"The above minutes, given by Mr. John Wesley, in conference with others, we think ourselves obliged in justice to our own consciences and in the sight of God to disavow, believing such principles repugnant to Scripture and the whole plan of man's salvation under the new covenant; as also to the foundation of that church to which we profess to belong, and which is established in this kingdom, by its articles, homilies, and liturgy, as its confession of faith. In union with this and all other Protestant and reformed churches, we hold faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ for the sinner's justification, sanctification, righteousness and complete redemption. And that he, the only wise God our Saviour, is the first and the last, the author and finisher, the beginning and end of man's salvation: wholly by the sacrifice of Himself to complete and perfect all those who believe. And that under this covenant of free grace for man, He does grant repentance, remission of sins, and meetness for glory, for the full and true salvation to eternal life; and that all called good works are alike the act of His free grace to man through faith; as a part of that covenant, which can sensibly contain nothing else suitable to the very nature of it. Being created anew in Christ Jesus unto good works which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.' Thus the works of faith, and those of a pharisee, through his own natural powers, become separated,'as St. James shows by the works he treats of, which are set forth in Abraham and Rahab as the most eminent instances the Holy Spirit has recorded of faith; and whatsoever is not of faith is sin. We altogether desire no other salvation than what is derived by this alone, believing all promises are vested in Jesus Christ, and by Him as His purchase to be dispensed, that so it may be all of grace by faith in Himself alone, and works only as the manifestation and natural fruit of that faith which saves. Upon the most impartial survey of these minutes, we find from the beginning to the end one uniform and positive contradiction to these known principles and experience of the Protestant faith. And as all under the name of Methodists may and are too generally supposed to hold principles essentially the same; we therefore desire to be considered as having no approbation of, or hand in, the establishment of such doctrines, either in whole or part; nor answerable in any degree, towards God or man, for the bad consequences so justly feared from them. Considering them as destruction to the very foundation of Christianity; and this distinct from all private judgments of men, who may be led into various opinions upon these essentials. While Mr. Wesley held these fundamental principles (though with some particular judgments of his own upon Scripture which wanted the approbation of many) we trusted the foundation stood sure with him, till, under his own hand, he has proved to all Christians, as well as all men of sense, the contrary, by the clear and explicit manner in which he now avows his endeavour to establish salvation by works. We mean to enter into no controversy on the subject; but separated from party bigotry and all personal prejudice to Mr. Wesley, the conference, or his friends, do, as Christians, Protestants, and members of the Church of England, hereby most solemnly protest against the doctrines contained in these minutes. And as those who, with a single eye, stand out for what we believe to be the truth in Jesus, we appeal to Him for our honest and upright meaning in this, wishing to show Mr. Wesley and all others every kindness due to them as men, while we are forced by conscience to disavow his principles." The Wesleyans qualified their propositions at the next conference (August 1771) in the following declaration:Bristol, August the 9th, 1771. "Whereas the doctrinal points in the minutes of a conference held in London, August 7th, 1770, have been understood to favour justification by works-Now, we, the Rev. John Wesley and others assembled in conference, do declare that we had no such meaning, and that we ahhor the doctrine of justification by works as a most perilous and abominable doctrine. And as the said minutes are not sufficiently guarded in the way they are expressed, we hereby solemnly declare, in the sight of God, that we have no trust or confidence but in the alone merits of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, for justification or salvation, either in life, death, or the day of judgment. And though no one is a real Christian believer (and consequently cannot be saved), who doth not good works when there is time and opportunity, yet our works have no part in meriting or purchasing our justification, from first to last, either in whole or in part." " "Numerous pamphlets now appeared on both sides, and to the arguments contained in them were added the keenest ridicule and the strongest possible invective. Farrago double distilled'-' An old Fox tarred and feathered'-' Pope John,' &c.-were among the titles of these passionate productions. Mr. Rowland Hill excused his severity, by quoting, among other epithets applied by the Messrs. Wesley to the Calvanists, the titles of 'Devil factors' Satan's synagogue'-' Children of the old roaring hellish murderer who believed his lie'-' Advocates for sin'-' Witnesses for the father of lies'—' Blasphemers' Satan-sent preachers'-' Devils'-' Liars'-'Fiends.' Was Mr. Wesley's biographer, Watson, aware of these expressions, when he described the pamphlets on Mr. Wesley's side, as models of temper, and calm, but occasionally powerful reproving? It has been said that the acid was all on one side; but was this so, when Mr. Wesley thus summed up the doctrine of Mr. Toplady's pamphlet on predestination? The sum of all this is: one in twenty (suppose) of mankind are elected; nineteen in twenty are reprobated. The elect shall be saved, do what they will; the reprobate shall be damned, do what they can. Reader, believe this, or be damned. Witness my hand, A. T.' "On a review of this memorable controversy, it is painful, to reflect that scarcely ever was so important a subject discussed with such ill success. Both sides discovered towards certain truths feelings which did them honour; the one being jealous for Divine sovereignty and grace, with human dependence; the other for infinite justice and holiness, with the moral agency of man. But they seemed to have reserved their religion for their friends, and to have thought that any thing was lawful to an enemy. Forgetting that from erring man, the errors as well as sins, of his brother, demand sorrow rather than anger; they let loose all the furies against their opponent's opinion. With whomsoever the victory might be supposed to rest acquired by such weapons, it could confer no glory. "It is as painful as it is remarkable, that the true point on which the whole controversy turns was never brought to view. This could not be expected from the Arminians, whose cause it would have injured. But the Calvanists, by this neglect, betrayed a want of insight into their own system. The contest, concerning what God designed from eternity, must at last be decided by what he effects in time; for his actions are the annunciation of his decrees. As Mr. Wesley professed to admit that God was the author of conversion, that he gave the will its right direction, and sustained the religion which he first produced; when this admission is pursued to all its consequences, it proves all that Calvinism requires. Instead, however, of discussing this interesting question which lay within their reach, and tended to edification, as it led them to look into their own hearts, the combatants pushed each other back into the ages of eternity, to speculate upon the order of the thoughts which passed in the Infinite Mind. Another singularity of this contest was, the difference of the tribunals to which the litigants appealed. The Arminians seem to have felt as gladiators exhibiting before the world, which must have been much confirmed in its native enmity to Divine sovereignty and grace, by the misrepresentations of Mr. Wesley and Mr. Fletcher. The Church of Christ was the theatre in which the Calvinists sought applause; but they seemed not sufficiently solicitous whether that applause proceeded from the best or the worst part of the professors of religion. The Arminians gloried in the patronage of the Monthly Review, and Mr. Fletcher reproached Mr. Hill for appealing to the children of God. That was indeed more likely to be true which which commended itself to those who had tasted that the Lord is gracious,' than that which suits the taste of the carnal mind which is enmity against God;' but in appealing to the people of God, we should not forget that those who lay claim to this title without right are often the worst judges of truth and holiness. "The effect of the controversy was most pernicious. Without eliciting truth, or illustrating difficult texts, the combatants inflamed the spirit of party, and rendered the two bodies of Methodists, for several succeeding years, more hostile to each other than almost any other differing sects. Both parties were driven to extremes. The Calvinists not only shocked their opponents by saying things as strong, rather than as true, as possible, against Arminians; but they actually went to lengths which some of them afterwards condemned as the perversion of Calvinism; though others unhappily gloried in these extravagancies as the perfection of the Gospel; so that real Antinomianism became the pest of many churches, and the scarecrow of the Arminians. These, in their turn, fled from Calvinism with such haste, that they almost rushed into the arms of a mystical deism; for though Mr. Fletcher, as he advanced towards the close of the controversy, felt as a Christian on the verge of eternity, and dropped some healing antidotes to the controversial venom, Mr. Wesley seemed only intent on the following up his position, that we are going too far towards Calvinism." HORTATORY SERIES. HEAVEN ANTICIPATED ON EARTH, A SERMON BY THE REV. W. JAY. PREACHED AT ARGYLE CHAPEL, BATH, ONS UNDAY MORNING, APRIL 6, 1839. "And surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.”Numbers xiii. 27. THE history of the Jews, my brethren, the Jews thus typical of Christians, for is very instructive and profitable; it is they were inferior to us; as the apostle worthy of our regard, for its veracity and says, "God having provided some better for its antiquity, for the wonders it re-thing for us, that they without us should cords and for the instructions it sup- not be made perfect.' Yet they afford a plies. As they were fair specimens of likeness. Moses was a type of Messiah; human nature, it teaches us much concerning ourselves; and as with Him there is no variableness nor shadow of turning, it teaches us also to regard God; while every thing in their civil, judicial, and religious state, was the shadow also "of good things to come." You know on what occasion the words of the text were spoken, and to what they refer. They are a part of the report of the spies, when they returned and told Joshua, saying "We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey: and this is the fruit of it"-holding forth in their hands fine clusters of grapes and pomegranates. We will glance at Canaan as an emblem of heaven, and inquire whether, as the Israelites had something of the matter before they entered it, Christians have not also something concerning which they may say of heaven, "This is the fruit of it." We will endeavour to ascertain when the earnests and foretastes of heaven are most richly afforded. And then consider the use that is to be made of a doctrine, which does not engage people's attention so much as it ought to do, namely, that of viewing heaven, not in its completeness, but in its anticipation; not as a future, but as a present reality. Consider what we say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things. The Jews as a people were typical of the Christian church. A type, as Dr. Doddridge says, is always inferior to the reality; and in the Scriptures we find and therefore he says himself, "A prophet shall the Lord the God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me.' Their condition in Egypt can always serve to represent our natural state; their deliverance from it, our conversion; their passage through the wilderness, our residence in this world; Jordan, death; and Canaan, heaven. Let us inquire a little into this. Some have adverted to the circumstance, that as the native inhabitants of Canaan were expelled, and thus room was made for the Jews to occupy the region, so the angels, the original inhabitants of heaven, who kept not their first estate, were cast down to hell, and the redeemed from the earth refill their places. We quarrel not with this, but we wish to have something firm and sure to ground our remarks upon. We would then ask Was Canaan given to the Jews, and was it a gift entirely irrespective of all worthiness and works in them? How often does Moses labour to convince them of this! God had not chosen them for their righteousness' sake, for they were a stiff necked people. And the apostle does not labour the less to convince us, that "we are saved bygrace, through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast;" and that while "the wages of sin is death, the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Was Canaan given by promise and covenant? So is heaven. "In hope of eternal life," says the apostle, "which God who cannot lie, promised before the world began." To whom, then, could He have addressed the promise? Not to us, but to our covenant Head and representative. This covenant, by which the Jews were made proprietors of the land of Canaan, was made with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob; in them they were thus blessed, and for their sakes they received all these things. But the better covenant, of which all the spiritual Israel shall glory, was made with a far greater character than Abraham. He was "set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was." He has been given, as Isaiah says, "for a covenant to the people;" and in Him we are blessed, and for His sake we receive all things. Was Canaan for the settlement and the rest of the Jews, after their bondage in Egypt, and travels, and toils, and privations, and hardships in the wilderness? And “there remaineth a rest for the people of God." "They rest from their labours." Above all-Was Canaan remarkable for its fertility? Why, it is seldom ever mentioned without the addition of "flowing with milk and honey:" this is mentioned thirty or forty times in connection with it. And then hear Moses, who earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned." And wherefore did they not? "But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly; wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for he hath prepared for them a city.” Canaan, you see, however, was not only rich in its productions, but the Jews had even while they were in the wilderness a specimen of it; and as they held forth grapes and figs and pomegranites, they said, "This is the fruit of it." For it is to this they referred, as you see from the preceding verses: "They came unto the brook of Eschol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs. The place was called the brook Eschol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence." So that, you see, they had promise; they had not only the pledge of it, you will observe, but they had specimens, they had a part of it, they had a little realization of it. And now let us inquire, whether Christians have not something of heaven even while they are here, and concerning which they also may say, "This is the fruit of it;" whether they have not something in addition to the report and the promise of it. The report is something indeed, and it is a good report; and the promise also is something, and it is a promise that fails not for evermore. And what Watts says also is very true :— said to them, "The Lord thy God something besides the report and the bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.' Let us look through this literal description to the spiritual glory discerned; and let us remember the language of the apostle even with regard to the patriarchs. "6 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned We are, says the apostle, "made meet in the land of promise, as in a strange for the inheritance of the saints in country, dwelling in tabernacles with light." This is still more. Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of prepared for it. How is a man prepared the same promise; for he looked for a for a higher state? By a lower. How city which hath foundations, whose is a youth prepared for a trade? By builder and maker is God." "These going to it-beginning with the lower all died in faith; not having received the parts, and then rising to the superior, promises, but having seen them afar off, till he is qualified for the whole. and were persuaded of them, and em- Christian at his conversion is an apprenbraced them, and confessed that they tice to the kingdom of God; and then were strangers and pilgrims on the he sets up in business-oh! what a bu "Yes, and before we rise To that immortal state, He means A siness! why, the very merchandize of it is better than gold, and the gain thereof than fine gold. How does a child learn to walk? By walking. How does a swimmer learn to swim? By swimming. Neither of them could ever be taught or enabled to do this by mere lecturing. 66 66 Now let us go to to the express decision and declaration of Scripture. "Let the saints," says David, "be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds." This is no more than what the apostle means when he says, “ Rejoicing in hope of the glory of God." 'He,' says our Saviour, "that believeth on the name of the Son of God hath everlasting life, and shall never come into condemnation." "He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood hath everlasting life." Says John, "These things have I written unto you that believe in the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life." Says the apostle, "He hath quickened us together with Christ, and raised us up, and made us sit together in heavenly places." "we are come," says he, "to Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all." We will readily concede that this does not only refer to a future condition, but neither does it only refer to the present world: there is a connection between them, and it is commenced even here. And In order to exemplify the subject (for without instances and exemplifications public instruction is of little importance) and to see how a Christian is a partaker of heaven while here on earth, it will be necessary for us to consider what heaven itself is. We may remark three grand articles with regard to this. But previous to our entering upon these, we would just observe, that we consider heaven as a state, rather than as a place. I say rather than a place, for unquestionably it is a place. We know that it is designed to contain finite and embodied creatures, and that some embodied creatures are there even now, as | Enoch,andElijah, and those who rose from their graves at the resurrection of Christ; and Jesus is there also, "in a body like our own. What is material and cor poreal cannot be everywhere. But admitting that it is a place, and adding also that it is impossible for us to conceive what localities may be rendered by the bounty and the power of God-(how very superior it may be rendered even to the garden of Eden-what a place must that be where Deity resides as to His peculiar presence and manifestation of Himself!)-yet we would observe, that heaven is a state rather than a place. Even now, we all well know, that happiness does not depend wholly or principally upon place. Why, what was Paradise to Adam and Eve, after they had sinned, and while guilt was rankling in their bosoms, more than a desert? And what were the prisons to Paul? Let his glory while in them answer; you see how full of confidence and peace and joy he was, while suffering for the Redeemer's sake. This is proved also by the present experience of the believer; for he cannot now be partaking of heaven as a place, but he does partake of it as a state. And how? First, let us view heaven as a a state of knowledge. Every thing there will be favourable to the acquisition of wisdom; and in reference to this, observe how thoroughly accomplished we may consider the words of Isaiah, "The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be seven fold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of His people, and healeth the stroke of their wound." Who can imagine how full, how extensive, how profound, our future knowledge will be, when that which is perfect is come, and that which is in part shall be done away? But you see, the apostle allows that it is "in part" even now. And the Christian does partake of it even now; and this is the fruit of it: "We were darkness, but are now made light in the Lord"-"The darkness is past, and the true light now shineth:" He has "called us out of darkness into marvellous light:" "The people that sat in darkness have seen great light." And thus, even here, says the apostle John, 66 we have an unction from the Holy One, and we know all things." There is at present great restriction, but you see us allowed to conceive of heaven as a scene of present knowledge perfected. The views the Christian has now |