LIBRARY A'!' PR1I«CET€>]¥, ^. J. DONATION OF S A M I ' K 1. A a N K W , /^ / /L «.! 1 P II 1 I. i 1> >: 1. 1' H I \ . J* A . Letter (f I " ' 3 ^ 1^ /^t^ ..^.-^.i~l-^^.. No. c^ -sw / CdSe^ Divisjon I i) BooU, _ f . sec k^ u W- LETTER ^L^XANDER KNOX, Eso^ M. R. I. A.'- BEliNG THE FIRST OF A Series of Letters TO THAT GENTLEMx\N, Occasioned by his Remarks on the Author's Expoiluiatory Addrefs TO THE METHODISTS OF IRELAND. JOHN WALKER, B. D. & F. T. C. D, By manifestation of the truth, commending oursel^oes to 8'very mans conscience, in the sight of Gcd. 2 Cor. vi. 2, IVisdom is justified of her children. Matth . xi . 19.. DUBLIN: PRINTED BY H. COLBERT, NO. T36, CAPEL-STREKT, 1803. Advertisement. IT is very contrary to my own ex^ pedlation, that I am obliged to publilh my an* iwer to Mr. Knox's Remarks In a feries of f€- ^parate letters. But 1 find that, if I fhould reply to the whol© of his Pamphlet at once, as I origin nally intended, I mnfl either treat the fubjefl more fuperficially than its importance demands ; or elfe muft allow a longer interval to elapfe be- fore publication than I think expedient, and pro- duce in the end a larger Work, than many readers would be willing either to purchafe or perufe. In the letter, which I now fend into public, -and hope to follow fhoftly by a fecond, tho reader will perceive in what manner I aim at handling the controverfy. I w'lih to clear away all difputes about the chara£^crs of men, and about modes of expreflion ; in order to bring forward and difcufs with plainnefs the infinitely important .principles, which are concerned in it*J III iv ADVERTISEMENT. In one refpedV, I can confidently predi(^ the iffue of the difcuiTion ; and the Vindi- cator of the reputation of the Methodifl:^ may look at it with fatisfaf^ion. Their re- putation in the woild will rife, in propor- tion as the attention of the public is direct- ed to the differences between them and mc. The world will progrefhvely difcover — what •I intimated in more tlian one paiTage of my Addrefs — that it's creed approaches .much nearer ■to the fyftem of Methodifm, than to that called ■Galviniilic ; and will therefore become much more favonrably. difpofcd to the fentiments of a body, which it finds ftrenuons in maintaining .opinions that are generally current in the •world. Imprefled with the certahity of this refult, I mufl be either ftrangcly fond of reproach, or faongly perfuaded of the importance of .the truths for\vhich I contend, in wifhing to continue the conteft. The former, I know, fome are ready to fuppofe, who capnot ^be- •lieve the latter. I Jow^ever that be, I confefs that I view all the reproach wdiich can be heaped upon me as a matter of perfeCV indifierence, in comparifon to the obje6l; of being bleiTed to win one foul— either in or out of the Methodifl Society — to the ^nowdedge of that glorious Gospel^ which is the ■ wifdoi« ADVERTISEMENT. v wifdom and the power of God to them that Believe. I hefeech the reader to give a ferlons con- ^deration to the topics handled in the follow- if^g pages; and to excule the unadorned garb in which they appear, for the fake of their intriniic importance. J. W. JDec, 23^, 1 80a. -tna CONTENTS, Contents. THE Author's feelings m taking up his pen different from Mr. Knox's. — On the fuppofed inexpediency of religious controverfy. — Impor- tance of divine truths. — Errors in conducing religious controverfy, and difficulty of main- taining it aright. — The controverfy on one fide is ne^lT really given up. — Suppofed difturbance of the peace of the Chriftian world. — Mr. K.'s fundamental mifappreheniion of the Author's objeft in his Addrefs. — Natural to confound a faithful monitor with an enemy. — The Author's indifference about the determination of one queftion between Mr. K. and him. — Mr. K. afTigns ojie cogent reafon, if it be true, for oppofmg the Author.— Importance of Mr. K.'s theological remarks. — Mr. K.'s miftake concern- ing the occafion of thfe Addrefs.— On parties and party- fpirit. — A fuppofition upon which the Author would hold the Methodifts juftified in their oppofition to the exertions of other Chriftians.— The worft kind of party-zeal— Next degree of it.— Who they are that can truly vjii CONTENTS, truly CO operate in Chriftian union. — On the opinion that any Chriftlans ouglit^to confine themfelves to whnt h prat'^ical, to th^exclufion of Chriftian do6trihes. — On the fuppofed ab- flrufenefs and inconiprehenfihle nature of the doctrines, in which Calvinifls and Arminians differ. — Two points conceded to thofe who make this obje(flion. — Mifapplicarion of the word Charity. — The Scriptures admit but one principle of moral good, and one of evil in men. — That Mr. K. would aflign a worfe caufe for the condu6l of the Methodifts than the Autlior. — On the popular notion of shiceniy of heart. — Cliriftian charity obliges the believer to aft contrary to the popular notion? of Charity. ■ — What kind of Gofpel the world would bear. ^— OJenfivenefs of Chriftian iidelity to worldly pn.feilx)rs — Tellimony of the Church of Eng, land againfl the popular Charity.— Mifapplica- tion of the text— '^ Charity hopeth all thiiigs." — What muft regulate thehope of true Charity — Mifapplication of the text — '* Judge not." — . On the fuppofed advantage given to Infidels by the Author's admonitions to the Methodifls. — • How the Deifls are to be combated. — The Au- thor's -ready conceffion of one exprefTion to Mr. K. — The eagernefs for numerous profelytes not peculiar to the Methodifls. — Its origin. — True glory of the true Church. — Prevale ice of the attempt to make Chriflianity refpeftable and palatabko-*- CONTENTS. ix palatable. — The mind of the world towards Chrift unaltered. — 1 hat flridl morality and ge- neral piety (fo called) coiiftitute not a Chditian charafter. — The only true morality and piety, Dilhelief of the Gol'pel evinces a flate of dark- nefs. — How gneat llrefs the Author lays on true morality. — The infidelity of fome nominal Chriftians avowed, of others evinced hy their condu'^. — A judgment of Charity— the ex- preffion inaccurate. — In one fenfe none exclud- ed from it— in another fenfe all real Ar^.iini- ans. — The effential characfrer of tiie Gofpel. — A Qiriilian cannot efcape the charge of ihibe- rality. ^ The Purchafers of the fecond Edition of the Expoflulatory Addrefs, are renuefted to correct the following errata; — pa^e 8, line 15, for — readily to adopt — read — readily adopt : — line 19, for — our Society— VQaid — your Society . A LETTER, «amt A LETTER Sir, I CANNOT, like you, commence by expreffing either relu6^ance or regret in taking up my pea, to reply to your Remarks on my Expoftulatory Addrefs to the Metho- difts of Ireland. It was not without the moll fcrious confideration that I wrote tliat Addrefs; and, after the moft fcrious and repeated con- fideration, I do not regret having brought into difcuilion the topics, which are handled in it. Nor is it with reluctance that I iind jTcyfelf called on, by your Remarks, to con- tinue the difcuffion of them, I was well aware that 1 fhould be fo cailled on by fome refpondent ; and fnrely were I to fele6t an antagonift, I could not choofe any one, with wb.om 1 fliould more gladly enter the field, ^an a gentleman of cultivated mind, — capa- B ble ( 2 ) blc of underftandlngthe force of an argtimentj — -difpofed to acknowledge it when perceived, - — not unexperienced in the general fubjcds wlich come into debate, — and towards whom I cannot be fuppoicd to harbour any fenti- ments contrary to thofe of perfonal regard. In avovving the , latisfaion with which I meet ,any antagonift, and efpecially fuch an one as you, I know tJiat I exprcfs a feeling very difierent from that, whi h marry poiTefs, who view the contcft. I know that many, even of thofe who profefs to think with me on the leading fabje6ts difculfed in my Addrefs, are yet concerned that I have brought them into public agitation. Some of them think It imprudent in m^, to involve myfelf in the odium'of fuch a controverfy; and others think that all controverfy about matters of religion, be'tween profelTors of religion, is to be de- precated. Tlie latter fentiment alone is worth confideration. Allow me, Sir, to premife a few obfervations upon it ; becaufe I know that it is generally prevalent, and appears indeed in more than one palfage of your letter, while I think it fo deeply erroneous. , The fentiment againft which I proteft, (pro- teft at leail in the latitude in which it is common- ly put forward) fcems to me to originate — part- ly in a natural infenfibility to the importajice o^ divine truths, — and partly in a prejudice occafi- oncd by the manner, in wliich religious con- troverfy has been too often handled. If the fcriptures contain a divine revelation, the mat- ters which they reveal cannot be unimportant; and if they be important, the difculTion of' them (. 3 ) them muft be dcfirable, for the purpofc of afcertatning the real import of the revelation, and of vindicating its truth againft every op- pofing error. AccordiDgly we find, in all ages of the church, that the profeffors who manifefl: the groilefl indifference to the revealed truths of God, are thofe Who are moft for- ward to decry every attempt to exarfiine or affert them : and that as a {enk of their im- " portarice has at any time been excited in any country, there has appeared with it a corref- ponding zeal to maintain them againft all ad- verfaries. - Indeed it is among the peremptory precepts of Chriftlanity to " hold faft the form of found words," (2. Timothy i. 13) to '* con- tend earneftly for the faith once delivered unto the faints,'^ (Jude 3.); and tiiis—as appears from the following verfe — not merely againft thofe who are without the pale of the viiible Church, but againit fahe profeifors who are within it. See alfo the praifc and the reproof, th'at arc difpenfed to the Teven Churches of Alia, (Rev. ii. iii.) according as they faithfully difchargcd this duty, or treacberoully negle6l:ed it. Neitl)er irthe" nature of the duty changed, nor its importance diminilhcd, by the numbers who— ^nnder the femblanceof-performing it- have either contended for the doftrines of men as the truths of God, or in vindicating the lat- ter — have departed from the fpirit, in which Chriftians are galled to maintain the conteii. That it is a nice and trying thiiig to difchargc the duty aright, I readily acknowledge, and de- fn-c to remember: but if this were a reafon B 2 fbr ( 4 ) for il-^rmlcing from chri^ian duty, there is not one tliat 1 would ever attempt; for I know there k not rne tLiat I can perform aright, but as I ani evnbled to perform it in a Ipirit not jny own. But V. .?;] rhofe, who are fo anxioias that we fhould not diftnrh the repofe of the Christian World (as it is called) with religious contro- verfy, prevail on that world to give up their oppofition to tlie tr-utjis of God's word? no:- — the peace they woiild promote is a treacherous. peace. The advcrfarv is not idle, even when ]]e |}ropa>j;-i^e3 l.'ls err -rs moil: (luietly, or under "ihe iiioit i])cci;vj5i fMrm : and it becomes thofe who " koow the truth," not to be impofecT on by his wiles, but to advance the flandard of the gofpel, and maintain " the good fight of faith." There mufl be a controverfy be- tween divine truth aad human error, as long as there aie any men m the world who oppofe that truth : and tiiofe who defire Chriflians to give up the controverfy, do but aik them- to furrender their Lord^s caufe to his ene- mies. Many /)r(g/fiJor5 of his name will be angry with thofe who difturb them, by the introduc- tioii of fuch topics. They would rather have- their unbelieving minds left to the uninterrupt- ed enjoyment of carnal repofe, ' They ' could do well enough,' as they fay, ' and ' be good Chriftians enough, without behig ' troubled with the truths of fcripture. The ^ Bible to be fure, is a|l true ; but then there * are a great many things in it, which wc * had better let alone. Thofe who mind them . *, too ( 5 ) ^ too much are aj^t to get enthnnaftic, and to ' become flrange kif^jcl of people, thinking- * and acting very differently from tlie reft of * the '"world; kDc] t/icy can fee no ufe in con« * tending about thefe speculative matters/ — . Such fage obfervations are very common, and very natural from thofe, who leally d,o not believe what the fcriptures declare ; but at the i'ame time defirc to fail fmoothly down the current of the world, in a reputable profef- iion of chriftianitv. But they muft excufc thofe, - who do believe the truths x>f God's w^ord, for averting and vindicatingthem, though it fhould diflurb their quiet.— How far thefe., preliminary obfervations are applicable to the prefent occafion, will appear more clearly as I proceed in my reply. You take up your pen, Sir, under a moil miftaken idea, which yon ^ carry with ■ you through the whole of your letter. ■ You com- mence ■ by fpeaking of '* charges^'' which I have made againft the Methodifts; and by which you conceive I have " attacked*^ their body. To repel thofe charges, and " vindi" coie^* them from this fuppofed attack, evident- 1\^ is your great 6bje£t from firft to laft. In this you appear to know little of my obje6l in addreffing them ; and you invite me to a field, into which I have no difpofition to follow you. My obje£l in wTiting was not to accufe the Methodifis at the bar of tlie public, nor to attack them as thofe vi horn I Wanted to put dowqi : but to give them an admonition which I knew to be needful ; and to teftjfy to them, foV their profit, agaiiifl evils in their rraflice, f 6 ) pra'^ice, and errors in their principles, the exigence of which your pamphlet fays no- thinp: to difprove. Yonr objeft being to vin- d'iccde tlicin at the bar of the public, you zeal- oufJy endeavour to convince the world that my admonition was not needed. But I have no anxiety to prove to the world that it was. That is a qucilion, m w^h.ich my charadlcr alone for propriety of condu6l is concerned, on the one fide-: and on tlie other, their re- putation ;;riiO!~ig men: and I view all fuch fjueilions as to-o unimportant to defer /e difcuf^ lion» Your flatterinc;- remark'^, of courfe, will bs much more ;?ratehd to the Methiodiirs, than my faitliful AdJiefs: and the oidy view 'in- wliich I reyret the publication of your re- marks, is, as it tends to fhut their ears- againii ^he voice of falutary admon.ition; — to which>, vvithouir your al^ftai^ice, many, of them would have been fufRciently deaf It- is very natural to us (but a.» very bad part of oun nature) to regard as a:j cntmy v'^^ manwlio /f/7i f/j the truths ((^ah iv. 16); and it is for you ferioufly to- coi^iiidcr,. how far the fundamental- princjpb,, upon which' you took, up your pen, counte- nances that evil, \\\ reprefenting a tellimony againfl: pernicious errors, as the attack. of an enemy. Still Lam not without liope that fome of that body- — even fome of thofe among chem, who arc at prefent much incenfed againit the rrionitor;— will eve.ntually be benefited by tlie admr-nition ; by beitig excited to examine |or themfclves Into the nature of feveral prac- ikes and opinions, which have hitherto pafied- curreiit ( 7 ) current among them, nncTer tlie {lamp of hu- man authority. And if this efie6t be produced m any degree, I trufl I fhall be very indifFeren.t to the determination which the world may give to that quellion — whether I-had fufficient caufe, or not, to addrefs tiie Methodiils as I did.. The. urvr/d is a bad judge of any matters relative to Chrillianity : and while I deffre to be kept open to inflru^lron in the Scriptures — through what- ever inftruraent it ma*' be conveyed, — it is by the Scriptures^ and not by the judgmejit of the world, that I dehrc to liave my opinions form- ed, and my conduct regulated. You, af]]gn. Sir, one reafon for remarking on my addrefs,. the cogency of wrhich I' am in- deed moil: ready to admit. You think that I have " given; ibme very erroneous views of certain fcripture do6lrines, which feera to yon to be pregnant with peculiarly pernicious confe- qucnces." Thinkin,g fo, the apology at the clofeof your pamphlet, fortakiiig up this part of the fubjCiSt, is altogether fuperfiuous. No Chrif- tian iw^njleps hcptid his line, iii maintaining the truths of fcripture, according to his ability, againft all who corrupt or oppofe them,. That this is the bufinefs of priefts and theologians alone, is a papiftical* idea, which is only cal- culated to hoodwink the eyes of the people, and to lead them blindfold after blind guides. A\'\q\ how^evcr ufeful fome learning — rightly ap- plied — may be, for determining the precife meaning of particular palTages in fcripture, yet (blefTed be God !) the leading dodrines of fcrip- ture are as open to every Englifh reader, as to the mofl profound fcholar. Here f 8 ) Here therefore you have undertaken an office, in which, if you have failed, your failure is not to be attributed to the want of human learning; and an office which I fhall at all times be glad to fee others undertake. If thev fucceed in the execution of it, they will be in- ftru. mental in propagating the knowledge of fcripture do£^rines : if, in the attempt, they bring forward miflakeii, views of fcripture, — they will afford an opjDortunity to others of combating errors, which are naturally rooted in the human mind, and are generally prevalent — even when they are not publicly maintained. And in this view I confefs 1 look with more fa- tisfaftion at your " theological remarks*' tlian at all the reft of your pamphJct. In the obfer- vations which I have to ofier upon other parts» I flnill have continual need to guard againft wafting my time, or the time of my readers, upon topics of no eternal — that is of no effen- tial — importance. But when I come to your theological remarks^ after feparating from them queftions which might ilfue only in verbal coi\^. troverfy, I am certain of the importance of the fubjefV, and certain of the one rule, which is to guide me in the difcuffion of it. I have already intimated that, in replying to your remarks on what you call my " charges againft the methodifts," I have no intention of going into the proof of any fafts to which I have alluded in my admonitions. But be affured you greatly miftake, when you intimate that my pamphlet '^ would probably never have been publifhed,'* had they abftained from oppofttion againft certain perfons, whom you fuppofe mc " concerned ( 9 ) ** concerned for.'* In truth, Sir, there ai^e n:o perfoiis for whom I am concerned — in the fenfc in which you appear to ufe the word ; and (6 far from that opposition having given occafion to my addrefs, I am not confcious that it was even a concurring caufe ; tho' I thought it ex- pedient (having taken up my pen) to call their attention to that oppofition, as marked with the charaders of a party- fpirit. You intimate that the blame of this oppofi- tion ought to be at leaft divided — that it is but party againfl: party ; and adduce. in evidence my entering as you fay " into a detailed expofare of every thing" I deem faulty in methodifm*— Here, Sir, it is more important to clear the meaning of thofe terms — party and partv-fpiritf than to prove that I entered into no fuch detail as you impute to me, nor into any expofure of faults in the Methodifts, hut wliat was neccfTary to call their attention to the evils, which I wiili- ed to mark. A party, Sir, is a good or bad thing, accord- ing as it is engaged in a good or bad ca,ufe, and promotes it by good or bad means. The vorld may give the na^me of a party to any or to all Chriilians, as combined together to promote the caufe of Chrift's Kingdom, by the propa- gation of his truth ; and may give the name of party-spirit to the zeal of Chriftians in pursuing thofe objects. But the things ceafe not to be good, becaufe they are marked with a bad name. Now if I, in my addrefs to the iVIethodifts, op- pofed any point of Chriftian truth, or any in- fiance of Chriflian pra(^ice, which they ob- fervcj I there muft plead guilty of what delerves ^ worfc (10 ) a worfe name than party-spirit ; muil plead guilty of havit-ig taken part (whether inteiuionally'or >iot) with the enemies of the true God. And if you or any one can point out fuch an in- ftancein my Addrefs, I trufl I fhall have grace to acknowledge my fault with fliame, and to repard tije perfon who dete^ls it as my beft fnend. And again, ;/ in that oppolition of the Me- thodif^^s, againft the exertions of other deno- Xninations of ChrilHans in this Ifland, they are oppofing perfons who are not really engaged in the caule of Chrift, or oppofing any errors in their do6trine, or evils in their pra6lice, — I will freely admit that their oppofition defer\'es a- much better name than that oi' party- spirit : — it" is Chriliian fidelity, lliat '* t/iey lit cm'' the opinions of thofe, whom they oppofe, pecu- liarly pf rnicious — is indeed, as you obferve, no - juftitkation of then" enteiing into a party-war. But lei me fay for the JViethodills — hypotheti- cally — -more than you feem difpofeJ to fay: tbatif'tlie opinions of thofe perfons t?e unfcrip- turai, they are pernicious ; and that would am- ply juftify th.e Methodilfs in oppofing them by the word of truth, while nothing can juftif)^ them in employing anv other weapons. 1 have warned the Methodifls to take heed that their oppolition was marked with thefe characters, which alone can vindicate it from the charge of party-%cal of the wor/t kind ; and i am glad of the opportunity you have afForded mc of trac- ing thofe chara6ters more diilin6fly. But belides thofe two great parties^- of which 1 have taken notice in my addrefs, as the only parties parties T defire to acknowledg^er, and the contcfi: between whom I can never defire to fee abated, as long as there are any men on eartli who op- pofe the caufe of Chrlfl: in oppoling the truths of his go(j->cl ; — there have been too long fub- ordinate parties among thofe, who are ah'ke on the Lord's fide, and too much of party-zecil ma- nifefted by them for their fubordinate difFe- rencss, and the feveral peculiarities of forms and modes, by which they are diflinguifhed. That fuch difliiiguilliing peculiarities Qiould exift, r think is unavoidable in the prefent im- perfc6l ftate ; and f think many wife reafons appear for the providential permiflion of them. " But while they continue to exift, they deftroy not the unity of the Chriftlan church ; which coniifts not in a unity of modes and forms, but in having one fairh, one Lord, onebaptifm of his Spirit, and one God and Father of all. I have therefore long lamented, that they iliould have fo much cftranged different Chris- tians from each other, excited mutual jealoufy, and prevented that manifedation of the unity of all believers, which is one of the circum- ilances, by which they ought to let their light fhine in the world. I have long lamented that Chriftians fhould wafte lb much of their zeal about thofe diflinguithing pecdiarities, which cannot be elTential to the Chriftian church, becaufe they are borrowed from chara^lers not common to all its real members. All fuch zeal alfo is party-zeal of a bad kind, though not fobad as the former; and I did. in my Addrefs, intimate my fatisfa6>ion at the rapid decr^^afe of that fpirit in the prefent day, maniiefted by the < I* ) the growing vinian of Chriflians of various outward churches — co-operating cordially to Eromote the common caufe of their common ,ord. I look with fatisfa£lion at th^t Pinion, "becaufe it obvioufly has no "bond but that in which all Chriftians are agreed — the glorious Gofpcl of God our Saviour: — for the perfons, who are thus a£ling in concert for the propaga- tion of It, retain, and are likely to retain, all their former diverlity of fcntiments about modes and formSr' And I did drop a word of re- monllrance to the Methodifls upon that jea- loufy, which I know many of them have ma- nifefted againft this Evangelical Union. Nor do I regret the remonflrance ; for it was need- ed : but the proof I decline entering into ; my obje£l being to convince — not to conv'i^ them. But here, Sir, let me freely fay — that the only Methodifts, whomi could wifh to fee com- ing forward to join that union, are thofe who do net for themfelves adopt thofe ** favourite do^r'mes'^ of methodifm, a zeal for which you feem to think fo harmlefs. That there are fuch in the Society — I have avowed my opinion, lonly regret that fuch fhould countei^.ance thefun- damental errors of theinethodiilic fyllem by not prote (ling agai nil them : forthatfomeofthe errors of it (as {landing oppofed to the freedom, fove- reignty, and efficacioufncfs of the grace of God in the falvation of his people) are {o fun^ damcntal, that no man is a believer of the Gof- pel who really adopts hem for himfelf — un- charitable as the declaration may appear to yoii «!^I cannot but teiiify. Nor can I he fo certain that any of thoie who pojejs tliC Method illic f<^^. ( '3 ) fvftem are real Cliriflians, as I mufl be, that feveral of the tenets of that fyftem are Antl- chriftian. The Scripture alTures me of the lat- ter; but no whereof the forme r.j And with thofe, who really do net believe the Gofpcl of the arace of God, believers of that Gofpel can* not CO- operate inChriitian union. You exprefs yourconvi£lion, Sir, that "what ** well-difpofed Arminiansaim atw^ll then only ■** be fecurcd, when th<^'v keep the controvcrfial *'' fvvord witliin its ilieath, and confine them- *' felves ilriftlv to what is praflical.'*' I quote this paifage not to avail myfelf of the concef- fion, which would appear to be applied in it, that their opinions will not ftand the tefl of a •clofe examination by the word of God ; — but to protefl againft that prevalent, but moft er- roneous, fentiment — that Chriflian practice ever 'ca.n be feparated from Chriftian dodrine.— • Throughout Scripture thefe two things appear indiifolubly conne£led. All the moil pra6lical diredions to the people of God are immedi- ately derived, in Scripture, from the views which they have received of Him, his grace, and his falvation; however an unbelieving world may decry the importance of thofe views as speculative. In Scripture the only principle, which is reprcfented as working by love, is faith— or " the belief of the trut/i.'' <* By the %Yord of trut/i'^ are behevers begotten unto God (Ja!mes i. i8) ; through the fame //////^ are they fan6lified. (John xvii. jy, 19.) Nay, it is de- clared that " this is life eternal to know the only true God and Jefus Chrill whom he hath fent." (John xvii. 3.) And on the othfr hand, to ( H ) ■ W^ilk .hi darhufs — to helteve a lie — to hiovj .noi -God' — are phrai'es fvnonimous with a courre of evil and ungodly pra6Uce. Let no ChrilHans, therefore, for a moment, admit the idea of " confmifig themfelves to what is praftical,** to the negle£t or exclulion of the doctrines of the Gofpel. I do not fay, Sir, that you intend- ..ed to convey fuch an idea ; but it is fo gene- rally current in the world, and seems to be fo counteimnced by your exprelTion, thatlhavc thought it not inexpedient to bear this tefiimo- ny againft it. I fhall indeed have occafion to examine it. more at large hereafter. But you feem to intimate, that the points of divine truth — ^at iliuc between the Methodiils and thofe who are called Calvinifts — ought by both to be laid afide as incomprehenfibly myfle- rious, as " gulphs^— where'* (you fay) " St. Paul himfelf confeiibs that he found no bot- tom." I could wilh, Sir, that you had referred to the palTage in the Apoflle^s writings, which you have in view.- Is it poffible that you allude to that exclamation of the Apollle's (Rom. xi. 53-) ? " ^'' • ^^^^ depths oLthe riches both of the wifdom and knowledge of God ! how unfearch- able are his judgments, and his ways pall find- ing out '" Why — in that very paflage the Apoflle has been averting moil plainly the dealings of God, as working all things after the counfel of his own will, for the purpofe of magnifying the fovereignty of his grace and .the riches of his mercy, in faving finners both of Jews and Gentiles; and then breaks out ^nto believing admiration at the view of the di- .yiiie wifdom in this procedure. And Ihall his admiratioa ( »s ) acfmiration of its wifdom be employed to call ill quellion the certainty — of what he has fo cxprellly declared? Shall the great affertor of 'the do(5lrines of free grace be quoted, as leav- ing tliem in dark uncertainty ? — If I have con- jeAured riglit, as to the pafTage to which you allude, I think your candour will acknowledge, ■upon examining it, that it has nothing to do with the purpofe for which you employed it. — But allow me to fay a few words more upon the fallacious argument — ho longer now as yours — • but as too commonly employed by others, to excufe their unbelieving rejedion of what God has declared in his word. ■ *..There things' (they cry) * are abflrufe and * incomprehenlible ; — no one can underlland * them: therefore let us not hear' any more of * them.' Often have I known the mofl avow- ed infidels to fhelter themfelves in tlus refuge of lies, from the firll: principles of revealed trlifh : — and often profelTbrs of every fliade and degree, who while they own tlic divine autho- rity of the Bible iri a mafs, rejeft its truths in detail. Now 1 will readily concede to tliofe objectors two points ; — the one, that there are various queftions comiefied with all tlie trut'hs reveale-d in the Scriptures, which our under- flandings cannot fathom; — the other, that no man can believe what he cannot underftand. But what then ? Do the Scriptures call us to believe what is unintelligible ? No — ihcy piciinly declare the truths, which men are required to hei'ieue : and let thefe objectors fliew me that opinion v/hich is not intelligibly declared in the word of God, and 1 will fhew them that opi- C % nion ( i6 J nion, the "belief cf which (whether itbe trueoi^ falfe.. cannot he ef?ent)^al to falvaiion. But are the doctrines of the free grace an3' dealing love of God, which* Anmnhns sysie^ tnat':cally rejc*^ — are they fuch ? No ;■ — they are thronghont the Scriptures revealed in Ian-- g\ia..jc fo phiin, that the moil illiterate, who be- lie\e tlieni, nnc'criland its meaning. But, ** why/' faid ChfKl (if old to the unbelieving Jews, ** why do ye not iinderftand my fpeech?' Even bccaufe ve cannot hear my word." The tmbelief of the heart — indifpofed to receiver. th^ truth — is a veil upon the mind, and blinds. the eves of c';:^ i.iK'e' landing. ()r — are thofe do fines — fo plainly revealed —to be reje«^edasir»-: ertain myfteries, becanfc other qiicflions ahou: them, wliich the prefump- tuoiis curiofity of maa iuggefts, are left unre- veaied in the word of God, and tlierefore. baffle the utnioll: ft retch of the human under- ilanding ? As well mipht I reject all the evi-^ dcQce of my fe?.vfesabout natural ohje^is, be- Gaufe fo man^ topics- of cnquky concerning: them may be ihuted, which I never can refolve.. As well migiit 1 call in quellion the certaipj:y of my ov/n exigence, becaufe I cannot under- "ftand hozu I exiii. Let us have done then witli the talk of laying ahde, as un'mtdiiglbiey any of the truths revealed In Scripture ; and let thofo who will ftill tajk of laying them ahde, ■A%.umm~ ^ortanty avow that they lay afide their Bibles. You tliink that *' Chriflian charity is violat* cd by thus jlidgi/ig of men's heartSy'- as I feem to you to have done, in admonifl.ing -the Mc- tliodifls againil the prevalence of a party-fpirit in ( 17 ; IvL tlieii- body. Sir, it is a very" fmall matter whether T am thought uncharitable or not : but it is a matter of lerious importance to Vindicate that fcriptural term — charity— from' the per^ ' ve'rfion of its meaning, which this and other paflages-of your letter more than countenanccsJ' And it is the more important, becacfe iimilar mifapplications of the term are fo common, and pregnant v/ith confequences fo awful — • tending to harden mert againil. the force of di- vine truth, and to iull them in carnal fecurity. What is the cry of the. ufibelieving worlds when wari>ed of the evil of their ways and the evil of their hearts ? *^ G ! be not fo unc/ianta- ' i^/e. It belongs to God alone to judge our * hearts.' As if God had not pronounced in his word the awful chara6^ers of the heart of fallen man ; or as if it were a chriflian duty to difbelieve what he declares, and to think well of that, which he teflilies agaiiiil as evil. You need' not to bs informed, Sir, that the word tranflated Charity means neither more nor lefs than — LOVE ; and that it is fa'nh that ** work- cth by lave." Let not that love, therefore, be fef in oppofitlon to the parent from which it fpr'ings ; as it is, when a " judgment of charity^ is mad? fynonimouswith — a favourable opinion of men's ftate and hearts, whether that opini- on be regulated by the Scriptures of God or not " The word of truth warrants me not In think- ing Well of the himian heart at any time, — nei- ther of my ov.'n heart, nor of the hearts of others ; and the fame word teaches me to con- feder ^e corruption of that Ji§art as the one fc:uitfiiic fi-urtfi-^lTonrce oF every evi], both in tlic tem- pers and conr!u(ftof men. (Maih. xv. 18,. 19.). Tlie woicl of truth admi-h but two principles- of moral good or evilin man,, and plain K' cha- r:u^cri?.es their diUin(^l: fiiiits; — the llclhly or va!.!ou! }/:/;/ii oi fMilen mail — the- fruitful' fource ■ of evil arid liOirhing but e\il continuallVj — and- the ?!r:v :-/lud of t!;e ipiiit in believers — the iruit of wJHcli is aitogcther good. Wlicn I fee any of tltc fruits of the flcfh, even- in believers, I' ^know ■";:-", S::'ipture lliat thev can'iot proceed' fi-om :;..■ 1; 'rir, no more than a good, tree can briiig fcir'; e\il [Viiit ;. and, tiic ti uell chrilfian cJuirii) — :-■ " ' ■"-- — n"!av rail on me, i^otonly to tefisM' a;.: :iin-aid evils wiiic-ii Idilcern,. but to iu::n:o; ii rn rhcLn o:- tj;': iTiwurd principle. of cvii, iVoni wiiich r!. fj-^e pi '-ecd. Look. Sir, agaiii at thr;je fruit;;, to \^'hich I* ca.lied the aittniion of rlie Method ills in that- paflage, whefe voii thiiik I have " violated- cl;'i-uian cliaiit-y ;" — friiits, the exi'ftence o£" 'wfiicli in tlicir iociety \on liave not attempted-' to deny, though i believe yon are little ac« quaintcd with the extent to vvdiich they exiii: — • niid perhaps you will find reafon to alter your- €^pinion, tliat f have there *' refolvcd doubtful- condudl inta its worfl: poilible caufe." Tlie^ fruits y re not- deubtfully evil : and a feripturai- believer can therefore have no doubt" whence they fprihg; and knows that the vvorft, wh.ich can be fai-d of that fource, i^iuil fail lliart of expre fling its real corruption. You think that I would have refolvcd their condu^l into a more favourable caufe,. if 1 had imputed, it to. their, real attachment t# f 19 ) to the faYCurlte do6l lines of tlie Armiiiiaii iyftem— as oppofed to the Calvlnifilc. — ^View- in.gj 3.S 1 do, tbcfe doiilrines as anti-chrillian, and oppcfite to the truth of God's word,. I am g];id to have room to /iape that, m many of them,, this conduct originates in a dif- ferent caufc :— that tliev adopt the unfcriptural peculiarities of Mr. AVefley's and Mr. Flet- cher's ^fyli em, rather in. name tnan in reality ; and that they oppole thofe who hold and de- dare a i'mpler Gofj;el— rather from the falfe views of the doiSrrines. called Calviniflic, which are feduiouily obtruded on their minds, by mifreprefentations of what Calvinifts hold^. — than from a. real: oppoluion to the truth. Yet even this fuppofition does not rendftr it uiinece^iary to admonifh them of the evil — of taking up lucii haily and unfounded pre- judices : much lefs docs it vindicate the mearisj which many in the Methodift Society ha\^ employed, for opposing thofe who are the objeds of thefe prejudices But wliere any of them are prompted to this oppofition by a rffl/ adoption of the peculiarities of AriPiini- anifm, — I muft (however it may fliock ycm as a violation of chriftian charity) warn fuch^ that they are oppofing the truths of God in the bliiidnefs of their minds, — that unleia -they repent, they wm'11 perifh in their unbelief, —and that the perfuaf on they have of being right cannot exempt them from condemna- tion. * What 1' — fom.e one will exclaim — * what * more can be required from any man, than *" that he fhouJd be sincerdy convinced that * what ( 20 ) ' what he believes is tree, and a6V according- ^ ly ? And is it not a breach of charity to ' Is not this (in the language of the charm- * ing poet) to dml damnation round the land — on * cacli vje judge God's foe P' " Well tlien ;— if this objec^lion be folinded in trr.th, let us fhnt our bibles for ever. The obje<^Ion, in facV, is founded in diibelief of what the bible declares ; and v.-as very fuitable in the, mouth^ ot an iniidel poer, who plainly intimates that the vvcrfliinpers of the heathen Jove and of tile true Jehovah, wlio has made hinifeif known in the fcriptures, diiTer fronr each other in little more than a -name. My bible tells me that tidwso klkvcth the Gospel-^- that is the glad tidings which it brings of fal- vation for lofl dinners — shali be saved -y and that zvhoso helicveth not shall be damned; — 'that' vjhoso hdlevcth not the record that God hath given of his Son, is condemned already^ and the wrath of Gsd abldith on him. But if tliat objedioit be true, then whatever a man believes — pro- ■ tided he is - j/w^/Y- in believing it — (arid I am fure I kiTow not well vVhat the insinceie believ- ing of any thing is, it is fo like disbelieving) — • it is of no efTentiai confequence, fo his con* du6l be good. But let chriitians never coun- tenance that sincerity, which is nothing but sincere pride^of heart, :indi sincere enmity againfl' the true God : for fuch are the corruptions of the human heart, which make a iinner re- jefl the Gofpel, and love datkness rather than light. Let not chriflians ever countenance that conduct as good, which fprings not from f 2r ) a- mihd ohedlmt to the faith ; — which is the con- diift of men yet in that ftate, in which the fcriptnres dechire, that they camot please God. lutt not chriilians ever be deterred, by the outcry made in favour o't" an infdcl charity^. from tcHifyiiig againft principles fo mifclnev- ens, from warnuig , the unbeiieving world of their dajiiger. This is one of the. prime duties of christian charity, or love. I know, Sir, that thefe views include one of the peculiar offences of the Crofs of Chrift, The offence cf the Cross would long ago have ccasedy if Chriil were preached as a. Saviour — in whom men might believe (to be fure) if tJiey pleafcd, and be the better for it, — but whofe i-cftiaiony they might alfo reject with- out ruin. The infidel world would content- edly bear fuch a Gofpel as this, aiid give its' advocates credit for much charity. They would contenredly futFex us to take our own way, if wc would only give them to under- hand — that they might fafely take theirs. And we find, in fa£t, that thofc profeffors of chriflianity who hold fuch a Gofpel, or coun- tenance it by their indifference to divine truths go very quietly through the world, and are much refpeded by the world. But fuch pro- feffors of chriftianity are but 'profeffors : they are of the zvorld, and therefore tlie zvorld loves its o%vru But far be that carnal policy from chriffians, which would recommend to the world fomething under the name of a Gofpel, by ftripping the Gofpel of its effential prin- ciple — becaufe. they are offenfive. ( " J So far as any really give up or deny tliofe effential principles — (and all thofe principles are eflential to the Gofpel, which afFe£l the Ofie foundation of a finner^s hope towards God, through the refurreaion of Jefus Chrift from the dead}— I truil 1 fhall ever addrefs them,— whetlier they bear the name of Chriflians or bear it not, — as infidels, and as oppofers of the revealed truths of fcripture ; while I de- iire to addrefs them with that tendernefs of concern, which fprings from a vi( w of their danger, — and with that lowlinefs of mind, which fprings from a perfuafion that ii is by grace — h'^j free-grace alone — 1 am made to dif- fer from them. Such I, know will be very' angry, at not finding me as ready to compli- ment them with the furrender of the divine truths which they diflike, as they would be ' to return the compliment in that caie to me. This they call charhy \ — this thinking ■ ivell q{ every one, ox of a great manv, whatever they believe, and however they iland difpofed to the GofpcL And they find that they poifefs fo much of this charity, that they commonly think very well of th.emiclves for being fo very charitable ; and if thtre be aiiy one for whom they can have no charity, it is the man Vv^lio has not quite fo much of ///i^ cha- rity — this hifidel charity — as tliemfelves. They think it very hard that fuch a man fhould dillurb them, and invade their characters, by teltifying againft their unbelief. But, indeed, Sir, if charity be fuch a thing as they niean by this term,— to have the moit charity, a man needs only to be tlie greatcfl infi'del in the ( 23 ) ^the world. It is very awful to pervert any part of fcripture, and very awful to apply, what is fpoken iii fcripture of charity, to fuch indifference or oppofition to the truths of fcripture. It may perhaps excite to confideration fome bigots to our eilabliflicd church, to obferye how Vehemently fhe protcfts againft fuch in- iidt'l charitv in hcv 1 8th article.* I mention it only in this view ; and not in the vain idea of proving this, or any other part of chriHian do(Arine, by the authority of that or any other church. By jhe fcripturcs alone, the doctrines of chriftianity mufl: be proved. But while fome profefs themfelves favour- able to a kind of orthodoxy, bccaufe they cannot help feeing that it is patronized by the church; — and others are zealous, for the church, who avowedly hate her do^lrines; — I confefs myfelf attached to that church, be- caufe I fee her orthodox — i. e. fcriptural — on all the eflential parts of chriflian doc- trine. But methinks I hear fome one exclaim — ' Is it not written in fcripture — Charity hopeth ' all * " They alfo are to be held accurfetl, that pre- <' fume to fay that every man (hall be faved by the « law or re6l which he profefleth, fo that he be dili- ' '* gent to frame his life according to that law, and *< the light of nature. For holy fcripture doth fet « out unto us only the name of Jefos Chrift, whereby <* men muft be faved.'* Artkiej of the Church of fEnglando ( 24 ) ' all things r* and again — ^i^f^lg^ '-'^^ that ye he * not judged f"* — Ycs;c-~and again it is writ- ' tea — * Woe unto them, that cull evil good, and * good cv'd? — In calling us to the exercife of fuch a charity, as they contend for under the fanftion of thofe inuch-perverted palTages of fcripture, they call us to incur the woe, that is denounced in the laiter pafTage. True cha- rity *' hopeth all things" indeed, — all things, tliat the word of God wariant.^ us to hope for: — but that word warrants us not to hope that any, who die under the power of unbe- lief, will efcape the righteous judgment of God ; or that any, \¥ho live under its power, arc in a ftate of acceptance with him. The w^ord of (lod tefliiies the contrary ; and that faith — which receives the teilimcny of God's word — mull: ever regulate the hope of that charity, which fprings from it. We may transfer to this the limitation of the apoilo- lie power, mentioned by .St. Pav.l (2 Cor. xiii, 8), and fay, — true charity can hope fiothing agahni the truth but for the /.» nth. And when thefe men quote that gracious precept of our blellcd Lord, " Judge not," — ^\ 1. e. prefume not to pafs a judwial sentence against any of your fellow liin-ers, let them learn fr«m the following clause — '* that yc be not judged," — tointeipretthe pecept better, than they do, when they reprefent it, as amounting to a prohibition againll forming any unfavourable opinion of the Hate or cha- ra/ler of other men ; — that is, to a prohibi- tion from our Lord againft bdkvlng the mofl expreis \ is ) eKprefs declarations of Lis own word. ~^Wh eft our Lord elfewhere (John xii. 47) fays — " If any man hear my words and believe not, 1 j7^Jge him not: for I came not to juc/ge the world, but to fave the world ;*' — are We to xinderftand him as declaring, that he formed no unfavourable opinion of fuch a man's ftate I — No ;-:-the next verfe, as well as the whole current of his teftimony, forbids the fuppofi- tion. He teftified againft the children of the world, that their works Were evil, and that they had not the love of God in them. But he obviouily declares that he came not — (then) — ^to pafs fentence judicia-lly ag;ainll linners, but to fave even the chief of them. In the fenfe, in which that precept — '* Judgs mt*'' — Is commonly quoted, It would be eafy to fliew, that it was violated continually hy all his apoilles and prophets; and is utterly- mconfifient--- not only with the belief of his revealed truth, — but with the difcharge of numberlefs praflical duties, enjoined on his difciples to the end of the world. But let it fuffice to have faid thus much, in vindication of the real import of thefe fcriptural expref- iions ; which have been fo long and fo com- monly perverted by men, willingly Ignorant of their meaning, that even more ferious and candid enquirers too often fall into the grolTeil mifapplication of them. But you apprehend that I have, — Hot only violated chriftian charity, by my admonitions to the Methodifts againft a party-fpirit, — but alfo giN^n ** frefli force to the charges brought ( «6 ) • by iniidels againft tfne propagators of chriftl^.- nity in general" — as *' covering with a pre- tended concern for truth their own defirc of imrivalled afcendency."— Your remaik^ Sir, comes to this ; — that chriftians ought net to proteft againfl: the unchriftian condufV, or tempers, or principles of others, if they alfo be profeiling chriftians, left the deifts— ;-the avowed infidels — fhould thence borrow ,.an argument againft chriftiartity. You fee that - the remark only needs to be put into plain Englifh, to fhew its fallacy. It is very true, Sir, that the tribe of deiftical writers, abounds in invedives againft the profefTors of chriftia- iiity, — put forwaid as if they were charges againft chriftianity itfelf. And, their caufe needs fuch fophiftry. But indeed thofe, w^ho would meet them by a vindication of the profeftbrs of chriftianity, give very "undue force to their charges. The only efte£lual — • for the only true.-^anfwerto all fuch objections, is to diftinguifh between the Gofpei and its profeiTors. If the things for which deifts ccnfure us be fcriptural, they attack an autho- rity higher than that of any man: and lam not afraid of the confequences of their attack. It is the puny effort of a worm to Ihake the rock of ages: and I know that *' whofoever IJr.all fall upon this ftone fhall be broken ; and on whomfbever it fhall fall, it will grind him to powder." But if the- 'matters objedled to us by them have not the authority of fcrip- ture, let who will fight for them againft the deifts ; — I truft I will never. I am perfuaded that among nbminal chriftians there are num- bers ( S7 ) Bers of real infidels ; and let them employ themfelves in fighting with their brethren the deilb, about their nominal differences. I defire to maintain tlie truths of fcripture again ft both; and never to lower the dignity of the matter for which I contend, by involving it in the chara£ler or conduft of any mere men. Nor, will T ever defire to conceal from the deifls, that there is too much of evil in the fpirit, and error in the principles of various religionifts. Bnt that evil and thofe errors are not chrlflianity. And I hope to be ready to protefl: againft ' them, vv he never called to it, without the fear of giving infidels auy real handle againfl cliriflianity. Infidels arc to be ^combated, — not by denying or conceal- ing tlie abufes exifting among reiigionifts,-— but by oppofing thofe abufes, and fhewing that they are oppofite to tlie chriib'aifity of the bible. You proceed, Sir, to remarlc on the next inflance of a too prevalent party-fpirit, upon which I thought it needful to admoni fh the Methodifls; — the' predominant eagernefs to- have numbers added to their own fociety. I did fay that tips' has long appeared to be the principal concern of most among them ; and I did fubjoin in the fame paragraph fix differ- ent evidences of this, which I have long ob- ferved in their body. All thefe evidences, as ufuaF, yon overlook in filence; while you are felicitous to vindicate their chara He h /ur glory: and (lie knows him as facli ^ and glorying in him, is enabled to welcome reproacli and fhanie and" trihulaf-jon for liis ijame's fake.. And juft m proportion as any. church, begins to glory in any thing elfe, wc. jriay nani^: her— Lc ha bod — '* the glory is departed from her;" — however fplendid her af>pearanxe iii tht eyes of the world, or in her own> To make chiiilianity jcspectable m. the world, -dnd paudaMc to the world, has been feng, atteiiipted : and jufV in proportion as- ni€!i pmjVie the attempt with ardour, they inanilvrt rlidt the:v have loft; light of the fcrlp- tural characters of chrifuanity; and* of the- world; — ;md in proportion- as the^y feera to Arccced in tlie attempt, they corrupt the Gpfpcl of God oi«r Saviour. Vv''e find plesUy of fuclr Chriiliardty, as men may profefs, and even be very, zealous about, without loiing tiieir ckmactirs^ a]\d good, name in the world, or 'A^ -Wi;.;^ its children: but I delire no further evidcjics than this,, that fuch chrjftianity is^ fpurious. Tiie mind oi the world towards the true MeiTiah,.and. his-trut Goipel, isjuft the fa-me that it was when that cry was rai fed-— **• Crucify him — crucify him :'* — and w^hen— ever the world fee m better diCpofed to chnfl:- ianitv, it is becaufe fomething . under the name, is pref^>nt-ed.to their yiew, that is not the chriilianity of the Gofpel. For the ** oirencei- of the crof;i'* to. unrcgejierate men has not cealed, and never can : — and our Lord's word mult {land true to the ewd of the, world-=-~ «f Wholbever doth not bear his Crofs, and; come after me, canaot be my difciple." Y0T3 ( 31 ) You go on to obfcrve that — in a i^rifl ad- herence to the diiViph'nc of JMetliodifm, "I muft " mean to include their injunctions of morality and general /)/V/)':"— and where thefe things are combined with a ftri6l attendance on meewigs of plciy, you a(k, am 1 — or " is aiiy one on earth entitled to pronounce, that fuch perfons are really deftitute of chrifrian faith f" — Now, Sir, I anfwer without diffi- culty, th.at fuch Tpexhns, may be really dellitute of chriilian faith ; and may manifeft fuch evidences of infidelity, as wiW entitle any chriilian on earth, who ohferves them, to pronounce that they are fo. If the obfervance ©f what is called morality and general piety cannot of tliemfelves conflitute a chriltiaii characfter, certainly no attendance on meetings of piety can. And that the former cannot, IS certain from fcripture, and from acknow- ledged fa6t. For llriC^ morality — (lo called) — and for general piety, — not only fome of all denominations of profeffing chriflians have b^eri eminent, — from the Armhiian Me- thodift? to Pclaaians of all degrees, — and from them — through all the Ihades of Aria- nifm — to the thorough-paced Socinian,. who confiders the bible only as containing a col- leflion of moral and pious precepts — well ex- emplified in the life of a man, — and regajrds its revealed truths only as fo many eauern meta- phors^ which he may interpret av;ay into any- thing or notiiing at his pleafure ; — not only fome of all thefe have been ' eminent as moralifls and pietiOs, — but fome avowed iafi-* idds and heathens alfo,. In ( 32 ) fn fliorf, Sir, wliile I kncnv tliat there may be a kind of morality and a kind of piety, ever {o fair and impoimg in the fight of men, wlicre there is no chriftian faith ; ] know from n]y bibJe, that 'there can l)e no true morality or piety — becaufe no real love for m.an or God —but what fpririos from chriftian /€ proof of the aflertion, that the Gofpel is what 1 have defcribed. Mean while I fay nothing, but what is included in that affertion, in fay- ing that no real Aimmian is a real believer. This ** deliberate opinion,'^ connected with th« avowal that the belief of the Gofpel is effen- tial to falvation, will doubtlcfs " bear an ap- pearance of" much *' illiberality" to many — to all who do not believe the Gofpel. But I remember that paflage in the hiftory of our Lord— fMath. xv. 12. 14.) — '' Then came •* his Difciples and faid unto him, knoweft <^ thou that the Pharifees were offended after ** they heard tbi^ faying? But he anfwered " and ( 37 ) ** and faid, Every plant which ray heavenly *' Fatlier hath not planted, {hull be rooted ** up. Let them alone: they be blind Icad- " ers of the blind." If all appcaraHce of lUibe- raiity is to be deprecated, we had better give up onr bibles at once: for be affured, Sir, if you \\iA6. — with the bible — that " w^hofoever believeth not, (hail be damned" — putting what interpretation you pleafe upon the Gof- pel that is to be believed,— there is a nume- rous clafs, to 'wliom^oz/ wnll appear very illi- beral; and many a one wid be ready to ad- drefs you with fuch a quefton, as you dire<5i:ed to me-— " does merely being a Deist forfeit ,all rip lit and title to a judgment of charity r" Thus, Sir, I have gone tlirough a little more than the firil eight pages of your Re- m.P-rks ; and mean to proceed, in fuhfequent letters, through the remainder. I truft you will not thing any apology needed for the plai-nnefs, , viMth which I examine the principles allerted or countenanced in your pamphlet, — as far as thev appear to me to be unfcripturaL Many of them are fo generally prevalent, and fo deeplv rooted in our fallen_ nature, that- 1 am well aware how invidious a tailc he un- dertakes, who attempts to oppofe them : and aware, that, whatever force of argument or clearnefs of- demonflration he emplo)s, the only fuccefs he can hope for is-— from the di- vine bleffing, rer.drring the declaration of divine truth efTei^ual to fome ; while all other readers will of courfe a«'tign the vi^Tliory to his antagoniil, — becaufe he contends for prin- E cipksp { 38 ) ctples, which already have ,poirel'iioa of their minds. I am, Sir, With every fcntiment of perfonal regard. Your iiiitliful humble Servant, JOHN WALKER, F I N I S, LaUly puhfished hy H. Colbert, 1 36. Gapd-StreeU A Tccond Edition of the Aiithoi*s Expoftulatory Ad- drefs to the Methodiik of Ireland, &c. price, is. id. Alfo — A fccond Ediiion of an Addrefs to a youn^ Student on his entrance into College, &c. price, 6^^^ SECOND LETTER TO ALEXANDER KNOX, Esq, M.RJ.A BEING PART OF A Series of Letters TO THAT GENTLEMAN, OCCASIONED BY HIS REMARKS ON THE AUTHOR EXPOSTULATORY ADDRESS METHODISTS OF IRELAND. BY JOHN WALKER, B. D, & F.T.C.D. Ceafe ye from man^ ivhofe breath is in his nojirih : for iiuherein is he to be accounted of? If. ii. 1%, the end of the commandment is love, out of a pure hearty and of lZ gsod confcience^ end of iAih. unfeigned. I. Tim. i, 5. Purifying their hearts by faith. AOs, xv. 9. Unto them that are defied^ and unbelieving, is nothing pure ; but tven their mind and confcience is defied. Tim. i. 15^. DUBLIN : RINTED BY H. COLBERT, I36, C APE L-STRE ET., CONTENTS. DANGER of havlng^vourlte authors in re- ligion. Human teaching and divine. Seriouf- nefs of ihe evil, which Mr. Knox does not think needs a ferious admonition. A fure evi- dence that human writings are treated as para- mount to the Scriptures. Negle6l of the Scrip- tures in the Methodift Society. A papiftical notion. Mr. Knox's eulogium of Mr. Wefley. Mr. Wefley's uncontrolled power over his Soci- eties. His do£lrinal principles. Unimportance of the characters of men in comparifon of the truths of God. In. what fenfe the Gofpel is not a teft of moral charader. In what fenfe it is, and the only certain one. Falfe Chrifts and falfe Prophets. Mr. Knox's miftake of the Au- thor's meaning. The boldnefs of active zeal far from inconfiftent with the calm and fober charadler of Chriftianity. Two apparently op- pofite errors marked. The fubje£l too ferious in its nature to allow the ufe of wit. Fathers of the Church. The acknowledged certainty of a fa6i: which Mr. Knox labours to prove. The h€t may be acknowledged where it is neceflary to 11 CONTENTS. to deny the Inferences that are drawn from it On religious feelings. The afFedions neceflarily concerned in the religion of the Gofpel. The real belief of the Gofpel cannot, in the nature of things, be inoperative or terminate in fpecula- lion. What truths may be believed vt^lthout mov- ing the affedions. The faith of the Gofpel dif- tin6l from a verbal aflent or doubtful opinion. The truths of the Gofpel adapted to influence the heart. Scriptural connection between igno- rance of them and a carnal courfe : — between the knowledge of them and a fpiritual courfe. The diftindlion ftated between the feelings that are and are not truly gracious. Various forms of the carnal mind. A carnal religionift. The Scriptures contain all that true faith believes. Feelings may be ever fo ftrong and of a religious nature, and yet not gracious. The ftrong feel- ings that are defcribed in Scripture as produced by a belief of the Gofpel. Suddennefs of excite- ment no evidence either for or againft religious feelings. Two oppofite errors ftated. Tempo- rary feelings of the moft gracious kind are of fubordinate importance. The only Scriptural evidence of a Chriftian. The fubjeCt peculiarly, but not exclufively, applicable to the Methodifts, A fpecimen of the doctrine maintained by Mr»^ Weiley. A SECOND SECOND LETTER, &c, &c. SIR, I RESUME my obfervations on your letter,— according to the plan, which I have already pre- icribed to myfelf in my laft. You remark on the pafTage of my Addrefs, in which I admonifli the Methodifts againft their idolatrous attachment to men, and fubmiflion to human authority in matters of religion, — that it is with them as with Calvinifts, that " fome '^ weak individuals" talk extravagantly about their favourite authors. 1 am glad of the opportunity, which your remark affords, of extending my ad- monition. I have met Calvinirtic profefibrs, who need it; and I have never forborne to give it, becaufe they were Calvinifts. If we make an idol, it matters little whetiicr it be of gold, or filver, or a bit of wood ; and it . B is / ( 4 ) 13 pernicious idolatry to put the authority of any men or their writings in that place, which exclu- sively belongs to the authority of God and his word. I care not whether the men be Hervey and Romaine, or Mr. Welley and Mr. Fletcher: — their fentiments and their condu£i: are not to be the rule of my judgment or pra£l:ice. The Scriptures afford the only ftandard, by which mine are to be regulated, and theirs are to be tried. And if I even adopt what is right — upon the ground of their authority, I adopt it in a wroog way ; and it becomes in me no better than a human prejudice. Indeed — the little Influence which many of the truths of ihe Gofpel have, upon the hearts or lives of fome evangelical profeffors, is fufhcient to fliew in what fchool they have learned them. They may learn of men to talk about them, and ex- prefs their afTent to them, and perhaps to argue in defence of them ; but men cannot bring them to <* the knowledge of the truth" — cannot difco- ver to them its glorious reality, nor perfuade them of its certainty : and thofe who learn from no higher teacher remain, therefore, in darknefs and in death— even while the^/ are puffed up with a vain conceit of their orthodoxy; and miftake attachment to the tenets of an earthly leader, for a faving acquaintance with the Gofpel of Chrift. You alk me. Sir, whether fuch extravagant talk^ as ** fome w^eak individuals" fall into about their favourite authors, be *' ground for a ferious *' charge" of awfully forgetting our Lord's com- mand — not to call any man mailer. 1 anfwer — without ( s ) without hefitatloii — that it is. Wherever that evil appears, it is a moft ferious evil and needs a moft ferious admonition : and — as arifing from ignorance or forgetfulnefs of our Lord's com- mand, — I know not any more fuitable remedy for the evil, than to urge that divine precept. Surely, Sir, if the Scriptures be given " to make us wife " unto falvation," it cannot be a light matter, or an evil of fmall magnitude, to form our fcheme of falvation from any other writings, Chriftians, no doubt^ v/ho believe the declara- tions of God's word, will value in their place thofe authors, who (late its truths moft .clearly, or vindicate them moft ably. But let Chrlilians themfclves be on their guard here; and on their guard efpecially with refpe£t to their tc.q'^ favou- rite authors. AU that is true and that is ufeful in their writings — is in the word of God j and it is there unmixed with any error. And one of the fureft: evidences of our having profited by their writings will be — our returning from them to our Bibles, with an encreafed relifli, and with cncreafed infight into the depths of divine wif- dom that are there, and with an encreafed jea- loufy to try whatever we meet elfewhere by that unerring ftandard. But when- profeflbrs adopt a human fyftem from human writings — however excellent, — it is no wonder if, when they read their Bibles at all, they read them rather to pick out paflages, that appear coincident with the fentiments of theiv earthly teachers, and to wreft others into a coin- cidence with them, — than to have their minds fubje^ted to the truths of God. — How far the body ( 6 ) body of the Methodifts need an admonition upon, this fubje^l, or only ** fome weak individuals. *' among them," I fhall not ftop to enquire. If' only the latter, I pray God to make thofe weak, individuals profit by the admonition which I have given them. You obferve, Sir, that " you cannot complain *' of any fuch blind partiality" in the Methodifts, to the nam.es of Welley and Fletcher -, and teftify that you never '* faw the JlighteJ} reafon — to, ** think that any human writings were treated by *' them, as pnramoutit to the Scriptures^ I am glad that I have no occafion nor inducement to combat a teftimony—fo forcible. Let it remain, with its full weight, in the public eflimation of their religious character. But it is of importance to call their attention, and that of other profef- fmg Chriftians, to an indication — which you may pofTibly have overlooked, in forming your own judgment ; and which, if it exift, affords much more than a flight reafon— to be certain that my admonition on this fubjecl was need- ful. Did you ever happen to obferve, Sir, that the Methodiils univerfally, as a body, adopt all the doctrinal opinions of Mr. "Weflt^y and Mr. Fletch- er ? Did you, for inftance, ever happen to meet a Methodill — (perhaps you have met fome fuch folitary individual — but would not fuch an one be a rara avis in their fociety .'') — who diflented from thofe writers, on the fubjecSl of a multipli' city of moral lawSy proceeding from God, and differing in degrees of ftri£l:nefs .'' — or on the fubje6i: of a fuppofed inflantaneous tranfttiotiy from a ftate ( r ) a ilate of conflict agalnft the flefh, to a ftateia which that corrupt principle ceafes to exift, and the man becomes what they call a perfect Chrif- tian ? Do not thefe and fimilar tenets univerfally charaderize the Methodift fociety ? — Well ; — if thofe tenets be Scriptural, the circiimitance of their general adoption by the Methodifts certainly does not prove — that they treat the human wri- tings of their leaders as paramount to the Scrip- tures. But as certainly it does prove this, //'thofe tenets — fo ftrenuoully fupported in the writings of Mr. Welley and Mr. Fletcher — be contrary to the word of God. And that they are fo — that they are contrary to every efTential principle of dirine truth in the Scriptures, — I am bold to affirm, and am glad to fee that you. Sir, in your letter, have not attempted to deny. — Let the Methodifts, therefore, look to it, whence they have got thofe opinions : and I admonifh the Chriftians among them — not to be deterred by the weight of the names of men, who have fup- ported thofe antichriftian errors, from examining them by the light of the facred word.' You add — that you never faw the (lighteft rea- fon to think — ** that they neg]e6i: to put the ** Scriptures into the hands of their converts.'* This is a queftion of fad, to which their own confciences will bear the mod conc'ufive teili- mony. It is with reluctance I fay any thing more upon the fubjeti: •, — but your vindication of them here obliges me. — It is fo forcible, that the natural tendency of it is, fo to blunt the edge of my — call it what you pleafe — charge or admonition^ — as to perfuade the Mcthodifls'that B 3 the ( 8 ) the Scriptures have not been neglected In their fociety ; and thus to prevent any reformation of the evil. Indeed — indeed, Sir, — what the pub- lic think about the Methodifts, I care but little ; and let the Methodifts have done with caring about it. But let them liften to the voice of truth. The Scriptures have been awfully ne- glected among them ; and the unfcriptural opi- nions, fo prevalent in their body, are one of the lamentable evidences and effefts of this negle£l. That they fhould be negle£led by thofe who make no ferious profeflion of Chriibianity — who profefs it only as the hereditary religion of their anceftors, — is not wonderful. But indeed it is a v/onderful inconfiftency, when any make fuch a profeflion as all the Methodifts do, and yet negleft the Scriptures. You fay they do not negle<£l to put them into the hands of their converts. Suppofe they da not altogether. But which do they put firft into their hands — the Bible —or the writings of their human leaders ? Of which do they urge the ftudy moft ? — Mr. Wefley himfelf, in the quef- tions that he prefcribes to be alked thofe who are propofed as helpers — (Minutes, as quoted in my expoftulatory Addrefs, page 35.) — never men- tions the B'lhle^ — though each is to be alked — ** Have you read the plain accoimt ? — The ap- ** peals P Do you know the rules of the fociety ? — ** Of the hands P Have you read the minutes of *' the conference /"' &c. — And let it not be faid, that he took for granted that thofe perfons had read their Bibles. Would to God that none were a'lling in the capacity of helpers in the fociety ( 9 ) fociety now, and in various other capacities of nioft important truft, who have never read their Bibles ! I do not reckon the man to have read his Bi- ble, who has merely read fome pet paffages of it, that he thinks favour a fyftem which he has fwallowed in the lump ; nor do I reckon any man to have read his Bible with much profit, who does not habitually fearch it as the great treafury of all that he needs — for inftrudion, admonition, and confolation ; — who does not at leall feek to regard it habitually as the one ftandard of his practice and his faith, and the one teft by which he will prove every thing. I know the Metho- difts in general neicher ufe the Scriptures thus, nor are exhorted by their leaders to ufe them thus : — but, as far as they ftudy them at all, feem rather to ftudy them for the purpofe of finding confirmations of their predetermined fyf- tem, and fometimes for the purpofe of cafting a kind of lot — by the help of the firft pafi'age, perhaps, that may happen to open to their view, —than in the way of a continued, diligent exa- mination of them, for difcovering the whole revealed counfel of God. — Nay, Sir, I could name to you a part of the country, — and I fear there are many others, — where — till the exertions lately employed by other bodies for diileminating the Scriptures, — there were feveral Methodilfc families deftitute of a Bible in their hf)ufes, though they poffefled various pieces of Wefley and of Fletcher. Now a Christian man mult be indeed as poor as Lazarus, who would be without ( 10 ) without that ineftimable volume — in this coun- try. But is there not, Sir, an indication of the evil, which I lament, — obvious to every ob- fcrver ? — in the circumftance that — numerous as their ** meetings of piety" are — the reading of the Scriptures conftitutes not any part of one of them.* I know that the public reading of them never can fuperfede the private ftudy of them. But indeed when they are never read in public, among a body whofe members meet fo often for religious exercifes, — it is no wonder that the peo- ple are led to neglecft them in private. Let the Methodifts correct this evil; and then fay what they will, and think what they v/ill of me : — I fhall rejoice. And indeed — if I could have engaged you. Sir, or any one — at whom they would look with a more favourable eye, than I am regarded with — to give them this admonition, I would gladly have refigned the talk, into hands more likely to accomplifh the obje£t ; — fo convinced am I of its magnitude. But let them be aflured that, while the fame negle^l of the Scriptures continues in their fociety, — however their nurabes3 may en- creafe, and however refpe£table the charafter or talents of thofe who may fland forward to vin- dicate them, — they cannot truly profper, with that * Since this was written, I have heard — and heard with lively fatisfadion — that, in one place in the North of Ire- land, a meeting has lately been formed among the Metho- difts, at which a chapter of ilie Bible /» read. I mention this inftance with much pleafure ; and truft that it will foon be followed by many others. ( » ) that profperlty which — to a Chrifllan body — \s alone defirable. You may tell them, that <' they *' will not materially err, if they folloiv the faith <« of Mr. WeJIey and Mr, Fletcherr But our Lord is " a jealous God" — jealous of his own glory : and it is one of his revealed chara£l:ers, for which his people thank him. He has faid — '* them that honour me, I will honour." And in vain do we think to honour him, " teaching *' for do6lrines the commandments of men." I know how prevalent the notion is, even among nominal Protestants, that the text of the Bible is fo obfcure and fo uncertain that we had better not meddle too niuch with it ; but may rather more fafely take it — interpreted for us — by men who (we think) underftand it well. I will not call the notion rank Popery, though it be the very eiTence of Popery ; but it is rank INFIDELITY. The Chriftian, who fays from his heart — " thy ivord is a lamp unto my feet, and a " light unto my paths," — will not undervalue any aids, placed within his reach, for a right un- derftanding of that word ; but, on the contrary, will prize them the more, the higher // rifes in his eftimation. But it is as aids he will ufe them j and will not fuffer them to ufurp the place of that, to which they profefs to minifter. I come now, Sir, to your eulogium on the charafter and conduft of Mr. Wesley : — and indeed I approach this part of the fubjecl with confiderable timidity, and fliall fay as little upon it as poflible. My apprehenfivenefs arifes — by no means from a fear of being unable to fay enough, to convince every unprejudiced reader hov/ ( 12 ) how well founded the obfervatlons in my Addrefs were, which gave occaficn to this part of your reply ; — but from: a fear of being led to fay too much, — of being allured by the facility, with which documents might be brought forward to eftablifh thofe obfervations, into a difcufiion un- profitable to 3:11, and irritating to many. Do-— confider, Sir, whether your letter affords not an inilance of the evil, which I took notice of in the Methodifl: fociety •, — fuch a jealoufy of idolatrous attachment to Mr. Wefley, as will not bear a hint derogatory to his honour. Excufe me for faying that — long as it is fince you have ceafed to be a member of his fociety — you feem to have retained that general ckaracSler of its members. Mr. Wefley feems to be your own idol. For were his chara£l:er as fuperlatively ex- cellent as you defcribe, it is making, him an idol to think that, on that account, any of his errors — efpecially fuch as afre61: a fociety fo numerous as he formed — are fo confecrated, that they ought not to be noticed, I think I noticed them with as tender a hand, as it was poffible to mark them with. Of ^ his character in the fight of God, I pretended not to decide : and the only mention I made of his laborioufnefs, and his manners, and his talents, was a refpeftable one. — Yet, as I conjectured, you w€re fo ftartled, that you thought a long, and, I muft fay — an extravagant panegyric needful, to counterbalance the caution with which I exprefled myfelf. I am fenfible that very amiable feelings, of friendfhip and grateful affetlrion, prompted you to the warmth, with which this part of your let- ter ( 13 ) ter Is penned; — but I regret that they betrayed you (as 1 think) into a forgetfulnefs of — what it is always well to remember — what poor creatures the beft of us are in ourfelves ; and of that im- portant rule of Scripture, to ** judge nothing " before the time, until the Lord come — who *' both will bring to light the hidden things of *« darknefs, and will make manifeft the counfcls ** of the hearts." i. Cor. iv. 5. I did indeed fay that Mr. Welley claimed and cxercifed an uTicontrolled power ovci his focieties; and that none could be members of them but thofe who paid an ahfolute fiibnvjfwn to his autho** rity. And, in faying this, I ftated a notorious fa6l — a fa6b acknowledged and vindicated by Mr, Wefley himfelf ; — a fa6t, my aflertion of which needed no perfonal knowledge of him to authenticate ;• — and a fa61: which cannot be over- turned, by your declaration— that you ** never " could difcover any thing of this kind," You have only. Sir, to read his minutes (ut fupra) from the 17th to the 20th page inclufive, to dif^ cover that the power, which he claimed and ftre- nuoully aflerted his right to, was abfolute and un- controlled indeed,— to a degree greater than that poiTefled by the whole bench of Bilhops over the members of the eftablifhed church, or by the governors of any church ancient or modern, — except that which is claimed and cxercifed by the Pope over the church of Rome. That Mr. Welley's power originated Very dif- ferently, and was cxercifed for very different ob- jeds, I admit ; and that he cxercifed it with the greated fuavity of manners, I am ready to be-^ lieve : ( M ) lieve: for had he not, it could not have betn maintained. Neither will I impeach his motives for aflertlng this power; though I think you feem to take a very confined view of felfJJ:) mo- tives y and cxprefs yourfelf with a force which — in the cafe of any mere man — the Scriptures do not warrant, in declaring your abfolute certainty that no '* heart-corrupting, felfifh love of power *' operated, or even exijledy in him." With the queftion of Mr. Wefley's internal motives, I will have nothing to do. I am fure I did not drop a hint againft them in my Addrefs. But I repeat what I there intimated, — and 1 repeat it becaufe it is a principle of no fmall importance, — that no TCi-&vi ought to claim fuch a power over the mem- bers of any Chriftian fociety, as Mr. Welley af- ferted to himfejf ; and that no Chriftians ought to fubmlt to the claim. You fay that had I knov/n Mr. Wefley, as you knew him, <' his greateft foibles would fcarcely ^^ excite a Jmiky I had not faid a word of his foibles j nor will I be induced to touch upon them now. I defire to keep in my view topics of much }]igher import. But this 1 fay, that if he were niy father or my brother, his oppofition to the principles of divine truth would excite much more than a fmile : and that — not to go beyond thofe Minutes fo often quoted — he at the clofe of them oppofes all the fundamental principles of the Gofpel ; and v/as followed by Mr. Fletcher in a more laboured and fyftematic oppofition to them. Of fnch men I can only fay — however diffatisfied their admirers may be — that I hope they were brought to repentancCj — that is — to another ( IS ) another mind, — before they died. And it is in that Gofpel of the free, fovereign, and eiFedual grace of God, which they oppofed, that I fee the only ground of fuch a hope. It is an awful thing to fet up the charaBers of mefi, as of more importance than the truths of Gffdj as we do, when we think that the latter ought not to be vindicated, l«fl: the former fhould be injured. A man may be very amiable, and yet may be no Chriftian : and even if he be a Chriftian, his errors or his taults are not to be fpared zs/acred, on account of his perfonal ami- ablenefs. Againfl: all fuch ideas our ^ .ord's ex- poftulation is pointed—*^ How can y ; bel'eve, ** that receive honour one of another, and feek *' not the honour that cometh from God only ?" Indeed, Sir, the Gofpel >':fcovers fomething too great, to be facrificed to the glory of men — of worms ; even " the glory of God in the face " of Jefus Chrirt." In this view, what is Mr. Wefley to me, or Saint Cyprian or St. Auftin, 9r any other man ? If they faw that glory and knew Chrift, I trufl: through grisce fo do I ; and fo does many an old woman, and many a young tripling. So far, I will hail them as brethren.' but do they fay any thing againft that glory ^ I know them not :• — ^' get thee behind me, Satan.'* And fo I iruft fliall 1 be treated by any Chrif- tian, who (hall find that*— through the evil of the fielh — I drop a word againft that glory ; in which 1 include the glory of the whole work of Chriil, in giving himfelf for his people, and calling them, •and leading them, and keej)ing them to the end, till he bridg them to bclioid his gioiy in the cclef- c ^tul { •« ) tial manfions. Here, Sir, is an obje£l worth ftriving about : and the weakeft believer, when he is in a right fplrit, will be ready to drive for it againft the whole world. And here, alfo, is the only true touchftone of human character. I have indeed heard the Gof- pel fpoken of, as a teft of moral charadler, in a way and fenfe — in which none, who know the Gofpel, would afient to the propofition. I have heard many a laboured difcourfe to prove, that the evule?jces of Revelation were fo nicely adapt- ed, — (neither fo ftrong as to extort the aflent of the ill-difpofed, nor fo weak as to leave tHe \^^ell- difpofed diflatisfied) — that it thus tried men's jincerity of heart and good difpofitions : — and that this, along with a colle£lion of excellent rules to the vvell-difpofed finners, and a certain quantity of aid to help them in obferving thefe rules, — was the great end of Chriftianity. And no doubt the perfons, who put forward fuch a fyftem, mud look at themfelves with great com- placency, when they confider what fincerity of heart, and good difpofitions they have fliewn, in not being Dii/Is like others : — while all the while they are as far from pofiefling the Chrifti- anity, which the Bible defcribes, or believing the Gofpel which it reveals, as any Deift upon earth. But in another fenfe, nothing can be more true, than that this Gofpel is a tell of moral cha- racter : and it is equally true that — applying this tell to the moral character of all men by nature — they appear haters of God and godlinels. Try- ing men bv any other teft, they may feem a race cf ( '7 ) of very welf-difpofed beings, — however fraif. All men (even the moil vicious) acknowledge the neceflity of good morals; and almoft all men — that general piety is a very proper thing. But ** the glorious Gofpel of God our Saviour* comes \ and '* the thoughts of many heirts are ** revealed." He is (Icfp'ifed and rejeFled by men i — alike by learned and unlearned — civilized and barbarous — fober and profligate — ferious and pro- fane : by all but thofe who — receiving a new- mind and a nevv fpirit from above — are drawn to him, and *' made willing in the day of hi:i " power," and given to kno'v liim as '* the oniv *^ true God and eternal life." This contempt and rcjeJh;i oi llim — '' God ** manifeit in the tieuv' — condrg to his own, and not received by them — is a heavy charge in- deed againft human nature; againft the Arlieifnt and pride and wordlinefs cf our carnal minds 5 — but is verified daily even by ihofe, who are mod indignant at it ; and acknowledged to be true cf their own nature by all, who are ** ere- ** ated anew in Chriil Jefus." They have done with all glorying except in his Crofs ; and there- fore they ever have been, and ever will be — like their divine mailer— defpifed and hated by the world. Here then, I repeat it, is the only infallible teft of any man*s charatler. — What thinks he cf ChriJlP — of that Chrift whom the Scriptures de- clare,— the one and only Saviour of his people from their fins, — who came '* to feek and to fave ** that which was loft,''— who " calls — not the '^ righteous — but finners to repentance," — and is " exalted { '8 ) '* exalted to give repentance and remiffian ot '* fins ?"— Does he believe the glad tidings ? are they his joy— his glory ? Bicfled is he : *' fleOi " and blood hath not revealed it unto him." He is born from above ; and believing in this anoint- ed one of God, he hath life and (ball have life through his name. But does he oppofe this re- cord, and is he blind to the glory of this Saviour ? — either in the open form of avovi^ed infidelity, — or aiTuming (through fear, (hame, or intereft,) the name of Chrillian, but fetcing up an imagi- nary Chrlfl- of his own formation againft the Chrid of God, by rejecting the teftimony of God in his v/ord ; — or vcrh^ips pr of e//J/7g to believe that teltimony— -but^evidencing that he does not believe it by continuing to cleave to his idols amd his fins ? That man (whatever be his name gt reputation in the world) lam obliged to confider as yet among the children of difobedience, and alienated from the life of God ;— and to fet up his chara£ler for morality or piety or wifdom, in oppofition to the evidences of his unbelief, would be to facrifice the truth of God to a lie. The Bible tells me but of one Chrift ; — and owns as children of the light none — but thofe ■who know and believe in him. It knows no half'-' Saviour for the half-finful ; and owns not, as be- Jievers of the Gofpel, thofe who believe fuch a fyftem. Many falfe Chrifts and falfe Prophets alfo have gone out into the world ; and we are warned that they '< work fuch figns and wonders ** as would deceive, if it were poifible, even the ** eled." I defire therefore ever to be on my guard againft the wonderful reputation, or won- derfui ( 19 } derful (apparent) ufefulnefs of thofe, who do uoL preach the Truth. And if, in that fidelity to the teftimony of God, I offend the infidelity of men, 1 hope I (hall be ever willing to meet the confequences : and \ JJjrJlh^ willing, fo far as I am kept in memory of that blefied word — ** mine eyes are upon thtjaithfidm the land, that " they may dwell with me."— -You will pardon me, Sir, for this feeming digreffion. I think it much more important to declare the only Scrip- tural rule, for eftimating human chara61:er, than to examine the particular character of any indi- vidual. In the paragraph, vrhich immediately follows your panegyric of Mr. Wefley, you greatly mif- take my meaning. When I briefly took notice of the general afpetl of Methodifm, as con- trafted " with the calm and fober, though happy *' and heavenly chara6ler" of the Chriftianity of the Gofpel, — believe me 1 was far from intend- ing to intimate, that the genius of true Chrifti- anity is adverfe to any degree of zeal for God— of boldnefs in declaring his truth— or of aElivlty in propagating the knowledge of it :— far from intending to intimate, that thefe things are not fo efientially included in the fpirit of the Gofpel, that — in proportion as Chriftians imbibe that fpirit — they will abound in thefe its fruits. Thit zeal, activity, and boldnefs gave occafion to the charge you mention againft the primitive Chrif- tians, as men who *' turned the world upfide ** down :" and the fame caufes will ever continue to offend and irritate the world. c 3 * Bur ( 20 ) But truly, Sir, thefe were not the appearan- ces to which I alluded, in the general afpedl of Methodifm ; and whether you can enter or not into the meaning of that paffage in my Addrefs, on which your remark is founded, you may be fatisfied that this was not its meaning — by read- ing it again in connection with the obfervations, by which it is immediately followed. I (hall here only add, that there are two miftakes very common in the world, and— though apparently oppolite to each other— yet fpringing from the fame fource— ignorance of the true Gofpel :— the one is the millake of thofe Laodicean pro- feflbrs, who indulge a cowardly indolence, or carnal indifference about the caufe of Chrift, and mafk it perhaps under a plea of the calm and inoffenfive geni-is of Chritlianity ; — the other, more fpecious but no lefs unfcriptural, is the miltake of thofe, who often pride themfelvcs on their exemption from the former, but miftake a raih and heady turbulence of animal fervor for Chriftian zeal. You appear much difpleafed, Sir, at the ob- fervations 1 have made, on what the Methodifls C2i\\ their experience s and on what I conceive a moft dangerous perverfion of the molt important Scriptural terms, which they employ to fanCtion it. You think that fome of my "obfervations on ** this head— have too near a refemblance of the " manner of Lord Shaftfbury and Dean Swift." To that I ihall only fay— that it is far from my am- bition to imitate either the laboured pleafantry of the noble Pee/, or the eafy but farcaftic keen- iiefs of the reverend Dean, You think that ♦* the ( 2« ) ** the epithets of mechanical T^nA periodical — favour " much more of epigrammatic wit, than of the ** charity that hopeth all things." To that I (hall only fay — without attempting (which would be no difficult taflc) to produce fads to prove them awfully juft — that 1 was vcxy ferlous when I penned thefe ofFenfive epithets-, and that I view the whole fubjecSt as of fuch vail moment, that I would not intentionally let fall a fingle witty expreffion, to lighten its folemnity. You bring forward the authority of two Saints — (and here, Sir, I hope I (hall not be charged with being witty — though I have no objection that my expreffion fhould be confidered as a feri- ous teftimony againft the appropriation of that epithet to the fo-called Fathers of the Church, as if it could either with certainty be faid to be- long to all of them, or were not, in the language of Scripture, employed to denote the common charaOer of all believers in all ages) — you bring forward, I fay, the authority of two Saints, with the authority of two Bifhops, and two Doc- tors, — to prove what 1 never controverted, and am not now difpofed to controvert — the frequent *' occurrence of fenfible relief, where there has " been deep diftrefs of confcience." In truth. Sir, that is a fact, which ftands in my view upon infinitely higher teftimony, than all that you have adduced-— upon the teftimony of Scrip- ture. And even if it were not fupported by this, it is in itfelf a fa£l of that nature, about which I would admit the teftimony of many a Methodift, -—(even though I might confider the fenfible re- lief ( 22 ) lief he had experienced as of the moft fpurious kind) — as foon as St. Cyprian's. But with the indifputable fa£l3 of this na- ture, which my Bible records, it declares alfo the way in which the relief was brought to the fmner's mind, and by what it was produced. And here I will not admit the opinion of any man, to invalidate the authority of Scripture : and when there is interwoven with the narration of inftances — of fuch fenfible relief and fudden feelings — an unfcriptural account of thofe feel- ings and that relief, — I fliall be ready enough to admit the exiftence of the fa6ls, wherever I have reafon to depend on the veracity of the narrator; -—but I fliall be as ready to deny that — (if their account of them be true)— the fa£ls are of any value, or conftitute any part of the gracious ex- perience of a Chriftian •,— and this, even though they be " received and refpe£led by the whole »« religious world." — How far any of the inftan- ces, which you adduce, come under this defcrip- tion, I will not ftop to enquire : for I am anx- ious to diveft my fubjecfl of all queftions, in which nothing is concerned but the authority or chara'rath of God revealed againfl fin, that is calculated to awaken the moft inienfibie confcience which believes thofe decla- rations, — it reveals every thing needful to give the niod opprefled confcience *' peace and joy in *' believing" the Gofpel — the glad tidings that proclaim a Satiour — all-fufficient for the chief of Tinners — provided for fuch — and faithful to iave unto the uttermoil all who believe in him. If we turn to the Scriptures, we ihall find the belief of this fimple — but glorious — Gofpel of God our Saviour to be defcribed — as the fpring of every gracious affetSlion and emotion, — whe- ther of joy, or love, or defire, or grief, — in the Apoftolic ages of the church. It was this, that fent the Ethiopian Eunuch on his way rejoicing. It was this, that made the Philippian Jailor — whofe hand had, the hour before, been raifed with ■( 31 )• with raih defperation agalnft his own life — re-^ joice, while he fet meat before them, who had fpoken to him the word of the Lord. Yea it was this — the belief of all that they teftitied con- cerning the Lord Jefus, — that had filled the hearts of Paul and Silas with every heavenly emotion, while they lay in the inner prifon — with their feet made faft in the (locks — and their backs bleeding from many flripes *, — fo that at midnight they were heard by their fellow pri- foners, ** praying and finging praifes unto God.'' - — The greatnefs and glory of the Saviour, whom the Gofpel reveals, and of his falvation, are fuc'h— that they who believe that Gofpel will acknov/ledge, that they only need to have the faith of it invigorated and maintained in their minds, in order to have all the mod bkiied fceU ings brought into the mod lively and eonftant exercife. As to \^z juddennefs of their excitement, that is a circumftance v/hich affecls not the nature of the feelings, fo as to make them either better or worfe. Prefident Edwards juftly obferves, in his treatife on Religious AfFe£l:ions — (to which I would refer the reader, who defires to fee my prcfent fubjeft handled more at large, by a man whofe writings appear to be the refult of a deeply- thinking and well-informed mind) — that thfre are here two oppofite errors, into whieh difrer- ent perfons feem to fall. The one, and the more dangerous one, is of thofe who imagine, that all very ftron^ movements of the afFe a fpirit contrary to mutual tendernefs and love 3— ^that they may be healed, inliead ol' rankling within and fpreading like a cancer. Here, Sir, is a fcriptural injun61ion, which harmonizes with the whole tenor of the Gof- pel; — and which is of too great importance to be facrificed t'« the mifapplication you have made of it. Here is a fcriptural injun6^ion, which needs indeed to be inculcated on Chrif- tians of the prefent day ^ and which, when at- tended tO;, will fend one and another of them— not to a Mfthodift Clafs-Mecdng, to tell how they are walking with God, whether under the light * If tht<5 pafTage in St. James be confidered—(as it is by fome, and v/iih much appearance of probabiliLy)—- as a con • linuation of the Apoltolic (iiredion in the preceding verle, the word * ' /i rj/V./" muft be interpreted literally of the re- maval of -bodily maladies,. — with which they were vifited, as a chaltifement from the Lord, on account cf their fins. la this cafe, it is obvious ihat the text can have notiiing to ^\<«// j'' can relate only to thcji faults by which our brethrfa - — to whom we are diredttd to acknowledge them-^have been affedled ; and the original word is ulcd in juft the lame ap- plicaiion — Matth. vi. 14, 15, & xviii. 35. — Undoubtedly in the gencial pruttfTun, which the believer make?, of the Chrillian faith — there is included an acknowledgment of his own f»n- fuloefs and the evil of his nature :— but neither is there any jMecept in Scnj)ture for hir> making known to other men the particular woikings of that evil nature, where they have not been injured by them,— nor in many cafes would it be con- lifleat Nviih Chriftiaa wif.iOu), ti Chriflian love, to do lo. ( 7 ) light of his countenance or the hidings of hi^ face;, — but to the chamber of an injured Chrif tian brother, to take fhame to themfelves fo^ having walked fo contrary to th^ rule of hi^ word towards men. — Ah I Sir, if you but knew> «ven as well as I do, how every principle of truth, of kindnefs, and of common honefty is daily violated under the maik of a high, but falfe, religious profelTion; — nnd how this pro- felTion is kept up and Arengrliened by ignorance and difbelief of the v/ord of God ;- — furely you would rather help to vindicate the truths of that word, than wreft it by milintcrpretation into the fervice of a party. We are apt to look with wonder and v/ithpity at the infatuation of the poor Papifts, who are taught %q fee in this abufed precept of the Apoftle ihe'ir auricular Con- fej/ion of fins to a prieft. I think it jufl as flrange that you Hiould difcover in it an open confeflion of them to a Clafs-leader. In both inflanccs I fee the word of God made of none t^ttX by the traditions of men — and a human invention obtruded in place" of a divine com- mand. Leaving the ground of Scripture, you pafs in the fecond place to the example of other Chriftians, who, you fay,, have adopted the fame practice, with no other difference — but that, what was occafional with them, is conftant in the Methodifl: Society. — If it were fo, it would not alter my views of the praclice at all, — No prefcription of age can fand^ion a cuftom that is unfcriptural and evil. — But I am bold to fa^; tliat no attentive reader need go farther B 3 than ( & ) than your own letter for a refutation of your argument — for a proof that the pra^^ices yovi appeal to, as limilar to the Method ill Clafs- Meetings, were efientially different. You refer to Meetings, in which room was alii'ays U/t for fuch communications of fpirituahexperiences~# i>om thofe who chqfe it. Now I do not en- quire at prefent, how far even this is expedient, except under very confiderable refhif^ions. But I fay — this is ellentially different from a Meet- ing, in which room is not left to any to iorbear making fueh communications, whether he (.hooft it or not. You urge that ** no one is fabjc^l to any enquiry, which could imply emlarrajf/nsnt'' — ■ Vou know, Sir^ that the enquiry commonly runs thus — always, I believe to this effeift;— ** What is the ftate of your foul r" Perhaps it i^ever would embarrafs you to anfwer that en- quiry 3 — but the mifchief is — tliat they, who are mcff ready to anfwer it either generaliy or in detail, are the leaff acquainted with the ffate of their fouls, and therefore the moil unfit to an- fwer it — You acknowledge indeed eifewherc, that '* perfons of eA'tre??ie pri/illUiy may poffibly be embarralicd" by the cuffom. But believe me, I confider that, as th^ Imalkff of the evils refuiting iVom it. Nor had I that in view at all, when I obferved that many, who attend thefe m^eetings and are kept honeft and limple in heart are often made rnij'erahle by them. — I fpoke of a miiery arifing — not from embarrafs- ment in declaring their experience before others *— but from an honefl confcioufji^fs that i\iy are ( 9 ) sre not as they liear others fay tliey a.re,^^nn(i have not that impaffioned ezperienccj which is talked of all around them. When you fay that Dr. WoodM'ard's tedi- niony in favor of thcEnglifli Societies, is/IriSHyt applkahh to tie frefent cafe^ you really feem to have perfuaded yourfelf into a belief that the Meetings of thofe Societies were any thing like the Methodift Clafs-Meetings :— and yet no one who has ever been prefent at the la*ter, and who reads the quotation from Dr. Woodward adduced by yourfelf, can feiioufly fuppofe it to be applicable at all ; — unlefs he fuppofe that,, becaufe retig_ious meetings — condu61ed in one way — are very profitable,, it therefore follows that religious Meetings — conducted' in a way altogether different — muft be fo too. Chriftlans acquainted with each others cafes — '^ partly" as the Do(5for fays, " by their iamiliar converfa- tions, and partly from their own experience" — eccafionally admonifh and Ipeak one to another ia their meetings, and find it profitable. Can you really fuppofe. Sir, that this proves the expediency of Meetings, in which all are ftatedly required to fpeak about themfdviS and their own experience ? Your third argument is borrowed from the beneficial efl'cifls, which ycu attribute to the Clafs-Meetings of the Methodif!s \ and from the continuance and profperity of their Society - — for more than 60 years. — No very long pe- riod. Sir : — efpecially if we connder that, for more than 50 yea^rs of that period, the founder i>f the Society lived to fupeiintend it, with a-n influence ( 10 ) inflaence and authority which effef^ually kept together all the parts of his fyllem ; — and that in the iliort Interval lince his death, important changes — (fome of them not of the mofl deiir- able nature) — have been introduced into it iiv England, and dill greater changes attempted.- But waving* this — to make your argument of any force, it would be neceffary to lliew — that the beneficial effects, which you fo ftrongly af- fert, have arifen from that fart of the Metho- diftic difcipline, which I reprobate — the weekly communications that all the membei-s make of the flate of their fouls;— and have not rather been produced by other circumilances in their conftitution, in fpite of the pernicious tendency of this practice. If Methodifm had done all, that you feel yourfelf bound to atteft, it would afford no reafon why I fliould not admonifh them of what is wrong : and before I am charged with unwarrantable feverity of animadverlion, the particular principles and cufloms on which- I anim.advert ought to be vindicated from fcrip- ture, or fhewn to be the real caufe of acknow- ledged good. But M^hen, among the effe61s of Methodifm, you reckon — '^ the greateft number of the moft iriijy religious people that you have met with,'* and as great a quantity of " true Pz>/y towards God" as any religious inftitution in modern times has produced, — I mud: paufe, and enquire what is your ftandard of true religion and of true piety. Mine is the Bible : and to that I have appealed. I acknowledge no religion or piety as truey but that, which has the ^ruc Goi>- for ( 11 ) for its object: j and It is in his word that He has •made known his name and charaor fear — or love of iin. H« reads to them the rules of the Society, anci appeals to them whether they are not very good rules. If he can thus perfuade — I will fay if he 'Can thus trepan any to give in their names as Members, he rejoices over them as the real fub- je6fs of divine grace, Vv^ho only need to be faith- ful to what they have received, by a fteady adhe- rence to Methodifm : — he returns God thanks in their behalf, and prays for the awakening and converfion of others, — that is— for their joining the Society. Thus a clafs is formed ; and one of them, is appointed clafs-leader, to be the fpiritual director of the reft under the preacher; and he is armed for the office with fome controverfial pieces of Mn WeOey or Mr. Fletcher. G I knevv' -.( 'f- ) . 1 knew fuch an one appointed in a village A7ith v/hich I was well acquaimed : and what were the qualiii.cations that recommended him? — He was more talkative — and more felf-con- fident— -and in a little more eafy circumftances .than the reft who gave in their names. As to .fcriptural Chriftianity, T have rcafon to believe that he was more ignorant of its firft principles than many : — but — he had picked up fome vague idea of Methodiiric religion, as confnV ing of inftanta.neous impulfes and impreflions^ and new revelations. 1 remember my attempt- ing to engp.ge his ear, about, thai period, to fome of the miportant truths, of the Bible : and I remember well how he cut me fliort. " Ah I Sir," — faid the -poor man — '*I only know that 5t is never right with us x-^fotnethmg comes — like — like — like a clap of thunder." Say not. Sir, that I argue upon a fulitary inftance. In the nature of things, the courfe adopted for the formation of Qafs-Meetings — and the fele^tion of.Clafs-leaders,--^.^??//' render fuch inftances, in various fliades of degree, aw- fully common. My own opportunities of ob- ferving the,chara(flers of the .ClnfsrJeaders have t)een— perhaps not fo numerous as yours — but fufficient^y numerous to warrant the conclufion, th It they are. commonly, feleefed for qualifica- tions which make, them likely to promote — in- ilcad of countera^ipg— the worft evils in thofe Meetings; — ior, a bigotied attachment to the Methodiftic Syftem — a facility and forwardnefs to arcue in its deience — a heat of im.aginatioa and precipitancy of judgment, uncorreded by ( 17 ) ^ny fcriptural views of divine truth — eithet do6^rinal or preceptive. Indeed a fcriptural believer In the fituation of a Qafs-leader — would have to combat fo many errors, and to fet his face againll fo many evils in their Meetings (if he filthfully difcharg- ed his duty) — that I cannot well conceive — as long as the fociety is Vv^hat iris — how he could be allowed to continue long in the poft : — and the more inforrr.cd his judgment became from the word of God, the more clear^y he would difcover that no efforts of his could remedy the mifchiefs of a cufVom i^ntrinlically pernicious — the cuAom of calling on the mi^mbers indifcrl- minately, and weekly, to declare before each other th^ir experience and the ftate of their fouls; — a cuflonithi^t Griginates rn Ignorance at once of the varied deceitfulnefs and corruptions of the hum.an heart, and of the nature and character cf the work of Grace — a cuftom that muft kindle andfpread the flame of falfe and fanatical religion — -whcevevtr were the directors of their Meetings ; — while, at the fame time, I coniider the cbarathat what I have l^id of thofe perfons- violates any precept of Scripture, or trcnclies in the leafi on the divine prerogative — ol '^'pronouncing on men's Jieaitb," That ( 16 ; That I \va5 kept on my guard againfl: this, while I wrote, you may perceive from the ob- fervation which I immediately fubjoined, — that «^ 1 am not fond of deciding on the ilate or ^' charaiTter of individuals — zvhere there is any ■^^ room Jar douht. — I fuppofe. Sir, you will fcarcely fay that tliere may not be cafes, in "which thofe — who believe the word of God — > can have no room to doubt about the ftate of Dthers, as a very awful one. Now, what is the only cafe of that kind among the Metho- . dills, upon which I have ventured to pronounce ? The ilate of thole—" who avow that they have **•■ attained that fame perfe^ion in holinefs, in " confequence of which they \bft- without Jin in ^^ thought^ word or ^tW ;"-— who imagine that all prmciple of evil has been exterminated from within thtra, and that they have no longer any flefli — or carnal i]arur€-— tliar ^^ luficth againjl the/pirit.'' And of ail fuch I Aave faid — that I can have no doubt that "they are in the laft and moft awful Iftage" — of that felf^deceiving xourfe which I defcribed,;--( indeed I think it probable they have each gone thro' the. preced- ing flages of it, before they could arrive at this deadly delufion)^: — and I have a>ligned the rea- Tons from fcripture, upon which that certainty is founded. — Not one of thefe reafons do you even attempt to refute throughout your letter; i;ior take the leaft notice of their prerenlions to t\\\s/lrjefs Itaie : but content yourfelf Vvith de- clarnig— that I ought not to have extended my -condemnation " fo broadly." « You ( -2? ) Voa fay that I think " no trzily exherte?icei Ghriilian" would dare to attempt IpeakirlT of kimfelf, and of his walk with God, at periodical intervals. I am forry to obferve. Sir, that here again you change my expreflion. My expref- fion is — that *' the moj} truly experienced Qhxxi- tlan" win not : ^nd by the change, Oight as it is, you reprefent me as at one time denying that any of the Methodifts have any truly Chriilian experience, which I have elfewhere avowed my hope that not a few of them pofTefs^. I briefly mentioned one reafon for that af- fertion, about the moft truly experienced Ghrif- tian,~namely — " that he is'beft able to fay how ** nice and trying a matter il is, to fpeak before "<5therst:f himfelf and of his walk with God." I intimated another reafon, — -narnely — that it is not at all times he will " fee it expedient to fpeak upon the fubjecft.*^ — Are you. Sir, pre- pared to deny either of thefe reafons, upon ^li'hich the opinion is founded that you dilient from ? Do you really think th^it the fpeaking of ourfelves-^ofour rtiigioas liate and courfe and experience, is "a maaer fo fafe — fo eafy, — that there is little or no danger conne^fled with th« periodical pra61ice of the cuftom ? — or no iuch danger, as calls for all the wifdom and the watchfulnefs of tlie molt experienced Chriftiaiij when he occaiionally does fee it expedient to fpeak upon the fubjecft ? — that it is a matter, in which not only he may at any "time fafely en- gage, but even the leall expeii^nced Chriftian, — nay men who have no Chrifllan experience at all ? — So you appear to think^ by taking up D the ( -isj ) 'the defence oi the pracllce cf Clafs-iMeetings : for if you maintain not all this, the pra(5tice falls to the ground as indefenfible. But if you really and deliberately think this, — pardon mc, Sir, for faying that you liave very little know- , ledge of the human heart ; and for appealing from you to all the Chfifiians in that body, whofe advocate you are. ; You fay tliat " hypocrites may certainly abufe the pra6iicei" — Ala^ I Sir ; that deceptioa by which we purpofely aifunae a falfe garb in order to impofe upon others^ — which is co.nmoniy called hypocrifi^-r-i^ but a fmall part of the deceittulnefs of the human heart, and a form in which u rarely appears,— in comparifon of thofe various deceptions by which we impofe upon ourpluiis, .Of thefe. deceptions indeed we know Uttlc or npthing, till .we have- that , light of divine, truth urhich enables us to dctecl . the evils that are within u^ becaufe we are tiir then under their power : and the longer "^i walk in jhat light, the, -more we iliall difcover of thofe evil?, and the more jealous ftiall we ;fce of oupfelves. :^he whok pra«ftice of the Methodid CJafs-Meetings is eminently adapted to fall in with all the j^lf-d^cczvUg tendenoici of our hearts ; and juil to give a new and . a -worfe dire/Vion, — tho' ainore ^fpecious one, — to our iiatural vanity and felf-love. But perhaps, relinquilhing the fafcty. of the •piaftice— ito fafety to the individual who fpeaks ofhimfeir, — you are difpofed to maintain its e.x^{yedicncy to thofe v,ho hear him. — This at leaft cannot vindicate the utiUty cf their- Cla/r^ . Mcfftingzy ( 29 ) Tv£e/i/i^i, y^hcre'^W are in their turn fpeakerc' about themfelvesyaswell as hearers about oiher'^. In their lovefeafl^y I know, thofe who do nojc dioofe to fpeak are left at liberty to be filent. — But I would be glad to know ui what that pro- fitablenefs confiils — of hearing flatedly about the inward courfe of other?. The Methodifls rate it very high ; becaufe by it their feelingr^ areoftenflrongly wrought on, and the\fthole ma^ chine of their fyflem effectually worked. But this will not prove its'profitablenefs to a Bible-Chrift- ian. — Is the experience of divine things, which i.^ declared, fcrtprurai ? or is it not? If it be not, you will icarceiy aflert the expediency of having it put forward as true. And if it be, — do nox the truths of fcripture, which coincide with that experience, contain all that is profitable in it? — The Chriftian, from his e>:perience, will be the better qualified to ftate- — enforce — and apply thofe truths: — and let Chriftians thus qualified^^** a"bte' to e?ht)?t a-nd admonifh one another"— fpeak to their mutual edification. Uiit may they not do this without bringing for- ward themfelvtSy and their c\vr> ft ate as indivi- duals ? — Or do the truths of God lofe their pro- fitablenefs, whea- not declared, in conne6iioa with the cafes of individual profelTors ? To fuppofe this, is to take thofe truths off the bafi.^ of- divine authority, and re{l them'on humaii aflertion : — and the confequence has been — tha currency in the Meihodift Society of experi- ence^;, cried up as fomething wotKlerfuUy fine, which — tried by the tell of God's word — vvould be^found dcUituie of the firft principles of the D 4- fxperl' ( ao ) experlejice of a Chriilian, or contradicflory to Is the body of expcrlencpj — flanding on fure rrcord in ali the Scripture?, and efpecially in if\e book oi Pfnlms, — io incomplete — fo infdf- ficient for illuRrating and enforcing the truths a fpcedy ter- raination ot the C(.iuro\ eriy. Would that it might excite more feiious ami ger.eral attention ! My Reipondencs however muft be content with being taken notice of in the order, ta which thtir pieces may appear. (31 ) nions of ik^« ;-^W'iih none, but filch as are derived from the word of God. I am olad to hear from you. Sir, tKat'lhe tumtd- tuous ajfemhlies^ of which I briefly took notice are-diiapprovcd of by "almoftall the old an 1 experienced Members" of the Society : — find I fuppofe the preachers, who encourage 'them, are not to be confidercd as of that clafs ; — iho' I know that fome cf thefe are men of the greateft note in the conneiftion,. We fhall fee by the evem, whether the Society does not to- lerate and; countenance fuch pracfiicep. Cer- tainly I had everyright to confider it as doing fo, while they are not avowedly difcountenanced in the Society-, and are avowedly encouraged by foiTie of its principal leaders : — and I own • ihar thofe who are afraid ":o£ repreiTmg pious ar- doun^' by flopping the proceedings of thefe afTemblies feem to know little of what Chrif- tlari Fkty is» — But I fear you miftake the reafoa why they^have not been ftoppedv One of rfiofe meeting?, where the preacher fuccecds in agi- tating the poor people, and. the wild-fire of thofe " pious arduurs" runs w^ell through' the aflcmbly, is the fuccefsful means of gaining m:^re new Members to the Society, than twenty others more decently condu«fled. — I (hall fay no more on this fubjefl at prefent; but will indulge the hope that the weight of your opinion may ex- cite the interference of " altnoft all the old and experienced members/* 1 have thusy Sir,-, replied to the firil 35 pagc?« of your letter> In which*you remark on the firft 14 pages of niy Addrefs, — and on a very fmall D 3 r patt ( 32 ) part of tiienn. I am glad to find myftlf arrived nt wliat I confider tlie moft important — tho* it be the fhortef^ part of your letter^ — that in which you treat of docftrlnes ;• — partly (as in the ibur following pages) to vindicate the Metho- dllh from the charge of error in docflrine, which I advanced in myAddrefs, — and partly to retort a fimilar charge ill difTerent inftances upon me. Here we have before us a fubie(ft of unfpeakable inoment indeed; in comparifon of which the reputation of individual men, or bodies of men, vanilhes into- infigniflcance. Here — it is to me indeed of great confequence not to be found oppofing truth, or maintaining error: but — on which ever fide the truth m.ay lie — the knov^- ledge of it will he promoted by the ferious dii- calfion of the fubjef^. Entering on this part of your remarks, you fay — " 1 thi"nk the deepeft ground of your diilike remains yet to be adverted to." — You conjec- tured rightly But Tet me tell vou why it is, that the deepeft ground of my diflike lies in the Methodiftic docf^rines. It is becaufe their falfe nnd unfcriptural do6^rines are at the root of al| the otliec evils, to which I dire(f^ed their atten^ Tion.; — while many of thofe evils — (by a kind of reciprocal aclioa that is not infrequent)-^ encreafe the caufe from which they fpring. You are mii^aken, however, when you inti- mate that I have formed my eftimate of the character and criidu(^l of the Methodifls from my fenthpents of their do61rines. — In the former, the exigence of the evils, which I have animad* %emd on, is a mjt;er oi' fad^i which I do not iftfef ( 33 ) infer a priori, but know as any other ir.atterof fa6l is to be known-^ — and their malignant na- ture I eftimate by the fame-rule of fcripturc, by which I detec^l: the errors of their do(Slrine. — Here there is not, as you fuppofe, any thing; like an invcrfi-on of our Lord's rule — " I>y theif their fruits ye JJiall knovi them ;" — while that rule indeed would warrant a believer, who did not know the Methodift do^ftrines,. to conclude that their muft be fome great erroneoufnefs in them, from the pracftices that prevail in their Society. But you feem, in that pafTage, to intimate that you would approve of an a,pplication of our Lord's rule, againft which I mufi proteR ; — of an inference that the do61:rines which men. hold are good, or good enough,, if the fruits in their conducl appear g evil, and therefore that- the fruit— however fpe^- cious — is corrupt. Oilr Lord's rule never wa? cfefigned to convert \\\(t/etfmi;7g piety or ufeful- Defs of men Into, a ftandard of do(rtrinal truth, in place of the revealed word of God: but- it was intended to admonifh "liis difciplcs againl^ thofe falfe teacher??, the corruption of whofe lives fh(3uld betray the evil of their mvvard prin- ciples. This rule— rightly applied — teacher us, from the acknowledged evil of the fruits to ef- tiinate the corruption of tha-tree th^t bears them ; but is wholly perverted, wlven applied to ' infer the goodnefs of the tree — in oppofition to the . teftimony of fcripture— rfrom. the /^fm/^n" fairnefs of its fruits.-— The importance of fcrip- rurc-principles, and the wide ^mifchiefs arifing from the mifapplication of them, muft plead my apology for this digreffion "; — ;which has been fuggefied, however, by your exprefiions -in this paffage,' — as well as by the tenor of your argu« ments in other parts of your letter. . In the next paragraph, you proceed to vin-' dicate the Methodiftic doftrine o{ faKcilficatlony and to fhew that I have mifreprefented it. I had ftated— that ** the Methodiftic idea of fancftification is, in plain Englifb, this : that the corrupt nature of man becomes .in believers 'lefs and lefs corrupt, till rit length it becomes wholly good — perfe^ly purified from aU^vil^ — and this inflantaneoujly*'' In oppofition to this idea I aiVerted — that " according to fcripture, Itis not any part of the work of grace to mend our fallen nature.'* — (This word mend feems to have dif- pleafed you j-KJS if I charged the Methodifts with ( 35 ) with ufing ^^ an azvkzvard ex-preKion :" but if you read again the paffage, where it occurs in my Addrefs, you ^^ill find that I no where im- pute the ufe of it to the Meihodifts, — but mere]/ employ it zs a very intelligible exprefTion for the idea which I am oppofing.) — I go on-—" //7j^r " nature — thit old nature — called in fcripture " the ^e/7i J — is as bad — as v/hoUy evil — in a be- ** liever, as in an unbeliever; as bad in the mcft " eftabllflied believer, as in tl^e weakefl ; — as " bad in Paul the Apoflle — juft finifhing his " courfe, and ready to receive the crown, of ** Righteoufnefs, as in Saul of Tarfus — a blaf- " phemer and a perfecutor of the Church of " Chrift." Thus far, is a plain iVatemcnt of two opinions in dired^ oppolition one to the other. Upon the latter of them, which I have- afferted to be fcriptural, you fay not a word throughout your whole pamphlet : — but you attempt to fhew that in the former I have mifieprefeKted the opinion of the Methodifts, — Am I to underftand by this,, that their opinion is really coincident with that; which I have here afTerted to be the opinion warranted by fcripture? It- would really, Sir, give me great fatisfaction to think thias. But I do fear that neither theirs nor yours is fo. But let us fee how you fnew — that I have mifreprefented their idea. — Why, you fay that — by o\xx fallen nature the Methodifts evidently da not mean '■^ our com raSied depravity >''' Truly, Sir, I have no where intimated that they do. I have throughout fuppofed that they mean — not the. depravity — but the thin% depraved : — and the queftion ( 3^ ) where I fay— « it would be- much more " gratifying to the pride of our hearts, to think " that however bad u-e maybe naturally, yet we '^V.are not i'o bad but t^iat zve may ht' ?ntftded : '■^ azd it is the generaL-Jdea of all men — the r;iofl ^' careiefs and the mofl profane." Surely this . is precifely the fame thing, as if I hid faid— ^'iccording to your expreflion — *^ that however ■ bad the :?nan hirnftlf m^y be naturally, yet he is not fo bad but that- tiie man himfel/.mTiy be . in>^nded." Now, Sij;i you fay that one of my- arguments •<»-(the only one indeed of which you take any notice}— againll theMelhodiftic ideaof fanaifica- -tion, as confiftingin xht progrejive improvement of ■ vur/alkfi nature — is a " m^re play on wor . — fo when we are brought to the knowledge and "belief of the truth, -v/e are born a^ain noi of the will of the flefn-'h^JX o/Go D» ' T^x-^ faith i^s the continued '-^^ork of his good fpirit, ia oppolitior. to all the tendencies of our o-jj^i ; and produces the " new mind" of the fpirit — continually op- pofed by the ^^ mind of the iiefh :" and " thefe two are contrary the one to the other ;" the latter not a whit more difpofed to God, or capable of producing any good fruit, than it was v/hen we ^valked after it and fulfilled its deiires. In con- quence of this thechriflian, — v/ho •' walks after the fpirit," and ^' lives by the faith of tlie fonof God," — lives not after the flefli, — or his own na- ture ; — continues to ^' deny himfclf;' — and while he can fay with the apoftle — " I live," — mufl with the apoftle add—** yet not ./,, but ChrJfl liveth in me/' E Z This ( 42 ) TKis warfare, — uiiiing from the contrariely cf fiur own nature to the divine, — ceafes not — (I repeat it) — but with our earthly courfe. Thofe who think that, at any period of it^ one of their threefold adverfaries has become exnn6V, by the ilefiily nature (tiieir own nature) being annihilaU ad or having tha/iged its charaifier, and that • they have then only to contend and watch and pray againfl the two remaining foes — the world iand the Devil;— they have iallen into one of the mofi awful fnares of the Devil :—2midft all their lowering profeffion of religion, they have- yet to learn the firft principles of the Gofpel of Chrift ; — and unlefs God—that God againft v/hofe attributes they are often the loudeft to "blafpheme — " give them repentance to the ac- knowledging of the truth," this deluiion will continue, till they perifn in it. The Methodiftsareperfe the dcBrinal part of my Addiefs, my remarks are ^'^ feldom more applicable to the Methodifts, than to the gtnerality of other Chriftians" — that is, of other profeffors of Chriflianity. If you look at the adveriilement prefixed to myAddrefs, youL will perceive that I was well aware of this,, when I publifhed it. But what then? If my remarks be founded in truth and fcripture, the greater the number they are applicable to, the loudev was the call to publiHi them. Nor while I have the. word of Go© with me, am I at all intimidated by the numlers of msrij which you bring into the field againfl me. " Ninety-nine out of an hundred, of thofe whom modern Calvinifts deem evcmgdical^^ may be " decidedly againfl me.'*. But truth, Sir, is never to be determined by a ^oll : and divine truths are of fuch importance, and fliall afiuredly be fo ef!e61ually aiVerted by their Almighty Author^ that one who knows theaa ( 21 ) them will not be afraid to rtiaintaim thetn fingjy .agamil- a ^hoft of oppofers — however numerous an4 ^however refpecSlable. . ,.But M'hen you add— that 1 ^' feem rather difpofed to maintain a fezu peculiar tenets of my ■cwn, than to contend for rational Chriflhrdtyy' — I hope you greatly miflake me. I truft my obje(ft is to coi]tend for real Chrijlianity againlt all its adverfaries; and I am fare ^/^^/ v/ill be found ultimately the moft rational thing in the world — even " the wifdom of God i" though now reckoned fuoliflinefs by '^ the wife of this \vorld." As to what is meant by rational Chrifr tianity — namely, Chriftianity cut down and ma^ dified to the infidel imaginations of men, — I hope I fhall ever contend againft it. But I know aiot any opinion I have advanced, which I am difpofed to maintain on the ground of its being my own» On the contrary I am confcious that if you, Sir, — or any man — can point out any error of do(nriRe ^which I may have unwittingly advanced, it will be doing me the moil accept- able fervice ; — a fervice, which I truii I fhall acknowledge with thankfulnefs and candour : for indeed there are few things that I look at with more dread, than the idea of publifl^iing a falfe fentiment — in oppolition to the truths of ■God. And I pray God to keep me in this •ipirit; knowing that it is only He who can. J The firft ''^Jiriking Inflame'''' you adduce of my frroneoufnefs in do(fl;rine, is what I have faid jti^tQ!(\w^ fan^ificaticn. You exclaim at my '^ afr fertion, that all true believers in Chrift are fanc- l^iiied alih injiim, and that no one of them is > l^m , ^3 more ( 2Z ) wore erh/s holy than another." — It wouTd have faved you much trouble. Sir, to have taken no- tice of the/J/f/>5 in which I exprefsly advance this alTertion; and would have prevented the wafle of pains you have employed, to combat it in a fenfe in which I never maintained it. I ftated the radical meaning of the Hebrew word Tendered hdy : and I hope your avowal that you know nothing of the Hebrew language is not to ftand as a refutation of my ftatemenr, or to throw a doubt upon its accuracy. Ifhewed the applica- tion of it in: this meaning, in a variety of in- ftances ; where the fame radical idea of — fe^a- ration wito GoD — appears to be uniformly re- tained, with no diverlity of meaning — but that which is neceffartly included in-' the diverfity of the nature of the obje6ls thus feparated, or in the diverlity of the ways in which — or the ends for which they Tixo. feparated unto Goi>. I fhewed how the fame radical meaning of the Hebrew word is retained in its correfpondent term, in the Greek : and however light you make of that mode of afcertaining the fenfe of the Greek lan- guage in the New TeAament, every biblical fcho- lar i^ fenlible of its advantage and importance. 1 confidered the kolinefs of believers as thus pri- marily intimating their Jeparation unto God. I inarked the way in which they are thus Jeparatad 'from the world — namely by their union with ^rift, '* the HOLY one of God ;" — inconfe- *quence of which the Spirit of God dwells in them, •And I marked the end or purpofe, for whicJi i)iey are \\\\is fancti/led in him'— biu of a ^mus : and ( 24 ) and you knovv^ Sir, that while the former ad- mits degrets^ the latter does not,-^but is uttefly incapable of 7nore or lefs. Who would alTert that Goliath ^2,% more a human creature than Zaccheus P Different men may poffefs in dife^ rent degrees the ^z/^/zV/i^s belonging to'lheir fpecie^' — of ftature — flrength — intellcifi:, &c. One nnai}^ may be a larger man — a Wronger man — a wiler man — than another. But I believe it will be con- ceded to me that all human beings 2iXQ—aIUe—^ mtn. As incontrovertible is that affevtion of mine,' that in the fenfe o^-—/c^arafed unto Ogd in ChriJ} J{/us — all believers are alike holy.' ..„^ When you therefore call this — " an opinioi^ in which ninety-nine out of a hundred, Sic are decidedly againft me," — I can fuppofe you to mean only one or other of two things ;^eithef, that they will deny that believers are feparated in Chrift Jefus unto God, — or — that they will deny this to be the primary fenfe, in which they are called in fcripture holy. The former — I never heard of any Calvinifl who denied ; — and as to the latter — I never heardof any Calvinift, mode-; lately acquainted with the original languages of the Bible, who would deny this to be the literal meaning of the words holy — or fanct{/iedi — and that this is a meaning in which the epithets are applied to believers. But I am well aware, how much they have overlooked their primary figni- fication, in this application of the words. Be not then difpleafed or furprifed, at my wifhing to recal their attention to that, which I think it moft important to attend to ;-r-yes. Sir, — n^oft practically important. la ( 25 ) In the Apoftolic writings, and throughout the icriptures, we find numerous pra and of which nature knows no- thing. — Thofe who have not this faith, have ever been forward to contend againft it as a barren and inoperative ^tT«/«//c>^.- and in thi^ they often appear to tbemi^iTes. and others very zealous guardian^ of Dracftical piety and morality.. But thOfe,. <\'ho are partakers oi it, will ever prove it t« J 26 ) to be the only — and an eiTeiftaally powerful fprlng -^oi works truly gOod : and are taught that no works are fuch — (however fpecious and highly" elieemed among men) — but thofe which are the* works of faith. -^ ■ Now an attention to the radical fignification in Scripture of the words vio/r and /6Iz//i/,— as denoting that Separation unto GoTt, which be- longs alike as his free gift in Chrift Jefus to eve- ry behever^ and-, of which the revealed purprofe' is the manifeilation of his glory in and by them as Ais *« peculiar people,"— an attention to this* (I fay) ftamps with the peculiar J^r^Ao^/Zca/cha-' racier all the /r^zc^/cc/ admonitions and e>jhorta- tionsj which are given believers to holinefs of- walk and converfation; or, in Other words, to fuch a walk and converfatio'i — to fuch tempers and condu^/^ re fpe fling the ufe of the term" — tranflated holy in the Old Tedament. In thefe cafes common ftnfe often means nothing more than — thofe in- fidel principles of falfe religion, which are com^ mon to all men by n'ature. But I take it for granted, that you intend to include in its import — a regard co all the rules of fair interpretation, which a common Englifh reader can etiiploy. And you will obferve. Sir, that — agreeably to this~I fuggefted the obfervation of the different things, to which the term is applied in fcripture : ior I conceive that if there be any meaning of the term, which maybe fairly accommodated to the various natures of all thefe, — things inani+ mate — places — times — individual perfons — and a nation,— <:* - fore you." (Lev. xx. 22 — 26)— Thus were le Jews, in their ceremonial Jaw, commanded to *'^ fanBify themfelves," i. e. to walk as a people feparated unto the Lord-y and this, in perfe(Sl har- mony with the other pnlTages, which declare them to le a people far.iflifed hy the Lord, and koly to him. Nor is there any thing more fp©ken of ( 29 ) of, in the paffage which you adduce from Lc^ viticus, than this ceremonial feparation from the ufe of things ceremonially unclean. The feparation of lelievers to the Lord, as his people, is of a fpiritual nature and for infi- nitely higher purpofes. And he has marked out in his word how he will have them walk for his own glary, and agreeably to his own will, in a temper of mind and courfe of conducft — feparated from that of the world, out of which they are chofen, — and correfpondent with the purpofes for which he has chofen them, and with the relation they bear to him — " as the ekfi of God, holy, and heloved.'" (Col. iii. I2.) And it is as a people — thus all alike holy — or feparated to him — or fan^ijied hy him, — that they are called to he holy, or to fan61:ify them- felvcs; — in other words, to walk in that way which he has prefcribed to his own people. As to the various and progrelTive degrees of this their walk, — it is only railing a duft about the queflion to reprefent me as denying them.— • From the whole it appears hitherto — it appears to common fenfe — that neither feparation from, moral evil, nor from ceremonial uncleannefses, is included in the primary fignification of the word rendered /2(?/>' ; but (as I faid in my Addrefs) ^^ feparation unto God, fo as to be brought into ** a particular relation to him, appropriated to " his ufe and fervice." According to the nature and purpofs of that feparation, various other things may be implied by u : but neither the nature nctr purpofes of it are included in the radical fignification of the term. I) Let ( 30 ) Xet us now enquire, whether common finps •will enable us to diicover— that the fame idea is annexed to the parallel Greek word^ by the writers of the New Tellament. And here, I think, common fenfe fuggefls that, when St.- Feter for infiance— ^(as lu the quotation which ycu adduce from him') — exprefsly tranflates a -paflagfi from the Old Teftament, — it is highly improbable that he intended to, ufe the Greek word, in a fenfe different from that of the He- brew, which he rendered by it. But do we not obvioufly find the fame idea retained, in the in- juncflion — '^ give not that whicli is holy unto dogs ?" and again, in all the affirmative decla- rations that believers are *' an holy nation" — *^fantl:iHed z> Chriftjefus." — But not to multiply proofs ; — when our bleffed Lord fays (John xvii. 19.)-^" for their fakes I fan^iify myfeJf, that they alfo might ht farK^ifed through the truth;" -.—does not common fenfe tell us that the fame word, occurring in the two clau&s of this fen- ttXiCty cannot be ufed in two different fignifi- cations "i and that as in the former claufe, it denotes his fetting himfel/qpart to the fervice of the Father — (which he did, when he " humbled himfelf, and took upon him the form of a fer- vant," for the accomplifhment of that work of redemption which was " given him to do") — fo, in the latter claufe it denotes their being fct apart to God, as his fervants and peculiar-peo- ple ? Thus is He the '^ iirft-born among many brethren;" and— ijimfelf ihg holy one of God" — ail " whom the Father hath given him,'' and who ^^ through the belief of the truth" — are in f 31 ) in him, and fo brought nigh to God, — become " a holy feed," to whom he " is made fanSii' ^cation:' And they — "walking in him" — "led by the fpirit" of holinefs, — " have their fruit unto holinefs," and their " converfation as he- cometh the gofpel ;" — as becometh thofe vTho are *' not oi" the world," but **of God?' . Let me add^that, when the term holy is at- tributed to Goi> himfelf, I humbly conceive that it denotes to us the infinite feparaticfi of his glorious nature from all the imperfecftions thxit, we fee cominon to creatures ;— that " dwelling in light inacce^hle,'* vihichis^^PPropriaU to God alone: — fo that, as that is ;^t?fy among creatures which is feparated from tlieir uf?j fo. as to be peculiarly his, — fo by an analogy cf lig- ritiGation—( which however I would trace M^ilh i\C.v erer.ce) — -;; £ is Occia red to b2 /yc/j-j. n^ t'rt? psrfeai'oas of ins being are infinitely rcmoveif' from the nature of creatures, and belong with an inconceivable exclyfion only io }u??2feJ/. . You obferve — that ^'^ pr apical and perfonal reparation from fm" is that, to wlilch "each Ifraelite was individually obliged."' Very true. Sir; though it is^a bad inference from the paf* fage, from which you deduce it. But I v/-ill go farther, and fay — that it is that^ to which every !;itelligent creature is obliged, in confequence of the relation which they bear as creatures to the Creator :■ — though it be that, which is impof- fible to belong to 2iny Jinful creatuie through any natuial power of his own : and therefore — > inAead of being more or h/s in fuch, as " der pending on free agency"— (according, to your » z _ all'ertion) . ( 32 ) affertiofj)— -could not belong /a? any degree at all to fuch, if it v/ere not the gift of God's rich grace, and the work of his almighty power in linners. Man and all the intelligent creatures of God, as they came from his hands, were created in holine/s; — they were his: — and to walk as his — *' ?ioIy unto the Lord — in the univerfal confe- cration of all their powers to ///j- glory, and the ttniverfal regulation of them by his wlU, zuho/e they zi/er^,— whiJe it was their indifpenfible duty — was tiiai to which their uncorrupted nature conflantly Jed. But as foon ^^ Jin — or oppofi- tion to the Vvlll of God — entered into that na- ture—either of angels or of men, — as apollatizi ng from God ^Md fepan<}ted from Hi-??^ they became tinholy in their ilatc, zv^di unholy in their nature. At thefa^ne time— (wiiatever the proud fophiflry of man may argue to the contrary) — the obliga- tion of his holy kw continued unchangeably the fame, undiiTolved by their utter incapacity to fulfil a tittle of itc requirements. That inca- pacity conilit'jtes part of the ruin^ in which fin invoWes the tranigreiling creature: and arifes from the utter impoliibiliiy that a creature /tv^^- rated from Goi>— ihould reinflate himfelf in the r-ank of thofe whom, he owns and claims as his ; -—as well as from the contrariety of his fallen nature to the divine v/ii}.> gQt — 'f.Avhat the law could not do, in that it was weak through the fiejh^ God — fending his own Son in the likenefs of finlul flelli, and for iin" — accomplifhes. That reftoration to the fUts of thofe who are his —holy unto- the LoR3>, —which ( 33 ) —which Is the necefTary foundation of all cor- refpondently holy walking with him, — nothing but the arrogance of blinded pride can fuppofe that an apoftate creature is able — by his free agency — to obtain ; or that he can do any thing to acquire it. Nothing but ignorance of the true God can lead any to imagine, that fuch a creature^-if ever reftored to it— can be reftored in any way, but by that God from wliom he has fallen, — by an acfl of his free and fovereign mercy; or that it could ever be compatible witk- his righteoufnefs and truth — with the effential glories of his chara«5\er — to extend this mercy, but in the way which his gofpel reveals, and which it could never have entered into the heart of a creature to conceive, if it had not been- jevealed. It is revealed ; and is indeed ^^ the wifdom of God and the pozuer of God to them that helicvs'' Sin, that fepara ted between God and us, muft be taken away ; — righteoufnefs muft be brought in; — the divine law muft be "magnified and made honourable," while tranfgrefibrs of it are taken back to God ^ — God luufl: be " juft and the juftifier of the ungodly;" — in order that unholy creatures may become holy to the Lord — his peculiar people. All thefe impoiTibilities to men, the Lord Jefus Chrill:— Immanuel — Go 25 manifefl in thejiefji — has aecompllfhed by his obedience unto death. He is " the Lamb ©f God that taketh away the fin of the world." — He is the voluntary yt-rz/aw/ of Jehovah, who has " finifhed the work, which the Father had given him to do" on earth. And now all, y> 3 who ( 34 ) vho itlieve the record of his gofpel^, are in himy ' — and "in him comf^hte ;'' — brought back to God with full acceptance of their perfons, and that confequent holinefs of their ft ate-, — as a people (eparaud unto God — which, in the very , nature of it, can no more be partial or admit; of degree S'-^\h?^w the recovery of this ftate could- depend on ^htxx free agency-y — or than— (what typified this) — the feparation of the Jewifh people from all the other nations of the earth depended upon theirs. • As thofe who are thus a " holy nation/' through the unfpeakable gift of God, — as thofe to whom Christ is thus "made of God fan(5lincation," and who are " thus" — (I re- peat it)-r-or in this fenfe — this fcriptural and- moft important fenfe^— " all alike fa?i^iyied in ^ *' him — -no one of them more or lefs fo thai> *' another^" — they are called to walk ; — to walk in that feparation offpirit and of conduiTl which is marked out for them by the will of their God ; — or, in that fenfe, to fan'' By this time. Sir, I fuppofe you are fenfible that, when you quote St. Peter's exprelTion — *^ he ye holy in all manner of converfation"-— to prove degrees in the believer's holinefs of M^alk, — you are labouring to prove what I myfelf afferted in my Addrefs, — and what is not at all contradictory to the portion, with which you attempt to fet it at variance. The Apoftolic ex- hortation arnounts (imply to this ;^ — in all the various turns cf human life — (I borrow your own words,) — walk as thofe zuho are the people of God — a people holy, or feparated/c* the Lord. — In like manner, the expreifion you quote from the Apoflle Paul — " the very God of peace fanf^ify you wholly" — is as if he faid, — may He^ whofe you are, lead you walking in the confc- eration 0/ all your powers to his ferviQ£'-^2.% thofe who ^st wholly his / But • ( 37 ) But I cannot help lamenting an equal mfe- licity in the way, in which you deduce from both thefe paflages — your undifputed inference — that fuch a walk is certainly capable of de- grees. On the former pafiage you fay — ** does " not fuch a dire(rtion imply, that there was a " pofiibility of individuals 7iot being holy in all " their converfation ; jui) as there was a poffi- *^billty of individual Ifraelites defiling themf-lves " with creeping things ?" — You', Sir, are fuch an advocate for what is prai^ical, that I am fure ■you will excufe me for fuggefting what feerns a neceffary guard on your expreffions. Juft as the ifraelite, who defiled himfelf with one thing pronounced ceremonially unclean, was as really defiled as if he had defiled himfelf with twenty j — ^juft fo, the profeiTor of the Gofpel, who walks contrary to holinefs In any part of his converfation, is unholy in his walk ; and while he indulges himfelf in this — affords no evidence of being among the faints of God.— The will of God is not regarded at all,^ — -fo far as there is not a regard to the whole of it, that is made known to us:— and there is no holinefs of walk, fo far as there is not in our walk a regard to his will — as that God to whom we belong. When you therefore /^^;?2 to infer, from an ex- hortation to his people to confecrate themfelves wholly to him, that they may confecrate them- felves to him partially \ — yon fee m to draw an inference, that is not only logically inaccurate but pra.. pra61ice, agr/inft which I proteft : — but I thrnk tjiey are obfen^ation?, which the dangerous turn ©f your exprefpions called for. And now. Sir, I am aware, that— to a great; many e\cn of" thofe whom modern Calvinifts deem Evangelical,'^ — perhaps to " ninety riine^out; ^ an hundred"!./ them,— in a great part of what I h.:v'e written>.I Hull feem .to have" been maiaT tainin^^ a verhal.conieft. -And that.itns in fome i'efpe(^s verbal, I readily acknowledge. But give me leave to fay, that thofe who know mofj;- of Scriptural truth- — are moil fenfible of its im- portance : and that thofe who know mod of its importance^ — are mofl fenfible how important it: js toafcertain the meaning of the z^oraV, in which; it is conveyed. The Bible, Sir,^ is eompofed of words s and the man who is ready to decry — as vcrhal — a contefl about the fenfe in which thefe words are to be underflood^ is ready to lay afide his Bible — as unimportant : — while the man who conceives that the dodirines^ whicl> the Bible teaches, are not practically important, •: — certainly does not believe thefe doflrines. . , } . . ' 'Contrary C 39 ) Contrary to-my intention and exper^ation, 1 "am obliged to clofe this letter without 'finilliing my anfwer to your remarks. I am obliged — for Vhe fake of giving reft both to myfeU and to my readers, — and for other reafons Vvhich it is needle fs to fpecify. I fliall conclude with a brief Hatement of fome — among the many — important infeiences, which f!ow from the fcriptural meaning of the terra— Ac/}'. It diftin^tly marks who — and who alone are /^c?/>',— namely thofe v/ho lellsve the C^ofpel of the Lord Jefus Chrift. It cuts down all the vain imaginations, which the unbelieving world entertain, that they differ from thofe who believe — not in the eifential chara61ers of their J?ate — but, at moll, in the degrees of a fancied goodnefs. It fliews that thole who diibelieve the Gofpel are — not lefs holy than thofe w^ho believe it — but altogether unholy. — It detects the fa^Viticus fan(fi:inionioufnefs of temper and of condu<51, which ihQ religious part of the un- believing world exert themfelves to attain ; — and proves it, in its higheft forms, to be but a fpecious i^iitation of holinefs, and a vain attempt ^- to bring a clean thing out of an unclean." — It gives to Gcd *' the glory due unto his name ;" — evincing the holinefs of all believers — both the perfefl holinefs of theiry?^/^, and the progreffive holinefs of their walk — to be — not of their worksy but of his rich grace or unmerited favour. — It gives a precife and Evangelical di- recflion, to all their purfuit after hohnefs of life and converfation 3 putting them — not upon making themfelves what they are not, but upon walking, ( 40 ) walking correfpondcntly to the ftate in which they are.'^\t cheers them — even the youngeft^ the weakefl believer — in this purfuit, with that " joy of the Lord, which is their ftrength." It animates them under every difcouragement in the purfuit; and Simulates them to the higheft aim, — to the moft univerfal — the moft continual —the moft willing confecration of themfelves to that God, zohofe they are^ — to the mofl humble walking w^ith him^— and to the moft unreferved regulation of themfelves by his revealed will. Thinking as you do. Sir, that this is — '' among the very erroneous views of Scripture do61;rines," -— v>-hich I have given, — I heartily hope that your charity will lead you to ftate — the " pecu- liarly parnicious confequences," with which it feems to you " to be pregnant." I have ao ap- prehenfion that you will fucceed in overturning it : — but convinced, as I am, that it is true, and pregnant with confequences the moft im- portant and moft falutary, — ^I fhall rejoice in . every opportunity of giving it a public difcuf- lion. I remain^ Sir, Your faithful humble fervant, JOHN WALKER. Trinity College, August i<^t/i, 1803. The Contents of the Third Letter^ having been unavoidably omitted^ are" here fubjoifzed, MR. WESLEY'S Clafs-Mcetings a fubjea of con- fiderable, though lubordinate importance. Mr. Knox's arguments in favor of them. His firli: argument wholly irrelevant. The real meaning and importance of St^ •James's precept. Evil of mifinterpreting Scripture. His fecond argument inconclufive, though the fadi on which he founds it were admitted. The faCt itfelf difproved from his own ftatement of it. Dr. Wood- ward's tedimony wholly inapplicable. Mr. K.'s third argument includes a fimilar fallacy with the fecond. Duration and effeds cf the Methodift Society. What is necefTary to true religion and true piety. Civil efFedts of Methodifm. Meetings for Chriftian fellowiliip more important than Mr. K. reprefents them. His fourth argument abandons the Methodill Society as a Chriftian body. Dirci^ors of the Clafs-xMeetings. Anecdote. Great mifchiefs ariiing from the want of Scriptural qualifications in them. The miraculous difcernment of fpirits not at all necefTary to v/arrant the Author's fup- pofitions. Thofe fuppofitions confirmed. Strange me- thod in which Mr. K, controverts the Author's illu lira"" tion of the pernicious tendency of Clafs-Meetings, The KMihox"*^ fecond thoughts fliewn to b§ perfer oppolition to myaffertion? In this infta-nce, at leaft, it ap- pears that the difciples who ufed the exprelTiorv — repentance unto /V/^'-^did not mean by it " any thing preceding /V///^" or unconnc(Pted with i^:" — for it is under the preaching of Qofp^l, and hi xh^hclieving of if, that this repentance is ex-^ prefsly coniidered as granted to the Gentiles.^ But waving this inilancf, — -if-you admit tlliit there is any fuch tliing ^s repent ar^ce unto i^h:, or a change of mind conne^fied v, irh Salvation, you cannot perfui in oppoiing my afiertion about it, without contrad idling the whole tenor -of fcripture. For, as Peter declared on that QC- cafion to Cornelius and his company, all the icriptares bear witnefs to the Lord jeius Chrirt, ^^■that through his name, whofocver lifiLiEVETH in him, fliall receive remiliion of fins;" — or,as John the Baptift exprcffed it, that " he that kfUeveth on the Son, hath everlafting life ^ and s %■■ he ( §" ) he that heliiVeth not the Son, fhall not fee life^ bur the v/rath of God abideth on him ;" — or, as our Lord himfelf, that " he that Idieveth or* " him, is not condemned ; but he that leVieveth " not, is condeirined ah-eady, becaufe he hath *^ not leUcved in the name of the only begotton *' Son of God." — Now, Sir, if rep.e7tta?ics unto life be any thing preceding faith and uncon- necTted with it, then thofe who have thirvrepent- ance (I mufl: repeat an exprellion that offended you) — this injtdel repentancey though they do Bot yet lelleve in the Lord Jefiis Chrift, have life, and are ia a Hate of falvationi — then ** Faith is made void and the promife made of none effeifi ;" — then the concurrent teftimony,^ 'W'hich all the Prophets and all the Apof^les bear to the Lord Jefus Chrift, — as " the Lamb of God that talieth away the Sin of the World," — is overturned 3 and a repentance, unconne6led with the faith of him, is liibiVituted in his place. Bid I {•^■^—unconnei^td with the faith of him ? l4ay-^ — in cXutCt oppof^io': to it: for on fuch a fappofition, there would be no room left for hclievlng the fcriptural teflimony concerning hinx at all. But it Is not thus more certain — that thofcj, who believ-e not, have not repsniayice unto life, than it is certain- — that, \vhofoever indeed ^^-^Z/cc^rj the Gofpel, is a partaker of this repentance — or 72CW mind. It is throughout the Scripture re- prefented as an in^vard change, which has taken place in all our Lord's people- — all who are in a ftate of falvation. It is one of the gifts which, along with rcmijfon ofyi^is, HE is exalted to beilovv. (Acls v. 31.) — All who believe in him huvc remlifion of fins,^ and are j,uftified frorh all thiags ( 9 V ifings :— I argue therefore that all, who Iclie^y have repentance. And I leave it to your cooler judgment to confider, how far thefe obfervatioas confirm the juAice of my firft pofition— that re- pcntance unto life is " that nezo mind of which we are made partakers^ when we are given to believe with the heart onthe Son of God." Frotn this, by necelTary inference, the truth of my fecond aflertlon foUowsr If reyrniancff unto lifs be thus inieparably ■connecitd with faith, any repentance that takes pltce— while wc are yet under the power of unheliff—\s not repentance unto life ; — or, as I exprei^ed Ir^ is " but'a fpurious imitatiofi of that heavenly gift,- '' — is but a refi-ned form of the flefhfy and felfifli *' mind, which In ail its workings is evil — only *^cvi] continually." It would be a wafle of labour to argue in confirmation of fo plain a confe- quence. Unbelieving profeffors will fret under it, and exclaim at it : — -and the more they have laboured at obtaining fuch infdel reptntancf"/^ and the -more they feem-'to have fucceeded' la- working thernfelve'ir into a fober and very- reli- gix^us form of the flefhy mind, the more indig- nant they will probably be at thewarnhtg voicej whvch tefilfies that they remain as "before ^' dead in trefpaffes aud'-fms ;"— that, as unbe- lievers, **^ the wrath af God abideth on them ;"— • that they are y^t-earnal — and that " thsy who are in the Ikfh cannot plcafe God.' ---Bur the truths of God mud: not be concealed through fear of th.;^ offence which they will excite. VVf Jivuft declare them, whether men will hear, or whether they will forbear. As to my third affcrtion— that any fuch bifd^i Te^s/itancc is no more "a preliminary l\ep to * 3 iaiUv- ( 10 ) lalth, than Murder or Adultery," — I confider it fo important, that I am felicitous to clear it, as much as polTible, from all ambiguity: — not, that lihink you have in the main miftaken the mean- ing of it, but becaufe I conjecture that you will not be the laji who will attack it. — Now it is obvious that my meaning is not — that fuch fpu-» rious repentance never takes place previous to faving repentance and faith : for I have exprefsly obferved that there may be many fuch " changes In the fiiiners mind/' before he believes the gofpel. Neither do I mean to deny — that the Lord's hand may be in fuch changes, — permit- ting and ordering them : for we have reafon to know that his hand is over thofe who are never brought to the knowledge of the trmh; and that, €ven upon them his fpirit varioufly works, ac- cording to the purpofes of his own will. And it is certain that his hand is from the beginning gracioii/Iy, as, well as wifely and powerfully, over thofe wh£)m he has " ordained to eternal life," controlling and leading them— even while they know him not^ — and ordering all their cir- cumflances in fubferviency to the defigns of his grace and mercy, which are afterwards mani- felled to them. But ifxe meaning of my afler- tion is liinpiy this— that no fnch hijidd repent'-^ unce brings a.m.an a whit nearer to the ftate and charaifler of a leJieveryX^^^ the mofl open pro- fligate ;— that the latter is not more " dead in fins and alienated from the life of God" than the former — than Mr '^\t\cA\zx'?, car ?zal penitent _? — that the fame Gofpel of the grace of God is addreffed to both, -as precifely upon a level — proclaiming Salvation to the murderer and adul- terer, who ihall lelieve tlie faithful record, as freely ( ri ) freely and as immediately as to the carnal peni^ ie?zt 'y and not requiring any fuch change or in- fidel repentance to take place in the former — in order to authorize him to believe the glad tid- ings- — or in order xo qualify him- for a participa- tion of all the blefTings that are conne«5^ed with believing it. Such, Sir, is the plain import of my affertion; and perhaps the more plainly it is ftated, the more it will fiwck your feelings. Yet — per- haps alfo — it may, through the bleffing of God^ be made the occafion of giving you fuch a view of the nature and glory of the gofpel, as yoa have not yet had. The aiiertion, thus ilated, does indeed ftand pointed — not only againfl the. whole of the Methodiftic fyflem of theology_, but againft a great mafs of faliliood, that is cur- rent among many who call themfelves Calviniftsj... and pride themfelves in the name Oi Evangelicah But do not they who oppofe this affevtion, be-* tray their ignorance of the HrJf principles of the Gofpel of Chrill ; and fhew that their unbeliev- ing hearts yet ftumble at the offence of his crcfs .-^ Is not his Gofpel — good news \.o Jznners^ to lofi iinners, to the chief of fmners ? — glad tidings of a Saviour for fuch, a Saviour-of his people from their fins ? a Saviour, in whom "the gift ol God is eternal life— 4o euery one that believ- eth" the Gofpel which teflifjes his name ? — ^A Saviour, given for the exprefs purpofe — " that •whafoever believeth in him fhould not perifh,.. but have everhlVmg life ?'* And was it not his own exprefs command, that iAis Gofpel fhould be preached to all the nations — even thofe mo/l funk in heathenifh darknefs;, and in diabolical corruptions il which they are unable to refute, — But however little ^a^reement there, is among thofe men in other'bpints, they all agree in the indignation they exprefs againft the few who declare the true gofpel, which owns no diftinclion of cha- racfter or ftate between man and man, — but that of thofe who believe it and thofe Avho helieve it not ; — which addrelTes all men as loft linncrs ; — » and levels to the duft all the fancied fuperiority of fome above others — in declaring that " who-. SOEVER oelicveth fhall ht faved'' But I now turn to the remarks which you make, on the obn^oxious palTage you have quoted from my Addrefs., You obfervc — that you muft: *••' conceive it clearly to mean^ that men are to do nothing in order to their obtaining God's grace and raercy." Let us paufe there. — Sir^ you conceive very right. I do mean that the Gofpel reveals the divine grace and mercy — not " to him that zuorkeih" or doeth any thing in order to obtain it — but " to him that helieveth on Him who juftjfieth the ungodly''' I do mean to affert that this is the eflential charao this or thai preparatory^ WORK. ( 15 ) WORK in order to obtain or he qttaUJied for ths fntrcyof GodP Nay — the Apofties were better taught, and were better teachers. — The anfwer is explicit — " be Li E v E on the Lord Jelus Chrift and thou fhalt be faved." But I would be glad to be informed explicitly —what kind of work this is, that Sinners are to do in order to their obtaining God's grace and mercy. It muft of neceffity be fomething do?2e by them independently of that grace and mercy, of which they are yet fuppofed to be deftitute : and I fuppofe it muft be fomething of a religious nature. Now what fay the fcriptures concerning the Religious works of unrighteous men ? The facrifce of the wicked — that facrifice, by offerin-g which they intimate an expeclation of its being accepted — is — what? fomething that contributes to their obtaining God's grace and mercy ? — no fuch thing : — is — an abomination to the Lord. — What elfe indeed can it be ? Their perfons uii- righteous in his fight^, how can any of their works be accepted ? Their hearts enmity againft him and " alienated from the life of God — through .the ignorance that is in them," — how can their offerings be impofed on the fearcher of hearts, as any thing good ? — And if there were no other text in the bible to prove, that by the zuicked we are not to underftand merely the irre- ligious p'ojligates of the world, that text which i have juft now quoted, would be fufficient to prove it : for the wicked is there prefented to our view in a religious exercife— offering his facrrfce. — And if his religious afts — io far from -contributing" to obtain God's grace and mercy'* — are an abomination to the Lord, I am at a iofs to know what elfe he is to do in order to obtain ( i6 ) ■obtain It. The word of God teflifies agalnft all he does as fin ; and protefts againft the proud hopes that he cherifhes from his doings as vain and deceitful :— -but, in^ the glorious Gofpel, brings near a rigkteoufnefs and fahalion fuited to fuch a wicked finner; and fuited to him — as in every thing elfe — fo in its alTurance that zuho- /oever 'BEi.i'E.Yl.Tii.Jhall hejaved. And I am bold to all'ert that, the more every fyflem dif- ferent from this is examined, the more abfurdly inconfiftent it will be found with the didiates of right reafon ; as well as the more impioufly de- rogatory to the perfecflions of Jehovah. "You go on. Sir, in your ilatement of" what you conceiveto be my meaning ; and you ob- ierve that you muft conceive me to mean — that « if men be of the number of Chrift's redeemed "people, it will be given them, without any "effort on their part, to believe on Ghrift with " fuch a faith as will imply the fpirit of ado'p- " tion and a new heart.''" The mark of admi- rntionj which you annex to this, is defigned, I fuppofc, to intimate your aftonifhment that I Oiould hold an opinion, Vvhich appears to you fo incredible and prcpofterous. But ftrange as it appears toyou^ I fhrinknot from accepting your ftatement of my opinion. And I muft obferve to you that your note of incredulous admiration would be luil as much in place, if affixed to thofc declarations of our Lord :— ^* all that the father glveth mefhall come to me :" — "no niancan come to me except the father which hath fent me dravs;- him — exc.:pt it be^/e;^« unto him of my father:" « the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead fhnll hear the voice of the Son of Gx)d, and they that hear fliail iiye." — ** a mw hsari will I ( «7 ) giiuif you :" — « I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts; and I will be to them a God, and they fhail be to me a people; and they rU/JiuH hnow m^ from the leafl: to the greateft; for I will be merciful to their unrigh- teoufnefs, and their fins and their iniquities will I remember no more." — No words can more €xprefsly afiert the triuh — -fo ofTeiifive to the pride of man, — but fo glorious to God, and fo joyful in reaHty for iinners — that the wiiole or this work of faith — whereby they are brought to the faving knowledge of the true God — are turned to him, and are partakers of a new mind and anew fpirit, — is the exclulive work of Him, who hath fa id — " I will vjorkj andwho/Jiall let it ?'^ — and his work — in thole who are repre- iTented as no lefs incapable of doing any thing to obtain thofe bleifings, than the dead are in- u^vapable of" contributing to their own refurrec- l:on. Men, naturally, in the blindnefs and pride of their hearts, will not credit thefe declarations of Cjod concerning his name, his purpofcs, and his work ; and you will alv/ays find unbelieving profeffors endeavouring to lovrer the greatnefs i.nd the freedom of the gift of God. They think that they can do without receiving quire fo snuch; or without ncdvingix in the way oi a iree gift — "not of works but of grncc" — or of mere mercy; — that they can get it, without having it beilow^ed on them, as on thofe who themfelves deferve nothing, but that eternal death, which is "the wages of lin," — and who can do nothing to avert the righteous fentencc pronounced againfl fin, or to qualify themfelves for being made partakers of the bleifings of fal- C vatlon. ( i8 ) 'vntion. They will be content to talk of them- ■felves and their powers very humlly (as they .think}— if you only alUw that they can do/ome- -ihingy ever fo little, iipon which the difference in their favour is to turn, and not upon the fovereign grace of God. And they will be con- 'tent to talk very honourably (as they think) of :his grace, and of receiving a very great deal 'from it, if you only allow that they are not to receive all — -the wdiole of falvation from firfl: to Jaft; or that they are not to receive it as his free gift, which iDight ju4lly be viitlihekl. — But let .them difpute agiiinfi it ever fo much, " this is ,thc record — that God hath given to us"— (to us :^N'hQ believe Q\\ the Sor> o{ God)— -"^^ iter fml life ; and this life is in his Son. He that hath the ;Son hath life ; -^-and lie that hath not the Son of Ujcd, h.uh not life." - ,You iiitimnte your aftoniOiment at my fup^ pofing that iir'.ners are given to believe on Chrift • — " without anv e-r'/drt on their part :" and while ' I do not wonder at your holding fuch language, -as I know hcnv common it is in the f^Gfeiring world— even in that part of it vihich is ialfely -called Evangelical.—and by what great names the language has long been fancflioned ; — par- l» Nor tell me Sir^that the 2x/ori^i,which you would have finners do now as preliminaryjleps to Jufti- fication, are of a different kind from thofe about which the unbelieving Jews bufied themfelves. The Apoftle marks their fatal error, as confining — not in any miftake about the kind of works to be done for jufl:ification,-^-but in their radical ignorance of" God's righteoufnefs," and of the only way in which a finner can be juftlfied in his fight ; — not by doing any thing, but by lelicv- 2/^^inChrift, who " is the end of the Law foe, Righteoufnefs to every one that believeth." The diftinguifhing glory of the Gofpel h^ that it re-- veals his Work, finifFicd in his obedience unto death, in which every thing that was necellary to be done for the juftification and acceptance of the chief of Si finer s has been completed by him- c 3 felf ( 22 ) fclf alone : and that It brings near this righte- oufnefs to the moft ungodly, In the divine de^ claration that " whosoever helieveth inYiiM is juftlfied from all things, has peacewith God, and is accepted in the beloved/' Thofe who rcpre- fent fomething ftill to be done by the finner — (under the name of repentance, or whatever other name)— as a , preliminary ftep to fulth in C^r//?, contradi^ the effeniial principle of the Gofpel ; — reprefent righteoufnefs as ft ill at a dlHance from iinners (perhaps only a fezv /hps off) — put them upon getting 7tear to It, and io fol- lowing after that which they never will in this way attain. Thofe who a^l: upon fuch princi- ciples prove, in this, that they dijbelieve the Gof- pel ; and that their v/orks are works of unhelief. You may tell them that they are preliminary Jieps to believing : but I mufi fliil teilify that they are no more fo tiian Murder or Adultery. '^ Who- foever helieveth that Jefus Is the Christ Is born of God,"—" begotten with the zu9rd of truth''' (i John v. I — "James i. i8.): and till then the iinner is " alienated from the life of God — dead in trefpaffes and in lins/' and all his works are ** dead works''— no one of them more tlian ano- ther ?ipreUmina7yJ?epXo^?avh. Andefpecially thofe "Works which conflitute his Religion — which he "does in order to his obtaining God's grace and mercy"-— they above all others are grounded \ipon a denial of the Gofpel, and ftand pointed in dire — is John the Baptift: : — the immediate harbin- ger of the MeiTiah's appearance irj the flefh pro- duced to teftify that iinners may have refenta?ice unto //}^,though they dijbelieve his teftimony con- cerning thatMESsi ah ! Andhowis this proved? — Why — John the Baptift was fent " before the face of the Lord to prepare his way ;" and there« fore the repentance which he preached muft be fyi'eparatory and freUnnnary to iaith. Nay, Sir, he " prepared the way of the Lord," by announ- cing that the Meffiab, whom the people profeiTed to e^v-pec^ and defire, was immediately about to appear : (by declaring that he was fent " to bear witncfs of the light, that all men through hm mightZv//>i;f."And accordingly he did bear witnefs to Chrift,.as " the Lamb of Gjd which taketh away tlie (In of the world," — as " above all, — all ihings given into his hand by the Father."" — He proclaimed " falvation to his people,^ by the remiffiOQ of their fins, — through the tender mercy of God, whereby the day-fpring from on high had vilited them." His tcilimony was thus moft explicit agaijift that» for which you contend; — " he that helkvsth on the Son," faid he "hath everlafting life ; and he that helieveth not the Son fhall not fee life, but the wrath of God abi- deth on him." And moft careful was he to guard his hearers againft refling in any falfe view ofhimfelf, — in any view of him but that of a ■mtnefs of Christ, " that he fhould be made manifeft to Ifrarl." — And from this Preacher of xht faith of Christ you endeavour to extort a teftimonyj in favour of a repentance " preceding faith ( 26 ). faith and unconne6led with 'w''-^ as repentance unia HA But you urge that the Baptift faid— " l^cpenty. for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand:' Why, Sir^ this his call to repentance is palpably founded on the Go^f/ of Christ, in the very reafon by which it is enforced. The Baptift's call,— refcu- cd from the cloud of ambiguity inwhich you have endeavoured to envelope it, — amounts to this : — ' Ye children of Abraham according to the ' flefli ! Ye, who profefs the fahh of believ- V ing Abraham ; — vi^ho expeQ: and defire the ap- * pearanee of that Redeemer, that King of Ifrael ' whofe day Abraham faw alar off,— of whofe * glorious name and office and work Mofes and ^ all the prophets — fent unto your nation in 'times part — have teftified 1 Ye profeffors of ' the faith of Patriarchs and Prophets! the long *■ expected appearance of the King of Ifrael is • ' at hand. The Lord whom ye feek is about to 'come to his Temple. But who fliall abide 'tbe day of his coming ? and who fliall fland - 'when he appeareth ? The thoughts of many v ' hearts fhall be revealed. Multitudes, who have ' profeiTed the faith of him, fhall be offended at ^ himy — ^fhali ftumble and be broken ; and by r their rejection of thetrue Messiah when he Vis revealed, will fhew that they have not had ' the faith of that Abraham whom they call their •■ 'father,- -in their natural defcent from whom ' they pride themfelves. Beye therefore warn- * ed j. and prove that you are indeed the fpiritual 'children of Zf //>&/// o^ Abraham — that you are ' really partakers of that faith which you pro- ^ fefs, — not by any of your outward ceremonies, ' but — by an inward renewal of your hearts and ' minds 27 ) « minds, — by that repentance uno Ufi^ whldi « diftinguiflies irue believers. And evince the .« reality of that repentance, by bringing I'orth ' fruits fuiiahle to it ; and parting each o\ you .« with that offending right hand or right eye, « which are the charaaeriftic evils prevailing in « your feveral profeffions of life. Let hypccri- ' tical proieffo^rs know that the axe lyeth at < the root of the tree; that no fpecioufncfs of « falfe profeiTion will conceal them from him « whofe eyes are as a fame ofjire : — that his < fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly ' purge his floor, and gather his wheat — Ms true .* difciples — into the garner, but the chaff he « win burn up with unquenchable fire.' Such, Sir, was the preaching of John the T^3pH{^ :— and it would be well for you to have confidered its import better, before you repre- fented him as an advocate for u?ileUtving repent- ance-, and before you indulged the keenncfs of farcaiVic indignation at the truth, in comparing him with i\\Qprcfaneinfdd and zeaIoi^s7eligiomJi, of whom I have Ipokcn in m> Addrefs;— and concerning whom I have obferved that— they differ only with refpecl to the quantity of work to be done, " m order to obtain God's grace -and mercy."— Let me tell you, Sir, that the Baptiff piefcribed no taf/^, great or fmall, to be done for any fuch purpole ; but expiefsly preach- ed \\\t faith oi Christ to the chief of fmners —(whom you would thin.s moff unqualified for it) — and free remiffion oi fins in his name to every one that lelieved. And had he not done fo, he would have preached a very difierent Gol- pel from, all the Prophets, and all the ApolUes ; and from that which he declartd, whofe \Tsy the P'lptil^ wa"^ fcn^ lo prepare. ( 2S ) You endeavour to proo up the weak caufe which you efpoufe, by obferving that — by the ktHgdom of Heaven whicli John declares to be at hand, we mui^ undeiftand — ^^ihtfpi ritual king- dom of the MelTiah, which zvas to he fct up in the hearts of behevers:" and that, it not having yet af^ually rv in whom Ifrael — (his bcHeving people) " fhall be juftified and faved with an everlafting falvati- on." The record of him has been the fame, whether it pointed to him as yet to appear in the liefh, — or as having appeared, and Hnifhed the work of obedience unto death which the Father had given him to do on earth. And all who from the beginning have *^ known the joyfol found" — or, in in other words, have ^^//Ve;^J the COS PEL which proclaims his name, — they and they alone have been juftified and faved ; whether they lived before his manifefta- tion in the flefh, or fince. Their faith and hope and joy have been the fame ; their Saviour and their God has been the fame ; their Religion has been the fame : — and all Religion but theirs, —w^hether called the religion o^ nature y or by whatever oiher name, has been a religion of lies, fuggefted by the father of lies, to hide the view of the truth; — has been the religion of infide- lity ; — and its end is cleftruvfllon. — No wonder that righteous bdiez'ino Abel (liebr. xi. 4.) fell a vi % 25 ( 32 ) •uS concltiiiv-ely fet about difprovlng it, by fliewl jng tiiat they may be exiiorted to walk belbve— they have zi'ings* But with reipe^^ to your afferticn itfelf — that rr.en could nor at that time have the fpirit of iidopfion, — I conceive that it is falfe; and I am certain that the paffages, to which you refer for the proof of it, are wholly mifapplied. The for- mer of them (Af\s xix. i — 6.) evidently Ipeaks of the miraculous gifts and open efft^fion of the Holy Ghost, w'hich took place in the church after our Loid's afcenlioriv And that the latter 'paifage (John vii. 37 — 39) alludes to the fan^e, appears more than probable, from the exprcfs re- ference in it to the prophecies of the old tefta- ment — concerning the -pouring out of the fpirit in the latter days — (fee for inllance Joel ii. 28. 29.) ; — which Prophecies the Apoftles declared to be accomplifhed, m that outward and mira- culous effiifcn o{ ihc holy ghost, which com- menced on the day of Pentecoll. A! art our Father — our redeemer." And fuch was the language, which the carnal prefumption of unbelieving Jews imitated, while our Lord was yet upon earth; when — warried by him that *^* they Were of their father the Devil, and that the lufts of their father they would do" — they they vainly boafted — " we have one Father even God:" — -grounding their proud confidence on their natural defcent from Abraham. But their boaft was repelled by our Lord, as the fimilar pre- fumption oS. iinlelieving profeiTors of Chriftianity is to be repelled at this day; — ^^ If God were your Father, ye would love me'' But while I thus <:ontend that the faith of the people of God has been the fame from the be- ginning,— -the author, the object, and the fruits of it the fame ; — let me not be underilood to make light of the fuperior advantages which be- lievers enjoy, lince the manifeftatipn of the Son of God in the flefh, and fince the accomplifh- ment of fo many prophecies concerning his in- carnation — his work on earth — his fufferings unto death — and the glory that fliould follow. The clearer difcovery of the /nf?2e joyful truths (as well as the wider promulgatioa of them)» i> 3 Vvhich ( 34 > vhich has thus been afforded to the church, ren- ders the hajl in the kingdom of Heaven greater than JOHN the BAPTIST ; — the leaft believer, — fince the fhadows have paffed away, and the true light has fhone by the appearance of the fun of righteoufnefsj — higher in his privileges than the mofi: favoured believer of the fame gofpel, ^vho preceded that period. This, Sir, I readily — I thankfully concede : hut this, rightly under- ftood, detracts not a tittle from the forceof my angamento. You next produce the lord jesus himfelf,. ss a witnefs to prove — that finners may have re~ feniance unto life, who yet believe not in him. This attempt, Sir, might have been fpared : and I am glad that you forebore to " hurt my feelings or fully your own page,'' by enlarging on it more. You reft your argu- ment — on its being written of him alfo that he *^ began to preach, faying i?^/)£'>^/ ; for the king- dom of Heaven is at hand.'' I believe I have already abundantly refuted that argument, m the cafe of the Baptill : but in this inftance it happens very unfortunately for you, that in. the parallel palTage of the Evangeliil Mark — expreilions are employed that tear away all the fiimfy covering of ambiguous language, by which the weaknefs of your argument might be con- cealed — from readers unacquainted with the phrafeology of fcripture.— '^'^ Jefus came into *■' Galilee, -preaching the cos pel of the kingdom •' of God, and faying. The time is fulfilled, and *' the kingdom of God is at hand : repent ye, *^ ^Vi^lelie-ve the COS PEL. (Mark, i. 14, 15.) \ et you appeal *^ to all impartial judgments," — (in thefe matters there is lefs impartiality than you are aware of in the judgments of the unbe- lieving world ; they hate the truth) — " whether *^ our Redeemer in thus opening his miifion did ^' not ( » ) *^ not clearly intimate, that they whom- he ad- ^^dreffed might tru^y repent^' — though they he~ licved not the gospel; "and alfo that their '^ thus repenting would prove 2i preliminary J} ep^'' to faith. — In ftating this monftrous inference, which you draw from our Lord's preachincr, I only fubftitute my own plain words, that you exprefsly contradicfl:, in place of the equivocril words, — " fpirit of adoption" and " appropriate " bleffmgs of his fpiritual kingdom" — in which you wrap up your fentiments. I would be very glad to know what you fup- pofe this true repentance of an unhelieving (inner to conlift in ; —of a finner whom our Lord him- felf fo often declared to be a hater of God and a child of the Devil. I perceive indeed that in a fubfequent paragraph you give fome account of it, which Ifhall have to tal^e notice of in its place : but it is all couched in metaphorical language. Let me recommend you to fpeak it plainly ; and then I fhall have an eaii^r tafk in fhewing — that no one part of it can be true\ genuine ^ fpirit ualy except in thofe who believe the gofpel ; and that your unbelieving repentance '* is no more a pre- " liminary ftep to faith in Chrift — -than murder " or adultery." But you proceed to marfi^al againft my of- fenfive pofition — the apostles of our lori> JESUS CHRIST. What! Sir : — thofe apoftleswho were commiffioned ]3y him " to preach in his " name repentance and remiffion ot fins," — are they too produced by you to prove, that there may be repentance unto life (and confequent re- million of fins) without faith in his name P But let me curb the feelings, which fuch an attempt mufl excite in a believer of the truth ; and calm- ly proceed to vindicate it againll: you. You own that the MelTiah's fpiritual kingdom had now ( 36 ) now com.0 ; though here alfo you nufapply a text (Mark ix, r-), the accomplifhment of which had not at that time taken place. But you go on to fay — *' on the day of Pentecoll the terror *' of an alarmed confcience produced in thofe " who had come together, forrow for /in andy2)- ^' Ucitudt; ahoui the things of falv alien.'" Stop a moment, Sir : — the words which you here mark in Itahcks are borrowed from that offenfive paf- fage of my addrefs, which you are oppofing ; and in which I have faid that there may be fuck forrow and fuch folicitude produced by tiie ter- ror of an alarmed confcience, without any retd repentance — or — repentance unto life,— he- caufe without any work of favingy^/M in the heart; which faith, I have aflerted, muft ever accompany and produce ^r^^ repentance. Now let us fee how far the inftance you are produ- cing from fcripture, will fupport my alTertion — or your contradi6lion of it. I refume your words: — *' they therefore fay to the Apoftles, Men and ^^ hrethren what JJi all we do P Peter forthwith *' anfwered — repent and he hapti;sed every one ^^ of you in the name of jESUS CHRIST "/^r the remi^on ofjins.'" — "Well, Sir, — it un- deniably follows from this, that Peter thought, viith me, that all ihtir forrow for fin Ttndfolici- tude about the things of falvation which fprung from the terror of an alarmed confcience, con- flituted not true repentance ; for- while they ma- nifeft all that forrow and folicitude, he yet calls them to repent. So far— the paffage is point^^ blank with me, and againft you. But you afk, whether it does not from this paf- fage " inevitably follow — that in St Peter's judg- " meat repentance was 2i prtliminaryjiep to fa- ying ( 37 ) vmgfaiih ?" — I anfwer your queAion with f?.ying — that the contrary inevitably follows from it : it inevitably follows that in St. Peter's judgment thei-e can be — as I have afferted — no true repen- tance — no repentance unto life previous \o faith, or unconne<^ed with it; but that he confidered repentance — (as Ihave f^ated it) — to be '^^that new mind of which we are made partalisrs when we are given to leluve with the heart on the Son of God" — For, if he intliided nox faith in ChriO va his idea of repentance, then he called them not to believe in him at all ; — then' he preached to them remiffion of fins independently of Chrifl and unconnected with the faith of him ; nay he call- ed tliem to be haptized in his name previous to hdieving in him. The fact is. Sir, that — in calling them to repeat ■ — the Apoftle called them to nothing elfe, than to be of another mind tozvnrds the Lo R D J E s u s than that mind o{ unbelief which, they had hitherto manifefted. In the preceding part of his addrefs he had charged them plainly with the wickednefs of their «w/;f/?V£'/?/^Teje had raifed up," — afiured that he had " fhed forth that ( 38 ) that which they then faw and heard") — when thus interrogated by the alarmed multitude, Peter directed them — not to ?iny preliminary Jlep to be- lievtng in him — but to believe in him as the Christ^ — to repent, or be o{ another mind tow- ards him than they had before ; — (and if their former mind was unbelieving, this new mind to which they are called muft be the mind o{ faith) ' — and to be " baptized evc;ry one of them in his name^ox the remiffion of fins." He dire(51:s them to no preparatory works that they fhould " do in ■order to obtain God's grace and mercy;" but — amidll all the load of fin which lay upon them, as the betrayers and murderers of the Prince of life— he at once points them to Him as the favi- our of linners ; and proclaims remilTion of fms to them through faith in his name. And accordingly, what was therefult ? "They that gladly received his word''' — a word which, according lo your milinterpretation of it, did not call them to believe in Chriii at all — " they that gladly received his word'* — or hlieved his teiiim.o- ny of the Lord Jesus, — '* were haptized — the fame day — and continued l^edfafl:ly in the Apof- tles' dof^rine and fellowfliip, and in breaking of bread and in prayers ;" — ^joined " together — ha- ving all things common — eating their meat with gladnefs and finglenefs of heart — praifing God ■—and having favour with all the people." Such was the glorious refult in them that le^ Vieved ; while the refl:, wh^HQVQvforrowforyin and foltcitude and alarm had been excited in them, remained as they were before— dead in fins and enemies of the crofs of Chrift \ — nor brought one ^^^ nearer to God, by all their infidel conviction or infidel repentance, than the murdercror adul- terei. ( 39 ) terer. Yet many of them, no doubt, prided themfelves in their felf-righteoufnefs, — in what they had done or could ^^-do in ord^ to obtain God's grace and mercy ;'* and fcornfully reje(fled that gofpel, which put them on a level with the vileft — by proclaiming pardon and righteoufnefs and eternal life to all — whofoevcr believed in the Lor D Jesus . — If the limits of this letter allowed me to draw the contraft — between the mode of the Apoftle's addrefs to that multitude, and the mode in which we might conceive them to be addrelTed by the grave and pious advocates for •preliminary Jieps to fairh in Chyiji' — (^whether under the name of z/ound lazv-work — or a. pre- paratory repentance — or whatever other nanae) — a ilri-king contraft indeed would be afforded. The enlightened obferver will be at no lofs to fee as ftriking a contraft between the effefls. But you adduce the fimilar expreflion which the fame Apoftle ufed, in addrelfmg the multitude — aftembled on occafion of the healing of the man lame from his birth. On that ocafion alfo, Peter having teftified to them that God had glorijied his Son Jdfus — the Holy one and the yuft, — that Jesus, whom they had delivered up — denied — and killed — but of whofe refurre61ion from the dead the Apoftles were witnefl'es ; having declared to them that thofe things which Goi> had lefore Jhozun hy the mouth of all hi^ prophets, he had fo fulfilled ; — he adds in the words which you quote, " Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your (ins may be blotted out." And from this paifage alfo, you afk whether "it does not ine- vitably follow, that in St. Peter's judgment repen- tance was 7i preliminary Jlep to iavingy^///i /"— . The impofing tone of confidence, with which fuch ( 40 ) fuch queflions are put, is the only thing that ren- ders them dangerous. No, Sir^ — I repeat my former an^er : — the contrary inevitably follows. — Othermfe, the Apoftle dire6led them to fome other way for their fins being blotted out, than through the/aithof that Saviour ^vhom ke had fo exprefsly preached to them. — Nay — on your fuppofition — he gave them to underhand, that their liiis would be blotted out, though they fliould continue to difhelieve the teftimony of Chrift. For he certainly gives them to under- hand, that their fins would be blotted out — if they fliould r^^^;?.^ and be converted', which you contend wa^. but a preliminary /?ep to faving faith' A.nd in this cafe, it is hard to fay what you mean, by attributing to Faith the epithet oi faving at all : for falvation then accompanies fome zmbelieving repe?ita?ice. From the ufe you make of that quotation, it appears that you conceive that converjion alfo, as well as repentance^ precedes {-sismg faith ; for the fame inference, which you affert inevitably follows about the one, muft as inevitably follow about the other. Now do. Sir, ferioufly conli- der this queflion : — if finners — yet under the power of inibelief—x^'d.y^ notwithftanding, have rep€?jtance unto life and be converted to God, and fo (according to the Apoftle} may have re?nif/io?i of fins 'i — may they not — muft not fuch finners be faved — whether they ever believe in Chrift or not ? whether, or not, they ever take \.h?L\. farther flep, to which you confider repentance and con- verfion ?is preliminary ? And in that cafe, muft we not — to be at all confiftent — lay afide the X.2\\l oi faving Faith ? And may we not as well lay afide the Gospej- of Christ altogether; and ( 4^ ) and fet about making' linners good men, and calling them to repent and turn to God^ vvitiiout perplexing them with thofe o^tvXx^t do6irines o{ the crofs of Chrift ? — In fa 61:, thofe who really hold luch fyftems, as you attempt to vindicate, have laid afide the Gos f el altogether ; though decency and fear make them llill encumber them- felves— withfomethingeffentially differentj under the fame name. And to this clafs belong alt thofe Vrho really hokl that any thing is to be done by the finner " in order to obtain God's grace and mercy ;" — that any (inner is more or lefs authorized or warranted than another to believe the gofpel of his grace ; — or that any linner who Relieves \i, without having done any thing that could ht?^ jyreliminar'y Jiepto faith in Chrifli is not in that gofpel affured of falvation. You aflert, Sir^ that — -on my plan — " St. Peter ought not to have called on them to repent, un- til they could believe that their fills zuere hlotted mi.'" And among all the extraordinary alTertions \vhich I have had to combat in your letter, I know not one more extraordinary than this: Let us obferve what you call my plan, and I call the Apoflolic — the icriptural plan. — ^I have aiferted that finners — previous toiheirbelievine in Chrift have no repentu^ice unto life ;^-^nd that whofo- ever believeth in him has true repentance and has remission of/ins. Hence — (to borrow your ex- preiTion) it inevitably foiloius that, until they re- pent and believe the Gofpel, they have no fcrip- tural warrant for believing that their fins"^r iv. 3. Not as many iv.hich corrupt the tuord of Gid. % Cor. ii. i 7, DUBLIN JFIVTED lY HOLMES & CHARLES, 49, MAR Y -ST RpE":^ SOLD BY H, COLBERT, I ;6 , CAPEL SIREP-T, 1803. \ CON T fi N T S. Mr, Knox's obfervations on the meaning of the Greek ■word rendered repentance* The meaning affigned by the Author confirmed. That the queftion controverted between Mr. K. and him does not turn at all upon the etymology of the term. Mr. K's argumentative lan- guage. That it is perfeflly confident with the Author's principles to commence an addrefs to Tinners with a teftimony of the necefTity of repentance. Mr. K's pa- raphrafe of the word repent accepted, and his inference from it refuted. The Author's perfect agreement with Mr. K. on the importanc« of the dottrine of repentance. The doctrine of yz£y^/)fc-^//o« nseclfarily involved in it^ and equally important. Mr. K's argument to fliew the comparative unimportance of the doctrine of juftification. "Ho upright nefs of heart m unbelieving finners. That nothing will ftop the courfe of God's mercy. The ef- fects of that mercy where it takes its couiTe. Mr. K's Tain attempt to Ihew that dangerous confequences flow from the Author's views of repentance. His queftion anfwered. As probable that the carnal penitent will perilh, as the perion whom hQ fuppofes to draw an in- ference from the Author's dodrine. What is neceflary to give any weight to Mr. K's fuppofition. The fup- pofirion no prefumptive argument againft the truth of the Author's doftrine. The fuppofition fiiewn to be abfurd, bat not furprifi ng. GuarJifig the gofpel. Much aealfor Cahini/lic do6lrines confiftent with dilbelief of the Gofpel. The pernicious confequences with which Mr, iv CONTENTS. Mr. ICs do£t:rine of repentance is pregnant. The awful cafe of a perfon who (Ball believe what Mr. Kcfays. Peculiar offenfivenefs of a teftlmony againft falfe reli- f^io^. Impoffible to know what Mr. K. includes in his idea of repentance, but that he certainly excludes what is neceflary to conftitute true repentance. That Mr. K's repentance cannot fpring from love to God. His attempt to change the queftion in debate. That quef- tion ftated anew. Mr. K's argument from the parable of the Prodigal. His ftrange note of admiration. His argument refolves itfelf into one which has been ex- pofed in the preceding letter. The defign of that pa- rable. Danger of mifinterpreting parabolic narratives. A palTage in the epiflle to the Hebrews confidered. That it ftands in direfl oppofition to Mr. K's ideas of rfpentance. All men alike warranted by the Gofpel to comply with the Apoflle^s exhortation. That believers alone do comply with it. Various chara6lers to whi^^h the greateft proraifes are made in Scripture, belong to none but believers of the Gofpel.— Po/?/?r///. The Christ i an Observer. The ideas of its condufl- ors, and their numerous preliminary fteps to convernoa, The curious nature of fdme of them. Dr. Kipling^ Monks of la Trappe, The Reformation,. SIXTH LETTER, &c. &c. SiR, THE more frequently I read that paragraph in your Letter, which next offers itlelf to my coniideration, — the more unable I am to con- jefture what rational bearing you intended it ihould have upon the queftion at iffue between us; — whether repentance untj life be (as you af- lert) a preliminary Jlep lo/aving faith, — or (as I affert} that change of mini of which we are made partakers, when we are given to helieve with the heart on the Son of God, and not till then. You produced authorities from the preaching of John the Baptift, our Lord himfelf, and his Apoftles ; all of which I have fliewn, in my laft letter, are decihve agalnll: that preliminary fenfe for which you contend : — and you now obferve — " that the mere Etymology of either a Greek or a Hebrew word ought to weigh little 2iga.mi\ fuch aiahorities 'f but that you cannot 3 fee ( 6 ) fee that the terms, tranflateci repeiitance and re- fe?2t in the new tcftament, " contain 3ny idea incongruous'' with that I'enfe. Allow me to afk you, Sir, is there a fhadow of oppofition be- tween the etymological meaning of the words which I have affigned in my Addrefs, and their application in thofe palTages of fcripture v/hich you produce ? Let me aik you again, did I borrow any argument from the mere etymological meaning of the words, to fupport that affertion about the naiure of repentance^ which you con- trovert ? Your expreifions appear to imply the affirmative of both thefe queAions : but your good fenfe and candour, I am perfuadcd, will not let you hefnate to acknowledge that they are both to be anfwered in the negative. You fay, — " that tiie terms are generally {o ufed as to imply a moral change, is certain; but that this meaning is necellaiily conveyed, may be difputed."— For me. Sir, you will have that difpute to yourfcH". Where have I afi'erted or intimated, that tlie meaning of a moral change is Receifririly conveyed by the terms r I did ob- ferve that '' the fiiiiple import of the word tranilated repentance \z — a change of mind'' — or a iranjiiion from one mind, thought, or pur- pofe, to another: and 1 fta ted, from fcripture, what conflitutes repentance unto lifiy or ^ faving change of mind, and vihen it takes p'ace. On that queftion you have warmly oppofed me : but we fliall have no difpute. Sir, on the qucftion whether there may not be repentance, or a cha?igc of mind, without any moral change. I thought I had ailericd that myfelf very explicitly : — I again readily concede it : and what does it make for your argument ? But ( 7 ; But it is with fome aOonifliment that I read the next ientence, in which you call inqucAiou the literal meaning that I have alfigned to the Greek word; and fay that " the i\v\S: fcnfe is not change cf mind, but rffi':ient reco?if:der- aticny — You quote Greek, Sir; and you own at the clofe of your Pamphlet, that you know enough of it — " to follow a critical clue^ when afforded you by another." — Excufe me, how- ever, for laying that every fmatterer in tliC language knows that the ftriR fenP" of the Greek word \tii^txfelf but is flill in the delirium of a /inful ^ftate 3 whatever infidel repentance or convicf ion he may have. You fee that I take your own own expreffions, by which you choo-fc to para- phrafe the word repentance j though they are B 3 exprclFign*3 ( lo ) exprelTions wliich feem to me orAj /igurativdy to denote that change of mind ^ which I obferved is the literal import of the word. ■I have before fhewn at large, in oppofition to •you, that: our Lord and his Apollles from the commencement of their preachings and through- oiU it, preached the Cofpel : fo that you muR look for fome other argument, to prove that the repentance tliey called to was um:duvi)2g re- fentance^ beiide the mere circumOance of their cornmencing their inflru or fpoke at all inconhdently with the prin- ciples whicli yo'j controvert, if — in addreffing an unbeiieving multitude — I commenced my in- flrucilons with a tefiimony againft the finful« .nefs cl their Rate, as alienated from the true God,™ againft the corruptions of their hearts and minds as enmity to him; and with a de- claration ol tlie neceifity of an inward change of-mindj in order to iaw^ him acceptably in i'pirit and in truth : and all tlfis — before I faid a word e?jplicitly about Chrijft and his fal- vation. But! would tliink that I departed from the cha- racfier of a minifter ofChrif},if Idid not at the fame lime declare to them the revealed character of the true God, as " a juft God and a Saviour" — '^* jufc and the juftifier of the ungodly ,*' — if Idid not at the fame time declare to them that *' glory of God in tiie face of jefus Chriil," in the know- lodge and faith of which alone finners can real- ly turn to the true God, and can I'erve him with acceptance. 1 would riiink that I departed from the chnra61er of a rninifter of Chrift,, to that of ( II ) an agent of Antlehrift, if — according to your principles — I put them upon do'mg any thing *' in order to obtain God's grace and mercy ;" if I forbore to preach Chrift to them as the Sa- viour of finners, till they had taken 2. preliminary J?ep of fome infidel repentance, that they might be ^■^ prepared for the fpiritual bleifnigs of the Mef- fiah's kingdom" — or prepared to believe in iiim; — if I did not proclaim to them the exceeding riches o^ the grace of GoD, and the effe^ual zuorking of his pozuer, and his complete /^//z/V?/^^, —including prefent ^cce'^/^;/c^ in the beloved and an inheritance among all them that are fan^ified — as free unto all (without any difference) who fliould lelieve the joyful tidings. I would think that I departed from the chara61:er of a minifter of Chrill, and dealt treacheroufly with their fouls, if I gave them to underftand that any of them could truly repent or turn to God, while they continued to dijhelieve this glorious Gof- pel;. — that any unbelieving forrow for fin, or alarm of confcience, or Iblicitude about eternal things, brought them one flep nearer to its bleffmgs; — or that all its bleliings were not im- mediatelyy^r^r to every one among them who fhould really believe the faithful record, — to ihofe whom you would reprefent as mofl un- prepared for believing it, jufl as much as to thofe whom you would think moft prepared — from having been under the longefl preliminary training. You fay that *' the precife amount of the exhortation," which our Lord addreffed to the people in calling them to repent, " was — come to y our fe Ives — awake from the delirium of ajlnfid Jidte — that ye may he PRE PARE p for the fpiri^ tual ( 12 ) tualUefftngs of the MeJ/lali s kingdom :" — that is> Sir, its precife amount was in iliort this — Be- come GOOD me7i- — that ye may he FIT to helieve the Gofpel. But let me remind you that the Gofpei is good news of a SAVioyR {o\ JtnnerSy « — for ruined and ungodly iinneis; that all the fpi ritual bleflings of his kingdom which it re- veals are adapted to the fituation and wants of fuchy and revealed as the free gift of God in him to every one that lelieveth in his name : and that, as- long as any difbelieve that tefti^ mony, they continue under tiie pov/er of dark- nefs and of fin, however they may boaft of hav^ ing fight and freedom. How then can fuch be faid to have come to them/elves, and to have azvaked from the d.eLirium of a finful Jlate ? In truth they are juft as much befide themfelves, and as much in that delirium, when they are filled with the moll poignant- — but unbelieving forrow for fin, and with the moR lively — but unbelieving — folicitudt about erernal thing?, — w^hen they are putting forth the moft firenuous efforts to attain unto righteoufnefs by the deeds of the law, by doing fomething — (no matter hew little or how much) — '' in order to obtain God's grace and mercy,"— as when they are moft care- kfs and unconcerned and giving the freeft loofe to open profligacy and irreligion. Say not. Sir, that — in afferting this — ^I give encouragement to the openly profligate and ir^ religious, to continue in that ftate. It is a ftatc — in which if they continue, they v»nll periOi ; in which they are far from God and far frora righteoufncfs : — but not a whit farther than thofe, who are moft bufily and earnefily engaged ia the religion of infidelity. Nor fiiall the one laorc ( 13 ) more affuredly perifli than the other, except they repent and believe the GofpeL And to call Tinners to that kind of repentance, Mhich you maintain to be repentance unto lifi, is but calling them to embrace a falfe religion, that they may be prepared to receive the tnic;- — is but calling them to be zealous worlliippers of idols, that they may be fit to becomt? fervants of Jehovah. You proceed to account for your dwelling fo long on-the fubje61: of repentance ; and you af- fign its importance as tlie caufe. llere, Sir, — w^e are perfeclly agreeed. Moll cordially do T af- fent to your obl'ervation, that " error in judgment here leads naturally to error in pracftice." Yes ; — I am perfuaded that " vvronp; notions" upon this fubjefl are the deflru61ion of thoufands ; and of thoufands who leaft fufpeft that they are in the hroad zvay. And I am glad that you have fa- ved me the trouble of making any apology for the prolixity and minutenefs, with which I dif- cufs the fubje(5>, and examine the queftion — which of o\xx notions upon it are wron^ and un- fcriptural, — whether yours or mine. But it is laaientable to obferve that you cotild not even aflert the importance of this doctrine., without involving the affertion in a mafs of error and mifreprefentation, to which it becomes neceffary for me to avert. — ^)uoting a paffage from my Addrefs (page 37. 2d. ed.) you reprefent my expreflions as relating to — *' the mere meaning, of the ter7n juAification ;" while the reader, who takes the trouble of turning to the pafl'age, will fee at once that they are exprefsly applied by me to the doflrine of a finner's juflification in the light of God. To ( J4 ) To eAablifh the importance of the doiTliine of repentance^ it was not neceffary. Sir, to decry as unimportant the docSlrine of jupijication. Ac- cording to Scripture, they are fo infeparably in- terwoven, that they muil ftand or fall together-; and we find accordingly that all, who are erro-' neous in the one, are correfpondently erroneous in the other. Thofe who deny the declarations of God's word, concerning the only way of a linner's acceptance or juRification in his fight — thro' the obedience urito death of " the Lamb of God that taketh away the fin of the world,'* and as they*;-^^ gift of God to e^'cry one that hc" lieveth,-—\\\\\ be always found, \vhile they' infid on repentance, to fpeak of a falfe and unbeliev- ing repentance, by which they vainly think that im will be more or Icf-^ taken away, and the fin- ner made an objevfl of the divine favour. And thofe who conceive repentance unto life to confift in any other change of mind than that which is wrought in every finner who helievcs the Gofpel, —to confiil: in any thing which they confider a pre]iml?iary Jlep to believing, and what puts the finner in 2ifair way for obtaining God's grace,* — let them at times talk ever fo finely of the doOrines of grace and of jujiiftcation hy faith slone, — will be always found to employ the words in a fenfe utterly fubvcrfive of their real evange- lical import : and while they fpeak a gofpel language,- and by it impofe on mauy hearers, have a fecret meaning as oppolite to the gofpel, as any of thofe againft whom they fometimes verbally contend. — Such men, if preachers, will get a name in the religious woihi — as evangeli- cal ; may be followed and admired by crowds, who ♦ See Poflii ip% ( 15 ) who think themfelves evangelical : while they know nothing of " the true grace of God," and manifeft that they hate it — by their oppofition to its faithful witneffes. And they will com- monly be borne with, if not liked, by the irie^ ligious world], and come under that woe which our Lord has denounced ag^inil: thofc— of whom *' all men fpeak well." But you take fome pains. Sir, to prove the comparative unimportance of the do^lriae of jujlijication. " Juftification," you fay very truly, " is God's work;" but repentance "is man's duty :" and you add that " to have mifraken notions of what God is to do for us, is not ne- ceflarily more than error of judgment." Stop, Sir : — the fame God who " commarndeth all men every where to repent,'* comniandeth them to '' believe on the name of his Son Jefus Chrift" (i Johniii. 23.) ; commandeth " repentance and remiifion of lias" — or juftification — to be preach- ed — " in his name.'' His infpired witneffes have teftified " repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jefus Chrifl" (Afls xx. ^l.)'. and let no man put afunder v/hat God hath joined. Juftification is his work and his gift — (fo indeed is repentance) j — but he has declared to whom and hov/ it is given. And tiiough you think that " to have miftaken notions on this lubjecft is not necelTariiy more than error of judgment," the word of God declares — " lie that helievUh not God, hath made him a liar, becaufe he bcU^veth not the record that God gave of his fon.'' ( i John v. 10.) You fay that '-^ this alone, if we be tiprioht in heart, will fcarcdy ftop the courfe of his mercy." Sir, nothing -^'iViJiop thQ courfs ofhU m^rcy : — but C i6 ) but the Scripture acknowledges no uprightnefs of heart in the unhelieving linner. " Behold, his foul which is lifted up is not upright in him ; but the juft fhall live hy faith:' (Heb. ii. 4. Rom. i. 17. Gal. iii. 11.) The finner, who has not faith, is lifted up — in proud op- pofition to the revealed couni'el of God; and though you may reprefent him as " fin- cere and earneft in fee king God's mercy and grace," the fcriptures reprefent him as un- der condemnation and blindly fighting againft God — in that very ftrenuous effort which you admire to eftablifli his own righteoufnefs ; and as flumbling at the foundation laid inZion — in his refufal iofuhmit hi mf elf unto the righteoitf- nefs&f God. (Rom. x. 3, 4.) — That this proud and blind rebellioufnefs againfi: " the God of all grace" is the natural lin of all men, is cer- tain : and it is as certain that it will not _y? the courfe ofGoiy's rmrcy, for his grace, or mer- cy, '^ reigns through righteoufnefs unto eternal life,^' — triumphing over all the oppofition of the finner's heart and of the power of darknefs, and forming to hirafelf a people who '^ iball be willing in the day of his power." But it is no lefs certain that, wherever that fovereign mercy takes its courfe, it produces tliis effect, and ope- rates in this way — of fubduing the finner " to the obedience of faith :" and^ that as long as men continue to dijbelieve the Gofpel, they con- tinue dead in fins and Grangers to the grace of God ; and if they continue to di/believe it to the end of their lives, — in fpite of all their fan- cied Tjprightne/s o{ heart, 2nd yl//ce?ily and ear' tieflnejs in doing much *^ in order to obtain God's grace and mercy," — ^they fhall die eter- nally. naliy. ' But tii^y iliall die' — not (as yoii mii- mate) becaule they mifapply a name — but be- caufe they " reje6l the counfel of God againft theinfelves," and perlift in feeking — what they call falvation — in a way againft which God ha« teftified, as inconfiftent vv7ih his ellential righte- oufnefs and truth, and in which therefore no (inner can be faved — unlefs he can overcome the Almighty. You go en, Sir, to enforce the great import- ance of the do6trine of re-pentanccy and the great danger of having wrong notions about it. On this point — I have told you that we are fully agreed, while I totally diifent from your ideas of the comparative unimportance of the doCw'm^ oi jujliyicanon. And I think you as deeply erroneous in the manner, in which you. attempt to fliew — the dangerous confequences that you apprehend from the do(^1rine of repent- ance, as I have ftated it. I mufl quote the paf- fage at length, becaufe it contains ^o much mif- reprefentation and miflake ; and at the fame time forms oj:ie of the moli popular obje«flions to the GofpeL Your words are as follows: — " But ^' a hearer of yours fhould ift/er from " what you have faid of repentance, that he is " neiiher to ceafi Co do evU, nor karn to do " ■Will, but to go on in his own evil ways until a *^ new heart and a new Jpirit fiiall be given to *' him from above ; is there not a much greater " probability that fuch a man's heart fhould be- f^ come more and more hardened through the " deceitfiditefs of fin, than that he fliould be fur- <^ prifed into that happy ftate, on which (I mufi ^^ f'^y) iie would fo prefumptuouily fpeculatc?" — And fo muf^ I fc^y^ Prefumptuous fpeculation G it ( i8 ) it would be indeed;— one inftance of the- pre- •fuiription and folly of that evil heart of unhiief^ which lejeeis the teftlmony of God. And confi- daring how few are— (as you choofe to exprefs it) — " furprifed into that happy ilate" of thofe who believe the Gofpel, — confidering how fevt obtain that precious faith which charafterizes the little Jiock of Chrift, — confidering (I fay) the comparative numbers of thofe who are ever given to believe and of the world that " lieth in the wicked one,"— I am ready to adtnit that there appears a much greater probability that fuch a man will be fuffered to go on — hardened in his prefumptnous infidelity— till he perifli, than that he will prove a fubjefk of the grace of God, But while— on the ground and in the fenfe which I have mentioned — 1 readily admit this, I muft tell you plainly that it is jufl as prohahle that even he fliould prove a fubie ' the Saviour ofy?/z«fc'rj,— and not turn M^illiiigly — thankfully— devotedly — to the God of Salva- tion ? Can he believe the Gofpel — (with the faith of which I have affertcd that repentance unto lift i? infeparably conne6ied)— and not have reperitance unto life, — not have *' a new heart- and a new fpirlt ?" Can he really believe what I have afferted, and draw that inference from it which you fuppofe ? No, Sir; he cannot x%'- tionally ; and he certainly will not : for it is by the fpirit of God he is given to believe this glo- rious Gofpel of our falvation, and by tlie iame fpirit he Ihall be led — " walking in Chrift Jefus '36 he has received him." Shew me a man that pretends to draw fuch an inference from the Gofpel which I have declared,— -and I will fhew you a man that believes it not, — and whole 03- prefump- ( ^^ ) ^refumpiuous fpeculafion ^"^xmgz from h\s dijhe- I'lcving it. And do you, Sir, ferioufly advance, as an objedilon againft wliat I have faid, that pre- fumptuQus fpecularion that can only arife from not helisvifii what I have faid r — We read in the word of God of thofe who " wrefl all the fcrlp- tures unto their own deft ru 6^ inn/' (2 Peter iii. 16.) Yet thefe fcviptures are declared to ]:ye '^ able 10 rpake us wife unto frr.aiii>n, through faith which is in Chiifi: Jefa?." ('z Tim. iii. [5.) 1 need not fee much abrnied by an obje<5iion againft my do^irinej which equally lies againit the word of God. But I do not at all wonder that men, wlio dia r.ot believe the Gofpel — but are at the fame time .warm friends of vhtue ar^l />zW_)?,— fhould be very uneafy left tiie inierens of religion and mo- rality may fuffer by the plain and faithful decla- ration of tiie Gofpeh Blind to the glory of the truth, they >cannot conceive its powerful and lan- ( 25 ) fnfe fome one to draw from ir, and w^icH no man can rationally draw from it, and which the hiaa who believes it zuill ?tot aiUmp:\o draw; — ' but I charge your doctrine with its inevitable confequence to thofe who really adopt it. The man who believes the doctrine i,vhich you op- pofe — will be faved ; and the man who to the end believes the do^rine which you affert-— will fce damned. This is a*' charge — not to be ad- vanced lightly : and it is with mature confeder- ation and deep folemnity that T advance \X./ — and am ready to maintain it from lire word of God,. againft all who fhail be offended at the charge. Til e fin ner who believes what you have i'aid of repentance, mufi believe that he is to do fomething In order to be ** prepared for the fpi- ritual bkifmgs of the Meffiali's kingdom;!' that there muft be fome good change in him, before he can be wan-anted to believe the Gofpel as glad tidings; that he muft in fome way or ano- ther take away or leffen his fins^ in- order to bc' jftt for c^ ming to Chrift. And 1 will fuppofe you to have the utmoil fuccefs with him that you can aim at : — I will- fuppofe that he is ex- cited to the moft lively folicnude to perform this talk, — that he puts forih the moft Jirenuous ef- foru to become a good and a pious man " in order to obtain G)d's grace and mercy;" and that be fucceeds in obtainiijg ail \\\>t preparatiufi. you could wifli ; for — what you czW—faving faith. And now I fay that you have only fuccecded, at moii,in forn'ing an infidA rehgioniji o\xl of aa infcdel projligaie \ that all his works, which you think have brought him fo near the kingdom of Heaven, have — as works of unbelief — been poiu;ed againii the gofpel of that kingdom,, to . . " the ( 26 ) the proud i eje^Ion of Chrift, and in hoflile op-^ pofition to the true God -, — that, inftead of being truly awakened^ he is aileep in lin ; inftesd of* having come to himfelf] he is bellde himfelf m the delirium of pride and felf-righteoufnefs j — inftead o{ feeking the irue God, or having an^r good difpofition towards him, he is manifefling the reigning power of that iiefhly mind, which' is enmity againft him ; — ini^ead of being now iii, 2. fair way tozvards heaven, he is Hill in the higii road to hell, — tho' perhaps in a dalerent path from what he before walked in. I know. Sir, that you would not thiiik all that was nccefi'ary yet done, while he had only this hvfidel repe7itance ', — perhaps you would take great pains to perfusde him of the contrary ;• and I Ihall fuppofe him to continue Vl\\\ under, your training, and really to hel-eve what you tell him. Now that he is fufSciently^r^j^^ri'^, you. wiU call him to helieve in Chrift \ — you will de- clare to him the gofpel, as good tidings for a- finnex fo qualified', — perhaps you will encou- rage him much to put his truil now in God's grace and mercy, in the atonement of Chrifl, and in the aids of his fpivir. I iliall fuppofe you to fucceed in this a]fo^.and to have him what yoa will call a rejoicing believer, — -poffelfed (as he is taught to think) of the^/-?> ofudopiion^ and the ffiriiual llej/.ngs of the AleJ/^aJis iii/igdom And, fuppofing ail this, I muil piainly tell you that Jte- is now — as he was before— i« .the delirium ofji^ty and falfe religion, and iniidel oppofirion to God ;. -^rhat what he has received as the Gofpel is not. /.^-(^GosPEL ;— that the Chrill in whom he be- liev.es is a /?///2' Chri/f , — and that the fpirit, which- emboldens him in his approaches lo the idol God.. (•27) God he" has fet wp in his hesrt, is the fpirit of antichriil: ; — and that the joy, with which he is filled, is but the- prefumptuous elation of falfe confidence. He* worfhips and is zealous for a a God, that is neither ////? nor \\\^ jufiifer of the ungodly: he beheves in a Saviour, that is not the Saviour <£ /imiers — but of the comparatively fAohteoia : he talks of grace, — and thinks of the diji'm^ui/hing circum/i ounces in his own favour which have qualifed. him to receive it, and the quantity of preliminary work he has done to. obtain it: — and however loud he may be in de* daring that it is only by the grace of God he experts to be faved, the grace tha!t he talks of is no GRACE ;— and hoM'cver full of love he may be to the imaginary Chrift that he thinks is fiiitable to himfelfj — however explicit, and /f/?r^?ri? alfo, in his declarations that he builds on no foundation but that Chrhl, — he is yet full of enmity againft the true Christ, and building a high tov.er of evangelical 'profej/'wn upon the fand. Publicans and harlots go into THE KINGDOM OF GoD BEFORE SUCH. Of t'le olfeniivenefs of this teftimony I am fb well aware, that — were I not convinced of its importance and of its truth — I fhould be indeed verv imprudent in publifh-ing it. Men will bear, with comparative patience, the plaineft and fliarpen rallimony againft their fins,^ — or Vi^hat they acknowledge to be lins. Here the Gonfciences of many take part with^the re- prover ; and the pride of more contributes to make him liked and admired. They are fond of hearing the vices of others lafhed. But a teftimony againft their fancied goodKefs, and dpecially againft their falfe religion, the world ( 28 ) world cannot bear. You take away tkdr Gods zvhich ihey madty and what have they more ? But you have not yet done with your attack upon what I have faid of Repent&nce, You re- turn to the charge in the next paragraph, and obferve— that the Methodifts will readily ac- knowledge that fuch a forrow for fin and folici- tude 'about things of falvation, as aiife from the terror of an alarmed confcience, " do not ai^ luiiys imply true repentance." Let them or you^ Sir, plainly fay what does imply true repentance, or what is implied in it. Po they not. always talk of it in that fenfe, againft whicli I have protefled as ahvays coming fliort of true repent-- ance? Do not you — their advocate — exprefsly" maintain that true repentance precedes juftifying- faith and is ^ prelimlna^ y J\ep to it? Perhaps you and the Methodifts will defire to include in true repentance more than — forrow and folicitude about the things of falvation. What more it is that you mean to include in it, I can only con- ^e<5\ure; as you have chofen to cover your mean- ing in the metaphorical language of — " coming to ourfelves — and awaking from the delirium of a finful ftate." Perhaps you would defire to include in it— a fincere purpofe and endea- vour to break oif our tins. Well, Sir; include uhat you w'iU in it^ and your r^epentance will 9(i\\ be fpuriousj — will ilili be injidel repentance* The forrow, and folicitude, and purpofe, and endeavour^ and whatever elfe you add, will con- {fitute nothing fpiritually good : for you main- tain that they mufl take place previous to faving faith ;— and I maintain that, whatever changes take place in an unbelieving {inner, leave him —as an unbellev.er — yet under the power of the devil^ and an enemy of Cod. You ( ^9 ; You intirhate a wiili to make your repentance arlfe from fomethliig elfe than — " the terror oF an alarmed coiifcience ;" but you fay not from what elfe you fuppofe it to arife, — only tliat it does not fpring from faith^ to which you fay it is a fvelimi/iary Jlep. Then, Sir, let it arife from what it will, it arifes from nothing good; and is no more a preliminary Jiep to faith than murder or adultery. You vt^ould probably wifh to reprefent it as arifing from love to God : but you muft fuppofe that an unhiUeving Jinner may be a very good kind ol man indeed, if you fuppofe that he can have any love to the true God. " Faith worketh by love:" but the finner, while yet under the power of unbelief, is uniformly reprefented in Scripture as a " hater of God," — as not having the love of God in him. The Gofpel is fent to/uch, as tho' God did be- feech them by the minifters of his word to le reconciled to him ; declaring his amazing love in *^ fending his own fon to be the propitiation for our fins ;" — teftifying the completenefs of the ■zuork which he accompliflied on the crofs, for taking away fin ; — pi-oclaiming that in him the father/^ well pleased, and that who. SOEVER B e L I e V E T H /;2 H I M zV accepted in the beloved, and has peace with GoD. They who dijhelicve this Gofpel, continue enemies of God and dead in fins ; — whatever changes of mind, that you may call repentance, take place in them. And in fighting for fuch mfidel repent- ance, as " preparing them for the fpiritual blef- fings of the Melfiah's kingdom, — you do but encourage them in unhelief\ and preach to them ^falfe repentance and z fal/e Melfiah. D You ( 30 ; You proceed to fay — that fuch feelings of forrow and folicitude, as fpring merely from the terror of an alarmed confcience, may be ?i preli- minary Jlep to — -true repe?itanee. What ! Is the queftion between us changed ? I thought. Sir, you were maintaining fome fuch falfe repent- ance — (under the name of true)- — ^to be ?l preli- minary /iep to FAITH. — But now, in place of Jaith^ you Hip in true repentance; with- out apprizing your readers at all that you intend to introduce a new queilion. Am I to conceive that, by this, you mean tacitly to concede the ■former point; and to acknowledge — what I have afferted— that there is no true repentance till we "helieve the Gofpel-? Or am I to confider it a new topic of controv-erfy ; and that, from the queilion whether there be true repentance pre- vious to faith and a preliminary ftep to faith, you turn afide to aflert that there is a falfe re- pentance previous to true and a preliminary fiep to //. Indeed, Sir, I would not have expe(fled from you fuch trifling, upon fuch an important fubje^l. But I do hope that you will be induced to ftate, without ambiguity, what you mean by irne repentance. I have flated what I meaR ; and if you only come ibrward as explicitly, I think I fliall find an eafier tafk in maintaining my aifertions againfl }'ou. Till you do, — in order to avoid fhifting the ground of controverfy, — I muft fuppofe that you intend, through the remainder of the paragraph, to argue upon the old queftion — zuhetker Ju-ch a forrozv for /?>/, and folicitu 'e about the things of falvation — or fuch a repentance {wh?.iQ\Qv you pleafe to mean by the word ) as arifes merely from the terror of QM alarmed confcience^ or from fome thin ^ (^f^h-TiX- €ver C 31 ) e-ver you pleafe) in an unhelieving Jinner, — le TRUE REPENTANCE and a PRELIMINARY STEP to faving faith. Under/landing you thus, I find you bring forward a new argument, to fupport the alRr- mative of this quef^ion. You derive it from the parable of the Prodigal Son ^ to whicli I gladly lend the ferious attention you call for; and in which you fay there is " a feries of preliminary fiepSi ail tending to^ and all iffuing in one happy €o?iclu/2onr After adverting to " the mouth of unerring wifdom," from- which the flatement in this parable proceeded, you gravely alk — wl:e- ther we can " conceive it right to aflert that the *' prodigal's ^^ry^z^ifr^^c^ in his profligacies would " have been equally conducive to the faMe *' happy ijfue.'' This palTage alfo you dillinguifh by a note of admiration ; intending no doubt to challenge your reader's wonder — tliat I fhould advance fuch an affertion : and with many readers it will have the effe^l: defired. Your note of admiration. Sir, may well ftand th.ere ; for if is wonderful how you could intimate that I con- ceive it right to affert — that the prodigal's par- feverance in his profligacies would have been conducive to any — happy [ffue^ or could have ilTued in any thing but his perifliingin a ilrange land. — Probably we Qiall agree in coniic'ering the flate^ of the prodigal, .in that diilant land, as illuArative of th-e condition of a linner, in his flate of alienation from God. Now,.Sir^ have lever, aflerted — have I ever inrimated, that a finner can continue alienated fron:i God, and pcrfcvere in his iinlai courfc, without inevitable dciu ucl ion ? Have I not borne the mofl explicit tellimonies of the contrary? And are they all to 2> % be ( 35 ) be fet aficle by an inlinuation— ibnt I think he may coniinue in fin, and yet arrive at a happy. iJJ::e P — an infniuation enforced by a mark of wonder ann^.xed to ir. And this, only becaufe I maintain againft you,, and the Alethodifis, and ib many otliers, that lie never is truly turned from his finful courfe, or brought cat of his ila ? of ahenation from God, till he Iclhve the Gofpel of our Lord j'efus (.'hrifr. — A man who would argi^ae upon any hierary o? fcientific fub- je6}, in fuch a manner as you argue againft me, would receive an anfwer — (if he received any) — iU(*i as i vvould be unwilling to offer to you. Jjur V. iioii il.e rcllgh.us fyilems of men are to be maintained in (jppofition to the truths of God, i':ere \^ no fophiAry too grofs, to pafs current in ihe world for the foundeft reafoning. But in this parable there is — "a feries o^ prg^ Ihii'mary jhps all tending to and all iffuing in one happy co77ch//:on.'" Well, Sir; y'thefe pre- liminary fteps be defignedly iilutirative of the iinhelievbig repentance^ for v/hich you contend as true repeutance and a preliminary fiep iofai/h^ — and if the happy concluiion in which they ill'ue be defignedly illuflrative o^ faith, or of believing the ofpcl ; — then the argument which you borrow li-om the parable will have confiderable weight. Jjut ?/'neiiher one nor the other, be the cafe — then this argumicnt, which you introduce with fo much folemnity, refolves itfelf into that, which I had occafion to take notice of in niy laii letter fpage 42) — that, l)ecaufe/o/7/f one thing is a preliminary ilep to /o77ie other tiling, there- fore repentance is. a prclimina.ry Jhp to faith, I fancy your own good fenfe muft l)y this time ant'cl- antictpate the anfwcr to your argument. The happy condii/hn in the parable is this — that the poor wretched prodigal i& I'eflored to the en- joyment of all the bleilings of a- fon in liis fa- ther's houfe. Is this. Sir, illnftrative of iaith ? Is it not obviouOy analojicus to that enJoyi-RMetu of bleflednefs, as 'the fons of God, wiiich is cOnfequenr on true repentance and faith? And if you choofe to call repentance and- faith preli- minary fie ps to that enjnymenr,' far be it from ~me to contend with )ou about "a f^^vorite s^- preflfion. But you feem verydefirous of reprefenting the preliminary Jfeps in the parable, as illuftrative of your unWUeving repeitlancsi That they are to be confidered as illuftratmg many circumflances in the true repeytta/ic^'O^ a finner, I> readily ac- knowledge : but how you find out from the p?i- ' rable that they reprefent a repentance " prelimi- nary to faith' and unconnected with it," I am aC a lofs' to conjecture :— unlefs it be, perhaps, ih^t, there is no circumfinnce mentioned in the pa- rable analogous to the hearing of the Gofpel^ by which faith cometh. And if this be your implied argument — (for in the abfence of any- explicit reafoning, I am obliged to guefs what may have fioated in your mind)~let me remind you. Sir, that in the two parables preceding this — the parable of the Ibf^ piece of filver and of the loll fheep — both deligned by our Lord, as well as that of the prodigal, to illufirate the rich mercy of otir heavenly Father ; — in thefe para- bles, I fay, there is no circumftance illu{lrati?e of either repentance or faithv And would you infer from them that a finner can be faved — without either repentance or faith ? You might p 3 as ( 3+ ) as v.'ell draw tliat infeTence from them, as draw the inierence you have attempted from the pa- rable of the prodigal. This parable. Sir, was not defigned to iUuf- trate the way, in vvhicfi repetiianca unto life is produced. Had it been fo, it would be eafy to conceive the introd«'3ion of a circumftance,, . which fhould be aptly analxOgous to the fending of the Gofpel, and the calling of a finner to . repentance in his leliculng it. But the parable is complete for the purpole, for which it is de- fi-gned ;, and yoa pervert it in wreiling it to a purpole, for which it was not dehgned. It was defig!:cd to reprefent — to tiie crowds of publi- cans and fiJineis, who drew ni^^h t') tbie irietid of linners, — to reprefent to tliem tlie rich mercy . of God to tiie pooreR — vilell linners ; and to ccn-vcy to thena that they would find the ten- derneis of ii;s compniTicn in meeting any fuch -that turned ro Inm, unipeakably greater than .'their utmoil: e:>:pe(naiijn-;, in turning to him, could iiriagine it. In this defign, it was pointed r.gainA all the munDuring Pharifees, who 'Mlood afar o{f"— fcorning the- glad tidings that were proclaimed 1o the moil unprepared^ unqualified, icandalous jinners; while it prcaclied the Gofpel to all, withoivt dil^infiiGn, wlio would hear it; and pre-- j'ented to them at once a pi clu re of the wretched rpofiacy cd a iinner irom God, and of the cha- la^^er of God our Saviour, as waiting to he g?a~ dous and deiightiDg in mercy. Ant! from the parable which thus proclaims his Gofpel, you endeavour to extort an inferen^iie that a linner— ^ \vho aiflhi'ieres it — may yet have repentance unto ]}fej — and by his in.Hdel repentance be ^^ prepared fc>r ( 3J ) for the fpiiltual blcffings of the MelTmh's king- dom." Vou have failed ia the attempt : and all fuch attempts, however plaoiible the"r colour- ing, will be found upon examinntion to fail. But, pardon me,- Sir, for faying that you, as a gentleman of education, . verfed in the letter of the fcriptures, and zenlcas in fupporting theiF divine authority, — ought rather lo have been forward in teltifying agTinfr that abufc ot icrip- ture, wliich is fo lamentably common ;., \?hereby men, interpreting tbe parables without attrniion to the leading fcope of each, and imagining that all the diftiuil minutia? of Hatural circum/Iances introduCv^d into them were dehgned to reprefent forae diliincfl fpiritual. truths, — endeavour to force each p'lrabolic narrative into an illuRration of every fcripture doctrine ; and too often, either from the introduclion or omiffion of fome na- tural circumflances in tliem, derive inferences the moil: contrary to fcripture-truth. Beiore I conclude this letter, and difm'fs for the preient that mofb important fubjeffl, which I havedifcuffed in it and in mylaft; — allow me to- make a few obrervations on a paflage in the Epif- tie to the Hebrews ; by which I Qiall at once mark the wide diiTerence between us, and anticipate an objecf ion- that will probably be aJvanjcd againft me. — TheApoRle clofcvS^ the 4 th chapter of that epiille with fhe following words — " Let us there- fore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy" — (or, as it may literally be rendered, ///// zee may receive mercy )^ — "and find grace to help in time of need." — It may be afked, does it not appear from this — that *' men are to do fomething in order to their ob- taining God's grace and mercy ?" I anfwer ; the ( 36- ) direcl contrary of what you, Sir, obviouHy m-- tend by that exprcflion, and have in various paf- fliges expl'ititly afferted — appears from the Apof- tolic exhortation. The Apoftle's exhortation to • come that zue may receive r^^ercym'id jfind graces— means, vrxrat is^not only perfe^lly different from your principle oi doing Jomeihiyig in order to cur o-^ijining God's grace and mercy, — but is in ab- folute oppoli.iicn to it. You contend that men mail do fomething, previous to their believing, in Chrift, by which they fhall be '^ prepared for the fpuitual bleifings of his kingdom :" and therefore when you fay that this is to be dop^^e in order to trieir ohtairiii-ig God's grace and??iercy\, the words can have no other meaning but this — that the unbelieving work -which they do (whatever it confifts in) W\\\ incline God to extend to them his grace and mercy — or qualify them to be objects of his grace and mercy^ — or warrant them to come to him with an expedation of receivinggrace and mer- cy. Now, Sir, look at the Apoftle's exhor':a- tion ; "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace." — Wherefore ? Becaufe we have done a fufficiency of preliminary work ? Becaufe we have repented fowell, and have fuch poignant forrow for fin, and fuch lively folici- tude about the things of falvation, that we are fufficiently ^^ prepared \'o'£ the fpiritual bleflings of the Meffiah's kingdom ?" According, to- the fyften) for which you are an advocate, the exhor- tation of — coming holdjy to receive grace and me^r^' cy — could be iounded on nothing elfe but this ; and the more any fmner complied with the ex- hortation, the mo r^prefumptuoullyfelf- confident he mull be- But ( 37 ) But It i3 grounded by the x^poAle on no fuch bafis; and you have only to obferve the con- ne(51ion in which it ftands, and in which a parallel exhortation fiands (Hebrews x. -zz-) — to be convinced that they are diametrically op- pofite to your fyftem* Tiie Apoftle grounds them both — not on any thing that any linner hu.s do/2:f or could do — but on what Curist has do^se in taking away fin — and on what he is as the great high-prieil over the houfe of God y, — on the pro- pitiation \ihich HE has made, for the juftifica- tion of the aioft ungodly fKiner, by the one of- fering up of himlelf for lin ; — on the way which HE has opened for Jlnners unto the holieft, in wl;ich " all things are ready," and by, which the pooreii — vileil — molt wretched outcall from God is invited to draw nigh to God J and take of the waters of life freely — " with.- out money and without price." The apoftolic exhortation is that which — non€ but the finner who heluves the Gofpel, on which it is founded, will or can comply with. And the fyflem for which you contend, inilead of being countenanced by the Apoftle's exhortation, is no lefs repugnant with it, than it is with all the fcriptures. To reprefent me as contending for a fyftem, according to which a finner can re-- mam w^goJly and yet be a partaker of the grace of God, — can enjoy the fpiritual bleflings of his kingdom zvithout dra-wi?7g nigh to him, — is to i^iifreprefent — not merely wliati have averted — but what the w:ord of God declares; is to raife a cloud of prejudice againfl the truth, in order to cover an attack upon it. As little real aid will you find from the numerous fcriptures, in which the richefl promifes ( 38 ) promlfes are made to thofe who fear the Lord — who feek hini — who call upon him — who ferm him — who follozo him, &c. Every one of thefe is a chara6ler, which truly be- longs only to the believer: and (to repeat the words which fo much oifendcd you on thfe iubjecS: of repentance) — any thing called hy thefe names zvhile we are yet under the power »f un- belief, // hut a fpiirioiiS imitfitiofi of thofe heavenly gifts ; is hut a rejined form of thcrt fieflily and felfjh- fm?id^ which in all its v^or kings is evil — only evil continuaUy: and 1 would no more he warranted in- reprefenting any fuch infidel fearing, or feeking, or praying, or ferving, or following — as a frelimiiv^ary step to FAITH, thin in fo reprefnting murder ami adultery. It would extend this Letter beyond the limits I have affigned to each, to profecate in it the re- mainder of your remarks. I muft therefore re- ferve them for a' feventh letter; — but think I can promife that in it our prefent controveify fliall be clofed". I remsirj^ Sir, Your faithful humble fervant, Trinit;^ College, ^^^^.^ WALKER,- (jcivver 5(//, ibo3,. -^ POSTSCRIPT. ( 39 ) POSTSCRIPT. IF the Reader wlfli to fee exemplified that clafs of men whom I have defcribed, (pp. 14. & 2 2.) let him read almoft any of the popular re^ ligious publications of the day, which go under the name of evangelical. But if he wifh to be dire61:ed to one, in which he will fee this falfe theology exemplified in its moft fpecious and re- fpe<51:able form, — let him read the Christian Observer, — a periodical work publifhed mon^.hly in London, and conducfied by mem* bers of the cftabliflied church. The great ob- ject of thefe gentlemen appears to be — to prove themfelves true fans of the church ; and to fhew that they do not deferve the opprobious name cf Methodists, which fome how or an- other has been attaclied to them. — (The Irifh reader may need to be informed that, in Eng- land, the word Methodist has for fome years been employed as the name of reproach, by which the world diflinguifhes believers of the Gofpel, or thofe who are at leafi: fuppofed to hold the docflrines of grace.) — Calvinifts and Arminians have made a common caufe of it, and formed a friendly coalition in conducting this work. It would be a very interefiing and pro- fitable employment, to examine the religious principles of this and fimilar publications, which are of very general currency in England: but it would prefent an awful pi(5\ure ol departure from the Gofpel — in a country, w hich is difpofed to boaft of the multitudes that profefs the Gofpel. The conductors of the Christian Obser- ver have found out a great many more ^rdi- minary ( 40 ) miliary J^cps, that put a finner in Tifair way [oz obtaining od's grace, tlian Mr. Knox contends ior. — (See No. 15, for March 1803, page 19Z.) — They fpenk of the dt/ltnguijhin% circum- flances of a hopeful nature in the cale of peni- tents, who aypear to have been " peculiarly atrocious offenders" before their repentance : and I dare fay they would be at no lofs to di .'co- ver or to conje^f ure fuch — in the cafe of the thief upon the crofs. They think that the pr2allcr linners are much 7t:aver to the ki?2gdo?n of God than the gr^iat jonrsehes fcm Idols, i John v. 20, 31. Satan himself it tranfrmed mtj) an a'- gel of W^ht. Therefrr it is no great things if his miiiis-ters also be tran formed as ti:<; tn'inisters 0/ righteousness. 4 Cor. xi. 14, rj. DUBLIN: PRINTED BY HOLMES & CHARLES, 49, MARY-STREE" SOLD BY H.COLBERT, 136, CAPE L-STRE RT. 1803. C O N T E N T S Mr Kmox's mirfike. Calvin. The divine appoint- ment of me^:ns as well as of ends admitted by the Author. Mr, K's conclufion refuted by the very principle frnni v\'hich he attsiTprs to deduce it. The probability admirttd ui^t no refpedo.hle CalvinilL agrees ivith the Author, Mr Ri-hird Davis. Mr. K's error about the ch^.radt^r of Corn. li us. Want o^ fohriety commonly imputed to Chriftians. The Author perfectly ferious in an affertion whi^h \\?.5 offended Mr. K. That aflernon confidered. Its ]ogicarrrw//6 incontrovertible. Its i7np0rtav.ce. That all fyucms of falfe religion lead alike to eternal ruin. That this jnujl be fo, if the Gbfpel be indeed a revelation from God. The liheraUty of other creeds a demonflrative evidence that they are not of God. Popery. That all fyftems of leligion different from that of the Gofpel are fyllems of idolatry. Pagans. Mr. Pope's Univerfal Prayer. The variety of Gods wor/liipped by profeffing Chriftians. Their falfe Gods neithtr merciful, nor righteous, nor true. . Thofe chr^r?.6lers of the true Goo difcovered only in the Gofpel. Man's natural hatred of the true God exemplified in the Ulster H£R?)man, and Mr.' FLETC'.iiR. Ihe Gofpel reveals a 'voay of juftification and faiv'fion effbiui?.lly diiFerent from every flilfe fyfteni of idigion. The fundamental principle upon which the /Uuhor is at ilTue with Mr. K. and the Merhodifts. Mr. K's interpretation of the Author's offenfive afler- lion. Mr. K. introduces into it a queftion, with which it ftands unconnected in the Author's Addrefs. Puts upon the Author an ambiguous fentiment, which in one fenfe he does not hold; and an ambiguous allertion, which v/ould probably be miftaken. The queftion which Mr. K. oppofes to the Author's o^Fenfive af- ferrion. 1 he fmall numbtr of believers. Mr. K. ex- pofed to the force (^i his own quell ion. If all who are/icwj and nmal be in the way of falvation> the Bi- ble iv CONTENTS. ble iiiufl: be given up as falfe. How true religion is to fce eftimated. The fallacious w^y in v/hich Mr. K. ellimates it. That the pradrce of prof.iTjrs will not warrant us to rate the numb- r of real Chnfdans higher. The fcriptural fruits of faith, ^i h-s things which are commonly fjb^litiited for them. *ihe folly and wic- kednefs of concealing the fmallnefs of the number of real Chrifiians, thro' fear of b?mg charged with illibe- raliLy. A deiftical objedtion ?gainft the Gofpel con- fidered. Borrowed by the AriTiiniar.s. RrcHARD Bax- ter. We^aninfter Aflembly. Liberal fc-ntiments In religion. C'l'-fa/Zc mode of interpreting Scripture. The Author not involved in the i.^confiLlency which Mr. K. fuppofes. '%T. K's two queilions anfvvered. St. Peter. ' Honejiy of unbelievers. How Mr. K. has obferved the Methodifts. , His Letter mifchievous in its tendency. Ditferent objcfts of Mr. K. and of the Author. The Author's advantage over Mr. K. accounted for. The Author invite.'^> correction of his nililakes. The con- treverfy not ended Not about any oh/cure or uncer- tain truth. An objection ftated and anfwered. The Author's expectation that the fcntiments which he niain- tains will receive a farther difcuffion. Reafonable to expect this at leaft from the learned and able minifters of Religion whe deny the truth of his fentiraents, and confider them dangerous. — Pojifctipt, The ground of unity in the Chriftian Church. Schifms ?.ndi fchifmatics. Falfe teachers to be marked and avoided. The great inftrument which they employ aga nil the Gofpel. Heart-religiom. The ufe which the oppofers of the Gofpel mke of this good ivord. Their contemp- tuous application of the term head-knowledge to the FAITH of the G<3SP£L. Their popularity and fuccef§,. SEVENTH LETTER. Si r, ,YOU exprefs your hope that " it will be felt by all candid Calvinists,- that on the point of repentance," — / am noi with them, nor you againfl them. Whether you mean by this, to attribute to fuch of them — as agree with you on this fabje6l — a monopoly of can- dour^ or a monopoly of Calvini/m, — I am not very folicitous to enquire. For rhe pofielTion of the former quality I have not, in my obfervation, found fuch perfons eminently diftinguiflied ; and their title to the name of Calznni/fs, I fhall give myfelf no trouble to difpute. Yet I would briefly obferve, as a matter of cufiofity, that Calvin would certainly have difowntd them all. It was mere curiofity that led ire juft new, before taking up my pen, to brufh the duft cff one of the volumes of that reformer. 1 took down his Institutes, and turntd to that B part ( 6 ) part where he begins to treat of repentance. (L iii. c. 3.) I fcarcely thought it credible, that I fhould find him agreeing with you in fentiment on that fubje6l ; but I as little expe61ed to find that he expreffed himfelf dearly and deci/ively in oppofition to you. For could I fuppole that you would, in that cafe, have talked of yourfelf as — not oppofing any candid Calvinifi on this point ? Could I fuppofe that you would, with- out any examination, have hazarded the ex- preffion of your belief — ^that ^^ rW zv i/e ?ind pious Calvi/tiJ^s have hitherto given" to the fcriptures, which you have quoted, a fenfe that is — in fubrlance the fame with yours ? — What then was my furprife, when the two following fentences met my eye, before I had read a page in that part of Calvin's Inftitutes to which I have re- •ferred you ? — " That repentance not only imme- *' diately follows upon faith, hut fprings from '^ faun, frmji he admitted as heyoiid difpute. As '' to thofe vjho think that repentance is rather *' previous to faith, thari that it follows from ity "^ ords produced by it as its fruit, — they have ^^ never known the real nature of repentance, and '* ground their opinion upon a weak argument in- " deed.'' — What was my furprife, in cafting my eye forwPird, to find that this very weak argu- ment, which Calvin proceeds to mention and to refute, is identically the fame which you have borrowed, from mifapplied and mifintcrpreted fcriptures, for oppofing me ? I clofed the book, glad to find that the old Keformer was not fo much in the dark on this fubject, as many who are now dilHnguifhed by his name ; but am no more d^'pofed to reft any "weight upon his authority being with m^., than 1 would ( r ) r would have allowed any weight to it, in de- termimng the queftion, if his authority had been decidedly with you^ I mention it only as a curious matter; and one which may perhaps imprefs upon you the need of greater caution, v/hen you write for the public. For you per- ceive, Sir, that — however exclufively candid' and wife and pious you fuppofe the perfons who agree with you (in thinking that Repentance unto life is a preliminary fiep to Faith) — they certainly are not Cahini/is — except in- name. That, I readily admit, is of very little confequence if they be Christian's — more than in name. When you add therefore, at the clofe of the paragraph, the following words — ^« to deny that *' repentance is a preliminary j'>'t> to Faith in " Chrift, is to contradiff the alniv/vt unanimous ** fentiment of Calvinills, jufl as much as of '«■ Arminians" — Ifitall make no further ufe at all of the difcovery that no r:al Calviuid: adopts the fentiment, which you attribute almoll to all. I am too well aware of the infinite impor- tance of the queftion itfelf, to be diverted from ir to the enquiry — w^hat Calvinifts orArminians think about it. I give you the unqualified force- of your alTertion, — the undiminifhsd weight of their fuppofed authority in your favour : and I afk you — what then? — What does their autho- rity weigh, in determining vjhat. is truth ? No more. Sir, in my eftimation — than a grain of fand. *' To the Law and to the Tefiimony." While my fentiments are fantflio ned by the word of God,' I fhall not care whofe fentiments they contradi6\. But you introduce in this paragraph a new ar- gument, which deferves a little more confiderati- B 2, on. ( 5 ) j^ and enlightening fpirit ; and fo gives his worc^ entrance into the heart, begetting that /r//^ or perfualion of it, which conRitutes the favi?7g knozvhdge of himfelf. In this fenfe. Sir, the confequence you draw is good, and your afler- tion is incontrovertible : but in this fenfe it {lands in dire(51 oppofition to the inference which, you proceed to deduce — ^^ that Repentance is a frdlminayy Jhp xo faith in Chrill." I fully agree with you in calling the knowledge of QoA—favhig knQwledge.. It is an ellential part, of the work of Christ, as the Servant of Jehovah, " to manifell his name:" and in the pcrfon and work of Christ it is, that the glory of the only true Goi? Ihines and is difco- vered: ( g- ) Yered to finners : (2. Cor. iv. 6.) '^ It Is life ?- ternal, loMnow him the only true God, and Je- fus Chrifl: whom he hath fent." (John xvii. 3.) The knowledge of the true God cannot be fe- parated from the Belief (di his word, .in which he has revealed himlelf. Where he deU'rmi?tes to bring an inSviJual to the fiving knozvledge oj'him- felf- — where he has decreed this end^—^\\t em- ploys the appointed means. He fends his word oftruth {the fluord 0/ the Spirit)— ?Lnd his awak- ening and enIig/item?igS'g>\n\. with it, — a"^ the only efficient means for commun'i:ating that blclTmg, for producing that faith in Chrift — or that faving knowledge of himfelf — which Is declared to be " of the operation of God." Well ; — it follows demonflrably that ihQXQis no repentance i^nto life previous to faith ; — becaufe there is no truly awakening or enlightening grace, previous to tlie communication of this faving . knowledge. I remain therefore wholly at a lofs to conje6ture what argument you intend to derive in aid of your opinion — that repentance is a preliminary ftep to faith — from the principle that " when God decrees ^Wj- he appoints fuitable w^a-^j- :" as I fappofe you will fcarcely alledge that any infidel repe?ztcince Is a fuitable means for producingy^//^ -—any more than Murder or Adultery. You tell me^ Sir, that *^ when tenets of this nature'* — (that is, like the tenet of mine which you oppofe — that there is no true repentance pre- vious to faith) — " were broached in England " toward the conclufion of the feventeenth *^ century, none were more zealous in oppofing *••" them than the r^^c/^^/^'CalvIniffs ofthat " day." And I think it very likely ihat you are tolerably corredi in this alfertion : for I aua * 3 perfuaded . ( ro )■ perfuaded that none can he known to hold fudi tenets, and continue re/petftahk Calvlniits — re- fpef^ed by the world. There is no fu re r road- to become contemptible in the world. Jail; in proportion as tiie gofpel of Clirift is clearly and faithfully declared, it will irritate and difguft thofe who believe not the teOimony j and its wit- neffes will appear Lcife in their view, and lofe all the refpeclahility, which they had perhaps be- fore. They are witneffes of a de/pifed Saviour ; . and mufi: lay their account with fharing in the contempt, of which he has ever bee.Kci^ kKP. y-ion foUmrdy pronounc' *' in^ fuch- portions io be not only repugnant. " to the gofpel, but firong temptations to car- " nal fecurity and li])ertinifm." Truly, Sir, it would have been better for- thern to have tried to prove this, than to publifh a declaration-. pronouncing it — ever fo Joleninly. I make no more of fuch a declaration, though from *^^ the imlted non-Gonforming minifiers in and about London," than I do of — a Pope's Bull. You have tried to refute fuch poiitions; and to. prove that they are repugnant to the gofpel, and preg^ ?iant with pecuha>ly pernicious confecjuences. I have proved, from fcripture and from reafon^ , that you are miHakcn ;— -that the principles, a- gainU gaiQll: which you contend — (while pregnant ih^- deed with often iivenefs to unbelievinri; reiibc:ion- ifis) — are efleiitially interwoven with the gofpel,, and infinitely important in the moft fahjtary con- fequences to thofe who believe them. Nor am I at all apprelienfive that all the niinlfiers in the united Kingdom, conforming and non-confor- ming, will have any more fucaefs than you in oppofmg them. I wiilingly'divide with <7 con- temptible Mr. Richard Davis,, of Rothwel in Northamptonfnire, advancing pofitions agree- able to the word of God ;— and look the -whole tribe of refpccflable Calvinids and anti-Calvlnift?;, , who contradic^l them, in the face — without ci-- ther fear or fliame. You begin your next paragraph with the fal- lowing words — ^^'When you therefore fo flrangely ^'- put murder and adultery on a footing, I n\ight ■^^ almoil: fay, w-ith the prayers and the aims-dceds " of a Carnelius, you certainly are correcfi: in not '^^- aifuming the appellation of a Calvinift." — In my Expoflulatory Addrefs, I have affigned my reafons for declining to ajfume the appellation of a Calvinift ; . while I have explicitly av6wed in what fenfe I am — what is called a Calvinift. But why do you aflert. Sir, that you might al- mqflfay that I put murder and adultery on a foot- ing v/ith the prayers and alms-deeds of a Cor- nelius ? You certainly might quite fay thai I put them on a footing with — that infidel repent- ance for which you contend ; as being the one, no more than the other, a preliminary Jrep to faith, or zxvj preparation for the bleffings ot the MelTlah's kingdom. But you. Sir, greatly eiT in putting the prayers and alms-deeds of Cornelius oii a footing with that inlidel repentance. I read ( 12 y I'read In fcripture (A(^"ls x. 4.) tliat the pray- ers and alms of Cornelius " came up for a me- morial before Gjd ;"— that hs was one who " feared God and wrought righteoufnefs :" and the whole account given of him marks his cha- rT(51er, as that of a believing wcrfhipper of the true God ; and, though not a Jew by b'rih nor cir- cumcifed, yet — (like the profelyres of the Gate) — acquainted with the revelation which the - L-oRD had made of himfelf in the Jewifli fcrip- turcs, and a partaker of the /ait k of the true Ifraelites. How, Sir,, could his prayer have been • heard and accepted by Jehovah, if it had been ' offered to a falfe God ? How could his aims have been '' had in remembrance in the fight of Godj" if he were deftltuteof that love — vvhich is at once the fruit and evidence o^ faith P Indeed Sir, you wrong his characfler, and pervert ihi^ Scriptures, when you reprefent his prajers and alms-deeds as the works of an unbeliever; when you more than intimate that they were little- better than injldel repentance > -*' Sober Calvinifts," you fay, *' have moR ex- plicitly and folemnly condemned" the fyliem !■ appear to hold. Well, Sir; among the various' reproaches to which the Lord Jeius fubm.iited, that of being bejc:b himfijfwtis one (Maik ili.22.)j and " the difciple is not above bis Mafler, nei- ther the ferv a Dt 'above his Lord." One of the- moft honoured of his ftrrvants met with the fam.e reproach : (A6ls xxvi. 24.) and I knov/ that ei- ther the gofpel^ or the unbelief r^g world, muft beftrangely altered finCe that day, — if his faith- ful followers can nov/ pafs through the woild with a high chara^er dor fohrkty and refpecla- , hiluy^ ( 13- ) M'ity. I claim no prejudice however in favour ol my fyftem, from its having been condemned hy fober Cahin'tfis : but on the other hand their moft explicit ^ndfokmn condcmnatio7i of it, un- fupported by any refutation of it from fcrinture- or from reafon, ought not to conftitute any pre- judice againft my fyiiem. — You add. Sir, — th.at I" feem ftiU 'more dire <5lly and perfonally to have condemned" thofe fohsr Calvinifls ; and; you quote an afiertion of mine, as " appearinf^ to apply to them,"— -the truth or faiiliood ot M'hich muft be deterniined by a very diffe- rent criterion^ from that which you would. try it by. The airertlon occurs in my Addrcfs (page 34- ad. Ed.^, and is this — *< that there is a greater " diflerence between the way of a finner's juHi- « fication and falvatlon which the gofpel reveals, " and the mofl refined form of falfe religion ''' which 7^^;//^ moft like it, than there is between " the latter and any the moft avowedly infidel " fydem." You make a very folemn prepara- tion. Sir, for combating this alTertion. You aver that 7iothing is farther from your purfofe than to put any force on my cx-preffon. " But'' you add — *^' there is ?i\\ Empha/is and ftudied " decijivenefs 01 manner in this denunciation, " which it is Impoilible to overlook." I am glad of it; Sir ; and I would that the denunciation (as you call it) might arreft the attention of all, as it arreiled yours. For you are very much mif- taken in exprefling a hope — that my zeal jor my particular notions didy at the moment I penned that fetitence, very much outrun my own foler pfrfuajiony and that I was not deli' erately in car^ nefl. Believe me,. Sir, I was ; and am delibe- rately. rately in earnefl in maintaining that afiertion'^ ^ hich has fo much fhocked you. You afk me — who??2 do T noi condem?f, if I were deliberately in earneft ? Do you then admit, Sir^- that vaft multitudes in Chriftendom adopt at moft *' a refined form oS. falfe religion" which only Jsems like that- which the gofpel reveals? I ve- rily believe it : but their multitude, while it ren- ders the affertion I have advanced about their falfe religion very offenlive, calls aloud for a ferious examination of it, and cannot determine either its truth or falfehood. When you fay that^* St. John the Baptift, St. Peter, and the *' Saviour of the world himfelf— would come- " within the broad circumference of m.y *' Anathema," and diftinguifh this fentence by- another note of admiration, — you fay what is •very fhocking indeed; but I am fure did not in- tend to convey the meaning which I flirink from • cxprefling, but which your words would necefl'a- rily bear — if adaiitted as an argument againft my affertion. As to the '^ inferior names — the cele-- hrated Galvinifls, both Englifh and foreign,"" with whofe fuffrages you fay you " might fill pa- ge:i," — I fhrink not at all from faying of them,.=, however celehraud, that any of them who adopt- ed the moft reliaed form oi falfe religion, w'hich feems m.oft like the gofpel, differed lefs in their fyftem from the moft avowed infidels, than they differed from real Chriftians. You fay — if you are to underjland, the words o{ v(\y affertion, ac- cording to their o^^vious meaning, you " mui^ think they amount to" Nay, Sir ; if you pleafe — we muft not for a time be diverted from the words, in whicii I have couched my own- affertion, to the words into which you choofe to tranfkite: ( 15 ') ^tranflate it. — I fhall come to t^em by and by* •But you admit that the meaning of my words is ■ohvioiis ; nay tliat there is "an Emphafis and ftudied deciiivenefs of manner" in them: and in this, indeed, there is only what I aimed at giving them ; for I well knew how offenlive and how important my affertion was. Allow me then to dwell upon it a little longer. There is a greater difference lettueen the way of a finner s jujiijication and falvation which the gofpd reveals i and the mofl refined form of falfe religion which feems mo ft like it ', than there is between the latter and any the moji avowedly infi- del fy fern, — I take it for granted. Sir, that you admit that the gofpel reveals the true way of a l.nner's juftification and falvation. And admit- ting this to be the cafe, the logical truth of my affertion, which has fo much offended you, is beyond all conti'averfy. In that cafe, every fyf- tem of religion — Vv^hich propofes any other way of a iinner's juftification and falvation — muft be a fyitem q{ falfe religion : and the moft refined form of it, which y^^wJ moft like the religion of the gofpel, but is not the religion of the gofpel, muft neceffarily differ more from it, than it does ' from any other fyftem — that is alfo falfe and dif- ferent from the religion of the gofpel. The re- femblance of the moft refined form of falfe reli- gion to that of the gofpel — is only a feeming refemllance \ but its agreement with the grolTeft form of falfe religion — is a real agreement^ in that both are falfe — both different from the true reli- gion of the gofpel. An illuftration may. render -my meaning plain. There is a greater difference between a real human body and the fineftftatue of marble, that feems moft like it, — than there is between the latter and the rudeftrock-. But ( i5 ) But from the logical truth of my affertlon, I gladly pals to the confideration of its importancCc If any of thefe refined forms of falfe religion, which propofe a way of a fmner's jufiification and falvation different from that which the gofpel reveals, will anfwer the im.portant purpofes of religion as well, or nearly as well ; — if in Ihort a finner, who continues to adopt it, can be jufti- iied and faved in it ;-— then. Sir, I readily admit that my affcrtion, however true, is of no effen- tial importance. And then— I as readily admit that my controverfy with you is very unimpor- tant ; and all controverfy indeed between any of thofe religious fyftems, which will alike anfwer the purpofes of falvation. But upon this fup- pofition alfo, it would be very important to af- certain the co?7imon character of thofe religious f/flems, which will alike condu61: their refpe<51ive votaries to eternal happinefs : in order that thofe who adopt them may lay a fide unprofitable con- troversies with one another, and all unite in maintaining and contending for that which is ef- fentialto falvation. But till you, Sir, or fome one elfe, will come forward to do this,— I muft maintain from the word of God that there is no other ztMy, in which a finner can be jufiified and faved, than that which the Gofpel reveals : and that every reli- gious f)ficm which propofes any other way — different from that which the Gofpel reveals, however nearly refembling it in appearance, — is not only effentially diilin(5\ from the religion of the Gofpel, — is not only -^ falfe religion, but will as infallibly lead thofe who adopt it to eter- nal ruin, as any the moft avowedly infidel fyftem. The one may better anfwer the purpofes of poli- ticians than the other; and may be more fub- fervient to the intcrefts of hum.an fociety in the pre fen t ( 17 ) prefent World. In this refpe£>, there is certainly a very great difference between different fyftems of falfe religion. But, as affe61:ing our flate and charaifter in the fight of God — as connecled with the eternal falvarion of our fouls — (in which view alone I am confidering them ) — there is no difference between them. They all alike fail of conduiffing to that end ; they all alike leave the linner under condemnation ; they all ahke iffue in eternal death : while the Gofpel reveals that way of a finner's juftification and falvation, which infallibly conducts every one who believes the Gofpel to eternal happinefs. — In this refpe(5l therefore, " there is a greater difference between the religion of the Gofpel and the moft refined form of falfe religion, which ftems mod like it, than there is between the latter and any the moft avowedly infidel fyilem." I know the violent outcry which the world raifes, againft the illiherahty of the affenion that I maintain; but it is the outcry of infidelity. If the one and only true God has indeed revealed in his word the way of falvation, vre may a priori conclude it to be impoffible — that thofe, who unbelievingly rejedf the revelation he has made, fliould be faved in any other way. It is at onoe abfurd and impious, to fuppofe that the Bible is the word of Gjd, declaring to us from Him the way of falvation ; and at the fame time that it is not of effential importance to believe what it declares. — The idea is diflionorable to the autho- rity of God, is inconfiftent with his glory, and can be maintained only by men who fay in their hearts — that he is even fuch a one as themfelves. It is there fp re one of the numberlefs internal characters of divine truth and authenticity which 0. ihe ( i8 ) ilie Bible exhibits to the enlightened obferver, that it demands the credence of our minds with that authoritative declaration—-" Whofo believ- erh not fhall be damned ;" — that it difdains to accommodate what it reveals to the infidel libe- rality of men, by giving them to underftand that they .may difbelieve it without perifning. And it is one of the internal charae, for inilance, blafphemoufly demands fub- miffion to its mofi anti-chrifuan lies, under the fame fancftions which Jehovah has affixed to his revealed truth. Arrogating to itfelf divine authority, it a<5^s in this but a confiftent part; and afts but wiiely, in refufing to have its tenets tried by the word of God, and in deterring* its • I fay thif, bccaufe it is a fundaviental principle of Popery if, do fo ; and a principle ever a«Sled upon, as far as it can t,e enforced. Tho e vhn tbinl< that poperyU altered, and has Ijecoroe lorrvEthing lei's formidable or 'els falfe than it was of old only bet! ay their total ignorance or" the effential charafters •f that fyi^^em.— 1 fpeak not of the private eharsder or fenti- ments f 19 ) Its infatuated followers from fearching that word. Nor has this ufurpation of the farKflions of the Gofpel been confined to the papal fee ; though it is perhaps there alone, that they are ufurped for the purpofe of impofmg opinions dire611y oppojiie to the Gofpel. But there have been and are Proteftants, who prefumptuouily apply them for enforcing \.Qntts-r-di/?i?2^ from that Gofpel of our falvation, to which alone they belong. To that, and to that alone, will it be found that God himfelf has annexed the authoritative declaration — **- whofo believe th fliall be faved<, and whofo believeth not fhall be damned." And this declaration, I repeat it, eftablifhes at once the truth and the importance of my alTertion — that there is a greater difference litzueen the zvay ^ ajjnner s juflijication and falvaiicn^ which the Gofpel reveals — (for that is what the Gofpel re- veals) — and the mo/i rejinedform offalfe religion zuhich feems mojl like it, than there is hetzveeit the latter and any the viojl avczueclly injidel Jyfiem, Allov/ me, Sir, to prove the truth and impor- tance of that affertion, from another circum- ft-ance. — As the religion of the Gjfpei is the only true and the only Javing religion, fo it is that which alone has for its object the true Goif* And the man who — dilbelieving the Gofpel— adopts the moil refined form of falfe religion that leems mofi like it, worfhips and ferves a /al/e God — the idol of his own infidel imagin-t c 2 ation. rnent of its individual profefTors : nor is it very lon^ &nce they were icminded by one of their own prelates in this country, that it is not by their private I'entiments the tenets of the church are to be afcertained , and that thoie tenets— f-ow- fift alter. . ( to ) ation. In his word — the only true Goi> Kji5 made known his name, or chaiacier. To mani- J(J}\us name unto ihofe who were given him out . cf the worlds is one of the ckclared purpofes for T/hich the Lord Jefus Chrifl: came into the world:.. and in the knowledge of that name eternal life js declared to confilt. (John xvii. 3,6.) The ]-eal chara6ler and perfections of Jehovah are difplayed in the way of a finner'sjuftification and falvation, which the gofpel reveals ; and the/ ^hohelieve that gofpel have the " light of th« knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jcfns Chrili." — They .^;it;w the ?2^/??^of Je h o v a H end they alone (2 Cor. iv. 4, 6.) The minds of all tviiolelicve not — remain blinded : and denying Him ''^ the only true God," whatever religion they adopt, and however zealous they may be in itj— they worfFiip they know not what — falfe God5 that cannot profit nor deliver them. Nor is it their calling themfelves Chrifl ians, nor their giving tlie verlal titles of the true God to their falfe objecfis oiwoilhip, that can exempt them fi'om the ap- plication of thofe words of the Pfalmifl — " ali; the Gods of the -nations are idols'^ (Ps. xcvi. 5..^ IJ^now how fafhionable it is to reprefent the Pagans themlelves — at \tci^ the wifer and more pious of them — as worfliipping the fame Gcd with Chrifl ians ; only under different names, and with a lefs clear dilcovery of his nature and of his will. I know how much the world admires the lihereliiy of that fentimjent, that Pie has been — ■ — In every age. In every clime adored ; JBy Saint, hy Savage, and hy Sage ;, J E H o V A 11 — Jove — or Lo R D . ( 2« ) So rhymes Alexander Pope, — whofe infidel ver- f^s are commonly lifped by our children, and funginfome places of lb-called chriftian worfliip. But what faith the word of God ? — The things v/hich thu Gentiles facri/ice, they facrifice to De- vils, /7//i noi to God. (I Cor. x. aoj *' Con- foucded fhall they all be, that ferve graven ima- ges; that boaft themfelves of idols." (Ps. xcvii. 7.) "They that make them are like unto them ; fo: is every one that trufteth in them." (Ps. cxxxvi. j8.) " They lliall be gfhamed and confounded all bf them, they fhall go to ''confufion together, that are makers of idols. But Ifrael fnall be faved in the Lord, with an everlafting falvation ; ye fliall not be afliamecl-* nor confounded world without end*" (Is. xlv» i6y 17.) Nor let it be urged that profeinng Chri/^ianSy whatever notions they form of the Deity, do- not in general make to themfelves vifible lepre- fentations of him with their hands, as the Pagans did. — We know that all the pagans did not fo ; — yet ALL ihezr Gjds are declared to be idoh. And as to fuch vilible reprefentations — the work of m.ens hands, they are declared in Scripture to be /« themfelvei " nothing in the world" (r. Cor. viii. 4.x. 19.) — nothing, but wood or ftone» Their great evil conlilled in their being -^exprelTions of the falfe and unworthy notions of God, which their worfhippers had formed in their minds : and therefore we read of thofe '■'■ whofe heart departeth from the Lord" — who fet uf their idols in their lAKAKl^^-and feparate. themfelves from Jehova H (T^er. xvii. 50. Ezek. xiv. 4 — 7.) — even while they profefs to be worfhippers of Him. Knd iyxzh '^ departing frofn. • c -3 . ih§'. ( 2Z ) the hviiig God there is, wherever there is an ezMl heart ^' utjeelief. (Hebr. iii. 12. i John v. 20. 21.) Sucii as the notion or idea is, which we form of God— fuch is our God : and all who form, falfe notions of him, as all do who reje6l the revelation he has made of himfelf in his Gof- pel, are worfluppers of falfe Gods, — and in the wovftfenfe of the word — worfliippers q{ idols — the work, if not of their hands, yet of their ao- vain imaginations. Nor will a . believer obferv- ing the various religious fyftems of Chriftendom,, perceive at this day lefs reafon for that charge^ , than w^hen it was of old recorded agalnft a pro- 'i^ffing people — accordi7^.% to the number of thy., mties^ are thy. Gods. ( Jer. ii. 28. xi. 13.) And as the idolatry of thofe in Chriftendom, who difbelieve the Gofpel, is perfifted, in againll a clearer and fuller difcovery. of the true Gor^ than was afforded of old either to the Pagans, or the JewSj — fo much proportionably greater Mall be their condemnation. It JJiaU he more^ ^olerahU for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for fuck. And the ground oi their condemnation will be — not any innocent, error of judgmient-— but this, that they have, " not I'lkt'd to retain God in their knowledge" — ■ *' becaufe they have not received the love of the* 1RUTH that they might be faved" — but " have changed the truth of God irito a, lie," and are. righteouily left under " ftrong delulion that they, fhould believe a lie." (z Thefs. ii. 10, 11, 12- Rom. i. 25, 28.) ^ . But perhaps, Sir, you will demand — 'what rs that falfliood in the notions that any profefling Chrifuans form of G0P5 which can authorize. you r 23 ) yoit to place them on a level whh idolaUrs o£- the heathens r' I anfwer the queflion : — all pro^ fefling Chrifllans, "who dijl-elicve the Gofpel of the Grace, of God, and look for juAification and ^ falvation in 2ii\y ^■2iy different from that which: his Gofpel reveals, — muft neceffanly reprefent to themfelves a God neither merciful, nor righ- teous, nor true : and thefe are among the effen- tial perfections of Jehovah,— as eiTential as his eternity, omnifcience, ubiquity, and omnir potence. The latter chara^^ers of. God many of the more Philofophic Heathens acknowledged; . and indeed they are fo abundantly teftified by- the works of creation, that they force themfelves more or lefs upon the acknowledgment of all — even thofe to whom his w^ord has never come* , But it is in his vjo7'd^ that the former chara is the one and only cri^ terion, by which we arc to determine what trus religioH' conCiUs in. And now I have hitherto principally confidered the truths which it re- veals, as elTential to be helienjed; and you appear fhocked at the confideration of the very fmall number, who according to this ftandard \vill be found polfefled of true religion : and you urge this circumftance as decilive againfl: me. But you muft by this time perceive, that this cir- cumllance cannot be admitted as decifive againft me, without being equally decifive againft your own fyftem, — whatever it be ; — nor indeed without changing the ftandard of Religi- ous truth altogether. But fhall I own to you, that — ftill adhering to the Bible for my ftandarcl of true Religion, of true Chriftianity, — I cannot .cftimate the proportion of real Chriftians in this j> 3 country . ( 34 ) country at a higher number, when I look at the pra^ice of prof'effors, than when I look at their various creeds ? Nay, there are feveral, with whofe creeds I am not fufficiently ac- quainted to difcover any falfhood in them, — and perhaps if I were acquainted with them, I fliouid be unable to point out any falfhood in the creeds that they prcfefs; — but whofe praf^ifice affords an awful evidence againft the pretentions they make to believing the Gofpei. They may /^ that thL7 have faith ; but their works difprove what they fay. (James ii. 14. — 10. I John i. 6.) Very few profefs Chriftian faith : and of the {t\v who profefs it, or do not openly profefs what contradi6ls it, too many appear to walk after the Jie/7i', and fo manifell: that they are not partakers of that precious gift. Floating' notions or opinions about detached dofkrines of the Bible they may have received from men; and may be very zealous for them, — often as the chief thing on which they reft their claim to the Chriftian character. But I know from the Bible that, if they really helieved. the glorious Gofpei of the grace of God — with that difcovery and perfuafion of it which his ipirit gives, — it would bring forth other fruit in ihem tiian what they produce. (Col. i. 6.) It nvould turn them to the Lord, in a willing fub- je6i:ion of heart and life^ — not to the traditions of men — but to the precepts of his word. It would crucify them to the world; It would n^ake them gladly take up the crofs, deny them- felves, and follow a defpifed Saviour through a defpillng world — as thofe who were not of it. It would knit their hearts together in brotherly k)ve to his defpifed followers i whom thefe falfc profelTor* ( 35 ) profeffors are now fometimes the firrtto cnlum- niate and reproach. Yes, it would produce love — not in word and in tongue only, but in dred and in truth ; love, manifefted in felf- denying atfls of brotherly kindnefs and fympa- thy; — -love " without partiality and without hypocrify;" — lov^e, the clofenefs of which the unbelieving world knows nothing of. And wlien I look at the things that are fub- ftituted in the religious w^orld, for thefe fruits of the fpirit, — a quantity of religious talk, 3nd a multiplicity of religious meetings, and attach- ment to religious leaders, — with perhaps a grave deportment, gloomy looks, and fome peculiari- ties of drefs or forms or phrafeologys — furely they feem to have laid afide the Bible, not more as the ftandard of Chrijiian faiths than as the ftandard of Chriftian pra^ice* Ah f Sir, if the Bible be true, the flock of Chrift is a little jpock indeed : and it is mifchievous nonfenfe to try to conceal this, for fear of offending the world. They will undoubtedly think our tef- timony uncharitable and illiberal ; — they will miftake it ; — they will attribute it to a thoufand falfe and unworthy motives, — to pride and cen- forioufnefs, and an overweening conceit of our- felves. But fliall Chriftians therefore betray the truths of God, and deal with real uncharitable- nefs to the fouls of their fellow finners, — in order to pleafe them, — to conciliate their favour and efleem ? Nay; let the witneffes of Chrift follow the example of one of old, and ly ma- nifeftation of the truth — (not by difguifing or corrupting it) — commend themfelves to every i(nans confcience in the /ight of God ; — and then tLhey will have, >yith him, the \efti??iony of then CTtfH ( 30 ) (»wn confcience that in /implicit y and godly Jznce- rltVy 7iot with Jlejhly wifdorriy hut hy the grsLce of Ghdi they have had thdr corroerjatiori in the ivorld. [% Cor. i. 12. iv. 2.) And here. Sir, permit me to take notice of a deiftical objecPfion againft Chrifiiaiiity, which the fabjecl I have been laft conlidering naturally fuggefts ; — an obje61:ion which I have often heard ftated from the Pulpit, and to \vhich I have commonly heard anfwers propofed — that were little lefs deiftical than the obje^lion, which ' they were brought to remove. I mean — the want of umverfality in the promulgation of the Gofpel. * If the Chriftian religion,' they fay, ^ be indeed of God, and fo important as is reprefented, why has not the Alm.ighty fent the Scriptures to all nations of the Earth, and in all ages of the Vv^orld ?V The objection, — like all obje^ions made by m.en againft itit truths or dealings of God, — betrays at once the folly and the wicked- nefs of thofe who make it. It goes upon the fuppolition that men, however fallible and frail . — (according to the phrafeology of the vindica" tors of human nature) — are yet fo v/eil-difpofed, that they only need to be fhewn what is good and true, in order to embrace it. And the falfe- hood of this fuppolition is not only declared in tiie fcriptures, but proved by thofe very obje Wis, I need take little notice of it. I know how a detached quotation, feparated from the con- text, may be employed to fupport a very dif^ ferent fentiment from what the writer ever in- tended. The words which he quotes are — fome of them — of a very queftionable tendency in- deed. But if the writers only intended by them — that the»prayers and fervices of iinners can have no acceptance vi'ith God, while they are themfelves yet the fervants ^f fin, — they intend- ed to convey only what I have very explicitly afferted. If they intended to convey — that there is any way, in which finners can be truly cleanfed from their Uns, but in that '^ fountain opened for fin and uncleannefs," by the Redeemer's obedience unto death, and through the faith of the Gofpel which proclaims his work ; — they intended to convey what is falfe, and what does not become a whit lefs falfe — for being afferted by " Divines of the Wefiminfter affembly." But, as ** a ftill more dire6l proof of what the whole body of the Englifh Calvinifts at that time held," .you produce a quotation " from the affembly's own confeffion of faith;" — in which they Hate that — Repentance is offuch neceffity to clljinners, that none may expe^ pardon without it. This would be a very harmlefs quotation, but for what is implied in it, — an infinuation that 1 think finners may e^pe^ pardon -without Repentance ; — and this infinuation, confirmed by the appeal which you immediately fubjoin to the quotation — whether I " muft not deem this to be precifely and literally a rejined form of falfe religion, although mofi like the true.'' No, indeed. Sir. On the contrary, it would be a very grofs form of falfe religion, which would reprefent ( 40 ) reprefent — that any finner may expeiH: pardon without repentance. Yet it is that form of falfe religion, which is common to almoft all the unbelieving world. But where. Sir, have I countenanced it ? To all the unbelieving world I teftify, from the word of God, that — " except they repent, they will perifh." You exprefs your perfuafion that my fenti- xnents, when explained by myfelf, *^ will bear a much more liberal appearance, than they exhi- -bit" in my Expoftulatory Addrefs. I believe. Sir, you have been difappointed. The more clearly and fully thofe, who believe the Gofpel, explain their fentiments, the more illiberal muft they appear to the world. But I befeech you to confider ferioufly what you mean by liberal fentiments in Religion. I fhould think that the great point about which one, who receives the Scriptures as the word of God, ought to be folicitous, is — that his fenti* ments in religion be true^ — that is, conformable to what is revealed in Scripture. Whether ihey be afterwards confidered liberal or illiberal by the world, is a very unimportant matter. In ihort liberality of fentiment here — commonly means nothing more, than conformity of fenti- ment to the generally-received notions : and it feems to be nothing more than this, that you mean by a limilar and a ftran^e expreflion at the clofe of your letter, where you talk of" a more Catholic mode of interpreting" the facred Scrip- tures. If, in examining the facred Scriptures, I were to confider — not what God there declares — but how I might interpret the Scriptures into a coincidence of fentiment with the opinions of men, — I might nominally receive them as the word ( 41 ) word of God, but 1 would reaUy rejecl: them. Meny^^z//yet kiiow, whofe zvordjhalljiaKdi — the Lord's or theirs. ( Jcr. xliv. %%,) You quote from my Addrefs a paffage, of Mhich you approve — as containing " a truly Chriflian fentiment :" — and you add that, if I " have a-pparcfitly departed from it, it is this deliberate declaration of kindaefs, which ought to be refted in, as the pledge" of my habitual feeling. I thank you, Sir, for the kindnefs of your expreflion ; but I confefs that I would be much moie gratified, by your pointing out where I have departed — if I have really departed — from the fentiment which you quote. The opinion of any men about my habitual feeling can do me little good or harm : but I hope I fiiould reckon it an important fervice, to be fhewn by anyone — where I may have departed in my writings from the feelings of a chriftian. But if yoa think I have departed from the feelings of kind- nefs to the Methodifts, only becaufe I have told them truth which they needed to be told, — and which thofe among them, who need it moft, are moft unwilling to hear; — I mull conlider this only as an appare?it departure, and not a real one. You fay — that you are obliged to confider that plealing effufion of brotherly kindnefs, **■ as implying a neceffity for materially qualify- ing the denunciation" — that there is a greater ditlerence between the religion of the Gofpel and the moft refined form of infidelity, than there is between the latter and the moft grofs. Allow me to afk you. Sir, can brotherly kindnefs im- ply any neceility for telling lies ? — The alTertion — or, as you vhoofe to call it, the denunciation i —in ( 42 ) ^ — in the unqualified form in which it appears in my Addref?,— -is true : and I think I have pro- ved it, in this letter, to he true and to be nioft important. Nor do T know how it could be ma- ycTlally qualifed, fo as not to convert it into a falihood. But you think that I am involved in hicon- /JJIencyy by acknowledging that real Chriftians may exifi: in an Arminian fociety ; — while I cer- tainly hold that Arminianiim is but a refned. form offalfe religion, and therefore little better -^(nothing better as to the purpofes of falva- tion) — than the moft avowed infidelity. — If I had fallen into the inconiiilency which you fup- pofe, T hope I ffiould not facrifice certain and important truth to extricate myfelf from it. But if you read my Addrefs with a little more atten- tion, — (fee for inftance p. 46. 2d Ed.) — you will perceive that the acknowledgment which you fpeak of — '* that real Chriflians may exill in an Arminian fociety" — amounts only to an inti- mation — that there may be perfons, in an Arm/i- nian fociety, who ^(y not really hold Arminian tenets; and to an affertion — that I thuikWi^wo, found a few fuch among the Methodifts. In this, I fee nothing inconfillent with my views of Arminiaaifm. You afk me whether it would not have been as well upon the whole, that my *' terms of condemnation refpcd nje uncertain. The only one that you have admitted to be juil, is my brief cenfure of their tiimidtuous a//lm' Hies : and the corre<5\ive inlluence even of that you weaken, by accounting for their continu- ance from *' the fear of repreiring/)/o«j ardours ^ where ( 45 ) where they might eafily be chllkd and annini-^ latedy You zealouily oppofe the grounds of almoft all my other expoftulations ; and what you have faid tends to lelTen their corre^. 1. penul. for tejlament. read Jiatement. ^' ^c.l. z^.-fov cc^ziimiedTe:id continue* Letter iv. p. 23. 1. 20. for reality any read reality of any » ib. 1. 26. for world read word, p. 31. 1. 29. for they bear as creatures read he hears as a creature. Letter v. p. 7. 1. 22. for of Gofpel read of the Gofpel. p. '^:^. 1. 18. A^Xq they. Letter vi. p. 13. 1. 29. for avert read advert. p. 18. 1. 9. for zuho are ever read to whom it is ever. tr^ a limilar corre61ion is needed p. ^. 1. 29. &p. 21. 1. 30. p. 37. 1. 14. for unto read into. p. 40- 1. 2. read God's grace. FINIS. HINTS ON CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP: ADiiDRESSED TO THE SERIOUS CONSIDERATION ot ALL BELIEVERS, ESPECIALLY IN DUBLIN. Save usf L.OS.D our Gody and gather us from among ile beaiberty to give thanks unto thy holy name^ and to triumph ih thy pra'tfs, Pf. cvi. 47. Noiv^ therefore^ thus faith the LoRD of hojls^ confder your •ways. Hag. i. 5. DUBLIN: Printed by R. NAPPER, 29, Capel-striet. AND SOLD BY H.COLBERT, I 3 6, CAPEL-STREET. 1S04. HINTS, &c. W E have feen^ within thefe few years, a growing union of the profelTors of Evangelical Truth, for the purpofe of propagating the Gofpel, where it has not yet been heard : and this has been a matter of joy to many. Chriftians, and juftly coniidered by them as an indication of an approaching revival. — But do v^e not ftill want a clofer union among thofe, who know that truths for the purpofe of their mutual advancement in the knowledge and practice of it ? Without this, may we not be fending the Gofpel to others, and loiing light of its glorious excellency ourfelves I may we not be bufily engaged in the buftle of outward exertion in our Lord's caufe, while that caufe is declining in our own fouls ? The moft experienced Chriftian v/ill be moft fenfible of the poffibility and danger of this. This addrefs is not intended for mere profejjhrs of the Gofpel : if is for thofe who " know the grace of God in truth." A 2 Chriftians ! ( * ) ,Chriftians ! let us coniider whether we have not been negledting a union, to which we are not invited alone by expediency, but impelled by the obligation of our Lcrd'5 authority . in his word. Is it there left as a matter of indifference, whe- ther we fliould maintain felloivjhip one luiih anc- iher, or not ? That we are all « one in Chrifl: Jefus" is a glorious truth : — but from this very truth is derived in Scripture the obligation of mutual cGmmumon, Is this fcripturally attained by the communion oi fome Chrijliansy belonging to particular congregations j while they are un- known even by face to ether Chrifticms in the fame city ? It is not the defign of this addrefs to fay a word againft the diversity of minifters, under which different Chriftians fit. Let them conti- nue their attendance upon thofe minifters of the word, under whom they find moft benefit ; and the diverfity of minifterial gifts may be profitable to the church at large. But while we hear Paul — and Apollos — and Ceplias, as we are feverally }ed, — let us not fay that we are of Paul, or Apol- los, or Cephas, fo as to be kept from fellowfliip ©ne with another. When we coniider the precepts of our Lord and Mafter to his difciples ; when we coniider the common character of his difciples — their common faith and hope — their common deftination, can we . ( ^ ) we believe that there ought to be difciples of kis i?i the fame Ciiy^ who know nothing of eack other, never meet with each other, and have no opportunity of comforting or edifying one ano- ther ? "Was it iO of old in the primitive church ? When the Apoftle addrelTed his letters to the church of Chrift at Corinth, at Rome, at Ephe- fus, at PhiHppi, at Colofle, at ThefTalonica, — have we not reafon to be fure that, how many foever preachers of the word there were at any of thofe places, all the Chrljlians of each place affembled themfelves together, and had more or lefs knowledge of, and communion with each other ? Is not this a general Chriftian duty ? and is not the long neglect of it one of thofe " defolations of many generations," which we have to expe an evil which (as far as we fee it) 'tis now time? for us, in his name, to correal ? Has not the ne-f gleIes. All believers coUedtively, from their being brought together in Him into one fpiritual body, are therefore called in Scrip- ture liis Churchy or Ctngregation : and it is as fuch that believers, in any one place, are called to aflemble themfelves together. In filch a feparate aflembling of yourfelves as I fpeak of, the perfons with whom you are to unite are all whom you have fcriptural grounds to acknowledge as difciples of Chrifl, who c^n and will aflbciate with you ; and no fie elfe. I fay all fuch i for if you exclude any fuch, the bond of your union becomes of neceffity fometliing elfe^ B than ( 14 ) :£'han your connection with the Lord Jefus Chrift as his difciples. For if that be the one ground of your union, none muft be debarred from uniting with you, whom you acjknowledge in that charadter. And I fay that no others 2xe to be received into it ; for this again would change the bond of union, or would be acknowledging as difciples thofe, whom the Scriptures do not warrant you to coniid.er as fuch. And this, however common, is a mofl: awful departure from fidelity to thevv^ord of your God, and from love to the fouls of m^^n. — It is a very different thing, where no {\xch. feparation oi real difciples is intended or profefTecl. But it is important to obferve, that to confti- tute a perfon fuch as you are bound to receive into your union, it is not necefTary that he fhould really be a (iifciple j pr that you fhould have de- monflrative evidence of his being fo. This it. is impollible at prefent to have. We are called to " judge nothing before the time," when the iecrets of all hearts fhall be revealed. AH that is necefTary is, that the perfons whom you re- ceive fhould be fuch, as you are bound by Scri|>- ture to acknowledge as Brethren. And here it is of the lafl importance, that your judgments {fhould be regulated by the word of God, and by it alone. According to it, aU who believe the Gofpd ( 15 ) ^fpel arc taught of God, — -are born of Gocli— ' 'are among the many Sons whom the Lord Jefus will bring to glory. The iirft enquiry therefore mull: be — what that Faith is, which the perfon confefles with his mouth; — whether it be the Gofpel — the only Gofpel of the ofily true God. I would afk — not, as too many have done, what fine ftory he can tell of himfelf and his own experience, but — what fays he of Christ ? The profelHon, upon which perfons have been too long admitted as fellow-difciples, is a profeflion of fom.ething about themf elves : the profeflion, upon which alone they can fcripturally be admit- ted, is the profeflion of what they think about Christ. If that confeflion of the mouth be agreeable to the truth of the Gofpel, and if its fincerity be not contradicted by any decifive evidence in their walk ineonfiftent with the character of a believer, I am bound to receive them as bre- thren beloved, and to walk with them as fuch ; however iveak in the faith they be, and how- ever young in the Chriftian life. And to this I am bound, in fubmiflion to the authority of God's word, and in the regulation of my judg- ment by it, — notwithftanding any prejudices T may have entertained againft their charaloy, &c. than to the great objedl for which Chriftians are called to afTociate together. And thus it has often happened that fomething under the name of a church v^iiS formed^ which was in- ^deed the formation and work of man : — fome- thing which its members thought was made very clofely on a fcriptural model, becaufe they had :a number of officers and forms under fcriptural ^ames, — ^but which was yet a Hfelefs and moft imperfe(Sl r^prefentation of what the fcripture means by a Chrijlian church. Keep in view, bre- thren, why you are called to be a church, — that is, to aflemble yourfelves together. Keep in :view the fcriptural objeft of your union : keep in view the defcription of perfons, with whom •you are called to aiTociate : keep in view the .fcriptural principles, which are to regulate you in ^our walking together as brethren : and you will then ( 2* ) then find that the other rules, about which fo many perplexing queftions have been raifed, are very few and very limple. As to your aiTembiies, it is plain that you are to meet together on the firft day of the week, to join in worihip — and in breaking of bread — and in fpeaking from the word of God to your mutual . edification, according to the utterance and wii- dom given unto any of you. As to other circum- . fiances in your meetings, let expediency deter- mine them, fo far as they are left undetermined by the v/ord of God. We find that the difci- ples of old met together, fometimes privately •, fometimes in places, which any who pleafed were . allowed to enter. Perhaps, in this city and at this time, you tvill find a middle courfe for a while moft expedient. It feems to me undefir- able that your meetings lliould be either fo pri- vate, as to give juft room for mifreprefentation ; £>r fo public, as to attract the notice of a promif- cuous multitude. But efpecially remember, after you have aflembled together, that you have but ufed an inftituted mcaii for exciting thofe bro- therly afFe£lions, which are to influence your daily walk towards each other. As to what are called church-officers, and church-government, according to my views of the fubjedl, little need be faid. Judge ye, from the ( 25 ) the Scriptures, what I (Kail fay. It feems to me that ah-noft all who have written on the fubjeft have perplexed it, by fome fundamental error in their enquiries. It feems to me that there is no fuch thing countenanced in Scripture, as what is implied in the expreffion church-officers^ or in the idea of governing a church by their authority. All the members of a Chriftian afTembly are Brethren ; and as fuch on a per feci equality : and the authority of God's word is the only autho- rity they have to acknowledge. The perfonswho have been too long called church-officers, and have too long aiii which, you need to be ferved, and according to , your opportunity of finding perfons ^qualif.ed to ferve you, — look out among yourfelves for men who will undertake the fervice. But fome will .fay — '.is not:this a departure (from the rule of Scripture ?' From what r.ule. . of Scripture ? Where do the Scriptures pre- fcribe the number and nature of the fervants, ..that jChriflians ihall ^employ in their affem- blies ? — ' But the defcription, which they give of the apoftolic conflitutipns in this matter, is deligned for a rule to which we ought Xo con- ..forrn.* That, every fuch defcription is deiigned .for the inftruclion and benefit of Chriftians in ^ all ages, I readily admit : but I deny that the Scriptures of the New Teftament give .any fuch jdefcription of , the fei'vants employed in the churches, which were fettled by the apoftles, ^ .was ever defigned to be imperative on Chriftians, ,to employ in all cafes fervants of the fame de- fcription and the fame number. Thofe who , ^fEirm that there is laid down in Scripture ;anj one (■ £7 )■ d?ie fuch model of church-government (as it is ; called) lofe fight of what the Scriptures exprefsly •oeclare about the nature of thofe v/ho minifler in the churches of Chrift, as the fervants of the churches among whom they minifter. For if they be fervp.nts, it is prepofterous to fuppofe that their number and offices fhould not vary, according to the circumftances and occafions of the churches. And I do not wonder that men v/ho look in the Scriptures, for what the Scrip- tures never v/ere defigned to prefcribe, fhould involve themfelves in endlefs difputes \ and be unable to come at any fatisfaiSlory folution of • their enquiries. I confider the Epifcopalian— the Preibyterian — ^and the Independent — as all alike fundament- ■ ally erroneous, as to the principle on which they proceed in their refpe6live fyilems : and while each overturns the arguments of the other, . each attempts to eftablifh a fyftem., which is as bafelefs as that which he fub verts. Thus, for inflance, with the Prefbyterian and Independent, I confider it abfiird to fay that • every Chriftian - church, or aflembly, ought to be under what is called Epifcopalian government ; or, in- plain and fcriptural language, under the overlight of one pcrfon who is employed to fuperintend the con- cerns of feveral churches. For — what if there C 2 be ( 28 ) hQUGt/ei^eral churches, fo adjcining or connected, that one perfon can be en^ployed to take the cverfight cf any common concerns of ail ? Shall it be necelTary to employ a fervant under the name, whofe office fliali be merely nominal ? But againit tlie Prefbyterian and Independent, I fay that it is unfcripturai and abfurd to aiTert, that — in any cafe where the cccaiions of feverai churches require it — there ought not to be a ^er^ ion in fuch a charader and cmce as is called Epifcopal : and I fmile at the arguments, by which they endeavour to prove the unlaivfidmfs of Epifcopal government ; or to fiiew that Titus, for inftance, was not employed in I'uch an eiHce. The word rendered Bijhop means nothing more than an oierfter ; as it is indeed rendered, Ajftc XX. £8 : and it is applied in Scripture indif- ferently to thofe who had the overiight — either of a iini^le Chriftian aiTembly, or of feverai. • Let it be remembered that a Chrjj'iian church is not mode for its fervants ; but that ike fervant s are appcinted for the ufe of the church : and this principle, plain and limple as it is, will go farther to terminate the difputes about church-govern- ment, than all the num^erous volumes which have been written on the fubjedi: •, — but not by determining the controverfy in favour of any, one fyftem of it now exifling. Nor ( 29 ) Nor do I contend for a greater latitude Iiere,' than I can prove that the Scriptures allow. Do we not find that, in the churches under the im- mediate diredlion of the apoftles, the number and oiHces of their fervants varied with the cir- cumftances that required their fervice ? Was it until ciretimftances required it, that fervants were appointed in the ^ church at Jerufalem to manage the diftribution of their public fund ? A6h^ vi; Ij 5:c. And yet who will fay, that the church was imperfeiftly conftituted before ? or that there m.uft be, in every church, fuch fer- vants — ^whether they are vv^anted or not? And let it be obferved that the word Deaton has been, by fonie, abfurdly appropriated to fervants in fome fuch ofiice ; .whereas in Scripture it is ap- plied indifferently to all the fervants of the church ; and is borrowed by the apoftle Paul himfelf, to denote his own employment in the miniflry 'of -the gofpeL Ephef. iii. 7. Col. i. 23, 25, &c.' If thefe things be fo. Brethren, you need not in your afTembling yourfelves together as dif^ ciples — feparated from them- that beheve not,— perplex yourfelves wiih a -variety of intricate queftions, which have long been agitated and never fatisfatStorily folved. Remember, that -if C 3 YOU ( 30 ) you knew tliQ exacl form of church-government inftttutedby the Apofliles in any of the churches which they fettled, — you might have precifely the fame fet of fervants, under the fame names of office •, and yet there v/ould be no true Chrif-' tiati Churchy unlefs they were true believers vv^ho anembled together : and your Church, even though it conlilted of true behevers, would be abfurdly organized if you had nominal fervants, in imitation of thofe which were appointed in the Apoftolic Churches, without any real need of their fervice. And remember that there would be a true Chrijlian Churchy wherever true believers allembled together, — though they fhould not have one of the difciples called to any diftinvSl office or fervice from the reft. And that there were fuch Churches in the apoftles' days, I cannot but think probable, when I read in Scripture of Churches or aflemblies of be^ lievers — in the houfe of fuch or fuch a difciple. Let us fuppofe that the Gofpel was brought to a tov/n or neighbourhood, where but iix in- dividuals received and profefled it. According to the ideas of fome, there would fcarcely be a fufficient number of difciples — fuppoling them all males — to form what they think the eflence of a Church, to conflitute the officers necelTary to its ( 31 ) its organization. Yet who, that regulates his judgment by Scripture, will fay that theie fix difciples might not — ought not — to meet together for Chriftian feilowfliip, — to join in worfliip and in edifying one another, — « in breaking of bread and in prayers j" — though no one of them had the paftoral overfight of the reft, or was fet apart for any peculiar work of fervice in their alTembly f Who will fay that — thus meeting together — they would not be a Chriftian aftembiy, that is — a Chriftian Church ? Undoubtedly, " when the number of the dif- ciples was multiplied," occaftons would occur that would call for the appointment of fervants; to minifter to the Church. And acccrdin? to thofe occaftons, and according to the qualifica- tions of any of the difciples to fill thefe ftations of fervice, fervants ought to be and were ap- pointed. And the mention made in Scripture of their _refpecti\e oftices, as far as we diftin6lly imderftand them, ought to be attended to by Chriftian Churches now, as fuggefting the en* quiry — ^whether they do not need perfons to ferve them in fimilar capacities. But among the va- rious devices, by which Satan has long obfcured the real charadler and glory of the Chriftian Church, that idea has been raoft fuccefsfully em- ployed ( 32 ) ployed — that a certain fet of offictrs — (falfely fb called) — or fervaiits — -is neceiTary to conftitute a Chriftian Church. Thofe \vho find their intereft in keeping up the' idea, will probably be very angry at this plain proteil- againft it : and others may be ftartled at a reprefentation that will feem to be novel ; though I think it as old as the apoftles. But fearch the Scriptures, Brethren j and fee whether thefe things be fo, "in nothing terrified by your adverfaries. ■' ^ I have mentioned that your union ought to embrace all petfons in this city^ whom you have fcriptural reafon to acknowledge as believers of the GofpeL And if fc^the one bafis and the one bond of it muft be — ^your agreement in the truth of that Gofpel ; ivithout including any things in which real believers may co7'ifcie7iticuJlyd.i^h'\ Thus, for inftanc^e, fome think that none but adults ought to be baptized-: others think that, in the apoftles- days,, the infants of thofe adults who received the Gofpel were baptized with their parents •, and fome again doubt whether our Lord intended at all that the inftitution of baptifm ihould be of permanent obfervance in his Church, — ^where the divinity of his million has been for ages generally acknowledged ; — -conceiving that it was defigned only as an open acknow- ledgment ( 33 ) ledgment of it, by tliofe who had been igmrant of or had denied his miflion. Some contend that baptifm ought to be adminiftered only by im- merfion in water : others, while they admit that this was the mode originally practifed in the apoftoHc days and in the Eaftern countries, deny that this is neceflarily included in the meaning of the word rendered to bapfi7.e ; and conceive that the application of water — whether by immer/ion or affufion — is all that is imported by the word, or efTential to the fymbolical fignificancy of the rite. Well, Brethren, it is not my intention to at- tempt deciding thefe controveriies. But Ihall the difciples of Chrift be kept afunder by fuch diverfities of opinion ? I only afk it to be grant- ed, that a perlbn adopting any of thefe opinions- may be one of his difciples ; and they mufb have a maft unfcriptural view of the nature of his kingdo.n, who conceive that it coniifts in any matter connected with thefe quefbions. If not, then will you reje£l from your union thofe, whom the Lord has received, and with whom you profefs to be of one Spirit, — becaufe they hold a different opinion from you on thefe quef- tions ? Nay ; " let every man be fully perfuaded in his own mind j" but let him not ufurp domi- nion over his Brethren, by impoiing his fenti- ments here on their minds. The iwii I I wni iw w. ' ^ ii* - I " .1 u i MWinu i i N i g i' ii ^ti, ( 34 ) TKe ftntplicity of the ground of your union is moft needful to be maintained j as it will affe^l the whole of your feliov/fhip one with another. You will alike depart from that fimplicity, if you introduce into it the peculiar principles ei- ther of Psedo-baptifts or of Antipaedo-baptifts, — fo as to exclude from outward feilowfhip with you thofe difciples of Chrift^ who adopt the oppofite opinion. The ground and bond of your feilowfhip: one with another would then be — not your agreement in the U'uth as it is in Jesus, not your being one in him, — but your agreement about a matter altogether dif- tin£t from the Gofpel of his Grace. It has^ been long fo comm.on to make fuch matters the balis of Church-fellowfhip, that if you adopt the courfe, which I recommend as feriptural, you will probably be fpoken^ againft — and your union will be decried — by the zealots of all parties. And the more decilively it is founded upon the faith of Christ and his fav- ing truths the more ofFenfive it muft be to all who difbelieve that truth. But fear not. Brethren ; "be ftrong in the Lord-," — "hold forth the word of life"; — " be patient toward all men." Let the- ivord of your God be " a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your paths." Follow him. ( 35 ) him fully. Let neither fear nor fhame hold you back from confefling his name before men: and, in due feafon, ye fliall reap — :if ye faint not. ,Dec. 31, 1-803. FIN I S. •^■'- ir^e^j *«