fresh and totally different impressions, before he could become a believer in the truth, or a performer of the duties, of the Gospel. "Every man, who now also is under the influence of similar prepossessions, must now also undergo a similar change. Every unbeliever and every sinner, although made by baptism a member of Christ and a child of God, must be, in a certain sense, converted, if he would ultimately succeed to his inheritance of the kingdom of heaven. But to fancy that every Christian whatever must experience a conversion in order to be in a state of salvation; to assert, with the Arminian Founder of Methodism, that he who knows no time when he had need of such a vast and mighty change as a change from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God, from death unto life, may by this also know, if he give himself leave to think, that he is not born of the Spirit, that he has never yet known God, but has mistaken the voice of nature for the voice of God:'-to suppose, with his Calvinistic competitor, that in every Christian congregation there are two sorts of people, some that know Christ, and some that do not know him; some that are converted, and some that are strangers to conversion;' and to assert that every person must be converted or be damned, and that they who die in an unconverted state must be damned for ever to contend, as is stated to be the opinion of our self-denominated evangelical brethren by their apologist, that in order to a state of salvation, a change of mind, of views, and dispositions must be effected in every person, wherever born, however educated, or of whatever external conduct :'*- this is a conceit which revelation warrants not, and which reason and experience disclaim. "That no man, however near he may approach to the perfection of the Christian character, and however lovely an example he may exhibit of the beauty of holiness, is absolutely perfect, and free from the dominion of sin, I readily admit. Every man has been undoubtedly guilty of sins, negligences, and ignorances,' for which he will be brought to * Overton. account, and will need the atoning blood of the Redeemer. But some humble Christians undoubtedly there are, who, having been once regenerated by water and the Holy Spirit, have so followed his heavenly motions, and improved his sanctifying graces; have so pursued the calm and blameless tenor of their way; have preserved that child-like simplicity of character, and that child-like innocence of conduct, that their angels may not blush to behold the face of their Heavenly Father. "And are we to be told that Christians such as these must experience an entire change of heart, a thorough conversion of their ways? It is not to ascribe any merit to their righteousness; it is no prejudice to the precious efficacy of the Redeemer's blood, or to the all-sufficiency of the Holy Spirit, (God forbid !) to say that they need no conversion. By that blood they have been purified from the original corruption of their nature; by that blood they have been cleansed of their actual sins; by the Holy Spirit of God they have been regenerated; his preventing grace hath conducted them; his assisting grace hath co-operated with, and given effect to, their zealous endeavours to persevere in the course of piety and virtue; his sanctifying influence renews and invigorates them day by day. Let God have all the glory of their continuance in their Christian career; but let it not be judged necessary that they should undergo ‘a change of mind, of views, and dispositions,' when that change must be from holiness unto sin: let them not be subject to a conversion, which must be the very reverse of turning them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God. "It is a remark of a learned prelate,* to whose labours in the discharge of a weighty and important office many of us have been indebted for instruction in sound theology, that 'We are not told in Scripture, as we are now imperiously called upon, to divide our hearers, being believers in Christianity in common, into the classes of converted and unconverted. There is indeed a conversion from infidelity; or a Bishop Randolph. conversion from sin, or from any particular sin, or course of sinning. "He which converteth a sinner from the error of his way (so saith St. James most divinely, in a far other strain, and in the true spirit of Christianity), shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." But that among men baptized as Christians, taught from their infancy to believe the doctrines and practise the duties of Christianity, a special conversion also at some period of their life is necessary to stamp them true Christians, is an unheard of thing in the gospel, and is plainly a novel institution of man. Thus taken, it is a spurious substitute for the true hinge of Christianity, repentance; with which in Scripture we find it conjoined as one and the same: "Repent, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out."" "To represent conversion, then, as universally necessary to all Christians, because it was universally necessary to all men before they became Christians, or because it is necessary to all who, whether through unbelief or impiety, have become apostates, as it were, from the religion which they professed, is a distinguished and fundamental error in the Methodistical creed. And it is likely to redound very little either to the advancement or to the honour of genuine Christianity, thus to confound those who are estranged from the faith or obedience, which are the duty of its professors, with those who, having remembered their Creator, and devoutly submitted to be taught of him from their youth up, have conscientiously endeavoured both to believe and to live as it becometh the followers of Christ." FOURTH WITNESS. I, the FOURTH WITNESS in this important cause, am "A minister of the establishment; and as I" see no sufficient reason to relinquish my station, I" am "satisfied that it" is "my duty to retain it.-With a heart full of pride and wickedness; my life polluted with many unrepented, unforsaken sins; without one cry for mercy, one prayer for direction or assistance, or for a blessing upon what I was about to do; after having concealed my real sentiments under the mask of general expressions; after having subscribed articles directly contrary to what I believed; and after having blasphemously declared, in the presence of God and of the congregation, in the most solemn manner, sealing it with the Lord's supper, that I judged myself to be inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take that office upon me,'- not knowing or believing that there was an Holy Ghost,-I was ordained a deacon. "The Force of Truth' sufficiently explains the state of my heart and my conduct, as it must have appeared in the sight of God, in this most solemn concern of my ordination; and it suffices here to say that, considered in all respects, I deliberately judge this whole transaction to have been the most atrocious business of my life. But I did not, at the time, in any degree regard it in this light; nor did I, till long after, feel any remorse of conscience for my prevaricating, if not directly lying, subscriptions and declarations, and all the evil of my motives and actions in the whole concern." But "I have" now "discovered the importance of that trust which is committed to me; what is the extent of that duty it requires; and how it ought to be performed: and I find it something inconceivably different from what one would suppose it to be, from the too general, and well-nigh universal, conduct of those to whom it is committed. I have also discovered what true, unadulterated Christianity is, and find it not exactly what even our creeds and articles represent it. I have arrived, in point of conscience, at perhaps an unnecessary scrupulousness; insomuch that I cannot, either through hopes of gain and favour, or through fear of loss and censure, do a thing that my heart disapproves. If by subscription be meant an avowed assent to the truth of every proposition contained in what we subscribe, I can never subscribe these articles, without telling a most audacious lie in the face of God, in a solemn and important matter of religion, for the sake of sordid lucre. Such a lie would wound my conscience, and forfeit His favour, in whose favour is life and riches would make me but a poor amends.—But should preferment be offered, I shall venture to ask, whether” what I have just said "be the right definition of subscription or not. If they mean any thing else, and will say so-I mean, that a man may subscribe without believing every part-I then could subscribe. It is true, subscription would be then a farce: but that is their business "When I had published 'The Force of Truth,' I had never attended to any controversies concerning church government, or any kindred subjects. But, soon after the controversy concerning baptism," whether it should be administered to infants, or only to adults professing faith, "fell in my way; and for some time I was almost ready to conclude that the antipædobaptists were right. This gave me great uneasiness: not because I was solicitous whether, in the search after truth, I were led among them or elsewhere; but because I feared being misled; and deprecated following my publication with a further and needless change, which might bring discredit upon it. Many, very many prayers, accompanied with tears, did I pour out on this subject: I read books on both sides of the question, but received no satisfaction. I became even afraid of administering baptism, or the Lord's supper. But I said to myself, He that believeth shall not make haste: I must retain my station, till I have taken time to examine the subject fully and I must in the mean time do what retaining that station requires." "At length I laid : |