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siders the remark already quoted as equally applicable. It is written in a truly evangelical strain, and discovers a deep acquaintance with those spiritual exercises of the divine life, which constitute what is called experimental religion. Mr. Murch introduces it" as a faithful token of the earnestness as well as the sentiments of many of the Presbyterian ministers of that time." It certainly contains no direct doctrinal statement, but the whole tenor and strain of it are remote from the Unitarian order of feeling. One extract may suffice to prove this:

"I have been employed in the Lord's vineyard, and borne the heat of the day, and continued in his work, blessed be his name, till evening; and can now comfortably look into another world, in hope of the reward of eternal life, which God hath promised; nor is it any terror to me to meet death, and appear before the awful bar of God, while I can keep a steadfast eye upon my prevailing advocate and intercessor in heaven."

Among the pathetic appeals to the beloved people of charge, are the following:

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and duties of religion." This passage may serve to show the futility of those remarks in which Mr. Murch frequently indulges, as if doctrines were matters of very inferior and secondary importance, and, in comparison with morality, of no moment. "A bad life," he would have his readers conclude," was the only heresy" in the estimation of the early Presbyterians. It may be true, indeed, that "the members of their churches were not required to do more than profess their faith in the Gospel, and endeavour to govern their conduct by its precepts." But they did not disapprove "doctrinal preaching," or condemn "all attention to opinions."+ Nor does Mr. Murch disapprove and condemn these things on the part of Unitarians. mentions it to the commendation of another society, that "they continued to manifest on all proper occasions, a lively interest in the progress of religious truth," and speaks of certain views entertained by their late minister of "the most important subjects of human inquiry." The immediate predecessor of that minister, after he had renounced Calvinism and Trinitarianism, published Three Discourses on the Redemption of the World by Jesus Christ, with an Appendix on the Doctrine of Atonement, and the importance of having right sentiments in Religion," and on these particular topics of religious inquiry, assuredly the old Presbyterians maintained not only the great importance, but also the absolute necessity of having correct opinions and right sentiments, because they regarded these topics as entering essentially into the Gospel, or "what they deemed Christian truth." Mr. Murch, mentioning a minister who, having been led at the close of life" into a conviction that the Calvinistic sentiments he had to P. 75.

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† P. 169. P. 149. § P. 154.

that time preached were not authorized by the scriptures," tells us that he did not rest satisfied with having altered his own views; he displayed his candour and integrity, by an avowal from the pulpit, of his change, and by his endeavours to lead his people into what he believed to be the truth."* The peculiar " sentiments" of Unitarians, relate to "points of the greatest importance," yet Trinitarian views on the very same points are, according to his representation, matters of no importance; zeal and earnestness in maintaining them are therefore wasted and thrown away on mere opinions. The zeal of the original Presbyterian founders was all expended in another direction. "The distinctive appellation, Presbyterian," designated a class of religious professors, "distinguished from the beginning by a thorough knowledge, and an earnest advocacy of the rights of conscience."

The term, he asserts, "does not now indicate belief in certain important doctrines, viz. those called Unitarian." He even ventures to deny that it originally, or at any time included the profession of any particular doctrines. "The title, [he says,] was chiefly gloried in by our fathers, because it indicated their union with a body of Protestant Dissenters, hound by no fetters with regard to church fellowship, and left by their trust deeds at perfect liberty to search for truth wherever it could be found"-at perfect liberty to search for truth,-no doubt-not, perhaps, wherever it could be found; for they knew where, alone, reli

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gious or theological truth was to be found, viz. in "the Scriptures of truth," and there they had already found it; why then should they engage farther in the pursuit of that whereof they were already in secure and firm possession ? The great mistake into which Mr. Murch and other Unitarian writers have fallen, concerning the original English Presbyterians (for we are willing to ascribe it to mistake, not to wilful misrepresentation,) is, that they were a class of professors undecided in their religious views and sentiments, 'ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth,' whereas the very contrary was the fact. They had found the truth in the oracles of God, and having acquired the precious jewel, were determined, in obedience to the divine injunction, not to abandon or part with it at any price.

Bath. This is the last place we shall mention. One of the early ministers was Mr. Henry Chandler, (father of the eminent Dr. Samuel Chandler,) a pupil of Mr. Doolittle, at whose academy he was a fellow student with Mr. Matthew Henry. In 1705, he published a small book, entitled "Man's Highest Happiness, and the Way to it, being two Discourses; the first of Eternal Life; the second, of Selfdedication to the Giver of it: both delivered at the Bath, by Henry Chandler, Minister of the Gospel there." The first of these Treatises is dedicated to Mr. Wm. Adams, citizen of London, whom the author calls his "noble friend," who had generously presented to him a library," the receipt whereof," he says, "hath been the greatest encouragement to my studies that ever I had in my life." Both Discourses are remarkable for boldness of style and strength of expression.

After explaining the nature of

the knowledge and love of God to be enjoyed in heaven, he proceeds to notice the "other ingredient in eternal life--communion with the glorified Redeemer."

He shows in what respects the vision of Christ in heaven is more desirable than the sight of him in the flesh. The following are the three first particulars mentioned:

"1 We shall there better understand the mystery of his eternal generation, than 'tis possible we should here. This truth, like the throne of God, is encom passed with clouds and darkness that hinder irresistibly our near approach. Here 'tis a veiled secret, but there 'tis laid open for the freest view. That the Son should be a person distinct from the Father, and yet of the same individual essence with him is one of the most awful mysteries of our religion, which we

must believe, but cannot comprehend. That he should be begotten, and yet eternally begotten, what a riddle is this to our depraved reason! With what pleasure will it be unfolded to us in the lighter world above! where we shall satisfactorily understand what is meant by those words, (Heb. i. 3,) who being the brightness of his glory, &c. We can here only pronounce the words; there we shall see the meaning, as also of that, (Phil. ii. 6,) who being in the form of God,

&c. What the form of God means we cannot tell; true, we say, it intends the nature and perfections, the essential glory of God, but what that is we no more comprehend, than one born and bred in a wilderness comprehends what the splendour and glory of a monarch's court means; but when before the supreme and universal King, when in his radiant palace, we shall see the meaning. O how delightful will it be to see the Son perfectly resemble the Father, shooting beams with his equally divine!" "Methinks I hear the amazed saints say, whilst gazing upon the awful and charming object, Is this he of whom the sacred oracles spake, and whom the well meaning but too feeble preachers of the Gospel endeavoured to describe? How infinitely beyond all the descriptions given us in that low and dark world are his glories! Did not our hearts burn within us whilst the lofty expressions [the brightness of his glory, &c.] were sounding in our ears! Sure we were they were big with something too great for mortals to comprehend. And now we see that in that thought we were not mistaken. Amazing privilege, unparal

leled felicity, to behold the Father and Son, with the ever-blessed Spirit proceeding from both !'

"2. We shall there better understand the mystery of Christ's incarnation. The Trinity of Persons having unity of essence in the ever blessed Godhead is the mystery of mysteries. And next to that, is the union of the two natures in the person of Christ the mediator. That the same person should be very God and very man, how wonderful! That the same Jesus should be from everlasting and in time too! The Father of the

world, and the Son of man! That the

human nature should be taken into so near union with the Deity, and yet not swallowed up by it, is more wonderful than to see the bush burning and yet not consumed."-pp. 40-43.

The second discourse (on 2 Cor. viii. 5.) entitled, "The Saviour's Right to our All, asserted and proved," is dedicated" to the good people of Bath and parts adjacent attending on my ministry," in whose hearing the substance of it had been delivered. He says, "If you honour not the Son, even as you honour the Father; if you believe not him, if you give not yourselves to him, your fear of and love to God is in vain, and rejected with abhorrence, for no man cometh warrantably and acceptably to the Father but by Christ.'

The following are extracts from the discourse itself:

"Christ is Lord in senses peculiar to him. As God, he is the original, absolute and universal proprietor."-p. 94.

"They [the Christians of Macedonia] engage that (forasmuch as he is consecrated an high priest for evermore...) they will trust solely to the merits of his sacrifice, and the efficacy of his intercession for procuring their pardon and acceptance with God; to whom they will not dare to approach but by that new and living way which he hath consecrated for them through the vail, that is to say, his flesh; in which way they would be bold to draw near, in full assurance of faith, having their consciences sprinkled with his blood, which they looked on as able to cleanse them from all sins; they would have a just value for the sanctifying influences of his Holy Spirit, and ply all instituted means for obtaining them; they would endeavour to be holy in conformity to his example, and in obe

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dience to his commands; nevertheless, when most successful in these endeavours, 'tis their fixed resolution to eye his mediatory righteousness as what alone can procure for them, by its proper merit, the Divine pardon, approbation, acceptance, and rewards."-pp. 98, 99. Among 66 million of reasons why thou shouldst give thyself to the Lord Jesus" he mentions, first, "his personal excellencies." Here he specifies his Omniscience,— "His understanding is infinite, he knoweth all things . . . ." and his Omnipotence," power belongeth to him, so as to no other, for his power is self-originated, independent, and infinite."-pp.103-109. Among "the reasons drawn from Christ's relations to you," he mentions:

1. He is your Creator....He was, with the ever blessed Father and Spirit, concerned in forming the first human body, and breathing into man the first human soul.... Hast thou considered this, reader, that the God Jesus put thee into being? 2. He is thy constant conserver. Look into thy Bible; there thou shalt find that he upholdeth all things by the word of his power, and that by him all things consist. That these words are spoken of Jesus Christ, no person can doubt that reads the text; and that they athrm of Jesus Christ that he upholds the worlds, and keeps the universe in being and order, is plain, so plain that I cannot but wonder how any person can read these expressions, believing them given by Divine inspiration, and admit a doubt of Christ's Divinity.-pp. 111, 112.

"There are diversities of operations, but it is the same God, Jesus Christ, that worketh all in all.”—p. 114.

He afterwards proceeds to consider, "what arguments for surrender to Jesus Christ the consideration of his mediatory performances will suggest." The two first are follows:

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"1. He voluntarily endured unparalleled pains, and died a shameful, cursed death for us. His sufferings were singularly dreadful; the iniquities of us all being laid upon him, he must be allowed to have a more insupportable load than any other person; and his nature being in its original perfection, he must

N. S. No. 141.

be thought to have the sharpest sensa. tions. . . . The sufferings he under

went he endured in our stead for our offences, to prevent our eternal sufferings when we were enemies, he died for us.... the Lord Jesus laid down his life to save you from eternal death...."-pp. 120, 121.

"2. He hath, by his voluntary sufferings for us, appeased the incensed justice of his Father, whom all the blood in our veins could not have appeased; he hath reconciled us unto God by his blood. The first trespass violated the righteous law of God, and vitiated the whole hu man nature in the common root of it, whereon the first parents with their justice of God; the whole world became whole progeny became obnoxious to the guilty before God, whereon he, as righteous Governor, was (and could not but be) mankind's adversary, bound in honour to maintain the reputation of his laws by punishing the breach of them; so that unless a substitute could be found whose temporary sufferings could be an equivalent to the eternal sufferings of sinners, the whole race must sink for ever into misery. For this no creature in this our world, or that above, was fit; wherefore the eternal Son of God descends and clothes himself with flesh, and in it suffers and dies, as the propitiation for the sins of the whole world, and hath hereby so far reconciled the offended Majesty to every one of us, that fury is not in him, he is not set upon our destruction, but sincerely offers to be actually reconcited to us upon terms proper for the essential purity and justice to propose, and every way fit for us to subscribe and comply with terms whereon our happiness is as manifestly consulted as the Divine honour and glory."-pp. 122, 123.

Can the reader, after perusing these extracts, entertain the shadow of a doubt that the writer held the

doctrines of the proper deity of Christ and the vicarious piacular design of his last sufferings and death to be primary and fundamental truths of the Christian religion? Mr. Murch, who is the present successor of Mr. Chandler, informs us, that before 1780 " a gradual change had been wrought in the character of the congregation, so that the majority became composed of the rich rather than the poor. This circumstance, [he

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adds,] is to be regretted whenever or wherever it occurs; it generally indicates, if not the preaching of 'some other gospel' than that which was preached by the Saviour of mankind, yet an inattention to the deepest wants of human nature, and to that beautiful characteristic of Christianity-its adaptation to men of all classes and capacities." In tracing "the causes of the original prosperity and the subsequent decline" of this congregation, he admits that the introduction of "Arian and Unitarian sentiments deterred many from attending, who would otherwise have done so on the principles of Protestant Dissenters." This we have no doubt was the real cause of the decline of Presbyterian congregations. "To the poor," said our blessed Lord, (speaking of the attendants on his own ministry,) "the gospel is preached." If, therefore, doctrine was introduced into their pulpits which had the effect of driving away the poor to other chapels, may we not fairly infer that some other gospel is preached than that which was preached by the Saviour of mankind ?" Mr. Murch published last year a Lecture delivered at the Unitarian Chapel, Trim Street, Bath, January 18, entitled "Christ's Holy Gospel," the object of which is to defend Unitarians from the charge of not preaching it. We have quoted enough to prove that the Presbyterian ministers of Queen Anne's time, particularly one of Mr. Murch's predecessors," associated the deity of Christ, the atonement of original sin, with the word Gospel;" but without further reference to the specific doctrines just enumerated, let us try Mr. Murch's pretensions on behalf of " the Unitarian denomination," by another test, derived from Paul's Epistle to the

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Galatians. The apostle had "called them into the grace of Christ," but false teachers had moved them off from this firm ground of confidence towards God, to "another gospel,” which he stigmatizes as a gross perversion of the real Gospel of Christ. These false teachers, and all who publish similar doctrines, he denounces by a solemn and repeated execration. What then was the true gospel preached by him? We have his own account in these words,-"that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Christ."

Such in brief was the truth of the gospel according to St. Paul in reference to this important doctrine. What then is "Christ's holy Gospel" on this point according to Mr. Murch, who writes in the name of his Unitarian brethren? He not only contends "for man's ability to do the will of God, in opposition to the supposed worthlessness of human nature," but asks, "Must we be told that we ought to...give up our chapels,... because we are not preachers of Christ's Holy Gospel;...because we encourage our fellow Christians to do the will of God, rather than rely on the merits of another for salvation?" If the question here raised is to be determined according to the real fact, we answer, Yes, by your own showing. Your pretensions to be "preachers of Christ's holy gospel" are by your own confession completely set aside; for to teach that men can be saved by their own virtue, without reliance on the merits of Jesus Christ, is, in effect, to subvert the Gospel preached by St. Paul to the churches of Galatia, and consequently to deny "the faith, once delivered to the saints," for which the Presbyterian founders, in obedience to the apostolical injunction, "earnestly contended."

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