Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub

be accomplished at all. Where is the promise of his coming? How can you who trust in such a deceiver now, pretend to hold up your faces before liberal thinking men, in this enlightened age, and call yourselves his followers ? Defend his character now, if you can, and shew, if that be possible, that he is no impostor, or that your hopes and prospects are good for any thing."- Such seems to be the utmost stretch of the wit couched in your overwhelming sneer. Should we be abashed or confounded by it? I think not.

Your objection is unfounded. When you ask the question, "Where is the promise of his coming?" you would have us believe that it has failed, and you think you have reduced us to a dilemma, while you vaunt and scoff as if you had proved our Lord an impostor, and demonstrated that our hopes are gone, and our all is lost. But you have proved no such thing. You may propose your question as often, and laugh as loud as you please; but this does not prove that he is an impostor, or deceives, or that we are credulous fools in believing his word. His promise has not failed, because he has not yet fulfilled it. He has not fixed the date when his promise was to receive its accomplishment: if he had, and that day had passed by, you might then have vaunted, and said, "Where is the promise of his coming?" You would then have had a right to have said, "His word has failed." But as it is, you only expose your own folly by scoffing at the promise of his coming. But you say, He promised to come quickly?-Yes, and whenever he comes, it will be found by all his enemies, that he has come quickly indeed. We must wait; but we and you should remember, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering; not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." Your sneering objection then falls to the ground, as the Lord has not fixed the day of his arrival; and he may yet come and prove his word true. Don't laugh then, but wait, and prepare to meet your God!

Your wit is misplaced. These are serious subjects, and ought to be treated in a serious manner, and will certainly deeply impress every serious mind. Eternity stares you in the face; and your state and prospects beyond death and the grave, are forcibly urged home on your most serious attention. Unless these

bore the stamp of falsehood, or were mere trifles to you, a contrary conduct to what you manifest is necessary in attending to them; but they certainly do not wear the stamp of falsehood, or if they do, you may shew it, as we cannot discern it; and they are assuredly, if they be realities, of the utmost consequence to you; here, especially, levity and indifference are quite out of place.

Your ridicule is premature, your boasting is certainly far too easy; you should wait awhile before you call the truth or certainty of his coming in question. It is necessary for you to do much more than you have yet done, before you are safe, continuing as you are. You must prove that he will never come, that there will be no future judgment, nor future misery: then, and not till then, you may go on and live as you please, and laugh at the consequences; but remember, the Lord hath shewn his ability, and demonstrated his determination to call you to a strict account, and inflict upon you the threatened punishment. That he is able to punish, and that he will certainly punish all the unbe lieving and impenitent, is evident from what he has done already. He destroyed the old world, because of the wickedness of those who dwelt upon it, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly. He overwhelmed Sodom and Gomorrah, and the other cities of the plain, by fire from Heaven, on account of the crimes of their inhabitants; and the seven nations of Canaan were overthrown, the very land being sick of them, and vomiting them out, because of their degeneracy. Do not say there are no proofs of these things-the poets and historians of other nations attest the truth of these facts; besides that, they stand recorded in the Bible. But he who thus punished the ungodly, is the same God still, and hates iniquity as strongly as ever, and will cer tainly punish it. "There is no peace, saith my God to the wicked." "The wicked and unbelieving shall not escape, but shall go away into everlasting punishment." When such a dreadful judgment awaits you, for which you are unprepared, and from which you cannot escape, why will you not take warning, and be persuaded to flee from the wrath to come? Your system misgives you in death, but the Christian hath hope in death. Do not drink that deadly soporific draught administered by modern philosophers, that death is eternal sleep this would only be→ numb your senses, lull you asleep, and finally destroy you. Examine Christianity, weigh its evidences, and discovering it to be true, believe and live.

Falkland.

URIEL.

REFLECTIONS ON ISAIAH LXVI. 3.

They have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.

IN the abundance which has been written on the freedom of the will, very little has been deemed satisfactory. This general failure is attributable to a variety of causes; the difficulties neces sarily connected with the subject, the rashness of some writers, the weakness of others, and the proneness of all to the educational bias they early received.

In enquiries on this subject, the smoothness of our way is soon interrupted by the obtruding question, "What is the immediate cause of determining the will?" All agree, that the greatest good ought always to fix our choice; but that it does not, is a fact too plain to need confirmation. Some writers, of considerable repute, have therefore maintained, that the greatest apparent good always determines the will; while others, no less reputable, think this is rather a remote than an immediate cause of choice; and they suppose, that whatever occasions an inferior good to seem superior, may more properly be called the immediate cause of determining the will in its volitions. Rather than give an opi

nion of my own on this subject, I shall adopt what is modestly suggested by another *, " That the actual state of the mind, in the scale of rectitude, is the immediate cause of determining the will." In connection with this suggestion, the Scripture at the head of this paper will lead to several serious reflections.

1. What is the actual state of the human mind in the scale of Rectitude? The compilers of the Thirty-nine Articles have taught us, "That man is very far gone from original righteousness;" and that he is of his own nature inclined to evil.” The same humbling representation is uniformly made in the Homilies and Common Prayer Book. Indeed, every impartial judge will acknowledge, that this is a leading doctrine with the Church of England. The fathers of the Dissenting Churches were of the same opinion. Accordingly they declare," That man is utterly indisposed, disabled, and opposite unto all that is spiritually good, and wholly inclined to all evil." The fallen condition of man was a frequent subject with the Puritans and first Nonconformist ministers."

[ocr errors]

In this respect, the holy Scriptures perfectly accord with the authorized formularies of the Established Church, and the confessions of the early Dissenters. After abundantly shewing the fall of our first parents, they insist forcibly on the depravity of their offspring: they represent all their descendants as shapen in infquity and conceived in sin; and hence enquire, Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? What is man, that he should be clean ? and he that is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? The Scriptures place our actual state in the scale of Rectitude extremely low: they declare, that man is abominable and filthy, that the carnal mind is enmity against God, that every imagination of the thoughts of our hearts is only evil continually." Very far from flattering us, with loud encomiums on our virtue, our correct taste, and amiable tempers, the word of God affirms," That we are dead in trespasses and sins;" that while we are in an unrenewed state, we cannot please God, cannot come to him, we cannot cease from sin,

[ocr errors]

We

that our

* Dr. Williams's Notes on Doddridge's Lectures, Leet. xviii

hearts are fully set in us to do evil. if such be our actual state in the scale of Rectitude,

2, How will such a state of mind influence the understanding? Describing some persons who are abominable and disobedient, the apostle affirms, that even their mind and "conscience is defiled" or perverted. A depraved soul, like a jaundiced eye, sees every thing in an improper light. A carnivorous taste makes carrion pleasing to the crow. The influence of depravity on the understanding, is of the most fatal kind: it teaches us to call evil good, and good evil; to put darkness for light, and light for darkness; bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. Accordingly we read of the deceiveableness of unrighteousness." The same individuals who had " pleasure in unrighteousness, believed not the truth." Avarice prevails over the voice of Reason and of Scripture, and persuades the worldly-minded, that gain is a greater good than godliness. When the soul is alienated from the life of God, we cannot wonder if the understanding be darkened.

3. If a depraved mind pervert the understanding, it will also mislead the will. While a rectified understanding and a holy taste will lead us to choose the good and refuse the evil, a corrupt heart and a perverted judgment will induce us to choose the things which are an abomination unto the Lord. As sure as our carnal minds are enmity against God, so will the enmity of the mind lead to wicked works. While we are in the flesh, we shall supremely mind the things of the flesh. Continuing thus low in the scale of Rectitude, the ways we shall invariably choose, will be sin and death. From this view of the moral state of man, and the influence it has upon his understanding, ** will, and conduct, we are led to observe,

1. That most men entertain improper notions of human nature. We need spend no more time to prove that the above representation is agreeable to the word of God; and we are sure that his judgment is according to truth. Reader, seriously compare this hambling picture with your own experience. It may be, you have generally supposed, that the seeds of every virtue reside in your breast; that you only need some favourable opportunity to promote their growth; and while you condemn your own practice, you are ready to apologize for your heart, as if this had no concern in the transactions of your life. But cxamine, I beseech you, if the seat of every iniquity be not in the heart. Try it by a single criminal action of your life, and remember, that the whole of a man's life is but a multitude of single actions: if each, separately, springs from the heart, all do. Fix upon one sinful action. What led you to commit this sin? Is it not a fact, an indubitable fact, that you did it because you chose to do so? Why did you choose it? Because your judgment was perverted. By what? By an evil heart. This, Reader, is the true state of

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

2. Hence we may see the necessity of being born again. Till our moral state be changed, it will continue to have the same influence on the understanding: we shall continue to choose our own ways, and to delight in our abominations. Reader, Art thou born again? Has a divine change passed upon thee? Without a divine change, we shall continue the saine depraved guilty creatures; and at length die unholy, unfit for Heaven, and incapable of spiritual exercises.

3. This also shews the propriety and importance of ministers insisting much on the fallen state of man and the necessity of the new birth. Experience abundantly testifies, that where these subjects have been generally omitted, or but occasionally introduced, little good has been done. While, on the contrary, ministers who have dwelt much in their preaching on the guilt of man, and have thence shewn the necessity of an atonement by the Son of God; and on the pollution of man, and have thence shewn the necessity of being renewed by the Spirit of God; such have generally been most successful in converting sinners from the error of their way. MAON.

[ocr errors]

Evangelicana.

THE CLERGY AND DISSENTING MINISTERS.

"IT is the duty of such men to confine themselves to the purposes for which their employments had been instituted: to cultivate peace and good order, to instil into the minds of the public a rational love of Christian morality, - to exhibit in their practice exemplarity of conduct for piety and virtue, to have no other competition than that recommended by the gospel, namely, Who shall most contribute to promote the great ends of religion and morality? From such a contention, the State must derive the most important advantages: it were a warfare truly worthy the sacred title of Religion.” Mr. Pirr's Speeches, Vol. I.

ENTHUSIASM.

"WE are accused of enthusiasm! Are we then fanatics? Are we enthusiasts, because we cry Do not rob,-Abstain from murder? If by enthusiasm, be meant zeal and warmth, I freely acknowledge it: I glory in it. Enthusiasm, when it arises out of a just cause, is that which makes men act in it with energy. It is that, without which nothing great was ever done since the creation of the world. Enthusiasm of this sort, I hope, therefore, I shall always possess: it is what, in this case, we pride ourselves in!-we glory in it !"

Mr. Fox's Speech for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, 1792.

WHEN Dr. Beattie was introduced to the King, at Kew, both their Majesties and the Doctor spoke highly of Lord Dartmouth; and the King added, "They say that Lord Dartmouth is an enthusiast; but, surely, he says nothing on the subject of religion, but what every Christian may aud ought to say." FORBES'S Life of Beattie, vol. i. p. 271.

« ForrigeFortsæt »