AN

HUMBLE AND IMPARTIAL INQUIRY

INTO THE CAUSES OF THE

DECAY OF PRACTICAL RELIGION;

OR INTO THE

TRUE GROUNDS OF THE DECLENSIONS AS TO THE LIFE AND
POWER OF GODLINESS, VISIBLE IN SUCH AS
PROFESS IT IN THE PRESENT DAY.

BY MR. ABRAHAM TAYLOR,

MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL.

Revelation 3:1-3.

To the angel of the church at Sardis write, These things says he who has the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead: be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, and are ready to die; for I have not found thy works upright before God: remember, therefore, how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast and repent. If therefore thou wilt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the sole King in his church; and no single man, nor any collective bodies of men, should, on any pretense, usurp his power. What doctrines he has seen fit to reveal, are to be received on his authority, though they may not come wholly within the grasp of our finite understandings: the worship which he has judged proper to prescribe, must be religiously kept to, though it may not, for want of pomp and pageantry, be pleasing to the flesh; and the duties of practical godliness, which he has declared are to be performed by all his followers, must not be neglected, though they may be difficult to be observed. When men inculcate doctrines, which Christ never revealed, they offer him a high affront; when they prescribe methods of worship, which he never commanded, they, with daring insolence, encroach on his prerogative; and when they enjoin austerities, which he never required, they set their wisdom above his. On the other hand, when men take upon them to bring persons off from regarding the great mysteries of the gospel, which the true and faithful Witness has made known, under the pretense that they are abstruse speculations, matters of dispute, and things which tend to shut out charity, the greatest of all graces, they break their allegiance to Christ, and go about sacrilegiously to rob his followers of the sacred treasure of faith; when any refuse to be found engaged in the worship which the King of Zion has appointed, they cast contempt on him and declare they will not walk within the sacred inclosures which he has placed about his church; and when any neglect that internal and external purity, which the holy and the just One has required, they show they have no part or interest in him. If a professing people are zealous for the truths of the gospel, if they are careful to regulate their worship by the pattern given in the word, and if they abound in the works of righteousness, and shine in the beauties of holiness, it may be said that the glory of Christ resides among them, and that their blessings will be crowned with a desirable increase; but if they are lukewarm and indifferent, as to the great truths of the gospel, if they are negligent in attending on the worship appointed by their great Prophet and King, and if they act dissolutely, and, instead of denying themselves, symbolize with the profane world, it may be said of them, that their beauty is tarnished, that gray hairs, the tokens of spiritual decay, are upon them, and the glory is upon the departure. When it is thus, they provoke Christ, by their sordid ingratitude, to remove their candlestick out of its place, unless they repent, they grieve the Holy Spirit, and he withdraws himself, as to his comforting presence, and as to his accompanying ordinances with his efficacious power, so that they are given up to a lifeless formality; and though by their continuing to make a profession, they have a name to live, yet, in reality, there is a death upon their comforts, and they do not act with that vigour in serving Christ, which becomes persons which are alive.

In the chapter from whence the words are taken, and in that preceding, the beloved disciple John, the last survivor of the apostles, has set down the letters which his exalted Master directed him to write to seven famous churches of the provincial Asia. His life was lengthened out far beyond any of the other companions of the Lord; and when he was advancing towards a hundred years, he was, in the second persecution raised by Domitian, banished into Patmos, a lonely island in the Archipelago; where, being retired on a Lord’s day for meditation, his exalted Master, who had for many years been out of the sight of his bodily eyes, was pleased to appear to him, in a very magnificent and glorious form, and audibly to proclaim himself the sole Head and King of the church, and to dictate to him seven short epistles, to be sent to the seven principal churches of the province of Asia, to rouse such as were under declensions, and to encourage such as were true to his cause and interest. When he returned from exile, under Nerva, he committed this book to writing, for the use of all the churches.

It has been matter of warm contest for some years, among our brethren in the United Provinces, whether these epistles are to be understood, as having only a literal reference to the seven churches, which were in Asia, or whether they were a prophetical representation of what was to fall out in the Christian churches, to the end of time, in seven periods; and it must be owned, that this controversy has been carried on with so much heat, especially by the followers of the learned Cocceius, who are for the prophetical sense, that it has made great inroads on brotherly love, and has taken up many able and excellent pens, which might have been employed in matters of greater importance. I will not take upon me peremptorily to determine which party have best hit the mind and will of the Holy Spirit; [1] I must, however, just hint, that a great difficulty sticks with me, with relation to the supposition, that these epistles contain an account of the Christian church, under seven periods, till the end of all things; and that is, the church is only represented, either in a suffering, or in a declining condition; but there is nothing said of that glorious state of it, which we, from the Scriptures, believe, will be before the end of time: I cannot but think, if this had been designed as a representation of the state of the Christian church, in seven scenes, till the consummation of all things, we should have had something said of the glory of the latter days, which some of our brethren, who are for the doctrine of seven periods, allow, as well as others.

The words which I have chosen for the subject of present meditation, are part of the letter written to the church at Sardis. Christ began with setting forth his own prerogative; he has the seven Spirits, or he distributes the various operations of his Spirit as he pleases, and makes a more plentiful effusion at one time than another; he has the seven stars, or he overrules and directs, all the ministers in his church, and they are accountable to him. He declared his omniscience when he said, I know thy works; he judged not by appearance, because he is the searcher of hearts. He described the members of the church at Sardis, to be in a very declining condition, to have a name to live, but, in reality to have so little life left, that it might be said, they were dead in spiritual declensions; and he has told us, that he found not their works perfect or upright with God; or that he saw too much formality and hypocrisy among them: he warned them of their danger, commanded them to be watchful, to strengthen what was left, which was commendable, which was ready to expire; to call to mind, and hold fast, the truths they had received and heard, and to repent of their backslidings: and he added a severe threat, in case they were regardless of his admonitions, that he would visit them in a way of severity; and that suddenly, when they might least fear his coming, he would act as a swift witness against them. It has been observed, that it does not appear, from what is here mentioned, that the faith which they professed was chargeable with errors, or that their worship was sullied with superstition; but as there does not seem to be any advantage resulting from such an observation, it is rather probable, from their being commanded to hold fast what they had heard, and learned, that they were declining in zeal for the doctrines of the gospel, as well as that practical religion was at a low ebb, and almost ready to expire among them.

We may allow, as indeed it seems to be the justest account of the matter, that these epistles had a literal reference to the churches then in Asia, which were over-run with the Gnostics and Nicolaitans, who denied the union of the divine and human nature in Christ; maintained that equivocation and occasional conformity to the heathen ceremonies were lawful; and abused the doctrine of grace, to the encouraging of loose practices. However, seeing all that is written in Scripture is recorded for our learning and use, we, in these after ages, may compare ourselves with the more ancient churches, and may expect, that if we are like them, the threatenings which were denounced against them, may be understood to be in some measure leveled against us. We may not have the same errors started now as were disseminated in the Asiatic churches; neither may the same deviations from that holiness, which is required in all that embrace the gospel, be found among us, as were to be met with in them. However, if our errors in doctrine are as pernicious, though of a different sort; and our deeds, though running in another channel, are as bad, we must own that we have a name to live, but are dead; and we may suppose, that Christ commands us to be watchful, to strengthen the things which remain, and are ready to die; and to remember, and hold fast, what we have learned, and repent; lest he visit us in the way of his judgments, when we least expect it.

I. I shall briefly set forth what is the state of religion among us.

I shall not concern myself with those who are of the National establishment, nor with those who are pretty much of our sentiments, in the countries under the same civil government with us; but I shall confine myself to such as take the title of English Protestant Dissenters. And here no words can be too full of emphasis to set forth our condition; nay, words are wanting, to show how we have fallen from our first love. A zeal for the honour of Christ, an ardent concern for exalting the glory of the free grace of God, in contriving and executing our salvation, a desire to have the fallen creature depressed, and to have works of any sort excluded from contributing to salvation, and a care to abound in holiness, and to promote practical religion in the closet, in the family, and in the public, were formerly the glories of our cause, and were the noble badges and amiable marks of the generality of them, who deprived themselves of many worldly emoluments, that they might not prostitute their consciences, by complying with what they judged to be disagreeable to the Scripture rule. While they thus held fast their integrity, they were greatly honored of God; they were mighty in word, they were powerful in prayer; the work of conversion was successfully carried on, and many, who had a good disposition wrought in them, flocked into churches; then were seen the evident signals of the Holy Spirit’s presence; and great strictness was kept up among those who made a religious profession. These things we have heard with our ears, and our fathers have told us; and some survive, who have a remembrance how matters formerly stood among us, whilst we were under the disadvantages of penal laws, and had the powers of the earth engaged against us, and had none to protect us, in the enjoyment of the rights, which belonged to us, as men and Christians. At last, it pleased God to loose our bands, and to set our feet in a large place; but, how are we altered for the worse, since we enjoyed our liberties? The first abuse of our freedom was, to relinquish the ancient, as well as genuine Christian doctrine of justification by the righteousness of Christ; to deny the perfection of the moral law, and to substitute a pretended law of grace, which required sincere obedience, instead of perfect righteousness; this was accompanied with a decay of practical religion, and we have since been gradually declining, till now; and it may be said of us, that we have run the utmost length in error, and have taken the greatest compass in sin. When we compare the present state of religion among us, with what it was formerly, we may say, how are we fallen from our first estate! how are we cut down to the ground! how is our zeal turned into lukewarmness, and our circumspection into dissoluteness! Slight thoughts of the Christian revelation abound, so that infidelity is almost ready to prevail; error was never more rampant than it now is; private, family, and public worship, were never more neglected; and covetousness, pride, self-conceit, and licentiousness, never more abounded.

It may not seem likely, that the charge of Atheism call be brought against such as profess religion; and it must be owned, that none are so hardy as to deny the being of a God, who do not cast off all restraints of profession; but some have gone so far as to assert, that there are moral fitnesses, with regard to human actions, previous in nature to the will of God. This, whatever they may think, or however they may endeavour to fortify themselves with plausible, though unintelligible sentences, is to set up a system of morality without God at the head of it. They pretend, that there is not any obligation previous to the will of God, but only in order of nature; but yet that the obligation to obedience necessarily results from the nature of things, though some of the particular instances, and trials of this obedience, may depend entirely on the wi11 of God; and that there are eternal and unchangeable fitnesses in things from which only we can be certain of the unchangeableness of God in his purposes, and promises, and government of the world. If this has not a tendency to introduce the exploded and unintelligible jargon of an eternal and unchangeable fate by which the purposes of the supreme God are confined, which was the hideous representation of this matter, among the heathen, it is hard to say when one thing is like another. These are the unworthy representations which are given us of God, and of the foundations of morality; this is setting some unintelligible principle, as moral fitness, the reason of things, or the like, above God, which is a great advance towards Atheism, and can have no other effect than making men think there is no need of a God to govern the world. Many, who call themselves Christians now, will scarce allow that we are accountable to God; and many, who say the Bible is their religion, eagerly contend, that natural religion, or reason, is a sufficient rule for men to walk by.

As to the doctrines contained in Scripture, they are almost all now struck out of the list of articles of faith; error may truly be said to come in like a flood, and spread itself like a raging torrent; we may cry out, "The floods have lifted up their voice, the floods have lifted up their waves." Most of the pernicious errors which have formerly been brought into the church, are eagerly embraced in our unhappy times; the enemies have, for some years, been endeavoring to rob Christ and the Holy Spirit of the glory of their supreme divinity, and to reduce them to the rank of creatures: and now men grow bolder in error; they are forward to deny their personality and to make them only attributes, powers, and names of the Father. God’s election of his people to glory is arraigned as unreasonable; and sovereignty is, in the most saucy manner opposed. The fall of manis entirely forgotten, and his original corruptionis eagerly denied and exploded; and his death is said to be what must, according to the necessity of nature, have fallen out. Justification by righteousness is a point pursued with rancour and malice; and sincerity, though in an error, is given out to be a sufficient title to God’s favour. Preaching Christ in his person, offices, and in the merits of his death, undergoes the persecution of cruel mockings; and is spoken of, by brain-sick novices, only with a sneer. The efficacious grace of the Holy Spirit, and his sanctifying and comforting influences, are rudely blasphemed as enthusiasm; and the power of man, to convert himself; and to answer the ends of his living in the world, is eagerly contended for; though those who plead for this power, show that if they have it, it may be in them, without being put into act. The perseverance of the saints in holiness is profanely bantered. The stupid and brutish notion of the soul’s sleeping after death, is, by some, hotly maintained; and its immateriality and immortality are exploded by others. The resurrection of the same body is represented as impossible; and a general judgment, nay, a particular time of men’s appearing before God to give an account of what they have done in the body, is now a subject of ridicule; and the doctrine of the wicked being reserved for eternal torments, is, by many, set aside. This, without straining, nay, without amplifying the matter, is an account how things stand with us, as to matters of belief. What adds to our unhappiness is, many who do not run the aforesaid lengths, too much strengthen the party of the enemies of the truth, and too much weakenthe hands of real friends of the Christian cause by representing these great and important doctrines as matters of mere abstruse speculation, and by branding all concern for them, as taking the Spirit’s work out of his hand, or as breaking in upon Christian charity. Many act as if they valued more to be commended by an infidel, as men of little larger thought, and freer inquiry than their neighbors, than to have a testimony in the consciences of good Christians, who cannot but think that they are more concerned for their own things than they are for the things of God; and while they gain the good word of the enemies of the Gospel, they consider not how much grief they occasion to such as love the truth as it is in Jesus.

As matters are on a very bad footing with us, with respect to faith, if we impartially continue our survey we shall not find they are better with respect to practice. A declension in faith is always attended with disaffection to the practical duties, which are prescribed in the same divine oracles, that reveal the mysteries we are to believe. I cannot help thinking that some who would appear to be very eager advocates for the doctrine of grace, have done much harm to religion, by pretending that the law is of no use to such as are in Christ, and by discovering much want of temper, if they, at any time, hear the duties of practical godliness stated and pressed. Some have called discoursing on the power of godliness, on repentance, self-denial, and mortification, low stuff; and have been easy to hear of nothing but electing love and free grace. Such do harm to the cause which they espouse and plead for, by going about to separate what God has joined together; it is certain, that they have greatly strengthened legal professors in their dislike of the doctrine of grace not to mention the real disgrace they too often bring upon it, for they are not always found to be so circumspect in their dealings and behaviour, as they ought.

If we leave the before-mentioned persons, and look to others, it must be said, that practical religion runs lower among no sort of men, than those who hear little else pressed upon them. There never was less regard paid to the Lord’s day, than is now; many, who do not run into all lengths of immorality, scruple not to make it a day of pleasure and recreation; and the negligence of professors, in attending on God, in the public worship of the sanctuary, is every day growing more flagrant: they despise the sacred provisions of Sion; and, though they are not arrived at such height of insolence, as to deny, in words, the obligation they lie under, to attend on public ordinances, yet, by their not countenancing the institutions of Christ with their presence, they show how little they regard his authority. Family religion is likewise greatly neglected; we frequently hear of many prayerless families, the heads of which should, as we might think, considering their profession, be ashamed of giving cause for such a complaint: and if men neglect public worship, and will not keep up family duty, it is scarce to be thought that they mind private religion; or that, if they perform secret devotions at all, they do it in any other than in a cold, formal, stiff manner. In short, the power of godliness is very much lost in the world. It must be owned, that great endeavors have been used, to bring professing Christians to a sense of their duty; general and concerted efforts have been made to impress their minds with a sense of the necessity they lie under, to offer up the morning and evening sacrifice of prayer and praise in their families, and to attend on the public ordinances of the sanctuary; but we cannot say, that we see these attempts have been so successful as we could wish, and have desired: on the contrary, our desolation, with respect to practical religion, spreads as a mighty torrent, notwithstanding all the mounds which have been cast up to stop the course of it.

Since we have had so much talk of natural religion, and have had our ears almost stunned with the noise, that moral duties are of much greater importance than positive institutions, we cannot say that morality flourishes in the least. That Christian simplicity and godly sincerity in the conversation, for which the generation that is now gone off the stage were so remarkable, are not seen among such as have sprung up in their room: a new set of professors has started up, who, by their negligence, as to private and social duties, almost tempt us to think, that they know not the God of their fathers. Moral justice was never at a lower ebb than it now is; and there were never such numbers of cheating pretenders to religion, who distress others, to maintain themselves in luxury, as are in our day.

We have had many tragical complaints of a narrow spirit and the want of Christian love; and it must be said, that the great duties of love and forbearance are too much forgotten. It has been an artifice by which some, who have not discovered the concern that might have been wished, for the faith once delivered to the saints, have made their way into the esteem of such as have more of affection than judgment, to engross to themselves the character of being men of charity; and many sentences of Scripture, which speak of that love which Christians should keep up to their brethren, or those who are friends to the truth, have been frequently used and inculcated, as if they expressed the treatment, we should give such as we are apprehensive are enemies to, and opposers of what we are persuaded is the true faith, revealed in the Holy Scriptures: we cannot but think, that, in this, a wrong construction is put on many texts. We are not to cast off pity; on the contrary, we are to show benevolence to the most erroneous, but we must not, we cannot believe that they, who oppose the doctrines we have learned from Scripture, have a title to be as much valued by us, as sincere searchers after truth, as they who stand up for the honour of our dearest Lord. But, to let that pass, we do not so much blame them who are loudest in their cry for charity, for excess of it, as we do for their want of it: we cannot see they act more charity, than such as they censure, as being narrow spirited. Indeed, if any person starts the most monstrous errors, we cannot but say, that they plead for all forbearance to be showed to him; but let a man once stand up in defence of what these persons do not pretend to deny to be their faith we cannot see they will make the least allowance for what they count his defects, and which, according to their own large principles, they should pity and overlook; on the contrary, they scarce know how to vent their displeasure enough against him.

This is an imperfect account of the state of religion among us; and if there is any defect in it, it does not lie in this, that things are represented to be worse than they are, but rather in not setting forth the state of our affairs, in such black colours, as they really admit. When we see such increasing declensions, we cannot but say, that though we have a name to live, yet we are in a manner dead; and that though we keep up a profession of Christianity, we have, as to faith and practice lost our first love. Of these decays we ought to be sensible, otherwise we can never remember from whence we have fallen, repent of our sins, be watchful, or strengthen the things which remain, which are ready to die; but shall go on further to provoke the King of the church to come upon us, when we least expect it, in a way of displeasure, and to remove our candlestick out of its place.

II. I shall inquire into the true causes of the decay of practical religion in our time.

All who make a profession of religion, are not concerned, as we cannot but humbly apprehend, they ought to be, for the ravages which are daily made on our most holy faith, or on the doctrines of Christianity; but all who have any thing of a serious temper, seem to be alarmed at the great defection as to matters of practical religion. It is to be wished, it could be said, that all who see these declensions, were as sensible of the true causes of them; but, it is to he feared, many have not a right notion of what really lies at the bottom of our prevailing backslidings, and are for ascribing them to things which are so far from having a tendency to promote them, that they are the only things which are proper to prevent them. Some of the true causes of our great decays, are these following, and it is matter of sorrow that there is reason to mention them.

1. One great cause of the decay of practical religion, is the too general contempt which is cast upon the important doctrines of the Gospel, and on those who stand up in their defence against seducers, who endeavour to rob Christians of them. I am sensible, it has been often given out, that the people have heard so much of what some call matters of speculation, and points of dispute, that by this they have been taken off from minding the more important things which refer to practice: and it has been said, that whoever goes far into controversy, weakens practical religion. It is very difficult to see any force in these arguings: how engaging in controversy, in defence of points of belief, which are founded on the same divine authority, as the duties of practical religion, can weaken this, is hard to be conceived: nay, there is as much ground to censure us, if we launch into controversies, relating to the duties required of us; and then we must give up every thing which men take it in their heads to deny. Our obligations to keep the Sabbath, to worship God in public, to keep up family religion, to submit to baptism, to come to the table of the Lord, are controverted, and the maintaining of them will run us into as large a field of debate, as any doctrinal article. These afford questions and occasion disputes; yet such as are afraid of weakening practical religion by controversy, would scarcely give up these; so that we cannot think that it is bare controversy which is disliked, but the doctrines themselves, which are in controversy defended.

It has been a piece of advice given to us, who serve Christ in the work of the ministry, by such as we, on many accounts, value and regard; that sublime speculation, and abstruse controversies should not ordinarily be introduced into our sermons, for that these minister questions, rather than godly edifying: and they observe, that it is an easy matter to engage our warm hearers on subjects, which neither they nor we can fully understand; that this is the ready way to procure the regard of those, who lay a mighty stress on their own opinions; but that their esteem will be purchased at too dear a rate, since, instead of promoting true religion, it will certainly destroy it; that where this zeal and contention are, there is strife, and every evil work: that though some may admire it for its shining lustre, yet fatal experience proves it to be a raging flame; and, where it breaks out, there is reason to fear that practical godliness will soon be consumed. It is not easy to say against what sort of men this counsel is leveled, it being couched in such general terms. If by avoiding sublime questions and abstruse controversies, nothing more is meant, than not introducing questions about the unrevealed mode of Scripture mysteries, and not bringing into sermons the whimsical attempts of vain and conceited projectors, to give clear and bright ideas how things can be, in matters that surpass our understanding, every wise man will fall in with it; for he will not think it worth his while to trouble himself to defend the dreams of bold intruders into things not seen, and idle pretenders to science, falsely so called: but if by abstruse controversies, and sublime speculations, are meant the controverted doctrine of the gospel, which have such a depth of mystery in them, that they cannot be fully comprehended, neither by preachers nor hearers, it sounds a little harsh to say, that when zeal for these breaks out, practical religion will be consumed; because, in fact, it has been seen, that as people have grown uneasy, at having these doctrines unfolded, their regard to practical religion has lessened. In the times of our fathers, when there were more pulpit skirmishes, as they are called, by way of contempt, which made sport for unbelievers, who banter, ridicule, and speak evil of they know not what, there was much more of real religion, than is now: nay, bad as the times are, it is seen, that such as are against moving the ancient landmarks, and pulling up the old barriers of truth, who love to have their own opinions, on which they lay a mighty stress, and that justly, because they have had a practical knowledge, how much they are for a Christian’s comfort, stated, maintained, and defended, against the attempts of the enemy, are the persons who have practical religion most at heart, and who are most diligent in performing the duties of it. The far greater number of the Sabbath-breakers, the despisers of public worship, and the neglecters of family religion, are not to be found among those who hold fast the old doctrines, but among those who prate against creeds, confessions, and systems, and who are for paying no regard to points of doctrine.

Every one, who knows anything of the present state of affairs, must be sensible this is a truth: and, indeed, it can hardly be otherwise; for if men are once connived at, in breaking their allegiance to Christ, in one respect, they will, on the same principles, assume to themselves a liberty to do it in another, if it suits their fancies, and gratifies their corruptions. The same Scriptures declare, that, in the unity of the Godhead, there are three divine Persons; and that the Son is one with the Father in nature, and equal with him in perfections, though distinct in Person, which tells us, that we must keep the Sabbath, not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, and pray always. When men hear, that the belief of a Trinity, which runs through the Scripture, is a mere speculative felicity of hitting the divine nature right, in some particular modes of thinking, and it is of no moment, whether they believe him who has their concerns in his hand, to be God, or a creature, a person, or a power, it is natural for them to conclude, that it is of as little importance whether they spend the Sabbath in public worship, and pray in their families, or not; seeing it is the same Scripture, which makes known points of doctrine, to avoid controversy they may as well give up a Scripture duty, to prevent contest with such as are of another mind, and to ward off the putting themselves to trouble. They who give up any truth, which the Scripture has revealed, are guilty of a breach of allegiance to Christ; and they are not exempted from this charge, by their retaining many things, which he has made known and commanded; because a man is as really, though not equally, a betrayer of Christ, who gives up one thing, which he has ordered to be retained, as he who throws up the whole of the Christian doctrine; just as a man who joins with others to attack his prince’s guards, in order to destroy his person, who has opportunity to kill but one of his attendants, is as really a traitor, as if he had been able to have killed all about him, and to have murdered him at the same time: and none would believe him, if he were to say, that when he had killed one, he intended to do no more. When men give up a part of Christianity to please their own humor, or to keep in with its opposers, they will always be ready to give up all other parts of it, if it suits their interest; for it is impossible that a man, who shows no value for the Scripture account of Christ’s person, incarnation, and satisfaction, can have any real regard to him, as the governor of his church, any further than it may be for his advantage to profess subjection to him. If a temptation offers, he will as much slight his institutions, as he is regardless what and who he is, and what he has done for sinners. On the whole, the little concern which many show for the great doctrines of the gospel, is a principal cause of the decay of practical religion, which we may all see, and ought greatly to lament.

2.  One great cause of the decay of piety, is the neglect which has been of late, in preaching Christ. By preaching Christ, I do not mean haranguing upon some duties of natural religion, which are not contrary to his doctrines; this is an odd conceit about preaching Christ: thus the Pagans may be said to preach Christ. Mahomet stuffed his Koran with many things taken from Scripture; at this rate, to preach up them, might enable a Christian to say, if he was among the infidels, that he preached up Mahomet, when he might not say a word about Mahomet’s being a true prophet, which is the fundamental of that religion. Preaching of Christ does not lie in stating such duties of natural religion as might be picked up out of Xenophon, Plato, Aristotle, and Seneca, which are not entirely inconsistent with what we meet with in Scripture; yet it must be said of too many, who assume the title of Christian ministers, that if they preach Christ at all, it is in this way, only they state moral duties in a tedious dull manner, and without the smartness and nervousness for which some Pagan writers are remarkable.

If we take to us justly the title of preachers of Christ, we must instruct our hearers in the Scripture account of his person; if we are to make our great Master known to men, surely we must tell them, from the oracles of truth, who he is, and what he is. We must vindicate his real personality, or show him to be distinct from the Father in person, though one God with him, against such as make him only a name or power of God: we must in opposition to such as would reduce him to the rank of creatures, prove his supreme divinity, from his being called Jehovah and God, in an absolute sense; from his being declared to be one with the Father, and equal to him; from his having applied to him the highest titles of supremacy; from his being represented as necessarily existing, eternal, unchangeable, omniscient, immense, and almighty; from his being the Creator, the Preserver, Upholder, and End of all things, and from his receiving adoration: we must make known that he is God-man, or that he took into union with his divine person the whole human nature, consisting of a real body, and a rational soul, not an angelic or a super-angelic spirit; and must evince the necessity there was, that he should be God and man, in one person, that there might be infinite value in his merit, at the same time that he had a capacity to suffer: we must defend the truth of his miracles, by which he confirmed his doctrine, and the reality and the efficacy of his sufferings and death, by which he made full and proper satisfaction for the sins of the elect, and did not procure an uncertain precarious happiness for the whole world; and show the necessity there was for him to rise and revive, that he might demonstrate, that he had accomplished his work; and that he might ascend into heaven, and, having taken his seat at the right hand of God, might intercede for his people, in an authoritative way; and that he might make a more plentiful effusion of his Spirit upon them. When we thus show how he executes his office as a Priest, we must make him known in all his offices; or, as he is the great Prophet of the church, who has given his followers a full revelation of the mind of God, and who savingly enlightens them, that they may receive the truth in love; and as he is the King of saints, who renews, rules, and governs them, who strengthens them for duty, and who assists them against enemies: we must persuade and press men to look to Christ, as dying for sin, to rely upon him alone for pardon of guilt, and for righteousness to justify them, without adding their imperfect duties to his infinite merit; and to depend on him for strength, to perform sincere obedience, to encounter enemies, to grow in grace, and to persevere in holiness, till, at last, he shall bestow eternal life: we must maintain that he is the Head of the church, who alone has the right to prescribe rules for worship, so that none must impose their inventions on his subjects; and that he is the person who is to judge the world in righteousness, so that he will appear a second time, in power and great glory, to raise the dead, to take cognizance of the actions of every creature that has sinned, to inflict fulness of torment on the rebel angels, to fix impenitent sinners in ever-during wo, and to place those, for whose sins he has satisfied, in everlasting blessedness.

We are not, in the course of our ministry, confined wholly to these subjects; we ought, at proper seasons, to insist upon the perfections of God, on the displays of his wisdom, power, and goodness, in the works of creation and providence; and on his various dispensations, with regard to the affairs of his church: we are to show the great depravity of men, by reason of the fall, and the great vanity they are guilty of, in seeking satisfaction in any thing short of the Most High; and as it was not the design of our Redeemer, though he fulfilled and abolished the law, as a covenant of works, to weaken the obligations his people lie under, to conform to it as a rule of life, we must make known to men the duties it requires, as they are incumbent upon us, whether we are in a private, social, or public capacity. Though these things are not be wholly omitted, yet we must reckon it a great part of our work, to state, maintain, and defend the glorious doctrines of the blessed gospel, which relate to Christ, and what he has done for us, and which contain the foundation of our hope, as to a better world. Even when we press the duties of the law, we must acquaint men, that it is in Christ’s strength only that they can perform them, and that it is absolutely necessary to be found practicing them, in order to show that they are his disciples, and to express their gratitude to him for all his benefits.

If we consider what is the true notion of preaching Christ, and observe what has been the practice of many, we must say, there is the greatest truth in an observation, which has lately been made, that there are but few, in our days, who preach Christ, and few that regard him; and that the greatest number of preachers and hearers seem contented to lay him aside. It is a great shame, and it should be matter of sorrow, that this is the truth of the case; but since it is the real truth, it ought to be spoken: and since matters are so, can we wonder that practical religion is neglected, when Christ is so little preached? Of what avail is it to tell a man, that he must be serious in his behaviour, and circumspect in his walk, that he must beware of the deceitfulness of sin, and that he must be constant in worship, if he is not informed in whose strength he must engage in duty, and on whom he must rely for aid against sin, and is left in the dark, as to the end he ought to have in view, in performing what religious service God requires? Men ought to be acquainted, that their performances will never recommend them to God as a Judge, but yet that it is necessary for them to obey the will of their Creator, that they may evidence that they have believed in Christ for righteousness; and, till they are convinced of the truth of these things, they will never sincerely regard practical religion: they will either abound in uncommanded rigours and austerities, in order to make God their debtor; or they will soon grow weary of the external part of religion, and look upon it to be mere bodily labour. No duties can be performed with true spiritual pleasure without faith in Christ; and there is no obedience that can be styled evangelical holiness, but what is performed in his strength. If then Christ is left out in preaching, as declamations and harangues, which are made about inward and outward piety, must needs be extremely low and lame, so the practice of those whose unhappiness it is to sit under such teaching, will be very short of coming up to what the Scripture calls holiness. To tell a man of the noble nature of the Christian virtues, of the beauty of practical godliness, and of the excellence of gospel morality, without informing him in whose strength he must act, will have as little efficacy on him, to make him regulate himself according to the admirable model of duty, which is laid down in Scripture, as a long discourse on the desirableness and benefits of health would be of advantage to promote the recovery of a sick man, if he was not directed to use such means as might suit his case.

3. The ascribing too much to the power and the performancesof fallen man, and too little to the free grace of God, and to the righteousness of Christ, has always been attended with looseness, as to matters of practice, and is one principal cause of the ravages made on piety among us. When God fixed upon the method of man’s recovery, we may be sure he would never promote his salvation, in a way injurious to his divine perfections, neither would he set one attribute at variance with another: he purposed to deliver sinners, in a way in which his absolute sovereignty, his free grace, his inexorable justice, his unsearchable wisdom, his unchangeable truth, his unspotted holiness, his almighty power, his immense goodness, and his rich mercy, might all be equally glorified; and this is by the salvation of his elect by Christ Jesus. The ends which he had in view, in appointing his Son to be the Redeemer of men, and consequently in publishing the glad tidings of great joy, which the everlasting gospel contains, were to depress man as fallen, to exalt Christ, and to promote holiness: when persons then run contrary to God’s designs, and strive to exalt the power and the worth of the fallen creature, and to depress the almighty and all-sufficient Saviour, it is no wonder that they are not concerned as they ought to be, to promote practical godliness, because they endeavour to separate what God will have to be joined together. When men are against exalting free grace, and honoring Christ, it is a jest for them to pretend to be for promoting piety, because, if they really loved God, they would have an equal regard to all the things he had in view, in saving sinners by Christ: as they are not much concerned for one part of his design, it cannot be thought that they act from a principle of real love to him; and without this, thoughthey may come under a moral reformation, as to gross sins, it cannotbe thought that they will practise true holiness, which the holy Scriptures require in all such as hope to see the Lord.

It has been matter of fact, that whenever a run has been made on the Gospel doctrine of justification, by the imputed righteousness of Christ alone, under the idle pretense of its having a tendency to discourage good works, there has been a visibledeclension in holiness, among such as would appear most concerned to promote, by this, the cause of piety. I know this is a tender point, and a thing which some do not care to hear of; therefore, that I may not give offence, by saying what might be counted harsh, though it might not be so in reality, I shall choose to give my sense of this matter, not in my own words, but in those of a divine of great judgment, unbiassed integrity, and imminent piety, who now rests from his labours, and whose praise is in the churches; they are these. [2] "When the doctrine of justification by faith prevails, the church prospers; but when it falls, the church falls with it; when it is subverted and adulterated, the purity of the doctrine of the gospel, in other things, cannot be preserved; when it is laid aside, and justification by works is brought into its room, a flood of errors come in with it. This error is the inlet of licentiousness, and destroys the vital part of holiness; instead of further favorers of it pretend, it is a barren soil but the briers and thorns of evil works instance of this. The generality of the members of the church of Rome are such as have banished from them the very shadow of sobriety, and wallow in the channel of unbound lust; their strictest devotees, who boast that they can merit not only for themselves, but for others, are more like mad men, than men actuated by grace or reason. What are their works, but of idolatry and superstitious fooleries? Christ will only be a strength to them that trust in him for righteousness; they that will not have him for their righteousness, shall not have him for their strength to enable them to resist temptations, to mortify sin and corruption, and to bring for the fruits of holiness.

"The error of justification by works, brings judgments from God upon a people that give it any countenance, and forsake the truth. This is verified in the French churches; they receded from the first reformers in the doctrine of justification; this is what the most guilty of them will deny, but it was so evident, that the Papists took notice of it. The French Protestants did not zealously stick to the doctrine of justification by faith in the righteousness of Christ, as it was transmitted and conveyed down to them, by our reformers; and what followed? A decay of piety, and corruption of manners which provoked God to scatter and cast them off. I do not speak this to insult over them, but to move us to fear; we have lost the truth in this nation, and we every day more and more lose the Spirit of holiness. What a sensible declension is there in the national English church, since the doctrinal articles which have the spirit of our first reformers in them have been cried down, instead of being preached up by them who yet subscribe to the truth of them! Are not they, who separate from the national church, grown much worse since the new Methodists have found a grateful welcome amongst them? When truth is lost, holiness will not stay behind.
     "We have a great noisemade about works, and yet there was never less working than there is now among us; which shows that men do not cry up works from a love to holiness, but only to favour a faction, and to gain credit to their own corrupt opinions. If God does not send forth his light and his truth among us,and if he does not awaken us to remember from whence we are fallen, that we may recover ourselves, we can expect nothing, but that our sun will set in a cloud; and then, as we shall have our lot to be punished after others, so our punishment will be sorer and severer than theirs. What is the spring of a believer’s comfort, is now become the ground ofcontention among us. Much has been preached about justification by faith in Christ, and many useful books have been published concerning it; yet there is great darkness among professors about it, and, as they are ignorant of this truth, so they are barren in good works."
     These remarks were the result of careful observation, near forty years ago; and the time that has run out since, has only afforded us more opportunity to see with how much skill and judgment they were made.We have gone on to cast more contempt, every day, both upon the glorious doctrine of man’s salvation being entirely owing to the free grace of God, and on the important point of justification by the righteousness of Christ imputed; and the great pretense has been, men should not hear so much of the privileges, which belong to such as are in Christ, as of the duties required of them, lest they abuse the gospel, and run into Antinomianism. If we either neglect to show the necessity for relying on Christ for a justifying righteousness, or to evince the need of practicing holy duties, we go out of God’s way, and cannot expect his blessing: accordingly we see, that crying up of sincere obedience, to the lessening a regard to Christ’s righteousness, has been followed with an increase of formality and deadness in duty, and with a great neglect of it; so that the following advice of the author, whose words have been quoted, is very proper for us to regard: "Let us pray, that Christianity among us may return to its proper channel, which is this; when men expect the whole of their salvation from Christ, and yet strive to be as fruitful in their lives, as if they expected to be justified by their good works. The greater sense any one has of the free grace of God, the more precise and exact he will be, in the duties of every relation."

4. It is to be feared, that the decay of piety is to be attributed, in some measure, to the too general neglect of instructing young persons in the principles of true Christianity, and to the contempt which has been, of late years, cast upon those judicious and useful forms of sound words, which have been of great advantage to furnish men with just notions of the doctrines which are revealed in Scripture. Instructing of youth in a catechetical way, has been an ancient practice in the Christian churches; there is sufficient ground for it to be gathered from the Scripture, and it has been a method which Christ has owned, and greatly blessed. It is a duty incumbent on Christians to instruct their children, and all others who are under their care, in the doctrinal knowledge of those truths, which they have learned from the Scripture, which have been the food of their souls, from the time they were renewed by divine grace, and the comforts of which they have felt, in all their soul-exercises. And, besides this, it is exceedingly profitable for young persons to be taught the principles of religion [3] in a public manner, by the dispensers of the gospel, who can, with prudence and caution, engage in this work. It must be owned, that all the instruction we can give, will not bring persons to receive the truth in the love of it, if they are left without the saving illuminations of the Holy Spirit: it may enlighten the head, but of itself it will not change the heart. However, it is of very great advantage, in many respects, for those who are in their more tender years, to be instructed in the doctrines taught, and in the duties required in Scripture. If they have any good thing in them towards the Lord God of Israel, or are under religious impressions, it must be very pleasing and profitable to them, to have the glorious mysteries of the gospel unfolded, and proved from Scripture, and to have the duties required of them, in every relation, to be laid before them, from the oracles of the living God. If they are left to themselves, yet by being taught practical duties, they may be the more civilized, may be laid under a greater moral restraint, and may be made more useful members of society. We cannot tell how soon the Spirit of God may work upon such, as, at the present, are in a state of nature; and then they will always find it of vast advantage, to have been instructed in the Christian doctrines; they will feel the power of the truths, of which they only had a speculative notion before, and will increase in knowledge, as well as grow in grace. When a man receives the truth in the love of it, he will rejoice, if his case is such, that he has not his faith to seek, as to the system of it, and that he is not at a loss about his duty, as to knowing the matter of it. Such as have been nourished up, as the great evangelist Timothy was, 1 Tim. iv. 6, "in the words of faith and good doctrine," have always proved the wisest and the most useful Christians. They know their Master’s will, as to faith and practice; and they are most careful to come to it. It has been an observation, and it is very just, and confirmed by experience, that such as have been made partakers of the grace of God, who never were instructed in the doctrines of our Lord Jesus Christ, have been often very warm, sincere, and scrupulous professors of Christianity; but they have been generally either hot and unsettled, or fond of advancing only one truth, and uneasy to hear of any thing else; or ready to admire all preaching, which is suited to move the lower passions, or else prone to run into enthusiasm. On the other hand, when such are converted, as have been brought by instruction to have a good measure of knowledge of the peculiar and distinguishing doctrines of our holy religion, they have been more steady in their adherence to right principles, and more regularly uniform in their conduct. We cannot but say, that there has of late been too great a neglect, as to the instructing of youth; and we find the sad consequence of this, in the ignorance, profaneness, and conceit, which we may observe in the rising generation.

It has been a prevailing custom among us, who separate from the national establishment, to make use of the Shorter Catechism of the venerable Assembly of Divines, who met at Westminster, in instructing youth. Of that noble composure it may very justly be said, that for clearness of thought, for comprehending a great deal in a small compass, for treating of the glorious doctrines of the gospel with accuracy care, and caution, and for speaking of them, in the most just and nervous way, there are few human composures which can be said to exceed it. They who have gone before us, thought themselves happy in having such an excellent form of sound words to help them in instructing such as were under their inspection. But there is a generation now upon the stage, who defy their fathers as precedents, because they will not come up with them in honesty, zeal, and self-denial. To declaim directly against a composure, which had a testimony in the consciences of all serious Christians, would not have answered the end of such as were weary of the truths summed up in it; therefore few who have run into neutrality and lukewarmness, have ventured to say that they looked upon it to comprehend a heap of false opinions. They have been more artful in their management, they have told such as would listen to them, that the words of Scripture are certainly the best; that catechisms should be drawn up in the expressions of the inspired writers; that if we pay a regard to human forms, to creeds, confessions, and systems of divinity, framed by men subject to mistake, we deny the sufficiency of Scripture, and set the performances of fallible creatures on a level with the words of the infallible God. By these insinuations, they who have used them have led many off from all regard to truth and practical religion. If they had cried out against any summary of principles apprehended to be Christian, as containing points inconsistent with Scripture, none would have blamed them, for going according to their light, though we might have taken the liberty to have counted their light darkness; but for men to abstract from the consideration, whether the creeds and catechisms, which have been in use, are agreeable to Scripture or no, and gravely and solemnly to talk against them, and to run them down, merely because they are human composres, as incroachments on the sufficiency of Scripture, is what contributes exceedingly to the increase of infidelity. All things composed by men ought to be tried by the Scripture standard; if they are not agreeable to the oracles of the living God, let them be rejected with contempt and disdain; but if they contain just accounts of what lies scattered in different parts of the book of God, it can answer no end to run them down as human forms, except it be to disparage that religion; on the side of which the composers of them were. It is said by some, who have borrowed the pretense from the Socinians and the Jesuits, that it is sufficient for men to assent to the words of Scripture; and perhaps it might be so, if there were no knaves in the world, and no wolves in sheep’s clothing in the church. Christians do not use the caution they ought, if they only inquire, whether a man professes to own the Bible to contain his religion; they are principally concerned to be satisfied how he, who would thrust himself into their esteem, understands the words of that which they take for their rule of faith, and for their directory in practice; that they may judge whether he is a disciple of Christ or not.

In former days, when the excellent summaries of Christian faith and practice were valued and highly esteemed, because it was concluded they were founded on Scripture, practical religion flourished. But what a disagreeable turn have matters taken, since we have heard them run down, because they were drawn up by men? Some, who have heard their guides rail at them, and ridicule them, as human forms, and the impositions of men, have been induced to think, that all the points laid down and summed up in them, were human inventions, and they have gone further than their leaders intended they should. They have not only deserted the doctrines which their teachers hated, but they have cast off all regard to practical duties, and have manifested the utmost contempt of public worship, and of the Sabbath. It is greatly to be wished, that some who have been most violent in railing against standing up for controverted points, in declaiming against creeds, confessions and catechisms, in abusing all open declarations as to matters of faith, and in recommending licentiousness and lukewarmness, under the false names of liberty and charity, would think what they have been doing. They have thrown down the banks, which were raised to keep out infidelity and error; and, seeing they have let these come in like a raging sea, it is not to be wondered at, if they are not all able to keep the tide out, by opposing the palms of their hands to it.

5. The great cause of all the present corruptions in practice, is the contempt which has, for many years, been cast on the Holy Spirit and his operations. It has been too common for the Holy Spirit to be left out in preaching upon duty; and it has been too general a thing to neglect putting such as are pressed to regard the salvation of their souls, on keeping up in their minds a continual sense of their being able to do nothing aright, without his aid and assistance. Moral suasion has been talked of, as being fit in itself to bring men to a sense of their duty; and such as are for looking up for assistance, for aid, and for consolation to the Holy One, are vilified, as persons frensied and delirious. We have grieved and offended the Spirit of grace; and he, in a great measure, is withdrawn and gone; and since he is absent, we find that ordinances are of little use to them that, in a formal way, converse in them; it is no wonder that he does not regard the despisers of ordinances, or them who cast open and avowed contempt on sacred provisions, which it is his office to bless.

It may, with too much justice, be said, that never was the Holy Spirit more contemned, and consequently more provoked for a long series of time, by any that have kept up an external profession of Christianity, than he has been among us of years. His Deity is by many denied, and endeavours are used to reduce him to the rank of creatures, nay, to make him created by a creature; and so opinionated persons, who would affect to be dictators, take upon them to prescribe it as proper, to worship him directly only occasionally, as prudence and expedience may require, and not to bind it upon our own consciences, or upon others, as a necessary thing: his real personality is opposed by some, and we are told, by projectors, that he is only a divine power personified by some idioms of speech; and our Lord’s promise, which contained in it, what he designed for the comfort of all Christians, since the heavens have received him, as to his bodily presence, that the Spirit of truth should come, or that the person of his Spirit should make a more plentiful effusion of his gifts upon them, is made nothing of, by this bold figment, that our Lord described a divine power by a strong prosopopeia, and a noble allegory, as a messenger sent from God: it is hard to say how the blessed Spirit, the Comforter of the elect of God, could well be more affronted, than in being treated thus: great provocations are offered him, by such as do not profess to run the length of denying his personality and divine glory; his work, as a quickening, renewing Spirit, is denied, and what can only be brought about in the soul of a sinner, by his efficiency, in enlightening the understanding, bowing the will, and purifying the affections, is, by many, ascribed either entirely, or in part, to the free will of man. How has praying by the Spirit been profanely ridiculed by one sort of men! And what has been the effect? Fervent prayer has been, in a manner, lost among them, and they are given up to a lifeless formality: but these are not the persons with whom we are more immediately concerned. To come nearer home: what contempt is cast on the Spirit’s motions, as a Convince?; an Instructor, and a Comforter? How is his sealing up believers to the day of redemption, or witnessing with their spirits, that they are the Children of God, treated with banter and grimace? How are all that profess to depend on his conduct exposed, as being under the power of enthusiasm, by many who profess Christianity? What sneering folly do some demure formalists show, when a word is said of his enabling us to will and to do, of his good pleasure? What is the melancholy consequence of all this? The Comforter is much withdrawn. Hence it arises, that the work of conversion is very much at a stand; few are now seen inquiring the way to Zion, with their faces thitherward; and they who have long professed religion, have gray hairs increasing upon them, and are under great decays and declensions. There is no question to be made, but that, in these times of sad degeneracy, the Spirit revives some serious, zealous Christians, with his strong consolations; yet it must be said, that he does not make the preaching of the gospel so effectual for instruction, edification, and comfort, to great numbers, as he formerly did. Sinners may now be alarmed with the thunders of mount Sinai, and be allured with the still small voice from the palaces of Sion, and yet they continue fearless and stupid, senseless and unaffected. Professing Christians now often sit before God as his people; and are found in external performance of ordinances, and yet go away as dull and heavy, as full of formality and deadness, as if they had not been engaged in them. The reason is, the Holy Spirit does not accompany the word preached with his blessing, and does not cloth his ordinances with power; he withdraws from us, whose presence was the glory of our assemblies; and he leaves us to feel the effects of our mad ingratitude, in grieving him, in fighting his motions, and in calling contempt on his performed operations: And if the Spirit departs, as a Spirit of conviction and comfort, it is no wonder that we have reason to complain of our leanness and barrenness under the enjoyment of the best means.

Since we are forced to say, if we will be impartial, that we are under great decays, as to practical religion, let us endeavour to have a deep sense of our declensions, and of the true causes of them. We have often been told, that some reasons why religion is weakened, are these: The people are amused too much with speculative doctrines, and with disputes, and are taught to pay an unwarrantable regard to human forms and decisions; and it is very likely, that some have worked themselves up to a belief of these insinuations; but there is matter of fact to be set against such idle surmises. Wherever the truths of the gospel have been most preached, in their purity, and where the professors of Christianity have been most cautious, as to giving them up, there has a regard to strict serious religion most prevailed. It may be said, that, decays prevail among all sorts now; but it must be avered, that they who have the highest notions, about the importance of the controverted doctrines of the gospel, and who express their value for those forms of sound words, which state them safely, are the persons among whom practical godliness flourishes most. We should strive then to be sensible of the true causes of our spiritual decays; for unless we know from what they proceed, we cannot remember from whence we have fallen, we cannot rightly repent of our backslidings, and we cannot do our first works; and, unless we do these things, we shall only grow worse and worse, and shall every day offer new provocations to the great King of the church; and, if we go on to stir up his displeasure afresh, his patience may be tried out, and he may come upon us, to avenge us the quarrel of his covenant, more suddenly than we may expect, and more severely than we may imagine.

Let us, when we are sensible of the declension which prevail among us, examine what we have done to offend God: Let us not be wholly taken up in accusing others, but let every man among us smite upon his breast, and say, What have I done toward promoting a general declension? Let us search into all the secret chambers of imagery in our hearts; and if we find any idol of jealousy erected, let us immediately cast it down, and destroy it: If, upon trying our spirits, we find we have done any thing to provoke God, let us abhor ourselves for it; let us be deeply humbled, and really contrite for it, and let us forsake it, with true repentance; let us show noble examples of defensible singularity, in running counter to generalcorruption; let us stand up for the truths of the gospel, when it is fashionable to run them down; let us worship God according to the pattern given in his word, when it is too common to offer strange fire on his altar; let us not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, when many leave the courts of Sion to follow their pleasures; let our houses resound with the voice of prayer, when those of others are without having the morning and evening sacrifice offered up in them; let us be shining examples of holiness and purity, and stand at a distance from insincerity, when others abound in dissoluteness and in acts of fraud; let us bewail the sins of others, which we cannot reform: When the herd of ungodly sinnersgo on, without fear, to make void the law, when Atheism, Deism, and error, come in like floods, when, iniquity abounds, and profaneness rides in triumph, and when professors have lost their first love, let us be among the number of them, who mourn over the abominations which too much prevail; let us wrestle in prayer with God the Holy Spirit, that he would not depart from us, but that he would still govern in our hearts, and fill our assemblies: Let us with fervency, cry, Come, Holy Ghost, eternal God, look down on the languishing state of the Christian interest among us; when Atheism and Deism break in upon us, as a raging sea, say thou, Hitherto shall you come, and no further, and here shall your proud waves be staid; when errors and heresies rush in like a flood, lift thou up a standard against them; cause the light of truth to shine forth, like the sun in its full strength, to scatter the fogs and mists of error; kindle the love of professors that waxes cold; inflame them with a pious zeal for the truth; restore a spirit of peace and true moderation; check that profaneness that rolls in like a mighty torrent; cause holiness to run down our streets as a river, and righteousness to glide through our land, like a peaceful stream: Be to us a refreshing dew; cause our wilderness and our solitary places to be glad, and our desert to rejoice, and blossom as the rose; shed thy benign influences upon us, that we may grow as the lily, that we may revive as the corn, that we may be fruitful as the vine, that our beauty may be as the olive tree, and that we may strike down our roots, spread forth our branches, and rise in a graceful towering height, like the cedar: Be thou, O Comforter, our glory, and our defence; abundantly bless the provisions of Sion; endue the ministers of the gospel with righteousness, and clothe the ordinances of the sanctuary with power; be thou in the midst of us, and then we shall not be called, Forsaken, and Desolate, neither shall it be said of us, that the glory is departed, but the name whereby we shall be called, shall be Jehovah-Shammah, the Lord is there.

2. Since a defection from the faith of the gospel lies at the root of all our abominations, let us be zealous for the truth, and contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. In this day of blasphemy and rebuke, lukewarmness and indifference, we may expect to have many to weaken our hands, and occasion us sorrow of heart; but we know little of the state of things among us, if we expect to have very many to afford us help, when we are engaged in the cause of the Lord against the mighty. However, this ought not to move us from our duty; for Christ the Lord of Hosts is with us, when we plead for his honour and his truth, and, if our labours are not crowned with success, we have done our duty, we have the testimony of a good conscience, and we have delivered our souls. Our blessed Lord declared, that in the declining church of Sardis he had a few names, who had not defiled their garments, who should walk with him in white, for they were worthy. Let us be among the happy few, who are valiant for the truth in the earth, that when we appear before our great Master, he may say to us, ‘Well done, good and faithful servants, enter you into my joy; you shall walk before me in the white attire of innocence; you have been faithful to my cause, I will grace your brows with the diadems of immortality.’ We should consider that it is the noblest of causes which we are engaged; to contend for our civil liberties against tyrants, and to strive for our spiritual privileges against imposers and persecutors, is an honorable contest: But this is not what we are called to at present; we are concerned in matters of vastly greater importance to the well-being of our soul though, perhaps, not to the quiet of our lives, the securing our worldly interest: We contend for the supreme honour of God, as the Ruler of the world, and as the universal Law-giver and Judge, against such as would set up moral fitnesses independent of him, and would not be reckoned to be made for him, or to be accountable to him: We strive for the perfection of scripture against such as would make natural light, in our corrupt state, a perfect rule: We maintain, that Christ and the Holy Spirit are proper persons, against such as represent them to be powers, attributes, or mere names: We plead for their divine glories against such as would reduce them to the rank of creatures: We stand up for the absoluteness and immutability of God’s decree, against such as would make him dependent on the creature, and alterable in his purposes: We appear in defence of the infinite value of Christ’s satisfaction, and the perfection of his righteousness, against such as would put their obedience in his room, or tack the shreds of their crippled duties to the robe of salvation he has provided: We stand up for efficacious grace, and the power of the Spirit, against thosewho plead for man’s free-will; and for the final progress of believers in holiness, against them that would insinuate that such as Christ died for may be lost: We contend for holiness against such as abuse the doctrine of grace, and turn it into wantonness; and for the perfection of the law, against such as would have it abrogated, or to be of no use: We argue for the activity of the soul after death, for the resurrection of the body, and for a general judgment, against such as would make man cease to be, sleep in the grave, live always without his body, and not be accountable for his actions. This is the honorable service in which we are engaged; and can such poor unworthy creatures, as we are, have a post of greater dignity? Let us then be never slothful or negligent, but let us contend earnestly for the truth: We are commanded in scripture to do so; therefore, if we are by some blamed for infringing on peace, let us not regard so senseless a calumny; and if others accuse us of taking the Spirit’s work out of his hand, let us pity them for putting so daring an affront on Christ, who has commanded us to strive for his truth, and forgive them for throwing out such a vile abuse against us. Let us never be weary of well doing; but the more opposition we meet with, as good soldiers of Christ, the more let us contend for the honour of our exalted Master: Let us always fight under the banner of the great Captain of our salvation; let us use no weapons but what we fetch from the armory of God, and let us leave the issue to him whose cause we plead; and, for our encouragement, let us consider, that he, under whose conduct we strive, will support us in our difficult warfare, and will, after we have sweat in the field of battle, as long as he has determined, give us a quiet discharge, and will bring us to the deathless realms of joy, where the noise of discord will cease, where we shall see our Redeemer as he is, and where, with angels and archangels, we shall for ever praise and adore him.

To the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, three divine Persons, and the one God, be all supreme honour, glory, and power ascribed, in all the church now, henceforth, and for evermore. Amen.

ENDNOTES

[1] The reader may see this matter discussed by two very learned men, M Witsius, (Vid. Misc. Sac. Vol.1. lib. 3.) and M. A. Marek, who, I hear, has newly entered into his Master’s joy, (Pref. ad com. in Apoc.) See also the very learned M. Vitringa’s Commentary, who, though not a professed Cocceian, here falls in with the prophetical sense.

[2] Mr. Richard Taylor, in his Scripture-Doctrine of Justification, p. 204-207, in the second volume of his works.

[3] See Mr. Hurrion’s Sermon on the good of early instruction, p. 11-24.