"from the creature and not from God, who, being most holy and ❝righteous, neither is, nor can be the author or approver of sin."*

5. Mr. Simson maintained, that a regard to our own happiness, or the prospect of eternal blessedness in the enjoyment of God in heaven, ought to be our chief motive in serving the Lord on earth; and that our glorifying God being the means, is subordinate to our enjoyment of him for ever; which, said he, is our ultimate end.

But the associate presbytery assert, that the principal motive of true love to God is not our own happiness or self-interest, but the glorious perfections of his nature, as they are manifested in Immanuel God with us; and that the instinct of the new nature with which the Lord endues all his people in regeneration, makes them, by the farther influence of grace, desire to serve God for himself and his supereminent excellencies, and not merely, or chiefly, for the prospect of their own happiness. 1 Cor. x. 31. Isai. xlii. 8. Hence our glorifying God as our chief end is put before our enjoyment of him in the answer to the first question in our catechisms.

6. Mr. Simson maintained, that there will be no sinning in hell after the last judgement.

The associate presbytery, on the contrary, assert, that sin is the rational creature's want of conformity to the law of God; and that, therefore, as the natures of the damned in hell were never renewed, they can never cease from sinning, while they can have no manner of conformity to the law of God; and, while from their corrupt natures must necessarily flow the highest enmity against the justice and holiness of God in punishing them; which is expressed in the scripture by gnashing of teeth: so that both sinning and suffering will be their misery through eternity. Larg. Cat. quest. 24 and 152.

7. The errors which I have now mentioned were those with which Mr. Simson was charged in the first process against him. But in another process, which was begun in the year 1726, and concluded in the year 1729, it was found, that he had taught other gross and dangerous errors: such as, That our Lord Jesus Christ is not necessarily existent; that the term necessary existence is impertinent in speaking of the Trinity; that it is not to be said, that the three persons of the Trinity are numerically one in substance or essence; that the terms necessary existence, Supreme Deity, and the title of the only true God, may be taken in a sense, that includes the personal property of the Father, and so do not belong to the Son.

On the contrary, the associate presbytery assert, that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, by ineffable, incomprehensible and

* Confess. chap. v. sect. 4. The doctrine of our reformed divines, is, That the rational creature is to be considered as an efficient cause of its own actions; and that yet, being a second cause, it acts dependently on the First Cause; each of these causes producing the same action as a total cause in its own order. This appears from such places of scripture as teach, that God not only gives and preserves the power of acting, but concurs with the creature by an immediate, previous, predetermining influence, to the production of the action; the creature being represented as not only existing or being, but as moving in or by God, Acts xvii. 28. As, in its free actions, moved and actuated by God, as tools in the hand of a workman, Isai. x. 15. This doctrine appears from the necessary, absolute dependence of the creature on God in acting as well as in existing. God is the Author of all real being, and consequently of whatever real being is in the actions of reasonable creatures: but he neither is nor can be the Author of the sinfulness of their actions; which sinfulness, being a privation or want of conformity to the law of God, is imputable to the rational creature only, as necessarily under the obligation of that law.

necessary generation, is Jehovah the most high God, self-existent, and independent; that he is necessarily existent; that the terms necessary existence, Supreme Deity, and the title of the only true God, cannot be taken in a sense that includes the personal property of the Father; but belong to the Son and Holy Spirit equally with the Father; and that the three persons of the adorable Trinity are numerically one in substance or essence, equal in power and glory. John i. 1, 2, 3— x. 30. 1 John v. 20. Rom. ix. 5. Revel. i. 8. Confess. chap. viii, 2. Larg. Cat. quest. 9.

8. Mr. Simson maintained, that reason, as it is taken for evident propositions naturally revealed, is the principle or foundation of Theology; and that nothing is to be admitted in religion, but what is agreeable to reason, and determined by reason to be so.

The associate presbytery consider these assertions as exalting reason above Divine revelation; and as contrary to the answer to the second question of the shorter catechism, and to the doctrine of our confession, namely, that the Supreme Judge, by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of eminent writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest; can be no other than the Holy Spirit speaking in the scriptures.* The associate presbytery account these tenets, concerning man's reason, the very spring of the other dangerous errors vented and taught by him. "Mr. "Simson," say they, "having once set reason in the chair, and exalted "it to be judge in principles of faith, it is no wonder, that he rejected "the testimony of God, in his own word, concerning the covenant "headship and representation of the first Adam, and the many sacred "truths connected with that article; and that he maintained the other "errors with which he was charged in the first process. Hence, too, ❝he was led, at length, to deny the Supreme Deity and necessary "existence of him, whose name is the Wonderful Counsellor, the "Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace."

I may now give you some account of the opinions against which the associate presbytery bear testimony, as having been maintained and taught by Archibald Campbell, Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the University of St. Andrews, in his publications, and in the process against him before the general assembly in 1736.

1. In his Enquiry into the original of moral virtue, he asserted, that God's interests are not in all respects independent on us; and that virtue does not depend on the arbitrary will of any being, but flows from the essential properties and nature of things.

The associate presbytery assert, on the contrary, That God has ali life, glory, goodness in and of himself; that he is alone in and to himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures, nor deriving any glory from them; but only manifesting his own glory in, by, unto and upon them; that he has sovereign dominion over them, to do by them, for them, or upon them, whatsoever himself pleaseth; that any rewards that he has promised to any of his creatures, are free and voluntary; that, in all their obedience, worship and service, they can neither profit him, nor be any way advantageous to him; that God himself, in the wise purposes and counsel of his will, laid down the

*Confess, chap. i. § 10.

whole plan of the nature and relation of things, which he freely brings forth in his works of creation, providence and redemption; that, though the precepts of the moral law be eternal and immutable, the holiness of his nature being such, that it cannot be his will that his creatures should do otherwise: yet, the scriptures also assert, that God is our Lawgiver; that he has an absolute sovereignty and authority over us; and, consequently, that nothing can be a law to us but by his enacting it; and that what he enacts must be a law to us, whether it be a moral precept, or a thing in its own nature indifferent; as is evident, from the positive precept given to Adam at his creation, and from other positive commands, both under the Old and New Testaments.*

2. Mr. Campbell also affirmed, that self-interest or pleasure is the only standard by which we can judge of the virtue, that is, the value or goodness, of any action whatsoever; that virtue and utility are two words signifying the same thing; that the intrinsic goodness or rectitude of moral virtue, lies directly in the fitness of it to the self-love and happiness of mankind; and that actions are virtuous as they promote self-interest.

The associate presbytery, on the contrary, maintain, that the law or revealed will of God is the adequate and only standard by which the goodness of actions is to be tried. They teach, that the moral goodness of our actions consists in their being done from a respect to the authority of God the Lawgiver, and by faith in Christ; and that nothing is more contradictory to the whole word of God, than to assert that the goodness of our love to God and his Son Jesus Christ, or of any act of obedience, consists directly in its fitness to promote our Psal. cxix. 4, 5, 9. 1 Sam. xv. personal interest. Isai. viii. 20. 1 John iii. 4. Psal. xl. 8. John xv. 4, 5. Confess. chap. i. § 2chap. xvi. § 1, 2.

22.

3. Mr. Campbell taught, as Mr. Simson had done, that the sole and universal motive to virtuous actions is self-love, interest or pleasure; that self-love is the first spring in every rational mind, that awakens her powers, begins her motions, and carries her on to action; and that self-love, as it exerts itself in the desire of universal, unlimited esteem, is the commanding motive that determines us to the pursuit of

virtue.

These positions, the associate presbytery condemn, as directly contrary to the word of God: which teaches, that all our religious actions must proceed from a new nature, and from faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and from a holy regard and love to God; and not from self-love or self-interest, as their first spring or principle;t and that our chief or ultimate end ought not to be the advancement of our selfinterest, but the advancement of God's declarative glory. Our Lord Jesus, whose example we are to imitate, pleased not himself, sought

Although, says the associate presbytery, these positive commands were all wise and good, yet who can say, that God was necessarily obliged by his own nature to enact them; or that he could not possibly have done otherwise? It is therefore grossly erroneous to set up the nature and relation of things as a law above God himself; and to maintain that moral good and evil flow from the essential properties and nature of things; or, that moral good and evil do not flow only from the holiness of God's nature, together with his sovereign authority and will manifested in his law.

† Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27. John xv. 4, 5. Math. xxii. 37, 39.

not his own will or glory, but the will and glory of the Father who sent him. To be lovers of our own selves, that is, to love ourselves inordinately, is one of the blackest crimes.* It is manifestly an inordinate self-love, to make our self-interest or happiness the chief motive of our love to God; to love him not for himself, but for ourselves. This is to prefer ourselves to our Maker, and to love ourselves more than the Creator! That obedience to God which is principally infiuenced by self-interest is legal, mercenary and servile, or such as men in their natural state may attain. The opinion which makes self-love or regard to our own interest the principal motive to virtuous actions, has a direct tendency to destroy the specific difference between common and saving grace; an error of the Arminians, of Mr. Baxter and others.

It is true, the chief end of God, in all his works, is his declarative glory for the Lord hath made all things for himself. But Mr. Campbell argued most absurdly and impiously, that in acting from self-interest, we imitate God. This was just the aim of Satan's first temptation, Ye shall be as gods. So that this scheme teaches men to exalt themselves to an equality with God.

4. Mr. Campbell, in his discourse proving, that the apostles were no enthusiasts, affirms, that "many in the world look upon those ma"nifestations which, they think, they have of the nature and excel"lencies of God, as supernaturally communicated to their minds; "and take those inward ravishments they feel, upon such pretended "revelations, to be all Divine joys poured in upon them by the im"mediate hand of God himself; that all such events," making no exception of any, but such as are of the extraordinary and miraculous kind," may possibly have come about in a natural course and series of "things, without any more interposing of the Divinity than there is, ❝ when a man opens his eyes and beholds the Sun in its glory at noon; "and that an extravagant conceit of being peculiarly blessed with "such supernatural communications from Heaven, makes up the very "life and soul of enthusiasm." Making human reason, in its present state, the only guide to our devotions, Mr. Campbell describes the enthusiast to be one "who, in the course of his devotion, keeps not "within the compass of reason, consulting the throne of grace, laying "his matters before the Lord, and imploring his light and direction. "These, and like expressions," says he, "are terms of art much used " by enthusiasts.”

On the contrary, the associate presbytery declare and assert, that the holy scriptures teach the absolute necessity of a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, for the renovation of our natures, and for manifesting to us in a saving manner, the glorious excellencies of God in the person of Jesus Christ; that, according to the scriptures, this work of the Spirit is common to all that are effectually called, every one of them being peculiarly blessed with it; that the will of God revealed in his word, and not our own depraved reason, is that rule, within the *Rom. xv. 1, 3. John v. 50-vii. 18. 2 Tim. iii. 2. † Prov. xvi. 4.

Gen. iii. 5. We are to imitate God, by having that for our chief end which is his end in all his works, namely, the Divine glory.

|| 2 Corinth. iv. 6—v. 17. Ephes. i. 18, 19. Confess. chap. x. § 1.

compass of which we are to keep in our devotion; that, according to the scriptures, an actual influence of the Holy Spirit is necessary to impress the truths of God upon our mind, and to enable us to walk with God in all the duties of holy obedience ;f that it is our duty, not to lean on our own understanding or reason, but to consult the throne of grace, to lay all our matters before the Lord, and to implore his light and direction.

5. Mr. Campbell, in his writings, likewise affirmed that men, without revelation, cannot by their natural powers find out, that there is a God.

The associate presbytery, on the contrary, assert, that the light of nature and the works of creation and providence, without the aid of tradition or revelation, shew, that there is a God; who hath lordship and sovereignty over all; as also, that thereby his wisdom, power and goodness are so far manifested, that all men are left inexcusable: and they reject and condemn all contrary principles, as having a tendency to darken and render doubtful the truth of natural religion.

6. Mr. Campbell, in his writings asserted, that the laws of nature, in themselves, are a certain and sufficient rule to direct rational minds to happiness; and that our observation of these laws is the great mean or instrument of our real and lasting felicity.

On the contrary, the associate presbytery assert, that the word of God is the only rule of faith and obedience; that men cannot be accepted in God's sight, nor be entitled to future and lasting felicity, by framing their lives according to the law of nature; and that, though holiness be absolutely necessary to make us meet for communion with God, both in grace here and in glory hereafter; yet, it is the righteousness of Christ or his obedience and satisfaction imputed to us and received by faith of God's operation, that is the great conditional mean of our blessedness begun in time and consummated in heaven.

7. Mr. Campbell, in his writings, taught, that the apostles do not seem to have had any notion of our Saviour's Divinity, at the time of his crucifixion; that the apostles being violently possessed in favour of a worldly kingdom, expected this and this only from him; that the apostles, in the interval between Christ's death and his resurrection, were greatly offended at him in their hearts, as being, in their opinion, a downright cheat and deceiver, who had once flattered them with mighty hopes, but now had left them in all the agonies of shame and disappointment; and that they did not apprehend him under that character in which he is represented to us by the apostle John, in the first chapter of his gospel, and by Paul, in his epistles, before they began their public ministry.

* Isai. viii. 20. "Confess. chap. i. § 1, 2—xvi. § 1.

Philip. ii. 13. John xvi. 7, 8, 9, 14. Confess. chap. xvi. § 1, 3, 5, 7. Philip. iv. 6. Heb. iv. 16.

† Rom. viii. 9, 26.

+ Prov. iii. 5, 6.

| Rom. i. 19, 20,

52-ii. 12, 14, 15. Confess. chap. xxi. § 1,

and chap i. 1

§ Gal. iii. 21, 22. Acts x. 43-xvi. 31. Rom. iii. 22 to 28. fess. chap. vii. § 3-x. § 4-xi. §1.

Philip. iit. 7, 8, 9. Con