"now wholly without excuse, If you should never hear another sermon-if you should never bear the word of God again, you are wholly without excuse! If you should never see the Book of God henceforth,-you are wholly without excuse! If the Gospel-message should cease to be proclaimed, you are still wholly without excuse! If "the priests, (whose) lips should keep knowledge," 7 were "all dumb dogs, (that) cannot "bark," you are wholly without excuse! there should be "a lying spirit in the mouth of "all these prophets," and they should "prophesy 66 66 If deceits, and speak smooth things," and nothing but smooth things,* you are, nevertheless, wholly 66 66 * That there should be found any who have undertaken the sacred office of the ministry, thus perverting the way of the Lord, is deeply to be lamented. Since, however, the fact cannot be concealed, it behoves us to try the spirits whether they are of God;" 1 John iv. 1. to bring every thing to the law, and to the testimony: and if they speak not according "to this word, it is because there is no light in them." Isa. ix. 20. We must "prove all things," (1 Thess. v. 21.) not by the word of man, but by the word of God;-lest we be ensnared into error, and deluded by those smooth things, which are so consonant with the opinions of the world, and so congenial to the habits of a depraved nature. To speak smooth things, is to keep back from the people the fundamental truths of the Gospel, namely, the lost state of man-his natural condemnation-his need of conversion—and the necessity of justification through faith by the righteousness of Christ, and of " the washing of regeneration and renewing "of the Holy Ghost." Tit. iii. 5. To contradict, or withhold these essential doctrines, is to teach heresy, and to cause many to "draw back unto perdition." Heb. x. 39. It is only the unflinching declaration of such 6 Rom. i. 20. 7 Mal. ii. 7. 9 Jer. xxiii. 25, 26. 8 Isa. lvi. 10. Isa. xxx. 10. without excuse! If you should die this night, aye, this very hour, and stand as naked spirits before "God the Judge of all,"-you would then pro truths, that can ever benefit the soul, or restrain the overflowings of ungodliness. As Dr. Witherspoon says, "There is one observation which may satisfy us that the preaching of the cross of Christ will most effectually promote real reformation. It is, that those preachers, who (to say no more) approach nearest to making our own merit and obedience the ground of our acceptance with God, very seldom, if ever, give any alarm to the consciences of their hearers. Let them recommend ever so pure and high a standard of morals, they are heard without fear; and, if they preach elegantly, with pleasure, even by the most profligate. To such Preachers, all vain worldly-minded people usually attach themselves, where they have not cast off the very form of religion; but most part of serious Christians, (together with professing hypocrites, who cannot easily be distinguished in this world,) always follow preachers of another strain. It is easy to see the reason of this: there are none who set the strictness and obligation of the law, the holiness and justice of God, in so awful a light, as those who believe there is no shelter from the sanction of the law, and the wrath of an offended God, but in the blood of Christ.-To deny, explain away, or neglect to impart the truths of the everlasting Gospel, is the way to leave the world in wickedness; but by preaching them in purity and with simplicity, which we have reason to think will be accompanied with "the demonstration of the spirit," sinners are reconciled unto God, the power of sin is broken in them, the divine image is formed in them, and upon these truths their hopes of eternal life must rest and depend.”—Witherspoon on Justification, p. 85, 86. In reference to this subject, I shall subjoin an extract from the awakening appeal of the present Bishop of Calcutta, to his brethren in the ministry; which, as it sets forth the subject iu the strongest point of view, and forces upon all Pastors and Teachers an individual inquiry respecting the state of their souls, and the character of their ministrations, may not, under God's blessing, be wholly useless. After a very powerful representation of the numerous and important duties of the sacred office, he then addresses, in conclusion, several classes of Ministers : "1. Are any readers of these pages astonished at the General Topics which have been advanced? Does the whole appear to you new, extravagant, 2 IIeb. xii. 23. 193 nounce yourselves wholly without excuse! For "to you now is the word of this salvation sent.' To you now is "the everlasting Gospel" deli and unnecessary? Then examine, we entreat you, whether this does not arise from your own wrong state of heart. Perhaps you have never felt your sins, as an individual penitent, personally accountable to God. Perhaps you have never once wept over them in deep contrition. Perhaps you have never seen the spiritual glory of Christ, as the incarnate Saviour, sacrificing himself on the cross for your redemption. Perhaps you have never known what prayer, and meditation, and communion with God, and love to Christ, and hatred of sin, and the denial of self, and the joy of pardon, mean. The consequence is, you have had no care of the souls committed to your charge-you have never taught them their need of salvation - you have never shown them a Redeemer-you have never held out to them the Holy Spirit, as the Author of life and grace; and how can topics, such as these we have been discussing, be intelligible to you? Strange would it be if you did not start at them. You are not merely in need of being aroused to greater diligence-you want to be quickened from a death in trespasses and sins. Awake, then, dear friend, to your awful state. An unconverted minister, is dragging all the souls of his people with him to perdition. He is a blind leader of the blind. He is building up the sinner in his rebellion, his self-righteousness, his negligence. O repent, then, and turn to God. We speak not to you of a revival of religion amongst others; we deal with you for your own salvation. We plead with you for the sheep, scattered and wandering, and having no shepherd. We adjure you by the vows of your ordination, by the blood of Christ, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, by the value of souls, by the unutterable importance of eternity, to awake and return to God. "2.-You say you are Moral, Diligent, anxious for the good of your Parish. But is this all? So may a magistrate be-so a statesman-so a landlord. But you are called to be the minister of Christ. You are called to spiritual duties. You are called to bring men to salvation, to expound the doctrine of FREE GRACE, to prepare a lost world for heaven. And does a little common morality, such as the heathen philosophers might have taught; or some general benevolence, gathered from the unavoidable improvements introduced into society by the christian spirit, serve to discharge these high and peculiar obligations? It is not of morality, but vered.." You have been taught," this day, "the "truth as it is in Jesus;" and if you never heard it before, or should never hear it after, of Christianity, that you are the minister. It is not of benevolence, but of salvation, that you are the herald. Mere decency, mere kindness of heart, mere common uprightness, in a Minister of the Gospel, is treachery to the peculiar trust reposed in him. Nothing can be indifferent which he does. He is the instrument and cause of the condemnation of his people, unless he is positively employing all his powers for their salvation. "3.-But objections may be advanced to the statements of this Essay, by the Theological Inquirer, who has made Divinity his study, who has examined Fathers and Commentators, who has weighed opposite arguments and systems of religion, and has imbibed the strongest prejudices against the principal statements which have been advanced. He understands not what revival of piety can be necessary in such circumstances as ours in this country. He objects to this ardor, this over-statement, as he terms it, on the subject of spiritual religion. He condemns it as feverish; he imputes it to a spirit of party; he charges it with enthusiasm ; he complains of it as impracticable and intolerant; he dismisses it with a name of reproach. To such general insinuations, the plain answer is, that the Holy Scriptures speak more decidedly, and in every part, the language we have been holding. Every page of the Bible, demands the whole heart of man. Every epistle of St. Paul is far more exalted in doctrine and spirituality, than any statement we can make. The very last accusation brought by the Saviour against a falling church, was that of lukewarmness—the being .“ neither cold nor hot." Let the objector read over again his Bible; let him pray for the guidance and illumination of the Holy Spirit; let him enter upon religion as a practical matter between God and his own soul; and he will soon form a totally different judgment from that which he now entertains. Lay aside only, beloved Reader, all prejudices of every kind; lay aside the opinions of divines and disputants; lay aside the censure and applause of a mistaken world; and enter upon the question of religion as before the divine Saviour, and you will soon find that the very doctrines you reject are the centre point of Revelation - the element of salvationthe means of pardon and grace to man. Oh the power which our wicked bearts give to the idlest excuses and prejudices on the subject of the Gospel! 5 Eph. iv. 21. on you abideth the condemnation: "that light is 66 come into the world, and men loved darkness "rather than light, because their deeds are evil." Light is indeed come into the world—light that you have beheld, and of which you still are witnesses. And though you have not all received it, so as to be" now light in the Lord;"7 yet have the means of illumination been afforded to all, and a sufficiency of means. All of you, therefore, are responsible for your belief; and many of you stand chargeable with the neglect of that " grace of "God that bringeth salvation." O remember the words of St. Peter-" It had been better "for them not to have known the way of The very language and objections you bring forward, are a proof of the need of that revival of Christianity for which we plead. The cold external orthodoxy, (as it is called,) of the present day, evaporates all the life of the divine doctrine, leaves man to his natural powers, fills him with pride and self-conceit, is content with a dead faith and a worldly life, neglects the care of souls, and builds up a proud self-righteousness on the foun→ dation of human merit. This lukewarm temper is an enemy to spiritual religion, and to the revival of it; because such topics condemn the lukewarmness of the age, as the greatest provocation that can be offered to God. Oh if it should please the Almighty Saviour to revive his work among the clergy, the very first effect would be the detection of the evils of this disputatious, self-confident, worldly spirit. We appeal to this Saviour, to defend the cause of his own truth. We appeal to this Saviour, to testify to his real Gospel, by making it the means of conversion to We appeal to this Saviour, to support us in our earnest endeavours to maintain his cause in a gainsaying age, to grant us his holy Spirit, and to make every opponent a happy partaker of the grace which he has previously condemned!"-Bishop of Calcutta's Introductory Essay to Baxter's "Reformed Pastor," p. 55—58. men. 6 John iii, 19. 7 Eph. v. 8. 8 Tit. ii. 11. |