A sermon, of a new kind, never preached, nor ever will be; containing a collection of doctrines, belonging to the Hopkintonian scheme of orthodoxy; or the marrow of the most modern divinity. : And an address to the unregenerate, agreeable to the doctrines. : [Two lines from Solomon]

A sermon, of a new kind, never preached, nor ever will be; containing a collection of doctrines, belonging to the Hopkintonian scheme of orthodoxy; or the marrow of the most modern divinity. : And an address to the unregenerate, agreeable to the doctrines. : [Two lines from Solomon]

Table of contents

Title page

The Preface to the Reader.

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[Page]

AS the doctrinal part of the following discourse is chiefly apocriphal, it is fit the text should be so too. I have chosen the following, because it affords a seasonable admonition and caution to the reader. After mentioning it, I shall proceed, without further introduction, directly to the doctrine.

ECCLESIASTICUS III. 23, 24, 25. —More things are shewed unto thee than men understand. For many are deceived by their own vain opinion; and an evil suspicion hath overthrown their judgment. Without eyes thou shalt want light. Profess not the knowledge therefore, which thou hast not.

THROUGH the first apostacy, ‘man has lost all taste for moral beauty and excellence; the perfections of the Deity become [Page] hateful in his view; the objects of his utter aversion.’ a

‘This contrariety to GOD is innate and interwoven with the very frame of our hearts.b The authority of GOD being infinitely great, hence his law becomes infinitely binding; and the violation of it, in the least instance, may truly be said, on this account, and in this view, to be infinitely wrong, and so the crime of it to be infinitely great.’ c

‘Therefore the punishment threatened to the sinner must be an infinite evil.’ d

‘Whatever knowledge of the law and of sin the unregenerate have, it does not imply in it, any true sight or sense of the excellence of GOD'S law, or of the real hatefulness of sin; for they (still) approve of sin in their hearts—and heartily oppose and ha [...] GOD'S law, and are blind to this most important and essential article;’ e

‘—A hearty submission to, and acquiescence, and delight in, the law of GOD, rightly understood, and so a true hatred of sin, must take place, in order to any degree of true approbation of the gospel, and faith and trust in Christ.—Thus evident it is that the sinner who comes to Christ for salvation, comes as a true penitent, and that repentance, which most essentially consists in a se [...] of heart of the true odiousness and ill desert of sin, is—necessary in order to faith in Christ; and the former takes [Page] place before the latter.’ f This sense is said to be given in regeneration, which the sinner can do nothing towards, but constantly opposes with all his heart, till it is forced upon him by absolute and irresistable power. So we read,

Persons—do not, by the exercise of their own wills, or by any endeavours, do any thing towards their being born again; nor do they co-operate, in the least degree with the efficient cause. So far from this, that all their inclinations, and every act of will and exertion of theirs, is in direct opposition to it. All the exercises and volitions of the—unregenerate heart are certainly the exercises of sin.g What do they mean, who flatter sinners that they may sincerely and heartily—seek a new heart, as the condition of obtaining it? are not all the exercises of an impenitent, rebellious heart, impenitent, rebellious exercises? And does not the old heart perfectly hate and oppose a new heart? What sincerity and heartiness then is there in asking for a new heart, with a heart so perfectly opposite to the thing asked for?h Men do, in their natural state, with their whole hearts, reject the good things offered in the gospel.i The unregenerate sinner, under the greatest convictions and care to secure his own salvation, may yet in his heart, be as far from repentance and acceptance of offered salvation by Jesus Christ as ever, and really reject and abhor the good [Page] things offered in the gospel, and so be far from truly desiring and asking for them. And this is certainly the case of every unregenerate person, whatever concern and exercises he may have about his soul.k The unregenerate do oppose and reject the grace of regeneration with their whole heart.—The unregenerate heart hates and opposes a new heart, just as much as it does—Jesus Christ and the gospel; and therefore is no more willing to receive the former than the latter, but rejects it with perfect abhorrence. Therefore there is nothing which the unregenerate may be supposed to do, in order to obtain a new heart, which is not itself an act of opposition, or consistent with the most perfect opposition to that, which he is supposed to be seeking.l—The man who is the subject of this change (regeneration) is indeed active, antecedent to it: but—all the exertions and exercises of his heart are—in direct opposition to the spirit of GOD. Before this change—all the exercises of the heart are acts of rebellion, in opposition to GOD, his spirit and law.—Man is therefore so far from being active in producing this change, or having any hand in it, by voluntarily falling in with, or submitting to the divine operation, or co-operating with the spirit of GOD, that the whole strength of his heart opposes it, until it is effected and actually takes place.—This change is wro't by the spirit of GOD immediately, that is, it is not effected [Page] by any medium or means whatever. The operation of the spirit of GOD in this case, is—as much without any means, as that by which Adam's mind was at first formed. In that, there was no medium, no means made use of, in creating the mind, formed and disposed to right action. GOD said, 'let it be,' and it was. The Almighty first produced it immediately, without any co-operating means: so it is in this case; there is no conceivable medium by which this change is wro't, any more than there is in creation out of nothing. The sinners own tho'ts, exercises and endeavours cannot be a means of this change; for they are all in direct opposition to it.

I would particularly observe here, That light and truth, or the word of God is not, in any degree, the means by which this change is effected. It is not wrought by light. This change, most certainly, is not effected by light, because,—by this, the way is prepared for the light to have access to the mind, so as to become the means of any effect. This operation of the spirit of GOD, by which a new heart is given, is necessary in order to the illumination of the mind—as it is the opening of the eyes of the blind.

Unregenerate men—may see every thing in matters of religion, but the moral beauty and excellence of divine things. In this their blindness wholly consists;—and this blindness has its foundation altogether in sin, or the total [Page] depravity of the heart: by which, the heart is wholly without any degree of right or good taste, in the exercise of which alone, this beauty and excellence is discerned and relished, and is perfectly under the power of a disposition and taste which has a perfect aversion to this.—The mind that is wholly without any right taste or disposition

(as all the unregenerate naturally and necessarily are, according to this doctrine) 'is perfectly blind to this beauty' (or moral excellence of religious truths)

and must remain so eternally, unless a good taste, or new heart is given; and there is no other possible way to get this light into the mind: It is as absurd to talk of illuminating the understanding of such an one, or giving him light, in order to change and renew his heart, and give a right taste, as it is to tell of making a person that has no sort of taste, and never had, to discern the sweetness of honey, antecedent to his having any taste, and in order to it, or of causing him who has no eyes, and is perfectly blind, to see the light of the sun, in order to give him eyes to see. Therefore light is not, cannot be given antecedent to regeneration, in order to influence and change the heart or will.

m

‘Suffer me further to say, the more the Divine Character, and the things of GOD'S moral kingdom are attended to by such a mind’ (as [Page] all the unregenerate have) ‘and the more they are seen and understood, so far as they may be seen and understood, by such an one, the greater will be the mind's disgust at them, and the more it will hate them. Which way then will this light which the mind is capable of in such a state, change the heart and cause it to become friendly; or what tendency is there in it to produce this effect? If a man's taste is so formed that honey is perfectly nauseous to him, will reasoning about it, or often applying it to his palate, ever give him a true idea of the pleasant sweetness of it? So far from it, that the more this is done, the more disgust, hatred and opposition will be excited.n Therefore,’

‘The use of means (i, e. of knowledge acquir'd by the unregenerate). is so far from making their hearts better—while they continue unregenerate, that it is the occasion of the contrary, to a very great degree.—The more—the mind is awakened to attention and the greater light and conviction it has, while the heart continues perfectly impenitent and obstinate, in opposition to all this’ (which is, by the supposition, the case of all the unregenerate, till the moment of the imperceptible, miraculous change) ‘the more strong and vigorous, as well as more aggravated, [Page] and criminal are the sinful exertions of it. For the more the powers of the mind, which is wholly corrupt, are awakened and roused, the more strong and active are the sinful principles of the heart.’ o *

Lest the poor unregenerate sinner should be too much cast down by this representation of [Page] his case, he may be told, upon the authority of this writer, that the regenerate, and sanctified men do grow worse by light, as well as he; and with all their goodness about them, are, upon the whole, much more criminal, much greater sinners than the unregenerate, in God's view of them. Now if the regenerate may grow both better and worse at the same time, perhaps the unregenerate may do so too.

But read his own words and judge for your selves. Speaking of true christians, he says, ‘Every thing in them which is short of perfect holiness, or perfect obedience to this law, considered in its utmost strictness, is perfectly inexcusable, and as criminal in them, as if they were not believers in Christ; yea, much more so; for the superior discerning, light, and advantages they have, and the peculiar favors and priviledges bestowed on them, do vastly increase their obligations to perfect holiness, and so render every degree of opposition, or want of perfect conformity to the law of God immensely more criminal than they are in others’ p Again, speaking of a sinner who is regenerate, and has obtained some degree of real goodness or holiness, he says. ‘He is, in himself considered,—just [...] in the view of law, which is God's view and Judgment of the matter,— [Page] he was wholly without any holiness.’ For the proof of this he might have quoted these words of the Psalmist, The way of the upright is his (God's) delight: But he proves it thus, ‘His sin and guilt are infinite, and his virtue finite.’ q If this proposition is doubted of, it may be proved, upon the fundamental principle laid down by him in this discourse,r in this manner, The law against which he sins is enacted by an infinite authority, and therefore, although he is but a finite being, and but as a little child, and his contempt of this authority is but in a finite and low degree, yea the lowest that can be, even the least sin; yet it is an infinite evil. For the infiniteness of the authority makes the least possible disrespect to it infinitely criminal: But on the other hand, his virtue is but in an imperfect degree, and expresses only a limited measure of true respect to the authority of the law-giver; therefore, altho' the authority which he shews a honoring and dutiful regard to is infinite, yet his virtue is finite. For the infiniteness of the authority communicates its attribute of infinity only to contempt of itself, not at all to respect.

If the reader does not like this demonstration, but thinks the sin and virtue must be both infinite, upon this principle, or both finite, I refer him to this author for further satisfaction. He can doubtless tell whence it is that an [Page] ounce weight of disrespect to God laid in the scale against infinite authority ballances it, and weighs infinitely heavier, and yet that a pound weight of respect to him laid in the scale against the same authority weighs but a pound.

I trust the reader will pardon this digression.

I might add many other quotations from these writers, and others, tending further to illustrate this scheme of sentiments; in particular from Dr. Bellamy. He says, ‘The holy beauty of God's real, moral character, is what they (natural men) never had the least idea of. The most enlightened, affected, the devoutest natural man, that ever lived, as to this, is as blind, as the most ignorant, stupid sinner in the world.’ * And from Mr. Smalley's discourse on John 6. 44. The grand design of which, as I apprehend, is to defend this scheme against a most formidable objection, by proving that though it be true that natural men are under a most absolute impossibility of being brought to repentance and saving faith, till they are first renewed or regenerated; yet the impossibility of the thing is not pleadable as an excuse for their unbelief, &c. because it proceeds only from the total corruption of their hearts; and their unconquerable enmity to GOD and his gospel, which they can't possibly after or abate by any endeavours in the use of means, and so is wickedness itself, and a moral impotence, not a natural. How well this ingenious gentleman has succeeded in his design, they that read his discourse must judge for themselves.—I think it may easily be demonstrated, upon the surest principles of reason, that [Page] the sinners impotence, as his case is described, by these writers, is not moral, but natural or physical, that this gentleman has admitted very wrong ideas of moral impotence; and that by correcting them, and rightly stating the notion of moral impotence, as distinguished from natural, his building will appear to be founded upon loose sand. But it is not my present design to enter into a discussion of this subject.

I need not add any more quotations upon this scheme. Those already given are sufficient to give a clear idea of it. I now proceed to the proposed application of the doctrines, in an address and exhortation to the unregenerate, such as the doctrines will warrant and support; and will be careful not to say any thing inconsistent with them, however consistent it might be with the gospel of God: For I am not now to apply the doctrines of divine revelation to the consciences and hearts of men, but apocriphal doctrines to their understanding, by which means they may easily perceive them to be so.

Poor, unhappy men; I speak now to the unregenerate, if you have admitted the doctrines above narrated as divine truths, I pity you; you are miserably entangled: But you must admit their consequences: for the genuine consequences of doctrines are as true as the doctrines themselves. Truth is always self-consistent throughout.

[Page] If the doctrines above mentioned are true, you are indeed in a most dreadful condition, and may well be filled with horror and amazement.—It is indeed true, upon this scheme, that if you truly repent, and believe and love the gospel of God, you shall be received to savor. Shall I then exhort you hereto? I could consistently do it, upon the gospel plan, but upon this scheme I cannot, unless you are first regenerated; for, antecedent thereto, 'tis absolutely impossible that you should see the moral beauty and glory of the law and gospel, so as to be drawn to faith and repentance by means thereof; nay you can't but hate them and reject them with perfect abhorrence, Such is the character of your nature, as you receive it by natural generation. And it is wholly out of your power to alter it for the better. This can be effected only by the immediate, miraculous, power of the spirit of God without means. Your inability to believe and repent, unless you are first regenerated, is therefore truly natural, and absolute, and unconquerable by any power, even by that of the spirit of God. To command and exhort you to believe and repent before you are regenerated and have a new heart given you, is therefore just the same as to require and exhort a man born deaf to relish the harmony of good music before his ears are opened, or a man born blind to see and admire [Page] the beauty and glory of the visible creation, before his eyes are opened, or he has given him a faculty of seeing this beauty. Such a command and exhortation to the naturally and incurably deaf and blind, under a shew of compassionate good will, and accompanied with threatenings of the most terrible punishment if they obey not, would justly be esteemed by all men, a most insolent and cruel insult upon their misery, accompanied with the basest hypocrisy.—So you see I am restrained, by this scheme of doctrines, that I can't consistently, and without great absurdity, expect or exhort you to believe and repent, unless you are first regenerated.

Shall I then exhort you to become new born, and get a new heart and a good taste, that you may become able to see and relish the moral beauty and excellence of the law and gospel of God, and so believe and repent? Alas! you are under a natural, and unconquerable inability to this. The spirit of God must first implant in your hearts a new spiritual taste, by an immediate, creating act of almighty power. To exhort you in this manner, antecedent to the exertion of this creating act of divine power, would be equally absurd as to exhort a child unbegotten, not yet conceived in the womb, to come forth, and be born, and behold the glorious light of this world; or to have exhorted blind Bartimeus [Page] to behold the face of the Saviour before he had opened his eyes.

Poor, unhappy souls, what advice shall I give you then? Shall I exhort you to attend diligently and earnestly the instituted means of grace and regeneration, in hope that God will, in this way of your seeking him, cause his spirit to breath new life into your souls? Shall I exhort you to submit to his influence, and struggle, and strive under it, for the new birth? I could readily give you such an exhortation, upon the gospel scheme; but upon this, how am I entangled, and perplexed, and distressed for you! ‘Man is so far from voluntarily falling in with, or submitting to the divine operation, or co-operating with the spirit of God, in this work, that the whole strength of his heart opposes, until it is effected and actually takes place.—This change is not effected by light, or by any medium or means whatever. So far from this, that the more any one is enlightened and convinced, and strives, antecedent to this change, the more does he hate and abhor the saving truth.’ In so false a light does it necessarily appear to the unrenewed mind. How then can your wicked endeavours and strivings for, or rather against the new birth help you? Or how can they be a means to this end, unless the spirit of God loves to be resisted, and is pleased in being [Page]grieved? In all you do, or can do, you only row backwards, and wax worse and worse.—You will say, this is totally discouraging.

But Mr. Hopkins says, though you do grow much worse in the use of means, yet there is great and sufficient incouragement to continue in the earnest use of them. For without this you can't obtain that measure of doctrinal knowledge, without which God does not ordinarily regenerate men. He gives this reason of it, viz. That if God should regenerate sinners before they have attained a good degree of speculative knowledge, the new creature would have no food to feed upon, but must lie dormant in the heart and wholly unactive. See his discourse on the promises, p. 129—133, and sermon on John 1. 13. p. 54—59. He says in particular, p. 5 [...], ‘The unregenerate sinner is capable of attaining to a sense of every thing in religion, except moral beauty and excellence, and what depends upon this.—Which sense prepares the mind to exercise christian holiness when renewed, and without which there can be no proper foundation and preparation for it.’ This sense, according to this writer, and all the writers upon this scheme, is a very wrong sense, a false view of the things of religion; so very wrong as that the mind discerns no moral beauty or excellence in them, but they appear ugly, hateful, and as objects [...] [Page] aversion. And yet without this wrong sense and view of these things ‘there can be no proper foundation and preparation for the mind to exercise christian holiness, when renewed.’ It would certainly be as well for the new creature to have no food at all, as to feed upon this false knowledge of divine things, which is equivalent to none, and is none to any practical purpose. And so this gentleman acknowledges, and owns that the knowledge the unregenerate sinner is capable of, is no foundation or preparation for the exercise of holiness. If he contradicts himself, I am not answerable therefor. But take his own words, and judge for yourselves. ‘When God gives a new heart in regeneration a foundation is laid in the mind for discovering the truths of the gospel in their real beauty and excellence, to which the unregenerate heart is wholly blind. a By this the way is prepared for the light to have access to the mind so as to become the means of any effect. b—The work of the Spirit of God, by which persons are regenerated—lays the only foundation for holy exercises of heart.c—It is (in) the exercise of a right or good taste only, (given in regeneration) that the things of the Spirit of God are seen, which are the objects of faith, and in the discerning of which faith consists. No mere speculations, [Page] nor any thing that mere intellect is capable of, can give the idea of any thing properly moral. Therefore the presence of the idea in the mind, of God's moral character, and so of the character of Christ, implies right exercises of heart.’ d That is, a new heart rendering the mind capable of receiving this idea, must preceed. So your great and sufficient encouragement to attend the means of knowledge and grace, according to this scheme, comes to this, viz. That God will not form the new creature in you unless you first lay up in your minds a sufficient store of speculative knowledge for him to feed upon when he is born; and yet if he ever exists within you, he will loath this light, husky food, as wholly unsuitable to his nature and taste: for among all your stores, you have not laid up for him so much as one idea of any thing properly moral. But every thing of this kind is given in to the mind after the new creature is formed.—You will tell me, this is but poor encouragement, and does not at all relieve your minds from the discouragement you was thrown into before; and that you can't understand it, that you should be required to go through a painful course of means, which make you more wicked, in providing food for the new creature, when you don't know that he will ever be born, [Page] and do know that he will never relish your provisions, but will have better food provided for him when he is born.—I answer, it is such incouragement as the doctrine before you can give: and Mr. Hopkins says it is enough, tho' there is no kind of connection between the means and the end.

Mr. Smalley tells you, ‘Your case is desperate from every quarter, but the uncovenanted grace of God.’ And yet he thus addresses you, ‘Sinners, you have really as fair an opportunity for life, according to the gospel as probationers can possibly have; as full a price in your hands as your hearts can possibly desire!’ e How these two propositions can possibly be reconciled, perhaps this ingenious writer can tell, I can't.—However true the latter may be, according to the gospel, yet most certainly it is far, very far from being so, upon the scheme I am now applying.

You have seen what a dark and discouraging aspect this scheme of doctrines has upon you, in all the proceeding views of it.—Shall I then advise and exhort you to apply yourselves to the father of mercies, by prayer for mercy, and regenerating grace? Prayer is the last resource of the miserable and sinking soul. And if you could pray, it might be a means of drawing down relief in your distress. But alas! alas! you can't pray any more than a [Page] devil, if these doctrines are true. Prayer is the expression of the desires of the heart to God for things agreeable to his will. But, by the supposition, you have no such desires, nor can. ‘You don't in the least degree, desire the good things offered you in the gospel, but reject them with your whole hearts, with perfect abhorrence.’

Shall I then advise you, as the very last resource, to pray for the gift of a new heart, by which you may pray for all other gospel blessings? I would do so, if I was applying the doctrines of Jesus Christ. But these new doctrines shut your mouths, and mine too. For, according to them, you can't desire a new heart till you have it, but ‘do perfectly hate and oppose a new heart, and reject it with perfect abhorrence. With what sincerity and heartiness then can you ask for a new heart?’—That melancholy groan which I hear among you, pierces my heart with pitying grief for you:—But I have one thing to tell you for your consolation; though your present condition is very unhappy, yet if you believe the doctrines of Jesus Christ, and are awakened to due concern for your souls, you may pray to God, in his name, to be merciful to you as miserable sinners, and give you a new heart. For under the influence of his common and preparatory grace, you may be enabled to desire and pray for special; and he [Page] will not be offended with you therefor, altho' your desire does not spring from the highest and best principles. And it is certainly some relief to distressed souls to be allowed to pour out their griefs before the Father of mercies.—But if you are so weak as to believe the words of men rather than those of God, no wonder if you are involved in inextricable perplexities, and tormented by them.

Such as believe the scheme of doctrines above related, should form their prayers according to it, otherwise they will lie against their own belief: and if they do so form them, their prayers will be an abomination to God, and all religious beings.

It they would pray according to their speculative belief, they should use some such form as the following. ‘Upon a request made by a certain gentleman to one in the new scheme, (both of Connecticut) that he would send him a form of prayer for an unregenerate sinner to make, consistent with his sentiments, the following form was sent.’

‘O Lord Almighty, great and terrible, I am a poor miserable sinner, rationally convinced that I am lost and undone, without help. Have no love to thee, nor desire to be holy, nor accept of mercy as offered. And though I hate holiness, and even heaven itself, yet I dread hell more. O save me,&c.&c.’

[Page] This I received from the requesting gentleman, with liberty to make this use of it; whose veracity may be absolutely depended on.—Enquire not concerning names since they are secreted, and the publick has no interest in knowing them.

I subjoin another form, which takes into view more of these doctrines, fitted to the case of the most awakened and concerned.

‘O Lord I am a most vile, miserable creature, turned devil, f as all mankind are, and was so from my birth. I have indeed gained much more doctrinal knowledge of thy revealed truths than any careless sinner can attain to, and am deeply convinced of my undone state, and terribly afraid of falling into hell, and have taken a great deal of pains to escape, but all to no purpose: I grow worse and worse, and can't help it.—I see too that salvation is freely offered to me in Jesus Christ, on condition I am truly willing to accept it, and come to him for it. But I perceive it is a holy salvation, and that Jesus Christ is a holy savior, and proposes to save me from sin, as well as from hell, and engage me in a holy life, and has prepared a holy and virtuous happiness for his followers. Now I don't, I can't desire such a salvation, and am not at all thankful for the offer of it: [Page] and though I dread the prospect of final misery, yet, upon the whole, I refuse the offer, and really hate such a salvation, and reject it, with all the holy and good things contained in it, with my whole heart. I have a natural, inwrought, unconquerable enmity to thy moral perfections. I can see no beauty and excellence in moral truth and virtue, but these are the objects of my natural, utter and unconquerable aversion, and must be so eternally, unless it pleases thee to give me a new heart, and true moral taste and relish, by the exertion of miraculous power. O, how miserable am I!’

‘O Lord have mercy on me, and give me a new heart.—But, O dreadful! I must retract this request: I do but lie in making it. I don't truly desire a new heart, but hate it, and reject it with perfect abhorrence. g So my minister tells me. I could pray to be saved from misery, and allowed to live for ever happy in sin. But this, I know, will not, and ought not to be granted. So I find I can't pray at all, though I attempted it, any more than a devil. So dreadfully do these doctrines, which my minister teaches me to believe, shut up the way against me. O, how am I perplexed, distracted, and rent sore, like one possessed by an unclean devil! How [Page] can I live so, how can I die! Cursed be the day of my birth. Amen.’

Now to conclude the whole, I hope my readers have attended to all that has been offered, with calm impartiality. If they have, I presume they are fully convinced that the above scheme of doctrines is abominably wrong, and that they are strongly guarded against the infection of these fatal errors. If so I have obtained my end in this service to the interest of truth; and they will join with me in giving humble thanks to the great and gracious father of lights, who has given us ‘the more sure word of prophecy; to which we shall do well to give earnest heed as to a light shining in a dark place, till the day dawn, and the day star arise in our hearts.’—May we all be prepared to welcome the morning light of that glorious day.

AMEN.

Notes

a

Dr. Whitaker's discourses.

↵

b

ibid p.15.

↵

c

Mr. Hopkins's sermon, on Rom. 7. 7. p 5.

↵

d

ibid. p. 7.

↵

e

ibid. p. 11.

↵

f

ibid, p. 12. 13.

↵

g

Hopkins's sermon, on John 1 13 p. 26.

↵

h

Hopkins's Inquiry concerning the promises. p. 69.

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i

ibid, p. 76.

↵

k

ibid. p. 80, 81.

↵

l

ibid. p. 93.

↵

m

Hopkins's sermon on John 1. 13 p 39, 40, 41.

↵

n

Ibid. p. 42.

↵

o

ibid. p. 55.

↵

*

Mr. Hopkins, in his answer to Mr. Mills, carries this doctrine to the greatest possible excess. If what he says upon this head, in the third section, is true, every sinner who is awakened and convinced in such a degree as he discribes the thoroughly convinced to be, and yet remains unregenerate, is certainly guilty of the unpardonable sin. For he has much clearer light and a much [...]uller knowledge of the true character of God and Jesus Christ, and his gospel, than any of the unbelieving Jews and Pharisees had, or could have, as he acknowledges, and a proportionably more direct, violent and criminal enmity to them, and malicious rejection of offered salvation; as his reasoning necessarily infers. According to him, and all the advocates for this scheme, the more any unregenerate sinner knows of God and Jesus Christ, the more he hates them. To this crisis do their doctrines and reasonings come; man must commit the unpardonable sin before he can be regenerated; and after this he can't, to be sure—A fine market indeed!—One thing Mr. Mills ought to allow to his opponent, for it is certainly true, viz. That the more his principles are understood, believed and realized by a natural man, the more in proportion will his enmity rise and point itself directly against God, as viewed in this false light. The real beauty and excellence of them, no man, in the natural state of his mind, can possibly discern or taste, but does, by nature, abhor them. His natural, moral taste must be marvellously altered before he can [...] [...]rought to relish them, and admire their excellency.

↵

p

Hopkins's sermon on Rom. 7. 7. p 9.

↵

q

ibid. p. 17.

↵

r

ibid. p. 5.

↵

*

Dr. Bellamy's essay on the glory of the gospel, p. 212.

↵

a

Discourse on the promises, p [...]

↵

b

[...]

↵

c

[...]

↵

d

ibid. p. 43.

↵

e

Discourse on John 6. 44. p. 67, 65.

↵

f

Whittaker's sermons.

↵

g

Hopkins, as quoted above

↵

§

§

[Page]

[Page]

A SERMON, OF A NEW KIND, Never preached, nor ever will be; Containing a Collection of DOCTRINES, Belonging to the Hopkintonian Scheme of Orthodoxy; Or the Marrow of the most Modern Divinity.

And an Address to the Unregenerate, agreeable to the Doctrines.

Surely in vain is the Snare laid in the Sight of any Bird. SOLOMON.

NEW-HAVEN; Printed and Sold by T. and S. GREEN.

The Preface to the Reader.

[Page]

THE writers upon the new scheme of orthodoxy, do generally mix, in the composition of their discourses, a large proportion of false metaphysics, by which, common readers are bewildered and lost, as in a fog; and twist in, truth and falsehood together, in such a manner, that many of their readers don't know how to separate them; and though something seems to them to be wrong, yet they can hardly tell what it is, and so are in danger of being drawn, and many are actually drawn in, to embrace the errors.

These errors, in their consequences, have a most pernicious, practical influence.

Sundry gentlemen of good judgment, and moral taste, conversing on this subject, have expressed a desire to have such a kind of discourse published as the following, which in their opinion, would tend to convince men, endowed with common sense, more effectually than laboured,[Page]metaphysical reasonings, in imitation of the manner of the advocates for the errors of the day.

The author of the following discourse has no other view in it than to assist those who need such assistance to see, in an easy and striking light, the falsehood and evil tendency of the new system, that they may be guarded against the fatal snare.

He has no design or wish to bring any dishonour upon the Gentlemen who have appeared in defence of these doctrines, but is benevolent to them; and would gladly have foreborn the mention of any Gentleman's name, if he could consistently. But he is sensible that benevolence to individuals is of right, subordinate to public benevolence.

These good Gentlemen are certainly men of good abilities. 'Tis a benevolent wish that they may be directed to employ them in the cause of truth only, and in particular, in detecting and confuting the unhappy mistakes they have been intangled in.

Information about this book

Title statement

A sermon, of a new kind, never preached, nor ever will be; containing a collection of doctrines, belonging to the Hopkintonian scheme of orthodoxy; or the marrow of the most modern divinity. : And an address to the unregenerate, agreeable to the doctrines. : [Two lines from Solomon]

Hart, William, 1713-1784.

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI :

Date

2008-09.

ID [DLPS]

N08838

ID [TCP]

N08838

ID [STC]

Evans 11286

ID [NOTIS]

APX5386

ID [IMAGE-SET]

11286

ID [EVANS-CITATION]

99022173

Availability

This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal. The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

Series

Early American Imprints, 1639-1800 ; no. 11286.

Notes

(Evans-TCP ; no. N08838)

Transcribed from: (Readex Archive of Americana ; Early American Imprints, series I ; image set 11286)

Images scanned from Readex microprint and microform: (Early American imprints. First series ; no. 11286)

Source

— A sermon, of a new kind, never preached, nor ever will be; containing a collection of doctrines, belonging to the Hopkintonian scheme of orthodoxy; or the marrow of the most modern divinity. : And an address to the unregenerate, agreeable to the doctrines. : [Two lines from Solomon], Hart, William, 1713-1784..

Extent

28 p. ; 17 cm. (12mo)

Printed and sold by T. and S. Green.,. New-Haven; :: [1769]. (Attributed to William Hart in Dexter's Yale graduates. Date of publication supplied by Dexter.)

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