======================================================================== ESSAYS ON SALVATION BY CHRIST by Job Scott ======================================================================== Scott's theological essays exploring salvation through Christ from a Quaker perspective, addressing the mystical and spiritual dimensions of redemption with the Quietist spirituality characteristic of 18th-century Friends. Chapters: 8 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TABLE OF CONTENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 02 - Preface 2. 03 - Chapter 1 3. 04 - Chapter 2 4. 05 - Chapter 3 5. 06 - Chapter 4 6. 07 - Chapter 5 7. 08 - Chapter 6 8. 09 - Chapter 7 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 1: 02 - PREFACE ======================================================================== On Salvation by Christ PREFACE* I have preserved a Journal of my whole life. There are some things therein, that I am fully persuaded are true in the visions of God; but which many of the wise, even in our Society, cannot receive, so as feelingly to approve and promote. Some think there are Journals enough printed. I never had any idea that so many were, or would be published, as to render any more useless. I think I am groundedly certain, I don’t wish mine ever printed, from any thing I feel but a desire for the good of mankind. If, with proper and sufficient (not too punctilious) corrections, it be thought likely to promote the cause of truth, let it appear; if not, let it remain among my papers. If I live, I expect and intend to make very considerable alterations, abridgments,** and perhaps, some additional remarks. I expect to continue the Journal, perhaps as long as I am able to write. I believe all the parts, as I now leave them, will be found to connect, and form somewhat of an unbroken whole; without too much tautology, or repetition of the like things. On the whole, I have believed it my duty to preserve these memoirs; and, to the disposal of Divine Providence, I freely submit myself and them, with all that is mine, or near and dear to me; little regarding what happens to me in this life, so that my soul may be made and preserved pure in the sight of my God. The tautology is mostly about daily exercises. As to doctrines, I am not afraid, that treating at different times on nearly the same subject, a little differently illustrated, will do any harm. I know I have treated some mysteries a little more openly, and handled them a little differently, from what I have seen in any writings; but as I am deeply grounded in them, as being the very life and substance of Christianity, indeed of all true religion, I am very doubtful that a suppression of them would retard, rather than promote, the true knowledge of Christ. I know many Friends are afraid of the objections of professors. No doubt, professors will object, as they always have done, to every unfolding of truth: but, what avail their cavils, or, indeed, what avails their quiet with us, if it is in a way that allows them to live at ease in sin, under a mistaken notion that they are going to heaven by Christ? It is time professors were aroused, and those of our own fold as well as others; for great numbers among us can scarcely bear the true and undisguised doctrines of the gospel. Truth has rarely been promoted, after a time of stagnation, ease, and superficial profession, but in and through the fresh openings of something that the spirit of the world, however high in profession, could not receive: and I am firm in the faith that the veil will yet further be rent, and the covering more and more removed, that is spread over the face of all nations. Times and seasons will come, wherein that which is revealed in the ear, must and will be declared on the housetop. The Lord is on his way, gradually unveiling himself to his inquiring, seeking children, and wo, wo, from an all-righteous Judge, to those who dare to lift a hand against the right-timed openings and revelations of his heavenly mysteries! For my part, I fear not the heathen’s rage, nor the people’s imagination of vain things: for I know with all the certainty that I know any gospel truth, that in the midst of a high profession of Christ, darkness still covers the earth, and gross darkness the people; and I care not how soon their false rest is disturbed, yea, rather I wish it may be disturbed, and believe it will be so, for the spirit of the Lord is grieved with the lifeless, unsanctified, and unsound profession of Christianity that abounds in the nations. I would as soon trust my immortal state upon the profession of deism, as upon the common notions of salvation by Christ! Many seem to think, if Christ, in name, be the object of their profession, they are certainly in the true faith; whereas too few have any clear sense either what or where Christ is, and many are ready to quarrel with every thing that tends to open the mystery. I am as sure there is no salvation out of Christ, as I am of any thing in the world: I am also as sure that the common ideas of salvation are very greatly beside the true doctrine of salvation by Christ. And, moreover, I am as easy to risk my everlasting condition upon the true faith and fellowship of Christ, as inwardly revealed from glory to glory to those who keep a single eye to his holy light within them, as I am in believing that GOD made the heavens and the earth! For I am indisputably ascertained, in the life and fundamental certainty of the true grounds of salvation by Christ; and that in all ages, it has been a real birth of God in the soul, a substantial union of the human and divine nature; the son of God, and the son of man, which is the true Emmanuel state, God and man in an ever blessed oneness, and harmonious agreement: and I know Christ must sit at the right hand of eternal power in my soul, till his and my foes be made his footstool, if ever I reign with him in fulness of glory. He is David’s son, and as truly the son of every soul that is ever truly reconciled to God. The reconciliation takes place in none, without their becoming his mother; and yet he is David’s Lord, and Lord of all in whom he is begotten. I acknowledge him my Lord, even as revealed in me, as he was in Paul: as such he is my hope of glory: and I agree with Paul, that "though we have known him" by literal description "after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him so no more;" and with Christ himself, that "it is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing." And I do marvel, that after this plain testimony from the Lord’s own mouth, people will so rely on a knowledge and profession of him, after the flesh, and condemn those whose faith and knowledge are after the spirit, in the holy sonship and newness of life. 1st mo. 28th, 1792 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 2: 03 - CHAPTER 1 ======================================================================== On Salvation by Christ REMARKS UPON THE NATURE OF SALVATION BY CHRIST; SHOWING THAT IT IS A BIRTH OF DIVINE LIFE IN MAN, Known long before the appearance of our Lord in that body that was born of the virgin Mary, in which he did the Father’s will, and exemplified and displayed the way and work of salvation, as a union of God and man: -- a work of God in man, and of man by God, in a blessed harmony and cooperation. * * The work of salvation is neither, on the one hand, in any stage or degree of it, the work of man merely of himself, unassisted by the power and spirit of the Lord; nor, on the other hand, a work of God without the consent and cooperation of man. Many ignorantly entertain high notions of free-will, and of ability in and of themselves to act according to reason and the fitness of things; and so to do, as mere creatures, all that is necessary towards their acceptance with God, and complete well-being during the whole of their existence. Others as ignorantly imagine the merits and righteousness of Christ imputed to the full justification and salvation of sinners, so as to render them truly justified, acceptable with, and reconciled to God, while they continue in daily transgression and sin, in the exercise of a will in opposition to his will, in the indulgence and enjoyment of a life contrary to the divine life. They seem to have a confused idea that the moral law of God is abrogated; at least to such as have dependance on the outward coming, suffering, death, resurrection, ascension, and intercession of Christ for salvation; or that these are under grace, and not under the law, though they live a life of sin and defilement; and that such as maintain sanctification absolutely necessary to a state of justification, or that they are never separately experienced, the one without the other, deny the purchase of Christ’s death, and are going about to establish their own righteousness! But these opinions are very remote from the true doctrine of salvation, which has ever been, in all ages, Christ in man the hope of glory; a real union of the life of God and the life of man, and therein a blessed harmonious cooperation. The whole work of true religion, regeneration, and sanctification, is the work of God in Christ; "We are his workmanship, created anew in Christ Jesus, (and that) unto good works."Ephesians 2:10. Good works, though not the producing cause of justification, yet are that, without which none can be justified. Men may do many works, which, as to the outward act, are good, or which would have been truly so had they been works of the new creation, and wrought of God in Christ, and which yet have no part in the great work of true justification. Those who are thus busied, may be very zealous of "good works," and at the same time very high in profession of Christ, and of a hope of salvation only through him, and yet be wholly on the wrong ground, built on the sand, and remain as gross Pharisees as those who formerly rejected our blessed Lord in high veneration of Moses. Names do not much alter the nature of things. There is as much scope for self-righteousness and rank Phariseeism under a profession of Christ, yea, under a most confident profession of renouncing all our own righteousness, as ever there was under the law. Our preaching, praying, and all our religious and devotional exercises may be, and too often are, in the mere spirit, will, and activity of man: this is going about to establish our own righteousness, and not a whit the less so because we profess to have no dependance on our own works, but that we expect all from Christ! Talk and profession are not the life and substance of salvation in Christ; but this forward active worker, that is always ready, is ever, by this kind of zealous activity and performance, as effectually prevented from the right knowledge of, and submission to, the righteousness of Christ, even under the greatest profession of a single dependence on nothing but his righteousness, as any were of old in the professed rejection of him, and dependance on Moses. As to the life and substance of it, there never was but one true religion; nothing has ever been such, but the immediate inward work of God in man. And this, on the one hand, can take place and proceed no further than God is livingly the continual mover, worker, and efficient cause of all that is rightly wrought therein; nor on the other hand, any further or faster than man comes under the holy influence of the spirit, grace, or power of God, whereby he worketh in us. If man resists the spirit, turns from the grace of God, rebels against his light in the heart, does despite to the holy discoveries of truth, he tramples under foot the very blood of the everlasting covenant, he rejects the son of God, and in the midst of all his professional claim to the merits of a crucified saviour, is crucifying the life of the Lamb in himself. And thus the Lamb has been slain from the foundation of the world, and is slain in all who thus do violence to the motions of divine life in themselves. "Christ in us," has been in every age and nation the only true and solid ground and hope of glory. Nothing but a true and living birth of God in the soul, of the divine and incorruptible seed, a real and substantial union of the divinity and humanity in one holy offspring, has ever brought salvation; and this, throughout all generations, (in all the true seed, in every heir of God and joint-heir with Christ,) is the only begotten of the Father. None can be a true child of God without this divine birth, this true brother and sister of Christ, this real offspring of God, that cries Abba, Father! and is one with Christ forever. This birth ever does the works of God. In this, and in its bringing forth, are wrought the "good works" without which there is no justification. Except we are regenerated and born again; that is, except another birth and life take place in us, besides our natural birth into, and life in this world and into things natural; except a work, that, strictly speaking, effects and produces a real regeneration and new birth, as real a conception, generation, and birth of the seed of God in us, and of us too; as the production of our natural life is a real work of conception, generation, and birth into this world, we cannot possibly enter into the kingdom of God. This is the new creature that is born of God, and sinneth not; and this must have the rule and government in us, and bring forth the works of God, so far as we are justified. This is the justified of God forever; and nothing is justified of him but what is wrought in him. That which is wrought out of him, and out of his divine life, is excluded from his acceptance, and can never be heir of the promise. Every evil thought, word, and action, is and will be subject to eternal exclusion: and equally so is every sigh or groan, every prayer or sermon, every fast or thanksgiving, with every other religious exertion, that is not in the divine life and influence of God! This is all but "Mount Sinai in Arabia, that is in bondage with her children." The bond-woman must be cast out. It is impossible that she should inherit the promise, or that her son, or any of her children, should be heir with Isaac, the son of the free woman, the son of promise, the son of God’s immediate operation and power, born above and beyond the ordinary operations of nature, with all the force and workings of her utmost activity and exertion. It is only the son of promise, the offspring and begotten of God, that can ever do the works of God. This criterion our blessed redeemer appealed to in the days of Jewish unbelief and opposition. He urged his doing the works of God, as a certain evidence of his being the son of God. And this had never been a certain evidence at one time and on one occasion, had it not been always so at all times and on all occasions. Could any else than the son of God, the new creature, the only begotten, the born again of the incorruptible seed and word of God, at any time have done the works of God, Christ’s doing them would not have been a certain and infallible evidence of his sonship. This evidence is as sure and certain, to, in, and concerning all the seed, as it was then in, and concerning the holy head, the bishop and bridegroom of every soul, that is so opened and taught of God as to see and know that any thing done by him in and by another, is truly and spiritually the work of God; and is infallible evidence that a greater than Solomon is there, that Christ is there, come in the flesh in that man by his holy spirit; that there is a real birth and babe of God, an heir of God, a joint heir with Christ, a true and living branch of the everlasting vine; indeed, the presence, activity, and good works of God’s only begotten. All other works are either directly the works of darkness and the devil, or at best, but the willings, runnings, and toilings of the son of the bond-woman, that never inherits the kingdom, nor can possibly enter into, or even see it. None other ever saw it than that which is begotten of God; that ever beholds it, dwells in it, and enjoys it as its own, the rightful inheritance of him who only is God’s heir forever. For though there is, in a sense, properly a plurality as brought forth in the many coheirs of the inheritance, yet in the ground and substance of it, as in God, it is one heir, one offspring, one only begotten: and hence the assertion, "we, being many, are one bread;" and hence Christ’s prayer to the Father, that they might all be one, as he and the Father were one. They are all one in the everlasting principle of life and salvation, and they ever do the works of God, and are no further his children, nor born again of him, than they do his works. Nothing is more idle than to suppose any thing is born again of God, that does not his works, or that sinneth against him. In all the begotten, the very seed and life of God remaineth, and "they cannot sin, because they are born of God." Many people pass through some small convictions, and perhaps pretty deep exercises, and finding a degree of relief and solid satisfaction, conclude that they are born again, and are now safe and sure. But no man is ever wholly born again of God, who is not brought wholly under his rule and government in all things. Every thing that revolts, rebels, or sins against him, is not born of him. A little leaven, in time, leavens the whole lump, as it is suffered to operate; but until the whole is leavened, until every thought is brought into the obedience of Christ, we are never wholly born of the incorruptible seed, and may be in danger of a total and final apostacy. Our real justification is ever in proportion to our real sanctification, and can no more outrun it, than real sound health of body can consist with pain, sickness, and putrefaction. Christ is our complete justification. Nothing else ever was or will be any part of it. But Christ, as certainly as he is Christ, ever works the works of God; and that in every soul that will have him to rule over him, or be his Lord and saviour. We are complete in him, and in him alone, without any addition. No addition can be made, but what will ever be hurtful. But we are never complete in him any otherwise than as we are really in him, as the branch is in, belongs to, and is of the vine; nor any further than we are thus in him, is he truly and substantially formed in us, and become our life and hope of glory: so far, and no further, he is the "end of the law," to us. He never repeals a jot or tittle of the moral law to any, further than it is fulfilled in them. It can never pass away till it is fulfilled: and it is never further fulfilled than the state of transgression is removed, on account of which it was added. "God is unchangeable." All the changeable dispensations result from, and are accommodated to, the different states of mankind. There never was but one way of salvation, nor of remission of sins. Could any thing else ever have answered this purpose but the birth, life, and government of Christ in man, it would answer still, and as well now as ever. This was pointed to by the law and its ordinances, by John and his figurative and preparatory baptism; and as far as the work of salvation was ever wrought in any age or dispensation, it was the work of God in Christ; yet never was carried on and completed without the creature’s consent and co-operation. Nothing, however fervent, zealous, and devout, can have any thing of the real nature of true religion in it, that is not in and of the life of God. And this goes on only to such a degree as the life and spirit, the will and activity of the soul, go on with and in it. All religious activity out of this, is but toiling in the night, and without divine help or direction. This gains nothing substantial: it is loss, and not true gain: it is dross, and dung, and filthy rags. The sooner we lose it all, the better. But, on the other hand, all holding back, and declining to work with the Great Worker of all things in true religion; all backwardness in letting down the net on the right side of the ship, in the break of heavenly light and day, and by his direction; all staying behind when he puts forth his sheep, goes before them, utters his voice, and calls upon them to follow him, -- are as effectual in preventing the work of salvation, as running, toiling, and willing of ourselves, in our own might and spirit, without him. We must, through the divine workings of God by his grace and spirit in us, work out our own salvation. This is always the way it is wrought. We can do no more of it ourselves, unassisted by him, than "the Ethiopian can change his skin, or the leopard his spots.’ And yet, even where it is done in the most sudden manner that ever it was known, it is done no other way, and no further, than as the will or spirit of man yields up, submits to, and becomes a co-worker with him who worketh all in all in true religion. All our springs are in God. He has wrought all our works in us. But the springs are no further ours, and the work is no further wrought in us, than we suffer the obstructions to the arising and flowing of the well of life and salvation in us to be removed, and are willing to be wrought upon, formed, and fashioned by the Great Potter as he pleaseth. Our part is to be unresisting, as the clay in the hand of the potter. The simile regards the non- resistance of the clay, but does not extend so far as to represent us inactive, unconscious, or without choice, will, or exertion, in this great work. It might as well represent us unconscious, and entirely insensible, as inactive, or active as mere machines. It shows that we can do no more merely of ourselves in it, than lifeless clay; and that even where we are the most vigorously active in a right line religiously, our will and activity are not only wholly yielding and unresisting under the divine operation, but they are no further or faster exertive in the work, than the divine hand or influence is felt and extended, holds us fast, and puts us forward, forms and fashions us vessels of use and honour, as he pleases. And he never pleases to make any of us any thing in religion, either in ourselves or to others, without the consent, concurrence, and co-operation of our own minds and abilities in it. As we yield to his call and operation, the new formation, creation, and generation begin and advance. Old things are done away, all things become new, and all things of God; and not of ourselves, without him. Here we are brought into reconciliation with him, and know our sins to be blotted out and freely remitted. Remission of past sins is equally, in all ages, the act of divine grace. It is the mercy of God, in and through Christ the begotten: his unchangeable nature, an attribute or excellency inseparable from the Divine Essence. He cannot retain anger, or opposition, to a state not in opposition to him. Anger, as a passion, he has none; he is always in himself the same, and always one. There is no twain in him. Love and wrath, compassion and vengeance, are not in him as different things, or even as states or dispositions. It is more strictly proper to say, he is love, goodness, wisdom, power, compassion, a fountain of living waters, a consuming fire, &c., than to say he has such and such attributes, or properties. Indeed, I suppose the word attribute was originally used on this very ground, and implies that he has not any two different things or states in himself. But because he is all these, we attribute to him those different excellencies or qualities, which are familiar to our ideas. He is love, and always and altogether love; he is goodness, and always and altogether goodness; power, wisdom, and justice, and always and altogether all these, and all are ever but one in him. Perhaps goodness is a word as expressive of what he is, as any. However, being goodness, he was and is prompted to create subordinate intelligences, thereby to diffuse bliss, happiness, and enjoyment. His eternal nature, (or say, love or goodness,) prompts him to visit, revisit, or operate upon, call and invite all that he has made capable of happiness or misery, in a spiritual sense. He cannot, (such is the purity and goodness of his eternal unchangeable nature,) make a sham invitation to any, and pass it upon them as a real and sincere one! As his promise is yea and amen forever, so is his call. All have heard it; but they have "not all obeyed."Romans 10:16. The call is as real to him who does not, as to him who does obey. In order that we might be rational creatures, conscious of good and evil, and proper objects of reward and punishment, free agency was absolutely necessary to man. Hence results our capacity to obey, or disobey God’s call; to yield to, or resist the operations and workings of his power in us for salvation. And hence the divine equity of rewarding every man according to his works; according to the deeds done in the body. He that commits sin works directly against God, against the divine call, the manifestation and operation of God in himself. This is the evil of sin. It is hence the guilt and condemnation arise. It is rebellion against the light. The light shines in all; in "every man that cometh into the world."John 1:9. It not only is, but must be so, from the very nature, the goodness of God. "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light." None therefore have, nor ever can have, this condemnation, who have not had the light. Its coming cannot be to the condemnation of any but those who hate it. He that loves it, that lives in it, and conforms his deeds, his heart, his life to it, is and must be in union, communion, and reconciliation with God, the source of it, and from whom it shines an emanation of the Eternal Divinity. The word that was in the beginning with God, and truly was God, is now, and ever was the light of all men, and the life of those in whom it obtains, in all things, the pre-eminence. These live by it; or, as Paul expresses himself, it is Christ that liveth in them. Those who hate it, rebel against it, or work counter to it, are in a state of alienation and opposition to God, and therefore in guilt, and under condemnation. Here, to the froward, he must show himself froward: he cannot change into a state of reconciliation with that which is counter to his eternal nature and essence, and to his operation on the soul; but is, and must be a consuming fire. If this produces an entire change in the creature, he is, he must be reconciled to God, and cannot possibly be so any other way. Nothing can cleanse from the filth of sin, and reconcile the soul to God, but that which removes the defilement and opposition to him. "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin." This is the blood of the everlasting covenant, the blood of sprinkling; and as it is felt and known to cleanse from all sin, it is evident that this is not a removal of the guilt while the actual state of sin and transgression remaineth. Cleansing from all sin, and washing it away, are not effected while we are living daily and hourly in sin. Sin ever separates the soul from God. It is that which lets; and it will let, till it is removed out of the way. Full reconciliation to God is not consistent with a state of opposition to his holy law, his divine will, and working in us. While filth and opposition to divine influence remain in man, there remains fuel for the fiery baptism of Jesus, nor can the floor of the heart be thoroughly cleansed till all defilement is removed. God and evil are in eternal contrariety, and as God cannot change, he cannot at one time be unreconciled, and at another time reconciled to the same state. Imputation of Christ’s righteousness to sinners, so as to reconcile them to God in a state of actual sin, or alienation from him, is as impossible as to reconcile light and darkness, or Christ and Belial. It is a phantom that has risen up in the fogs and mists of benighted minds. It is attempting to climb up to heaven some other way than by Christ, the door. And yet such is the power of darkness, that this is called magnifying the merits of a crucified saviour, who never saves his people but as he saves them from their sins! He is the eternal Word, and as such is God. To us he is the emanation, or son of God’s love. When he lives and reigns complete in us; when he is our life, and has in all things the pre-eminence with us, and so is our complete justification, as such he must have been begotten and formed in us; strictly and truly so; for it is thus, and thus only, that we are or can be complete in him. He is one in all the only begotten of God forever. God alone is his Father. Every true believer is his mother. Hence he assures us, "Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother."Matthew 12:50. And hence too he is the son of man. "What and if ye shall see the son of man ascend up where he was before?"John 6:62. The outward body of flesh and blood, which cannot inherit the kingdom of God, never came down from heaven. "He that ascended, is he that first descended." The outward body was prepared for him who came to do the divine will. It was the eternal holy Word that came down from heaven, and took flesh in that body; and this divine word having a conception and birth in man, becomes truly, and in the scripture sense, the son of man, as well as son of God; and so is both the root and offspring of David, according toRevelation 22:16, and as truly the seed of Abraham. It was not the outward body, nor the mere human nature, that was the seed of Abraham, in which all the families of the earth are blessed. It was that living birth of divine life, whose day Abraham saw, and wherein he enjoyed the spiritual blessing. This is the seed of the woman that bruises the serpent’s head. It was and is necessary, in order to our restoration and union with God, that the life of the Deity, the holy word, should so operate as to bring forth in us a conception and birth of his own divine nature; a real birth of the incorruptible seed and word of God. As in this holy offspring a real union of life, human and divine, is formed and brought forth, and as man herein becomes the mother of this heavenly offspring, this is really the seed of the woman, the seed of the church and spouse of Christ; for it is not only as the seed of Mary or of Eve, that the only begotten is the seed of the woman. The souls in whom he is begotten and brought forth, are all in the relation of parent to him, as well as brethren and sisters; and according to the nature of the work which forms this relation, it is strikingly represented by the parent in the female line; "Whosoever, &c. the same is my brother, and sister, and mother." And this is that begotten of God, and at the same time that son of man, which ascends up where he was before he became the son of man. And as God alone can be the father of this his only begotten, man at most can be his mother. And was not this a principal reason why his outward birth was of a virgin; showing that God only is the Father of all that is truly begotten and born again of him, and holding forth, in striking analogy, this great and adorable mystery? Let not the wisdom of man arise against it; for though it may appear blasphemous to some, it appears to me perfectly consistent with our saviour’s formerly declaring himself both the son of man and son of God. Nothing was stranger to creaturely wisdom in that day, than the profession of a man to be the son of the Highest, though without such a relation actually formed, there was never any salvation to any individual. And herein is much of the glory, excellency, and efficacy of Christ’s coming in that body. It wonderfully exhibits, illustrates, and exemplifies the nature of the great work of salvation, is a blessed pattern of it, and may, by way of eminence, be considered as containing the sum of it. It is all of the same nature in every individual, and was, is, and ever must be, through suffering and death, and a resurrection to newness of life. Much might be said in support of this doctrine. The scriptures bear ample testimony to it, though in a way that is hid from the natural reason of mankind, till illuminated from on high. When Peter knew Christ to be the son of God, Christ told him, flesh and blood had not revealed it unto him, but his heavenly Father.Matthew 16:17. This holds good to every individual. The world by wisdom never knew God, and never can know Christ. None know him, but those to whom the Father reveals him; nor can any know the Father, but by the revelation of the son in themselves. "No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the holy ghost."1 Corinthians 12:3. This is the reason why "every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God,"1 John 4:2. The evil spirits of old confessed him in words, but he rejected their testimony, and suffered them not to speak; Luke iv.41. For though they had an outward knowledge who he was, they spake not by the holy ghost; they were not of God. And thus thousands now confess him to have come in the flesh in that body, and are proud to call him Lord; but none ever rightly call him so, but by the revelation of the Father. Therefore, on this rock only he builds his church, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it, though against every other building they can and do prevail. It is not merely confessing, though in full assent to the truth of it, that Christ did come in that one outward body, that determines any one to be of God; the devils believe, confess, and tremble; but none truly and thoroughly confess him without knowing (in the present tense) that he "is come in the flesh" in themselves, spiritually. "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever, even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him; but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you: yet a little while and the world seeth me no more, but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day, (that is, when I come again the second time, the comforter, to salvation,) ye shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you."John 14:16-21. This is the great mystery of godliness. God manifest in the flesh, is not confined to the flesh of that one body. "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, (not Iscariot,) Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, if a man love me he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him;"John 14:21-23. "That which may be known of God is manifest in them."Romans 1:19. The preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest, "is Christ in you the hope of glory."Colossians 1:27. "Always bearing about in the body, says the apostle, "the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body; for we which live, are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh."2 Corinthians 4:10-11. "We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us;"2 Corinthians 4:7. Here is plainly in us the death; the dying of the Lord Jesus, in order that his life may be manifest in us. This is baptism into his death, and rising with him into newness of life; the one soul-saving baptism. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that receiveth whomsoever I send, receiveth me, and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me."John 13:20. Great, indeed, is this mystery, much unknown to, yea, even rejected as enthusiasm, by many professors of Christ. No man can really receive any one that Jesus sendeth, and not as really receive him, (I mean absolutely him, the only begotten of God,) any more than we can receive Christ, and not receive the Father that sent him. "Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."Matthew 25:1-46. Let none suppose he means simply, that he will accept it as if done unto him; it is true in the strictest sense. It is actually done unto him in them, for they are all real brethren;" "heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ."Romans 8:17. "He that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one."Hebrews 2:11. "He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.1 Corinthians 6:17. "We being many are one bread."1 Corinthians 10:17. "I and my Father are one."John 10:30. Christ formed in man, is in the oneness with the Father. The begotten of God in every soul is one with him in the everlasting covenant; as truly so, in measure, as there was a real oneness with God in the man Christ Jesus. "I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the Most High."Psalms 82:6. (And if children, then heirs.) And their dying like men, in the next verse, is as it happened to the blessed Jesus, as well as to all his co-heirs and brethren. "Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, ’ye are gods?’ If he called them gods unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken, say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world, thou blasphemest, because I said, I am the son of God? If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works, that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in him."John 10:34-39. For this they sought to kill him, or took up stones to stone him. And when he says the same thing now, in his joint-heirs and brethren, is it not condemned as rank enthusiasm, if not blasphemy? And yet this reasoning was then cogent and unanswerable, and is equally true at all times, and in all the seed. None ever did the works of God but the seed, the son, the sent, and sanctified of the Father. This is the reason, "he that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one." He told them, the works he did, they should do; that is, the works of God. And that babe that is begotten and born of God, of the incorruptible seed, and so doth his works in every redeemed soul, has always a right to say as he did, "But if I do the works of God, though ye believe not me, believe the works." But why believe the works? "That ye may know and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him." Only believe the works and the point is settled at once. "For there is none good but one, that is God." No real good work can be done, but he doeth it. We are enabled to work out our own salvation, but it is only as God worketh in us and we work by him; he in us and we in him. No mere man can receive this doctrine. Hence the divine truth and certainty of John Baptist’s declaration, "He that cometh from above, is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all, and what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth, and no man receiveth his testimony. He that hath received his testimony, hath set to his seal that God is true."John 3:31-34. And who is this that receiveth his testimony? Answer, No man, as man merely, but the begotten of God. "The world cannot receive him, because it seeth him not." "No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him."John 1:18. "And of his fulness have all we received."John 1:16. Had we not, we could never rightly know God, nor receive the testimony of the son. There is nothing else through which we can receive it. It is hid from the wisest of men except only so far as it is manifested to them in and by this. It is revealed only unto babes, that is, to his begotten. Men, as natural men, and as such considered as the work of God, are created. But the new born babes in Christ, though in a sense the work and creation of God, (as Christ is the beginning of it,) yet they are, as his production, not merely created as Adam; they are, strictly speaking, begotten. There is in their formation, a spiritual conception and birth in the soul. The Father, by the overshadowing of the holy ghost upon the willing mind, which embraces and yields to the visitations, operations, and wooings of his love, begetteth and produceth a true and real birth of divine life, a conception and birth of that which is truly and properly his only begotten forever, being one in all his spiritual offspring. This is he that is born again of God, of the incorruptible seed and word of God. In the production of this conception, generation, and birth, there is both Father and mother. He that begets, is the only possible Father of this the only begotten. The soul in whom this conception and birth is effected, is the mother; and here "the man is not without the woman, nor the woman without the man in the Lord." This conception and birth cannot possibly be effected by the mother without the Father, and is never produced by the Father without the consent of the mother. There must be a celestial union, a real co-operation, wherein two become one. Of twain the one new man is made, which is God and man in the heavenly and mystical fellowship and union. This is the mystery of Christ. This is what is held forth strikingly and livingly in his birth of the virgin Mary; and this ever was, and ever will be the only possible way of salvation. This is the new creature, that being born of God sinneth not; indeed, cannot sin, and that for this very reason, because "his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God;" (1 John 3:9) as really so, as one was ever born of another in natural procreation. The natural man, the mere creature, as the work of God, is a created being; he never saw God, cannot know him, nor receive the testimony respecting the mystical union and sonship: but the babe, the begotten, that with a true and living knowledge of its sonship, cries Abba, Father, both sees and knows the Father, and receives the heavenly testimony. For Christ, speaking of this mystery, says, "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones, for I say unto you, that in heaven, their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven."Matthew 18:10. And again, calling them sheep, he says, "My sheep hear my voice," &c.John 10:27. Thus they receive his testimony, but will not receive that of a stranger. "All that ever came before me, are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them;"John 10:8. Were Moses and the prophets, and John, who came before him to prepare his way, thieves and robbers? Nay, verily, they came not before him in this sense; for he came in them, and was their leader; and all the real message of God by them, was through him. He is "the word of the Lord, that came unto them." The same word that was in the beginning. But whenever man, of himself, out of Christ, meddles in the things of God, he is a thief, takes that which is not his, sets his post by God’s post, and robs the babe of his honour. Here is the ground and rise of idolatry. Here is antichrist in the temple of God, exalted over the seed of God in man, and got up above all that is truly called God, and rightly worshipped. Christ is the door. Is there a door of entrance into the kingdom in our hearts? If so, it is Christ in us; there is no other door, nothing can open to receive him, nor enter into the kingdom with him, but that which is of him; all else is, and ever will be, darkness, and cannot comprehend the light, or receive it. Nature works against it; men love darkness rather, and as men merely, ever will. "Israel is my son, even my first born."Exodus 4:22. This is true for ever; for Israel, the begotten and born of God, even when the seed of Abraham suffered in Egypt, was truly his only son, his first born; and hence he speaks of all the seed in the singular number. "Israel is my son, my first born." This could not have been true, had not this Israel been the seed of Abraham spiritually; and in the same sense Christ is so called; that is, not seeds as of many, but the one seed, which is Christ in all the heirs and brethren. "This day have I begotten thee," is, through all time, the language of the Father. "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given," (Isaiah 9:6) is as true at one time as another, in the present tense, without looking backward or forward. They ate the spiritual meat, and drank of the spiritual rock, when Israel, God’s son, was called out of Egypt, long before the virgin Mary, "and that rock was Christ." They not only ate outward manna, they ate the same spiritual meat the saints ever live by, else they had no life in them; there was never any other possible way for men to have divine life in them. To know God and Christ is life eternal. He is in all; all have of his fulness, and yet thousands are dead because they do not know him; they eat not his spiritual flesh, nor drink his spiritual blood, and so cannot live by him. "He that eateth me, shall live by me," says he. He is hid and buried in them. He is as "leaven hid;" (the very seed of the kingdom;)Matthew 13:33. A talent laid up in a napkin; or buried in the earth,Luke 19:20;Matthew 25:18; overlooked and rejected, yea, trampled under foot, as an unholy thing, although it is the very blood of the everlasting covenant.Hebrews 10:29. "The corner stone," which all the wise builders among men as men, have ever rejected; but to those who come to know him, and build in and by him, he becomes "the head of the corner."Acts 4:11. There is wisdom in the word become; "is become the head of the corner;" for he is so to none, but as he becomes so. The head-stone in religion, and even in the profession of Christ, is always another thing to natural men, however zealous and full of faith, as they may suppose, whilst he lies hid and buried in them, though they cry up ever so loudly his former appearance in that body. Thousands do so, and yet know no more of him than the Jews did. They who then received his testimony, and saw his glory, as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, saw through the veil of his flesh, or they had never seen him, or livingly known him in that appearance: and none now rightly know him, that stick in that appearance, and see no further. "Though we have known Christ after the flesh," says the apostle, "yet now henceforth know we him no more."2 Corinthians 5:16. "Lo, I come," says he, and "a body hast thou prepared me."Hebrews 10:5-7. The I that came, the me the body was prepared for, is he who says, "Before Abraham was, I am." Hence all who knew him, knew the Father also, and all who now know him, know the Father; there is no possible failure of this. "If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us: Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, show us the Father?"John 14:7-9. It seems Philip had not yet fully learned this mystery; and this is the case with many who are in degree his disciples. Paul says, "Ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular."1 Corinthians 12:27. "As the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body being many, are one body; so also is Christ. For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one spirit;"1 Corinthians 12:12-13. It is plain this body of Christ is spiritual; for we are members of it by baptism of the one spirit into it: by drinking into the one spirit. It is not our outward bodies that compose, and are the members of Christ’s body, but it is the birth of Christ in us; it is a union of the life of God and the life of man; and thus the apostle’s simile is beautifully instructive; the outward body is one with the head, the members are all of the body; "so also is Christ." The begotten are all members of the body; the body is one with and in the head, "and the head of Christ is God." And when the birth of Christ is fully formed in man, and grown up to the measure of the stature and fulness of sonship, where every thought is brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, so that God becomes all in all, here the holy Head is known. Christ is the head of every man, and God is the head of Christ; that is, Christ the begotten entirely governs the whole man, as the head directs and governs all the members of the body; and God the Father, as the head of Christ, entirely guides, governs, and in all things directs the begotten. "I am the true vine," says Christ, "and my Father is the husbandman."John 15:1. Are the vine and the husbandman one? Answer, yes, in the heavenly union and mystery: the wisdom of man makes it nonsense; but if the vine and the husbandman are one, surely then, so are the vine and the branches. "I am the vine, ye are the branches."John 15:5. "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away."John 15:2. "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in me."John 15:4. "If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and withereth."John 15:6. "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."John 15:7. "Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do."John 14:13. As he cannot deny himself, a branch abiding in him, and asking in his name, cannot ask without receiving: therefore it holds good forever, "Ask, and ye shall receive." It cannot possibly fail, for, says he, "The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works." 10. Just so every branch in him may say, "I speak not of myself, I ask in thy name: it is thy word that speaks, and asketh in me;" "I live, yet not I, it is Christ that liveth in me." This is he, that in all the truly begotten can always say, "I know that thou hearest me always." This is true prayer, and no other is so; all other is but the noise, the voice and breath of man, and is not answered; it receives not; it falls to the ground! But let us now hear the great wisdom of man, that God has made real foolishness with him. "What!" says the reasoner, the wise disputer of this world, "how can the branch and vine be one, if the branch may be cast forth, and withered?" This is just as wise as the reasoning of the Jews, "We have heard out of the law, that Christ abideth forever, and how sayest thou, the son of man must be lifted up"John 12:34. Can the branch be cast forth, and wither outwardly? It can. Was it not therefore of the vine? It was. Can Christ be crucified afresh in spirit, and put to open shame? Can the blood of the covenant be trodden under foot and despised? Can despite be done to that holy spirit of grace and salvation. Can a birth of real life be stifled and slain? It can. Was the "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world?" Was this said only of what should be afterwards; or was it really done from the very foundation? It was really done; it is still done in thousands. In the very day that Adam ate the forbidden fruit he died. Death took instant place in him, upon that which was before alive in him, only in the life of the Lamb. Here the Lamb was slain in him; here the branch was cast forth and withered. I know it is a mystery too high for mere man to comprehend; but man can laugh it to scorn, and bring forth his strong reasons against it; yea, render it impossible; for impossible it is, and ever will be to this world’s wisdom. I do not expect to escape censure and severe ridicule; for I know that no man as man merely, receiveth the true undisguised testimony of the son, because it is "foolishness unto him."1 Corinthians 2:14. To preach "Christ crucified, was to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness."1 Corinthians 1:23. To preach this doctrine in its full extent, is now both a stumbling block and downright foolishness unto the creature, as much as ever; but to such as see it in the light, it remains to be both "the power of God, and the wisdom of God; because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men."1 Corinthians 1:24-25. This is "the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom (for it remains hid to this day) which God ordained before the world unto our glory; which none of the princes of this world knew."1 Corinthians 2:7-8. "Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God."1 Corinthians 2:12. There is a measure of the spirit, grace, light, and life of the son, freely given to all men to profit withal, but none savingly know it, but those who give up to its motions in themselves, so as to receive it for their teacher; then they see clearly, it had been freely given them of God before, though it lay long hid and buried, and they knew it not. "If thou knewest the gift of God," said Christ to the woman, "and who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink; thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water."John 4:10. This gift of God was he that dwelt in that body; which, whoever saw, saw also the Father. This gift was not only then near her, but had been in her, and is in all; and had she known it before she saw the Lord Jesus outwardly, even as it talked with her, and was the gift of God to her inwardly, she might have asked of him, and received the living water; even as Israel of old drank of that spiritual rock that truly was Christ; and is now in every believer "a well of water springing up into everlasting life;" according to his promise, "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."John 7:38. This is the salvation of God in every age and dispensation; coming into this living faith, in full subjection to this inward holy gift of God, is our only reconciliation with him. This inward gift is the mediator between God and man: it was so in the body prepared by him to do the Father’s will in; it is so now in all. It is not one thing in him, and another in us. This is the bond of union, that unites God and the soul in the divine and saving fellowship; "He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit." A will, opposite to the divine will, is self-will, is enmity to God; nothing but the cross of Christ can ever "slay the enmity;" hence no true disciple, but by the daily cross, and denial of self: this brings all into the one will, crucifies the old man, with his affections and lusts. Without death, there is no new life; even under the law, "without shedding of blood there was no remission." The life was taken; here was suffering for sin, in the figure. Burnt offerings point out the necessity of fire, the saving baptism of Jesus; who, when he came, passed through the fiery baptism of extreme sufferings, outward and inward; till at length he endured the pangs of death, and poured forth his very "soul an offering for sin."Isaiah 53:10. And it now remains that what is yet behind of his sufferings and afflictions be filled up in us;Colossians 1:24. His sufferings are not ended; "For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ."2 Corinthians 1:5. Again, "As ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation;"2 Corinthians 1:7. "If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together."Romans 8:17. Here we suffer with him, expressly in order that we may be glorified together. "If we be dead with him, we shall also live with him; if we suffer, we shall also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us."1 Timothy 2:11-12. "Rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings."1 Peter 4:13. "That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death."Php 3:10. This is the baptism that now saves us; it is not a figure; we never receive remission of sins, but in the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ, and conformity to his death; this was always the only way. So that of old, when blood was taken for atonement, and no remission was had without blood, the outward was but the shadow, and of itself procured no remission, no reconciliation. It is, through all time, only by the death and sufferings of Christ, that we can be, or any could be, reconciled to God. And as none obtained this blessing by the offerings themselves, without knowing in themselves a death to sin, a fellowship in the sufferings of the holy seed, so none can now receive it otherwise. The death and sufferings of Christ in that body are of great price in the sight of God, and in all things have the pre-eminence in the view of the saints. Therein was wonderfully held forth the way of salvation, as a work of God in man, and of man by God; that it is all through suffering, a wounding to heal, and killing to make alive in God. He, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, has always borne the chastisement of our peace; nor without his stripes were any ever healed. God hath laid on him the iniquities of us all, but unless we partake in the chastisement, and feel his stripes, we are not healed; for he that will save his life, shall lose it; but he that will lose his life, and die with Christ, shall save it unto life eternal. Ever of old, "in all their afflictions, he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them."Isaiah 63:9. They had his real presence, or all else had been useless: they were afflicted with him, as well as he with them, and those who know not reconciliation with God and remission of sins in this way are not reconciled to him. But this is death to man’s will and wisdom too; he won’t endure it; he had rather believe, or pretend to believe, any thing than die into life. His whole aim as man, in his own activity in religion, is to climb up some other way; and among his many inventions, that he may seem to come in by Christ, he has hewn out the broken cistern of the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to man in transgression! But his righteousness is forever unimputable to all who have not died with him to sin, and risen in the power of his resurrection to newness of life; it can be no further imputed to any, than they are actually conformed to his death, and the fellowship of his sufferings. There is an eternal distance and separation between Christ and all that is unholy. No grain of his righteousness was ever imputed to any soul, but in exact proportion to its actual sanctification, or submission to the divine will. What can be more absurd, than to suppose Christ’s sufferings have altered HIM, who is always unchangeably the same? or that HE sees us any otherwise than as we are, in our actual state and condition? I can have no expectation of salvation by Christ, without the fellowship of his sufferings, and conformity to his death. But, blessed forever be the name of the Lord, I have known something of the power of Christ to salvation. I know certainly that there is no other name given under heaven, whereby men can be saved. But who is this saviour? "I, even I, am the Lord, and besides me there is no saviour."Isaiah 43:11. This is he who ever liveth; his taking flesh has tended powerfully to unveil the mystery, and show man that salvation is a work of God and man in union, wrought out through suffering, fear, and trembling. This was ever the only way. The sufferings of Christ for the salvation of men, began not when he took flesh of the virgin Mary, nor are his sufferings one thing in nature or kind in the head, and another in the members. If "one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it."1 Corinthians 12:26. All is in the oneness. Suffering and being put to death in the flesh or fleshly motions, has ever been the alone way to know the quickening of the spirit; the only trodden path to glory. The sufferings of the seed in that one specially prepared body, could do no more towards reconciling a soul to God, than the blood of bulls and goats towards the washing away sin, were it not that the promise is sure to all the seed; and that the seed is one in all; its sufferings one; its reigning and rejoicing one. The seed, the life, the begotten, was of old pressed as a cart with sheaves. How the divine life so unites with humanity, as to be capable of suffering, is a question too high for human wisdom; but it is the truth, and the only true way of salvation, learnt only in the rending of the veil, and in removing the covering that, in the first state, is spread over all nations. It is God’s will that that be "not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterwards that which is spiritual." Our state is first natural, our acquaintance is with natural things; our ideas and conceptions natural: by degrees the eternal holy Word, that was with God, and was God, that is nigh in the heart and in the mouth, and enlightens all men, more and more operates upon us, to illuminate, to burn, to quicken, awaken, plead with, and demand audience, and dominion in us: this is God’s goodness for our redemption; and what says he? "I will overturn, overturn, overturn, and it shall be no more till he come, whose right it is, and I will give it him." And Christ says, "I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I if it be already kindled?" Forever lauded be his goodness to the souls of men, it was, it is already kindled; it burns as an oven, (that is, inwardly,) in order to refine us as silver is refined! "Verily there is a vein for silver, and a place for gold where they fine it." "Gold is tried in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of affliction." The Lord’s fire is ever in Sion, and his furnace in Jerusalem. "The light of Israel shall be for a fire; and his Holy One for a flame," and it shall kindle in the thickets; the briers also and thorns shall be burnt up. This is all inward, for redemption and salvation: it is so in all, as far as it is not quenched. But men may and do quench the spirit, this spirit of judgment and burning; but those who cease to quench it, soon find the good effects of it; it kindles up more and more, till the chaff is consumed, and the wheat is gathered into the Lord’s garner. This is the baptism of Christ; the one baptism, as old as Abraham; known to all that have ever known salvation. As this work of refinement advances, the veil rends, the covering is gradually removed, until the veil is done away in Christ. Here the spiritual understanding and discernment are gradually received; here we know the meaning of these words: "Afterwards that which is spiritual!" God never intended men should know these things by natural reason, or by a man’s own spirit. The natural man cannot know them; they are foolishness unto him; and only to be spiritually discerned. The acutest philosopher is herein as great a fool as any; hence some of the greatest sons of natural science, the very darlings of genius, and masters of reason, have been and now are deists? I confess, I see nothing so absurd in deism, at least nothing so repugnant to the good sense and common understanding of mankind, as I see in what some of the great doctors of divinity, so termed, hold forth for the doctrines of the Gospel! I don’t question, if any of these should read this little treatise, but they will feel in their own estimation, able to swallow me up at once, and confound all my wild enthusiastic notions, as they may call them, by the force of human reason, as behemoth "trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth."Job 40:23. "His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron."Job 40:18. So may seem the strength of carnal reasoners. But a word by the way: "He that made him, can make his sword to approach unto him!"Job 40:19. May the sword of the spirit approach to, and penetrate the hearts of such professors as these. But if I knew Christ no otherwise than they teach, describe, and declare him, I think I must be either a sceptic or a deist. I can never see the connexion between the sufferings of a body of flesh, seventeen or eighteen hundred years ago, and the salvation of an immortal soul at this day, without seeing those sufferings connected with the sufferings of the seed, that is one in all. The seed groaned on Calvary, the seed groans in all; "Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body." The whole creation of mankind, groans more or less to be delivered into the liberty of the children of God. And this salvation by Christ, the suffering seed, the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, is, in this way, the most glorious display of infinite wisdom. But I think the systems, by some promulgated for the gospel of salvation by Jesus, as full fraught with absurdity, as almost any thing I have met with in Mahometanism, or the ancient mythology of the heathen. The world by wisdom knew not God then, nor can the wisdom of the world a whit more know him now. This wisdom has got hold of things given by inspiration and revelation from God to his children, and doubts not its full competency to the comprehension, methodising, and promulgation of the gospel! This wisdom reads, "There are three that bear record in heaven," and will have it, these are three distinct persons in one God; and rivers of human blood have been shed in consequence of the contentions that have been about this mystery! As they handle it, they advance natural flesh and blood to divinity; they deify a person of shape and dimensions, and look for his coming, as such, to judgment. They make in short three Gods; and yet say there is but one God! But the three that bear record in heaven, are known where God reveals them, and never elsewhere. No mystery can be declared from God, and gain credence, but anon, the poor finite wisdom of the creature presumes to lay hold of it, and vainly proceeds to absolute determinations; and then often seeks to enforce these notions on mankind, sometimes by the point of the sword, sometimes by fire and fagot: and were I an honest deist, I must endure their tortures, before I could subscribe to their dogmas. Let the creature be passive till life leads to action; let man be a fool as he is, and wait on God for instruction, and he will at least avoid the labyrinths of learned absurdity; and may learn that the infinite Jehovah, the great I AM, as the eternal self- existent, omnipotent, and first cause of all things, ever reigns properly God, and is one. As the begetter of life divine in mortals, the babe that cries Abba, Father, and to which alone divine mysteries are, or can be revealed, he is properly the Father; and such too in a larger sense; for as there is in the depth of every soul, at least a panting conception of the incorruptible seed and word of life, he may be called "the Father of us all." How far he is, or is not, properly the Father of all created intelligences, all animated nature, I am not curious to inquire, or anxious to decide. But as putting forth his power, or uttering his voice, or as power put forth, or a voice uttered, in order for production or creation, or in order for diffusion of bliss, he is the holy word: also, as manifesting in intelligible language the divine will to the ear of the soul, he is the word of the Lord; the word nigh in the heart and mouth; not only in the heart, for when the prophets speak, "it is (as Christ said) not ye that speak, but the spirit of your Father that speaketh in you." And as he speaketh in them, and by or through them, to others, he is also the word in the mouth, as well as in the heart. As a production, or as being begotten and brought forth in man, in a state of dependance and want, and looking up to a superior preserver, feeder, and helper in every sense, he becomes a son; and this was our saviour’s state in that body, and is the state of sonship in all. He was dependant, he was tried and tempted in all things as we are; hence his sympathy with all the seed; he is touched with a feeling of all our infirmities; is a merciful and faithful high priest; and being himself tempted, knows how to succour them that are tempted. He could do nothing without his Father; "My father worketh hitherto, and I work," said he. "My Father is greater than I." "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man; no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the son, but the Father."Mark 13:32. As a son he was begotten; this implies Father and mother; every one in whom he is begotten is his mother; and as he is begotten in all these, so is each of these his sister and brother; and as he is married to these, they are his wife, bride, or spouse. Much more might be said of the state of sonship; but "who will believe our report, and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?" Who can bear to hear that the son differs nothing (as the apostle saith) from a servant, for a season, though he be Lord of all? Who can allow him to lay in a manger, and then to be under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the Father? But so he is in all, whether men know it or not, and so he was in that body. He submitted to his parents, obeyed and learned gradually, "learned obedience by the things he suffered." He advanced by degrees, and grew in "stature and in favour with God and man." And though he never sinned, yet "he died unto sin once" that is, unto the motions, which, if obeyed, had brought forth sin; for he had a will as a man; as a man his nature was reluctant to the cross. "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me;" but he abode in subjection, "not my will, but thine be done." Just the path we all must tread to glory, the way we all must walk, if ever we obtain salvation. He must reign in us, till he puts all enemies under him in us. Here he must sit at God’s right hand, the right hand of omnipotence, in every soul, till eternal power makes all his foes his footstool; till he puts down all other rule and authority in us but his own; till perfect obedience and subjection takes place; till our will is swallowed up in the divine will. Here, as mediator, having made perfect reconciliation, he renders up the kingdom to the Father; and God becomes all in all. Death is swallowed up in victory. Here he rises from the grave, bursts the bands of death, puts off the grave clothes, mortal puts on immortality, rises from the sepulchre, notwithstanding the sealing of the stone, and setting of the watch; and yet after all this, "touch me not, for I am not yet ascended." Wait to have an ear open to receive this, and wait his ascension over all in thee; be not hasty; "he that believeth shall not make haste." There is a time and season for all things; and if thou abidest in the patience, and touchest him not, thou shalt see and know all power, both in heaven and earth, committed unto him, though he has only been under tutors. He through death reunites with the Omnipotent, from whom he was put forth into a state of want, weakness, and dependance; that is, all self-will or reluctance, every motion that had striven against, or attempted to strive against the motion of divine life in the will of the Father, is slain, all yields up, and God becomes all in all. Now he leads captivity captive, ascends over all, and sits down in the throne of the kingdom; principalities and powers being made subject to him. Here, he that laid down his life, and was a servant to all, -- having first come forth from the bosom of the Father; been conceived in man, and brought forth, truly the son of man, swaddled and laid in the manger, scarce finding where to lay his head; persecuted, reviled, spit upon, crowned with thorns, crucified, dead, and buried, -- rises superior to all the powers of darkness, and all the gates of hell; and ascends up where he was, before he came forth from the Father. This is the seed of the woman that bruises the serpent’s head; not then first the seed of the woman when born of Mary, but as early as a birth of God was brought forth in man. This is he of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did write; whom Moses calls the word in the mouth and the heart; the true seed of Abraham, and of David in spirit. "Hosannah to the son of David; blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." Now this immortal birth is ever begotten by the overshadowing of the holy ghost; by the influence of the holy spirit, the babe of life is conceived! God is a spirit; why? because he quickens and giveth life, or maketh alive; his influence on the soul is felt enlivening, animating, and invigorating its faculties. The beginning and progress in all true religion is in God as a spirit; the renewing of the holy ghost, is the comfort and consolation of the begotten of God; it is the very life of God, that is food for the soul; the flesh and blood of the son, which the saints feed on and live by, and which he explains thus: "It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing." Indeed, if ye can receive it, it is the very "blood of God." This holy spirit instructs, as well as clothes, feeds, and strengthens the begotten; in short, God is all in all, in beginning, carrying on, and completing the work; and finally it will be seen so, when all comes into full subjection to him. But as in putting forth his power in created intelligences, in the progress of the work carried on between God and the soul, by God in man, and by man through God, there is begetting, there is the begotten, there is assisting, instructing, feeding, clothing, and upholding the begotten, "till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ;" (Ephesians 4:13) so, though God is eternally but one, and there is no twain at all in him, not even love in him, in any wise different from wisdom, goodness, power, wrath, vengeance, or any thing that is in him; yet as it is very proper to speak of these several attributes or perfections, and of divers operations, according to what he operates upon -- a fountain of living waters to the faithful; a consuming fire to the man of sin, (as the sun softens wax and hardens clay, and yet not two acts, or different operations in the sun itself;) so the distinction of Father, son, and spirit is proper, and there is a substantial, experimental ground for it; yea, further, for the distinction "of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;" as we find Paul expresses it. He that pleases may make himself sport with these mysteries, but I can tell him, had he lived in our saviour’s day in that body, in the same disposition, he would have ridiculed him, and his living testimony to the truth, as much as he now does the unfolding of the nature and life of it; and would have been as able to raise mountains piled on mountains of seeming difficulty and impossibility against it. And therefore if he now thinks himself a believer, it would be a mercy to him to be undeceived, and convinced that he only believes, because it is the fashion, and that he has taken his faith upon trust from others! This may startle him; for I doubt not he thinks verily, that he believes, because he has examined for himself, and is fully convinced! But surely he has never made thoroughly the right examination, for if he had, he could never believe the common credenda of religion in our land. He may have gone as far as his natural powers can lead him, under all the clogs and prejudices of education and popular opinion; but it is to be feared, the Father which is in heaven, has not revealed his son in him, has not translated him into the kingdom of his dear son. He cannot then in this state, call Jesus, Lord, by the holy ghost; he may say, the Lord liveth, and Christ is the son of God, and nevertheless swear falsely! The substance of what I have written, I have at least learned mostly of the Father. I learned the mystery of it, not of man, neither was I ever clearly and livingly taught it by man, as man; but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. If, courteous reader, thy mind is now, or at any time hereafter shall be, so opened and prepared, as to receive and assent to these declarations, and would wish them to be of real benefit to thy soul, I have this further to say to thee: have a care; catch not at it in the prying wisdom of man; seek not to have the vulture’s eye to behold it; it will do thee no good, in the letter, out of the life of it. Wait on the Lord in stillness, in singleness, and holy abstraction of soul, before him. Be content with a little, make not haste. And as thine eye is single to the divine light in thee, thy whole body will become full of light; thou wilt not lack any good thing, any necessary information; but God will reveal all things to thee, as far and as fast as thou canst safely and usefully bear them. If thou advancest in this school rightly, it can never be further or faster than thou advancest in purification; and that must be through burning and fuel of fire. If thou canst not dwell with devouring fire, and with spiritual burnings, thou wilt never make a proficient in the science of salvation, nor stand faithful in the Lamb’s warfare. But if thy heart is won to Jesus in good earnest, and thou art engaged to follow him, wherever he leads thee; through fire and water, through persecution, temptation, ridicule, and contempt; if thou art bent to bear him company before the high priests, lawyers, and Pilate; and to stand by him through all his perils, in his fast, agony, and death on the cross, hold on thy way, he’ll be with thee, and will not forsake thee. Remember for thy encouragement what he said to his disciples, "Ye have continued with me in my temptations, and I appoint unto you a kingdom." This will hold good to all his upright followers for ever. I heartily wish thee a good journey in thy race to the heavenly Canaan, the communication and comfort of the holy spirit, and a blissful abode in the mansions of eternity. I dedicate, in much real good will, the foregoing to thy use and service, and bid thee farewell; until we meet next in the realms of Emmanuel, to unite with saints, angels, and seraphs in the songs of salvation, round the throne of Jehovah for ever. * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 3: 04 - CHAPTER 2 ======================================================================== SOME OPENINGS OF TRUTH IN REGARD TO THE DOCTRINES OF THE SCRIPTURES: Mostly such as God has given me by his own Holy Spirit, which "searcheth all things; yea; the deep things of God." * * Matthew 1:1. "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham." Christ is not only the son of David, and David the son of Abraham; but Christ himself is the son, (strictly so in spirit,) both of Abraham and of David; yea, of all the holy fathers. Many good Christians may not have duly considered this, and so may be ready to doubt the truth of it. But many things are true which seem strange, and almost impossible, to those who have never been let into them. There are many deep mysteries, not only in spiritual things, but also in natural things, which thousands disbelieve, only because they have not been opened to their understandings; and yet those to whom they have been opened, are sure of the truth of them. It is, therefore, of excellent use in preparing us to understand and receive the truth, to stand open in our minds, with a full conviction that many things may be true, which we have never yet seen to be so. If this be the disposition of our minds, and we look to God, and humbly desire his divine assistance, he may graciously open things to us, one after another, which, of ourselves, we never could pry into, or behold. He may give us to see clearly, that Christ is not only the son of God, and of Abraham, and of David, but of every true born son of God in every age of the world. It may be thought by many, that Christ is not the son of any but God, and the virgin Mary; but Christ himself positively declares, he that doeth the will of his Father, "the same is his mother, and sister, and brother." Shall we suppose he only meant that they were dearly beloved by him, and owned as if they were his nearest relations? By such glosses and interpretations, is the true meaning of many of his deep, and deeply instructive sayings qualified away. But, verily, he meant as he said; and had he not carefully confined his words to a strict meaning, he might have called such his father too. But in the spiritual sense in which he was speaking, no man can possibly be his father, but God. It is true that we read of his father David. In regard to his outward genealogy and descent, David was his forefather; but in regard to his birth in man, none can be Christ’s father but God only. And in order to hold this forth to mankind, even his body that was born of the virgin, was conceived by the overshadowing efficacy of the holy ghost, without the agency of any other immediate father but God. Thus the outward holds a lively analogy with the inward. But though, speaking of the inward, no man can be his father, yet man can and must be, his "mother," as well as "sister and brother," if ever he comes to be truly regenerated and born of the "incorruptible seed and word of God." This new birth is ever produced by the overshadowing of the holy ghost upon the souls of men: and if this gracious overshadowing produce not the holy birth in some men, it is through their default, or the want of their cooperation with it. In such as these, it is like the seed sown in bad ground, and fails of heavenly increase; for "the man is not without the woman, nor the woman without the man in the Lord." There must be an assent of the mind, a uniting with, and cleaving to the holy overshadowing or regenerating influence of the holy ghost, in every soul where the new birth is effected. And even in the case of our Lord’s conception in the virgin, it was not without the hearty assent of her mind; for at the time from which this conception is reckoned, the language of her assenting soul was, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word." And herein the generation of Jesus Christ appears in beautiful and instructive analogy. The conception even of the body not being without the cordial submission, faith, and acquiescence of the virgin; which is a lively display of that state which invariably takes place in every soul that becomes the mother of Christ, which every one doth that is born again, or is born of God. For this new birth, or birth in man, "of the incorruptible seed of God," is as real a birth as is our first birth, or birth into this world. Some may think it a mere metaphorical expression, but it is as perfect a reality as any in nature; and that babe of life, that true child of God, that cries "Abba, Father," is never brought forth, but through a union of the two seeds, the human and divine. And as both seeds are spiritual, hence, "he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit," as the apostle truly asserts. This is the true union with God; and those thus begotten of him are all, strictly speaking, "the offspring of God," and children of the Most High. Stumble not at it, reader; it is the very truth of God; the only sure way of salvation by Christ. And had salvation ever been without a real birth of God in the soul, a substantial union of the very life of God, and of man, brought forth, and growing up into one new man, which, in all ages and nations, is the true Immanuel state, God with man, in a real living union and oneness, Christ’s birth of the virgin would have had no relation to the salvation of souls. But now, blessed for ever be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, this outward coming of the son of his love, or this his appearance, work, and service in that prepared body, is a most lively and instructive exhibition and display of the alone true way and work of salvation. It shows us that no names, notions, creeds, forms, or performances, are of any avail in that great work, that are not in, and receive not all their life and virtue from and in the real life and virtue of the Immanuel state, the union of God and man. This it concerns each individual to experience in his own heart. For nothing done for us, without us, is of any further actual and final advantage to us, than as it promotes the life and growth of this divine union. There is a great deal said of faith, regeneration, and imputation; and the adversary cares not how busy men are in talking, imagining, and building creeds and systems, and professionally and notionally relying on the merits of Christ, if he can thereby keep them from that loss of their own life, that death of the first active sinful nature in themselves, through which alone the life of Christ, the new man, is promoted! Had there been any possible way of salvation but through the real death of all that is sinful in man, Christ need not have died; death is the alone way, and "without blood there is no remission." The offerings under the law bore ample testimony to this truth, and pointed out the necessity of death unto sin. But men are too prone to rest in the figure, and to content themselves with outward performances. Instead of looking through and beyond the type to the substance, and pressing forward into a death unto sin, and a new life unto holiness, the Jews thought there was something substantially available in the punctual performance of the signs; and so gave occasion for the apostle’s severe reprimand: "Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, and hast a form of knowledge, and of the truth in the law." Well, Christ has carried the thing much further than it ever was or could be carried, by the typical death of bulls and goats. He has shown us plainly that nothing will do, short of real death in us. That the death must be in man; that we must die to all creaturely corruption, as he died to the creaturely life. "In that he died, he died unto sin once," says the apostle, "and in that he liveth, he liveth unto God." Though he was sinless, yet he died unto sin; he died to the very first risings and motions of evil; for "he was in all things tempted as we are." In yielding to these temptations, lust would have been so conceived as to have brought forth sin, but in dying, instantly, the death of the holy cross, to every motion whose tendency was unto sin, he is properly said to have died unto sin. And herein, as well as in his death on the cross outwardly to the life of the creature, he has powerfully taught us the necessity of dying with him unto all sin. He that will lose his life for his sake, shall save a divine and eternal life with and in him. But he that will save his life, will not die with him unto sin, must and shall lose it. He that will reign with him, must suffer with him; and he that will rise with him in the newness of the divine life, must first be buried with him in that baptism which is into real death unto all sin, even the baptism by which the floor of the heart is thoroughly cleansed. This is the alone way through which he ever becomes our life. Paul boldly calls him "Christ our life," and he surely is the divine life, yea, and all the divine life, of every redeemed soul. God revealed him in Paul; not merely to him, but in him. And no man ever had the true revelation of the son of God, but in himself: "I live," says the apostle, "yet not I, it is Christ that liveth in me." Come, christian professors, let us examine and prove our ownselves. "Know you not your ownselves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" "He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you," says Christ. And again: "Because I live, ye shall live also: at that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you." As really as he is in the Father, his brethren are in him; and as really as the Father is in him, and is his life, so really is he in them and is their life. As really as God and man are united in one, in him, so really are they so in all his. Hence, "he is not ashamed to call them brethren;" for they are true brethren, all born of the same holy and "incorruptible seed and word of God." It is this, and only this, that makes them not only "heirs of God," but "joint-heirs with Christ." All children of one Father; all begotten by the overshadowing power of the holy ghost; all bearing the image of the heavenly; wherein, "he that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one." Nor let any man suppose that any thing can ever inherit the kingdom of God, that has not a birth of the very life of God in it. What can possibly bring "every thought in us, into captivity to the obedience of Christ," as the apostle expresses it, but the life of Christ ruling in us? Hence it is that in the kingdom of God, both when, and wherever it cometh in earth, where the divine will is done as it is in heaven, and also hereafter in the abodes of bliss, "all things are new, and all things of God;" for in this state and kingdom "God is all in all." Here it is that God is truly and entirely their God, and they his "sons and daughters." Indeed, the alone way of becoming his sons and daughters, the alone way of his becoming all in all in us, and bearing unopposed rule in our hearts, to the obedient subjection of every thought, is by our being born of him; born of the very seed of God, and as really so, as Isaac was born or begotten of Abraham. Hence every man in whom this birth is brought forth, is truly the mother of Christ. God alone is the father of every such joint-heir with the blessed Jesus; the person in whom he is thus begotten, is his mother; the begotten in every such soul, is his brother and sister; and this is that which sinneth not. In this holy birth, and babe of life, "the seed of God," of which it is begotten, remaineth; and so it "cannot sin, because it is born of God." If any man, in whom this birth has some real existence, finds himself still in degree under the power of sin, he may be assured, that so far as he is so, he is not born of God; for that which is born of God sinneth not: or, in the words of the beloved disciple, "whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world."1 John 5:4. That which sinneth in any man, is not born of God; is not the new man, but the old man, which is corrupt, and in which sin yet dwelleth. In this state many good men are groaning to God, for complete deliverance from the remaining bondage of corruption. "Even we ourselves," says the apostle, "groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body." It is sometimes long before the entire adoption, before the sonship is so thoroughly completed, as to allow the soul to speak boldly of the full redemption of the body; redemption of all that belongs to the man, every propensity, and every thought and motion. But there is no safe stopping by the way, or sitting down at ease; for as certainly as we become wholly joined to the Lord in the one spirit, we know Christ to reign in us, till he puts down all rule and authority; until all his and our enemies are put under his feet in us; until death is completely swallowed up in victory, and God becomes all in all. Here it is that the son renders up the kingdom to the Father; and God, over all, sways the unresisted sceptre of his kingdom. This doctrine admits of great illustration from the scriptures; indeed it is as it were the central point, the focus; that, towards which much of the drift of scripture tends, as well as that which gives weight, beauty, and instruction to a great part of the sacred records. And yet, such is the wisdom of God, in hiding these things from the wise and prudent, that nothing is less seen by thousands, who think they understand the scriptures. They are a sealed book to this world’s wisdom, and God determines their being so. The mysteries they contain, are only "spiritually discerned;" for "the natural man cannot know them." There is none in heaven, nor in all the earth, but "the Lion of the tribe of Judah," that can open the seals, or give the mind of man rightly to look into, behold, and understand these divine mysteries. In confirmation of the Emmanuel state, read Matthew’s first chapter: "She was found with child of the holy ghost;" "That which is conceived in her is of the holy ghost!" This was ever the case with all, who come rightly to know "Christ in them the hope of glory;" and there never was, nor ever will be, any other true and substantial "hope of glory but Christ in man, his life, his strength, his guide, and sure defence. Man no otherwise comes to the living and complete experience of this, than through the overshadowing of the holy ghost, begetting in him a birth of the seed of God; which gradually increases, and grows in stature, and in favour with God, (as did our blessed Lord in that prepared body,) until Christ becomes completely formed in him. This was what the primitive believers pressed forward to the attainment of, as a mark for the prize of the high calling of God, which was "in Christ Jesus;" and for this, Paul "travailed in birth" with the little children, spiritually, of his day, that Christ might be formed in them. This he well knew could be effected by nothing short of the power of the holy ghost. Hence, in turning people "from darkness to light, and from the power of satan unto God," the gospel was preached with the holy ghost sent down from heaven; and from that day to this, the gospel of life and salvation has never been, nor ever can be, any otherwise preached. "The gospel is the power of God;" and no other power, no preaching but what is in that power, can turn souls from darkness to light: nothing out of that power can beget souls to God, or effect the conception, formation, and birth of Christ in man: this being the alone power exerted through all periods of time, in order to produce that union of God and man, wherein this new birth consists. We find this also the only power exerted upon the blessed virgin, the mother of our Lord. Oh! the beautiful analogy, the deep wisdom and divine instruction herein exhibited to the enlightened mind! As I view these things, my soul adores, and in prostration and reverence bows before the throne of God: and all that is alive in me, ascribes greatness, and wisdom, might, majesty, and dominion, to the Holy One of Israel! Well might Paul speak of Christ in man the hope of glory, as the mystery hid from ages and generations of those who were under the veil; and consider it as the very riches and glory of God’s "inheritance in the saints." Great riches and glory indeed! Magnified for ever be the name of the Lord, that he has come so near us, and has so clearly taught us the nature and way of salvation, in the coming of our blessed Lord in that prepared body. Even the body was prepared by the power of God, and that too, as we have seen, in a very teaching and instructive manner; hence, says our dear redeemer, speaking to the Father, "a body hast thou prepared me." Here we see the body was not the saviour, (otherwise than as in union with, and through the power of, the divine life, it bore a part in the great work,) but was prepared for him who was the saviour, to do the Father’s will in. "Lo! I come; a body hast thou prepared me." The I who came, the me for whom the body was prepared, was, strictly speaking, the saviour, and had been so in the salvation of all that had ever known salvation. For, says the Most High, "I am God, and beside me there is no saviour." And yet he never saved any, but through the "child born, and son given." There never was any other way, but the way of the new birth, the begotten of God brought forth in the soul. This is the "seed of the woman," that ever "bruiseth the serpent’s head" in man: wherever this is brought forth, satan’s head is bruised; and wherever satan’s head is bruised in man, this is brought forth. This seed is not the seed of the woman, merely as born of Mary; but also as born in every redeemed soul, either man or woman, for in this sense they are all one in Christ. Wherever Christ is brought forth, he is both the son of God, and the son of man: but of man, only, and always, as his mother. A son ever implies both a father and mother: and hence Christ was the son of God, and son of man too, long before the days of the virgin Mary. And yet he never could have been the son of God, till he was begotten of him, and he could not have been begotten without a mother as well as a Father. So that his eternal co-existence with the Father, previous to a mother’s existence, was not in the state of sonship, but absolutely as GOD. Hence, the evangelist John, speaking of his eternity and divinity, does not say, "In the beginning was the son, and the son was with God, and the son was God;" but, he says, "In the beginning was the WORD." The word was strictly GOD, and in nowise distinct from him, as a second person in the trinity; but was truly the "everlasting Father." This everlasting Father, arising in his might, spake the word, "and it was so!" Worlds and intelligences were spoken into being by the word of his eternal power! Hence, as in putting forth his voice he is called the word, so of his uttering his voice in the hearts of his prophets, it is said, "the word of the Lord came unto them:" and of his clothing himself with flesh, and speaking into birth that holy thing which was born of the virgin Mary by the word of his power, it is said, "the word was made flesh;" that is, "took flesh," for the flesh he took on him: though "he took not on him the nature of angels," but the nature of man, and thus was found in "fashion as a man." This holy word that thus took on him flesh, was none else but the EVERLASTING FATHER, exerting himself, by the word of his own power, in all productive energy! It is as dark as Egyptian darkness, to talk of three eternal persons in the only one God. He is one forever. There is no twain in him. Even his wisdom and his power are not twain in him; for he is wisdom, and wholly wisdom; he is power, and wholly power; and so of all his other attributes, as we call them. Indeed the very word attribute implies, that he has not these, as absolutely different things in him; but that we only attribute them to him, as if he had, and that because he is all these, rather than has them. If he had them, in actual contradistinction one from another, we need not call them attributes, and in that case there would be at least a twain; yea, a considerable variety and composition in him: whereas he is one simple uncompounded act, or essence. But generating, (we may use the word generation, for Matthew calls his book, "the book of the generation of Jesus Christ,") I say, generating with the life of man, the everlasting Father takes upon, and unites unto himself, our life and nature; and thus brings forth the Emmanuel state, God with man. Here the sonship commences; and this commenced long before Mary. "To us a child is born, to us a son is given," is true in the present tense, and was true in every age of the world, without looking backwards or forwards. "Thou art my beloved son, this day have I begotten thee," is also ever true in the present tense, whenever the new birth takes place in man. And because all the divine life and authority of this only begotten, (for he is one in all,) both in that prepared body and in all his joint-heirs and brethren, is the eternal life and power of the "everlasting Father" that begetteth him; therefore the very text that calleth him a child born, and a son given, declares his name to be "the Mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." His name is his life and power; "the name of the Lord is a strong tower;" "thy name is as ointment poured forth," and many other passages of scripture show his name to be just what he is. And, therefore, as all the divine life, power, virtue, and authority of the son, is the divine life, power, virtue, and authority of the Father, conferred upon, active in, and actuating the begotten, he receives the name "everlasting Father." Thus he and the Father are one; and yet Christ truly says, "My Father is greater than I." This, as a son, he may say, wherever he is brought forth; as a son, this must have been the case in that body; as a son, he must be dependant upon the Father; hence he declares, "I can do nothing without my Father." "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." It is not possible for the Father to beget, or put forth a being that can work good independently of himself; for then there would be two good, or, which is the same thing, two Gods. Hence, when one called Christ, "Good Master," he refused to accept the title, as applied to himself, independently of the one only real goodness, the goodness of God; and makes this return, "Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God." This must hold good forever; for the moment any other independent source of real goodness is admitted, another God is that moment admitted; or good is admitted, which the one God is not the source and author of. Hence, as a son, Christ was and is as absolutely and entirely dependant upon the Father as any of us. Indeed, were he not so, he could not be like us in all things, sin excepted. As we can do no good thing merely of ourselves, so he, if like us in all things but sin, can do no good thing of himself, merely, and independently. Hence, he could not do many mighty works in some places, because of the people’s unbelief; the Father, by his eternal power, not making way there for the visible display of the glory and power of the sonship. Nor was this total dependency confined wholly to power; it was as real in regard to wisdom and knowledge; and so certainly as we have no real wisdom and knowledge, but what we have received, so certainly was the case the same with the blessed Jesus. Hence, he himself speaks of a day or hour, which no man, nor angel, nay, nor even the son himself, but the Father only, knoweth. Some may think this is very strange, but it must be so, if he is, except sin, like us in all things; and if he were not in all things else like us, his triumph and victory over all the powers of death and darkness, could not assure us of the possibility and certainty, upon our standing faithful, of our victoriously triumphing in like manner. Has he not fairly, in the open field of battle, bid defiance to, foiled, conquered, and overcome all the art, power, and policy of the grand adversary of souls? Yea, verily he has. But in what capacity has he done this? And can we do it too? For if he has done it in some very different capacity from ours, either by having less temptation to encounter, or weapons of warfare to maintain the combat with which we have not, what assurance can his conquest give us, that we may conquer too? But verily he has made this conquest in our capacity; in every respect in our capacity, except sin: and, therefore, as the arms in which he conquered are ours, and as we certainly may, if we will but avail ourselves of the force and omnipotency thereof, conquer all the arts and powers of hell, even though we have been in degree weakened and disheartened by sin, what Christ said to his followers is strictly true: "The works that I do shall ye do also; and greater works than these shall ye do." One greater thing, at least, we all may do, if we will; we may all conquer satan, and know his head entirely bruised; know him bound and cast out, and all his goods destroyed, even after we have been enslaved by him; and by means of which slavery, we may have the force and power of vicious habits in ourselves to conquer. This is a victory indeed; and such a one as the blessed Jesus never could experience, in his individual conquest, in that prepared and sinless body. For though I doubt not his rising superior, in that conquest, to all the powers of hell, evil habits, and all other evil; yet, as he had no evil habits in himself to conquer, so he left the door open for his brethren, his joint- heirs and companions in the holy warfare, to do that greater work, and conquer all the additional force of sinful habits in themselves. He had all the varied and combined forces of temptation and assault to combat, that a sinless state could possibly be tried with; and thus being tempted, he knows how to succour those that are tempted, and is forever a merciful and faithful high priest and intercessor. He trod into the sympathetic experience of every step of our tribulations and sufferings, and commiserates us in our most tried states; and having conquered our grand adversary, in our nature, and while clothed with flesh and found in fashion as a man, well may he bid us be of good cheer, and not fear the assaults of satan: laying down as the groundwork and reason of our confidence and cheerfulness, "I have overcome the world!" But some are ready to conclude, his overcoming in that single combat is enough; that we are to rejoice in that, and rest assured of its all sufficiency for us, without entertaining the least thought of overcoming all the power of sin and satan in ourselves, which, say they, is impossible. Oh! the grand delusions of the devil! Had Christ been governed by satan’s representations of the impossibility of a conquest, he had never overcome all his strong holds, of which this is one; and a strong fortress indeed it is, against all those who would believe him, who is a liar from the beginning, in this his lying insinuation. But, dear reader, believe him not. Christ has not conquered to excuse us, but that we should follow his steps; and has shown us, that as certainly as he has overcome, we shall overcome too, if we fight valiantly under him, the captain of our salvation. In order whereunto, we are called upon to avail ourselves of the "whole armour of God." The whole armour of God! may the doubting and despairing mind say -- wouldst thou have us to be so vain as to think we can be armed with the whole armour of God? Have we all the power of God, all these weapons of war at our service in this great warfare against "the world, the flesh, and the devil?" Was not Christ Jesus armed with far more potent weapons than we ought to pretend to? In answer to this, I do assure the truly conflicting reader, that we have, freely offered to us, if we will use them in God’s way and time, all the weapons of warfare with which our saviour gave the grand foil to the utmost force of our grand adversary. We have the free offer and gift of the "whole armour of God," if we will receive it, and go forth to war in the invincible power thereof: an armour that is absolute proof against all opposition and assault; a shield that never failed; a sword that never yet was foiled in battle! It is only when "the shield of the MIGHTY is vilely cast away," that satan can possibly prevail against us. Our God is in no degree wanting, or sparing in his provision for our defence, preservation, and safety. "He will (he does) give grace and glory, and no good thing will he withhold from," them who rightly rely upon his holy aid. All such are armed with all the power of Omnipotence, as often as they need it. If the power of temptation increaseth against them, let them only stand fast in the power of God upon them, in their own souls, and then satan can no more defeat them, than he can defeat Omnipotence. For let his power and his roaring increase to whatever possible degree, their strength and valour will be proportionably increased, in the name of the infinite Jehovah, and in the power of an endless life. Their supplies and resources will ever rise superior to all the arts of hell, and the power of the prince of darkness; nor can they ever be exhausted, unless it were possible for satan to baffle unlimited wisdom, and exhaust the supplies of unbounded Goodness and Power! I grant, in our own, unassisted attempts to maintain the field against the arch-champion of the regions of darkness, all our iron would be but as stubble, and our brass as rotten wood before him: he would laugh us to scorn, and stamp ignominy upon our utmost prowess. But magnified over all, and praised forever, be the great name of the Lord! he has not sent us into this world, no, not an individual of us, to sustain such unequal combat. It is true, he has placed us here upon probation; exposed to the attacks, buffetings, allurements, and temptations of our common adversary; and has rendered us unable, without his assistance, to prevail at all against him: and there is no reason to doubt but that this is all for the best, and the very dictate of infinite wisdom and goodness. For my part, I do not, and dare not even wish I had no such adversary to wage war with; nor yet that I was able in my own independent ability to resist, conquer, or confound him. I am willing to be tried, as gold is tried, "in the fire," and as are acceptable men "in the furnace of affliction." I am willing also that God should have all the praise, and all the glory, in my preservation and victory. I know he "will not give his glory to another, nor his praise to graven images;" nor is there any thing in me that wishes to arrogate to the creature, the least claim or praise of independent achievement. I know in this warfare I can do nothing of myself, independently; I know also, that no moment will ever arrive, wherein I shall not be armed, (unless it be through my own default,) with armour, and ability all-sufficient, to defeat and foil the utmost exerted powers, and most cunning and artful devices of hell. The devil may tempt, but can force no man to yield to his temptations. Thanksgiving, and glory, and honour, and power, be ascribed to Israel’s holy and omnipotent Guide, Governor, and Preserver! "there is no enchantment against Jacob, nor divination against Israel," so long as Israel’s abiding is in the true tent and tower of safety, the name and strength of the Lord. Therefore, let the call, or alarm, be sounded throughout all the camps of Israel, "To thy tent, O Israel! To thy tent, O Israel!" The Lord! the Lord strong and mighty; the name, the life, the power of the living God, the mighty God of Jacob, is thy alone tent and tower of safety. O Israel, abide here, and thou art safe forever! Thy place of defence then is in the "munition of rocks;" "bread shall be given thee, thy waters shall be sure." For though thou art still but "worm Jacob," in thyself, and hast no independent might or ability, yet the strength of Omnipotence is infallibly engaged on thy side: and so long as thou trusteth in the Lord with all thy heart, not leaning to thy own understanding, but faithfully and valiantly maintaining the fight in the name of the Lord, he "will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." In the fire, and in the water, he will still be with thee; that neither the floods nor the flames shall prevail against thee. He will hold thee, yea, hide thee too, in the hollow of his own holy hand; and even as the very "apple of his eye" he will keep thee. This thou mayst with undoubting confidence rely upon; for it never has, nor ever will fail to those who rightly trust in the living God, and depend on the all-sufficiency of that aid and armour wherewith he inwardly and powerfully equips, arms, and defends all his children. So that down to this day, it remains a reviving and soul consolating truth, that "none ever trusted in the Lord, and were confounded." But now to return to the subject of the absolute dependance of the son upon the Father. Some may think it very strange that I dare assert he is as dependant for wisdom, power, and refreshment of soul, as any of us; for they have been taught that the son was the son from all eternity; begotten, and yet, as begotten, as old as the Father; and that, as the son and begotten, he was very God! A darker doctrine than which I do not remember to have met with in heathen mythology! God was from eternity one, and no more twain than a unit, or than an indivisible particle; and viewing him thus, without any regard to his works, he liveth and reigneth properly God. Exerting himself in creation, putting forth his power, or speaking the word, "Let there be light," &c. he receives properly the appellation of the word. And whether he had ever begotten any offspring or not, he was potentially the "everlasting Father," as having the power of begetting; and thus commencing actual Father whenever he pleased. But actual Father he never was nor could be, till he had begotten an offspring; and whenever he had done this, both the actual state of Fatherhood and sonship commenced; as when he actually created, he commenced actual creator, and when he actually redeemed any one from bondage, he commenced actual redeemer. Some may say, this represents him as beginning to be something, which he was not before. But it only represents him exerting his eternal powers and capacities when and just as he pleaseth. What right have we to conclude he must from all eternity have been actually begetting, creating, redeeming, &c.? Will it not suffice us, that he ever had the power and capacity to exert himself in any or all these ways, or in any other way, just when he pleased? Do we impute change or variation to him, or argue that he is not just that in himself at one time as at another, unless we admit he is from all eternity exerting himself in the actual creation of this terraqueous globe on which we dwell? or in the formation of the first man, Adam? -- in directing Noah how to build the ark? or in deluging the world with a general overflow of water? Is he not the great "healer of breaches?" Is he not the "father of the fatherless, and husband of the widow?" But could he ever be the actual healer of breaches, before any breaches were made? Could he be an actual Father to the fatherless, or husband to the widow, before the fatherless or widow existed? Is he not a "rich rewarder of all who diligently seek him?" But could he be their actual rewarder, before ever they sought him or were in existence? And could he any more be an actual father, creator, or redeemer, before ever he actually begat, created, or redeemed? Or could a son be begotten, and have no mother? The production of man on the earth was a work of creation; and would it have been any thing different from creation, had the Almighty produced the man Christ Jesus, without the medium of a mother? Or if Christ had existed as God and man, co-eternal with the Father, how could he have been begotten? Or how can a son be begotten, if, as a son, he existed co-eternal with the Father? And why did God choose to show us the way and work of salvation, by bringing into union the human and divine nature in one? and why, in doing this, did he make use of a woman, a mother, but to teach us that salvation was, and is, through all ages, a real birth of God in man: a real uniting of the divine and human natures, in the Immanuel state of God with man; wherein "he that is joined to the Lord, is one spirit," as before mentioned? And does not our saviour’s being "made of a woman," as the apostle expresses it, or being begotten by the power of God upon the holy virgin, loudly proclaim to us, that there never was a soul regenerated, or born again to God, but through a work wherein both a father and a mother are concerned? A work wherein the two seeds or natures, the "incorruptible seed and word of God," and the proper nature, or life of man, are united. A work wherein "the man can no more be without the woman, nor the woman without the man in the Lord;" that is, wherein God can no more be without the creature, the mother, nor the creature, the mother, without him, the Father, than the man or the woman can be without each other in the procreation of their species. And do not the obedience, sufferings, and death of Christ, as plainly point out to us the necessity of a life of obedience, self- denial, and death unto sin, as ever outward circumcision pointed out the circumcision of the heart? And is it not on the very ground of this necessity of a real self-denial, and death to sin, that Christ insists upon it, that whoever will be his disciple, must first deny himself, take up his daily (mark daily) cross, and follow him? Follow him! -- why what is that? Why it is to take his holy spirit for our leader and guide into all truth; to take him for our pattern and example; and to follow him, wheresoever he leadeth us, in the way of regeneration, self-denial, the loss of our own life, and death unto all sin! These are the terms, and this is the alone way of salvation; which makes it easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for worldly minded men, while they remain such, to be saved! And art thou, reader, ready to say, if these be the terms, who then can be saved? I grant that, with man, in his own strength and independent ability, salvation is, and ever will be, impossible; but with God it is very possible: he can make man a new creature; carry him through and over all opposition and difficulty; make him more than conqueror; and save him with an everlasting salvation. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 4: 05 - CHAPTER 3 ======================================================================== SALVATION BY JESUS CHRIST, THE MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL SUBJECTS, FURTHER CONSIDERED * * I am as well assured there is no other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we can be saved, but by the name of Jesus Christ, as I am of any doctrine whatever. And yet the true ground and nature of this salvation appears to me to be generally mistaken by the professors of the christian religion in our day. The christian religion, did not then first commence when Christ appeared in that prepared body that was born of the virgin Mary; but was and is the true religion of all ages and nations; and Christ was and is the life of all the dispensations of God to mankind. The union of God and man in the one spirit, has ever been, and ever will be, the alone full rest and complete satisfaction and enjoyment of souls. Men may pursue pleasure, honour, wealth, and all that earth affords, in order to find satisfaction; but at the height of the enjoyment of all these, they will be poor, dissatisfied, and unhappy. Weary of these pursuits, a man may try devotion, prayers, sermons, psalms, ceremonies, forms, and performances of religion, (so esteemed.) He may hear and tell a great deal of Christ, of faith, of imputation, and of being complete in Jesus; but all this will never anchor his soul upon that which is sure and steadfast, will never give him the true rest and enjoyment of souls, nor centre him in God; unless he truly knows the son of God begotten, formed, and brought forth in himself, wherein alone the union with God, or the Immanuel state, consisteth. This ought to bring us to the consideration and inquiry, whether we are children of God, spiritually, as really as a son is the child of his father naturally? I am assured there is no permanent and complete satisfaction and bliss, to be enjoyed by the soul of man, but in the state of true and real sonship. We must be born of God as really as ever we were born of our parents outwardly, and thus become true "heirs of God," and even "joint-heirs with Christ," if ever we enter the kingdom of heaven. Heirs are, in the first and nearest degree, one’s own children; joint-heirs are brethren. And if ever we enter into a state of joint-heirship with the blessed Jesus, we must be as truly the sons of God, as he is his son. If it be objected that Christ is his only son, his only begotten, and that therefore none else can be his son in the same sense, I answer, 1st.It is not pretended that any other visible person, or human being, was ever produced in the same manner as was Jesus the son of Mary, so, in that respect, that was a singular and only instance of sonship. 2d.But a second part of the answer to this objection is, that though the sonship, as brought forth in a plurality of persons, is expressed in the plural number in relation to them, and so is called sons, children, and heirs, yet in relation to God, with whom the union is immediately formed in all those persons wherein the sonship takes place, the whole is but one sonship. The seed of which they are begotten is one in all: that is, "the incorruptible seed, and word of God," of which all that are or ever were "born again of God," are and have been begotten. The doctrine of the new birth is not a new-fangled notion, as deists may conceive, but is essentially the one only possible medium or way of complete peace to the human soul. We are all so constituted and made, that nothing in heaven or earth can ever fully satisfy the desires and longing of our souls, but a real union with the Fountain and Source of all good. This union we are capable of, and designed for, and therefore can never be completely happy without it. This is the grand reason why mankind are, even at the height of their earthly enjoyments, uneasy, unhappy, and not fully satisfied. They crave and covet this and that, and vainly think, if the things they wish for were granted them, they should be happy; but when they obtain what they had thus desired, it ends more or less in disappointment. Their souls are not satisfied; they sigh for something more. Thus, the poor man thinks riches would make him happy; but when he attains wealth, he is no happier than before, and often not so much so. Still he wishes, still he craves, and fancies happiness consists in something which earth affords. Hence, mirth, festivity, and amusements are pursued; but these serve rather as an expedient to drown trouble, than any thing that has even the appearance of affording solid joy. These, therefore, soon cloy, and even disgust, and the mind is left lean, empty, and still longing for something, but knows not what. Thus when all the rounds of earth’s promised bliss are run, and all have failed, the poor, craving, disappointed soul, perhaps flees to some form of religious worship and devotion, in hope that now, at last, substantial happiness will be insured, and disappointment end. But, alas! too often this brings little more solid satisfaction than the rest. Now the poor creature begins to think happiness an unsubstantial name, a mere dream or illusion; what thousands fondly seek, but no man ever found. If it fails, thinks he, in religion, to which God has promised it in the most solemn manner, it must fail utterly, and for ever disappoint the hopes of man! But God never promised it to any forms or creaturely performances. The promise is only to the new creature, that which is born of God. And the reason why God never promised fulness of joy and complete satisfaction to any thing else, is, because nothing else in man is capable of it, or can possibly receive it. The reason so many of the human race are more or less unhappy, is, that they seek to satisfy the desires of an immortal soul with that which never was designed for its true source of enjoyment. The soul may flutter on from one earthly object to another, and even affect a kind of gayety and seeming satisfaction in these things, but it cannot find a solid resting place, -- a source of permanent enjoyment in any, or all of them. God made man in his own image. "In the image of God created he him." There is therefore something in man, that must eternally pant for enjoyment, unless united to God, the source of all real good. The best and highest enjoyment short of this, is still a state of banishment; and even the misery of the condemned, is properly called a punishment "with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." It is alienation, banishment, separation! and so long as a soul is not united to God, it is and must be in pain and anxiety; wishing, craving, longing for solid enjoyment, but never finding it. It never can be found but in the new birth; because we can never be united to God till we are so overshadowed by the holy ghost, and so yield to its influence, as to be thereby regenerated and born again of God; truly and livingly born again of the "incorruptible seed and word of God." This is that new birth, without which, Christ assures us, we "cannot enter into the kingdom of God." And it will ever hold good that we cannot; and the reason why we cannot, will also hold good for ever, -- that is, the enjoyment of that kingdom is the true enjoyment of God, where all is in subjection to him, and the soul in vital union with him; and this cannot be where the life that lives in us is not a real birth of God. Hence, Paul says, "I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." Yea, further, he says, "Christ who is our life." Many may think this only means, that as Christ has purchased life and salvation for us, without us, he is called our life; but the truth is, that Christ is substantially the very life of all that are born of God, and on this ground it is, that Christ declares himself to be the "resurrection and the life." He knew the divine life of every Christian is the same as his own, it is all one divine life. He knew also that in the new birth only, in that which is truly born of God, the "resurrection and the life" are enjoyed. Hence, "blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection, on such the second death has no power." The "first resurrection" is Christ; and therefore, every soul in whom the new birth, the begotten of God, the life of Christ, is brought forth, has "part in the first resurrection." This is out of the power of death, and in the spring of life forever: for Christ, the begotten, triumphs over death, as well in all the seed, in all his joint-heirs and brethren, as in that one prepared body. But as the true doctrine of Christ is, perhaps, the deepest subject ever clearly opened to the mind of man, so man had, and still has, and as mere man ever will have, his "strong reasons," (as he thinks them,) against it. Perhaps nothing was more directly repugnant to the wisdom and learning of the Greeks and the Jews, than that Jesus Christ should be the son of God. The veil was over their minds, so that they could not understand the mystery; and therefore, many things about it were, to their sense, impossible. He testified, that "Abraham saw his day," which they disbelieving, and thinking that he had involved himself in an inextricable dilemma, replied, "thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?" And many professed Christians think to this day, that Abraham only saw his day afar off, and then, a great while after, to commence. But that was not our blessed Lord’s meaning; his answer to their cavil, points directly at another thing: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am." He does not say, I was before Abraham, but "I am." For he is the life of God’s people through all time; and as such, Abraham truly saw his day, and rejoiced in it. It was his life. He was born of God. Christ lived in him, and was his "hope of glory." If it had not been so, he had been a reprobate; for it holds good in every age, as Paul said to those of his day, "Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates." For as Christ the begotten of God, is certainly the life of all that are born of God, and as that vital union with God, which is the only true solace and full satisfaction of every soul, is only known in this living birth of God, therefore it follows, that those who know not this union, this birth, this only solid enjoyment, are reprobates, strangers, outcasts (in that state) from true bliss and enjoyment. But as in that day, so in this, the veil is over people’s minds, and ever will be over them, till Christ is revealed in them. It was in Paul that "God revealed his son." He did not reveal him to him as something wholly without him; but he revealed him in him. Well then might Paul call Christ "our life," and testify that "Christ lived in him." And until he is so revealed, in professing Christians, the veil will remain over their minds; for it is only removed, or "done away with in Christ:" not in a mere profession of him, but in himself, the life. And so far as this is not experienced by christian professors, they stand much on a level with the Jews, in point of clearness and understanding in the doctrines of Christ. For the name makes little or no difference. And until Christ comes to be the real inward life of those who bear his name, their profession of him is but nominal; and they will be as subject to doubts, reasonings, and objections against the true doctrine of the gospel, as the Jews were. Hence they will be ready to say, Surely God does not beget Christ in every true Christian; this would be making every such equal with the man Christ Jesus. In answer to this, let us call to mind what great offence the notion of equality gave the Jews. They thought it blasphemy in Christ to pretend oneness with God. "Whom makest thou thyself?" said they. But though all the divine life in Christ, was the very life of God in him, and in that sense he and his Father were one; yet as in him something was taken into union with God which was human, therefore Christ testified, "My Father is greater than I." This will eternally be the case; God is and ever will be greater than any thing else; and though humanity is united with divinity, in every new born babe in Christ, yet none can ever aspire to equality with God. Nor will a humble Christian presume upon equality with Christ. For though every babe that is begotten and born of God, is as truly the offspring of God, as truly born of the same holy seed, and so "Christ is not ashamed to call them brethren;" yet as the birth of the divine life, in the union with the human, was most eminent in that prepared body; as the body itself was conceived through the overshadowing power of the holy ghost, and was uniformly in subjection to the divine life; as he was thus brought forth for a most excellent work and service, and as a glorious display of the way and work of salvation, so all the brethren and fellow heirs with him, will readily allow him the pre- eminence. Yet this hinders not their being truly born of the same holy seed as he was, and as to the divine life in them, it is one and the same, wherever it becomes the life of the soul: it cannot be divided: there is no twain in it. Moses told Israel of old to "cleave unto the Lord," for says he, "He is thy life, and the length of thy days." The life of God itself has ever been the divine and spiritual life of his people. This is a great mystery! God with man, in living union, is too deep a subject for the natural understanding of man, unassisted, to investigate. "The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God, they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them." But it may be depended upon, that it is the alone true rest, solace, and satiating enjoyment of the soul; and that the one reason why there are so few truly happy persons in the world is this: full union with God can never take place, till death takes place in man upon all that is or acts in opposition to him. Hence, "straight is the gate, and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it." Few are willing to lose the life of their own wills, that is contrary to God, and thus to die into union with the Source of all Good, and save that eternal life which cannot be enjoyed but where God is all in all, and every thought and motion of the mind is in subjection to him? The separate, selfish, and creaturely will of man seeks satisfaction out of subjection to the divine will, and mistakenly thinks the death of self, and a full subjection to the will of God, would be death to almost every enjoyment in the world: but the truth is, it is the only possible way for the soul to attain to complete enjoyment. But the carnal mind is at enmity with God. "It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Therefore, in the work of salvation there is no alternative: death must pass upon the carnal mind, or the soul remains in the state of enmity to God, and opposition to him! God has so created even wheat, that unless it die it abideth alone, and bringeth not forth; and unless we die to the first state, will, inclination, and selfish life of the creature, we too abide alone, wrapped up in ourselves, in a life of separation from the life of God. This is abiding alone; if ever we are united to God, all that is in us, that is opposed to his pure reign in the soul, must die. And in order to effect this, he is wooing, overshadowing, and operating upon us to bring forth in us that immortal birth, that babe of divine life, which, when brought forth, and increased in stature, would bind the strong man and cast him out, spoiling all his goods, and slaying utterly the carnal mind, the enmity; thus reconciling the soul to God. This doctrine of the new birth, and this absolute oneness of the life of the begotten, both in the man Christ Jesus and in all his joint-heirs and brethren, is not only according to the scriptures, but founded in the nature of things. It is by the overshadowing influence and power of the holy ghost, that "Christ in us, the hope of glory," is conceived and brought forth, or formed in us. Paul travailed in birth that Christ might be formed in the little children spiritually of his day. We find also the same agency in the conception of Jesus Christ: for as none but God ever could or can be the Father of Christ, spiritually, so the analogy holds good in the case of his prepared body; as it is said,Hebrews 10:5, "A body hast thou prepared me." Here we may see the body was not the saviour, but was prepared for him to do the Father’s will in, and prepared by the power of God, through the influence of the holy ghost. "She shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, (a saviour,) for he shall save his people from their sins." He could not possibly save them in their sins. Salvation is the removal of sin actually, not imputatively. Sin forever separates the soul, that is in it, from reconciliation and union with God. Complete salvation is complete reconciliation to, and union with God. "He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit." "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself;" "of twain making one new man, and so making peace." Peace can never be fully known whilst the twain remains. All that is in man, even "every thought," must be "brought into captivity," or subjection, "to the obedience of Christ." Here the will is one; here of the twain one new man is made, and so true peace is witnessed. This is being saved from sin. And as a real and complete change must always take place in one of the twain, where two that were aliens, or unreconciled, become reconciled and made one, it is evident that the change which Christ effects and brings about in reconciling souls unto God, is and must be in them; for God remains the same, unaltered and unchanged forever. Hence the souls of believers are said to be reconciled unto God; not he to be reconciled unto them: though that also is truly the case, for he is reconciled unto them, in a true and substantial sense; but as all the change is in them, they are, in the most natural and proper sense, said to be reconciled unto him. And no soul can ever know the complete salvation of Christ by mere imputation; for that removes not the sin, the cause of separation and opposition. God will be forever disposed alike at all times to a soul in the same state. If he rejects at one time for actual sin or sinfulness, he will always reject for the same. It is perfectly idle to talk of being completely reconciled to God by the righteousness of Christ, whilst remaining actually sinners in ourselves; or that we are holy in him, and unholy in ourselves. God always regards us just as we are in ourselves, and is to us accordingly, because he cannot change. And therefore to the froward he must and will show himself froward; because all that are froward are in direct opposition to him, who is always the same. Let that frowardness in us be removed, and a reconciliation must of course take place; for he is in eternal good will to all good, and to all that are strictly under the influence of good. Here there can be twain no longer, for all jarring, frowardness, and opposition being removed, the oneness is established, wherein the true peace consists forever. This is the work of CHRIST in man, and of GOD in CHRIST. It is also the work of man by CHRIST, and of CHRIST by GOD the FATHER. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 5: 06 - CHAPTER 4 ======================================================================== A LETTER FROM LUKE HOWARD of Tottenham, near London, TO A FRIEND IN AMERICA; containing observations upon a treatise written by JOB SCOTT entitled SALVATION BY CHRIST, &c. [1825] ______ [pointing finger] Should the following sheets obtain circulation among the members of the Religious Society of Friends, (for whose use they are exclusively written,) the author entreats for his arguement a patient and candid perusal. He believes that a hasty glance over the piece will by no means suffice, to put a reader in possession of what it contains: and that the same careful reference to the passages of Scripture quoted, and the same deliberate consideration of the whole, which he has found it his duty (in justice to the character, whose opinions are called in question) to bestow, will become every one who shall incline, on this occasion to enter again into the subject. The present letter, (he must also premise,) is not the result of any correspondence previously had with any friend in the United States: and the author alone, and not the Society in England, is responsible for its contents. London, Second Month, 1825 My Dear Friend, Among other publications by members of our society in the United States, which have lately issued from the press, and been transmitted to this country, I observe two or three of a posthumous character, purporting to be from the MSS. of the late Job Scott. I have perused one of these, entitled, "Salvation by Christ," attached to which, is a kind of second part, entitled "On the Nature of Salvation by Christ" -- the whole making about 88 pages, the matter of which is stated to have been penned more than thirty years ago, and left in the hands of his friends, when he embarked on his last voyage in the work of the ministry. Having heard him preach with much power and energy, when he was in England on that occasion, I was interested (I remember,) and affected by the circumstances of his death in Ireland, soon afterwards: and the regard which I have cherished for his memory, makes me a little concerned for his religious reputation. Had he lived to near the present time (as he might have done in the course of nature,) and left his MSS. revised for publication, I suppose no one could have complained that justice was not done to him, by the appearance of the present pamphlet: but my own decided opinion, after mature consideration is, that he never would have published it as it now appears, nor probably, at this time of day at all. The Yearly Meeting of New England therefore, or its committee, did certainly evince both a prudent care, and a due regard for his reputation, and that of our religious Society, in so long declining to sanction this piece. But it seems now to have made its appearance in opposition to their judgment. We have extant, among us here, a small collection of "letters from Job Scott, written whilst in Europe to his relations and friends," &c. first published in America, and reprinted in England. In one of these dated 14th of 11th Month 1793, I find the following remarks. "There is scarce any thing that makes longer life desirable, [he was then within eight days of its termination,] but to finish the field of religious labour, which I had hitherto mostly thought was not yet done; especially with regard to digesting my Journal and some other writings. [Then follow allusions to the peculiar doctrine advanced in this Essay on Salvation, and which it appears he still regarded as true -- but he adds,] On the ocean, I wrote over about a quire of paper, which I believe is now in my trunk at -- -- , respecting which, I was ever a good deal doubtful, whether some parts of it, not particularly upon these points, were not more in a way of abstruse reasoning, than might be best for a Friend to publish. Be that as it may, I am very apprehensive that most of my writings are far from properly digested, and some of them I believe might be a good deal better guarded. Our views of things do not usually open all at once: it is so in the individual -- it is so in the world." There was certainly in the character of this dear Friend, a perceptible excess on the side of the imagination and the feelings. This had been the case with many good and useful men before him: and such a temperament makes a minister faithful, or courageous and energetic in the discharge of duty -- but in measure disqualifies him from being a competent judge of doctrine and controversies. It is nevertheless, sometimes corrected by experience, and by intercourse, in a spirit of charity, with others as zealous and knowing as himself. I remember an honest man’s remark, who had been hired as a "help" from a distant county, and had had to follow his employer for the first time through our crowded metropolis. "I never saw such a place as London in my life: why nobody would get out of my master’s way!" Just so it is with powerful, but secluded minds, when they emerge from their circle of assenting hearers and weak opponents, into a wider horizon, and have to compare the contents of their budget, with the variety of conflicting opinions around them. It is in vain that the man says to himself and others, "I am quite sure of this." For, if religion, for instance, be the subject, and there be not in the Scriptures of Truth, a preponderating mass of evidence in his favour, another may soon fall in his way who is quite as sure of the contrary -- and then who is to judge between them? If either of them refuse the test of the Scripture, in its plain and obvious meaning, he may indeed decide the matter for himself, and be quite sure in his own opinion still, but in vain will he expect to do it for the other. He may now, if he incline so to do, ascribe his own persuasion, which he calls his certainty, to the Testimony of the Spirit of Truth in himself. But then, the other may pretend to this likewise, and with as plausible appearances (it may be,) on his side, to support him in his pretensions. For this reason it is wisely proposed by Robert Barclay in his Apology, that both doctrine and practice shall be tried by the Test of Scripture. We are very willing, (he says, Prop. 3 Sect. 6) that all our doctrines and practices be tried by the Scriptures; which we never refused, nor ever shall, in all controversies with our adversaries as the Judge and Test. And if in controversies with adversaries, then much more in differences of opinion about doctrine, or differences of belief, between members of the same religious society. By this test therefore, I shall proceed to try some opinions of Job Scott -- he himself having admitted, at a time when men are not used to express themselves lightly, that he was very apprehensive, most of his writings were far from being properly digested: and that some of them (he believed) might be a good deal better guarded. The subject of this pamphlet is regeneration, and the new birth: that doctrine which our Lord chose to propound but to one person, and that in privacy; as if on purpose to instruct us, that it should be learned in secret, and brought to the test of individual experience, not talked about in crowds, or discussed in religious assemblies -- a doctrine, moreover, which would bear to be treated, in those ancient times, with a freedom of terms which does not so well comport, now, with the due restraints of Christian conversation. A subject, which he, who is clothed with right authority, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, may at times profitably impress upon the minds of serious hearers, in the solemnity of public preaching, but which, when cast before the sensual and worldly minded, is as pearls among swine; and may serve to bring the great and precious truth which lies under it, into doubt if not into derision. I shall strive not to make this letter the vehicle of improper thoughts, by quoting expressions which could not be read, I think, in a mixed company of Friends of both sexes, without bringing confusion over some of their faces; but I must specify enough (and I may as well do it at once) to make myself intelligible. The fundamental proposition then of the whole book, and which the author seems to have regarded as a special revelation to himself, is, that the human soul is in a spiritual sense, and in relation to its God and Saviour, a female; and that salvation by Christ consists in, or is effected by a real process of generation, conception and birth; by which it is made the mother of Christ, the only begotten Son of God! He insists again and again, that those things are real, which sober Christians have regarded only as lively and apposite metaphors, in the sayings of Christ and his Apostles on the subject of that change of heart and life, which all must experience, who become qualified for the kingdom of heaven. Before I proceed to show the bearings and consequences of this opinion of his, I will make some observations upon the text of Scripture, on a misapplication of which, the most part of what is original in his views of the subject, will be found to rest. It is related inMatthew 12:47-50, and inMark 3:32-35, that on a certain occasion the mother, and brethren of Jesus were without, desiring to speak with him, while he was in the house, teaching the people: and that before he went out he took occasion, as his manner was, to spiritualize the occurrence; reminding those who were about him, that there was a spiritual union and relation to be experienced, by doing the will of God, in which they should be as near to him in the inward life, as were his brother and sister, and mother naturally. In this speech he puts his mother last, (in both places) I apprehend as being the least appropriate in the comparison, yet not to be slighted by the want of all mention of her, now that she was on the spot. But what does Job Scott make of it -- or rather what does he not make of it? Putting mother first (in one of his quotations) he insists that "Jesus meant as he said," and that "had he not carefully confined his words to a strict meaning, he might have called such his father too:" "but in the spiritual sense in which he was speaking, no man can possibly be his father, but God" [only] and that "man at most can be his mother!" He spake then in a spiritual sense -- and yet he made these, really and not metaphorically his different relations, as mother, sister, and brother! But in a spiritual sense what is the distinction among these? none at all: The apostle Paul says,Galatians 3:28. "In Christ, there is neither male nor female," alluding to the very kind of union that our Lord here pointed out. Though the meaning therefore was spiritual, and the thing spoken of, real in that sense, yet the form of speech was figurative, importing only a most near and intimate union in spirit: and he made no mention of his father; first, because it would have been an improper figure, or comparison, he having no natural father; secondly, because no mention was made of his reputed father to him. The expressions are encouraging when thus simply taken: but if they were really meant to convey this new doctrine, I would ask, is it likely, a thing so deep and so wonderful as this, the very mystery of Christ, (as this author deemed it,) should have been dropt by our Lord, in the act of rising from his seat to go out of the house, and at no other time further spoken of by him? I trust I need say no more here, for the satisfaction of any unprejudiced person, that the saying here was figurative not literal. I may just refer, however, to the expressions used inMark 10:30, as a proof of the freedom with which the like terms were used by our Lord on another occasion. Of the various figures made use of in the New Testament, to represent the great and permanent change wrought, in every person, who comes to experience "salvation, through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth,"2 Thessalonians 2:13, there is not any thing which is more appropriate, or more insisted on, than that of being born again, or born from above: but this is by no means the sole or exclusive idea, that even Christ himself presents to us, in illustration of the subject. The word and power of God entering into minds, variously disposed as to its reception, is compared, very aptly to seed sown in various soils:Matthew 13:1-58. One man forgets the instruction received, almost immediately, being careless and unwatchful: another gives out in the first season of difficulty, being impatient: another prefers gain or pleasure, and so stifles conviction: but of him that prospers in religion, it is simply said, that "he heareth the word and understandeth it and bringeth forth fruit," according to his capacity, watchfulness and diligence. How simple, natural and intelligible is all this; which is the exposition of Christ himself. The small portion of secret help and guidance at first afforded to believers, is pointed out (that we might not despise or overlook it in the heart,) by the parable of the grain of Mustard seed,Matthew 13:31-32, and its efficacy in producing in time a total reformation of the man, by a comparison with the working of leaven, in the meal of which bread is made: and the necessity, in order to success in religion, of making this our primary concern, and letting all other things give place to duty, by the treasure hid in a field, and by the pearl which would enrich the purchaser, by taking it into another country with him, (for such is probably the intent of the parable,)Matthew 13:44,Matthew 13:46. In like manner, as the estates of individuals, differing in their talents and improvement, so is that of the Church at large, illustrated, by most apt comparisons in the New Testament. But in all these, there is nothing that tends to the thing so much insisted on by the author of this piece: nor is the subject, in his sense, so much as once mentioned or alluded to by our Saviour! In reply to a question of the apostle Peter, inMatthew 19:28, as to what they should acquire who followed him, as the reward of their adherence to him, he says indeed; "Ye who have followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, &c." But if the English were made to agree with the construction of the text, according to the punctuation that may (and probably should) be given in the Greek, it would be seen that the term regeneration or renovation, belongs to the latter part of the sentence; and points to the future state of the visible church in this new and spiritual dispensation, with Christ, its King and High Priest at its head. That he could not mean any such thing as our author has attached to the term elsewhere, nor even the individual conversion, or change from a carnal to a spiritual state of the disciples, is plain from hence, that in this respect, Christ who had never sinned, had not gone before them; nor could they as yet have been said to have followed.Matthew 18:3.Luke 22:32. The only occasion of our Lord’s treating "of the new birth" in strict terms, (so far as appears from the New Testament,) was upon that visit of Nicodemus to him: and he seems here to have followed his own rule, as laid down,Luke 8:10. of speaking to them that were "without," (or who had not shown their faith by following him) "in parables." This would humble an inquirer, if he were sincere; and put him upon the exercise of faith, instead of curiosity. Nicodemus stumbled at first upon the "stone of offence," when emphatically told this truth, that "except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,"John 3:3. but our Saviour in compassion, probably to a sincere but prejudiced mind, condescended to add to his statement, the terms "of water and of the spirit," (by which we may understand, the being first washed, and then inspired, or in other words, first purified from sin, and then filled with holy dispositions and desires,) terms from which the Jewish teacher was able to gather something; assisted as he most probably was, by the further conversation of Christ at that time and by that "power of the Lord,"Luke 5:17, which, when many "Pharisees, and doctors of the law" were sitting on another occasion under his teaching "was present to heal them." These terms of being "born of water, and of the spirit," are quite inconsistent with the main proposition of the pamphlet, as already stated: they are delicate and appropriate metaphors, expressive of a thing which in itself, is to us incomprehensible, and to be known only by its effects. This also Christ teaches us, by that comparison of it to the wind, which blows on in its course, and we hear the sound of it, and see plainly its effects on the bodies around; yet in itself it is invisible; we cannot tell whence it comes, nor whither it goes, as we can of visible substances. "So is the way of every one that is born of the spirit." He gives the most evident proofs of having become a new man, of a thorough change of heart, effected by a divine power within him: of the manner, origin, progress and final accomplishment of which, however, God alone is in full possession -- and man (pretend what he will of spiritual discerning) can neither describe nor define it, in terms that shall apply alike to every case of conversion, under all the varieties of constitution, habits, character and circumstances of those who may be the subjects of it. The metaphor thus employed, but not first introduced by Christ (for the Jews applied it in the case of a proselyte to their religion, whom they compared to a new born child) was taken up and applied by the apostles in a variety of apt illustrations; which so well suit the case, and become so natural by use, that they are ready at times to supersede the real sense, that lies underneath, unchangeable. Hence the great wisdom of the Teacher of all truth himself may be inferred, in having so set it forth under a variety of similitudes, that it is impossible for any one of these, finally to usurp the place of the divine reality. But the author of the pamphlet has fallen into this mistake: and in trying to establish his own views of doctrine, he has in a variety of ways wrested the sense of Scripture; of which take the following instances: -- Matthew 1:1. "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham." "Christ," says Job Scott, "is not only the son of David, and David the son of Abraham, but Christ himself is the son (strictly so in spirit) both of Abraham and of David." Is this the way to prove doctrine by reference to Scripture? The text relates, not to Christ as a "Spirit" or principle of holiness in men, but to the man Jesus Christ, whose outward descent from Abraham, by the mother’s side, was in the first place to be set forth in this book. He confounds the outward person with the inward life; and then seeks the latter where it is not at all treated of. The pamphlet says, page 19, "that babe of life, that true child of God that cries Abba, Father, is never brought forth but through a union of the two seeds, the human and divine." Now it happens that in the only two places in Scripture, in which this figure of the infantile cry to its parent is introduced, each passage exhibits the infant as an adopted child!Romans 8:14,Romans 8:17. "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. [We see here, why, and how, they are sons,] For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father." Who is it that is led by the spirit of God, but he that before went astray?1 Peter 2:25. Who is it that receives the spirit of adoption, but he, that before was the servant of sin.Romans 6:16,Romans 6:23. "And such were some of you (says Paul to the Corinthians, after enumerating different kinds of evil doers,1 Corinthians 6:9,1 Corinthians 6:11) but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." Is there any thing here, other than, or beyond a change of heart and life, the same soul being saved that sinned before? Yet these are the "common notions" of sanctification held by the Christian Church at large, that is, by the sound members in all denominations: but to proceed to the other text, --Galatians 4:1-7. It is clear from the context here, that the figure has relation to the two dispensations of the Law and the Gospel. Under the former, the Galatians "were in bondage under the rudiments of the world:" they were redeemed by Christ that they might "receive the adoption of sons," the effect and consequence of believing in Him. "And because ye are sons (continues the apostle) God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." Thus he describes, in a figure, that happy change which was then proceeding in them, and concerning which he was jealous, lest it should be impeded by others who were leading them back and preaching to them "another Gospel." Now, let these texts be fairly taken along with the context, in the full and plain acceptation of both; and it will be seen at once, that the author derives no support to his hypothesis from either of them. For generation is not adoption; nor the Law, the old man, nor the Gospel, the new man. The pamphlet says, page 54, "This is the great mystery of godliness. God manifest in the flesh, is not confined to the flesh of that one body." And then it proceeds to quoteJohn 14:21.John 14:23. as before,John 14:16,John 14:21. alsoRomans 1:19. andColossians 1:27. But take with the first cited text, the context also,1 Timothy 3:16. "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." Observe first, that all this is said in the past tense, God was manifest, not is: secondly, that the whole is connected together as the proper attributes of Jesus Christ, even of Him that was crucified. Are we to take these upon us -- are we preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory? Nay, says some advocate of this mystical doctrine, but Christ within is. But this, according to them, is the new birth itself, the heir of the promise, the believer himself: then one believer is preached to another, and believed on by him as his Saviour. Let us for argument sake transfer the meaning in a figure, to Christ within, or the Life which is the light of men, &c. then, what becomes of the new opinion? For this Christ is not an individual "production," but a Divine principle, holy and unchangeable: a light shining in darkness, and giving power to as many as receive and follow it, to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name,John 1:1-51. "No man (says J.S.) can receive any one that Jesus sendeth (observe the inaccuracy of the term, for Jesus is the man) and not as really receive him; I mean absolutely him, the only begotten Son of God: any more than we can receive Christ, and not receive the Father that sent him." I give this with the italics as I find them. It is a perversion of that speech of our Lord’s,Matthew 10:1-42. in which he confirms his disciples, then going forth as apostles, and encourages all to receive them as such, by this consideration, that the power and presence of the Father, and of the Son as the Divine Word, should go along with them. "It is not ye that speak, (he says,Matthew 10:20) but the Spirit of our Father which speaketh in you:" the Omnipresent Spirit of God. It need scarcely to be added now, that the pamphlet supersedes the promised Comforter, the Spirit of Truth,John 14:1-31. in his office of instructing and supporting believers, giving it all to the new birth; or God and man in "immediate" union, our own spirits being one of the component parts of this "production"! Romans 6:1-11. Out of this whole passage he selectsRomans 6:10: "For in that he died, he died unto sin, once and in that he liveth, he liveth unto God:" making it signify that Christ "died to the motions of sin in himself, (instantly, that is, "once,") and placing this mystical death of Christ by the side of the great atonement on the cross: in the same way it may be made to supersede all acknowledgment of the merit and efficacy of this sacrifice. The pamphlet says, page 63,64. "Can a birth of real life [note, of the Divine and human conjoined!] be stifled and slain? It can. Was, "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" -- was this said only of what should be afterwards, [note, it was written by John, of what had been before!Revelation 13:8] or was it really done from the very foundation? It was really done: it is done still in thousands. In the very day that Adam ate the forbidden fruit he died. Death took instant place in him, upon that which was before alive in him, only in the life of the Lamb. Here the Lamb was slain in him, here the branch was cast forth and withered." Is not this to assert the death, not of a creature who had sinned, but of Him by whom all things were made? For how is the life of Christ to be separated from his proper divinity, but in a figure only. John the Baptist said, pointing out the man Jesus Christ, Behold the Lamb of God!John 1:29.John 1:36. According to our author this was quite in vain. It was impossible for the "man" who was to be "made manifest" to Israel, thus to be shown to them: even he then is mystical, and not to be beheld outwardly! The "common notions" of the Christian world, which I believe to be quite right here (and the pamphlet quite wrong), make the Lamb of God to be the man Jesus Christ, who was foreshown by the lamb in the Jewish passover; and who came accordingly, and offered up for us his most precious life, "as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot" -- "foreordained before the foundation of the world,"1 Peter 1:18-21. Let us proceed. In page 58 we read thus: "The natural man, the mere creature, as the work of God is a created being: he never saw God, cannot know him, nor receive the testimony respecting the mystical union and sonship: but the babe, the begotten, that with a true and living knowledge of its sonship, cries Abba, Father, both sees and knows the Father, and receives the heavenly testimony. For Christ, speaking of this mystery, says, "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones, for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven."Matthew 18:10. There are in this short passage several perversions of scripture. In the first place, I suppose it will not be controverted, that Adam "the mere creature" (for such he was in strictness, though a noble and a perfect one) saw and knew God, in some sense, while in paradise. Secondly, I have already shown who it is that cries Abba, Father, in the sense of Paul, who wrote it; and that it is not the "babe" of this pamphlet. Thirdly, it does not appear that Christ was "speaking of this mystery" in that passage: it does appear, from the forepart of the chapter, that he was speaking of a converted state, a state also of great self-humiliation and docility: in which they who abide "as little children" shall experience, notwithstanding their outward weakness, the watchful care (implied by the ministration of angels) of their Father in heaven. It would be tedious, and it may not probably be necessary for me, to follow the author through at least as many more unwarrantable applications of scripture, by which he endeavours to make as much as possible appertain to his "babe." of that which is written concerning the Redeemer of mankind, in his own proper person. Taking the author now, therefore, upon his own hypothesis, let us see what follows from it. First; that there is no such thing as redemption by Christ, properly speaking, and restoration of mankind from the fall; (a conclusion which he could scarcely have intended:) for, upon his system, Adam who fell, is not he who is restored: he is a mere creature, cannot see God, nor know him. Yet, strange to tell, he was redeemed, in and by the very transgression by which he fell, for in that very day that he sinned, the Lamb was slain in him, being a part of himself! It is difficult to get through the labyrinth of our author’s doctrine on this subject; but the result of it plainly is, that one man sins, and another being, is born of him, who is saved instead of him! Secondly. If the human soul be the mother of this babe, not by a "metaphorical expression," but by "as perfect a reality as any in nature," as he affirms -- and if the soul be immortal, and created for a future state of happiness or misery, which will not probably be controverted -- then, upon the supposition of the salvation of the son, what becomes of the mother? This is a part of the "mystery," which he has not explained to us; though as necessary to have been made clear as any. It should seem upon this hypothesis, either that the mortal part is the mother, which would make a very strange confusion in the matter, besides that we know that "what is born of the flesh is flesh;" or that all human souls are eternally lost and perish, some leaving offspring to inherit the realms of bliss, and others not! But no -- I go too fast: For, thirdly, he says in another place, "If it be objected, that Christ is his [God’s] only son, his only begotten, and that therefore none else can be his son in the same sense, I answer: 1. It is not pretended that any other visible person or human being was ever begotten in the same manner as was Jesus the son of Mary: so, in that respect, that was a singular and only instance of sonship. 2. But a second part of the answer to this objection is, that though the sonship as brought forth in a plurality of persons, is expressed in the plural number in relation to them; and so is called sons, children and heirs; yet in relation to God, with whom the union is immediately formed in all those persons wherein the sonship takes place, the whole is but one sonship. The seed of which they are begotten is one in all, that is, "the incorruptible seed and word of God," of which all that are, or ever was born again of God, are begotten." Pa. 80. If we now keep still to the real system, it appears that the many persons constituting the visible church, as to us, are in relation to God, but one person, or no person at all: contradicting our Lord’s declaration that He is the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob -- not the God of the dead, but of the living.Matthew 22:32, &c. Consequently now, instead of heaven being peopled at a double rate, as it would be on the supposition that men’s souls were saved, and that our author’s doctrine were also true, there will be gathered from the high and glorious mission of the Redeemer, instead of an innumerable multitude before the throne, no increase of blessed spirits at all! In order to escape from some such inference, our author here, towards the conclusion of his work, and perhaps upon a little further reflection, begins to slide out of his realities; making the son, a sonship, and admitting other scripture metaphors into his statements; out of which metaphors others have just as much right to constitute what is real, as he had to make this so. If conversion and sanctification be really a process of generation, then it is also really a dying and rising again inwardly, a being washed from our sins in water or in blood, a being leavened with leaven, purified by fire, &c. all of which are impossible in a real sense. In the use of metaphors, Holy Scripture will always be found, I believe, consistent with itself. He who is "converted" becomes at first "as a little child:" the direction of his will and desire is effectually changed: and he afterwards grows in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ;" until he arrives at "the measure of the stature of his fulness."2 Peter 3:18.Ephesians 4:13. Not so the "babe" of this pamphlet. For our author seems greatly perplexed in himself, to decide whether he be born at all, until sanctification is fully accomplished; that is, until he be arrived at manhood! "If any man in whom this birth has some real existence, finds himself still in a degree under the power of sin, he may be assured, that so far as he is so, he is not born of God." "No man is ever wholly born of God, who is not brought under his rule and government in all things." -- "That which sinneth, in any man, is not born of God; is not the new man, but the old man, which is corrupt, and in which sin yet dwelleth." Note this monosyllable yet, which at once refutes the real doctrine, for it would imply, in his sense, that there may be in us, really one man already saved, and another in a capacity of salvation! The apostle John says, Whosoever is born of God doth not sin; for his seed [the principle of Truth and righteousness, the Eternal Word] remaineth in him." &c.1 John 3:9. But he also says, "Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world,"1 John 5:4, which is a great and self-evident truth, closely connected with the former, and, as it were, the root of it. For nothing can be "born of God" in us, but what shall be pure, holy and harmless; Light in the understanding and Love in the affections, the two great preservatives (as every child of God knows) from the act and power of sin. The apostle says also: "He that committeth sin is of the devil." [but as if to prevent the too literal acceptation (of his being born of him) he adds] for the devil sinneth from the beginning."1 John 3:8. But our author has a person much nearer to ourselves to lay the blame upon. He imputes all the "babe’s" sins, to the old man "which is corrupt [as if it were really the original principle of Evil in us] and in which sin yet dwelleth" [as if it could notwithstanding be yet purified and saved.] Such are the consequences of affecting to be wise above that which is written -- of making that real which is metaphorical; that figurative or mystical which is literal -- of not being content to take the plain text along with the context, and draw from both in humility and faith the instruction they may thus well afford -- in short, of rejecting, from an apprehension of our own superior attainments and greater spirituality, the doctrines deduced from scripture, by Christians in all ages, concerning salvation by Christ. It is greatly to be feared, that a spirit of self- righteousness may sometimes be lurking under these exalted pretensions. For how can a man be supposed to entertain and feed his mind upon such doctrine, without applying it to his own case and to his neighbours? He himself, forsooth, is regenerate and born again; he has in him, the only begotten, the son and heir of the promises, who ever beholds the kingdom, and dwells in it; nay, claims it as his rightful inheritance! He is the brother, and of late, it seems, also the mother of Christ! He needs no teaching of man -- the anointing is in him, by which he knows all things -- or if not as yet so, they will in due time be revealed to him, without research or inquiry on his part. He can do without the scriptures: he will be led and guided into all Truth without them: the letter kills [a text often perverted thus] it is the spirit that giveth life: -- with much more of the like, that may be traced in what escapes from persons in this state of mind. As to the letter killing, let us here explain the text.2 Corinthians 3:3-6. "Ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, [here is a strong figure!] written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, [the same thing with "the anointing,"1 John 2:27] not in tables of stone, [as was the law of Moses] but in fleshly tables of the heart. And such trust have we, through Christ, to Godward. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to think any thing as of ourselves, [to arrive at positive conclusions concerning your state] but our sufficiency is of God; who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament, [or Covenant] not of the letter [to wit, the law of Moses] but of the spirit: for the letter [of that law] killeth [by denouncing death for the breach of the commandment, and yet providing no remedy or escape] but the Spirit [of the living God in the new covenant] giveth life." Now, let any candid person try for his own satisfaction, whether he can bring any thing from this, or any other part of the Scriptures of Truth, which implies that the doctrines contained in that book, which (after the subject it treats of) is called the New Testament, do kill, or in any way prejudice the believer in Christ, by being simply read and received into his understanding: It was plainly not the letter of this book to which the apostle applied the text -- but mark! his words will often be found so applied by those who think themselves highly spiritual. It is true, that "knowledge" without charity "puffeth up," and that charity edifieth, or buildeth up: but it buildeth, in part, with the very materials that inquiry and knowledge furnish. And the apostle in the very same Epistle had said, "Brethren be not children in understanding -- howbeit in [freedom from] malice be ye children, [here is the "babe" of the apostle Paul] but in understanding be men."1 Corinthians 14:20. For which end he had written them so many instructive advices. The letter, then, killeth, and the spirit giveth life: but to whom does it give life? To those exclusively who have in their minds this view of it? By no means. One man may have been taught, that he is saved by the righteousness of Christ imputed to him, and by this merely, without any respect to his works: another may have imbibed the sentiment, that what Christ did and suffered outwardly, (as he may inconsiderately term it,) effected nothing for his eternal good: I think them both wrong: but as I believe that men are not saved merely by a notion of religion, so neither that they are lost merely through it: though, when fondly cherished and uncharitably contended for, their notions may hurt them as Christians, and impede or endanger their sanctification. Our author himself, I am sorry to have to remark, does not appear to have had his charity towards others extended, or his humility deepened, by these speculations. "No doubt (he says in his preface) professors will object, as they always have done, to every unfolding of truth: but what avails their cavils, or indeed what avails their quiet, with us, if it is in a way that allows them to live at ease in sin, under a mistaken notion that they are going to heaven by Christ?" -- "The Lord is on his way, gradually unveiling himself to his inquiring, seeking children; and wo, wo, from an all-righteous judge, to those who dare to lift a hand against the right-timed openings and revelations of his heavenly mysteries!" This note of admiration, I conclude, is the editors -- but probably not in the sense in which I admire at the passage. For, let it be recollected, that not fire and faggot, personal restraint, or persecution, is here alluded to, but simply the objections (which he calls cavils) of professors of the same religion! But he proceeds, "I care not how soon their false rest is disturbed." -- "I would as soon trust my immortal state upon the profession of Deism, as upon the common notions of salvation by Christ." These highly improper concessions to unbelieving spirits, are found in more than one or two places in the book. "I am as sure (says J. S.) there is no salvation out of Christ, as I am of any thing in the world: I am also as sure, that the common ideas of salvation are very greatly beside the true doctrine of salvation by Christ." So much for the sweeping sentence, which the author is made, by this imprudent publication, to pass upon his fellow professors of the Christian religion, without distinction of name or sect. Now, let us hear him speak of himself and his own experience -- which he does towards the conclusion, in the following terms: "The substance of what I have written, I have at least learned mostly of the Father. I learned the mystery of it, not of man; neither was I ever clearly and livingly taught it by man, as man; but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." Are these the terms in which it becomes a poor finite being, endued with such limited powers, to speak of the Great Author and Finisher of our faith; and of those things, which, as the apostle himself says, we now know but in part, and see as through a glass, darkly? Not one of the apostles of Christ any where mentions God the Father as his teacher, in this familiar manner. And surely he had forgotten, at the moment, that he had ever read the New Testament; from the "letter" of which, his memory at least furnished him with another man’s words, in which to clothe his own thoughts of his own attainments. Let this source of magnificent expression (to which preachers and disputants so freely resort) be removed, and it would soon be seen into what, both the spirit of paradoxical inference from detached portions of the letter, and an exalted, mystical mode of expounding the hidden sense (where it is not,) would degenerate! But rather let it not be removed -- for it is greatly needed on these occasions, to serve as a touchstone for the false gold, and detect the fallacy. Let it not be thought, that in thus meeting the author of this piece, or rather the piece itself, as unceremoniously as it comes, (though there is more that is exceptionable left unnoticed,) I am actuated by any degree of hostility towards the memory or character of this deceased Friend. Truth, and above all, "the very Truth of God," as he has expressed it, is too precious a thing to be deserted by its advocate, were it even certain that he would lose all his friends (in this world) by defending it: the author himself would have joined me in this conclusion. I believe him to have been a very sincere and spiritually minded man, a fervent, and in some respects, a useful and effectual preacher, and a good example in life and conversation. With the strong perception which he seems to have had of some doctrinal errors of others, (such as the Antinomians, who probably came frequently in his way,) I think it quite probable that with further humbling experience of the power of Truth, and further opportunities of conference with his equals, he might have come to see and correct his own. That with all these strange notions about the manner of salvation, he was enabled, through the mercy of God in Jesus Christ, and the sanctifying efficacy of the Holy Spirit, to experience (through faith) the thing itself, is what I entertain no doubt of. And here I trust I may safely leave him and conclude the subject. Were I to be inquired of, whether there be at the present time any religious society or body of men on the face of the whole earth, who are entitled to draw between themselves and other "professors" a clear line of distinction, and say, "We know the rest are ignorant; we possess and enjoy; the rest are aliens: we are the church, they, the world that lieth in wickedness:" I must honestly reply, that I know of no such body or society. I believe that religious knowledge, accompanied by a heartfelt experience of the great work of sanctification, has of late years greatly spread and increased among mankind; and in quite as great a proportion without, as within, the pale of our own religious society, taken in its whole extent. In forming this conclusion, I have been guided by the rule which our Lord himself lays down concerning doctrines and teachers, By their fruits ye shall know them: for men do not gather grapes of thorns, nor figs of thistles. Matt. vii.6. And when, with unimpeachable integrity and unquestionable piety, I see joined, in many whom I know of other denominations, a lively concern and diligent endeavour to spread the knowledge of Christ; to promote (what I hope no sound member of our society will deny to be of great importance, and of great probable future utility to mankind) the reception and perusal of the Holy Scriptures: when I am obliged to admit, on certain evidence, that these labours have been blessed, and have succeeded to the turning of many to righteousness,Daniel 12:3, who before were dark, ignorant of the true God and of Jesus Christ whom he hath sent, sensual and unprincipled -- when I behold these things in which we (as a body) have taken hitherto so little part, I own I feel for the Christian character and reputation of that part of the visible professing church on earth, to which I belong. We are, it may be said, a peculiar people, and have peculiar Testimonies, in some respects, to bear to the simplicity, peaceableness and purity of Christ’s kingdom. Granted -- no one believes this, I trust, more firmly than I do: not many, perhaps, more sincerely desire that we may be faithful to our duty in these respects. The day will come, however, soon or late, when we must merge (if we remain so long a society) into the great assembly of the visible Church. For it is said, They shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion.Isaiah 52:7-10. No squinting then upon each other, for differences of opinion among sound and faithful members of the true Church: but a universal charity at least -- if not a most perfect agreement in the Truth! But, O that before that day come, we the Religious Society of Friends, who have sometimes called ourselves the Lord’s people, and who believe that we have Testimonies committed unto us to bear for His name, may not, by departing from the true humility and fear of God; by letting in the wide-wasting love of this world and its treasure; and by following strange doctrines, which have no root in scripture, and which vary with the mental complexion of every teacher, be scattered and come to nought. But I am persuaded better things (though I write thus to provoke to Christian zeal and emulation) of the sincere in our own society. I trust that they will yet more and more become, and long continue, a sober yet spiritually minded, a consistent, self-denying company of believers; bearing testimony to the Truth of God; not in words alone, in which we may err from want of knowledge, but in practice, where the way is safe and plain; and where our Great Example has gone before us, leaving us his footsteps that we might follow Him. We acknowledge, that our own opinions of the Christian religion, received by others, merely as notions, will effect no more for them, than they could for us: will constitute but the "letter" of the New Covenant, until written with the finger of God on fleshly tables of the heart. How important is it, then, for all, that they thus come to feel and possess that which they hear and speak of! In order to which, let us in humility and faith, commune in private with the Blessed Saviour, in his inward appearance in our minds. Here we may learn of him, practically, what it is to be born again, and what is the nature of his salvation: and having received the Truth "as little children," grow therein from stature to stature, till being finally gathered from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south, we may be permitted to sit down with the faithful and saved of all generations in the kingdom of God. I am thy affectionate friend, LUKE HOWARD ======================================================================== CHAPTER 6: 07 - CHAPTER 5 ======================================================================== A LETTER FROM A FRIEND IN AMERICA to LUKE HOWARD OF TOTTENHAM, NEAR LONDON, in which the character of our late friend, JOB SCOTT IS VINDICATED AND DEFENDED, and his Doctrines shown to be consistent with Scripture and sound reason. in reply to a letter addressed by Luke Howard to the Author Am I therefore become your Enemy because I tell you the truth. Gal. iv.10 [1826] ______ Respected Friend, LUKE HOWARD: Thy Letter addressed to me bearing date 1825, was not received until about two months since. It was neatly printed in octavo form, and contains about 20 pages. Agreeably with thy entreaty, I have given it a patient and candid perusal and have carefully referred to the passages of Scripture quoted in the work: and having always had the highest esteem for the memory of our deceased friend Job Scott, I have felt a concern to send thee a few remarks and observations, as they occurred to my mind on perusing thy Letter. In the first place, I was for some time at a loss, to discover any adequate motive for so much labour as this Letter must have cost thee. The subject of Job Scott’s book is regeneration and the new birth: its title "SALVATION BY CHRIST": a doctrine which I believe is by all Christians admitted to be scriptural. -- It is treated by him a little, and but a little, differently from the usual mode. To those who have not come to rely entirely on the Holy Spirit for instruction, it may appear strange, and like Nicodemus, they may query, "How can these things be?" But to those who, by a total renunciation of the will and wisdom of the creature -- that "Wisdom which is from beneath," have come under the administration of the New Covenant -- I think the treatise will be easily understood. Perhaps the author may not always have been the most happy, in the choice of metaphors to illustrate his subject -- perhaps he did not conduct and support his Allegory with the most critical skill -- perhaps he did not sufficiently explain the deep spiritual views which his exercised mind had taken of the doctrine -- perhaps he may have applied some scripture texts, in a way thou canst not approve. -- Admitting all this, I cannot see in these circumstances, while we admit the doctrine to be scriptural, a sufficient ground for a Letter, calculated to prostrate his religious character, and to destroy, especially in the youthful mind, all confidence in his religious writings. If thy conduct be correct, who that has left written or printed memoirs of their religious labours and experience, may escape the fatal thrust of some posthumous opposer? It appears by the memorial of his brethren, that Job Scott’s moral character was remarkably correct. They say, "in the various duties of private life, as well as in the relations of son, husband, parent, and neighbour, he was truly exemplary." His literary attainments were probably superior to those of a large majority of his cotemporaries. The memorial says, "through his turn for literary improvement, he acquired both a competent share of common school learning, and made some progress in other branches of literature." The course of instruction, at that time, in the common schools in New England, was perhaps, superior to that in any other of the Colonies; and Job Scott, in his Essay on Baptism, as well as in his other works, gives evidence, that he was a man of strong mental capacities, as well as of considerable reading. But it was in the depth and consistency of his religious character, and his extraordinary qualifications as a Gospel Minister, that he stood most conspicuous. On these points his friends remark, "Being of strong and ready abilities, and his mind improved and enlarged by the sanctifying power of Truth, he was enabled, and zealously, and very usefully disposed for the promotion of the cause of Righteousness, in which he was engaged. Having, in the School of Christ, measurably learned the mystery of the fall and restoration of man and to understand the scriptures, and pertinently to apply them; he was brought under the preparing hand of the Lord, for the work of the ministry; under which dispensation his soul was deeply baptized and brought under great sympathy with seeking souls, who were travailing in birth that Christ might be formed in them: to whom, he was at times and seasons enabled, powerfully to administer encouragement and consolation. Thus, for several years, by letters and epistles, for which he was eminently gifted with instructive and edifying talents, he laboured for the promotion of the cause of TRUTH." Of his MINISTRY, in particular, they say: "His appearance in the Ministry was not very frequent when at home, and he was frequently led into an example of silence when abroad; circumspect not to minister without fresh anointing, and careful in attending closely, to the turnings of the KEY of DAVID." The Memorial of the National half-year’s meeting of Friends in Ireland, says: "From genuine marks, evinced in the course of his religious services, we believe him to have been an instrument, fitted and prepared by the Great Master, through deep and repeated baptisms, for use and service in his Church militant - - called and sent forth by the immediate influence of his Spirit, to publish the Gospel." "He was a diligent waiter to experience renewed qualification for service, before he attempted to move, either in the Ministry or Discipline; well knowing, that without a fresh anointing, any endeavours to act must prove ineffectual, and tend to center in lifeless formality; against which he was zealously concerned to bear testimony. His conversation was coupled with fear, as well as seasoned with grace, and being deep in heavenly mysteries, he was cautious of squandering the same; yet, when at liberty for conversation, his communications were agreeable and remarkably instructive." Such was the character of Job Scott, as pourtrayed by his brethren in America and Europe! It is the valuable influence of such an example, that thy Letter is calculated to destroy! Permit me now, to call thy attention to some parts of thy Letter, which seem intended to produce this unhappy effect; in a review of which, I shall occasionally contrast them with the authentic testimonies of the Society, on both sides of the Atlantic. In page 4, thou sayest: "There was certainly in the character of this dear friend, a perceptible excess, on the side of the imagination and the feelings" "such a temperament, in measure disqualifies a minister from being a competent judge of Doctrine and controversies." Now it is this "excess on the side of the imagination and the feelings" that constitutes a fanatic. An ardent imagination, and warm feelings on religious subjects, when governed and regulated by the holy Spirit, are no impediment to religious growth, or usefulness: On the contrary, they fit the instrument for more extensive and productive labour in the LORD’S vineyard. That such was the natural character of the Apostle Paul, is I believe universally admitted. There is scarcely a page of his writings, that does not give ample evidence of a warm imagination. His frequent illustrations of the typical law, and its figurative character, with relation to divine realities under the Gospel dispensation. -- His free use of allegories and metaphors -- his allusions to the customs, and practices, and amusements -- to the races, and sports, and games, of the people of that day -- his quotations from their Poets and Philosophers, are all incontestible evidences of a warm and vigorous imagination; which under divine influence, made him eminently useful, as the Apostle of the Gentiles. Of the ardency of his feelings there can be no doubt. But when an ardent imagination, and warm feelings enlisted in the cause of Religion, are suffered to burst the bounds of truth and reason, and run out into "perceptible excess," what are then the consequences? The history of the Anabaptists of Munster, the riots in London under Lord Gordon, and many other circumstances, sufficiently answer the question. To one of the consequences, less terrible, but more fatal to the cause of pure and undefiled religion, thou has called our attention. "Such a temperament, in measure disqualifies a Minister from being a competent judge of doctrines and controversies," and consequently, with respect to doctrines, no reliance should be placed in his judgment. Carried into excesses by his "imagination and feelings," he is an incompetent judge, and unworthy of credit -- He is a fanatic! But, how does thy character of Job Scott, agree with that given him, not by individuals, whose judgment might be warped by esteem or dislike; but by the Monthly meeting, of which he was a member -- by Friends, amongst whom he resided, and who had long watched him, under those circumstances where the character of a minister is seldom mistaken -- by Friends, who must have been more competent judges of his character, than a Friend in London, who had seen him a few times during a visit to that city! "His mind," says the Meeting, "was improved and enlarged, by the sanctifying power of Truth" -- "He had measurably learned, in the school of Christ, the mystery of the fall and restoration of man; and to understand the scriptures, and pertinently to apply them" -- "His soul was deeply baptized" -- "He was eminently gifted with instructive and edifying talents." From all parts of the American continent, where he had laboured in the Gospel, his friends say, "he returned certificates of the approbation of those he visited, and we have good reason to believe, he has left many seals of his Gospel ministry, and impressions of near and dear unity and fellowship with him, as a brother beloved." Now I would ask thee to say, if Job Scott was the man thou hast described him, would Friends, in all parts of this Continent, where he had travelled, have borne such a testimony of him If he had run into "excess on the side of the imagination," would they have had "near and dear unity and fellowship with him as a brother beloved"? To answer in the affirmative, is to say, that Friends in all the places he visited, had unity with a wild fanatical spirit! But let us suppose for a moment, that Friends in this land, were so blind, that they never perceived this spirit in him; -- Or let us suppose, that he never indulged in any excesses of the imagination and feelings, on this Continent -- that he reserved all this false fire until he visited Europe! what then becomes of the European testimonies concerning him? Let us now recur to that of the National half-year’s meeting for Ireland, and attend for a moment to some of its sentiments. It tells us, that "from genuine marks evinced in the course of his religious services, we believe him to have been an instrument, fitted and prepared, by the great Master, through deep and repeated baptism, for use and service in his Church militant" -- "He was a diligent waiter to experience renewed qualifications for service." -- "His conversation was coupled with fear, as well as seasoned with Grace, and being deep in heavenly mysteries, he was cautious of squandering the same; but when at liberty for conversation, his communications were agreeable and remarkably instructive." Do we see any marks of fanaticism in all this? -- Is it through deep baptism, that this false fire is elicited? Is it by "diligently waiting to experience renewed qualification for religious service, that the "imagination" becomes heated and runs out into "perceptible excesses." I believe none, who are acquainted with such baptisms, and whose "conversation is coupled with fear, and seasoned with grace" will answer in the affirmative. Perhaps however, our Friends in Ireland, being themselves naturally of a warm temperament, may have been mistaken -- Or, they may have wilfully thrown a veil, over a weakness; which, from self- love, they were willing to believe was a venial defect! Therefore, as a last resort, to defend the character of this self-denying and baptized servant of Christ, who is not here to speak a word for himself; let us now recur to the Yearly Epistle from Friends of London, in the year 1793, to the Yearly Meeting of Rhode Island. -- In the Memorial of Providence Monthly Meeting, concerning Job Scott, I find these words: "He arrived at Dunkirk [in France] the fifth day of the First month, and after tarrying there about ten days, much to his own and Friends’ satisfaction, he proceeded to England. Taking some meetings in Kent, went to London, attended the different Meetings in that City -- then into Wales, and attended the several Monthly and Quarterly Meetings, and the Yearly Meeting at Caermarthen; thence to Bristol, and returning to London, attended the Yearly Meeting there, who, [Friends of the Yearly Meeting] in their Epistle to ours, speak of him in a very satisfactory manner." Thus we see, from authentic documents, that not only in the United States, but in Ireland, and France, and Wales, and England, Job Scott’s character and labours, are represented in terms of the highest approbation. Even in London, near the place of thy residence, he is spoken of in "a very satisfactory manner." Can we suppose this would have been the case, if his labours and conduct had been marked by a fanatical spirit -- or if thou prefer the terms, by "a perceptible excess of the imagination and the feelings"? From any thing that appears, thou art the only Friend who ever perceived this defect in Job Scott’s character! It was left to thy penetration to discover it, and more than thirty years, after this excellent Minister, and devoted follower of Christ, was laid in his grave, thine was the task to proclaim it to the world! I will now call thy attention to a portion of thy Letter, which, I think, not only evinces a lightness of spirit on thy part, but a disposition, by a degrading comparison, to propagate the idea that Job Scott was an ignorant man! After speaking of that "perceptible excess on the side of the imagination and the feelings," which thou declares with great assurance "was certainly in the character of our deceased friend," thou makest the following remarks, which that I may not be misunderstood, I will quote in thy own language, page 4 -- "It," that is this perceptible excess in a minister, "is sometimes corrected by experience, and by an intercourse, in a spirit of charity, with others as zealous and knowing as himself. I remember an honest man’s remark, who had been hired as a help from a distant country, and had had to follow his employer for the first time, through our crowded metropolis. ’I never saw such a place as London in my life! -- why, no body would get out of my master’s way’! -- Just so it is with powerful but secluded minds, when they emerge from their circle of assenting hearers, and weak opponents, into a wider horizon, and have to compare the contents of their budget with the variety of conflicting opinions around them." In this paragraph Job Scott is compared to an ignorant hired servant who had to follow his master through the streets of London, in which "crowded metropolis he had never been before," and who was so stupid as to think the passing multitude ought all to get out of his master’s way. It is plainly intimated that Job Scott’s mind had been a "secluded" one and had never "emerged from the circle of assenting hearers and weak opponents" -- that he had never compared, what thou art pleased to call "the contents of his budget, with the variety of conflicting opinions around him"! That he was not an ignorant man the memorial I have quoted, and his various publications, sufficiently attest. That he had not just emerged from a "circle of assenting hearers and weak opponents," the Journal of his travels published since his decease, and the well known character of the population of New England, clearly demonstrate. To those who are acquainted by personal intercourse with the people of our Eastern states, it will be vain to say they are "weak opponents" or "assenting hearers"; that they never were so, is evident from their history! On the contents of the paragraph last quoted from thy Letter I will not detain thee long; but after a few remarks will leave thee to enjoy all the satisfaction that such comparisons may afford thee in moments of cool reflection. There runs through the whole passage a vein of irony and sarcasm, which thy readers cannot fail to perceive, and which is not only inconsistent with the gravity of a religious character, on such a subject, but is much to be lamented when employed by a Friend against a worthy deceased minister of his own denomination. That thou shouldst suppose him to be an ignorant man, is perhaps very natural. Those who have seldom emerged from the narrow circle, and smoky atmosphere of any "crowded metropolis" seem, very generally, to suppose almost all the learning and knowledge in the world, are centered with them; and that the little which the rest of mankind possess, may be compared to the "gleaning grapes, or as the shaking of an olive tree -- two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches." I am inclined to think thy own countrymen are peculiarly subject to this error, especially as it regards the people of the United States. Until very lately, the people of England have acted as if they thought we could hardly get along well, unless they sent us Law, Physick, Philosophy, and Religion; whilst we at the same time, could not perceive in the professional character or qualifications of those that came amongst us, any superiority worth the expense and trouble of their transportation. That the people of the United States ought not to be denominated "a circle of assenting hearers and weak opponents," is evident from all authentic histories of them since the first settlement of this country. They have always been apt to discern the spirit of encroachment, tenacious of their rights, and zealous in their defence. On religious subjects they have been engaged to inquire with great earnestness: and being unshackled with the yoke of an oppressive Hierarchy, and free from that seducing influence which the "dignified clergy" are constantly exercising to draw dissenters into their schemes, it is to be presumed the Americans have attained to as clear views of truth as any other people. With respect to the society of Friends, from a pretty extensive acquaintance with its members on this side the Ocean, I think I may say, they are an active, intelligent and thoughtful people, and too far removed from the weakness of infancy, to stand in need of foreign aid. The following passage of thy Letter, page 6, seems intended to convey the idea that Job Scott was a man of a gross indelicate character. Nor do I wonder that thou could be easily persuaded to believe it. With ignorance we are apt to connect indelicacy. That the reader may judge for himself I will quote the passage verbatim. "I shall strive not to make this Letter the vehicle of improper thoughts by quoting expressions [from the Essay entitled Salvation by Christ] which could not be read, I think, in a mixed company of Friends of both sexes, without bringing confusion over some of their faces." Now the doctrine implied by this censure is evidently this; that if any writer, under the solemn engagement of opening and illustrating divine truths, should use language that "could not be read in a mixed company of both sexes, without bringing confusion over some of their faces," such writer is censurable for making his work "the vehicle of improper thoughts." Upon this hypothesis, almost every scripture writer, from Moses down to the latest author of any book in the New Testament is guilty of gross indelicacy. In attempting to propagate such a sentiment, thou hast passed a severe censure on nearly all the scripture writers. Who does not know that there are hundreds of passages in the Bible far more indelicate than any thing in Job Scott’s book? It is unnecessary to refer to them. Perhaps thy mind, refined and chastened by intercourse with the elegant and polite society of your "crowded metropolis," might think such reference indelicate! One thing however is obvious, that rather than not bring an odium on Job Scott’s character thou art willing to involve all the scripture writers in the guilt of making their work "the vehicle of improper thoughts," and like him, they must lay under the charge of grossness and indelicacy! And what adds to the singularity of thy conduct on this occasion, thou condemns in theory, what thou exhibits in practice; for the succeeding pages of thy Letter express all the ideas in Job Scott’s book, that are calculated to bring "confusion over some faces in a mixed company of both sexes."! Having briefly noticed the charges of fanaticism, ignorance and indelicacy, preferred against Job Scott, I will now revert to some remarks, on the 3d page of thy Letter. Thou sayest, "having heard him preach with much power and energy when he was in England, I was interested and affected by the circumstances of his death in Ireland, soon afterwards; and the regard I have cherished for his memory, made me a little concerned for his religious reputation." I would not suggest a hint on this occasion to impeach thy veracity; but I cannot omit calling thy attention to the inconsistency of thy conduct with thy profession of "regard for his memory." I think it cannot be doubted that if thy Letter were generally to make the impressions which it is eminently calculated to produce on weak and ignorant readers, it would do more injury to his religious reputation than all that the open enemies of spiritual religion and worship, could ever effect. That thy Letter will injure his religious reputation in this country, I do not say. The "seals of his ministry" are yet thickly scattered up and down this land, and thousands of witnesses are yet living and ready to bear testimony to the sobriety, gravity, and steady deportment of this dignified ambassador of Christ -- that so far from being a fanatic, or ignorant or indelicate, his ministry, and his instructive and chaste conversation, were evident proofs to the contrary. Thy professions of concern for his memory reminds me of the famous Lacerta, that terror of the Nile, who is said to weep over his victim before he destroys it. Hadst thou omitted one little word in the sentence I quoted, and said the regard I cherished for his memory made me little concerned for his religious reputation; there would have been some correspondence between thy professions and thy conduct afterwards. Connected with the quotation I last made from thy Letter, is the following remark respecting the book under thy review. -- "Had he [Job Scott] lived to near the present time," "my own decided opinion, after mature deliberation, is that he never would have published it as it now appears nor probably, at this time of day at all." To the former part of this opinion, I can very fully assent. It is very probable, had he lived, he would have done what every author, who has time and opportunity, ought to do -- he would have revised and corrected it for the press. -- To use his own language, he would have had it "properly digested," and "a good deal better guarded," -- that so no after critic, who might be disposed to invalidate his character, or cavil at his doctrine, should have had a pretext however flimsy, to make his book appear the work of an ignorant or indelicate writer. But he was prevented from effecting his prupose, by an early transition to a better world; and thou hast taken advantage of this circumstance to destroy his reputation! and thus it appears, that this dying martyr in the cause of truth, had good reason to desire that his writings might be "properly digested, and better guarded." But why should thou think he would not have published it at all? Thou acknowledgest that on his death bed, alluding to the doctrines advanced in his essay, "he still regarded them as true." Dost thou suppose that after he had said, "I am deeply grounded in them, as being the very life and substance of Christianity, indeed of all true religion," he would now, like many of our polite modern Quakers, have receded from this ground, and exchanged the joys and consolations and support of spiritual religion and worship, for the dry husks of a barren and lifeless theology? Dost thou think he would have followed the example of those, who have sold and are selling their birth-right to the invaluable inheritance of our faithful predecessors, for what is far worse than "a mess of pottage"? Canst thou admit the idea, that he would have gone creeping to the world, and have bartered any of our noble testimonies, for the transient honours and applause of a day? For my part I cannot; -- I think he was too "deeply grounded" in the truth! Could I think otherwise, I should rejoice in his timely escape; and thank an allwise Providence, that he had taken him from us while his lamp was burning in brightness, with this language on his dying lips -- "Follow me as I have endeavoured to follow Christ, the Lord of life and glory, and the Rock of my eternal salvation." Thou thinkest it probable, he would not have published his essay, at this time of day at all. But why not at this time of day? -- Has any new or better light appeared since his death? or have we so much improved the light we had, that to publish it would be supererogatory? Look at the state of society in England, and Ireland, and Scotland and Wales. Do "the fruitful fields laugh with abundance" -- has "the parched ground become a pool, and the dry land springs of water?" -- Is the doctrine of regeneration and the new birth so well understood, that there is no further need to call the public attention to the momentous subject? Have commentators and critics so perfectly opened and explained it, that our religious society have no cause to proclaim it, in the deep spiritual manner of our early Friends? Well I think he would have published it. Thou has given me no reason for thy opinion; I will give thee one for mine. Many of the members of the society to which he belonged, have since his time "receded from genuine Quakerism" in doctrine and practice, and have approached what are called "the reformed churches." Of this they are publicly reproached by our adversaries, in books published on purpose to bring the society under odium.* And the reproach is but too well founded. Our country is teeming with pamphlets, couched in intemperate and scurrilous language, written by members of our society, advocating the most irrational and unscriptural doctrines; drawing the attention from the inward, potential, and only means of salvation, "the light within;" the holy spirit in the soul; "God manifest in the flesh"; in our flesh -- to outward and carnal objects, to outward blood, outward laws, an outward sacrifice, an outward mediator, an outward intercessor, an outward redeemer, in fine, to an outward religion -- a scheme of redemption, of which Job Scott said, "It is as dark as Egyptian darkness’ -- a scheme with which his enlightened and redeemed mind was disgusted; and which he faithfully laboured, by his ministry and writings, to expose in its own natural deformity! -- and in no work more than in the essay entitled, "Salvation by Christ." For these reasons I think if he had lived to near the present time, he would have published it, if not long before. Now if I mistake not, thy opposition to Job Scott’s work and thy desire to lessen his character have originated from the fact, that he was an enemy to this outward scheme of redemption; and, in a clear and lucid manner, preached and illustrated this eternal truth, "except man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." For this sentiment, it is but just that I should give thee my reasons; because thy real object is not very obvious to a superficial or hasty reader; it lies indeed perceptible through every part of thy Letter, but is so mixed up with other matter, that an unsuspecting reader might not discover it. In the first place then as the doctrine of Job Scott is undeniably true; and so admitted, even by thyself; the mere circumstance of an alleged defect in the manner of illustrating it, could hardly be an adequate motive for assailing the religious character of a deceased friend, and holding him up, as an object of public censure. Secondly. If the mode taken to illustrate and explain his doctrine, had been defective, and such as thou thought worthy of public attention, thy object might have been accomplished without impeaching him of fanaticism, ignorance, indelicacy, and several other capital defects not yet noticed. Thirdly. In thy prologue, page 3, it is made evident, that thy Letter was intended for cirulation amongst Friends in this country, for whose use "it was exclusively written"! But at the same time thou seemest anxious we should be explicitly informed, that it "is not the result of any correspondence, previously had, with any Friend in the United States"! Why this anxiety? From what I have said I think it appears: 1st, Thy object was not to refute the doctrine of the "New Birth." 2d, It was not mere criticism, nor explanation. 3d, It was something offensive, in which American Friends were not to appear! It required an apology, a veil to cover its deformity, something to make it pass current, for error when naked does not travel well! It is very obvious, from several late publications of Friends in England, and still more so by the oral communications of several ministers from thence, that this outward, carnal scheme of redemption, has been adopted by some of the wealthy, influential, leading men and women amongst them; and by thy Letter it as plainly appears that thou art united in principle with them, as will more plainly be seen in the sequel. Job Scott was a noble testimony- bearer against this dead image, and its worship; and while his reputation and influence remain unimpaired, many will never bow at its altar. It is therefore an important point to remove him out of the way. The society of Friends in England were originally planted, "a noble vine." Under the guardian care of the great husbandman, it struck deep its roots, and spread wide its branches -- and being watered with the dews of heaven, it became fruitful, to the praise of that grace, by which it stood unhurt through every storm. But alas! trusting to the frail supports of human contrivance and worldly policy, it has bowed its noble head, and many of its branches have become as "the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto its Lord." This is so obvious, that many of the weighty members of the church, on both sides of the Ocean, have had to take up the plaintive language of the prophet, "I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer, the vine of Sibmah (conversion) I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon (invention) for the shouting of thy summer fruits, and thy harvest is fallen; all gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there can be no singing, neither can there be shouting, the treaders can tread no wine in their presses, the vintage shouting hath ceased." I say many of its branches have become degenerate, for I trust and believe, that amongst the constituent members of the society in Europe, there are not a few who are maintaining its simple doctrines and noble testimonies, in humility and faithfulness. It is, nevertheless, too obvious to escape attention, that some of its most active members, have mournfully lapsed in doctrine and practice, from the example of our primitive Friends; and that in many places the society has become a desolation. This fact I presume will not be denied. The great causes are unfaithfulness, the love of the world, a reluctance to bear the cross, a want of magnanimity to despise the shame. Amongst the secondary causes, the great accession of wealth, has been a fruitful source of degeneracy. This has led to associations with the world, and an amalgamation with its spirit; hence, not only a fear to offend, but a desire to please the great, the noble, the rich, and the learned has been the consequence. -- The nature of the Government has also had its influence. The titles and the splendour of nobility, are very dazzling to the natural eye. They who regard them with unceasing gaze, especially the rich, should have their eyes frequently anointed with the eyesalve of the kingdom, to prevent partial, and even total blindness. A learned and numerous body of the clergy, scattered through the land, of all grades, from the mitred prelate, to the gentleman priest; flattering and fawning, to draw Friends into their popular schemes, for spreading religion, as they call it has had a very visible effect, on the characters of many of the opulent and accomplished members of the society in England; and through them, on the character of some Friends on this side the Ocean. Soon after the coalition of Friends with the nobility, gentry, and clergy, in order to send bibles over the world, we began to hear the excellence of charity preached up, and a narrow sectarian spirit decried. This met the ear like music. Charity is so exalted a virtue, that the very name is sweet; and what can be more odious than bigotry? Soon after this, we heard that Friends, the once despised Quakers, were permitted to sit in the same room with Dukes, and Earls, and Lords, and Gentlemen -- not exactly on the same side of the room, but actually within the same walls! Next we heard that some of our ministers had been invited to address the honourable assembly: On which they took the floor, made florid speeches, and were actually complimented and applauded by some of the nobles, for their eloquence! -- and then we heard, that in return for all this civility, our grateful Friends had adopted the use of titles, and that the hireling ministers of an oppressive hierarchy, were saluted by the style, of the "dignified clergy"!!! Thus things went on for several years. Quakerism in England began to lose its awkward gait and uncouth appearance. It was no longer that rustic "secluded" thing, neither willing nor fit to mingle in the politer circles of society. Clarkson had published its "portraiture" in flattering colours -- the news-papers rung its praise. It had shaken off the fetters of bigotry and superstition, and its avowed principles, except a few "peculiarities," were the delight and admiration of the world! From what I have heard and seen, I apprehend many friends in England, and a few in America, began to think the millennium was at hand; when kings should be the nursing fathers of the church, and Queens its nursing mothers; when even emperors should come bowing at the foot of the cross. It is said that the emperor Alexander, of Russia, when on a visit to England, after the sanguinary conflicts at Waterloo and Paris, attended the meetings of Friends in London, and that many thought they had nearly converted this hardy warrior, just reeking from the slaughter, and drenched in gore, into a peaceable, polite Quaker! But, somehow or another, he escaped to his native country, and soon raised an army of several hundred thousand men, to keep down the rising spirit of freedom in Europe. It is uncertain, to this day, whether the HOLY ALLIANCE, was not the fruit of Alexander’s religious impressions, received while in England. But the spirit of reform did not end here. Our "peculiarities," as they have been termed by one of thy friends in England, were found to be offensive to the new colleagues; it was therefore desirable to soften them down, and Joseph John Gurney wrote two or three books, to explain the doctrines of Christianity, in which the leading features of the trinitarian scheme, were openly advocated; and so acceptable were the books to other religious societies, avowed trinitarians, that they paid for many thousands of them to distribute for the public good! Now the doctrine of a TRINITY had been publicly disowned by Friends. They denied any distinction in the divine nature. Penn’s "Sandy Foundation Shaken" had been adopted by the society and published over and over in his "Select Works." -- Barclay had declared "God is a most pure, simple Being, void of all composition or division. As if to shew that this doctrine did not, in his estimation, belong to the Christian system, he did not in his "Apology for the true Christian divinity" ever treat on the subject -- he did not even admit the term ’trinity’ into his book! The ATONEMENT as preached by Fox, Penn, Whitehead, Pennington, and the great body of Friends in their day, was not an outward atonement, but an inward and spiritual one, to be accomplished in the soul of every candidate for salvation. It was the reconciliation of the sinner unto God by repentance and obedience -- not any change wrought in the unchangeable nature of the Deity! It is true George Keith opposed them in this point, but becoming turbulent, as these outward satisfactionists are very apt to be; he was disowned, and by an easy accommodation joined the Episcopal church. The SCRIPTURES had always been considered by Friends, not the "word of God" nor the words of God, but a record of things known, or believed, or predicted, or done -- written by faithful men, under divine influence or inspiration. Barclay had declared, that "the letter of the scripture is outward, of itself a dead thing; a mere declaration of good things, but not the things themselves." Ap. Prop. III. Sec. 2. We now hear from the gallery, this doctrine contradicted by ministers from England. When the Apostle declared, "the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life," we are told he only meant by "the letter," the old law of Moses; and in thy Letter, page 16, the same false opinion is advocated. Thou say’st ’It was plainly not the letter of this book [the New Testament] to which the Apostle applied the text’! Thus we are taught that "the letter of scripture" which Barclay says "is outward of itself a dead thing" is now come to life, and is that on which we are to depend for religious instruction. Now though we cannot receive thy doctrine, yet we can perceive its inconsistency with scripture, reason, and the testimony of our early Friends. We know from experience and the history of the church for the last fourteen centuries, that a dependence on the letter of scripture, brings death, division, contention, detraction, debate, persecution, and even a disposition to defame the illustrious dead: of which thy own Letter furnishes some corroborative evidence. But these "peculiarities" which I esteem fundamental principles of the society, were found to be as stumbling blocks in the way of a perfect union, between the parties to the new coalition; and an ardent desire was felt to remove them out of the way; hence in addition to other means, a system of preaching, quite new to us, was adopted by many of your ministers. The plan was to quote the figurative or metaphorical language of the scripture, and apply it in an outward and literal sense, contrary to the views and well known practice of our primitive Friends. And then, if any honest hearted, practical Friend, denied their interpretation, he was to be denounced as an unsound member of society. This plan was soon put in operation, and is now producing its natural fruits -- fruits which it has always produced, from the time of Constantine, down to the present day -- intolerance on the one hand, and opposition on the other. And now these ministers and their adherents, having left the broad and plain ground of George Fox and his coadjutors, have gradually slidden from our original principles, and are landed in the dark and intricate mazes of a lifeless, irrational, and barren theology. They have been "receding from genuine Quakerism, and approaching the reformed churches" until all the difference in doctrine, between them, is scarcely worth the trouble of pointing it out! Happy would it have been for our peaceful country, had this plan been confined to the land of its origin. But the spirit of proselytism has ever been observed to connect itself most closely, with the most erroneous systems, the advocates of which, wanting the support that truth gives, seek, as a substitute, the sustaining power of numbers. Hence, strenuous efforts have been made to extend the system; so as to include within its limits the numerous meetings of this extensive continent; and, within a few years, an unusual number of ministers from England, have landed on our shores. I would be very sorry to attribute to any labourer in the gospel field, an improper motive; but there has been so marked a difference between the temper and conduct of some of our late visiters, and of those who, during the forty preceding years, have laboured amongst us; that viewing their measures in connection with well known facts, no reasonable doubt can remain, that they have acted upon different principles and with different views:** But all this shows they did not understand the general character of the visited; nor did they consider how widely, in many respects, our circumstances differ from those of our Friends in England. They have sought to convert us to the principles of the new coalition, while the motives to a junction are repugnant to our feelings. It may be very desirable to our trans-atlantic brethren, to stand upon good terms with the nobility, gentry and clergy. But our case is different. We have no noblemen to oblige us by their favours, or flatter us with their praise. Here all men are equal in the eye of the law. We have no hierarchy to oppress us -- no titheman to conciliate -- no priest to pay! Every man in the land may worship his Creator as his conscience dictates, without buying the privilege. This is not a "toleration;" -- it is a right, guaranteed by the Constitution of our country, and never infringed except when the leading members of some self- constituted society, forgetting their own frailty, attempt to impose upon us their own private views. Unhappily, this kind of attempt, is now made upon many in this land; through, as we believe, the influence of foreigners. It is painful to state the fact, that some of these, not content with the liberty which our country amply affords, to propagate their own opinions, are so regardless of the rights of others, that they go from house to house, bearing "evil reports," tending to destroy the religious influence of our most exemplary ministers. Now, to us this is grievous. We consider it a violation of the good order of society; and though we wish them no harm, and can regard them with charity, and even with pity, yet we cannot but regret they did not remain at home, until sent by the head of the church, not to preach contention, but the gospel of peace! Hitherto however they have failed in their object, and indeed, from appearances, are not likely to succeed. Friends in this country do not drive well, and there has been no attempt to lead them. Indeed, I have my doubts whether they would lead well. They are a people who are very much accustomed to think for themselves, and such a people will not implicitly embrace the doctrines and opinions of a fellow creature, who has no other, nor better means, of coming to a knowledge of the truth than themselves! I have said that within a few years a number of your ministers have landed on our shores for the purpose, no doubt, of instructing us on religious subjects; but I believe thy Letter printed here, is the first book written on your side of the water, expressly with that design. Like some of your living itinerants, it is going from house to house, bearing evil reports, to destroy the religious character of a faithful minister of Christ. In one point however, their object is different. The former impeach the characters of the living -- the latter strikes at the character of the dead! This I think is carrying matters one step farther than any you have heretofore taken; but I doubt whether it will answer the purpose. There is something so offensive to most minds, in the bare idea of violating the grave, that it is more likely to produce disgust than conviction! The living can answer for themselves, and when openly attacked, can act on the defensive. -- But the tongue of the dead is dumb -- his arm is nerveless; and therefore, where the spirit of party has not hardened thy readers, every feeling of sensibility will rise in his defence. Were it not that experience has taught us, to what unbounded lengths this desolating spirit will sometimes carry men, otherwise amiable, I should wonder that any Friend in our country could submit to be the bearer of thy Letter, or condescend to aid in its distribution amongst our members! It is far from my intention to censure Friends of England as a body. I have great pleasure in believing there are many in your island, who are honestly concerned, to support our original doctrines and testimonies; and who will reprobate the design and spirit of thy letter, as sincerely as I do. Friends, who are labouring in great sincerity, though under much depression, to promote the cause of truth. So far from casting any reflection on these, I would rather offer them a word of encouragement; and in the language of scripture, say "Fear not little flock, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom" -- "Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." But many who ought to have been standard bearers in our society, have deserted their colours, and gone over to the enemy. Under the garb of a concern for spreading religion, are breaking down the barriers, raised in Divine Wisdom, to separate us from the world. It is against such that I would guard my fellow professors; and if Friends, however obscure their allotment, keep faithful to the light of truth, they will be enabled to perceive and detect these deserters. Our testimony to the simple truth, will again be exalted, and its standard lifted up to the praise of Him who hath called us -- not for our own sake only, but for his own glory in the happiness of the human family. In a former part of this reply, I have intimated that thou hast impeached Job Scott of several capital defects, not yet noticed. Permit me now to draw thy attention to another part of thy letter, page 15. After trying to prove, that several of his opinions are incorrect, when squared by thy literal notions of scripture truth, thou has drawn the following conclusions; which, for the purpose of exposing the object and character of thy work, I will give in thy own words -- they are as follow: "Such are the consequences of affecting to be wise above that which is written -- of making that real which is metaphorical -- that figurative or mystical which is literal -- of not being content, to take the plain text along with the context, and draw from both, in humility and faith the instruction they may thus well afford -- in short of rejecting, from an apprehension of our own superior attainments, and greater spirituality, the doctrines deduced from scripture, by christians in all ages, concerning salvation by Christ"! In this short paragraph there are several imputations on Job Scott’s character, wholly inconsistent with the one given him by his most intimate associates, and utterly opposed to the testimonies of Friends in America and Europe. In the first place, he is accused of affecting to be "wise above that which is written." Now the justice of this accusation entirely depends on one point; that is, whether Job Scott or Luke Howard had the most correct views of the meaning of the scripture writers. Thou assumes the point at issue. "I, Luke Howard, have the most correct views of the meaning of ’that which is written,’ I am right and Job Scott is wrong, and consequently Job Scott affects to be ’wise above that which is written’"! This assumption is gratuitous, and if Job Scott were living, he might say, with equal propriety and more truth, Luke Howard pretends to be wise in that which is written -- he makes that metaphorical which is real, that literal which is figurative or mystical! Nothing further need be said to show that thy assumption arises from an overweening confidence in thy understanding of the scriptures -- that thou thinkest thy self wise; in that which is written. Now I can see no proof of spiritual pride, in Job Scott’s case, more than in thine. The difference between you lies in this; Job Scott depended upon the illumination of the holy spirit, for his views of scripture truth, thou depends on thy own understanding, aided by critics and commentators. Of the superiority of thy qualifications for explaining the scriptures, we have no evidence, except that furnished by thyself; and from the specimen thou hast given, I suppose our readers will not value it very highly -- but of Job Scott his friends, in their memorial say, "he had learned in the school of Christ to understand the scriptures, and pertinently to apply them." With this kind of evidence in his favour, I leave my readers to judge, whose interpretation of the scriptures is most to be relied on! In the second place, thou accusest him "of not being content to take the plain text along with the context." The validity of this charge lies, like the former, in the understanding to be put upon "text and context." If they have a figurative meaning, and thou givest them a literal one, thou wouldst be as far in the wrong as Job Scott would if they had a literal one and he should explain them figuratively! Thus, nothing at all depends upon thy assumption "I am right and Job Scott is wrong," but all upon the capacity you may have respectively possessed, for the high office of an expounder of the scriptures! For my own part, notwithstanding the opinion thou hast tacitly given of thy superior claims to that office, if I were to depend on any human authority, I would prefer Job Scott’s to thine. He has, at least, one claim to that preference -- the testimony of his brethren that he had "learned, in the school of Christ, to understand the scriptures, and pertinently to apply them." In the third place, Job Scott is accused "of not being content to take the plain text along with the context, and to draw from both, in humility and faith, that instruction they may well afford." I need not say much on the subject of this charge. -- Whether Job Scott or Luke Howard have evinced most of the fruits of humility and faith, I leave our readers to determine. It appears however by the testimony of his brethren, that Job Scott had learned to "understand the scriptures in the school of Christ." Luke Howard understands them by comparing the text with the context -- the consequence I think has been, that the former had learned to draw spiritual instruction from the scriptures -- the latter is content with that kind of instruction which learned commentators can afford. The one takes the kernel the other the shell! In the fourth place, the deceased is accused "of rejecting, from an apprehension of his own superior attainments and greater spirituality, the doctrines deduced from scripture, by Christians, in all ages, concerning Salvation by Christ." This accusation is partly grounded, I apprehend, on the supposed accuracy of another charge, which is repeated several times in thy Letter, and dwelt on with very evident marks of satisfaction! This will appear from the following references. In page 6, thou sayst "Job Scott insists again and again that those things are real which sober christians have regarded only as lively and apposite metaphors in the sayings of Christ, and his Apostles" -- the same idea is twice expressed in p. 14 -- and again in the paragraph quoted, p. 15. From the notion, that those things which Job Scott considered real, are only [mark, only,] "lively and apposite metaphors," thou drawest a long string of consequences, of thy own making -- some of them intended to make Job Scott appear ridiculous, and all, entirely founded on thy own misapprehension of the meaning of the word real. Now I think, a little examination of this subject, will show that Job Scott understood the English language, at least as well as thyself! Our lexicographers render "real," by the words "true, certain, sure" in opposition to "untrue, uncertain, fictitious -- having no reality." But "real," is not opposed to spiritual, otherwise all the things of the spiritual world, would be but phantoms! According to thy position, the "new birth" is no reality! it is a mere fiction -- "only a metaphor"! and thus, when Christ taught Nicodemus this important doctrine, he was merely amusing him with a figure of speech! -- declaring of a new birth and the kingdom of heaven, in which there was no reality! Into such palpable inconsistencies hast thou been betrayed in thy zeal to lessen the influence of Job Scott’s writings -- in all which there is not one error, either in matter or manner, half so gross, as thine on this point. The truth is, spiritual things are the only everlasting realities. "The fashion of this world passeth away," -- Here all is mutation, revolution and change. The body I now possess, is not precisely the same I had yesterday. It has lost some of its component particles, and has had an accession of others. In the spiritual world all things are real, unchangeable, and certain. Now, spiritual things being invisible, are best described by metaphors, parables, similes, and other figures, representing things unseen, by things known through the medium of the senses. Hence, it was as I apprehend, that Christ seldom spoke on religious subjects, except in this way. With respect to the multitude, Matthew expressly says, "Without a parable spake he not unto them.Matthew 13:34"; and Mark says, "and with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it, but without a parable spake he not unto them."Mark 4:33-34. Indeed it must be obvious to the attentive reader, that even to his immediate followers, his language was almost always metaphorical. When the metaphor figured to them any divine truth already known by experience, they understood him clearly; and so it is with all his true disciples to this day. They know these things by experience, and thus are prepared to declare, they are eternal realities. When his figures represented any truth not known in this way, they were at a loss to comprehend the real sense of them, and were often offended. On one occasion, when he had taught them by the very singular figure, of eating his flesh and drinking his blood; it is said "from that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him."John 6:66. These were carnal hearers, the literal men of that day. They were, however, a better sort of professors, than the literal men of our own. They turned back it is true, but they neither persuaded, nor drove others back. Our literal men endeavour to do both! But we are told that Job Scott, "from an apprehension of his own superior attainments, and greater spirituality, rejects the doctrines deduced from scripture, by christians in all ages, concerning salvation by Christ." This accusation lies with equal weight, against John Wicliff, John Huss, Jerom of Prague, John Calvin, the martyrs under queen Mary, George Fox, and thyself! Was it not from an apprehension of their own superior attainments, and greater spirituality, that all these rejected the doctrine of the "real presence"? -- a "doctrine deduced from the scripture, concerning salvation by Christ." Was it not from the same "apprehension" that George Fox and his brethren rejected the Eucharist -- water Baptism -- singing Psalms -- a hireling Ministry, and divers other things, "deduced from scripture?" In short, do not all Christian societies, "deduce from scripture," all their doctrines, however absurd, or repugnant to the spirituality of the gospel dispensation? Thy conduct brings to mind the fable, where a man is represented as being willing to lose one eye, so that his adversary might be made blind! In censuring Job Scott thou condemnest thyself and thy friends. The Church militant has always been, and ever will be, a progressive body. Light is rising. And Spiritual Light, like the Orb of the natural day, does not attain its meridian all at once -- as it regards individuals, who are faithful to its discoveries, it is always on the ascent. Look back, through the vista of a thousand years, what was the state of the Church then? Wrapt in Cimmerian darkness -- in darkness that might be felt -- groping her way in a ditch, where she had been led by her blind leaders -- deluged in her own blood, spilled in fighting for a creed! And are we now to be referred to the doctrines of such a Church, for a proof, that Job Scott was a presumptuous man? Thou assumest that "Christians in all ages" interpreted the scriptures in a certain way. This is not true; but suppose they did, is that any proof they were not mistaken? Or is it a reason, that when the "sun of righteousness," has risen above the horizon, and discovered an error which our predecessors had not light to see, we should shut our eyes, and refuse to be benefitted by his beams? I apprehend thy errors on this subject have originated from one of the principles of the new coalition, that "THE SCRIPTURES are the light of the spiritual church." "The scriptures of the New Testament," say they, "are not a dead letter" -- Of course they must be a living letter. "They may be understood by comparing the "text with the context"; and by taking them along together, we may arrive at the truth!" This is thy doctrine, as expressed in the paragraph I have just quoted. It is a doctrine thou hast preached and defended, in the fifth page of thy Letter. By this test thou sayest "I will proceed to try some opinions of Job Scott." And memorable is the result! It furnishes an evidence of the falsity of thy scheme, as clear as the most lucid demonstration of a mathematical problem. It has added another proof to the vast mass of evidence, accumulated during eighteen centuries, that the scriptures, in their literal sense, or expounded by human wisdom, never have been any test of doctrines at all; and that, notwithstanding thy assertion to the contrary, they are a dead letter, incapable of themselves of giving either light or life. And this thou well knowest was the judgment of our primitive Friends. It was a testimony, uniformly maintained by them -- it was emphatically, a doctrine of the society! -- and is a truth so plain, that any one who has an eye to see and a mind to think, cannot doubt it for a moment. Only look over christendom -- see the innumerable sects into which she is divided, all claiming the scriptures, as the ground and foundation of their doctrines and opinions, however contradictory and absurd; and all defended by learned men with the bible in their hands, as the source and origin of every jarring and opposing creed! -- men as capable as Luke Howard, of comparing the "plain text with the context." and of drawing conclusions from both, to support their views! What plainer evidence can we have, of the futility of thy scheme, or the solidity and excellence of that which opposes it? See Barclay’s Apol.. Prop. III. Sec. 1,2. I would now invite thee to review another part of thy letter, page 15. After representing Job Scott as a man puffed up with spiritual pride, "from an apprehension of his own superior attainments, and greater spirituality," thou sayest, "It is greatly to be feared that a spirit of self- righteousness, may sometimes be lurking under these exalted pretensions. For how can a man be supposed to entertain and feed his mind upon such doctrine, without applying it to his own case, and to his neighbors? -- He himself, forsooth, is regenerate, and born again -- he has in him the only begotten, the son and heir of the promises; who ever beholds the kingdom, and dwells in it." &c., &c. Let us suppose, for a moment, that Job Scott was this "exalted pretender, this self-righteous man -- that this caricature, is a true portrait, and all thy sarcasm well applied! -- Let us also suppose, that Luke Howard really disclaims and detests all such "pretensions," and all those who make them; then, I suppose, the following consequences will necessarily follow; 1st, To the defects of Job Scott’s character, already noticed, we must add, spiritual pride, exalted pretensions, self-righteousness. -- Thy charges will now stand against him in the following order, "fanaticism, ignorance, indelicacy, spiritual pride, exalted pretensions, self- righteousness." 2d. Friends in America, France, England, Ireland and Wales, were all greatly deceived by him, and he was a plausible, artful, consummate impostor! 3d. Luke Howard disclaims any pretensions to the new birth -- he does not acknowledge that "he himself forsooth is regenerate and born again"; such a profession would be an "exalted pretension" -- he does not profess to have "in him, the son and heir of the promises"! -- he does not "feed his mind upon such doctrine," nor "apply it to his own case!" 4th. The Apostles and primitive Christians, were exalted pretenders; they professed to have experienced the new birth -- that Christ was in them, "the hope of glory" -- that the son "was revealed in them." 5th. The primitive Quakers were all in an error, which has lately been discovered for the first time by a fellow professor. They entertained and fed their minds upon such doctrine -- they applied it to their own case -- they declared they had "the son in them," and life by him. 6th. That according to thy notions, a new era in the annals of Quakerism has opened. We are now to be so modest, as to decline an open acknowledgment of the truth, and to satirize those who make it. 7th. That the primitive christians and early Quakers, having made these "exalted pretensions," Luke Howard disclaims them and their doctrine. As the above conclusions are the necessary result of the premises, they need no comment; yet there is one question to which I would call thy attention, as naturally growing out of them. I am not acquainted with thee, nor do I know what is the opinion of Friends in England concerning thee. I do not know, for instance, whether they rank thee among those we term "the solid, weighty members of society." or whether they consider thee a worldly minded, nominal Quaker. It is however evident, that no man is a competent judge of the deep and weighty subjects of which Job Scott has treated, who has not been "regenerated, and born again"; who has not "in him, the only begotten, the son and heir of the promises": for the Apostle expressly declares "He that hath the son hath life, and he that hath not the son of God, hath not life"; and thou disclaims those who "feed their minds upon such doctrine"! How then couldst thou attempt to sit in judgment on Job Scott and his writings? That thou hast not the "life" here mentioned, I do not say, though it seems to result from the premises; but it may safely be said thy Letter gives us no evidence of a lively renewed mind; of that tender state, which always marks the character of a regenerated man! It is I think, a very invidious, dry, dark production; and I am very glad thou hast told us, that "the society of Friends in England, is not responsible for its contents." Thou introducest the subject of Job Scott’s treatise, in the following words, (page 5.) "The subject of this pamphlet is regeneration and the new birth" that doctrine which our Lord chose to propound but to one person, and that in privacy; as if on purpose to instruct us, that it should be learned in secret, and brought to the test of individual experience; not talked of in crowds, or discussed in religious assemblies" -- "a subject, which he who is clothed with right authority, under the influence of the holy spirit, may at times, profitably impress upon the minds of serious hearers, in the solemnity of public preaching; but which, when cast before the sensual and worldly minded, is as pearls among swine; and may serve to bring the great and precious truth, which lies under it, into doubt, if not into derision." In this paragraph, the first thing that strikes our attention is the acknowledgment that the doctrine is scriptural! It was "propounded by our Lord himself" -- it may be "profitably impressed upon the minds of serious hearers" -- "it is a great and precious truth." One would therefore suppose, that Job Scott’s attempt to illustrate and unfold a truth so "precious," might have met thy cordial approbation! But, not so. Steady in thy attempt to depreciate his character, it is insinuated that he has disregarded our Lord’s example; he has "talked of it in crowds"; "thrown his pearls among swine"; "cast them before the sensual and worldly minded," and done what he could to bring the doctrine "into doubt, if not into derision." But, in this attempt, thou hast stumbled at the very threshold, and by self-contradiction and inconsistency, shown thy determination to find fault at all hazards. Permit me now to call thy attention to the component parts of the passage quoted; and First, "This doctrine was propounded but to one person, and that in privacy; as if on purpose to instruct us that it should be learned in secret, not talked about in crowds or discussed in religious assemblies." Contrast this sentence with the following: "A subject which he, who is clothed with right authority, &c., may at times, profitably impress upon the minds of serious hearers, in the solemnity of public preaching"! That is, this doctrine is "not to be discussed in religious assemblies," but may be profitably impressed on the mind by PUBLIC PREACHING!!! It was propounded but to one person privately, on purpose to teach us it should be learned in secret; and yet it may be profitably impressed on serious hearers, IN PUBLIC!!! It may be taught by "public preaching," but "not talked of in crowds"; and thus the preacher ought never to speak on the subject in a crowded meeting, and must be certain that no "sensual and worldly minded" hearers be present; or he would be casting pearls before swine, &c.!!! Didst thou ever see so much inconsistency in so small a compass? But this is not all. The Evangelist comes in for a large share of thy censure. Forgetting his Lord’s purpose in "propounding it but to one person, and that in privacy -- or, disobeying his will, he commits the conversation with Nicodemus to writing; and like Job Scott, proclaims the doctrine to the wide world. By this means he threw it into crowds, brought it before the sensual and worldly minded, and cast it, like pearls, among the swine of every generation, for eighteen hundred years. I think thy American friends, may hereafter rank thee amongst the most extraordinary expounders of the scriptures, who have hitherto made their appearance in our new world. Before I notice that part of thy Letter, which treats with unwarrantable levity, the doctrine of the new birth, as explained by Job Scott, I will premise a few observations on this subject, as treated by several of the scripture writers. The introduction and operation of the holy spirit, in the soul, are described in the New Testament, by two distinct metaphors, taken from the generation and birth of man into this world. One of these is used by Christ, in conversation with Nicodemus, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." The soul of man, in an unregenerate state, may be said to have had a birth, or introduction, into this world. Through the medium of the senses, we can obtain a knowledge of natural things. As rational intelligent creatures we can, without that, which the scripture writers call the new birth, understand "the things of man." We can learn much of the objects that surround us, and even become adepts in the sciences. A man may be a very good Astronomer, Geologist, or Botanist; yea, and a notable expounder of the scriptures; and yet be only the "natural man" -- only "born after the flesh," in which state he "knoweth not the things of the spirit, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." The truth of this statement is confirmed by every day’s experience. By obedience and submission to the gentle intimations of the holy spirit; that "grace of God which hath appeared to all men," the soul receives new powers, new perceptions, new senses; and this is called a "new birth." In the early stage of its religious progress, it may very properly be called "a babe of life;" for though its knowledge of things spiritual, be very limited, yet it is enabled to breathe to heaven for preservation; in scripture phrase, to cry "Abba, Father." The other allegorical birth is that of the primitive Quakers, "Christ within," It is alluded to by the Apostle,Galatians 4:9. "My little children with whom I travail in birth, until Christ be formed in you." In this passage the holy spirit, and its work in the soul, are likened to an Embryo not perfectly formed; the Galatians are compared to mothers, and the Apostle expresses a lively interest in them, as such. In it he also compares himself to a mother in travail, whose time of deliverance is not come. By the former allegory I understand him to mean, that though the Galatians had known something of the work of redemption they were yet shackled with legal ceremonies -- to use his own words, "in bondage under the elements of this world."Galatians 4:3. By the latter he tells them, he is in pain for them, because he cannot bring them forth, into usefulness in the church. By what has been said it appears, that the new birth of the scriptures, is two-fold the one, a birth of the soul into a spiritual state. This is that spoken of by Christ to Nicodemus. The other, is a birth of the holy spirit, into the soul; and is that of the Apostle in the text alluded to, as well as in divers other places; asRomans 8:10;Galatians 2:10;Ephesians 3:17, &c. Having premised these few observations, I will now state the doctrine of Job Scott, on this subject; by which it will appear, that it is substantially a scripture doctrine, and all along taught by our society, from its very origin. Job Scott’s views, as expressed in his essay entitled "Salvation by Christ," are these: "There must be an assent of the mind, a uniting with, and cleaving to, the holy overshadowing influence of the holy spirit, in every soul, where the new birth is effected. This new birth, or birth in man, of the incorruptible seed and word of God, is as real a birth, as is our first birth, or birth into this world. It is as perfect a reality as any in nature, and that babe of life, that true child of God, that cries Abba, Father, is never brought forth but through a union of the two seeds, human and divine. And as both seeds are spiritual, hence, he that is joined to the Lord, is one spirit; as the Apostle truly asserts. This is the true union with God, and those thus begotten of him, are strictly speaking, the offspring of God and children of the Most High. Stumble not at it reader, it is the very truth of God -- the only way of salvation by Christ." This is the doctrine of Job Scott; and I very much doubt whether any one, who has entered the christian fold by the right door, will find any difficulty in understanding it. In conducting the allegory, he has, like the Apostle, compared the soul which thus experiences a new birth, to "a mother"; and the birth he calls a "babe of life." He has, however, blended together two metaphors. In the one case, he speaks of a birth of Christ in the soul, where he says "this new birth or birth in man, &c."; in the other, of a birth of the soul into a spiritual or heavenly state "those thus begotten of him are the offspring of God, &c." and thus has given occasion to such critics as Luke Howard, to cavil, and find fault with his work. It appears, however, that Job Scott’s allegories are scriptural; and notwithstanding he might have expressed his views in a more classical way, yet I cannot see in this circumstance, any plausible ground, to make his work a subject of public censure! It is "the very truth of God," although like the Apostle, by his manner of treating the subject, he has laid himself open to the lash of the hyper- critical adversary. That the doctrine of Job Scott has been taught by our society from its origin, is I think, very evident. For a proof of it, I will refer thee, in the first place to Clarkson’s "Portraiture of Quakerism," Vol. II. Sect. 4; where so far as his authority goes, it is conclusive. In the next, to Barclay’s Apology, Prop. II. Sect 16, where he says, "And as, by forsaking iniquity, thou comest to be acquainted with that heavenly voice, in thy heart, thou shalt feel, as the old man, or natural man, is put off, with his evil and corrupt affections and lusts; I say thou shalt feel the new man or the spiritual birth, and babe raised, which hath its spiritual senses, and can feel, see, taste, handle, and smell the things of the spirit." Sarah Grubb, in a letter dated Clonmel, 1 mo. 1783, says, "it requires wisdom, undefiled wisdom, that the immortal birth may be surrendered to the breast of its true mother, and that nothing hurt it, or diminish its strength, but that under all turnings and overturnings, divisions and sub- divisions, it may gradually and steadily grow in statute, in wisdom, and pure understanding; and take to itself an everlasting dominion in us." In another Letter, dated at the same place, 2d mo. 1788, she says; "though we enjoy [the Spring time of divine favour] in but a small degree, we can salute each other in spirit, and word; and hail all those who like Mary are bearing precious seed, let their stations in religious society be what they may." What dost thou think of the foregoing metaphors? Couldst thou not, by taking the same pains, make Robert Barclay and Sarah Grubb, appear as worthy of ridicule, as thou hast been willing to make Job Scott? Are not the "spiritual birth and babe," of Robert Barclay, "the immortal birth," and "precious seed," of Sarah Grubb; the same babe, of which Job Scott speaks? to use thy own sarcastic language, are "they not the babe of his pamphlet?" I could make numerous extracts, from the writings of our early Friends, to the same purpose; but I think the foregoing reference and quotations, will be sufficient to convince any unprejudiced reader, that Job Scott was not singular in his views, respecting the momentous doctrine of the new birth. In thy Letter, page 10, thou hast taken much pains to shew that the "babe of life, the true child of God that cries Abba, Father," is not the babe of Job Scott’s pamphlet; and thou tellest us, "It happens, that in the only two places in scripture, in which this figure of the infantile cry to its parent, is introduced, each passage exhibits the infant as an adopted child;" and after sundry arguments, thou concludest, that because "generation is not adoption, &c." Job Scott derives no support to his hypothesis, from either of the texts alluded to. I must however think differently. It is true "generation is not adoption," but it is a necessary prelude to it. A child cannot be adopted, before it is generated; nor cry, before it is born. In a scripture sense then, regeneration is the ground, or cause of adoption, a sine qua non without which no adoption can take place. We must be "born again," before we can be admitted into the heavenly family. The infantile cry of "Abba, Father," is never heard but from the lips of those who have been "born of the incorruptible seed, and word of God." It is this new birth, which receives "the spirit of adoption," and is entitled to all the privileges of membership in Christ’s kingdom. Suppose we were to admit thy hypothesis, that the child of God was such, only by adoption; that "before he was adopted, he was the servant of sin," and that, without passing through the process of regeneration, he was made a member of the kingdom, merely by believing or assenting to some formula of faith, even the most excellent; what then would become of the positive assertion of Christ to Nicodemus, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God"? It would be a more nullity; and we should be placed on the same kind of ground with those, who believe that by sprinkling a little water on the face of a child, it is regenerated and made a member of the church of Christ. I think therefore, the doctrine of Job Scott, does derive substantial support from the texts in question; and that thy criticism evinces more of a disposition to find fault, than any solid qualification for illustrating the scriptures! Having shewn that the doctrine of the new birth, as taught by Job Scott, is scriptural, and in strict accordance with the views of approved members of our society; I would invite thy attention to the 7th and 8th pages of thy Letter, where, after alluding to the parables of the "grain of mustard seed," "the leaven hid in the meal," "the treasure in the field," and the "pearl of great price," thou sayest: "In all these, there is nothing that tends to the thing so much insisted on by the author of this piece, [Salvation by Christ] nor is the subject, in his sense, so much as once mentioned or alluded to by our Saviour." Let us now inquire, what is "the thing so much insisted on" by Job Scott, in the work under thy review. It is without all doubt, "Salvation by Christ," as an inward, divine, operative principle. This, no candid reader will call in question: -- it is the burden and stress of his whole essay, from first to last. Now I would ask any man of common understanding, Is there nothing in the parable of the "mustard seed," that tends to the thing, so much insisted on by him? Is there nothing in the "little leaven," which was hid in the three measures of meal? -- nothing in the "pearl of great price," nothing in the "treasure hid in the field" that tends to illustrate salvation by Christ, as an inward, divine principle, growing and spreading and producing fruit in the soul -- leavening us into the divine nature, enriching us with heavenly riches? That "Christ has not so much as once alluded to the subject, in Job Scott’s sense," is so far from being true, that it is the only thing he alludes to, in many of his parables, metaphors, and figures, which were expressly intended to point out the "kingdom of heaven" or divine government in the soul of man! Job Scott, like his great master, illustrates the work of redemption, by a metaphor of the new birth; at first, like a tender infant crying "Abba Father;" and afterwards, growing and increasing, until it arrives at the fulness of the stature of man, in Christ. It is the same subject that is illustrated by the parables of "the grain of mustard seed, the little leaven," and many others. I say the subject is the same -- the metaphors to enforce it are different, and this is the only difference in the case. I shall now notice the following paragraph to show, that in endeavouring to lessen our esteem for the religious character of Job Scott, thou hast wandered far into the dark wilderness of speculative theology, and there, with critics and commentors; art lost in the mazes of uncertainty and conjecture. The paragraph immediately follows that last cited; (page 8) it is in these words: "In reply to a question of the apostle Peter,Matthew 19:28. as to what they should acquire, who followed him, as the reward of their adherence to him; he says indeed, Ye who have followed me in the regeneration, when the son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also, shall sit upon twelve thrones &c." Here the term "regeneration" occurs -- now let us see what thou wilt do with it! Thou sayest, "But if the English were made to agree with the construction of the text, according to the punctuation, that may, and probably should be given in the Greek it would be seen, that the term regeneration, or renovation, belongs to the latter part of the sentence; and points to the future state of the VISIBLE church, in the new and spiritual dispensation, with Christ its KING and HIGH PRIEST at ITS head." That this is all idle conjecture, appears on the face of it; for the sense thou would give the passage depends on the punctuation; not that which is given, but that which "may be given" and "probably should be given;" according to thy notions derived from a certain learned commentator! Now suppose we state the text, with the punctuation that may be given, according to thy views; it will then read thus, "Ye who have followed me, when the son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, shall also sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel, in the renovation!" According to this construction, the Apostles who followed Christ, not "in the regeneration," but through the countries of Judea, Samaria and Galilee, &c. shall, in the future state of the visible church [mark, the VISIBLE CHURCH !] sit upon twelve thrones -- shall be twelve kings -- to judge the twelve tribes of Israel! and then, "in the renovation," the Jews will have "Christ as king and high priest at their head;" and under him twelve subordinate kings to judge the twelve tribes of Israel, to wit; king Peter, king James, king Bartholomew, &c. &c. &c.!!! Into such absurdities are we led, by leaving the only certain expositor of the scriptures; and following the pointings of letter-learned commentators! But all this follows, from the notion thou hast adopted and expressed afterwards, (page 8.) that "as Christ had never sinned, he had not gone before them [in the regeneration] nor could they as yet, have been said to have followed him." This notion supposes that sin is a necessary prelude to regeneration. -- But this is not true; for regeneration only presupposes a natural birth. "That which is born of the flesh, is flesh; and that which is born of the spirit, is spirit." This is the language of Christ himself, and taken in connection with his own assertion "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" shows plainly that every being born of a woman must experience a birth of the spirit, in order that he may see the kingdom of God -- in other words, that he may come under the divine government. Now, Christ as the son of Mary was born "of the flesh"; he was "of the seed of Abraham," and was "in all things made like unto his brethren."Hebrews 2:17. By this birth, or the faculties and powers of his first nature, he could work no miracle -- could preach no gospel; for though from a child he "grew in wisdom and in stature, and in favour with God and man," though "the grace of God was upon him," yet he did not presume to begin the work assigned him, until he was "about 30 years of age," and after he had experienced the baptism of the holy spirit, that essential qualification for every gospel service! and as the work he had to do was evangelical, it was necessary he should be "born of the spirit," experience the whole process of "regeneration" -- pass through all the pangs of the "new birth," and as "the captain of our salvation," be made "perfect through suffering." I say this was necessary. It was necessary to make him our "example, that we might follow his steps."1 Peter 2:21. It was necessary to institute him a minister of the gospel and mediator of the new covenant. For these purposes, he was led of the spirit into the wilderness, and all the glory, and honour, and wealth, and pleasures of this world, were offered him! He was tempted and tried and proved in all things as we are; but through a faithful allegiance to his Father and to our Father -- to his God and to our God; he triumphed over them all, and came off victorious! Yet, notwithstanding this happy result of his fidelity, it is very evident that the cup of suffering was as bitter to him, as it is to us: that his nature shrunk from it with indescribable horror! Look at him in the garden of Gethsemane -- struggling against it -- praying that, if it were possible, it might pass from him: and during the awful conflict plunged into such agony, that "he sweat as it were great drops of blood." It was in this conflict he perceived, that nothing short of submission to the divine will, could possibly give him relief -- and to crown his warfare, he was enabled in perfect resignation to say, "Not my will but thine be done." Having "learned obedience by the things which he suffered,"Hebrews 5:8) he became calm and collected, and being "made perfect through suffering," was prepared to fulfil the remaining duties of his mission, with holy courage and divine complacency. By these means he was made, "the captain of salvation," the great leader and pattern in his militant church."Hebrews 2:10. Thus we see the propriety of his reply to Peter, as stated in our present translation: "Ye that have followed me in the regeneration, when the son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." This is one of the sublime figures of oriental language -- incomparably beautiful even in a foreign dialect. Were I to venture a paraphrase of it I should say it means, "Ye who have followed me in obedience, and submission to the will of God; whereby I have experienced a birth into the heavenly nature; when the gospel dispensation shall be preached to the world, ye shall be made ministers of the new covenant; judges of spiritual things; able to divide the word aright, and instrumental in gathering the "outcasts of Israel and the dispersed of Judah, unto the one shepherd and into the one sheepfold." -- In other words, to the divine light in the soul -- into union and communion with God, and those, his children of every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, who fear him and work righteousness. And this my friend, was really fulfilled. Christ did really go before them in the regeneration; and they followed him in the regeneration; by which they were made "able ministers of the New Testament: not of the letter, which killeth, but of the spirit which giveth life." Thy next objection which I shall notice, is in the 11th page of thy Letter. If any one will examine that part of Job Scott’s work; to which thou hast referred, p. 53, 54, &c., he will find the author’s great object is to show "it is not merely confessing, though in full assent to the truth of it, that Christ did come in that one outward body, that determines any one to be of God -- that none truly confess him, without knowing in the present tense that he is come in the flesh, in themselves, spiritually." This is Job Scott’s own language, and it would be difficult to conceive, without knowing the principles of the new coalition, why any Friend could object to it. It is so plainly and palpably the doctrine of George Fox and his fellow professors, that no one can doubt it! Yet rather than not say something against our deceased Friend, thou venturest to attack it. Let us now review thy work. In the passage referred to, Job Scott has said "This is the great mystery of Godliness. God manifest in the flesh, is not confined to the flesh of that one body." But says Luke Howard, quoting1 Timothy 3:16. "All this is said in the past tense. God was manifest in the flesh, not is; the whole is connected together, as the proper attributes of Jesus Christ, even of him that was crucified." By this we must understand that as "God manifest in the flesh" is the proper attribute "of him that was crucified," it can belong to no one else; otherwise Job Scott’s position could not be an object of censure: therefore according to thy scheme, God is not now manifest in the flesh! and the old Quaker doctrine of "immediate divine revelation" is false! But other awful consequences result from this scheme; -- unless the Messiah was crucified without one of his attributes, then God was killed by the Jews! And as Christ declared he was "not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," therefore the great and prominent glory of the christian dispensation, "the mystery hid from ages" was confined to the Jews. The further thy scheme is investigated, the more irrational and absurd it appears; and the sooner the principles of the new coalition are abandoned, the sooner will our members be restored to the plain, consistent and rational ground of their enlightened predecessors. But why, when on this subject, didst thou pass over the quotation of Job Scott, from1 John 4:2? "Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God" Here the Apostle speaks in the present tense; and Job Scott very properly remarks upon the passage -- "The devils believe, confess, and tremble: but none truly and thoroughly confess him, without knowing, in the present tense, that he is come in the flesh -- in themselves spiritually." But let us hear the Apostle again, who, as if to impress us with his deep spiritual views on this point, states the same proposition in the following verse NEGATIVELY! "Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, IS NOT of God"; and afterwards, "He that hath the son hath life, and he that hath not the son of God hath not life." Here again the Apostle speaks in the present tense; and the whole of thy argument, upon Quaker principles, is as forcible against him, as against the doctrine of the pamphlet. If thou wouldst not overthrow the old tenet of "IMMEDIATE divine revelation," why all this pains to make Job Scott appear in the wrong? The 12th page of thy Letter contains some observations tending to confirm the idea, that thy sentiments are inimical to those of our worthy predecessors. John the Baptist on seeing Jesus coming to him, said "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world."John 1:29. On this thou remarkest, "The common notions of the christian world, which I believe to be quite right, and the pamphlet quite wrong, make the Lamb of God to be the man Christ Jesus, who was foreshewn by the lamb in the Jewish passover." Now, according to thy doctrine, "the sins of the world" are taken away by "the man"! the lamb of the Jewish passover was the type of a "man"! -- the outward lamb, was the type of the outward man! One outward thing was the type of another outward thing! By this interpretation, when Christ partook with his disciples of the paschal feast, the anti-type helped them to eat the type of himself! This kind of doctrine, I would suppose, could hardly be relished by Friends on either side of the ocean! However that may be, by William Penn in could not. In his "Christian Quaker" (a very significant appellative in the present case) he says, "one outward thing cannot be the proper figure of another. Nor is it the way of holy scripture so to teach us. The outward lamb, shows forth the inward lamb -- the Jew outward, the Jew inward, &c. See Christ. Quak. chap. xvi, Now this "inward lamb," of which William Penn speaks, is that which the primitive christians called "Christ in you, the hope of glory, whom," says the Apostle, "we preach." "The mystery hid from ages, but now made manifest in the saints." It is the great luminary of the spiritual church, under the Gospel dispensation -- that church, which John, in the vision of light, saw "descending out of heaven from God" -- a city which "had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the lamb is the light thereof."Revelation 21:10andRevelation 21:23. And this "light" is what the primitive Quakers called "the light within." It was the great corner stone of their faith; -- the root and spring of their ministry. They held it up as the "unspeakable gift," principle, or manifestation of God to man -- the reprover, reconciler, justifier, and sanctifier of the soul -- in a word, "God manifest in the flesh -- and, under the new covenant, our atonement, mediator and redeemer. And that body which John saw with his corporeal eyes, they called "the prepared body," "the vail," "the instrument or vessel in and by which," says William Penn, "God declared the blessed glad tidings of his love, and message of reconciliation to the world." See Christ. Quak. Chap. xvii. See also Penington’s works; Whitehead’s "Light and life of Christ within," &c. &c. &c. From all which it plainly appears, that in pronouncing Job Scott to be "quite wrong" thou declarest thy apostacy from the original principles of the primitive Quakers! and thy unity with "the common notions of the christian world"! - - in other words, that thou hast embraced the irrational, dark doctrine of the TRINITY! Thy Letter presents a large field for animadversion, but it is not my intention to follow thee through all the windings of thy dark and devious course. It would exceed the limits I have prescribed to myself, and be as tedious as I trust it is unnecessary. There are however, a few sentiments and observations in thy Letter, that I feel a concern to notice before I close this communication. They have suggested to my mind some considerations which I think worthy of attention, as being of vital importance to the society of which I am a member; for whose welfare, as for my own, I feel an ardent solicitude: therefore, Before I proceed, I would again call thy attention to a characteristic of our friend Job Scott, as given by his friends of the National Half-year’s meeting in Ireland. It is a very important trait, in the character of any member of a church, professing our principles. It is contained in the following words: "He was a diligent waiter to experience renewed qualifications for service, before he attempted to move, either in the ministry, or discipline; well knowing, that without a fresh anointing, any endeavour to act, must prove ineffectual, and tend to center in lifeless formality." I notice this part of the testimony concerning Job Scott, because it has immediate reference to the only safe ground, on which the true church, or any of its members can stand. We may be very active in the temporal concerns of the church -- we may send out missionaries to preach to the heathen, as we call them -- we may form Bible Societies, Tract Societies, and indeed any other Societies, with the most imposing titles, and with the most benevolent designs -- we may, by the knowledge of the languages, and the assistance of learned men, become famous expounders of the scriptures; yet, if we have not experienced renewed qualifications for the service, immediately conferred by the head of the church, it will all "center in lifeless formality," and instead of promoting the object in view, will greatly retard it. If I mistake not, it has been one of the leading objects of our society, to hold up these views, and so far as we depart from them, we let fall this noble testimony, weaken ourselves, as a member or branch of the universal church, mingle with the mass of christian professors, and defeat the great design of Divine Providence in raising us up, as a distinct religious society. True charity does not lead to an amalgamation of our society, nor indeed of any religious community, with others. It leads us, faithfully to support the various testimonies committed to our trust -- to hold up to the world, the light, which it has pleased divine goodness, to place in our candlestick -- to regard others with kindness, charity, and brotherly love, but not to mingle with them, in the execution of their religious schemes, unless, by the indubitable clearness afforded in the light of truth. When I have taken a view of the honest, upright members of all societies, into which the christian world is divided, I have compared them, to the different kinds of workmen, necessary to the erection of a building. These workmen all contribute to the completion of the work, in various ways, and the design is best effected, by each one faithfully performing the distinct portion allotted him. If the carpenter should interfere with the object of the mason, or the painter neglect his work to do the business of the carpenter, instead of promoting the great design, embarrassment would ensue, and the work, like the vessel of an unskilful potter, would be marred upon the wheel! I have made these remarks preparatory to a review of a part of thy Letter, (page 9,) in which; I believe, thou hast expressed unnecessary concern, for the reputation of our religious community -- a concern arising from a very mistaken view of the design of Providence, with respect to the building of his militant church. It is in these words: "When I see in many, whom I know, of other denominations, a lively concern and diligent endeavour to spread the knowledge of Christ, [Book-knowledge] to promote the reception and perusal of the holy scriptures -- [by means of Bible Societies] when I am obliged to admit on certain evidence, that these labours have been blessed and have succeeded, to the turning many to righteousness, -- when I behold these things, in which we (as a body) have taken, hitherto so little part, I own I feel for the christian character and reputation, of that part of the visible professing church on earth, to which I belong." Now, admitting all thou hast said respecting the effect of this kind of labour, does it therefore follow, that there is any ground for "regret," that "we as a body," have taken so little part in them? While we are doing our part of the building, cannot we behold others doing their part, without envy or "regret"? Thy regret in the case, appears to me just as rational, as it would be in a mason, when seeing the painter at work, to regret that he had not laid down his trowel and taken up the brush! while at the same time, he could do much more service, by keeping to his trade! In the same page, thou hast granted, that "we are a peculiar people, and have peculiar testimonies to bear to the simplicity, peaceableness; and purity of Christ’s kingdom." Then, why not bend all our efforts to bear up our testimonies? Have we not work enough to do for our master, in the sphere allotted us? Have we so much idle time, that we can do all our own work, and the work of others too? Or have we finished our work, may now charitably help our neighbors? Alas! my friend, the true answer to these questions, might very reasonably abate all thy "regret," that we "as a body," have not joined with others, in what they may very consistently perform, but which we cannot, and have neither time nor any religious call to undertake. I believe it to be more foreign to our business, than the trade of a painter, is to that of a mason! There are various reasons of great weight, why we cannot unite with others, in these schemes; some of which have been alluded to in a former part of this Letter; but a volume might be profitably filled, in pointing them out! I believe the solemn language of Divine mercy to our society is "Come out from among them, and be ye separate." "To thy tents, O Israel"; and not only in divine mercy to our society, but to the universal church. For the good of the whole depends, upon the health and soundness of every part. Thou hast admitted that we have "peculiar testimonies to bear." Now, I believe, our strength to bear them, depends on our devotion, in singleness of heart, to the secret unfoldings of Divine wisdom, and to our united labour as a distinct body of religious professors. By mingling in the concerns of others, we neglect our own business, and become weak, as the reed that is shaken by the wind. To "come out from among them and be separate," is therefore the highest act of charity to others, and the surest proof of wisdom in ourselves! When I consider the extent of Divine goodness to us as a people - - when I consider the origin, and progress, and present state of our religious society, my heart is affected, and the tear steals down my cheek. We were brought forth in great weakness, with hardly swadling clothes to wrap us, with no manger to shelter us, and a dreadful storm howling around. George Fox, a poor stripling, wandering up and down the country, seeking rest to his soul and finding none -- asking of the priest a morsel of bread and receiving a stone, was, in adorable mercy, not by any outward means, but by the immediate pointing of the divine finger, led to seek for heavenly bread, where it can only be found -- to "Christ within," to him who said, through his "elect servant," the blessed Messiah, "I am the bread of life, he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." As the wandering Arab of the desert, who, parched with thirst, and ready to perish, when he finds a fountain of water, pure and refreshing, in some unexpected spot, lifts up his eyes to heaven, in tears of gratitude, wanting language to express his praise; so it was with this poor despised outcast. Being now brought to the spring of divine life in the soul, and enabled to draw water from "the wells of salvation." in gratitude to God, and love to his fellow creatures, he felt himself called to go forth and preach this gospel to the world. Happily for him and his country - - happily for us, and for generations yet unborn, he "reasoned not with flesh and blood, but gave up to the heavenly vision" -- and what was the immediate consequence? "As face answereth to face in a glass," so did his simple message of "the light within," his testimony to the sufficiency of the holy spirit in the soul, as a teacher and guide in the way of salvation, answer to the experience of his hearers! Thousands flocked to this standard; it was something they could understand! The rich and the poor -- the wise and the ignorant -- the learned and the unlearned, like the "merchantman seeking goodly pearls," when directed to this "pearl of great price," went and "sold all that they might buy it. In a very short time, many able ministers were raised up to preach with power and authority the same simple doctrine! It was in vain that priests and magistrates -- the ecclesiastical and the civil authorities attempted to crush them. It is true they raised a storm, whose desolating blast threatened inevitable destruction. But he who is the refuge of his people, was to them like a great rock in a weary land -- he sheltered them from the intended ruin, and raised them up, over all opposition, to be his witnesses for this simple but eternal truth, that, "whatsoever is to be known of God is manifest in man, for God hath shewed it unto him" -- a truth so fully confirmed in the experience of every real christian, and so entirely accordant with many of the plainest passages in the New Testament, it is a matter of surprise that any one, but especially a member of our society, should doubt it for a moment, or be induced by any means to raise above it an inferior standard. While the society of Friends kept close to this principle, preaching and practising upon this simple ground, they were like "a tree planted by the waters, that spreadeth out her roots by the river, regardless of the heat; whose leaf is always green; who is careless of the year of drought; and doth not cease from yielding fruit."Jeremiah 17:8. But what is our situation now? Much more like "the heath in the desert," like those who "inhabit the parched places of the wilderness;" like a oak, whose leaf fadeth; or as the garden that hath no water!" And what is the cause? Is the fountain become dry? Is the arm of the Lord shortened that he cannot save? No! Christ is "the same today, yesterday and forever." But we, or at least many of us, "have committed two great evils" -- "forsaken the fountain of living waters, and hewed out to ourselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." Instead of "waiting for renewed qualification before we attempt to move in religious service," we are uniting with those, who do not even profess so to wait; instead of holding up the "light within," and the necessity of its heavenly illumination, to direct us in every step we take, we "have kindled a fire, compassed ourselves about with sparks, walked in the light of our fire, and in the sparks that we have kindled." We have taken the government of ourselves into our own hands!" And what is our reward? It is that, which always did, and always will follow such a course: we "lie down in sorrow," we have "centered in lifeless formality"! Happy would it be for our religious society, if, taking warning by the past, we should wisely improve the future; go back to first principles; resign our hold on the world, and its deleterious spirit -- "come out from amongst them and be entirely separate." It is from deep conviction that I venture to express the sentiment, that nothing short of this painful, but necessary course, will ever restore us, as a society, to our ancient brightness; or enable us to accomplish the gracious design of our merciful Creator, in raising us up, and giving us a name, as a distinct body of religious professors. I know very well thou wilt differ from me in opinion on this subject. While I am pleading for a more distinct line of demarcation between us and the world -- thou art anxious for obliterating the little difference that remains! It happens however, that both of our plans have been tested by experience, and the result of each cannot be mistaken. It is visible in every page of our history -- the present state of society proclaims it in language that cannot be misunderstood. Just in that degree that we have approximated to the world, and accommodated ourself to its maxims and manners in that same degree, have we become weak and tottering. Just in that degree that we have embraced its doctrines and opinions, in that degree have we become distracted and divided amongst ourselves! In the same proportion that we have united in the plans of others and become partners in their schemes, we have neglected our own proper business, until a state of insolvency has in many places nearly overtaken us. What clearer proof can we have, that thy plan is defective, -- that it is palpably erroneous. There is one passage in thy Letter, which pertains to the present subject, and which I consider, as the most extraordinary of any, that was ever presented for my consideration. It is couched in the following terms. Speaking of the religious society of Friends, thou sayest, "The day will come, however soon or late, when we must merge (if we remain so long a society) into the great assembly of the visible church!" If I understand the meaning of this passage, it is, that the day will come when the society of Friends must unite itself with the numerous societies which constitute the visible church! Now, the truth is, that, we are sound in our views of christianity -- or we are not. If we are sound and the other professors of religion are not so -- for, notwithstanding all assertions to the contrary, we widely differ from each other -- and if ever gospel principles prevail, the "visible church" must merge in ours. If we are not sound, then, as thou sayest "we must merge in the great assembly of the visible church," or seek for some new light to guide us on our way. From a pretty close attention to events, during thirty or forty years, I have been consoled and encouraged in the belief, that the original principles of our society are spreading widely in the world. The unlawfulness of WAR has found able advocates in those not of our name. A HIRELING MINISTRY is coming more and more into disrepute in our country; and many not of our society, have lifted up a noble standard against it. The curse of SLAVERY, which we were very early engaged to paint in all its horrors, is beginning to be seen in its true light, by the serious and upright members of all religious communities. OATHS are generally acknowledged to be inefficient for the purposes intended by them, and many of different persuasions bear a practical testimony against them in our Courts of Justice. And RELIGIOUS EQUALITY, hardly thought of in the seventeenth century, and if at all the subject of consideration, was supposed to be an impractical thing; is now the law of our land. So far the merging has been the right way; and if our society had been faithful to its original principles and testimonies, neither bartering them for the smiles nor abandoning them for the frowns of the world, I believe the happy consequences would have been much more conspicuous. When Admiral Penn, the father of the founder of Pennsylvania, was on his death bed, and with a mind serene and unclouded, was enabled to make a just estimate of this transitory world; "wearied to live, as well as near to die, he took his leave of us," says his son, "and of me with this expression, and a most composed countenance -- "son William, if you and your friends, keep to your plain way of preaching, and your plain way of living, you will make an end of the priests to the end of the world.’" On the border of the grave, this great man, by a beam from heaven, shining across the narrow limits, which separate time from eternity; was enabled to perceive a most momentous truth -- a truth, which I weep to think, many of my fellow professors are trampling under their feet -- blind to its importance, both to themselves and to the best interests of mankind. O, that I had the power, as I have the will, I would impress on the soul of every member of the society, to which I belong, a sense of the awful responsibility of our station, in the church of Christ, and in the world. Called, as I believe, by the Holy spirit, to hold up a standard to the surrounding nations -- to promulgate the gospel, in its divine simplicity and purity; many of our members by truckling to the world -- courting its friendship -- aspiring to its honours -- seeking its riches, and conforming to its spirit, are not only depriving themselves of the superior joys, and consolations, of inward spiritual religion; but are casting stumbling blocks in the way of the honest, but poor and disconsolate inquirers, who are seeking the way to Zion, with their faces thitherward. And now, instead of keeping to our "plain way of living, and plain way of preaching," they have launched out into all the fopperies, and fashions, of a vain trifling age -- have mixed in the assemblies, and united themselves with the schemes of priests, and prelates -- building up, what they were designed to cast down; and thus frustrating the original, and everlastingly-important design, of the great head of the church! The subject of Admiral Penn’s dying communication is too important to be passed over lightly. Bear with me, my friend, if I dwell a little longer on the subject. "If you and your friends, keep to your plain way of living" -- a most important branch of our religious profession! How is the situation of thousands of our members, to be pitied and lamented, owing to their departure from this testimony? With large families to support by their attention to business -- with manifold charges to defray, more than is necessary to maintain them; they are kept like galley slaves to the oar, struggling against the tide -- no leisure for retirement, and with little time to improve their own minds, or attend to the all-important subject, of educating their offspring. Thus, thousands of our children, in their tender years, when their minds are most susceptible of religious impressions, are left uncultivated; and they grow up, insensible to the importance of our testimonies -- prepared to listen to the first whispers of temptation, and when, in the ardour and inexperience of the youthful state, the overbearing current of passion and example, sets in upon them, they are swept away -- lost to society at least, and perhaps become the subjects of poignant but unavailing grief to their affectionate parents. "Your plain way of living." It seems to me, that many of our members have so entirely lost sight of our original testimony, in this particular, that they think, if their garments are formed to a certain plan, the great object of the concern is attained! When we consider the mode of living, common amongst our members, their splendid houses, costly furniture, elegant ornaments, all so nearly corresponding to the fashion of the times, we cannot suppose, for a moment, that a "plain way of living" is any part of their concern. It is true, certain "peculiarities" are scrupulously attended to. An active member of society, for instance, though he may indulge in great splendor, in other respects; must not hang in his parlour, prints, or paintings. The most costly productions of the loom, may ornament his house, cover his floors, or clothe his back; his glittering coach and prancing steeds, may bear him to his worship; still, he must conform to a certain unintelligable rule; he must not introduce pictures or statues, into his house; the brim of his hat must be a little wider, and the crown a little lower than others; and his coat must be cut to a certain pattern! His moral deportment being correct, and these things attended to he is at liberty to appear in meetings for the support of our discipline, without any objection, or difficulty. But this is not all. -- While he is laying waste our most important testimonies, regardless of our "plain way of living," and an enemy to our "plain way of preaching," he may judge and oppose our authorized ministers, however correct in their deportment, however conformable to our discipline, who keep to our "plain way of preaching," but testify against the dark principles and inconsistent practices of those, who profess the selfdenying doctrines of George Fox, and our primitive Friends. Our practices, as members of the society, are indeed a little various. Some indulge in one thing -- some in another; but, taking us all together, we very much resemble the Musselmans, who were forbid to eat a certain undefined part of the swine. One eats one part, another takes a different part; one thinks this forbid -- the other that; all are very scrupulous; but at length the whole animal is completely devoured. "Your plain way of preaching" -- This concerns both parts of our society, -- you as well as us. How is our noble testimony for a free gospel ministry, laid waste, by a temporizing spirit? On our part, in some of our meetings, I have heard objections made to the term "hireling," when applied to a stipendiary priesthood -- a priesthood, as much opposed to the doctrines of the New Testament -- to the practice and example of Christ, and his apostles, as darkness is opposed to light! I have heard honest Friends publicly censured, for bearing an open testimony, against such a priesthood! The fear of offending, or some other weakness, has, by these mistaken professors, been put into the scale, against this excellent testimony; they have added their weight to the wrong side of the balance, and done what they could, to abate a concern, against one of the greatest evils, that afflicts the church and the world. On your side of the Ocean, a more affecting scene is exhibited! In your yearly Epistle, we are informed that from 13,000l. to 16,000l. sterling, about 70,000 dollars, are annually extorted by the Clergy, &c., from the little community of Friends! And for what is it done? Is there any "quid pro quo" in the case? Is there any equivalent given for this enormous sum? No! The law of the land opposed to the plainest precepts of the gospel -- opposed to the gospel dispensation itself, is in their favour; and by that unrighteous law, they do not scruple, to wrest from the hand of labour, the just reward of patient, painful toil. And yet that same society, who struggled into existence, through the oppressive weight of clerical influence -- who owes its standing to the Divine arm, enabling it to resist, by great exertion, the deadly force of a learned, acute, persevering, though benighted priesthood. I say that same society, or at least some of its leading members, are cringing to, or fawning upon their oppressors -- courting their favors, and ready to kiss the hand that is raised, to take the bread out of the mouths of their poor struggling fellow professors! Such conduct as this, cannot but weaken our testimony for a "plain way of preaching"; instead of making "an end of the priests to the end of the world," it will only prolong their existence -- strengthen the hands of oppression, and defeat one of the ends, of our most righteous testimony, to the freedom and spirituality of a pure gospel ministry. It needs not the spirit of prophecy to foresee, that if this course is pursued, we must at length "merge into the great assembly of the visible church!" "Your plain way of preaching." What thinkest thou this dying man meant by these expressions? I will venture to mention, what I suppose he meant by them. The Admiral had lived long enough to see, that any legalized, privileged church establishment, was a dead weight on society. He had observed that the ministers of such an establishment, did not preach the self-denying doctrines of the gospel -- such doctrines militate against them, and their trade. He knew, that abstruse metaphysical questions, and all the endless quiddities of speculative theology, though they might amuse some of the auditors, were not only unprofitable, but extremely injurious. He saw, that the doctrines of our society, were plain, easily understood, and leading to practical righteousness; that when there was no pecuniary interest in question -- no love of fame, or power, to impel us, there could be no motive to conceal the truth, or propagate error. He had, in fine, observed that the priests had become corrupt and cruel -- that the glory of christianity had departed from them, and had rested on the head of that despised people, whose "plain way of living, and plain way of preaching," were not only in accordance with the doctrines of the gospel, but calculated in their nature, to break down one of the most tyrannical, and oppressive systems, that had ever been established, over conscience and property, in the militant church. I am aware, that my sentiments on this and other subjects will be by one class of my readers, attributed to a narrow sectarian spirit. In the 17th page of thy Letter, Job Scott is accused of wanting charity. There is a kind of a thing now very common in the world, and passing current on both sides of the Atlantic, called CHARITY -- a mere counterfeit, resembling that of the Apostles in but a single feature. -- It "covereth a multitude of sins"! But mark! they are the sins of the great, the rich, or the noble -- or of those who disregard the testimonies of the society to which we belong. It overlooks, or palliates, or justifies any departure from these. It would almost subscribe to a creed of jarring and absurd doctrines, rather than fall out with the world! But if a conscientious brother, however consistent his character and conduct, should differ from these charitable folks, in a single speculative point, or press with zeal our original principles, then, away goes their charity! it vanishes into air -- thin air! He is a heretic, or an enthusiast, or a bigot, or a deist, or an infidel, or some such terrible thing! and is held up as a bugbear, to frighten us from the exercise of one of the most sacred rights of a disciple of Christ, free enquiry.*** The ancient cry is practically raised, "away with such a one from the earth; it is not fit that he should live."Acts 22:22. I say practically, for his house is avoided as the seat of contagion; the business by which he lives, is taken from him, and he is left with a family on his hands, to shift for himself as well as he can. This is modern charity; and I think, it is no disgrace to be without it. It is very prevalent in the world, and many are suffering under it. If to want it is to be a bigot, or a heretic, or any other thing of that kind; I should be glad to deserve such appelatives. The time is approaching and not very distant, when the society of Friends must resume, and faithfully support our ancient testimonies, to the simplicity of the gospel, in doctrine and practice -- must adopt "a plain way of living, and plain way of preaching," or the great husbandman will visit our vineyard, "and take away the hedge thereof and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof and it shall be trodden down -- and will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned nor digged, but briars and thorns will more and more come up therein; and he will command the clouds, that they rain no rain upon it." Then indeed, shall we "merge in the great assembly of the visible church"! But I hope better things, for our society, though I thus speak. It is pleasing to look over our country, and see, that the same divine providence, which first raised us to be a people, is raising up a noble army, to advance and defend the cause or pure religion. He is qualifying and sending abroad his ministers, from the hoary headed veterans, down to the little Davids of our Israel; who are going forth with the gospel trumpet towards the East and the West and the North and the South -- proclaiming the truth "in its native simplicity and divine excellency." I say I hope better things for our society. In the language of that dignified minister, Samuel Fothergill, expressed in a Meeting House in London, almost sixty years ago I may say, "I cannot think that a people, whom the Lord has raised by his own invincible power, and so signally placed his name amongst; were ever designed to be only the transient glory of a couple of centuries. I am still revived by a secret hope of better times, when our Zion shall again put on her beautiful garments, and in her and with her, shall arise Judges as at the first, and Counsellors and Lawgivers as at the beginning. The gracious ear of our heavenly Father is still open to the supplications of his children, and I believe he will yet be jealous over his land and pity his people. The time approaches when the great dasher in pieces will more and more come up amongst us, and may all who are broken by him wait to be healed by the arising of his love. I live in the faith, and I believe I shall die in the faith that the Lord of Hosts will yet beautify the place of his feet -- that our Zion will yet become an eternal excellency, and Jerusalem the praise of the whole earth." The bowels of adorable compassion yet yearn over his children, with all the tenderness of a father’s love. "How shall I give thee up, O Ephraim? How shall I make thee as Admah, and set thee as Zeboim? How shall I cut thee off from being a people before me?" By this moving and pathetic language, would the Great Father of the universe induce us to return to the arms of everlasting mercy!" I am with due respect, A FRIEND IN AMERICA. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 7: 08 - CHAPTER 6 ======================================================================== AN EXPOSE OF SOME OF THE MISREPRESENTATIONS contained in a pamphlet, entitled A Letter from a Friend in America to Luke Howard, of Tottenham, near London [Philadelphia, 1826] ______ An anonymous pamphlet has recently made its appearance in this city, entitled "A Letter from a Friend in America to Luke Howard of Tottenham, near London; in which the character of our friend Job Scott is vindicated and defended, and his doctrines shewn to be consistent with Scripture, and sound reason. In reply to a letter addressed by Luke Howard to the author." It would certainly appear proper and necessary that the writer of this Letter should have affixed his name to it, as Luke Howard has done to his, in order that the latter might know to whom he should address a reply; but on giving the pamphlet a careful and candid perusal, we were not surprised that the author, who assumes the character of a Friend in America, has withheld his name. It contains so much unfounded calumny, and is so disfigured with misrepresentation and garbling, that we should suppose no person possessing a regard for his reputation, either as a religious man or a good citizen, would consent to appear as its author. From the language of the title page, we expected to find it a full and systematic reply to the concise and able arguments of Luke Howard, but we were surprised to discover on perusing it, that the title of "Letter and reply to Luke Howard," were merely a guise or cover given to the pamphlet in order more effectually to make it the vehicle for propagating the new notions which have lately been adopted by some members of the Society of Friends; that not a single argument contained in his Letter is answered, and that almost the only notice taken of it, is to misrepresent or pervert his language in order to criminate his character. It would seem properly to belong to Luke Howard to reply to the injurious treatment of the "American Friend," though we are well assured that as regards himself, he would esteem it utterly unworthy of notice. Considerable time, however, must elapse before the Letter can reach him, and as many parts of it are calculated to make a very erroneous impression respecting the Society of Friends, as well as Luke Howard, we deem it proper to notice, briefly, a few of the glaring inconsistencies and errors with which it is fraught. In the first place, then, the title page, as well as the first sentence of the letter, contains a palpable untruth. They assert the Letter of Luke Howard to have been addressed to the author of the pretended reply, whereas this is not the fact, the original letter from Luke Howard having been in our possession for nearly a year, we can show that the assertions of this pseudo "American Friend" are without colour of truth. The author of the reply informs us, that he was for some time at a loss to discover any adequate motive for the writing of Luke Howard’s letter, but his doubts upon the subject at length subside in the conviction, (natural enough to the mind of a prejudiced opponent) that his "motive for so much labour as his letter must have cost him," "was to prostrate the religious character," and to "destroy all confidence in the religious writings," of one of his highly esteemed friends, who had been dead more than thirty years, for whose memory, he informs us in this very letter, he cherishes a regard, and in whose religious reputation he declares that he feels himself concerned. This charge against Luke Howard is so utterly improbable, so contrary to all common sense and common experience, that it defeats its own purpose. While the author was gratuitously inventing motives for the actions of another, he would better have served his scheme of defamation if he had kept within the verge of probabilities. There is nothing in the letter of Luke Howard which will bear the construction which the "American Friend" has forced upon it. It is written, throughout, in a calm, dispassionate, and temperate manner, and contains not a single expression which might not properly be used between the nearest friends. In order, therefore, to give this sweeping accusation some colour of truth, the author of the reply has resorted to the most unfair misrepresentation of Luke Howard’s meaning, and even to garbling his language. Of the truth of this we shall adduce a few of the many proofs with which the reply abounds. After panegyrising the character of Job Scott in terms of the highest praise, the author adds, "It is the valuable influence of such an example, that thy letter is calculated to destroy." This unfounded calumny is suitably graced with a note of admiration, with the evident design to convey the idea that the reputation of Job Scott is assailed by Luke Howard, whereas the reader, who will examine his letter will find, that it breathes throughout, a high regard and esteem for the character of his deceased friend, and whenever he found it his duty to dissent from his opinions, he has expressed that dissent in a mild and respectful manner. In page 4, of his letter, speaking of the temperament of Job Scott’s mind, L. Howard says -- "There was certainly in the character of this dear friend, a perceptible excess on the side of the imagination and the feelings. This had been the case with many good and useful men before him: and such a temperament, makes a minister faithful, or courageous and energetic in the discharge of duty, but in measure disqualifies him from being a competent judge of doctrine and controversies." In this delineation of the cast of Job Scott’s mind, and the remarks which follow it, we discover nothing that indicates a disposition on the part of L. Howard to injure the reputation of his friend -- it is expressed in mild and becoming language, and yet the author of the reply distorts it into a violent attack upon the character of J.S. He garbles his extract, by omitting all those parts which we have italicized, and after asserting that it is this excess on the side of the imagination and feelings which constitutes "a fanatic," he coolly proceeds to accuse L. Howard of styling Job Scott "a fanatic," "an incompetent judge and unworthy of credit," and of ranking him in the same class with the Anabaptists of Munster, or the rioters of London under Lord Gordon. It is only necessary for us to hint at such unfairness -- every honourable mind must at once turn from it with disgust -- it is so palpable, so odious, that it is best left to stand forth in its own naked deformity. But the author of the reply while he vilifies the character of L. Howard for the harmless sentiment, that Job Scott evinced an excess on the side of the imagination and the feelings, and represents this among his attempts to degrade the character of a deceased minister, appears willing enough to admit that such was the temperament of the great Apostle Paul, and to allow that "an ardent imagination and warm feelings on religious subjects, when governed and regulated by the Holy Spirit, are no impediments to religious growth and usefulness -- on the contrary, they fit the instrument for more extensive and productive labour in the Lord’s vineyard." To us, therefore, it appears clear that the author of the reply is inconsistent with himself; and in his anxiety to eulogise Job Scott, has virtually done the very same thing for which he so severely censures Luke Howard. An instance of the great want of candour which is evident throughout the reply, occurs on page 8. After quoting some expressions from the memorial of Providence Monthly Meeting, respecting Job Scott, the author says, "Can we suppose this would have been the case, if his labours and conduct had been marked by a fanatical spirit; or if thou prefers the terms, by a perceptible excess on the side of the imagination and the feelings." Here is an attempt to make these terms synonymous, and to insinuate that L. Howard really believed and said, that Job Scott’s labours and conduct were marked by a fanatical spirit. But the author’s construction is unfair, and no such inference can justly be drawn from any part of L. H’s letter. If every degree of excess on the side of the imagination and the feelings, evince a fanatical spirit, or constitute a man a fanatic, there are few men who, at some period of their lives, would not merit the epithet. The "Friend in America," after quoting from the Letter of Luke Howard, a circumstance which is introduced merely to elucidate his meaning, says, "In this paragraph, Job Scott is compared to an ignorant hired servant, who had to follow his master through the streets of London, in which crowded metropolis he had never been before, and who was so stupid as to think the passing multitude ought all to get out of his master’s way." In the letter of Luke Howard no such comparison of Job Scott exists. The words "ignorant, stupid and hired servant," which the "Friend" has italicised, do not occur in the paragraph which he represents as so obnoxious. The application of them to Job Scott is not made by Luke Howard, but by the "Friend" himself, and to him therefore belongs "the lightness of spirit," and the "disposition, by a degrading comparison, to propagate the idea that Job Scott was an ignorant man." -- And what is yet worse, to the "Friend in America," belongs the odium which honest men will ever attach to the man, who attributes to an author, language which he never wrote, and misrepresents his sentiments, with the obvious intention of lessening him in the estimation of his friends. On page 6 of Luke Howard’s Letter he says -- "I shall strive not to make this letter the vehicle of improper thoughts, by quoting expressions which could not be read, I think, in a mixed company of Friends of both sexes, without bringing confusion over some of their faces; but I must specify enough, (and I may as well do it at once) to make myself intelligible." If the reader will reflect for a moment, that the subject of Job Scott’s Essay on Salvation, is a generation, conception, and birth, "as real as any in nature," this apology of Luke Howard’s will at once appear proper and becoming -- and yet the unfriendliness, of the "Friend in America," has converted it into a charge, "that Job Scott was a man of gross indelicate character." The reply recites only the first part of the sentence, and after the word "quote," the author has inserted the words "from the essay entitled Salvation by Christ, which are not in the letter of L. Howard. Near the bottom of page 11, the "Friend" says, "Having briefly noticed the charges of fanaticism, ignorance, and indelicacy preferred against Job Scott," &c. &c. The reader will be surprised to find on perusing the letter of L. Howard, that it contains none of these words, nor are any such charges against Job Scott to be found in it; -- they are wholly gratuitous, the mere invention of the "Friend in America," and if preferred at all against Job Scott, it must be by him only, and he, not Luke Howard, is accountable for them. In page 3 of his letter, speaking of Job Scott, L. Howard says, "Having heard him preach with much power and energy, when he was in England on that occasion, I was interested (I remember) and affected by the circumstances of his death in Ireland soon afterward; and the regard I have cherished for his memory, makes me a little concerned in his religious reputation. Had he lived to near the present time, (as he might have done in the course of nature;) and left his manuscripts revised for publication, I suppose no one could have complained that justice was not done to him by the appearance of the present pamphlet;" viz. Salvation by Christ, &c. It is clearly apparent from this paragraph, that Luke Howard was attached to Job Scott as a powerful energetic preacher, that he was much affected by his unexpected death in the very prime of life, and that the regard which he cherished for the memory of his deceased friend, excited feelings of interest in his religious reputation, which induced him to believe that injustice had been done to Job Scott’s memory by the publication of his manuscripts. The former part of the paragraph is quoted by the author of the reply, in order to raise a doubt as to its correctness, and to insinuate that L. H. would have spoken more truly if he had said he was little concerned about Job Scott’s religious reputation. The malignity of this insinuation will be sufficiently apparent from a perusal of the Letter itself. We need only remark, that the "Friend in America" with his usual probity, has mutilated the sentence, by changing the present tense "makes" for the perfect "made," and altering "in" to "for;" thus materially changing the sense, and restricting the interest which L. H. felt in the religious reputation of his deceased friend, to the time of Job Scott’s visit in England, whereas it is his intention to inform his readers that he now feels that interest, and is concerned at the appearance of the Essay written by Job Scott, from a belief that if J. S. had lived he would not have published it as it now appears, and probably not at all. On page 12 of the Reply, the "Friend in America" attempts to quote the passage in which L. H. expresses this sentiment; viz. "Had he lived to near the present time, (as he might have done in the course of nature) and left his manuscripts revised for publication, I suppose no one could have complained that justice was not done to him by the appearance of the present pamphlet: but my own decided opinion, after mature consideration, is, that he never would have published it as it now appears, nor probably at this time of day at all." The "Friend in America" is so great an adept at garbling, that he scarcely quotes a single sentence correctly. In the one we have just recited, he omits all the parts which are in italics, and changes "consideration" into "deliberation." The reason for the omission is in this instance very obvious to those who are acquainted with the manner in which the pamphlet of Job Scott was published; the omitted sentence of Luke Howard’s administers a merited rebuke to the officiousness of those who were the procurers of its publication. That Luke Howard is correct in his opinion that Job Scott would never have printed the Essay as it now appears, is evident from the language of a letter dictated by him on his death bed, shortly before his close. He says in it, "On the ocean I wrote over about a quire of paper which I believe is now in my trunk at John Eliot’s, which I was ever a good deal doubtful whether some parts of it, not particularly upon these points, were not more in a way of abstruse reasoning than might be best for a friend to publish; be that as it [may,] I am very apprehensive that most of my writings are far from properly digested, and some of them, I believe, might be a good deal better guarded." Again, "I think some parts of my journal abound too much with a repetition of similar exercises, services, trials, and favours, when on religious visits. In this respect I have steadily had an intention of making very considerable abridgments; several other things in the Journal, also require a very careful review. I have no wish any thing of mine should appear in print, but from a probability of usefulness: I have thought a considerable part of the Journal might be in some degree useful to some minds, but I submit all to the careful inspection, correction, and determination of my friends." These expressions evince beyond a doubt, that at the solemn period in which they were written, as well as previously to it, the mind of Job Scott was far from being satisfied with the manner in which he had treated some subjects in his doctrinal Essays -- he was himself "ever doubtful whether it was not more in the way of abstruse reasoning than might be best for a friend to publish." -- Knowing that such were the sentiments of his deceased friend, Luke Howard remarks, (and we apprehend every real well-wisher to the character of Job Scott and to the welfare of the Society of Friends, will concur in the opinion,) "the yearly meeting of New England, therefore, or its committee, did certainly evince both a prudent care and due regard for his reputation, and that of our religious society, in so long declining to sanction this piece." It should be observed particularly in the letter of Job Scott, that he submits all his writings to the careful inspection, correction, and determination of his friends. He was a friend to discipline and to order, and he knew that the established usage and discipline of the Society required they should be so submitted, and we fully believe he would have been one of the last persons who would have attempted to publish any of them, contrary to the order of the Society, or without the advice and full consent of his brethren. His Essay on the Necessity and Authority of the Discipline of the Church, is a full voucher for this sentiment. It has been recently printed in this city, and we would respectfully recommend all the admirers of Job Scott to give it a careful perusal. In accordance with his dying expressions, the Essay on Salvation by Christ was submitted to the inspection of his friends of the yearly meetings of New England, New York, and Philadelphia; and after a careful examination they determined that it was not expedient to publish it. But since the days of Job Scott, a spirit of insubordination has unhappily seized some discontented members of the Society, and in violation of its order, as well as in opposition to the plain import of his dying expressions, they have brought it before the public, though the author himself tells them, it is "far from being properly digested." The essay contains much abstruse matter, and doctrine which the Society of Friends never held or published, and as it is before the public, it is fairly open to criticism and refutation. The "American Friend," in page 53 of his letter, says, that "free inquiry is "one of the most sacred rights of a disciple of Christ," and he should therefore be the last person, by a course of unfounded calumnies, and injurious misrepresentations, to attempt "to frighten us from the use of it." In the "exercise of this sacred right," Luke Howard has written his Letter, reviewing some parts of Job Scott’s Essay, and has adduced some irrefragable arguments against the doctrine which it teaches; and without answering one of these arguments, the "Friend" assails him with angry invective, merely for doing that which the "Friend" himself querulously and importunately claims the privilege of doing. One other instance of garbling we shall adduce, as it is preeminently glaring. On page 43, our "Friend in America" pretends to give a quotation from L. Howard, but to aid him in misrepresenting it, has omitted all those parts which we put in italics, viz. "And, when, with unimpeachable integrity, and unquestionable piety, I see joined, in many whom I know of other denominations, a lively concern, and diligent endeavour to spread the knowledge of Christ, [here the "Friend" invidiously puts in "book knowledge"] to promote, (what I hope no member of our Society will deny to be of great importance, and of great probable future utility to mankind) the reception and perusal of the Holy Scriptures, [by means of Bible Societies is inserted] when I am obliged to admit, on certain evidence, that these labours have been blessed, and have succeeded to the turning of many to righteousness,Daniel 12:3, who before were dark, ignorant of the true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent, sensual and unprincipled; when I behold these things, in which we as a body have taken hitherto so little part, I own I feel for the Christian character and reputation of that part of the visible professing church on earth to which I belong." We merely quote the passage to shew the alterations which it has undergone in the hands of the American Friend: the observations which he makes upon it are too insignificant in their import to call forth any answer. It is to be supposed that the author of the Reply has quoted from Luke Howard, the passages which he considers as most offensive, and we would now ask every candid reader whether they breathe a spirit at all analogous to that which the "Friend in America" attributes to him, or whether they merit "the intemperate and scurrilous language" (to use his own terms) which, in the plenitude of his charity, he has so liberally bestowed upon him. We are satisfied that every candid examiner will concur with us in the sentiment that the letter from Luke Howard is respectfully and temperately written, and under a feeling of regard for private character, in which particulars it forms a striking contrast with the Reply. To show that the opinion and feelings of Luke Howard in relation to Job Scott, were the reverse of those which are attributed to him by the "Friend in America," we quote the following paragraph from page 18, of L. H.’s letter: viz. "Let it not be thought, that in thus meeting the author of this piece, or rather the piece itself, as unceremoniously as it comes, (though there is more that is exceptionable left unnoticed,) I am actuated by any degree of hostility towards the memory or character of this deceased Friend. Truth, and above all, "the very Truth of God," as he has expressed it, is too precious a thing to be deserted by its advocate, were it even certain that he would lose all his friends (in this world) by defending it: the author himself would have joined me in this conclusion. I believe him to have been a very sincere and spiritually minded man, a fervent, and in some respects, a useful and effectual preacher, and a good example in life and conversation. With the strong perception which he seems to have had of some doctrinal errors of others, (such as the Antinomians, who probably came frequently in his way,) I think it quite probable that with further humbling experience of the power of Truth, and further opportunities of conference with his equals, he might have come to see and correct his own. That with all these strange notions about the manner of salvation, he was enabled, through the mercy of God in Jesus Christ, and the sanctifying efficacy of the Holy Spirit, to experience (through faith) the thing itself, is what I entertain no doubt of. And here I trust I may safely leave him and conclude the subject." From personal invective against L. Howard, the author of the Reply turns to more general crimination, and arrays a long catalogue of charges against the Society of Friends. He accuses them of adopting an outward and carnal scheme of redemption, with receding from genuine Quakerism in doctrine and practice, and approaching what are called the reformed churches, &c. &c. All this is the stale and long repeated tale which disaffected members have so often raised against the Society, and it has now become so common, and is so well understood, as to be scarcely worthy of notice. It should however be known that all these accusations originate from the fact, that the Society of Friends, or that part of it at which they are levelled, steadily refuse to acknowledge or adopt the fashionable doctrines of Unitarianism. They have ever held, and professed from their first formation, the Holy Scripture doctrines of the Three which bear record in heaven, as set forth by the Apostle John, the divinity and manhood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, his propitiatory sacrifice on the Cross for the sins of mankind, and the authenticity, genuineness, and divine authority of the Holy Scriptures. It is because they cannot conscientiously recede from these most blessed doctrines that they are calumniated by the pretended "Friend in America;" -- because they continue to declare, with their early founders, in the language of their learned apologist Barclay, that they are very willing all their doctrines and practices should be tried by the Scriptures, and that whatsoever is contrary thereto be reckoned and accounted a delusion of the devil; because in religious controversies they never refuse to acknowledge them as the judge and test of doctrines, they are accounted unworthy of the name of Quakers; and yet such is the doctrine of the primitive Friends, and such the language which the Society has ever held. Against that portion of the Society who reside in England, and especially those ministers who have visited this land, the author of the Reply seems peculiarly exasperated. He charges them with holding and preaching an outward and carnal scheme of redemption; yet they preach no other scheme of redemption than that which was ushered in by Jesus Christ of Nazareth, promulgated by his holy Apostles, and reverently believed and upheld by sincere christians of all ages -- that scheme which is so clearly pourtrayed in the sacred volume. They accuse the most active members in the Society, of having "mournfully lapsed in doctrine and practice from the example of our primitive friends," and yet they set an example of integrity, of justice in the payment of debts, of disinterested, active and useful benevolence, which is worthy the imitation of this "Friend in America" and many of his fellows, who like him, delight to rail against English Friends. The "Friend in America" charges them, moreover, with forming a coalition with the nobility, gentry and clergy of England, with conferring flattering titles, &c. &c. But he has involved himself in an inconsistency by asserting a little after, that this very clergy, with whom he says Friends are coalescing, and on whom, in token of their good will, they are bestowing these flattering titles, "annually extort from the little community of Friends" about seventy thousand dollars! These statements do not tally well. Is it usual, we would ask, for men to be so cordial with their oppressors? -- So anxious of approaching them and joining their Society, or to address them with epithets of praise? We think not. -- With whatever patience, the christian forbearance of Friends in England may induce them to suffer; the "Friend in America" has given ample proof that he is not made up of such charitable materials -- the waspish temper, the angry vindictiveness, which he has shewn in his pamphlet, induce us to fear, that with all his pretensions to regeneration, and love, and charity, he would not take very joyfully or patiently the spoiling of his goods for Christ’s sake. But perhaps the ingenuity of the "Friend" will suggest, that Friends in England practice the species of fawning which he so unjustly charges them with, in the hope of procuring a diminution of their pecuniary exactions. We almost admire that in his "amazing fecundity" of aspersions, he did not bring forth this charge. Yet we could meet him, even here, by the plain fact, that the amount of distraints from Friends for ecclesiastical demands has been increasing for many years; and it is still more highly improbable, that generation after generation would continue to fawn and flatter when the only reward they received was an increase of oppression. The insinuations of the "Friend in America" against the characters of those dedicated ministers of the gospel of Christ, who have left their native country, their homes and beloved families, without the hope or the wish for any other reward than that peace which results from the faithful discharge of religious duty, and have crossed the ocean at the peril of their lives to visit their brethren in America, and to preach among them the unsearchable riches of Christ, are at once groundless and ungenerous. Their fervent labours of love, their zeal and devotedness in the service of their divine Master,and their christian charity, are so many triumphant refutations of the "Friend’s" calumnies. The assertion that there exists a "marked difference between the temper and conduct of some of our late visitors, and those who, during the preceding forty years, laboured among us," is entirely gratuitous -- the difference is in the hearers, in the visited, not in the visitors. The defection of many of those from the ancient faith of the gospel, their unwillingness to hear such as still inquire for, and walk in, the good old paths, have greatly prejudiced their minds against our brethren in England, who are remarkably preserved in unity of faith and doctrine. This prejudice has shewn itself in a manner disgraceful indeed -- the treatment which some of the visitors have received from some of the visited, from whom, even the loveliness and excellence of the female character has ceased to command the kindness and respect which even uncivilised nations have paid it, is such as must bring confusion and shame upon the face of every well bred citizen. It is a stain upon our character, as a well educated and hospitable people! The author of the Reply seems to entertain no idea that his readers will inquire for the truth -- he appears to have anticipated an implicit reliance upon his unsupported ipse dixit. Hence, disregarding plain facts, with the doctrinal treatises of the society staring him in the face with direct contradiction, he roundly asserts, that "the atonement as preached by Fox, Penn, Whitehead, Pennington, and the great body of Friends in their day, was not an outward atonement, but an inward and spiritual one, to be accomplished in the soul of every candidate for salvation." The truth of this charge against the early Quakers we positively deny, and we could adduce, if time and space permitted us, ample proof of its falsity. We refer our readers, however, to the "Defence of the Christian Doctrines of the Society of Friends," against this and many other similar aspersions, in which they will find a full vindication of the Society. With the same disregard to truth, the "Friend" asserts, that "the Scriptures have always been considered by Friends, not the word of God, nor the words of God," &c. In proof of the incorrectness of this, we refer him to George Fox’s letter to the Governor of Barbadoes, in the second volume of his Journal, page 147, where he says, "We believe the Holy Scriptures are the words of God, for it is said inExodus 21:1, God spake all these words, saying, &c. meaning the ten commandments given forth upon Mount Sinai. And in Revelations, xxii.18, saith John, ’I testify to every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this Book, if any man addeth unto these, and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy," (not the word) &c. So inLuke 1:20. ’Because thou believest not my words.’ And inJohn 5:47.John 14:23.John 12:47, So that we call the Holy Scriptures, as Christ, the apostles, and holy men of God called them, viz. THE WORDS OF GOD." We could point out, were it necessary, many other derelictions from the truth; but we have already said enough to show that the assertions contained in the letter of the "Friend in America," are not to be relied upon. We shall now take a concise view of the scheme of regeneration which the author advocates. The following is his expose of it. "By what has been said, it appears that the new birth of the Scriptures is two fold; the one, a birth of the soul into a spiritual state. This is that spoken of by Christ to Nicodemus. The other is a birth of the Holy Spirit into the soul, and is that of the apostle in the text alluded to, as well as in divers other places, as inRomans 8:10.Galatians 2:10.Ephesians 3:17&c." It will be perceived, from this extract, that the "Friend in America" makes two births, and presently after he asserts them to be allegorical; in both which particulars, he is at issue with the author whom he attempts to explain, for Job Scott insists upon one birth only, and that not allegorical but real, "as real a birth as is our first birth, or birth into the world," "as perfect a reality as any in nature." Not "a birth of the soul into a spiritual state," or "a birth of the Holy Spirit into the soul," but "a babe of life," "a true child of God," which "is never brought forth, but through the union of the two seeds, human and divine." Such is Job Scott’s birth, and if the author is correct in asserting, that his two-fold birth, is "the new birth of the Scriptures," then it will follow that Job Scott’s is unscriptural -- both of them cannot be scriptural. Now, Job Scott says, that his theory is "the very truth of God," therefore, the notions of the "Friend in America," as they are entirely different, must be in error. Thus, we see that the very masters of this new scheme disagree with, and contradict each other, and are involved in the same confusion and error which they charge upon the Trinitarians. The "Friend in America" explains his two mystical births as meaning, first, the process of regeneration, in which, "by obedience and submission to the gentle intimations of the Holy Spirit, that grace of God which has appeared unto all men, the soul receives new powers, new perceptions, new senses; and this is called a new birth," and "in the early stage of its religious progress, it may very properly be called a babe of life," &c. "The other allegorical birth," says the "Friend," "is that of the primitive Quakers Christ within. It is alluded to by the apostle, Gal. iv.19, My little children, with whom I travail in birth, until Christ be formed in you." In this text two alterations are made, viz. the word "with" is substituted for "of," and the word "again" omitted after "birth:" if we restore it to the correct reading, we shall find that it will destroy the "Friends" forced construction of the passage. "In this passage," proceeds the "Friend," "the Holy Spirit, and its work in the soul are likened to an embryo not perfectly formed; the Galatians are compared to mothers, and the apostle expresses a lively interest in them as such." Let us pause a moment in this confusion of embryos, and mothers, and births, and endeavour to unravel the maze. First, we have the new birth by the Holy Spirit, in which the soul receives new powers, &c. Here the soul is the babe of life, and the Holy Spirit is the mother -- in the second birth, the soul, the babe, becomes mother, mother too, of its mother, and the Holy Spirit is now born of the soul. But, says the learned "Friend," by this second or other birth, the Holy Spirit is born into the soul; yet surely the Holy Spirit must have been in the soul, or rather the soul in it, before the first birth could have been perfected. It appears also, from the "Friends" notions, that even babes are mothers, and this too while in embryo, for, says he, the Galatians are compared to mothers, while both the Holy Spirit and its work in the soul, which observe is the first birth, were not yet perfectly formed -- here are embryos the mothers of other embryos. At the very time too, that these embryo Galatians were becoming the mothers of the Holy Spirit, (itself in embryo) the apostle Paul was acting the part of a mother to them, and travailing in birth with them. Such are the ridiculous and absurd consequences of the "Friends" scheme of two births; and such are some of the absurdities which men of weak minds run themselves into, when they seek to appear wise above what is written, and meddle with subjects which lie beyond their powers. The whole scheme is one so irrational, so contrary to all analogy and common sense, that we should suppose no person in his sober senses would ever think of adopting it. The terms "being born again," as used by our blessed Lord, beautifully illustrate the necessity of our experiencing a thorough change of heart -- a submission to the regenerating influences of the Holy Spirit, by which our perverse wills are subjected to the will of God, our corrupt propensities purified, our earthly desires and affections converted into heavenly tempers and dispositions, in a word, by which the new or spiritual creation is effected, and all things become of God. This we take to be the plain and simple meaning of the passage, which the "Friend" has distorted until his notions bear scarcely any marks either of reason or scripture. Of the general tendency of the doctrines contained in the Reply, we have only to remark, that they appear to us to strike at the very basis of Christianity, and to be calculated, under pretensions of great sanctity and spirituality, to destroy a belief in the Holy Scriptures, and in the divinity and propitiation of our blessed Lord. When we commenced our remarks, we had no intention of replying to all those parts of the "Friend’s" letter which are open to animadversion. We have only touched upon a few of them; but we apprehend we have said enough to show that it is a tissue of misrepresentation and calumny, and instead of being, as it purports, a reply to Luke Howard, is merely the vehicle for propagating unsound and visionary notions, and for venting the spleen of a party against Friends in England and America, who steadfastly adhere to the ancient doctrines of the Christian religion, as professed by the Society from its beginning. THE END. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 8: 09 - CHAPTER 7 ======================================================================== Last Letter from Ireland. 14th of 11th month, 1793. Dearly beloved parents, (all three,) brothers and sisters, relations and friends, I am now at Ballitore, twenty-eight Irish miles from Dublin, and I suppose undoubtedly entered five days into the small-pox; the eruption began yesterday, and is very greatly increased to-day. I am very agreeably attended by physicians and the kindest of friends. I believe this is, on several accounts, one of the most favourable situations for having this disorder, in the nation, but my physicians are apprehensive that it will not prove the most favourable kind, nor perhaps of the most unfavourable. My distress of body, through extreme difficulty of breathing, &c. has, for a short space of time, been almost equal to any thing I can suppose human nature capable of, but, (it is now half-past nine at night,) this has been a very comfortable day; and just now, and for several hours past, I have been almost as easy as at any time in my life; I think certainly never more so in mind. I feel no kind of alarm; but the issue is certainly very doubtful. I feel easiest to address you in this manner, principally that you may know that my mind enjoys a fulness of that which removes beyond the reach of all sorrow, but I have some other matters also to mention. I made my will very directly after the decease of my much beloved wife; it is now easy to my mind, and I desire it may be faithfully executed. I have steadily desired my dear father Anthony would lend what advisory aid he well can, in regard to the government of my dear children, both in temporals and spirituals. They are placed so that I have been pretty easy, but I could wish them to get a little more learning than some of them are at present in the way of; and although I do not wish much of the world’s polish, yet it is at this awful moment my desire, that they may not be brought up with much rusticity; for this, I believe, has not very often contributed either to civil or religious usefulness. There is scarce any thing that makes longer life desirable, but to finish the field of religious labour, which I had hitherto mostly thought was not yet done, especially with regard to digesting my Journal and some other writings. Indeed, it has often felt as if I should probably die in debt to the world, if I did not even make some considerable additions upon some subjects that may have been thought a little peculiar to myself, but which, I still believe, are as strictly in the very life and essence of the gospel, as I believe any truth whatever; there is not the least scruple in my mind about them. I trust I as firmly believe in the divinity of Christ, as any man living; but I have no more belief that there are two divinities, than two Gods. It is altogether clear to my mind, that that one divinity actually became the seed of the woman, and bruised the serpent’s head, as early as any man ever witnessed redemption from sin, and is one in the head and all the members, he being like us in all things, except sin. My only hope of eternal salvation is on this ground; nor do I believe there has ever been any other possible way of salvation, but that of a real conception and birth of the divinity in man. It is not now a time to enlarge; there are several sketches of this doctrine in my Journal, and several other very unfinished little essays. On the ocean I wrote over about a quire of paper, which I believe is now in my trunk, at John Elliott’s, which I was ever a good deal doubtful whether some parts of it, not particularly upon these points, were not more in a way of abstruse reasoning, than might be best for a Friend to publish. Be that as it may, I am very apprehensive, that most of my writings are far from properly digested, and some of them, I believe, might be a good deal better guarded. Our views of things do not usually open all at once; it is so in the individual, it is so in the world. Things have hitherto been gradually evolving, and it may be consistent with Infinite Wisdom, that such a progression should always continue. At the present day, things are considerably ripening, and I have not the least doubt, that, before a great while, a highway will be opened through kingdoms and nations, where darkness has long reigned, for the publication of the everlasting gospel, in its true life and authority; and as what is revealed in the ear, is in due time to be declared on the house-top, I have little or no doubt, that the true doctrine of Christ will be much better understood than has hitherto been generally the case. I may possibly be restored to contribute my small mite toward it. In this and all things else, I am not sensible of any wish, but that the divine will may be done. I think some parts of my Journal abound too much with a repetition of similar exercises, services, trials, and favours, when on religious visits. In this respect I have steadily had an intention of making very considerable abridgments; several other things also, in the Journal, require a very careful review. I have no wish any thing of mine should appear in print, but from a probability of usefulness. I have thought a considerable part of the Journal might be, in some degree, useful to some minds; but I submit all to the careful inspection, correction, and determination of my friends. It is almost marvellous how my strength of body and mind holds out to address you in this manner. I may now just mention, that nothing will be knowingly neglected, for my comfort of body or mind, that my physicians or friends can afford; and greater cheerfulness, and even pleasure, in doing all they can, I have not met with among my nearest relations. I pray the Lord, in the riches of his grace, to reward them with flowings of his love. I suppose my love was never in a state of greater enlargement, or less tinctured with selfishness, to all my relations and friends, the world over. My desires for my children’s substantial growth in the truth, and strict adherence to all its discoveries, to the close of their days, is by far the principal wish I have for them. Out of the enjoyment of a good degree of this precious inheritance, I know of nothing in this world worth living for. Ye that know it, suffer nothing, I most cordially beseech you, ever to divert your minds from an increasing and fervent pursuit after the fulness of it, even unto the measure of the stature and fulness of Christ. I once more and perhaps for the last time, express my living desires, that my own dear father, (if living,) may know much more of an advancement into, and progress in this divine life, before he goes hence to be seen of men no more. It is now eleven, I want rest; whether I shall be able to add further is to me at present unknown; and however it may be, in the fulness and almost unlimited flowings of true gospel love, I am, and trust shall ever remain, in best affection, your sincere relation and friend. JOB SCOTT. 15th of the month, half past 2, afternoon. The disorder is pretty strongly making its progress; I can scarce get any sleep; my strength fails a little, but I admire at its holding out so well. The pock on the face is, if not quite, very nearly confluent; the face considerably swelled; on the body it is pretty distinct. The physicians speak very encouragingly, I believe in my absence as well as my presence; but were it not that little or no sense seems given me as to the issue, one way or the other, I believe from the symptoms as they are, and from my knowledge of my own constitution, and the very different climate from America, I should pretty strongly look out for dissolution, although my spirits are under little or no depression at all. Perhaps I never saw a time before, when all things not criminal, were so nearly alike to me, in point of any disturbance to the mind. I do not know but that, when awake and capable of contemplation, I nearly rejoice and give thanks in all. When I verge a little towards sleep I am all afloat, from the state of my nerves, and, from the extreme irritation, forced almost immediately, and with very unpleasant sensations, from beginning repose; but through all the soul seems deeply anchored in God. Many and painful have been the probationary exercises of this life to me. Ah! were there probability of strength, how I could enlarge, for my heart seems melted within me, in retrospective view; but all the former conflicts, however grievous in their time, are lighter now than vanity, except as they are clearly seen to have contributed largely to the sanctification of the soul; as they are remembered with awfulness and gratitude before him who has not been wanting, to preserve through them all; and as they seem likely to introduce, either very shortly, or before a very long time, to an exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Some have anxiously wished to have their time to live over again; but though some of my early foibles and after deviations, might possibly, on a second trial, be escaped, yet I know not but there is quite as much reason to think a second might fall very short of the first, as in any degree to exceed it. However, I have no kind of self-complacency on account of any good works properly mine. My own works I have long seen the necessity to cease from, and trust, through the grace of God, by which I am what I am, I have been enabled, in some precious degree, to do so. It is the Lord who worketh my works in me, and, magnified be his name forever, he has often worked in me mightily, to my own humbling admiration, and, I trust, at times, to the thankful acknowledgment of many others; and as certainly as he liveth, he would work mightily in many thousands, if they would but let him arise over all in them. Indeed he worketh in all as far as they give way to his arising. This doctrine is to me as clear and certain at this moment as ever it has been, and I have often been constrained to proclaim it to the nations, sometimes with almost invincible authority, and sometimes under a great deal of weakness and obstruction. The last has tended much to keep the creature rightly dependant and humble, and through every dispensation the Leader of Israel has seen best what was best for me. I may be easiest to mention my choice, that neither of my sons should be encouraged to become a physician, however it may be thought proper to dispose of my books, &c. I believe a little general knowledge of medicine, in possession of most modest and sensible men, who would carefully avoid going out of their depth, and meddling in dangerous cases, might prove very useful to others; but alas! it is too frequently the case, that the most ignorant smatterers in it are the most confident, and the most desperately venturous. I do not say this, from the least scruple, but that my dear boys might be initiated to a very sufficient insight, both into the theory and practice; though I believe settling the theory, with any tolerable certainty, at least in many parts of the business, ever has, perhaps ever will, greatly baffle the sagacity of mortals. The same perhaps may be said in religion: whilst the vital and practical parts are, to the rightly opened and attentive mind, sufficiently accessible. I believe God will, in many other things beside pure spirituals, greatly evince that even his foolishness, (understand the expression aright,) is infinitely wiser than the wisdom of man; going on still confounding the wisdom of the wise and bringing to nought the understanding of the prudent. Let my children be engaged in some innocent employments, as much as well may be out of the way of a great deal of temptation, and if I had need to add it, out of the way of very great accumulation; and yet, through industry and perseverance, moderately productive. My very soul abhors the idea that a christian can ever be at liberty, whilst under the influence of heavenly good, to seek, or even desire much wealth, though this disposition, in direct opposition to the life and doctrines of Christ, has gone far towards the destruction of true spiritual religion, I believe in almost every religious society in the world. Alas! if there is any such thing, as the abomination of desolation, it is mournfully seen standing in ours, in almost every part of the countries, where it ought not. I think I have rather overdone my strength; you may think me very imprudent, but it may ease my own mind; and I am, as before, yours, &c. J.S. E-sword Module made by Manoau2002 For more modules check out ======================================================================== Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/scott-job-essays-on-salvation-by-christ/ ========================================================================