TO THE

PRINCIPAL INHABITANTS

OF THE

PARISH OF MADELEY,

IN THE COUNTY OF SALOP.

GENTLEMEN,

You are no less entitled to my private labours than the inferior class of my parishioners. As you do not choose to partake with them of my evening instructions, I take the liberty to present you with some of my morning meditations. May these well-meant endeavours of my pen be more acceptable to you than those of my tongue! and may you carefully read in your closets, what you have, perhaps, inattentively heard in the church! I appeal to the searcher of hearts, that I had rather impart truth than receive tithes. You kindly bestow the latter upon me; grant me, I pray, the satisfaction of seeing you favourably receive the former, from,

GENTLEMEN,

Madeley, 1772.

Your affectionate minister,

and obedient Servant,

J. FLETCHER.

INTRODUCTION.

In religious matters we easily run into extremes. Nothing is more common than to see people embracing one error under the plausible pretence of avoiding another.

Many, through fear of infidelity, during the night of ignorance and storm of passion, run against the wild rocks of superstition and enthusiasm; and frequently do it with such force, that they make shipwreck of the faith, and have little of godliness left, except a few broken pieces of its form.

Numbers, to shun that fatal error, steer quite a contrary course: supposing themselves guided by the compass of reason, when they only follow that of prejudice, with equal violence they dash their speculative brains. against the opposite rocks of deism and prophaneness; and fondly congratulate themselves on escaping the shelves of fanaticism, whilst the leaky bark of their hopes is ready to sink, and that of their morals is perhaps sunk already. Thus, both equally overlook sober, rational, heart-felt piety, that lies between those wide and dangerous extremes.

To point out the happy medium which they have missed, and call them back to the narrow path, where reason and revelation walk hand in hand, is the design of these sheets. May the Father of Lights so shine upon the reader's mind, that he may clearly discover Truth, and notwithstanding the severity of her aspect, prefer her to the most soothing error !

If the reader is one of those who affect to be the warm votaries of reason, he is intreated to be a close-thinker, as well as a free-thinker; and with careful attention to consider reason's dictates, before he concludes, that they agree with his favourite sentiments. He has, no doubt too much candour, not to grant so equitable a request; too much justice, to set aside Matter of Fact; and too much good sense, to disregard an Appeal to Common Sense.

Should he incline to the opposite extreme, and cry down our rational powers; he is desired to remember, right reason, which is that which I appcal to, is a ray of the light that enlightens every man who comes into the world; and a beam of the eternal LoGoS, the glorious Sun of Righteous

ness.

God, far from blaming a proper use of the noble faculty, by which we are chiefly distinguished from brutes, graciously invites us to the exercise of it: " Come, now," says he, "and let us reason together." Jesus commends the unjust steward, for reasoning better upon his wrong, than thechildren of light, upon their right principles. Samuel desires the Israellites to "stand still, that he may reason with them before the Lord!" St. Peter charges believers to "give an answer to every one, that asketh them a reason of their hope." And St. Paul, who reasoned so conclusively himself, intimates, that wicked men are unreasonable; and declares, that a tota dedication of ourselves to God is our reasonable service. And while he challenges the vain disputers of this world, who would make jests pass for proofs, invectives for arguments, and sophistry for reason: he charges Titus use, not merely sound speech; but, (as the original also meaus) Sound Reason, that he who is of the contrary part may be ashamed." Let us then, following his advice and example, pay a due regard both to reason and revelation. So shall we, according to his candid direction, break the shackles of prejudice; prove all things, and, by divine grace, hold fast that which is good.

66

AN

APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT,

&c.

FIRST PART.

In every religion there is a principle of truth or error which, like the first link of a chain, necessarily draws after it all the parts, with which it is essentially connected. This leading principle, in Christianity, distinguished from Deism, is the doctrine of our corrupt and lost estate: for if man is not at variance with his Creator, what need of a mediator between God and him? If he is not a depraved, undone creature, what necessity of so wonderful a restorer and Saviour as the Son of God? If he is not enslaved to sin, why is he redeemed by Jesus Christ? If he is not polluted, why must he be washed in the blood of that immaculate Lamb? If his soul is not disordered, what occasion is there for such a divine physician > If he is not helpless and miserable, why is he perpetually invited to secure the assistance and consolations of the Holy Spirit? And, in a word, if he is not born in sin, why is a new birth so absolutely necessary, that Christ declares, with the most solemn asseverations, without it no man can see the kingdom of God?

This doctrine then being of such importance, that genuine Christianity stands or falls with it; it may be proper to state it at large. And as this cannot be done in stronger and plainer words, than those of the sacred writers, and our pious reformers; I beg leave to collect them, and present the reader with a picture of our natural estate, drawn in full length by those ancient and masterly hands.

I. Moses, who informs us, that God created man in his own image, and after his likeness, soon casts a shade upon his original dignity, by giving us a sad account of his fall. He represents him after his disobedience, as a criminal under sentence of death; a wretch filled with guilt, shame, dread and horror; and a vagabond, turned out of a lost paradise, into a cursed wilderness, where all bears the stamp of desolation for his sake Gen. iii. 17. In consequence of this apostacy he died, and all die in him; for, by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men;" for that all have sinned in him, who was all mankind seminally and federally collected in one individual. 1 Cor. xv. 12. Rom. v. 12.

The sacred historian having informed us how the first man was corrupted, observes, that " he begat a son in his own image," sinful and mortal. like himself: that his first-born was a murderer; that Abel himself, offered sacrifices to avert divine wrath, and that the violent temper of Cain soon broke out in all the human species. "The earth," says he, " was filled with violence;-all flesh had corrupted its way;-and God saw he wickedness of man was great in the earth:" so great "that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Only evil, without any mixture of good: and continually, without any intermission of the evil.' Gen. vi. 5.

When the deluge was over, the Lord himself gave the same account f his obstinately rebellious creature. "The imaginations of man's heart,' said he to Noah, "is evil from his youth." Gen. viii. 21.-Job's friends paint us with the same colours. One of them observes, that "Man is

born like the wild asses' colt:" and another that "he is abominable and filthy, and drinketh iniquity like water." Job xi. 12, and xv. 16.

David doth not alter the hideous portrait: "The Lord," says he, "looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand and seek God." And the result of the divine inspection is," They are all gone aside; they are altogether become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no not one." Psa. xiv. 3. Solomon gives a finishing stroke to his father's draught, by informing us, that "Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child:" and not of a child only, for he adds: "The heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and while they live, madness is in their heart.” Prov. xxii. 15. Eccl. ix. 3.

Isaiah corroborates the assertions of the royal Prophets, in the following mournful confessions: "All we, like sheep have gone astray.-We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." liii. 6. and Ixiv. 6.

Isa.

Jeremiah confirms the deplorable truth, where he says, "The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond; it is graven upon the tables of their hearts.". -" O Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved."---For the "heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" Jer. iv. 14, and xvii. 1. 9.

un

Thus the Prophets delineate mankind in a natural, impenitent state. And do the Apostles dip their pencil in brighter colours? Let them speak for themselves. The chief of them informs us, that "the natural, renewed" man receives not the things of the Spirit of God," and that "they are foolishness to him." 1 Cor. ii. 14. And he lays it down as a matter of fact, that the carnal mind, the taste and disposition of every unregenerate person, is not only averse to goodness, but enmity itself against God, the adorable fountain of all excellence. A blacker line can hardly be drawn, to describe a fallen, diabolical nature. Rom. viii. 7.

Various are the names which the Apostle of the Gentiles gives to our original corruption, which are all expressive of its pernicious nature and dreadful effects. He calls it emphatically Sin;-a sin so full of activity and energy, that it is the life and spring of all others :-Indwelling sin; a sin which is not like the leaves and fruit of a bad tree, that appear for a time and then drop off; but, like the sap that dwells and works within, always ready to break out at every bud. The body of sin, because it is an assemblage of all possible sins in embryo, as our body is an assemblage of all the members which constitute the human frame. The law of sin, and the law in our members, because it hath a constraining force, and rules in our mortal bodies, as a mighty tyrant in the kingdom which he hath usurped. The old man, because we have it from the first man, Adam, and because it is as old as the first stamina of our frame, with which it is most closely interwoven. The flesh, as being propagated by carnal generation, and always opposing the spirit,-the gracious principle which we have from Adam the second. And concupiscence, that mystic Jezebel, who brings forth the infinite variety of fleshly, worldly, and mental lusts, which war against the soul.

Nor are St. James and St. John less severe than St. Paul upon the unconverted man. The one observes, that his wisdom, the best property naturally belonging to him, " descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, and devilish :" and the other positively declares, that “the whole world lieth in wickedness." James iii. 15. 1 John v. 19.

Our Lord whose Spirit inspired the prophets and apostles, confirms their lamentable testimony. To make us seriously consider sin, our mortal disease, he reminds us, that "the whole have no need of a physi cian; but they that are sick. Luke v. 31. He declares, that "men love darkness rather than light." That the world hates them," and that

"its works are evil.” John iii. 16, and xv. 18. and vii. 7. He directs us all to pray for the pardon of sin, as being evil, and owing ten thousand talents to our heavenly creditor. Matt. vi. 12. vii. 11. xviii. 24. And he assures us, that "the things which defile the man come from within ;" and that "out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness;" and, in a word, all moral evil. Mark vii. 21. Matt. xv. 19.

Some, indeed, confine what the scriptures say of the depravity of human hearts to the abandoned heathens and persecuting Jews; as if the professors of morality and christianity were not concerned in the dreadful charge. But the Apostle, when speaking of all mankind in their unregenerate state, justly infers, that "destruction and misery are in their ways." And lest the self-righteous moralists should flatter themselves that this alarming declaration doth not regard them; that "the Scripture includes all under sin; that there is no difference, for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" and that the moral law denounces a general curse against its violaters, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." Rom. iii. 9. 23. vi. 19.

Eph. ii. 2.

If this assertion seems severe, let some of the best men that ever lived decide the point, not by the experience of immoral persons, but by their own. "I abhor myself," says Job," and repent in dust and ashes." Job xlii. 6. "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity," says David, " and in sin did my mother conceive me." Psa. li. 5. "Woe is me, for I am undone," says Isaiah, "because I am a man of unclean lips." Isa. vi. 5. "I know, says St. Paul," that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing." Rom. vii. 18. "We ourselves," says he to Titus, were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another." Tit. iii. 3. And speaking of himself and the Christians at Ephesus, he leaves upon record this memorable sentence, "We were by nature the children of wrath even as others." Eph. ii. 3. Such humbling thoughts have the best men entertained, both of their natural estate and of themselves!

But as no one is a more proper person to appeal to, in this matter, than this learned apostle, who, by continually conversing with Jews, Heathens, and Christians in his travels, had such an opportunity of knowing mankind; let us hear him sum up the suffrages of his inspired brethren. "What, then," says he, "are we better than they?" Better than the immortal pagans and hypocritical Jews, described in the two preceding chapters? "No, in no wise." And he proves it by observing, 1. The universality of human corruption,-" all are under sin, as it is written, there is none righteous, no not one." 2. The extent of it in individuals, as it affects the whole man, especially his mind; "There is none that understandeth" the things of God. His affections, "There is none that seeketh after God;" and his actions, "they are all gone out of the way" of duty; "there is none that doeth good, no not one;" for "all have their conversation in the lusts of the flesh, and of the mind." 3. The out-breakings of this corruption through all the parts of the body; their throat, their lips, their mouth, their feet, their eyes, and all their members are together become unprofitable, and instruments of unrighteousness. As for their tongue, says St. James, it" is a world of iniquity, it defileth the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire of hell;" and lastly, its malignity and virulence; it is loathsome as an open sepulchre, terrible as one who runs to shed blood, and mortal as the poison of asps.

If man is thus corrupt and guilty, he must be liable to condign punishment. Therefore, as the prophets and apostles agree with our Lord in their dismal descriptions of this depravity, so they harmonize with him in