On the whole, therefore, it is not only lawful and innocent, but meet, right, and our bounden duty, in conformity to the uninterrupted practice of the whole Church of Christ from the earliest ages, to consecrate our children to God by baptism, as the Jewish Church were commanded to do by circumcision.

NOVEMBER 11, 1756.

AN EXTRACT

FROM

"A SHORT VIEW OF THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE MORAVIAN BRETHREN

(SO CALLED,)

AND THE REV. MR. JOHN AND CHARLES WESLEY."

TO THE READER.

As those who are under the direction of Count Zinzendorf (vulgarly called Moravian Brethren) are the most plausible, and therefore far the most dangerous, of all the Antinomians now in England, I first endeavour to guard such as are simple of heart against being taken by those cunning hunters.

THE difference between the Moravian doctrine and ours (in this respect) lies here :

:

They believe and teach,—

"1. That Christ has done all which was necessary for the salvation of all mankind.

"2. That, consequently, we are to do nothing, as necessary to salvation, but simply to believe in him.

"3. That there is but one duty now, but one command, viz. to believe in Christ.

"4. That Christ has taken away all other commands and duties, having wholly" abolished the law;" that a believer is therefore "free from the law," is not obliged thereby to do or omit any thing; it being inconsistent with his liberty to do any thing as commanded.

"5. That we are sanctified wholly the moment we are justified, and are neither more nor less holy to the day of our death; entire sanctification, and entire justification, being in one and the same instant.

"6. That a believer is never sanctified or holy in himself, but in Christ only; he has no holiness in himself at all, all his holiness being imputed, not inherent.

"7. That if a man regards prayer, or searching the Scriptures, or communicating, as matter of duty; if he judges himself obliged to do these things, or is troubled when he does them not; he is in bondage; he has no faith at all, but is seeking salvation by the works of the law."

We believe that the first of these propositions is ambiguous, and all the rest utterly false.

"1. Christ has done all that was necessary for the salvation of all mankind."

This is ambiguous. Christ has not done all which was necessary for the absolute salvation of all mankind. For notwithstanding all that Christ has done, he that believeth not shall be damned. But he has done all which was necessary for the conditional salvation of all mankind; that is, if they believe; for through his merits all that believe to the end, with the faith that worketh by love, shall be saved.

"2. We are to do nothing as necessary to salvation, but simply to believe in him."

If we allow the Count's definition of faith, namely, "the historical knowledge of this truth, that Christ has been a man and suffered death for us," (Sixteen Discourses, p. 57,) then is this proposition directly subversive of the whole revelation of Jesus Christ.

"3. There is but one duty now, but one command, viz. to believe in Christ."

Almost every page in the New Testament proves the falsehood of this

assertion.

"4. Christ has taken away all other commands and duties, having wholly abolished the law."

How absolutely contrary is this to his own solemn declaration !— "Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the Prophets. I am not come to destroy but to fulfil. One jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till heaven and earth pass."

"Therefore a believer is free from the law." That he is "free from the curse of the law," we know; and that he is "free from the law," or power, "of sin and death:" but where is it written that he is free from the law of God?

"He is not obliged thereby to do or omit any thing, it being inconsistent with his liberty to do any thing as commanded."

So your liberty is a liberty to disobey God; whereas ours is a liberty to obey him in all things: so grossly, while we "establish the law," do you "make void the law through faith!"

"5. We are sanctified wholly the moment we are justified, and are neither more nor less holy to the day of our death; entire sanctification and entire justification being in one and the same instant."

Just the contrary appears both from the tenor of God's word, and the experience of his children.

"6. A believer is never sanctified or holy in himself, but in Christ only. He has no holiness in himself at all; all his holiness being imputed, not inherent."

Scripture holiness is the image of God; the mind which was in Christ; the love of God and man; lowliness, gentleness, temperance, patience, chastity. And do you coolly affirm, that this is only imputed to a believer, and that he has none at all of this holiness in him? Is temperance imputed only to him that is a drunkard still; or chastity, to her that goes on in whoredom? Nay, but a believer is really chaste and temperate. And if so, he is thus far holy in himself.

Does a believer love God, or does he not? If he does, he has the love of God in him. Is he lowly, or meek, or patient at all? If he is, he has these tempers in himself; and if he has them not in himself, he is not lowly, or meck, or patient. You cannot therefore deny, that every believer has holiness in, though not from, himself; else you deny, that he is holy at all; and if so, he cannot see the Lord.

And indeed, if holiness in general be the mind which was in Christ, what can any one possibly mean by, "A believer is not holy in himself, but in Christ only? that the mind which was in Christ is in a believer

also; but it is in Him,-not in himself, but in Christ!" What a heap of palpable self-contradiction, what senseless jargon, is this!

"7. If a man regards prayer, or searching the Scriptures, or communicating, as matter of duty; if he judges himself obliged to do these things, or is troubled when he does them not, he is "in bondage," he has no faith at all, but is seeking salvation by the works of the law."

Thus obedience with you is a proof of unbelief, and disobedience a proof of faith! What is it, to put darkness for light, and light for darkness, if this is not?

PREDESTINATION CALMLY CONSIDERED.

THAT to the height of this great argument

I may assert eternal Providence,

And justify the ways of God to men.--MILTON.

1. I AM inclined to believe, that many of those who enjoy the "faith which worketh by love," may remember some time when the power of the Highest wrought upon them in an eminent manner; when the voice of the Lord laid the mountains low, brake all the rocks in pieces, and mightily shed abroad his love in their hearts, by the Holy Ghost given unto them. And at that time it is certain they had no power to resist the grace of God. They were then no more able to stop the course of that torrent which carried all before it, than to stem the waves of the sea with their hand, or to stay the sun in the midst of heaven.

2. And the children of God may continually observe how his love leads them on from faith to faith; with what tenderness he watches over their souls; with what care he brings them back if they go astray, and then upholds their going in his path, that their footseps may not slide. They cannot but observe how unwilling he is to let them go from serving him; and how, notwithstanding the stubbornness of their wills, and the wildness of their passions, he goes on in his work, conquering and to conquer, till he hath put all his enemies under his feet.

3. The farthert his work is carried on in their hearts, the more earnestly do they cry out, "Not unto us, O Lord, but unto thy name give the praise, for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake!" the more deeply are they convinced that "by grace we are saved; not of works, lest any man should boast ;" that we are not pardoned and accepted with God for the sake of any thing we have done, but wholly and solely for the sake of Christ, of what he hath done and suffered for us; the more assuredly likewise do they know, that the condition of this acceptance is faith alone; before which gift of God no good work can be done, none which hath not in it the nature of sin.

4. How easily then may a believer infer, from what he hath experienced in his own soul, that the true grace of God always works irresistibly in every believer! that God will finish wherever he has begun this work, so that it is impossible for any believer to fall from grace! and, lastly, that the reason why God gives this to some only and not to others, is, because, of his own will, without any previous regard either to their

faith or works, he hath absolutely, unconditionally, predestinated them to life before the foundation of the world!

5. Agreeable hereto, in "The Protestant Confession of Faith," drawn up at Paris, in the year 1559, we have these words :

"We believe, that out of the general corruption and condemnation in which all men are plunged, God draws those whom, in his eternal and unalterable counsel, he has elected by his own goodness and mercy, through our Lord Jesus Christ, without considering their works, leaving the others in the same corruption and condemnation." (Art. 12.)

6. To the same effect speak the Dutch Divines, assembled at Dort in the year 1618. Their words are :—

"Whereas, in process of time, God bestowed faith on some, and not on others, this proceeds from his eternal decree; according to which, he softens the hearts of the elect, and leaveth them that are not elect in their wickedness and hardness.

"And herein is discovered the difference put between men equally lost; that is to say, the decree of election and reprobation.

"Election is the unchangeable decree of God, by which, before the foundation of the world, he hath chosen in Christ unto salvation a set number of men. This election is one and the same of all which are to be saved.

"Not all men are elected, but some not elected; whom God, in his unchangeable good pleasure, hath decreed to leave in the common misery, and not to bestow saving faith upon them; but, leaving them in their own ways, at last to condemn and punish them everlastingly, for their unbelief, and also for their other sins. And this is the decree of reprobation." (Art. 6, et seq.)

7. Likewise in "The Confession of Faith," set forth by the Assembly of English and Scotch Divines, in the year 1646, are these words :"God from all eternity did unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass. "By the decree of God, for the manifestation of his glory, some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life, and others foreordained to everlasting death.

"These angels and men thus predestinated and foreordained, are particularly and unchangeably designed, and their number so certain and definite that it cannot be either increased or diminished.

"Those of mankind that are predestinated unto life, God, before the foundation of the world, hath chosen in Christ unto everlasting glory, without any foresight of faith or good works.

"The rest of mankind God was pleased, for the glory of his sovereign power over his creatures, to pass by, and to ordain them to dishonour and wrath." (Chap. 3.)

No less express are Mr. Calvin's words, in his "Christian Institutions:

"All men are not created for the same end; but some are foreordained to eternal life, others to eternal damnation. So according as every man was created for the one end or the other, we say, he was elected, that is, predestinated to life, or reprobated, that is, predestinated to damnation." (Chap. 21, sec. 1.)

8. Indeed there are some who assert the decree of election, and not the decree of reprobation. They assert that God hath, by a positive, unconditional decree, chosen some to life and salvation ; but not that he hath by any such decree devoted the rest of mankind to destruction. These are they to whom I would address myself first. And let me beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to lift up your hearts to him, and to beg of him to free you from all prepossession, from the

prejudices even of your tender years, and from whatsoever might hinder the light of God from shining in upon your souls. Let us calmly and fairly weigh these things in the balance of the sanctuary. And let all be done in love and meekness of wisdom, as becomes those who are fighting under one Captain, and who humbly hope they are joint-heirs through him of the glory which shall be revealed.

I am verily persuaded, that, in the uprightness of your hearts, you defend the decree of unconditional election; even in the same uprightness wherein you reject and abhor that of unconditional reprobation. But consider, I entreat you, whether you are consistent with yourselves; consider, whether this election can be separate from reprobation; whether one of them does not imply the other, so that, in holding one, you must hold both.

9. That this was the judgment of those who had the most deeply considered the nature of these decrees, of the Assembly of English and Scotch Divines, of the Reformed Churches both in France and the Low Countries, and of Mr. Calvin himself, appears from their own words, beyond all possibility of contradiction. "Out of the general corruption," saith the French Church, "he draws those whom he hath elected; leaving the others in the same corruption, according to his immovable decree." "By the decree of God," says the Assembly of English and Scotch Divines, "some are predestinated unto everlasting life, others foreordained to everlasting death." "God hath once for all," saith Mr. Calvin," appointed, by an eternal and unchangeable decree, to whom he would give salvation, and whom he would devote to destruction." (Inst. cap. 3, sect. 7.) Nay, it is observable, Mr. Calvin speaks with utter contempt and disdain of all who endeavour to separate one from the other, who assert election without reprobation. Many," says he," as it were to excuse God, own election, and deny reprobation. But this is quite silly and childish. For election cannot stand without reprobation. Whom God passes by, those he reprobates. It is one and the same thing." (Inst. l. 3, c. 23, sect. 1.)

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Do not

10. Perhaps upon deeper consideration, you will find yourself of the same judgment. It may be, you also hold reprobation, though you know it not. Do not you believe, that God who made "one vessel unto honour," hath made "another unto" eternal "dishonour?" you believe, that the men who "turn the grace of our God into lasciviousness, were before ordained of God unto this condemnation ?" Do not you think, that for "this same purpose God raised Pharaoh up, that he might show his sovereign power in his destruction?" and that "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated," refers to their eternal state? Why, then, you hold absolute reprobation, and you think Esau and Pharaoh were instances of it, as well as all those "vessels made unto dishonour," those men "before ordained unto condemnation."

11. To set this matter in a still clearer light, you need only answer one question: Is any man saved who is not elected? Is it possible, that any not elected should be saved? If you say, "No," you put an end to the doubt. You espouse election and reprobation together. You confirm Mr. Calvin's words, that "without reprobation, election itself cannot stand." You'allow, (though you was not sensible of it before,) that "whom God elects not, them he reprobates.'

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