasting love, nor of communion with him through the minis- tration of the Holy Ghost ; no feeling of grace in a way of conviction, comfort, and sanctitication ; no hungerings and thirstings after spiritual enjoyments and sweet assur- ances ; no motive tendencies, no outgoings of soul after the blood, righteousness, and intercession of Jesus Christ. If we expe- rience these, they are indications of spiri- tual life : and we may take those reviving words to ourselves. Flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven. 5. Beg the Lord to shew you the depth of your fall. Free grace, finished salvation, imputed righteousness, atoning blood, un- changeable mercy, and the whole chain of evangelical blessings, will then be infinitely precious to your heart. 6. Prize the covenant of redemption, which is a better covenant and founded upon better promises than that which Adam broke. The covenant of works said " Do, and live : sin, and die." The covenant of grace says, " I will be merciful to their unrighteous- ness, and their sins and iniquities will I re- member no more." The covenant of works insisted on a perfection of personal obedi- ence : the covenant of grace provided and accepts the perfect atonement and righte- ousness of Christ as ours. This shews both the folly and wickedness of depei ding on oui" own works for salvation. Which soul-destroying delusion is founded on ignorance that the covenant of works was broken und annulled the very moment Adam fell, i njean annulled, as to any possibility of salvation by it : else it is still in full force 415 as the ministration of condemnation and death to every sonl that finally clings to it for pardon and eternal life. Man, unfallen, might have been saved by works. But there is ni) deliverance for fallen man, except by the free grace of the Father, and the im- puted righteousness of a sacrificed Redeemer. — Therefore, 7. Let the sense of our original depra- vation, of our continued vileness, and the im- possibility of our being saved in a legal way, iHiduce us to prize the blood, obedience, and intercession of Jesus, the second Adam, the Lord from heaven. This is the inference drawn by the apostle himself from the doc- trine I have been asserting. Therefore, says he, as by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men [even upon all the elect themselves] unto condemnation ; so, by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men [upon all the elect, believing world] unto justification of life : for as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners ; so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Rom. v. 18, 19. — And elsewhere St. Paul reasons in the same manner : All L i. e. all God's elect, no less than others] have sinned and come short of the glory of God. What is the consequence ? It is im- mediately added, being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. Rom. iii. 23, 24. 8. Hence likewise appear the necessity and value of effectual calling. Why does our Lord say, that except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God? Because we are totally sinful and corrupt by nature : as unfit for, and as incapable of, enjoying the glories of the celestial world, as a beetle is of being elevated to the dig- nity and office of a first minister of state. !). Since such is the natural condition of man with regard to spiritual things ; take heed that you do not look upon election, jus- tification, redemption, and regeneration, as mere technical terms, belonging to divinity as a system, or science. They are infinitely more. These and such-like terms are ex- pressive of the greatest and most import- ant realities : without the experience of which, we are condemned, ruined, lost. 10. The doctrine of original sin is the basis of the millennium. The earth, which is disordered and put out of course through the offence of man, will be restored to its primi- tive beauty, purity, and regularity, when Jesus shall descend to reign in peijsson with his saints. 2 Pet. iii. 13. 11. Original sin accounts for the remain- ing imperfections, too visible in them that are born of God. The brightest saints be- low ever had, and ever will have, their dark- sides. Abraham, Noah, Job, David, Heze- kiah, Jeremiah, Paul, Peter, Jchi., were sanc- tified but ill pal t. On earth, God's converted AN ESSAY ON THE VARIOUS FEARS TO ptoplc aie oucli a compound of light and shades. In -l.iiy «f shall hi- all \\;^\\t, with- out any nuxtiirc of shade whatever. 12. iSinee the earth and its inhabiters are degenerated from their original state, let not believers be afraid to die. " Death has no pang, but what frail life imparts ; Nor life true joii. Out uhut kiud rtiulh hiipruves." By quitting its mortal cage, the heaven-born soul is delivered from all its sin.s and caies and pains; and kindles into peifection of holiness and majesty and joy. At the ap- pointed time the body too will partake of complete redemption ; and be delivered, totally and eternally delivered into the glori- ous liberty and dignity of the children of God. — Accomplish, Lord, the number of thine elect, and hasten thy kingdom ! AN ESSAY ON THE VARIOUS FEARS TO WHICH GOD'S PEOPLE ARE LIABLE. " Within ucn f ars." 2 Cor. vii. v. Fear is, properly speaking, that uneasiness of mind which arises from the apprehension of some impending evil. Spiritually taken, fear, as it respects God for it's object, is of two kinds ; legal and evangelical ; i. e. law-fear, and gos|)el-fear. Legal fear is a horror occasioned by the mere expectation of punishment, without any mixture of love to the piuiislier. Such is the fear of the apostate angels ; and such the fear which agitates reprobate souls, when conscience is let loose, and when the thun- derings and lightnings of Cod's fiery lavr set themselves in array against the hattrs of Christ.— On the contjaiy Evangehcal f "ar is peculiar to God's re- generate people: and consists in a milting humiliation for sin ; accompanied at times, especially in secret prayer, with gracious groanings wliich cannot be uttered ; with a degree of self-abliorrence, and of self renun- ciation ; with a longing for the favour, the resemblance, and the presence of God in the soul. And all this, not from a mere wish to avoid punishment ; but likewise from a con- cern for having lost the image of God's holi- ness, for having crucified the Saviour of sinners, and for having grieved and been estranged from the adorable Spirit of grace. It is easy to observe that here is a strong mixture of love toward all the persons of the Trinity : and it is by this love (though per- haps weak as a burning thread, and small as a grain of mustard-seed) that evangelical fear is chiefly dislingtii-^hed froailej^al. The latter is the unaffectionate awe of an indig- nant slave, who is forced to submit against his will, who hates the hand th.at strikes, vh< loves nothing hut ease, and dreads no- thing but the lash. M'hile the sinner wlio experiences the fear which is evangelical, abhors sin for its own sake, as contrary to the nature and command of the blessed God; and abhors himself for sin's sake, and because he is the suliject of that detested principle which sets him at so great distance from the moral likeness of infinite purity and excel- lence. Concerning legal fear, we read tliat there is no fear [/. e. no fear of that kind] in love . for perfect love casleth out fear : meaning that the sense of God's love is no soonef shed abroad with full lustre and efKcacy i,i the soul, than legal fear vanishes awav, and contmues extinct during the shine of God'.s Spirit on the conscience. Concerning evan- gelical fear we read. Blessed is the man that feareth always : who is tenderly solicitous to avoid anything and everything which may render him spiritually unlike that holy, glo- rious, and gracious Being, whom he ardently wishes to resemble and hold communion with. But beside this filial, salutary fear, which is one grand mark of regeneration, a believer, while he sojourns upon earth, is liable to fears of a uii.\.ed heterogetieous kind, which seem to be partly legal and partly evangeli- cal. To this head may be referred anxious doublings, painfid njisgivings, and the evil surniisings of remaining unbelief. These are occasioned, directly and immediately, by the imperfection of inherent grace below : and, remotely, by the permissive appoint- ment of God, who has decreed that perfect happiness must be waited for till we get home to heaven. Were our graces complete, our bliss would be complete too : in which case we should no longer be men but angels. For a saint made perfect is an angel of the highest order, and a perfection of grace is glory itself. In tlie meanwhile, it is even needful fur the Chiistian traveller to be exercistd with a thorn in the flesh ; and to be at times iu such a state as may convince him that earth is not his rest, m a mount whereon to pitch tabernacles of continuance ; that he must cat ry his cross before he receives his crown : that he must combat before he conquers : and sow in tears, antecedently to his reaping in joy. I believe from Scripture, from ob- servation, and from experience, that allGod's people do, occasionally, pass under the cloud, and are baptized unto Christ in the cloud and in the sea of spiritual darkness and dis- tress. Jesus himself, though he had no sin, was thus baptized. Ail thy waves and storms (said David, in the person of the Messialv and addressing himself to God the Fathef are gone over me. Even from my youth up, thy teirors have I suffered with a troubled mind. No wonder, then, that the members should be sprinkled with those wateis M hich were poured in torrents on the mystic hea'L WHICH GOD'S PEOPLE ARE LIABLE. 417 And let the suffering memoers of Christ's elect body remember, to their great and end- less comfort, that even tormenting fears are perfectly consistent with the reality of grace. This was the Psalmist's state, and the Psalm- ist's experience : Though I am sometimes afraid, yet put I my trust in thee. Hence it is evident that faith and fear, though not good friends, are, sometimes, very near neighbours : yea, that they often lodge in one house, i. e. in one and the same heart. Indeed, they seldom appear together : for when the one walks abroad, the other usually keeps close within doors. When faith is alert and active, fear hangs its head, and pines. When fear is lively, faith takes to its bed, and languishes. So strong is the anti- pathy of the two principles, that the sickness of one is the health of the other. They are perpetually quarrelling and skir- mishing. And though fear now and then gives faith a home thrust, faith will most certainly (and sometimes she knows it) get the better at last, and survive her adversary. Yet, though faith will infallibly out-live fear, faith is not immortal. She too must die, and that by God's own hand: for she is so strong, even when weakest, that none can deprive her of existence but he that gave it. Her death will be a willing and a delightful one. When the hour comes, she herself will not wish to live a moment longer. The soul in which she dwells, being severed from its body, and taken up to heaven ; faith, gladly and triumphantly expires, under the meridian blaze of sight. In the mean while, theie are times when, brightening into full assur- ance, she long!i tor her own aniiiliilation, and is even straitened until it be accom- plished. At length, having acted as the be- liever's companion and guide through the wilderness, she sees him safe to the thresh- old of heaven : and, the very instant he steps over that threshold, and enters with- in the vail, she takes her leave of him for ever. As to fear, though she may, in some be- lievers, keep pace with faith, and even out- run faith, during the greater part of the earthly race ; yet the waters of death (if she die not before) will kill her effectually and finally. The mere prospect of that stream may perhaps give her fresh vivacity and strength ; but no sooner does she begin ac- tually to touch that water than she expires ; and the renewed soul, which had been, through her means, all its lifetime subject to bondage, passes the river, with courage, serenity, and joy. Holy desire cuts the cable. Faith hoists the flag. Prayer spreads the sail, and God's spirit breathes the aus- picious breeze. All the graces of the heart are in exercise, and ply their oars to the music of hovering angels. The dividing waters present a smooth expanse for the ransomed of the Lord to pass over. All is harmony. All is bliss. And thus does the precious freight, the disembodied soul, land, in triumph, on the golden coast; and, hard- ly staying to take a view of her dead enemies on the opposite shore, makes directly to the presence of God, and to the throne of him that was slain. Unwillingly I return to earth, and, with- drawing my mind from a contemplation of the glory that shall he revealed, descend to consider the various fears to which all God's converted people, and myself among the rest, are subject, while imprisoned in a body of clay. Within are fears. For that sorceross, whose name is Fear, can transform herself into a multiplicity of shapes, though she is, in reality, the same identical hag in all. Sometimes she assumes the mantle of pretended humility : and whispers that " we must not give absolute credit to God's covenant and promises, nor aspire to the comfort and enjoyment of them, for fear of being presumptuous." Anon, she wears the mask of caution : " Do not rejoice in God's election, and in Christ's righteousness, for fear of being a self-deceiver." Whereas, in reality, all who can embrace the free favour of God, and all who can lay hold on the righteousness of Christ, have a covenant right to both. And why should not they, who have a right to these, rejoice in the God to whose rich and immutable grace they are indebted At another time, fear accosts us in the garb of affected holiness : "You mustbring," says she, " a price in your hand, to God the Father; or Christ's redemption will profit you nothing. Do not undervalue yourself, by supposing that you can do no good work before you are justified. I tell you, that vou must work for life and justification. You must do good works, in order to be accept- ed ; and fulfil a string of terms and con- ditions, seeing you are to be saved for your works, because of your works, yea, accord- ing to the merits of your works." But thou, O believer in Christ, flee these abominable doctrines. Hearken not to them, as you value the glory of God, the freeness of grace, the riches of Christ, the interests of real holiness, and your own happiness. Remem- ber that the conditions of fallen man's sal- vation are two, and no more ; namely, per- fect atonement for sin, and perfect obedi- ence to the law. Both these conditions Christ has completely fulfilled, in the stead, and for the infallible salvation, of every soul that comes to his blood for cleansing, and to his righteousness for clothing. " To what end, then, serves faith ?" 'To let thee into the knowledge, possession, and enjoy- ment of this free and finished redemption. 2 E 418 AN ESSAY ON THE VARIOUS FEARS TO And to what end serve good works ?" Not to entitle us to God's favour, or even to pave (much less to pay) our way to his kingdom : but to glorify his name, to adorn his gospel, to evidence our adoption, and benefit others on our road to heaven. Fear very frequently mimics the voice of prudence ; and advices us, as a friend, " Not to bring odium and inconveniences upon ourselves, by too strict a moral walk, and by a too resolute assertion of the doc- trines of Christ." How bitterly did poor Peter weep for having listened to this syren song ! And what rending agonies of heart did he feel for his shan> prudence, after the arrow of recovering giace, shot from the eye of Christ, had pierced his inmost soul ! O thou almighty Son of (lod, save thy people from the fear of man. Not only pray for us, as thou didst for Peter, that our faith fail not (and thy prayer was heard : for his faith itself failed not, though his (rf) profession of it did) , but pray also, in our behalf, that our faith may never even seem to fail. Fear is, sometimes, apt to beset those who, of all persons in the world, should have nothing to do with it, unless to trample it under their feet. I mean, the ministers of God's word. O ye standard-bearers of the Most High, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Good Mrs. Ays- cough, who was bui ned for the Protestant faith, whi-n she was offered her pardon at the stake, on condition she would renounce the truth, cried out, with holy indignation, I did not come hither to deny my Lord and master. I desire to remember her words, every time I ascend the pulpit. A mincing, timid, partial declaration of the gospel is a virtual denial of Christ himself. Rather die, ■with the gospel standard in your hands, than resign a thread of it to the enemy : like heroic Valasco, the Spanish general, who, when the Havannah was taken by the English scorned to surrender the national flag, and nobly expired with his colours wrapped round his arm. But there are seasons of personal dryness and darkness, when fear, like an armed man, assaults the faith and liveliness of God's ambassadors. They are, perhaps, at a loss even for a sub- ject to preach from. All resources seem to be shut up. They flit in their own minds, from text to text, and for a long time can fix on none. They cry, in secret. Lord, how can we spread the table for the people, ex- cept thou bring the venison to our hands ? or, with the disciples of old, whence shall we have bread for ti e multitude here in the wilderness ? " The dear people flock to the word as doves to their widows ; (d) Defecit quidem professio in ore, uon autem fides in coriie.— AUGUSTIN. and we, alas, have little or nothing to feed them with." At such times of doubt and barrenness, cast yourself at large upon God, and distribute the word a.s you are enabled. In all probability, the fishes and the loaves will increase in your hands, and God will administer bread enough and to spare. It is kind and wise in the Holy Spirit to make us feel that we are nothing, and that the excellency of the power is of him and not of us. The lesson of dependence upon his arm of grace alone is profitable, though not always palatable, to our proud, deceitful hearts. To the glory of the divine faithful- ness I say it, that, for my own part, some of my happiest pulpit-opportunities have been when I have gone up the stairs with trembling knees and a dejected spirit : nay (twice or thrice in my life-time) when I have been so far reduced as to be unable to fix on a text, till the psalm or hymn was almost over. These are not desirable trials : but they redound, however, to the praise of Him who has said, Without me ye can do nothing; and whose almighty love can elicit light out of darkness, even out of darkness that may be felt. On the whole, let all God's people, both ministers and private Christians, come to the Lord by prayer, for deliverance from the fears that do most easily beset them. Bind them up in a bundle, and throw them at the foot of the cross, and implore God's spirit to shine them away. Be humbled on account of them ; but not discouraged. Proclaim eternal hostility against unbe- lieving fear, in all its branches : but know that it is God who must teach your hands to war, and your fingers to tight. No man appears to have been more sub- ject to fears and cares than David : though he had been enabled to vanquish a lion and to slay a giant. \Miat course did he take for relief, in his hours of distress and tre- mor ? He prayed to him that is mighty to save. And his success was answerable. I sought the Lord, and he heard me : yea, be delivered me out of all my fears. Several of the fears to which God's people are exposed have already been con- sidered. The enumeration of a few more shall conclude the subject. 1 . Weak believers are sometimes apt to be afraid that they are not in the number of God's elect. They can, indeed, say, with David, " Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto tliee but they are l ot clearly satisfied that this blessedness is theirs. For my own part, I look upon it as one of the best symptoms of a regenerate state, when a person is ardently desirous to know his election of God. It is an inquiry which the generality of mankind never trouble themselves about ; and which none but a WHICH GOD S PEOPLE ARE LIABLE. 419 true believer is concerned for in earnest. We read of some, in the Acts of tlie Apost- les, who had never heard of such a person as the Holy Ghost : and, I fear, there ^re too many who have hardly ever heard whe- ther there be such a thing as eternal, gra- tuitous, personal, and immutable election. Of those who have, too many set themselves to oppose it : and labour (though, blessed be God, tiiey labour in vain) to stop up the very foundation of salvation, and to cut down that tree of life whose leaves and fruits are for the heahng of the nations. A fierce free-will-sister in Cornwall was lately heard to say that she dreaded to open the Bible, for fear of meeting with predestina- tion and election. And it has been affirmed of a very noted Arminian clergyman, that he should, one day, address his audience as follows : Brethren, many people talk about an electing God. I, on the contrary, assert that there is no such being. If there is an electing God, why does he not strike me dead before you all But you see, my bre- thren, I am not struck dead. Therefore, there is no electing God. Very different are the ideas of Christ's humbled, awakened servants. When a ray of God's everlasting love shines in upon tlieir hearts they cry out, with the royal and devout predestinarian of ancient Israel, " How dear are thy counsels," i. e. thy pur- poses and decrees, " to me, O God ! Uh, how great is the sum," i. e. how inestima- ble is the value " of them ! If I should de- clare them, or speak of them, they are more than I am able to e.xpress." The Lurd has some, yea, many names, even in our Siirdis, who not only profess to believe the Scrip- tures of truth, but also make good their profession, by believing and by practically adorning the truths of the Scripiures. Such enlightened persons wiU ever he desirous not barely to admit those truths, in a mere doctrinal way alone, hut to experience the etiicacy of them, and to be feelingly inter- ested in the blessings themselves. Granting, however, that thousands of converted people have not attained to those heights of exalted consolation as to be able to say, with an unfaultering tongue, " Thou hast chosen me, and not cast me away :" yet is there some secret comfort even in waiting upon God for the joy of his salvation, in seeking the light of his coun- tenance, and in crediting the truths and promises of the gospel at large. To those who are, by grace, led thus far, 1 would beg leave to propose the folio .ving ques- tions, without presunjing to wade more deeply into the sacred profound of those decrees which lie hid in God than bis writ- tea word permits. By way, then, of combat- ing your fears, let mc ask : Art thou desirous of choosing God in Christ to be thy Father, thy portion, and thy covenant God, here and ever ? If you are, it is one happy proof that God has chosen thee to salvation, through sanctifica- tion of the spirit and belief of the truth. You could not choose him, if he had not first chosen you. Is love to God, in any measure, kindled in thy heart ? Oi-, if you are in any doubt as- to this, do you wish to love him ? Would you be glad to receive him, to embrace him, and to hold him fast, as your chief and only good? Take courage. Wishing is a degree of love. No man ever wished for the thing which he altogether hated. A wisher for Christ is a lover of Christ. And you could not love him if he had not first loved you. Wishing is a fruit of the Father's drawings. Is the law of God written on thy mind ? That is, can you say with the apostle, that " to will is present with you," and that you " delight in the law of God, after the inner man ?" Would it make you easy and liappy, and would you have the supreme desire of your heart, were you to be holy as God is holy, and pure as Christ is pure.' Then you may add, as the apostle does, " I thank God, through Jesus Christ." The Lord would not thus have written his law (how- ever imperfectly at present) upon thy heart, if the pen of his own free grace had nut first written thy name in the hook of life. This is a blf'ssed consideration : and as sure as it is blessed. Vet, stop not here : but pray for the witness of the Holy Sp'rit to hear unclouded testimony to thy spirit, that thou art a child of God. Say, as the Psalmist did, " Remember me, O Lord, with the favour that thou bearest to thy own people ! O visit me with thy salvation, that I may see the goi)d of thy chosen, that I may rejoice with the gladness of thy na- tion, and give thanks with thine inheri- tance." Wait the appointed time : and God will set that promise, as a seal, upon thy heart ; " Fear not, for I have redeemed thee : I have called thee by thy name : thou art mine." 2. Saints are subject to another fear : viz. that they are not truly converted, and that their spot is not the spot of God's chil- dren. Nor do 1 wonder that, when grace is not in lively exercise, they are liable to apprehensiims of this kind : when I consider man's absolute unwonhiness, even in his best estate ; and lliat astonishing mixture of good and evil which is more or less visi- ble in saints below. Thuuyh I am by no means an advocate for doubting ; I yet am of opinion that, through the ;ilchymy of divine wisdom, even doubts and fears, though not desirable in ihemseli'es, are ultimately subservient to the advantage of God's cliosen : just us, in the material world, not a t' orn is with- 2 E 2 420 A\ ESSAY ON THE VARIOUS FEARS out its use, and every bramble has its value. Spiritual distresses and misgivings have a tendency, though grace, to keep us sensi- ble of our sinfulness and helplessness (as Paul's temptations dipt the wings of his pride, and restrained him from being exalted above measure). They conduce to make us watchful and circumspect : to make us feel the pluse of our souls by frequent and severe self-examination : to kindle longing aspira- tions after God and communion with him : to lay us low at the footstool of Jehovah's sovereignty : to endear Christ's blood, righteousness, and intercession : and put us upon looking up to the Holy Spirit in prayer, for the support of his presence, and for the unction of his comforts, which alone are able to enlighten and to chase away the darkness of our minds. There is likewise another particular which ought to encourage the mourners in Zion ; namely, that it is impossible for any who have not been spiritually quickened from above, to pant for God as a thirsty land ; to grieve, evangelically, from an heart-felt sense of sin ; and to be pa'ned after a godly sort. A good man of the last century somewhere observes, that " He who cries out I am dead ; proves himself, by that verv cry, to be alive." Can a dead person feel ? Can a dead man complain ? A believer may lament his deadness ; but he cannot lament his de^th, without his lips refuting themselves. There must be spiritual life, or theie could be no spiritual sensii'i- lity, no spiritual motion, no spiritual breath- ings. The pregnant woman that longs must be alive. If the Lord had not drawn you, you would not follow hard after him. Nor could you say, " The desire of my soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee ;" unless God's Spirit had awakened that desire in your heart. If you was w truly converted, you would not be so anxious about the truth of your conversion. It is not the untamed bird of prey that pours the plaintive strain. No : it is the dove that mourns ; it is the nightingale that sings with her breast against a thorn. However, though a weeping state is a safe one, and not without its advantages ; yet there is a still more excellent way. The diffident should be encouraged, but diffidence itself should not. Covet earnestly the best gifts. Aspire to the choicest attainments. Pray for unclouded manifestations. Culti- vate spiritual fellowship with God in all the means of grace, both private and public. Endeavour to drink deep into holiness, and to be fruitful in every good word and work. Conversation with experienced Christians operates frequently as a step to gracious improvements. God's people are sometimes ble.ssed to the rubbing ofT the rust of unbe- lief, and to the mutual elision of light and heat from each other. — Lay hold on Christ as well as you can, for wisdom, righteous- ness, sanctification, and redemption : com- mitting yourself for better, for worse, to liis grace, which worketh al) in all. Thu.s it would be evident that you are indeed planted in the Lord's house, and belong to that invi- sible Church which he purchased w^ith his own blood. Nay, you will gradually flourish in the courts of God, gr»iv as the lily, and cast forth the root as Lebanon. Your con- version will be made clear to you. You will see your tokens. You will no longer have reason to doubt whether the good work of grace is beijun in you : but your path, like a burning light, will shine more and more (in general) to the perfect day. 3. Believers are sometimes prone to fear that they have no real covenant-interest in Christ ; or, that they are not in a state of pardon and justification. " Oh," says the doubting Chiistian, " if I could but know that I have redemption through the blood of Clirist, even the forgiveness of my sins ; that Christ undertook for me in the eternal covenant of grace, and that he is the Lord my righteousness ; I should be happy in- deed : but, alas I such knowledge is too wonderful and excellent for me ; I cannot attain unto it." Be it so, that you cannot attain to it : God is not the less able to give it. He can, as the apostle expresses it, not only grant you, but even fill you v/ith " the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knovv- ledge of him." Therefore if you want assu- rance of salvation, ask it at the throne. But ask it with submission, and with a reserve to the will of God. Do not let your ultimate desires terminate in any thing short of God himself ; nor so hang upon comforts as to overlook the Comforter. Assurances are the brightest bridal jewels of a soul that is married to Christ : but the Bridegroom him- self is better than the jewels he gives ; nor does he in general allow his bride to shine in them every day. He keeps them under his own key, and lets her wear them when he pleases. At worst, rem.ember that he is your husband still, and the God who changes not. Venture yourself, therefore, on board his blood and righteousness, as a mariner trusts himself to the vessel in which he em- barks. Do this, and you shall be earned saf<» to the haven where you would be. You maybe shaken on your passage, but not for- saken ; tost, but not lost. The mediation of Chiist, the faithfulness of your Covenant- Father, and the never failing love of the Holy Ghost, will bear you up, and bear you home. No man ever suffered final shipwreck who ventured his soul, his salvation, his all, on that bottom. If you cannot wrap yourself up in the mantle of Christ's righteousnes9 with an assured faith, yet if you touch but TO WHICH GOD'S PEOPLE ARE LIABLE. 421 the hem of his garment, with a weak faith, with a faith of longini; and desire, or even (if 1 may so speak) with the very tip of faith's little finger ; you have a capital evidence of interest in him. " As an infirm hand," says an excellent person, " can tie the marriage- knot : so a weak faith can lay hold on a strong Christ." 4. The Lord's people are frequently har- rassed with a fear that the work of sanctifi- cation in their souls is either not begun, or at a dead stand : that they do not increase with the increase of God, nor resemble him in holiness more and more. If any fear may be called a good fear, this may : supposing it do not flow from a principle of legality, and be not carried too far. It is a blessed sign when we mourn under a sense of our short-comings, and burn with intense desire to rise higher into the likeness of God. For this also seek unto him. He is able to accomplish in you all the good pleasure of his will, and the work of faith with power. If he give you grace to put yourself as a blank into his hand ; his Spirit will delineate his sacred image upon your soul, and, in the article of death, heighten the outlines, and finish the sketch into his own perfect likeness. Be diligent to use all the appointed means of sanctifi- cation which Providence favours you with. Be careful to shun all evil, and the very ap- pearance of it. Walk in the path of duty marked out by the written word. Nor need you fear God's making good his covenant of promise, by making you such as he would have you to be. Be not discouraged, but rather excited to hope, to pray, and to be- lieve, by the sense of your remaining cor- ruptions. " The field," as one says, " that has millions of weeds in it may be a corn- field. One rose upon a bush, though but a little one, and though not yet blown, proves that which bears it to be a true rose tree." Despise not, then, the day of small things ; but pray God to enlarge them. — Bless him even for the grain of mustard-seed : but at the same time beg his Spirit to water and increase it. 5. The fear of temptation keeps many of God's people in bondage. And happy are we if we so fly from it as to shut our eyes and ears and hearts against it. We know not what we are, nor what we are capable of, if left to ourselves. Yet do not let the fear of what may be cast a damp upon your present comforts, nor abate your confidence in the Lord. Prudent fear is vvisd(mi ; but much fear is unbelief. A believer cannot trust in himself too little ; and blessed be God, he cannot trust too much in the all- suBBciencyof divine grace. If therefi(lp...li lt.it nanire ncv. i; mijc ; ^K.l (eels « ilioa»j.a> ilc^tlis in Ic^rin^ one." None returns from the grave to tell us what it is to die. Some happy behevers have, in- deed, sung in their last moments, " O death, where is thy once imagined sting ? Can this be termed dying ?" And very probably the passage is both sweeter and smoother than living imajjination is apt to suppose : I lost an excellent parishioner in the year 1/65 Though he had not the least doubt of his salvation, but as far as spiritual and eternal things were concerned, lay for many weeks triumphing in the full assurance of faith ; he still dreaded the separation of soul and body, from an apprehension of what nature must endure in the parting stroke. Some little time before the knot was actually un- tied, God was pleased to indulge him with a foretaste of death. He was, for near an hour, quite gone in appearance ; and his family began to conclude that the final struggle was over. By degrees, however, he came to himself ; and on my asking him how he did, he answered that God had given him a specimen of death, and he found it not so teiTible as he apprehended. From that period all his dread of dying vanished away ; and he continued without any shadow of fear, filled with the peace which passeth all understanding, until his disimprisoned spirit flew to the bosom of God. Oh ! then, whoever thou art that art troubled in filce manner, cast thy burden on the Lord. You have found him faithful in other things ; and you may safely trust him for this. He has delivered you in six troubles, and in the seventh he will be nigh unto you. The water floods shall not overflow thee, neither shall the deep swallow thee up. The rock of ages lies at the bottom of the brook ; and God wiU give you firm footing all the way through. Or, are you afraid of the consequences of death, and what will come after? Throw yourself upon God, in Christ, and you are safe. " Christ's righteousness is law-proof, death-proof, and judgment-proof Are you fearful what may become of your family when God calls you away ? Make your family over to him. Nominate Je- hovah for their guardian and trustee. Cast anchor upon that comfortable promise: Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive ; and let thy widows trust in me. Do you dread the buffetings of Satan? God wiU not let him take advantage of your weakness. You shall overcome ; yea, you shall be moie than conquerors, through the blood of the Lamb, and the word of his tes- timony. Are you apprehensive lest your faith be small, and your sanctification imperfect ? Christ will be praying for you, that your faith fail not ; and the Holy Ghost will take care not to leave his work of grace upon thy SDul unfinished. TO WHICH GOD'S PEOl'LE ARE LIABLE. 4?3 You tremble perhaps, at the thought of iHyinar aside your weak, sinful, mortal body. But you will receive it again ; not such as it now is, frail, defiled, and perishable ; but bright with the sjlory, and perfect in the im.ige, of God. The body is that to the soul vi'hich a garment is to the body. When you betake yourself to repose at night, you lay a.side your clothes, until morning, and re- sume them when you rise. What is the grave but the believer's wardrobe, of which God is the door-keeper ? In the resurrection morning the door will be thrown open, and the glorified soul shall descend from heaven to put on a glorified robe, wliich was indeed folded up, and laid away in dishonour : but shall be taken out from the repository en- riched and beautified with all the ornaments of nature and of grace. Are you loth to bid a long adieu to your Christian friends ? The adieu will not be a long one. They will soon follow to the place of rest. And in the mean time you will be with Christ, and with all the saints who have been gathered home before you, which is far better. Should I be asked. What is the grand remedy against undue fear of every possible kind I answer, in one word : Communion with God. " He," says good Dr. Owen, " who would be little in temptation, must be much in prayer." Ply the mercy seat. Eye the blood of Christ. Cry mightily to the Spirit of God. To which I add : Wait at the footstool in holy stillness of soul. Sink into nothing before the uncreated Majesty. If he shine within, you will fear nothing from without. Wliat made the martyrs fenr- less ! Their souls were filled with Christ. Jesus lifted up the beams of his love upon their minds, and they smiled at all the fires which man could kindle. To enjoy communion with God, you must be found in the way of duty. If you play the truant, no wonder you are afraid of being whipped. " Those trees," says the excellent Mr. Gurnall, " bear the sweet- est fruit which stand most in the sun." Take heed to the thing which is right : for that shall bring a man peace at the last. The meaning of which text is, that by virtue of the wise connection which infinite wisdom hath established between antecedents and consequents, holy walking is the high road to holy comforts. Your walk, perhaps, is strict and con- scientious ; and yet, it may be, you com- plain of doubts and darkness notwithstand- ing. Here, examine yourself: 1. Whether you do not work from legal principles and to legal ends ? If so, no wonder, that like a slave with the lash at his shoulders, you toil all day and take nothing. Christ alone is the righteousness of them that believe. God will never set the seal of his gracious presence to the broken Sinai covenant. Whoever enjoys, or thinks he enjoys com- fort and peace from the works of his owa bauds, and from the duties he performs, is blinded, and deluded into a fool's paradise, by the god of this world. The Lord meets his people in the way of duty, but not for it : as a father, who meets his son on a jour- ney, at some appointed house, meets him in that house, but not for the sake of the house. Live upon what Chri»st is made to you of God, and you will find comfort. But if you seek happiness and establishment from yourself, or from any thing wrought by yourself, you will receive no solid nourish- ment from the breast of that sham con- solation. Or, 2. Christ may be all your hope, and yet your fears may continue to run high. Look narrowly into your own heart. See that there he no Achan in the camp, no be- loved lust in the tent. I dare not say that the sense of God's love is always connected with the actings of faith, and with the con- comitant exercise of holiness. But, I sup- pose that faith and sanctification are the usual correlatives of joy in the Holy Ghost. Art thou melted by grace into a filial fear of God ? Go on to fear, to love, and to obey, whether the Lord gild thy path with sun- shine, or darken it with gloom. He is the sovereign Dispenser of his own comforts ; and may withhold or confer them as seem- eth good in his sight. But it is thy indis- pensable duty to follow the Lamb, and to do his will, whether be clieers you with his consolations or not. Certain it is, from the infallible word of his grace, that to you who look unto Jesus all the sweet privileges of the gospel belong : and joy is one of them. Though it tarry, wait for it ; for it will not deceive thy expectation ; it will surely arrive at the appointed season, and will not linger a moment beyond. O ye of fearful hearts, be strong ! Your God will come with a recompense, he will come and save you. Your prayers may not be answered immediately, but they are all strung on the file of his rememberance, and shall be an- swered after many days. Your fears are in his file. Your groans are noted in his book. Delight thou in the Lord, and he will give thee thy heart's desire : hold thee still in the Lord, and abide patiently for him. Commit thy way to the Lord ; put thy trust in him, and he shall bring it to pass. I knew a most valuable Christian, who died in the year 1760 ; and in her last ill- ness was greatly exercised with darkness of soul ; wliich, however, did not finally con- tinue. While God was leading her through the wilderness of mental distress, she still anchored on the promises, though she had lost sight of the Promiser : and, as a proof of her absolute dependance on the faithful'. 424 CHRISTMAS MEDITATIONS. ness of a wlthdiawing God, she directed that (instead of the usual inscription of name and age) the following text should be en- graven (and enj^raven it was) on the plate of her coffin : — " Deal with me, O God, ac- cording to thy name, for sweet is thy mercy." Thus, as the great Dr. Manton long auo expressed it, " Faith accepts God's bond, and patience waits for payment." Christmas meditations ON GEN. XLIX. 10. The sceptre shall not depart frnm Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come : and unto him shall the gathering of the yeople be. This remarkable passage is a link of that grand chain of prophecy which was de- livered by the patriarch Jacob on his dying bed. Such are the faithfulness and the con- descending grace of God, that he frequently brightens the last hours of his people with the richest displays of his power and pre- sence ; nor does any thin^ short of heaven itself afford a nobler sight than that of a believer standing on the verge of eternity, filled with the faith which casts out fear, happy in the assured possession of grace, and longing for the completion of that grace in glory. Hence, I have often wondered how any considerate person can be an enemy to the doctrine of assurance. There is but one thing which can render death terrible : namely, our being at an uncertainty as to the reception we shall meet with at the hands of God. Certainly, then, the know- ledge of salvation, by the forgiveness of sin, through the tender mercy of our God (Luke i. 77-). is a privilege which well deserves to be wished and prayed for. To have the Spirit of God bearing witness to our spirits that we are children of God (Rom. viii. 16.), is, at least, a very desirable blessing. And, were our hearts thoroughly awakened to a sense of divine things, it would be impossible for us to sit down easy and contented with- out some degree of this exceeding great and precious gift. Surely, it behoves us to cul- tivate that in life which is the only infallible antidote against the terrors of death ! I do not say that assurance of ray own personal interest in Jesus is essential to my faith as a real believer in him ; but I am positively clear that it is essential to aiy fulness of comfort. Assurance adds nothing to the esse justificationis, or to the being of justifica- tion ; but it adds much to the bene esse jus- tificati, or to the well-being of a justified person. Holy Jacob was fully satisfied as to the safety of his soul. He knew that his name was written in the book of life ; and that his halvation was settled in the eternal covenant of grace and redemption- He, had a blessed conviction that the Son of God whose hu- man nature was to descend from his loins in the tribe of Judah, had undertaken to atone for his sins ; and to clothe him, by imputation, with a perfect righteousness. In consequence of this faith, when the time drew near that Israel must die (chap. Ixvii. 2'.).) Jacob drew near to the time with as much joy as the time drew near to him with speed. For we find him (chap. Ivxiii. 21.) speaking of his own approaching death, (vith as much ease and complacency as if he was only setting out on a journey of pleasure : " Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die." He perceived the symptoms of ad- vancing dissolution ; and the prospect con- duced, not to alarm his fears, nor to rivet him closer to the world ; but operated like the shining of the sun, or the breathings of zephyr on a flower. It expanded his hope; enlarged his desire for heaven ; and diffused the fragrance of his faith on all within the sphere of his conversation. ' As greatly as this eminent saint longed to be dissolved and to be with Christ ; he would not die until he had first taken a so- lemn leave of his family, by blessing them in the name of the Lord, and by predicting the fate of their posterities. At present I shall only consider his last address to Judah, his fourth son. Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise : i. e. thy tribe shall be the most conspicuous and distin- guished on various accounts. In that por- tion of Canaan which shall fall to thy des- cendants and to those of Benjamin, the city of Jerusalem shall be built, and the temple of God shall stand. But chiefly slialt thou be celebrated as the progenitor of that >pot- less mother from whom the Son of God shall derive his inferior nature ; and within the near neighbourhood of thy territory shall he suffer and expire for the salvation of his people. Thy hand shall be in the neck of thy enemies, and thy father's children shaU bow down before thee ; referring to that valour and success in war, for which this tribe be- came so eminent, and so respected by its neighbours. This is expressed with still greater sublimity at the ninth verse. Judah is a lion's whelp ; though young, yet strong, courageous, formidable, and magnanimous. From the prey, my son, thou art gone up ; victorious as that king of beasts, when he ascends with majestic pace from the plains to the mountains ; flushed with the con- quest, and red with the slaughter of inferior animals. He stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion : who shall rouse him up ? Implying, that this branch of the Israelitish nation should enjoy (as in feict they did) a long series of rest, honour, and prosperity; and that the tribe of Judah could no more be insulted with safety than a sheep or a deer can rouse and irritate a CHRISTMAS MEDITATIONS. 425 lion with impunity. What grandeur and rivac'lty of ijenius must Jacob retain, even in iliat hour when strength andfjenius usually fail, to be able to convey his ideas in such aui;iist terms, and in a flow of such highly poetic imajjery ! Who that reads this chap- ter would imagine that elevated strains like thtse, strains which would have done honour to the muse of Homer, warbled from the lips of a dying man, of a man too labour- ing under the utmost bodily decays of age, and over whose head no fewer than one hundred and forty-seven years had past ! But the most valuable part of tlie pro- phecy is that which relates to the incarna- tion of Jesus Christ : The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come ; and to him shall the gathering of the people be. Of all regal ornaments the sceptre is believed to be the most ancient. And pro- bably its origin was extremely simple. It Deems to have taken its rise from the crook, wielded in earliest times by the harmless hand of a shepherd. Agreeably to which idea, the Hebrew verb nyn signifies, he fed, he exercised the office of a shepherd ; and likewise he ruled, he governed as a magis- trate. So the Greek word, Trorfiijf, a shep- lierd, is derived from the verb iroifiaiVM, which imports, both to feed and to govern. A staff, primarily tlie instrument and the em- blem of pastoral superintendency, appears to have been tlience transferred to the hand of royalty. So that whenever kings look upon their sceptre, that significant en- sign of authority should remind them of the tender atl'ection they owe to their people ; and of that tine lesson addressed to each of our English bishops at the time of their consecration (a lesson equally proper for jyrinces as for prelates); " Be to the flock of Christ a shepherd, not a wolf. Feed them : devour them not. Hold up the weak. Heal the sick. Bind up the broken. Bring again the outcasts. Seek the lost. Be so merciful that you be not too remiss ; so minister discipline that you neglect not mercy. "( tho chapter which has supplied us witli tlie above remarks. Tlie fearful, \v\w deny Christ or his truths from worldly motives ; and the unbelieving, who depend oi\ their own repentance in the room of Christ's blood, and on their own wurks, in the room of or conjointly with Christ's righteousness ; and the abominable, i. e. in in general, all who are grossly and daringly immoral ; more particularly, murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. In like manner spake Isaiah many cen- turies before, in his xxxvth chapter ; where, referring to the MiUenniary dispensation, he thus proceeds : The unclean shall not pass over it; ni sinner that is unjustified and unsanctified shall have any share in the blessings of that holy state : No lion shall be there ; no unregenerate person, none who is a stranger to the meekness and gen- tleness of Christ : nor shall any ravenous beast go up thereon : no man, in his natu- ral state, no avaricious harpies, or sensua- lized woildlings, who die unchanged by grace, shall participate in the first resurrec- tion, or attain to the glory which is reserved for the sons of God ; but the redeemed shall walk there ; the redeemed from sin, who are ransomed by the atonement, and made holy by the spirit of Christ. What shall 1 say farther, to the reader? Shall I wish him joy of the new year, into which the good hand of Providence has brought us ? I do ; and chiefly, I wish him to be a partaker of that joy which cometh from above. I wish, as the apostle did, that the God of hope may fill you with all joy and peace in believing, and cause you to abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. If thou art already a believer, the Lord crown the new year with his good- ness, by giving thee a fresh out-pouring of faith, holiness, and liveliness ! If you are not a believer, God confer on you the best new year's gift, by granting you to experi- ence the new birth unto faith and good works I What will become of you, if you die without that experience learned from Christ's own mouth ? He who sitteth upon the throne ; he who maketh all things new ; has, himself, most solemnly and irrevocably averred, that, unless you are made anew, unless you are born again of the Holy Ghost, you shall not so much as see, much less in- herit, the kingdom of God. O, pray to him for faith ; and he who prepares your heart to call upon him will hearken to your cry. Throw yourself, for eternal life, on the merits of Jesus ; and then, whether you believe the doctrine of (an ; consequently, was it only from a pi inciple of self-interest (to go no higher,) he cannot but breathe the IValmist's piayer, " Make me to go in the path of thy commandments, for therein is my desire.'' And the leading de sire of the hrait will ever, under siicli en cumstnnces, influence the conduct of tlic i.lc. Thirdly, a true believer lias " the love of God shed abroad in his heart," (o) which mure forcibly than even the considerations of dignity and happiness, efiVctiially, but sweetly, constrains him to pci form the good which his heavenly Father enjoins, and to shun the evil which his heavenly Father for- bids. Hence by the apostle, " love unfeign- ed" is connected with " pureness, long suf- fering," and " the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left." (p) In like manner, faith is expressly declared to " work by love," (y) not by servile dread, hut by filial aft'ection. As faith is the seed whence evangelical morality springs, so love to God is the genial beam tliat awak- ens the powers of faith, calls them foi th into act, and adorns the conversation with the leaves and flowers and fruits of pure and un- defiled religion. It is the work, not of fear, but of faith ; it is the labour, not of legality, but of love, which indicate our "election of God." (r) Forgive the repetition ; for it is a repetition of the apostle's own ; it is " the work and labour of love," which God will " not forget.'' (*) If he did he would he unrighteous, i. e. unjust to his own solemn, but absolutely gratuitous, promise, whereby real grace, meliorating the heart and shining in the life, stands indissolubly, yet most freely connected with the never-ending hap- piness of heaven. It is evident from the above remarks, de- duced fiom clear and express testiaiouies of (l)) 2 Cor. vi. 6,7. (q) Gal. t. 6. 0)1 Thess. i. 3, 4. (.V) Hcb. vi. ii;. 430 MEDITATION FOR NEW YEAR'S DAV. New-J(»ni sinner that is unjustified and uiisanctified shall have any share in the blessings of that holy state : No lion shall be there ; no unregenerate person, none who is a stranger to the meekness and gen- tleness of Christ : nor shall any ravenous beast go up thereon : no man, in his natu- ral state, no avaricious harpies, or sensua- lized worldlings, who die unchanged by grace, shall participate in the first resurrec- tion, or attain to the glory which is reserved for the sons of God ; but the redeemed shall walk there ; the redeemed from sin, who are ransomed by the atonement, and made holy by the spirit of Christ. What shall I say farther, to the reader ? Shall I wish him joy of the new year, into which the good hand of Providence has brought us? I do : and chiefly, I wish him to be a partaker of that joy which cometh from above. I wish, as the apostle did, that the God of hope may fill you with all joy and peace in believing, and cause you to abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. If thou art already a believer, the Lord crown the new year with his good- ness, by giving thee a fresh out-pouring of faith, holiness, and liveliness ! If you are not a believer, God confer on you the best new year's gift, by granting you to experi- ence the new birth unto faith and good works ! What will become of you, if you die without that experience learned from Christ's own mouth ? He who sitteth upon the throne ; he who niaketh all things new ; has, himself, most solemnly and irrevocably averred, that, unless you are made anew, unless you are born again of the Holy Ghost, you shall not so much as see, much less in- herit, the kingdom of God. O, pray to him for faith ; and he who prepares your heart to call upon him will hearke-i to your cry. Throw yourself, for eternal life, on the merits of Jesus ; and then, whether you believe the doctrine of (a) Dan li. 'ir. {0/ Col. ii. 14. (c; 1 Cor. iu. 13. the millennium, or not, you will certainly have a part in the blessedness of the state itself, and the second death shall hare no power over you A DESCRIPTION OF ANTINO.VIIANISM. " For r delight In the law of God, after tU» inward man." — rom. vii. 22. Stricti-v speaking, an Antinomian is one who is " an enemy to the revealed law of God," which is two fold; moral, and cere- monial. Our obligation to ohsen'e the cere- monial law was superseded by the incarna- tion, sufferings, and death of Christ. The SUM of righteousness himself being risen, the ritual stars which pre-typified his approach were thrown into shades, never to appear again, except descriptively and historically in the records of the Old Testam-nt. Hence it was prophesied, concernini; Christ, that he should " cause the sacrifice and the ob- lation to cease." (n) And St. Paul declares, that " the hand-n'riting of the Levitical or- dinances is blotted out," (h) yea, that it is "abolished, (c) and disannulled, because of the weakness and [ai-w^Aoc] use!essnes3 thereof." (d) Even while the Jewish dispen- sation obtained, the ceremonial law was al.vays intrinsically weak, as not being able (nor indeed was it ever designed) to make the comers thereunto perfect, or to be a real expiation of sin. (e) All its value and vir- tue consisted in its prefiguring the person by whom, and shadowing forth the way in which, sin ise.tpiated, and sinners saved. Thus these emblematic services were at best weak, though extremely significant in their import, and for the time being enjoined by the au- thority of God. But, ever since the Mes- siah's actual sacrifice of himself, they are likewise become useless in point of practi- cal observance. The end (if their institution is completely answered, and we are become dead to the Aaronic law in particular by the body of Christ. (/) The question, therefore, now depending, has no kind of reference to the ceremonial appointments under the old administration, since it is universally agreed that a man may assert the total disuse of these, and yet be no .\ntinomian, according to the proper sense of that term. Men are, or are not, to be stiled .\ntino- mians with relation to the moral lav: con- sequently the general definition given above may be reduced to a yet narrower compass ; and the term Antinomian will be found strictly to import one who is an enemv to the moral law of God, revealed in the Holy Scriptures ; and this Antinomianism, or en- mity to the m )ral law, may be distinguished into speculative and practical. 1. Speculative Antinomianism is predi- cable of any man and of everv man, whose ((?; Hcb. Yii. 13. (pi iloo. I. 1—4. if) Rom. tu. 4. A DESCRIPTION OF ANTINOMIANISM. ■1.31 •cheme of religious principles is such as either directly, or by unavoidable conse- quence, tends to set aside the necessity of personal and social morality. 2. Practical Antinomianism is the habi- tual, allowed, and persevering violation of those precepts which God hath prescribed for the adjustment of our outward conduct ; whetlier those rules regard our demeanour toward him, toward our neighbour, or to- ward ourselves. Let a person's idea be ever so orthodox, yet, if his life be immoral, he is, to all intents and purposes, a practical Antinomian, and unless the effectual grace of the Holy Spirit intervene, to retrieve him from the dominion of his sins, he must after death be one of those to whom Christ will say, " Depart from me ; I never knew you, ye workers of iniquity.'' It evidently appears, from this plain state of the case, that no true believer can possi- bly he an Antinomian. — He cannot be spe- culatively such, for " he delights in the law of God after the inner man," (g) and hulds, with St. Paul, that he (/i) is not without law to God, but actually sj/i'o/xoc, with tlie do- minion, and subject to the preceptive au- thority of the moral law unto Christ ; fi-om principles of faitli and love, and from a de- sire to glorify Gcid, and benertt his neigh- bour.— Much less can the true believer be a practical Antinomian. What we love we follow : " tmhit sua quemquc volnptas." He that loves the law of God will aim at cori- formity to tliat law ; for " how sh;ill we, who are dead to sin, live any longer therein ? " (i) yet it does not follow from this text that God's converted people are siimers. They are indeed said to be dead to sin. But there is a toial death, and a partial death. We experience the latter from the first moment of our regeneration. We shall not experi- ence the former till mortality is swallowed up of life. " The spirits of just men are not made perfect in holiness till they ascend from the body to join the innumerable company of angels'' that surround the throne. (J) We shall now set down some of the reasons why no true believer can be a prac- tical Antinomian : which are, first, o/.e who truly believes must antecedently to that faith have been spiritually " born of God; and he that is born of God will do the works of God." " They that are after the flesh," who are in state of nature and unregeneracy, do mind and follow " the things of the flesh :" but " they that are after the Spirit," who have been renewed by his eU'ectual influence, cannot fail to mmd and follow " the things of the Spiiit." {k) Where the Holy Ghost dwcUs his gracious fruits will infallibly and necessarily appear; and the fruit of the Spirit, the piHctical effect of his saving operation dii the heart, is manifested in and by " all goodness, and lighteousness, and truth." (/) The regene- rate elect are the peculiar workmanship of God, " created anew in Christ Jesus unto good works, which (hid hath fore-ordained that they should walk in," (m) as therefore God's fore-ordination cannot be rendered void, and as the new-creating agency of his Spirit, by which faith is wrought, cannot but lead to holiness of life, it follows, that no true believer can be a practical Antinomian. Secondly, One wlio truly believes must have been convinced of sin : he has so far tasted of the evil and bitterness of ini4uity as to know and feel that sanctification con- stitutes the intrinsic dignity, and conduces to the supreme felicity of man ; consequently, was it only from a piinciple of sell-interest (to go no higher,) he cannot but breathe the Psalmist's prayer, " Make me to go in the path of thy commandments, fur therein is my desire." And the leading desire of the hrart will ever, under siieli circumstances, influence the conduct of the life. Thirdly, a true believer has " the love of God shed abroad in his heart," (o) which more forcibly than even the considerations of dignity and happiness, effectually, but sweetly, constrains hiui to perform the good which his heavenly Father enjoins, and to shun the evil which his heavenly Father fur- bids. Hence by the apostle, " hive unfeign- ed" is connected with " pureness, long suf- fering," and " the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the iett." (p) In like manner, faith is expressly declared to " work by love," (9) not by servile dread, but by filial affection. As faith is the seed whence evangelical morality springs, so love to God is the genial beam that awak- ens the powers of faith, calls them forth into act, and adorns the conversation with the leaves and flowers and fruits of pure and un- defiled religion. It is the work, not of fear, but of faitli ; it is the labour, not of legality, but of love, which indicate our " election of God." (r) Forgive the repetition ; for it is a repetition of the apostle's own ; it is " the work and labour of love," which God will " not forget." («) If he did he would be unrighteous, i. e. unjust to his own solemn, but absolutely gratuitous, promise, whereby real grace, meliorating the heart and shining in the life, stands indissolubly, yet most freely connected with the never-ending hap- piness of heaven. It is evident from the above remarks, de- duced from clear and express testimonies of fs) Rom. Tii. 2-2. (A) 1 Cor. ix. 21. (i) Rom vl 2. UJ Hob. nii. (k) Rom. viii. 5. (i) Eph. v, 0, Cm) Epb. ii. 10. («) Psalm cxix. (uj Rom. viii. (j)) 2 Cor. vi. 6,7. (q) Gal. t. 6. (;) 1 Thess. i. 3, 4. (.v) Heb. Ti. 10. 432 A DESCRIPTION OF ANTINOMIANISM. inspiration, that love to God (which can only result from a sense of his prior love to us, (t) is the operative, producing principle of ac- ceptable obedience. It is also the producing principle of acceptable sufferings for his sake. *' God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love, and of a sound mind ;" on vvhich remark the apostle rests the follow- ing exhortation : " be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, but be partaker of the afflictions of the gospel ac- cording to the power of God." (;<) Now, the graces of faith and love being inseparable, it follows that every true believer is also a lover of Christ. VVhere this love exists, it is crowned and evidenced by the assemblage both of active and of passive virtues. Even Dr. Young could sing. Talk they of morals?" and an infinitely superior authority has ex- pressly decided that " love to God and man is the fulfilling of the law," (x) i. e. love when real will put us on tlie vigorous and persevering discharge of every moral duty : consequently, as before, no true believer can be a practical Antinomian. A multitude of additional arguments might be alleged to the same effect, but I shall at present confine myself to the foUosr- ing, viz. That a trae believer cannot be a practical Antinomian, because he prizes and wishes to cultivate communion with God, as the subliraest privilege and enjoyment which it is possible to inherit below. But all wil- ful and allowed deviations from virtue have an innate tendency to interrupt that enjoy- ment, and to intercept the light of God's countenance ; nay, to spread a screen of separation between us find our views of Christ, to darken our evidences, to deaden our joys, and to render the soul a counterp^art to Ezekiel's roll, which was '* written within and without, with lamentation and mourn- ing and woe." Finally, That person must know little indeed of experimental religion, who can suppose that any pleasures or profits of sin, or all of them together, can compensate for one moment's loss of intercourse with God, as reconciled to us in bis dear Son THOUGHTS ON REV. VII. 14, 15, " These are they which come out of great tribula- tion, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb ; therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temyle." The Scripture particularly sets forth these three things, viz. 1. What we are by nature. 2. What we must be made of grace : and, 3. What those who are possessed by grace shall be in glory. St. John had a blessed vision of the lat- ter ; of the glory of tne saints in lieht; arrf of the delightful employ, in wliicn the spi- rits of just men, made perfect, are engaged. Their number exceeded the utmost arith- metic of angels and men, — yet are they all minutely numbered by that omniscient Being who wrote their names in his book ; and whose praise they celebrate in ceaseless songs of adoration, harmony, and love. They stand before the throne, and before the Lamb ; clothed with white robes, and palms of immortal victory in their hands. Do we ask, " Who are these, that are arrayed in white robes ? and whence came they ':" A heavenly intelligencer will inform us. Pause then, my soul, a moment. Fix thy meditation on the solemnly delightful subject ; and may it have a happy tendency to raise thy affections to things above ! I. They came out of great tribulation : (K njt, ^XiipfuiQ Trie /isyaXqc. The words signify, very grievous opprtssion, affliction, and trouble, of every kind. The distresses of God's people are various, and flow from a vast multiplicity of sources. They are tried by the world, outwardly ; and, inward- ly, by their own corruptions. A believing man's greatest foes are often those of his own house : and, especially, the many eviLs that are in his own heart. How pathetically did St. Paul complain of the body of sin and death which he carried about with him ; and and hovv deeply did he gi oan, being burden- ed ! The Christian is frequently, like Gide- on's men, faint, yet pursuing. God is pleas- ed, sometimes, to hide his face ; thv;n are the souls of his people cast down, and dis- quieted within them. But a great (perhaps the greater) part of their trouble and dis- tress, arises from a consciousness of their own barrenness, ingratitude, and wai^t of fervour Ml their Redeemer's service ; although II. They are enabled to wash their robes, and make them while in the blood of the Lamb. By their robes, I presume, we are not here to understand the robe of imputed righteousness, in which they are justified, and stand perfect before God : for that robe does not need washing, being no less than the complete obedience of God incarnate. Their own best duties, services, and rehgi- ous performances, of any and of every kind, were the robes in which they visibly appear, ed before men, and by which their faith was made manifest to the world. For though good works do not procure (so far from it, they have no share in procuring) a believer's justification in the sight of God, yet they follow after the giace of Chiist, and aie pleasing to God and profitable to men. So just is that remark of St. Austin, — Bona oucra non faciuitt iustum, sed \ustiticatut a Tim. 1, I, 8. (r: Rom. jiii. iO. CONSIDERATIONS ON HEB. VI. 4—6 433 fecit bona opera. This is also agreeable to St. Peter's strain of arguing.(j/) Moreover, the blood of the Lamb, in which the right- eous wash their robes, is and must be a very different thing from the robes themselves. May not this be the simple meaning ? True believers, after all they do and suffer, trust not in their doings and sufferings, either in whole or in part, but in the atone- ment made by Immanuel's blood ; and in that work of vicarious righteousness which Immanuel accomplished by his obedience unto death." 3. Their bliss and exaltation are des- cribed in these charming words : Therefore are they before the throne of God. Not because tliey came out of great tribulation, but because they and their robes were wash- ed and made white in the blood of the Lamb. Being freely interested in Jesus, they are saved by grace ; and the God of grace has all the glory. CONSIDERATIONS ON HEB. VI. 4—6. ** Fur it is imjiossible for those itiio were ofce fitlightfiied, and Uave tast(d of the heatenli/ gift, mid acre muile yin takers of the Holy Ghost, mid have tasted the good U ord of Cad, and the powers of the tvorld to come ; if I'lieii shall fall auaij, to re/iew them again unto rej't nUtiice , seeirig thry crucify to theni'.elres the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame." 1 H.WE been solicited to give an elucidation of the above-mentioned text : and the rather, hecuuse that awful passage may seem, at first view, arid in the eyes of a mere English ri ader to carry a dubious aspect, as though tlie faith of God's elect might ultimately fail : and as though God himself might breal< his covenant and alter the thing that is gone out of his lips. It is impossible for those who were [1.] once enlightened, and [2.] have tasted of the heavenly gift, and [.3.] were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and [4 ] have tasted the good word of (iod, and [5.] the powers of the world to come ; if they tall away, to re- new them again to repentance : seemg they [I] crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and [_'2.'\ put hira to an open shame. 1. It is said concerning these possible apostates from the Christian prufession, [1 ] That "they were once enlightened ;" airat. (pu)TiaOtvTaQ, once {z) baptized into the visible church of Christ. Every person, who is at all acquainted with ecclesiastical anti- quity, knows that ^aimajioQ and ipwrtaiiog were, very frequently, put for eacli other, and used as reciprocal terms. Nor need we observe that amongst the classical dis- tir.ctions, which obtained in the primitive Churches, were the following distributions of professors into these different ranks (y) 1 Pet. iii. 3, 4. (*) Eos qui baptismum descenderunt : versio ByrUo. Hafariif ni>aiTf\tlkv$inas /3aiTTi Because every man is a fallen creature; a' d to the corruption of his nature is hourly adding the accumulated iniquity of actual trans- gressions. Therefore, by such a partial, imperfect, and polluted conformity to the moral law, no person can possibly be ac- cepted unto life. And yet, without justifi- cation, man must be lost for ever. He must, therefore, either give up all hope of salvation, or seek for a justifying righteous- ness at the hand of Christ. Now Christ came for this very end, to fulfil all righ- teousness; not for himself, who was and is the source and centre of all holiness ; but for us, who had lost our original rectitude, and are become the degenerate plants of a strange vine. The Son of God left his glory, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled for us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. This must certainly be the genuine import of the text under consideration. Iva to SiKaiiojia th vofxe wXripujBr) sv rj/iiv, the exact sense of wiiich, according to the genius of the ori- ginal, stands thus : "That the righteousness required by the law might be fulfilled for us," i. e. in our stead, or on our account. Thus Theophylact on the place : o yap o vofioQ f/SKXero jXif, rjrrQrivii Sc, thto 6 XpiTO;; (TToujm Si t]^ai. What the law was desi- rous of [viz perfect obedience, in order to justification], hut through weakness could not obtain, that did Christ perform for us. Now to render the preposition fv, by for, instead of in, does not put the least vio- lence upon the words of the apostle. The same preposition signifies for in many other parts of the sacred wiitings. For instance, Mat. vi. 7- They think to be heard, ev rq tiroXuXoyia avTujv, for their much speaking. — Gal. i. 24. iSuKn'iov ev t/ioi Tov Qtov, they glorify God for me, i. e. in my behalf, on my account. — Epii. iv. 1. la prisoner fv Kwptijj, for the Lord, i. e. on Christ's account, and for the sake of his gospel. And ver. 32. Even as God, tv KpiTi/j, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. — Phil. i. 26. That your rejoicing in Christ Jesus may abound, tv t/ioi, for me.— 1. Pet. iv. 14. If ye are reproached, tv ovofian .\pi=-« for the name of Christ. More examples might be easily produced, but these may suffice. Admit this translation of the preposition tv to be just in this place (and 1 think it is self-evideatly so) and there is not, in tile 2f 3 EXPLANATION OF 1 CUR. XV. o. whole book of God, a passage wherein the glorious Suretyship obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ is more clearly and solidly asserted. AN EXPLICATION OF THAT REMARK- ABLE PASSAGE, (RoM. ix. 3.) " I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ, for my Brethren, my kinsmen according to the Flesh." This seemingly difficult text is rendered perfectly easy and clear, 1. by inclosing part of it in a parenthesis ; and, 2, by at- tending to the tense of the verb r)vxoii']v, mistakenly translated, I could wish. I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart (for I myself, rjvxofiTiv, did wish to be in a state of separation from Christ), on account of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the tiesh. That is to say, " I am deeply concerned for my unbe- lieving countrymen : and I the more pity and lament their enmity against Jesus, he- cause I myself was, once, exactly in their situation; and know, by my oivn past ex- perience, the bitterness and danger of their infidel state." Something hke the speech of Dido, in Virgil : Hand ignara mali, mi.icris snccurrere disco. AN ILLUSTRATION CONCERNING I CoR. XV. 29. " Elte u hat shall theii do, uho are baptized for < the Dead." It may be l emarked on this portion of sa- cred writ, that superstition, and a too gieat stress on the mere opus operatum of ordi- nances, began, very early, to encroach on the simplicity and spirituality of the gospel. Hence, by degrees, the sacrament of bap- tism was considered as inseparably con- nected with the absolute and plenary for- giveness of sins, from this mistaken idea, many weak believers were for postponing their own baptism until their last moments. The consequence of which was that some (through sudden death, or other unforeseen exigences) actually died without having betn baptized at all. Their surviving rela- tives, equally superstitious with the de- ceased, imagined that, in order to remedy, so far as could be done, the loss of that rite, it woidd be a deed of charity for one of them to be baptized in the deceased person's name and stead ; begging of God at the same time to accept the baptism of the proxy as though it had been administered to the principal. If tliis corrupt practice obtained in some pf the first churches so early as the days of St. Paul (which, however, we wiU not ven- ture to affirm), the solution of the t°.xt in question will be very easy, fne aposue, not from any approbatio.n of this supersri- tious custom, but merely with a view to convince the Corinthians of the certaintv of a resurrection, by an argument ad hnmi- nem, i. e. by an argument founded on their own principle and practice ; reasons thus : " What shall they do who are baptized [virip Twv vmpnv^ for, or " instead of, the dead ?'' i. e. What can be the design of them, who act in this manner, but to benefit (as they fondly suppose) the persons who died unbaptized ? But, if the is the object of his people's love. And whom should we love, if not him who loved us, and gave himself for us ? If the bliss even of angels and glorified souls, consists greatly in seeing and praising the Son of God ; surely, to love, to trust, and to celebrate the friend of sinners, must be a principal ingredient in the happiness of saints not yet made perfect. Solomon, whose experience of grace was lively and triumphant when he wrote this Song of Songs, declares, in the fifth chapter, " that Christ is altogether h)vcly." Other objects may be overrated, and too highly esteemed ; but so transcendent, so infinite, is the ex- cellency of Christ, that he is, and will be to all eternity, more lovely than beloved. Yet, though all the love possible for saints and anijels to shew falls, and will always fall, infinitely short of the Saviour's due : still it is a blessed privilege to love him at all, though in ever so faint a manner, and in ever so low a degree. They that love him at all, wish to love him more : and more and more they shall love him, through the ages of endless duration in heaven, where they shall be like him, and see him as he is. MEDITATIONS ON THE COLLECT FOR THE FIRST SUNDAY IN AD- VENT. " Almighty God," &c. — Advent signifies the act of approaching or of coming. The members of Christ's mystic body, the Church, however they may differ in ex- ternal and non-essential points ; yet, are they all firndy united in this faith, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God ; and con- sequently very God of very God : that he came to visit us in great humihty ; that he will come again in the last day to judge both the quick and the dead ; and that life immortal is obtained for us, and shall be enjoyed by us, through him only. These are the doctrines upon which this collect is founded, and which are confessed in it. In the firm belief of these, looking 433 HISTORY OF THE CREEDS AND TE DEUM. back to Christ's first coming, and forward to his second advent, every believing soul is and will be concerned to cast away the works of darkness ; i. e. the evil actings of MS corrupt nature ; a nature compounded of the pride of tlie devil and the lust of the beast. And 2, to put on the wliole armour of God, brought to light and presented to him by the gospel ; even the girdle of truth, the breast-plate of Christ's righteousness, the preparation of the gospel, the shield of faith, the hehnet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit (Eph. v. 14, &c.) And seeing the absolute necessity of casting away the former, and of putting on the latter, believers use all prayer to the God of all grace, for his Spirit to enable them to do both ; knowing tliat without God's ef- fectual grace they can do neither. Hence observe that this collect breathes a spirit quite contrary both to Antinomian licentiousness, and to Arminian pride. — These are of the works of darkness, ene- mies to the Church of Christ, and are alike therefore to be detested and cast off. The former brings a reproach on the purity of the gospel, the latter perverts the gracious glad tidings of it. That we may avoid the one, and cast off the other, let us ever remember that all good works are necessary to adorn our lioly profession ; but that as the Church of England elsewhere speaks, we have no power to do good works, pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God, by Christ preventing us (or being beforehand with us), that we may have a good will ; and working with us, when we have that good will. Article X. COXCISE HISTORY OFTHE APOSTLE'S CREED, THE NICENE CREED, THE ATHANASIAN CREED, AND THE TE DEUM. I. That excellent and ancient formulary, commonly called, the Apostle's Creed, was so named, not as if it were written by those illustrious disciples of Christ, but because it contains a general summary or outline of the apostolic doctrines. Some weak and superstitious people, however, have aimed at reducing it to twelve articles (though it really consists of twenty), in order to have it believed that this creed was drawn up by the twelve apostles, and that each apostle clubbed an article. But let it be observed, (1.) that this tradition was never heard of, so far as appears, for almost four hundred years after Christ. (2.)_ Rufinus, one of the first assertors of it, is on all hands acknowledged to be an author whose integrity was none of the best. (3.) Neither St. Luke, in the Acts of the Apostles; (4.) nor any of the primitive councils or synods ; nor, (5.) any of the more ancient fathers, say one word about the matter ; St. Ambrose being the first writer who ascribed this creed to the apcs- ties, as their composition! Nevertheless, it is a valuable compendium of the Christian faith, and truly apostoiicai, though not framed by the apostles. It is quite uncertain who were the penmen of it, and when it was penned : but this is no impeachment of its woith, respectability, or usefulness. It seems to have obtained in the Church, about A.D. 300. II. The Nicene Creed is a most admi- rable form of sound words, drawn up by the first general council, convened at Nice, A.D. 325. This celebrated council, which assembled in the great hall of the emperor Constan- tine's palace at Nice in Bythinia, consisted at a medium of about three hundred bishops, and a vast multitude of inferior clergymen. Its grand object was to counteract the pro- gress of the Arian heresy, then growing rampant ; in opposition to which, the creed here framed asserts the eternal generation of the Son of God, and (which are the necessary consequences of that) his co- essentiality and co-equality with the Father. Arius himself, from motives of worldly pru- dence, subscribed this famous creed ; but with most wicked and treacherous mental reservations ; just as too many who enter into orders in the Church of England at this very day subscribe this very creed, without believing the eternal generation and the absolute divinity of God the Son, any more than they believe the doctrine of absolute predestination, to which thev like- wise most solemnly set their hands. III. The Athanasian Creed chiefly respects the doctrine of the Trinity ; the eternal generation and the miraculous incarnation of the second person in the Godhead. It is called St. Athanasius's Creed ; not be- cause it was syllabically composed by him, but because it so perfectly accords with the system which that great and good man drew from the Scriptures, and which (at a time when the Arian faction were endeavouring to persecute truth out of the world) he un- derwent so many dangers, difficulties, and sufTerings to defend. Dr. Waterland, who has professedly writ- ten a learned and masterly history of the Athanasian Creed supposes, with the ut- most probability, that it was drawn up by Hilary, bishop of Aries, about A.D. 430. Archbishop Tillotson e.tpressed an im- pious wish, " That the Church of England was fairly rid of the Athanasian Creed." And why not by the same rule wish her to be fairly rid of a certain troublesome volume (no less galling to Aiians and Arminians than the Athanaisian Creed and the Thirty- nine Articles can be), viz., that two-edged VALOUR, PATRIOTISM AND FRIENDSHIP 439 swoi'd of flie Spirit commonly called the Old and New Testaments? IV. The seraphic hymn, entitled Te Deum, seems to have heen collected from some devotional passages in the M'litinjjs of St. Ambrose and of St. Austin. Dr. Cave, however, thinks it probable that St. Am- brose alone had the honour of composing this divine and almost unequalled song, by way of general antidote against the Arian poison. St. Ambrose died, A. D. 39?. St. Austin not until 430. QUERY, CONCERNING A PASSAGE IN THE MARRIAGE CEREMONY STATED AND RESOLVED. In what sense are we to understand that declaration of the husband to his bride, " With my body I thee worship ? " The word worship, in ancient English, signifies neither more nor less than that honour, attention, and respect, which are due to worth-shi]), i. e. to distinguished ex- cellence. The Church of England, taking it for granted that a man has a very high opinion of the woman he marries, enjoins him to testify that good opinion ; and in such terms as are equivalent to a solemn promise of treating her tenderly and re- spectfully : or, as the apostle Peter expresses it, of giving honour to the wife, as to aadii iiiini) (TK£)'f(, the less robust vessel of the two.' 1 Pet. iii. 7. A late very sensible writer (k) supposes, agreeably to the venerable Hooker's com- ment on the phrase, that the design of the above stipulation is, " To express that the woman, by virtue of this marriage, has a share in all the titles and honours which are due or belong to the person of her hus- band. (0 " He also observes tliat Martin Bucer, who lived at the very time when our Litnrgy was composed, translated the pas- sage in question, by cum corpore meo te honoro, i. e. " with my body 1 thee honour ;'' and that the learned Mr. Selden renders it corpore meo te dignor. — " It is true," adds Mr. Wheatly, " the modern sense of the word is (or, rather seems,) somewhat dif- ferent ; for which reason, at the review of our Liturgy, after the restoration ot king Charles II., the word vvorship was promised to be changed for that of honour. How the alteration came to be omitted, I cannot dis- cover. But, so long as the old word is ex- plained in the sense here given, one would think no objection could be urged against the using of it." (H) Viz. Mr.Wheatly in his Rationale of the Book i>f Common Prayer, p. ijm. Edit. 1722, Octavo. (I) See Hooker'» Ecclesiastical Polity, Book v. Sect. 73. A CURSORY REVIEW OF VALOUR, PATRIOTISM AND FRIENDSHIP. OCCASIONED BY A LATE CELE- BRATED AUTHOR (m) EXCLUDING THEM FROM THE LIST OF VIR- TUES. VALOUR. Let what will become of prowess, consider- ed merely in a military view, there certainly is a species of it by no means incompatible either with the letter or spirit of the gos- pel, but warranted by both. Valour pro- perly understood, does not consist in cutting throats with insensibility, nor yet in plun- dering the weak, trampling on the humble, oppressing the innocent, or doing mischief only because it may be in our power. This is a very unjust definition of the quality in question : true valour is but another word for strength of mind, and is not always constitutional, but sometimes the gift of divine grace, and sometimes the acquired result of reason and reflection. Rash, un- just, and wanton exertions of power diffei as much from valour as insolence and pride differ from real dignity, or as lawless lust differs from virtuous love. Valour or firm- ness of soul may be distinguished in ac- tive and passive. The former meets just and necessary dangers with decent intre- pidity, as David encountered the Philistine of Gath. The latter sustains incumbent evils with fortitude and composure, and its language is that of St. Paul and of the whole army of martyrs. None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself ; I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem, for the name of the Lord Jesus. Acta xx. 24, and xxi. 13. " Be strong, and of a good courage," said the Deity to Joshua, " be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed," Josh. i. 9. The promise to obedient Israel was, five of you shall chase a hundred ; and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword, Levit. xxvi. 8. It even seems pro- bable that something analogous to war was carried on literally for a short time in heaven itself, antecedently to the expulsion of the apostate ansjels, who can hardly be supposed to have quitted the seats of bles- sedness without force on one part, and un- availing resistance on theirs. It moreover deserves remembrance, that it was among onr Lord's last directions to his disciples. He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one. Luke xxii. 36. Now a sword is both an offensive and de- fensive weapon. The evident purport. (m) Soamc Jenyns, Esq. 440 ON SACRED POERTY. therefore, of the injunction is, that emer- jjency may arise wherein it is lawful for Christians to defend themselves by a reso- lute resistance, and to annoy their enemies by a vigorous assault. PATRIOTISM. The prophet Jeremiah was a patriot or most ardent lover of his country, else he would hardly have deplored its calamities in strains so pathetic as these : For the hurt of the daughters of my people am I hurt; I am black, astonishment hath taken hold upon me. Jer. viii. 21. A very consider- able part of his prophecy, and almost the whole of his hook of Lamentations, are the sympathetic complaints of a religious pa- triot weeping over the sins and the dis- tresses of his country. Read the 137th Psalm. What is it but the warmest effusions of a patriotic muse (glowing and under the influence of divine inspiration tcio, glowing I say) with the most exalted and uneradicable love of its country. If I forget thee, O Jeru- siJem, let my right hand forget her skill in music : if 1 do not remember thee, let niy tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth. If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy, that is, as dearly as I love to join in the public and private worship of God, may my hand never be able to touch the harp to his praise, nor my tongue to sing hymns to the glory of his name ; if Judea and her capital are not dearer to me than any other country and than any other temporal consideration whatever. But what must set the point beyond all further dispute is the example of Christ himself. If he was a patriot, patriotism must be a virtue. And that he was such appears from his weeping over the approaching calamities of his country ; the tears which, as man, he shed on that occasion were tears of patriotism. FRIENDSHIP. A most tender and peculiar friendship subsisted between Jonathan and David, that Timothy and' Philemon were amongst the most intimate and confidential friends of St. Paul, and (what must decisively turn the scale is) that our Lord himself honoured Lazarus and his two sisters, and also the evangelist John, with such a share of his adorable intimacy and friendship as the rest of his disciples, much less the world at large, were by no means admitted to. And that the tears he poured at the tomb of Laza- rus were tears of friendship : we should dis- tinguish sufficiently between friendship and benevolence. The latter, according to the amiable genius of Christianity, should ex- tend to all mankind. The former may, without any wrong to others, be lawfully and reasonably restrained to a few. ON SACRED POETRY. God is the God of trith, of holiness, and of elegance. Whoever, therefore, has the honour to compose or to compile any thing that may constitute a part of his worship should keep those three particulars con- stantly in view. As we cannot pray without the exciting and enabling grace of the Holy Ghost (Rom. viii. 26. Jude 20), so neither can we sing spiritually, acceptably, and profitably without the presence and inspiration of the same condescending and most adorable per- son (1 Cor. xiv. 15. Eph. V. 18, 19). The reason is evident. For what is a psalm or hymn strictly taken but prayer or praise ia The original diflerence (if any specific difi'erence there originally was) between psalms and hymns, seems to have lain in this ; that anciently a psalm was actually set to instrumental music, and usually ac- companied by it at the time of singing. (Psidm Ixxxi. 2.) A similar or even the self-same composition simply sung without the aid of musical instruments was, per- haps, the primitive definition of an hvmn. (Matth. xvi. 30.) By degrees the word psalm became appropriated for respectful distinction's sake to the inspired songs of David and others recorded in Scripture ; while succeeding pieces formed on those elevated models, but written from time to time as occasion served by inferior be- lievers, obtained the appellation of hymns. St. Paul (in Eph. v. 19. and Col. iii. 16.) mentions a species of sacred poetry which he terms wCai rivtfiaTiKai, i. e. " spiiitual odes." These, likewise, I take to have been what are usually called human compositions ; as much so as the hymns of Prudentius, Beza, Grotius, Witsius, Vida, Dr. Watts, Miss Steele, or Mr. Hart. Such devout pro- ductions may be denominated odes or songs at large, because (like many of the Psalms themselves) they admit of much latitude and variety ; being not strictly limited to absolute prayer and praise, but occasionally fraught with doctrine, exhortation, and in- struction in righteousness ; tending, as the apostle expre.-^ses it in the passage last cited, to *' teach," to " admonish," and to build up one another on our most holy faith. The " odes" which St. Paul recom- mends " are termed spiritual" ones, because they relate to spiritual things ; are written by spiritual persons under the impressions of spiritual influence ; and if the good Spirit of God sh'ne upon us at tl;.^ t>rae, are a most spiritual branch of divine worship ; con- ducing to spiritualize the heart, wing the affections to heaven, and give us a blessed foretaste of the employment and the felicity of elect angels, and of elect souls delivered from the prison of the fiesh. THOUGHTS ON THE ASSURANCE OF FAITH. 441 Some wortby persons have been of opi- nion (and what absurdity is there for wliich some well-me inin<; people have not con- tended ?) that it is " unlawful to sinj; human hutran compositions in the house of God." Rut. by the same rule, it must be equally unlawful to preach or publicly to pray, ex- cept in the very words of Scripture. Not to observe that many of the best and great- est men that ever lived have both in ancient and modern times been hymn-writers ; and that there is the strongfest reason to believe that the best Christians in all ages have been hymn-singers. Moreover, the singing of hymns is an ordinance to which God has repe.itedly set the seal of his own pre- sence and power ; and which he deigns eminently to bless at this very day. It has proved a converting ordinance to some of his people ; a recovering ordinance to others ; a coniforfmg ordinance to thrm all ; and one of the divinest mediums of communion with God which his gracious benignity has vouchsafed to his Church below. But, remember, reader, that " none can" truly and savingly " learn the Song of the L«tnh" wh'> are not " redeemed from the earth" by his most precious blood : (Rev xiv. 3.) Pray, therefore, for the eflectual operation of the Holy Ghost on thy heart, to apply and make known to thee thy per- sonal inteiest in the Father's election and in the Son's redemption. So wilt thou not only sing with understanding, but with the Spirit also beaming upon thy soul, and be able experimentally to say. atonement has discharged the whole. WTiile therefore n-e remember and feel our unwor- thiness, let it answer every pmpose of hu- miliation, but not cherish the poisonous root of unbelief. Be the free grace of the Father, the redeeming merit of Jesus, and the sanc- tifying omnipotence of the Holy Ghost, our sovereign preservatives from distrust, the subjects of our song, and the strength of our joy, all through the allotted paths of our earthly pilgrimage ! 4. Through the good hand of God upon us, another year dawns on the present generation. Time is now 5779 years old, and hastens to that grand period when, like a drop that has been severed from the ocean, it shall again be absorbed in that eternity out of which it was taken. Amidst the omnium rerum vicissitndine:!, or the inces- sant changes, incident to men and chings, previous to the final death of time, wc re- joice that the Savioui- of sinners and the blessings of his cross, c ontinue immutably the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever. Not less than 800 years befe're his incarnation, he thus addressed his believ- ing people by the mouth of his sublimest prophet : Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath ! For the heavens shall vanish away like smoke ; and the earth shall wax old like a garment; and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner, but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not abolished. Isa. li. 6. A sheet anchor in every possible storm ! 5. What numbers were trnnsmitted to their eternal homes in the couise of the year now closed ! REFLECTIONS FOR THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR 1776 I. Our highest acknowledgments are due to him whose mercy endiireth fur ever. To him who crowns each revolving year with the blessings of his goodness, who holds our souls in life, and sufl'ers not our feet to be moved. He alone is worthy to receive the love of our hearts, the tribute of our lips, and the obedience of our hands, even to him be praise and dominion for ever. For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things. 2. If we ought to kindle into gratitude, under the sense of his increasing mercies, it is no less our duty and our desire to ac- knowledge and deplore the accumulating sinfulness which augments with every mo- ment that swells our aggregate of time ; who can tell how oft he offendcth ? 3. But if we are great debtors, we have also a still greater pay-master. His infinite Many a lofty head will be laid low before the expiration of 17/6; The sad ravages of civil war will too probably, people the re- gions of the grave with additional thou- jauHs, over and above the myriads who never fail to swell the ordii ary bills of mor- tality.— But Providence, unerring Provi- dence, governs all events. Dan. iv. .35. And grace, unchangeable grace, is faiihful to its purpose. Rom. viii 28. May we live by faith on both ! THOUGHTS ON THE ASSURANCE OF FAITH. Thk deep things which relate to personal experience of the Holy Spirit's dealing with the soul ought to be matters of prayer, not of disputation. It has long been a settled point with me, that the Scriptures make a wide distinction 442 THOUGHTS ON THE ASSURANCE OF FAITH. between faith, the assurance of faith, and the full assurance of faith. 1. Faith is the hand by which we em- brace, or touch, or reach toward, the gar- ment of Christ's righteousness, for our own justification. — Such a soul is undoubtedly safe. 2. Assurance T consider as the ring which God puts upon faith's finger. — Such a soul is not only safe, but also comfortable and happy. Nevertheless, as a finger may exist ■without wearing a ring, so faith may be real without the superadded gift of assu- rance. We must either admit this, or set down the late excellent Mr. Hen ey (among a multitude of others) for an unbeliever. No man, perhaps, ever contended more earnestly for the doctrine of assurance than he, and yet I find him expressly declaring as follows : " What I wrote, concerning a firm faith in God's most precious promises, and a humble trust that we are the objects of his tender love, is what I desire to feel, rather than what I actually experience." The truth is, as another good man expresses it, " A weak hand may tie the marriage- knot ; and a feeble faith may lay hold on a strong Christ. Moreover, assurance after it has been vouchsafed to the soul may be lost. Peter no doubt lost his assurance, and sinned it away, when he denied Christ. He did not, however, lose the principle of faith ; for Christ had before-hand prayed, concerning him, that his faith itself might not fail : and Christ could not possibly pray in vain. — A wife may lose her wedding-ring. But that does not dissolve her marriage-relation. She continues a lawful wife still. And yet she is not easy until she find her ring again. 3. Full assurance I consider as the bril- liant, or cluster of brilliants, which adorns the ring, and renders it incomparably more beautiful and valuable. WTiere the dia- mond of full assurance is thus set in the gold of faith, it diffuses its rays of love, joy, peace, and holiness, with a lustre which leaves no room for doubt or darkness. — While these high and unclouded consola- tions remain, the believer's feUcity is only inferior to that of angels, or of saints made perfect above. 4. After all, I apprehend that the very essence of assurance lies in communion with 6od. While we feel the sweetness of his •nward presence, we cannot doubt of our interest in his tender mercies. So long as the Lord speaks comfortably to our hearts, our aflcctjons are on fire, otu" views are clear, and our faces shine. It is when we come down from the mount, and when we mix with the world again, that we are in danger of losing that precious sense of his love, which is the strength of saints mili- tant, and the joy of souls triumphant. But let not trembhng believers forget that faith, strictly so called, is neither more nor less than a receiving of Christ, for our- selves in particular, as our only possible propitiation, righteousness, and Saviour : John i. 12. — Hast thou so received Christ? Thou art a behever, to all the purposes of safety. — And it deserves special notice that our Lord calls the centurion's faith " great faith ;" though it rose no higher than to make him say " Speak the word only, and my sen-ant shall be healed." Matt, viii.' 8. 10. The case likewise of the Canaanitish woman is full to the present point. Her cry was, " Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David !" And, a little after, " Lord, help me !" Jesus at first gave her a seeming repulse : but her importunity continued, and she requested only the pri- vilege of a dog, viz., to eat of the crumbs which fell from the master's table. What were our Saviour's answer and our Saviour's remark? An answer and a remark which ought to make every broken sinner take down his harp from the willows : — "O wo- man, great is thy faith." Matt. x. 22 — 23. 5. The graces which the blessed Spirit implants in our hearts (and the grace of faith among the rest) resemble a sun-dial ; which is of little service except when the sun shines upon it. The Holy Ghost mu4t shine upon the graces he has given, or they wiU leave us at a loss (in point of spiritual comfort), and bt unable to tell us where- abouts we are. May he, day by day, rise upon our souls with healing in his beams I Then shall we he filled with all joy and peace in believing, and abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. Rom.xv. 13. 6. Are there any weak in faith who come under the denomination of bruised reeds and smoking fiax? Let them know that God will take care of them. The for- mer wiU not be broken : the latter shall not be quenched. Bless God for any degree of faith ; even though it be as the smallest of all seeds, sooner or later it will surely expand into a large and fruitful tree. — However, stop not here ; but, as the apostle adnses, covet earnestly the best gifts : and the gift of assurance, yea, of fullest assur- ance among the rest. The stronger you are in faith, the more glory you will give to God, both in lip and life. Lord, increaae our faith ! Amen. ON CRUELTY TO THE BRUTE CREATION. 44S SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE QUEEN'S ARMS, NEWGATE STREET, ON THE POLLOWINO QUESTION : " Whotlier the IVorld is to be destroi/ed ? and tihat are the approaching Symptoms of its Disso. Intii^uf Mr. President, When this question was debated at a for- mer meeting, an ingenious gentleman then present observed, very truly, that the deci- .sion of it in this assembly depends entirely on the principles of the respective speakers. Every person here either believes revelation or not. Those who unhappily reject that divine light cannot possibly come to any degree of certainty as to the enquiry now depending : to them there is a wide field left open of conjecture ad infinitum : they may to their lives' end blunder on in the dark, and debate how the world is to be destroyed, whether by water, a universal earthquake, &c., or even whether it \vill ever be destroyed at all. But to them who believe the Scriptures the point is quite plain and clear. The Bible cuts short the matter at once, and leaves no room for doubt. We are there positively told, that the terraqueous globe will be destroyed, and destroyed by fire. "The earth, and all the works that are therein, shall be burnt up :" and again, " the heavens and the earth which now are, are kept in store and re- served unto fire :" meaning the globe on which we live, and the atmosphere that surrounds it equally every way. These, the same inestimable book informs us, will not be so destroyed as to be either aimihilated or rendered unfit for subsequent habitation : but so destroyed as to rise (like the fabled phoenix) from its ashes, and become even- tually such as it was at its first crea- tion, before moral evil entered and ever natural evil took place. As to the man- ner in which this great event is to be effected, revelation, so far as I can per- ceive, has not discovered. Whether it will be by God's omnipotently counteracting the centrifugal power of the earth, by which it is at present kept at a due distance from the sun ; or by the fall of one or more of the heavenly bodies, which may kindle the earth in their passage ; or by the ap- proximation of a comet ; or, which seems most probable to me, by the bursting forth of the subterraneous fire, which is justly believed to be imprisoned within the cavi- ties of the earth, near the centre, and which is supposed to act in concert with the sun- beams in temperating the coldness of the air, and occasioning the fruitfulness of the earth ; but which probably continues insen- sibly to increase with time, and will at the destined season burst the womb in which it is confined, and render the whole earth and sea one undistinguished rnasa of fluid fire. I come now to the other branch of the question, respecting the approaching symp- toms which will precede this general disso- lution. As to those recorded in the 24th of St. Matthew, and in the 21st of St. Luke, the signs prelusive to the destruction of Je- nisalem are so blended and interwoven with those that shall introduce Christ's se- cond coming, and it requires so large an induction of historical parliculars, as well as so much caution and critical exactness to assign each circumstance to its respect- ive period of accomplishment, that I shall not (as a very worthy gentleman has ven- tured to do) repeat any of the symptoms predicted in those two chapters ; but con- fine myself to one or two plain and express signals, mentioned in other parts of holy writ. 1. The utter abohtion and destruc- tion of both the eastern and western anti- christ, will prepare the way for Christ's ap- pearance and the world's dissolution. This yet remains to be effected, but will most surely be brought about in God's appointed time. And the people of God, who shall be alive at that period, may, when they see the total extermination of Mahometanism and Popery, lift up their heads with joy, know- ing that the Judge is at the door, and that their redemption draweth nigh. 2. The calling in of the Jews, when a nation shall be born in a day, and they shall unani- mously believe in Him whom their fathers have pierced, will be another event prepa- ratory to the consummation of all things. So will, 3. the universal conversion of the whole Gentile world, when Christ will take all the heathen as the right of his inherit- ance. SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE QUEEN'S ARMS, NEWGATE STREET, ON the rOLLOWINO QUESTION : "Whether unnecessary Cruelty to the Brute Creation is not criminal .'" Mr. President, The humane tendency of the question re- flects great honour on the benevolence of the gentleman who proposed it ; and the manner in which it has been discussed, since I came into the room, does equal cre- dit to the gentlemen who have spoken to it. However, I must own my dissent, in some particulars, from the worthy gentleman who gave his sentiments last : and as he thought proper to make very free with the gentle- man who spoke before him, I hope he will excuse me if I make modestly free with him. And though the observation I intend to animadvert upon was rather a deviation ON CRUELTY TO THE BRUTE CREATION from the question, yet I shall follow him in the deviatiun for a while; and the more willingly, as it may conduce indirectly to throw some light on the subject now under debate. That gentleman asserted peremptorily and absolutely, that " All things whatever, 5n and upon the terraqueous globe, were created purely and solely for the service of man." Such an opinion may serve to gra- tify our vanity and sooth our pride : but how far it is founded on reality, wiU appear from examining into matter of fact. We will suppose that a ship on a foreign voyage drops anchor on a foreign coast. A poor sailor takes the opportunity of bathing in the sea. A hungry shark either scents or descries him ; darts forward to the un- happy victim ; snaps him in two, and swal- lows him at a couple of mouthfulls. I would ask, was the shark made for the use of that man ? or was that man made for the use of the shark ? So long, therefore, as there aie not only useless creatures in the world (useless as to us, though they doubt- less answer some valuable purpose in the great scheme of creation), but creatures apparently noxious, and fatal sometimes to our very lives ; so long, I think, if demon- stration carries any conviction, we must grant that there are some creatures not made for the service of men. But to omit sharks, rattlesnakes, and crocodiles, let us descend to creatures of much lower class. Will that gentleman seriously say, for in- stance, that London bugs, fleas, and some other reptiles I could mention, are made for human benefit? Ask any mendicant in the streets what he thinks ; he will tell you, that they seem rather made to tire our pa- tience and to mortify our pride. I allow in- deed that man is the centre, in which the generality of created good may be said to terminate ; for which we ought to be thank- ful to the most wise and gracious Creator of all things. But then it is to me equally evident that the same adorable being con- sulted and does consult, the happiness of every individual creature to which he has given life ; else why such various and so admirably adapted accommodations for their respective provision and welfare. I now come directly to the question ; and without hesitation or limitation deliver it as my steadfast belief that all wanton ex- ercise of power over, and all unnecessai-y cruelty to, the brute creation, is truly and properly criminal. Several good reasons have been urged in proof of this, by some gentlemen who spoke before me ; but I own there is one argument which has more weight with me than all that have been yet oflFered, and which I wonder no gentle- man has hitherto mentioned. I firmly be- lieve that beasts have souls ; souls, truly and properly so called : which, if true, entitles them not only to all due tenderness, but even to a higher degree of respect than is usually shewn them. I lay down two things, Mr. President, as data: 1, That mere matter is incapable of thinking ; and 2, That there is no medium between matter and spirit. That brutes think can hardly, I imagine, be questioned by any thinking man. Their not being able to caiTy their speculations so high as we do is no objection to their cogitability. Even among men some are more able reasoners than others. And we might perhaps reason no better than the meanest animal that breathes, if our souls were shut up in bodies no better organized than theirs. Nay, brutes not only think when they are awake and their senses are in full exercise ; but they frequently think, even in their sleep. A dog, as he hes ex- tended by the fire side, wiU sometimes shew by the whining noise he makes, and by the catching motion of his feet, that he is enjoy- ing an imaginary chace in a dream. A cat, dissolved in sleep, will often, by various starts acid agitation, convince any unpreju- diced observer that she fancies her prey full in view and is preparing to seize it. I remem- ber a cat of my own, who one evening en- joyed for five or eight minutes this pleasing illusion ; until at last her eagerness, agita- tion of spirits, and a spring she endea- voured to inake, awoke her from her golden dream ; upon which she shewed as much concern and disappointment as she could discover by disconsolate mewing. Now there can be no imagination without thought : nay, these two are perhaps, in fact, things synonymous : nor can there be thought without some degree of reason : and that which reasons must be something superior to matter, however modified, and essentially different from it. I have not time to enter deeply into the subject. I cannot, however, help giving it as my judgment that, before a man can coolly and deliberately deny ra- tionahty to brutes, he must have renounced his own. And why that noble faculty which, pro gradu, produces sirailcur effects in us and them, should be called by a differ- ent name in them and us, I own myself quite at a loss to determine. If I can at all account for it, the pride of man is the only reason I am able to assign. We are, right or wrong, for monopolizing every excellence to ourselves ; and for allowing little or none to other animals is forgetting that inferior animals are not only our fellow-creatures, but (if it may be said without offence) our elder brethren, for their creation was pre- vious to our's. — If then brutes reason, that in them which does reason must be spirit. ON CRUELTY TO THE BRUTE CREATION. -1(5 OT ;in inimnlmal principle, which principlf, being imm;iteri,il. must be perfectly simple and uncompounded; if perfectly simple it must be, in its own nature, incorruptible ; and if incorruptible, immortal. And I will honestly confess tliat I never yet beard one single argument ur>ji d ajjainst tlie immor- tality of brutes, which, if admitted, would not, mutatis mntandh, be equally conclusive against the inmioi tality of man. What I have offered may seem strange and .surprising to those who have not vitrvved the subject on both sides of it. It would have seemed strange to myself a few years ago. I accounted for all the internal and ex- ternal operations of brutes upon the princi- ples of mechanism. But I was soon driven from this absurdity by dint of evidence. Was a cat a meer machine, she could not distinf;uish a mouse from a kitten, but would be equally indifferent to botli. Was a dog a mere machine, he would not distin- guish his master from a rabbit, much less would he pursu<' the latter, and caress the former ; any more than a clock can know its ovrner, or one statue can hunt another. — I next had recourse to instinct. But I soon found, upon careful examination, that this is a mere term without an idea : a name for we know not what ; and he that would dis- tinguish between instinct and reason (for if instinct has any meaning at all it must sig- nify reason) must first find a medium be- tween matter and spiiit. But I am rather for expunging the word quite, as a teim which, in it.s presi-nt applic.ition at leii.st, signifies just notliini;; and, like all such un- meaning terms, citlicr conduces to no end, or at least, to a very had one, as only lend- ing to confuse and embarrass, and " darken counsel by words without knowledge." By the way, this is not the only word which, was I to unite an expurgate ry index to our language, I would utterly proscribe. But whatever I retain, chance, fortune, luck, and instinct, should have no quarter; be- cause they are wells without water ; terms without ideas ; and words are only so far valuable as they are the vehicles of meaning. I cannot wholly dismiss the subject, without observing another particular in fa- vour of the spirituality of brutes ; namely, what is conmionly Vne facHltax locomot'iva, or power of voluntary motion from place to place. Motion it^elf, simply considered. Is not always an indication of an intelligent agent within ; but voluntary motion is, and must be such in the very nature of things. An inanimate body set in motion by some exterior cause would, as is universally al- lowed, goon in a straight line, ad infinitum, if not obstructed in its course by the air or some other intervening body. All involun- tary motion, therefore, being necessarily and in its own nature, rectdinear, and the motions of bea^ts not being necessarily rec- tilinear, but in all directions and in any di- rection, at Dccasion requires (for they in their way act a3 much pro re iiatil as we can do), it follows that every beast lias something within which judges, consults, and directs ; which, as it cannot possibly be material must be spiritual. If a dog was running from this end of the room to the other, and one of the gentlfmen by the op- posite chimney-piece was to stand up in a menacing posture, the animal would imme- diately ce.!se to proceed in a right line, be- cause he would know that would be the wrong one for his safety, he would turn back and, if possible, escape at the door. What is this but practical reason ? an ex- cellence, by the bye, in which many of those creatur es surpass the generality of mankind. The language of such conduct is apparently this, " If I go forward, danger is before me ; if I return, or go another way, I may probably escape this danger ; ergo, I will do the latter." Could we our.oting with regard to final blessed- ness, both as t ) its nature and degree ; and, as the parable expresses it, "receive every man his penny." ^—^^^^—^^ QUESTION'S AND ANSWERS RELATIVE TO THE NATIONAL DEBT. WRITTEN IN THF. \E.KR 1/75.* Qn. 1. Supposing this debt to be only 130 millions of pounds sterling at present (al- though it is much more), and that it was all to be counttd in shillings : that a man could count at the rate of 100 shillings per minute, for twelve hours each day till he had Ciiunted the whole ; how much time would he take in doing it? Ans. 98 years, 316 days, 14 hours, and 40 minutes. Qu. 2. The whole of this sum being 2600 millions of shillings, and the coinage .standard being 62 shillings in the Troy pound, what is the whole weight ? Ans. 41 million, 935 thousand, 484 Troy pounds. Qu. 3. How many carts would carry this weight, supposing a ton in each ? Ans. 20,968 carts. Qu. 4. Supposing a man could carry 100 pound weight from London to York ; how many men would it require to carry the whole ? Ans. 419 thousand, 355 men. Qu. 5. If all these men were to walk in aline at two yards distance from each other, what length of road would they all require? Ans. 476 miles, half a mile, and 70 yards. Qu. 6. The breadth of a shilling being one inch, if all these shillings were laid in a • This remarkable calculation is introduced here for the sake of the spiritual improvemeut subjoiued by the author. straight line close to one another's edges , how long would the line be that would con- tain them ? Ans. 41,035 miles ; which is 16,035 mUes more than the whole circumference of the earth. Qu. 7- Su[)posing the interest of this debt to be only 3§ per rent, per annum, what does the whole annual interest amount to? Ans. Four million 550 thousand pounds sterling. Qu. 8. How doth the government raise this interest yearly ? Ans. By taxing those who lent the pr'm- cipal, and others. Qu. 9. When wiU the government be able to pay the principal ? Ans. When there is more money in Eng- land's treasury alone than there is at present in all Europe. Qu. 10. And when will that be ? Ans. Never. Spiritual improvement of the foregoino Qu. What is the moral law of God ? Ans. The transcript of his own most holy nature, and the standard of human purity and obedience. Qu. Will this law make any allowance for human infirmity, or admit any abatement of the perfect conformity which it demands ? Ans. It makes no allowance for the former, nor will it dispense with a single grain of the latter. Qu. How does that appear > Ans. It appears from the undeniable cur- rent of Scripture : where the language of the law is. Be ye perfect, as your Father in hea- ven is perfect. (Matt. v. 48.) Cursed is every one who continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them. Gal. iii. 10. The indispensable requisition is. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with ail thy mind ; and thy neighbour as thyself. Luke X. 27. Hence, in the eye of the law and the estimation of the law-giver, the ris- ings of wrath are tantamount to murder ; the calling any man a fool exposes us to the penalty of heU-fiie ; an impure thought brings us under the condemnation of actual adultery. Matt. v. 22. 28. Qu. What is the grand inference from these alarming premises ? Ans. That inference which the apostle terms an evident one, and evident indaed it is, viz. that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God. Gal. iii. 11. For a single breach of the law renders us guilty of the whole : James ii. 10. And one idle word lays us open to the vengeance of God, according to the tenor of the co\ei!ant of woiks. Matt. xii. 36. Qu. Supposing a person was to break \li>. THE NATIONAL DEBT SPIRITUALISED. 440 law but once in 24 hours ; to how many would his sins amount in a life often, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, sevetity, or eighty years ? Ans. If he was to fail in moral duty but once a day his sins at ten years of age would amount to 3 thousand 6 hundred and 50. At twenty years' end, the catalogue would rise to 7 thousand 3 hundred. At thirty, to 10 thousand nine hundred and 50. At forty, to 14 thousand 6 hundred. At fifty, to 18 thousand 2 hundred and 50. At sixty, to 21 thousand 9 hundred. At seventy, to 25 thousand 5 hundred and fifty. At eighty, to 29 thousand 2 hundred. Qu. What if a person's sins are supposed to bear a double proportion to the foregoing estimate ? That is, let us imagine him to sill twice a day, or once every twelve hours. Ans. In that case his sins at the age of ten years will be multiplied to 7 thousand 3 hundred. At twenty, to 14 thousand 6 hundred. At thirty, to 21 thousand 9 hun- dred. At forty, to 29 thousand, 2 hundred. At fifty, to 36 thousand 5 hundred. At sixty to 43 thousand 8 hundred. At seventy, to 51 thousand 1 hundred. At eighty, to 58 thousand 4 hundred. Qu. We must go farther still. What if a mail's sins keep exact pace with every hour of his life i i. e. we will suppose him to sin 24 times a day. Ans. His sins wiU then amount, in a life of ten years, to 87 thousand G hundred. At tiveuty years of age they will accumulate to 175 thousand 2 hundred. At thirty, to 262 thousand 8 hundred. At forty, to 360 thou- sand 4 hundred. At fifty, to 438 thousand. At sixty, to 525 thousand 6 hundred. At seventy, to 613 thousand 2 luindred. At eighty, to 700 thousand and eight hundred. Qu. Is there a single minute from the fiist of our existence to the very article of death, wherein we come up to the whole of that inward and outward holiness which God's all perfect law requires ? Ans. Most ceitainly not. Qu. Of how many sins then is each of the human race guilty, reckoning only at the rate of one sin for every minute ? Ans. At ten years old we (according to that method of calculation) are guilty of no fewer than 5 millions 256 thousand sins At twenty, of 10 millions and 512 thousand. At thirty, of 15 millions 568 thousand. At forty, of 21 millions and 24 thousand. At fifty, of 26 millions and 280 thousand. At sixty, of 31 miUions and 536 thousand. At seventy, of 36 millions and 792 thousand. At eighty, of 42 millions and 43 thousand. Qu. May we not proceed abundantly farther yet ? Sixty seconds go to a minute. Now, as we never in the present life rise to 'he mark of legal sanctity, is it not fairly in- ferrible that our sins multiply with every second of our sublunary duration ? Ans. It is too true. And, in this view of the matter, our dreadful account stands as follows. — At ten years old each of us is chargeable with 315 millions, and 36 thou- sand sins. — At twenty, with 630 million.s, and 720 thousand.— At thirty, with 946 millions, and 80 thousand. — At forty, with 1261 millions, 440 thousand.— At fifty, 1576 millions, and 800 thousand. — At sixty, 1892 millions, and 160 thousand — At seventy, with 2207 millions, and 620 thousand. — At eighty, with 2522 miUions, 8S0 thousand. Qu. When shall we be able to pay off this immense debt ? Ans. Never. Eternity itself, so far from Clearing us of the dreadful arrear, would only add to the score by plunging us deeper and deeper even to infinity. Hence the damned will never be able to satisfy the justice of the Almighty Creditor. Qu. Will not divine goodness compound for the debt by accepting less tlian we owe? Ans. Impossible. Justice, holiness, and truth, will and must have their own, even to the very uttermost farthing. God l;im- self (with profoundest veneration be it spo- ken) must become an Antinoraian, and l e- nounce himself, ere he can forego his essential attributes, and repeal his invio- lable law, by offering violence to those, and by making void the claims and the threat- enings of this. Qu. Who then can do us any good in this respect ? Ans. Not all the angels in heaven, nor all the men that ever did or ever shall exist. Others cannot help us, nor can we help our own selves. Qu. If so, aie we not lost, without re- medy and without end ? Ans. In ourselves vve are. But (sing, O heavens !) God's own arm brought salvation. Qu. How so? What is there wherewith to counterbalance such an exceeding and astonishing weight of guilt ? Ans. " Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law ; being made a curse for US." Gal. ill. 13. — Tiiis, this will not only counter-balance, but infinitely over-balance, all the sins of the whole believing vvorld. Qu. If the personal short-comings and misdoings of each sinner in particular amount to so vast a multitude, who can cal- culate the extent of the whole national debt, the entire aggregated sum, which (abstracted from her union with Christ) hes on the Church at large, that elect nation whom he has redeemed from among men ? Ans. The arithmetic of angels would be unable to ascertain the full amount. O thou covenanting, thou incarnate, thou obeying, thou bleeding, thju dying, thou risen, thou ascended, thou ii terceding Son of God ! not all the seraphs :liou hast created, not all the innumerable saints thy 2G 450 REMARKABLE DESCRIPTION OF ST. PAUL'S PERSON. love hath ransomed, will be able to compre- hend, much less to display, along the endless line of eternity itself, the length, the breadth, tlie depth, the height, of a sinner's obliga- tions to thee. Qu. If, on one hand, we are each con- strained to cry out with the believers of old. Enter not into judgment with thy ser- vant, O Lord, for in thy sight shall no flesh living be justified by works of human per- formance ; — Who can tell how oft he of- fendeth ? — How shall man be just with God ? If thou contend with him for his transgres- sions, he cannot answer thee for one of a thousand ; — My sins are more in number than the hairs of my head ; — Forgive us our debts, and cast all our sins into the depths of the sea ; what has faith to say ? Ans. Faith, on the other hanri, can re- ply in the very words which the Holy Ghost teacheth, the blood of Jesus Christ cleans- eth from all sin ; and there is now no con- demnation \_HSev KUTaicptfia, not one con- demnation] to them that are in Christ Jesus. So that we may sing, with Dr. Watts, '• Believing sinners free are set, For Christ hath paid their dreadful debt. ' We may add, in the words of another sweet singer in Israel, " Who now shall urge a second claim 1 The law no longer can condemn ; Faith a release can show ; Justice itself a friend appears ; ""he prison-house a whisper hears, Loose him, and let him go!" Qu. What return can believers render, to the glorious and gracious Trinity, for mercy and plenteous redemption like this ? Ans. We can only admire and bless the Father, for electing us in Christ, and for laying on him the iniquity of us all : — the Son, for taking our nature and our debts upon himself, and for that complete right- eousness and sacrifice whei eby he redeemed his mystic Israel from all their sins ; — and the co-equal Spirit, for causing us (in con- version) to feel our need of Christ, for in- spiring us with faith to embrace him, for visiting us with his sweet consolations by shedding abroad his love in our hearts, for sealing us to the day of Christ, and for making us to walk in the path of his com- mandments. THE MANNER OF STONING A CRIMINAL TO DEATH, AMONG THE ANCIENT JEWS. Stoning was one of the four capital punish- ments among the Jews, inflicted for the greater and more enormous crimes, esije- cially for blasphemy and idolatry. The malefactor was led out of the con- sistory (where he had received sentence), at the door whereof a person stood, with a napkin in his hand, and a man on horseback at some distance from him : that if any one came and said he had something to offer foi the deliverance of the criminal, the horseman (on the other's waving the napkin) might give notice, and cause the offender to he brought back to a farther hearing. He had two grave persons to go along with him to the place of execution, and to exhort him to confession by the way. A crier went before him proclaiming who he was, what his crime, and who his witnesses. When arrived at the fatal spot, which was raised two cubits from the ground, he was first stript, then stoned, and afterwards hanged. He was to continue hanging un- til sun-set, and then, being taken down, he and his gibbet were buried together. [See Cave's Life of St. Stephen, Sect. 19 ] MANNER OF WHIPPING AMONG THE AN- CIENT JEWS. This punishment was not to exceed 40 stripes : and therefore the whip with which it was to be inflicted being made of three thongs, and each blow giving three stripes, they never laid on any criminal mnre than 13 blows ; because 13 of those blows made 3!i stripes, and to add another blow would have been a transgression of the law, by adding two stripes over and above 40. [See Prideaux's Connect. Part ii. Book 5.] REMARKABLE DESCRIPTION OF ST. PAL'l's PERSON. How little Stress is to belaid on external appearance ! This prince of apostles seems to hint, concerning himself, that his bodily presence was not calculated to command respect at first sight : 2 Cor. x. 10. St. Chrysostom terms him homuncionem tricubi- talem, "a little man, about three cubits [or four feet and a half] in height." Lucian, or whoever is the author of the Philopatris, is supposed to have had St. Paul in view where he introduces "A Ga- lilean" (for so the Christians were con- temptuously styled), " rather bald-headed, with an acquiline nose, who travelled through the air into the third heaven." But, of all other writers, Nicephorus Callistus has given us the most circumstan- tial account of St. Paul's person [Lib. ii. cap. 37].— " St. Paul was small of stature, stooping, and rather inclinable to crooked- ness, paJe-faced, of an elderly look, bald on the head. His eyes, lively, keen, and cheer- ful, shaded in part by his eyebrows, which hung a little over. His nose, rather long and not ungracefully bent. His beard, pretty thick of hair, and of a sufficient length ; and, like his locks interspersed with grey." 451 BIOGRAPHY. SOME ACCOUNT OF MR. JOHN KNOX. TRANSLATED, CHIEFLY FROM THE LATIN OF MELCHIOR ADAMUS. Scotland had the honour of producing this ^eat and eminent luminary, who became the principal instrument, in God's hand, of effecting the reformation in that kingdom, at a time when Papal darkness, ignorance, and superstition, had involved the whole nation in shades of deeper than Egyptian night. He was born at Gaffard, near Had- dington, in the county of East Lothian, A.D. 1505; and received his academical educa- tion in the university of St. Andrew's, under the tutorage of the celebrated John Mair, or Major : and soon gave proof of the as- tonishing genius with which Providence had endued him, by his swift and profound ad- vances in all the walks of scholastic science. Having mastered these, he studied, with great diligence, the writings of Austin, and of Jerom : which, running in a more simple and easy channel, moved him to forego the needless intricacies of the philosophic theo- logy he had formerly imbibed ; and to em- brace that simplicity with which both Christ and his apostles were content, and which they commended to their disciples. He soon perceived that these scholastic niceties, when pushed to excess, are directly opposite to the genius of the gospel ; and open the way, not to Christian knowledge, but to the endless mazes of sophistry and strife of words. Coming acquainted with the famous Mr. George Wishart (afterwards martyred for the Protestant faith), it pleased God so to bless the conversation of that holy man to Mr. Knox that it issued in the effectual conver- sion of the latter : who, being very honest and very courageous, published a confession of his faith, at Edinbuigh, in which he boldly and clearly avowed the blessed principles of the Reformation. The Romish bishops and clergy, alarmed at the open defection of so eminent a man, and who had taken priest's orders, in their Church but a few years be- fore, endeavoured, first to suppress his book, and then to seize the author himself. He was accordingly apprehended, and condemn- ed to suffer death : but, by the good provi- dence of God, being set at liberty, he left his native country, and retired to Ber- wick, whence he proceeded to Newcastle, and then to Warwick ; in all which places ne preached the gospel in its purity, with great zeal and unremitting labour, and with success equal to both : so that his name now became more public and diffused than ever Edward VI. was then king of England. The fame of Mr. Knox soon reached the ears of that excellent prince, who shewed him no small favour and encouragement His majesty first made him his own chaplain, and then licensed him as one of the six itinerant ministers, who were empowered to preach the gospel in all places throughout the kingdom. In process of time Edward offered him a bishoprick, which, however, Mr. Knox declined to accept. That hopeful and pious king dying, A.D. 1653, his sister Mary succeeded to the crown, whereby the reformation, here, bade fair for being extinguished, almost as soon as lighted : many great and learned men, as well as others, being put to death ; and those who could, securing their lives by voluntary ban- ishment. Among the latter, Knox was one ; who fled, first, to Frankfort ; and thence to Geneva, the common asylum of distressed Chri-stians. There he enjoyed the intimacy of Calvin, and spent his time chiefly in preaching, and comforting the afflicted exiles. A. D. 1559, he returned into his own country ; where he again preached the truth, with incredible power and success. Although the French faction was at that time very powerful in Scotland, and the Devil's emissaries strove haid to ruin the Protestant interest in that kingdom ; yet Knox continued resolute, laborious and un- daunted as ever ; solidly and unanswerably, both by his writings and from the pulpit, asserting that Christ alone is the foundation of our acceptance with God, and his obedi- ence the only meritorious cause of our jus- tification. But as our Lord himself and his apostles underwent hatred, banishment, and persecution ; so was Knox obliged to leave Edinburgh, and repair to St. Andrew's ; whither, when he came, he met with many adversaries. About this time, viz. in the year 1572, in the month of August, such a scene open- ed in France as scarce any history can parallel : I mean the massacre at Paris ; where, beginning with admiral Coligni, it so raged against all who held the truth, without regard to age, sex, or quality, that it was truly said there was more blood than wine spilt at that Thyestaean marriage. This dreadful slaughter gave the deepest concern to Mr. Knox, as it did every where to all lovers of the gospel ; and added fresh weight to his former sorrows. But, shortly 2 G 2 452 LIFE OF MR. JOHN KNOX. after, matters taking a more favourable turn in Edinburgh, many, who had been banished thence, returned : and, among the rest, Knox was invited back, by letters from the Parliament. Tliitlier, therefore, he came, accompanied by a great number of fjodly and learned men ; and had not been there lonij before he entered on his miuisteiial office, and preached publicly to the people. But, as his voice was rather low and weak, he could not be well heard by the prodigious multitudes that attended. On which he besouglit the Parliament to furnish him with a place more commodious : which being granted, he preached some sermons tc the people on the sufl'erings of Christ, from the the 26th of Matthew ; often beseeching God to take him home while he was in that exercise. Still continuing unable to supply the cure of so large a chinch, especially as his body was much weakened and emaciat- ed by study and fatigue, and the hardships he had foi-merly imdergone ; leave was given to the people of Edinburgh to choose him such an assistant as Knox and they should deem most capable and worthy, and to present him, when chosen, to the eccle- siastical synod, for their approbation and license. By conmion consent, Mr. James Luson, of the university of Aberdeen, was •he person pitched upon ; and he was accor- diui Iv invited byletteis from the city, and fr un Mr. Kuox : who, iiei ceiving in himself that the time of his departure was at hand, among many arguments he made u^e of to quicken Luson's pace, said, ia the post- script of one of .his letters ; " Make liaste, my brother : else you will come too late to see me alive.'' The g(.od man being arrived at Edin- burgh, and having preached seveial times in puiilic, was, on the 5ih of Novetnber, 1572, declared by Knox to be pastor of that church. In that assemhly, Knox took oc- casion of preaching his last sermon, and of telling the people how many and great things God had done for him, and what deliver- ances he had wrought in his behalf ; and likewise reminded them v, ith how much diligence and faithfulness he had preached the gospel to them ; and cnngiatuhited the Chuich of Edinburgh on the favour God shewed them by deputing so able a minister to succeed him ; adding, at the same time, most fervent prayers for the temporal and spiritual prosperity both of him and them ; wishing them an abundant increase of grace, and a continual supply of the Holy Ghost. In conclusion, he blessed the people with greater liveliness than he had ever done be- fore , t. e. with a more cheerful mind, though with a very feeble body. — Then he walked home, leaning on his stick, and accompanied by the greater part of the congregation. Thus he returned to his house, out of which he never after came alive. The next day he was seized with a vio- lent cough ; breathing continually with moie and more difficulty, until he breathed his last. When his friends advised him to send for some physician, he smilingly consented, saying, " I would not either despise or neglect ordinary means ; but of this I am certain, that God will shortly put an end to my warfare below." Tlie day after, he ordered his servants to be paid their wa<;es ; whom, at the same time, he earnestly exhorted " to walk in the fear of the Lord ; and to hve so as became Christians educated in that family." His disorder growing worse and worse, he was forced to pietermit his ordinary method of reading ; which used to be every day some chapters of the Ne.v Testament, and in the Old, particularly the Psalms ; and sorrre useful portions of ecclesiastical history. In the mean while, he re*uested his wife (Mar- garet Stewart, a devout woman, and a most afi'ectionate partner of his faith and cares), and Richard BaUantine, his sen-ant, who was always very dear to him for his remark- able piety, that they would take care to read to him, every day while he lived, the 17'h chapter of St. John's Gospel, one or other of the chapters of the Epistle to the Ephe- sians, and the 53rd chapter of Isaiah : which injunction they never once omitted. lie was always peculiarly fond of the book of Psalms, God having greatly blessed them to his soul. With some select portions of those admirsble compositions he was much comforted in life, and strengthened in death. The dny following, he rose from his bed by seven o cl ck ; and being asked, "Why, when he was so weak a :d sick, he would not rather choose to rest himself? " He an- swei ed, " I have been this whole night taken up with the meditation of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, my Lcu d ; and would with joy get into the pulpit, that I might com- municate to others the comfort 1 have in- wardly enjoyed from reflecting on that blessed subject." So intent was he on the work of the Lord, even to his last breath ; and vvhen, for want of strength, he could scarce be lilted out of bed by the assistance of two set vants. A few days after, he sent for all the min- isters of the several churches in Edinbursih, to whom, being assembled round his bed, he thus addressed himself ; " That day is now at hand which I have so often and in- tensely longed for : in which, having fi-nished my labours, and gone through my various sorrows, I shall he dissolved, and be with Christ. And I appeal to God, whom I have served in the Spirit in the gospel of his Son, that I have tau-ht nothing but the true and LIFE OF MR. JOHN KNOX. 453 solid doctrines of his word : having made this my main view, through the whole course of my ministry, to instruct the ignorant ; to edify and comfort behovers ; lift up and confirm with the promises of grace those who were weak, fearful, and doubting, througlj the fear of wrath and consciousness of sin ; and to beat down haughty rebellious sinners with the threatenings and terrors of the Li,rd. And although many have frequently complained of my harshness in preaching, yet, God knows, that I did not thus deal out thunders and severity from hatred to the persons of any ; though this I will ac- knowledge, that tlie sins in which they indulge themselves were the objects of my keenest hatred and resentment ; and in my whole ministry this was my single aim, if I might by any means gain over their souls to the Lord. My motive for speaking freely and plainly whatever the Lord gave me to say, without respect of persons, was nothing but reverence to that God who called me by his grace, and made me the dispenser of his divine mysteries; before whose tribunal I knew 1 must one day stand, to give ac- count for my discharge of that embassy and commission wherewith he had invested me. Wherefore I profess, before God and his h.'ly angels, that 1 have never knowingly adulterated his sacred w(.rd, held back any uf his counsel from ray people, stu- died to ])lease men, or given way to my own or oiher's corrupt atiVctions or secular inteiest; but have faithfully expended the talents committed to me for the good of the Church over whon? I was in the Lord. To the truth of this my conscience beareth testimony, which is a comfort to me, not- some have mailo it their business to cast upon me. And do ye, my dearest brethren in the faith and labour of Jesus, persist in the everlasting truths of his gospel ; look dilifjently to the flocks vvith whose over- sight God hath intrusted you ; and which he hath redeemed to himself by the blood of his Son. And do you, my biother Luson, fight the good fight, and finish the work of God, to which you are called, with alacrity and faithfulness. May (iod shower down his bles.sing from on high upon you and your several charges in this city ! which, so long as they continue to hold fast those doctrines of truth which they have heard of me, the gates of hell shall never be able to prevail against. And beware of those who have not only opposed the royal go- vernment, but even forsaken the truth wliich I hey once professed ; against whom I denounce that, unless they sincerely re- pent and return to the good way which they have left, they shall one day miserably pe- rish in soul and body. I would say more, but cannot, as I am sca/ce able to draw my breath." With these words he dismissed them : and afterwards spoke in private to those who attended him, to admonish one Grange, on whom that judgment after- wards fell which Knox had predicted. He was then visited by the chief nobility of the town, among whom was Lord Morton, afterwards Viceroy of the kingdom, as also by some godly ladies of the first quality ; none of whom he suffered to depart with- out a word of comfort or exhortation, as their separate cases required. Perceiving death to api)roach nearer and nearer, he gave orders for his coffin to be made, after which he burst forth to this effect : " Lord Jesus, sweetest Saviour, into thy hands I commend my spirit. Look, I beseech thee, with favour, upon this Clmrch which thou hast redeemed, and restore peace to this afflicted commonwealth. Raise up pastors after thine own heart, who may take care of thy Church ; and grant that v/e may learn, as well from the bles- sings as from the chastisements of thy pro- vidence, to abhor sin, and love thee with full purpose of heart." Then, turning to those about him, he said, " O wait on the Lord with fear, and death will not be terri- ble : yea, blessed and lioly will their death be who are interested in the deatli of the Son of God." Being asked by an intimate friend, "whether he felt much pain?'' he replied, " I cannot look upon that as pain which brings on the end of mortality and trouble, and is the beginning of life." Having then ordered those passages of Scripture, above mentioned, to be distinctly read to him, he repeated the Lord's Praver and the Apostles' ("reed ; enlarginj; as he went on, most sweetly and spirituallv, upon each of the separate petitions and articles, to the great comfort and ed.hca'.ion ot tiu ni that were by. Afterwards, lifting up his hands towards heaven, he cried i,ut, "To thee. Lord, do I commit myself. Thou knowest how intense my pains arc, but I do not complain . yea. Lord, if such be thy will concerning me, I could be content to bear these pains for many years together : only do thou continue to enlighten my mind through Christ Jesus." He passed that night with more ease and complacency than usual ; the 15th chapter of 1 Cor. being frequently read to him at his own desire : which being done, he would cry out, "O what sweet and heavenly consolations does my Lord aflbrd me from this blessed chap- ter !" But when one of his eyes grew blind, and his speech began to fail, he cried faintly, "Turn to the l/th of St. John, and read it carefully, for there I have cast my anchor." When that was read he rested a little, hut soon began to utter very heavy groans and deep sighs ; so that the bye- standers plainly perceived he was grappling 454 LIFE OF MR. FOX. with some very great temptation. There were at this time present in the room, one John Johnson, a holy man, and Robert Campbell, a great friend to the gospel, Mrs. Knox, and others, who, observing his agonies, thought him to be in the pains of death. At length, however, contrary to their expectation, he recovered like one awaked from sleep ; and, being asked how he did, answered, "Many have been my conflicts with Satan in the course of my frail life, and many the assaults which I liave sustained ; but that roaring lion never beset me so furiously and forcibly as now. Often has he set my sins in array before me ; oftea has he tempted ine to despair ; and often strove to ensnare me with the enticements of the world ; but, I being en- abled to hew his snares in pieces with the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, he was not able to prevail against me. But now he has found out a new way. That crafty serpent has endeavoured to persuade me that, because I have faithfully and suc- cessfully discharged my ministerial office I am on that account deserving of eternal life and an happy immortality. But God was pleased to make me triumphant over this temptation also, by powerfully suggesting to my memory those te.xts. What hast thou that thou didst not receive ! And, by the grace of God, I am what I am : and. Not 1, but the grace of God which was with me ; and others, with which I foiled the enemy, and quenched his fiery darts. I thank my God, therefore, through Christ, who has vouch- safed me the victory ; and I have a certain persuasion in my own breast that Satan shall not be permitted to return, or molest me any more, in my passage to glory : but that 1 shall without any pain of body, or agony of soul, sweetly and peacefully ex- change this wretched life for that blessed and immortal one, which is through Christ Jesus.'' Then evening prayers were said ; and, being asked whether he could hear them distinctly ? he answered, "Would to God you all heard with such ears, and per- ceived with the same mind, as I am enabled to do ! And now. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Whereupon certain symptoms of immediate death appearing, he was desired to give some sign whereby they might know that he died in the stedfast belief and enjoyment of those gospel-truths which he had taught when living, and likewise of his comfortable assurance of a blissful immor- tality through Christ. On which, as if he had received fresh strength, he trium- phantly hfted up his hand toward heaven and continued waving it, for a considerable time, and then quietly departed to the rest which remaineth for the people of God, on Nov. 24, 1672, about eleven o'clock at night. LIFE OF MR. FOX THE MARTYRO- LOGIST. (a) Mr. John Fox was born at Boston, in Lin- colnshire, A. D. 1S17; the very year when Luther began the Reformation in Germany. His father died when he was very young ; and his mother marrying again, he came under the tutelage of a father-in-law, with whom he dwelt until the age of sixteen, at which time he was entered of Brasen-Nose College, Oxford, and was chamber-fellovr with the celebrated Dr. Alexander Newel, afterwards dean of St. Paul's. Mr. Fox plied his academical studies with equal as- siduity, improvement, and applause. In 1538, he took the degree of Bachelor in Arts, and that of Master, in 1543. The same year he was elected Fellow of Mag- dalen College. When he first removed to the University, and for some time after, he was strongly- attached to the heresies and superstitions of Popery. To his zeal for these, he added a life strictly regular and moral : and, laughing at the idea of justification by faith in the imputed righteousness of Christ, thought himself sufficiently safe in the ima- ginary merit of his own self-denial, pe- nances, alms-deeds, and compliances with the rites of the Church. But he was a chosen vessel, and there- fore divine grace would not let him remain a pharisee. Through the effectual breath- ings of God's i.oly Spirit, his studies were over-ruled, not only to the abundant advan- tage of posterity at large, but also to the endless benefit of His own soul in particu- lar. His indefatigable and profound re- searches into ecclesiastical history, and the WTitings of the primitive fathers ; and, above all, his thorough acquaintance with the Holy Scripture in its original languages ; became the means of convincing him to what an immense distance the Romish Church has departed from the faith, prac- tice, and spirit of Christianity. In order to make himself a yet more competent judge of the controversies then in debate betn-een Protestants and Papists, he searched with indefatigable assiduity in- to the ancient and modern history of the Church. Here he learnt at what periods and by what means the religion of Christ flourished, and by what errors it began to decline. He considered the causes, and weighed the importance, of those various dissentions which had, from time to time, obtained in the professing world ; and quickly perceived that, in every age, the mistakes, follies, and vices of mankind are more similar in their nature, operations, and effects, than is generally ipiagined. What («) Biogr. Brittaaicik. LIFE OF MR. FOX. 455 is tlie far greater part of civil and ecclesias- tical history but a register of the weakness and wickedness which divide almost the w hole human race between them ? With such zeal and industry did Mr. Fox apply himself to these inquiries, that, before he was thirty years of age, he had read over all the Greek and all the Latin fathers, all the scholastic writers, together with the acts of all the councils ; and moreover, made himself master of the Hebrew lan- guage. But, from this strict and severe application, by night, as well as by day ; from forsaking his old Popish friends, and courting the most sequestered retirement; from the dubious and hesitating manner in which, when he could not avoid being in company, he spoke of religious subjects ; and, above all, from his sparing attendance on the public worship of the Church, which he had before been remarkable for strictly and constantly frequenting ; arose the first sur- mises of his being alienated from the reign- ing superstitions, and infected with (what the bigoted Romanists had either the igno- rance, or the insolence, to term) the " new heresies." Thus, even the humble and benevolent Mr. Fox was not without his enemies, who narrowly watched his conduct, and waited for an opportunity to injure him. His sin- gular openness and sincerity did not long leave them at a loss for ways or means. Snares were laid for him, and his generous honesty betrayed him into them. A mo- derate portion of dissimulation (commonly called prudence and circumspection) would, perhaps, have secured him a while from the machinations of his adversaries. But he chose rather to sutfer affliction with the people, and for the cause, of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season ; mindful of that decisive aiidalaiming decla- ration, Whoever is ashamed of me, and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful ge- neration, of him shall the Son of Man he ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father, with his holy angels. Through grace, our author determined to venture the loss of all things for Christ's sake ; in con- sequence of which he openly professed the gospel, and was publicly accused of heresy. His college passed judgment on him, as a heretic convicted, and presently after he saw himself expelled from the University. His enemies maintained that he was favour- ably dealt with by that sentence, and might think himself happily off to incur expulsion instead of death. Mr. Fox's troubles sat the heavier on hira, as they lost him the countenance and good offices of his friends, vvho were afraid to assist and protect a person condemned for a capital offence. His father-in-law, particularly, seized this opportunity to with- hold from Mr. Fox the estate which his own father had left him ; thinking that he ■vrho stood in danger of the law himself would with difficulty find relief by legal methods. Being thus forsaken and oppressed, he was reduced to great straits, when God raised him up an unexpected patron in Sir Thomas Lucy, of Warwickshire, wlio re- ceived him into his house, and made him tutor to his children. Here he married a citizen's daughter of Coventry ; and con- tinued in Sir Thomas's family until his pu- pils were grown up : after which, he, with some difficulty, procured entertainment with his wife's father, at Coventry; whence, a a few years before the death of Henry VIII., he removed to London. For a considerable time after his arrival in the capital, being without employment or preferment, he was again reduced to ex- treme want. But the Lord's good provi- dence relieved him, at length, in the follow- ing extraordinary manner. As he was sit- ting one day in St. Paul's church, his eyes hollow, his countenance wan and pale, and his whole body emaciated (or rather, within a little of being literally starved to death) ; a person, whom he never remembered to have seen before, came and sat down by him, and, accosting him familiarly, put a respectable sum of money into his hand, saying, Be of good comfort, Mr. Fox ; take care of yourself, and use all means to pre- serve ydur life ; for, depend upon it, God will in a few days, give you a better pros- pect, and more certain means of subsist- ence. He afterwards used his utmost en- deavours to find out the person by whose bounty he had been so seasonably relieved ; but he was never able to gain any discovery. However, the prediction was fulfilled ; for within three days from that memorable in- cident, he was taken into the duchess of Richmond's family, to be tutor to her ne- phew the earl of Surrey's children, who (on the imprisonment of the earl, and of his father the duke of Norfolk, in the tower) were committed to the care of the duchess for education. Mr. Fox lived with this family at Rye- gate, in Surrey, during the latter part of Henry VIII. 's reign, the five year's reign of king Edward VI., and part of queen Mary's. Gardiner, the bloody bishop of Winchester, in whose diocese this good man so long lived, would have soon brought him to the shambles, had he not been protected by one of his noble pupils, then duke of Norfolk. Gardiner always hated Mr. Fox (who, it is said, was the first person that ventured to preach the gospel at Ryegate) ; and saw, with deep concern, the heir of one of the noblest families in the kingdom trained up in attachment to Protestantism under Mr. 456 LIFE OF MR. FOX. Fox's influence. The prelate, therefore, formed various designs against the safety of the latter ; and sought, by many artifices and stratagems, to work his ruin. The holy Tnan, who was no less suspicious of the bishop than the bi.shop was of him, found himself obliged in prudence (though much against the duke's inclination, who loved and revered him as a father), to quit his native land, and seek shelter abroad. His grace of Norfolk, perceiving that no argu- ments or intreaties could induce hi§ ho- noured tutor to remain in England, took jare to provide him with every accommo- dation requisite for his voyage. Mr. Fox accordingly set sail from Ipswich haven, accompanied by his wife, who was then pregnant, and by several other persons, who were leaving their country on a reli- gious account. The vessel had not been very long at sea ere a storm arose, which, the next day, drove them back into the port whence they had set out. Having with great difficulty and danger reached the land, Mr. Fox was saluted with indubitable information that bishop Gardiner had issued a warrant for apprehending him, and was causing the most diligent search to be made after him. On this he made interest with the master of the ship to put to sea again without delay, though a' evident hazard of their lives, as the tempest had not yet sub- sided. Tlirough God's goodness, however, they all arrived in two days at Nietiport in Flanders ; whence Mr. Fox and his com- pany travelled to Antwerp and Franck- fiird, and so to Basil, in Switzerland, vhither great numbers of the Eni;li>h le- soited in those times of domestic perse- cution. The city of Basil was then .i;ie of the most famous in Europe for printing; and many of the learned refugees who retired thither got their siib.'-ibtence by revising and coriecting tlie press. To tiiis employ- ment Mr. Fox betook himself; and it was here that he laid the first plan of his inest- imable history and martyrology, intitled. Acts and M'lnuments of the Church. Queen Mary the bloody died in the month of November, 1558. And, the day before she died in Engl uid, Mr. Fox, in a sermon then preached by bim at Basil, pub- licly and positively predicted that the day then next ensuing would be the last of her life. An event so circumstantially foretold, by one at such a distance from the place of Mary's residence, and so punctually accom- plished by the hand of divine Providence, could only he made known to the predictor by revelation from God. Eiizabetli's accession encouraged Mr. Fox to l e urn home, where, on his arrival, he still found a faithful and serviceable friend in his late pu^'il, the duke of Norfolk ; who hospitably and nobly entertained him at his manor of Clirist-Church, in London, until his [i. e. until the duke's] death ; from which latter pei iod Mr. Fox inherited a pension, bequeathed to him by his de- ceased benefactor, and ratified by his son the earl of Suffolk. Nor did the good man's successes stop here. On being recommended to the queen, by her secretary of state, the great Cecil, her majesty gave him the prebendary of Shipton, in the cathedral of Salisbury ; which was, in a manner, forced upon him, for he brought himself with difficulty to accept of it. The truth is that, wise and holy and learned as Mr. Fox uquestionably was, he entertained some needless doubts concerning the lawfulness of subscribing to the ecclesiastical canons ; a requisition, which in his idea, he considered as an in- fringement of Protestant liberty. Through this extreme scrupulousness, he excluded himself from rising to those dignities and promotions in the cliurch, to which his un- common merit, as a scholar and a divine, eminently entitled him ; and to which he would most certainly have risen but for the cause now assigned. His friends were many, great, and powerful ; as Sir Francis WaUingham, Sir Francis Drake, Sir Tho- mas Greshani, Sir Drue Drury, archbishop Grindal, bishop Ayhner, bishop Parkhurst, &c. ; who would have been the instru- ments of raising him to very considerable preferments, had not his unaccountable coolness towards the canons and ceremo- nies of the Church of England, restrained him from accepting any of her capital emo- luments. Whde, however, we wonder at his prejudices, we cannot but revere him for his honesty, and for his extreme tender- ness of conscience. — Pr. Fuller tells us that archbishop Parker summoned him to sub- scribe, in hope " that the general reputa- tion of his piety might give the greater countenance to conformity." But, instead of complying with the command, Mr. Fox pulled out of his pocket the New Testament, in Greek, and holding it up said. To this will I subscribe. And when a subscription to the canons was required of him, he re- fused, saying, I have nothing in the Church but a prebend at Salisbury, and, if you take it away from me much good may it do you. But he was permitted to letain it until his death : such respect did the bishops (who had most of them been his fellow exiles abroad) bear to his age, parts, and labours. Yet, let it be remembered that, not- withstanding his acknowledged moaeratioii in point of thorough conformity, he was still a declared enemy to the heats and vio- lences of rigid Puritanism. " I cannot but wonder,'' said he, in a letter to a bishop. LIFE OF MR. FOX. 467 "at that tiirouient genius which inspires those factious puritans. — Were I one who, like them, would be violently outrageous against bishops and archbishops ; or join myself with them, i. e. become mad, as they are ; I had not met with severe treatment [at their handj. But because, quite dif- ferent from them, I have chosen the side of modesty and public tranquillity, the hatred which they have long conceived against me is at last grown to this degree of bitterness. — Your prudence is not ignorant how much the Christian religion suft'ered, formerly, by the dissimulation and hypociisy of the monks. At present, in these men, I know not what new sort of monks seems to re- vive ; so much more pernicious than the former, as, with more subtle artifices of de- ceiving, and under pretence of perfection, like stage-players who only act a part, they conceal a more dangerous poison : who, while they require every thing to be formed according to their own strict discipline, will not desist until they have brought all tilings into Jewish bondage. "(A) Thus thought, and thus wrote, this ad- mirable divine ! this friend to men of all parties, but a slave to no party of men ! How benevolently disposed this great and good man was, even toward those who diifered the most widely from him in reli- gious principles, appears, among many other instances, from the Latin letter whicli he wrote to queen Elizabeth, A. D. 15/5, to dissuade her Majesty from putting to death (f) two anabaptists who had been condemned to the fire. Fuller has preserved the whole of this masterly and truly Chris- tian address. The substance of it was as follows, that, " To punish with the flames the bodies of those who err rather from blindness than obstinacy of will is cruel, and more suitable to the example of the Romish Church than to the mildness of the gospel. 1 do not" (added he) "write thus from any bias to the indulgence of error, but from a regard to the lives of men, as being myself a man ; and in hope that the offending parties may have opportunity to repent of and retract their mistakes." (i) The occasion on which this letter was writ- ten; and the wliole of the letter itself, in its original Latin; are extant in Fuller's Church Hist. b. ix. p. 106. — For a summary of it, in English, see Bio^i-ra- phia Britannica, toI. iii. p. 2021. (<•) On Easter-day was disclosed a congregation of Dutch Anabaptists, without Aldiirate in London : whereof seven-and-twenty were t^iken. and impri- soned ; and four bearing fasots at Paul's Cross so- lemnly recanted their dangerous opinions. Next month, one Dutchman, and ten women were con- demned, of whom one woman was conv(?rted to re- nounce her errors; eight were banished the land; two so obstinate, that command was issued out for their burning in Smithfield." Fullkr's Ch. Hist. IS. ix. p. 204. This shocking and unjustifiable persecution could not but reflect deep disgrace on the Protestant name. The two unhappy victims were burned, ac- He earnestly beseeches her Majesty " to spare the lives of these miserable men ; or at least soften their mode of punishment : as to banish them, or commit them to per- petual imprisonment, &c., but at all events not to re- kindle the Smithfield fires, which, through her goodness and care, had been so long extinguished. If this could not be granted, at least to allow them a month or two, in order that endeavours inight be used to reclaim them from their errors, and thereby to prevent the destruction of their souls as well as of their bodies." — Mr. Fox (says Fuller) was very loth that Smithfield, formerly consecrated with martyrs' ashes, should now be profaned with those of here- tics : and was desirous that the Papists might enjoy their own monopoly of cruelty, in burning condemned persons. But, though queen Elizabeth constantly called him "her father Fox," yet, herein, was she no dutiful daughtei', for she gave him a flat denial, as to the saving of their lives, if after a month's reprieve, and conference with di- vines, they uould not recant their heresies. It is not a little surprising that so holy and so candid a man as Dr. Fuller should en- deavour to palliate, if not to justify, the extreme malignity which brought those two Dutchmen to the stake. " Damnable," says this historian, " were their impieties ; and the queen was necessitated to this se- verity ; who, having formerly ptmished some traitors, if now sparing these blas- phemers, the world would condemn her ; as being more earnest in asserting her own safety than God's honour." A wretched ex- cuse this for wilful and deliberate murder ! It reminds us of Melancthon's cruelty (falsely fathered on Calvin), in pressing the magistrate-; of Geneva to burn the heretic Servetus. The answer of a Popish princess on a similar occasion did more honour to hu- manity. This lady (who is still living) was so- licited by s ime Romish ecclesiastics to con- cur with them in bringing a supposed heretic to the flames. " Is it not true," said she, " that heretics burn for ever in hell-fire ?" Without doubt, answered the priests. " It would be too severe then," added she, "to cording to their sentence, July 22, 15?5. They were both Du(chn>en, and, as we are informed by Stow, " dieil in great horror, with roaring and crying." (Clnonirlc. p. fmO.) — .Strype says, their names were, Jolm 11 i, ) ::. .,.,•, and Hcndrick Ter Woort ; and til. t t -M (Hi. I , ,i ittcr an imprisonment of sixteen w. . I I i i ,t was made in their behalf, b\ i .i i' . .1 . Muregation settled in London; Ijut 111 l ii\. ( i iiiiiil would not spare them: (.S(i\p.-s Annuls, vol. ii. p. 380.) It was emi- nentl> humane, in tlirir countrymen here to impor- tune the Government so earnestly in their favour; especially, v.hvn we rocollLCt that the intercessors were Calvinists, and tliat tlie sufferers added, to their other lieresies, the maintenance of free will, perfection, justification by works, and falling from grace ; which, however, was infinitely far from wa- ranting the sanguinary rigour with which they were treated. 458 LIFE OF MR. FOX. burn them in both wor ds. Since they are devoted to endless misery hereafter, it is but justice to let them live unmolested here." Hitherto Dr. Fuller and the Biographia Britannica have been our chief guides in the present account of the truly apostolic Mr. Fox. For what we have further to add we shall be principally indebted to the learned, faithful, and laborious Mr. Clark. (rf) While Mr. Fox was in exile at Basil, during the prevalence of Popery in England, he one day, in a sermon which he preached before his afflicted countrymen in that city, positively assured them " That the time was now come for their safe and happy re- turn home ; and that he told them this comfortable news by express command from God." Several ministers who were present took occasion afterwards to reprove him, with a degree of asperity, for publicly de- claring what they took to be the prema- ture flights of his own fancy and conjecture. But they soon altered their opinion, when authentic intelligence arrived that queen Mary the bloody was actually dead. On his re-settlement here he sat himself to revise and enlarge his admirable Martyr- ology. With prodigious pains and constant study he finished that elaborate work in eleven years. For the sake of greater cor- rectness he never employed any amanuensis, but wrote every line of this vast book with his own hand, and searched and tninscribed all the records and original papers himself. But, by such excessive toil, leaving no part of his time free from study, nor affording himself either the repose or recreations which nature required, his health was so reduced, and his person became so ema- ciated and altered, that such of his friends and relations as on ly conversed with him occasionally could not recollect him at sight. Yet, though he grew daily more iean, withered, and exhausted, his hard studies went on as briskly as ever, nor would he be persuaded to lessen his accus- tomed labouis. — The Papists, foreseeing how extremely detrimental his history of their errors and cruelties would prove to their cause, exerted their whole art and strength to lessen the reputation of his work. This malice of their's was of signal service both to Mr. Fox himself and to the Church of God at large ; as it event- ually made his hook more intrinsically va- luable, by inducing him to weigh, with the most exact and scrupulous attention, the certainty of the facts he recorded, and the validity of the authorities whence he drew his informations. Having long sei-ved both the Church and the world by his ministry, by his pen, and by the unsullied lustre of a beneficent, useful, and holy life, he comfortably re- signed his soul to Christ, on the 18th of April, 1587. The Lord had given him a foresight of his departure ; and so fully per- suaded was he that the time was just at hand when he should quit the body, that (probably to enjoy unmolested communion with God, and to have no worldly interrup- tions in his last hours) he purposely sent his two sons from home, though he loved them with great tenderness, and before they returned, his spirit, as he had foreseen would be the case, was flown to heaven. He was interred in the chancel of St. Giles's, Cripplegate ; of which parish he had been, in the beginning of Elizabeth's reign, for some time vicar. Mr. Strype (e) says that a very fair marble stone, fixed in the south wall of that chancel, was presently after erected to his memory, with the following inscription : CHRISTO S. S. JOHANNI FOXO Ecclesia Anglicana Martyrologo fidelissitno Atitiqiiitatis historic^ indagatori sagacissimo, Et:aiig€itc(F verttatis yropugnatori acerrimOj Thaumaturgo admirabiti: Qui Murtyrfs ^larianos, tanqitam, phanices ex cin- eriOus redivivos prastUit Patri suo, omn't pietatis officio imprimis colendo, Samuel Foxus, Illius primogetiitus Hoc monumentum posuii Non sine lacrymis. Obilt die 18 mens. April. An. Dam. 1587. Jam septuagenarius. Vita ynx mortalis est, spes tit.c ivmortalis. Fuller acquaints us that Mr. Fox foretold the destruction of what was madly styled by the Pope and Spaniards, the Invincible Armada. " The story," says that historian, "is true, though Mr. Fox survived not to see the performance of his own prediction. His dear friend. Dr. Laurence Hum- frey, may be said to have died with him (though his languishing life lasted a year longer) ; sn great was his grief to be parted from his fellow-colleague, bred together in Oxford, and banished together into Ger- many."y) Among the graces for which our match- less martyrologist was eminent, shone his ex- tensive (some would almost term it profuse) liberality to the poor. He was so bountiful to them while he lived, that he had no ready money to leave to them at his death. His love to his Saviour was such that he could never refuse giving to any who asked him for relief in the name of Jesus, or, for Christ's sake. A friend once inquiring of him, " whether he recollected a certain (iflSee the first volume of his " Marrow of Ecclc- liMtical History," p. 382, 383. (f) See his edition of Stow's Surrey of London part iii. p. 83. U) Fuller, ubi. oup. 187. LIFE OF MR. FOX. 459 poor man whom he used to relieve ?" He answered. Yes, I remember him well : and I willingly forget lords and ladies to re- member such as he. His ability in comforting afflicted con- sciences was very peculiar. No wonder, therefore, that his house was frequented by persons of all ranks, from noblemen down to the poorest of the flock, who were la- bouring under soul distresses. His time was divided between study, preaching, praying, spiritual conference, and visiting the sick and afflicted. His principal hours for intercourse with God in secret prayer were during the night season : at which times of holy retirement, he has been heard to agonize with God, and to mingle his supplications with groanings which could not be uttered. He was distinguished by a deep and settled contempt of earthly things : more especially of pleasures, amusements, wealth, and honours. Hence, he abstracted himself as much as he possibly could from all friend- ship, society, and connection with the great and noble of this world. The money which was sometimes offered him by rich men he accepted, but the poor were as sure to have it as ever he received it. On various occasions he more than seemed to speak by a spirit of prophecy. Many things did he foretel when comfort- ing the distressed, and when terrifying the obstinate and obdurate. Lady Anne Heneage lying sick of a vio- lent fever, and the physicians deeming it mortal, Mr. Fox was sent for to be her spiritual assistant in her last moments. Alter prayer and religious conversation, he told her that she had done right in prepar- ing for eternity, but that, nevertheless, she was not to die of that sickness. A kniglit, her son-in-law, taking him aside soon after, said to liim, "Mr. Fox, you acted wrongly in disconcerting my mother's mind v/ith hopes of life, when the physicians have pronounced her past recovery.'' — I have said no more, answered the good man, than God commanded me ; for it is his pleasure that she shall not die, but hve. And the event was as he foretold. Going one day to see the earl of Arun- del, son to tlie duke of Norfolk, at his lord- ship's house in the Strand, London ; on his coming away, the earl walked with him down his garden, to the Thames side, where he was to take boat. The weather being very stormy and the water extremely rough, tlie earl advised him not to venture himself on the river Mr. Fox's answer was very remarkable, and makes us feel a wish to kbow the particular su bject of their pre- (g ) See more ofnim in StnTe's Annals, vol. iii. p. 505.— Aa also cf Simeon, his youngest brother, ■'lid p. 506. Mr. Strype terms both these surviving ceding conversation : My lord, let these waters so deal with me as I have in truth and sincerity delivered to you all that 1 have spoken. On saying these words he entered the boat, and very shortly after- wards the wind ceased, and the river ran with a smooth and gentle current. There have been macaronies in a ages. One of Mr. Fox's sons had a great desire to travel beyond sea, from which his father could by no means dissuade him. After a tour of several years, he returned home and presented himself to the good old man in a fantastical, outlandish habit. Who are you? said Mr. Fox. — "Sir, I am your son Samuel." — To which his reply was : O my son, who has taught thee to make thyself so ridiculous ? This reproof seems to have been attended with good effect, for the giddy youth proved, afterwards, a serious, devout, learned, and respectable man. In 1610, he wrote the hfe of his father, pre- fixed to his Martyrology ; and at length died, full of years and of good works. A very singular incident, of which Mr. John Fox himself was eye-witness, shall conclude this summaiy of his life and cha- racter. He it was who had that memorable interview with Mrs. Honeywood, mentioned by so many authors of that age. The con- cern of this pious lady for the salvation of her soul was so great, her doubts and fears so very distressing, and her sorrow of mind so grievous, that she sunk into utter de- spair : which had such an effect on her bo- dily health as brought her to death's door, and kept her in a gradual consumption for almost twenty years. In vain did physi- cians administer their medical assistances ; for her disease, which originated from a spiritual cause, required a supernatural re- medy. There was but one Physician whose power atid skiU could reach her case : even he who healeth those that are broken in heart, and giveth medicine to heal their sickness. — In vain did the ablest and most evangelical ministers preach to her the comforts of the gospel; and labour to per- suade her of the willingness and certainty wherewith Christ receives every coming sinner. The holy Spirit alone could preach to her heart with eflScacy ; and he had not yet vouchsafed, in all those years, to rise upon her soul. At length Mr. Fox was sent for; who, on his arrival, found a most mournful family, and the mistress of it tlie deepest mourner among them all. The holy man prayed with her, and then re- minded her of what the faithful God had promised, and of what Christ had done and suffered for her soul. But even this was to no purpo.se frr still she could not believg sons of Mr. John Fox "well deseiTing men, bred up to learning, and of note in their times." THE LIFE OF DR. JEW F.L. thai the gospel promises and the merits of Jesus belonged to her. Mr. Fox, not in the least discoiii aged, went on, and to the won- der of those about lier, expressed himself to iVie f llovving ell'ect : You will not only re- cover of voiir bodily disease, but albo live to an e.\c-eeiliiij; great age ; and, which is yet belter, ycford, he ap- pears to have been e.Ktremely fond of an aca- demic life ; nor probably would anything but the royal command have drawn him out of a sphere so .suited to his regular and philosophical turn of mintl. On the 12tii of Jnlv, KilS, he was con- secrated to the see of Llandaif: to which elevation he was raised and entitled, not only by his amazing genius, learning and 46B SOME ACCOUNT OF DR. CARLETON. rii-tufs ; but chiefly on account of his mas- terly and resokite opposition to Armi- iiianism, which had by that tirae found its way hither from the Dutch Provinces, and with which several of the Erijjlish clergy were then beginning to be infected. Dr. Carleton in his sermons and University disputations had shewn himself so watchful against the encroachments of this newly imported poison, and was so accomplished a master of the whole controversy, that king James I. (who hated the Arminians with a perfect hatred, until he thought fit some years afterwards to make use of them for political purposes) first appointed him to the above bishopric, and then sent him as his religious plenipotentiary, and as one of the four representatives of the Church of England, to the famous synod of Dort, where his lordship assisted that most vene- rable assembly in their candid trial and just condemnation of the Arminian heresies. So faithfully as a minister of God, and so ahly as a man of talent, did our excellent bishop acquit himself at Dort, that, on his return to England, the States of Holland wrote king James a letter of thanks for sending to them a person whom they not extravagantly styled " imai;o atr/ue expresxa virtutis effigies:" i.e., a living image and counterpart of all virtue. His majesty like- wise was so thoroughly satisfied with the whole of his conduct («) that he translated him to the see of Chichester, in Sept. 1619. What must endear his name to posterity, while sound religion breathes in England, are the invaluable works which his pious and learned pen has bequeathed to the Church of God. Among these, Luna minoreSf Iter ignes shines his famous " Examination" of Mr. Richard Montagu's " Appeal." This Mon- tagu, in order to curry favour with Charles I. and with archbishop Laud, wrote a very shallow, but very insolent tract, entitled " An Appeal to C.xsar;" in which the au- thor was so lost to all sense of veracity and shame as to aim at squeezir.g the articles and homilies of the Church of England into the new fangled mould of Arminianisni. Many were the refutations which the paltry and daring pamphlet received from some of the best and greatest clergymen then living. Bishop Carleton was among the foremost to assert the scriptural and established doc- trines in opposition to the innovations of controversias agitatas ailmiuistrisse, ut, in patriam reversug, Jacobo rrgi carior tactus, ad epi.sccpatum loeotrensein, vicesimo Septembris, lai'j, promove- er; or, and to that worse than Stygian flood of varnished Atheism which has since over- whelmed so great part of the Protestant vineyard, and which still continues (though in a much narrower channel than formerly) to roll its baneful stream. The great pre- late foresaw and deplored the terrible ef- fects which have redounded from the free- will system ; and which once tiperated almost to the utter extirpation of Christi- anity, morality and sound philosophy, from off the face of this land. Before our civil and ecclesiastical troubles in the seventeenth century arrived at their height, God was pleased to translate Dr. Carleton from earth to heaven. He expired aged 69, full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and richly laden with good works, in May, 1628, and was buried the 27th of that month in the choir of Chichester cathedral, near the altar. The compilers of Biographia Britan- Tiica, who have supplied us with several of the above particulars, are so just to the memory of this profound and stedfast Cal- vinistic bishop, as to observe that " He was a person of solid judgment, and of various reading ; well versed in the fathers and schoolmen ; wanting nothing that could render him a complete divine." Echard, in his " History of England {0)," charac- terises him in terms of distinguished ho- nour : as does the indefatigable Dr. Fuller(c), whose words are : "About this time, George Cfuleton, that grave and godly bishop of Chichester, ended his pious life. He was bred and brought up under Mr. B. Gilpin, that apostolical man ; whose life he (i. e. Bishop Carleton) wrote in gratitude to his memory. He retained his youthful and poetical studies fresh in his old age.'' The testimony of the great Mr. Camden shall close the present sketch (I wish the materials were more ample) of this admi- rable prelate's life and character. The learned antiquarian, in his account of Nor- ham and its castle, WTiles as follows : " This, and other matters were taught me (for I shall always own my instructors) by George Carleton, born at this place ; whom for his excellent proficiency in divinity (whereof he is professor), and the other polite parts of learning, I love and am loved by him : and I were unwortiiy of that love if I should not acknowledge his friend- ship () Vol. ii. p. 72. (c) Church Hist. Book xi p. 131. See also Dr. FuUcr'.t \\ orthies of Eng'.atid, part ii. p. 304. (rfj Camden's Britannia, Vol. ii. col. IC'ag.— Edit 1742. MEMOIR OF LORD HARINGTON. 469 MEMOIRS OF JOHN, LORD HA- RINGTON. BARON OF EXTON(e). This extraordinary young nobleman was the eldest son of that lord and lady Harin^ton to whose care kiiij; James I. committed the education of his daui;htt>r Elizabeth, who was afterwards married to Frederick prince elector palatine. They were persons eminent for prudence and piety, and were unwearied in forming the mind of their son to learning, and his manners tovirtue. He soon manifested that the labours of his parents and tutors was not in vain in the Lord. Effectual grace laid hold on his heart betimes, and as he advanced in years, he gave brighter and brighter evidences of sound conversion and increasing ho- liness. In very early youth he was able to read the common Greek authors, not only with ease but « ith taste. He spoke Latin with fluency, and wrote it with elegance ; and could converse with foreigners either in French or Italian. He was not a perfect speaker of the Spanish, but had enough of it to read and understand several books written in that language. Logic, natural and moral philosophy, and the mathema- tics, he was more than competently master of ; and excelled in the theory of tactics and of navigation. What added lustre to all were, his deep experience, and his admi- rable knowledge of the great things of God. Theology was his grand and favourite study, and there were few even of the sacred or- der (though at that time bishops and cler- gymen merited the name of divines), who could disembarrass an intricate question, or resolve a difficult case of conscience with more ability, judgment and spirituality, than he. Being well grounded in religion and learning, his noble father sent him to make the tour of France and Italy, under the care of the excellent Mr. Tovey, who had former- ly been head master of the free school at Co- ventry. During their travels on the continent, they seem to have been imprudently zealous in their avoival of the Protestant faith ; by which having given offence to some Jesuits, the latter took an oppoitunity to adminis- ter a slow, but sure poison, to the noble traveller and his religious tutor ; that (says the original writer of this memoir) " see- in;,' they had no hope of being able to cor- rupt their minds, they might at least destroy their bodies, and bring them to their graves." Mr. Tovey, who was in years, and less able to encounter the strength of so potent 3 poison, died quickly after his return to GiigUtid. But Lord Harington, who was of a strong constitution, and in the prime of life, did not so soon yield to its effects, though its violence presently shewed itself in his countenance, and a very few years afterwards terminated in death. On his lordship's arrival in England from his travels, he testified his gratitude to God, by giving twenty pounds to the poor, which donation he continued annually while he lived. The second sabbath after his landing (having spent the preceding Satur- day with his tutor, Mr. Tovey, in prayer, fasting, and thanksgiving), he devoutly at- tended on the preaching of the word, re- ceived the Lord's supper, and distributed five pounds to the poor of that parish, together with forty pounds besides for the relief of indigent ministers, and of other distressed Christians. At all times, his constant rule was, never to devote less than a tenth part of his income to charitable purposes. From the first day of his last sickness, he strongly apprehended the approach of death; and exercised himself in such thoughts and duties as might tend to loosen him more and more fiom the world, and aid his affections in their flight to heaven. Much of his time was spent in social and private prayer, and his conversation, with his friends and domestics, turned cliiefly on continual confessions of his own sinfulness, declarations of his faith, and professions of his sure and certain justification through Christ Jesus. So strong was his assurance of intei est in the covenant of grace, that not one cloud of misgiving seems to have dark- ened his mind ; but he was enabled to testify, with joy unspeakable and full of glory, that he feared not death, in what form soever it might come to him. Great were his desires to be dis.solved and taken home to the Lord. About two hcrurs before he departed, he witnessed to those about him that he still felt the assur- ed comforts and joys of his salvation by Christ. When the last agonies were upon him, he was heard to say, O thou, my joy ! O my God ! when shall I be with thee ? In the midst of which holy breathings, he placidly and triumphantly surrendered his soul to God, A. D. 1613 ; aged 22 years. His manner of life had been eminently and uniformly religious. He usually rose every morning at five ; and sometimes at four. When he first waked, his constant care was to cultivate communion with God, by offering up the first-fruits of the day, and of his thoughts to the uncreated Ma- jesty. So soon as dressed, he endeavoured to put his heart in tune for family worship, by reading a portion of scripture ; after which, he prayed with his servants. This e) See the second volume of that curious work, entitled, Nugae Antifjute.p 112.— Also, Clark, 's Livof. 470 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE OF WITSIUS. duty concluded, he spent about an hour in reading some valuable book, calculated to inform his understanding, and to animate his graces. Calvin's Institutions, and Mr. Rogers's Treatise, (/) were among the performances which he highly esteemed, and which he carefully studied. Before dinner and before supper his family were called together to wait on God in reading, singing, and prayer. After sup- per prayer was repeated : and, if he was at leisure from company or business, he then retired to write his diary ; in which he faith- fully recorded the temptations, sins, and spiritual mercies of the day. When in bed, some or other of his devout servants read to him, out of the scriptures, for an hour or longer, until he betook himself to sleep. Thus he both lay down and awoke with God. He was a most strict observer of the Lord's day : and, as far as possible, devot- ed the whole of it to private and public duties : yet so as to shew that in his esti- mation public ordinances should have the preference to private ones : knowing that the Lord loveth the gates of Sion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Hence, though he had a household chaplain, he constantly attended the public service twice every sabbath : nor did he violate this rule, even when he was called to attend the royal court. If business, or other providences, cast his lot occasionally where the word was not preached, he would ride many miles to some other place at the proper seasons, rather than defraud his soul of spiritual food. Immediately after ser- mon, he would seclude himself from com- pany for about half an hour, in order, by prayer and meditation, to digest what he had heard. After evening sermon, two of his seivants repeated in the family, before supper, the substance of that and the morn- ing discourse, from notes which they had written at the times of preaching ; and so great was his memory that he himself would usually repeat more than they had committed to writing. He then entered the heads, and principal passages of each sermon, in a plain paper book which he kept for that purpose ; and afterwards dis- missed his domestics with prayer, in which he had a very extraordinary gift. By way of preparation for the sabbath, he called his soul to a strict account every Saturday night; and with confe'jsion, sup- plication, and thanksgiving, committed himself to the grace of God in Christ. On the Lord's - day morning, rising as usual very early, he repeated to the attendants who waited on him while he was rising, a summary of the two sermons which tiiey had heard the Sunday before. Every month he received the holy com- munion ; and sanctified the preceding day as a solemn private fast : reviewing the memoirs of his experiences and conduct in the month before, and spending the whole day in prayer, meditation, and self-examina- tion. He carefully noted, on this occasion, how it had been with him since his last appearance at the holy table ; what progress he had made in piety ; how he had throve in grace, and what additional strength the Lord had given him over his corruptions. Thus he spent his monthly fast (besides which, he frequently kept other days of private humiliation) ; not coming out of his study until about supper-time. On the sacrament morning, he constantly read 1 Cor. xi. wherein the institution of that holy ordinance is treated of : and, to his servants who were to communicate with him he read pnrt of a spiritual treatise upon the same subject. He was deeply attentive to the word preached, sensible that he was, then, emi- nently in the presence of God ; and demon- strated, by the awfulness and circumspection of his behaviour, that he came to hear, not the preacher, but Christ speaking in his word. To avoid all appearance of ostentation, it was his cuytom not to admit any visitant or acquaintance, either to his prayers, or to the repetition of sermon, in and with his family, except one intimate friend only, who used to be indulged in bearing a part in these heavenly devotions. How far lord Harington judged exactly right, in this extreme scrupulousness, is not for us to enquire. But it certainly resulted from a very high sense of modesty and religious delicacy. He is now engaged in still more exalted family worship, and sings, with angels and glorified saints, the song of Moses and the Lamb. Reader, be not slothful in the works of God ; but a follower of them, who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises. SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE OF HERMAN WITSIUS, D. D. TRANS- LATED FROM THE LATIN ORA- TION WHICH MARCKIUS DELI- VERED BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OF LEYDEN, AT HIS INTERMENT. Enchuysen is a noted and considerable city of West Friesland, and remarkable for being one of the first towns in the L'nited Provinces, which, A.D. 157-, shook off the Spanish yoke. It was eminent, moreover, jr. another account ; namely, that having embraced the pure faith of the gospel, this (J) Probably, Mr. Rogers's Commentai*y on the XXXIX Articles, is the treatise here meant. SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE OF WITSIUS. city WflJ inflexibly tenacious of the truths it had received, and made a most strenuous and suciessful stand a-rainst the insolent innovations and incroacliments of the Ar- niiiiians, at a time wlien that pestilent sect «as newly started up, and had rendered itself, by the number of its adherents, very formidable to the whole reformed interest in Holland. And although this city, from the convenience of its situation (being a sea- port), had been for a long series of ages famous for its extensive commerce ; yet it has been so happy as to produce many very learned men, and able ministers of the gos- pel : and perhaps, amidst all its advantages, it has not more reason to boast of any thing than for being the birth-place of o\ir Herman- nus VVitsius ; who was born here on the 12th of February, 1636. Which same month and year were rendered further memorable, by the erection of the famous school of Utrecht into an University. His father, Nicholas Witsius, served the Church of Enchuysen, first as deacon, and then as presbyter : and in course of time, being advanced to civil honours, he was made treasurer and chief magistrate of the city : in all which stations, his piety, inte- grity, and humility, exceedingly endeared liim to all his fellow-citizens. He also com- posed a book of sacred poems and hymns : which were in their matter so evangelical, and in their manner so accurate and lively, that they seemed dictated by heaven to in- spire devout affections, and cultivate holy joy and spirilual-mindedness. The mother of our Witsius was Joanna, daughter of Herman Gerardus : who, suf- fering greatly in his own country on account of his religious principles, after sustaining many losses and running various hazards, got safe to Enchuysen ; where he settled with his family, and became an eminent minister in the church. Here he continued preaching the gospel for upwards of thirty years, and discharged his important trust with singular faithfulness and zeal : admir- ed by all, no less for his eloquence than learning. And so hearty were his attach- ments to his flock in this place, that he refused many invitations sent him from several churches in Holland, of greater dignity and much larger revenues than his own. Witsius, thus descended on both sides from such worthy persons, looked upon him- self as under an additional obhgation so to behave and adjust his conduct, through{)Ut the course of his life, as, by the blessing of divine grace, to bring no stain or dishonour on a family thus happily distinguished by their extraordinary love to God and reve- rence for his laws. Before he was born, his pious parents niade a tow to the Lord that, if they had a 47. male child, they vvould, from his earliest years, endeavour to devote him to the min- istry and service of the sanctuary. At length, a son came ; and they called him. after his pious grandfather, Hermannius : beseeching (iod, at the same time, that the spirit of that holy man whose name he bore, might, as it were, revive in this his grand- son ; and that their infant offspring migh^ not only equal, but if possible, even go be- yond, him in Christian graces and ministerial abilities. And tlieir prayers were indeed signally answered. I must not forget to inform the reader that Witsius came (as it is called) before his time : and this premature birth had welj nigh cost both mother and son their lives In consequence of this, he was, when born, so uncommonly small and weakly that the midwife and the other women present con- cluded he must die in a few hours. But herein God disappointed their fears, and (for what can make void his purposes r) raised this puny infant afterwards into a very great man (not in body, for he was always spare and thin) : a man of vast intellectual abilities, brightened and improved by deep study, and whose fame diffused itself through- out the whole Christian world by his useful, numerous, and learned labours. His parents, after this danger, took par- ticular care of his education, and were obliged to be extremely tender of his health. Above all, tliey endeavoured (and their en- deavours were crowned with success equal to their largest wishes,) to bring him up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord : teaching him, ere he could speak distinctly, to lisp out the praises of God, and unfold his wants in prayer before the throne of grace. In the sixth year of his age, he was en- tered at the pubhc school of his native town, to learn the rudiments of Latin. There he continued three years ; at the end of which space, his mother's brother, Peter Gerardus, took him to his own house, and under his own immediate tuition. This worthy person was a great master of philosophy and the learned languages ; but chiefly devoted his time to the study of divinity : and not be- ing then in any public employment, enjoyed a comfortable and useful retirement, addict- ing himself much to the instruction and improvement of his nephew, whom he loved as his own son. Under the care of his good uncle, Wit- sius made so rapid a progress in learning that before he was fifteen yt-ars old, he could not only speak and write the Latin language correctly, and with some degree of fluency ; but could also readily interpret the books of the Greek Testnrnent, and the orations of Isocrates, and render the He- brew cemmentaries of Samuel into Latin : 472 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE OF WITSIUS. at the same time givinf; the etymology of the original words, and ass!i;nini^ the reasons of the variations of the pointing grammatically. He had, likewise, now acquired some know- li-dge of pliilosophy; and had so far made himself master of logic that, when he was removed to the University,he needed no pre- ceptor to instruct him in that art. He learned also, while he continued with his uncle, Walaeus's and Burgersdicius's Compen- diums of Ethics : which latter author he plied so diligently, that lie could at any time repeat by heart the quotations cited by him from any of ttie ancient writers, whether Greek or Latin. He acquainted himself too with the elements of Natural Philosophy and Metaphysics ; and as his uncle always kept him usefully employed, lie was likeuise master, and that almost by heart, of Windelin's Compendium of Theo- logy : the good man deeming it an essential and special part of his duty to make his nephew from his earliest youth intimately ver>ed in matters of divinity. His uncle himself had from his own childhood been inured to sanctify the ordi- nary actions and offices of life, by sending up pjaculatory aspirations to God, suitable to the business he was about ; in order to which he had made his memory the store- house of some more eminently useful and familiar texts of Scripture, both of the Old and New Testament, which related or might be accommodated to every part of common life ; so that when he lay down, rose up, dressed, washed, walked abroad, studied, or did any thing else, he could repeat apposite passages from the holy Scriptures in their original languages of either Hebrew or Greek ; thereby in a very eminent manner acknowledging God in all his ways, and doing whatsoever he did to his glory. This same excellent practice he recommended to his nephew ; which had so happy an effect that very many por- tions both of the Hebrew Bible and the Greek Testament were, in his youth, so deeply impressed on Witsius's memory, that even in his old age he never forgot them. Were all who are intrusted with the education of others equally diligent in forming the minds of their pupils betimes to piety and learning, and were all young men equally attentive and obsequious as Witsius, they would be better scholars at their entrance into the University than the generality of themnoware when they leave it. Having made so swift and deep a pro- gress in most kinds of learning, Witsius bpgan to think of removing to some Uni- versity, and fixed on that of Utrecht, which was very eminent for the excellency of its course, the strictness of its discipline, the reputation of its professors, and the number of its students. What chifCy T»» commended this place to him were Ttm advantages he hoped to gain from the )rc- tui es and conversation of those very famou;< divines, who at that time flourished there ( especially Maatsius, Hoornbeek, and Gisbert Voetius. Hither, therefore, he came A.D. 1651, and in the fifteenth year of his age. But just before he reached Utrecht, Maat- sius was gathered to his fathers ; so that on his arrival he had only the melancholy satisfaction of hearing the great Hoornbeek pronounce the funeral oration over his much loved friend and colleague. Being thus entered at the University he assiduously applied himself to metaphy- sics, using for that purpose the Manuductio of Paul Voetius ; and being greatly taken with the Oriental languages, he studied them under the ever memorable John Leus* den, then professor and teacher of those tongues there. Under the direction of that eminent linguist he went through the greater part of the Hebrew Bible ; as also made himself master of the Hebrew com- mentaries of R. Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Kinichi, on Hosea ; Jonathan's Chaldee paraphrase on Isaiah ; and the Onkelos, on part of the Pentateuch. He likewise, under the tutorage of Luesden, acquaint- ed himself with the mysteries of the Mas- sora, and the intricacies of the Talmud, as set forth by Cocceius and L'Empereur. Through his instructions, he acquired the ktiowledge of Syriac and the rudiments of Arabic. He very early gave a specimen of his great proficiency in the Hebrew tongue by composing a most elegant and masterly oration in that langiwge, De Meeaiii Jutlce- orum et Christiauorum ; which at the request of his master Leusden he pro- nounced mth great applause before the University, A. D. 1664, and in the eigh- teenth year of his age. Though he was thus devoted to matters of literature, he nevertheless set apart the major portion of his time for the study of divinity ; to which, as he rightly judged, the others were to act in subserviency. In order to proceed properly in this greatest and best of sciences, he put himself under the guidance of such theological professors as were most eminent for profound learning and the exactest skill in the sacred volumes ; and who might consequently be most ser\-ice- able to him in the prosecution of such studies. These were Gisbert Voetius, John Hoornbeek, Walter Biuinius, and Andrew Essenius. Assisted, therefore, with such preceptors and adding to their instructions indefatigable labour on his own part, and both being crowned with the grace and blessing of God, the reader may form some judgment how vast a proficiency such SaME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE OF WITSIUS. a stu<'ent with such advantages must needs maV« About this time he had a great desire of repairing to Groningen, chiefly with a view to see and hear the celebrated Mare- sius, then professor of divinity in that Uni- versity. Hither, therefore, he repaired towards the latter end of the year 1654. Being arrived, he devoted himself entirely to divinity under the sole guidance of Maresius ; and entered on the exercises previous to preaching. These he perform- ed in the French tongue ; and so well did he acquit himself to the satisfaction of his tutor Maresius that, notwithstanding that great man was so much taken up with various business of importance, he never- theless condescended to look over and with his own hand to correct Witsius's decla- mations before he pronounced them in public. Having spent a year at Groningen, and obtained ample testimonials of his good behaviour and great abilities from the col- lege of divines, he determined for Leyden ; but having received information that the plague was making great havoc in that city, he changed his mind and resolved to revisit his beloved Utrecht, that he might there perfect himself in divinity, in which he had already made such large and happy advances. On his return to Utrecht, he not only as formerly attended all the divinity lectures both public and private of the several pro- ' fessors, but entered into a strict and tho- rough intimacy with that very excellent divine Bogaerdtius, than whom, Witsius was of opinion, a greater man never lived. From his lectures, conversation, example, and prayers, thiough the blessed energy and grace of the divine Spirit, Witsius was enlightened into the mysteries of the Re- deemer's kingdom, and led into the com- fortable, heart-felt enjoyment of inward, spiiitual, and experimental Christianity. Through his means he first learned how widely different that knowledge of divine things is which, flows from mere learning, study, and acquisition, from that sublime and heaven-taught wisdom which is the result of fellowship with Christ by the Holy Ghost; and which, through his own powerful influences on the heart of his elect, gloriously conforms the believing soul more and more to the blessed image of its divine Saviour. Witsius always humbly and thankfully acknowledged that Bogaerdtius was the instrument God made use of to lead him into the innermost temple of holy love and gracious experience ; whereas until then he stood only in the outer court ; but thence- fonrord disclaiming all vain wisdom and self-dependance, he was happily brought to sit down at the feet of Jesus, simply to learn the mysteries of his grace from his blessed teachings alone, and to receive bis kingdom as a little child. Nor yet was he so taken up with these delightful and sublime matters as to omit, or slight, his academical studies, which appeared, from his Theses concerning the Trinity, written about this time ; wherein with great learning and singular dexterity, he proved that important doctrine from the writings of the ancient Jews, and showed how very far the modern ones were degene- rated in that article from their rabbis and forefathers. These Theses he debated pub- licly in the University, under the presi- dency of Leusden ; and, although they were opposed by some of the oldest slanders and ablest disputants in the college, yet Leusden was of opinion that his young pupil defended his positions so well, and maintained his ground in so firm and masterly a manner, as to stand in need of no assistance from him ; wherefore he sat by the whole time without interposing one word, but left Witsius en- tirely to i' himself. And it being customary there wbe!i disputations are over for the de- fendant to return thanks to the President for his care and assistance ; when Witsius did this, 'he President replied with equal truth and politeness, " You have no reason, sir, to make me such an acknowledgment, since ycu neither had, nor stood in need of any assistance from me." This was in the year 1655, and in the nineteenth year of his age. Being by this time very famous in the two Universities of Utrecht and Groningen, it was thought high time for him to enter on an office wherein he might be made of general service to the church. In order to this, it is expected there that all candi- dates for the ministry give some previous specimen to the church of their knowledge in divine things, and of their abilities tor so important an undertaking. Wherefore he presented himself for his preparatory examination, at Enchuysen, A. D. 1656. Here he was admitted to preach publicly, which he did with extraordinary reputation and universal applause. So great was the satisfaction he gave, that there were scarce any country churches in North Holland, which were without a pastor, that did not put down his name in the list of the candidates, out of whom the choice was to be made. At the instigation of that reverend man, John Boisius, minister of the French Pro- testant Church at Utrecht, Witsius, though naturally exceedingly bashful and diffident, was prevailed with to solicit the assembly of French divines convened at Dor', for license to preach publicly and in the French 47\ SOME ACCOUNT CF THh, LIFE OF WITSIUS. language in their churches. This he easily ohtained : partly by the influence of the Cf,iebrated Anthony Hulsius, to whom, at the request of Boisius, Witsius had writ- ten a very elegant epistle in Hebrew. From that time forward he often preach- ed in Fiench, both at Utrecht and Amster- dam ; as in the course of his ministry he hrtd done a considerable time before out of the French pulpit at Leuwar.ien. But thinkinjj himself not quite perfect in that language, he proposed taking a journey into France for that end ; as also that he might have an opportunity of seeing the many eminent divines and university professors who then flourished in the Protestant parts of that kingdom. But divine Providence was pleased to order matters otherwise ; for in the year 166/, and the twenty-first of his age, he had a regular call from the church of VVestwoudeii to be tlieir mi- nister ; and into this office he was initiated on the 8th of July in the same year. VVest- wouden is a town situate between Enchuy- sen and Hoorn, at about an equal distance from both ; and, in ecclesiastical m ittcrs, is united to the adjoining parish of Binne Wiisent. Here he waited on God and his church for upwards of four years ; and, beiiis in the prime of life, vvas the better able to discharge the duties of his function with activity and diligence. He had the satisfaction to see his labours succeed,, es- pecially among the younger sort, whom he very frequently catechi-ed with great sweetness and condescension, accommo- dating himself to their understandings ; insomuch that both the children and youth of the place, who, at his first coming there, were quite ignorant of evei y thing, could not only give a judicious account of the principal heads in dinivity, but could also confirm and support the account they give with numerous and pertinent quotations from Scripture ; and when they came home from church and were at any time questioned as to the sermon they had heard, they could without any trouble recapitulate the chief particulars of the discourse, its subject, divisions, doctrines, and improvements. When tlie fame of our learned and able pastor began to reach far and wide, he re- ceived an invitation from the church of VVormeren, in the same province of North Holland, to be their minister ; a church famous for its numbers, but at that lime sadly harassed with intestine jars and divisions ; and who therefore thought they could not possibly choose a pastt)r more capable of edifying his flock and of calming their dissensions than Witsius. To this call of theirs he acceded, and undertook the ministry of that church in the month «f October, 1661, and the 25th year of his age. Here he staid four years and a half ; so reconciling all parties, and building them up in the knowledge of Christ, and the obedience of faith, that on one hand he had the couifurt to see himself the object of his people's most affectionate regard, and on the other that his pious and pacific labours were not in vain in iht Lord. This being his situation he could not be prevailed with to change it by complying with the earnest and repeated invitations sent him by the inhabitants of Sluys, a town in Flanders, to take on him tiie pa-t"ral care of that place and to preach to them alternately in French and Dutch. However, heing after- wards invited to Goes, in Zealand, he thought it advisable to accept the call ; and repairing thither about WTiitsun-tide, A. D. 1666, was universally admired for his purity of doctrine, depth of learning, diligence in his office, and holiness of life. Here he had three pious and learned co-ad- jutors; two of whom, being considerably older than himself, he revered as parents ; and the third, being much about his own age, he loved as his brother ; maintaining with them all a most pleasing harmony and profitable intimacy. V\ hile he continued here, he enjoyed such opportunies of study and retirement, and was in all respects so comfortably situated, that he would often afterwards declare he never spent his time with greater pleasure and impi ovement, and could have wished to have passed his days in a connection so agreeable. But these wishes were superseded by the inhahitants of Leeuwarden, the capital of Frieseland; who, in November, 166/, invited him to their metropolis ; that so burning and shining a light might, by being fixed in so conspicuous a place, diffuse its useful rays in a manner over the whole province. Hither, therefore, he came in April, 1668 ; the church at Goes having dismissed him with great reluctance and concern, and contrived all the methods they could devise, if not to prevent, yet at least to retard his journey, and detain him with them as long as they could. During his stay at Leeuwarden, it can scarce be conceived with what vigilance, faithfulness and prudence, he laid himself out for the edification, comfort and discreet guidance of that church ; which was a matter of the greater difficulty, as the public affairs were in a very critical and precarious situation ; the United Provinces being at that time engaged in a dangerous war, and the enemy making frequent in- roads into their territories. At this season of exigence and distress. I much question if there ever lived a man whose labour: for the good both of church and state were more remarkably successful, and who by his great talents, as well in civil as reli- gious matters, rendered himself more useful and pleasing to persons of all ranks and SOME ACCOUNT OK THE LIFE OF VVITSIUS. 475 stations. One signal proof of the high esteem in which he was held, was his being made tutor to Henry Casimir, prince of Na>sau, and hereditary governor of the province of Frieseland. He was also sin- gled out to be the religious instructor of Amelia, the fore-mentioned prince's most illustrious sister ; and who was afterwards married to the duke of Saxony Eisenach. Witsius was made very useful to the soul of this excellent princess, by his prudent and pious informations ; and about this time he had the framing and di awing up of the Coi.fession of Faith, published by that princess and her brother (with the appro- bation and concurrence of their mother, Albertina, Princess of Orange), to the no small joy and edification of the churches in their dominions. In the year 16/5, that very reverend and learned divine, John Melchior Stein- berg, professor of theology in the univer- sity of Franeker, departed to a better world ; and, that they might the better repair so great a loss, it is no wonder that that uni- versity made choice of Witsius to fill up the vacant professorship ; especially as they had abundant experience of his in- tegrity and great abilities during his seven years' residence in their province of Friese- land. And, which, seemed to add still greater weight to their invitation, and made it appear yet more providential, the church at Franeker being about the same time de- prived of one of their pastors, embraced the present occasion of calling him to be over them in the Lord. Witsius, on the offer of these two im- portant charges repaired to Franeker, and after the university had conferred on him the degree of doctor in divinity, he was solemnly invested with the professorship on the 15th of April, 1675, having first, as is customary, delivered a most beautiful oration, De vera Theologo, to the great satisfaction of a vast auditory, who flocked to Franeker on this occasion from all parts of the ()rovince. During his presidency, the university was remarkably thronged with students, many who were designed for the ministry repaiiing thither on his account, from various parts of Europe ; who, having finish- ed their studies under his tutorage and direction, returned back to their own seve- ral countries, equally built up in piety and advanced in learning. And, that he might be defective in no part of his duty, but every way a..swer the large expectations of those who promoted him, he had scarce entered on his professorship before he began (surrounded as he was with business of great importance, both public and pri- vate;, dU which he faithfully and ably dis- charged) to set about writing ; and pub- lished in a very short space (besides some select academical disputations, and a smaller discourse), two learned and pretty large treatises in Latin ; to wit, his immortal book on the Economy of the Covenants, and his Exercitations on the Apostle's Creed. These had a prodigious sale, being soon vended throughout Holland and all Europe ; and, going tlinmgh several edi- tions, were read with great applause and admiration of their author. About this time, he became acquainted with the famous John Marckius (afterv.'ards his colleague), who, being originally a native of Frieseland, though educated at Leyden, after he had finished his studies there, now returned to his own country ; and Witsius having, by authority from the ecclesiastical synod, examined him as to his abilities for the ministry, solemnly set him apart as pastor ol the church at Midluman, situate between Franeker and Harlingen. Soon after Marckius com- menced D. D. and was, by Witsius's in- fluence with the prince and senate, made ordinary professor of divinity in Franeker, A. D. 1676. Frieseland, thus happily possessed of so inestimable a treasure as Witsius, began to be the envy of the neighbouring states and universities, who were each desirous of enjoying so eminent a man themselves. The University of Groningen was the first that invited him to leave his settlement at Franeker ; for, having lost their great pro- fessor, James Altingius, they scarcely knew where to avail themselves of a successor equally capable of discharging the several weighty duties of theological and philolo- gical professor, and likewise that of being pastor of the university church. Where- fore, in the latter end of the year 1679, they deputed a reverend and learned mem- ber of their society to wait on Witsius at Franeker, who, being arrived, offered him very advantageous terms if he would re- move to Groningen. Witsius immediately communicated the proposal to the prince, and to the heads of the university of Franeker, and desired their advice. They, with one voice, testify- ing the great esteem in which they held him, and uniting in a most earnest request that he would not think of leaving them, he very modestly and respectfully excused himself to the university of Groningen. In the beginning of the year 1680, the university of Utrecht (their professor, Bur- mannus, being dead) looked out for some eminent person to make up his loss ; and without much hesitation fixed their eyes on Witsius for this purpose. In order to prevail with him to accept the overture, they dis- patched an honourable deputation to Fra- neker, by whom they importuned hira to 476 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE OF WITSIUS. coir»overto Utrecht, and adorn that church cess, spared no pains nor fatigr.es wherehr anr' imiPiMsity with his residence. he might advance the interests and diffuse Although Witsius was cordially attached the knowledge of religion and learning, to Frieseland, as being the place of his na- In consequence of this he would spend ti<^'.y, aiid where he had spent the major many nights totally without sleep; nor was pwt of his life ; yet from the love he bore he content with serving the church and to Utrecht, the place of his education, the the university bv preaching, lecturing, con- tnessengers had not much difficulty in gain- versing, and disputing in the public halls, ing his eonsent. Therefore, being with but committed his treasures of knowledge great reluctance on their part dismissed by to writing, and publi^lied many books truly the university of Franeker, he repaired to invaluable, whicri will transmit his name Utrecht, where he and the famous Trig- with renown to succeeding generations ; landius were jointly invested with the mi- nor can they ever sink into oblivion, so long nistry of that church on the 25th April, as true religion, unaffected elegance, and 1680 ; and four days after he commenced profound literature, have a friend left in divinity professor ; having first delivered a the world. most elegant oration (afterwards printed) The people of Utrecht, from the highest De Pr(Estantid Feritatis Evangelicee. to the lowest, were thoroughly sensible of In this elevated station he continued the worth of such a man ; whence we find more than 22 years ; during which time them heaping all the honours upon him it is incredible with what application and which, being a minister, he was capable of success he guided the affairs both of the receiving. He had always the preference church and university ; each of which flou- given him in their synods, and was twice rished exceedingly under his faithful and honoured with the supreme government and laborious administration. headship of the University : namely, in the He was singularly happy in his col- years 1686 and 1697. Nor must we omit leagues ; having for his assessors in the that when, in the year 1685, the States of university those illustrious divines, Peter Holland sent a splendid embassy to James Mastricht, Melchior Leidecker and Herman the Second, king of Great Britain, who at Halenius. For his assistants in the church that time was pursuing measures which at he had many equally eminent for piety, last justly ended in his total ruin ; and learning, zeal, and moderation ; among Wassenar, lord of Duvenwarden, and Wee- whom were Peter Eindhovius, and John dius, lord of Dykevelt, and Cittersius, were Ladstrager, formerly his colleagues in the the persons nominated to execute this church at Leeuwarden. He had like- sumptuous commission ; the second of these wise in the university, besides those already noble personages easily convinced the other mentioned, that immoital linguist, John two that none was so proper to attend Luedsen, formerly his tutor ; together with them to England, in quality of chaplain, as Gerard Uriesius, and John Luitsius, both Witsius ; who might not only by his un- very eminent in philosophy, and to whose common knowledge in religious and civil care for instruction in matters purely lite- matters be of great service to them in both rary, those youth were committed who were respects ; hut also be no small credit to designed for the ministry. the reformed churches of Holland, by let- His congregation at Church consisted ting the English nation see what great di- chiefiy of the magistrates and inhabitants of vines flourished there. The design being the city, who were all no less edified than as- intimated to Witsius, he cheerfully closed tonished at the energy which accompanied with it ; though he was at that time very his preaching, and the masterly freedom jH and weak in body. After some months' and propriety of his elocution. stay in England, he confessed, on his re- As a public and private tutor, he had a turn, that he had conversed with the {g) most numerous circle of excellent youths, archbishop of Canterbury, the bishop of who flocked on his account to Utrecht from London (A), and many other di\'ines, both every part of the Protestant world ; and who conformists and dissenters; "by which hung, with no less rapture than improve- conversations," he would say, " I was ment, on his learned, pious, and eloquent much furthered in learning, experience, and lips. Even his private lectures were attended moderation." (i) From that perioif forward daily, not only by these his pupils, but like- the principal prelates and clergymen in wise by great numbers of doctors in divinity, England did not conceal the respect and and professors of the several sciences. esteem in which they held this great man ; This great man, therefore, seeing his especially as he came to be more and more labours crowned with such abundant sue- known to them. (f\ Dr. William Sandcvoft. (») I)r. Henry )mpton. (/} Kiiictius's words aie, " Fassus est. baud pauca obscrT&sse, quae ad d-^ctrinse ^ux fcicerrnC augmcntuni, et quibus ad omDcm prudeatiuD red- dcretiir instinctior." SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE OF WITSIUS. 477 By this time there wore few places in Uw Christian world which the fame of Wit- sius had not reached. And now it was that the commissioners of the University of Ley- den, and the magistrates of that city, re- solved on inviting him thither ; and the ra- ther as the very eminent Spanhemius, ju- nior, was judged to he ill past recovery ; and it pleased that most excellent prince, William, king of Great Bi itain, and gover- nor of Holland, to ratify their choice with his royal approbation. The professorship of Leyden being tendered to VVitsiiis in form, he accepted it. Though the people of Utrecht were loth to part with so great an ornament, he had solid and sufficient rea- sons for removing ; as he judged he might be more useful, if for the few remaining years of his life (which, according to the course of nature, could not be many), he should desist from preaching, and devote himself entirely to University business. He was the more confirmed in this resolution when he received information from Hein- sius, the illustrious administrator of Holland, that king William heartily concurred in his removal. Some time afterwards that truly great monarch, having admitted Witsius to a personal conference, was pleased with his own mouth to ratify the same, in terms very affectionate and obliging ; assuring him " how highly agreeable it was to him tiiat he obeyed the call to the professor's chair at Leyden, of which call he [i. e. the king) himself was the first mover ; and that fi>r the future he might depend on his omitting no opportunity of testifying the favour he bote him, and the reverence in which he held him." And the king was ever after as good as his word. On his entrance upon the professorship at Leyden (i. c. on the 16th of October, 1698), he delivered his fine oration De Tlie- ologo modesto. And with what integrity he discharged his high office for the remaining ten years of his life; how incessant his labours were ; with what wisdom and skill he taught ; with what resistless eloquence he spoke ; with what alacrity he went through the academical disputations ; how liolily he lived ; with what nervous beauty he wrote ; with what sweetness of address, with what humility, candour, and benignity of de- meanour he behaved in common life ; and what an ornament he was to the University ; were almost in)possible, and altogether needless, to say. He had scarce been a year at Leyden, when the States of Holland and West-Fritse- land, at the recommendation of the gover- nors of the University, made him the regent of their Theological College, in the room of their lately deceased regent, Marcus Effius ; which he could superintend without omit- ting any part of his duty as professor ; having for his associate in the professorship the famous Antony Hulsijs. When he wa.s invested with this new oftlce of trust and dignity, that illustrious nobleman, Hubert Roosemboomius, president of the supreme court of Holland, principal of the Univer- sity of Leyden, and lord of Sgrevelsrecht, made a most elegant oration (registered in the college acts, and worthy of being uni- versally read) ; wherein, in the name of the heads of the University, he not only largely set forth the just praises of the new regent, but likewise fervently exhorted the Fellows of the Divinity College to shew him all due veneration, and give him every other mark of becoming duty and esteem. Witsius entered, with great reluctance, on this new stage of action ; and it is well known that he would have absolutely de- clined it, had he not considered himself bound in duty and gratitude both to accede to the pleasure of the States, and to spend and be spent in the service of the Church. However, he went through this weighty office with fidelity and indefatigable zeal ; and his care for the youth under him was rendered easier from the affection he bore them, and from the apparent success with which his instructions were attended. At the same time he was equally attentive to his duty as professor. Thus usefully he went on till, upon the 8th of February, 1707, partly on account of his advanced age, and partly through infir- mities of other kinds (his strength being almost exhausted by heavy and frequent sicknesses for some years hack), he with great modesty resigned his important charge as regent, in a full assembly of the Univer- sity heads and governors ; who with one voice, and without intermission, even stoop- ed to intreat his continuance in that ofiBce, but in vain, for Witsius, well nigh worn out with a series of years and labours, was as deaf to their intreaties as to the considera- tion of the very great revenues he must forego by quitting that exalted post. At the same time he was, at his own particular reqi;est, favoured with a discharge from the public exercise of his office as University professor ; fur the execution of which, with his usual accuracy and diligence, his great feebleness of body rendered him less able. And he declared, on the occasion, to an in- timate friend, that " He had much rather desi.it altogether from the exercise of his function, than not go through with it in a becoming manner." It would have been impossible for Wit- sius to have undergone so many and incre- dible fatigues for the public benefit, had he met with domestic troubles and family dis- quiets. To prevent these, A. D. 1660, he married Aletta Van Horchorn, the daughter of Wessalius Van Borchorn, a wealthy ci- 4/8 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE OF WITSIUS. tizen and racrchunt of Utrptlit. She was a woman happy in the singular sweetness of her temper ; and, indeed, excelled in every Christian grace and social virtue. It was hard to say whether she more loved or revered her husband ; between whom sub- sisted an intenupled harmony until her death, wliich happened in the year 1684, after living together 24 years. She was al- ways the companion of his travels ; having lived with him in North Holland, Zealand, t'rieseland, and Utrecht. Her last illness was very long and painful, which, however, she bore with fortitude and resignation truly Christian ; and at last departed in great peace and comfort of soul. He was no less happy in his children. For, not to mention two sons who died young, he had three most pious and accom- plished daughters ; Martina, who afterwards married Henry Dibbetsius, an eminent doc- tor in divinity in the Church of Leyden ; Joanna, married to Luke Walckier, a judge and senator of Utrecht ; and, lastly, Pe- tranella, who would never leave her father, but always staid with him ; and who a little before his last sickness was herself almost brought to the gates of death. So great were his trouble and concern on her account, that, in all human appearance, his grief would have been too much for his feeble spirits, had not Providence been pleased to recover her. From the htile that has been related concerning this great man, we may form some idea of bis vast abilities and singular virtues. How gi .-at the force of his genius was in tracing, comprehending, and illus- trating the abstrusest matters ; how solid and how quick his judgment in the careful separation, determination, and disposition of them ; how tenacious his memory in re- taining and readily suggesting what was once committed to its trust ; his eh>cution, how captivating, how povverful to explain, set off, establish, and enforce ; they who have heard him speak, whether in public or private, can testify. How complete a master he was of the Latin tongue they well know who have conversed with him personally or read his writings. And, as he was thoroughly versed in the Dutch, wherever he spoke or preached, his appo- site and becoming gesture, his justly modu- lated voice, aided by all the exactest pro- priety and harmony of language, crowned with »he power and presence of the Holy Ghust, sweetly established the faith of God's people, and stiuck the unbelieving and the unholy with astonishment, shame and fear. As no person whatever composed a more jiist and finished encomium on king Wil- liam's queen than he, in a seimon occa- sioned by the death of that princess, and afterwards published ; so was lie also very happy in !iis talent at sacred poetry : having presented the world with many spirited, eleijarit, and devout hymns. Indeed, what excellency befitting the most accomplished divine was wanting in him ? He was a most accurate philosopher; absolute master of Hebrew, Greek, and Latin ; a very con- siderable Orientalist ; perfectly versed in the history of all nations, ancient and mo- dern, sacred and profane ; and, for his con- summate knowledge of theology in all its branches, it would be superfluous to speak. How happy he was at asserting and vin- dicating the truths of the gospel every one knows. With the holy Scriptures he in- timately conversed night and day : and so perfect was his familiarity with these that he could at once, and on any occEision, quote by heart any text of either testament in its original language : and solve ex- tempore with the utmost skill and pro- priety, the critical and theological difficulties of any passage, how nice or intricate soever. With re.spect to his temper, it was as sweet, humble, and benevolent as can be imagined. Hence arose both his aversion to all unreasonable novelties in doctrine, and at the same time his great moderation toward such persons as differed from him. He neither chose to be dictated to by man, nor yet to dictate : his favourite maxim being always this, Jn necessariis, unitas ; in non-nece.ssariis, tibertaf ; in omnibus, pru- dentia <^ charitas. {k) He foreboded the sad declension in doctrine and experience which was coming on the Protestant churches of Holland ; and blessed God that he was too old to live long enough to see it. And, though he could not help (such was his zeal for truth) taking notice of such of his reverend brethren as were desirous of strik- ing out, and introducing into the Church, unscriptural novelties ai.d forced construc- tions of Scripture ; yet so far had he drunk into the mind of Christ, that he did this with all tenderness, deference, and caution : and if any were angry at the freedom of his remarks, he received their resentment in a spirit of meekness, and either took no no- tice of those who reproached him, or repaid their slanders by giving them those com- mendations which were due to them on account of their commendable qualities in other respects. Nor can it be wondered at that a man so learned, holy, humble, and diligent, should, wherever he was, be attended with a vast concourse of pupils from every part of the reformed world; from Holland, Ger- many, France, Poland, Prussia, Switzerlanri, (*) Agreeabis to v.hi.h M-as the motto upon his seals, Candida. SOME ACCOUNT OF REV. MR. ALSOP. 479 Great Britain, and even from America (among which last were some native Indians too) ; and that his acquaintance should be Boiiiiht for by the most eminent scholars and divines throughout Europe. To men- tion his learned works, which are so well known, would he superfluous. I cannot, however help observing; that, in the year IfifiO, he published, 1. his Jiideeiis Chris- tianizans circa priucipia fidei ^ S S. Trini- tatem : and 2. A. D. Ifi65, at VVormeren, he published in Dutch, The Practice of Chris- tianity, with spiritu;il representations, first, of what was laudable in the uniegener^ite, and then, of what was blameworthy in the regenerate : 3. At Leovarden, he set forth an Explanation of the Parable of God's Con- troversy with his Vineyaid. — At Franekcr, he published, bes-des several lesser treatises, 4. his Occonmn'ia Faederum; afterwards translated into Dutch, by the Rev. Mr. Har- linwius ; as also, 5. his Exercitationes in Symhohim, which were al-o translated into butch, by Mr. Costerns, at Delft. At Utrecht, he set out, 6. Exercitationes in Ora- tionem Dominicam : 7- ''is Egyptiaca, with several lesser pieces annexed : and 8. his first volume of Miscellanea Sacra : and at Leyden, he, 9. published his second volume of Miscellanea Sacra, complete ; and like- wise, 10. his Mclctcmata Lcidcnsia. We now draw near to the last scene of this great man's life : for as from his child- hood his thin weak body had often strug- gled with many severe disorders, whence most people were apprehensive he would die young ; so now, being far in years, he advanced apace to the house appointed for all living. However, he consantly retained, under all his sickness, his senses and in- tellects in full vigour; insomuch that, until within a little before his death, he could, with all readiness, read the Greek Testament of the smallest type by moon-light. But as he advanced tarther in life, he suffered the most dreadful tortures from the gout and stone : and so far back as si.t years before he died, he was seized for the first time with a temporary dizziness, accom- panied with a suspension of memory and absence of thought : and this, too, as he was sitting in the professor's chair, and delivering an academical lecture. By the help of an able physician, these evils were a little mitigated ; but returning by degrees, they threatened future and more violent attacks. His last illness was ushered in by a reeling and universal langonr. On the 18th of October, 1708, he was seized with a fever about one o'clock in the morning : which suddenly subsiding, a total feebleness and relaxation diffused itself over his body, and a torpor over his mind. The holy man considering these symptoms, told, with great serenity and composure, some friends who attended him, that " he knew they wouldissue in death." He slept much, and had very pleasing dreams : and departed in much peace and tranquillity, on the 22nd day of October, 1708, about noon; and was in- terred at Leyden, on the 29tli of the same month. AN ACCOUNT OF THE REVEREND MR. ALSOP. ViNCKNT Alsop, a. M. the admired author of Anti-Suzzo, was born in Nortliampton- shire, and received his academical educa- tion at St. John's College, Cambridijc, where he took the two first degrees in arts. On quitting the University, he removed to Oiieham, in Rutlandshire ; and became for a time assistant to the master of the free- school at that place. His genius being very quick and brilliant, and his disposition remarkably cheerful, he was, before his conversion, what the world calls a lively, entertaining companion. After effectual grace had formed him anew, his wit and humour were consecrated to the ser- vice of the sanctuary ; and his acquired parts, which were not inferior to his natural talents, were also devoted as a whole burnt- offering to the glory of Ciod and the salva- tion of men. His politeness and affability, his engaging sweetness and vivacity of temper, never deserted him to the Is-st. They were not extinguished, but refined and sanctified, and rendered still more lovely and respectable than before, by being born again of the Holy Ghost. Mr. Benjamin King (an eminent puritan minister, at, or near, Okehani) seems to have been, in God's hand, the instrument of Mr. Alsop's conversion ; who, soon after, married Mr. King's daughter, and removed to Wilbee, in his native county of North- ampton, where he was fixed as parish minister, and where we hear little of him until 1662, when he was ejected from Wil- bee by the act of unif.)rmity. An act whit h (through the cruel and unprotestant manner of its first enforcement) gave the true Church of England so severe a bleeding that she has never entirely recovered herself from that time to this. On being displaced from Wilbee, Mr. Alsop and his family settled at Welling- borough ; where, and likewise at Okeham, he sometimes ventured to pre.ich, notwith- standing the rigorous execution of the then persecuting laws. Justice compels me to own that Charles the second stood parily indebted for his restoration to the zeai and activity which the Protestant dissenteis had exerted in his behalf. And he regarded them well ! Among other effects of civil and ecclesiastical tyranny in conjunction, 480 SOME ACCOUNT OF REV, MR. ALSOP. Mr. Alsop suffered six months' imprisonment for havintr dared to prav by a sick person. In 1674, Dr. WiUiamSlierlock (afterwards dean of St. Paul's, London) published a treatise, entitled, "A Discourse concerning the Knowledge of Jesus Christ." The Dr. was an Arminian ; and, as such, could not avoid Socianizing on many important articles : Socinus and Arminiiis being tlie two necessary supporters of a free-willer's coat of arms. Gnod Mr. Alsop would not suffer a performance so horrid and so shame- less as that of Sherlock to walk abroad without chastisement. He therefore, in the year 16/5, published a confutation of it ; which he entitled Aiiti-Sozzo 'J- e. a book in opposition to Socinus ; the real un- latinized name of Socinus, who was an Italian, being Sozzo). The editor (such an editor as he was) of Mr. Hervey's letters, observes, (1) very properly on this subject, that " In the reign of Charles the second, the Socinianism tenets were gaining ground in England." And no wonder. For Arminianism is the head, and Socinianism the tail, of one and the self-same serpent : and wliere the head works itself in, it will soon draw the tail after it. In the above-mentioned critical days of the unmartyred Charles, the said editor goes on to inform us, " Mr. Alsop, one of the wittiest, as well as one of the best men in that age, wrote this book, called Auti-Sozzo. He [i. e. Mr. Alsop] and Dr. Slierlock had been pupils at college under the same tutor. And [now], when he saw that Sherlock had no more reverence to the majesty of God, no more regard to the authority of Scripture, than to write as above, he was determined to attack him, and to plead fur Christ and his truth here at the footstool, who pleads for us accord- ing to his truth at the throne. " Nor was any man better qualified than himself either to give a check to a man of Sherlock's talents and imperious disposition ; or to the growing petulancy of the then daily encroaching profaneness. On grave subjects he appeared as he was the truly reverend Mr. Alsop, and wrote with a becoming seriousness. But where wit might propeily be shown he displayed his to great advantage, as may be seen in his Anti-Sozzo. Controversy, when either frivolously or captiously founded seldom brings any ad- vantage or honour to the cause of God. But the controversies which have from time to time taken place between the orthodox on one hand, and the Arminians and So- cinians on the other, have been attended with the most important utility to the churcl) and visible interests of Christ " If," as Mr. A1m>p obsen'es, " the Soci- nians oppose, every true Christian should defend, the gospel of Jesus Christ. For the dispute is not now about decency and order, about fringes and phylacteries, about the tything of mint, anise, and cummin ; but about the influence of the righteousness of Christ's life, and the sacrifice of his death upon our acceptance with God; about the influence of the bleseed Spirit in the glorious work of the new creation. Whe- th.er Christ be a proper priest or not ? Whe- tfier, as a priest, he offered himself as a pro|)er sacrifice to God, or not ? Whether God and man are reconciled, and we re- deemed from the curse of the law by the blood of Jesus, or not ? Whether we are justified before the just and holy God by our own righteousness, or by the right- eousness of a mediator? In which the concerns and all the eternal hopes of every Christian are wrapt up. The excellent Mr. Hen-ey's character of this work, in a (m) letter which he wrote not quite seven weeks before his departure to eternal rest, deserves to be admitted here. " I could wish, methink<, at this critical juncture, that Alsop's Anto-Sozzo, which made its first appearance in 16/5, was judiciously abridged ; and in the neat Glasgow type, reprinted in a duodecimo volume. Though it is almost pity to abridge it (unless it were well executed), as the whole is so interesting It is, I can assure you, a very smart book ; and one of the best defences of the evangelical doctrines I ever saw, or ever expect to see ; even if my life, which now draws very near its end, could be prolonged to the next cen- tury. In short, I think it an unanswerable performance ; and divines of every deno- mination would do well to make themselves thoroughly masters of this spirited and en- tei taining writer ; as they would then be able to defend the truth as it is in Jesus, against all kinds of opponents, how witty, keen, subtle, or malignant soever the attack might be. I would therefore beg you to recommend this book as a specific against Sjcinianism.'' The learned, pious, and candid Dr. Edmund Calamy bears a testimony no less honourable to Mr. Alsop. " (h) Dr. Sher- lock's affecting to treat the most sacred things of religion in a jocular way, gave no small offence to a number of (lersons famous for piety and prudence ; and v.'as the very inducement to Mr. Alsop to draw his pen against him. And thouijh in his manaa'e- ment of tlie controversy with him he treated serious matters with abundance of piavity ; (»1 Vol. ii. p. 270. (m) See the tore-cited vol. p. 2G3-273. (n) Continuation, ubi supra, vol. ii. p. ftn. 80ME ACCOUNT OF THE REV. DR. WILSON. 481 yet where that gentleman, viz. [Sherlock f was upon the meiry pin, he [vU. Alsop] being an ingenious and facetious man, so wittily and sharply turned the edge upon him, that he beat him at his own weapon ; so that that celebrated author never caied to answer him, nor was he ever fond of that way of writing afterward. Though Mr. Wood endeavoured to pour contempt on him, yet Dr. South, who was as famous for his wit and drollery as any one of the age, and as bitter an enemy of dissenters as any one whatever, acknowledges that Mr. Alsop obtained a complete victory.'' The merits of this book against Sher- lock, induced Mr. Cavvton who had the pastoral charge of a congregation in West- minster, to cast his eye on our author as a proper person to succeed him in the spi- ritual care of that people. Mr. Cawton dying soon after, Mr. Alsop left Northamp- tonshire to settle in London, where he was very assiduous both as a preacher and a pub- lisher. " His living in the neighbourhood of the court," (it) say the compilers of a celebrated work, " exposed him to many inconveniences. However he had the good fortune to escape imprisonment and fines by an odd accident ; which was the inform- ers not knowing his Christian name ; which for this reason he studiously concealed. His sufferings ended with the reign of Charles II., or at least in the beginning of the next reign ; when Mr. Alsop's son engaging ia (wliat were termed) treasonable practices, was freely pardoned by king James. After this, our divine went fre- quently to com t ; and is generally supposed to have, been the person who drew the ad- dress to that prince for his general indul- gence. After the revolution, Mr. Alsop gave very public testimonies of his affection for the government ; yet upon all occasions he spoke very respectfully of king James, and retained a very high sense of his cle- mency in sparing his only son. The re- raainer of his life he spent in the exercise of his ministry, preaching once every Lord's day ; had a Thursday lecture, and was besides one of the lecturers at Pinners' Hall. He lived to be a very old man, and preserved his spirits to the last." Dr. Calamy, whom we have already quoted, gives the following instance of that intellectual vigour which Mr. Alsop was so happy as to retain even to old age. " I was," says the doctor, (o) " very strictly examined by him before my ordination ; at which time it falling to my lot to make and (o) IJiin-rapMa Britannica, vol. i. p. 132. ip' •"•ontaiuation ubi. sup. (7 ) The late Ccuntcss Dowager of Huntingdon. S'.uie tioi« previoas to her ladyship's decease, the defend a Latin thesis upon this question which he himself gave me, An Christtis ojjicio sacerdotali fuiif^atur iit caelis tantum ? he (for argument sake as is the way of the schools) opposed me with all the vigour, smartness, and fluency, of a young man, though he was then considerably advanced in years. This was in the year 1694. At length this great and good man, full of days and of renown, slept in Jesus, on the 8th of May, 1/03, at his house in West- minster. It may not be unacceptable to the reFi- gious reader, if we acquaint him that the place of worship, where Mr. Cavvton, Mr. Alsop, and Dr. Calamy, were successive pastors, was very lately repaired and en- larged, by the pious munificence of an (p) elect lady, aided by the zeal and liberalities of other devout persons. So that the glo- rious gospel of the blessed God is again preached, with power and with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, on that spot and within those walls. SOME ACCOUNT OF THE RIGHT REV. DR. THOMAS WILSON, LATE BISHOP OF SODOR AND MAN. Few as the modern instances have been, of sanctity in lawn, even the present cen- tury has seen a prelate, whose purity and simplicity of manners would have done ho- il'-Hir to the primitive ages. He was horn December 20, IGGS, at Burton-Wirrall, near Chester ; and having received his school educal'i:''! in Kiij^'land^ was sent, A. D. 16S1, to perfect his studies in the University of Dublin ; where he con- tinued about eight years, and at the stated periods took his two first degrees in arts, with singular reputation, on account of his literary attainments, and the uiiblameable regularity of his life. When of age for holy orders, he was ordained deacon, A. D. KiS'fi, by the then Bishop of Kildare ; and priest, A. D. 168.9. Not long afterwards he quitted the Uni- versity on being appointed travelling tutor to Lord Strange, eidest son to the Eiirl of Derby. But before the young nobleman had completed tlie tour of Europe, he died in Italy, at the end of three years from their first setting out; and good Mr. Wilson returned with a heavy heart to England. He had, however, acquitted himself so faithfully, and so well, in his care of his concerns of the above chapel was transmitted into the hands of others. It continues to the present, supported by the assistance of eminent evan(;fcli&al ministers in the establishment, and of Uo di'sisiit ing community. — Editob. 2 1 483 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE REV. DR. WH-SON. deceased pupil, thai the tail nominated him to the hishp]mc'k of Man ; and King Wm. apprnvinn the choice, our bishop was ad- mitted to a Lambeth de>;iee of Doctor in Lau-s, and received liis episcopal consecra- tion at the Savoy cliapel, in London, on the 16th of January, 1697, from the hands of Sharp, archbishop of York ; assisted by Moore, Bishop of Norwich, and Stratford, Bishop of Chester. From his first acceptance of this see he determined to reside with his flock, that he might watch over them as one that must give a speedy and solemn account of his spiritual stewardship. Repairinir, therefore, to the Isle of Man, he took possession of his bishoprick with the usual foinialities (which, theie, are very peculiar) ; and by the strictness of his life and conversation, soon beijau to shine as a light in a dark place. The year after, viz., in October, l(i98, he gave his hand to Mrs. Mary Patten, daughter of Thomas Patten, Esq., of War- rington, in Lancashire ; who was directly descended from the elder brother of Wil- liam Patten (commonly called, from tie place of his nativity, William WainHeet), the devout and munificent bishop of Win- chester, who founded Magdalen College, in Oxford, and who died A. D. ]-18(i. This great prelate was hardly more distinguished by liis works of piety and liberality than by liis invariable gratitude to his patron king Henry VL ; to whom he stedfastly ad- hered, and for whose sake he sufl'ered many mortifying inconveniences when that prince was deposed and the house of York became the reigning family. Wainfleet'a monu- ment is still remaining in the cathedial of Winchester. He lies over-against Cardinal Beaufort ; and his tomb, which does not ap- pear to have received any injury during the civil wars, is one of the most elegant and majestic pieces of Gothic architecture in England. If a bishnp ever merited the title of Right Rev. Father, it was Dr. Wilson ; who rninlit ti uly be styled the father of his clergy, Uid of the whole islancL Hisbenevolent care to augment the revenues, to improve the knowledge, and to regulate the lives, of the parochial incumbents ; his care to put the various schools in his diocese on such a footing as to -ender them seminaries of strict morals and of sound learning ; the ze:d ha shewed, and the expenses he sus- tained, iu causing the Bible, the Liturgy, and other useful books, to be translated into fr) How difTerent his conduct from that of a cer- tain great churchman now livinj; in Ireland. Not long: ago, he was repairing his palace there, and the liibourers were allowed a mmlerate quantity of ODiiill hoer daily. But when his lordship paid them off they found themselves obliged to abate part of their wages in proportion to the quantity of &mall tlio Manks language, and distributed tllrotIg^ the country ; together with many instances of piety and liberality, not confined to his own immediate connections, but extending to England, and even far beyond the boun- daries of Europe ; demonstrated that, where the heart is fully bent on promoting the glory of God, great things may be done without the assistance of extraordinary opu- lence. He rightly judged that to employ the young and healthy poor was rendering them a more substantial service than by giving them snail pecuniary supplies. Hence he constantly found sonietliing for a considerable number of them to do. His method was to assemble all his workmen and domestic servants, in his chapel belong- ing to his palace, before they entered on the various business of the day, at six in the morning during the summer season ; and, in the winter, at seven. On these early oc- casions he harilly ever failed being his own chaplain ; making it a rule to read the whole semce himself, and to dismiss his domestics and his labourers with his b'es- sing, which he pronounced in the true spirit of prayer, %vith pecuhar solemnity and af- fection. At meal times his hospitable table was open, not only to his friends and neigh- bours, but also to his (r) meanest workmen, and to such of the honeit poor as he was not able to employ. His concern for the whole people of his charge reached even to their secular inter- ests. He studied physic, and dis'rihi.ted medicines with success. He imported the finest cattle, and procured the be^t grain of every kind for seed. A id it appeared that, by the year 1744, he had expf-nded more than ten thousand pou'ids in acts of charity and beneficence. Not did he forget to take thought tor the welfare of his successors in the bishoprick, of which when he first took possession, the episcoprd demesne was rent- ed at no more than thirty pounds a year ; but, through his long and many improve- ments of the soil, he left it fairly worth four hundred pounds per annum. His tempers, woids, and works, all tend- ed to promote the temporal and moral be- nefit of his diocese. His unafTected gravity of demeanour was softened and brightened by the most amiable and condescending affa- bility. Every body had free access to him, and very few who had been once admitted to his conversation were so lost to virtue and the fine feelings as noLto love and admhe him. beer which they had respectively dmnk.. One of the men, more ..rch and less ceremonious than the rest, addressed him a^ follows : I believe your lordship is the first b p that ever sotd 8mall beer. I have a good mind to prosecute you hr presuming to eell malt liquor without a license. This anecdote is antJicntic. SOME ACCOUNT OF THE REV. DR. WILSON. 483 On one occasion, indeed, his lordship experienced for a time the iron hand of sa- vage insult and oppression. I shall relate the circumstances first in the words of ano- ther ; and then add some additional parti- culars exactly as they were related tii ine by a person of high rank, who is still alive, and who well remembers the whole transaction. " 'I he person who was governor of Man, from 1713 to 17-'^. having a ditt'erence with his lordship about some matters of light, which the bishop conscientiously denied to give up, that ruler stretched forth the hand of power and committed his diocesan to the damp and gloomy prison of Castle-Rushin, where he remained many weeks, until the affair was determined by king George I. and his privy-council in favour of the bishop. — This treatment of their patron and benefac- tor so affected the Manks that they came from all parts of the island to Castle-Towu, at least once every week, to express their concern about him, and, with teirs and la- Jientatiims, kneeling doivn before the castle walls, they had tlicir pious pastor's prayers and,bIes^illgs from tlie grated loop-hole. "(*) What was communicated to me by the noble person above mentioned is as follows. After the good bishop had been a consider- able time in confinement, his hard usage was reported (seemingly by accident) to one of the trt'o Turks whom King (ieorge I. then re- tained about his person. The honest Maho- metan gave his majesty an account of the unmerited seveiities under which the pious prelate labour ed ; and the king ordered his 1 irdship to repair to London and stand on liis defence against the allegations of the governor. The bishop was soon acquitted on being heard, and the next court day at- tended the royal levee to thank his majesty for the equity that had been shewn him. His appeaiance in the drawing-room struck every body with veneration and surprize. He came in his usual manner, very simply habited, with his gi ey locks, a small black cap on the crown of his head, and leatlier tliongs in his shoes, which last he co:istantly wore in lieu of buckles. A numl>er of English bishops were in the cir cle, but the king pas- sing by them all, walked up to the bishop of Man, and taking him by the hand, said, " My lord, I beg your prayers," laying a particular emphasis on the u onl yonr. — Nor must the disinterestedness of the worthy Turk be forgot. A near relation of the bishop's pressed the generous Mussulman to accept of 50 guineas, as a testimony of that person's gratitude for the kind services he W'BiogT. Bntan. vol 7. Suppkm. p. 109. (/) Memoirs, toI. i. p. 3ir, 318. (u) The present venerable and munificent Thomas Wilson, D D., prel>cndary of Westminster, minister ••t St. Marcaret's in that city, and rector of St. Ste- I'uen's, Wa brook, London. {X) The two principal judg^es in tlie Isle of Man had rendered to the suffering prelate : hut no arguments could induce the Mahometan to accept the ofl'ered acknowledgment. " I will have no return," said he, " for it is re- ward enough to do good to a good man." Mr. Whiston accounts for bishop Wil- son's commitment to prison in a different manner from the authors of Biographia Britannica. Probably both he and they wete equally in the right. The offence taken by the governor's lady was, perhaps, the real, and the civil claims of the gover- nor himself might he the pretended, cause of that brutal and unwarrantable persecu- tion. Mr. Whiston's (0 own words deserve to be tianscribed. — "About this year it might be, that Dr. Wilson, the bishop of Man, was heard before the privy council, in a cause wherein he had been put in prison, by the earl of Derby's governor of the Isle of Man, for executing, as tenderly as he could, the ecclesiastical law for defamation of an innocent woman by the governor's wife. I heard the cause, and, witli Dr. Na- thaniel Marshall, did the bishop what good offices I could. He cai ried his cause, but was almost ruined by the suit, the charges were so great. The bishop had long been my acquaintance, and had, many years be- fore, given me the first, or rather the only book then printed in the Manks language, being an Explication of our Church Cate- chism.— He has always appeared to me as one of the best bishops of our modern ages ; and so much the better as he is clear of the snaies and temptations of a lord of parlia- ment. His great worth has been principally acknowledged in the plentiful provision made foi- his (k) son, who told me, very lately, that his father still preaches every Lord's day at eighty-three years of age. May the Divine Providence" [adds honest Whiston] " send forth more such labourers as this bishop into his vineyard, which, per- haps, never stood in greater need of them than at this day." What would Mr. Whiston have said had he lived to our day 1776? Having seen the bishop honourably and happily extricated from the principal diffi- culty that ever befel him, we will attend him back to the Isle of Man, where, on his return from London, he was received with the most affecticmate demonstrations of joy. The iniquitous hardships which he himself had experienced under colour of legal autho- rity, made him thenceforward peculiarly at- tentive to the due execution of equitable law, for in that island the bishop has some share in the public administrations of justice, {x) are called deemsters ; whose oath, at their admis- sion is, You shall do justice between man and man, as equally as the herring bone lies between the two sides of tliat fish.— Herrings were the chief food of t.ie ancient inhabitants : and the tithe of them is etill a good part of the bishop's revenue Biog. 134 OUTLINES OF THE LIFE OF DR. ISAAC WATTS. To all his other great and useful talents he added the cultivation of learning, and in particular, a deep acquaintance with history and antiquities. He was the person who furnished bishop Gibson with those (i/) par- ticulars concerning the Isle of Man, which that prelate inserted into the second edition of his Camden's Britannia. The high esteem in which bishop Wilson was held may appear from the following instance. As queen Caroline, consort of his late majesty, was once in conversation with several of our English bishops, his lordship of Man came in to pay his respects. She no sooner glimpsed him at a distance than she said to the prelates who were pre- sent, " My lords, here comes a bishop whose errand is not to apply for a transla- tion, he would not part with his spouse (his diocese) because she is poor."(s) No pastor could be more intensely vigilant. Scarcely a Sunday passed with- out his preaching himself, either at his own cathedral, or in some of the parochial churches. Exclusive of his general visita- tions of his whole diocese (which visitations he constantly held four times in every year) ; he privately visited each parish church, occa- sionally, that he might judge how both clergy and people went on. With regard to the rights of conscience in others, he exercised the most candid and benevolent moderation. He admitted dissei.ters to the holy communion ; and administered it to them, either sitting or standing, as they themselves approved. Such amiable and uniform moderation had so favourable an effect that, a few years after his settlement in the island, not a single dissenting con- gregation of any kind was to be found in it. Never was episcopal authority (which he knew how to maintain when occasion required) more happily blended with paternal mildness. Nor was the learned lord chan- cellor King at all beyond the mark in delaring that, under this bishop, the true form of the primitive church, in all its (y) "To have rendered this little history as com- plete as possible, Dr. Wilson addressed an elegant Latin epistle, dated May 1, 1710, to the archbishop ot Drontheim in Norway, ( episct'X'O I^'tfirfseitsi J to which see tlie bishoprick of Man had formerly been a suffragan ; desiring to have copies of such abstract.s. papers, &c. relating to the bishop- rick of Man, as were in the archives of that metro- politan : but was answered, that the old regi.-ter j^rools of Droulheim had been burnt." Biogr. (s) The queen seems to have taken this phrase from the usual saying of Fisher, bishop of Roches- ter, whom Henry VIII. beheaded : who, in the days of his prosperity, was more than once ofl'ercd a translation to a richer see ; hut his answer con- scjiiUly was, I will not forsake my little old wife, to whinn I lirive been married so lon^^, for a wealthier. And to his friend, bishop Fox, he wrote thus: If other bishops lune larger revenues, 1 have fewer souls to take care of : so that, when I ^ive up my ac- OQunt for both to God, which I must soon do, I shall purity, might be found in the Isle of Man. At length, this excellent prelate having sen-ed his generation by the will of God all the days of his appointed time, was trans- lated to heaven, the beginning of March, 1755, in the ninety-third year of his age, and the fifty-eigth of his episcopate. He died of a cold, which he caught by taking an evening walk in his garden, after having read prayers in his domestic chapel. SOME OUTLINES OF THE LIFE OF DR. ISAAC WATTS, (a) This great and good man was born at Southampton, July 17, A. D. 1674, of eminently religious parents ; who, being conscientious non-conformists, had suffered much by those persecuting measures which dishonoured the reign, and will for ever disgrace the memory, of Chailes II. It is unspeakably beneficial to a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. Who- ever is entrusted with the education of a young person, and wishes him to e-tcel in solid literature, should take particul.ir care to initiate him betimes. By v.-hich just pre caution, useful knowledge becomes insen- sibly familiar, and almost natural to the mind ; before the poisonous habits of ease, idleness, and trifling (so hostile to every manly and valuable pursuit), have entirely and irradicably overspread the soil. Dr. Watts enjoyed the full advantages of this early cultivation. He began to learn Latin at four years of age ; and at a proper interval the Greek ; under the care of Mr. Pinhorne, a clergyman of the Church of England, to whom we find a Latin ode addressed by the doctor in his lyric poems. His progress in the languages, though rapid, was solid. He ran fast; but (which was of far greater consequence) he mastered every inch of ground as he went. The precise time when effectual grace laid hold of his heart, and spiritually con- not wish my condition to have been better than it is. Biogr. Brit. vol. iii. p. 1929. (a) nr. Gilibons, in his Memoirs of Dr. Watts, attacks the validity of two anecdotes, and the date of a piece of poetry, which was primed in Mr. Top- lady's Outlines of Dr Watts, with » disp«sitinn bor- dering on asperitv' ; the littleness of cniicism tipon such trifles is certainly derogatory to the dignity of a biographer. They may be false, or imperfect, from mistake or misinformation. To whatever cav.6e they may be ascribed, it cannot be deliberate misrepre- sentation ; tliey do not, iu the lea.st, affect to take one flower from the wreath which encircles the doc- tor's brow, whose name is enrolled in the tablet of literary merit by the united suffi-ages of the public. The hints derived from them, were made use of as a palliative for that eminent character's defalcation respecting the Trinity, which the doctor published to the world. - Tbe^e few incidental rcmaits, which are exhibited to the reader, and dcliueateu with a bold and masterly band, have received no aUer.^ti.-in except.tUe espuiiging of the objectionable paria. OUTLINES OF THE LIFE OF DR. ISAAC WATTS. rerted him to God, I am not at present able to find. But that great event (abstracted from which all besides is of little value) appears to have tiiken place in an early period of his life. Some tender and beau- teous fruits of the Holy Spirits work upon his soul appear in several of the doctor's juvenile productions, as well as in those of a later date ; and warrant us to believe that (to use the phraseology of a divine long since with God) the " old angel" had been a young saint. About the sixteenth year of his age, and A. D. 1690, he was sent up to London, that the academy might finish an education so happily begun. His tutor, Mr. Thomas Rowe (to whom also the doctor inscribed an ode, extant in his lyric poems), has been hearci to declare that lie never had occasion to reprimand Mr. Watts so nnich as once during the whole time of his residence in the academy ; on tlie contraiy, thut his be- haviour was so correct and exemplary that he often proposed Mr. Watts to the other pupils as a pattern worthy of tlieir imitation. In the year 1693, when he was but nineteen, he was admitted as a communicant by the congregation of which his tutor had the pastoral charge. Having completed his academical studies at London, he returned (about A. D. 1694), to his father's house ; where he spent two yeais in the private spiritual exercises of reading, meditation, and prayer, by way of humble prelude to his entrance on the work of the ministry ; a work to which he be- lieved Providence had called him, and which he justly considered as the most sacred and momentous of all human undertakings. Hardly any thing can he of more im- portant consequence to individuals, to families, and to society at larye, than the wise and virtuous education of young people. Instruction, it is true, catmot impart the saving grace of God : but it is no less true that God often blesses human cultivation to very valuable purposes; and sometimes even deigns to make the leligious efforts of Christian tutors and ministers, the channels, or means, through which he imparts his saving grace. Tlie husbandman's duty is to plough and dress and sow his lands : and though, after all his efforts, their success depends on the blessing of heaven ; and notwithstanding the crop may not constantly, and in every respect, correspond to the utmost of his wishes and his labours ; yet some valuable fruits seldom fail to crown his industry, even if the seasons prove in- tlement, and the soil untoward. Sir John Hartopp, baronet, a gentleman of distin- guished piety and erudition, was sensible of the importance of putting his son under the conduct of a wise, a learned, a polite, nnd a truly Christian tutor. Swayed by this view, it was no wonder that he should cast his eye on Mr. Watts, as one of the fittest persons in the world to discharge so arduous a trust. Witsius, in Holland ; RoUin, in France ; and Watts, in England ; were, perhaps, of all the elegant scholars who then flourished, endued with the happiest powers to form young people to science and virtue, and to insinuate the delicacies of learning, without its thorns, into tender and unexperienced minds. Most young persons have a certain key, on which, if you touch discreetly, you may manage them as you please, without the usual methods of harsh severity and disingenuous punish- ments. To discern that key, but without letting your pupil perceive you discern it, and to touch it with judgment, are the great test of a sagacious tutor. Plutarch, in his Life of Alexander the Great, observes, concerning that prince, that he was, from a child, of an ardent and impetuous temper, incapable of being forced to any thing, but susceptible of persuasion, and easily won over by gentleness and reasoning. His father, king Philip, had sufficient penetration to perceive the key of Alexander's mind, and wisdom to provide him a suitable pre- ceptor in Aristotle : who, by a judicious address to the finer passions of his royal charge, subdued the future conquerer of the world ; and the prince being made to fall in love with knowledge, became a considerable proficient ili the belles lettres, because he apprehended himself to be a perfect volun- teer. I should, as a well-wisher to mankind, deeply lament the want of such tutors as Aristotle, Witsius, RoUin, and Watts ; if Providence, in the present day, had not given us a Ryland. (b) Pursuant to his friend's invitation, Mr. Watts accepted the care of young Mr. (after- wards Sir John) Hartopp, with whom he resided four years, in the family-house at Stoke-Newington. And it appears, from the dedication prefixed to otir author's ad- mirable Treatise on Logic, that the young gentleman's advancements in literature were such as might be expected from the happy pu|)il of so accomplished a superintendant. While he was thus discharging the duties of a pleased and pleasing preceptor, with that meekness of wisdom, (c) which gave charms to science, and with that sweetness of the lips which eiicreaseth learning ; (d) he sedulously attended no less to his own literary improvements than to those of his promising disciple. It is with diligent tutors, as with faithful and laborious minis- ters : to both of whom that encouraging word is frequently made good. He that (c) James iii. 13. (dj ProT. XTi. 21. 486 OUTLINES OF THE LIFE OF DR. ISAAC WATTS. watereth, shall be watered himself (e). But, amidst all his other profound and important attentions, he never lost sight of that grand mark to which he made every human attain- ment subserve ; viz., the edification of his own heart in faith and holiness. Hence he devoted much oi his time to God : and carefully studied the inspired volume, in its original languages, and with the assistance of the best ancient and modern expo>itors. He preached his first sermon on his birth-day, vh. July 17, l(i98, when he completed his four and twentieth year : and was shortly after chosen assistant preacher to that independent congregation of which Dr.Isaac Chauncey was the pastor. His pulpit exertions, supposed to be more zealous and vehement than his constitution could well sustain, were soon followed by a severe and menacing illness of five months' duration. But the ambassador of Christ had not yet finished his appointed course, nor fulfilled the work which was given hiin to do. He recovered, and, determined, through grace, to spend and be spent for Uod, he plied his niinist^ial labours with as great intenseness as before. On the decease of Dr. Chauncey, he was orJained (March 18, 1702, N. S.) to the patorsaip of that chuich; presently after which event, another long confinement by sickness threatened the extinction of his valuable life. His recoveiy was so gradual that it was deemed necessary to lessen liis pub- lic fatigues, by appointing Mr. Samuel Price to be his assistant, in the summer of 1703. Men of the finest talents have frequently the infirmest bodies. Mr. Watts « as of that number. His health, for some years after the above mentioned period conlinued ex- tremely precarious. Yet he appears to have spared himself as little as possible ; and to have intermitted his private studies and public ministrations no more than necessity obliged. To increase, and to perpetuate, as far as he was able, the life- and power of godliness among the younger part of -his spiritual charge, he formed them into a society for the excellent purposes of prayer, and conference ou religious subjects. When his health would permit, he met them himself: and to his instructive and pious oversight of these young people, we owe the occasion and the rudiments of his treatise, entitled, A Guide to Prayer. In September, 171-, ^vhen he had little more than entered his 38th year, a violent fever (occasioned, probably, by too devoted application to study) almost quite broke him down. From the effects of this visitation he never totally recovered. His nerves con- tinued more or less in a shattered state, from that tiuie forward until his spirit returned to God. A sad proof, that the famous Sir Francis Walsingham's maxim (viz. know- ledge cannot be bought too dear) is to be adopted with very considerable limitation. Notwithstanding thcise severe constitu- tional shocks, this faithful servant of God had not, at the time last specified, measured much more than lialf the race he was to run : for his life was extended to an ad- ditional period of six and thirty years. But he could truly say, with the apostle before him, We, who are in this tabernacle, do groan, being burdened. Yet, though he could not help feeling liis bodily infirmities, he was preserved by grace from murmuring under them.> He does not appear to have entej tained one hard tliought of God ; but lay, at the divine footstool, passive as blank paper to the hand of the writer, or as softened wax to the impressing seal. In the year 17-8, the University of Edinburgh, and also that of Aberdeen, did honour to themselves by cnnferring on him the degree of Doctor in Divinity, not pur- chased for five pounds, nor even solicited ; but transmitted to him entirely without his knowledge. Learned seminaries would re- trieve the departing respectability of their di- plomas, were they only presented to (I v/ill not say such men as Dr. Watts, for few such men are in any age to be found : but to) persons of piety, orthodoxy, erudition, and virtue. The good doctor, though frequently, and for long seasons together, restrained by illness from the public exercises of his ministry, strictly so called, was a hard student, almost to the very last. At length, exhausted by a progressive, but deep decay, his mortal body was forsaken by its deathle^.s inhabitant, Sov. 25, 17-18: after an union of seventy- four years, four months, and eight days. — His funeral sermon (which has supplied me with the foregoing facts and dates) was preached by the lear'ied Dr. David Jennings, on the latter clause of Hebrews xi. 4. And a conciNe, but not ve.y animated oration was spoken over his grave, at the time of his interment, by Dr. Samuel Chandler. 1 have been told, by the late excellent Mr. Whitefield (between whom and Dr. Watts a long and very tender friend-hip subsisted,) that, for several years together, the doctor was so grievously and frequently afflicted with insomnia, or continual wake- fulness ; and his health, strength, and spirits were thereby reduced to so low an ebb ; that he might, on the whole, rather be said to gasp than to live. Very often, he could obtain no sleep, for two or three nights successively, but what was procured by art ; i. e. by dint of medicinal prepara- tions. Sometimes, even opiates failed lo ■win the courted repose : and our modern (c) ProT. xi. 2i. OUTLINES OF THE LIFE OF DR. ISAAC WATTS. 487 Job inij>ht siiij;, like him of Chaldea, Weari- some iiiglits are appointed unto nie. When 1 lay down, 1 say, vxhen sliall I rise, and the niglit be gone? lam full of tossings to aiid fro, unto the dawning of the day. Job. vii. 3, 4. " Tired nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep," Craln laborala re/ereiis oblivia vitic is a visitant, which, like every other blessing, is the gift of God, and comes not but at his command. He giveth to liis beloved sleep: Psal. cxxvii. 2. And, when he gives it not, faith will acknowledge the finger of Jehovah's providence, and say. Thou boldest mine eyes waking. Psalm Ixxvii. 4. But the divine will operates through the medium of second causes. Too intense and unintermitted exertions of mind, in the pursuit of knowledge, and in the communi- cation of it to others by ^vriting, were the direct occasions of unhinging Dr. Watts's intellectual powers, and of shattering a constitution naturally firm. " With curiniis art the brain, too finely wrougllt, Preys on itself and is destroyed by thoug-ht. Constant attention wears llie active mind, Blots out its powers, and leaves the blank behind." If grandeur, elegance, and poignancy, of genius ; — if a strong, extensive, and highly c\iltivated understanding ; — in a word, if the richest native and acquired talents of the head, added to the most amiable virtues of the heart; — could have secured to a human being the felicitv of calm and constant self- pixsession, Dr. Watts had never written his unhappy Dissertations on the Trinity. Gladly would 1 throw, if po>sible, an everlasting vail over this valuable person's occi'sionai deviations from the simplicity of tlie gospel, relative to the personality and divmity of tlie Son and Spirit of God. But justice compels me to acknovvledt:e that he did not al-.vays preserve an uniform con- sistency with himself, nor with the Scrip- tures of truth, so far as concerns that grand and funilamental article of the Christian faith. " How narrow limits are to wisdom jiv'n ! Kavth she surveys, and thence would measure neav'n. Through mists obscure, now win^s her tedious way, ^ow wanders, dazzi'd with tuo bright a day. And, from the sni imit of a pathless coast, Sees infinite— and in that sight is lost." The inclusiveness (to call it by the teuderest name we can) of his too wanton taniperings with the doctrine of the Trinity, has been largely and irrefragably demon- strated by more hands than one. Among others, by the learned Dr. Abraham Taylor, in a masterly tract, entitled. The Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity vindicated, in op- position to Mr. Watts's Scheme of one divine Person and two divine Powers. The great Mr. John Hurrion, one of the most evangelical men, and ablest reasoners, that have added lustre to the present century, has likewise totally demolished Dr. Watts's fanciful and dangerous surmises, in his [i.e. in Mr. Hurrion'sJ set of admiraMe discourses, entitled. The Scripture Doctrine of the proper Divinity, real Personality, &c. of the Holy Spirit, stated and defended. Both the above performances were published many years before the Doctor's decease ; and consequently, while he was able to answer for himself. Notwithstanding this declen- sion, I am happy in believing that the grace and faithfulness of the Holy Ghost did not permit our author to die under the delusions of so horrible and pernicious a heresy. Among many instances which redound exceedingly to the honour of the Doctor's heart, must be numbered the cordial and uninterrupted friendship which obtained between him and his copartner in the minis- try, the Rev. Mr. Samuel Price. Aulus Gellius used to wonder how two such elegant and magnanimous pliilosopliers, as Plato and Xenophon, could ever descend to the meanness of depreciating and envying each other's talents and success. VVhat would he have said, had he been witness to the low competitions, the dirty jealousies, the narrow self-seekings, and the envious treacheiy, visible in the spirit and conduct of some who pass for Christian ministers ? No such roots of bitterness had any place in the benevolent and disinterested bosom of Dr. Watts. Like the master he served, he took pleasure in the excellencies, ti.e usefulness, and the prosperity of others. It was by his own request that Mr. Price was associated wilh him as co-pastor, in the year And in his last wiD, he styled that gentleman his " faithful friend and companion in the labours of the ministry ;" and bequeathed him a legacy, as a " small testimony of his great afiection for him, on account of his services of love, during the many harmonious years of their fellowship in the work of the gospel." Dr. Jennings has preserved a few of Dr. Watts's dying sayings. It is to be wLshed that he had recorded more of them. " I bless God," said the ripening saint, " I can lay down with comfort at night, un- solicitous whether I wake in this world or another ! " His faith in the promises was lively and unshaken : "I believe them enough to venture an eternity on them ! " Once, to a religious friend, he expressed himself thus : *' 1 remember an aged minister used to say that the most learned and knowing Christians, when they come to die, have only the same plain promises for their sup- port as tlie common and unlearned. And so," continued the Doctor, " I find it. It is the plain promises of the gospel that ara 488 SOME ACCOUNT OF MRS. ELIZABETH ROWE. my support ; and 1 bless God they are plain promises', which do not require much labour and pains to understand them : for I can do nothing now, but look into niy Bible, for some promise to support me, and live upon that." On feeling any temptations to com- plain, he would remark, " The business of a Christian is to bear the will of God, ss well as to do it. If I were in health, I could only be doing that ; and that I may do now. The best thing in obedience is a regard to the will of God ; and the way to that is to gel our inclinations and aversions as much mortified as we can." The following little incident I lately had from a person of quality, (z) who has long shone (and much longer may she continue to shine) the principal ornament of the great and of the religious world. The anecdote, though not important in itself, is worthy of being preserved from oblivion, as a small monument of the refined politeness which distinguished the mind and manners of another elegant and devout female lung since with God. The first-mentioned of these ladies being on a visit to Dr. Watts, at Stoke-Newington, the doctor accosted her thus : " Madam, your ladyship is come to see me on a very remarkable day." Why is this day so remarkable ? answered the countess. " This very day thirty years," replied the doctor, " I came hither to the house of my good friend Sir Thomas Abney, intending to spend but one jingle week under this friendly roof ; and I have ex- tended uiy visit to the length of exactly thirty years." Lady Abney, who was pre- sent, immediately said to the doctor, " Sir, what you term a long thirty years' visit, I consider as the shortest visit my family ever received.'' SOME (a) ACCOUNT OF MRS. ELIZA. BETH ROWE. This elegant and devout female was the daughter of Mr. Walter Singer, a dissenting minister of good family, and possessed a competent estate near Frome, in Somerset- shire ; who being imprisoned at Uchester, for non-conformily in the reign of Chas. II., was there visited by Mrs. Elizabeth Portnel, of that town, from principles of mere bene- volence and compassion. The acquaintance thus commenced, terminated however in marriage ; and the lady, a summary of whose memoirs we are now going to give, was the first fruit of the alliance ; being born September 11, 1674, at Uchester, in which town her father continued to (/) The late countess of Hunlingdon, who de- Rcn'es the highest pane;:>'ric that can be given to a woman. She closed a lite of most extensive useful- ursa, nnboitodcd intrepidity, and intrinsic f xcellence reside until the death of his wife induced him to return into the neighbourhood of Frome. On his re-settlement there, his piety, prudence, integrity, and good sense, recom- mended him to the friendship of Lord Wey- mouth ; and to that of Dr. Ken, the de- prived bishop of Bath and Wells, who (after the Revolution) lived with that nobleman at Long Leat. Though the bishop was in principle a very high churchman ; and Mr. Singer, a radicated dissenter; still such were the candour and moderation of these excellent men, that they cordially esteemed and constantly visited each other. Dr. Ken would sometimes ride to see his worthy and valued non-conforming neighbour, so fre- quently as once a week. Mr. Singer's chief happiness, however, lay within the pale of his own family. Be- side our authoress, he had two daughters ; one of whom died in her childhood, and the other survived to her twentieth year. The latter seemed to be the very counter- part of her elder sister, in devotion, virtue, accomplishments, and amiableness of tem- per. She had the same invincible thirst for knowledge ; and consequently, the same extreme passion for books. The lovely sis- ters fiequently prolonged their studies in concert until midnight. But it was Miss ElizMbeth whom Pro- vidence reserved to be an ornament, not only to her family and to her sex, but to the human species. Her uncommon tcilents and exulted piety, which dawned even in her infant years, gave her reli<;ious father a satisfaction not to be expressed. He him- self had received his first effectual convic- tions in about the tenth year of his age ; from which time he was remakable for having never neglected prayer. (Jod was pleased to visit our poetess with strong impressions of grace at a still less advanced period. My infant hands (says she in her manual, entitled " Devout Exercises of the Heart'") were early lifted up to Thee ; and I soon learned to know and acknowledge the God of my fathers. Her relative affections were so lively and delicate that we find them mingling even with her most solemn ad- dresses to the Deity. In particular, her love and veneration for her father resembled the vestal fires, which were strong, bright, and in-e.xtinguishable. As a specimen of her fine feelings, in this respect, we may recur to the following passage ; Thou art my God, and the God of my religious an- cestors ; the God of my mother, the Ciod of my pious father. Dying and breathing out his soul, he gave me to thy care. He in the cau-se of Christ, on Friday June 17, I7!H. I'o- equivocally may it be said that her character liaa never been surpassed ur equalled in anr ace, or in any nation. Ed. («) Bingr. Brit. voK v.'p. 3453. SOME ACCOUNT OF MRS. ELIZABETH ROWE. 489 put me into thy gracious arms, and deli- vered me up to thy protection. He told me thou wouldst never leave me nor foi'- sake me. He triumphed in thy long ex- perienced faithfulness and truth ; and gave his testimony for thee vvith his latest breath. At tvpelve years of age she began to write poetry ; and it is no wonder the same elegant turn of mind was connected with a fondness for music and painting ; in the former of which she particularly delighted, and became a very able proficient. But that walk in music which she chiefly culti- vated was of the most serious and solemn kind ; such as best comported with the grandeur of her sentiments, and the sub- limity of her devotion. As to painting, slie was more than an admirer of that beau- tiful art. She took up the pencil when she had hardly sufficient strength and steadiness of hand to guide it ; and almost in her in- fancy would press out the juices of herbs, to serve her in lieu of colours. Her father perceiving her propensity to this accom- plishment, provided a master to instruct her in it ; and it never failed to be her occasional amusement to the end of her life. It was her excellence in poetry which first introduced her to the attention of the noble family at Long Leat. Slie liad writ- ten a small copy of verses, with which they were so highly charmed that they conceived a strong curiosity to see tlie authoress ; and in this visit there commenced a friend- ship which subsisted ever after. She was not then twenty. Her paraphrase of the 38th chapter of Job was written at the request of Bishop Ken, and added to the reputation she had already acquired. She had no less a tutor for the French and Italian languages, than the Hon. Mr. Thynne, son to Lord Wey- mouth, who voluntarily took that office upon himself ; and had the pleasure to see his fair scholar improve so fast under his lessons that in a few months she was able to read Tasso with great facility. She seems to have been entirely unacquainted with the learned languages. Her father, indeed, took the greatest care of her edu- cation ; but he confined it to tlie acquisition of those accompUshments only which he considered as falling most properly within the spliere of female improvement. In the year 1696, which was the twenty- second of her age, a collection of her poems (A) In nuptias Thom^e RowEetEu7,»iiETH.€ Singer. Quid doctum par usque tuum, socioaque lubores, F.iBRjE et DiCERii, Gallia vana, crtpas ? Par majus gens A?iela dedlt, juvenem atque puellam, Quos hodie sacro ftedere junxit amor, flamque ea, qua nostri Phabo ceciuere docente, E:pticuisie tuis gloria summaforct. on various occasions was published at the request of two distinguished friends. Her shining merit, and the charms of hef person and conversation, had procured hei- a great many admirers. Among others the celebrated Mr. Matthew Prior is said to have been a candidate for her heart ; and froiil several tender passages relative to this lady in his printed poems, it plainly enough appears that she had the deepest interest in his affections. But Mr. Thomas Rowe was the person destined by heaven to make happy, and to be made happy by, the most amiable female then existing. This gentleman had a fine genius, adorn- ed with an uncommon share of profound and polite learning. His talent in poetry, though not invariably equal to his wife's, was yet very considerable. He was the son of Mr. Benoni Rowe, a dissenting minister, eminent as a preacher and a scholar ; and descended of the same family from which Mr. Nicholas Rowe, the dramatic poet, derived his pedigree : viz. the Rowes of Lamberton, in Devonshire. Our Mr. Thos. Rowe was born at London, April 25, 1687; and was married to Miss Singer, in 1710. On which occasion, a friend of Mr. Rowe wrote the beautifulLatin epigram inserted {h) below. Mrs. Rowe's exalted merit and capti- vating qualities could not fail to inspire the most pure and lasting passion; and Mr. Rowe knew how to value that treasure of piety, elegance, and wit, which Divine Pro- vidence had given him in such a partner. He made it his business to repay the felicity with which she crowned his life. A considerable time after m.Hrriage, he addressed to her, under the name of Delia, that delicate and beautiful ode, of which the following lines are part : 1-ong may thy inspiring: page. And gri'at example, bless the rising age ! Long in thy charming prison may'st thou stay ; Late, very late, ascend the well-known way. And add new glories to the realms of day ! At least, Heav'n will not sure this pray'r deny ; Short be my life's uncertain date, [fate I And earlier far than thine, the destined hour of Whene'er it comes, may'st thou be by ; Banish desponding nature's gloom ; And make me hope a gentle doom ; And me all on joys to come I With swimming eyes I'll gaze upon thy charms. And clasp thee, dying, in my fainting arms ; Then, gently leaning on thy breast. Sink in soft slumbers to eternal rest. The ghastly form shall have a pleasing air. And all things smile, while heav'n and thou art Thus translated by a yonng gentleman : No more, proud Gallia, bid the world revere Thy learned pair, Le Fevre and Dacier. Britain may boast this happy day unites Two nobler minds in Hymen's sacred rites : What these have sung, while all th' inspiring Nine Exalt the beauties of the Terse divine. Those fhumble critics of tb' immortal strain) Shall bound their fame to romment and ^plain.' 490 SOMt; ACCOUNT OF MRS. ELIZABETH ROWE. As Mr. Rowe had not naturally a strons; constitution, his intense application to study (which his marriage counection did not in the least abate) is supposed to have sown the seeds of that ill health which alloyed the happiness of his connubial state, and threw liiin into a decline, about the latter end of the year 1714. Having little more than finished his twenty-eighth year, his consumption put a period to his life on the 13th of May, 1715. He had formed a de- sign to compile the lives of all the illus- trious persons of antiquity omitted by Plu- tarch. He was enabled to accomplish part of his intent (?) : for which no man, perhaps, was better qualified both by genius, judg- ment, and erudition. History was his fa- vourite pursuit; and he had studied that part of it which relates to Jewish antiquities, under the tuition of the great Witsius, at Leyden. During her husband's long illness, Mrs. Rowe hardly ever quitted his chamber ; and alleviated, by all the tender offices of sym- pathy and assiduity, the pains she was unable to remove. She partook his sleep- less nights ; nor could be persuaded to relinquish her kind but melancholy station at his bed-side. When death had performed its commission, she was with diBBcnlty torn from his breathless clay ; and devoted her future years to his memory, by a resolution (which she invinLibly kept) of p(Mpetual widowhood. He died at Hampstead, near London, where be bad resided some time for the benefit of the air ; and was buiied in a vault belonging to his family, in Bun- hill-fieUls. On his tomb were only marked his name, with the dates of his birth and decease. But an inscription of greater pomp was rendered unnecessary, by Mrs. llowe's fine Elegy on his dtath ; in which she relates t!ie thoughts that follow, as a part of his dying conversation : " How inllcli I love, thy bleeding heart can tell, Which does like mine the pangs of parting feel. But haste to meet me on those happy plains Where mig-hty love in endless triumph reigns. He ccas'd. Then gently yielded up his breath, And fell a blooming sacrifice to death." She survived him almost 22 years, and to the last retained without abatement that extreme afl'ection and veneration for him which had constantly animated her breast during life. A very little time before her own departure to heaven, she was observed to shed tears at but hearing the mention of his name. Soon after the commencement of her widowhood she quitted Lor.don (where, in conjplaisance to Mr. Rowe's inclination, bhe usually spent the winter season) ; and (0 He finished nine of those omitted lives ; of wliich eight were published, after his decease, by the lute Dr. Samuel Chandler. The ninth, (viz, that of indulged her unconquerable love of solitude by retiring to Frome, where the greater part of her estate lay. It was in this re- treat that she composed the most celebrated of her works, entitled. Friendship in Death ; with the Letters mural and entertaining. How fond she was of obscurity appears from that beautiful passage, among many others, where she thus sings in prose : " Such a retreat as disengages the mind from those interests and passions which mankind generally pursue appears to me the most certain way to happiness. Quietly to withdraw from the crowd, and leave the gay and ambitious to divide the honours and pleasures of the world, without being a rival or competitor in any of them, must leave a person in unenvied repose. — Ye vain gran- deurs of the earth, ye perishing riches, and fantastic pleasures, what are your proudest boasts ? Can you yield undecaying delights, joys becoming the dignity of reason, and the capacities of an immorial mind ? Ask the happy spirits above at what price they value their enjoyments. Ask Uiem if the whole creation should purchase one mo- ment's interval of their bliss. No : one beam of celestial light obscures the glory, and casts a reproach on all the beauty, this world can boast.'' In 17i(>, some of her acquaintances who had seen the history of Joseph in manu- script, pievailed on her, though with diffi- culty, to let it be made public. She had written it in the early part of life ; and had cai ried it on no farther than to Joseph's marriage. Through the importunity of friends (especially of the Countess of Hertford, to whom Mis. Rowe could scarcely refuse any thing), she added two books more : the composing of which is said to have been the labour but of three or four days. This additional part, which was her last work, was published a few weeks before her death. That crowning event befel her, accord- ing to her wish, in her beloved retirement. She was favoured with uncommon strength of constitution ; and had passed a more than short life with scarce any indispo- sition severe enough to cimfine her to her bed. But about six months before her decease, she was attacked by a ^-isibly dan- gerous complaint ; and lamented to an intimate friend that, on the near approach of death, she did not find herself so serene as she could wish. Her doubts and fears, though sharp, were short. The Holy Spirit, after a little season, filled her with gladness unspeakable, by witnessing to her soul the interest which God's free grace had given her in the atonement and mediation of him Thrasybulus,) having been put into the hands ol Sir Richard Steel for his reTital, wat unbaprily lost. * SOME ACCOUNT OF MRS. ELIZABETH ROWE. •191 who died for sinners. Under these assu- rances, she experienced such repose and tri'imph ;hat she acknowledged with tears of joy, that she had never felt any conso- lations equal to these. She repeated on this happy occasion, Mr. Pope's verses, entitled, " The dying Christian to his Soul," with such exalted transport as evi- denced that she really felt all the holy ecstasies wliich breathe in that (A) exqusite piece of sacred poetry. After this threatening illness, Mrs. Rovve recovered her usual good state of health ; to wliich, it is extremely probable, the happy state of lier soul, and her blessed foretastes of eternal life, miglit chiefly con- tiibute. Communion with God, and the assurance of liis favour, are frequently known to promote health of body no less than of mind. The fellowship of the Holy Ghost is the grand cordial of human life ; and sometimes operates as a sovereign re- storative, even to the mortal house ol clay. On the day in wliicli Mrs. Rowe was seized with that distemper which, in a few hours, carried her oil', she seemed to those about her to be in jjerfect vigour. About eight in the evening, she conversed with her usual sprightliness, and not without laugliter. Aftervvards, she retired to her chamber. Abuut ten, her maid- servant hearing some noise in her mistress's apartment, ran immediately in, and found her fallen on the floor speechless, and in the convulsions of death. A physician and a surgeon were instantly sent for ; but all applications proved fruitless. She expired a few minutes before two o'clock, on Sun- day morning, February 20, 173G-7. Her disease was judged to be an apople.'ty. A de- vout book was found lying open just by her ; it contained some meditations on spiritual subjects, but was afterwards lost ; nor ctiuld the title be exactly remembered by those wlio were with her at the time of her dt ath.- She often wished and prayed for a sudden dissolution ; and God was pleased to giant her the request of her heart. Mr. Grove (who by his nu>ther's side was related to Mrs. Rowe) expressed himself thus in a letter to a friend, occasioned by the decease of this extraordinary lady : " Though her death," says he, •' be universally lamented, yet the manner of it is rather to be es- teemed a part of her happiness. One mo- (*) Vital spark of heav'nly flame, Quit, oil quit this mortal frame ! Trembling-, hoping, ling'riiig-, flying : ment to enjoy this hfe ; the next, or after a pause we are not sensible of, to find our- selves got beyond, not only the fears of death, but death itself ; and in possession of everlasting life, and health, and pleasure: this moment to be devoutly addressing our- selves to God, or employed in delightful meditalions on his perfections; the next, in his presence, and surrounded with scenes of bliss, perfectly new, and unspeakably joy- ous, is a way of departing out of life to be desired, not dreaded, by ourselves , and felicitated, not condoled, by our sur- viving friends. When all things are in a readiness for our removal out of the world, it is a jirivilege to be spared the sad cere- mony of parting, and all the pains and struggles of feeble nature." Dost thou ask, O conver ted reader. Which is best ? To be snatched to heaven in a moment or two, or to be thrown on a lingering bed, and so (if the Lord please) be able to hear some testimony to his love, power, and faithfulness ? I answer : Leave the whole matter to him. If possible, do not enter- tain a wish either one way or the other. Be this your petition : " Only receive my soul to thee ; The manner and the time be thine." She was ouried, by her own desire, under the same stone with her father, in the Meeting-house, at Frome ; and her funeral sermon was preached by Mr. Bowden, to whom she left a particular charge that he should not say one word about her in the whole of his discourse. In her cabinet were found letters to the Countess of Hertford, the Earl of Orrery, Dr. Watts, and smne others of her most intimate and most valued friends. These farewell epistles shs ordered to be imme- diately after her dt-ath transmitted to the persons they were diiected to. They have since been published. An extract fiom that to her bosom confidant, the Countess of Heitford (afierwards Duchess of So- merset), may stand for a sample of the rest. ■' This is the last letter you will ever receive frnd sneer'd and hiss'd; His crimes were such as Sodom never knew. And perjury stood up to swear all true; His aim was mischief, and his zeal pretence, His speech rebellion against common sense : A knave, when ti-ied on honesty's pl^iin rule. And when by that of reason, a mere fool : Til' world's best comfort was, his doom wa.1 pass'd; I>ie when he might, he must be damn'd at last. Now truth pcrfom thine office ■ waft aside 4U5 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS, AND HISTORIC PASSAGES. It appears, from a little account -book, wherein that great man of God, the Rev. Mr. Geors;e Whitefield, minuted tlie times and places of his ministerial labours, that he preached upwards of eighteen thousand sermons, from the aera of his ordination to that of his death. Dr. Grovenor's first wife was a most devout and amiable woman ; the Sunday after her death, the Doctor expressed him- self from the pulpit in the following manner : " 1 have had an irreparable loss, and no man can feel a loss of this conse- quence more sensibly than myself. But the cross of a dying Jesus is my support ; I fly from one death, for refuge to ano- ther." Some years ago, a friend of a clergyman now living, (n) said to him, " Sir ! you have just as many children as the patriarch Jacob." — True, answered the good old divine : and I have also Jacob's God to provide for them. A spark of red hot iron flex into a gentleman's eye, several eminent surgeons tried in vain to extract it ; at lasf, a lady of the patient's acquaintance thought of hold- ing his eye-lid quite open, and of extractitig the grievance by the application of a load stone. The experiment succeeded. How similar is the Holy Spirit's virtue, in extracting the iove of sin from the heart of a saint. King Charles II. once said to that great man, John Milton, " Do not you think your blindness is a judgment upon you for having written in defence of my father's murder ?" — Sir, answered the poet, it is true, I have lost my eyes ; but, if all cala- mitous providences are to be considered as judgments, your majesty should remember that your royal f.ither lost his head. That excellent man, the late Rev. Mr. Joseph Hart, made it his inviolable rule, not to let an Arian, an Arminian, or any un- sound preacher, occupy his pulpit so much as once. His usual saying on those oc- The curtain drawn by preiudice and pride ; Reveal (the man is dead) to wond'ring- eyes Thia more than monster in his proper gui^. He lov'd the world that hated him : the tear That dropped upon hia Bible was sincere ; Assail'd by scandal and the tongue of strife. His only answer was a blameless life : And he that forir'd, and he that threv.- the dart. Had ea'^h a bn.rhcr s int rest in hi^ heart ! Paul's love of Christ, and steadiness uubrib'd. Were copied clo r in him, and well transi-rib'd. He foUow'd Paul— bu> zeal a kindred flame. casions was, I will keep my pulp'it as cliaste as my bed. Monsieur de Voltaire forgets all his in- fidelity, on two occasions ; viz. when he is sick, and when it thunders and lightens. He is so particularly afraid of stormy wea- ther, that if he happens to be writintf when the " clcuds pour down their torrents, the air thunders, and the airows of the Almighty flash abroad," he will call out, in an agony vi horror, for a bottle of holy water, and sprinkle himself with it frcm head to foot, ard plentifully bedew the floors and walls of his apartments into the bargain. Immediately after which precau- tion, he orders mass to be said in his chapel ; and the miisses go on briskly, one after another, until the thunder and light- ning cease. But no sooner is the tempest hushed, than a clear sky and placid ele- ments settle him into a laughing Infii'el again ; and, resuming his pen, he writes against Christianity with as much acrimony, zeal, and want of argument, as ever. — This behaviour reminds me of an old proverb : '■ When the devil was sict, The devil a monk would be ; But, when the devil erew well. The devil a monk was he." A short time before the demise of queen Anne, as bishop Burnet was ricing slowly in his coach, round that part of Smith- field whence so many blessed martyis ascended to heaven, he obsen-ed a gentle- man, standing on the distinguished spot, in a musing, pensive attitude, and, seemingly, quite absorbed in thought. His lordship ordered the carriage to stop, and sent his seri-ant to the person, with a request that he would come to his coach side. He did so, and proved to be Dr Evans, a very eminent dissenting minister, of whom the bishop had some ki-owledge ; " Brother Evans," said the prelate, " give me your hand, and come up hi;her, 1 want to asii you a question." The doctor being seated, and the coachman ordered to continue driving round as before, the bishop asked the doctor, " what it was that directed his His apostolic charity :he same. Like him, cross d cbe«-rfullv tempestuous seas. Forsaking country, Ui drcd. friends, and ease : Like him he labour d, and like him, content To bear it, suffer'd shiime where'er he went. Blush, calumny ! and write upon his toB.b, If honest eulo^- can spare thee room, Thy deep repentance of thy thousand lies, Which, aim d at him, have pierc'd th" offtuded >k!c» ; And say, Blot cut my sin. con.'ess'd dei-lor'd. Against thine imige in thy saint, oh Lord !" (ii; The late venerable Mr. Uosea Brown. Eorms. 496 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS, AND HISTORIC PASSAGES. steps to Smlthfield ? And what he was thinking of while standing there?" — "I w-JS thinking," answered the other, " of the many servants of Christ who sealed the truth of their lives in this place. I came purposely to feast my eyes, once more, with a view of that precious spot of ground. And as public matters have, at present, a very threatening aspect, I was examining myself, whether I had grace and strength enough, to suffer for the gospel, if I should be called to it, and was praying to God that he would make me faithful even to death, if it should be his pleasure to let the old times come over again." — " I myself came hither," replied the prelate *' on the same business ; I am persauded that, if God's providence do not interpose, very speedily, and almost miraculously, these times will, and must, shoitly return. lu which case, you and 1 shall probably be two of the first victims that are to suffer deatn at that place," pointing to the paved centre. But it pleased God to disappoint their fears, by giving a sudden turn to national affairs, within a few weeks queen Anne was gathered to her fathers, and king George I. was proclaimed. King William being once advised to take more care of his safety, and not to hazard his person too much in the field of battle, answered, " Every bullet has its billet ;" meaning, that not a bullet flew at random, but was directed, by a particular providence, whom to injure, and whom to spare. So the preaching of the gospel is equally under divine direction. God's Spirit takes care that the word of truth shall be a savour of life unto life to this man ; and a savour of death unto death to that. An ingenious foreigner was, this week, observing to me, That, " of all the nations of Europe, in which he had been, the English were the most afraid of death." I fear, the reason is, because the English have less religion than other nations. Archbishop Potter wrote a letter to lady Huntingdon, to this etfect : and, as nearly as she can remember (for she repeated it to me by memory), in these terms : " Dear madam, " I have been very ill since I last saw you. I hope soon to hear from you, that your health is better for your being at Bath. Continue to pray for me, until we meet in that place where our joy shall be complete. I am, as ever. Your affectionate Friend, John Cant.'" After the good prelate had written the above letter, he was walking with it to his scrutoir", and (as his son, Mr. Potter, acquainted lady Huntingdon), being seized with a sud- den syncope, dropped upon the floor, and expired with the letter in his hand. A very remarkable circumstance is re- lated concerning Monsieur Huet, the learned bishop of Avranches. During the latter years of his life, his genius and memory gradually failed ; but two or three hours before his death, being then in the ninety- first year of his age, his genius revived, his memory returned, and he enjoyed all his intellectual faculties in their original vigour. So, with the people of God, taith, hope, love, joy, and other gracious fruits of the Spirit, may seem to decline ; but before a saint expires, they all flourish again, in as great or greater liveliness than ever. God does not take away his children, until he has given them a lightening before death., Thales, the Miletian, one of the seven Sages of Greece, while he resided in Egypt, measured the exact height of the pyramids there by the shadows they cast. So, one way of attaining to the knowledge of doc trinal tiuths is by considering the conse- quences of the opposite errors. Some gentlemen and ladiis were a Sun- day or tuo ago refused admittance into the Magdalen Chapel, though they shewed their tickets. On asking the door-keeper, " Why he objected to their going in ?" he answer- ed, that he had orders to admit no pcrsmn but such as were in full dress. Surely this is a very ridiculous regulation. There is, however, a church where tliis regulation is indispensable, and most strictly right. I mean the Church above. No admittance there for any souls that are not in full dress. You must put on Christ for your wedding garment, and wear his re- splendent righteousness by imputation, if ever you mean to shine at God's right hand, and to have a seat in the Church trium- phant. The late king of Sweden was, it seems, under great impressions of spiritual religion for some time before his death. A peasant being once on a particular occasion ad- mitted to his presence, the king, knowing him to be a person of singular piety, asked him " What he took to be the true nature of faith ?" The peasant entered deeply into the subject, and much to the king's comfort and satisfaction. The king, at last, lying on his death-bed, had a return of his doubts and fears, as to the safety of his soul ; and still the same question was perpetually in his mouth to those about him, " What is real faith ? His attendants advised him to send for the archbishop of Upsall ; who, coming to the king's bed-side, began in a learned logical manner, to enter into Uie ANECDOTES. INCIDENTS, AND HISTORIC PASSAGES. 497 scholastic definition of faith. The prelate's disquisition lasted an hour. When he had done, the kins; said, with much energy, " All this is ingenious, but not comfort- able ; it is not what I want. Nothing, after all, but the farmer's faith will do for me." ,. Told me by Mrs. Gallatin, Oct. 1769. I had the following anecdote from the late worthy Mr. Davis, of Hatton Garden, London, whose father had it from one who lived during the plague, and who was well acquainted with the nobleman to whom it refers. Lord Craven lived in London, when that sad calamity raged. His house was in that part of the town since called (from the circumstance of Craven House being situated there) Craven Buildings. On the plague growing epidemic, his lordship, to avoid the danger, resolved to go to his seat in the country. His coach and si.K were accordingly at the door, his baggage put up, and all things in readiness for the journey. As he was walking through the hall with his hat on, his cane under his arm, and putting on his gloves, in order to step into his carriage, he overheard his negro (who served him as a postillion), saying to another servant, " I suppose, by my lord's quitting London to avoid the plague, that his God lives in the country, and not in town.'' The poor negro said this in the simplicity of his heart, as really believing a plurality of gods. The speech, however, struck Lord Craven very sensibly, and made him pause. " My God," thought he, " lives every where, and can preserve me in town as well as in the country. I'll even stay where I am. The ignorance of that negro has preached a useful sermon to me. Lord, pardon that unbelief, and that distrust of thy providence, which made me think of running away from thy hand." He immediately ordered his horses to be taken off from the coach, and the luggage to be brought in. He continued at Lon- don, was remarkably useful among his sick neighbours, and never caught the infection. I likewise think it worth preserving, that (as the same person assured my friend Davis's father), the out-pouring of God's spirit was uncommonly great during the whole time of the plague. Such spiritual consolations and such rich communion witli God were seldom experienced as were felt and enjoyed by the Lord's people, from the first commencement to the final cessation of that tremendous visitation. So that the time of destruction was, in another respect, a time of peculiar and most transccndant refreshing to the church of Christ. A very poor, but a very good woman' 'vho died in Yorkshire, not far from Led- stone, the seat of the excellent Lady Betty Hastings, said, a little before she expired, " I will not die M-itliout leaving dear Lady Hastings a legacy ; and I bequeaih her the l/th chapter of St. John ; with my praj'ers that that sweet chirpter may be made as great a blessing to her heart as it has been to mine." The preceding anecdote was told me by the Countess of Huntingdon, at Clifton, this day, August 12, 1775- One Mr. Simon Brown, an eminent dis senting minister, who lived about 40 years ago in London, became at one time so low- spirited as actually to believe that his soul was annihilated, and that he had no more soul than a stock or a stone. And yet he wrote, and preached, and prayed, and reasoned with so much power, liveliness and good sense, that he was more hke a man with two souls than like a man with none. Some of the Lord's people who are disposed to question the truth of their conversion, live so conscientiously, feel their imperfections so deeply, prize Christ so highly, and long for his presence so ardently, that they de- monstrate themselves to be converted per- sons ; just as Mr. Brown, who persuaded himself that he had no soul, proved that he had one, by the very arguments which he brought against it. Cyrus said to CrcEsus, " The chests I keep my riches in are the hearts and aflec- tions of my subjects." Theheaitsof the saints are the repositories in which God lays up the riches of his grace. His best treasure is in the souls of his people ; for there himself resides. Sir James Thornhill was the person who painted the inside of the cupola of St. Paul's, London. After having finished one of the coinpartn)ents, he stepped back gradually, to see how it would look at a distance. He receded so far (still keeping his eye intently fixed on the painting) that he was got al- most so the very edge of the scaffolding, without perceiving it : had he continued to retreat, half a minute more would have completed his destruction, and he must have fallen to the pavement underneath. A per- son present, who saw the danger the great artist was in, had the happy presence of mind to suddenly snatch up one of the brushes, and spoil the painting, by rubbing it over. Sir James, transported with rage, sprung forward to save the remainder of the piece. But his rage was soon turned into thanks, when the person told him, " Sir, by spoiling the painting, I have saved the life of the painter. You were advanced to the extremity of the scaffold, wiihout knowing it. Had I called out to you to apprise your of you danger, you would na- 0 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS, AND HISTORIC PASSAGES. thus; he does it for my good." O afflicted Cliiislian, lemember this ! and know that God troubles thee for thy good. At Worcester there was (and perhaps still is) an idiot, who was employed at the cathedral there in blowing the organ. A remarkably fine anthem being performed one day, the orfjan-blower, when all was over, said, "I think we have performed mighty well to-diiy." " We performed ?" answered the organist; "I think it was I performed; or I am much mistaken." Shortly after, ano- ther celebrated piece of music was to be played. In the middle of the anthem, the organ stops all at once. The organist cries out, in a passion, " Why do not you blow.'" The fflluw on that pops out liis head from behind the organ, and said, " Shall it be we then ?" What are all our pretensions to free-will, spiritual strength, and self-righteousness ; but the pride of our hearts, realizing the idiot's question, " Shall it be we?'' When Matthew Prior was secretary to king William's ambassador in France, A.D. 16'/8, he was shewn, by the officer of the French king's household, at Versailles, the victories of Louis XIV. painted by Le Bnin ; and, being asked whether the actions of king William were likewise to be seen in his pa- lace ? Prior answered. No : the monuments of my master's actions are to be seen every where but in his own house." So the good works of a true believer shine every where except in his own esteem. It was remarked concerning the present sir Peter Warren (who in the war before the last, had only the com.Tiand of a twenty-gun ship), that he did more execution on the Spa- niards (who therefore nicknamed his ship, the Infernal), and that he took more prizes, than any captain of a fiist-rate man of war. So ministers of the fewest gifts are some- times more eminently owned of God, to the conversion of souls, than those of the bright- est abilities, and highest attainments, A good woman (Mrs. Eagle) was saying to me, to-day (at London, Sept. 14, 17/5,0 that she never desired to be in a sweeter frame than Mavy Magdalen was when she washed our Saviour's feet with tears. I au- swered, that Mary Magdalen had two frames ; her weeping frame, when she bedewed the feet of Christ; and a rejoicing frame, when he said to her, " Go in peace." Sooner or later, all God's people know what both these frames mean. Charles the Xllth's fir^t exploit was the siege of Copenhagfn. He h;id never, till then, heard the report of muskets loaden with ball; which were now firing on him from the fortifications. Asking a gentleman who stood near him, " What whistling it was that he heard?" was answered, "It is the noise of the muskets which they are firing upon your majesty." " Right," replied the king : " from henceforward it shall be my music." [Biog. Diet. vol. XII.] When a Christian, or a minister, renders himself con- spicuous in the defence of gospel truths, noise and malice, slander and opposition, are the music he is to expect from the world and from that day forward. A happy death, no less than a holy life, is the gift of God. Hence the late truly good Dr. Guise never prayed in public without thanking God for all who were de- parted in faith. And so does the Church of England, in the Communion Service. None but the Holy Ghost can give the ivQavatria. When the magnanimous and heroic Ca- racfacus, a British king, was sent prisoner to Rome, he could not forbear crying out, on surveying the grand and elegant buildings of that superb capital, " How is it possible for the owners of such magnificent struc- tures as these to envy the poor cottages of the Britons!'' Much more may we wonder how it is possible for a regenerate soul, who has God and heaven for its portion, to pant after the honours, wealth, and pleasures, of a srretched, perishing world. I am told that there is at Brighthelm- stone, on the sea shore, a spring of fresh water; which spring continues fresh, though constantly covered with the sea when the tide is in. How strongly does this resemble the principle of grace in the heart of a be- liever! a principle v> hich still exists, though amidst a sea of corniptions ; and remains di>tinct, even when those corruptions con- ceal it from view, and debar it (for the time being) from actual use and exercise. Plato, ill his youth, had wrote several tragedies. But he no sooner heard Socrates lecture upon virtue than he burnt them all, and devoted himself to the pursuit of wisdom and morality. So, when the soul has been savingly taught of God, its vanities fall oflf, and its desire is to be made wise and happy to salvation. A young gentlem^ whose sensual pro- pensities were extremely violent, desired the sexton of St. Olave's, Southwark, to get him an entire fern ile scull. The man gave him one, and received half-a-crotvn for his pains. Every morning, for a considerable time, th« gentleman spent some minutes in surveying the scull before he went out, from an ex- pect:ition that the sight of so unpieasing an object would operate as an antidote against the power of that temptation to which he was so subject. But all in vain. His cor- rupt inclinations stiU prevailed, and he ANECDOTES, INC'DEN S AND IlISTOriiC PASSAGES. sinned as frequently as ever. Ar last he found that the scull did him no service, and he made a present of it to Mr. Wilson, of Bath; who, this day, (at Bath, Sept. 18th, 177(>,) gave it tome, at my request. Afterwards it pleased God to convert the above-mentioned gentleman : and vital grace did that for him which a dead scull was unable to effect. His easily besetting sin had no more dominion over him, from the day that the Holy Ghost laid effectual hold on his heart. Good Mr. Rogers, the martyr, on the morning he was burnt, put on his clothes very carelessly; cheerfully saying, that "it mattered little how they v.ere put on, seeing they were so soon to be put off for ever." Such should be our attachment to all world- ly things. It was said of Edward the black prince that he never fought a battle which he did not win : and of the great duke of Marlbo- rough that he never besieged a city which he did not take. Shall that he said of men which we deny concerning the Most High God ? Is he less successful than some human generals? Shall these invincibly prevail, and grace be liable to defeat? Impossible. I remember to have seen a humorous print of a miller grinding old people young. The idea relii;iously considered is not with- out reality. In regeiieration, the Holy Spirit puts us into the mill of the law, and grinds us small, and we come out new creatures. Procopius says, that when Misdates, king of Persia, was dead without issue, hut had left his queen pregnant, the Persian nubility set the crown on the queen's belly, before she quickened : thereby acknowledi;- ing her unborn offspring for their future sovereign. So that Sapoies (which was afterwards the child's name) [was not only crowned before he was born, but even] began his reign before he began to live. If such acts, done by men, seem not irra- tional, why should any think it strange for the only wise God to set the crown of election upon the heads of his people, wlien as yet none of them had any being, save only in the womb of his own purpose and decree ? The late. lord B ke (vis. the cele- brated infidel and tory) was one day reading in Calvin's Institutions. A clergyman (o) of his lordship's acquaintance c niing on a visit, lord B. said to him, "Vou'have caught me reading John Calvin. He was indeed a man of great parts, profound sense, and vast learning. He handles the doctrines of grace in a very masterly man- ner."—" Doctrines of grace (replied tilt clergyman) ! the doctrines of grace have set all mankind together by the ears." " I am surprized to hear you say so," answered lord B ; " you who profess to believe and to preach Christianity. Those doctrines are certainly the doctrines of the Bible : and, if 1 believe the Bible, I must believe them. And, let me seriously tell you, that the greatest miracle in the world is, the subsistance of Christianity, and its con- tinued preservation, as a religion, when the preaching of it is commitled to tlie care of such unchristian wretches as you." Told me this day at Bath, July 3()th, 1775, by lady Huntingdon, who had it from lord B 's own mouth. How fruitless is anxiety for worldly things ! My friend, the late Mr. Paul Green- wood, when on his death-bed (about two years ago), was under some distress as to his mother, to whose support he used to contribute. — The good man was no sooner dead than a messenger was despatched to let his mother know it. The messenger of the son's death was met on the road by another messenger who was coming to bring the news of the mother's death to her son. — Thus, she lived not to miss her son's kindness ; but both mother and son met in heaven together, about the same time. I write this, October 3()th, 1769. I cannot help adding a saying the above good man made use of, in his plain, simple manner, on being told that some people thought his sermons too long. " I some- times preach," answered he, " half an hour before God comes : and when he is come, I can do no less than preach half an hour, or three quarters of an hour, after- wards. ' For some few years before the death of the great Mr. Hervey, he visited very few of tlie principal persons in his neigh- bourhood. Being once asked, " Why he so seldom went to see the neighbouring gentlemen, who yet shewed him all possible esteem and respect?" He answered, "I can hardly name a polite family where the conversation ever turns upon the things of God. 1 hear much frothy and worldly chit- chat ; but nut a word of Christ. And I am determined not to visit those companies where there is not room for my Master as well as for myself." Dr. Oliver, the celebrated Bath physician, had been a very inveterate infidel till within a short time before his death. In his last sickness the arrow's of spiritual conviction stuck fast in him. Lady Huntingdon never (0) Mr. Church, who died cnrate of Battersea. 0 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS, AND HISTORIC PASSAGES. thu*; he does it for my good." O afflicted Chiislian, remember this! and know that God troubles thee for thy good. At Worcester tliere was (and perhaps still ;s) an idiot, who was employed at the catheHral theie in blowing the organ. A remarkably fine anthem being performed one day, the organ-blower, when all was over, said, " I think we have performed mighty well to-diiy." " We performed ?" answered the organist; "I think it v.as I performed; or I am much mistaken." Shortly after, ano- ther celebrated piece of music was to be played. In the middle of the anthem, the organ stops all at once. The organist cries out, in a passion, " Why do not you blow?" Tlie fflluw on that pops out Ills head from behind the organ, and said, " Shall it be we then ?" What are all our pretensions to free-will, spiritual strength, and self-righteousness; but the pride of our hearts, realizing the idiot's question, " Shall it be we?'' When Matthew Prior was secretary to king AVilliam's ambassador in f'rance, A.D. H)'/8, he was shewn, by the officer of the French king's household, at Versailles, the victories of Louis XIV. painted by Le Bum ; and, being asked whether the actions of king William were likewise to be seen in his pa- lace ? Prior answered. No : the monuments of my master's actions are to be seen every where but in his own house." So the good works of a true believer shine every where except in his own esteem. It was remarked concerning the present sir Peter Warren (who in the war before the last, had only the com.nand of a twenty-gun ship), that he did more e.Kecuti'in on the Spa- niards (who therefore nicknamed his ship, the Infernal), and that he took more prizes, than any captain of a first-rate man of war. So ministers of the fewest gifts are some- times more eminently owned of God, to the conversion of souls, than those of the bright- est abilities, and highest attainments, A good woman (Mrs. Eagle) was saying to me, to-day (at London, Sept. 14, 1/75,.) that she never desired to be in a sweeter frame than Mary M;igdalen was when she washed our Saviour's feet with tears. I au- swercd, thatMary Magdalen had tv/o frames ; her weeping frame, when she bedewed the feet of Christ ; and a rejoicing frame, when he said to her, " Go in peace." Sooner or later, all God's people know what both these frames mean. Charles the Xllth's first exploit was the siege of Copenhagen. He had never, till then, heard the report of muskets luaden with ball; which were now firing on him from the fortifications. Asking a gentleman who stood near him, " What whistling it was that he heard?" was answered, "It is the noise of the muskets which they are firing upon your majesty." " Right," replied the king: "from henceforward it shall be my music." [Biog. Diet. vol. XII.] When a Christian, or a minister, renders himself con- spicuous in the defence of gospel truths, noise and malice, slander and opposition, are the music he is to expect from the world and from that day forward. A happy death, no less than a holy life, is the gift of God. Hence the late truly good l5r. Guise never prayed in public without thanking God for all who were de- parted in faith. And so does the Church of England, in the Communion Service. None but the Holy Ghost can give the ivQavaaia. When the magnanimous and heroic Ca- ractacus, a British king, was sent prisoner to Rome, he could not forbear crying out, on surveying the grand and elegant buildings of that superb capital, " How is it possible for the owners of such magnificent struc- tures as these to envy the poor cottages of the Britons!'' Much more may we wonder how it is possible for a regenerate soul, who has God and heaven for its portion, to pant after the honours, wealth, and pleasures, of a uretched, perishing world. I am told thiit there is at Brighlhelm- stone, on the sea shore, a spring of fresh water; which spri^ig continues fresh, though constantly covt-red with the sea when the tide is in. How strongly does this resemble the principle of grace in the heart of a be- liever! a principle u hich still exists, though amidst a sea of corruptions; and remains distinct, even when those corruptions con- ceal it from view, and debar it (for the time being) from actual use and exercise. Plato, in his youth, had wrote several tragedies. Bui he no sooner heard Socrates lecture upon virtue than he burnt them ;ill, and devoted himself to the pursuit of wisdom and morality. So, « hen the soul has been savingly taught of God, its vanities fall off, and its desire is to be made wise and happy to salvation. A young gentlem^in whose sensual pro- pensities were extiemely violent, desired the sexton of St. Olave's, Southwark, to get him an entire feni ile scull. The man gave him one, and received half-a-crown for his pains. Every morning, for a considerable time, the gentleman spent some minutes in surveying the scull before he went out, from an ex- pectHtion that the sight of sounpieasing an object would operate as an antidote against the power of that temptation to which he was so subject. But all in vain. His cor- rupt inclinations still prevailed, aid he ANECDOTES, INC'DEN S AND HISTORIC PASSAGES. 5 sinned as frerjuently as ever. Ar last he fimnd that the scull did him no service, and he made a present of it ti> Mi-. Wilson, of Bath; who, this day, (at Bath, Sept. 18th, 177(),) gave it tome, at my reque.st. Afterwards it pleased God to convert the above-mentioned gentleman : and vital grace did that for him which a dead scull was unable to effect. Ills easily besetting sill had no more dominion over him, from the day that the Holy Ghost laid effectual hold on his heart. Good Mr. Rogers, the martyr, on the morning he was burnt, put on his clothes very carelessly; cheerfully saying, that "it mattered little how they v,ere put on, seeing they were so soon to be put off for ever." Such should be our attachment to all world- ly things. It was said of Edward the black prince that he never fought a battle which he did not win : and of the great duke of Marlbo- rough that he never besieged a city which he did not take. Shall that be said of men which we deny concerning the Most High God ? Is he less successful than some human generals.' Shall these invincibly prevail, and grace be liable to defeat? Impossible. I remember to have seen a humorous print of a miller grinding old people young. The idea relii;iously considered is not with- out reality. In regeneration, the Holy Spirit puts us into the mill of the law, and grinds us small, and we come out new creatures. Procopius says, that when Misdates, king of Persia, was dead without issue, but had left his queen pregnant, the Persian nobility set the crown on the queen's belly, before she quickened : thereby acknowledf;- ing her unborn offspring for their future sovereign. So that S;ipoies (which was afterwards the child's name) [was not only crowned before he was born, but even] began his reign before he began to live. If such acts, done by men, seem not irra- tional, why should any think it strange for the only wise God to set the crown of election upon the heads of his people, when as yet none of them had any being, save only in the womb of his own purpose and decree ? The late. lord B ke (viz. the cele- brated infidel and tory) was one day reading in Calvin's Institutions. A clergyman (o) of his lordship's acquaintance c uning on a visit, lord B. said to him, "You have caught me reading John Calvin. He was indeed a man of great parts, profound sense, and vast learning. He handles the doctrines of grace in a very masterly man- ner."— "Doctrines of grace (replied the clergyman) ! the doctrines of gi ace have set all mankind together by the ears." " I am surpi ized to hear you say so," answered lord B ; " you who profess to believe and to preach Christianity. Those doctrines are certainly the doctrines of the Bible : and, if I believe the Bible, I must believe them. And, let me seriously tell you, (hat the greatest miracle in the world is, the subsistance of Christianity, and its con- tinued preservation, as a religion, when the preaching of it is committed to the care of such unchristian wretches as you." Told me this day at Bath, July 3()th, 1775, by lady Huntingdon, who had it from lord B 's own mouth. How fruitless is anxiety for worldly things ! My friend, the late Mr. Paul Green- wood, when on his death-bed (about two years ago), was under some distress as to his mother, to whose support he used to contribute. — The good man was no sooner dead than a messenger was despatched to let his mother know it. The messenger of the son's death was met on the road by another messenger who was coming to bring the news of the mother's death to her son. — Thus, she lived not to miss her son's kindness ; but both mother and son met in heaven together, about the same time. I write this, October 3()th, 1769. I cannot help adding a saying the above good man made use of, in his plain, simple maimer, on being told that some people thought his sermons too long. " I some- times preach," answered he, " half an hour before God comes : and when he is come, I can do no less than preach half an hour, or three quarters of an hour, after- wards.'' For some few years hefore the death of the great Mr. Hervey, he visited very few of the principal persons in his neigh- bourhood. Being once asked, " Why he so seldom went to see the neighbouring gentlemen, who yet shewed him all possible esteem and respect?" He answered, "I can hardly name a polite family where the conversation ever turns upon the things of God. I hear much frothy and worldly chit- chat ; hut not a word of Christ. And I am determined not to visit those companies where there is tiot room for my Master as well as for myself." Dr. Oliver, the celebrated Bath physician, had been a very inveterate infidel till within a short time before his death. In his last sickness the airo\,'S of spiritual conviction stuck fast in him. Lady Huntingdon never (0) Mr. Church, who died curate of Battersea. ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS, AND HISTORIC PASSAGES. saw a person more thoroughly humbled, distrest, anil broken in heart. Coming to him about two days before he died, he lamented, not only his own past infidelity, but the zeal and success with which he had endeavoured to infect the minds of others. " O that I could undo the mischief I have done ! I was more ardent," said he, *' to piiison people with the principles of irre- ligion and unbelief than almost any Chris- tian can be to spread the doctrines of Christ." — Cheer up (answered lady Hun- tingdon) ; Jesus, the great sacrifice for sin, atoned for the sins of the second table as well as for those of the first. — " God," re- plied he, " certainly can, but I fear he never will, pardon such a wretch as I." — ■ You may fear it at present, rejoined she ; but you and 1 shall most certainly meet each other in heaven. — The doctor then said, " O woman, great is thy faith. My faith cannot believe that I shall ever be there." Soon after, the Lord lifted up the light of his countenance on Dr. Oliver's soul. He lay, the rest of his time, triumphing and praising free grace : and went off, at last, as happy as an angel. Told me, by lady Huntingdon, at Clifton, August 19th,'l775. Mr. Maccail, a Scotch preacher, was tortured to death, in Scotland, some time after the restoration of Charles II. His dying wonis were glorious and triumphant, notwithstanding the extremity of his bodily pain : " Farewell, sun, moon, and stars ! farewell, world, and time ! farewell, weak and frail body! welcome, eternity! wel- come, angels and saints ! welcome, Saviour of the world ! welcome, God the Judge of all !" He died by the torture of the iron boot. A person, who had heard much con- cerning Scanderbeg's victoiies, was very desirous of seeing the sword with which that famous general had wrought such cele- brated e.\(jloits Scanderbeg sent it to him ; and, on seeing it, the person spake to the follo.ving (.fleet : " Is this tlie weapon which has uK'.ue so great noise in the world ? I can see nothing in this short, mean-looking sword, answerable to the majestic idea I had entertained of it." This being told to Scanderbeg, lie ordeied the messenger to remind the other that " Scanderbeg's vic- tories depended not on the grandeur of his swoid, but on the strength and skill of the arm that wielded it : not the weapon, but Scanderbeg himself was the conqueror." So it is not the gospel, nor gospel minis- ters, by whom souls are subdued to Christ ; but the power of Christ's own spirit, acting by these, which brings sinners in subjection to the obedience of faith. The late lady L d y, on being asked, by lady Huntingdon, " whether she knew any thing of that holy Spirit by whom the Bible was inspired ?" made answer, in the following words : " Yes, my lady, I am well acquainted with the name of Socrates, and of all the other philosophers that com- posed the Bible." Told me, at Epping Place (in Essex), by lady Huntingdon, April 2, 1776. A godly minister, being in a consump- tion, came to Ashby (near Fawslev, where Mr. Dod lived) for the benefit of Mr. Dod's counsel and conversation. He was much bowed down with doubts and fears ; and a little before his death asked Mr. Dod, " What will you say to me who am going out of the world, and can find no spiritual comfort?" Mr. Dod answered, " And what will you say to Christ himself, who, when going out of the world, found no comfort, but cried out. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" This speech much re- freshed the dying minister a little before he went to his heavenly inheritance. A minister was recovering of a dange- rous illness ; when one of his friends ad- dressed him thus : " Sir, though God seems to be bringing you up from the gates of death ; yet it will be a long time before you will sufficiently retrieve your strength, and regain vigour enough of mind to preach as usual." — Tlie good man answered : " You are mistaken, my friend ; for this six weeks' illness has taught me more divinity than aU my past studies, and all my ten years' ministry put together." Related by Mr. Medley, in preaching, at London, this evening, Mav 11, 1776. Public controversy, from the press, may be of standing use to the present and to future times. But wrangling altercations, in private company, seldom have niuch good effect : they resemble the pope's in- terview with an English quaker, where neither received any good from the other. — • The quaker visited Rome, in order to con- vert the pope. Being admitted to his pre- sence, the quaker thus acco;ted his holiness " Friend, I come to tell thee that thou art antichrist, and the scarlet whore of Baby- lon."— The pope, who was a man of humour, answered : " Friend, I am glad thou art come, as it gives me an opportu- nity of telling thee that thou art a most egregious heretic. Thou mayest think thy- self well off that I do not p.t thee into the inquisition, and burn thee to ashes. So, ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS, AND HISTORIC PASSAGES. j;et thee back to thy own country while thou art safe and sound." — Thus each left the other as he found him. The pope would not believe himself to be anticlirist, nor the quaker deem himself a heretic. Mr. William Gay (of UlTculuie), in con- versation, at Broad Hembury, April 2, 1775. Lewis I. of France died of vexation, occasioned by the revolt of his son, Lewis of Bavaria. The broken - hearted father said, as he expired, " I forgive Lewis ; but let him know be has been the cause of my death."— The sins of God's elect were the cause of the Messiah's death : yet, in dying, he declared, " Father, forgive them," &c. My late revered friend, the truly re- verend and useful Mr. George Whitetield, was preaching one time at Exeter. A man was present who had loaded his pockets with stones, in order to fling them at that eminently precious ambassador of Christ. He heard his prayer, however, with patience : but no sooner had he named his text than the man pulled a stone out of his pocket, and held it in his hand, waiting for a fair opportunity to throw it. But Gud sent a word to his heart, and the stone dropt from his hand. After sermon, he went to dear Mr. Whitefield (whose name I can hardly think of without tears), and told him, " Sir, I came to hear you this day with a view to break your head ; but the Spirit of God, through your ministry, has given me a broken heart." The man proved to be a sound convert, and lived an orna- ment to the gospel. Such power belongeth unto God ! My old and valuable acquaintance, the late Mr. Thomas Chorlton (who died, at Southwark, Dec. 19, 1774), who absolutely fell a martyr to frequent and excessive preaching, was very comfortable on his death-btJ. " When will the happy hour arrive ?" was one of Ids dying sayings. And, when some of his friends were taking their last farewell of him, he said, " Friends united to Christ shall meet again." He compared himself to a weary child, whom his father was putting to bed : and was deeply refreshed by that sweet promise in the last verse of Isa. xxxv. "The ran- somed of the Lord," fiC. — His funeral text was, by his own particular desire, Acts ii. 28. " Thou hast made known to me ways of life ; thou shall make me full of joy with thy countenance." Lady Huntingdon was once speaking to a workman who was repariiig a garden wall, and pressing him to take some thought concerning eternity and the state of his soul. — Some years, afterwards, she spoke to another, on the same subject : and said to him, "Thomas, I fear you never pay, nor look to Christ for salvation." — " Your ladv- ship is mistaken," answered the man: "I heard what pa^sed between you and James, at such a time ; and the word yi;u designed for him took effect on me.'' — " How did you hear It.'" — "I heard it on the other side of the garden, thrnuj;h a hole in the wall : and shall never forget the impression I received." — Thus will the blessed Spirit even make his way through the hole of a wall rather than an elect sinner shall die unconverted. " How does your ladyship" (said the famous lord Bolingbroke once to lady Hun- tingdon) " reconcile prayer to God for par- ticular blessings with absolute resignation to the Divine Will?" — Very easily (an- swered she) : just as if I was to offer a peti- tion to a monarch, of whose kindness and wisdom I have the highest opinion. In such a case, my language would be, I wish you to bestow on me such a favour : but your majesty knows better than I how far it would be agreeable to you, or right in itself, to grant my desire. I therefore con- tent myself with humbly presenting my petition, and leave the event of it entirely to you. A gentlewoman at Lambeth (if I mistake not, her name is B e) being lately asked to read some of W y's Arminian tracts, answered thus ; " I have not yet done with the Bible : when I have thrown aside the Bible, I will read Mr. W y." Told me, at Knightsbridge, by Mr. Petty, in June, 1777- The late Dr. Guyse lost his eye-sight in the pulpit, while he was in his prayer be- fore sermon. Having finished his prayer, he was, consequently, forced to make no use of his written papers, but to preach without notes. — As he was led out of the Meeting, after service was over, he could not help lamenting his sudden and total blindness. A good old gentlewoman »,ho heard him deplore his loss, answered him, " God be praised that your sight is gone. I never heard you preach so powerful a sermon in my life. Now we shall have no aiore notes. I wish, for my own part, that the Lord had took away your eye-sight twenty years ago, for your ministry would have been more useful by twenty degrees. The truths of the gospel are to be in- troduced with discretion and propriety. — A person once harangued on the strength of fiamson : " I affirm," said he, " that this same Samson was the strongest man that ever did or ever will live in the world." " I deny it," replied one of the company : "yourself are stronger than he."— " How do you make out that?" — "Because you 504 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS, AND HISTORIC PASSAGES. just now lugged him in by head and shoul- ders.'' The duke of Alva having given some prisoners their lives, they afterwards peti- tioned Iiim for some food. His answer was, that " he would grant them life, but no meat." And they were famished to death. Fuller's Worthies, Part III. p. 39. The deniers of final perseverance repre- sent the Deity in a similar view. " God promises eternal life to the saints, if they endure to the end :" but he will not, ac- cording to this wretched Arminian doctrine, secure to them tlie continuance of that grace, without which, eternal life cannot be had ! Mr. Hervey was once travelling in a stage-coach with a lady who was totally im- mersed in dissipation, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. "I have comfort," said she, " before my pleasurable plans take place, and when they do take place, and after they have taken place. I expect them with satisfaction, I enjoy them with high gratification, and I reflect on them with hap- piness when they are past." " You have forgot to mention one comfort, madam, (re- plied Mr. Hervey,) which such a life is pro- ductive of." " How so ?" answered the lady. " I have specified the pleasures I receive be- fore the time, at the time* and after the time : and surely I cannot have made any omission." " Yes: you have forgot the prin- ripal joy of all : viz. the comfort which the review of these thinj^s will give you on your death-bed." The lady was struck: and growing serious, from that time forward she became an eminent Christian. Told n)e at Broad Hembury, March 15, 1 775, by good Mr. Pitts, of Chard. Similis, captain of the guards to Adrian, got leave to quit that emperor's service, and spent the last seven years of his life in rural retirement. At his death, he ordered the following inscription on his tomb: "Here lies Similis, who lived but seven years, though he died at sixty-seven." Our true a<;e, and our real hfe, are to be dated from the time of our abstraction from the world, and of our conversion to God. One time, when I was at Glastonbury, I went to see the Torr, which is a tower sea- ted on the top of a very high hill. The ascent was so steep that I was forced in some places to climb up on my hands and knees. Would we enjoy God's presence? We must ythrough the efficacy of his influence) use our hands and knees, i. e. we must be found in the way of obedience, humility, and •aayer. A person was preaching in Norfolk some time ago, and, among other observations, made the following: "If king George was to come and knock at your doors, you would all strive who should let him in first : why do not you, with at leiist equal readiness, let Christ into your hearts.'" One of his au- ditory took occasion to ask him when ser- mon was over, *' What if king George should knock at the doer of a house in which all the people were dead ? Who, I wonder, would rise and let in the king then?" There are merit-mongers among the most abandoned sinners. — Two women were some time since admitted into the Lock Hospital, in order to be cured of a very criminal disease. Mr. Madan, who visited them during their confinement, laboured to convince them of their sin and spiritual dan- ger. " Truly," said one of them, " I am by no means so bad as some of my profession are ; for I never picked any man's pocket in my life." — The other said, " I cannot affirm that I never picked a man's pocket; but I have this in my favour, that I never admit- ted any man into my company on a Sunday until after nine at night." When captain David Gam fell in the battle of Azincourt, king Henry V. knighted him as he was expiring on the ground. — What are all earthly distinctions but ho- nours conferred on dying men. — And what superior gl iry does Christ confer on his ex- piring saints '. He crowns them kings in the very article of death. A good woman (Mrs. Whitby, of Co- lumpton) said, when under great bodilv pain, " God has an end to answer by every afflicting dispensation ; and until God's end is answered, I would not wish this affliction to be withdrawn." Aug. 18, 176.9, Dr. G told me that some years ago, when he had been for along time together under great darkness of soul, he was complaining to good Mr.Walker, Truro, that " he could compare himself to nothing else but to a raven, an unclean bird, bringing bread and flesh to God's peo- ple without tasting any himself." — To which Mr. Walker answered, " Be contented and thankful that the Lord makes you a feeder of his heritage." — "Ah, but," added the doctor, " it seems hard to act merely as a cook, and serve up rich provision for others, while I myself am famishing." — Mr. Walker re- joined, " Nay, but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?" Mr. Fox, the raartyrologist, teUs us of one Mr. Crow, an English seaman, who, being shipwrecked, lost itU his property, and was obliged, when shifting for his own life, to throw what little money he had, which ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS, AND HISTORIC PASSAGES. 505 was five pounds, into the sea. But he svould rot part with his New Testament : and therefore, having tied it round his neck, he committed himself to a bioken mast; on wliich, having floated for four days, he vi'as at last discovered and taken up alive ; all the rest of the ship's crew being drowned. Some time since, I was reading of a good woman who, being on her death bed, was asked Whether she wished to live or die ? " 1 desire," said she, " to have no wish about the matter ; except it be, that the Lord may perform his own will." But, replied the person, which would you choose if the Lord was to refer it to yourself? " Why truly," rejoined she, " I should in that case beg leave to refer it back to him again!" Archbishop Williams once said to a friend of his, " I have passed through many places ot honour and trust, both in church and state ; more than any, of my order, in iMigland, these seventy years before : yet, were I but assured that by my preaching, I had converted but one soul to God, I should take therein more spiritual joy and comfort than in all the honours and offices which have been bestowed upon me." The old duke of Bedford (grandfather of the late duke) used to say, " I consider the prayers of God's ministers and people as the best walls round my house." Told me at Woburn by Mr. R. Oct. 12, 1775. Mr. Winter was lately in company with an Arminian who ran out violently against the doctrine of election. "You believe election,'' said Mr. Winter, " as firmly as I do." " I deny it," answered the otlier : " on the contrary, it is a doctrine I detest." " Do you believe that all men will be saved, in the last day, or only some ?" Only some. " Do you imagine that those some will be found to have saved themselves?'' No certainly ; God in Christ is the only Sa- viour of sinners. "But God could have saved the rest, could he not ?" No doubt. " Then salvation is peculiar to the saved ?" To be sure. "And God saves them design- edly, and not against his will?" Certainly. " And willingly suffers the rest to perish, though he couljj easily have hindered it?" It should seem so. "Then is not this elec- tion ?" It amounts to much the same thing. Mr. John Bunyan having preached one day with particular warmth and enlaige- ment, some of his friends, after service was over, took him by the hand, and could not help observing what a sweet sermon he had delivered : " Aye," said the good man, " you need not remind me of that, for the devil told me of it before I was out of the pulpit." The late Dr. Grosvenor, being at tlie funeral of Dr. Watt.s, a friend said to him, " Well, Dr. Grosvenor, you have seen the end of Dr. Watts, and you will soon fol- low; what think you of death?" "Think of it," replied the doctor, " why, when death comes, I shall smile upon death, if God smiles upon me." Told me by Mr. Ryland, July It, 1769. The late Lady Slormont, sen., mother of the present Lord Chief Justice Mansfield, upon being complimented by another lady, that " she had the three finest sons in Scotland to be proud of ; made answer, " No, madam ; I have much to be thank- ful for, but nothing to be proud of." Told me by Lady Grierson, at London, this day, January 10th, 1776. When Thales was young, his mother asked him why he did not marry? "It is too early," answered the philosopher. When he was advanced in years, the good woman repeated her question ; to which he answered, " I am now too old." So.^atan is perpetually suggesting that it is either too soon or too late to return to God A Persian king, willing to oblige Uvo of his courtiers, gave to one a golden cup, and to the other a kiss ; and he that had the former complained to the king that his fellow's kiss was more to be valued than his golden cup. Christ does not put off his people with the golden cup ; but he gives them his kiss, which is infinitely better. He gives his best gifts to his best beloved ones ; he gives his best love, his best joy, his best peace, his best mercies. Some of Mr. Thomas Jones's last words [viz. he who was chaplain of St. Saviour's, Southwark] were, " A sinner saved, a sin- ner saved !" Similar will be the everlasting song of the saints, in heaven itself. Mr. Richard Baxter, when on his death- bed, was visited by a friend, who reminded him of the glory to which he was going, and that his many good works would attend him into a better state. The old gentle- man, lifting up his dying hand, and wav- ing it, replied, " Do not talk to me about works, alas ! I have dealt too much in them already." Mrs. Romaine was last week in com- pany with a clergyman, at Tiverton, who ran out with no little zeal against what he called " iire.sistible grace;" alleging that " such grace would be quite incom])atible with free-will." Not at all so, answered Mrs. Romaine ; grace operates effectually, yet not cdercively. The wills of God's peo- ple are drawn to him and divine things, just as your will would be drawn to a bishoprick, if you had the offer of it. Told mc at Broad Hembury, by Mr. Romaine, Sept. 18, 1/73. SiX ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS, AND HISTORIC PASSAGES. A gentlewoman went some tiipe ago, to Vieai Dr. F preach, and, as is usual among Dissenters, carried a pocket-bible with her, that she might turn to any pas- sages the preacher might happen to refer to. But she found she had no use for her Bible there; and, on coming away, said to a friend, " I sliould have left my Bible at home to-day, and have brought my dic- tionary. The doctor does not deal in Scrip- ture, but in such learned words and phrases as require the help of an interpreter to render them intelligible." Edward the Black Prince, having conquer- ed and taken prisoner king John of France, nobly condescended to wait on his royal captive the same night, at supper. Christ, having first subdued his people hy his grace, waits on them afterwards to their lives' end. Mr. Dod, being at Holmby-house, and being invited by an honourable personage to see that stately building erected by Sir Christopher Hatton ; he desired to be ex- cused, and to sit still, looking on a flower which he held in his hand : " For," said he, " I see more of God in this flower than in all the beautiful edifices in the world." Dr. Gill was preaching, some years ago, on the natural depravity and spiritual inability of man. A gentleman who heard the sermon was greatly offended ; and, taking an opportunity some time after, call- ing on the doctor, told him that, in his opinion, he had degraded that nohle being, man, and laid him much too low. " Pray, sir," answered the doctor, " how much do you think can men contribute towards their own conversion and salvation ?" Man can do such and such things, replied the gen- tleman ; reckoning up a whole string of free-will abilities. " And have you done all this for yourself ?" said the doctor. " Why no, I cannot say I have yet, but I hope I shall begin soon. " If you really have these things in your power," replied the doctor, " and have not done them for yourself, you deserve to be doubly damned, and are but ill qualified to stand up for that imaginary free-will which, according to your own confession, has done you so httle good. However, after you have made yourself spi- ritually whole (if ever you find yourself able to do it), be kind enough to come and let me know how you went about it ; for at present I know but of one remedy for human depravation, namely, the efficacious grace of Him who worketh in men both to will and to do of his own good pleasure." Dr. Gill, preaching a charity sermon, some years since, concluded thus: " Here are present, I doubt not, persons of divided sentiments ; some believing in free-will. and some in free grace. Those of you who are free-willers and merit-mongers, will give to this collection of course, for the sake of what you suppose you will get by it. Those of you on the other hand, who expect salvation by grace alone, will contribute to the present charity out of love and gratitude to God. So between free-will and free grate I hope we shall have a good collection." A person called some time ago on Mr. Romaine, and complained of being griev- ously distressed and bowed down in soul, without one ray of comfort from God. Mr. Romaine's answer was, " Do you think, then, that no persons go to heaven but those that have comforts ?" Told me by Mr. Willett, Nov. 14, 1769. The Virgin Mary is applied to by Papists as the giver of children. I should rather have thought them more consistent if they considered her as the patroness of maids and bachelors. Euclid (the disciple of Socrates) having offended a brother of his, the brother cried out in a rage, " Let me die, if I am not revenged on you, one time or other." To whom Euclid replied, with a sweetness next to Christian, " And let me die, if I do not soften you by my kindnesses and make you love me as well as ever." The learned Salmasius said, when on his death bed, " Oh, I have lost a world of time ! If one year more was to be added to my life, it should be spent in David's Psalms and Paul's Epistles." A friend of Mr. Dod's being raised from a mean estate to much worldly greatness, Mr. Dod sent him word that " This was but like going out of a boat into a ship ; and he should remember that, while he was in the world, he was still on the sea." Good Mrs. Wicks of Cambridge, when on her dying bed requested her family to pray that God would stay his hand : " I am so full of consolation," said she, " that the frail vessel of my heart can hold no more. I cannot sustain the divine manifestations with which I am favoured. Beg of the Lord to moderate them until I get out of the body." A little before her departure she said, " All the promises that, during the time of my pilgrimage below have been sent home to my soul at different seasons, are now given me together in a c'uster. Told me by her daughter, Mrs. G. sen., September 19, 1/69. Mr. Hervey, being in company with a person who was paying him some compli- ments on account of his writings, replied, laying his hand on his breast, " 0, sir. ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS, AND HISTORIC PASSAGES. vou would not strike the sparks of applause, if you knew how much corrupt tinder I have witliin," The Rev. Mr. Cochlan asking a lady, in the neighbourhood of Norwich, " Whe- ther she knew anything of Christ ?" She answered, " Yes, sir ; I remember that I once saw liis picture." Told me at Norwich, by Mr. Cochlan, April 5, 1776. A gentleman having lost a favourite son, said, when some friends offered their con- dolences, " I would be content, was it pos- sible, to lose a son every day in the year, might I but he favoured with such manifes- tations of God's presence and love as I have experienced on the present occasion." Told me by Dr. Gillord, Sep. 22, 1769. Mr. Grimshaw (of Yorkshire), a little before he expired, said to Mr. Venn, " I am as happy as it is possible for me to be on earth ; and am as certaiu of my salvation as if I was already in heaven." A martyr was asked, whether he did not love his wife and children who stood weep- ing by him? " Love them? yes," said he, " if all the world were gold, and at my disposal, 1 would give it all for the satis- faction of living with them, though it were in a prison. Yet, in comparison of Christ, I love them not." Bromiardus mentions an apprentice who had served a hard master, by whom he had often been severely beaten. These blows and rigorous treatment the Lord made a means of the young man's conversion. — Sometime after, lying on his death-bed, he got hold of his master's hands (who stood by), and kissing them said, Hce manus perduxerunt me ad paradisum, i. e. " These hands have been instrumental in bringing me to heaven." Good old Mr. Peter Higgins, who lately departed to glory, dwelt much in the light of God's countenance, and walked in the full assurance of faith. Being asked whe- ther he had any doubt of his salvation ? He answered in his plain simple manner ; " I was bargained for in eternity, and the price of my redemption was paid above 1/00 years ago; then why should I doubt? I have no- thing left to doubt of." Luther had this passage in his last will and testament : " Lord God, I thank thee for that thou hast been pleased to make me a poor and indigent man upon earth. I have neither house, nor land, nor money to leave behind me. Thou hast given me wife and children : whom I now restore to thee. Lord, nourish, teach, and preserve them, as thou hast me." Mr. Fisher, of Norwich, being some time ago dangerously ill, and recovering again. said to a friend, " I have been in full view of the harbour, and, alas! am blown back again." Told me bv Dr. Hunt, of Norwich, Dec. 10, 176^. " I know mysel-f to be a child of God, and an heir of glory," said Mr. Hart, on his death-bed ; adding, " Judas was lost, that the Scripture might be fulfilled ; but the Scripture would not be fulfilled, if I should not be saved." The famous Mr. Bulstrode Whitlock, (Lord Chancellor, ambassador to Sweden, and historian,) used to say, after his retire- ment from the world and from public business, " My religion is, to have the good Spirit of God in my heart." Paulinus, when they told him that the Goths had sacked Nola, and plundered him of all that he had, lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, " Lord, thou knowest where I have laid up my treasure." To say that a man, now in a state of grace, may hereafter perish eternally, is to say that God serves his saints as Edward IV. served the bastard of Falconbridge. Ed- ward first pardoned him, and then cut off his head. In returning from St. Nicholas' church, Bristol, where 1 preached this afternoon, lady Huntingdon said to me, " You have dressed the Pharisees to purpose." — I an- swered, " My wish, madam, is not to dress them, but to undress them." Henry I. made the length of his own arm a standard measure (since called a yard) throughout England. Do not bigots act much the same part in matters of religion ? Wenceslaus, king of Bohemia, after the defeat and flight of his army, being himself taken captive by the enemy, was asked, how he did ? His answer was, " Never better. While I had all my army about me, I could find but little time to think on God : where- as now, being stripped of all earthly depend- encies, I think on God alone, and betake myself wholly to his providence." A good woman, in much pain of body, lately said, " Though I groan, I do not grumble." " I had rather do the least truly good work," said Luther, " than obtain all the conquests of Ca:sar and Alexander." Anaxagoras, the Ionian, being asked to what end he was born, replied, "To con- template the sun, moon, and skies." — Had he been a Christian, he would have an- swered, "To glorify God, and to be glo- rified by him." A painter, going to take the picture of Helena, finding himself not able to draw her ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS, AND HISTORIC PASSAGES. braiity to the life, fiiew htr covered with a vai!. Much more, when vie speak of God's excellencies, must we draw a vail A fjood man, who died some years ago at Cambridge, said, in his last hour, " I used to fear the river of death ; I thought It deep, but 1 tind it shallow : and it is no burden to me to go over." Some of Dr. Doddridge's last words were " The best prayer I ever offered up in my life deserves damnation." Told me bv Mr. Ryland, at London, June, 1774. Doctor Cotton Mather, on his death-bed, expressed himself thus: " I am not afraid to die : if I was, I should disgrace my Sa- viour. I am in his hand, where no ill can befal me." A certain philosopher once asked a Christian, "Where is God ?"— The Chris- tian answered, " Let me tirst ask of yoi'. Where he is not ?'' A certain Jew had formed a design to poison Lutlier : but he was happily disap- pointed, by a faithful friend, who sent Lu- ther a picture of the man, with a warning to take heed of such a person when he saw him. By this Luther knew the murderer, and escaped his hands. — Thus the word of God, O Chiistian, shews thee the face of those lusts which Satan employs to butcher thy comforts and poison thy soul. Hereby, saith David " is thy servant warned," Psalm xix. 11 The Rev. Mr. William Law, who was a professed and very able mystic, and who had gone great lengths in asserting the anti- christian doctrine of justification by works ; was, so far as concerns that article, brought to a better mind by the grace of God before he u as taken hence. B^'mg on his death- bed, and the turn of the conversation leading him to speak about confidence in good works, he delivered himself in these words, a very short time before he expired : " Away with those filthy rags ! A fire is now kindled in my soul" [laying his hand to his breast], " which shall burn, to the praise of Jesus Christ, to all eternity." Good Mr. Wilcox [author of " A Word to Saints and Sinners,"] used to wish, if it were God's will, that his death might be sudden : and the Lord gave him his desire. His usual saying was, " Sudden death, sud- den glory." Wliich words were his epitaph on his tomb in Bunhill Fields. One Mr. Barber (an ancestor of that Mr. Barber who, about the year 1720, offi- ciated as minister of a dissenting con- gregation at Burntwood in Essex), being a Protestant, was, in the reign of bloody Queen Maiy, condemned to the fiames. The morning of execution arrived The intended martyr walked to Smithfield, and was bound to the stake. The faggots were piled round him, and the executioner only waited for the word of command to apply the torch. Just in this crisis tidings came of the Queen's death ; which obliged the officers to stop their proceedings, and res- pite the prisiHjer's sentence until the plea- sure of the new Queen [Elizabeth] should be known. Ii\ memory of so providential a deliver- ance, by which the good man was literally as a brand plucked from tlie burning ; he was no sooner released from his imprison- ment and troubles than he had a picture made of Queen Elizabeth, decorated round with significant ornaments : and oidered in his will that the picture should be trans- mitted down for a memorial to future times, in the eldest branch of his family ; where (says Mr. Whiston, from whom the above account is extracted), it is preserved to this day. See Whiston's Memoirs, vol. i. page 295. The late Duke of Newcastle {viz. the old Whig Duke), had been the instrument of making more bishops than any other courtier of that time. On his being discarded by a succeeding sovereign, it was remarked to his grace, by a nobleman who was intimate with him, that " all his bishops except one" [viz. Dr. Johnson, late bishop of Wor- cester], " had forsaken his levee." To whom the duke answered, " I do not won- der at it, my lord : for of all people in tne world, no men are so apt to forget their Maker as the bishops." How smart ! (but at the same time how palpably unjust) was the prophane remark ! Mr. Dodd having preached from that text, " O woman, great is thy faith, be it unto thee even as thou wilt ;" he afterwards told some women who were at dinner with him, " It is an usual saying, let a woman have her will, and she will be quiet. Now, the certain way for a woman to have her will, is to have a strong faith, and to pray as the woman did in the gospel." Aristides, a professea fieathen, would lend but one tar to any one who accused an ab- sent party, and used to hold his hand on the other ; intimating, that he reserved an ear for the party accused. See Mrs. Sarah Wight's Experience, page 68. In the late war between Russia and the Porte, a small fleet of the former was met in the Black Sea by a much larger one be- longing to the latter. The Tuikish com- mander, observing his own superiority, sent a polite message or summons to the Russian, ANfclCDOTES, INCIDENTS, AND HISTORIC PASSAGES. advising him to surrender, since all resist- ance would be rash and fruitless. To which the gallant offict r marie this reply : " That surrendering was not in his com- mission, but fighting ; and that he might come on as fast as he pleased, for he was ready for him." Tliis resolute answer being seconded by a suitable conduct, the Turkish fleet, after a sliort but smart engagement, was obliged to sheer off with loss. Christian reader, an useful animating hint to you and me; let us go and do likewise. James iv. /• 1 Tim. vi. J2. In the reign of Charles II. one Blood attempted to steal the crown ; and, instead of being hanged for it, had a pension settled upon him by that prince. Naturally, we are all crown stealers. We rob God of the glory, frecness, and unchangeableness of his decrees ; we are for robbing Christ, as much as in us lies, of the praise of our salvation ; and rob the Spirit of his efficacy, by exalting our own free-will. Yet many rebels who have done this, many who have done all they could to uncrown and dethrone the whole Tiinity, are endued afterwards with grace, and made partakers of God's kingdom. I have heard of a man who, being in Wales, went, out of mere whim, to hear a Welsh sermon. He did not understand a single sentence that was spoken : and yet the power of God's Spirit was so eminently present that the man was converted under that discourse. Can there be a stronger pioof that the work of conversion is the work of God only ? In the last century an Asiatic Jew, named Sahbatei-Sevi, pretended to be the Messiah, and to work miracles. Being brought be- fore tlie Turkish emperor, that prince told him, " he would have him stripped naked, and shot at with arrows ; and if he proved invulnerable, he would acknowledge liirn for the person he pretended to be." The impostor fell on his knees, and begged he might not be put to so violent a test. Arminianism professes itself to be the true system. But stripped and shot at with the arrows of reason and God's word it soon appears to he an imposture. Sometimes there were more kings than one at Sparta, who governed by joint authority. A king was occasionally sent to some neighbouring state in character of a Spartan ambassador. Did he, when so sent, cease to be a king of Sparta because he was also an ambassador ? No : he did not divest himself of his regal dignity ; but only added to it that of public deputation. So Christ, in becoming man, did not cease to be God : bitt, though he ever was and still continued to be king of the whole crea- tion, acted as the voluntary servant ant* messenger of the Father. The late elector and bishop of Cologne was particularly addicted to hunting, and l, but as prince, of Cologne." — " Be it so" (rejoined his friend): "but if the ^jrince should break his neck, what would become of the bishop ?" I would give this hint a farther improve- ment. If a profe.ssing minister of Christ should go to heD, what would become of the man ? A gentlewoman, who lived a little way out of Brighthelmstone, dreamed, that a tall lady, dressed in such and such a manner, would come to that town, and be an instru- ment of doing much good. — About three years after this dream, lady Huntingdon went down thither (on account of her younger son's health, who was ordered by his physicans to bathe in the sea). One day her ladyship met this gentlewoman in the street ; who, seeing the countess, made a full stop, and said, "O madam, you are come !" Lady H. was surprized at the oddity of such an address from an absolute stranger, and thought at first that the woman was not in her senses. What do you know of me ? said the countess.— " Madam," returned the former, " I saw you, in a dream, three years ago, drest just as you now are :" and related the whcde ol what she had dreamed. — This very person was, in consequence of this acquaintance with lady H., converted in a few weeks ; and died in the triumph of faith about a year after. — The result of lady Huntingdon's visit to Brighthelmstone was the founding of that chapel there which has been since blest to the conversion of so many souls. Told me, by lady Huntingdon, at Tre- vecka, this evening, August 30, 1/76. Our Henry IV. useo to Keep .lis crown by him on his bolster, while he slept. Being once very ill, and faUing into a deep sleep, his attendants supposed him dead : on which his eldest son came and took the crown away. The king, waking, unex- pectedly missed his crown, and enquired what was become of it : when his sun brought it again, and restored it on his bended knee. Man is, by nature, in a deep sleep ; a sleep of spiritual insensibility and death. He knows not that the crown is fallen from his head: but when awakened by the tpiiit 510 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS, AND HISTORIC PASSAGES. of God, he at once misses his crown, and enquires after it at the throne of grace. And, as surely as he feels his loss of it, and beseeches God to restore it, so surely shall it be given him again. The late lord Huntingdon (who was re- markable for having hardly ever dreamt in his life) dreamed one night that death, in the appearance of a skeleton, stood at the hod's foot ; and after standing a while, un- tucli ;d the bed-clothes, at the bottom, and crept up to the top of the bed (under the clothes) and lay between him and his lady. His lordsliip told liis dream, in the morning, to the countess ; who affected to make light of it : but the earl died in about a fortnight after. Told me, by the countess, at Rumford, Essex, April 12, 17/6. It was, this evening, after preaching at St. Bride's, in company with one Mr. Rich- ards : vho, in the course of the conversa- tion, told me that, some years ago, when he was under his first awakenings, and had but an imperfect view of the gospel plan, he had been, for a considerable time, exercised with various doubts concerning the absolute freeness of salvation : his unbelief perpe- tually suggesting that he must do some- thing as a condition of justification. While in this state of embarrassment and legal distress, he dreamed one night that hp was in company with Mai y Magdalen ; and that she addressed him to this effect : You are in doubt whether salvation is absolutely free. Look at me. Consider my case. And then doubt the absolute freeness of salvation if you can. This dream had so happy an elTVct, that Mr. Richards waked perfectly ■satisfied about this great point ; and has not had a doubt concerning it since. London, Dec. 31, 1775. Zeuxis is said o .lave painted a picture of an old woman so very humorously that, when finished, it threw him into such an excessive fit of laughter as proved his death. — How many pharisees have f.illen in love with their own supposed works of righte- ousness (as Narcissus with himself), and descended to everlasting death amid all the false complacency of self-admiration I See Isa. 1. 11. A fellow traveller of mine (one Mr. Fry), w'.th whorn I went last njonth through Dorsetshire, and who has been several voy- ages to China, told me of a people called Lascars [by a shght transposition, rascals], who are extraordinary good seamen in fine weather and out of an engagement : but if once a storm arises, or the vessel is at- tacked by an enemy, do«n these Lascars go into the hold, and under the hatches ; and will suffer themselves to be sunk, kil ed, or taken, rather than either fight or work the ship. No threats or entreaties will induce them. — Such are half the professors of the Christian name. Broad Hembury, Aug. 18, 1770. Mr. Ohm (born near Riga) told me to- day, that he loves England better than his native country, because he had only his natural birth there ; v.-hereas here he was born again of the Holy Ghost. London, July 13, 1776. Mr. Choilton, who returned to town from the North last night, called on me this morning (Oct. 25, 1/69), and told me that he has reason to think that his ministry has been blest to awakening his aged father. Preaching very lately on Ezekiel xxxvii. 9. the old man was so affected under his son's discourse as to acknowledge, with tears, " I have been eighty-six years in the world; and have never lived to God a moment of the time.'' — Thus grace can make a father the spiritual son of his own child ! Mr. Heard very lately heard Dr. M preach. Afterwards, the doctor asked him how he liked his sermon ? " Like it," said Mr. Heard, " why, sir, I have liked and admired it these twenty years." The doctor stared. " Upon that shelf," added Mr. H. " you will find it verbatim. Mr. Boehm was an excellent preacher." Told me by Mr. Heard, Oct. 1769. My fiiend Heard is a bookseller : and booksellers are, sometimes, dangerous hear- ers when a preacher deals in borrowed sermons. My friend, Mr. Thomas Walsh, who died in the year 1759, had been, during his health, a great asserter of free-will and perfection. In his last illness (which was a very long one) I saw him frequently. It was hardly possible for any created being to suffer, on this side eternity, more pain of body, or more dreadful darkness and distress of soul. His bowels literally came away from him by piece-meal. And the Lord did not give him so much as one ray of spiritual comfort, for eight or nine months. He was indeed led through a most tremendous wilderness of horrors. In this awful and disconsolate state (though he had, for many years before, been favoured with assurance of interest in Christ) he continued until about half a minute before his death. All was darkness, even darkness that might be felt. " I now feel," said he, "the truth of our Lord's words, without me ye can do nothing." But just before he expired the Holy Ghost shined in upon his soul. His last words were, " He is come, he is come, he is come ! My beloved is mine, and I am his." There is a remarkable fish, called the ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS, AND HISTORIC PASSAGES. 511 torpedo, which the raoment it touches the hait communicates such a numbness to the fisherman's arm who holds the rod, that he has hardly any command of it. — What the torpedo is to the fisher, that the world is to a child of (iod. I have read of a great commander who, being extremely tormented with thirst, sold himself and liis army into the enemies' hands for a draught of cold water : which when he had drunk, he repented, and said, " 0 guan- tum ob quantillnm .'" i. e. " How very little is that for which I have parted with so very much !" Believers may adopt the same words, though in a far dififereiit sense : " Oh, how much grace and happiness have I got, by a little thirsting, a little trusting in Jesus Christ !" Mr. Chastanier was some years ago m great temporal difficulties and distresses. One night, falling a sleep with a heavy heart, he dreamt that he was walking over a very rough country, exceedingly fatigued. At last his progress was stopped by a wide rii-er whose waves were agitated by a violent storm. Pass over it he must ; but how he knew not. After walking up and down the side of the boisterous stream, in hope of being able to find a fordable place, he at last discovered a very old and battered boat, with a grave man sitting in it, who said to him, " Young man, you are in great distress about passing this river : step into this boat, and I will engage to convey you safely over.'' In he accofdingly went. The stream immediately grew smooth and placid, and they got soon and safe to the other side. On quitting the boat he thought he turned and looked very earnestly on the person that liad done him this kindness ; and it struck him that it must be Christ. " Lord," said he, " is it thou ?" — " Yes," answered his friend, " it is I : and be of good cheer, for I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." — On waking it was so impressed upon his mind that the boat was emblematic of his faith ; which, for a considerable time before, had been very weak and battered indeed.— Soon after. Divine Providence gave a pros- perous turn to his affairs. Told me, by Mr. Chastanier himself, at London this day, May 11, 1/76. The famous Dr. Manton was appointed, on some public occasion, to preach before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London. His sermon was learned, ingenious, and eloquent. As he was returning home, a plain old gentleman pulled him by the coat, and desired to speak with him. The doctor stopt, and the stranger began : " I was one of your auditory to-day : I went to he fed with the gos|)el as usual ; but have returjied empty. Dr. Manton v/as not Dr. Manton this morning. There was indeed nnicii of the doctor, of the florid and learned man, in the discourse ; but little or nothing of Jesus Christ : it was, in short, no sermon to me." — " Sir," answered the doctor, " if 1 have not preached to you, you have now preached a good sermon to me : such as, I trust, I shall never forget, but be the better for as long as I live." Told me by Dr. Gilford, Oct. 21, 17G9. During the Auto-de-Fe's at Lisbon, the priests, who attended, used to chaunt a number of psalms, which occasioned the following remaik of Voltaire, in the cha- racter of a Jew ; " These pretended Chris- tians add to their hardship of oiu- presecu- tion, by singing our own psalms while they are burning us to death." — May not the observation be accommodated to those base professors, or rather, disgracers, of the Christian name, who confess Christ with their moulhs, and, as far as in them lies, put him to open shame in their practice ? Mr. Northcote's uncle served, as an officer under king William, at the battle of Landen, in 1693 ; when the English and Confederates, being overpowered by num- bers, were forced to retreat : at which time, my friend's gallant kinsman above-men- tioned, forded the river (the river Gcet, if I mistake not) with his bible in one hand, and his drawn sword in the other. — In much such a manner do the faithful ministers of God pass through life. Told me, by Mr. Northcote, at Broad Hembury, August 17, 1770. Zeuxis painted some grapes in so natural a manner that the birds flew to the picture, and pecked at the fruit. What are the plea- sures of sin, but painted grapes, which, beheld through the delusive medium of Satan's colouring, appear to be real, while, in fact, they are empty and void and waste ? Lady fluntingdon, being once at Tun- bi idge, asked a poor man's daughter, " whe- ther she took any thought for her soul?" The young wonnan answered, " I never knew that I had a soul." " Bid your mother call on me to-day," replied the countess. When the old wiman came, my lady said to her, " How is it that your daughter is sixteen years of age, and does not know that she has a soul?" The woman answered, "In troth, my lady, I have so much care upon me, to find niy daughter in food and clotlies for her body, that I have no time to talk to her about lier soul." Told me, by Lady Huntingdon, at Nor- wich, April 5, 1776. To the above instance, I add two others, which occurred to me myself ; and both at Blagdon, in Somersetshire, which wft^ my 512 ANECDOTES, INClDENTSrAND HISTORIC PASSAGES. first ciir;>(.y. Old fanner Vouls once said to me, " Sir, you preach about faith, and say a great deal concerning it : pray, what is faith ?" I answered, " Wliat is your idea ot it?" He replied, "I suppose it to be the ten commandments." Old Mr. Robert Clarke, on my mention- ing to him (in his last sickness) the necessity of the Holy Ghost's influence, answered, " I suppose, sir, that the Holy Ghost was a good man who lived a great wliile ago." When Dr. GiU first wrote against Dr. Abraham Taylor, some friends of the latter called on the former, and dissuaded him from going ot\ ; urging, among other things, that Gill would lose the esteem, and of course, the subscriptions, of some wealthy persons who were Taylor's friends. " Do not tell me of losing," said Gill ; " I value nothing in comparison of gospel-truths. I am not afraid to be poor." Told me by Mr. Ryland. King Darius (in a message to Alexander the Great) is said to have styled himself *' brother to the sun and moon, and partner with the stars." Yet were these swelling words of vanity downright humility, when compared with the spiritual madness and pride of those who, trusting in their own righteousness, set themselves up fur partners and coadjutors vvith the Son of God in the business of justification. Lady Huntingdon once asking another lady, in Leicestershire, " Whether she knew who it was that redeemed her ?" received for answer, " Yes, madam, 1 know very well who it was that redeemed me : it was Pontius Pilate." Told me by Lady Huntingdon, at Nor- wich, April 5, 1776- MR. CHRISTOPHER LOVE'S PRO- PHECY. [Communicated to me at London, this day, Dec. 23, \775, by Dr. Giff.-rd.] *,* How far the predictions are just I cannot take upon me to say ; but I insert them here, on account of iheir being very remarkable, and the production of so sen- sible and devout a man as Mr. Love. " A short work of the Lord's in the iitter age of the world. Great earthquakes, tad commotions by sea and land, shall be the year 1779- " Great wars in Germanv and America, i780. " The destruction of Poperv, nr Babylon's lill, in 1790. " God will be known by many, in 1795. This will produce a great man. " The stars will wander, and the moo» turn as blood, in 1800. Afiica, Asia, and America, will tremble in 1803. " A great earthquake over the whole world, in 1805. " God will be universally known by all. Then general reformation, and peaca for ever. The people shall learn ^^'ar no more. Happy is the man that liveth to see this day. Omnia penes Deum. OMENS, Or, at least, incidents which carry that ap- pearance, aie not always regardable. The gallant Epaminondas, a little before the battle of Leuctra, on being told that several inauspicious omens seemed to portend bad success nobly answered, in a celebrated verse of Homer, 'Evg oiujvoq aptTog a/ivvtaOat 'UTtpi auTpig : i e. The best omen we can have is to fight manfully for our country When William the Norman, commonly term- ed William the Conqueror, was landing on the Sussex coast, his foot slipped, and he fell to the ground. One of his soldiers gave the incident a reiy courtly turn, by crying out with a loud voice, " Joy to you, sir ! you have already taken possession of Eng- land." A short time after, when the same prj^ce was arming himself fer the battle of Hastings, he perceived that, in his hurry, he had put on his coat of mail the lower side uppermost : but, instead of shewing aiiv symptoms of superstitious discouragement, he cheerfully said to his attendants, " By this I prognosticate that my dukedom is turned into a kingdom. Julius Csesar (if I rightly remember the person) is reported to have fallen, in landing on the shore of Africa: and, lest his followers should be disheartened by so unfavourable a beginning, he turned it off with sayin'.;, " thus, Africa, do I em- brace thee." When our King William III., while Prince of Orange, sailed the first time with a large Dutch fleet, to restore the the church and the civil constitution of England to a state of safety and vigour, the commencement of that important expedition was accompanied by some very unpromising circumstances. A violent storm arose, which dissipated the whole fleet, and drove the shattered ships into various harbours. Wil- liam, though by no means exempt from superstitious feelings, yet was not disani- mated by this disaster. The dispersed ves- sels were re-collected, and refitted. He ventured to sea again. Scarce had he made the coast of Devonslnre when a contrary wind put his firmness once more to the tiial. A council was held, and several expedients were proposed. It was even deliberated whether it might not he pru- dent to steer back for Holland. But fieUiU ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS, AND HISTORIC PASSAGES. 513 pnncipium melior fortuna secuta est. lii the very crisis, that. God, whom every ele- ment obeys, commanded the wind to shift ; and a sudden unexpected gale from the south wafted the fieet, with all its precious freight, into Torbay. On this occasion, well might William {p) asl( the Arminian Dr. Burnet (afterwards bishop of Salisbury), " Will you not now believe the doctrine of predestination ?" But though it be true that all omens are not worthy of observation, and though they should never be so regarded as to shock our foi'titude, or diminish our confidence in God ; still they are not to be constantly despised. Small incidents have sometimes been pre- lusive to great events ; nor is there any su- perstition in noticing these apparent prog- nostications ; though there may be much superstition in being either too indiscrimi- nately, or too deeply, swayed by them. A most singular chain of uncommon circumstances preceded the assassination of that excellent monarch. Hen. IV. of France. In the morning of the day on which he was murdered by Ravaillac {viz. Friday, May 14, 1610), his majesty was exceedingly pensive. In hope of composing his spirits, he threw himself on his Ijed, but was unable to rest. Thrice he rose ; and thrice he fell on his knees in prayer. Soon after, repairing to the presence chamber, his attendants en- deavoured to divert the melancholy which preyed so deeply on his mind. Being na- turally amiable and cheerful, he tried to fall in with the well-meant pleasantry of his nobles, and attempted to smile ; but con- cluded thus : " We have laughed enough for Friday ; there will be weeping on Sunday." His ffueen (Mary Medicis), had been Clowned but the day before his murder. One La Brosse, a physician, is by some re- ported to have said to the Duke de Ven- dome, on the evening of that day, " If the king survives a mischief which threatens him at present, he will live these thiity years." The duke intreated the king to grant this physician an audience ; and re- peated what the old gentleman had been saying. His majesty with unusual asperity and hastiness replied, " He is an old fool tor telling you such things ; and you are a young fool if you believe him." The dake's rejoinder was firm, respectful, and sensible : " Sire, one ought not to believe such things, but one may fear them (i;)." The same day, as the king and queen were walk- ing through an apartment of the palace. ip) See Burnet's History of his own Time, vol. i. p. 789. Folio. iq) It is proper to apprise the reader that Bayle has endeavoured to shake the credit of this whole the king stopped to speak w'th somebody present. The ijueen stopping at the same time, he said to her, as by a spirit of in- voluntary prophecy, Passez, pussez, tnadame la regente, i. e., " Go on, go on, madam the regent." A few nights before the catastrophe, the queen dreamed that all the jewels in her crown were changed into pearls ; and that she was told pearls were significative of tears. Another night, she started and cried out in her sleep, and waked the king : who asking her what was the matter ? she an- s«ered, " I have had a frightful dream ; but I know that dreams are mere iDusions." *' I was always of the same opinion," replied Henry, " however, tell me what your dream was." " I dreamed," continued she, " that you were stabbed with a knife under the short ribs." " Thank God," rejoined the king, " it was but a dream." 1 have already noted that, on the morn- ing of the fatal day, his majesty was un- usually chagrined ; and he said more than once, to those about him, " Something or other hangs very heavy on my heart." Before he went to his coach, he took leave of the queen no fewer than three times ; and then stepping into his carriage, had not passed through many streets, ere Ravaillac gave him that fatal stab which deprived France of one of the most generous and humane sovereigns she ever had. When Charles J. of England opened the civil war, by erecting his standard on Not- tingham castle, it was soon blown down by a high wind ; and the weather continued so boisterous that the standard could not be refixed for several days. Some years after, while the same calamitous prince was taking his trial before what was called the High Court of Justice, the silver head fell off from his cane ; nor did the head of its owner remain many days longer upon his shoulders. At the coronation of James II. the crown, not having been properly fitted to his head, was several times likely to have fallen oti; which occasioned Mr. Henry Sidney (after- wards Earl of RomneyJ, who was stand- ing near the coronation chair, and who once prevented the crown from slipping, to remind the king, facetiously, " Sir, this is not the first time the Sidney family has supported the crown." On the same day, as James was walking under the canopy of state, it bioke; and the royal arms, which occupied part of a painted window in one of story about La Brosse and the I'"'^llible mark of wisdom, and (under the efficacy of Provi- dence and of grace) the truest ground of security. To know our weak side, and there to plant the strongest guard ; to shun, so far as in us lies, the very possibility of temptation ; and to put it out of our own power to transgress, by avoiding the re- motest occasions and opportunities of evil, are among the means which God vouchsafes to bless, for the preservation of his frail and fallible people in the path of duty and hap- piness. I could mention the name of a late very opulent and very valuable person who, though naturally avaricious in the e.Ntreme, was liberal and beneficent to a proverb. He was aware of his constitutional sin ; and God gave him victory over it, by enahhng him to run away from it. Lest the dormant love of money should awake and stir in his heart, he would not, for many years before his death, trust himself with the sight of his revenues. He kept, indeed, his accounts as clearly and exactly as any man in the world ; but he dared not receive, because he dared not look at, that gold which he feared would prove a snare to his affections. His stewards received all, and retained all in their own hands, until-they received orders how to dis- pose of it. From the same excellent motive, Scipio refused to see a beautiful princess, whom the event of war had subjected to his power, lest her charms might prove either a source of uneasiness, if he had fortitude enough to resist them ; or a source of guilt, if his fortitude should relax. (ienerally speaking, they are the most virtuous who dread to put their virtues to too severe a trial. He that trusteth his own heart is a fool ; but whoso walketh (e) wisely, he shall be delivered. Prov. xxxviii. 26 5. In fine serene weather cranes (like professing Christians, in a time of worldly sunshine) are not very observant of social ceremony ; but will fly abroad singly, with- out praying much attention to each v,ther. The case is diff"erent if necessity obhge them to make excursions under a lowering sky, and to cut their way through boisterous, opposing winds. They 'then form them- selves into regular companies, and fly in large flocks of triangular figure : whose sharp point moves foremost when they sail against the wind, in order that they may more easily penetrate the tempestuous air, and preserve their ranks unbroken. — Some- times they will sleep aU night on the ground. To prevent surprize, a competerA number of them are stationed by way of advanced guard to the camp, because of fear in the night. These, on the first ap- proach of danger, sound the note of alarm ; (e) Qui propriis diffidens viribus, semper ducem quEerit : turn Deum, turn praeccptores, amicos, &c. — tiFi£itus. 626 SAGACITY OF BRUTES. and the vvhoie rej^iment starting from their slumhers, soar into the air without del.iy. Lest the centinels should sleep, when they ought to watch, each stands (says Plutarch) on one leg, and grasps a stone in the claw of the other foot. The uneasiness of which situation has a tendency to keep them awake ; and if they happen to dose, the noise made by the falling of the stone, admonishes them to be less negligent. Let men learn of cranes to be vigilant in their stations, and faitliful to their trust. Above all, let ministers of Christ not sleep as do others ; but watch as those that must give account of their stewardship to the Judge of quick and dead. It is said of Aristotle that, lest he should impede his progress in his philosophical studies by over-sleeping himself, he usually slept with one hand out of bed, and held a brass ball in it, over a vessel of the same metal : that the noise, which the ball must occasion when it fell from his hand, might awake him to what he deemed the principal business of human life. In how many res- pects may heathen diligence put Christian slothfidness to the blush ! 6. The ant seems of all others to have been Plutarch's favourite insect. He even pronounces her a wise and virtuous animal : and in my opinion he proves his point. Friendship, foititude, continency, patience, justice, and industry, are among the moral qualities which he deservedly places to her account. A company of these creatures (says this philosopher) visited a neighbouring ant-hill, carrying with them a dead ant, which evi- dently seemed to have been an inhabitant of the colony to which his remains were now conveyed. On the arrival of so many stran- gers, several emmets ascended from their holes, and after a short communication re- turned into the hill, to apprize the com- munity below of the business on which the unexpected visitants were come. After two or three passings and repassings in this manner, the negociati'ui appeared to be finally settled. A deputation of ants, from within the hill, at last lugged up a worm from their under-ground stores, which the others accepted of; and, delivering the dead emmet to his friends, went away highly satisfied with the recompense they had received. When a loaded ant is met by others which have no burden, they courteously stand on one side, or move another way, that they may not incommode an individual who is toiling for the public good. If a (/) I call them hannlesa, because I have liecn assured that on the nicest oliservatiou tliey are not found to injure the fruit trees on which they fre- quently climb. They are, it seems, allured thilher, not by the fruit, which they nei er hurt ; but by a labouring ant is canning or dragging a heavier load than she is well able to manage, this i,s no sooner perceived by the rest than as many volunteers as are necessary run to her assistance, and cheerfully set their mouths or shoulders to the work. If the material be very cumbersome, and will con- veniently admit of a partition, they will bite it into several pieces ; and each moves homewards with as much as he is able to carry. After their subterraneous maga- zines are sufficiently stored with provisions, they carefully select such as begin to putrify or decay ; and, bringing them out to the surface of the hiU, expose them to the air or sun until properly dried ; taking care to turn them regularly, and to re-convey them into the common repository on the appear- ance of rain, or at the approach of night. Lest their hoarded corn should germinate, and so defeat the purpose for which they lay it up, they carefully bite off those parts of the grain from which the root strikes and the blade shoots. Plutarch's humanity does honour to his philosophy. He laments the cruelty of those who, for the sake of gratifying their own speculations, exceedingly distress if not totally ruin whole societies of these (/) harmless and laborious insects, by digging up their hills. Certainly this is buying in- formation, and indulging curiosity at too dear, because at a very unmerciful rate. They, however, who have examined the in- terior structure of their residence with the utmost nicety of attention, tell us that the passages into it are not perpendicular, but sloping ; and, like a labyrinth, are intersected by many cross paths, and diversified with many turnings and windings. These ter- minate in three principal halls, or cavities. In one the members of this perfect republic, who have aU things in common, assemble to feed and converse. The second is the grand repository, where the hope of the year (i. e. their food) is laid up. And the third is the vault where they deposit their dead. 7. The ancient Thracians, when they were desirous of passing a frozen river, but were dubious whether it was sufficiently firm, used, among other experiments, to turn a fox loose upon the ice : it being the cus- tom of this shrewd and wary animal to move very cautiously on such hazardous ground, laying his ear to the ice every step he went ; that if the surface began to crack, or if the frost was so moderate as to admit of his hearing the water flow beneath, he might be able to retreat back in due season. If after the most exquisite observation, he SOI I of sweetish dew, which they are very fond of, and which we are rather obliired to them for dimi- nishing : as the particular dew" which they are mmt de.sirous of, is deemed very detrimenta! both to leaves and fruit. SAGACITY OF BRUTES. 527 perceived no danger, his fears would gra- daally wear off, and he advanced with bold- ness to the opposite bank. Plutarch's reflections on tliis conduct are extremely iust. Here is, says be, no less than a sillo- i;i^tical conclusion, from premises furnislied by the senses. And the fox's chain of arsju- nientation amounts to no less than this : "There can be no noise without motion. That which is easily moved cannot be firmly frozen. Water npt firmly frozen retains a degree of fluidity. And a fluid cannot sup- port a body heavier than itself." 8. The stupidity and obstinacy of mules are proverbial. But when Pericles was building a temple in Athens, one of these animals entitled himself to what he received, viz. the applauses and rewards of the public. This creature, who had been an old and useful servant to his employers, was ex- empted from farther toil on account of his age and past services. While the above- mentioned temple was erecting, stones were continually brought from a considerable distance in carriages drawn by mules. The old mule, though dismissed from work, took every opportunity of attending the carts as a voluntary spectator; and cheerfully ambled both to and from the keraniicon by the side of his liarnessed brethren, as though he meant to encourage and quicken them in the duty they were performing. The people were surprized and pleased at the zealous attachment which the merry old quadruped shewed to his former occupation ; and by an unanimous vote ordered him to be main- tained during life at the public expense. A company of elephants were brought to Rome, to entertain the populace with an exhibition of the various and uncommon postures into which they had been taught to throw themselves. One of these crea- tures, who was not so ready at these difficult exercises as the rest, received, in recom- pense of his dulness, continual and severe chastisement from his keeper. The poor animal soon gave proof that his slow pro- ficiency was the effect rather of natural unwieldiness than of idleness or obstinacy : for he was observed by night, when the moon shone, and when nobody was with him, to be carefully practising the lessons which had been given him ; that he might escape farther correction by acquitting him- self with more agility and expertness on the morrow. A Syrian elephant was entrusted to tht care of a dishonest servant, who usually gave him but half his allowance of corn. One day the elephant's owner happened to come into the stable at feeding time : and the servant, in consequence, poured out to the animal his full measure of barley. But instead of f.illing to, the elephant divided the heap into two equal parts with his trunk ; and by the significancy of his motions gave his master to understand that if he had not been present his .servant had not proved so liberal. The keeper of an elephant used some- times, by way of frolic, to mix stones and dirt with his provender. This ill-natured jest was seriou,sly though humourously re- venged. For one day the elephant being within reach of a vessel in which his keeper's dinner was boiling, repaid him in his own coin by filling his trunk with ashes, and discharging them into the pot. When a number of these animals (in their untamed state) are desirous of passing a river, they very prudently sound the depth of the stream by deputing the least ele- phant to take the lead, before any of the larger ones venture from the bank ; know- ing that if the water be so shallow that the smallest of the company can wade across, the rest may follow without danger. H the harbinger who tries this expeiimeiit begins to lose his footing, and to be higher than his neck in the water, he immediately turns back again, and the adventurers go in quest of a more fordable place. When Poms, one of the kings of India, gave battle to Alexander, the f. rmer re- ceived several wounds by the missive wea- pons of the enemy. An elephant on which he sometimes rode, and which attended him with all the affectionate solicitude of a bosom friend, perceiving his royal master occasion- ally wounded, watched every opportunity of drawing out (with his trunk) the darts that fastened : and the faithful creature performed these operations with all the judgment and tenderness imaginable. At last, finding that Porus was sinking to the ground (though he soon recovered, and was afterwards restored to his dominions) through fatigue and loss of blood, the ele- phant gave another proof of his sympathy and care, by so supporting the king with his trunk as to break the force of his fall, and to let him gently down. We have noticed, in a foregoing page, that it is usual with those who employ them- selves in taking elephants, to trepan them into deep pits, whose surfaces are so dis- guised as to resemble firm ground. On these occasions the ensnared elephant sets up a lamentable cry. If the coast is clear his wild associates, on hearing him roar, hasten (but with cautious tread) to the edges of the pit : and, if any such materials are at hand, will assist to facilitate his de- liverance by throwing in a large quantity of timber and stones, which the piisoner erecting into a sort of stair-case below, he is thus sometimes able to accomplish his escape. — I was of opinion that these addi- tional examples, adduced by so excellent a writer as Plutarch, and which obviously SAGACITY OF BRUTES. suggest so many mural lessons to man, deserved to stand as a supplement to what has been already observed concerning ele- phants. The dead body of a Roman soldier who had been killed in a domestic tumult was carefully watched and guarded by his dote, who would not permit any person to touch the remains of his departed master, r'yrr- hus, King of Epirus, happening to pass that way, took notice of so striking a spec- tacle, and enquired into the circumstances of the case. On being informed that the man had been slain three days before, and that the dug in all that time had neither stirred from the body, nor take!) any food, the king ordered the corpse to be interred, and the dog to be taken care of, and brought to him. The cieature soon grew fond of Pyrrhus : who, shortly after, ordering his forces to be mustered, the soldiers passed before him in review. During this cere- mony, the dog for some time lay quietly at his feet ; until seeing those soldiers march by who had murdered his late master, he sprung at them with such rage and fierce- ness, and turned himself to Pyirhus with such meaning in his looks and gestures, that the men were sent to prison on sus- picion of having committed tlie crime with which the dog seemed to charge them. Being strictly examined, they confessed themselves guilty, and were accordingly executed. The temple of ^sculapius, at Athens, was furnished with many lich ornaments and utensils of gold and silver. A robber who was desirous of paying his compliments to some of this wealth, accomplished his design with such art and secrecy, that he supposed all discovery of the offender to be impossible. A dog, indeed, belonging to some of those whose office it was to watch the temple, had done his duty, by barking incessantly ; but the sextons either did not, or would not, take the alarm. The honest animal, faithful and steady to his purpose, pursued the thief, who in vain attempted to keep him at bay. He pelted him with stones ; but the dog still fol- lowed. He tried to biibe him by throwing him pieces of meat ; but the dog refused to touch them. The pursuer still kept the cri- minal in view, nor lost sight of him, until he had watched him to his place of habitation (which was at some distance from Athens), where he posted himself as sentinel at the •Joor. Whenever the culprit ventured from home, Cipparus (for so the dog was called) still haunted him. The news of the robbery was soon made public, but the robber still remained undetected ; until information being given that Cipparus, the temple-dog, was at such a place, and perpetually ha- rassing such a person, though fa^tiing oa every body else ; proper officers were dis- patched, who took the suspicious man into custody. While they were conducting him to examination the dog, conscious of the distinguished part he had borne in bringing the miscreant to justice, ran before them all the way, jumping and giving every demon- stration of joy. The Athenian people recom- pensed the zeal, faithfulness, and assiduity of Cipparus, by assigning him to the care of the priests who officiated in the /Escu lapian temple, and by voting him a supply from the public stores for his maintenance. Among the many useful inferences de- ducible from such instances as these, one which Plutarch himself suggests must not be omitted. " They," says this valuable philosopher, " who suppose that there are no such things as gratitude and justice due from us to animals of inferior rank, must be understood in reference to such animals only as are absolutely untamable ; and par- ticularly to those that live in the sea and oc- cupy the recesses of the deep. For the sea produces no creature that is capable of contracting friendship with man, and all its inhabitants are incurably wild. But the person who insists that moral obligation lias nothing to do in regulating our treat- ment of land animals (especially domestic ones), proclaims himself to be no better than a savage and a brute, in the worst sense of those terms. Was no respect due to the Hyrcanian dog who, when he saw his master's corpse burning on the funeral pile, jumped into the flames, and was con- sumed with it ? Nor to the dog of one Pyrrhus (not the king), who gave his deceased master the same testimony of affection ?" SOLAR SYSTEM. 1. In the centre of our mundane system, and at a just distance from the circumvolv. ing planets, is lixed that most magnificent and beneficial orb of fluid fire, the sim ; designed and formed by gracious and Al- mighty Wisdom, to be the grand unfailing dispenser of light and heat to the animal, the mineral, and the vegetable worlds. So essentially important are its com- munications to the earth and her sister planets, that the adorable Saviour of sin- ners is in Scripture figuratively shadowed forth to our conceptions by an idea taken from this brightest of visible objects. " The Lord God is a sun and shield : he will give to his chosen people the light and warmth of grace below, and crown that grace with perfection of glory, in the hea- ven of heavens above (Psal. Ixxxiv. 11)."' And the Father's endearing promise, made SOLAR SYSTEM. 629 and fulfilled to each spiritually awakened siiiiiei- is, " To you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise, with healing in his beams." Mai. iv. 2. 2. How extremely small the material sun appears, in comparison of its real (g) mas^nitude ! Who that is guided merely by the naked eye would suppose that lu- minary to be, what in fact it is, not less than a million of times larger than our whole extensive globe of earth and seas ? When purblind reason takes upon her to sit in judg- ment on the mysterious nature, decrees, and dispensations of God, she resembles the short- sighted optics of an unlettered Indian, who estimating the size of the sun by his own ina- dequate perceptions, imagines it to be of much less circumference than the floor of his hut ; and, was a philosopher to apprise him of his mistake, would ask, with an unbelieving stare, if not with a contemptuous smile. How can these things be ? Between the sun's real and apparent dimensions some, though exceeding little, proportion obtains. But when the second person in the godhead deigned to clothe himself with mortality, his appearance bore no proportion to his infinite and essential dignity. Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary ? was the decision of unilluniinated reason. The eye of supernatural faith alone was able to see through the human veil, discern the latent Deity, and behold his glory as the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. 3. What a diminutive figure would our earth make if seen from the sun by eyes so constructed as ours ! It would appear a million of times smaller than the sun now seems to us : i. e. it would be hardly, if at all, visible. Why is the sun no larger in our sight ? Because of our extreme (h) distance from it ? The earth why so large ? Because we are resident upon it. And, wherefore, O my soul, are the glorious things of God, and the important concerns of futurity, no greater in thy view ? Because the remains of original corruption still keep thee at some distance from thy master ; and hinder thee from seeing eternal realities in the momento\is light they deserve. Why do the perishing interests of time appear so great ? Because we are immediately conversant with them; and they have naturally too deep a place in our vile affections. Milton represents the (g) Thp sun's diameter, or width from edge to edge, is no fewer thin (•i.;lit hundred and (wejity- t-.vo thousand one liundied and forty liglit miles; and eighty-two tliousand D)iles. The diaiueter of the earth is not quite eight thousand. (A) Aline extended from the eurface oi the earth seraph Uriel, as dwelling in the sun. Was this in a spiritual sense our case ; were our hearts right with God, and could we con- stantly walk in the near, uninterrupted light of his blessed countenance, how would the world dwindle in our esteem? What a speck, what a comparative nothing would it appear ! 4. The presence of the solar oeams con- stitutes day-light ; and stars which, durinf; our recess from the sun, spangled the sable canopy of night, and glittered to the view of gazing nations, not only cease to dazzle, but even forbear to twinkle, and become quite invisible, when the lucid monarch of the sky re-gilds our hemisphere with his gladdening smile. The superior lustre ab- sorbs the inferior ; and those shining drops, which so lately attracted our admiration, are lost, absolutely lost, in one vast magni- ficent ocean of light. Such is the fate of human righteousness, when Christ, in his fulness of mediatorial beauty and grandeur, rises on the soul of a benighted sinner. In our Pharisaical and unconverted state fa state of tenfold deeper than Egyptian dark- ness), our good works, as we are apt flat- teringly to style them, charms us with their petty, evanid radiance, "As stars, from absent suns, have leave to slune.' But no sooner is Jesus, by the internal agency of his spirit, revealed in our hearts, and his completely finished obedience dis- covered to the eye of faith, than we cease going about to establish our own righteous- ness, and joyfully submit to the imputed righteousness of the incarnate God. Self- excellence and self-dependance vanish, in that blessed moment : and the language of the sou! is, " Thy merits, 0 thou Redeemer of the lost, are all my salvation ; and an interest in thee is all my desire." 5. The atmosphere, or that body of air which encompasses our globe forty-five miles every way, is equally important to the life of animals, and to the vegetation of plants. But it would quickly cease to answer these valuable ends, were it not for the additional influence of the sun. Whereas, in subor- dination to that, and as a medium between that and us, it ministers every moment, to our best temporal interests. Thus the ordi- nances of the gospel are to be numbered among those stieams which gladden the Church of God, if, and when, he makes to that of the sun would be eight hundred and sixty millions fifty-one thousand three hundred and ninety eight miles in li-ngth. Mr. Derham (sec his Phys. Theo. book i. chap. 4.) computes tiiat a bullet, discharged from a large gun, would not (even supposing it to travel with its vt- most, unabated velocity) reach the sun in less time than thirty two years and a half. 2 M 630 SOLAR SVSTICM them the vehicles of his own presence and power to the soul. Abstracted from the conveitiiig and cheiishinij operations of the Holy Ghost, the best means of grace would infallibly leave us (as a sunless at- mospheie would leave the earth) no less cold and unanimated than they found us. 6. To the sun are owing the jewels and the metals that enrich the bowels of our globe ; tosfether with every herb, flower, and tree, that beautify its surface. " 'Tis Phoebus warms the rip'ning ore to gold :" It is the solar influence which gives bril- liancy to the diamond, verdure to the leaf, tints to the flower, and flavour to fruits. So, the shinings of Christ's presence on the soul give existence and gradual ma- turity to the inward graces that enrich the heart, and to the peaceable works of righte- ousness which adorn the life of every true believer in his name. 7. Many of the ancients supposed that the sun moves round the earth ; whereas, on the contrary, nothing is more demonstrable than that the earth is carried round the sun. The Arminians (lilte those mistaken people of antiquity) would persuade us that God regulates his decrees by the free-will (or, in a yet more impious phrase of theirs, by the self determined conduct) of the creatures he has made. This is just as absurd in theo- logy, as it would be false in philosophy, to assert that the sun dances round the earth, instead of the earth's circuiting the sun. Scripture expressly assures us that the way of man is not in himself ; neither is it in man that walketh to direct his own steps. Jer. X. 23. God does not, like a dependent lackey in a livery, adjust his motions by ours ; but human conduct is adjusted and regulated (either permissively or eff"ectively, according to the nature of the case) by the wise determinations of his sovereign and undefeatahle will. He, as an uncreated and all-pervading sun, is the centre of the uni- versal system ; while the whole choir of created beings, withmit a single exception, perform their allotted plaiietaiy revolutions to the ultimate glory of that God " whose never-failing providence (as the Church of England finely expresses it) ordereth all things, both in heaven and earth." 8. Though the sun constantly occupies the same part of space, and is, in that re- sjiect, fixed and immoveable, it yet turns upon its own axis, and completes its central rotation in about 25 days and (i hours. This fi) Hence that noble confession of Sir Isaac Newton : " j^iternus est [Dcus], et infiuitus, omui- jotens and omnisciens. Omnia refit, et omnia cognoscit, qu!R fiunt, aut sciri possunt. In ipso continenlur t-t moTt-ntur universa, sed absque matuS passione.— Dcus nihil patitur, ex corporuui motibus: regular and perpetual actuosity contributes, probably, to that amazing force and swift- ness with which its rays are thrown off to- wards the distant worlds that revolve around. — Thus God is, necessarily and essentially, fixed and unchangeable in his will. He is of one mind ; who can turn him ? and what his soul desireth, even that he doth. Job xxiii. 13. This divine immutability is, how- ever, connected with incessant, omnipotent, and universal activity ; governing (1) all beings and events by his absolute provi- dence ; and diffusing sacred light and heat through the entire world of his converted people by the energy of his grace. His own sovereign decree is the axis on which he moves, and the only rule by which he regu- lates the whole of his eftective and permis- sive conduct. 9. Modern astronomers have discovered what are commonly called maciilte solares ; i. e. certain spots which hover near the sur- face of the sun. Sometimes a considerable number of these are visible at once; and very often none at all. Philosophers are greatly divided as to the nature and cause of these solar spots ; though it is generally agreed that they are not adherent to the sun's disk, but suspended at some distance from it : and there is reasonable ground to beheve that, after a temporary suspension, they fall into the body of that grand lumi- nary, and are instantaneously transmuted into one splendid mass with itself. Whether those reputed spots be really in the sun or not, thus much is infallibly certain, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all : no error, no impurity, no defect. The aflJictive distributions of his providence, and the limited communications of his grace may, to the benighted eye of unregenerated reason, appear hlce the transitory spots which sometimes seem to disfigure the beauty and to impair the lustre of the sun. " I am aflhcted beyond measure, and without cause,'' cries a child of unbeUef while smarting under a providential rod. " God is partial and unjust, in converting some to holiness and leaving others to perish in their sins," say the unhumbled disciples of Arminius. On the contrary, the faith of God's elect teaches its happy subjects to give their heavenly Father unlimited credit for being perfectly wise and just and good, and to wait the end of his dispensations, when every seeming spot shall vanish, and God will make his righteousness as evident as the light, and his just dealing as the noon-day. ilia nullam sentiunt resistentiam, ex omniprxseiitii l)ci. — Deus, sine dominio, procidentia, ct cuusis finatibus, nihil aliud est qii.ini fatiun et natura." — Principia, pag. (mecum) 483. In proof of w)»ich this prince of philosophers appeals, among ciiicr texts, to Acts xni. -iT, i8. SOLAR SYSTEM 631 10. Is it at all wonderful that the sun's transcendent brightness, if too intently sur- veyed, should dazzle and confuse the un- assisted organs of human sight ? Can it be otherwise, while that is so potent, and these so feeble ? Go, then, thou pretended ra- tionalist ! and say, consistently with reason, if thou canst, that " Where mystery begins, religion ends." (k) Say rather, religion ends where mystery does not begin. If thou art unable with thy naked eye to look sted- fastly at the material sun when shining in the fulness of its strength, who among the children of men is sufficient to comprehend ttie nature, the purposes, and the disposals of him before whose insufferable glory Gabriel and Raphael cover their faces with their wings ? " But fools rush in where angels fear to tread." 11. How astonishingly rapid is the transmission of light from the sun to our planet ! I cannot display this so well as in tlie words of the accomplished Mr. Der- ham. {I) " It is a very great act of the providence of God that such a benefit as light is not long in its passage from place to place. For was its motion no swifter than the motion of the swiftest bodies upon earth (such as of a (m) bullet out of a great gun, or even of (n) sound, which, next to light, is the swiftest motion we have), in this case light would take up, in its pro- gress from the sun to us, above thirty-two years at the rate of the first, and above seventeen years at the rate of the latter motion. The inconveniencies of which wovild be : 1. Its energy and vigour would be greatly cooled and abated ; 2. Its rays would be less penetrant ; and 3. Darkness would with greater difficulty and tardiness be dissipated, especially by the fainter lights of our sublunary luminous bodies. " But passing with such prodigious ve- locity, with nearly the instantaneous swift- ness of almost two hundred thousand miles in one second of time, or (which is the same thing) being but about seven or eight minutes of an hour in coming from the sun to us ; therefore it is that, with all security and speed, we receive the kindly effects and influences of that noble and useful creature of God. Now, forasmuch as the distance between the sun and the earth is 860 mil- (ft) These are the very words of a late Arminian author. (I) PhysicoThcology, b. i. chap. 4. (m) Accordin?^ to the observations of i\Iersennus, a bullet shot out of a large gun flies 02 fathoms in a second of time, which are equal to 58!) English feet and a half : and according to the computation of Mr. Huygcns. it would be 25 years in passing from the earth to the sun. But, according to my own ob- eer\-ations, made with one of her late Majesty's sakcrs and a very accurate pendulum chronometer, a bullet, at its lirst discharge, flies 010 yards in 5 lions, 51 thousand, 3 hundred and 9S miles, therefore, at the rate of 7 minutes and a half, or 450 seconds, in passing the sun, light will be found to Hy above 191 thou- sand, 2 hundred and 25 miles in one second of time." Truly wonderful as these considerations are, they yet afford but a very inadequate illustration of the power and swiftness with which the convincing arrows of the Holy Ghost are often found to pierce and illumi- nate the soul of an elect sinner. How was the energy of his arm revealed ; how mightily and how rapidly did the meltings of his grace catch from heart to heart, when no fewer than three thousand rebels were savingly subdued and born again under a single sermon ! Acts ii. 41. — What instan- taneous and irresistible lightning issued from the eye of Jesus when he looked his revolted apostle into repentance unto life ! — And, to enumerate no more instances, how great was the glory of that light which (in a moment, or in less time, if less can be) struck the bloody pharisee of Tarsus to the ground, transformed the furious lion into a passive lamb, and compelled a blaspheming persecutor to groan, from the inmost of his heart. Lord, what wouldst thou have me to do ? Nor is less power from on high exerted in the soul of any man who is effectually turned to God. The same om- nipotence which conquered Paul, yea, the same omnipotence which raised Jesus him- self from the dead, has actually been put forth in thee, O reader, if thou hast experi- enced the renewing operation of the Holy Spirit. 1 Tim. i. 16. Eph. i. 19, 20. Do we wonder at the account which philosophy gives concerning the speedy transmission of this lovely element from its created fountain to the earth ? Let us rather value and admire that infinitely tran- scendant and more important blessing which the following golden passage so charmingly describes : — God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ. 2 Cor. vi. 6. Once more, light does not travel from the sun so swiftly as the quickened bodies of the saints shall rise into glory, honour, and immortality, when the Saviour of men shall half-secords ; which are a mile in little above IT half-seconds ; and a bullet would be 32 years and a half in flying, with its utmost velocity, to the sun. (n) " As to the velocity of sounds, I made divers nice enperiments with good instruments, by which I found that the medium of their flight is at the rate of a mile in nine half-seconds and a (luarttT, or 1 142 a sound would be near 17 years and a liali in (lying as far as the distance is from tlie earth to the siui." — Dkrhau. 532 SOLAR SYSTEM. appear, and the Archangel's trumpet sound. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 12. Summer is usually the season of (o) heat, and winter of cold. Yet nothing is more certainly true than that the sun is much (p) nearer to us in winter than in sum- mer. The annual path which the earth describes around the sun is not exactly cir- cular, but eliptical, i. e. of a figure some- what oval ; whence it follows that our distance from that luminary is not always the same. For the reasons assigned in the first note below, we do not feel the solar heat during the keener months, though, in reality, we are less remote from the great source of light and warmth than at those times when its influence is more sensibly enjoyed. The believer, too, has his winter seasons of providential affliction and of spiritual distress. At such periods his views are occasionally dark, and his comforts liable to a temporary chill. Yet if the God of love is ever peculiarly near to his people for good, it is when his arrows stick fast in them, and when his hand presseth them sore. Behold, God is in this place, and I knew it not, was the retrospective experi- ence of Jacob. While the spiritual winter lasts, be it thy endeavour to exercise what a late excellent person terms "The winter graces of faith and patience." At the time appointed thy consolations shall return as the clear shining after rain ; and thy joy be as the sun when it goeth forth in its might. Then will be realized that elegant and re- viving delineation of inward summer and prosperity of soul : the winter [of doubts and darkness, of pain and sorrow, of afflic- tion and temptation, of coldness and barren- ness, of storm and tossing] is past : the rain [of weeping and distress] is over and gone. The flowers [of peace and holy re- joicing] appear on the earth : the time of the singing of birds [when thy graces shall be all alert and lively, and thnu shall pray and praise with enlargement] is come : and the voice of the turtle [the still, small music of the Holy Spirit's voice, whispering peace to the conscience] is heard in our land. The fig tree putteth forth her green figs [fruitfulness in every good word and work shall evidence thy revival in grace], and the (n) "There are two causes of the sro.-it rtifiVreiice between t lie heat and the cold in siiijimcr and win- the lieaf as much as it lensthens th^edav. In ■.vintrr, short, which diminishes heat as it siinrtcns llie dav, and aagments the cold as it Iciiutinns tliv night. 2. The other cause is, the ol.liqui or pi rpi n- diciilar direction of the sun's rays, the ohliqui- Ik .mj: weaker than the perpendicular."— Astru-Theo. b. iv. ch. W. In summor the rays fall more perpendicularly upon the eai-tb tban in the winter; and, coase- vines, with the tender grapes, impart their fragrancy : thy amiable and benevolent tempers, accompanied by all the other lovely effects of communion with God, shall justify thy faith to the world, and visibly adorn thy profession of the Gospel of Christ. — Cantic. ii. 11— la. Yet though favoured with this happy and glorious experience, you must not expect (at least, it is not the lot of every believer) to enjoy summer all the year round. But however this be an eternity is coming, when thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself ; for the Lord shall be thy everlasting light, and the davs of thy mourning shall be ended. Isa. lx.'20. 13. The sun may in some sense be justly styled, anima mundi, or the soul of our re- volving world. So universally per\'ading is its influence, that nothing is totally hid from the heat theieof : Psalm xix. 6. In a greater or less degree, it permeates the whole region of air, penetrates the inmost recesses of the earth, and distributes a com- petent portion of its beams through the vast expanse of waters. Hence, in atid on our planet, there is no such thing as abso- lute darkness, truly and strictly so called. If our eyes were constructed in the same manner as those of subterraneous animals, we should, like them, be able to see without artificial help, at any distance below the surface of the earth, and by night as well as day. Not less universal than the solar agency is the all-directing providence of God. Nothing is exempted from its notice ; nothing is excepted from its control. Chance, like absolute darkness, has no real existence. If some events seem fortuitous, it is because we have not a sufficiency of knowledge, by which to trace the chain of combinations that necessarily produced them : just as some places and some seasons seem totally dark to us, because our optic system is so framed and attempered, that on various occasions the human eye is unable to collect those scattered and proportionably expand- ed rays, from which no place whatever is entirely secluded. 14. In common conversation we fre- quently speak of solar eclipses. But what is called an eclipse of the sun is, in fact, an eclipse of the earth ; occasioned by the qucntly, with more vivid and forcible effect. In winter they- fall obliquely ; and, therefore, with feebler and less sensible impression. (p) " The sun's greater proximity to «s in winter is manifest, from the increment of its apoarcrt diameter to 32'. 47".; and the decrement thereof in sumuier to 31' 40". " Moreover its swifter motion in winter about the solstice, by a fifteenth part, is an argument of its beins tlien nearer the earth. Whence it comes to pass that, from the vernal to the autumnal equino.\, thire are about eight days more than from the autumnal to ti:e vernal."— .Vstro TheoIogy, u s. SOLAR SYSTEM. £33 moor.'s interference, or transit between the sun and us. This circumstimce miikos no alteration in the sun itself; Init only inter- cents our view of it for a time. Whence does darkness of soul, even darkness that may be felt, usually originate ? Never from any chana;eableness in our covenant God, the trlory of whose unvaryinj; faith- fulness and love shines the same and can suffer no eclipse. It is when the world, with its fascinatinif honours, or wealth, or pleasure, - train A race of living animals cmilain, Those fix'd in Mercury's too splendid seat Must sink, oppress'^, beneatli the fervent heat; Or, by too strong a ray, the tortur d sight Fail, qtiite o'erpower'd with iinal)atin2: li^ht. " Allow me this, what disputa ,ts maintain : Nor will it render our opinion vain, The same of us, might the Mercurials hold, A planet uninhabitably cold ! And those, reverse, in Saturn's icy seat, Suppose us scorch'd with more th in .lltna's heat. Each by their world comparing our's, mii;ht deem Their reasons firm, and err in wide extreme. " But let th' objection stand. Some orbs, suppose, Scorch'd with hot rays, or chill'd by pris'ning No doubt the Almighty could his worlds replete With creatures suited to their various seat ; Intense degrees of cold or heat to bear, Of light or gloom a pleasing prjper -hare : the heirs of salvation, are your companions and guardians, your guides and familiar friends. Nor will they cease to watch over you fur good, and to keep you in all your ways, until you enter the celestial house not made with hands ; where you will, to all eternity, associate with the innumerable as- sembly and church of the first-born, who were written in heaven. 5. The solar light and heat are sup- posed to strike the surface of Mercury with seven-fold greater intenseness, than is ex- perienced on the surface of our earth at the hottest seasons. If this be the case, and if the inhabitants of that planet are em- bodied beings, their eyes must be differently constructed from ours, to sustain such ex- cess of light ; and their whole corporeal system differently constituted, to endure such extremity of heat. But shall we con- clude, that Mercury is not inhabited, because, according to our present temperament, we should probably be unable to live there, on account of its vicinity to the sun ? A Mercurian might with equal propriety pro- nounce the earth (a) uninhabitable, because of its comparative remoteness from the grand luminary. After all, to adopt the reasoning of an elegant and profound philosopher, " As the animal constitution with respect to heat and cold may be widely different on the same planet ; so there may not be such a difference of the degrees of heat and cold, on the planets nearer to and more distant from the sun, as we imagine. The nature of an atmosphere, and the alterations hap- pening in it, produce sometimes sultry heat, and sometimes piercing cold, contrary to what should be the effect of the sun's rays separately considered : so that heat and cold do not absolutely depend on a planet's nearness to, or distance from, the sun ; but, together with these on some other causes. We are considerably farther from the sun in the summer months than in the winter : yet our weather is then generally much warmer. — Though Saturn has but about the hundredth part of the To them agreeable, by nature blest, Painful howc'er imagin d by the rest. " Of tliis, on earth, similitude we find; Each place to fit inhabitants assi^n'd. The bird of Jove, with an luidazzlcd sight. Kens the clear sun, and tow'rs to reach his light: While the benighted bat, and owl obscene. Attend the chariot of the shadowy queen, Upward the feath'ry nations all repair. And range, at large, th* extensive- fields of air To firmer earth the grosser kinds adhere. And watery realms the finny natives theer. The ant and mole their downward courses guide; And deep intrench 'd, a gloomy race reside : And bees their artful palaces contrive In the close cavern of their darksome hive. " Pleas'd, to his destined mansion each is prone ; Form'd best to suit, and best approve, his own." See Browne's Essay, u. s. where the argument for the habitability of the planets is very ingeniously pleaded ; and, in my opinion, satisfactorily proved. SOLAR SYSTEM. 537 sun's hiat wliicli we feel, I am not sure vvliether Ihu humliedlh part of our heat will amount to any degree of positive or real cold, witliout the co-efficiency of some other po>>itive and real cause ; and it is not difiicuir, I think, to conceive that the constitution of his atmosphere may be such as to make that planet a mild and tem- perate clime. And if there be any weight ill this reasoning, it will not be hard to ipply it to the inferior planets, Mercury aiid Venus. For we sometimes feel the heat of our summer as much qualified by some different cause as the rigour of our winter." (6) 6. Mercury being very considerably nigher the sun than we, the dusk of that illustrious object, viewed by a Mercurian spectator, appears (as is computed) seven times larger tlian it does to us. Thus, the nearer we spiritually dwell to God, the more glorious does Christ, both as a divine person and as a Mediator, shine to the eye of faith. They who unhappily enter- tain low and degrading ideas of Jesus, give but too infallible demonstration that they themselves are far, e.xtremely far, removed from the light of Jehovah's truth, and from the warmth of Jehovah's grace. 7- Mercury's appearances (like those of our moon) are (c) various, according to his situation in respect of the sun. Sometimes he seems quite dark ; at others falcated, or horned ; and sometimes shining fully, or with a hemisphere entirely illuminated. — In the present stages of spiritual experience, the believer's interior comfort and his ex- terior lustre greatly depend on the position of his heart toward the uncreated sun of righteousness. How obscure and benighted are our views, and how languid our exercise of grace, when an unbelieving, a worldly, or a careless spirit interrupts our walk with God ! But if the out-goings of our souls are to him, and if the in-pourings of his blessed influence be felt, we glow, we kindle, we burn, we shine. This may be called (to borrow an astronomical phrase) our superior conjunction with the sun ; and at those dis- tinguished seasons of peace and joy in the Holy Gho!,t. Clearly we see and win our way. Shining unto thf perfect day, And more than con(iuer all." 1. Next beyond the orbit of Mcrcurv is that of Venus, a planet not so respectable for her magnitude as for her beauty, arising (6) Baxter's Matho. vol. u. p. 12fl— 122. (c) Mercurium et Venerem circa solem rovdlvi, ex eoruin phasibus lunaribus demonstratur. Plena facie lucentes, u:tra soleni siti sunt ; corered on her surface, (f) those two philosophers have ascertaiued ti.e reality of her diurnal motion, which diurnal motion she accomplishes in about 23 days ; so that one of her days is eqii;U to 2o of ours. One duty should not be permitted to supersede another. There are personal duties which we owe to ourselves, no less than relative duties which we oiiicht to exer- cise toward our neighbours. Connect the two together in your own practice, and you will exhibit a moral exemplification of the harmony with which Venus and the other moving spheres accomplish their compound (t. e. their annual and diurnal) rotations, without any shadow of competition or ia- erference. • On their own axis as the planets nui. Yet make at once their circle ronnd the sun ; So two consistent motions act the soul, And one rearards itself, and one the whole." (^1 But be it carefully remembered, that as the sun is the ultimate and common centre of all the planetary movements, so we shall never be able to discharge our various per- sonal and social duties acceptably to God, in spirit and in truth, until his glory is the grand and sole end of all the works and duties we perform, whether immediately referrable to ourselves or others. "As unto the Lord, and not [merely] unto men,'" least of all for the pleasing or aggrandizing of that wretched thing called self, may stand as the universal motto to every virtue that is truly Christian and evangelical. 4. Venus, though so justly admired for her beauty, and celebrated for her lustre, still has her dark side. When this is turned toward our earth, her rays are no longer beheld, and she herself becomes invisible. — As each believer, shine he ever so brightly, is at present sanctified but in part, need we wonder if, on some occasions, the ; plendour of his gifts and the radiancy of his graces suffer a temporary eclipse r At such times let our candour and forbearance have their perfect work. After a certain period Venus will emerge from the shade and beam forth in all the loveliness of her usual lustre ; and when the declining saint has sat his ap- pointed time in darkness, the Lord will ajraln be a light unto him. Happy is that benighted soul whose faith ^for it is the peciiliar business of faith's eye to see in the dark) can pierce the gloom, anticipate the return of day, and long for a final approxi- mation to the sun of righteousness in that world of glory where no more cloud nor darkness shall obscure our views, tarnish our graces, or damp our joys for ever. 5. The solar light and heat on Venus are estimated to be four tiroes greater than on the planet inhabited by us. Why ? Because her distance from the source of both is considerably less than our-. — In hke manner br.ght evidences and warm experiences of our interest in Christ, and of the work of his Spirit upon our souls, are generally the blessed consequences of li\-ing near to God, and of walking closely with him in all holy conversation, prayer, and watchful godliness. The joy and liveliness of grace ^though not grace itself) may be sinned away. Spiritual comfort is a tender plant, and requires much delicacy of treat- ment. To be triumphant and alert in the ways of God, you must take eoual heed of wandering and of slumbering 6. Venus's orbit, or path of rotation, is, for the most part, extremely regular, hardly any point of it being more remote from the sun than another. Hence this planet is remarkable for always preserving nearly an equal distance from that luminary. Similar is the experience of some believers. Thev enjoy rather an even and settled peace, than any exuberant overflo^vings of consolation. Their habitation is mostly on the middle region of Mount Tabor, instead of being now elevated to the summit, and anou turned down into the valley below. The manner is not always exactly the same in which the Holy Spirit trains his disciples to a meetness for their heavenly inheritance. Like a judicious and careful tutor, he wisely and condescendingly adapts his modes of instruction to the genius and to the par- ticular improvement of each individual pupa, until, ha\-ing taken their appointed degree in grace, they ascend, one by one, to their glorious home above. 7. Venus is in size somewhat less than our earth, and yet contains about the same quantity of matter, though in a .smaller cnnipass. In other words, the body of Venus is denser than that of the earth, as being so much nearer the sun. Appearances are not the invariable standard ot intrinsic worth. Our globe, which is imdeniably larger, or occupies more space than Venus, is not more wealthy, in constituent parti- cles, than she. Her's lie closer together than our's, and therefore make less shoiv. Out's are less compact, or compressed, than her's, and therefore swell into a greater visible magnitude. S. It is probable that Venus, like Mer- cury, has no attending satellite, or iroon. Cassini. indeed, in the last century, thoug^it Pope s Essay on Man. Episi i. 540 OBSERVATIONS AND REFLECTIONS. with weeping eyes, melting affections, and bleeding hearts. When Christ entered into Jerusalem, the people spread their garments in the way. Wlien he enters into our hearts, we pull off our own righteousness, and not only lay it under Christ's feet, but even trample upon it ourselves. ACCEPTANCE. What coming and what returning sin- ner need despair of acceptance ? No man can be worse than St. Paul was before his conversion ; and no man can be worse than St. Peter was after his conversion. ACTIONS. Where scripture is totai.y silent con- cerning the lawfulness or unlawfulness of any action, consult the book of your own conscience, and follow its dictates. Ob- serve also, what does, or does not, tend to taUe off from your mind that exquisite sense of divine love which a believer would ever wish to cultivate and cherish. AFFECTIONS. A believer's affections are, too often, like a cascade, or waterfall, that flows downward ; instead of being like a foun- tain, which rises and shoots upwards toward heaven. AFFLICTIONS. If you thoroughly exhaust a vessel of the air it contains, the pressure of the air on the outside will break that vessel into (perhaps) millions of pieces ; because there is not a sufficiency of air within to resist and counteract the weight of the atmos- phere from without. A person who is exercised by severe affliction, and who does not experience the divine comforts and supports in his soul, resembles the exhausted receiver above described ; and it is no wonder if he yields, and is broken to shivers, under the weight of God's pro- vidential hand. But affliction to one who is sustained by the inward presence of the Holy Ghost, resembles the aerial pressure on the outer surface of an unexhausted vessel. There is that within which sup- ports it, and which preserves it from being destroyed by the incumbent pressure from without. Some persons are apt to walk in their sleep. They are said to be effectually cured of this dangerous habit by only once horse- whipping them soundly until they awake. God's people are apt to dose, and run themselves into danger ; on which Provi- dence takes the horsewhip of affliction. and brings them to themselves. Was he to spiire the rod, his children would be spoiled. The world is a sea of glass, affliction scatters our path with sand and ashes and gravel, in order to keep our feet from sliding. In a long sunshine of outward prosperity, the dust of our inward corruptions is apt 10 fly about and lift itself up. Sanctified affliction, like seasonable rain, lays the dust, and softens the soul, and keeps us from carrying our heads too high. The earth must be ploughed, and sown, and harrowed, and weeded, and endure many frosty nights and scorching days, in order to its being made and preserved fruit- ful. Gentle showers, soft de«s, and mode- rate sun-shine will not suffice always. So it is with the soul of a fruitful Christian. A person was lately obsei-ving of some fine ornaineiital china on his chimney-piece, that the " elegance of its figures, and the perpetuity of its colours were owing to its having been consolidated by passing through the fire." Is not the same remark applica- ble to the afflicted people of God i ANTINOMIANS. Christ is stiU crucified between two thieves j Antinomianism and Pharisaism. ARMINIANS. I much question whether the man that dies an Arminian can go to heaven. But certainly he will not be an Arminian when he is in heaven. The employ of the blessed is to cast their crowns at the feet of God and the Lamb, and to sing, " Not unto us, O Lord." Should it be thought harsh to question the salvation of one who dies under the blindness of Arminianism ; as if a man who only robs God in part might miss of glory ; let it be considered that, even on earth, if a person robs me only of my watch, or of a single guinea, he has forfeited his life to the law, as much as if he had robbed me of all I am worth. The old Arminians mentioned in scrip- ture are blamed for thinking wickedly that God was such an one as themselves ; but our new Arminians out-sin their predeces- sors, and actually represent God as a being in many respects considerably inferior to themselves. They suppose him both to form schemes with less wisdom, and to execute them with less power, spirit, and success, than a prime minister of common sense forms and executes his. They dare ascribe to God such impotence, blunders, imperfections and disappointments, as they would blush to ascribe to a Ximenes, or a Sully. OBSERVATIONS AND REFLECTIONS. 541 Arminiatis consider tlie grace that is . inspired into a true believer's heart, as a text of scriptme written upon a pane of glass, liable to be demolished by the first hand that flings a stone at it. All the disputes bet«-ecn us and the Arminians may be reduced to these two questions: 1. la God dependant op man, or is man dependant on (iod ? 2. Is man a debtor to God, or God a dehtoi to man ? When the Arminians foolishly affirm concernini; the u ill of an uni egeneiate man, viz., that " its liberty consists in an inditle- rency to good or evil, like a balance in equal poise ;" holds true of a regenerate man in some circumstances, and in some respect, viz., that a person who is happily resigned to God's providential disposals, may (in point of absolute acquiescence) be said to have his will in cr/nilihrio, i. e. he wishes to be quite conformed to the divine pleasure, and to incline neither to prosperity nor adversity, life nor death, but is desirous that God's own hand may incline the scale. We are never truly contented, nor of (course) truly happy, until God and we have but one will between us. The Arminians think, that in conversion God does little or nothing for men, but gives them a pull by the elbow, to awake them from their sleep. Rather, he acts as maritime officers do by their sailors ; he cuts down the hammock of carnal security in which the elect ate ; down they fall, and the bruises and surpl■i^e they receive awaken them from their death in sin, and bring them to themstlvcs whether they will or no. According to Arminianism, grace has the name, but free-will has the game. Arminians suppcse God to give us hea- ven, as the king grants a brief for building a church. The brief runs, " We have grant- ed our most gracious letters patent." But these same most graciqus letters are amply paid for before they are granted. No fee, no brief. Some people (especially the Arminians) seem to speak of the Thiity-nine -Vrticles of the Establislied Church, as if those arti- cles were like Mr. Van Bushel's newly-in- vented elastic garters, which are so contrived by springs, that they will accommodate and fit themselves to any leg that should wear them. Arminians will ask, " Where's the use of preaching the doctrines of grace, even supposing them to be true ? since we may go to heaven without a clear knowledge of them." And a man may go to heaven with broken bones ; yet it is l)etler to go thither in a whole skin. A nia i muv get to liis journey's end, though it rain ruui tlunuler all the way ; yet it is more comfortable to travel in fair weather. You or I might make a better shift to live upon a scanty allowance of bread and water; yet, surely, an easy fortune, and a decent table are, in themselves, abundantly preferable to poverty and short commons. Who would wish to go upon thorns when his way may be strewed with roses ? Where is the difference between Arnr.i- nianism and Epicurism ? To suppose a foituitous concourse of incidents is no less Atheistical than to suppose a fortuitous concourse of atoms. I can compare some ranting Arminian preachers, who represent salvation as a mat- ter of chance, and press men to help for- ward their own conversion, upon pain of danr.r.2tion, to none so well as to auc- tiimeers ; who, with the hammer in their hands, are always bawling out, " Now is your time ; now is your time : a-going, a-going, a-going." Such a method is equally inconsistent with the analogy of faith, and subversive of the majesty of the gospel. Shall I order a dead soul to awake, and raise itself to life ? Let me rather address the living God, and say, " Awake, and put on thy strength, O arm of the Lord ! Breathe on these slain, that they may live !" ASSURANCE. It is not deemed presumptuous for the favourites of an earthly king to know and be conscious that they are so ; and why should it be deemed presumptuous for the favourites of God to be assured of his love ? BELIEVER. A truly enlightened believer (i. e. one who has a clear view of gospel privileges, and makes conscience of gospel duties), stands between two fires ; the phai isees call him an Antinomian, and the real Anti- nomians call him a pharisee. There is a true and sound sense in which we may say that a true believer may live as he will ; for it is the prevailing will and desire of every real believer tj life onlv to the glory of God. He is not a Chri stian who doth not dehght in the law of God, after the inner man. BIBLE. To unconverted persons, a great part of the Bible resembles a letter written in cy- pher. The blessed Spirit's office is to act as God s decypherer by letting his people into the secret of celestial experience, as the key and clue to those sweet mysteries of grace, which wore before a* a ganirn shut up, or as a fountain sealed, or as a book written in an unknown character. 542 OBSERVATIONS AND REFLECTIONS. Whenever I preach from any passawe in th? Book of Canticles, or in the Book i f Revelation, I consider myself as standing on ground peculiarly consecrated and mys- terious. The scripture in general may be considered as the temple at large : but these two books as the holy of holies. The most convincing argument, and most infallible demonstration that the scriptures are indeed the word of God, is to feel their enlivening, enlightening, and transforming power in our hearts. BIGOTS. Bigots are stiff, straitened, and confined ; like Egyptian munjniies, which are bound round u ith thousands of yards of ribbon. Bigots are like some trees that grow by the sea shore, which do not spread their branches equally on all sides, but are blown awry, and stand entirely one way. Bigots (like Nebuchadnezzar), if you fall not down at the word of command, before whatever image they set up, consign you at once to the burning fiery furnace. CALL. The largeness of the gospel (more pro- perly termed, the ministerial) call does by no means imply the universality of grace. A fisher throws his net into the sea at large ; not from an expectation of catching all the fishes that are in the sea, but with a view of catching as many as he can. And this is the end of indefinitively preaching to all. CAPTIOUS HEARERS. Wherever there is a Paul to preach, there will be a TertuUus to find fault. CAVILLING. Some people can no more help cavilling at the doctrines of grace, than some dogs can help howling at the sound of a trumpet. CHRIST ALONE. The house that is built partly on a rock, and partly on the sand, will fall ; and the sinner who rests his hope of salvation partly on Christ, and partly on his own works, will be damned. You may as well trust in the supposed merits and pretended intercession of the Virgin Mary, or other saints departed, as trust in your own good works, prayers, or any thing you can do and sutler, either as a compensation to God's justice for your sins, or as conducive toward your acceptance and salvation. CHRIST S PURCHASE. It is a common saying, that " He who buys land, buys stones," and all the weeds and ruhl.ish which belong to the soil. — When Christ accepted of us in the decree of election (when the Father gave and made us over to him), and when he bought us afterwards with his blood ; he took us with all our imperfections and wretchedness, for better for worse, as a bridegroom takes his bride, and as a purchaser buys an estate. CHRISTIAN GRACES. Wrap up ever so good a flint in silk or satin, and not a spark of its latent fire will appear. But bruise it with a hammer, or strike it with a steel, the dormant sparks wiU shew themselves. In prosperity the graces of a saint too often lie hid. In ad- versity they shine forth with light and heat, like a flint in collision with a steel. CONFIDENCE. If a merchant of incontestible opulence and honesty gives me his note of hand binding himself to pay me so much money ; I have no reason to fear a failure of pay- ment. " Mr. is a person of vast wealth, and of as great integrity : my mo- ney, therefore, is as sure as if I had it i-n my pocket." Thus we reason concerning human things. Give the same implicit credit to God's promises. We have it in his own writing, under his own hand and seal, that " Every one who believeth shall have everlasting life ;" and " Whoso cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out," &c. &c. Do not dishonour God's note of hand, by letting un- belief question either his ability or his vera- city. Do not withhold from the God of heaven and earth that confidence which, in many cases, you cannot withhold from CONSEQUENCES. I am resolved, in the strength of grace, to preach aU the truths of the gospel so far as I know them ; and leave God to take care of consequences. CONTEMPT. To expose ourselves to worldly contempt and persecution for Christ's sake, is like going into the cold bath. At first it gives us a shock ; but it grows easier and easier every time ; until, by degrees, it ceases to be disagreeable. contro\t;rsv. It is in the Church as it is with nations : war must sometimes be carried on, in order to establish a sound and durable peace at last. One moment's communion with God is worth all the controversial volumes in tha world OBSERVATIONS AND REFLECTIONS. 543 CONVERSE. A Christian too conversant with people of the world, resembles a brif^ht piece of plate too much exposed to the air : which thows^h in reality it continues plate still, yet grows tarnished and loses its fine burnish, and needs a fresh cleansing and rubbing up. DARKNESS. Wien a saint is in darkness all his ex- pedients for delivering himself out of it are vain : they are literally dark lanterns, and will not afford him a single gleam to see by. The day will not dawn nor the shadows flee away until the sun of righteousness arises with healing in his wings. And we can no more command the rising of the spiritual sun within, than we can that of the natural sun without. We can only, like Paul's manners, cast anchor and wish for day. DEATH. Believers should not have a slavish dread of death. Where is the infant that is afraid to go to sleep in its nurse's arms ? In those countries that are the seat of war, it is common to see a fine field of standing corn flourishing one hour and laid w^aste the next ; when a party of the enemy have cut down, with their swords, what was ripening for the sickle, and given that to their horses for fodder which the husband- man hoped would repay him for his toil. — So does death, sickness or unforeseen disa|ipointment, frequently discoi»cert our worldly schemes ; and blast our expecta- tions in a moment. Man turneth to his dust, and then all his thoughts perish. To a true believer, death is but going to Church : from the Church below to the Church above. A man would not be sorry to be ejected from a cottage in order to his living in a palace : and yet how apt we are to fear death, which to a child of God is but the writ of ejectment that turns him out of a prison, and transmits him to his apartments at court ! I have known many a believer go weep- ing to the river of death ; but I never knew a helievergo weeping all the wa'- through it. Even an earthly parent is particularly tender and careful of a dying child. Much nioje will the great and gracious Father of the elect support, cherish and defend his own children in the hour of death. The world is a nursery of elect sinners. At death God transplants them, one by one, into the garden above; and tills up their places beluw with a fresh succession of spiritual trees. The Church of the elect, which is partly militant on earth, and partly triumphant in heaven, resembles a city built on both sides of a river. There is but the stream of death between grace and glory. Death to God's people is but a ferry- boat. Every day and every hour the boat pushes off with some of the saints, and returns for more. DJENOMINATIONS. You may have seen the children of some fruitful family walking to church all clothed in a different colour. Yet are they all chil- dren of one parent ; all brothers and sisters. So the various denominations of God's be- lieving people. DEPENDENCE. The best watchfulness I know of is a continued looking to, and dependence on the grace of God's Holy Spirit, from mo- ment to moment. DIGNITY of the Children of GOD. God's people below are kings incog. They are travelhng disguised like pilgrims to their dominions above. — Once a king unto God always so : God does not make kings for the devil to unmake at his plo^usure. — If you are spiritual kings, be holy. Should I meet a person all in dirt and rags, I should be mad was I to take that person for a king or a queen. Nor can I believe you to be royally descended, or crowned for the skies, unless you carry the marks of royalty in your life and conversation. — If any of God's anointed kings so far forget their dignity as to live in sin ; their throne will shake ; the crown will tremble on their heads ; they vrill be driven from their palace for a time, like David, when he fled from Absalom, and went weeping over the brook Kidron. But like David, they shall be brought back again to Jerusalem (for Christ will not lose the purchase of his blood) : though not until they have severely smarted for it. God's people are kings and priests. Rev. i. 6. 1. As kings they are (1.) ordained to a kingdom of glory ; and in the mean while, have an internal kingdom of holiness and ha|)piness. (2.) They are anointed with the Holy Ghost. (3.) They are crowned. The doctrines of the go?pel are the Church's crown and ornaniei.t. Rev. iii. 11. and xii. 1. (4.) They have fne sceptre of God's strength to lean upon (5.) And a globe also. They only truly f njoy even present life. Earthly kings hold a globe in their hands ; but the spiritual kings have the globe under their fert. (6.) They have robes. The inner robe of sanctification ; and the outer robe of Christ's righteousness for justification before God, Psalm xlv. (7.) 544 OBSERVATIONS AND REFLECTIONS. They have tlieir guards : angels, grace, providence. Before conversion they are reges designati, kings elect; after it reges de yacto, actual kings. 2. As priests, they are devoted to God, and set apart f >r his service by a spiritual ordination. Here is a truly indelible chii- racter conferred : when the Holy Ghost liiys the hand of his grace, not only upon the sinner's head, but upon the sinner's lieart. — They offer up spiritual and moral sacrifices. — They pray. — They are blessers both in will and in act. Inward holiness and eternal glory are the crown with which God adorns and dignifies his elect. But they are not the cause of election. A king is not made a king by the royal robes he wears, and by the crown that encircles his brow : but he therefore wears his robes, and puts on his crown because he is a king. . DISCRIMINATING GRACE. Many pharisaical censures have been passed on such of God's ministers and peo- ple as have rejoiced at the indubitable, though late, conversion of Mr. D s. (o) Let those unfeeling professors who carp and murmur at that, and similar displays of the Holy Spirit's condescending goodness and power, remember that they themselves, with their entire mock trappings of imaginary excellence and inherent perfection must be unfrocked of all, and trust iu the above righteousness of Jesus with hrokenness of heart, or they will never enter the paradi>e of God ; the holiest saint stands exnctly on the same level with the vilest of mankind, ill point of merit, and has just as much righteousness (i. e. absolutely none at all) to qualify him foi an interest in Christ, and for justification with the Father. May not God have mercy on whom he willeth to have mercy, without asking leave of men or angels ? Is not his grace totally and infinitely free ? and may not he bestow his own blessing when and where he pleases ? Let not our eye then be evil and envious because his is gracious ? Away, then, with these anti-chiistian bickerings, and let none who call themselves believers, be sorry for that which makes angels glad. DISPOSITIONS. Some believers are very rude and very ignorant. Grace, in the hearts of sou., unpolished people, resembles a jewel of gold in a swine's snout. DISPUTANTS. Disputing, captious, bigotted people, do but pump themselves dry. Unfair disputants are ever for dwelling on the most unfavourable side of an argu- ment ; like the blundering painter, who being to take the profile ot a lady that had lost an eye, very injudiciously drew her blind side. Cavilling publications are not always tf) be regarded. Who would be at the pains to kill an insect of a day ? Let the poor creature alone, and it will soon die of itself. Do not make it considerable by taking notice of it. If a child of four years old comes against me with a straw, that is no reason I should knock him down with the poker. DIVINE LOVE. The terrors of the law have much the same effect on our duties and obedience as frost has on a stream : it hardens, cools, and stagnates. Whereas, let the shining of divine love rise upon the soul ; repentance will then flow, our hardness and coldness thaw and melt a\7ay, and all the blooming fruits of godhness flourish and abound. DIVINE JUSTICE. To the humble, self-emptied, self-re- nouncing sinner, even the sword of Divine Justice is a curtana, a sword of mercy, a sword without a point. DYING. As the setting of the sun appears of greater magnitude, and his beams of richer gold, than when he is in his meridian ; so a dying believer is usually richer in expe- rience, stronger in grace, and brighter in his evidences for heaven, than a living one. When a person is going into a foreign land where he never was before, it is com- fortable for him to consider, "Though I am embarking for an unknown country, yet it is a place where I have many fi lends, who are already settled there : so that I shall be, in fact, at home the instant I get thither." — How sweet for a dying believer to reflect that, though he is yet a stranger in the world of spirits, still the world of spirits are no strangers to him. God, his Father, is there. Christ, his Savicur, is there. — Angels, his elect brethren, are there. Saints, who got home before him, are there ; and more will follow him every day. He has the blood and righteousness of Christ for his letters of recommendation, and the Holy Spirit for his introducer. He also goes upon express invitation from the King of the country. ELECTION. The book of life, or decree of election. (0) A person ex°ciit,cl for forgerj-. OBSERVATIONS AND REFLECTIONS. 545 is the marriage-register of the saints ; in which their eveilasting espousal to Christ stands indelibly recorded by the pen of Ood's free and eternal luve. As the bullion of which money is made is the king's property even before it is struck into coin, and before it visibly bears the royal image and superscription ; so the unregenerate elect are God's own heritage, though they do not appear to be such, until the Holy Spirit has made them pass through the mint of effectual calling, and actually stamped them into current coin for the kingdom of heaven. The elect were betrothed to Christ from everlasting in the covenant of grace ; they are actually married to him, and join hands with him, in conversion ; but they are not taken home to the bridegroom's house until death dismisses them from the body. ENVY. Poor people envy the rich, and rich people envy the poor. Why ? Because nei- ther of them are privy to the troubles of the other. Unconverted persons (i. e. the far greater part of mankind) go on envy- ing each other's imaginary happiness, and smarting under their own crosses. And so the world goes round. EPITAPH. Little more can be said concerning the generality of men, than that they lived, and sinned, and died. But concerning all God's people it may be said that they lived, were converted, preserved to the end, and went to heaven. EVIDENCE. Many of the enemies to God's truths, when they are silenced by the force of evidence, do, like a snail provoked, draw in their horns and spit. EXPERIENCES. If a person who has been long in possession of a large estate comes, in pro- cess of time to have his title disputed, he rummages every corner of his scrutore, and of his strong boxes, to find the original deeds ; which, having found, he appeals to as authentic vouchers. Thus pa.st experiences of the grace of God, though not proper to be rested in, may yet be recollected with comfort, and referred to with advantage, by a deserted saint in an hour of doubt and darkness. We cannot heartily love the distinguish- ing truths of the gospel, without expe- riencing them, and we cannot experience them without loving them. FAITH. Faith in God's promises may be com- pared to a bank iiDte ; full and felt posses- sion of the blessings promised is like ready cash. The man who has bank-notes to any given value, looks upon himself as possessed of so much money, though, in reality, it is only so much paper. Thus faith is as satisfied, and rests with as great complacency in the promises of Jehovah, as if it had all the blessings of grace and glory in hand. In faith's estimation, God's note is cuiTcnt coin. Weak faith says, " God can save me if he will." Strong faith says, "God both can and will save me." See Dan. iii. I7. What can be more feeble than the ivy, the jessamine, or the vine ? Yet these, by the assistance of their tendrils, or claspers, rise and are supported until they some- times mount as high as the tree or the wall that sustains them. So the weak believer, laying hold on Jesus by the tendril of faith, rises into the fulness of God, defies the invading storm, and becomes as a fruitful vine upon the wall of an house. Under the influence of the blessed Spirit, faith produces holiness, and holiness strengthens faith. Faith, like a fruitful parent, is plenteous in all good works ; and good works, like dutiful children, confirm und add to the support of faith. Faith is the eye of the soul, and the Holy Spirit's influence is the light by which it sees. FEARS. In the hands of a skilful husbandman even weeds are turned to good account. When rooted up and burnt, they are good manure, and conduce to fertilize the land they annoyed before. So the doubts and fears, and the infirmities of the elect are overruled by Almighty grace, to their pre- sent and eternal good : as conducing to \ keep us humble at God's footstool, to en- dear the merits of Jesus, and to make us feel our weakness and dependance, and to render us watchful unto prayer. I have known several wealthy persons who, contrary to all sense and reason, have teazed and harassed themselves with a fear that they should at last come to want. Equally, nay, infinitely more absurd and groundless, are the doubts of those wJio have fled to the righteousness and blood of Christ for salvation. Such must be in a state of grace ; they must and infallibly are accepted of God ; and they certainly shall persevere to the end. They who think themselves tlie poorest in spiritual things, are immensely rich, without knowing it. But such is the state of man below, that if God does not lay crosses upon us we are sure to create crosses for ourselves. 2 N 546 OBSERVATIONS AND REFLECTIONS. FLATTERY. Flattery is nectar and ambrosia to little minds. They drink it in, and enjoy it, like an old woman sucking metheglin through a quill. FORBEARANCE. As I would not throw away my watch for varying a few minutes from the exact point of time ; so neither ivould I disclaim a regenerate person for his not in every thing exactly thinking with me. Christians are no more infallible than watches. FREE GIFTS. If a person of exalted rank and vast opulence desires you to make his house your home, and you avail yourself of the invitation, would it not affront him, if you was to offer at paying him for the accom- modations ? What greater affront can be offered to the majesty of God, than to imagine that he sets his favours to sale, and that you must pay him for admitting you into the kingdom of grace and glory ? Christ has received gifts for men, and bestows the gifts he has received. God grant, that we may, if I may so speak, give him continual receipts for these gifts, from time to time, in large returns of love and duty, thankfulness and obedience ' " Get grace — get faith — get an interest in Christ," say the Arminians. When, in truth, grace is not of man's getting, but I'f God's giving ; nor is faith of man's acqui- sition, but of God's operation. FREE-WILL. A man's free-will cannot cure him even of the tooth ache, or of a sore finger ; and yet he madly thinks it is in its power to cure his soul The greatest judgment which God him- self can, in the present life, inflict upon a man is, to leave him in the hand of his own boasted free-will. Look where you will, and you will generally find that free-willers are very free livers. GENEROSITY. Even among men, if a generous anta- gonist has his adversary down, he will spare his life. If God, O sinner, has humbled thee, and thrown thee down, he will not kill thee, but spare thee, and give thee quarter, raise thee up, and save thee. GOD AS A FATHER. God, who knows the unfaithfulness of the human heart, will not trust his grace to the keeping of his own people ; if he did, they would soon make havock of it, like the prodigal son. He therefore acts by them as a prudent father would make provision for an extravagant child, viz. not by giving them the stock to manage for themselves ; but by leaving it in trust, to be dealt out to them, from time to time, by stated allowance. GOD ALL SUFFICIENT. We will suppose that some opulent per- son makes the tour of Europe. If his money falls short, he comforts himself with reflecting, that he has a sufficient stock in bank, which he can draw out at any time by writing to his cashiers. This is just the case, spiritually, with God's people. They are travellers in a foreign land, remote from home. Their treasure is in heaven, and God himself is their banker. When their graces seem to be almost spent and ex- hausted, when the barrel of meal and the cruise of oil appear to be faihng ; they need but draw upon God by prayer and faith and humble waiting. The Holy Spirit wiU honom: their bill at sight ; and issue to them, from time to time, sufficient re- mittances to carry tiieni to their journey's end. GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY. A Practical Discourse, by Elisha Coles. It would be entirely needless, to say any thing in favour of a book which has given such profitable and universal satisfaction to God's people, of all denominations, for almost a century past : it will, and must ever be considered, as one of th-e choicest treasures which the God of infinite wisdom has vouchsafed to his Church. Since the days of the Apostles, it is a work calculated for the instruction, establishment, and con- solation of little children, of young men, and of fathers in Christ. Would the newly awakened penitent, the advanced convert, and the repenting saint, wish to read merely for the sake of seeing the hght of truth, of feeling the warmth of grace, and of rising into the holy image of God, let them make Elisha Coles their companion, their guide, and their own familiar friend O ye believers in Jesus, whom God has intrusted with any thing above a bare suf- ficiency of this world's good, seize the opportunity of furnishing the poor and needy with a book, the best calculated of almost any other to extend the knowledge of gospel salvation, to diffuse the fragrance of gospel comfoit, to elevate the glorious standard of gospel grace, and to promote the vital interests of gospel holiness and good Works. GOOD WORKS. Good works, like the golaen ear-rings rf the Israelites, are valuable in themselves ; OBSERVATIONS AND REFLECTIONS. 547 but if once exalted into a golden calf, to be worshipped and relied upon, are damn- ingly pernicious. GOSPEL. The bite of the tarantula (an Italian spider) can only be cured by music. Nor can any thing heal the wounds which sin and Satan have made in the soul, but the music of the gospel; the sweet, harmonious, and joyful sound of free salvation by the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ alone. GRACE. • A true believer lives upon free grace as his necessary food. And, indeed, he who has really tasted the sweetness of grace, can live upon nothing else. There is no difference between the brightest archangel in glory and the blackest apostate spirit in hell, but what free-grace has made. If I might not have both, I would rather nave grace without learning, than learning without grace. I would infinitely rather be a Bunyan than a Grotius. Grace cannot be severed from its fruits. If God gives you St. Paul's faith, you will soon have St. James's works. The graces of God's Spirit in our hearts resemble, during the present life, the citrons and other noble fruits imported from abroad : we have them, but not in per- fection. Our graces will ever be defective, until we get to heaven, the country where they grow. Gifts may differ : but grace, as such, is the same in all God's people. Just as some pieces of money are of gold, some of silver, others of copper ; but they all agree in bearing the king's image and inscription. The way to heaven lies, not over a toll- bridge, but over a free-bridge : even the unmerited grace of God in Christ Jesus. We may not be proud of grace, but we ought to be glad of grace. Good works cannot go before regenera- tion. Effectual grace is that which builds the soul into an habitation of God. Holy tempers and holy obedience are the furni- ture of the house. And a house must be ouilt before it can be furnished. Grace finds us beggars, and always leaves us debtors. GRACE AND GLORY. Inherent grace below resembles silver in the ore, which, though genuine silver, is mingled with much earth and dross : glory above resembles silver refined to its proper standard, and wrought into vessels of the most exquisite workmanship. GREEK TESTAMENT. The Greek Testament is, beyond all competition, the most important volume in the world. The inexhaustible richness of its contents, and its unequalled beauties as a composition, are such as must for ever exalt its worth infinitely above that of all other books which have appeared, or which will appear, while heaven and earth remain. Every judicious attempt, therefore, to lead us into a deeper and clearer acquaintance with this inestimable magna charta of our salvation, and to unlock its heavenly trea- sures, has a direct tendency to advance the glory of God, by promoting the knowledge, the happiness, and the sanotification of men. HEARING. Some people hear tne gospel as a butter- fly settles upon a flower, without being at all the better for it. Others hear the gospel as a bee settles upon a flower ; they enjoy its fragrance, they imbibe its honey, and return home richly laden with its sweets. And some hear the gospel as a spider visits a flower : they would, if possible, extract poison from the rose of Sharon. HEAVEN. Even on earth the "joy of harvest" is great ; but what infinite joy will ensue when tne number of the elect is accomplished, — when the bodies of the saints are all re- trieved from the grave, and Christ celebrates his " harvest-home !" The kingdom of heaven is elective, to which men are chosen by God ; and yet, at the same time, it goes by indefeasible, hereditary right : it proceeds in the line of election and the line of regeneration. HOLY SPIRIT When the rays of the sun fall on the surface of a material object, part of those rays are absorbed, part of them are reflected back in strait lines, and part of them re- fracted, this way and that, in various direc- tions. When the Holy Ghost shines upon our souls, part of the grace he inspires is absorbed to our own particular comfort, part of it reflected back in acts of love and joy and prayer and praise, and part of it refracted every way, in acts of benevolence, beneficence, and all moral and social duty The most correct and lively description of the sun cannot convey either the light, the warmth, the cheerfulness, or the fruit- fulness which the actual shining of that luminary conveys ; neither can the most laboured and accurate dissertations on grace and spiritual things impart a true idea of OBSERVATIONS AND REFLECTIONS. them without an expeiience of the Holy Spirit's woik on the heart. In vain do the inhabitants of London go to their conduits for supply, unless the man who has the n.aster-key turns the water on. And in vain do we seek to quench our thirst at ordinances, unless God communicates the living water of his Spirit. Scripture can be savingly understood only in and by the inward illumination of the Holy Ghost. The gospel is a picture of God's free grace to sinners. Were we in a room hung with the finest paintings, and adorned with the most exquisite statues, we could not see one of them if all light was excluded. Now the blessed Spirit's irradia- tion is the same to the mind that outward light is to the bodily eyes. As the sails of a ship carry it into the harbour, so prayer carries us to the throne and bosom of God. But as the sails cannot of themselves speed the progress of a vessel, unless filled with a favourable breeze, so the Holy Spirit must breathe upon our hearts, or our prayers wiU be motionless and lifeless. An excellent divine of the last century, Mr. Thomas Cole, compared " the Scrip- tures to a seal, and the heart of man to wax." I would add that the Holy Ghost is the fire that warms, and penetrates, and softens the wax, in order to its becoming susceptible of impression. The word of God will not avail to salva- tion without the Spirit of God. A compass is of no use to a mariner unless he has light to see it by. A house iminhabited soon comes to ruin ; and a soul uninhabited by the Holy Spirit of God verges faster and faster to destruction. HOLINESS. The progress of holiness is sometimes like the lejigthening of day-light afier the days are past the shortest. The difference is for some time imperceptible, but still it is real, and in due season becomes undeniably visible. In one of Mr. Pope's letters (if 1 mistake not) mention is made of an eastern fable to this effect : — " On a time the owls and bats joined in a petition to Jupiter against the sun, setting forth that his beams were so insufferably troublesome that the petitioners could not fly abroad with comfort, but were kept prisoners at home for at least twelve hours out of the twenty-four. Jupiter seeing Apollo shortly after, informed hini of the application he had received, adding, I shall, however, take no notice of the petition ; and for you, do you be revenged by shin- ing." O believers, when Papists and Ar- minians charge the doctrines of grace with a tendency to licentiousness, let your lives be a confutation of the falsehood. Be re- venged by shining. HUMILITY. It is a great thing to have gospel humi- lity. If you know you want it, it is a sign you are not quite without it. Children much indulged are apt to taks liberties. To keep us humble, God must sometimes seem to frown. HUSBANDS. Many husbands are like some members of parliament, all complaisance, humility, and fair speeches beforehand, but no sooner in possession of the desired object than the supple candidate becomes a haughty master. HYPOCRITES. There is sometimes on trees and flowers what florists caU a false blossom : how many such do we see in the world of professing Christians ! Different members of the body have different offices and are some of greater, others of less importance ; bat they all be- long to the body. Hypocrites are not real members, but excrescences of the Church, like falling hair, or the parings of the nails. IDEAS. Definitions, or accurate ascertainments of the precise ideas which we mean to con- vey, by particular terms and phrases, are of great consequence in disembarrassing a question, and in shortening a debate. IGNORANCE. Men adopt vice and error for want of knowing the true deformity of both : as in Russia, where unmarried women constantly wear veils, it is frequent for the bridegroom never to see his wife's face until after mar- riage. ILLUMINATION The Holy Ghost must shine upon yoij graces, or you will not be able to see them and your good works must shine upon yoil faith, or your neighbours will not be able tj see it. IMPERFECTION. If I build a house, it is ten thousand to one if I do not afterwards find it defectiw in some respect or other : there is con- tinually something to add, or something ta alter, and something that may be improved for the better. — If i write a book, I find it imperfect. Some errata of the printer. OBSERVATIONS AND REFLECTIONS. 549 simie defects in the language, somethifag to add, or something to retrench. So it is with all human works. The work of Christ's righteousness and redemption is the only finished, the only perfect work that ever was wrought among men. God give me faith in it 1 IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS. The form of salutation in some countries is by respectfully touching or lifting up the corner of the person's garment you would address ; but to kiss his vest is the highest token of reverence. — And the highest in- stance of regard you can show Christ is by embracing the robe of his imputed righte- ousness. INCOMPETENCY. Man, even in his most enlightened state, can no more form a competent idea of the wisdom that lies at the bottom of God's effective and permissive decrees, than an earth-worm or a beetle can enter into the political views which actuate the move- ments of a prime minister. INNOVATION. I have known an unskilful weeder puU up and destroy flower-roots and herbs under the notion of their being weeds. Just such would be the conduct of the present restless enemies to the Church of England, if their innovating wishes were to take effect. (1772.) INTEREST IN CHRIST. Our interest in Christ does not depend on our sanctification, but our sanctification depends on our interest in Christ. INTREPIDITY. Go to heaven boldly, let men say what they will. Use yourself to the weather : a little rain will not melt you. The more you wrap up, the more liable you will be to take cold. JUSTICE. Some harbours have bars of sand which lie across the entrance and prohibit the ac- cess of ships at low water. — There is a bar, not of sand, but of adamantine rock, the bar of Divine Justice, which lies between a sinner and heaven. Christ's righteousness is the high-water that carries a believing sinner over this bar, and transmits him safe to the land of eternal rest. Our own ri<;ht- eousness is the low-water, whicli will fail us in our greatest need, and will ever leave us short of the heavenly Canaan. JUSTIFICATION. Antiquarians set an inestimable value on uniques, j. e. on such curiosities of which there is but one of a sort in the world. Justification is in the number of the be- liever's uniques. Theie is but one justifica- tion (properly so called) in the wliolc uni- verse, and it equally belongs, through giace, to all the children of God, and the Christian wishes to be viewing it every moment. Christ's sheep do not contribute any part of their own wool to their own cloath- ing. They wear, and are justified by, the fine linen of Christ's obedience only. KNOWLEDGE IN THEORY. I am acquainted with a lady who is a thorough mistress of music as a science, and can play the harpsichord with great judgment ; but though she understands it, she does not love it, and never plays if she can avoid it. Too strong a picture of some who know the gospel in theory, but neither love it in sincerity, nor practice its precepts with a good will 1 LANGUAGE. It were to be wished that the advocates for the best of causes would, with Solomon, seek out acceptable words. I acknowledge that genteel drapery adds nothing to the value, but it adds much to the agreeableness of truth, which is not the better received for appearing in dishabille, much less for being attired like a sloven. If we do not decorate her with what Lord Chesterfield terms " lace and embroidery," that is, with lich metaphors and refinement of style, yet an author should not permit her to walk abroad either in sluttish negligence, or in the garb of a shabby old gentlewoman fallen to decay. LAW. The terrors of the law have much thj same effect on our duties and obedience as frost has on a stream ; it hardens, cools, and stagnates. Whereas, let the shining of divine love rise upon the soul, repentance will then flow, our hardness and coldness thaw. LIFE OF CHRIST. The life of Christ on earth may be com- pared to the garden of Eden before Adam fell, in which was no plant growing but such as were beautiful and salutary, none that was either useless or hurtful. LORD'S DAY. It is certainly no small point gained to prove, that what is now generally consi- dered as the first day of the week is, in reality, and in order of rotation from the beginning, the seventh or primeval Sab- bath, and that God incarnate rose from 550 OBSERVATIONS AND KEFLECTIONa. the tomb on that very day in succession on which God absolute ceased from the works of creation. Indeed, the compilers of our Liturgy seem to have had some light into this matter, else they would hardly have engrafted the fourth commandment (which expressly and peremptorily enjoins the sanc- tification of the seventh day) into the com- munion service, and directed all the mem- bers of the Church to unite in prayer to God for grace to keep that law. LOVE TO GOD. , The people of'Christ are not merit-mon- gers. Love to the captain of their salva- tion ranks them under his banner. They are not like the Swiss, who fight for pay. As fruits artificially raised or forced in a hot-house, have not the exquisite flavour of those fruits which grow naturally and in their due season ; so that obedience which is forced by the terrors of the law, wants the genuine flavour and sweetness of that obedience which springs forth from a heart warmed and meliorated with the love of God in Christ Jesus. If Christ has your good will, he will certainly have your good word. If you truly love him, you wiU not be ashamed to speak for him. MARRIAGE. When a believer marries an unbeliever, what is it but reviving the old cruel pu- nishment of tying the hving and the dead together ? MEMORY. Many of God's people lament the bad- ness of their memory. And yet, after all, a heart-memory is better than a mere head- memory. Better to carry away a little of the life of God in our souls, than if we were able to repeat every word of every sermon we have heard. MINISTERS. Gospel ministers should not be too hasty and eager to wipe off every aspersion that is cast on them falsely for Christ's sake. Dirt on the character (if unjustly thrown), like dirt o.n the clothes, should be let alone for a while, until it dries ; and then it will rub otf easily enough. Ministers then only draw the bow suc- cessfully, when God's Holy Spirit sharpens the gospel arrow, and wings it to the hearts of them that hear. Gregory Nazianzen says, in his eulo- gium on Basil, Bpovrn "«> ^oyog a<^(pour] S( /?ioe ; " thy word was thunder and thy life was lightning." Such should the preaching and the conversation of every minister be. The weight of opposition will always fall heaviest on those who sound the gospel trumpet loudest. Gospel ministers do, indeed, in some sense, turn the world upside-down. The fall of Adam has turned human nature up- side-down long ago ; and converting grace must turn us upside-down again, in order to bring us right. Gospel ministers are usually, in will and desire at least, employed for God to the last moment of their lives. Their work being accomplished, they are called from labour to heaven ; as Cincinnatus was found at the plough when he received his call to the dictatorship of Rome. Among the great variety of preachers, some give the pure gospel wine, unadulte- rated and undashed. Others give wine and water. Some give mere cold water, without a drop of wine among it. Were evangelical preachers and writers to stop, and give a lash to every spiteful noisy cur that yelps at them in their way to the kingdom of God, they would have enough to do before they got to their jour- ney's end. Next to being a true believer, it is the hardest thing in the world to be a faithful minister. Ministers are the bow : the law is the arrow. God must bend the bow by the im- pulse of his own arm, and wing the arrow, or it will never hit a sinner's heart. I have read of some harbour abroad, where salt vvater and fresh run together in one amicable stream, but without mingling. Such should be the case of God's ministers. They are to preach both law and gospel ; but without mixing or confounding them together. The best clock in the world will oe spoiled, if you are perpetually moving the hand backwards and forwards, and altering it in order to make it keep time with a variety of other clocks ; it will hardly ever go regularly and well. So a minister, who shapes and accommodates his sentiments and discourses to the tastes and humours and opinions of other people, will never be happy, respectable, or useful. Different ministers are sent of God to different persons. Just as a great man who keeps many servants, sends them with let- ters or messages to such or such particular people. A minister can only lay on tne caustic ; God alone can make the hearers feel it MORALITY. To amuse fahen sinners with lectures on morality is like going to an hospital and OBSERVATIONS AND REFLECTIONS. 561 haranguing to a company of sick folks on the advimtaajes of health. Rather let us labour to cure them of their diseases, and then they will know the value and comforts of health without our giving them a dis- sertation upon it. Lead sinners to Christ and to the Holy Spirit, and then they will love and practise morality as naturally as sparks fly upward. Morality not flowing from faith in Christ resembles an artificial flower ; which has the appearance, but neither the life, the beauty, nor the fragrance of a real one. I have no more conception of a true believer without morality, than of a river without water, or of a sun without light and heat. NATIONAL CONCERNS. National matters at present carry a very gloomy aspect. But it is in things civil as well is spiritual ; and I regard my country and myself in a similar view. Considered in myself, I am a most unworthy and sinful creature ; considered in Christ, I am with- out fault before the throne of God. Con- sider the state of public affairs as they are in themselves ; and hardly any thing can be more threatening, cloudy, or unfavour- able. Consider them in a providential view, and whatever is, is right. This is my sheet anchor, concerning that black and dismal storm which now seems to be burst- ing over the English empire. A. T. Bath, Aug. 4. 1775. NEGLIGENCE. When persons loiter on a journey they are sometimes benighted afterwards : and when believers are not diligent in the use of ordinances, and in the performance of good works, no wonder if they walk in darkness. NEW BIRTH. All God's children are still-born. They come spiritually dead into the world. And dead they continue till they are born again of the Holy Ghost. Every believer has four births. A na- tural birth into the world ; a spiritual birth into the kingdom of grace, at regeneration ; a birth into glory at death ; and a new birth of his body from the grave at the resurrection. No man can remember the day of his natural birth ; but most of God's people can remember the day when they were born again. OBLOQUY. The times are such that it is almost impossible for a man to go to heaven with- out getting a nickname by the way. But it is better to go to heaven with a nick name, than to go to hell without one. If I must either give up the truths of God, or lose niy character ; then farewell character, and welcome the truths of God. OLD AND NEW MAN. Old Adam never was a saint yet, and never will be ; Rom. vii. On the other hand, the new man, or principle of grace in the heart, never sinned, and never can ; Rom. vii. 1 John. ONE CHURCH. Take a mass of quicksilver, let it fall to the floor, and it will split itself into a vast number of distinct globulas. Gather them up, and put them together again, and they coalesce into one body, as before. Thus God's elect below are sometimes crum- bled and distinguished into various parties, though they are all, in fact, members of one and the same mystic body. But, when taken up from the world, and put together in heaven, they will constitute one glorious undivided church, for ever and ever. In North America have been lately reck- oned no fewer than seventy-five religious denominations. And were there seventy- five thousand it would not signify seven pins heads. Denomination is nothing.— Grace is grace in every converted person. There is but one Church after all. ORIGINAL SIN. Before the fall, man's will was free to good, and burned with a pure celestial flame. Original sin acted as an extin- guisher ; and leaves the soul in the dark, until lighted again by the fire of God's Spirit. PERSECUTION. Some harbours are fenced with massy chains of iron, reaching from side to side, to obstruct the access of shipping. Similar is the profession of Christ and his cause in persecuting times. But as a ship has often been able to force its way into the port, and burst the chains that oppose its entrance by the aid of a favourable tide and a strong breeze, so persecution is nothing to a be- lieving soul whose sails are filled with the breathings of the Holy Ghost, and the full tide of whose affections is turned by grace to God and Christ and heaven. PHARISEES. Pharisees are pharisees in all ages and all countries. What is the difference be- tween a pharisee in Judea and a pharisee in England ? Nothing but the lancet of God's law in the hand of the Spirit can let out the proud 552 OBSERVATIONS AND REFLECTIONS blood of a pharisee, and reduce the swellings of self-rigliteousness. PILGRIM'S PROGRESS. Some time after the commenaement of the 17th century, a sinsjularly ingenious piece of spiritual allegory was published under the following title : " The Isle of Man, or the legal Proceeding in Manshire against Sin." The author was the Rev. Mr. Richard Bernard, rector of Batcombe, in Somersetshire. This performance seems to have had a great run : my copy is of the eighth edition, printed at London, A. D. 1632. The above work, in all probability, sug- gested to Mr. John Bunyan the first idea of his " Pilgrim's Progress," and of his " Holy War." The former of these is, perhaps, the finest allegorical work extant, describing every stage of a believer's experience, from conversion to glorification, in the most artless simplicity of language, yet pe- culiarly rich with spiritual unction, and glowing with the most vivid, just, and well- conducted machinery throughout : it is, in short, a master-piece of piety and genius, and will, 1 doubt not, be of standing use to the people of God so long as the sun and moon endure. It has been affirmed, and I believe with truth, that no book in the Englisli tongue has gone through so many editions, the Bible and Common Prayer alone excepted. POWER. It is a saying that kings have long hands. This is eminently true of Christ, the king of saints. He has a long hand to reach his enemies in a way of judgment, and a long hand to lay hold on his elect, and to bring nigh those who once stood afar off from him and his righteousness. PRAYER. The longer we neglect writing to an absent friend, the less mind we have to set about it. So the more we neglect private prayer and closet communion with God, the more shy we grow in our approaches to him. Nothing breeds a greater strangeness be- bveen the soul and Uod than the restraining *f prayer before him. And nothing would tenew the blessed intimacy if God himself, fce neglected party, did not, as it were, lend us a letter of expostulation from Jeaven, and sweetly chide us for our negli- gence. Then we melt, then we kindle, and the blissful intercourse gradually opens as usual. David would not have been so often upon his knees in prayer if affliction had not weighed him doun. — There iue, I believe. more prayers in the writings of David and of Jeremiah than in any other portion ol Scripture. The longer you are with God on the mount of private prayer and secret com- munion with him, the brighter will your face shine when you come down. We may pray spiritually by a form, and we may pray formally and coldly without one. — Suppose I was to say to a converted dissenter, " Sir, you do not sing the praises of God spiritually." He would ask, " Why not?" Was I to answer, " Because you sing by a form : Dr. Watts's psalms and hymns are all precomposed : they are forms in the strictest sense of the word ;" the good man would reply, "True: they are precomposed forms ; but I can sing them very spiritually for all that." I should rejoin, " And I can pray in the words of the Liturgy as spi- ritually as you can sing in the words of Dr. Watts." PREACHING Mere moral preaching only tells people how the house ought to be built. Gospel preaching does more, for it actually builds the house. Was I a layman, and Providence was to •cast me in a place where I could not pos- sibly hear the gospel preached, but should be forced to hear either an A"ian or an Ar- minian ministry if I heard any at all, I should much rather choose to spend my Lord's days at home in reading and praying pri- vately. By the same rule that I would rather stay within, and take such a dinner as my own house afiFords, than go abroad to dine where I should be sure of sitting down (at best) to a dish of gravel or sand, if not of arsenic. — See Ezek. xi. 16. PRESENCE OF GOD. If you go to Court, you know whether you have seen the king, and whether he has spoke to you or not. And when you attend an ordinance, you know whether you have enjoyed the presence of God or not. PRESERVATION. If God had not chosen thee in his Son, he would not have called thee by his Spirit ; and he that called thee by his Spirit will preserve thee to his kingdom. If a coach or waggon be likely to run over us, we exert all our strength and speed to get out of its way. If a storm overtakes us, we look out for a place of shelter. O that we were equally sedulous to flee from the wrath to come ; PROFESSORS. People who profess to believe the doc- trines of the gospel, and yet do not experi- OBSERVATIONS AND REFLECTIONS. 553 ence the power of those doctrines unto sanctification, resemble a man who look« over a hedge into a garden without going into it. Some professors pass for very meek, good-natured people until you displease them. They resemble a pool or pond which, while you let it alone, looks clean and limpid, but if you put in a stick and stir the bottom, the rising sediment soon dis- covers the impurity that l.urks beneath. As the most florid people do not always enjoy the firmest state of health, so the most shewy professors are not always the hoUest and most substantial believers. There is a set of fellows in the present age jocosely called Jessamies and Maccaro- nies, who afCect to dress as fine as butterflies, and to be squeamishly delicate and elegant ; 80 that you would almost take a maccaroni to be a Semiramis or a Cleopatra in men's clothes. But there are spiritual maccaronies as well as worldly ones. And who are those ? Your self-righteous people, and perfectionists above all ; who surveying themselves, not in the unflattering glass of God's law, but in the delusive mirror and through the false medium of self-conceit, fall in love with their own image (like Nar- cissus), and think themselves to be spi ritually rich and beautiful, though all the while they are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. Christ's im- puted righteousness constitutes the best dress, and sanctification by his Spirit con- stitutes the real beauty of the soul. And if we have not liis righteousness to wear, and his grace to make us holy, we are hut paltry maccaronies, be our profession ever so splendid. PROMISES. All the promises of man to man ought to be conditional. It is only for God to make absolute promises, for he alone is un- changeable and omnipotent. POOR PERSONS. If our Lord was upon earth, and there were in the same street two persons, the one rich and the other poor, but both equally desirous of his company, I verily beUeve that he would visit the poor man first. PROSPERITY. Too much wealth, like a suit of cloths too heavily embroidered, doesobut encumber and weigh us down, instead of answering the solid purposes of usefulness and con- venience. Generally speaking, the sun-shine of too much worldly favour weakens and relaxes Dur spiritual nerves ; as weather too in- tensely hot rela.xes those of the body. A degree of seasonable opposition, like a fin« dry frost, strengthens and invigorates and braces up. PUSILLANIMITY. I have no notion of a timid, sneaking profession of Christ. Such preachers and professors are like a rat playing at hide and seek behind a wainscot, who pops his head through a hole to see if the coast is clear, and ventures out if nobody is in the way, but slinks back again when danger appears. We cannot be honest to Christ except we are bold for him. He is either worth all we can lose for him, or he is worth nothing. REASON Reason is God's candle in man. But as a candle must first be lighted ere it will en- lighten, so reason must be illuminated by divine grace ere it can savingly discern spiritual things. REDEMPTION. The covenant of redemption, which is a covenant of absolute grace to us, was to Christ a covenant of works and a covenant of sufferings. REFORMATION. Mere reformation differs just as much from regeneration as white-washing an old rotten house differs from taking it down and building it anew. REGENERATION. Some people laugh at regeneration by the Spirit of God, and think there is nothing in it. A plain sign that they themselves are quite without it. If a man was to come and tell me that there is no such thing in the world as money, I should take it for granted that he therefore thinks so because he him- self never had any. RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST. A celebrated heathen said, Med vir- tute me hivolvo ; " I wrap myself up in my own virtue." A true believer has something infinitely better to wrap him- self up in. When Satan says — thou hast yielded to my suggestions — when con- science says, thou hast turned a deaf ear to my admonitions — when the law of God says, thou hast broke me — when the gospel says, thou hast neglected me — when justice says, thou hast insulted me — when mercy says, thou hast slighted me — faith can say, all this is too true ; but Christi justitid me involvo, I wrap myself up in the righteous- ness of Jesus Christ. The gates of heaven fly open before the righteousness of Christ, as certainly as the OBSERVATIONS AND REFLECTIONS. door of Lydia's heart flew open under the hand of God's regenerating Spirit. By nature we are all weavers and spinners. We shut our eyes against the garm»;nt ready wrought : and, like silk- worms, we shall die and perish in our own web, if the Spirit of God does not unravel it for us, and lead us to the righteousness of Christ. SAFETY. We may safely go as far as the candle of God's word goes before. SALVATION. We should be in a bad condition indeed, if our salvation was suspended on conditions of our own performing. God's everlasting love, his decree of election, and eternal covenant of redemp- tion, are the three hinges on which the door of man's salvation turns. When man fell from God, infinite justice put a lock upon the door : a lock which nothing but the golden key of Christ's blood and righteousness can open. The Holy Ghost (if I may venture to use so familiar a com- parison) is, as it were, the omniscient keeper of the door ; and he lets no souls in but such as he himself has washed and justi- fied and sanctified in the name of our Lord Jesus, and by his own efficacious grace. I should as soon expect to be saved by my sins as to be saved by my good works. SAYING. An old proverb says, " They who are not handsome at twenty, will never be hand- some : they who are not strong at thirty, will never strong : they who are not wise at forty, will never be wise : and they who are not rich at fifty, will never be rich." Hovv- ever this may generally be, yet the grace of God is free, and not bound to time or place. Some come to Christ in childhood ; some in youth ; some in maturer age ; and some who go unconverted to a dying bed, rise converted from a dying bed to heaven. Happy they who are effectually caught by grace ; whether at the first, the third, the sixth, the ninth, or the eleventh hour ! Our law says, nxdlum tempus occurrit regi : and I am sure it is the case with God. SCRIBBLERS. When I have been in a post-chaise, I have often seen a dog pursue it with much noise and self-importance. The poor animal thought the carriage was running away from him ; whereas, in truth, it was going at an equal rate long enough before he appeared, and continued to do so long after he was out of heaiing. When public per- sons are attacked by wretched scribblers too mean to answer ; the scribblers affect to think that the omission is owing to their own superiority in argument. While, in fact, they are too scurrilous and unim- portant to be noticed. SELF-RIGHTEOUS. Self-righteous people are like a man who has run up a veiy slight house for his own residence ; in which, while he sits or sleeps securely, a sudden storm arises, and blows down the whole fabric, and buries the builder in the ruins. God will either bring us out of our self-righteons castle, or crush us with its fall. SEN.SIBLE COMFORT. A believer, with regard to spiritual en- joyments, resembles a barometer. As the silver in this instrument rises when the sun shines and the weather is fine ; but sinks when the air is hea\-y and loaded with damps ; so the Christian's sensible comfort rises when the Holy Spirit's countenance shines upon his soul, but subsides when left to the evil workings of his own heart. SIGHT. It is in grace as it is in nature. Some have a sharp sight, some are near-sighted. Some can clearly see their interest in Christ ; some can hardly discern it at all. Some have likewise a clear view of gospel doctrines : some a confused one. SIMILARITY. It is a peculiar happiness to observe, that in matters of spiritual concern, the philosopher and ploughman (if truly rege- nerate) have the same feelings, and speak the same language ; they all eat of the same spiritual meat, and drink of the same spiritual rock which follows them, and that rock is Christ. Hence that similitude of experience, or to speak figuratively, that strong and striking family likeness which obtains among the converted people of God, in every period of time, and in every nation under heaven. They all, without exception, feel themselves totally ruined by original sin ; they all, without exception, take refuge in the righteousness and cross of Christ, and unite in ascribing the whole praise of their salvation to the alone free grace and sovereign mercv of Father, Son, and Spirit. Suppose a loving and beloved husband dies a violent death. Can his widow love and admire and value the sword or the pistol by which her husband lost his life ? As little can true believers love sin ; for by it Christ, the bridegroom of their souls, was put to death. 3BSERVAT10NS AND REFLECTIONS. 555 If a person fall and break his leg, or be burnt out of his house, most people pity and symphathize with him. But if a man live in sin, where are the neighbours that feel for his danger and labour to reclaim him ? Or, if a believer be overtaken by a fault, how few professors will commiserate his case, and endeavour to restore him in the spirit of meekness ? Our corrupt hearts are like gunpowder, apt to kindle at every spark of temptation. The Spirit of God must be continually throw- ing water upon the soul in order to pre- serve it from taking fire. SINNER.' Nothing but Christ will do for a dying sinner ; and why should we dream that any thing else will do for a living sinner ? Sin cannot enter into heaven ; but a sinner may. SUCCESSION. I know but of two uninterrupted suc- cessions. 1. Of sinners, ever since the fall of Adam. 2. Of saints ; for God always had, and will always have, a seed to serve him. SPIRITUAL ADVANTAGE. Want of spiritual comfort is often at- tended with spiritual advantage. A person who walks in the dark is usually the more cautious and careful where and how he treads. SPIRITUAL NUMBNESS. It is with our souls as it is with our bodies ; we sometimes catch cold we know not how. STRICTNESS. How many people deceive themselves under a profession of extraordinary strict- ness ! The Capuchin friars make a vow never to touch any piece of money what- ever while they live. Offer them a shilling, or a guinea, they will refuse to take it ; but wrap it up in a bit of paper, and they will receive and pocket it without scruple. , SUBMISSION. God knows best what to do with us. We are not qualified to choose for ourselves. The patient ought not to prescribe for the physician, but the physician for the patient. SUPPLIES. When Hagar was quite disconsolate with fatigue of body and distress of mind, there was a fountain by her, though she knew it not. So the weeping believer has relief at hand which he cannot see. God's word, God's Spirit, and_ God's ministers, are the angels that direct and lead his afflicted people to the fountain opened. The acts of breathing which I per- formed yesterday vnll not keep me alive to-day. I must continue to breathe afresh every moment, in order to my enjoying the consolations, and to my working the works of God TIME. Was a man, every day, to throw a purse of money, or even a single guinea, into the sea, he would be looked upon as a mad man, and his friends would soon confine him for such. But a man who throws away that which is of more value than gold, than mines, than the whole world ; even his health, his peace, his time, and his soul ; such a one is admired, esteemed, and ap ilauded bv the greater part of man- kind. TEMPTATION. Worms and other insects take up their habitation under the surface of the earth. A plat of ground may be, outwardly, ver- dant with grass, and decorated with flowers. But take a spade in your hand, and turn up the mould, and you soon have a sample of the vermin that lurk beneath. Tempta- tion is the spade which breaks up the ground of a believer's heart, and helps to discover the corruptions of his fallen nature. TRUST. Trusfc the promise, and God will make good the performance. W^e can never be truly easy and happy until we are enabled to trust God for all things : and the more we are enabled to trust him, the more gracious and faithful we shall find him. A good king carefully observes the law. Christ, the king of Zion, kept the divine law in all respects ; and his converted sub- jects first trust in him as a law-fulfiller ere they can obey him acceptably as a law-giver. Many turnpike-gates bear this inscrip- tion in large capital letters, " No trust here." This is the very language of our own unbelieving hearts. We do not trust God. We do not give him credit. Hence all murmurings, anxiety, &c. UNDETERMINATE. People of fluctuating principles resemble what is fabled of jMahomet's iron coffin sus- pended in the air between two large load- stones, but without touching either of them. 556 KXCELLENT PASSAGES FROM EMINENT PERSONS UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE. Some have entertained a chimerical idea of a universal language. There is, indeed, spiritually speaking, a language common to all the converted, of every age and country. The language of Canaan is understood all the world over, by every one who is taught of God. UNFRUITFUL. It is a common thing in London, when a house is uninhabited and shut up, for boys to write in chalk on the window-shutters and door " Empty." When a person pro- fesses godliness, and does not bring forth good works in his practice, we too may write the word " Empty " on all the pro- fession he makes. UNIVERSALITY " Universality," say the Papists, " is a mark of the true Church. There are some Catholics in every country under heaven." Hut if this be a just mark, the Jews will bid the fairest of any for being the true Church. For they are sifted among all nations. UNREGENERACY. It is said of the original Indians of Florida that, when they could not pay their debts, they took a short method of settling the account hy knocking their creditors on the head. Sinners, in a state of unrege- racy, though partly sensible that they do not keep the law of God, yet think to knock Gild's justice on the head by pleading ab- solute mercy. An unregenerate man is absolutely dead in a spiritual sense. He has no hearing of the promises ; no sight of his own misery, of the holiness of God, of the piuity of the law, nor of Christ as covenanting, obeying, dying, and interceding ; no taste of God's love in Christ, and the sweetness of C(ira- munion with him by the Spirit ; no feeling of conviction in a way of grace, humiliation, and self-renunciation ; no scent after God and glory ; no hungerings and thirstings after spiritual consolations and assurance ; no .-notion toward divine enjoyments and evangelical holiness. VICISSITUDE. God's people are travellers. Sometimes they are in dark lanes and deep vallies ; sometimes on the hills of joy, where all is light and cheerful. WORKS. Mount Sinai, or the hope of being saved (in part at least) by our own works, may be compared to a dreary rock. Satan is the monster that gapes to devour. Christ is Perseus, who, by the sword of his Spirit, slays tlte monster's power, breaks the legal chain, and sets the awakened soul at liberty. Mount Sinai (i. e. salvation by works), is labour-ill-vain hill. Do all you can, you will never get up to the top of it, not so much as half way up. The business of Christ's blood is to wash our bad woiks out, and to wash our good works clean. WRITINGS. Some mens' writings resemble a dark night, enlivened by a few occasional flashes of lightning. I was lately asked what my opinion is of Mr. John Fletcher's writings : my answer was, that in the very few pages which I had perused, the serious passages were dulness double condensed ; and the lighter passages impudence double distilled. YOUNG CONVERTS. Young converts are generally great bi- gots. When we are first converted to God, our brotherly affection too often resembles the narrowness of a river at its first setting out. But as we advance nearer 1o the great ocean of all good, the channel widen.*, and our hearts e.xpand more and more, until death perfectly unites us to the source of uncreated love. EXCELLENT PASSAGES FROM EMINENT PERSONS, (p) ACCEPTANCE. It is a fallacy of Satan's, to argue, from the sinfulness of our duties, to the non-acceptance of them. " Will God," (ji) In the course of various readiag.s, these ju- dicious extracts are professedly transcribed by our author from the writings of several Protestant divines of the last (and a few of the present) age; they wi!I be perused with pleasure and peculiar ad- Tantage by those who have a prevailing regard for dignity of sense and plain ti'uth, delivered in honest and open language, unlike the delicate race of our says he, " take such broken groats at thy hand ? Is he not a holy God ! " — Learn, here, to distinguish. There is a two-fold acceptance. 1. A thing may be accepted as a payment cf a debt ; or, 2. As a proof refined preachers, who " scorn to mention hell U ears polite." These selections are a specimen of the subjects that employed the tongues and pens of those intrepid champions in the cause of God who, having fought the good fight, and exemplarily exe- cuted the commission received from their Lord and Master, are now set down in the kingdom of heaven, crowned with glory and immortality. Editqii. EXCELLENT PASSAGES FROM EMINENT PERSONS. 657 of love. — God, who will not accept of broken money in a way of payment will, nevertheless, kindly accept of it from bis fiiends as a testimony of gratitude. It is true, O Christian, the debt thou owest to God must be paid in good and lawful money : but here, for thy comfort, Christ, and Christ only, is thy pay-master. Send Satan to him ; bid him bring his charge against Christ, who is ready at God's right hand to produce a clear account, and shew his receipt in full for the whole debt.— As to thy performances and obe- dience, they fall under a quite contrary class ; as mere tokens of thy love and thankfulness to God. And so gracious is thy heavenly Father, tliat he accepts thy bent sixpence, and will not throw away thy crooked, broken mite. Love refuses nothing that love sends Gurnall. ACTIVITY. Industry on our parts is not superseded by the greatness and freeness of God's grace. As when a schoolmaster teaches a boy gratis, the youth cannot attain to learn- ing without some application of his own ; and yet it doth not therefore cease to be free, on the teacher's part, because at- tention is required from the learner ; so it is here. Arrowsmith. AFFLICTIONS. Sanctified afflictions are spiritual pro- motions. Dr. Dodd of the last cent. There is no affliction so small but we should sink under it if God upheld us not : and there is no sin so great but we should commit it if God restrained us not. ibid. A good old Scotch minister used to say to any of his flock when they were labour- ing under affliction, " Time is short : and, if your cross is heavy you have not far to carry it." When the grace of an afflicted saint is in exercise, his heart is like a garden of roses, or a well of rose-water, which, the more moved and agitated they are, the sweeter is the fragrance they exhale. Anon. As no temporal blessing is good enough to be a sign of eternal election ; so no temporal affliction is bad enough to be an evidence of reprobation : for the dearest Son of God's love was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Dr. Arrowsmith. Afflictions scour us of our rust. Ad- versity, like winter weather, is of use to kill those vermin which the summer of prosperity is apt to produce and nourish. ibid. Every vessel of mercy must be scoured in order to brightness. And however trees in the wilderness may grow without culture ; trees in the garden must be pruned to be made friutful : and corn-fields must be broken up, when barren heaths are left un- touched. Dr. ArrowKmith. The Church below is often in a sutl'ering state. Christ himself was a man of sor- rows : nor should his bride be a wife of pleasures. iftid. God may cast thee down, but he will not cast thee ofiF. Mr. Ca.ie. Afflictions are blessings to us when we can bless God for affliction. Dyer. God had a Son without sin, but none without sorrow ; he had one Son without corruption, but no Son without correction. ibid. Christian, hath not God taught thee, by his word and Spirit, how to read the short- hand of his providence ! Dost thou not know that the saint's afflictions stand for blessings ? Gurnall. Those whom God loves he takes to pieces ; and then puts them together again. Ayion. Through Christ's satisfaction for sin, the very nature of affliction is changed, with regard to believers. As death, which was at first the wages of sin, is now become a bed of rest (they shall rest upon their beds, saith the prophet) ; so afflictions are not the rod of God's anger, but the gentle physic of a tender Father. Dr. Crisp. All the afflictions that a saint is exer- cised with are neither too numerous nor too sharp. A great deal of inst requires a rough file. Mr. Moses Browne, in conversation, Oct. 24, 1769. If we have the kingdom at last, it is no great matter what we suffer by the way. Dr. Manton. Nothing can reconcile the soul to afflic- tive allotments, but looking on them as covenant-dispensations. Mr. IVilliam Mason. David's pen never wrote more sweetly than when dipt in the ink of affliction, ibid. When you see the refiner cast his gold into the furnace, do you think he is angry with the gold and means to cast it away ? No. He sits as a refiner. He stands warily over the fire, and over the gold, and looks to it, that not one grain be lost. And when the dross is severed, he will out with it presently ; it shall be no longer there. Crisp Crosses and afflictions are God's call to examine our hearts and our lives. Richardson. No affliction would trouble a child of God, if he but knew God's reason for send- ing it. ibid. Afflictions are as needful for our souls as food is for our bodies. rbid. The Lord's wise love feeds us with hunger, and makes us fat with wants and desertions. Rntherfoord. It is a good sign when the Lord blows 558 EXCELLENT PASSAGES FROM EMINENT PERSONS. off the blossoms of our forward hopes in this life, and lops the branches of our worldly joys to the very root, on purpose that they should not thrive. Lord, spoil my fool's heaven in this life, that I may be saved for ever ! Rutherfoord. ALL-MIGHTY. " Esto diabolus magnipotens ; nunquam erit omnipotens," saith Luther : I confess the Devil is all-mighty, but he will never be all-mighty, as my God and Saviour is. /^rrowsmith. ARMINIANS. Arminians represent the universe as the governess of God, instead of representing God as the governor of the universe. Mr. R. Hill, in con. March 6, 1770. The Pelagians and Arminians are for making nature find its legs. They persuade man that he can go alone to Christ ; or, at least, with a little external help of a hand to lead, or an argument to excite, without any creating work in the soul. Alas, for the blindness of nature ! How false is all this stuff, and yet how glibly it goes down ! GurJtall. ASSURANCE. Assurance of pardon is a tree gift of God, as much as faith, or pardon itself. Arrowtmith. Nothing more inflames a Christian's love to God than a firm belief of his per- sonal election from eternity ; after he hath been enabled to evidence the writing of his name in heaven by the experience of a heavenly calling and of a heavenly con- versation. When the Spirit of God (whose proper work it is to assure, as it was the Father's to elect, and the Son's to redeem) hath written tlie law of life in a Christian's heart, and caused him to know assuredly that his name is in the book of life, he cannot but melt in sweet flames of holy aflfection. ibid. ATTRACTION. The loadstone draws all the iron and steel that comes near it, and also com- municates of its own virtue to the iron it draws. Such a loadstone is Christ. He draws many after him, and when he has drawn them communicates his own virtue to them, so that they become useful to others ; as a magnetic needle attracts other needles, by virtue of the power itself has received. AVENGE. When true grace is under the foot of a temptation, it will even then stir up a vehement desire of revenge, like a prisoner in the enemy's hand, who is thinking and plotting how to get out ; waiting and long- ing every moment for an opportunity of deliverance, that he may again take up arms. " O God, remember me," saith Samson, " this once, I pray thee ; and strengthen me, that I may be avenged on the Philiitines for my two eyes," Judges xvi. 27. Thus prays the gracious soul, that God would spare him and strengthen him, that he may be avenged for his pride, un- belief, and all those sins by which he has dishonoured God. Gurnall. BANISHMENT. There goes a rumour that I am to be banished. And let it come, if God so will. The other side of the sea is my Father's ground as well as this side. Rutherfoord. BELIEVER. The weakest believer shall partake of such hidden things, such excellencies of Christ, as all the world shall never be able to dive into, reach, nor comprehend. Crisp. A believer, in a poor condition, re- sembles a fine and valuable picture in a broken frame. Jenkin. Men are believers because they are elected ; not elected because they are be- lievers. Sladen. [Believers do, in general, wish to ex- perience little else but the sweetness and comforts of religion ; whence Mr. Ruther- foord says of himself,] I am like a child that hath a golden book, and playeth chiefly with the ribbons, and the gilding, and the picture in the first page ; instead of reading the more profitable contents. BELIEVING. To believe the gospel is but to give God credit for being wiser than ourselves. Madan. Believing is the most wonderful thing in the world. Put any thing of thy own to it and thou spoilest it. Wilcox. BESTOVVMENT. God is not only the rewarder, but is himself the reward of his. A king may enrich his subjects with gratuities ; but he bestows himself upon his queen. Cripplegate Lecture. BIBLE. When a believer is in a state of comfort and prosperity, he can read other books beside the Bible : but when he is in tempta- tion, 6r burdened with distress, he betakes himself to the Bible alone. He wants pure wine without any mixture of water. — This shews the worth of the Bible above all other books. Mr. Searl in con. at B. Hemb. Idem. Aug. 23. EXCELLENT PASSAGES FROM EMINENT PERSONS. When you experience on your soul the happy energy of the Scriptures, every at- tempt to stagger your belief, or withdraw yottr veneration from the Bible, will be like an attempt to shatter the rock in pieces with a bubble, or to pierce the adamant with a feather. Mr. Hervei/. The page, of Scriptures like the produc- tions of nature, will not only endure the test but improve upon the trial. The ap- plication of the microscope to the one, and a repeated meditation on the other, are sure to display new beauties and present us with higher attractives. ibid. Without the powerful agency of the blessed Spirit to enlighten our understand- ings and to apply the doctrines of the Bible to our hearts ; we shall be, even with the word of light and life in our hands, some- what like blind Bartimaeus sitting amidst the beams of day ; or like the withered ai m with invaluable treasures before it. ibid. By the blessed influences of God's holy Spirit, our understandings are opened to know, and our hearts opened to receive, the Scriptures ; to understand them in all the fulness of their heavenly meaning; to re- ceive them in all the force of their trans- forming power. ibid. Of most other things it may be said, " Vanity of vanities ; all is vanity :" but of the Scriptures, " Verity of verities, all is verity." Arrowsmith. In the Scriptures, there are 'EvriviKia, songs of victory ; but such as exalt not the prowess of man, but the glory of God. So Exod. XV. 'S.miKtjha, or funeral songs ; but such as celebrate Christ's death, and the good-will of God therein. So Psalm xxii. and Isa.liii. EpwrcKo, songs of love : but such as set forth the love of Christ to his spouse the Church, and her mutual affection to him. So Psalm xlv. and the Book of Canticles. There are also BKKoXik-a, sacred pastorals : but such as magnify no other shepherd but God alone. Yea. FdapyiKa too, or songs relative to hus- bandry: but such as ascribe all to him. Let Virgil be asked, " Quid faciat IfPtas segetes," or what makes a good harvest ? And he will wholly insist on this or that secondary cause of fertility. — Ask David, he presently falls in his georgics, upon praising God as the author of all fruitful- ness : "Thou visitest the earth and blessest it ; thou makest it very plenteous. Thou makest it soft with the showers of rain, and blessest the increase of it Thou crownest the year with thy goodness, and thy clouds drop fatness," Psa. Ivi. ibid. The two Testaments, Old and New, like the two breasts of the same person, give the same milk. ibid. 559 [Grace is the same as to principle in all God's children, how various soever it may seem]. If you draw water out of one and the same well, with vessels of different metal ; one of brass, the other of tin, u third of earth ; the water may seem at fiist to be of a different colour ; but when the vessels are brought near the eye, this diversity of colour vanishes, and the water in each, when tasted of, has the same relish. — The same remark may likewise be accom- modated to the several styles in which the penmen of Holy Scripture have respectively written. Arrowsmith. Let such as choose it make their boast of other things, for which England is famous ; as fine churches, bridges, wool, &c. If 1 was asked, " What advantage have En- glishmen, and what profit is there of living in this island ?" My answer should be, " Much every way : but chiefly because to us are committed the oracles of God, and liberty to read our Father's mind in our mother's-tongne." ibid. We are generally desirous to have fair and well-printed Bibles : but the fairest and finest impression of the Bible, is to have it well printed on the reader's heart. ibid. Quaint notions, philosophical specula- tions, and strains of wit, if set in competi- tion with the oracles of God, are but as so many spiders' webs to catch flies ; fitter for the taking of fancies than the saving of souls ibid. Other books may render men learned unto ostentation ; but the Bible only can make them really wise unto salvation, ibid. The dust or the finery about your Bibles is a witness now, and will at the last day be a witness of the enmity of your hearts against Christ as a prophet. Boston. Do not you teach the Bible, but let the Bible teach you. A saying of the late Mr. Fanch, of Romsei/, Hants. BIGOT. For wolves to devour sheep is no wonder ; but for sheep to devour one another, is monstrous and astonishing. Anon BLOOD OF CHRIST. The fountain of Christ's blood is always open. We sin daily ; and every day we sue out our discharge in Christ's name. The best of God's children make but tno much work for pardoning mercy. We con- tract new filth by walking up and down in a dirty defiling world. Dr. Manton. It is said of the diamond ; Incidit gemmas, sed non inciditur ipse : Hircino tantum sanguine mollis erit. i. e. "It cuts other jewels ; but is itself cut of none : notliing will soften it but steep- ing it in the blood of goats." Nor will mail's adamantine heart be EXCELLENT PASSAGES FROM EMINENT PERSONS. 560 softened to purpose, until steeped in the blood of Christ, the true scape goat. Arrowsmith. Nothing but the blood of God can satisfy the justice of God, or calm the awakened conscience. A sat/big of the Rev. Mr. fValter Chapman's. If thou hast not the blood of Christ at the root of thy profession, thy profession will wither and prove but painted pageantry to go to hell in, TVilcox. Without the blood of Christ upon thy conscience, all thy services are dead. ibid. I may be ashamed to think that, in the midst of so much profession, I know so little of the blood of Christ, which is the main thing in the gospel. ibid. [The works of men], without the blood of sprinkling will be but as a withered leaf amidst the inextinguishable burning. Hervey. Happy the people on whom the blood of Christ is sprinkled ! this will screen and protect them like the mark which the man, clothed with linen, set on the foreheads of God's chosen ones, Ezek. ix. 6. or, like the line of scarlet thread, which Rahab bound to the window of her house. Josh. ii. 18, 19. ibid. BLASPHEMOUS SUGGESTIONS. [Blasphemous suggestions] will he charged on the tempter alone, if they he not con- sented ti» ; and will no more be laid to the charge of the tempted party, than a bastard laid down at a chaste man's door will fix guilt upon him. [It may indeed give him trouble and vexation, but still he is not the father.] Anon. BODY. My soul, thou art now as a bird in the shell ; in a shell of flesh which wiO shortly break and let thee go. This feeble vessel of the body will certainly ere long be »plit on the rock of death ; and then must thou, its present pilot, forsake it, and swim to the shore of eternity. Therefore, O everlasting creature, see and be sure thou content not thyself with a transitory por- tion. Arrowsmith. CALLING. God's gracious biddings are effectual enablings". fVilcox. CAUTION. Were saints th-eir own carvers they would soon cut their own fingers. Dyer. When thou art enlarged in duty, sup- ported and most assisted in thy Christian course, remember that thy strength lies in God, not in thyself. When thou hast thy best suit on, thy best suit of spirituality and strength, remember who made it, who paid tor it, and who gave it thee. Thy grate, thy comfort, is neither the work of thy own hand, nor the price of thy own desert. Be not therefore proud of that which belongs to another, even God. Divine assistance will be suspended if it becomes a nurse to pride. Gurnatl. Strong affections make strong afflic- tions. Dr. Owen. High professor, despise not weak saints. Thou mayest come to wish to be in the con- dition of the meanest of them. Wilcox. CHURCH MILITANT. While Israel marched through the wilderness, the blackest night had a pillar of fire ; and the brightest day a pillar of cloud. So in this world, things never goes so well with God's Israel, but they have still something to groan under ; nor so ill but they have still comfort to be thankful for. In the Church militant, as in the ark of old, there are both a rod and a pot of manna. Arrowsmith, CHARACTERS. Every man has two characters : a good one from his friends ; and a bad one from his enemies. The best way perhaps for us to form a just estimate of any person whatever, is by mixing his two characters together and making one of both. My xtncle, Francis Toplady, in Conversa- tion at Rochester, May 18, 1770. ' CHILDREN. I viT-ite my blessing to your child. You have borrowed him from God : for he is no heritage to you but a loan. Love him as folks do borrowed things. Rutherfoord. [To one who had lost several children, Mr. Rutherfoord writes] They are got into the lee of the har- bour before the storm comes on. They are not lost to you, but laid up in Christ's treasury above. You shall meet them again. They are not sent away but sent before. CHRIST. Whoever hatb Christ, cannot he poor ; whoever wants him cannot be rich. Dyer. If Christ be not thy Jacob's staff", to guide thee to heaven, he will never be thy Jacob's ladder, to lift thee thither. ibid. The Lord Jesus is as a strong arm that draws a bow. The greater the strength ot the arm is, the swifter is the flight of the aiTow, and the farther the arrow goes. Christ being the strength of all believing souls, he draws the bow for them with a mighty arm. Dr. Crisp Though men of the lowest stations have genei-ally the fewest troubles ; yet it was not so with Christ. His case was alike remote both from the grandeur of princes, and from the traiKiuillity of the vulgar. EXCELLENT PASSAGES FROM EMINENT PERSONS. Pre-eminence in the vast multitude of his sorrows, and the first place among the afflicted and oppressed was his distinction. CHRIST THE WAY. Merchants go to sea. . The end of their voyage is it may be the Indies : but they have also business in France, Holland, Spain, or Turkey; and they accordingly put in there. Now their business is not their way to the end ; but it is something they have to do in the way before they come to their journey's end. Thus all our obedience and righteousness are but so many several businesses here, which we are to dispatch while we are in Christ (who is our only way) towards heaven : and Christ him- self being our way, he so provides for us that our business goes on. Crisp. Believers must and will serve God, in duty and obedience ; but they must not expect that their duties and obedience will bring them any thing. It is Christ brings every thing you get. While you look to get by what you do, you will but get a knock ; because of so much sinfulness in your duties. If you would have any good, you must get it by Christ. Your obedience is that wherein you are to walk in the world, and before the world, that you may [shew forth the power of faith and] be profitable unto men But as for getting any thing, assure yourself, that while you labour to get by your duties you provoke God, as much as lies in you, to punish you for such presuniplion, and for the filthiness of the things which you per- form, ibid. When men would have any favour from a king, they do not apply to a scullion in the kitchen, but to the favourite ; by whom the king has declared he will grant and deliver all things. When the people came to Pharaoh, Pharaoh sent them to Joseph ; and as Joseph said, Pharaoh would do. So would you have any thing of God, go to Christ ; and by Christ, go to the Father. ibid. CHRIST A SHELTER. The obedience and atonement of Christ are as sufficient to secure perfectly all sin- ners that fly by faith under the covert of his wings, as the immeasurable circuit of the sky is roomy enough for a lark to fly in, or as the immense brightness of the sun is lightsome enough for a labourer to work by. Hereey. When the thunders roar and the light- nings flash ; when the clouds pour down water, and a horrid storm comes on ; all that are in the open air retire under the branches of a thick tree, or fly to some other commodious shelter. [So] tlie blood and righteousness of Christ are a covert. Hither we may fly and be screened ; hither we may 561 fly and be safe. Safe as was Noah, when he entered the ark, and God's own hand closed the door, and God's own eye guided its motions. Hervei/. CHRIST A FOUNDATION. If we are for setting buttresses to the house that is built upon a rock, what is this but a disparagement to the foundation ? If the foundation be already firm and good, why are you for endeavouring to strengthen it ? So far as you set up any props unto Christ the foundation, who is to bear up aU by himself, so far you disparage Christ, so far you bring him down, and give him not the pre-eminence. Dr. Crisp. Christ is a sure foundation. So sure that lay what load you can upon him, he stoops not : and therefore he was excellently typified by the pillars of brass in Solomon's Temple. They were made of brass to shew their strength, whereon the whole weight of the porch of the temple lay. ibid. CHRIST THE HEAD. You that are believers and are under some particular trial ; if you run to any inherent grace, or temper of spirit that is in yourselves, or any qualifications, or any performances that you can tender, and look after all or any of these, as that which will bring you the comfort, the support, or the supplies you want ; while you look faintly and coldly upon Christ, and on the freeness and sureness of the grace which Christ brings along with himself ; so long you deny unto Christ that pre-eminence which God has given him above all beside. Dr. Crisp. CHRIST A ROCK. If thou ever sawest Christ, thou sawest him a rock higher than self-righteousness, Satan and sin. And this rock doth follow thee : and there will be a continual dropping of honey and grace out of this rock to satisfy thee. IFilcox. CHRIST A GIFT. Hast thou but a mind to Christ? Come and take the water of life freely. It is thine. It is given to thee. There is nothing looked for from thee, to take thy portion in Christ. Thine he is as much as any person's under heaven. Dr. Crisp. Dost thou thirst ? that is, hast thou a mind really to Christ, that Christ should say really to thy soul, I am thy salvation ? It may be thou art suspicious of thyself, and thy heart is apt to say, " Christ is not my portion ; I am not fit for Christ ; I am a great sinner ; I must be holy first." Alas ! this is bringing a price to Christ. But you must cume without money and without price. And what is it to come without 20 liX CELLENT PASSAGES FROM EMINENT PERSONS. money or pi ice? It is to take Christ, and the waters of life, merely and simply as a gift. Dr. Crisp. These are the sure mercies of David, when a man receives the things of Christ only because Christ gives them ; and not in regard to any action of cur's as the ground of taking them. ibid. CHRIST IN THE HEART. Let men be ever so great enemies to Christ, yet as soon as he sets up himself in their hearts they will love him, own him, serve him, and suffer for him. Dyer. CHRIST'S CROSS. Seeing Christ hath fastened heaven to the far end of the cross, and he will not loosen the knot himself, and none else can (for when Chnst ties a knot, aU the world cannot undo it) ; let us then count it ex- ceeding joy when «e fall into divers temp- tations. Rutherfoord. The noise and expectation of Christ's cross are weightier than the cross itself. ibid. Christ and his cross are two good guests worth entertaining. Men would fain have Christ by himself, and so have him cheap : but the market will not come down. ibid. The cross of Christ is so sweet and f rofitable, that the saints (such are its gain and glory) might wish it were lawful either to buy or borrow his cross. But it is a mercy that they have it brought to their hand for nothing. ibid. The cross of Christ (or suffering for his sake), is a < r:ibbed tree to look at ; but sweet and fair is the fruit it yields. ibid. Welcome the cross of Christ and bear it triumphantly: but see it be indeed Christ's cross, not thy own. inicox. A believer studies more how to adorn ^he cross than how to avoid it. Dyer. Christ with his cross is better than the world with its crown. ibid. CHRIST THE SAVIOUR. Christ the law-giver will always speak in vain without Christ the Saviour. Venn. CHRIST'S WORK. If you have been looking at works, du- ties, and qualifications, instead of looking to Christ, it will cost thee dear. No won- der you go complaining. Graces are no more than evidences : the merits of Christ nlone, without thy graces, must be the foun- jation for thy hope to bottom on. Chiast tnly is the hope of glory. fFilcox. He that builds upon duties, graces, &c. mows not the merits of Christ. This makes yelieWng so hard, and so far above nature, if thou believest thou must every dny re- nounce (from bri' g any part of thy de- pendance) thy obedience, thy baptism, thy sanctification, thy duties, thy graces, thy tears, thy meltings, thy hurablings ; and nothing but Christ must be held up. IVilcox. When we conre to God, we must bring nothing but Christ with us. Any ingre- dients or previous qualifications of our own will poison and corrupt faith. ibid. In the highest commands look at Christ, not as an exactor to require, but as a debtor by promise, and as an undertaker to work. ibid. As water, falling on a rocky way, glides off as fast as it falls ; whence the way is hard as before the rain fell, and a man may stand as firmly there as before ; so all our sinfulness, while we are in the way of Christ, as thick as it falls, passeth off from us to him, and from him also, by virtue of that satisfaction which he hath made to the jus- tice of God. Crisp. As the payment of a great sum all at once, and at a day, is a better payment than by a penny a year, until a thousand yeais be out; so Christ's satisfying the Father at once, by one sacrifice of himself, is a better satisfaction, then if we should have been infinite days in paying that which his justice requires, and his indignation to siti doth expect. ibid. Let it be observed, that Christ's active obedience to the law for us, and in our room and stead, does not exempt us from personal obedience to it : any more than his sufferings and death exempt us from a cor- poral death, or suffering for his sake. It is true, indeed, v. e do not suffer and die, in in the sense he did, to satisfy justice and atone for sin ; so neither do we yield obe- dience to the biw, in order to obtain eternal life by it. By Christ's obedience for us we are e.xempted from obedience to the law, in this sense ; but not from obedience to it, as a rule of walk and conversation, by which we may glorify God, and express our thankfulness to him for his abundant mercies. Dr. Gill. It is Christ's work, to take every present sin off the conscience of the believer, by the application of his blood and sacrifice — Hence he is said to be the Lamb of God that taketh away, that continues to take away, the sins of the world. ibid. ISefore God enlightened me into the righteousness of Christ, and justification by it ; I used to wonder how it was that, seeing Christ Uvea thirty three years and six months upon earth, only his death, or at most, the last week of his life, should Be of any avail for the salvation of sinneis. But blessed be God, I have long seen that Christ was all that time working out a perfect obedience for my acceptance with the Father. " By the obedience of one sball many be made righteous," is a text that amply acccun.s EXCELLENT PASSAGES I'ROM EMINEXT PERSONS. 5G3 for his having spent iihove thirty-three years below previous to his crucifixion ; and is n tiuth by which my soul is nourished and fed to life everlasting. Mr. IZomaine, in conversation, July 18, 1769. It I had the righteousness of a saint, says one, O how happy should I be ! If 1 had the righteousness of an angel, says ano- ther, I should fear no evil. But I am bold to say, that the poorest sinner, who believes in Christ, has a righteousness infinitely more excellent than either saints or angels. If the law asks for sinless perfection, it is to be found in Christ, my divine Surety. If the law requires an obedience that may stand before the burning eye of God, be- hold, it is in Jesus my Mediator. Should ti.e strictest justice arraign me, and the purest holiness make its demands upon me, 1 remit them both to my dying and obedient Immanuel. With him the Father is always well-pleased ; and in him the believer stands complete. Mr. Hervey. Jesus says concerning his people, " If they have sinned, I have taken their sins upon myself. If they have multiplied trans- gressions as the stars of heaven, my Father hath laid on me the iniquities of them all. They are my redeemed ones ; I have bought them with my blood ; i cannot lose my purchase. If they are not saved, 1 am not gli/rified." ibid. CHRIST'S COMPANY. While Christ was upon earth, he was more among publicans and sinners, than among scribes and pharisees ; for these were self-righteous [and so, not fit com- pany for him who came to seek and to save the lost]. tnicox. CHRIST'S LIBERALITY. Christ is not more rich himself, than he is liberal to contribute of his treasures. He makes his people sharers to the uttermost of all that he has. Crisp. CHRIST'S PRESENCE. 1 know the sun will overcloud and eclipse, and I shall again be put to walk in the shade. But Christ must be welcome to come and go as he thinkeih meet. Yet liis coming would be more ivelconie to me than his going. Kuthcrfoord. Christ is ever present in and with his people : and while he is on board, the ship cannot sink. He may, indeed, seem ti; deep, for a time ; and to disregard both the vessel and the storm. Do you awake torn by prayer and supplication. Dr. Giffard, Dec. 24. 1775. CHRIST'S CARE. A true friend divides the cares and dou- bles the joys of his brother in affection. Christ docs more ; for he takes the cares of his people entirely on himself; and not only doubles their joys, but makes all his joys their own. Anon. Suppose a king's son should get out of a besieged city, and leave his wife and chil- dren behind, whom he loves as his own soul ; would this prince, when arrived at his father's palace, delight himself with the splendour of the court, and forget his family in distress No : but having their cries and groans always in his ears, he would come post to his father, and entreat him as ever he loved him, that he would send all the force of his kingdom to raise the siege, and save his dear relations from perishing. Nor will Christ, though gone up from the world, and ascended into his glory, forget his children for a moment that are left behind him. Gurnall. CHRIST'S NECESSITIES. Why was the bread of life hungry, but that if he might feed the hungry with the bread of life ? Why was rest itself weary, but to give the weaiy rest ? Why was the prince of peace in trouble, but that the troubled might have peace ? None but the image of God could restore us to God's image. None, but the prince of peace, could bring the God of peace, and the peace of God, to poor sinners. Dyer. CHRIST'S PURCHASE. The whole election of grace, all the children of God scattered about in the world ; all the Lord's people that ever have been, are, or shall be ; may truly be said to be the pearl of great price, which Christ came into this world to seek for, and found : and finding it, sold all that he had, shed his blood, parted with his life, and gave himself for it, and bought it. Dr. Gill. CHRIST'S SUFFERINGS. We cannot [fully] understand the suf- ferings of Christ. God only knows what is in the curse of the la>v. God alone knows what is the true [and utmost] desert of sin. How, then, do we know what Christ suf- fered, when the punishment due to our sin, when all our iniquities met on him, [and he had] the curse of the law upon him I God only knows what is in these things. Dr. Owen. CHRIST'S LOVE. It is a peculiar kind of expression Eph. iii. 19. where the apostle prays thar, they might " know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge." We may know that experimentally which we cannot know comprehensively; we may know that in its power and effects which we cannot comprehend in its natuie and depths. A weary person may receive refreshment from EXCELLENT PASSAGES FROM EMINENT PERSONS. 564 a spring, who cannot fathom the depth of the ocean whence it proceeds. Dr. Oioen. I have seen the white side of Christ's cross. How lovely hath he been to his oppressed servant. ibid. How little of the sea can a child cany in his hand ! as little do I take away of my great sea, the boundless love of Christ. Rutherfoord. [Written from Aberdeen prison by Ruther- foord.] My Lord Jesus is kinder to me than ever he was. It pleaseth him to dine and sup with his afflicted prisoner. The king feast- eth me, and his spikenard casteth a sweet smell. Put Christ's love to the trial, and throw all your burdens upon it, and then it will appear love indeed. We employ not his love, and therefore we know it not. CHRIST'S WILLINGNESS. It is less injurious to Christ, to doubt even of his existence, than to doubt of his willingness to save a wounded, broken- hearted sinner. Ri/land. CHRIST THE ONLY SAVIOUR. Do not legalise the gospel ; as if part remained for you to do and suffer, and Christ were but a half-mediator : or as if you were to bear part of your own sin, and make part satisfaction. Let sin break thy heart, but not thy hope. fVilcox. Christ will be a pure, total Redeemer and Mediator, and thou must be an undone sinner, or Christ and thou will never agree. CHRIST'S RIGHTEOUSNESS Sin has stripped man of his moral clothing. Man's own righteousness will not cover his nakedness ; and whoever is destitute of Christ's righteousness, is a naked person. Dr. Gill. Christ's righteousness is called, The righteousness of the law, Rom. viii. 4. For though righteousness does not come by our obedience to the law, yet it does by Christ's obedience to it as performed by man, no flesh living can be justified ; yet by the deeds of the law, as performed by Christ, all the elect are justified. ibid. Christ's righteousness is also called The righteousness of faith, Rom. iv. 13; not as if faith were our righteousness, either in.whole or in part, but because faith re- ceives the righteousness of Christ, puts it on, rejoices in it, and boasts of it. ibid. Christ's righteousness is called The best robe, Luke xv. 22 ; or, as the Greek text hath it, the first robe, rriv ToXrjf t)]v wjh^I.-jj'. For though Adam's robe of righteousness in innocence was the first in we;u-, this was first provided in the covenant of grace : this was first in designation, though that was first in use. ibid. We must be declared free from guilt, and invested with a righteousness that will stand before the law of sinless perfection and entitle us to the kingdom of heaven. And if v.e have it not in ourselves, where must we look for it but as existing solely in the person of Jesus Christ? Dependence therefore upon that righteousness, as wrought out by him for believers, and ap- pointed of God for sinners to trust in, is the gracious faith of the gospel by which the soul is justified. Satan and the world may ask us, " How can ye be justified by a righteousness which is not your's ?" We answer, " The righte- ousness of Christ is our's, and our's by as great a right as any other thing we posseses to wit, by the free gift of God ; for it hath pleased him to give us a garment who were naked, and to give us, who had none of our own, a righteousness answerable to justice." Bp. Cowper. Men generally think that, besides Christ and his merits, there is something more in the way that leadeth to life, namely, a man's own righteousness, to act in conjunction with Christ : " these together," say they, " are the way to salvation." Alas for such ! Christ alone is the way to heaven ; and he himself has declared that way to be a narrow one. It is, among other respects, narrow in this regard ; that all a man's own righte- ousness [as a ground, cause, or condition of justification and eternal life] must be clean shut out. It is so narrow that there can be nothing in the way but the righteousness of Christ. When a man's own righteousness is supposed to be a part of the way, we make the way broader than God will allow. Dr. Crisp. Whatever comes in when thou goest to God for acceptance, besides Christ, call it antichrist ; hid it be gone ; make only Christ's righteousness triumphant. All be- sides that is Babylon, which must fall if Christ stand ; and thou shalt rejoice in the day of the fall thereof. Mr. JFilcoT. Do as much as thou wilt, but stand with all thy weight upim Christ's righteousness. Take heed of having one foot on thy own righteousness and another on Christ's, ibid. It is the hardest thing in the world to take Christ alone for our righteousness. Join any thing to him of your own, and you unchrist him. ibid. Whatsoever is of nature's spinning must be all unravelled before Christ's righteous- ness can be put on. ibid. Nothing can kill sin but the beholding of Christ's righteousness ibid. CHRIST'S EXALTATION. Christ's exalted state in glory does not make him neglectful of poor sinners, nor scornful to them : no, he has the same heart in heaven that he had on earth. He went EXCELLENT PASSAGES FROM EMINENT PERSONS through all thy temptations, dejections, soiTOH-s, and desertions. He drank the bitterest of the cup, and left the sweet. The condemnation is out. He drank up all the Father's wrath at one draught, and nothing but salvation is left for thee. ibid. CHRIST'S INTERCESSION. Chri.st commands in lieaven as he does upon earth. There is nothing he can ask of the Father but it is answered. He never has a nay. If any come to be a suitor to him, to put up a petition for him, he is sure to speed. ^ Crisp. If you would pray but cannot, and so are discouraged, see Christ praying for you, and using his interest with the Father for you. ffilcox. CHRISTIANS. Thou, who hast seen Christ all, and thy- self absolutely nothing ; to whom Christ is life, and who art dead to all righteousness besides ; thou art a Cliristian, one highly beloved, and who has found favour with God. IFilcox. None can make a Christian but he that made the world. Hart. The sons of God have much in hand, and more in hope. Mmiton. God's people are too touchy in lookmg so much for respect from men. It argues a secret leaven of pride if they murmur when the world doth not esteem them. A Christian is an unknown man in the world, and therefore should not take it ill if he finds himself slighted. i''id. A Christian that roweth against the stream of the flesh and blood is the world's wonder and the world's reproof. ibid. The best of Christians are found in the worst of times. COMMUNION WITH GOD. Though a gracious soul may not always enjoy sensible communion with God in the ordinances, yet it has always this good sign, that it cannot be easy and satisfied without it. Dr. Giffard. Have you any reason to believe that you have at any time had communion with God, in private or in public, in your closet or in the family, or in the house of God, under any ordinance, eitlier the ministry of the word, or prayer, or the supper of the Lord ? Then you may be assured Christ has made satisfaction for you, or you would never have enjoyed such communion. Anoii. CIRCUMSPECTION. Persons who make a peculiar profession of godliness should be peculiarly circumspect in their moral walk, else they hurt not only their own character, but, above all, the cause of religion itself ; and resemble a man who carries fire in one hand and water in the other. Mrs. Bacon, Feb. 16, 17/0. COMFORTS. Of all created comforts God is the lender. You are the borrower, not an owner. Ruthcrfoord. God's comforts are no dreams. He would not put his seal on blank paper, nor deceive his afflicted ones that trust in him. ibid. If comfort fails, God's faithfulness does not. What though your pitcher is broke ? The fountain is stiU as full as ever. The Rev. Mr. miliams. I had rather be a means of comforting one of God's dear children than gain the applause of a nation. Ryland. COMPANY. Better is it to go with a few to heaven than with a multitude to hell, and be damned for the sake of company. Parr COMPLAINING. Complaining of God is one thing; com- plaining to God is another. Mr. Caser. COMPARISON NO CRITERION. Sometimes perhaps thou hearest another Christian pray with much freedom, fluency, and movingness of expression, while thou canst hardly get out a few broken words in duty. Hence thou art ready to accuse thy- self, and to admire him. As if the gilding of the key made it open the door the better. Gurnall. Take heed of judging thyself uncon- verted, because thou mayest not have felt so much horror as some others in thy first convictions. O believer, that has net heard so much, it may be, of the rattling of the chains of hell, nor, in thy conscience, so much of the outcries of the damned, as to make thy very flesh tremble ; but hast thou not seen that, in a bleeding Christ, which hath made thy heart melt, and mourn, and loathe thy lusts ? It is strange to hear a patient complain of the physician (when he finds his prescriptions work effectually) merely because the operation did not affect him so violently as in some others. Soul, thou hast the more reason to bless God, if the completions of his Spirit have wrought so kindly on thee, without those extremities of terror which have cost others so dear. ibid. It may be thou seest another abound with that joy which thou wantest, and art therefore ready to think his grace is more, and thine less, than it really is ; while per- haps thou mayest have as much real grace as he, only thou wantest a light to s'lew thee where it lies. ibid. EXCELLENT PASSAGES FROM EMINENT PERSONS. 566 CONCEIT. There is a strong resemblance between a pert, overbearing, conceited opinionist and a drunken man. You may see him reeling to and fro ; now entertaining this odd con- ceit, to-morrow that, and the next day a third : unstable in all. Vomiting, too, and casting out scornful reproaches against such as differ from him. Talkative, as drunkards commonly are ; prating, and obtiuding his own opinions on every body. Self-sufficient, and boasting himself and his party as too hard for all their opposers. Thus, as our proverb saith, " one drunkard is forty men strong." — Whoever attempts to reason with such a dogmatist wiU soon find him as in- capable of conviction as Nabal was of Abigail's narration, until his wine was gone out of him. Dr. Arrowsmitli. CONFIDENCE. Even when a believer sees no light, he may feel some influence ; when he c'annot close with a promise, he may lay hold on an attribute, and say, " Though both my flesh and my heart fail, yet divine faithfidness and divine compassions fail not. Though I can hardly discern at present either sun, moon, or stars, yet will I cast anchor in the dark, and ride it out until the day break, and the shadows flee away. Arrowsmith. CONSOLATIONS Divine consolations are the nearest to us when human assistances are furthest from us. Cave. CONSTITUTION SINS. Watch against constitution sins. See them in their vileness, and they wiU never break out into act. IVilcox. CONTENTxMENT. Be willing to want what God is not willing to give. Dyer. Contentment without the world is better than the world without contentment. ibid. Be contented with a mean condition. This is not the time for the manifestation of of the sons of God. Though others that are wicked may have a larger portion and allow- ance than you, yet God duth not misplace his hands (as Joseph thought his father did. Gen. xlviii.), but puts them upon the right head, and assigns temporal blessings to the right persons. Ephraim is nut preferred before Manasseh without reason. Manton. Brown bread with the gospel is good fare. Vodd. When the heart is full of God, a httle of the world will go p. great way with us. Mr. Sturcr, in conversation Dec. 15, 1/69. '■ if that be liad witli lillli', wbat need more !" CONTRAST. As the wicked are hurt by the best things so the godly are bettered by the worst. CONVERSION. It is a greater act of grace, for God, to work conversion in a sinner than to crown that conversion with glory. It is more gracious and condescending in a prince to marry a poor damsel, than having married her, to clothe her hke a princess. He was free to do the first or not ; but his relation to her pleads strongly for the other. God might have chosen whether he would have given thee grace, or no ; but having done this, thy relation to him, and his covenant with thee in his Son, do obhge him to add more and more, until he hath fitted thee as a bride for himself in glory. Guniall. If Satan seeks to puzzle thee about the time of thy conversion, content thyself with this, that thou seest the streams of grace, though, perhaps, the exact time of thy first receiving it (like the head of Nilua) ni;iy not easily be found. You may know the sun is up, though you did not observe when it rose. ibid. Conversion of the soul to God is like changing a keni.el of mud into a river of crystal. Mr. Engleheart, in conversation at London, May 14, 17/6. Since Christ looked upon me in con- versation, ray heart is not my own : he hath run away with it to heaven. Mr. Rulherfoord. CONVERSATION. A daily conversation in heaven is the surest forerunner of a constant abode there. The Spirit of God, by enabling us hereunto, first brings heaven into the soul, and thcTi conducts the soul to heaven. Arroivsmitlt. CON-VICTION. Happy conviction of guilt ! which per- forms the same beneficent office tlie Baptist discharged of old ; it prepares the way of the Lord, and renders his salvation inesti- mably precious to the soul. feitn. The greatness of Christ's merit is not known but to a poor soul at the greatest loss. Slight convictions will occasion but slight prizings of Christ's blood and right- eousness. Anon. CORRECTION. God's corrections are our instructions ; his lashes our lessons ; and his scourge* our school-masters. Whence both in He- brew and Greek, chastening and teaching are expressed by one word, idt3 and Traiftia. Brookex. It is of the Lord's mercy that our af- fliction is not execution, but correction. EXCELLICNT PASSAGES FROM EMINENT PERSONS, He thht Iiatli deserved hanging may be (;lad to escape with a w hipping. Brookes. " If vvc run away from the Lord, he has It covenant-rod for our backs ; but it is a lod in the hand of a father." yi dying Saying of my friend, Mr. Lovett, who lociit to Heaven, September 4, 1/75. The correction which you at present consider as an argument of wrath, may bo an evidence of love and an act of merry. God will prune thee, but not hew tlice down. The right of his clemency knows what the left hand of his severity is doing. Better for thee to be a chastened son than an undisciplined bastard. Arrowsmitk. CREATURE COMFORTS. Creature comforts are often to the soul what suckers are to a tiee ; and God takes off those that these may thrive. Mr. Ryland, in conversation, Dec. 23, 1769. CRITERION. When thou gettest no comfort in hearing, nor ease to thy spirit in praying, and yet growest more eager to hear, and art more frequent in prayer ; Oh soul, great are thy faith and patience. Ble.ssed is your condition if you have this testimony in your conscience ; that, acknowledging your own natural ignorance and blindness, you call upon the name of the Lord Jesus, to enlighten your mind, to make his way plain before you, and to give you a strong and distinct perception of the great things that concern your eternal peace. Blessed is your condition if, feeling your utter utter incapacity to procure the favour of God by the best of your duties, reforma- tions, or performances, and confounded in your own sight, for your great defects, you build all your hope of acceptance with God, on what Christ has done and suftered for you. Blessed is your condition, if afflicted with the e.xceeding great vileness of your natural affections, and longing for victory over them; for a more spiritual mind, and for a farther progres.s in love both to God and man ; you depend on the renewing, sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit, to work this divine change witliin you. This is to beUeve in the only begotten Son of God without partiality and without hypocrisy. This the word of God pronounces to be that dependance on Christ which shall never be confounded. Venn. DARKNESS OF SOUL. If you are under darkness of soul, first go to God with it ; and then go to some experienced saint of your acquaintance. It is good sometimes to light your candle at a neighbour's fire. Anon. 567 DEAD IN SIN. Great was the cry in Egypt when the first-born in each family was dead ; but are there not many families where all are dead together ? Boston. Death is a friend of grace, anfl the ene- my of nature. Dodd. Mankind are like sheep grazing on a common : the butcher comes continually and fetches away one, and another, and another ; while the rest feed on uncon- cerned, until he comes for the last. Mr. Heme, formerly Rector of Blagdon, Somerset. The dread and dislike of death do by no means prove that a person is not a child of God. Even a strong believer may be afraid to die. We are not in general, fond of handling a serpent or a viper, even though its sting is drawn, and though we know it to be so. Mr. John Martin, London, May, 1774. Though a believer may have his darkness, doubts, and fears, and many conflicts of soul while cn his dying-bed ; yet usually these are all over and gone before his last moments come, and death does its work and office upon him. From the gracious promises of God, to be with his people even unto death ; and from the scriptural accounts of dying saints ; and from the observations I have made through the course of my life ; I am of opinion, that generally speaking, the people of God die comfortably ; their spiritual enemies being made to be as still as a stone, while they pass through Jordan, or the stream of death. Dr. Gill. The consideration of the state of the dead as of persons asleep, should moderate our sor- row for the loss of departed friends. What master of a family can be uneasy at finding his family, his wife, his children, his servants, in a sound fast sleep at midnight ? May he not expect that they will rise in the morn- ing well and healthful, and ready to go at)out any service that may be proper for them ? When Christ said, concerning La- zarus, " Our friend Lazarus sleepeth ;" " Lord," said the disciples, " if he sleej) he shall do well." The saints, who aij fallen asleep, must needs do well. The^ cannot do otherwise than well, who net only sleep but sleep in Jesus. ibii As a man that takes a walk in his garden, and spying a beautiful fuU-blown flower crops it, and puts it into his bosom ; S3 the Lord takes his walks in his garden^ the churches ; and gathers his lilies, soulj fully ripe for glory, and with dehght take) them to nimself. ibid. There is no way to live with God, in glory, but by dying. Christians would be clothed with a blessed immortality, but they 568 EXCELLENT PASSAGES FROM EMINENT PERSONS. are loathe to he unclothed for it : they pray, thy kingdom come ; and, when God is leading them thither, they are afraid to go. What is there in this valley of tears, that should make us weep to leave it. Cripplegate Led. DECREES OF GOD. A cockle-fish may as soon crowd the ocean into its narrow shell, as vain man ever comprehend the decrees of God. Anon. DEFAMATION. How harmless is defamation from a fellow-creature, when the great Creator smiles ! Anon. DEISM. We can never expect to see Deism de- cline, whilst those principles which support it, are maintained by [professing Christians] themselves. But would Protestants return to their ancient Protestant doctrines, and live and practise accordingly, then would religion flourish ; and Atheism, Deism, Arianism, and every other ism sink apace. Dr. Gill. DEPRAVITY. Nature is so corrupted as not to under- stand its own depravation. Dr. Owen. If we trace man's forgetfulness of God up to its real source, it will afford us the most afflicting evidence of his natural de- pravity, and prove that he is a despiser of the Lord God Omnipotent. Venn. DEPENDENCE ON CHRIST ALONE. A lively dependance on the Lord Jesus Christ implies an intimate and most inte- resting connection between him and the soul ; a knowledge of him, affecting to the heart, and full of influence ; an application to him, daily and persevering. So that a man who is living in such dependance on the Son of God, might as reasonably call in question the reality of transactions passing between himself and his friends on earth, as whether he is indeed a believer on Jesus. ibid. A Judas may have the sop ; the outward privileges of baptism, the Lord's supper. Church-membership, &c. But hke John, to lean on Christ's bosom, is the gospel ordinance posture in which we should hear, pray, and perform all duties. Ifilcox. Nothing but lying on Christ's bosom will dissolve h;irdiiess of hcai t, and make thee mourn kindly for sin, and humble thee indeed, and make thy soul cordial to Christ, yea, transform the ugliest piece of hell into the image and glory of Christ, ibid. Looking at the natural sun weakens the eye ; but the more you look at Christ, the sun of righteousness, the stronger and clearer will the eye of faith be. Look bat on Christ, and you will love him and live on him. Wilcox. See Christ, and you see all. Keep your eye steadily fixed on his blood and righteous- ness ; and only look at your graces in the second place. Else, every blast of tempta- tion will shake you. ibid. If you would so see the sinfulness of sin, as to loathe it, and to mourn for it ; do not stand looking upon sin, but first look upon Christ as suffering and satisfying, ibid. He who looks upon Christ through his graces, is like one that sees the sun in water ; which wavers and moves as the water doth. Look upon Christ, only as shining in the firmanent of the Father's grace and love ; and there you will see him in his own genuine glory and unspeakable fullness. ibid. He who sets up his sanctification to look at to comfort him, sets up that which will strengthen his doubts and fears. Do but look off Christ, and presently, like Peter, you begin to sink into distress, discourage- ments, and despondency. ibid. A Christian seldom wants comfort, but by breaking the order and method of the gospel ; i. e. by looking upon his own righteousness, instead of looking off to the perfect righteousness of Christ. What is this, but choosing rather to live by candle- light, than by the light of the sun ? ibid. DESIRE. Of a small handful of outivard tilings, I am ready to say, it is enough. But ihst, which I long passionately for, is, a large heart-ful of God in Christ. Arroivsmilh. I would rather utter one of those groans the apostle speaks of, Rom. viii. 26. than shed Esau's tears, have Balaam's prophetic spirit, or the joy of the stony - ground hearer. Boitoti. DESERTS. Thy deserts are hell, wrath, rejection ; Christ's deserts are life, pardon, acceptation. If God hath shewn thee the former, he will give thee the latter. inicoj. DISAPPOINTMENTS. When I have been asked to spend an afternoon with gentlemen of learned educa- tion and unquestionable ingenuity, I have fancied myself invited to take a turn in some beautiful garden, where I expected to have been treated with a sight of the most delicate flowers, and most amiable forms of nature : when to i\iy surprise, I h ive been shewn nothing bnt the most worthless thistles, and contemptible weeds. Mr. Herviy. Is a father to be blamed^ for striking a cup of poison out of his child's hand ; Or KXCELLENT PASSAGES FROM EMINENT PERSONS. 569 God, for stripping us of those outward comforts which would run away with our hearts from him ? Mr. Madan. DISCRIMINATING GRACE. By nature, there is no difference between the elect and reprobate. Paul was as bloody a persecutor as Domitian, or Julian ; Zac- cheus as unconscionable and covetous a worldling as was that rich glutton damned to hell. The elect and reprobate, before converting grace make the difference, are like two men walking in one journey, of one mind, and one heart. They resemble Elijah and Elisha, walking and talking to- gether, when, lo ! a chariot of fire suddenly severs them ; and Elijah is rapt up into heaven, while Elisha is left behind upon earth. — So is it when God's effectual calling, quite unlooked for, comes and separates those two who before were walking to- gether, yea, running to the same excess of riot. The one returns back to the Lord, from whom he was fallen ; while the other, being himself untouched by God, marvels that his former companion hath forsaken him, and walks on still in the old course of his sins, to his final condemnation. Bishop Coivper When God called Paul, he found him a persecutor. Saul was seeking his father's asses when Samuel came to call him to the kingdom. Peter and Andrew were mend- ing their nets ; Matthew was sitting at the receipt of custom ; when Christ called them. So, when we do inquire of our own consciences how we were employed when the Lord called us by his grace ; we shall find that we were employed either in vain, wicked, or worldly things : so that we had no mind to his kingdom. Let the praise therefore of our calling be reserved to the Lord only. ibid. What are all the visible impieties in this world but so many comments on the de- pravity of our fallen nature ? A converted person may say, " Lord, such a drunkard, such an adulterer, such a sodomite, or mur- derer, &c. was cut off from the same piece that I was ; and only free-grace came between us." O Christian, if grace hath made tliee white paper, thou wert by nature as very a dunghill-rag, as the filthiest sinner Crivvk'gate Lectures. DISPUTES. In glory, all religious differences and disputes will for ever cease. There will be an universal shaking of hands in heaven. Mr. S. ff^ilkes, in conversation, Dec. 23, 1769. DISCRETION. If discretion sit not in the saddle, to rein and bridle in thy zeal, thou wilt soon be hurried over hedge and ditch, until thou fallest down some precipice or other, by thy irregular acting. Gurnall. DIVINE LIGHT. The things which the Holy Ghost dis- covers are no other for substance but those very things which are contained in the written word : only he affords regenerate persons clearer light to discern them by, than they had before conversion. — Turn a learned man to the same a\ithor which he perused when a young student; he will find the self-same matter, but see a great deal further into it, because he hath now got further light and knowledge. Arrowsmith. DIVINE GOODNESS. Created goodness, being limited, may be liable to fall short. Esau might have somewhat to plead for saying, " Hast thou but one blessing, O my father ? " — But divine goodness is an ocean that hath neither bank nor bottom. Our heavenly Father hath blessings reserved, as well as bestowed. ibid. DIVINE POWER. Zion's king gets no subjects but by stroke of sword in the day of his power. None corns to him but such as are drawn by a divine hand. Boston. DIVINE HELP. Divine help is the nearest when our misery is at the greatest. Man's extremity is God's opportunity. When Mordecai is thoroughly humbled, Haman shall be hanged. Di/er. DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY. We are, in God's hand, as clay in the hand of the potter. Did you ever know a potter thank a vessel of his own making for its beauty or usefulness ? Surely the praise is due, not to the pot, but to the potter. In a still infinitely higherd egree is the whole praise due to God fur the graces and the good works which he has given us. Mr. R. Hill, London, August 30, 1775. DOUBTS. Oh trembling believer ! if Satan should at any time move thee to doubt of thy election, answer him by telling him that he was never of God's cabinet-council. Anon. Who had more testimonies of God's favour than David ? Yet was he some- times at a loss, not only to read, but even to spell his evidences. Gurnall. Unbelief may, perhaps, tear the copies of the covenant which Christ hath given you ; but he still keeps the original in heaven with himself. Your doubts and fears are no parts of the covenant ; neither can they change Christ. Rutherfoord. 670 EXCELLENT PASSAGES FROM EMINENT PERSONS. I have questioned whether or no I ever knew any thing of Christianity, save the letters which make up the word. Rutlierfoord. Doublings are your sins : but they are also the drugs and ingredients which Christ, the good physician, makes use of for the curing of your pride. ibid. DUST. Art not thou the son of Adam ? And was not he the son of dust ? And was not that dust the son of nothing ? " Why art thou proud, O dust and ashes ? says the son of Sirach, Eccles. x. 9. And Bernar4 puts this excellent question : " Cum sis humil- limus, cur non es humillimus ? Arrowsmith. DUTIES. Take up all duties in point of per- formance ; and kiy them down in point of dependance. Duty can never have too much of our diligence, nor too little of our confidence. Dyer. Be serious and exact in duty, having tlie weight of it upon thy heart : but be as much afraid of taking comfort from thy duties themselves as from thy sins. Wilcox. They who act in the path of duty and depend on the power of God, are equally safe at all times and in all circumstances : no less safe when surrounded by enraged enemies, than when encircled by kind and assiduous friends. Mr. Newton. DYING BEDS. Visit dying beds [especially of saints] and deserted souls, much. They are ex- cellent scholars in experience. Wilcox. Go ti) dying beds ; there you will learn tlie true worlh of deliverance from damnation by tlie death of Christ. AsJ< some agoniz- ing friend : he, and he alone, can tell you what a blessing it is to have the king of tei roi s converted into a messenger of peace. Hervey. EARLY CONVERSION. If I could lawfully envy any body, I should envy those that are converted to God in their youth. They escape much sin and sorrow ; and resemble Jacob, who carried oflF the blessing betimes. Anon. EFFICACY. The least sight of Christ is saving ; the least touch of him is healing. Wilcox. EFFECTUAL CALLING. Effectual calling is the middle link in the undividable chain of salvation : he that hath it, is sure of both the ends [i e. of his past predestination to life, and of his future glorification]. Our calling is the manifestation of our secret election, and a sure forerunner of glory : being, in efl'ect. the voice of God telling us beforehand that he will glorify us. Bp. Cowper. As the best way when you are on the main land to find out the sea is to walk by a river that runneth into it; so he that would proceed from electioii to glorification, let him trace his calling, which is, if 1 may so express it, a river flowing out of the brazen mountains of God's eternal election, and running perpetually upward until it enter into the heaven of heavens. ibid. There is much the same difference be- tween election and effectual calling, as between a private manuscript and a printed book In election God, as it were, wrote and entered us in his heavenly register : but it is stiU kept by him, and none know the contents but himself : whereas in effectual calling God, as it were, prints off a sheet of the book of life, and publishes it and makes it known to the soul Gnrnall. ELECTION. Election depends on Ood alone ; all other blessings upon election : saith Heinsiu«. " Ccetera pendent ab electione ; electioaDeo." Arrowsmith. Election having once pitched upon a man, it will find him out and call him home, wherever he be. It called Zaccheus out of accursed Jericho ; Abraham out of idola- trous Ur of the Chaldeans ; Nicodemus, and Paul, from the college of the Fhaiisees, Christ's sworn enemies ; Dionysius, and Damaris, out of superstitious Athens. In whatsoever dunghills God's jewels are hid, election wiU both find them out and fetch them out. ibid. Prove your conversion, and you need not doubt of your election. Mr. Joieph Allein. It was well said by Sir Francis Bacon, that " old wood is best to burn ; old friends best to trust ; and old books best to read." What vast value do scholars put upon an ancient manuscript ! Doubtless, the oldest of all manuscripts is the book of life ; and the writing our names therein, the first- born of all God's favours. If God sets a value on the first-fruits of our services, how careful should we be to magnify the first- fiuits of his goodness? If old charters be of so great esteem as they are in the world, what an immense estimate should we set upon the most ancient magna charta of our eternal election, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his ! ibid. It is a good saying of Austin, " Intra munduni facti sumus, ante mundum electi sumus :" We were made within the world, but chosen before it. ibid. The Lamb's book of life (so named because Jesus stands there enrolled at the head of it, as the head of all the elect, and as the captain of that salvation to which they were chosen) is a book of love. EXCELLENT PASSAGES FROM EMINENT PERSONS. 571 " Behold my servant whom I have chosen ; niy beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased." it was so said of Christ, and may be applied to all the elect, in their measure. Hence Paul styles the Thcssalonians, " Be- loved of the Lord ; because God had chosen them unto salvation." And God himself expresses the election of Jacob, by "Jacob have I loved :" to shew that free love on God's part is the source and foundation of this favour. Mr.Joseph Allein. If that saying of the Stoics be true, " In sapientum decretis nulla est htura," i. e. in the decrees of wise men there can be no blotting nor blurring ; how much more may it be asserted concerning the decrees of the infinitely wise God ? If it became Pilate to say, what I have written, I have written ; it would certaijiiy niisbe- coir.e the great and immutable God to blot so much as any one single name out of the Lamb's book of life, written by himself before the world was. We may rest assured that this book will admit of no deleatur, nor of any expurgatory index. ibid. As, in military affairs, commanders have their muster rolls, wherein are contained the names of all the soldiers they ha>'e listed : whence the phrase, " conscribere milites ;" and in commonwealths, there are registers kept, wherein are recorded the names of such as are chosen to offices of trust and preferment ; whence the title of patres con- scripti, given to the Roman senators : so the condescension of Scripture, which speaks of God after the manner of men, ascribes to him a book of life, wherein it represents a legible writing and registering of the names of all those persons whom he hath irreversibly predestinated to life everlasting. ibid. Your election will be known by your interest in Christ; and your interest in Christ by the sanctification of the Spirit. There is a chain of salvation : the begin- ning of it is from the Father ; the dispensa- tion through the Son ; the application by the Spirit. In looking after the comfort of elec- tion, you must look inward to the work of the Spirit in your hearts ; then outward to the work of Christ on the cross ; then up- ward to the heart of the Father in heaven. Mr. Samuel CM. By a work of grace in thee thou mayest as surely know thou art elected as if thou hadst stood at God's elbow when he wrote thy name in the book of life. Gnruall. Before you go to the university you ought to go to school. Do not meddle with election and predestination until you have experieuced something of divine grace in your effectual vocation. Ascribed to Mr. Bradford, the marti/r. Let us take those words, Rom. viii. 30. which way wc will ; let us read them back- wards or forwards ; they tell us that clfctioii and salvation, both initial and final, are undivided, and inseparably united together. Mr. Sladen. In every congregation where the faithful word is preached, there are some who belong to the election of grace, [and are either to be called or comforted]. il)id. The e\-idenee of our election is in time ; the decree itself is from eternity. ibid. EMPLOYMENT. Some employments may be better than others ; but there is no employment so bad as the having none at all : the mind will contract a rust, and an unfitness for every good thing ; and a man must either fill up his time with good, or at least innocent business, or it will run to the worst sort of waste, to sin and vice Aiion. ENCOURAGEMENT. In all doubtings, fears and storms of con- science, look at Christ continually. Do not argue it with Satan ; but send him to Christ for an answer. IVilcor. There are in heaven many thousands of as rich monuments of mercy as ever thou canst be. The greatest sinner did never surpass the grace of Christ. ibid. Throughout the whole Scripture there is not one ill word against a poor sinner who is stript of his sclf-righteousness. Nay, the Scripture expressly points out such a man as the subject of gospel-grace, and none else. ilAd. ENJOYMENTS. To a lively believer, who enjoys con- tinual fellowship with G, d, every day is a sabbath, and every meal a sacrament. A sai/ing of the late Mr. Hcrvey. ERROR. Believers are not afterwards tlie worse for having been once Arminians. They are the better qualified, when God has brought them out of darkness and bondage, to dis- cern and defeat the sophistry of those errors wherewith they themselves have been deluded. Just as a person who has been prisoner in an enemy's country can, when he gets away, turn his knowledge to the advan-i tage of himself and the better annoyance of his adversaries. Mr. Tozer in conversation, Oct. 22. I7C1>. ESTIMATE. A ragged saint is dearer to God than a glittering emperor that is without grace. ^ Amu. liTERNITY. No worldly tiling seems great to him that minds eternity. Richardson. 572 EXCELLENT PASSAGES FROM EMINENT PERSONS. EVANGELICAL OBEDIENCE. The law [rightly unieistood] will not suffer you to consider the most conscien- tious course of obedience in any other light than as a testimony that you believe, with godly sincerity, the delightful truth that Jesus purged away your sins by the sacrifice of himself: for which unspeakable benefit, you love him, you keep his commandments, you abhor those iniquities which made him groan and bleed and die. Fenn. EVIDENCES. File up thy old receipts which thou hast had from God, testifying the pardon of thy sins. There are some festival days when God comes forth, clothed with the robes of his mercy, and holds forth the sceptre of his grace more familiarly to his children than ordinary ; bearing witness to their faith, &c. Then the firmament is clear, and not a cloud to be seen to darken the Christian's comforts. Love and joy are the soul's repast and pastime while this feast lasts. Now when God withdraws and this cheer is taken off, Satan's work is how to wear out the remembrance and certainty of these sweet evidences. It behoves thee, therefore, to lay up thy writings safely. Such a testimony may serve to nonsuit thy accuser many years hence. One affirmative from God's mouth for thy pardoned state carries more weight, though of an old date, than a thousand negatives from Satan's. Gurnall. If Satan haunts thee with fears of thy spiritual estate, ply thee to the throne of grace, and beg a new copy of thy old evidence which thou hast lost. The original is in the pardon-office in heaven, whereof Christ is master. Thy name is on record in that court. Make thy moan to God. Hear what news from heaven, rather than listen to the tales which are brought by thine enemy from hell. Can you expect truth from a liar, or comfort from an adversary ? Did the devil ever prophesy ■TreW of believers ? ibid. EVENTS. Duties are our's : Events are the Lord's. When we go to meddle with events, and to hold a court (as it were) upon God's provi- dence, and to ask him, " How wilt thou do this or that?" Faith then begins to lose ground. We have nothing to do there. It is our part to let tlie Almighty exercise his own office, and steer his own helm. There is nothing left us but to see how we may he approved of him, and how we may roll the weight of our weak souls (in well doing) upon him who is God omnipotent : and when what we thus pursue miscarries, it shall neither be our sin nor our cross. EVIL MEN. It is better to have the praise of evil men's hatred than the scandal of their love and approbation. Manton. EXAMINATION. It is of the highest importance that you examine yourself, where the stress of your dependance, for the good of your soul is placed. To what fountain are you looking for pardon and strength, for comfort, sanc- tification [and salvation] ? Whether to your own good purposes and endeavours, to your own prayers, meditation and good qualities ; or to that inexhaustible treasury [of grace and glory which] God has provided for poor helpless guilty men in the person [blood, righteousness and intercession] of the Lord Jesus Christ ? Fenn. Measure not thy graces by the attain- ments of others, but by Scripture-trials. EX^VMPLE. A believer's holy deportment often gives a check to the sins of others. The profane stand in awe, when grace comes forth, and sits like a ruler in the gate, to be seen of all that pass by Gurnall. EXPECTATION. He in whom ye trust, 0 believers, is a great God, and loves to do all things like himself. Wherefore look for great things from him ; great assistances ; great enlarge- ments ; great deliverances ; yea, the forgiv- ing of great sins, and the great gift of a great salvation. Arroicsmith. We often come off better than we ex- pect, and always better than we deserve. Mrs. Green {of Chelsea), March 8, 1770. The Christian hath such a harvest of glory and happiness coming, as will never be fully got in. It will be always reaping- time in heaven Cripplegate Lectures. EXPERIENCES. In all the experiences of the saints there is a universal oneness, and yet a beautiful variety. Mr. David Fernie, Aug. / , 1769) in con- versation. When a pump is dry a pail of water thrown into it will fetch it again. If your soul is in a dry cold frame, get a lively Christian to tell you his experience : the fire will probably catch from his heart to your's. Mr. Ri/land July 7, 1/69. EXTREMITY. When thou art at the greatest pinch, strength shall come. When the last handful of meal was dressing, then whs the prophe* sent to keep the widow's houae. Gurnall. EXCELLENT PASSAGES FROM EMINENT PERSONS. 573 FAITH. It is tlie prtiper nature of faith to issue itself in the admiration of that which is infinite. Dr. Owen. Faith is thought of its object, who is Christ, with trust in him, or dependance upon him for life and salvation, under a conviction of our misery and helplessness in oui selves. Mr. Brine against Johnson. Pride and unbelief will put you on seeing somewhat in yourself first : but faith will have to do with none but Christ. IVilcox. Faith takes God at his word, and depends upon him for the whole of salva- tion. God is good, and therefore he will not, he is true and faithful, therefore he cannot, deceive me. I believe that he speaks as he means, and will do what he says : for which reason let me be strong in faith, giving honour to God, and rejoice with joy un- speakable and full of glory. Ryland. Vigorous faith is not governed by sensi- ble appearances. It looks through all the terrifying aspects of things to an invisible ever present God ; a God who has left nothing to an after-thought in his decrees, nor is ever a moment too late in his ac- tions, ibid. Happy man, whosoever thou art, that can'st look by an eye of faith at the gospel as the charter of thy hberties ; at the con- demning law as cancelled by thy Surety ; at tlie eanh as the lootstool of thy Father's throne ; at heaven as the portal of thy Father's house ; at all the creatures in heaven and earth, as an heir is wont to look at his father's servants, and which are therefore his, so far as he shall need them : accord- ing to that, "All are your's, for ye are Christ's, and Chiist is God's." Arrowsmith. Faith can support when nature shrinks ; faith can call God father when he frowns, and make some discovery of a sun through the darkest cloud. ibid. Faith and love are the two arms and the two eyes without which Christ can neither be seen nor embraced. ibid, aith only can find out God, though not to perfection, yet to salvation. ihid. Sin is that which interposeth itself be- tween the soul and the light of God's coun- tenance. But whether it be a slender mist or a thick cloud, an infirmity or a rebellion, the sun of righteousness, eyed by faith, can and will dispel it, so as to make it vanish. ibid. The two conduits of faith and love, being lain from the Christian's soul to the fountain of living waters, fetch in from thence a daily supply of such grace as will certainly end in a fulness of glory. ibid. Faith is the soul's going out of itself for all [it wants]. Boston. Faith empties the heart of sin, and fills it up with grace. An(ri. It is grace, the grace of faith in the heart, that puts a difference between the Abba Father of the saint and the Ave Mary of a Papist. ibid. Presumption is heart-whole ; but faith hath a sense of sickness, and looketh to the promises, and looking to Christ therein is glad to see a known face. liutherfoord. The use of faith now (having already closed with Christ for justification) is to take out a copy of your pardon, and so you come to have peace with God. For since faith apprehends pardon, but never pays a penny for it, no marvel that salva- tion does not die and live, ebb or flow, with the working of faith. ihid. The Christian must trust in a withdraw- ing God. The boldness of faith ventures into God's presence as Ahasuerus's, when no smile is to be seen on his face, no golden sceptre of the promise perceived by the soul. Yea, faith trusts not only in a with- drawing, but in a killing God. Now for a soul to make its approaches unto God by a recumbency of faith, even while God seems to fire upon it, and shoots his frowns like envenomed arrows into it, is hard work, and will try the Christian to purpose. Yet such a masculine spirit we find in that poor woman of Canaan, who (as it were) took up the bullets which Christ shot at her, and with a humble boldness of faith sent them back again to him in her prayers, Isa. 1. 10. — Job xiii. 15. Gnrnall. True faith is of a working, stirring, lively nature. Fidci pinguescit operibus, saith Luther. Faith is, in some soit, nourished by a holy life. As the flesh which clothes the frame of man's body, though it receives its heat from the vitals within, yet conduces to preserve the very life of those vitals [by a kindly reciprocation of influence], so works evangehcally good, and actions truly gracious, though they have their life from faith, are yet powerful helps to maintain the liveliness of faith. We sometimes see a child nursing the parent that bore him, and therein he performs but his duty. ibid. Faith in Jesus is the trust and alliance of the heart on him for help and deliverance. f^enn. The essence of faith is an unfeigned, humble dependance upon, and submission to, the righteousness of God, as accounted or given to us ; and that not of debc, but of grace. ibid. A base .suspicion of salvation by faith being prejudicial to the interests of virtue, is hardly ever to be rooted out of the minds of men until they experience the power of faith in some degree themselves. ibid. Faith, thoui;h it may be weak and im- perfect, instead of exalting itself against the } _ EXCELLENT PASSAGES F! justice of God, and standing before him in the coiifideiice of a lie, puts all from itself, and gives the whole glory of our salvation where it is due. f^enn. FEAR. Herod feared John, and did many things. Had he feared God, he would have laboured to have done every thing. Ournall. He that lives without fear shall die with- out hope. Dijer. FELICITY. Such is the omnipotency of our God, that he can and doth make to his elect sour sweet, and misery felicity. Mr. Phitpot, the martyr. FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD. Although believmg souls have here fel- lowship with God in Christ sufficient to stay their stomachs as at a breakfast, yet that degree of fruition is wanting which will satisfy them fully as at a feast superior to that of ordinances. Arrowsmith. FOOL. Give me a man as full of policy as was Achitophel, as eloquent as Tertullus, and as learned as the Athenians were in St. Paul's time ; yet if, with Achitophel, he plot against the people of God; if, with Tertullus, he have the poison of asps under his lips ; and, with the Athenians, be given to supersti- tion, for all his policy, eloquence, and learning, I am bold to call him, in Scripture language, a fool. Arrowsmith. FORBEARANCE. If a dog bark at a sheep, the sheep will not bark again at the dog. Dodd. FORMS OF PRAYER. Sense of want makes us eloquent. The true reason why books of prescribed forms of prayer pass through so many editions is, because the convincing influence of God's spirit passes through so few hearts. Mr. Madan, Dec. 28, 1/69. FRAILTY. It is man's frailty to fall ; but it is the property of the devil's child to lie stiU. Mr. Ph'tlpot, the martyr. FRIENDSHIP. Most men look upon their friends as they do upon their sun-dials — only when the sun shines. Dyer. Friendship is an union of spirits, a mar- riage, as it were, of hearts; and virtue is tiie golden hinge on which it turns. Anon. \0U EMINENT PERSONS FREE GRACE Every thing is within the reach of free grace, but nothing is within the reach of free-will. Mt. Ambrose Serle, in convernation, at Broad Hembury Aug. 27, 1/73. FREE-WILL. In its best estate free-will was but a weather-cock which turned at the breath of a serpent's tongue. It made a bankrupt of our father Adam ; it pulled down the house and sold the land, and sent all the children to beg their bread. Rutherfoord. That Saviour which natural free-will can apprehend is but a natural Saviour, a Saviour of man's own making ; not the Father's Christ ; not Jesus, the Son of the Giving God, to whom none can come without the Father's drawing, John vi. 44, 46. Mr. micox. The opinion of free-will, so cried up by some, will be easily confuted (as it is by Scripture) in the heart which has had any spiritual dealings with Jesus Christ respect- ing the application of his merits and sub- jection to his righteousness. ibid. FULL ASSURANCE. The full asstu-ance of faith consists in a feeling application to Christ, or taking Christ to myself ; being persuaded that, by God's free gift, Jesus Christ is mine ; that I shall surely have life and salvation by him, a life of holiness and a life of happiness ; and that whatever Christ did and suffered for the redemption of any one of the human race, he did the same for me ; he did and suffered as much for me as for any soiJ in all the creation of God. Mr. Ryland. The full assurance of faith triumphs over all base suspicions of God's fidelity to his promises. It disdains the vile imagination of God's being tickle in his purposes, or false to his word. Faith meets God in the Bible eye to eye and heart to heart. The actings of the behever's soul coiTespond to the tender and generous actings of God's soul in Scripture promises. ibid. GIFTS. A believer has not so much to boast of as a common beggar. He that gives to a beggar gives him a bare alms only ; whereas God gives his people both Christ's righte- ousness to justify them, and also the hand of faith by which they receive it. Parr. God can give us no greater gift than himself. We may say, as one said to Caesar, " This is too great a gift for me to receive.'' " But it is not too great fcr me to give," answered Caesar. liy^T. EXCELLENT PASSAGES FROM EMINENT PERSONS. GLORY OF GOD. Suoh as do not truly know God can never sincerely aim at the glory of God in what they do.' For what 1 do not know I cannot love ; what I do not love 1 cannot desire ; what I do not desire I can never intend. And, therefore, if I do not know God, I can never intend his glory in my actions ; and if I do not intend his glory in my actions, I sin vipon that very account, because I do not intend his glory. Ano7i. GLORIFICATION. There are three degrees of glorification. The first is in this life, and that is our sanc- tification, or transformation into the glorious image of God. — The second is in the hour of death, when our souls are beginning to be brought to a nearer union with Jesus. — The third will be the last day, when both soul and body shall be glorified together, which is the highest step of Solomon's throne, and to which we must ascend by the former degrees. Bp. Cowper. GOD Small Jacob shall arise, Amos vii. 6. and that because Jacob's God is great. Arrowsmith. O God, thou art my sun : the best of creatures are but stars, deriving the lustre they have from thee. Did not thy light make day in my heart, I should, amidst all things else, languish in a perpetual night of dissatisfaction. ibid. God is called a rock, to teach us that as this continues stedfast and immoveable while the whole surrounding ocean is in a state of perpetual fluctuation, so, tliiiui^h all the creatures of God, fro.in the lowest to the very highest of the inttUitjcnt kind are subject to change, capable of new additions with respect to their kiiowledge, their .power, or their blessedness, God alone is absolutely the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Mr. Venn. GOD FOR A PORTION. A Christian cannot say, I have an estate in the world, and I shall have it for ever ; but every Christian may say, I have God for my portion, and I shall have him for ever. Anon. GOD A SUPPORTER. God brings his grace into the heart by conquest. Now, as in a conquered city, though some yield and become true subjects to the conqueror ; yet others plot how they may shake off the yike ; and ther. fore the same power which r. on it at fii;st is requisite to keep it. The Christian hath an unre- generate part, which is discontented at this new supernat u al change in the soul ; so that if God shouH n;jt continually reinforce this his new-planted colony of graces in the heart, the very natives (I mean the con op- tions) that are left would come out of their dens and holes where they lie lurking, and eat up all the grace which the holiest person on earth is possessed of : it would be as bread to these devourers. Gurtutll. Whence come the sweet consolations of grace ? What friend sends them in ? They are derived, not from my own cistern, nor from any creature. It is my God that hath been here, and left this delightful per- fume of comfort behind him in my bosom : my God, who has unawares to me filled my sails with the gales of his Spirit, and brought me off the flats of my own deadness, where I lay aground. O ! it is his sweet Spiiit, that held my head and stayed my heart, in such an affliction, or such a temptation ; else I had sunk away in a fainting fit of unbelief. How can this choose but endear God to a gracious soul. ibid. He that hath God's heart shall not want his arm. [Whom God loves he sustains, protects, and guides.] ibid. The Christian, when fullest of divine communications, is but a glass without a foot ; he cannot stand nor hold what he has received, any longer than he is held in the strong hand of God. ibid. Indwelling grace is, in this life, but weak, like a king in the cradle ; which gives advantage to Satan to carry plots more strongly, to the disturbance of this young king's reign in the soul Yea, he would put an end to the war, in the ruin of the believer's grace, did not God take the Christian into his own guardianship and protection. ibid. As a father, when the way is rugged and difficult, gives his child his arm to hold by, so doth God reach forth his Almighty power, for his saints to exercise their faith upon. ibid. As when a child travels in his father's com- pany all is paid for, but the father himself carries the purse ; so the expenses of a Christian's waifare and journey to heaven are paid and discharged for him by the Lord, in every stage and condition. Hence the believer cannot say, this I did, or that I suffered : but God wrought all in me and for me. iliid. God himself is the stability of our spi- ritual strength. Were the stock in our own hands, we should soon prove broekn merchants. ibid. Our heavenly father Knof nature is the incessant administration ot Providence. Hervey. He that eyes a providence shall always have a providence to eye. A saying of the late venerable Mr. Thos. Hall. God, who feeds the ravens, will not starve his doves. Charnock on Providence. A Christian hath two things to relieve him against all his distrustful fears and cares ; adoption and particular providence. God is his father ; and such a father as is not ignorant of his condition, nor mindless of it. And therefore though a believer may have little or nothing in hand, it is enough that his father keepeth the purse for him ; whose care extendeth to all things and persons : who hath the hearts of all men in his hand ; and who worketh all things according to his own wiU. Mantou. If God be your father, you can want no- thing that is good : but the determination of what is good must be left to his wisdom ; for we are not so fit to judge of it nor to discern our own good. We should therefore commit all to his fatherly care and wise providence. Indeed, he chuseth rather to profit us than to please us, in his dispensa- tions ; and it is our duty to refer all to his wisdom and faithfulness. ibid. If we trust God for our heavenly inheri- tance, we may well trust him for our daily maintenance, which he vouchsafeth to the birds of the air, to the beast of the field, and even to his enemies. He that feedeth a kite, will he not feed a child ? He that sup- plies his enemies, wiU he not take care of his family ? You would think that person monstrously cruel who would feed his dogs and starve his children. This cannot, with- out blasphemy, be imagined of our gracious and heavenly Father. ibid. The divine providence which is sufficient to deliver us in our utmost extremity, is equally necessary to our preservation in the most peaceful situation. Mr. Newton. The providence of God is one straight line drawn from the point of his decree. A straight line it is in itself; however crooked it may appear through a false medium. God will do whatsoever he pleases ; and wlia,t pleases him ought to please us. It is above nature, it is contrary to nature, to make a full surrender of ourselves to his sovereign and absolute will. Grace alone can enable us to say from the heart, " Thy will be done." Rev. Mr. Winter, in a letter to me, Dec. 22, 17G9. In a musical instrument, when we observe a number of strings set to harmony, we conclude that some skilful musician has tuned them. '2 Q 59-1 KXCELLEXT PASSAGES FROM EMINENT PERSONS. When we see thousands of men in a field maishalled under their respective colours, all yielding exact obedience ; we infer that there is a general to whose orders they are subject. In a watch, when we observe springs and wheels, great and small, eacli so fitted as to concur to an orderly motion, we acknow- ledge the skill of an artificer. When we come into a printing-house, and see a vast variety of difierent letters, so regulated and disposed as to make a book, we are at once convinced that there is some composer by whose art they were brought into such a frame. VVhen we behold a fair building we con- clude it had an architect ; and. When we see a stately ship completely fitted out, and safely conducted to the port, we knovr that it had builders and a pilot. The visible world is such an instrument, army, watch, building, book, and ship, as undeniably proves that God was and is the tuner, general, and artificer, the composer, architect, and pilot of it. Arrowsmith. Zachary Ursinus was wont to say, " I had often lain in the streets had not the providence of God been my hostess and provided me with a lodging." ibid. PROVOCATION. Saints, when provoked, are too often so like sinners that it is hard to discern any difference. Anon. PUSILLANIMITY. A cool and cowardly defence of Christian principles will always embolden the enemies of the gospel and discourage its friends. Be resolute for God, or give up his cause. Mr. Riiland, June 22, 1770. It is no wisdom to shuffle with God, by denying his truths, or shifting off our duty to keep correspondence with men. He is a poor fencer that lays his soul at open guard to be stabbed and wounded with guilt, while he is lifting up his hands to save a broken head. Gurnall. REASON. A million of torches cannot shew us the sun. It can only be seen by its own light. Nor can all the natural reason in the world discover, either what God is or what worship he expects, without divine and supernatural revelation from himself. Arroicsmith. Though faith may look upon God, and that with much comfoi t ; yet for reason to stare too much upon him is the way to lose her sight. ibid. When reason hath tired and wildered herself in searching after God, the result must be, " non est inventus ;" he is not to be found, at least not by me. ibid. RECONCILIATION. The gospel is a doctrine according to godliness ; and true holiness is the health, is the happiness of the soul. These duties issuing from faith, and recommended by the intercession of Christ, are acceptable to the divine majesty. But these are not your Savour. God hath not reconciled the world to himself by their own pious practices, but by his Son Jesus Christ. REFORMATION OF MANNERS. If ever a [true and lasting] reformation [of manners] is produced ; it must, under the influences of the eternal Spirit, be pro- duced by the doctrines of free grace and justification through the Redeemer's righte- ousness. Until these doctrines are generally inculcated, the most elegant harangues from the pulpit, or the most correct dissertations from the press, will be no better than a pointless arrow and a broken bow. Mr. Hervey. REFUGE. A heathen could say, %vhen a bird (scared by a hawk) flew into his bosom for refuge, " I will not kill thee, nor betray thee to thy enemy, seeing thou fliest to me for sanctuary." Much less will God either slay or give up the soul that takes sanc- tuary in his name I REGENERATION. There are two principles in a man that is born again ; a principle of corrupt nature and a principle of grace ; the one is called the old man, and the other the new. The old man continues unregenerate to the last. No part in him is regenerated. He remains untouched, and is just the same he was, only deprived of his power and dominion. The nevv man is wholly regenerate. There is no unregenerate part in him. There is no sin in him, nor done by him : " he cannot sin because he is born of God." " The king's daughter is all glorious within." [See Rom. vii 17.] Dr. Gill. Regeneration does not come by the will of man, John i. 13. As gracious persons did not regenerate themselves, so neither can they convey regenerating grace to others. If they could, a good master would regenerate every servant in his family ; a good parent would regenei ate every child of his ; and a minister ef the gospel would regenerate all that sit under his ministry. But they can do no more than pray, and use the means. God only can do the work. ibid A child as soon as horn, having all its limbs, is a perfect man, as to parts, though they are not yet at their full growth and size. So the new man, or gracious principle in- fused in regeneration, is a per.^ect man at EXCELLENT PASSAGES FROM EMINENT PERSONS. once as to parts ; though as yet not arrived to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. Dr. Gill. As Christ's resurrection was a declara- tion of his being the Son of God, so re- generation is an evidence of interest in the adoption of children. Lilcewise as the resur- rection of Christ was by the almighty power of God, so is tl)e regeneration and quicken- ing of a dead sinner. And as Christ's resur- rection was the first step to his glorification, so is regeneration, to seeing and entering into the kingdom of God. ibid. Regeneration is an irresistible act of God's grace : no more resistance can be made to it than there could be in the first matter to its creation ; or in a dead man to his resurrection ; or in an infant to its gene- ration. Whatever aversion, contrariety, or opposition there maybe to it, in the corrupt nature of man, it is all speedily and easily overcome by the power of divine grace, when the stony heart is taken away, and a heart of flesh given. ibid. RELIANCE. Adhering to, and glorying in the cross of Christ, you shall enter the harbour of eternal rest ; not like a ship - wrecked mariner, cleaving to some broken plank, and hardly escaping the raging waves ; but like some stately vessel, with all her sails expanded and riding before a prosperous gale. Mr. Hervey. As in a pair of compasses one foot is fixed in the centre while the other wanders about in the circumference ; so must the soul stay on Christ wliile we search after evidences and additional comforts. Dr. Manton. (May not the same thought be accom- modated to the contrary propensities of the old man and the new ?) Thou sayest, per- haps, that thou canst not believe, that thou canst not repent. Go to Christ with thy impenitency and unbelief, to get faith and repentance from him. Tell Christ, " Lord I I have brought no righteousness, no grace, to be accepted for or justified by. I am come for thy righteousness, and I must have it." IFilcox. RELIGION. The word religion is derived a religando, signifying to tie or bind ; because by trae religion men's souls are tied and fastened to tlie Supreme being. Arrowsmith. To maintain, as most unconverted men do, that any person may be saved in an ordinary course (for I meddle not with ex- traordinary dispensations, but leave the secrets of Gad to himself) by any religion whatever, provided he live up to the princi- ples of it, is to turn the whole world into an Eden, and to find a tree of life in every | garden as weU as in the paradise of God. Arrowsmith. RENUNCIATION. Had I all the faith of the patriarchs, all the zeal of the prophets, all the good works of the apostles, all the holy sufferings of the martyrs, and all the glowing devotion of the seraphs ; I would disclai:n the whole in point of dependance, and count all but dross and dung, when set in competition with the infinitely precious death and in- finitely meritorious righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. A saying of Mr. Hervey. As blind Bartimaeus threw away his \ cloak when he came to Christ ; so must we "* throw oft', i. e. disclaim, renounce, and with- ' draw every degree of confidence from our own righteousness, if we would be justified -n the sight of God. Mr. Parr. REPENTANCE. The dift'erence between true and false repentance is as great as that between the running of water in the paths after a violent shower, and the streams which flow from a living fountain. A false repentance lias grief of mind and humiliation only for great and glaring off"ences, or until it supposes pardon for them obtained : true ^repentance s a continued war against sin, a permanent inward shame for its defilements, imtil death sounds the retreat. Venn. There is no coming at the fair haven of eternal glory without sailing through the narrow strait of repentance. Dyer. It is Christ that grants repentance unto life. Acts V. 31. And if ever you will repent with a kind repentance, you must either have it from Christ or go without it. Crisp. Repentance includes self-abhorrence : as a man not only loaths poison, but the very dish or vessel that smells of it, Ezek. xxix. 43. Brookes^ REPROACH. The reproaches of Christ are precious. It is better to be preserved in brine than rot in honey Di/er. Reproach is the soil and dung whereby God makes his heritage fruitful. Muiiton. REPROBATE. As the sur freezes and congeals the water, not by infusing coldness into it, but by not imparting heat, and by forbearing *■ shine upon it ; so God hardens the repro- bate, not by imparting malice, hut by not imparting grace, (from St. Austin RESOLUTION. There are two C's which I will never 2Q-2 EXCELLENT PASSAGES FROM EMINENT PERSONS 596 gacrlfice to any man ; my conscience and my constitution. Dr. Baker, Surtim, July 13, 1770. Know that ln' who sent me to the west and south, sends me also to the north. I will charj^e my soul to believe and to wait tor him. I will follow his providence ; and neither go before it nor stay behind it. Ruther/oord. Good resolutions (as some call them), without grace, are like breath upon steel ; which quickly flies off and vanishes away. Cripplegate Lectures. RETALIATION. The best way to be even with Satan and his instruments, for all their spite against us, is by doing as much good as we can, wherever we come. Gurnall. REJOICING. When the flowers in a man's garden die, yet he can delight in his lands and money. Thus a gracious soul, when the creature fades, can rejoice in the unsearchable, the inalienable and the inexhaustible riches of Christ. Aiion. REMEDY. There is no part of our dreadful disease and misery as sinners for which there is not an Kll-suflicient remedy, in the perfec- tions which Jesus possesses, and the offices he sustains for the salvation of his church. Venn. REVELATION. I am no more surprised that some re- vealed truths should amaze my understand- ing, than that the blazing sun should dazzle my eyes. Hervey. REVILERS. If a man strike his hand upon the point of a spear, he hurts not the spear, but his hand : or if he spurn at a stone, he hurts not the stone, but his foot. So is it with the despisers of Christ, and the revilers of his gospel. Parr. REVIVAL OF RELIGION. The revival of evangelical religion in a nation is often like a summer-shower ; which does not fall equally, but waters and refreshes one plai e, and leaves another dry. Rev. Mr. Shs.s {of y„ttingham) in con- versation, Dec. 18, 1769. RICHES. If riches have been your idol, hoarded up in your coireis, or lavished out upon yourselves, they vvill, when the day of reck- oning comts, be like the garment of pitch and brimstone which is put on the criminal condemned to the flames. Hervey. " I cannot be poor," saith Bernard, "so long as God is rich ; for all his riches are mine. Cripplegate Lectures. RICHES AND POVERTY. Are you rich ? If you die unconverted you will be damned. — Are you ])oi)r ? If you are converted you are truly rich. — A poor man without grace is twice poor, and com- pletely miserable : a rich man who is a believer hath a double portion. Anon. RIGHTEOUS OVERMUCH. This is properly to be righteous over- much, when we pretend to correct God's law, and add supplements of our own to his rule. Gurnall. SABBATH. Make the Sabbath the market-day for thy soul. Sunday is not a day to feast our bodies, but our souls. SAINTS IMPERFECT. Learn to distinguish between pride in a duty, and a proud duty ; between hypocrisy or formality in a person, and a hypocrite or a formahst ; between wine in a man and a man in wine. The best of saints have the stirrings of such corruptions in them, and a mixtuie of them in their services : these foul birds will light upon an Abraham's sacrifice. God beholds them as the weak- nesses of thy sickly state here below : and pities thee, O believer, as thou wouldst pity thy lame child. Gurnall. SALVATION. The grand controversy between corrupt nature and Almighty God, is not whether any or all of the human race shall be saved ; but who shall have the glory of salvation ascribed to him ? God or the creature The pride of man prompts him to say, " the glory of salvation is due to me ; for I save myself." But the great Jehovah justly challenges the glory of salvation to himself and says, " 1 will have all the glory thereof ; for it is by my sovereign and efficacious grace that men are saved." Mr. Sladen. Is it possible for us to imagine that Christ came into the world at random, that he died at sixes and sevens, and that the efficacy of what he did and suffered depends on a peraiiventure ? No, he died for elect persons ; and all shall be saved for whom he died. Was the business [of salvation suspended on the will of man or of the devil, not a single soul would ever get to heaven. Mr. Madan, in conversation, Jul;/ 18, 1769. You may as well think of adding white- ness to snow, or brightness to the sun, as of adding any thing to the merit of Christ's perfect atonement, consummate righteous- ness and finished salvation. Rev. Mr. TownKhend, Nov. 8, 17fi9. The souls of the elect were saved upon trust for four thousand years. The Father gave credit to Christ, and glorified his EXCELLENT PASSAGES FROM EMINENT PERSONS 5<)7 saints, on the footing of a sacrifice not then offered up, and of a righteousness not tlien wrought. Christ also, in the days of his flesh, went on credit with his Father every time he said to a sinner, " Thy sins are forgiven thee," previous to his offering himself on the cross. Mr. Ryland, July 11. SATAN. Against whom doth Satan multiply his malicious assaults ? Against those in whom God hath multiplied his graces. Satan is too crafty a pirate to attack an empty ves- sel : he seeks to rob those vessels only which are richly laden. Bp. Cuivper. If Satan cannot please a sinner with his naked state of profaneness ; he will endea- vour to put him off with something like grace, with a pharisaical profession, and a Pharisaical round of duties ; such as shall neither henefit the sinner, nor do Satan any hurt. Too many are persuaded to sit down content with this ; like children that cry for a knife or a dagger ; and are as well pleased with a bone knife, or a wooden dagger, as with the best of all. Gurnall. Many have yielded to go a mile with Satan, who never intended to go willi him twain ; but, w hen once on the way with him, have been inveigled further and further, until they know not how to leave him. Thus he leads poor creatures down into the depths of sin by winding stairs, so that they see not the bottom and end of that to which they are going. ibid. Satan's temptations on Christ were like the motions of a serpent on a rock (Prov. XXX. 19.); which make no impres- sion, and leave no dent nor trace behind them. But on us they are as the motions of a serpent on sand or dust : they .-..ake a print and leave a stain on the imagination at l<-ast, if not on the heart. ibid. There were two remarkable periods in Christ's life, his intrat, and his exit ; his entrance into his public ministry, upon his baptism, and his departure out of life by crucifixion. At botti seasons we find the devil most fiercely encountering him. The more public thy place, O Christian ! and the more eminent thy services for God, the more thou mayest expect the grand adver- sary will plot against thee. ibid. When a Christian is about some notable enterprise for God's glory, then will Satan lie like a serpent in the way, or as an adder in the path, to bite the horse's heels, that the rider may fall backward. ibid. If thou wouldest be guarded from Satan as a troubler, take heed of him as a seducer. The haft of Satan's hatchet (with which he chops at the Christian's comfort), is made of the Christian's wood. First he tempts to sin, and then for it. ibid. When the coat of a saint is cleanest, the devil is most desirous to roll him in the mire. Guriiull. Beware of yielding to Satan's motions. A saint's flesh heals not so easily as others. ibid. Satan is never likely to do more mischirf than when he puts on Samuel's mantle, ibid There are three kinds of straits wherein Satan aims to entrap the believer; nice questions, obscure Scriptures, and dark providences. ibid. Many saints are troubled with blas- phemous and atheistical suggestions, so slily conveyed into their bosom that they begin to fear such motions could never have risen there, if they were not natives of the heart ; whereas, indeed, the cup was of Satan's own putting into the sack. The Christian thinks that these are his sin, as well as his burden ; but I can tell him of a greater sin than all Satan's suggestions put together, and that is, when they make the believer doubt whether he is a child of God, because harassed by Satan. ibid. Satan knows that an arrow out of God's quiver wounds the believer deep ; and, there- fore, when he accuses, he comes sometimes in God's name. He forges a letter ; he, as it were, counterfeits God's hand ; and then gives the writing to a poor discon- solate child of God, threatening him with banishment from his father's house, and loss of his inheritance. The Christian, con- scious of his unworthiness, weakness, and many miscarriages, takes it all for gospel ; sets himself down for an alien and an out- cast ; and builds to himself a prison of real distress, on false imaginary ground. ibid. Endeavour to deal with Satan's base sug- gestions as you used to serve those vagrants and rogues that come about the country; though you cannot keep them from passing through the town, yet you take care not to let them settle there, but whip them and send them to their own home. ibid. When you find your sins so represented and aggravated to you as exceeding either ;he mercy of God's nature, or the grace of his covenant, or the merit of Christ's blood, or the power of his Spirit ; hie se aperit diabolus, you may be assured that this comes from hell and not from heaven ; you may know where it was minted. It is one of the devil's lies. ibid. So also as to the willingness of God to save you. If you think that the Lord is indeed good and gracious, but not for so great a sinner as you ; that he is strong and powerful, but not to save you ; know most assuredly, that this is one of Satan's false whispers. Answer them with " Get thee hence, thy speech betrayeth thee." ibid. Satan is very busy with all good men ; £98 EXCELLENT PASSAGES FROM EMINENT PERSONS. especially with ministers ; he desired to have Peter in his hands ; lie buffeted the apostle Paul ; he levels his arrows at those that are the most fruitful, flourishing, and useful ; as the archers that shot at Joseph, that fruit- ful bough, by a well, and grieved him ; though his bow abode in strength, the arms of his hands being made strong by the mighty (Sod of Jacob. Dr. Gill. The sinner is the devil's miller, always grinding ; and the devil is always filling the hopper, that the mill may not stand still. SANCllFICATION. ■We were abominably filthy in the eye of God. He entered into covenant with his powerful and gradous Spirit, concerning our sanctification ; a spirit who meets us in all our forms of misery, with all possible ways and modes of mercy, Mr. Ri^land. There is an internal dignity in sanctifi- cation which is attended with a satisfaction, fortitude, and greatness of mind which the wicked know nothing of. Anon. A sanctified heart is better than a silver tongue. Dyer. The greater our satisfaction is, the more advanced we are in holiness, the more we shall feel our need of free justification. Mr. Hitchen, in conversation, July 18. This is sound religion ; to bottom all only upon the everlasting mountains of God's love and grace in Christ, and to live continually in the sight of Christ's infinite righteousness and merits. They are sanc- tifying ; without them the heart is carnal. Wilcox. Labour after sanctification to thy ut- most : but make not a Christ of it to save thee. Christ's infinite satisfaction, not thy sanctification, must be thy justification be- fore God. ibid. SEAT OF GRACE. The heart of a true Christian is always the seat of grace, though he may not always be actually able to discern it. A sun-dial is a sun-dial ; and the characters are strongly marked upon it ; though we cannot see which way it points, but when the sun shines upon it. Ascribed to Mr. Gwennap. SECOND CAUSES. God hides himself and his providence behind second causes. Ascribed to Mr. Rollin. SELF All temptations, all Satan's advantages, and most of our own complainings, are laid in self-righteousness and self-excellency. — God pursueth these by setting Satan upon thee as Laban pursued Jacob for his images. These must be torn from thee, how unwil- ling soever thou art. These hinder Christ from coming in ; and until Christ come in guilt will not go out. IFilcox Self is the principle, motive. Or end, of every action done by a natural man. Dr. Gifford, in conversation, July 14, 1769. If I could but be master of that house- dol, myself, my own, mine ; my osvn wit, will, credit, and ease ; how blessed were I ! Alas, we have more need to be redeemed from ourselves than from the devil and the world. Rulherfoord. The honey that you suck from your own -■ighteousness will turn into gall ; and the light which you take from this to walk by wiU darken into black night upon the soul. micox. Many who have escaped the rocks of gross sin have been cast away on the sands of self-righteousness. Dyer. God taught our first parents to make coats to cover their naked bodies : but it was the devil that taught their posterity to weave false coverings of their own, to hide the nakedness of their souls. Gurnall. When thou believest and comest to Christ, thou must leave thy own right- eousness behind thee, and bring nothing with thee but thy sins. You must leave behind all your holiness, duties, humblings, &c., and bring nothing but your wants and miseries ; else Christ is not fit for thee, nor hou for Christ. Anon. A disposition to establish our own right- eousness [as a ground, cause or condition of our acceptance with GodJ, is a weed that naturally grows in every man's heart. Anun Some people, it is to be feared, follow the gospel, as a shark follows a ship ; — for a dinner. Dr. Madan, Dec. 25, 1769. SENSE OF SIN. The sense of your own sin, manifested by the law, will excite in you an intense desire to live to God who took pity on your deformity ; who loved you when not one single feature of comeliness was about you ; and loves you still, though much depravity is remaining in you. Fenn. SERVANT OF GOD. The greatest and truest nobility is to be a servant of the great God. He is nobly descended who is born from above. Dyer. SERVICE. In all the duties which God requires of a believer, the strength of Christ is made per- fect in the weakness of him that is to do them. the authentic and valuable collection of articles and confessions of faith published by Gasper Laurentius, in i612. With regai d to our own reformers in par- ticular, bishop Burnet, though far enough from warping to Calvinism, is yet so honest as to allow that, " In England the first reformers were generally in the Sublapsarian way ;" (rf) plainly enough intimating that all our first reformers were doctrinal Cal- vinists, though with some slight variation ; the major part of them being Sublapsarians, or holding thai God, in the decree of pre- destination, considered mankind as fallen : the rest of the first reformers having been Supralapsariaris, who .vuppose that men were, in that decree, considered neither as fallen nor as uiifallen, but simply as men, in puris naturalibus. A metaphysiciJ dis- quisition, which still obtains among the divide the religious world, to their original sources; gives the quintessence of the arguments urged on either side : and, by a judicious mixture of history with divinity, is, perhaps, the most instructiTe and entertaining piece of general Polemics hither 'o extanu There is brevity, without obscurity, ^md fulness, without redundancy: nor could thatc^celleut performance be either enlarged, or retreochca, without detractiUK from its worth. id) On the 17th Art. p. 197, 8to. edit. THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND VINDICATED, &c. anti-Anninians ; but which affects not the main question, and coiicfiiiing which tliey ever did and do still Hgrce. I shall at present, sir, trouble you with but one more citation from Burnet : a short one, indeed, it is, but full to the point. You will find it in that learned and worthy prelate's abridijment of his History of the Reformation, sub ann. 1549. His words are these : " Another sort of people was much complained of, who built so much on the received opinion of predestination, that they tliought they might live as they pleas- ed." Whether or no these people really drew this consequence from the doctrine (as there is nothing so holy as to be exempt from all possibility of abuse) , or whether, as is most probable, it was a slander fast- ened on them by the disguised Papists of that time, affects not the present argument. The passage proves what 1 quote for : namely, th:it at the settlement of the re- formation, and when the Church of England was in her primitive purity, predestination was the received opinion. Nor, indeed, need the bishop have told us so. The ar- ' tides of religion, published about a year and a half after the time he speaks of, put the point beyond all doubt. Thus stood this matter in the reign of king Edward. We shj.ll come to that of queen Elizabeth by and by. In the meanwhile. From England, sir, I follow you to the continent. You are pleased to tell us, p. 69, 70, that these doctrines have been disputed " among the Papists, between the Thomists and the Scotists ; the Domini- cans and the Franciscans :" to which you Might also have added, " and between the Jansenists and Jesuits." I grant it all. And these points not only have been, but are disputed among them with abundance of acrimony to this very day. A mo. Ad. in Viti Calvini, p. 63. (/) Sec Heylin's Life of Laud, p. W. 614 THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND VINDICATED, &c. himself to have been an Arminian. It was chiefly from this book of Luther's on the Servitude of the Will, that those six posi- tions against free agency were picked out, which twenty years afterwards made such a bustle in the council of Trent, and were agitated with so much heat and division by the infallible church ; some siding with Luther, and declaring that he had asserted no more than Austin had done before him ; others anathematizing the positions, as the very quintessence of heresy, and of most dangerous consequence to the Catholic faith. The iatter party earned their point : and accordingly the fourth, fifth, and sixth ca- nons, passed in the sixth session of that infamous council, are directly pointed against the decisions of Luther respecting the ina- bility of man's will, (g) The followers of Luther and Calvin, since (/;) the deaths of those great reformers (for I cannot find that that they did it be- fore) have, if you please, not only differed, but fallen out with relation to some (and only some) of the points you speak of : but not those reformers themselves. Had they agreed as well about the nature of the Lord's Supper as they did about predestination, justification, and perseverance ; the two denominations of Lutherans and Calvinists had been in fact one and the same ; so far at least as matters of doctrine are concerned. Page 70, you put this question to the author of Pietas : " What pretence have you to call your own notions the principles of tlie reformation ?" Because they are so. Open the liturgy where you will, Calvinism stares you in the face. And can the doc- trines of grace enter into the very basis of a reformed church, yet not be principles of the reformation You ask likewise, why he calls the " contrary opinions the avowed tenets of the church of Rome V Because the very letter of scripture bids us render to all their dues. The Arminian tenets belong to the church of Rome. Her's they are, and to her they should be returned. From her they came, and to her they lead. It matters not that there were a few such persons asMarinier, De Vega, and Catanea, in the council of Trent ; nor that there are still some individuals within the Romish pale (the Jansenists for instance), who be- lieved the doctrines of predestination and invincible grace, as taught by St. Paul and St. Austin ; and from these, by Calvin and the reformed churches. Quid te exempta juvat syinis de pluribus una ! The point is, how goes the stream ? quite in (ff^ Of forty-two propositions of Lutuer condemned Ijy the pope, X.\>. l.Wl, this is the »7th, " Free-wiU after sin is a thing Dc Solo Tmilo ; iind while it the contrary channel. Witness the Tri- dentine decisions, and the more recent con- stitution Unigenitus. Let a man peruse these, and then doubt, if he can, whether Arminianism does not cordially coincide with popery. But you urge that the Arminian doctrines " have been maintained by many of the brightest ornaments of our church ; such as Laud, Hammond, Bull, &c." I except against Laud. I cannot allow him upon the whole, to have been any ornament to us at all ; much less can I put him at the head of our brightest ornaments. If he had any bright- ness belonging to him, it was the brightness of a fire-brand, which at the long run set both church and state in a flame. Learned as he was (or rather, an encourager of learning in others, so they were not Cal- vinists;, he was at best but a mongrel Pro- testant ; and would have but acted consist- et)tly with himself had he accepted the cardinal's hat, which was offered him from Rome. So declared an enemy was your bright ornament to all liberty both civil and religious, that I make no scruple to call him a disgrace to his order, to his country, and to human nature. Illegal and unwarrantable in itself as his execution was, yet his life, u-ritten by his creature Heylin, on purpose to exculpate this Cyprianus An- glicamis, proves, to a demonstration, that this hot headed prelate was not slandered in being charged with a design to carry over the Church of England to that of Rome ; or as Heylin himself expresses it, " to make an atonement between the two churches,'' t. e. to set them at one again ; atonement being a word used at that time to signify a reconciUation and re-union. For which reason, among a thousand others, I must beg leave to strike out Laud from the list of our brightest ecclesiastical ornaments ; and dismiss him with that just observation of bishop Burnet, who remarks that while Laud's enemies " did really magnify him by their inhuman prosecution, his friends, Heylin and Wharton, have as much lessened him ; the one by writing his life, and the other by publishing his ^dndication of him- self." [Summary of Aff'. before the Restor. p. 68. 8vo edit.] As for Hammond, Bull, Tillotson, Sharp, and Stillingfleet, they are names not to be mentioned without honour. Yet it does not follow that Arminianism is either right in itself, or the doctrine of our church, be- cause adopted by these otherwise eminent and worthy persons. Nor do the greatness of their doth what in it is, it sinueth iQortally." Strvpe'.t iSccl. Mem, v. i. 39. (A) See Tiudal, y. 13. 273. THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND VINDICATED, &c. 615 names and the brightness of their talents sanctify the errors they might happen to patronize, or one jot mitigate the crime of subscribing to articles they did not believe. Let them have been ever so great ornaments to our church in other respects, this, surely, is no ornamental part of their characters. Dross does not cease to be dross because some gold may chance to be blended with it : nor error cease to be such because adopted by men of merit. However, I think when your hand had been in, you might have reminded us of some more per- sons who were in every respect ornamental to our church, and true consistent sons of it, by believing and maintaining her funda- mental doctrines ; such as Abbot, Grindal, TTsher, Williams, Davenant, Downham, Carlton, Hall, Barlow (of Lincoln), Be- veridge, Hopkins, &c. &c., all of whom were bishops, and (for which reason you threw them into shades) Predestinarians. After all, truth does not depend on names. The doctrines of the church are to be learned from the articles and homilies of the Church herself ; not from the private opinions of some individuals who lay hold on the skirt of her garment, call themselves by her name, and live by her revenues. You proceed. " Our articles have been vindicated from the charge of Calvinism by Bishop Bull, Dr. Waterland, and several other religious and learned men." You should rather have said, " They have la- boured hard to do it, but were not able." Like some disciples of old, they toiled all the day, but could take nothing. Wlien Dr. Bull was strongly pressed with his sub- scription by the famous Dr. TuUy (who was then principal of that very hall whence the six religious students were lately ex- pelled ; and afterwards dean and chancellor of Carlisle) ; Bull, in his answer, only hud- dles the matter up, and slides over it as well as he can, in this slight equivocating manner : " Qua; deinceps, in hoc cap'ite, se- quuntwr, a D. Tiillio, declamatorio more effusa, de regiu declaratione articulis nostris prcBfixCi ; de canone ecclesice ; de subscrip- tionibus et juramentis nostris toties repetitis ; ea turn demum ad nos pertinere fatebimur, cum evicerit ille, quicqmm nos docuisse un- quam, quod clarcB alicui ecclesicB nostrce defi- nitioni adversetur :" (i) i. e. " I shall then acknowledge myself to De affected by what Dr. TuUy subjoins in his declamatory way, concerning the king's declaration prefixed to our articles ; the canon he refers to ; and my so often repeated oaths and subscrip- tions ; when he shall have demonstrated that I ever affirmed any thing contrary to any clear determination of our chuich." But the misfortune was, this had actually been demonstrated before ; whence Dr. Tully took occasion to press the matter home to Bull's conscience ; justly upbraiding him, not for espousing those doctrines which he took for true, but for swearing and setting his hand to articles which, if his own system was right, were and must be erroneous and false. This home thrust the Arminian doc- tor endeavoured to parry off, by insinuating that the determinations of the church, in behalf of the Calvinistic principles, are not sufficiently clear, but dark and ambiguous As if she had not clearly determined that " predestination is the everlasting purpose of God," and that we are " justified by faith only !" After this rate, any unbe- lieving subscriber whatever, when taxed with dishonesty and prevarication, need only cry out with bishop Bull, " the de- terminations of our church are not clear ;" and he slips his neck out of the collar very cleverly. But a determination which is not clear, is in reality no determination at all; and either the church has abso- lutely determined nothing, and is a church without any fixed principles ; or her de- terminations are clear and peremptory ; and, of course, the integrity of such per- sons as subscribe to those determinations, without believing them, is not very con- spicuous. One of the most furious Arminians now living (the John Goodwin of the present age) seems to have refined upon Bishop Bull in this particular. This Arminian is Mr. John Wesley, who, like many others, endeavour- ing to leap over the 17th article of the Church of England, very gravely tells us that that article, which treats of predestina- tion, " only defines the term," but does not affirm the doctrine. By this new rule all our positive articles are only so many defini- tions of terms : the 1st, for instance, defines the meaning of the word Trinity ; the 9th defines original sin ; the 27th is a definition of baptism ; and the 39th defines an oath. So the Church is founded, not upon doc- trines, but on bare definitions ; and is not a teacher but a definer ! Is there a Jew, a Turk, or a Papist, who would scruple to subscribe our articles, considered simply as definitions of certain terms and phrases ? or is there a Protestant in the world but might safely set his hand to pope Pius's creed upon a similar supposition ? I leave to the con- sideration of Dr. Nowell and of the public, who are to be deemed Methodists and Sec- tarians. They who believe the doctrines of the Church as they stand in her articles, without sophistication and disguise ? or they who, with Mr. Wesley and some others. (I) Apol. pro Harm, inter. Opera, p. 660. Sect. 12. C16 THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND VINDICATED, &c. subscribe the articles not as articles of faith, but either as ecclesiastical definitions of terms, or at most as determinations which are not clear? By this loose, shagglinjf way »f evading the force of Chinch decisions, and weakening the sacied ties of solemn and repeated subscriptions, the spiritual fence of our establishment is broken down and trod under foot ; and the Church, like a city without walls, or a house stript of its doors, lies open to the entrance of every comer, whether friend or foe, who has op- portunity of getting in. Such, I fear, is in great measure the present condition of our once admirable Church. I can only, for ray own part, be faithful to her myself, pour out my soul for her in secret at the throne of grace, and, until God pours down a Spirit of reformation on many of her pre- tended sons, cry over her, saying, Alas ! my mother ! Her gates are sunk into the ground ; he hath destroyed and broken her bars ; the law is no more ; her prophets also find no vision from the Lord. What thing shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem ? what shall I equal to thee that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Sion ? for thy breach is great like the sea ; who can heal thee ? Lam. iii. As to Dr. Waterland, on whose attempts to weed out Calvinism from our articles you lay so great stress, I grant that, like the prelate last mentioned, he fought through thick and thin and strained every nerve in order, if possible, to Arminianize the Church. But his success was very far from being equal to his toil. This learned and excellent person never lost himself more visibly, nor was never pinched more sen- sibly, than when his own artillery was turned upon him by Sykcs. The inference, urged by the latter, is too glaring to be denied, viz. — That if Arian subscription to Trinita- rian articles is palpably dishonest, then, by all the lules of argument in the world, Anniiiian subscription to articles that are Calvinijtic must and can be no less criminal. This was the Gordian knot which Dr. Wa- terland, with all his strainipg, could never untie. Therefore this great man, finding himself wedged fast between the horns of this unavoidable dilemma, namely, either to give up the point, and own subscribing Arminians to be as inexcusable as sub- scribing Arians ; or that, if those might subscribe, salva conxciciitii'i, so might these, since what is lawful for the raven is as lawful for the crow ; — the doctor, to free himself as well as he could fiom this embarrass- ment, lesolved to cut the knot at once, by roundly denying that our articles are Cal- vinistical. But every struggle he made, and every argument he brought in support of his palpable falsehood (which he adopted only Jim rc nata, and to help himself out at a dead hft), only plunged liira in deeper diflSculties, by giving his Arian adversaries this advantage against him, that, upon the doctor's own principles, and by virtue of his own example, they were as much at liberty, mutatis mutandis, to put their own sense upon the 1st, 2d, 5th, and Bth articles, as Waterland wa^ to put his sense upcn the 9th, 10th, 11th. and 17th; since the very letter of these ai tides is no less determinate in favour of original sin, the utter impo- tence of free-will in spirituals, gratuitous justification without works, and eternal, ab- solute predestination, than those are in favour of the Trinity, the godhead of Christ, the godhead of the Holy Ghost, and the orthodoxy of the three creeds. And, indeed, the case speaks for itself. For if one sort of men may fairly claim the privilege of clipping, mincing, and wire- drawing some articles, as a salvo for sub- scription, why may not another sort of men be allowed to take the same liberty with the rest ? Let not, then, the subscribing Ar- niinian (though he may happen to be a Trinitarian) exclaim against the subscribing Arian, the subscribing Socinian, or even the subscribing Deist. Only grant it lawful to wrench the articles one way, and it is as lawful to wrench them any way or every way. If an Arminian may stretch the 17th article into conditional predestination and universal redemption, an Arian has just as much right to lop short the 2d article, so far as it stands in his way. By the same rule that our articles are drawn aside from any one part of their plain grammatical im- port, they may be frothed into no meaning whatever, and bandied about towards every point of the compass. If a subscriber is really at liberty to pick and chuse which of them, and which part of them he will beUeve, and which he shall reject ; which to subscribe sincerely, and which with secret provisos of his own ; subscription is no longer a fence against err r, but becomes a mere stallving horse, and the articles themselves a nose of wax. St. Paul's words, with a slight varia- tion, may be accommodated to the case in hand. Thou art inexcusable [0 subscribing Arminian], whoever thou art, that judgest [the subscr ibing Arian] ; for wherein thou iudgest [!iim], thou condemnest thyself : for thou that judgest doest the same thing [in another way]. Rom. ii. 1. Tlius the gap of prevaricating subscrip- tion being once opened, " we may," to use Dr. Waterland's own words, " bid adieu to principles ;" and between one subscriber and another the Church of England will have no settled doctrines left, or, at most, they will exist no where but in ink and paper, between the leaves of her liturgy and homilies, and in the forgotten writings of her old divines. THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND VINDICATED, &c 617 Foreign comedians, a spruce band, arrive, And pusli her from tlie scene, or hiss her there. Should matters go on for half a century longer as they have done for many years hack, the most respectable Church in the world vvill be reduced, by some of those who call themselves her children, to the same condition that the man in the fable was by his two wives : Ambx Tideri dum volunt illi pares, Capillos homini legere coepcre invicem. Quiim se putarat pingi cura raulienim, Calviis ropt-nte factns est : nem fuuditua Ciiuos puella, nigros anus, evellerat, I pray God that the Delilahs, who make it tlien- business to shear the Church of its locks, by robbing it gradually of its doc- trines, may not, at the long run, deliver it quite up into the hands of the Philistines. liishop Burnet went to work in a much more plausible manner than either Bishop Bull or Dr. Waterland. He contributed as much, in fact, towards opening a door to prevaricating subscription as they ; but did it with more decency, and with a better re- t;ar