end; hence none will for one moment believe that which appears repugnant to reason, though it is spoken in various languages it is the reasonableness of any thing that becomes the basis or foundation of credit or belief, and not, any number of modes of expression... The good and biblical mind will always see more certain cause of dependance on the holy Scriptures than on reason, because on many subjects when reason becomes baffled, the Scriptures stand in sound instruction; but to all who place their greatest dependance on the testimonies of ~holy writ, reason is also a dependnce; hence they will make reason a touchstone in many cases of Scripture, to know whether they are sound; so that to the best and rational, reason and Scripture become the united and infallible guide of life. I must therefore, and from a firm persuasion of the same, say, that there is nothing under the sun in the firmament that is certain, but the testimonies of reason, and the holy Scriptures ; on these two therefore, reader, with all confidence, place your soul and the body for their proper guide in life, death, and unto eternity. bd I am aware that the latter of these dependencies, namely the Scriptures, have had, and now have, many opponents; and they therefore have need of much more defence than they hitherto have had by any of learned and good. In opposition to which revelation some have been bold to believe, and aver as far as they could, that there is no God, making it appear in the world that by some mysterious way, all, things came by chance; these persons are denominated atheists, whose conduct in this case is enough to make the blood of a person chill in its veins. Others who are opponents to the same Word, strike at it by averring that God could not, nor did give any revelation to mankind in any such a way or kind : thus, although such like pretend a belief in the existence of a creative and supporting being, yet they presume to deny the revelation of the Scriptures as from that God: these are denominated deists, who are in no case less pernicious to divinity and the good of mankind than the atheist. Others will as presumptuously deny the divine origin of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, owing to a due knowledge of them being absent, though from various readings they have every reason to believe them; yet because they have found in them mysterious and apparently contradictory subjects, they have so disowned them: thus the inspirations of the men of God have been denied, notwithstanding their divine nature and force, through their antagonists not using the proper means of knowing the difficulties, with which they "have been and are more inclined to find some fault, when they "ought to study and invoke the divine aid for a right knowledge and use of the same. Without mentioning names I will further notice that some who have and do pretend a belief in the one great cause of all good, and in the gift of an inspi`ration, will at the same time discredit and oppose every idea or teaching of the divinity of Christ, the existence of the "Holy Trinity in one God, the immaterial and immortal substance of the human soul, the ressurrection of the human body, yea, many more of the fundamental doctrines of the Scriptures have been, and now are as positively renounced as they can be. There are those who aver a belief of all the doctrines of holy writ, but seem to give many scriptures in the Old and New Testament different meanings from those which other divines represent; those are them who spiritualize almost every subject contained in the Scriptures, yea, even those subjects which are as distinct in their meanings from figurative and spiritual speech as possible; and thus strain their mean: ings to what is wrong, Now since it is plain to any observing mind, that there are to this day such as the aforesaid in the world, it is of the first moment to represent and defend the truth; that the sincere enquirer after divine truth may know and promote the same. Certain it is, that no two opposite things can be both right to one purpose; for while one is proper, the other being opposite to proper, is at once wrong in its own nature thus, in refe rence to so many contrary notions on divine rights, it plainly appears that all must be wrong but one body of divinity, which is from God alone; for in so much as any one revelation is right, the others which are taught in deviation from the right one, must in their own nature be wrong, as far as they so differ from the revelation or body of divinity, which only is right. All therefore of the aforesaid contrarieties or differences are absolutely wrong, so far as they so differ from the one proper revelation. And now what shall I say in reference to these contending persons? They cannot be in the way of salvation, when they more or less oppose many doctrines, some of the most import, and that with perfect understanding and opposition to every means of knowing better. Did these characters so believe and teach from a want of the means of understanding otherwise, then their state would be very excusable; for it is most decisively clear in many writings of the Scriptures, that they who have been and are unavoidably ignorant, are as excusably to be treated of God. But again I declare that they who are in the power of knowing better cannot be saved while in such a state, because God will not have his cause and glory and honour impeded. The unbelievers must first know before they will promote the will or cause of the Almighty, in order to their glorifying God and obtaining his salvation and oh! to you, reader, whom I hope the Lord has taught to possess and do his will, I will say that your continuation in the divine approbation is much dependant upon the reception and promotion of any additional light which God has been pleased to make manifest in any way, remembering that you are not to be still or inactive in his work, but to officiate according to your talents and opportunities, as God himself is pleased to act by his spirit, Do not think that you know enough! you will find that you know very little.. The major part of the world are out of the way of a right -belief, as I have already said, and they are sure therefore to be out of the right way of present, future, and eternal safety from destruction; and can you say that you have knowledge of argument sufficient to gain them; or that you have no need to act towards them? No: since they live in a world in which knowledge has increased, and yet are repugnant to those doctrines taught as essentials in themselves, and for our salvation, you are under the greatest tie to use every persuasion of words, as well as holy deportment and conversation, for their salvation. Not only are you obligated to embrace and use every knowledge for the salvation of others and your own welfare, because of the importance of other goods, but also by the positive command of God, as is plain in Isaiah xi. 9; Habakkuk ii, 14, 22; as also is declared in the New Testament, St. Matthew's Gospel, v. 16; Acts of the Apostles, xix. 8; and first Epistle of St. Peter, ii. 15: thus both by command and example, light and knowledge must be embraced and circulated in order to do the divine will, without which it is plain it would be disobeying him, and thereby a loss of your own salvation. The present and eternal welfare of others, of yourselves, and the glory of the one eternal God, demand reception, improvement, and circulation of every divine light of knowledge and argument, as well as good conduct... Having thus remarked the several chief erroneous sentiments, and conduct of too many in the world; the personal danger all such like are in; the imperative command and demand for all such persons to recant, and embrace the truth; your duty as christians to embrace and promote divine light and truth, both for their good, and your doing the will of God. I now state that I have presented the following production on those subjects which have been so alarmingly denied, by some wholly, and by others partly; and in my proceedure I have avoided as much as possible all ambiguity in difficult words and useless quantity; having made use of plain terms in our language, and brevity, And that all the good may be done which is intended by this work, read it well, and always mind to read the whole of any one subject, in order to have the full meaning; for if you only read a part of any subject you only have part of the meaning, and thereby lose the sense of the subject so unread. As a stimulus to a due consideration and promotion Christian Friend to Truth, THE WRITER. |