“Every one,” without exception, young or old, high or low, rich or poor (for God is no respecter of persons) “every one,” whosoever he be, that exalteth himself, and not free-grace; every one that trusteth in himself that he is righteous, that rests in his duties, or thinks to join them with the righteousness of Jesus Christ, for justification in the sight of God, though he be no adulterer, not extortioner, though he be not outwardly unjust, nay, though he fast twice in the week, and gives tithes of all that he possess; yet shall he be abased in the sight of all good men who know him here, and before men and angels, and God himself, when Jesus Christ comes to appear in judgment hereafter. How low, none but the almighty God can tell. He shall be abased to live with devils, and make his abode in the lowest hell for evermore.
Showing posts with label Q-Against Duty Faith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Q-Against Duty Faith. Show all posts
May 19, 2012
Every Sermon that makes the Gospel a Law - Isaac Chauncy
Every Sermon that makes the Gospel a Law; that press duty under a law-sanction, should not only be a matter of debate; but earnestly contended against; for the performance of duty as terms enforced by a law-sanction is a covenant of works. So that such men are preachers of a law, it’s no matter what law. Works performed under a law-sanction are legal works, and do make the covenant enjoining them a covenant of works.
Dec 11, 2011
Listening to legalizing preachers - William Gadsby
...You will never know much of your ruined condition till God has slaughtered you, and made you as dead as a sinner at the borders of hell, entirely dead, to have no help or hope in yourself of obeying the Lord in his way, or bringing anything like peace or salvation to you by it.
Perhaps the poor soul, when brought to this point, may be under the painful situation of listening to legalizing preachers; and they will tell him he must repent and believe and love God and do his duty and be decidedly pious, and then God will love him. And very often they will stretch forth their hands, and apparently their heart, wonderfully, and say, “Come now, repent now, believe now; now is the time; if you do not embrace this opportunity, perhaps you will never have another; now is the time; it is now or never.” And the poor creature, raised up with a kind of zeal to imagine that he will try to do his best, is struck dead again; and if he is to be damned that moment, he can neither repent, nor believe, nor do anything that they set him to do. He finds his heart hard as a flint and his mind in such a confused way that he can neither repent nor believe, nor have tenderness of conscience, nor love of God. And thus he becomes dead to all help or hope in self, grounded upon these legal efforts and these legal exhortations. And perhaps there may be some poor soul in this assembly to-night who is there; who has been trying for many a long month again and again, making fresh vows and promises and doubling his diligence in order to do something pleasing to God; and you feel in your very soul that the more you try the farther you are off. I congratulate you. I thank God you cannot get on; and I pray that God will never let you get on, but that every step you take you may be more and more dead, till you are stiffly dead, and without ability in your feelings to lift up a finger or do anything towards helping your own soul. And if ever the Lord the Spirit brings you to that death, by and by he will reveal spiritual life, and lead you to know the blessedness of that truth: “I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.”
Nov 24, 2011
Exclude all duty necessarily and wholly - Israel Atkinson
Salvation in every part of it from beginning to end is so of grace that in nothing is it a due from God to the sinner; and it is so according to the law of faith, as to its appropriation, possession, enjoyment, and all the means necessary thereto, as to exclude all duty necessarily and wholly. From first to last, "By grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast."
Jul 9, 2011
Robert Hawker on Duty-Faith and the Free Offer
"...They make offers of CHRIST to such, in direct contradiction to Scripture: and, instead of inviting, as JESUS did, the weary and heavy laden only; and as his servants were commanded to do, the thirsty; they invite all. Reader! I beseech you for a moment to consider this subject, and, if the LORD be your teacher, you will soon discover the fallacy of it; and learn, that such men are guided by the pride and vanity of their own heart, (as if they possessed the power of persuasion,) and are not taught of GOD... Invitations to come to CHRIST, And exhortations to follow CHRIST, are addressed only to the Church. Paul's exhortation in this place begins, finally brethren. And all his Epistles, are to the faithful in CHRIST JESUS, and the called to be saints... Cast out the bond-woman and her son, is the language of the HOLY GHOST: for the son of the bond-woman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. 2 Corinthians 1:29. 1 Corinthians 3:21-23. Galatians 4:22. to the end. Upon what grounds can men make offers of CHRIST to the world at large, in the face of these scriptures? It is like holding money to the view of a prisoner looking through his iron window on those passing by; but holding it out beyond all possibility of his reaching it... I expect that great opposition will be made to this statement, if it so happens, that my Poor Man's Commentary should fall under the eye of any of the Pharisaical characters I have been alluding to. But these things affect me, not. Those evidences I have brought, are sound, and scriptural. To show such men, that the powers of persuasion they think they possess, are more sound without meaning, as to do by them, as by the idols of Micah: taking away their gods, and what have they more? Judges 18:24... If men would, or could, read their Bibles under GOD the SPIRIT'S teaching, they would soon discover, the mighty difference, between preaching the Gospel, and inviting men to CHRIST, or making offers of CHRIST, whom GOD invites not, and to whom no offers are made. Preaching the Gospel, or preaching CHRIST, which is one and the same, is to be done to the mixed multitude, as the Apostles did. Reader! ponder well the subject; for it is highly important. If we would, or could discern, between preaching CHRIST, which, as I said before, if truly ordained by the HOLY GHOST, they are directed to do; and offering CHRIST, which is little short of blasphemy to attempt: they would shudder at the latter, and go forth with the deepest humility, and not fleshly pride, to the former. And yet, so little apprehensive are some of these self-taught men, of the vast difference, in the work; that they not only offer CHRIST without reserve, to all they meet, both in their preachings, and writings; but they urge their hearers, or readers; to an instant accepting, and to lay hold of the present opportunity, lest another should not be afforded them. If the subject was not so truly solemn as it is, one might be tempted to smile, at such ignorance, and presumption. As if their persuasion, and not GOD'S grace, was the cause of acceptance. And as if that grace depended upon the will of man, to improve it, in the moment of man's offer, or it would be lost forever. Oh! what a different statement the LORD the SPIRIT gives, of those, who received CHRIST which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of GOD. John 1:12, 13." Robert Hawker, Commentary from Philippians 4
Mar 2, 2011
Deceiving their hundreds and thousands - Benjamin Taylor
"...looking to Christ and trusting in Him are either natural acts or spiritual acts: if natural acts, the kind of teachers alluded to are right with their general invitations and universal redemption, which may prove effectual or ineffectual, depending on the free-will of fallen nature; but if these are spiritual acts, such men are wrong and must be deceiving their hundreds and thousands. Looking to Christ and trusting in Christ are not such easy things, not such common everyday things as they are represented to be; these are scarce, something like silver and gold, which men do not pick up as they would pick up stones on the road. These are not to be found just when you will and where you will. We cannot, in winter time, go into our gardens and gather roses, carnations, and tulips. No, friends; I say no; looking to Christ and trusting in Him are acts which the quickened or spiritually dead can no more put forth than the dry bones, without life, could rise in the valley where they were found." -Benjamin Taylor
Feb 25, 2011
The law of faith - John Bunyan
"Yea, a little after you tell us, that ‘The
doctrine of his sending the Holy Ghost, was to
move and excite us to our duty, and to assist,
cheer, and comfort us in the performance of it.’
Still meaning our close adhering, by the purity
of our human nature, to the dictates of the law,
as written in our hearts as men. Which is as
false as God is true. For the Holy Ghost is sent
into our hearts, not to excite us to a compliance
with our old and wind-shaken excellencies, that
came into the world with us; but to write new
laws in our hearts; even the law of faith, the
word of faith and of grace, and the doctrine of
remission of sins, through the blood of the
Lamb of God, that holiness might flow from
thence." -John Bunyan
doctrine of his sending the Holy Ghost, was to
move and excite us to our duty, and to assist,
cheer, and comfort us in the performance of it.’
Still meaning our close adhering, by the purity
of our human nature, to the dictates of the law,
as written in our hearts as men. Which is as
false as God is true. For the Holy Ghost is sent
into our hearts, not to excite us to a compliance
with our old and wind-shaken excellencies, that
came into the world with us; but to write new
laws in our hearts; even the law of faith, the
word of faith and of grace, and the doctrine of
remission of sins, through the blood of the
Lamb of God, that holiness might flow from
thence." -John Bunyan
"That man doth bring himself under the Covenant of Works, by Gospel ordinances..." -John Bunyan
"That man doth bring himself under the Covenant of Works, by Gospel ordinances, when he cannot be persuaded that God will have mercy upon him except he do yield obedience to such or such a particular thing commanded in the Word. This is the very same spirit that was in the false brethren (spoken of Acts 15; Galatians, the whole Epistle), whose judgment was, that unless such and such things were done, “they could not be saved.” -John Bunyan
"If it were by doing, then, saith Paul, “Grace is not grace,” seeing it is obtained by works" -John Bunyan
"To him that is athirst will I give; He doth not say, I will sell; but, I will give him the water of life freely (Rev 21:6). Now, if Christ doth give it, and that freely, then He doth not sell if for anything that is in the creature; but Christ doth give Himself, as also doth His Father, and that freely, not because there is anything in us, or done by us, that moves Him thereunto. If it were by doing, then, saith Paul, “Grace is not grace,” seeing it is obtained by works; but grace is grace, and that is the reason it is given to men without their works. And if it be by grace, that is, if it be a free gift from God, without anything foreseen as done, or to be done, by the creature, then it is not of works, which is clear; therefore it is grace, without the works of the law. But if you say, Nay, it is of something in the man done by him that moves God thereunto; then you must conclude that either grace is no grace, or else that works are grace and not works. Do but read with understanding (Rom 11:6)." -John Bunyan
"Men may do things from a legal or old covenant spirit" - John Bunyan
"Men may do things from a legal or old covenant
spirit when they content themselves
with their doing of such and such a thing, as
prayers, reading, hearing, baptism, breaking of
bread, or the like; I say, when they can content
themselves with the thing done, and sit down at
ease and content because the thing is done. As,
for instance, some men being persuaded that
such and such a thing is their duty, and that
unless they do do it, God will not be pleased
with them, nor suffer them to be heirs of His
kingdom, they from this spirit do rush into and
do the thing, which being done, they are
content, as being persuaded that now they are
without doubt in a happy condition, because
they have done such things, like unto the
Pharisee, who, because he had done this and the
other thing, said therefore, in a bragging way,
“Lord, I thank thee that I am not as this
publican”; for I have done thus and thus; when,
alas! the Lord [gave] him never a good word for
his labour, but rather a reproof." -John Bunyan
spirit when they content themselves
with their doing of such and such a thing, as
prayers, reading, hearing, baptism, breaking of
bread, or the like; I say, when they can content
themselves with the thing done, and sit down at
ease and content because the thing is done. As,
for instance, some men being persuaded that
such and such a thing is their duty, and that
unless they do do it, God will not be pleased
with them, nor suffer them to be heirs of His
kingdom, they from this spirit do rush into and
do the thing, which being done, they are
content, as being persuaded that now they are
without doubt in a happy condition, because
they have done such things, like unto the
Pharisee, who, because he had done this and the
other thing, said therefore, in a bragging way,
“Lord, I thank thee that I am not as this
publican”; for I have done thus and thus; when,
alas! the Lord [gave] him never a good word for
his labour, but rather a reproof." -John Bunyan
"...a man in or with a legal spirit should not, nay, cannot..." -John Bunyan
I shall show you the very manner and
way that a legal, or old-covenant-converted
professor, bear with the terms, doth take both
in the beginning, middle, and the end of his
doing of any duty or command, or whatsoever
it be that he doth do. 1. He thinking this or that
to be his duty, and considering of the same, he
is also presently persuaded in his own
conscience that God will not accept of him if he
leave it undone; he seeing that he is short of his
duty, as he supposeth, while this is undone by
him, and also judging that God is angry with
him until the thing be done, he, in the second
place, sets to the doing of the duty, to the end
he may be able to pacify his conscience by
doing of the same, persuading of himself that
now the Lord is pleased with him for doing of
it. 2. Having done it, he contents himself, sits
down at his ease, until some further convictions
of his duty to be done, which when he seeth
and knoweth, he doth do it as aforesaid, from
the same principle as he did the former, and so
goeth on in his progress of profession. This is to
do things from a legal principle, and from an
old-covenant spirit; for thus runs that covenant,
“The man that doth these things shall live in
them,” of “by them” (Lev 18:5; Gal 3:12; Rom
10:5). But more of this in the use of this
doctrine.
Object. But, you will say, by these words of
yours you do seem to deny that there are
conditional promises in the Gospel, as is clear,
in that you strike at such practices as are
conditional, and commanded to be done upon
the same.
Answ. The thing that I strike at is this, that a
man in or with a legal spirit should not, nay,
cannot, do any conditional command of the
Gospel acceptably, as to his eternal state,
because he doth it in an old-covenant spirit.
“No man putteth new wine into old bottles”;
but new wine must have new bottles, a Gospel
command must have a Gospel spirit, or else the
wine will break the bottles, or the principle will
break the command.
Object. Then you do grant that there are
conditional promises in the New Testament, as
in the moral law, or Ten Commands.
Answ. Though this be true, yet the
conditional promises in the New Testament do
not call to the same people in the same state of
unregeneracy to fulfill them upon the same
conditions.
The Law and the Gospel being two distinct
covenants, they are made in divers ways, and
the nature of the conditions also being not the
same, as saith the Apostle, the righteousness of
the law saith one thing, and the righteousness
of faith saith another (Rom 10:4-6). That is, the
great condition in the law is, If you do these
things, you shall live by them; but the
condition, even the greatest condition laid
down for a poor soul to do, as to salvation—for
it is that we speak of—is to believe that my sins
be forgiven me for Jesus Christ’s sake, without
the works or righteousness of the law, on my
part, to help forward. “To him that worketh
not,” saith the Apostle [that is] for salvation,
“but believeth on Him that justifieth the
ungodly, his faith”—mark, “his faith is counted
for righteousness” (Rom 4:5). So that we, saith,
he, “conclude that a man is justified by faith
without”—mark again, “without the deeds of
the law” (Rom 3:28).
But again; there is never a condition in the
Gospel that can be fulfilled by an unbeliever;
and therefore, whether there be conditions or
whether there be none, it makes no matter to
thee who art without the faith of Christ; for it is
impossible for thee in that state to do them, so
as to be ever the better as to thy eternal estate;
therefore, lest thou shouldst split thy soul upon
the conditions laid down in the Gospel, as thou
wilt do if thou go about to do them only with a
legal spirit; but, I say, to prevent this, see if
thou canst fulfill the first condition; that is, to
believe that all thy sins are forgiven thee, not
for any condition that hath been or can be done
by thee, but merely for the Man’s sake that did
hang on Mount Calvary, between two thieves,
some sixteen hundred years ago and odd. And,
I say, see if thou canst believe that at that time
He did, when He hanged on the Cross, give full
satisfaction, for all thy sins, before thou in thy
person hadst committed ever a one. I say, see if
thou canst believe this; and take heed thou
deceive not thyself with an historical, notional,
or traditional acknowledgment of the same.
And, secondly, see if thou canst so well fulfill
this condition, that the very virtue and efficacy
that it hath on thy soul will engage thee to
fulfill those other conditions, really in love to
that Man whom thou shouldst believe hath
frankly and freely forgiven thee all, without any
condition acted by thee to move Him thereto,
according to that saying in 2 Corinthians 5:14,
15; and then thy doing will arise from a
contrary principle than otherwise it will do—
that is, then thou wilt not act and do because
thou wouldst be accepted of God, but because
thou hast some good hope in thy heart that
thou art accepted of Him already, and not on
thine, but wholly and alone upon another
man’s account..."
way that a legal, or old-covenant-converted
professor, bear with the terms, doth take both
in the beginning, middle, and the end of his
doing of any duty or command, or whatsoever
it be that he doth do. 1. He thinking this or that
to be his duty, and considering of the same, he
is also presently persuaded in his own
conscience that God will not accept of him if he
leave it undone; he seeing that he is short of his
duty, as he supposeth, while this is undone by
him, and also judging that God is angry with
him until the thing be done, he, in the second
place, sets to the doing of the duty, to the end
he may be able to pacify his conscience by
doing of the same, persuading of himself that
now the Lord is pleased with him for doing of
it. 2. Having done it, he contents himself, sits
down at his ease, until some further convictions
of his duty to be done, which when he seeth
and knoweth, he doth do it as aforesaid, from
the same principle as he did the former, and so
goeth on in his progress of profession. This is to
do things from a legal principle, and from an
old-covenant spirit; for thus runs that covenant,
“The man that doth these things shall live in
them,” of “by them” (Lev 18:5; Gal 3:12; Rom
10:5). But more of this in the use of this
doctrine.
Object. But, you will say, by these words of
yours you do seem to deny that there are
conditional promises in the Gospel, as is clear,
in that you strike at such practices as are
conditional, and commanded to be done upon
the same.
Answ. The thing that I strike at is this, that a
man in or with a legal spirit should not, nay,
cannot, do any conditional command of the
Gospel acceptably, as to his eternal state,
because he doth it in an old-covenant spirit.
“No man putteth new wine into old bottles”;
but new wine must have new bottles, a Gospel
command must have a Gospel spirit, or else the
wine will break the bottles, or the principle will
break the command.
Object. Then you do grant that there are
conditional promises in the New Testament, as
in the moral law, or Ten Commands.
Answ. Though this be true, yet the
conditional promises in the New Testament do
not call to the same people in the same state of
unregeneracy to fulfill them upon the same
conditions.
The Law and the Gospel being two distinct
covenants, they are made in divers ways, and
the nature of the conditions also being not the
same, as saith the Apostle, the righteousness of
the law saith one thing, and the righteousness
of faith saith another (Rom 10:4-6). That is, the
great condition in the law is, If you do these
things, you shall live by them; but the
condition, even the greatest condition laid
down for a poor soul to do, as to salvation—for
it is that we speak of—is to believe that my sins
be forgiven me for Jesus Christ’s sake, without
the works or righteousness of the law, on my
part, to help forward. “To him that worketh
not,” saith the Apostle [that is] for salvation,
“but believeth on Him that justifieth the
ungodly, his faith”—mark, “his faith is counted
for righteousness” (Rom 4:5). So that we, saith,
he, “conclude that a man is justified by faith
without”—mark again, “without the deeds of
the law” (Rom 3:28).
But again; there is never a condition in the
Gospel that can be fulfilled by an unbeliever;
and therefore, whether there be conditions or
whether there be none, it makes no matter to
thee who art without the faith of Christ; for it is
impossible for thee in that state to do them, so
as to be ever the better as to thy eternal estate;
therefore, lest thou shouldst split thy soul upon
the conditions laid down in the Gospel, as thou
wilt do if thou go about to do them only with a
legal spirit; but, I say, to prevent this, see if
thou canst fulfill the first condition; that is, to
believe that all thy sins are forgiven thee, not
for any condition that hath been or can be done
by thee, but merely for the Man’s sake that did
hang on Mount Calvary, between two thieves,
some sixteen hundred years ago and odd. And,
I say, see if thou canst believe that at that time
He did, when He hanged on the Cross, give full
satisfaction, for all thy sins, before thou in thy
person hadst committed ever a one. I say, see if
thou canst believe this; and take heed thou
deceive not thyself with an historical, notional,
or traditional acknowledgment of the same.
And, secondly, see if thou canst so well fulfill
this condition, that the very virtue and efficacy
that it hath on thy soul will engage thee to
fulfill those other conditions, really in love to
that Man whom thou shouldst believe hath
frankly and freely forgiven thee all, without any
condition acted by thee to move Him thereto,
according to that saying in 2 Corinthians 5:14,
15; and then thy doing will arise from a
contrary principle than otherwise it will do—
that is, then thou wilt not act and do because
thou wouldst be accepted of God, but because
thou hast some good hope in thy heart that
thou art accepted of Him already, and not on
thine, but wholly and alone upon another
man’s account..."
No man putteth new wine into old bottles - John Bunyan
"a man in or with a legal spirit should not, nay,
cannot, do any conditional command of the
Gospel acceptably, as to his eternal state,
because he doth it in an old-covenant spirit.
“No man putteth new wine into old bottles”;
but new wine must have new bottles, a Gospel
command must have a Gospel spirit, or else the
wine will break the bottles, or the principle will
break the command." -John Bunyan
cannot, do any conditional command of the
Gospel acceptably, as to his eternal state,
because he doth it in an old-covenant spirit.
“No man putteth new wine into old bottles”;
but new wine must have new bottles, a Gospel
command must have a Gospel spirit, or else the
wine will break the bottles, or the principle will
break the command." -John Bunyan
Feb 19, 2011
"If duty faith were a truth... salvation would be as universal as the spread of the gospel... if all men had but done their duty... It is to say, "that Christ hath wrought no redemption at all" by John Foreman
Many are following the path of Andrew Fuller's universal sufficiency through their duty-faith universalism. Duty-faith is a form of Hypothetical Universalism
John Foreman took careful notice of this,
Salvation as universal as the spread of the gospel... if all men had but done their duty
"If duty faith were a truth, it must have some meaning with God in regard to salvation; and such a meaning too, as that if it were the universal duty of all men, wherever the gospel comes, to believe unto salvation, then salvation would be as universal as the spread of the gospel, if all men did but do their duty. And the great reason at last -why salvation is not as universal as the spread of the gospel, will be because all men did not do their duty. And so salvation finally, will not be so extensive as it might have been, if all men had but done their duty; nor so extensive as it ought to have been, if all men ought as their duty to have believed unto salvation; nor so extensive as God himself expected, if, as a duty, he expected all men where the gospel came to believe unto salvation. This brings all the counsels, purposes, covenant settlements, revealed truths, promises, and acts of the grace of God unto salvation, into immediate subjection to, and a waiting for the duty of man; and that too in such a way, as that the duty of man, and not the good pleasure of God's will, shall and must determine the final issue of the whole! I can make nothing more or less than this, of the duty of all, where the gospel comes, to believe unto salvation." -John Foreman
It is to say, "that Christ hath wrought no redemption at all"
"We are not opposed to a large redemption, but to the notion of any being lost whom Christ hath redeemed; and to that of his having done any part of his saving work for those who will be lost. In my opinion, it is as far off from the truth of God, and as awfully opposed to the truth of God, to say that Christ, who is the God-Man mediator of the better covenant, hath wrought out a universal redemption, but which will prove all in vain, perish, and come to nothing, from certain causes in man, as far as salvation fails to be universal, as it is to say, `that Christ hath wrought no redemption at all, and that he only lived a good and holy life, and died a martyr, to set us an example, that by following the same we may go to heaven by a good moral life.' Both these notions are alike opposed to the truth of God, only one holds that he hath done the greatest and most glorious of all his works, to a vast extent in vain; and the other holds that he hath done no such work at all. Both these are strongholds of Satan, but the first in the present day commands the popular piety." -John Foreman
Feb 3, 2011
"How! think thou must believe in Christ, when..." - John Bunyan
"How! think thou must believe in Christ, when thou seest not thy need of Him! Thou neither seest thy original nor actual infirmities; but hast such an opinion of thyself, and of what thou doest, as plainly renders thee to be one that did never see a necessity of Christ's personal righteousness to justify thee before God. How, then, dost thou say, I believe in Christ?" - Christian to Ignorance, Pilgrim's Progress
Jan 16, 2011
A strange silence on the error of Duty-faith - William Styles
"Among the strict and Particular Baptists there is at present a strange silence on the error of Duty-faith, which strongly contrasts with the opposition it received from our predecessors. John Steven's Help for the true Disciples of Emmanuel was designed to refute it. John Foreman's Duty-Faith fully shows it's unscriptural character. james Wells rarely preached without denouncing it, and his Letters to Theophilus cogently disprove it. William Palmer was writing a series of Tracts which expose its evils, when his death brought them to a sudden termination in 1873... Several living ministers who once denied Duty-faith, now hold and preach it, and thus, "build again that which they destroyed," (Gal 2:18)... It is sometimes urged that-even granting that Duty-faith has no direct support in the Word of God-it is practically harmless, and often appears to be attended with good results in the more rapid conversion of sinners. But, good men, with holy David, should "hate and abhor lying," (Psa 119:163)-and the substitution of falsehoods for the Gospel is surely the worst form of untruthfulness... The late John Andrews Jones, in the Earthen Vessel for September 1863, conclusively shows that the Fullerian system of Duty-Faith "tends to overthrow the distinguishing and glorious doctrines of the Gospel." History substantiates this. The churches which adopted it at the close of the nineteenth centuries never contemplated abandoning the truths of the sovereignty of God in the election, redemption, and effectual calling of saving sinners. In how many of these churches, however, are these truths held to-day? The Down-grade is the natural and inevitable result of the departure from the truth which Andrew Fuller inaugurated." - William Styles (1902)
Nov 25, 2010
We are here charged with blaming God - William Button
"...there is a most unworthy reflection (at least it appears so to me) cast on those who differ from Mr. F.'s (Fuller) sentiments concerning faith. After attacking the Arminians, he adds, “others, that err as much on the opposite side, seem willing that God should have all the praise for the good; but then they are determined as well, eh shall have all the blame for the bad, for they will have none of it” (p. 7). The persons here alluded to, I conceive to be those who with me think the reason why many believe not, is, because they are not predestinated to eternal life, for as many as are so do believe, Acts 10:48, and our Lord gives this as a reason of unbelief, in John 10:26. Ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, and because this is our sentiment we are here charged with blaming God. This is illiberal; we believe the Lord dispenses the blessings of his grace, and faith amongst the rest, according to his sovereign good will and pleasure, that he is the absolute proprietor of his own grace; that he gives it when, and where, and to whom he pleases; but are we to be considered as blaming God for not bestowing these blessings on all? We disdain the thought. There were, it seems, in the Apostle's days, some who drew such an unjust conclusion from his doctrine, which made him with earnestness reply to the adversary, “Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.” No, instead of blaming God for not bestowing special faith on all, we adore his sovereignty, and admire his grace in bestowing it on any. Were I disposed to return the attack, I might ask, who casts the most blame on God, Mr. F. who asserts, it is the duty of all men to believe with a special faith, with that faith which is peculiar to the elect, which is out of their power to obtain, and the want of it is the cause of damnation; or we who believe that because this faith is a new covenant blessing, peculiar to the elect, none will be condemned by God for the want of it? But I forbear, as I am persuaded Mr. F. does not by any means intend to cast any blame on the Divine Being, however his sentiment may appear to carry that in it. I should have been glad if he had spared this invective." -William Button
Nov 14, 2010
Spread abroad in tracts by thousands - J.C. Philpot
"That which is the peculiar, the sole privilege of the sheep of Christ; that which our Lord expressly tells us no man can do except he be specially taught and drawn of the Father; that which is the particular act of a living faith, such as is given to none but the elect; that which is intended for, and addressed to the hungry, the thirsty, the weary and heavy-laden, the outcast and ready to perish, is now made to be the duty of all men, an easy and simple act which everybody is bound to do, and which anybody can do if he likes. "Come to Jesus" is spread abroad in tracts by thousands; is printed in all types, sets, and sizes; is thrown down area steps, spread about broad-cast at fairs, horseraces, and executions; and is the standing stock-in-trade of every beardless youth who, on a Sunday afternoon, can get round him a knot of idlers to preach to in the parks." - J.C. Philpot
This is a Day of Compromise - J.C. Philpot
[quoted from the Gospel Standard Reviews by J.C. Philpot volume 2]
This is a day of compromise. The sharp, salient
edges of truth are mostly pared away with the nicest care, and rounded off
with the greatest assiduity, for fear, we suppose, lest any babe in grace should
inadvertently run against them and get a sad hurt. Should such a distressing
accident happen to any of the little ones who are just beginning to run alone,
how the tender nurses catch him up at once in their arms to soothe his
sorrows; and how they call out against that great, ugly table, or that naughty
chair, which has so hurt the little dear. "It is this ever preaching election
which does so much mischief; this telling the people that Christ died only for
just a particular few, and not throwing wide open the arms of mercy; this
always talking about a work of grace upon the heart; and how we must feel
the curse of the law and convictions of sin before we can know the comforts of
the gospel. This kind of preaching distresses the little ones, and puts a
stumbling-block in the way of those who are being drawn by love. Our way is
to preach Christ at once, and offer him, without exception, to all who will
accept him, and that immediately, without all this unnecessary bondage and
distress. No wonder there are so few rejoicing Christians. No wonder there is
so much moping, so much groaning and sighing, and hanging the head down
like a bulrush. What we like to see is, happy Christians; and the religion
which we think the best of is, cheerful piety, taking God at his word, believing
the promises, and living above doubts and fears." Now is not this just the
language of the day the in staple of scores of books and tracts, and the cry of
hundreds of popular pulpits? Need we, then, be surprised that our amiable
writers and our soft, mild, gentle preachers, with such views as these, are so
afraid of giving pain to their susceptible readers and their tender-hearted
hearers that, instead of blowing the trumpet in Zion, and sounding an alarm
in the holy mountain, they rather sing a perpetual lullaby. Nothing, they
think, is worse, or more alarming to the people, than brandishing before their
eyes a drawn sword; and the very idea of plunging it deep into the conscience
of any of their decidedly pious and most consistent and respectable hearers
fills them with the same feminine tenderness of blood and suffering as we may
suppose a recruit feels when he first screws on the bayonet, and advances to
the charge. Such writers and preachers are as tremblingly sensitive to the
tears of suffering on Christian faces as any mother whose darling boy has
fallen down and hurt himself. Deep distress of conscience, agonising fears of
the wrath to come, powerful convictions of sin, putting away of all hope or
comfort which does not come direct from the Lord, doubts, fears, and slavish
bondage under the curse of the law and the apprehended wrath of the
Almighty—such and similar experience is now almost universally set aside as
unnecessary to the new birth; and an easier path is held forth as equally safe
and far more comfortable. But, however plausible it may appear in theory,
and however pleasing it may be to the flesh, especially when dressed up with
eloquent language and enforced with strong appeals to the natural feelings,
what is all this soft and gentle preaching and writing but doing the very thing
which God has so denounced in his holy word? How he testifies against those
prophets who prophesy smooth things; who prophesy deceits; who know not
the way of the Lord, nor have walked in his counsel, but "prophesy a false
vision and divination, and a thing of nought and the deceit of their heart."
(Jer. 14:14.) How, too, the prophet Ezekiel denounces the false prophets of his
day, of whom one built up a wall, and others daubed it with untempered
mortar. How he testifies against those foolish women that sew pillows to all
armholes; and how he declares what the effect of all such smooth preaching is:
"With lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made
sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from
his wicked way, by promising him life." (Ezek. 13:10, 18, 22.)
There is no greater mark of false ministers given in the word of truth than
healing the hurt of the daughter of God's people slightly, saying, Peace, peace,
when there is no peace. (Jer. 8:11.) If we carefully read the book of Jeremiah,
we shall see that the great sin and the chief deception of all the false prophets
who sprang up in scores during the period of his ministry was to build up the
people in a false hope; to assure them that they had no reason to fear the
judgments of God, for that the Lord would not execute against them what he
threatened. They therefore hardened the people in sin and disobedience, took
them off all repentance and forsaking of their sins, led them to trifle with and
despise the judgments of God, and built them up in a false confidence that,
because they were the people of God by external profession, they were his also
by regenerating grace. Thus they took the very doctrine of God's having a
peculiar people, whom he loved and would never forsake, and abused it to the
building up of an ungodly professing people upon the foundation of God's love
and faithfulness to his own elect. If our eyes were fully open to see the effect of
the false teaching of our day, we should see it equally dishonouring to God,
and pregnant with equally awful consequences. We should see hundreds of
dead professors built up without a foundation ever having been laid in their
consciences of repentance toward God. We should see sin made a little matter
of, the awful anger of the Almighty against it, and his terrible indignation
against transgressors passed by as a thing of little moment. We should see the
strait and narrow path widened out in all directions; the promises and
invitations torn away from their connexion; the distinguishing truths of the
gospel beaten down into, and amalgamated with, the grossest errors; the
precepts of the word dislocated and distorted; and the clear revelation of
God's mind and will given in the New Testament softened and accommodated
to the reasoning mind, and the proud self-righteousness of man. And it needs
must be so; for the word of grace is such a consistent and harmonious whole
that, unless it is held by the teaching of the Spirit in the hand of a living faith,
all attempts to interpret it must issue in confusion.
But to show more clearly the emptiness and inconsistency of the current
ministry of the day, let us take one familiar instance. There is, then, as it
appears to us, no greater or more widely-spread delusive teaching both in
town and country than the constant cry both from pulpit and press, addressed
to all, without explanation or exception, "Come to Jesus." We shall therefore,
attempt briefly to show the real nature and tendency of this ever-recurring
invitation.
That which is the peculiar, the sole privilege of the sheep of Christ; that which
our Lord expressly tells us no man can do except he be specially taught and
drawn of the Father; that which is the particular act of a living faith, such as
is given to none but the elect; that which is intended for, and addressed to the
hungry, the thirsty, the weary and heavy-laden, the outcast and ready to
perish, is now made to be the duty of all men, an easy and simple act which
everybody is bound to do, and which anybody can do if he likes. "Come to
Jesus" is spread abroad in tracts by thousands; is printed in all types, sets,
and sizes; is thrown down area steps, spread about broad-cast at fairs, horseraces,
and executions; and is the standing stock-in-trade of every beardless
youth who, on a Sunday afternoon, can get round him a knot of idlers to
preach to in the parks. We may seem to be severe on this point; but to show
the fallacy and deceptiveness of this universal call to come to Jesus, at first
sight so scriptural and evangelical, let us assume that it is listened to and acted
upon. Step into that crowded chapel where, amidst the blaze of gas and
warmed with his subject, the fervid preacher is calling on his hearers to come
to Jesus, and to come at once. Assume that, wrought upon by his ardent
eloquence and his urgent appeals, the whole congregation, as if moved by an
uncontrollable impulse, at once started upon their feet, and cried aloud, as
with a universal shout, "Sir, we will do what you bid us, and we will do it now.
We will and do all of us come to Christ this very moment." Now would this
determination of theirs, or this act of coming, following upon their
determination, bring them one step nearer to heaven? If all of them, men,
women, and children, were to come to Christ in the feelings of their mind, as
well as the expression of their lips, without any divine breathing upon their
soul, without any teaching or drawing of God, without any descent of the Holy
Ghost upon their heart, as at the day of Pentecost, what would all this coming
to Christ be but an act of the natural mind, an emotion of and in the flesh, and
therefore neither pleasing to God, (Rom. 8:8,) nor of any profit to them?
(John 6:63.) Where, in all this mere mental, natural, carnal coming to Christ,
would be the new birth, without which there is neither seeing nor entering
into the kingdom of God? Where repentance unto life? Where any translation
from the power of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son? Where any
divine light, life, or power? Where any teaching or testimony, work or witness
of the Holy Ghost? Where any one of his heavenly graces or spiritual fruits? It
is, in fact, man's substitute for the work of God, an insidious way of throwing
over the new birth, and of trampling down the strait gate and the narrow way.
It is putting the special prerogative of Christ, ("The Son quickeneth whom he
will,") into the hands of every man to do for himself, and thus, in fact, make
man his own saviour. All such preaching and all such coming begin and end in
the flesh. It is at best, therefore, but a kindling a fire and walking in the
sparks of it, of which the end at God's hand, if grace prevent not, will be to lie
down in sorrow.
This is a day of compromise. The sharp, salient
edges of truth are mostly pared away with the nicest care, and rounded off
with the greatest assiduity, for fear, we suppose, lest any babe in grace should
inadvertently run against them and get a sad hurt. Should such a distressing
accident happen to any of the little ones who are just beginning to run alone,
how the tender nurses catch him up at once in their arms to soothe his
sorrows; and how they call out against that great, ugly table, or that naughty
chair, which has so hurt the little dear. "It is this ever preaching election
which does so much mischief; this telling the people that Christ died only for
just a particular few, and not throwing wide open the arms of mercy; this
always talking about a work of grace upon the heart; and how we must feel
the curse of the law and convictions of sin before we can know the comforts of
the gospel. This kind of preaching distresses the little ones, and puts a
stumbling-block in the way of those who are being drawn by love. Our way is
to preach Christ at once, and offer him, without exception, to all who will
accept him, and that immediately, without all this unnecessary bondage and
distress. No wonder there are so few rejoicing Christians. No wonder there is
so much moping, so much groaning and sighing, and hanging the head down
like a bulrush. What we like to see is, happy Christians; and the religion
which we think the best of is, cheerful piety, taking God at his word, believing
the promises, and living above doubts and fears." Now is not this just the
language of the day the in staple of scores of books and tracts, and the cry of
hundreds of popular pulpits? Need we, then, be surprised that our amiable
writers and our soft, mild, gentle preachers, with such views as these, are so
afraid of giving pain to their susceptible readers and their tender-hearted
hearers that, instead of blowing the trumpet in Zion, and sounding an alarm
in the holy mountain, they rather sing a perpetual lullaby. Nothing, they
think, is worse, or more alarming to the people, than brandishing before their
eyes a drawn sword; and the very idea of plunging it deep into the conscience
of any of their decidedly pious and most consistent and respectable hearers
fills them with the same feminine tenderness of blood and suffering as we may
suppose a recruit feels when he first screws on the bayonet, and advances to
the charge. Such writers and preachers are as tremblingly sensitive to the
tears of suffering on Christian faces as any mother whose darling boy has
fallen down and hurt himself. Deep distress of conscience, agonising fears of
the wrath to come, powerful convictions of sin, putting away of all hope or
comfort which does not come direct from the Lord, doubts, fears, and slavish
bondage under the curse of the law and the apprehended wrath of the
Almighty—such and similar experience is now almost universally set aside as
unnecessary to the new birth; and an easier path is held forth as equally safe
and far more comfortable. But, however plausible it may appear in theory,
and however pleasing it may be to the flesh, especially when dressed up with
eloquent language and enforced with strong appeals to the natural feelings,
what is all this soft and gentle preaching and writing but doing the very thing
which God has so denounced in his holy word? How he testifies against those
prophets who prophesy smooth things; who prophesy deceits; who know not
the way of the Lord, nor have walked in his counsel, but "prophesy a false
vision and divination, and a thing of nought and the deceit of their heart."
(Jer. 14:14.) How, too, the prophet Ezekiel denounces the false prophets of his
day, of whom one built up a wall, and others daubed it with untempered
mortar. How he testifies against those foolish women that sew pillows to all
armholes; and how he declares what the effect of all such smooth preaching is:
"With lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made
sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from
his wicked way, by promising him life." (Ezek. 13:10, 18, 22.)
There is no greater mark of false ministers given in the word of truth than
healing the hurt of the daughter of God's people slightly, saying, Peace, peace,
when there is no peace. (Jer. 8:11.) If we carefully read the book of Jeremiah,
we shall see that the great sin and the chief deception of all the false prophets
who sprang up in scores during the period of his ministry was to build up the
people in a false hope; to assure them that they had no reason to fear the
judgments of God, for that the Lord would not execute against them what he
threatened. They therefore hardened the people in sin and disobedience, took
them off all repentance and forsaking of their sins, led them to trifle with and
despise the judgments of God, and built them up in a false confidence that,
because they were the people of God by external profession, they were his also
by regenerating grace. Thus they took the very doctrine of God's having a
peculiar people, whom he loved and would never forsake, and abused it to the
building up of an ungodly professing people upon the foundation of God's love
and faithfulness to his own elect. If our eyes were fully open to see the effect of
the false teaching of our day, we should see it equally dishonouring to God,
and pregnant with equally awful consequences. We should see hundreds of
dead professors built up without a foundation ever having been laid in their
consciences of repentance toward God. We should see sin made a little matter
of, the awful anger of the Almighty against it, and his terrible indignation
against transgressors passed by as a thing of little moment. We should see the
strait and narrow path widened out in all directions; the promises and
invitations torn away from their connexion; the distinguishing truths of the
gospel beaten down into, and amalgamated with, the grossest errors; the
precepts of the word dislocated and distorted; and the clear revelation of
God's mind and will given in the New Testament softened and accommodated
to the reasoning mind, and the proud self-righteousness of man. And it needs
must be so; for the word of grace is such a consistent and harmonious whole
that, unless it is held by the teaching of the Spirit in the hand of a living faith,
all attempts to interpret it must issue in confusion.
But to show more clearly the emptiness and inconsistency of the current
ministry of the day, let us take one familiar instance. There is, then, as it
appears to us, no greater or more widely-spread delusive teaching both in
town and country than the constant cry both from pulpit and press, addressed
to all, without explanation or exception, "Come to Jesus." We shall therefore,
attempt briefly to show the real nature and tendency of this ever-recurring
invitation.
That which is the peculiar, the sole privilege of the sheep of Christ; that which
our Lord expressly tells us no man can do except he be specially taught and
drawn of the Father; that which is the particular act of a living faith, such as
is given to none but the elect; that which is intended for, and addressed to the
hungry, the thirsty, the weary and heavy-laden, the outcast and ready to
perish, is now made to be the duty of all men, an easy and simple act which
everybody is bound to do, and which anybody can do if he likes. "Come to
Jesus" is spread abroad in tracts by thousands; is printed in all types, sets,
and sizes; is thrown down area steps, spread about broad-cast at fairs, horseraces,
and executions; and is the standing stock-in-trade of every beardless
youth who, on a Sunday afternoon, can get round him a knot of idlers to
preach to in the parks. We may seem to be severe on this point; but to show
the fallacy and deceptiveness of this universal call to come to Jesus, at first
sight so scriptural and evangelical, let us assume that it is listened to and acted
upon. Step into that crowded chapel where, amidst the blaze of gas and
warmed with his subject, the fervid preacher is calling on his hearers to come
to Jesus, and to come at once. Assume that, wrought upon by his ardent
eloquence and his urgent appeals, the whole congregation, as if moved by an
uncontrollable impulse, at once started upon their feet, and cried aloud, as
with a universal shout, "Sir, we will do what you bid us, and we will do it now.
We will and do all of us come to Christ this very moment." Now would this
determination of theirs, or this act of coming, following upon their
determination, bring them one step nearer to heaven? If all of them, men,
women, and children, were to come to Christ in the feelings of their mind, as
well as the expression of their lips, without any divine breathing upon their
soul, without any teaching or drawing of God, without any descent of the Holy
Ghost upon their heart, as at the day of Pentecost, what would all this coming
to Christ be but an act of the natural mind, an emotion of and in the flesh, and
therefore neither pleasing to God, (Rom. 8:8,) nor of any profit to them?
(John 6:63.) Where, in all this mere mental, natural, carnal coming to Christ,
would be the new birth, without which there is neither seeing nor entering
into the kingdom of God? Where repentance unto life? Where any translation
from the power of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son? Where any
divine light, life, or power? Where any teaching or testimony, work or witness
of the Holy Ghost? Where any one of his heavenly graces or spiritual fruits? It
is, in fact, man's substitute for the work of God, an insidious way of throwing
over the new birth, and of trampling down the strait gate and the narrow way.
It is putting the special prerogative of Christ, ("The Son quickeneth whom he
will,") into the hands of every man to do for himself, and thus, in fact, make
man his own saviour. All such preaching and all such coming begin and end in
the flesh. It is at best, therefore, but a kindling a fire and walking in the
sparks of it, of which the end at God's hand, if grace prevent not, will be to lie
down in sorrow.
Sep 18, 2010
Preaching Repentance - John Brine
...the Preaching of John the Baptist, who exhorted to Repentance, repent ye for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
1. Repentance was required of the Jews , as a Nation, for all the Blood of the Prophets which had been shed amongst: them, and for that Opposition they made to the true Interest and spiritual Kingdom of the promised Messiah; the Want of that Repentance proved their Destruction, which soon followed the Introduction of the New Testament State.
2. Evangelical Repentance was the Duty of particular Persons, which he also preached, and show’d the Necessity of, but it can’t, I think, Sir, be proved, that he ever asserted it to be the Duty of unregenerate Persons, to exercise that Grace. This becomes the Duty of Men, when they have Warrant from the divine Word, to consider God as their Redeemer in Christ, which no unregenerate Men have any Warrant to do. It is not question’d, but he also preached Faith in the promised Messiah, but what Proof does this afford, that Faith is the Duty of such Persons, as have not at present Warrant to consider God, as their Redeemer through Christ? None at all. Christ in his Ministry also preached Repentance.
Aug 29, 2010
The Moral Preacher - Robert Hawker
"The Moral Preacher
He took his text from the prophecies of Micah, chap 6 ver. 8. "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you—but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?" I felt much pleasure in the very idea of the subject proposed from this text of scripture, the moment it was mentioned; and therefore listened with the more attention, in order to discover some leading points, which might be brought forward to give me comfort. The substance of the preacher's sermon, when separated from the flowery ornaments of it, was directed to show that the path to happiness was set before everyone; that God had shown man what was good; and that it was man's own fault if he did not follow it; that what the Lord required was nothing harsh, or unreasonable, or difficult; but the plain, easy, self-rewarding virtues of moral obligation; and that, if, in addition to the line of doing justly, the circumstances favored the love of mercy, in relieving the needs of the wretched, where ability reached, and dropping over them the tear of sympathy where it did not, and instead of studying to be wise above what is written, respecting divine things, to walk humbly with God—these made up the sum and substance of all moral and religious concerns.
He took his text from the prophecies of Micah, chap 6 ver. 8. "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you—but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?" I felt much pleasure in the very idea of the subject proposed from this text of scripture, the moment it was mentioned; and therefore listened with the more attention, in order to discover some leading points, which might be brought forward to give me comfort. The substance of the preacher's sermon, when separated from the flowery ornaments of it, was directed to show that the path to happiness was set before everyone; that God had shown man what was good; and that it was man's own fault if he did not follow it; that what the Lord required was nothing harsh, or unreasonable, or difficult; but the plain, easy, self-rewarding virtues of moral obligation; and that, if, in addition to the line of doing justly, the circumstances favored the love of mercy, in relieving the needs of the wretched, where ability reached, and dropping over them the tear of sympathy where it did not, and instead of studying to be wise above what is written, respecting divine things, to walk humbly with God—these made up the sum and substance of all moral and religious concerns.
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