constrained to gather churches out of churches. A prediction, which was extensively verified, in about that time. This suspension of divine influence, and decline of vital religion, continued until the time of Edwards, the Luther of New-England, who by his example, and by his unanswerable treatise, on the terms of communion, revived the practice of receiving to the communion none but those, who furnished credible evidence of a moral renovation by the spirit, and of repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. A practice, which, has been steadily increasing, from his day to this; and with it, evangelical doctrine, and revivals of religion. By this course of ample experiment, in the primitive church, at the reformation, and in New-England; the point is settled, that, evangelical doctrines, cannot be maintained. in the churches of our Lord, but by maintaining the apostolic tenure of membership. Let men of the world be amalgamated with the pious, in the church, and soon evangelical opinions will be exiled, or remain only in her creed a dead letter. In the application of this subject we invite the attention of those, to what has been advanced in this discourse, whose minds have been unsettled and perplexed, in respect to the claims of the liberal and evangelical systems, to be regarded as the faith delivered to the saints: or, who have been accustomed to regard the latter system, as unintelligible, contradictory, absurd, and of no salutary practical influence. We are sensible, that, in our land, there are many, who have no opportunity of hearing the evangelical system of doctrines stated and defended, in a manner which its advocates would approve: and that, no small prejudice has arisen against it, through misapprehension. But with his Bible. in his possession, we are constrained to believe, that, every man may know what the Scriptures say on these subjects, and that, if the evangelical system be divine, it cannot be rejected with impunity. If, to any, this opinion shall seem severe, and as some have said, as if we were glad that many will be lost; we can say with an Apostle, and call God to witness, that we have great heaviness and continual sorrow in our hearts, for our brethren our kinsmen according to the flesh;* whom, as we understand the Bible, we cannot but regard as fatally deceived. If the effects of their mistake were in our view, confined to this transient scene; or, if we could believe, that, the truth of God as a whole, could be misunderstood, and rejected, consistently with that moral renovation of the heart, which is indispensable to communion with God, and admission to heaven; we might hold our peace: for of what possible consequence can it be to us, whether our fellow men agree with, or differ from us on points, which, in a few days, may be of no consequence. Time is too short, and eternity is too long, to justify great solicitude, about things which affect us only here. But if, as we believe, all the qualifications for heaven have ceased from the heart of man, and all the means of their restoration, lie in the system of revealed truth, and the efficacy given to it by the special influence of the Holy Spirit, and that God will not sanctify by the instrumentality of error, where his truth is rejected in the presence, or within the reach of ample evidence: how can we, in such circumstances, behold our fellow men, our friends, and neighbors, moving onward to the confirmed state of a miserable eternity, and not be deeply affected. We beseech you, brethren, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, that you be not offended with our plainness, in this discourse, nor with our importunity in its application. We repectfully, but earnestly, invite your attention to the argument, which has been submitted to your consideration; and intreat, that in the light of it, and of God's holy word, you will give to your own opinions one revision more: one careful, prayerful, immediate revision: for if you are wrong, it will soon be too late to retrieve the mistake. Allow me to ask you then, affectionately-solemnly, whether such collateral evidence, as we have been able to lay into the scale of evangelical exposition, can be the result of accident, or can be found, to be laid in the opposite scale? Are the doctrines of the liberal system, contained in the text, according to its * Rom. ix, 1, 2, most direct, and obvious meaning? Do they receive the sanction of approbation, from the most devout persons, and the sentence of condemnation from the irreligious and vicious? Does the liberal system produce the same objections, which the faith produced, as delivered to the saints? Is it gladly received by the common people, and rejected by the same sort of men in the higher orders of society, as rejected the Gospel? Do the doctrines of the liberal system, occasion a virulent hostility against them, in such circumstances, as show that it does not result from the ardent love of truth, or hatred of error? Do they occasion the same fears and anxieties about a future state; the same deep conviction of sin, and the same joyful and often sudden conversion to God, as are manifested under evangelical preaching, and in revivals of religion? Do the doctrines of the liberal system, produce revivals of religion at all; and not rather, awaken prejudices, and array influence against them. Do they produce the same style of piety; as deep, solemn, ardent, as the faith produced, which was delivered to the saints? Do they inspire the same solicitude and effort for the awakening and conversion of sinners, under the light of the gospel; or the same compassion for the heathen, and enterprise for their salvation. Does the liberal system inspire the same assurance of its being true, attended by the same unwavering constancy in its profession, which the faith delivered to the saints inspired, and do they produce the same assurance of hope, and the same sustaining joy "full of glory" in the hour of death. We make the appeal to your consciences and your hearts, whether you do not perceive and know, that the liberal system is naked in respect to these great effects, which the faith delivered to the saints, did produce: and whether, all of them, do not with undeniable notoriety, cluster about the path of the evangelical system. If this be so, can that system be false, which produces the effects, so many, and so great, which were produced by the faith delivered to the saints: and can that be the true faith, which is so utterly destitute of them? The Gospel, is the most powerful moral cause, which has ever operated in this world. Its effects of course cannot be hid, and cannot be the same, with a system in direct opposi tion to it. The three or four first centuries, brought out unequivocally, the effects of the faith delivered to the saints which we have noted: these, all of them, are found associated still, with the evangelical system: and none of them with the liberal system. Is, then, the liberal system, the faith once delivered to the saints? Why does it not produce the same effects which that produced? Has the Gospel changed its nature, or lost its power, or has the human nature changed: or-is the liberal system another Gospel. Ponder well this subject for the judge is at the door, and the day will burst. upon us soon, that will try every man's faith, and heart, and work. Allow us then, once more to refer it to your consciences, whether, allowing the evidence from exposition to be on each side the same, this decisive weight of collateral evidence, ought not to withdraw your confidence from the liberal system, and to decide your judgment in favor of the evangelical system, as the very "word of God, and faith of Jesus." Every great system of truth and falsehood, is attended by a mass of presumptive collateral evidence, for or against it. And while the evangelical system commends itself to your confidence by all that variety of collateral evidence which has been exhibited, and the opposite system is wholly unattended by it; dare you, will you, reject the evangelical, and risk your salvation on the liberal system? Does the thought, as you read, offer to rise, "Possibly, after all, my own system may be a deception, and that which I have disputed be true." Let it arise: for it may be the movement on your mind, of the long resisted spirit, suggesting to your conscience, "this is the way, walk ye in it." Does fear flash across your mind, at times, the thought, as a momentary reality, "I may be wrong after all, and these doctrines which produce revivals of religion, and such joy in death, may be the faith delivered to the saints." Stifle not the unwelcome conviction, for it may be the commencement of eternal life in your soul. "Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest to your souls.” |