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.

THROUGH the first apostacy, ‘man has lost all taste for moral beauty and excel­lence; the perfections of the Deity become [Page 6] 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 7] 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,

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

‘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 11] 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 12] 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 13] 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 14] 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 15] 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 16] 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 17] 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 18] 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 19] 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 20] 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 21] 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 22] 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 23] 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 24] 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 25] 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 26] 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 27] 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 28] 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.