The testimony of the two witnesses, explained and improved. By Isaac Backus, Pastor of a church in Middleborough. ; [Two lines from Revelation]

The testimony of the two witnesses, explained and improved. By Isaac Backus, Pastor of a church in Middleborough. ; [Two lines from Revelation]

Table of contents

Title page

ADVERTISEMENT.

THE TESTIMONY of the TWO WITNESSES.

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[Page]

THE TESTIMONY of the TWO WITNESSES.

REVELATIONS XI. 3.

And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophecy a thousand two hundred and threescore days clothed in sackcloth.

THE most important events, from the apostolic age to the end of time, are exactly described in this book; among which the affair of these two witnesses has a peculiar place. Who they are, why called two and no more, how they prophecy, and the effects thereof, are questions which have puzzled many, and have caused much controversy. Such darkness has attended it, that many serious minds have been for avoiding any concern therewith. But since a blessing is pronounced upon those who shall read and hear the words of this prophecy, and keep the things which are written therein, how can any be willing to disregard such blessedness? Therefore, with earnest desires after it, let us attempt a brief answer to the above inquiries.

I. WHO are these two witnesses? In the words following we are told, that they are the two olive-trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the [Page]God of the earth. This refers to the state of the church soon after her return from Babylon. That return was encouraged and promoted by the civil power; but when her enemies, by false accusations, procured a counter order from thence, the Jews neglected the house of God, and pursued their own private concerns. Thus they went on for a number of years, and then the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, were sent to reprove and expostulate with them for this iniquity, and to call them to repentance and reformation; to promote which, a candlestick, all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and an olive-tree on each side, was set before one of these prophets. And upon his enquiring what it meant, the answer was, "This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbable, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts: who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbable thou shalt become a plain, and he shall bring forth the head-stone thereof with shouting, crying, grace, grace, unto it." Zech. iv. 2—7.

THE work they were called to, was to build the house of God; the mountain in the way of it was the opposition of the world; Zerubbable was their governor, whom the spirit of God would carry through all difficulties so as to finish his house, and free grace should have all the glory. The candlestick represented the church of God, the oil his gracious influence, and the two olive-trees the medicines through which it was communicated; for they emptied the golden oil out of themselves, ver. 12. So says our Lord, Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth, John xvii. 17. Among his ancient people oil was made use of for food, for medicine, for ornament, for consecration, and for light, especially in their tabernacle and temple.

[Page] THE Manna which was their food for forty years in the wilderness, tasted like fresh oil; and it was to make them know, that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Num. xi. 8. Deut. viii. 3. Mat. iv. 4. Every word of his feeds the soul, when received by faith. Oil was also of a kind and healing nature, and for that end was poured into the wounds of the man who fell among thieves; and of how much greater efficacy is grace to wounded consciences? Oil likewise made their faces to shine; which was but a shadow of the beauties of holiness that shine in willing converts. Psalm civ. 15. cx. 3. Anointing was required in all their consecrations. The tabernacle, and all its rich furniture, with the priests who ministered therein, were consecrated in this way: and oil had a special place in their public offerings. Yea, with an horn of oil David was anointed king over the Israel of God; all which were shadows of the head and members of the Christian church, that spiritual house, that holy and royal priesthood. 1 Pet. ii. 5, 9. Rev. i. 5, 6. And the oil for light, in the Jewish tabernacle and temple, represented the influences of the holy Spirit, whereby the gospel church is made the light of the world, and the pillar and ground of the truth. Mat. v. 14. 1 Tim. iii. 15, 16.

II. BUT why are these witnesses called two and no more? In Zechariah's time there was but one testament, as well as one church; what then was intended by the two olive-trees? Answer, The occasion and design of witnesses is to prove points of importance which are disputed, especially in the affairs of government: and all such disputes in our world came in by calling in question the truth and equity of God's revealed will, whereby all ought to be governed. [Page]And for him to foretel exactly the future actions of moral agents, and his just dealings towards them; and then clearly to record the accomplishment of those predictions, with the verification of his promises and threatenings, are the strongest evidences that can be given, of his right to govern the world, and that he governs it right.

HENCE he warns all against fearing any man as his prophet, whose prophecy does not follow or come to pass. And Christ is there promised as the antetype of Moses, who must be heard in all things, upon the penalty of being destroyed from among the people. Deut. xviii. 18—22. Acts iii. 22, 23. And to these two witnesses, of express predictions, and their exact accomplishment, he makes his appeal against the brazen obstinacy, and wilful treachery of the Jews, who were transgressors from the womb. Isai. xlviii. 1—8. His prophets were mortal, but their words were not so. Many of them were verified in the Babylonish captivity, and to expose the folly of unbelief and disobedience in those who returned from it, he said, My words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us, Zech. i. 6. They acknowledged that his words were truth, and also that they were according to justice and equity; so that here were two olive-trees, two witnesses, when there was but one church. And how much deeper root did these trees take when our Saviour came, and fulfilled the law, both moral and ceremonial, and accomplished all the prophecy concerning him, which had been published from time to time for four thousand years?

[Page] HE was first promised as the seed of the woman, then of Abraham, then of Judah, then of David, in whose line was Zerubbable, the builder of the second temple; and the promise of his being made as a signet, pointed directly to Christ, the precious corner stone in Zion. Hag. ii. 23. Acts iv. 11. Matthew has proved that Joseph was the legal heir to David's crown, and Luke has traced the line from Mary up to David, whose family was reduced so low as not to be able to provide a lamb, even when the Son of God was publicly presented in his house; a greater glory than ever appeared in the temple built by Solomon. That they were so poor is evident, because the birds then brought were not allowed of, when the first-born was presented, but only in case of inability to provide a lamb. Levi. xii. 6, 8. Luke ii. 24. Well then did the prophet say, Who hath believed our report?—for he shall grow up as a root out of a dry ground. Who could believe that a child thus born could be the mighty God, the Messiah so often spoken of, who should conquer all his enemies, and establish an everlasting kingdom! None ever did believe it but such as were taught of God. John vi. 44, 45.

DAVID was so taught, and thereby was led exactly to foretel the rage of Jews and Gentiles against Christ; his being betrayed by a professed friend, and having his hands and feet pierced, and gall and vinegar given him by his enemies; his last prayer to the Father; his resurrection, ascention, and session at the Father's right-hand, with his glorious gifts to his people, and vengeance on his impenitent foes. Psalm ii. 1—12. xvi. 10, 11. xxii. 1, 16. xli. 9. xlv. 1—7. lxviii. 17—21. lxix. 21. cx. 1—6. All which, with innumerable other predictions, were exactly verified in Jesus [Page]Christ; so that though John, who came to prepare his way, was a burning and shining light, yet his greatest witnesses were the works, which were foretold by the Father, and finished by the Son. John v. 36. viii. 17, 18. The apostles explained the prophets, and recorded the perfect accomplishment of their predictions, and also the laws and orders of the gospel church; and upon this foundation both Jews and Gentiles had access by one Spirit unto the Father, and both partook of the root and fatness of the olive-tree. Eph. ii. 18—22. Rom. xi. 6, 17. Thus the two candlesticks appear to be the old and new testament churches, and the two olive-trees, the special laws and institutions given to each of them, through which God communicated his grace. Twelve patriarchs constituted the first, and twelve apostles the last of these churches; and their union is undoubtedly represented by the twenty-four elders whom John saw. The apostles were set before the prophets, as their true interpreters, in the first building of the Christian church, and so they will be in her triumph over Babylon. Rev. v. 8, 9. xviii. 20.

III. HOW do these witnesses still prophecy, since the volume of inspiration is compleated? Answer, As the nature and order of the first creation, the primitive state of man, his fall, and the only way of recovery, as well as the future state of rewards and punishments, could not have been clearly known by him without pure revelation, so none can preach these great articles aright without the spirit of faith. Those who are in the flesh, cannot please God. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 2 Cor. iv. 13. Rom. viii. 8, 9. The gospel ministry is committed to none but faithful men. To such only does he say, Lo I am with you alway, [Page]even unto the end of the world. 2 Tim. ii. 1, 2. Mat. xxviii. 20. And [...] they speak unto men to edification, and exh [...]tion, and comfort, they prophecy; and thereby the secrets of unbelievers hearts are made manifest, and they are turned from sin to God. And each person so turned, hath the witness in himself of the eternal truth of the record which God hath given of his Son, while others charge him with lying therein. 1 Cor. xiv. 3, 24, 25. 1 John v. 9, 10. And as with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, so with the mouth confession is made unto salvation; and saints receive one another as Christ receives them, to the glory of God. They first give themselves to him, and then unto the church by his will. Rom. x. 10. xv. 7. 2 Cor. viii. 5. Which is the exact nature of a gospel covenant; and it can no more be the duty of any soul to keep any covenant contrary to the revealed will of God, than it can to fear man instead of him. And these spiritual weapons were more extensively victorious in the apostolic age, than the Roman sword had ever been. And as God has ever governed the world with a special regard to his elect, in and by whom his witnesses are held up, so their cries have procured blessings or plagues upon the earth, as often and as far as their wills have been one with his will. 1 John v. 14, 15. Luke xviii. 7, 8. James v. 17, 18. Also the light which they have held up, has been terrible to guilty consciences; therefore they are truly said to smite the earth with plagues as often as they will, and to torment its inhabitants. Context, ver. 5, 6, 10.

IV. WHY do these witnesses prophecy so long in sackcloth? Answer, Because the beast bears sway all that time; only his reckoning is by months, and theirs by days. Rev. xi. 2, 3. xiii. 5. His kingdom [Page]was founded in darkness, while they are the children of light; and months are named from the moon, which rules the night, as the sun does the day. The ceremonial law put a specialty upon every new moon; but when Christ came he took that hand-writing out of the way, nailing it to his cross, and warned his church against being brought into bondage, under those weak and beggarly elements, by deceitful philosophy, and the commandments of men. Gal. iv. 9.10. Col. ii. 8—23. The fundamental order of his kingdom is, that none can see it, nor have any right to power in it, until they are born again; and also that all striving about who shall be the greatest, is excluded therefrom. John i. 12, 13. iii. 3. Matt. xviii. 3, 4. xx. 24—27. Lordship one over another is here declared to be of the Gentiles; and by them is the holy city trodden under foot the forty and two months wherein the witnesses prophecy in sackcloth; which has ever caused mourning in themselves, and their being despised by others. And mourning in themselves, and being despised by the world, are undoubtedly the ideas intended by that cloathing. And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit, shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them, and their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people, and kindreds, and tongues, and nations, shall see their dead bodies, three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them who dwelt on the earth. Rev. xi. 2, 3, 7—10.

[Page] AND how exactly does this describe the present state of things through the world? How is truth fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter? A dead body or form of it is kept above ground, but how is its life and influence shut out by men in power? This city is so large as to include the place where our Lord was crucified; which was done by the accusations of church officers, enforced by the secular arm. And within this city will be found all the blood which has been shed under the Christian name. It is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt. The spirit of Sodom was pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness; neither did they strengthen the hands of the poor and needy, but were haughty and daring in their abominations before God. Ezek. xvi. 49, 50. Egypt reaped great advantages by the Israelites; but turned them all to gratify their own lusts, and most cruelly to oppress the very people from whom they derived those advantages. And how full is the word of this spirit in our day!

THE beast that overcame and killed the witnesses, came out of the bottomless pit. In his first form he arose out of the sea, and in his second he arose out of the earth; but then he exercised all the power of the first beast. He was as spotted as a leopard, as cruel as a bear, and as terrible as a lion; yet he was very changeable. He was, and is not, and yet is. He is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. Rev. xiii. 1—12. xvii. 8—11.* Now compare these characters with plain [Page]facts. Christ commands his servants to let the children of the wicked one, grow together with his children, in the world, until the end of it; while he commands his church to put away wicked persons from among them. Mat. xiii. 30, 38. 1 Cor. v. 12, 13. But leopards, bears and lions, are not more opposite to the tender feelings of humanity, than many are to this liberty and purity. When the only true head of the church was desired to interpose his influence in the division of an estate, he said, Man, who made me a judge, or a divider over you? And he commanded his ministers to depart out of every city, where his gospel was not freely received, and not forcibly to carry away so much as the dust of their feet. Luke x. 7—12. xii. 14. But all earthly heads of the church have ever done the contrary.

THE head of the church of Rome arose out of the raging confusions of the Roman empire, by a mystical confounding of Jewish ceremonies with Christian worship, which is as bottomless as the ocean; and he assumed the power of dividing all the world among his votaries. No sooner was our American world discovered, than he, the very next spring, presumed to dispose of it in as ample manner, by a formal deed, as any man could of his [Page]farm. And when temporal princes were set up as heads of the church, they exercised the same power. In each nation, their head, which arose out of the earth, set up by the people, like a harmless lamb, yet spake like a dragon, under the influence of the two horns, of church censures and corporal punishments. All our American charters were given from that power; and from thence came our late most cruel war. The society in London who sent their missionaries into our colonies, had an annual sermon delivered before them, by the bishop of Glocester, on Feb. 21, 1766, wherein he said, "The spreading of GENTILEISM in the colonies, calls for our rejected charity."† And the next month it was resolved in Parliament, that they had a right to BIND US IN ALL CASES WHATSOEVER.—And before said society, on Feb. 20, 1767, the bishop of Landaff accused the inhabitants of these colonies of being "infidels and barbarians;" which, said he, "was contrary to the pretences and conditions under which they obtained royal grants and public authority." And after expressing his desires and hopes of the speedy establishment of bishops here, he said, "This point obtained, the American church will soon go out of its infant state, be able to stand upon its own legs, and without foreign help support and spread itself. Then the business of this society will have been brought to the happy issue intended." ‡ And the tea act, which brought on the war, was passed that year. Thus all the blood that was shed therein, was procured by the accusations of church officers, enforced by the sword.

AND we are to remember, that the beast which John saw had a mouth like a lion; a beast that goes [Page]forth to seek his prey in the night, and does it by sitting up a dreadful roar, and then listening for the noise of creatures in their flight, and pursuing them by the ear and not the eye; for when the morning cometh they retire into their dens. Psalm civ. 20—22. So, in a very dark time, twenty thousand mercenaries were brought from Germany, to add terror to the roarings of the British lion, who blindly pursued his prey, from the lofty mountains of Canada, to the plains and thickets of Carolina and Georgia, but could not catch it. Yet this bloody chace was no sooner over, than the merchants of Babylon, even the great men of the earth, filled this country with her splendid and costly wares; by means of which public credit, or the faith of government in America, has been bought and sold for a trifle. And the spirit of pride and luxury, like Sodom, and of tyranny, like Egypt, has prevailed amazingly. No effectual care was taken to secure a medium of trade among us, and yet public and private debts are demanded with great rigour; as if brick could be made without straw. Yet hereby the word of God is verified, which is infinitely more precious than gold.

UNDER the plausible pretences of religion and government, the worst of evils have long been covered among all nations; but God has promised to destroy this covering, and to reveal and consume the man of sin, by the spirit of his mouth, and the brightness of his appearing. Isai. xxv. 7.2 Thess. ii. 3—12. Towards which he has now made great advances. Calling in question the truth and equity of God's revealed will, and sitting up the inventions and will of man against it, was the way whereby sin and death came into our world. The first Adam, our public head, revolted from heaven, and [Page]seized upon the earth as his own; and we all bear his earthly image, until we are born again, and so are changed into the image of our second head, the Lord from heaven. Rom. v. 12—21. 1 Cor. xv. 21, 22, 47—49. To prepare whose way several eminent men were raised up, in different ages; as Noah, to save the human race from compleat destruction by the deluge, and Abraham, to be the father of the church of Israel; each of whom were eminent types of Christ, as Moses also was of his prophetical, Aaron of his priestly, and David of his kingly offices. But in the antichristian apostacy, the veil of the ceremonial law was drawn over the truth and glory of the gospel. The covenant of circumcision, which Jesus had nailed to his cross, was taken from thence, and called the covenant of grace; from whence it was declared that dominion is founded in grace. Common believers were put in the place of Noah and Abraham, and officers in the place of Moses, Aaron and David; and a successive power in officers has been held up as a sacred thing ever since. Teachers procured the crucifixion of our Lord, by saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend; and an appeal to the king's laws, has been the refuge of hirelings in every age: But how has God now rent away this veil of darkness?

FOR no man can claim any power in our government that was not lately derived from the consent of the people, without appearing an enemy to his country; and this authority is acknowledged to be good by the greatest Princes in Europe. And money forms the only qualification of the electors of our highest rulers; and it was a sorcerer who first offered money for power in the Christian church; and by such sorceries the whore of Babylon has deceived [Page]all nations. Acts viii. 18—21, Rev. xviii. 23. Yet many in our country still call themselves ministers of Christ, who refuse to be governed by him, and insist upon being supported by secular force. Under the law God called such the sons of Belial, and poured his vengeance on them and their followers; and the way wherein he has promised to bring wars to an end, is by exalting his house above all earthly powers, and drawing the nations freely to obey his laws, enforced in his name. 1 Sam. ii. 12, 16. Micah iii. 5—12. iv. 1—5. Col. iii. 17. Multitudes are so averse to this, as clearly to verify the prophecy of Jude, who says, Wo unto them; for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. In each of which cases man is to be seen rejecting the authority of God, and exalting self above him.

ELECTION is an honorable word with them, when applied to particular men, whose persons they have in admiration because of advantage; but when God makes use of the same word, to display the glories of his grace, men discover a perfect enmity against it. Like Cain, they would be accepted without faith in the blood of atonement; and because God gave Abel that faith, and had respect to him and his offering in that way, Cain had a bloody rage against him; because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous. Heb. xi. 4. 1 John iii. 12. As Cain was the elder brother, and government was then in families; Abel was still a good subject and never injured Cain in any respect by his having the true religion. Gen. iv. 7. Neither did true religion ever injure any man in the world; and yet what enmity have many against it! Balaam knew that God had chosen Israel for his peculiar [Page]people, who should dwell alone, and not be reckoned among the nations: Yet, for an earthly reward, he taught Balak to lay a snare, to draw them into whoredom and idolatry, and so to destroy that distinction. And Christ warns his church against this snare of Balaam, of Jezebel, and of the whore of Babylon. Num. xxiii. 9. xxv. 1—3. Rev. ii. 14, 20. xviii. 3, 4.

THE church is presented as a chaste virgin to Christ, unto whom none can be married, until, by the work of his Spirit in their hearts, they are made dead to sin and self-righteousness, and alive to God; which great change is openly declared in baptism; and it is adultery for any to profess to be his in any other way. Rom. vi. 2—4. vii. 1—6. Before this change we all love the creature above the Creator; and to go after any but him for temporal comforts, is playing the harlot. Coveteousness is idolatry; and many make a god of their belly. Hosea ii. 5—8. Eph. v. 5. Phil. iii. 19. Yet daily attempts are made to draw the saints into this whoredom and idolatry, and that with Core's language. After it was most clearly discovered that God had chosen Moses as his prophet, and Aaron as the head of the priesthood, Core gainsayed it, saying, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Num. xvi. 3. Which is the exact language of all teachers who refuse to be governed by the laws of Christ, the only antitype of Moses and Aaron. They rule the church with force and cruelty, and trample down the good pastures, and foul the deep waters with their feet. That is, they corrupt the word of God, and try all arts to darken every thing therein which condemns their deceit and cruelty. And our only way of deliverance from such evil [Page]beasts, is the way of faith in and obedience to our spiritual David. Ezek. xxxiv. 4, 18—25. Under the law he gave his people rest, on the seventh day, in the seventh year, and after seven times seven years; and under the gospel he first gives them rest, and then they work for him. Heb. iv. 1—10. But they who worship the beast can get no further than six, the toiling number, be they in units, tens or hundreds, they can never have enough; they have no rest day nor night. Isai. lvi. ii. Rev. xiii. 18. xiv. 11. Beasts act according to their carnal inclinations, without any regard to truth or equity; and so do those who empower some to judge for others about religious worship, and to enforce their judgements with the sword. This beast has often changed his name and appearance, upon which the cry has been, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And when his fraud has been detected, and his power defeated, he has soon assumed another name and form, and then has pursued the same argument. Thus he was, and is not, and yet is; though he shall finally go into perdition. Rev. xiii. 4. xvii. 8. And how earnest should all be for this great event? For then all will know, that religion never gives officers a right to the property of the people for nothing, nor the people a right to require officers to go a warfare of their own charges; and also that no birth or doings of nature can give any soul a right to the promises of grace, without personal faith therein. Ezek. xiv. 20. Gal. iii. 22. Heb. vi. 18.

NONE can be built upon the Rock without hearing and doing the sayings of Christ; and his sayings demonstrate, that the only heirs of the blessings of his kingdom, are the poor in spirit, the mourners, the meek, such as hunger and thirst after righteousness, [Page]are merciful, pure in heart, peace-makers, and persecuted for righteousness sake; to whom he says, All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets. And those who are opposite hereto he calls dogs and swine, to whom holy things are not to be given; and teachers, who by their fruits discover a contrariety to this law of equity, he calls wolves, and commands us to beware of them. Mat. v. 3—12. vii. 6, 12, 15, 24. Hence it is certain, that the distinction between his church and the world, is not carnal but spiritual. The bloody sign of circumcision was a seal to Abraham, of the faith he before had in Christ, in whom all the families of the earth shall be blessed. A descent from Abraham by blood, or a purchase with his money, were shadows of the purchase of Christ's blood, and of regeneration by his grace. But since his death, attempts to build his church upon the covenant of circumcision is falling from grace. The natural distinctions which it made among mankind, could not be countenanced by Peter nor Barnabas without dissimulation. Rom. iv. 10—12. Gal. ii. 12, 13. v. 1—4. For by that covenant Abraham could not circumcise any Gentile, until he had bought him as a servant with money; neither could he retain any such in his house without circumcising him. Kings were to come out of him, and his seed were to take the land of Canaan by the sword, when the iniquity of its inhabitants should be full, of which God was the sole judge. Gen. xv. 16. xvii. 6—14. David was the king who finished that conquest, but for the wickedness of his posterity the crown was taken from them, and was overturned, overturned, overturned, until Jesus came, and it was given to him. Ezek. xxi. 25—27. Luke i. 32. And he says to his disciples, Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision[Page]is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God. Ye are bought with a price, be not ye the servants of men. One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren. And those who laid heavy burdens on mens shoulders, which they would not move with one of their fingers, he called serpents and a generation of vipers. 1 Cor. vii. 19, 23. Mat. xxiii. 2—8, 33.

AND how full is our world of such at this time! Boston now imitates Jerusalem herein, for no man in Boston has ever been compelled to support any religious teacher contrary to his personal choice, since 1693; while her teachers and lawyers have resolutely denied this liberty to the country, and have claimed a power to compel every parish to settle and support such teachers as they have called orthodox. And at the commencement of our new Constitution, this practice was called GODLINESS, in capitals, while honesty was put in small letters. And a door was left open for the admission of Roman catholics into the highest offices in our government: to justify which, it was said, "Religion must at all times be a matter between God and individuals."§ Since which one of their most noted teachers, has published a book in London, wherein he carries his notions of the gift of grace so high as to say, "Infallibly, if the greater part of the human kind, notwithstanding this gift, and the abounding of it, are left to perish eternally, in consequence of the lapse through Adam, a broader foundation is really laid for their groaning under the damage by him, than for their rejoicing in the opposite advantage derived to the world through Jesus Christ." And he holds forth that personal doings and sufferings, [Page]either here or hereafter, will bring every child of Adam to virtue and eternal happiness; for, says he, "In what point of light soever we take a view of sin, it is certainly, in its nature, a finite evil.—And the consideration of hell as a purging fire, is that only which can make the matter sit easy upon one's mind—This is certainly most agreeable to the natural notions we entertain of the only good God.—Nor can I suppose that any soberly thoughtful Deist would ever have recurred to mere reason, in opposition to revelation, for the support of a hope towards God, if he had entertained this idea of its design and tendency."* And who can describe the joys that have been among the nations, upon the opening of such a door! Especially when it is followed with claims of infallibility, in carrying the doctrine of purgatory in London and Boston beyond what it is in Rome! How can the two witnesses any more torment their consciences?

BUT where is the Son of God all this whi [...] Since he came in the flesh, he is the only comma [...] in his church. And teachers who are influe [...] by the spirit of antichrist, are of the world, there [...] speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. 1 John iv. 1—6. In the last days perilous times shall come; for men shall be lovers of their ownselves—Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.—But their folly shall be manifest unto all men. 2 Tim. iii. 1—9. And how is this word now fulfilled? Can greater folly be discovered, than to deny our original depravity, and to hold that God intends the final happiness of every child of Adam, and yet that he must torment many of [Page]them in hell for ages of ages, before they will yield to receive it.† In the mean time, if their sufferings must procure it, where are Christ's merits? Rivers of blood have been shed between contending sects, under his name; but any man might as soon tell what was the language of Babel, as he can now tell what is orthodoxy in any national church upon earth. And as they now own, that religion is ever a matter between God and individuals, all may know that all force to support soul-guides, is contrary to religion. God calls his covenant with Abraham, the covenant of circumcision. Acts vii. 8. But men took away that name, and added the name grace to it. And all the plagues of Babylon will come upon those who do not come out of this practice. Rev. xviii. 4. xxii. 18.

BECAUSE Noah was a gracious man, and the saving of his house in the ark was a figure of our being saved by baptism; and because Abraham was a gracious man, whose houshold constituted the Hebrew church, and were commanded by him to keep the way of the Lord, good men have imagined that religion would fail from among them, if their infants were not baptized. But the experience of four times forty years in New-England, has entirely destroyed the covering of this iniquity. Our Plymouth fathers held that the church was INDEPENDENT of the world, and to be governed wholly by the laws of Christ: But the massachusetts rejected that name, and called the church CONGREGATIONAL. They both held that none had any right to a governing power in the church but regenerate persons; and that all office power is derived from Christ, by his word and Spirit, to each particular church, and not [Page]by any local succession from any other men in the world. And our Plymouth fathers held, that each church was to act as a united body, their votes being equal; but the Massachusetts held that no church act was compleat without the consent of the elders, and that rulers ought to compel the people to support them. After forty years, they allowed the children of godly parents to be active in baptism, without any account of their regeneration. At the close of the second period such were also allowed to come to the ordinance of the supper, as a converting ordinance. But an extensive revival of religion, at the close of the third period, brought many to the knowledge of the new birth, which alarmed hirelings; and the land has been filled with controversy ever since. The year 1780, compleated four times forty years, since New-England was planted; and it was a remarkable year of grace to many, and also of evidence that the name does not belong to the covenant of circumcision.

ISRAEL were not to set up any rulers over them, but brethren in their church; and adultery and blasphemy were capital crimes among them. Therefore all but communicants in congregational churches, were excluded from any vote in the Massachusetts government, the spring after Boston was planted. And they enacted the next year, "That if any man have carnal copulation with another man's wife, they shall both be punished with death."* And they hanged a number of persons for adultery, many years before they did any for heresy. When they lost their charter, their scheme of compelling the world to submit to the government of the church, was destroyed; and the world, by the help of ministers, [Page]have tyranized over the church in New-England ever since.

A CHURCH on our western borders holds that "Infant baptism is administered in a view of the parents being in covenant; but doth not suppose the infant itself, to be possessed of any right whatever, to the privileges of the covenent of grace." That their children, as well as others, are born under the curse; and that parents are under covenant obligation to train them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Therefore when a man came from Connecticut, who had been heard to blaspheme his Maker, and made suit to a young widow in their church, who had children under their care, they warned her not to marry him; and because she did it, they excluded her from their communion. But for this, the terms, grace, saving grace, were dressed up in a most ridiculous manner, and were thus held forth to the world, from the press in Hartford and in Norwich.† And as the act of that church was approved of by a number of ministers, who were unwilling to receive members by letters of recommendation from those who hold that the birth or doings of nature, can bring any into the covenant of grace, "without a particular and personal examination," the sacred warning against dogs and the concision, was turned against them from the press at Hartford, in 1780; the year wherein the other reflections against them were published there.‡ Two years after these pieces were printed in Boston, but without this clause, which truly explains their sentiments; and their testimony seemed to be overcome and killed [Page]thereby. And then the minister who had triumphed over them, turned his artillery against the baptist churches, and said, "When you re-baptize those in adult years, which we have baptized in their infancy, you, and they jointly renounce that Father Son and holy Ghost, whom we adore and worship, as the only living and true God, and on whom we depend for all our salvation."§ And what is to be our punishment?

MR. Cotton, the father of the congregational scheme, says, "The reason of the law (which is the life of the law) is of eternal force in all ages; Thou shalt surely kill him, because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the Lord thy God. Deut. xiii. 9, 10. This reason is of moral, that is, of universal and perpetual equity, to put to death any apostate seducing idolater or heretic."‖ And on April 15, 1668, Mr. Mitchel, minister of Cambridge, before the chief rulers of the Massachusetts, took another law of Moses, which says, The man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest (that standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God) or unto the judge, even that man shall die, and turned it against the fathers of the baptist church in Boston, which procured a sentence of banishment against three of them. And in the year 1700, Mr. Stoddard took the same law to prove that, "Every man must stand to the judgement of the national synod."* Their sentences were put in the place of the perfect judgements which were given from Aaron's breast-plate, which was lost in the Babylonish [Page]captivity; after which the priests who could not shew a register of their lawful descent from Aaron, were, as polluted, put from the priesthood, until a priest stood up with Urim and Thummim. Ezra ii. 62, 63. The words signify light and perfection, or manifestation and truth, † of which God manifest in the flesh hath an infinite fullness; and none are kings and priests in his church, but those who are washed in his blood, and sanctified by his grace, and such are thereby enabled to manifest the truth to every conscience, instead of handling the word of God deceitfully. John i. 14—17. 2 Cor. iii. 18. iv. 1, 2. Rev. i. 5, 6.

YET a public complaint is now made, that "A general spirit reigns against the most liberal and generous establishments in religion; against the civil magistrates encouraging or having any thing more to do about religion, than to keep the civil peace among contending sects." And the advocates for this liberty are implicitly accused of favouring infidelity. But to move rulers to exert their power for the support of ministers, they say, "The church has never been of any political detriment here, for it never has been vested with any civil or secular power in New-England.—And, God be thanked, the senatorial Assembly of this happiest of all the United States [Connecticut] still embosoms so many Phinehas's and Zerubbable's, so many religious patriots, the friends of Jesus and his holy religion; and that the Messiah's cause is here accompanied with civil government and the priesthood; allusively the two olive-trees upon the right of the candlestick (the churches) and upon the left; the two golden branches, which through the two golden pipes, Moses [Page]and Aaron, empty the golden oil out of themselves, and diffuse their salutary influence of order and happiness through the community. The congregational and presbyterian denomination, however hitherto despised, will, by the blessing of heaven, continue to hold the greatest figure in America; and, notwithstanding all the fruitless labours and exertions to proselyte us to other communions, become more numerous than the whole collective body of our fellow protestants in Europe. The whole proselytism of New-England in particular, for sixty or seventy years past, has not exceeded eight or ten thousand, while our augment in that term, by natural increase, has been half a million."‡ And one of the present ministers of Boston said the same year, "If the power of dismissing its pastors is determined to be lodged in the church, without the intervention of any indifferent persons, the clergy of New-England are of all men the most miserable."‖ But from whence came their office power? "In general (say they) the induction of the ministers of the first churches, was performed by laybrethren, and this was called ordination, but should be considered what in reality it was, only induction or instalment of those who were vested with official power. These were all ordained before by the bishops in England."§

THUS they hold their power from the lord bishops in England, who had theirs from Rome, or from the king. And rulers who have renounced foreign jurisdiction, cannot force the people to support such teachers, without violating the INDEPENDENCE of [Page]America. Yea, and also violating the fundamental laws of Christianity, which they must declare their firm belief of, in order to take any seat in our Legislature. For by those laws all elders are to be subject to the church wherein they preside, and not lords over God's heritage. 1 Peter v. 1—5. The name clergy is derived from the word here translated heritage, which ministers have arrogated to themselves, to hide their scandal of lording it over the church.* They mean thereby to claim a like power in the Christian church, as the priests had in the church of Israel. And as those priests could turn a king out of the temple, teachers who have claimed such power, have reigned over kings of the earth. 2 Chron. xxvi. 20. Rev. xvii. 18. Many of them were lately zealous for excluding the king's power from this land, who still hold their power over the parishes which they received in his name; and violence has often been used with persons who have conscientiously refused to acknowledge that power. Three men were imprisoned at Worcester for this cause, betwixt the compiling of our new Constitution, and the commencement of government upon it; and others since. And a new Law-book was published in Connecticut in 1784, which does not allow any man to live therein, without paying taxes to such teachers, or else giving in a written acknowledgement to the power that supports them. And for refusing to do it, two gentlement were robbed that fall of some lands in Woodstock, as a baptist tenant thereon had before been of a cow.

THESE gentlemen are of the posterity of the pastor of the baptist church in Boston, when their meeting-house was nailed up in 1680, at the instigation of [Page]congregational ministers. Dr. Increase Mather was one of them; but he was so clearly convinced of his error afterwards, that he freely went into the same house, and assisted in ordaining a pastor of that church. And his son then delivered a sermon, wherein he exhorted good men to go as far in communing together as they could without sin; but where any sinful terms were imposed, he says, "There the injunction of Heaven upon them is, Be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. The imposers are the schismatics." † Which things touched the heart of Mr. Hollis, a baptist gentleman in London, in such a manner as to make him the greatest benefactor to Harvard college, of any man upon earth. Yet of late, directly after three robbers were hanged in Cambridge, three baptists therein were robbed of their property for parish teachers; and when they sued for recompence, the case was turned against them in Cambridge, October 27, 1785, by the same judges who condemned the other robbers; and that notwithstanding, our constitution says, "No subordination of any one sect or denomination to another shall ever be established by law."

WHERE money is forced away from any people, and given to religious teachers, it bribes them to exert all their influence for the increase of such power; and this bribes rulers to continue in that practice. And the people are bribed with the opinion, that grace has brought them into a like covenant as Israel were in, who had a right to treat all others, both as to worship and commerce, as no others had a right to treat them. And a gift blinds the eyes of the wise, and perverts the words of the righteous. [Page]Yea, thereby the wicked compass about the righteous, therefore wrong judgement proceedeth. Deut. xvi. 19. Hab. i. 4. The characters of men are therefore out of the present question; which is not how many wise and righteous men have been thus blinded, but whether religion or government requires the cotinuance of this blindness among us?

IN 1708 the ministers in each county in Connecticut, were vested with a classical power over the churches, "upon all occasions ecclesiastical." And in 1744, the first church in Canterbury had no way to avoid hearing a candidate whom they had voted out, but by renouncing that power. Yet, for doing it, the ministers of Windham county so plainly exalted themselves into the seat of God, as to take his warning against seducers, Deut. xiii. 1—3, and to turn it against their worship, saying to the people, "If there seem to be never so many appearances of God's power attending it, you may not go after it, any more than after a false God."‡ Since which above forty thousand people in New-England have withdrawn from that sect, and the most of them have turned to the baptist denomination; who are now accused, by a minister of said county, of renouncing the only living and true God: But how does he prove it? He says, "If a baptized person is not one of God's visible covenant people, baptism is without any signification at all."‖ True: But what is baptism? It is the answer of a good conscience towards God. 1 Peter iii. 21. And this we could not do in our infancy. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, and speaking the truth in love, is the only way to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Eph. iv. 3—15.

[Page] MEN who bear the sword are to punish none but such as work ill to their neighbours, while in religion each one stands or falls to his own Master. This is good order; and none can violate it without being self-condemned, which is most opposite to happiness, the great end of government. And teachers who cause divisions contray to this doctrine, are to be marked as deceivers. Rom. xiii. 1—10. xiv. 4, 12, 22. xvi. 17, 18. This was directed to the church of Rome, from whence divisions have spread through all the world; by putting baptism before faith, and by imposing other rules of faith, than ever came from our one Lord. Ministers, by what they have done upon the foreheads of infants, have called them Christians, without their own knowledge or choice; and rulers, as far as they could extend their power, have forced all to support such teachers, or else to give in a written acknowledgment to the power that did it. Which two points exactly answer to the two parts of the body, on which the beast caused all to receive his mark; and the church obtains victory over him gradually. Rev. xiii. 16—18. xv. 2. Our fathers, when they came to this country; seemed to have gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image; but his mark, and the number of his name, are among us to this day.

GOD always required a liberal support for his worship and ministers, and cursed the blessings of those who refused to obey him herein. The best rulers in Israel, by word and example, stirred up the people freely to bring it in; and then, in concert with church officers, took care to secure it, that it might be appropriated according to his appointment; but they did not collect it by force. So now, ministers are called to watch for souls as they who must give account; and their hearers are commanded to communicate [Page]unto them in all good things, as they can answer it to God who is not mocked. Each one is also required to communicate unto the poor, as God hath prospered him, who loveth a chearful giver. § Thus rulers, ministers, and people, are all taught to act towards each other as they can answer it to God, in whose hand their life and breath is; and who only can prosper or blast any of their designs as he pleaseth. And he assures us that all worship and fear which is taught by the precepts of men, is vain worship, and will worship. Isai. xxix. 13—21. Mat. xv. 9. Col. ii. 22, 23. Yet truth is now so much fallen in the street, and equity is so much shut out, that they who depart from these evils are daily exposed to be made a prey of, and have no appeal but to HIM who says, "According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies, to the ISLANDS he will repay recompence; so shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; when the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him." Which standard is the REDEEMER, to whom the Father says, "This is my covenant with them, saith the Lord, my Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and forever." Which prophecy is applied to future times, which will be life from the dead. Isai. lix. 14—21. Rom. xi. 15, 26. So in our context the [Page]resurrection of the witnesses is followed with vengeance on their enemies, and then with great voices in-heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. And he will be so far from teaching any that grace abates their obligation perfectly to obey his law, that his ARK will be seen, wherein it is kept whole. The mercy-seat, the only meeting place between God and his people, was just as long, and just as broad as the ark. Exod. xxv. 21, 22. Rev. xi. 19. By one offering Christ has perfected forever them who are sanctified; upon which foundation they come boldly to the throne of grace, and obtain mercy and grace to serve God acceptably, who is a consuming fire. Heb. iv. 16. x. 14—22. xii. 28, 29. His seed of grace in their hearts can no more be reconciled to sin, than fire can to water; and he will make it victorious over all corruption, which insures their final perseverance. 1 John iii. 3, 9. v. 4, 18—20.

PARTY names, and worldly distinctions, have deceived men amazingly; but revelation assures us, that the essence of Christianity is TRUTH and LOVE, and that all DECEIT and CRUELTY is of antichrist and the devil. The number of the beast is the number of a man; and those who obtain a full victory over him, stand and act entirely upon the word of God, compared to glass, for the clear views it gives, both of him and of themselves, and to fire, for its powerful and purifying influence. And their song unites the laws of Moses and the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou king of saints. 2 Cor. iii. 18. Jam. i. 23. Jer. xxiii. 29. Rev. xv. 2, 3.

[Page] SAINTS are his kingdom, his church, in distinction from all others; and the justice and truth of his ways is their joyful theme. Moses says; "He is THE ROCK, his work is perfect; for all his ways are judgement; a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is he.—Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day; which ye shall command your children to observe to do all the words of this law: for it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life." And the Lamb says, "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. The Spirit of truth will guide you into all truth." Moses says, "Their rock is not our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges: For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter. Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps." And the Lamb says "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do: he was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.—He is a liar, and the father of it." Deut. xxxii. 4, 31—33, 46, 47. John vi. 53, 63. viii. 44. xvi. 13. And in evident reference to this song of Moses, the first man that offered money for power in the Christian church, was declared to be in the gall of bitterneses, and in the bond of iniquity. And as such have equal votes for rulers, with the best saints in our land, and many of these votes are procured by spiritous liquors, how clear is the evidence that we are in the city which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt?

[Page] THE great mystery of godliness is, that God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. Which godliness has the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. And we are commanded to withdraw from perverse disputers, who suppose that gain is godliness. And this is absolutely necessary, in order to lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. 1 Tim. ii. 2. iii. 16. iv. 8. vi. 5. For it was long since allowed in England, that necessity is consistent with liberty in God, by those who denied that it could be so in men; because he is not in a state of probation, and cannot be tempted as we are.* And a late popular author in Boston says, "God was eternally good; and as he saw it necessarily, he was as necessarily good, and yet not contrary to his own will and choice." And he represents God as an infinitely good Being, "who aims at making his creatures happy without any selfish end."† Soon after which a minister nearly connected with him, denied that God put man in innocency upon so severe a trial for life as perfect obedience to the moral law; for says he, "The test of Adam's subjection to God, was a command, not of the moral, but positive kind; a command, not deduceable from reason, but knowable only by revelation from heaven.—The first parents of men, while innocent, in common with their posterity since the lapse, could have obtained life in no way but that of grace through faith." ‡ And in 1784 he published a book in Boston, the title page of which informs us, that it is to give a view of man "as an intelligent [Page] moral agent; having within himself an ability and freedom to WILL, as well as to do, in opposition to NECESSITY from any extraneous cause whatever."

THUS have men denied the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ, and have turned his grace into lasciviousness. Jude 3.4. For if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful; HE CANNOT DENY HIMSELF. His promise and his oath are two immutable things, in which it was IMPOSSIBLE for God to lie. And as Christ had engaged to fulfil the law for his people it was not POSSIBLE for him to escape death, the penalty of it. And a clear view of the law, as holy, just and good, and of the infinite excellency of Jesus and his righteousness, laid a NECESSITY upon Paul to quit all confidence in the flesh, and freely to preach the gospel through the world; yea, and to warn the churches against teachers of opposite doctrine, as being dogs § and evil-workers, contrary to the spirit of circumcision? 2 Tim. ii. 13. Heb. vi. 18. Mark xiv. 35. Rom. vii. 7—12. 1 Cor. ix. 16. Phil. iii. 2—9. Saints CANNOT but hearken unto God, and speak the things which they see and hear of him. Acts iv. 19, 20. Hence a WILL in man opposite to NECESSITY from any cause without himself, is ENMITY against God, and cannot be subject to his law, which is to love him with all our powers, and to love our neighbours as ourselves; upon which Christ says, This do, and thou shalt live. Luke x. 28. And to hold that these terms are severe, is to hold that there is something unlovely in Him, whose revealed will is the only perfect law of liberty. James i. 13—25. To imagine that grace exempts us from the perfect authority of the moral [Page]law, shields the mind against conviction; for sin can only be known by the law. And to imagine that necessity is inconsistent with our liberty, exalts the mind above being bound by promises and oaths, and so above all government. Hereby men who make merchandise of the people, and promise them liberty, are themselves the servants of corruption. 2 Pet. ii. 3, 10, 19. For oaths are to lay a necessity upon officers to be faithful, and upon witnesses to speak the truth; and when the opposite of this prevails, judgement is turned into wormwood, instead of running down as free and refreshing waters. Amos v. 7, 24. And an eminent author in England informs us, that these evils have prevailed so far in the British empire, that about a million perjuries are committed therein annually; ‖ the chief of which are in their management of the merchandise of fine wares, and of slaves and souls of men; in which America has also had a dreadful share.

No property can be held, nor government maintained, if the express condition thereof is violated with impunity. And the highest degree of moral obligation, is to believe and obey all the revealed will of God, who is the only fountain of all goodness and truth. And when Adam took and eat of the forbidden fruit, he became a robber and a rebel; and it is only of mercy that all his race are not consumed. Lam. iii. 22, 39. And scornful men, who go to the king with their ointment, and build their hopes upon the life of their own hands, are in covenant with death, and at agreement with hell. But God will dash and confound all their schemes. Isaiah xxviii. 14—20. lvii. 9, 10. He declares with an oath, that if Noah, Daniel and Job were in the [Page]land, they should deliver only their own souls by their righteousness; and also that he has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Ezek. xiv. 20. xxxiii. 11, 15. But the ways of men are so unequal, as often to recur to his sayings about personal agency, to prove that we were not made sinners in Adam, and that we cannot be made righteous by faith in what Christ has done for us, while they are as fierce as bears and lions against allowing others equal liberty with themselves. For if death be the wages of sin, and eternal life the free gift of God, which he may bestow on whom he will, while he pays others their just wages, it is infinitely dangerous for any to indulge their lusts, and to neglect the great salvation. Neither could men gratify pride and covetousness, under the name of godliness, if each one had equal liberty to obey God, who says, Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. Eph. v. 1—11. And he also says, I will give unto this last even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? So the last shall be first, and the first last; for many be called, but few chosen. And to deny this liberty is like the Gentiles. Mat. xx. 14—16, 25.

YET a late noted minister in Boston said, "There is no medium betwixt his being actually kind and merciful to all, and his being positively cruel and unmerciful to some." And he asserts that any system of doctrine repugnant hereto, "is absolutely and wholly false."* And his near companion has lately said, "Another power in our nature is that of self-determination, which gives rise to our volitions, [Page]and consequent actions, and is, in true propriety, the cause of them. This power in us men, whether it be called self-determination, or by any other name, is the only basis of moral obligation; unless this be first supposed, to talk of moral agency is a contradiction to common sense, and in itself a gross absurdity." Those who improve this power well, he says, "Deserve the applause of their own hearts— and have so conducted themselves as to be worthy of it."† Yet in the same book he says, "No eye but God's can take in the whole scheme of creation and providence.—The existence of moral evil cannot be conceived of without permission, at least, from the Deity.—And how intelligent moral beings that are finite, should be wholly incapable of becoming faulty, in any kind or degree, is beyond all conception." And he is forced to own that the only satisfying reason which can be given for the past and present state of things in our world is, "So it pleased a sovereign good God—Nor should we ever have heard of Christ, or of the way of redemption through him, if the motive hereto had not been within the breast of God."‡ But how this can be, and yet the choice of man be always determined by motives within himself, and he be able to exercise this power so as to deserve the applause of his own heart, we are not informed. In regeneration the soul is taught, that all is right in God's government, and that all is wrong in us, until pardon and cleansing is received from him, which we are daily to come to him for, through our heavenly Advocate. 1. John i. 8—10. ii. 1, 2. And souls who are thus reconciled to him truly say, We joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the atonement. [Page]Rom. v. 11. But this author has applied these words to "mankind universally;" and builds his scheme very much thereon. And he is so opposite to any idea of holiness or justice, as to represent that all the human race are subjected to sufferings, "not an account of any sin or sins, they had been guilty of previous to that subjection, but by the will of God;" which assertion he tries to reconcile with equity, by promising every child of Adam immortality and glory in another world.§ As if God did evil, that good may come! Rom. iii. 4, 8. This writer is so partial in the law, as to strain the promises beyond all bounds, while he denies that any of its penalties mean without end. But least this should not be believed, of the words forever and ever, he asserts that where they are applied to future torments they include, "comparatively speaking, but a very small part of the wicked;" though God says they include the whole world, and all the world. Rev. xii. 9. xiii. 3. xiv. 11. xix. 3. xx. 10. And such general terms on both sides ought to be explained by comparing spiritual things with spiritual, instead of confounding natural and spiritual things together. Two resurrections are spoken of in the last of these chapters, the first of souls, the second of bodies; after which the wicked will be cast into the burning lake; and no human bodies or souls can be raised but by the voice of Christ. John v. 25, 28, 29. Yet this author denies that we read of more than one resurrection in Rev. xx. and he therefore holds that the second resurrection will be a recovery of all the damned from hell. And his key to this whole scheme, is the passage which informs us, that when Christ shall have put all his enemies under his feet, he will give up his mediatorial kingdom to the Father, [Page] that God may be all in all. 1 Cor. xv. 24—28.‖ As if making them his footstool, were crowning them with glory! So far from it, that our only time for reconciliation is whilst we are in the way with him; and he assures us that he will never be a mediator for any after they are cast into prison, or die in their sins. Psalm ii. 12. Mat. v. 17—26. John viii. 21. And to believe the contrary, is most certainly, a being left to strong delusion to believe a lie, because they had pleasure in unrighteousness. 2 Thess. ii. 10—12.

AND this is the case of those who make themselves the standard, eating the bread of others for nought, and are busy-bodies in other men's matters. 2 Cor. x. 12—16. 2 Thess. iii. 6—11. 1 Peter iv. 15. Yet this writer took these very scriptures, above forty years ago, to justify these evils in New-England;* and he has published the most for that end since of any man upon earth. Indeed in 1768 he said, "We are, in principle, against all civil establishments in religion.—The consequence of these establishments has been of infinite damage to the cause of God and true religion, in all ages, and in all places."† Then it was an infinite evil to suffer from men, in the view of him who now denies that it can be so to sin against God! And in 1778 he published a sermon in Boston, wherein he accused our rulers of indulging an accursed thing among us, because they had not forced away more money from the people for his sect of ministers. So we read that in the last days, men shall be lovers of their own selves—and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 2 Tim. iii. 1—7. And that the unlearned [Page]and unstable wrest the scriptures unto their own destruction. 2 Peter iii. 16. Which is a solemn warning to all, against thinking that finite can comprehend infinite, or that debtors and criminals are adequate judges of their own causes.

No man on earth can have any more right to use force with others about worship, than he has to lodge with his neighbour's wife. Confounding type and antitype together has been the main covering for this iniquity. But as the mother of the first son whom Abraham circumcised, was an allegory of mount Sinai, and the Christian church was built on mount Sion, when the saints shall arise and follow the Lamb thereon, being not defiled with women, Babylon will fall. Gal. iv. 22—31. Heb. xii. 18—29. Rev. xiv. 1—8. And all the late shakings among the nations are calculated, in infinite wisdom, to bring about this glorious event. As life was forfeited by sin, and could only be recovered by blood, the life of the flesh, so it was shed in sacrifices, and in circumcision, until Christ came and gave his life for us. And all men worship the beast, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Rev. xiii. 8. Abel was as [...]ly saved by faith in his blood, as any believer is now. Heb. xi. 4. And those who willfully continued in the practice of those sacrifices, after the death of Christ, were as if they slew a man, or blessed an idol. Acts vii. 48—51. Isaiah lxvi. 1—8. Some have attempted to prove that a nation was born at once, according to this prophecy, when the INDEPENDENCE of America was declared: But that glorious event is yet before us. Necessity brought Pharaoh to send Israel away with rich treasures, on the very night which God had told Abraham of four hundred and thirty years before; [Page]and necessity will bring the world to relinquish their tyranny over the church, when that prophecy is fulfilled.

NECESSITY is consistent with liberty in God, because he cannot be deceived; but men have denied that it can be so in them, because they have held fast deceit, and have refused to return. Like Sodom, they have caused his people to err, by their lies, and by their lightness; being guilty of stealing his words every one from his neighbour. Jer. viii. 5, 6. xxiii. 14, 30, 32. They have taken the promises, the property of believers, and put them to their own use, without regarding the precepts, with which they are inseparably connected. God ever requires our highest esteem, and o [...] first regard in all our conduct. The spoils of the first city that was taken in Canaan were all consecrated to him; and Israel could not stand before their enemies, until they destroyed the accursed practice of dissimulation and sacrilege from among them. And we are referred to the valley where this was done, as our only door of hope of deliverance and happiness. We are there taught that the Christian name implies, that he who blesseth himself in the earth, shall bless himself in the God of truth, and he that sweareth in the earth, shall swear by the God of truth. Joshua vii. 11, 13, 15, 26. Isaiah lxv. 10, 15, 16. Hosea ii. 8—15. Rom. ii. 21—29. All true worshippers know every man the plague of his own heart; which distemper we derived from father Adam. It is a propensity to follow our own inventions, instead of upright obedience to our Creator. 1 Kings viii. 38. Eccl. vii. 29.

THE highest rulers in Israel were only executive officers; and his law which they were to execute, [Page] entered that the offence might abound; but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound; that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom. v. 20, 21. The law was added because of transgressions, until Christ came, to whom the promise was made; and he hath concluded all under sin, that the promise might be given to them that believe. Gal. iii. 13—22. The plague of sin in them, is a most powerful reason for their looking to him for healing, as the poisoned Israelites did to the brazen serpent. John iii. 14, 15. All who did not look thereto died, and all who did look, at the call of God, lived. But many plead, that if the promise is not truly ours before we believe, then unbelief cannot be a sin in us. Others insist upon it, that if we have not power in our wills to come when we please, we are not dealt with as moral agents. But grace cannot reign in us, if it cannot command our hearts and lives. The promise of Christ, Lo I am with you alway, was given to the eleven, after Judas was gone to his own place; and their only successors therein, are faithful men who teach all his commandments. Mat. xxviii. 16—20. 2 Tim. ii. 1, 2. To enforce which he says, With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved. He that climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. Mat. vii. 2, 12. John x. 1, 9. And in vain do any try to evade the evidence of his verity and authority.

HAM and Ishmael had eminently pious fathers; but what a curse did their own scornful behaviour bring on themselves and their posterity! Nimrod was a mighty hunter among them, the beginning of whose kingdom was Babel, from whence Babylon [Page]has her name; and her gallies and gallant ships have carried blood and slavery round the world. Jews and Mahometans have retained the letter of circumcision in their worship; the first of whom are monuments of judicial blindness among all nations, and the others have enslaved Asia and Africa, and are now retaliating the cruel slave-trade on Europe and America. Forcing money from any people for religious teachers, is taxing them where they are not represented; and how awfully was this evil requited to the nations in the late war! By such taxes thieves and robbers were supported in churches; and what a plague have another kind of them been to their supporters in their houses and highways! Yet the cry of many teachers now is, Cast in thy lot among us, let us all have one purse. And much of the learning of the present day has been made use of, as the old savages did of their arrows, in shooting from their hiding-places at honest men who refuse to be confederates with them. Germany has been long ransacked for stories to prejudice the people against equal liberty and believer's baptism; but how was Britain involved in debt, and America in blood, by the late forces that were brought from thence! And an eminent historian in that country assures us, that for more than a century after the death of Christ, "The churches were entirely independent; none of them subject to any foreign jurisdiction, but each one governed by its own rulers, and its own laws." After which teachers adopted a maxim from heathen philosophers, "That it was an act of virtue to deceive and lie, when by that means the interests of the church might be promoted."‡ And no man has proved that infant baptism was ever named in the world, till after the [Page]adoption of that maxim; since which the bringing of infants to a minister in the church, has been called their coming to Christ; whereas none can come to him but such as are taught of God, and such only are the children of his church. John vi. 44, 45. Isaiah liv. 1, 13.

BLIND guides among the Jews swore by gold and offerings, and not by the temple and alter whereby they were sanctified; upon which an eminent father of New-England said, "The estate of a saint is most happy and blessed, though the person never come near an office; but on the contrary, an officer, if he be not also, and first a saint, is a most wretched and accursed creature."§ Anathama is the portion of every man who loves not our Lord Jesus Christ, the only altar that can sanctify us and our gifts. 1 Cor. xvi. 22. Heb. xiii. 10—18. The national holiness of the Jews obliged them to put away their strange wives, and the children that were born of them. Deut. vii. 3—6. Ezra x. 19, 44. From whence seducers took occasion to forbid marriage, and to command men to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them who believe and know the truth: for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. 1 Tim. iv. 1—5. Family relations, with other temporal enjoyments, are, in this way, sanctified and holy to believers; and will be much more so in the latter day, after God shall pour out his fury upon the families that call not on his name. 1 Cor. vii. 14. Jer. x. 25. Zech. xiv. 20, 21. None can escape his vengeance but he that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly. he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that[Page]stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil. These will be so far from supporting teachers with the power of saying, Thou shalt give it me now; and if not, I will take it by force, that they will say, The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our law-giver, the Lord is our king, he will save us. Gallies and gallant ships shall then be a prey to the lame, whom they were designed to enslave or destroy. Isaiah xxxiii. 14—24. His word, which is the only perfect law of liberty, contains three maxims which never should be forgotten by any. First, that none should be chosen into office, but those who have been useful and faithful in private stations. Secondly, that such, like the olive, fig-tree, and the vine, prefer the yielding of good fruit and happiness to others, to any promotion or power over them, Thirdly, that the man who makes use of any bribes or party influence to get into office, or to keep himself in power, is a bramble, that would set all on fire rather than not have his will. Judges ix. 7—15. Acts xx. 28—35. Many of the primitive saints sealed these truths with their blood, and thereby overcame the great accuser. And as the way for the first coming of Christ was prepared by one who came in the spirit and power of Elias, so his future coming to reign on the earth will be introduced by the resurrection of the souls of those old martyrs; which may intend the revival of their spirit and power in the churches; for when they shall arise satan shall deceive the nations no more, and when the two witnesses shall be raised, time shall be no longer. Rev. x. 6, 7. xi. 11, 15. xii. 11. xx. 3—6. And whether both prophesies do not point to the same glorious event, is humbly referred to the great Ruler of the universe.

FINIS.

Notes

*

The Roman empire was the greatest beast in the world. Dan. vii. 7, 8. His heads appear to be different forms of their commanding power. Kings, consuls, dictators, decemvirs, and tribunes, were all fallen before the apostle wrote, when pagan emperors ruled; and Christian emperors ruled but a short time, before the little horn, the bishop of Rome, assumed the command over all the churches; to whom the ten horns gave their power. This eighth is of the seven; for his arbitrary power, which he carried to an amazing length, was enforced by the sword of the magistrate, which was first brought into the church by Constantine; and this practice was of the Gentiles, by whom the holy city has been trodden under foot.

↵

†

Glocester's sermon, p. 11.

↵

‡

Landaff's sermon, p. 7, 24, 25.

↵

§

Address before the Massachusetts Constitution, 1780, p. 17.

↵

*

Chauncy on Salvation for all men, 1784, p. 85, 87, 319, 324, 325, 361.

↵

†

P. 295.

↵

*

Prince's annals, p. 28, 35.

↵

†

Huntington's plea, p. 29. Answer from Stockbridge. p. 40, 65, 87.

↵

‡

Huntington's letters, p. 5, 1 [...]3.

↵

§

And address to his anabaptist brethren, by Joseph Huntington, D. D. printed at Norwich, 1783, p. 23.

↵

‖

Cotton against Williams, 1647, p. 67.

↵

*

Late history, vol. i. p. 376, 385. vol. ii. p. 26.

↵

†

Cruden's concordance at the word Thummim.

↵

‡

Election sermon at Hartford, May 8, 1783, by Ezra Stiles, D. D. President of Yale-College, p. 70, 72, 73.

↵

‖

Thatcher's observations, p. 11.

↵

§

Stiles, p. 61.

↵

*

Gill on the place.

↵

†

Late history, vol. ii. p. 50.

↵

‡

Late history, vol. ii. p. 37, 169.

↵

‖

Huntington's letters, 1780, p. 95.

↵

§

Deut. xxvi. 1—16. xxviii. 16—19. 1 Cron. xxix. 1—14. 2 Chron. xxiv. 9—14. xxxi. 2—21. Hag. i. 4—14. ii. 17—19. Mal. ii. 2. iii. 8—11. Luke x. 4—12. 1 Cor. ix. 7—14 xvi. 1, 2. 2 Cor. ix. 6, 7. Gal. vi. 6—9. Heb. xiii. 16—18.

↵

*

Whitby on the five points, p. 300. Chubb's tracts, vol. ii. p. 37, 40.

↵

†

Mayhew on God's goodness, 1763, p. 45, 77.

↵

‡

Chauncy's twelve sermons, 1765, p. 19, 20.

↵

§

This Huntington turned against those ministers who would not allow, that nature can bring infants into the covenant of grace.

↵

‖

Price's observations, 1784, p. 67.

↵

*

May hew on God's goodness, p. 35, 85.

↵

†

Chauncy on God's benevolence, 1784, p. 128, 138, 217.

↵

‡

Ibid. p. 170, 178, 204, 213, 279.

↵

§

Chauncy on salvation for [...] p. 27, 3 [...]. [...] 121.

↵

‖

Page 197, 294, 391, 403, 406.

↵

*

Chauncy's thoughts, 1743, p. 42, 43.

↵

†

Chauncy against Chandler, p. 152, 153.

↵

‡

Mosheim's eccl. hist. vol. i. p. 77, 155, 314.

↵

§

Robinson against Bernard, p. 217.

↵

§

§

[Page]

[Page]

THE TESTIMONY OF THE TWO WITNESSES, EXPLAINED AND IMPROVED.

BY ISAAC BACKUS, PASTOR OF A CHURCH IN MIDDLEBOROUGH.

THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS IS THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY.

REV. XIX. 10.

PROVIDENCE: PRINTED BY BENNETT WHEELER, AND SOLD BY JAMES ARNOLD, ESQ. AND THE PRINTER. M.DCC.LXXXVI.

ADVERTISEMENT.

[Page]

THE woful practice of calling evil good, and good evil; of putting darkness for light, and light for darkness, bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter, has been the main source of delusion and slavery in all ages. Isai. v, 20. But, as it has now involved the world in very great perplexities, it is hoped that this brief essay, to open the nature and evidence of CHRISTIANITY, will be candidly received; and that our dear Countrymen will be as noble as the Bereans were; and search the scriptures daily for light in this matter, which is of infinite concernment to us all.

June 16, 1786.

§

§

[Page]

AT Mr. PHILIP FREEMAN'S, in Union-Street. Boston, and at Mr. JAMES ARNOLD'S, in Providence, may be had the AUTHOR'S late Church HISTORY OF NEW-ENGLAND, in two Octavo Volumes.

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The testimony of the two witnesses, explained and improved. By Isaac Backus, Pastor of a church in Middleborough. ; [Two lines from Revelation]

Backus, Isaac, 1724-1806.

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Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

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2011-05.

ID [DLPS]

N15352

ID [TCP]

N15352

ID [STC]

Evans 19485

ID [NOTIS]

APY0978

ID [IMAGE-SET]

19485

ID [EVANS-CITATION]

99028040

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Early American Imprints, 1639-1800 ; no. 19485.

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(Evans-TCP ; no. N15352)

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— The testimony of the two witnesses, explained and improved. By Isaac Backus, Pastor of a church in Middleborough. ; [Two lines from Revelation], Backus, Isaac, 1724-1806..

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47, [1] p. ; 22 cm. (8vo)

Printed by Bennett Wheeler, and sold by James Arnold, Esq. and the printer.,. Providence: :: M,DCC,LXXXVI. [1786]. ("At Mr. Philip Freeman's, in Union-Street, Boston, and at Mr. James Arnold's, in Providence, may be had the author's late church history of New-England, in two octavo volumes."--p. [48].)

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