lence, and compassion, which induces him to think the Author of the system to be morally good:--but he reads on, and soon finds malice, revenge, envy, hatred, injustice, and intemperance, which confounds his ideas; he knows not what to think of his Maker; he can scarcely conceive of the Deity as an intelligent, designing agent, but calls him Animus Mundi, the soul of the creation, the principle of existence, &c. He knows not, I say, what to make of his God. From his works he can form no consistent idea of his character. A Being without a beginning,-an eternity before time be gan, an eternal, solitary God! Something must have existed-from-eternity, or nothing ever could have exist ed; this existence is a necessary existence. But why might not the Universe have enjoyed this necessary existence, as well as a Deity, the supposed cause of its existence? Here he becomes an entire sceptic, or is plundged into the greatest of mysteries, by which all others are swallowed up, a system of dependent mutable beings, possessing independent existence. Here he stops. He can advance no farther. Here is the death and the grave of all reason and virtue. The world is now a scene of madness and misery; and no wise and benevolent head of the Universe, to steer the good mau through the tempestous ocean. Thus I have pointed out to you the natural grades. of error. It is a beaten way, which many have trod formerly, and which many are treading in the present day. I have not mentioned a single error, but what I understand some of my fellow citizens have adopted, and discover a great attachment to. They seem to think they are making new discoveries, that the present race of Christians are more enlightened than the former; and that they are advancing in religious knowJedge, and approaching near to the Millennium, when in reality they are only raising old errors from their graves, many of which distressed, and greatly injured, the Church of Christ, many hundred years ago, and have been so long dead, they are almost buried in oblivion. These several grades of error, we shall set down in order, number them, and give them the names which they commonly bear. 1st. The first step is from Calvinism to Arminianism. Here I believe many good men, whose hearts are sounder than their heads, stop, and proceed no farther in the road that leads to Atheism. 2d. From Arminianism to Universalism. Pelagians a sect who appeared about the fifth, or end of the fourth century. They maintained the following doctrines. 1st. That Adam was mortal, and whether he had sinned or not, would certainly have died. 2d. That the consequences of Adam's sin were confined to his own person. 3d. That new born infants are in the same situation with Adam before the fall. 4th. That the law qualified men for the Kingdom of Heaven, and was founded upon equal promises with the Gospel. 5th. That the general resurrection of the dead does not follow in virtue of our Saviour's resurrection. 6th. That the grace of God is given according to our merits, &c. Semipelagians, are such as retain any of the heretical opininions of the Pelagians mentioned above. Arians, are followers of Arius, a Presbyter of the 6th. From Arianism to Socinianism.* 7th. From Socinianism to Deism. 8th. From Deism to Atheism. When Christians arrive to the 5th grade, they have freed themselves from all the distinguishing features of the Christian religion, and are become Deists, while they think they are nobly engaged in freeing Christianity from the mysteries and absurdities which had been attached to it in the dark ages of ignorance and credulity, and fixed upon it by creeds and confessions. There are two ways of propagating and establishing this system of error, viz: by philosophical reasoning, and by the appearance of much piety, benevolence, and zeal. The first is comparatively slow in its operations, and Church of Alexandría, about the year 315, who maintained that the Son of God was totally and essentially distinct from the Father; that he was first and noblest of those beings whom God had created, the instrument by whose subordinate operation he formed the universe, and therefore inferior to the Father both in nature and dignity: also that the Holy Ghost was not God, but created by the power of the Son. *Socinians. They maintained that Jesus Christ was a mere man, who had no existence before he was conceived by the Virgin Mary; that the Holy Ghost is not a distinct person; but the Father is truly and properly God. They own that the name of God is given in the Holy Scriptures to Jesus Christ, but contend that it is only a deputed title, which however vests him with an absolute sovereignty over all created beings, and renders him an object of worship to men and angels. They deny the doctrines of justification and imputed righteousness, and say, that Christ only preached the truth to mankind, set before them in himself an example of heroic virtue, and sealed his doctrines with his blood. Original sin and absolute predestination they esteem scholastic chimeras. chiefly addresses the faculty of reason. The second makes more rapid progress, as it seizes the religious affections, or passions of men, and by this handle they are suddenly drawn away, without taking time maturely to think, and deliberately ponder their paths. They are led away by the apparent piety of their leaders, and the strong persuasion they have, that God is with these men. The above account is not mere theory, it has been often realized by individuals, and by societies. Several individuals in our day and country, who might be particularly named, have trodden pretty exactly in the above steps, until they have arrived at Atheism, or something equally absurd, or equally destructive of piety and virtue. About thirty years ago, as I have been informed, the Christian religion was in a pretty flourishing state among the Protestant dissenters in England-their houses of worship were much crowded, and the people all attention. They concluded, however, at length, that Confessions of Faith were hurtful things, which cramped the mind, and put a stop to free inquiry, and improvements in knowledge. They resolved to let every candidate for the Gospel Ministry draw up his own Confession of Faith. These candidates dropped one mystery after another, until they got to the 5th grade of error. The people, convinced by their masterly rea soning, followed them. After the novelty was over, and the minds of men became calm, these doctrines produced their genuine effects-the zeal of the people subsided, they dwindled away, and a number of flourishing congregations were reduced almost to a state of non existence. In this torpid state they remained for some time; until at length, there sprung up a set of evangelical preachers, who revived the long exploded doctrines of the reformation. The people by this time, saw the bad effects of Arianism, and Socinianism, in the principles and lives of their fathers; exploded the new refined system; and again embraced the principles of the reformation. On which, religion revived, and several of these congregations rose as from the dead, and again became flourishing societies. We are informed, that late in the last century, the Ministers in Germany got to weeding Christianity of its mysteries, and trying to render it more philosophical. They succeeded and soon reduced it to a stock fit for the reception of the system of the Illuminées; or rather of Illuminism, the systematical subversion of all systems. The consequence was, distraction and desolation were spread over a considerable part of Europe, while the religion of Jesus lay bleeding in the dust. The principles of Semipelagianism, Arianism, and Socinianism, make God so merciful, and the way to heaven so easy, that in time it naturally lulls the mind to sleep, and makes it indifferent about all religion. Men do not consider that "A God all mercy, is a God unjust." They have read, "He that believeth shall be saved," and are informed that "believing is the easiest thing in the world." They can prepare for heaven at any time--they are busy now about other things or taken up with other pleasures and pursuits. In due time, however, they design to believe, and be saved. This idea is not the |