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LETTER II.

You will, I doubt not, agree with me when I say that a great change has taken place, during the last sixty years, in the principles maintained by the Particular Baptist churches. It was once the glory of these churches, that they contended earnestly for the doctrines of sovereign, discriminating grace, even when a disposition appeared too generally amongst professors to relax on these points, and to accommodate matters with the world; a disposition much lamented and deprecated by the servants of Christ. Dr. Gill has distinctly foretold its pernicious effects, which have been only too visible in our own churches. In his sermon on "The Watchman's Answer," &c.t he says, "Of late years there has been a very visible decline, and a night is coming on, which we are entered into; the shadows of the evening are stretching out apace upon us, and the signs of the eventide are very manifest, and will shortly appear yet more and more: coldness and indifference in spiritual things, a want of affection to God, Christ, his people, truths and ordinances, may easily be observed; the first love is left; iniquity abounds, and the love of many waxes cold; and it will wax yet colder and colder, and will

* See Dr. Gill's Answer to the Birmingham Dialogue Writer, part 1. † Page 29.

issue in a general forsaking of assembling together, and in an entire neglect of the ministers of the gospel; when such who have been professors themselves will be shy of them, and carefully shun them," &c. Now, what would this holy man say, were he at present alive, to find his words fulfilled so soon in our own denomination? What an alteration must have taken place amongst us, when there are now very few to be found who maintain the same glorious truths for which Dr. Gill was so able an advocate, and the few who do, are no longer cordially received into our pulpits, or tolerated in our associations! Men have risen up among us every where speaking perverse things; the churches have been gradually drawn aside by them, until at length professors will not endure sound doctrine, but are yearly heaping to themselves such teachers as will gratify their itching ears.

Mr. Fuller appears to have been a kind of leader in this defection, at least he considered his own publications to have conduced not a little to the change. Writing to a friend on this subject, he expresses himself, says his biographer,* in the following strong and pointed language :-" When I first published my treatise on the nature of faith, and the duty of all men who hear the gospel to believe it, the Christian profession had sunk into contempt amongst us; insomuch that had matters gone on but a few years longer, the Baptists would have become a perfect dunghill in society." Strong and pointed language indeed! yet it must really be confessed that this was in

* Memoirs of Mr. Fuller, by Morris, page 267.

a great degree the case. The truth is, that the principles maintained at that time by the Baptists were such as to render them odious to the public. They never could maintain those principles inviolably, and at the same time be generally esteemed a respectable body of professing Christians. They were distinctly forewarned by the Lord himself, that they should be hated of all men for his sake; that if they kept his words, the world would hate them, even as it had hated him. If the doctrine he taught, caused the Master of the house to be despised and rejected of men; if, for the same cause, the apostles were esteemed as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things, what right had these Baptists to complain, if, while holding in their measure the same truths, their profession became contemptible, and their churches considered a perfect dunghill in society? Complain! No, it was the highest honour they were capable of in this life. If to them it was given on the behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake, they ought to have rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And I doubt not many of them did. Dr. Gill, when declaring his determination to go on preaching a free and finished salvation in the face of all opposition, adds: "I am not afraid of the reproaches of men; I have been inured to these from my youth upwards, but none of these things move me." But, as I have already said, the case is very different now. Since Mr. Fuller's principles have obtained

* Sermons and Tracts, vol. i. page 249.

amongst us, we are no longer offensive to the world; or, to use his strong language, we are no longer a dunghill in society. The offence of the cross has, in a great degree, ceased in reference to our doctrine, our profession, and our preaching. And to add to our respectability, we have amongst us a number of rational polite ministers;* men whose minds are too enlighten

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* One of these gentlerzen, Mr. John Foster, whose Essays have been almost universally admired, has favoured us with a pretty fair sample of the fashionable divinity, in his "Essay on the Aversion of Men of Taste to Evangelical Religion." This writer appears particularly anxious for the conversion of men of taste; and seems to wonder that they should not be in love with so sublime a thing as the gospel. He admits that one cause of their aversion to evangelical truth is the natural enmity of the heart to God; but this he thinks is by no means the only cause. He seems to be of opinion that there must be some fault in the gospel itself, if not in the doctrines of it, yet certainly in the phraseology which the Holy Ghost has been pleased to employ in order to express those doctrines. See Letter III. Accordingly he would have such words as Righteousness, Godliness, Grace, Sanctification, &c, exchanged for a more general and classical mode of expression." This alteration, he thinks, would render the gospel less offensive to men of taste; it would render evangelical sentiments less subject to the imputation of fanaticism, and serve as a check to cant and hypocrisy. We must not imagine, however, that zeal, such as this writer discovers, arises always from love to the souls of men. The soul of a labourer, or of a mechanic, is as valuable in itself, and as precious in the sight of God, as the soul of a man of taste; but whoever heard of a reverend gentleman proposing to alter the language of Scripture, to meet the prejudices of labourers and mechanics? Men of taste are usually persons of influence, and often of affluence and wealth; there are therefore other reasons, very weighty reasons, why a reverend divine should be particularly desirous to gain men of taste. That man must be almost an idiot, who is not aware that many who are denominated evangelical ministers, will make almost any sacrifices to induce persons of wealth and influence to profess what are called evangelical sentiments. But with all this pretended zeal for

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ed, too liberal, to insist much on the distinguishing doctrines of the gospel, and who are, consequently, rolling along in the full stream of earthly reputation. They speak according to the world, and the world. heareth them. But with all these advantages, what have we lost? O God! thou knowest what we have lost! Our profession is inoffensive; but alas! we have lost much of the comfort of the Holy Ghost. We have gained ease and tranquillity; but we have lost, in a great degree, the sensible enjoyment of the Lord's special presence. We are no more odious to society; but the Holy Spirit is remarkably withdrawn: that adorable Person is grieved; the power of godliness is almost gone; and, in many instances, the form is ready to depart also.

O Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants' sake, the tribes of thine inheritance."

I would now proceed to an examination of the extracts given in my first letter; but before I do so, it will be proper to explain, that, in this controversy, I use the term redemption in its general acceptation. When we speak of particular redemption, or universal redemption, we use the term in reference to the ransom price. Sometimes in Scripture the word redemption means deliverance; but this is its secondary, and not

the glory of God, and the good of souls, such ministers are making merchandise of the souls of men; they are seeking their own aggrandizement, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage. What an appalling scene of iniquity is displayed in every exhibition of the hateful spirit of priestcraft!

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