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 profaneness; 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 ex

tremes.

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 he is one of those who affect to be the warm votaries of reason, he is entreated 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 66 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 I appeal 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 Righteousness."

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 the children of light, upon their right, principles. Samuel desires the Israelites 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 total 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 to use, not merely sound speech, but (as the original also means) 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.

AN APPEAL

ΤΟ

MATTER OF FACT AND COMMON SENSE,

&c.

PART I.

In every religion there is a principal 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 at 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,

ead, 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 apostasy 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. 22; 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 firstborn 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 the 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 of his obstinately rebellious creature. "The imagination 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 ass's colt ;" and another, that "he is abominable and filthy, and drinks iniquity like water." Job xi. 12; 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 all together become filthy there is none that doeth good, no, not one."

Psalm xiv. 2, 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." Isaiah liii. 6; lxiv. 6.

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; xvii. 1, 9.

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, unrenewed 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 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; and they 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 fruits 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,