Newspaper Page Text
No. 9 Vol. V.
From the London htestigaior,far j3p,il, 1823.
EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANITY CON
TRASTED WITH RATIONAL CHRIS
TIANITY.
If the two systems, denominated Evan
gelical and Rational Christianity, were fair
ly brought to the test of experiment, as to
their comparative efficiency in converting
profligates to a holy life, and intidels to the
uelief of Revelation: if the criterion, by
their fruits ye shall know them,” were appli
ed to them in this particular, we presum
that the warmest abettors of the anti-evan
gelical scheme would be compelled-to yield
the palm, and admit that where they can
boast their units, the system they oppose
can boast its thousands. Nor can it be mat
ter of surprise that this should be the ca*e,
to such as carefully and impartially investi
gate the motives which the systems res
pectively furnish for the accomplishment of
this .purpose. The subject is important,
and worthy of the most serious considers
tion ; for if it shall appear that the system
which those who assume to thpmselves the
title of rational Christians, are so anxious to
propagate, has in it little or nothing talcum
ted to put men out of love either with their
vices or their scepticism, we conceive that
they must resign all right to the epithet ra
tional, if they contend for it a moment long
er—for that which affords encouragement
to sin and infidelity, cannot be of God.
In the conversion of a profligate to a ho
ly life, the views entertained respecting -in
must have an important influence. The
system denominated Evangelical, repre
sents sin, all sin, as odious and abominable
in the sight of God, and polluting and ruin
ous o man—opposed to the nature of God,
which is infinitely holy—to his law, which
is infinitely good—to his government, which
is infinitely just. For ail sin, though imme
diately committed against a fellow mortal,
and in violation of human laws, is a blow
immediately aimed at the authority of the
supreme governour. Hence David said,re
ferring to his conduct in the case of Uriah
and bathsheba, Against thee, thee only, have
I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight Ev ■
try Other consideration was absorbed by
the deep conviction of thu daring attack, of
which in this mstap.ee he had been guilty,
against the government of God. Thus Job
exclaimed, I have sinned, and what shall I do
unto thee, O thou preserver of men ; and the
prodigal in the parable, is represented as
saying to his f.nher, I have sinned ugair.st
heaven , and in thy sight.
Now when once a man is brought to re
gard sin irl such a light as th'l9, it is easy to
perceive that he js furnished with the most
powerful motives to abandon it. He dis
covers that he is degraded by it—dial he
has lost the moral image of the Deity in
which he was created, and the possession of
which was the chief glory of his nature:
that in proportion as sin is forsaken and ho
liness ft cultivated by him, he is restored
to hi pristine dignity and reinstated in the
likeness and the favour of God. He per
ceives that sin is the cause of all the disor
ders that prevail in society around him, and
that if it were allowed an uncontrolled do
minion, this earth would be converted into
a scene of pollution and uproar, crime and
misery, equalled by no conceptions of hell
which the most vivid imagination bas ever
formed; hut that in proportion as men are
converted from sin to holiness, Itiese disor
ders are diminished, and that if men were
universally holy, society at large would be
come universally amiable, tranquil and hap
py. He perceives that the very essence of
sin is oppositi n to God—that, it allowed to
do its utmost, it would annihilate his beiDg
for where the law is disliked, there must
needs be. a corresponding enmity against
the lawgiver, and it is natural to the carnal
mind, to wish the annihilation or removal of
the being it abhors. This is the secret
spring of athenm —and to atheism, as its ul
timate result, all sin ha3 a natural tenden
cy. H w nce arises one class of motives with
which those views of divine truth, termi-d
Evangelical, furnish reprobates to turn from
their evil ways. The question is not at
present, whether these views of the ex
ceediug smfalness of sin are correct, but
whether they aie more adapted to convert
such characters from (heir sinful courses,
-than those which are given by the opposite
system, commonly called rational Christian
ity, or any other system, by whatever name
it may be known. Go tell the drunkard
just recovered from last night's debauch —
tell the sensualist, as he revels in impurity
and vice—tell the sabbath-breaker, as he
•tramples on the ordinances of the sanctuary,
•And gives himself to dissipation and to pleas
ure on that holy day—that in is by no
Bteans such an evil thing as some have rep
resentechit to he—that it is nothing more
than mere human frailty —that it arises
from the constitution of our mature —and
that, as we did not make ourselves, we can
uot be accountable for those inclinations
and passions we have brought with us into
the world. Tell him that there is no other
evil in sin, than the harm it does the sinner;
and that God never punishes sin in the way
es vindictive justice, but only to do the sin
ner good, and make him ultimately happy.
Tell the profligate this—preach these doc
trines to the gay and thoughtless libertine
—and let any man of common sense judge,
THE MISSIONARY.
whether they will furnish motives sufficient
ly powerful to induce him to reform—-nay,
whether these are not considerations more
adapted to confirm him in his vicious prac
tices, and silence any remonstrances with
which his conscience may occasionally
trouble him. And yet these are the views
ot sin entertained and expressed by (hose
who reject the doctrines commonly called
Evangelical, as false and absurd, and mo
nopolize the epithet rational , in connexion
with Christianity, to themselves.
Again, the views which are given of the
Divine Law, by the system denominated
Evangelical, are every way adapted to pro
duce the effect in question. It represents
’be Divine Law as infinitely just and good,
supremely right and excellent, so that eve
ry violation of if, every failure in obedience
! <> it, justly exposes the sinner to the curse
of God, and the infliction of the penalty
with which he has armed it, namely, eternal
death. Now, there is every thing in such
representations as these, calculated to fill
(he awakened sinner with apprehension and
dismay in the view of his own character as
a transgressor of that law, and urge him to
fly from the ruin to which he is exposed.
On the other hand, take those representa
tions of the divine law which the opposite
system gives— tell him that the law is too
-evere, or that God will not, cannot punish
every instance of disobedience and of fail
ure that he would be cruel , and merciless,
and tyrannical, if he did—that you could not
love him if it were the case, but that if he
were so severe, it would be better if the
reins of government were in more lenient
hands; and what are you doing—but instil
ling principles into the mind which utterly
preclude the possibility of repentance, so
tar as they may be supposed to operate.
For let an individual suppose these princi
ples, for a moment, to operate in his own
mind, under their influence he would natu
rally reason thus: if it would be cruel and
umluly severe in God to punish me for vio
biting his law, it must be because the law is
too strict, and requires more than bought
to do; and if so, it is unjust, and therefore
the sin does not lie with me for failing in
but with the lawgiver in fixing
the standard of morality higher than he
should have done, and requiring of men
more than he had a right to expect at their
hands. How then can I repent of having
violated this? as the idea of
repentance iuj|res, in the very first in
stance, a conviction and a confession of the
rectitude of the law which the sinner has
disobeyed.
There are, it is well known, about ICO
crimes to which the laws of this land annex
the penalty of death, but of those unhappy
beings who receive the sentence of death
from the lips of the judge, not one tenth ac
tually undergoes it. And why? Because
the penalty is in many of these cases so un
duly severe, that in the judgment of all
men, it would be cruel to inflict it; nd if it
were inflicted—if, for instance, for one of
those minor offences, against which the law
denounces the penally of death, which is
never executed, some individual were made
to pay the.forfeit of his life, his mind would
naturally rise against the undue severity of
the law by which he suffered, and he would
regard himself as the hapless victim to a
code, so sanguinary, that it is the disgrace
of a country enlightened and benevolent as
ours! but are we to place the supreme
Judge in the predicament in which an
•■arlhly magistrate is often placed, and com
pel him tacitly to acknowledge the undue
severity of the punishment annexed to diso
bedience, by its remission ; or if he does not
remit the punishment, are we to say, with
Mr. Belsham. Dr Priestly and some others,
that he is a merciless tyrant —a gloomy and
capricious tyrant—a being whom we neither
can or ought to love ? We appeal then to
reason ; —irrational as we are, visionary and
enthusiastick as our system is, for once we
will listen to the admonitions of those who
ire sagacious enough to discover, and kind
enough to pity our.folly—and will appeal to
reason ; and ask any rational being, which,
in his estimation, is most adapted to reclaim
the disobedient from the paths of sin—that
system which represents the Divine law as
so just and fight, that every transgression is
worthy of the punishment annexed; or
that which represents it as so unduly strict,
that it is impossible for God io enforce the
penalty wdh which he has guatded it, with
out shewing himself a monster of cruelty !
In close alliance with those views of the
Divine Law, are the notions concerning the
duration of future punishment which the
two systems in question embrace; that
which is called Evangelical represents it as
eternal, and it does so, because the abettors
of tbis system conceive that it is so repre
sented in the Scripture. Whether in -this
conception they are right or wrong, it does
not fall within oor present province to in
quire. We have to do in this instance, not
with the truth of the doctrioe, but with its
influence, whether true or false. Suffice it
to say, however, that the strongest words
which the original languages of the holy
Scriptures could furnish, are employed to
express the duration of future punishment,
and that they are employed in such a con
nexion, as seems to render it impossible that
any thing short of an endless duration could
have been intended. For it is obrioys, that
r-^>-
MOUNT ZION. (HANCOCK- COUNTY, GEORGIA,) MONDAY, AUGUST 18, |823.
this awful idea is pregnant with every thing
that can be supposed capable of operating
on a mind awakened to feel its tremendous
import, and of urging the sinner to an im
mediate application to the mercy so fully
provided, and so freely offered in the Gos
pel. Under the impression that-his charac
ter will be unalterably fixed, and his doom
eternally sealed at death, and aware that
death may be nigb, even at the door, he
perceives that there is no time for delay—
and while on the one hand, the voice of in
vitation cries, Behold now is the accepted
time, behold now is the day of salvation —on
the other he is impelled by the solemn ad
monition, There is no work, nor device, nor
wisdom in the grave: He that is unholy, let
him be unholy still: he that is filthy, let him
be filthy still —and the declaration of Ahra
ham to the unhappy Dives rings in his ears,
And beside all this , between us and you there
is a great guf fixed ; so that they which would
pass from hence to you cannot; neither can
they nass to us who would come from thence.
Tbil is the representation of the Evangeli
cal system ; but what say rational and en
lightened Divinas upon the subject? “No
Necessarian,” says Dr. Priestley, “ suppo
ses that any of the human race will suffer
eternally, but only for a time, and that for
their good. And since God has created us
for happiness, what misery cun we fear? If
we be really intended for ultimate unlimited
happiness, it is no matter to a truly resigned
person, when, or where, or how.” Amen !
says the profligate, that is the doctrine that
I love! What misery can I fear? why none
at all. God will be too kind and compas
sionate to punish. He knows the frailty and
weakness of my nature, if I repent at last
no doubt he will forgive. And if I should
go rather too far, so that for decency’s sake
he cannot take me to heaven all at once,
why, a little wholesome chastisement will
do me no harm. And thus extremes meet,
and the hell of the enlightened Dr. Priest
ley, and the purgatory of the deluded pa
pist, come to much the same thing; with
this advantage iodeed, on the side of Dr.
Priestley’s scheme, that those who endure
the pains of bell in his cae, obtain deliver
ance gratis; while the Catholicks, or their
surviving friends, are obliged to pay for
them. But in plain sober sense—are such
views of the nature asd duration of future
punishment calculated to convert profli
gates to a holy life? Is it not rather natural
that they should use them for quite a differ
ent purpose—that they should,when strong
ly urged by their lusts and appetites to con
• inue in sin, argue thus:—Well, if the worst
should happen, the punishment will only be
temporary:—God is merciful—we shall
have an eternity of happiness after all—and
hoiyever long may be the duration of pun
ishment, though it were ages, it w ill be but
a point in comparison of eternity.
Then would the dabanchee
Untrembling month the heavens; then might
the drunkard
Reel o’er his full bowl, and when ’tis drain’d,
Fill up another to the brim, and laugh
At the poor bug-bear death
We may now proceed to an appeal to
fact, for the subject is happily capable of
this; it is one to which we may apply the
criterion, by their fruits ye shall know them
—do men gather grapes of thorns , or figs of
thistles ? Have the same fruits which have
been product in such abundance by the
plain and faithful preaching of those doc
trines called Evangelical, appeared in the
labours of those who have been careful to
conceal them? Let the impartial history of
eighteen hundred years declare.
When these doctrines were first preach
ed, the most astonishing effects ensued.
The impressions produced were deep and
overwhelming; the convictions of sin were
pungent and agonizing; the grief they
awakened in men’s minds was intense and
profound. They were pricked to the heart—
they could not in silence endure the anguish
—they gave vent to their feelings in ex
pressions such as these. Men and brethren
what must we do ? What must we do to be
saved? Is there any thing like this under
that kind of preaching from which these
great doctrines are excluded? Alas! such
a stir amongst the bare benches and
the empty pews of the temples devoted to
rational Christianity in the present day
would
“ Sound like voices from the dead,” •
and excite as much astonishment as the
hum and bustle of active life, suddenly ri
sing .up amid the coldness and the silence of
a sepulchre. It is a fact, that peoplefor
the most part forsake the place from which
these doctrines, the glory of the gospel ate
excluded; and there can be little prospect
of quickening dry hones to spiritual life,
where there are scarcely any bones at all,
on which to prophecy. Something capti
vating in the oratory of the preacher, or
daring in the doctrines which he preaches,
may occasion a certain kind of popularity;
and he who professes to hav.e a talisman Ly
which to annihilate the devil, and a key by
which to let the wicked out of hell, will be
sure to gather a multitude of a certain des
cription around him: but it cannot be de
nied, that in ordinary cases, the preaching
which has consisted of nothing more than
meagre morality and dry criticism, has ex
cited little interest, and produced no impres
sion ; while that preaching which has em
bodied the great doctrine of human deprav-
ity, the atonement, tbe influences of the
Holy Spirit, the necessity of regeneration,
though conducted with inferiour talent, has
gathered and retained large congregations,
and proved the power of God to the con
version of multitudes. What is the cause
of this difference, it becomes those who are
most concerned deeply to consider. We
are far from wishing to force our convic
tion on this, or any subject, upon others;
but we may be allowed frankly to own it on
this occasion ; it is this, that God has deter
mined to bless bis own truth whenever
faithfully delivered, while be withholds his
influence from every (hing beside.
The opponents of the Evangelist system
account for the wounderful success of the
gospel in the first age of Christianity, by its
novelty. But this is not true ; for the first
preachers of the gospel preached no other
doctrines than what Christ had preached
before them except indeed the fact, that
he was risen from the dead, an event
which he himself foretold ; and the apostle
Paul, in his eloquent and powerful appeal
before Agrippa, declared that he said none
other things than those which the prophets and
Moses did say should come; that Christ
should suffer, and that he should be the fit st to
rise from the dead, and should show light un
to the people and to the Gentiles. But admit,
for the sake of argument, that the effects
produced by the first preaching of th gos
pel were the result of nothing in the doc
trines themselves, but tbeir Dovelty—how
is it that similar effects have been produced
in every age ; have been produced by th*-
preaching of the same doctrine in modern
times, centuries after they ceased to be
novel, and in country where they have
been known so long, and preached in all
their purity, in the most undisguised and
unequivocal manner, since the era of the
Reformation at least? What doctrines
have the Methodists preached for the last
fifty or sixty years in this country ? It can
not be denied, that the great principles on
which they have insisted, are human de
pravity, tbe atonement of Christ, regener
ation, and the influences of the holy Spirit.
On these fundamental doctrines they con
stantly insist, and that too with a fervor
which rational Christians regard as rank
enthusiasm. But whit efforts have been
produced by their preaching, Dr. Priestley
shall himself declare: “They have (he
says) civilized and christianized a great part
of the uncivilized and uuchristianized part
of this country.” This was the acknowl
edgment of Dr. Priestley in favour of tbe
Methodists; but has that style of preaching
which the Doctor adopted, that kind ot
preaching which is (he frigid zone of
Christianity, if it be Christianity at all; that
kind of preaching, from which almost eve
ry thing which distinguishes the preaching
of the Methodists is excluded, accomplished
any thing like this ? Would u great part of
the once civilized & unchi imiaized part of
the land have beeu civilized and christiani
zed, if none but preachers of his cast had
been sent to do the work? Most assured
ly if the Evangelical system be false, and
the opposite system be true, the preaching
of the truth ought to accomplish more
good than the preaching of error.
The friends of (he anti-evangelical scheme
are very fond of the adage, Great is truth
and it will prevail; but here the principle
is reversed, for according to *he frank ad
mission of one of their own leaders, error
has prevailed most astonishingly, yea, even
’ to the civilization & christianizing of a
great part of the uncivilized and uuchrist
ianized part of this country. Is not this a
most extraordinary phenomenon in the mo
ral world? Is there then a God that rul
eth in the earth ? Are truth and error
alike indifferent to hifh ; aud does be rather
prefer to patronize the latter than the form
er? Irrational, enthusiastic, and silly as
we are, our reason, such as it is, revolts at
insinuations against the Deity like these !
Yet if the doctrines termed Evangelical be
false, such is the case; and all the reason
ings of rational Christians cannot help them
out of the dilemma.
But it was tbe novelty of the preaching
in the case of the Methodists, as well as in
that of the Apostles, that accomplished
such wonders, the ignorance of the people
giving whafthe preacher said to them the force
of novelty. “ Now, if novelty does produce
such wonders, one should think,” says Mr.
Fuller, in his admirable book entitled,
‘ Tbe Calvinistic and Socinian systems com
pared,’ “It were desirable every centu
ry or two to have anew dispensation of
religion.”
But tbe fact is, that in many, we may
almost say in most places, the doctrines op
posed to Evangelical religion, if the/were
fully preached, if they were distinctly and
unequivocally stated, would have as much
the force of novelty, as the preachiug of
the Methodists could possibly have had,
when they first began (heir labors. Only
let a man give out, that be will prove
the devil is nothing but aa eastern meta
phor, that hell is only a Chalden fable, the
Holy Spirit an attribute of Deity, and that
the Christian world are idolaters for hon
oring Jesus Christ even as they honour
the Father, and be is sure to gather a crowd
around him, and this proves so far the
power of novelty ; but whether Ibis kind
of pleaching will make them holy, humble,
Price 5 $ 3 50 pr. ann. or, I
< $3,00 in advance. J
and devout, is another question ; and wheth
er it would civilize and christianize the
rude and abandoned part of the population,
amid collieries, factories, and mines, ft a
point on which we will leave oar readers
to form tbeir own opinion.
With regard to the adaptation of tbe two
systems to convert infidels to Christianity,
we have also the advantage of fact. Per
haps there never was a place throughout
the whole of Christendom in which the
doctrines termed Evangelical, have been
more completely exploded than in Geneva.
That also was the great seat of deism, and
the residence of that monster ot perverted
genius, Voltaire. Now, what was tha re
sult ? Rational Christianity, as it is te'rmed,
had possession of the churches, aud tbe
pastors lived on friendly tertns with the
infidels around them. Did the rational
Christians succeed in converting the infi
dels by Christianity ? Could they have
had a fairer opportunity ? Coold they
have desired a fairer field? If it is only
necessary to strip Christianity ofthose ab
surd and ridiculous dogmas with which the
Evangelical party have deformed it, to win
the enlightened deist to its faith, here it
was so stripped, and here were deists
enough to be converted by it. Bot what
was the fact ? “ It is impossible,” says
Voltaire, “ that in Calvin’s own town, with
a population of 14,000 thinking pe.ople,
(hers should not be still a few Calvin
ists; but they are extremely few, and well
abused. All honest folks are deists.” In
the article Geneva, rn tbe French Ency
clopaedia, written by D’Alembert, the au
thor says, “It is not surprising that the
progress of infidelity should be less de
precated at Geneva than elsewhere, since
their religion is reduced almost to the ad
oration of one only God; respect for Jeu9
Christ and the Scriptures being the only
things winch distinguish the Chritianity of
Geneva from pure deism.” Thus
things were proceeding not from deism to
rational Christianity, but from rational
Christianity ‘ to deism.—But, “ the pretty
business of the Socinians at Geneva,” as
Voltaire called it, “advances;” and at length
he writes, “ Geneva has made great pro
gress, aod there are more philosophers
or deists than Socinians.” Lo, here is the
result of a fair competition, between what
is called rational Christianity and deism ;
thp pastors are confounded, and the infidels
triumph The fact is, that if you take
away from Christianity the divinity and
a'onemeut of Chrirt, the personality, deity,
and influences of the Holy Spirit, the de
pravity of human nature, regeneration and
sanctification, the eternity of future re
wards and punishment, there is so little left
to distinguish it from deism, that the infidel
does uot thi'>k it worth his while to give
himselftmich trouble about such a trifle.
For io order to get rid of these offensive
doctrines, so much of the New Testament
is blotted out, and a language, indicating so
much doubt and indifference is employed
with regard io what remains, that g suspi
cion is at once created in his mind as to
the confidence of these rational Christians
in the inspiration of the books they invite
him to receive ; and therefore seeing the
points of difference are so and com
paratively trifliug, is it better to shake
hands as brethren, and say nothing abont
them; for, as Dr. Priestley observed con
cerning Mr. Jefferson, if be is an unbeliev
er, he cannot be far from us; and according
to Mr. Belsham, “ the Theopbilanthropjst9,
a species of deis's in France, comprehend
in thir principles, tbe essence of tbe Chris
tian religion.”
FULFILMENT OF THE PROPHECY OF
ISAIAH RESPECTING BARYLON.
Isaiah xiii. 19 —22. xiv. 23. “ A>;d Bab
ylon, the glory of kingdoms, tne beauty of
the Chaldees excellency, shall be as when
God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It
shall never he inhabited, neither shall it be
dwelt in from generation to generation ;
neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there,
neither shall the shepherds make their fold
there. But wild beasts of the desert shall
lie there ; and their houses-shall be full of
doleful creatures, and owls shall dwell
there, and satyrs shall dance there. And
the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in
their desolate houses, and dragons in tbeir
pleasant palaces. I will also make it a pos
session for the bittern, and pools of water ;
and I will sweep it with the besom of des
truction saith the Lord of Hosts.”
The utter desolation of this once proud
mistress of nations, exhibits a most striking
fulfilment of prophecy to the very letter.
The decomposition of the buildings inflicts
a lasting sterility on the soil. “In the in
tervals of ihe ruins,” Mr. Rich remarks,
“ there are some patches of cultivation ;
but ruins composed, like those of Babylon,
of heaps of rubbish impregnated with nitre,
cannot be cultivated ” The neglect of the
canals which formerly carried off the over
flowing waters of the Euphrates, has sub
jected the greater part of the plain to peri
odical inundation ; and for a long time af
ter the subsiding of the waters, it is little
better than a swamp, while large depositea
of the water are left to stagnate in the hol
lows. So that not only do “ wild beasts of
the desert lie there)” an 4 “ dragons cry in