Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library https://archive.org/details/twotractsintende00rnant_0 TWO TRACTS, INTENDED TO CONVEY CORRECT NOTIONS OP • ,v * \ 4 REGENERATION AND CONFERSION, f according to the sense of J£>o!g Scripture, / AND OP THE CHURCH OF ENGLAN^i EXTRACTED FROM THE BAMPTON LECTURE OF 1812, AND PUBLISHED IN A FORM ADAPTED FOR CIRCULATION AMONG THE COMMUNITY AT LARGE, AT THE REQUEST OF THE SALOP DISTRICT COMMITTEE OF THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. BY RICHARD : MJNT , M.J. * CHAPLAIN TO HIS ORACE THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, AND RECTOR OF ST. BOTOLPIl’s, BISHOPSOATE} AND LATE FELLOW OF ORIEL COLLEGE. —• ^ • A NEW EDITION. lUttomt t Printed for f. c. and j. rivington, Booksellers to the Society for Promoting Chr.stian Knowledge no. 62 , st. Paul’s church yard} By Law and Gilbert, St. Jolm’s-Sqiuue, ClerkenwelL 1815 _ i / TO THOMAS EYTON ESQ. PRESIDENT; TheRt. Hon. Lord Kenyon, Sir Coreet Corbet, Bart. Edward Burton, Esq. T. Eyton, Jun. Esq. Rowland Hunt, Esq. The Rev. S. Butler, D D. The Rev. T. For&ster, D.D. The Rev. J.B. Blakeway, The Rev. H. Burton, The Rev. R. Cor field. Rev. Laurence Gardner, The Rev. J. Geary, The Rev. T. Hunt, The Rev J- Roche, The Rev. W. G. Rowland, The Rev. T. Smyth. members; AND THE REV. HUGH OWEN, SECRETARY; OF THE SALOP DISTRICT COMMITTEE OF THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE ; THE PRESENT EDITION OF THESE TRACTS, PUBLISHED IN DEFERENCE TO THEIR JUDGMENT, AND IN COMPLIANCE WITH THEIR REQUEST, IS VERY RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR, Lambeth, November 19 , 1813 , . i ; t < X V." \Ya*iG . • ■ii •y.i / • . -4.1 , J-W c V . TRACT I. jOHNiii. 5. 4 Jesus answered, Verily , verily, I say unto thee. Except a man he born of water and of the Spirit , he cannot enter into the kingdom of God * AT the time that Almighty God first selected the Jews for his peculiar people, he instituted the rite of circumcision, whereby they were to be admitted into covenant with him. This institution was de¬ signed not only for an outward and visible mark to distinguish those, who professed their belief in the true God ; but at the same time for a memorial to remind them of his covenant; and for a monument to incite them to perform their part of the cove^ nant; and for a token that God would perform his part. This institution, which was designed for the Jew# as the chosen people of God, was extended to those strangers also, who became proselytes to the true faith. But in addition to this, another ceremony was appointed by the Jews themselves, derived, as they imagined, fi 4 om the law of Moses, and certainly a 3 o Regeneration the stamped with the sanction of high antiquity. Proud of their own peculiar sanctity, as the elect people of God, and regarding all the rest of mankind as in a state of uncleanness, thev would not admit converts into their church without washing, to denote their being cleansed from their natural impurity. Prose¬ lytes, thus purified and admitted into the Jewish church by baptism, were said to be regenerated, or born again : nor was this a mere empty appellation ; but being considered dead to their former relations, they became entitled to rights and privileges, from which hv nature thev were excluded. The duration of God’s covenant with the Jews limited, and was to cease upon the completion of God’s promise in the sending of Christ. God had now accomplished his covenant with Abraham by sending that seed of Abraham, in whom all the na¬ tions of the earth were to be blessed. And as there was no longer to be any distinction in favour of the Jews, the children of Abraham, above the other nations of the world, the outward mark of distinc¬ tion was no longer useful. God was now to show no respect unto persons, to the circumcised or to the uncircumcised ; but in every nation, among the Gentiles, as well as among the Jews, he that feared God and worked righteousness was equally to be ac¬ cepted with him. But upon the introduction of the new covenant in Christ, God was pleased to institute a new cere¬ mony ; whereby mankind at large were to be ad¬ mitted into covenant with him, as the Jews had 7 Spiritual Grace of Baptism, been by the rile of circumcision. For this purpose Christ adopted baptism, which had been consecrated by his brethren after the flesh to a similar use; and ordained it as the rite, by which those, who believed in him, should be admitted to the privileges of his religion. f He kept the ceremony,” says Bishop Taylor, “ that they, who were led only by outward .0 “ call upon God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ, that of his bounteous mercy lie will grant “ unto this child that thing which by nature he can- “ not have, that he may be baptized with water and “ the Holy Ghost, and be received into Christ’s holy Church, and be made a lively member of the same. I give the address at length, because it is placed at the very opening of the ministration of baptism, and is designed to draw the attention of the hearers to the purpose, for which baptism is administered. It consists of two parts ; an admonition to the people to pray, and a reason for the admonition : what they are to pray for partly is, that “ the child may be bap* t( tized with water and the Holy Ghost; the reason for their being called on so to pray,, is, “ forasmuch « as Christ saith, none can enter into ths kingdom* *' See Overton** True Churchman, &e. p, 189; A & 12 Regeneration the “ of God, except lie be regenerate and born anew “ of water and of the Holy Ghost.” Putting these passages together, what else is the prayer ihat the child may be baptized with water and the Holy Ghost, than a prayer that by baptism he may be born anew' ? Proceeding to the prayers, I do not rest on that general expression in the first, where w r e pray God “ to wash and sanctify the child with the Holy “ Ghost;” but going forward to the second, I beg your attention to that passage, wherein the priest is directed to say, “ Almighty God, we call upon thee “ for this infant; that he, coming to thy holy bap- (C tism, may receive remission of his sins by spiritual u regeneration.” The passage needs no comment,: it will only be recollected that the question is, what does the Church of England understand by our Sa¬ viour’s expression of being born of w ater and of the Spirit? Nor is it necessary to make any other com¬ ment on the follow ing extracts, while I point to that prayer, where w 7 e intreat Almighty God to “ give his “ Holy Spirit to the infant about to be baptized, i£ that he may be born again to the prayer of con¬ secration, where we intreat him, to (C sanctify the fi water to the mystical washing away of sin, and to i( grant that the child, now to be baptized therein, u may receive the fulness of his grace, and ever re- main in the number of his faithful and elect chil- After being baptized, the first religious duty in which the Church requires a child to be engaged is JL O O the learning of his Catechism ; and here, reminding - him of the privileges to which he was then admitted, the very first thing that she teaches him is, that “ ii> “ his baptism he was made a member of Christ, a “ child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of u heaven.” In his baptism he was made a child of God ! Made a child of God ; not formed so at his natural birth, but made so by a second, a new, a spi« ritual birth; made so at his baptism. As he pro¬ ceeds, however, the doctrine is more fully and expli¬ citly revealed to him. lie is then instructed, that a sacrament is se an outward visible sign of an inward spiritual grace given unto us and that it “ * ( ordained by Christ himself, as a means whereby “ we receive the same” grace, “ and as a pledge to " assure us thereof.” He is instructed, that baptism is a sacrament; and as such, of course consisting of an outward and visible sign, and of an inward and spiritual grace -he is instructed, that the outward 16 Regeneration the sign is “ water, w herein tlie person is baptized in “ the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of (< the Holy Ghostand being interrogated, what is its inward and spiritual grace, he is instructed to answer, “ a death unto sin, and a new’ birth unto <{ righteousness; for being by nature born in sin, u and the children of wrath, we are hereby made 1 have thus stated the several passages in the Lh? turgy and Articles, wherein our Church notices rege¬ neration, or the being born again. I have not knowingly omitted one. And I will now venture to say, that I do not think it possible that a doubt can exist upon the mind of any fair inquirer, with respect to the opinion entertained by our Church on the question of baptismal regeneration* Indeed so unequivocal was her opinion upon this point under¬ stood to be, that when, after the restoration of the royal family and the regal government in Charles the Second, it was enacted, that those ministers, who had gained possession of any benefices during * Bishop Taylor's Advice to his Clergy. Enchir.TheoL vol.il. p. £80. Spiritual Grace of Baptism . 2 1 the rebellion, should relinquish their preferment, unless they conformed to the principles and doctrines of the Church of England, the Nonconformist Mi¬ nisters, who quitted their stations, assigned this rea¬ son, in common with others, for their noncon¬ formity ; that “ the Church clearly teaches the doc- u trine of real baptismal regenerationIt is therefore with some degree of pain and surprise, that I see any doubt of the inward and Spiritual grace of baptism expressed by a living Minister of our Establishment, whose moderation and Christian cha¬ rity appear not to be surpassed by his piety and zeal t; and 1 esteem it no gratuitous concession, which is made by the less gentle advocate of a party in the Church, that ** she speaks of every child that “ she has baptized, as regenerate, as a partaker of u the privileges of the Gosptl, and as in some sense “ called to a state of salvation.” But it is an un¬ charitable and a cruel insinuation, if he means to charge those whom he calls his opponents, with con¬ cluding hence, “ that our Church knows of no dis- “ tinction but that between professed Christians “ and professed Heathens, Jews, &c. and that she the vehicle of regeneration; why should we look for any other? Why should we resort to a forced, an unnatural, and a presumptuous construction, to supply us from a distance with the uncertain shadow of a blessing, when the plainest and most easy inter¬ pretation of our Saviour’s words places the substance' immediately in our hands? That this blessing is conferred upon us by bap¬ tism I assert on the authority of Scripture. It is the doctrine of the holy Scriptures, that we are by baptism made heirs of salvation through Christ; and it is the declaration of our Saviour, that we cannot enter into the kingdom of God, which is equivalent to the expression that we cannot become heirs of salvation, except we be born anew of water and of the Spirit. If then we cannot become heirs of salvation, except we be born of water and of the Spirit, and if we be made heirs of salvation by bap¬ tism, 1 see not how we are to evade the consequence, that the outward washing of baptism is attended bv the sanctification of the Spirit, and that we are born of water and of the Spirit, when we are baptized. Thus when our Saviour, on giving his commission to the Apostles to go, teach all nations, baptizing them, accompanied it with the promise, that he that b 3 *'«^ s . SO Regeneration the believed and was baptised should be saved, it must clearly be understood, that the communication of the Iloly Spirit and spiritual regeneration were to attend on baptism, which is here expressly repre¬ sented as the means of salvation. A single text of Scripture, properly understood, may serve lor the foundation of a doctrine. ki Where “ there are a multitude of affirmations in Scripture,” said the learned reformer Bishop Ridley, “ and where there is but one affirmation, all is one concerning the truth of the matter : for that which ie any one of the Evangelists spake, inspired by the £> version; “ and now why tarriest thou ? Arise, and he “ baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on tin*. “ name of the Lord It may be here not unimportant to remark, that as we argue for baptism being the vehicle of rege¬ neration, because it is the vehicle of salvation to which regeneration is necessary ; so also we may come to the same conclusion from this considera¬ tion ; that all Christians, all persons who have been baptized, are indiscriminately said to have been re¬ generated. In the passages already cited from se¬ veral epistles of St. Paul, it will have appeared, that he applies the term to large societies of believers; especially to the churches at Rome and at Colosse. The language, which he addresses to Titus upon that subject, appears to be at least equally compre¬ hensive ; whilst St. Peter and St. John, each m a catholic epistle, addressed to immense societies of Christians scattered throughout tire east, describe the persons whom they address as “ sons of God t; u begotten and born again J.” But wherefore, un¬ less their regeneration was the effect of an ordinance, of which all Christians in general partake ? And if. so, of what ordinance but of baptism? From these several authorities I apprehend it to be established, as the general doctrine of the Gos¬ pel, that the new birth or regeneration, which is pronounced by our Saviour to be necessary to sal¬ vation, or (as he expresses it) to seeing or entering b 6 X ✓ * Acts ii. 38. t 1 Pet i. 3, i 1 John ill 2. 30 Regeneration the into tlic kingdom of God, is effected by die opera¬ tion of the Holy Ghost at baptism. To this pur¬ pose beautiful and satisfactory is the illustration of the learned Joseph Mede, where, speaking of St. Paul’s text to Titus, as making baptism and regene¬ ration type and countertype, he adds, “ The same iC was represented by that vision at our Saviour’s u baptism of the Holy Ghost descending upon him, “ as he came out of the water, in the similitude of a i( dove: for I suppose,” he continues, “ that in “ that baptism of his the mystery of all our bap- <( tisms wa’s visibly acted ; and that God says to “ every one truly baptized, as he said to him, in a ce propoitlonable sense, Thou art my son, in whom <( I am well pleased*.” Indeed to deny the rege¬ nerating influence of baptism is to deny its sacra¬ mental character y to strip it of that which makes it most valuable ; and to reduce it to a mere “ beg.- (i adopted for the children of God, we may be dai>y " renewed by his Holy Spirit.^ But where are we instructed to pray after baptism lor legeneiation. Where is it intimated that the Corinthian was bom again, subsequently to his fall? Where was Simon Magus admonished of the necessity ot undeigoing another new birth ? Or where is St. Paul desciibeu as regenerated, until Ananias baptized him and washed aw'ay his sins? That he was conveited, and that his heart was renewed, is evident from the lan¬ guage, which he uttered when he had fallen to the earth, and from the obedience, which he paid to the voice from heaven. That he was not regenerated until a later period is equally evident; for when Ananias called on him to be baptized, he was still under the pollution of his sins. I am aware indeed that we shall be told, that during the intermediate time he was experiencing the pangs and agonies of the new birth. The assertion may be peimitted to pass; for a gratuitous assumption needs not to be seriously confuted. More deserving of our atten¬ tion, and bettor calculated to give us correct notions, because more agreeable to the representations of Scripture, is the following statement of the learned and judicious Hooker:—“ As we are not naturally “ men without birth, so neither are we Christian i( men in the eye of the Church of God, but by new << birth; nor, according to the manifest ordinary <( course of divine dispensation, new born, but by (C that baptism, which both declareth and maketh “ us Christians. In which respect we justly hold it to be the door of our actual entrance into God’s 44 : 'Regeneration the a house, the first apparent beginning of life; a seal iC perhaps to the grace of election before received, i( but to our sanctification here, a step that hath not ee any before it # .” It lias been judged, that the error, which I am* combating, derives support from the words of St. John, that “ whosoever is born of God doth not sc commit sin, for his seed remained] in him ; and he <( cannot commit sin, because he is born of Godf/ Whence it is contended, that as baptismal regenera¬ tion does not secure a man from sin, another greater and better new birth must be added to supply the defect. I thall not detain you at present by insisting on the impossibility of any man attaining to a state of sinless perfection, which these words, it strictly in¬ terpreted, assert. But I shall be satisfied with con¬ tending*, that the conclusion is absurd, from a con¬ sideration of the words themselves, and of their con¬ text. It will, I presume, be admitted, that the appella¬ tions of u born of God,” and “ the sons of God, ? are convertible terms; that if they occur in the same composition, and especially within a few sentences of each other, they must be understood of the same description of persons; at least, that what maybe affirmed generally of the one, cannot be denied of the other. Now in the passage before us, the' .Apostle affirms, that c< whosoever is born of God" * Ecclesiastical. Polity, book v. chap, lx, vol, ii. p. 249c Oxf*- edition. t 1 John iii. 9. Spiritual Grace of Baptism. 45 *** cannot sinand a few verses before he affirms, cs Beloved, now are we the sons of God;” so that connecting the two assertions together, he will be made to affirm, that all the persons, to whom his epistle was addressed, were incapable of sinning; a hazardous affirmation this, if it be considered, that the epistle was certainly addressed to large societies of Christians; probably to those who were dispersed throughout the provinces of the Greater and the Lesser Asia *. The truth appears to be, that St. John intended to give a description of those persons, who, having been regularly adopted for the sons of God by the appointed means, continued to act in a manner wor¬ thy of their adoption, by striving to profit by the grace of God, which would then effectually preserve them from the commission of the grosser sins. “ Every regenerate person,” says Bishop Taylor, in a passage which well explains the meaning of the. Apostle, is in a condition, whose very being is a ie contradiction and an opposite design to sin. When te he was regenerate and born anew of water and of “ the Spirit, the seed of God, the original of piety “ was put into him, and bidden to increase and mul- “ tiply. The seed of God in St. John is the same “ with the word of God in St. James, by which he “ begat us; and as long as this remains, a regene- u rate person cannot be given up to sin: for when “ he is, he quits his baptism, he renounces the cove- *' nant, he alters his relation to God in the same de- “ gree as he enters into a state of sin A.” The * See Preface to Pyle’s Paraphrase, t Bp. Taylor’s Life o f Christ, part i>, sect. 12. 40 Regeneration the words of the Apostle, therefore, are to he considered as a caution to the regenerate, not to rely on their admission into filiation with God, as sufficient to secure their eternal happiness ; but to live up to their high vocation, lest they should ultimately lose the privileges of their adoption by disobedience or unbe¬ lief, and become as though they had not been born again. Such was partly the design of the epistle, which was directed against the errors of the Nicoiaitans, and other heretics, who taught, that the mere exter¬ nal profession of the Christian faith, and the privi¬ lege of being begotten into the true Church, would bring men to happiness, whatever were their lives and practices *. And such appears to be the proper import of the particular passage that I have quoted. But neither it, nor any other passage in St. John, nor any other text of Scripture, appears to me to authorize the doctrine of a second, or of any other distinct from baptismal regeneration. Under the limitation here contended for, we may admit the position of an acute writer, that “ the i( views, dispositions, and conduct of real Chris- u bans invariably characterize the regenerate chil* ** dren of God in ScriptureUnder the same limitation too may be admitted that other position, by which discredit is sometimes attempted to be brought oh the doctrine of baptismal regeneration, that “ there is an infallible connection betw een reg$- neration and saltation, so that all, that were bap- * Preface to Pyle’s Paraphrase. ♦ Overton, p. 109. 47 Spiritual Grace of .Baptism . tized in their infancy, must necessarily be saved Positions, which are true, precisely to the same ex¬ tent as the assertion of the Apostle, that ft by baptism (c we are dead unto sin, and are freed from sin and as the promise of our Saviour, that i( be that “ believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved;” in other words, they are true of those persons, who are preserved by faith and obedience in the possession of those privileges, to which by baptism they were admitted: but in a more extended signification they are by no means correct; and in the unqualified terms, wherein they are often conveyed, are calcu¬ lated to perplex and mislead. If now what has been advanced be true, it must be an error for persons baptized in their infancy to describe any subsequent period of their lives as u a u season of unregenera< y q*,” and to call upon men once baptized to become regenerate; for no other new 7 birth can take place in this world. In fact, we know of only thiee lives, and three correspondent births. Once we are bom into the natural life, being born of Adam ; once we are born into the spi¬ ritual life, being born of water and of the Spirit; and once also, if we take care to profit by our bap¬ tismal privilege, we may be bom into a life of glory, being born of the resurrection at the last day. Into our spiritual life, with which we are at present con¬ cerned, as into the others also, we are bom once: to say that we are bom into it more than once, has * See A Hein’s Alarm to the Uncon verted, 1805, p. 39. Simpson’.** Plea for Religion, p. 56. Whitelield’s Eighteen Sermons, p. 350. t Hawker’s Zion’s Pilgrim, p, 3. Regeneration the no foundation in reason, no analogy in nature, nor (what is much stronger to the purpose) has it any warrant in Scripture. The condition of the Chiis- tian life is well described by one of our Reformers, in a w'ork bearing the sanction of authority, where he distinguishes the uses of the sacraments; that as « in baptism we have been once born again, so by “ the Lord’s supper we are perpetually nourished and supported to a spiritual and eternal life*. It is indeed in our spiritual, as in our natural, lile : as we may be ill in health, and may grow better and recover, but born again we cannot be; so we may be spiritually ill, and again be renewed or reformed ; but in that case we still hope for everlasting salvation upon the ground of the covenant, into which we were originally baptized: for inasmuch as there is but * one baptism,” so there is but one regeneration in this world ; and as we cannot be baptized again, so cannot we be a second time regenerated, or a second time be born again. Let it not be supposed that the present argument is a mere question of words: far indeed, very far from it. The abuse of words in this, as in many other cases, leads to material errors in opinion, and to serious evils in practice. Let us figure to ourselves a man, educated ac¬ cording to. the principles of the Church of England, but seduced from “ the words of truth and sober- “ ness,” which she delivers on the subject of rege¬ neration ; and enticed or terrified into the popular belief that he is no Christian, and is not m a state of * Noel. Catech. Enchir, Thecl, II. Spiritual G race of Baptism, Salvation, until he feel the pangs ©f the modern new birth. No violence will be done to nature and pro¬ bability, if we suppose him reasoning with himself in some such manner as the following : ‘ When an infant, I was baptized according to the 4 order of the national Church; and the Minister * pronounced by her directions, that I was regene- s rated by the Holy Spirit, and received by our e most merciful Father as his own child by adoption. * As soon as I was able to learn, I was taught what 4 a great blessing was then conferred upon me; and * that, by having been admitted to baptism, I bad 6 been made the child of God, and had undergone a 4 death unto sin and a new birth unto righteousness,, * When I had been sufficiently instructed to be con- 4 firmed by the Bishop, I heard from him a repeti- 4 tion of the comfortable assurance, that God had 4 vouchsafed to regenerate me by water and the 4 Holy Ghost, and to give me forgiveness of all my 4 sins. And I have since periodically joined w ith my brother Christians in making our grateful ac- * knowledgmcnts to Almighty God, for being re- 6 generate and made his children by adoption and 4 srace. € The Church has thus uniformly instructed me to look back upon regeneration as a thing which 4 is past: she has never taught me to look forward s to it, as a thing w hich is to come ; she has never * bid me desire and pray for it, as a thing necessary £ she has never w arned me to expect it, as a thing * expedient; she has never led me to regard it, as a thing possible, I am now however convinced, C 50 Regeneration, the J O < notwithstanding her assurances, comfortable as they 6 were* and her instructions, sound and scriptural as f they appeared to be, that Verily, verily, I must c be born again. ( What can I think of such a Church ? Can I re- e gard her as a pillar and ground of the truth ? Can *"■ I reverence her, who so grossly deluded me by a € visionary regeneration, and threw an impenetrable * veil over that which alone is effectual ? Who taught f me to think that I was in the way of salvation, < when I had not yet passed the threshold ? Who * made me believe I was a child of God, when I r was still a child of the devil ? Who treated me as a < Christian, when I was nothing but a baptized < heathen ?” Away with such an unscriptural Church ! e With such a mother of deceit and falsehood ! Away * with such a monster from the earth! ‘ What too shall I think of the Minister, who in- * structed me, according to the Liturgy and Articles * of that Church, of which he is too faithful a son ? * He recited to me her opinions in words of her own € providing; and he pretended to support them from 4 the pulpit, on the authority of the Bible. But he 4 is blind ; he is ignorant; he saw for me visions of € peace, when there was no peace; he spoke of my 4 having been quickened by the Holy Spirit, who ‘ had infused into me a new principle of life, when * I was still dead in trespasses and sins. Can such ‘ an one be a preacher of the Gospel? ‘ What again shall I think of baptism ; of that 4 which I have been wont to consider as the laver of ( regeneration; of that, which I have been taught is 5L Spiritual Grace of Baptism. < a sacrament, consisting of an outward visible sign, * and au inward spiritual,grace ? Iruly it doth not * -regenerate; it conveys no effectual legeneiation , ‘ it is destitute of an inward spiritual grace; it is ( no sacrament; it is a non-essential/ It will not iiave appeared perhaps that a syllable has been here suggested, more than would probably be uttered, or than probably has been in effect ut¬ tered, by persons in the situation that I have sup¬ posed. And if a man can bring his mind to think thus meanly of baptism, ordained as it was by Christ himself, with a promise of salvation annexed to its legitimate administration; what will he think of Christ’s other ordinances ? What of the other sacra¬ ment, the Indy communion of Christ s body and blood ? If the spiritual part of baptism be denied, why should the spiritual part of the communion be allowed ? If water be not really the laver of regene¬ ration, why should bread and wine be spiritually the body and blood of Christ, and convey strength and refreshment to the soul ? Surely it is not too much to affirm, that the stripping of one of God’s ordinances of that, which constitutes its essential value, has a natural tendency to bring the efficacy of the others into question, and to diminish at least, it not to an¬ nihilate, a man’s respect for them as means of spiri¬ tual grace. in this condition perhaps he will continue, some¬ times exulting in hope, and sometimes sunk in de¬ spondency ; waiting for an extraordinary impulse of the Holy Spirit, and neglecting the means of procur- r Q. 55 Regeneration the ing his ordinary sanctifying graces; until the moment approach, in which, under the influence of some pow¬ erful preacher, whose word is sharper than a two- edged sword, he is to undergo his mysterious rege¬ neration ; a regeneration, wherein, instead of being born himself of water, and of the Spirit, Christ is to be “ born in his heart as he w as born in the Vir- “ gin’s womb a regeneration, without undergo¬ ing the pangs of which he is taught that “ he may “ flatter himself that he may go to heaven, but will u certainly And himself miserably mistaken in the a end f when, having experienced a state of hor- * ror, agony, and despair, which mocks the language of description, and which it were too painful, if it were possible, to describe; a state of pangs and tra¬ vails, which is necessary to be sustained by every one ere Christ be formed in him; a state, which has been compared by those who have felt its horrors, to the agonies of death, the pains; of hell, and tor¬ tures inflicted by infuriate devils +; he fancies that he is begotten again! that he is born of the Holy Spirit of Godi What will be the future life of a man thus regene¬ rated, I do not venture to pronounce. But in no¬ ticing some evil consequences of a doctrine, which, for the spiritual grace attendant upon the holy ordi- * WhiteficldY Eighteen Sermons, p. 307. + Whitefield’s Works, vol. i. p. 18. $ Wesley’s Journals, and Enthusiasm «f Methodists, &C. vol. jjit p. 22, and following pages. Spiritual Grace of Baptism, 53 nance of Christ, substitutes a wild and fanciful rege«* neration of man’s invention, we may be allowed to speculate on the effects likely to be produced in one thus initiated to the new birth. To speculate, did I say, on probable effects? Rather to call to mind effects which have notoriously ensued, and to consi¬ der whether they are not such as sober reason might have foreseen. The history of some popular modern sects does strictly tally with the expectations of reason; and if among the regenerated of later days, who have been thus tormented into the new birth, many have subse¬ quently been driven through every species of extra¬ vagance to the very extreme of irrecoverable mad¬ ness *; if .many, after a temporary exultation in the love of God shed abroad in their hearts, have re¬ lapsed into intolerable perplexities, distraction, and despaird*; if many, after fancying themselves puri¬ fied even as Christ is pure, have turned back, and become twofold more the children of hell than be¬ fore if many, who pretended to be conformed to the image of Christ, have at that very instant conti¬ nued under the dominion of grievous sins ; if many^ who imagine themselves thoroughly renewed in the image of the meek and lowly Jesus, swell with pha- risaical pride, thanking God that they are not as man ai-a • ovirl if n 1l llivil icse favoured brethren with scorn, and say, fs- sessions such as these, (and they comprise almost every soul of man that breathed,) must have been C. 0 60 A spiritual and instantaneous Conversion converted from his errors whether in principle or In practice: his heart must have been opened, and softened, and rendered capable of receiving fresh and totally different impressions, before he could become a believer in the truth, or a performer of the duties, of the Gospel. Every man, who now also is under the influence of similiar prepossessions, must now also undergo a similar change. Every unbeliever and every sinner, although made by baptism a member of Christ and a child of God, must be, in a certain sense, con¬ verted, if he would ultimately succeed to his inhe¬ ritance of the kingdom of heaven. But to fancy, that every Christian whatever must experience a conversion in order to be in a state of salvation;—* to assert, with the Arminian Founder of Metho¬ dism, that oUr clergy may always see such i( m consequence of their preaching And more fully, in order that the notion of an in¬ stantaneous change may not appear deficient in pa¬ rallels and unsupported by the authority of Scrip- * WJjitefield’s Works, vol. iv. p. 14. not necessary for Christians. 07 ture, we are informed by the other great leader oi the schism, who once entertained doubts concerning the doctrine, of which he afterwards became a de¬ termined advocate, I could not comprehend vihat “ was meant by an instantaneous work ; I could not <{ understand, how this faith could be given in a <( moment; how a man could at once be turned “ from darkness to light; from sin and misery to (< righteousness and joy in the Holy Ghost. I £< tiling upon the earth.} supported by the evidence jof even Xi greater things than the raising of dead bo- « dies to life * and such, that “ if men will not ci believe th e, evidence God has given tnat he sent £< ix, neither would they believe though one rose a f rom the dead f” men are taught to expect these instantaneous and irresistible conversions as matters of course and of necessity. cc A re not all these t< things,” demands its Calvimstic Founder, after giving his own colouring to the examples of miracu¬ lous conversion recorded in the Acts, Are not all a these things written for our learning l Is not God xt the same yesterday, to-day, and tor evci f And if ma y he not now, as well as formerly, reveal his " arm, and display his power, in bringing sinners a home to himself, as suddenly and instantaneously i< as in the first planting of the Gospel Church % r” ^The consequence must naturally be, a carelessness about growing in grace, and a neglect of the outward a Wesley’s Sermons, vol. v-i. p. 66, 4 Whitefield’s Works, vol. iv. p. 10. vol, i. p, 50* + Wlutefisld’s Woiks, vol, iv. p. 161, 75 not necessary for Christian$> regular means : and this carelessness and neglect are •augmented by their being ostentatiously reminded of those, who are said to have been recovered from the most settled despair and the most excruciating horror by a kind of supernatural interposition, after having in vain habitually practised all the means of grace*; and of others, who are said to have been impelled to wean themselves from inveterate wickedness, and to embrace a religious life, by a strong preternatu¬ ral agency, without having practised those means at all f. It is true, we hear them telling their deluded fol¬ lowers, that they ought to be converted ; expostula¬ ting with them for not choosing to be converted, and for putting off their conversion, for not turning to God directly; intreating them to repent and he converted : Yet wherefore f when in almost the same breath they tell them, that the author of this conver¬ sion is the Holy Ghost; that it is not their own free will ; it is not moral suasion; that nothing short of the influence of the Spirit of the living God can effect this change in their hearts Yet it was by outward and ordinary means, by evidence and arguments and moral suasion, that con¬ versions of the ordinary kind were effected by the Apostles themselves. Such we have seen to be tlie case with respect to the Gentiles of Antioch, and the •* Wesley’s Journals, No. Ill, p. 15, 32, 54. 4 See Enthusiasm of Methodists, &c. vol. ii. p 146.—Wesley’s Journals, No. III. p. 109* t Whitefield’sEighteen Sermons, pages lit!, and following D Q, \ ^ 6 jl special and instantaneous Conversion Jews of Thessalonica and Berea. And such was the mode adopted by Paul, -when the Lord opened “ the heart” of L}dia of Thyateira, not to believe, -but “ to attend to the things spoken by” the Apostle *' ; and by Philip, when he unfolded to the Ethiopian eunuch the memorable prophecy of Isaiah, and began at the same scripture, and preached “ unto him Jesus L” Even when miraculous attestations were conferred in immediate aid of their ministry, the Apostles em¬ ployed sound and sober arguments to convince the reason ; and directed their efforts to enlighten the understandings, rather than to excite the passions and feelings, oi their hearers. The Sermon of Peter, which was occasioned by the astonishment conse¬ quent upon the miraculous gift of tongues, was oc¬ cupied in convincing the inquiring multitude, that there was no illusion in their claim to inspiration ; that it was a completion of one ot their ancient pro¬ phecies, several others of which had also been ful¬ filled in the person of Christ; and in pressing on their minds the miraculous acts of his life, and his resurrection, and ascension into heaven. It was with similar arguments, that he wrought upon the minds of the five thousand, who fucked together on the cure of the lame man. And the conversion of Cornelius, the first fruits of the Gentile world, which had been begun by a supernatural vision, vouchsafed him in consideration of his acts of devotion and cha¬ rity, correspondent to the proportion of knowledge * Acts xvi. + Ibid. viii. not necessary for Christians. 7'y ^uicli he possessed, was promoted by Peter bearing witness to (he miracles and resurrection of Christ Very unlike these words of truth and soberness n tire character of that preaching, which the mission- ary of Methodism, protesting as he does against the operation of moral persuasion upon the soul f, em¬ ploys for-the instrument of his instantaneous con¬ versions. Reason is left to slumber on her post; and her authority is superseded at least, if not an¬ nihilated, while, with language the most portentous, enforced by the most vehement articulation and the- wildest extravagance of gesture, he gives the rein to the imagination, alarms the feelings, and stimulates the passions; now exciting an ecstatic love for Christ in terms of rapture, of which it hath been truly ob¬ served that “ enthusiasts and pious mystics have been “ remarkably fond R” but which more become a preacher of the Koran, than of the Gospel; now dwelling with horrible delight on the terrors of God’s wrath, and figuring to the shrinking mind, with a minute and frightful particularity, the agonies ol hell and the torments of the damned. The effect corresponds with its cause. But I dare not lay before your eyes specific and detailed exam¬ ples of those formidable symptoms, which accom¬ pany the conversion of the disciple, and testify the efficacious power of the teacher. Alternate extremes weeping and of laughter; sobs and shrieks and * Acts x. hitefield’s Works, vol. i. p. 113 . * Jurtm’s Remarks ou Eccl. Hist. vol. ii, p. Si, D 3 78 A special and instantaneous Conversion groans and wailing and gnashing of teeth ; the voice now stifled by agony, and now bursting forth in tone# of execration, blasphemy, and despair; tremours and faintings and droppings to the ground, as if struck by lightening and thunder; paleness and tor¬ por ; convulsions and contortions, as in the pangs of death, as out of the belly of hell ; things terrible to behold, too horrible to be borne, and which words cannot describe: such are the symptoms of conver¬ sion, which the very preachers, who have excited them, have gloried to survey, have exulted and tri¬ umphed in enumerating *, A scene more melancholy hardly presented itself to the powerful imagination of Milton f, when he described, as the most loathsome consequence and most compendious testimony of human corruption, his visionary lazar-house, . wherein were lard Numbers of all diseas’d ; all maladies Of ghastly spasm, or racking torture, qualms Of heartsick agony,—— Convulsions, epilepsies, Demoniack phrenzv, moaping melancholy. And moonstruck madness—— Dire was the tossing, deep the groans; despair Tended the sick, busiest from couch to couch. But they are very different sensations from those of * See Wesley’s Journals, No. III. p. 32, 36, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 61, 62, 71, 74,75, 79, 82, 95, 98, &c. &c. Enthusiasm of Methodists, See. vol. iii. p. 23. and following pages. Ibid. p. 135> 136. t This paragraph was not delivered from the pulpit. not necessary for Christians-> triumph and exultation, which he attributes to the conscious author of such misery, when he represents* him exclaiming, 0 miserable mankind, to wbat fall Degraded, to what wretched state reserved-f _ —— . .. Can thus The image of Cod in man, created once So goodly and erect, though faulty since. To such unsightly sufferings be debas’d. Under inhuman pains ? Why should not man, Ketaining still divrne similitude In part, from such deformities be free, And for his Maker’s sake exempt ? Such sentiments have undoubtedly passed through’ the minds of many considerate men, on perusing the annals of modern enthusiasm; and contemplating their nature, fallen indeed and corrupted, but re¬ newed, and repaired, and rendered capable of being conformed again to the image of Christ, thus cruelly debased to the extreme point of degradation. And are we to be referred to Scripture for pa¬ rallels to such extravagances as these ? Are we to be sent to Scripture for examples of men in a state of intellectual desolation, reduced to a level with the very beasts that perish, in order that they may be eloathed with sinless perfection, and revel in the assurance of happiness ? Js not this more like making them pass through fire to Moloch, than leading them with willing steps to rest upon God’s holy hilli* The Bible however is before us: let us turn to die cases of conversion which it commemorates ; and let us take them for the criterion of our opinions. i> 4 BO A special and instantaneous Conversion And what resemblance to these enormities, which are described as the frequent proofs and symptoms of conversion ;—or even to those pangs and travails of soul, which, we are taught, that all experience before a thorough conversion is effected in the he&rt *;— to those fX: : such is the intellectual deso¬ lation, the darkness, and the bondage, into which the converted have been betrayed; a darkness, which hath been felt by every faculty of the inward man, and a bondage wherein the iron hath entered deep into the soul. * See Wesley’s Journals, No. I. III. p. 133. No. III. p. 109. No. V. p. 81. Account of Samuel and Thomas Hitchens, p. 4, 12. 18, 19. Enthusiasm of Methodists, part ii. p. 112. past ui, p. 7>S, 9, 15, 46,88, 93, 4, 5, 6, fj'2 A special and instantaneous Conversion But let us throw a veil over these gloomy images' c*f the corruption, the perverseness, and the infatua¬ tion of human nature. Necessary as they are to he exhibited, as fatal examples of the pernicious ten¬ dency of error, they are too melancholy to he contem¬ plated with composure. The mind recoils from contemplating them : and seeks repose and consola¬ tion in that scene of harmony, and gladness; of gra¬ titude, and devotion; of sober delight, and rational exultation; of “ love, peace, and joy in the Holy “ Ghost,” which is represented in the page of the Evangelist; when “ they that gladly received the vord were baptized, and continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayerwhen “ the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul;” and “ continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house “ to house, did eat their meat with gladness and sin¬ gleness of heart; praising God, and having favour