Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

according to my habitual feelings, I would not exchange for ten thousand worlds, were they at my disposal. I would not exchange my present peace of mind, which is the pure effect of the religion I embrace, as held forth in the New Testament, independent of the eternal weight of glory it exhibits to be enjoyed hereafter, for all the advantages that your most sanguine hopes can imagine, as attending the appearance of another Messiah. And my satisfaction is derived as well from the Old Testament as from the New; the writings of Moses, as well as those of Paul; for the mercy of God, through the Mediator and his atoning sacrifice, explicit or implied, shines in every page; in both I find pardon, peace, righteousness, and lie; grace reigning through righteousness, unto eternal life by Jesus Christ, whom God hath set forth a propitiation for sin, in order to declare his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus. And Dr. Owen undertakes, in this performance, to demonstrate, that for any of Adam's race to be pardoned and made happy with God for ever, without such a provision, is utterly inconsistent (even taking the Old Testament only for our data) utterly inconsistent with all just apprehensions of the attributes of Jehovah; and we defy all the world fairly to disprove his conclusion. But alas! what a light and insignificant thing is the demonstration of a Christian in the scales of a Jew! I can easily conceive, that the human mind (such is the darkness and degeneracy of our fallen nature) is capable of admitting the bare opinions of friends to be of greater weight and authority than the demonstrations of others. Hence we may learn to adore the sovereignty of Divine grace in every instance of a cordial submission to the truth of God. If men hear not Moses and the prophets, in their testimony for Jesus, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead, as he has actually done.

Dear sir, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved; may the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, by his effectual grace, bring you to know his eternal truth! How differently

would you then judge of the evil and demerit of sin, and of the need of a real atoning sacrifice to secure the honor of the Divine government! How infinitely desirable would then appear, a Savior from the power and love of iniquity, and from a fatal security under its dominion and deceitfulness! With what concern would you then regard the folly of that interpretation of the lively oracles which confines the work of the promised Messiah to this short life, the life of a mere mortal, and a small spot of this globe! Seriously reflect, dear sir, how unworthy of God, how inadequate to the real wants of an immortal mind, and how inconsistent with the whole tenor of Divine revelation, as well as absolutely contrary to the clearest passages, must such an interpretation be.

I am, dear Sir,

Your sincere well wisher,

EDWARD WILLIAMS.

Oswestry, Feb. 1790. .

END OF VOL. I.

[merged small][ocr errors]
« PreviousContinue »