safety of his state; and of be coming hardened in an evil pended, for he has more need of the means of grace; and his enjoying these, does not pre-way-an awful effect, which a vent the church from warning and admonishing him of his danger. It is to be feared suspension is resorted to, in many cases, where exclusion ought to take place, and no doubt would, if the laws of Christ were impartially administered. There have been instances of persons having been suffered to remain suspended from their religious privileges for years. This is often owing to a want of firmness and uprightness in the members of a church, or from motives of carnal policy, such as the fear of losing the pecuniary support of the individual, or from false tenderness towards his relations and friends. These half measures not only compromise the honour of Christ, but often have a most pernicious influence on the mind of the offender himself. If the church manifest their decided abhorrence of evil conduct, by a prompt exclusion, this may, under the divine blessing, be the means of awakening the conscience of the offender, and lead him to reflect, that, unless he repent, he is likely to be excluded from the kingdom of heaven at all events, we are most likely to succeed in renewing them to repentance by the use of those means Christ has appointed. But if, on the other hand, his exclusion be suspended, it may be for years, he is in danger of thinking lightly of his sin; of retaining a presumptuous hope of the timely exclusion might have prevented. Though suspension, as a mode of church censure, or punishment, has no countenance in the New Testament, or the nature of things, cases may occur in which it is highly necessary. If a person be charged with a crime, and his character so far impeached, as to excite in the minds of the church painful suspicions of his guilt, though no direct proof can be adduced, in that case he ought to be suspended from communion, till the truth or falsehood of the charge can be ascertained. Under such circumstances, no church can, consistently, continue a person in full communion with them; and if he have any regard for the honour of Christ, and the comfort of his brethren, he will not desire it, But no time ought to be lost in making every necessary inquiry, and in investigating the evidence on which the charge is founded. When a man was suspected of being a leper in Israel, he was shut up till the matter could be ascertained, and then either restored to the congregation, or excluded. Lev. xiii. 13. ON ANTINOMIANISM. is to be taken in its plain and obvious meaning, it is one of the most legal sermons that I ever heard in my life. It is almost all Do, do, from beginning to end; and, I am sure, the preacher knew very well that we can do nothing: besides, as we are delivered from the law, such precepts and commands are quite useless. 2. In Luke, chap. xiii. verse 24, our Saviour says, "Strive to enter in at the strait gate." Surely, this must be a wrong translation; for how is it posIsible for those to strice who can do nothing? If they were sinners, whom he addressed, they were dead in trespasses and sins; and, therefore, of what use could it be to tell dead men to strive? or if these words were spoken only to his MR. EDITOR, You know that Arians and Socinians tell us, that many parts of our Bible are wrongly translated, and that many verses appear in our version that were never in the original. This, I know, is a very easy way of getting rid of any text they do not like; and yet, I have thought of late, that, perhaps, with regard to many other passages, this may really be the case. am sure, however, that such texts cannot be taken in their literal meaning, for that would be the most horrible Arminianism that ever I heard of; and, therefore, there must be some way of understanding them, which I cannot compre-apostles and followers; yet, we hend. Now, as I have no learning myself, for I hate it nor would I hear a man preach that was a scholar, for God does not want Greek or Hebrew to save a poor sinner; yet, I wish, that you, Mr. Editor, or some one of your learned correspondents, would just tell me whether or not some of the following texts are not either interpolations or mistranslations; or, if neither, in what way they are to be understood. I am sure they cannot be right as many people understand them; and, I confess, that they puzzle and perplex me SO much, that I skip them over, whenever they come in my way. 1. Almost the whole of our Saviour's 's sermon on the mount is of this description; for, if it know that even they, as Paul tells us, were not sufficient to think any thing as of themselves; and, if they could not even think, how, then, could they possibly strive? I have often heard a blind leader of the blind exhorting his deluded hearers to strive to agonize, &c. just as if they could do whatever they would: and this is called preaching the gospel; but it only shows that all such preachers know nothing of the plague of their own hearts, and have never been led, as I have, into the chambers of imagery. 3. Should not the passage in John, chap. y. verse 40, "Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life," have been rendered "Ye, cannot come unto me," &c. as the former seems to imply, that they might come if they would; whereas, | his knowledge, knows more I know they cannot; for Christ than the apostle Peter knew; himself says, "No man can and, therefore, I think the transcome unto me, except the lation must be wrong. There Father draw him :" and, be- are some ministers who see sides, as I am certain that plainly the folly of exhorting Christ died for the elect only, and inviting dead men, and they it would be of no avail if, indeed, choose for themselves a kind of others were willing to come. middle way, and content themselves with only warning sinners of their dreadful condition; but, I wonder they are so blind as not to see that there is just as little hope of a dead man's hearing a warning as an invitation, for he can attend to the one full as well as to the other. It is all God's work, and he does not want our help. 4. In Acts, chap. ii. ver. 40, it is said of Peter, "And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation." Now, the rankest Arminian that ever lived, never said any thing worse than this; and, I am sure, that if I were to hear a preacher tell his congregation to "save themselves," I would instantly take my hat, and walk out of the place. Now, it is very plain, that either the translation is incorrect, or I know nothing of the gospel. But not to trouble you with a long letter, I would only remark further, that in all the Epistles there are a great number of texts that I cannot understand, and I want to know, Mr. Editor, what you think of them. They seem to me to be very strange expressions; for, as the law is no rule of life to the believer, all these com 5. The same apostle, in Acts, chap. viii. ver. 22 and 23, tells Simon Magus, that he is in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity: and yet, for all that, according to our trans-mands seem perfectly useless: lation, he exhorts him "to repent and pray." I am quite at a loss to think what can be made of this passage, or how it is to be understood. I am sure our minister never exhorted 2 sinner to repent and pray; for he knows well enough, that it would be of no use, as he might exhort him as long as he had breath, but it would be all in vain, for a dead sinner must be deaf. Now, although I have often heard our minister say, that he is the only man who preaches the gospel within twenty miles of our place, yet, I cannot think that he, with all besides, as Christ himself ful- do what, I am sure, is impos- | heard that one of them, on his death bed, most bitterly lamented that he had left his place, but I suppose that this was the effect of the temptation of the enemy. sible for me to do; and, if a preacher were to tell me to do it, I would tell him, in return, that it was all downright legality; for, how could I resist the devil, or keep myself in the love of God, or lay hold on eternal life? I might as well be told to take wings, and fly to heaven at once. But, there is a great deal of such preaching in this neighbourhood-a kind of jumble of Calvinism and Arminianism together of absolute personal election by grace, and of every man's being saved, if he willof justification, without the works of the law, with continual exhortations to perform them-of man's working, and God's working in him—a sort of partnership and a great deal about salvation by Christ alone, while man seems to have a great deal to do at the same time. Waiting to see your reply to these inquiries, I remain, yours, &c. P.S. Is it not probable, that David was in a very legal frame when he penned the 119th Psalm? LETTERS From the late Rev. Mr. Newton, of No. IV. MY DEAR FRIend, I LONGED to hear from you, that I might know where to write to you, though I have nothing particular to offer. As to your settlement, I have only to say, that I pray, hope, and believe, the Lord will set you down, where, according to your own views, you ought to be. You cannot see with my Yet, the men who preach such contradictory doctrines, (for such they are, if I have either sense or religion) have the assurance to call themselves ministers of the gospel! Poor blind guides! I can see through them all, so can our minister, and he is so zealous for the truth, that he has been preach-eyes, nor I with yours. But ing all about the country, and has made no small stir in some of their churches, by opening the eyes of many of their blind followers, so that now they begin to see, that they haveed me not a little. I have taken been in darkness and bondage a copy, but as I had them not all their lives; and, I will engage from him, but from you, please, for it, that they will never listen to tell him that I am ready to to such poor teachers any more. burn it, if he has the least obIt is true, that I have lately jection to my keeping it. There you honestly mean to do his will, and I have no doubt but he will guide you. I thank you for the sight of Mr. Fuller's lines, they affect is a pathos in them, which I felt to my heart.* I bought his book which you mention, and have read it with much satisfaction; and I recommend it to others on all occasions. It is the best way of answering Dr. Priestley. He will bear dodging through Greek and Latin, but he cannot stand the test of experience. I hope Mr. Fuller's book will do more to settle the unstable, than anything which has been done yet. I think whoever has the least spiritual perception, must see on which side the truth lies. But they who are blind cannot see by the strongest light. We (meaning myself and Miss C.) had a very pleasant excursion into Hampshire; we were abroad seven weeks, and * We feel great pleasure in giving our readers these pathetic lines, written about twelve months after Mrs. Fuller's death, in a letter to Dr. Ryland. 66 "MY DEAR Brother, "Kettering, Aug. 29, 1793. My head has been very poorly of late, and my heart, on the 23d of August, much dejected! Mr. Butler, of Gretton, lately lost a daughter of twenty-four years of age: I preached a funeral sermon upon the occasion, and, riding through Corby-woods, the following plaintive lines ran through my mind: "I, who ere while, was blest with social joys, To weep unheeded, and to serve alone. "I roam amidst the dreary woods-here once Ah me! nor woods, nor fields, nor aught besides "God of my life, and guide of all my years! Dr. Ryland's Memoirs of Mr. Fuller, p. 470. I went with my wife and sister into these woods in the nut season, about seven years ago.". |