Help to Zion's travellers : being an attempt to remove various stumbling blocks out of the way, relating to doctrinal, experimental, and practical religion

Front matter

HELP

TO

ZION'S TRAVELLERS:

Chapter II

Necessary hatred to sin not inconsistent with sovereign love to persons, 48

The objects of God's natural love may through sin become the objects of his holy displeasure, 50

Good men not equally the objects of God's natural love, 51

Inferences, 52

CHAPTER VI. The Atonement, Page 92

It supposes God was injured. 92

Man justly obnoxious to punishment, .... 93 Innocence of him who makes atonement, . 95 Equity forbids the punishment of the innocent, 95

The substitute must be related to the sinner, 96

No creature has power over his own life, . 96

Necessity of the atonement, 101

Efficacy of the atonement, 106

CHAPTER III. The rute of life,. 195

Positive institutions, 196

Man's inability, 198

Natural and moral inability, 219

Nature of free agency, 230

Armenian objection answered, 231

Inferences.

The equity of Jehovah, 242

Necessity of renewing grace, 242

Freedom and riches of grace, 242

Consistency of scriptural exhortations, . 243

Encouragement to seeking souls, 243

The strong believer is taught humility, . 245

Preface

TO THE

SECOND LONDON EDITION.

BY REV. DR. RYLAXD.

Twenty-eight years have elapsed since that Sermon was delivered, in my father's pulpit, at Northampton, before the Baptist Association, which Mr. Hall afterwards enlarged into the following Treatise. As I then united with many others in earnestly soliciting its publication, so I have since repeatedly perused it with much satisfaction. When, therefore, the publisher of the present edition applied to me for a recommendatory preface, I felt no hesitation but what arose from the early impressions of veneration for one of the wisest and. best of men, to whom I was habituated to look up with such respect, as made this office feel to me assuming and arrogant. But when I reflect that he has been removed from our world for more than sixteen years, (and verily I miss no man more !) and consider that, since his decease, many have joined our churches, who never had opportunity duly to appreciate his worth ] it seems not to be taking too much upon me, to testify in what high estimation he was justly held by those who had the pleasure of his acquaintance. Strong natural powers, ardent piety, deep exercises of mind, a series of singular and sanctified trials, with a special unction from the Holy One, rendered him a man of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord.

Deeply convinced of human guilt and depravity, and very zealous for the honor of sovereign grace ; but no less concerned for internal holiness and practical religion ; he was careful to walk in the midst of the paths of judgment, and to beware of turning aside to the right hand or the left.

He called no man upon earth master, in respect of his religious sentiments, but he took a peculiar delight in the writings of President Edwards; and two Sermons by Mr. gmalley, (which I borrowed of our venerable friend Mr. Newton, of Olney, and after transcribing them, lent them to Mr. Hall,) contributed much to strengthen his conviction, that the moral impotence of sinners is no more an excuse for their slighting the call of the gospel, than it is for their violating the commands of the law. As the greatest disinclination to regard Divine authority cannot release a rational creature from an obligation to obey God's precepts] so the utter aversion of a sinner to regard the kindness of God our Saviour, cannot release him from an obligation thankfully to comply with his invitations.

At the same time, Mr. Hall remained as strenuous an advocate as ever for the necessity and efficacy of divine influence, to induce sinners or saints to comply cordially with their indispensable duty; and he was more abundantly confirmed in a belief of the sovereign freeness of grace, by reflecting that the inexcusable perverseness of the human heart, which renders the agency of the divine Spirit so necessary, must at the same time evince that we are utterly unworthy of his gracious interposition. The greater our reluctance is to come unto God, in the way which he has prescribed for our return, the more undeserving are we of being drawn unto him by his Holy Spirit.

But this excellent man remarked, that if the invitations of the gospel are not indefinite, or addressed to sinners considered simply as needy and guilty, there can be no foundation for the first act of faith ; the sinner can have no warrant for his application to Christ, unless he could know his election, or prove his regeneration, before he committed his soul to him. Hence, as he once observed in a letter to a friend, they who would restrict the call of the gospel, " ought in reason to point out how unbelievers may know their election or regeneration in order to warrant their first application to Christ; or how the assurance of personal interest in Christ may be obtained, before persons come to him. The first acts of faith must be unwarrantable and presumptuous, if there be no previous call or invitation. We allow a change of heart must precede faith, but unknown renovation cannot be the ground of the sinner's first encouragement to apply to the Saviour; or that on which his right to confide in him is founded, because it is unknown. And to suppose any knowledge of regeneration or a change of heart, in order to a reliance on Jesus, is the same as supposing an assurance of possessing the spirit and grace of God, while an unbeliever; or that a man must hnow he is really safe, before he flees from danger."

This little volume, however, is far from "being confined to a subject on which Mr. Hall, in his latter years, thought differently from the opinion he had embraced at his first setting out in the ministry. It contains an able vindication of the genuine doctrines of grace, from the objections of Socinians, Sabellians, Arminians, and Antinomians. At its first publication, it was much approved by many pious, judicious, and learned men, of different denominations ; and here that excellent man, who is now laboring in India, with such indefatigable zeal for the salvation of the heathen, first found his own system of divinity. Raised from the greatest obscurity, Mr. Carey had but little access to books, at his first setting out in religion; and perplexed between the statements of the Arminians, and the crude representations of Calvinism, by persons bordering closely on Antinomianism, he searched the Scriptures attentively for himself, endeavoring to find out the narrow way, between extremes which seemed irreconcilable to the honor of divine government, and the glory of divine grace : and this was the first summary of evangelical truth, which appeared to him fully to accord with the sacred standard.

On one particular which many readers might expect Mr. Hall to have noticed, he has hardly touched, viz. the denial of the law of God as a rule of conduct to believers. This sentiment he ever considered as so gross a piece of Antinomianism, that he did not suppose any man could embrace it ; whose conscience was not seared as with a hot iron. The eminent divines, who verged to an extreme respecting the obligation of sinners to repent and believe the gospel, would have reprobated this doctrine, as tending to the greatest licentiousness. Dr. Gill, 3Ir. Brine, Mr. Toplady, &c.j utterly condemned so vile a sentiment. But within the last twenty years how many who exclaimed against jit. Hcdl and his brethren, for embracing new sentiments respecting the duty of sinners, have readily departed from their former guides, and embraced new notions respecting the duty of believers !

To me it appears a most marvellous instance of the deceitfulness of sin, if any man can think himself a friend to evangelical religion, who by sinking unbelievers below all obligation, and raising believers above all obligation, almost annihilates both duty and sin, and so leaves no room for the exercise of either pardoning mercy or sanctifying grace. The apostolic axiom, " where there is no law there is no transgression," justly leads us to conclude, that they who are below or above law have no guilt, and need no Saviour; there is no room to show the riches of his grace, or the efficacy of his blood, in the pardon of those who never deserved punishment. If the commmand be exceedingly narrow, our sins must be very few, and the pardon of them a small matter. And if the effectual influence of the Spirit be supposed to be the source, rule, and measure of Obligation, no one can have reason to mourn for sin ; since he always does a3 much as he was powerfully inclined to do, and by this supposition it was not his duty to do any more. Thus sinless perfection is easily attained, though in the backward way ; not by coming up to the standard of rectitude, but by bringing it down to our level. Most comfortable doctrine to a carnal heart !

May God bless the reprinting of this excellent work, to lead many more fully into the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, is the earnest prayer of

The reader's cordial friend,

And servant, for Christ's sake,

JOHN RYLAND.

PREFACE

TO THE

THIRD LONDON EDITION.

BY KEY. ROBERT HALL, Jr., A. M.

An aYersion to religious controversy may arise from two causes, in their nature the most opposite ; a contempt of religion itself, or a high degree of devotional feeling. They who consider the objects of religion as visionary and uncertain, or who, rejecting revelation, feel their inability to find a place where they may fix their footing, will naturally feel an emotion of contempt for theological contests, similar to that which we should experience towards men who were fighting for possessions in the air.

There are not a few who would engage with the utmost seriousness and ardor in a dispute on the nature and effects of paper currency, who would be ashamed of being suspected of directing their attention for a moment to the most weighty questions in theology. Attentive to all the aspects and combinations of the material and of the political world, they are accustomed to regard religion as a sort of Utopia, a land of shadow and of fiction, where, wrapt in pleasing vision, Credulity reposes on the lap of Imposture. This sort of persons are so completely overcome by the enchantments of the 2 (13)

present state, so entirely devoted to the wisdom which St. James denominates earthly and sensual, that they are incapable of being impressed with a conviction of the possibility of a higher order of objects, or a more elevated and refined condition of being, than that with which they are conversant ; and though they may possess a subtle and penetrating genius, they are not less disqualified for religious inquiries than an idiot or an infant. They mind earthly things.

How far the indisposition to religious controversy which prevails at present, may be justly ascribed to this Sadducean temper, I shall not pretend to determine. ; It is certain, however, that, in some, this indisposition proceeds from a better cause. While the former class of persons think religion not worth disputing about, there are others who conceive it to be a subject too sacred for dispute. They wish to confine it to silent meditation, to sweeten solitude, to inspire devotion, to guide the practice, and purify the heart, and never to appear in public but in the character of the authentic interpreter of the will of Heaven. They conceive it degraded whenever it is brought forward to combat on the arena. We are fully convinced, that a disputatious humor is unfavorable to piety; and that controversies in religion have often been unnecessarily multiplied and extended ; but how they can be dispensed with altogether, we are at a loss to discover, until some other method is discovered of confuting error, than sound and solid argument. As we no longer live in times (God be thanked !) when coercion can be employed, or when any individual, or any body of men, are invested with that authority which could silence disputes by an oracular decision, there appears no possibility of maintaining the interests of truth, without having recourse to temperate and candid controversy. Perhaps the sober use of this weapon may not be without its advantages, even at the present season. Prone as we are to extremes, may there not be some reason to apprehend, we have passed from that propensity to magnify every difference subsisting among Christians, to a neglect of just discrimination, to a habit of contemplating the christian system as one in which there is little or nothing that remains to be explored. Let us cultivate the most cordial esteem for all that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Let us anxiously guard against that asperity and contempt which have too often mingled with theological debates ; but let us aim, at the same time, to acquire and retain the most accurate conceptions of religious truth. Every improvement in the knowledge of Christ and the mysteries of his Gospel, will abundantly compensate for the labor and attention necessary to its attainment.

However unhappily controversies have too often been conducted, the assistance they have afforded in the discovery of truth, is not light nor inconsiderable. Xot to mention the Reformation, which was principally effected by controversy, how many truths have, by this means, been set in a clearer view; and when the unhappy passions it has awakened have subsided, the light struck out in the collision has been retained and perpetuated.

As the physical powers are scarcely ever exerted to their utmost extent, but in the ardor of combat, so intellectual acumen has been displayed to the most advantage, and to the most effect, in the contests of argument. The mind of a controversialist, warmed and agitated, is turned to all quarters, and leaves none of its resources unemployed in the invention of arguments, tries every weapon, and explores the hidden recesses of a subject with an intense vigilance and an ardor which it is next to impossible, in a calmer state of mind, to command. Disingenuous arts are often resorted to, personalities are mingled, and much irritative matter is introduced; but it is the business of the attentive observer to separate these from the question at issue, and to form an impartial judgment of the whole. In a word, it may be truly affirmed that the evils occasioned by controversy are transient; the good it produces is permanent.

The sentiments of my honored father were decidedly Calvinistic. His object, however, in the following treatise, was not so much to recommend that system in general, as to disengage it from certain excrescences, which he considered as weakening its evidence and impairing its beauty. On reviewing his religious tenets during the latter years of his life, and impartially comparing them with the Scriptures, he was led to discard some opinions which he had formerly embraced, and which he afterwards came to consider as having a pernicious tendency.

From the moral impotence which the oracles of truth ascribe to man in his fallen state, a certain class of divines were induced to divide moral and religious duties into two classes, natural and spiritual ; comprehending under the latter, those which

PREFACE. 1 i

require spiritual or supernatural assistance to their performance ; and under the former, those which demand no such assistance. Agreeable to this distinction, they conceived it to he the duty of all men to abstain from the outward acts of sin, to read the Scriptures, to frequent the worship of God, and to attend with serious assiduity to the means of grace ; but they supposed that repentance, faith in Christ, and the exercise of genuine internal devotion, were obligatory only on the regenerate. Hence their ministry consisted almost entirely of an exhibition of the peculiar mysteries of the gospel, with few or no addresses to the unconverted. They conceived themselves not warranted to urge them to repent and believe the gospel, those being spiritual duties, from whose obligation they were released by the inability contracted by the fall.

These conclusions were evidently founded upon two assumptions ; first, that the impotence which the Scriptures ascribe to the unregenerate is free from blame, so as to excuse them from all the duties to which it extends. In opposition to this, the author of the following treatise has proved, in a very satisfactory manner, that the inability under which the unconverted labor, is altogether of a moral nature, consisting in the corruption of the will, or an aversion to things of a spiritual and divine nature ; that it is in itself criminal ) and that, so far from affording an excuse for what would otherwise be duty, it stamps with its own character all its issues and productions.

In considering the moral character of an action, we are naturally led to inquire into its motive, and according as that is criminal, laudable or indif- 2* ferent, to characterize the action whence it proceeds. The motive, however, appears no otherwise entitled to commendation, than as it indicates the disposition of the agent ; so that in analyzing the elements of moral character, we can ascend no higher than to the consideration of the disposition, or the state of the will and of the affections, as constituting the essence of that portion of virtue or of vice which we respectively ascribe to it. To proceed farther will only involve us in a circle, since to whatever we might trace the disposition in question, should we be induced, for example, to ascribe it to the free exercise of the will, that exercise would fall under the same predicament, and be considered either as virtuous or vicious, according to the disposition whence it proceeds. When the Scriptures have placed the inability of mankind to yield holy and acceptable obedience in an evil disposition, or in blindness and hardness of heart, they have conducted us to the ultimate point on this subject, and have established the doctrine of human criminality upon a basis which cannot be shaken or disturbed, without confounding the first principles of moral discrimination. Though it is manifest this impotence is entirely of a moral nature, totally distinct from the want of natural faculties, it is equally evident, that to whatever extent it exists, while it actually subsists, it is as effectual an impediment to the performance of holy actions as any physical privation whatever ) and on that account, and that alone, may, without absurdity, be styled an inability* This important dis-

*This truth is lost sight of by those preachers among us, who assert "that it is as easy to give up the affectinction was not altogether unknown to our earlier divines, though they neglected to avail themselves of it as fully as they ought. It is clearly stated by the great Mr. Howe, in his Blessedness of the Righteous, as well as adverted to by Mr. Baxter in several of his practical works. But the earliest regular treatise on this subject it has been my lot to meet with, was the production of Mr. Towman, an eminent non-conformist divine. In his dissertation on moral impotence, as he styles it, he has anticipated the most important arguments of succeeding writers, and has evinced, throughout, a most masterly acquaintance with his subject.

Another principle assumed as a basis by the high Calvinists, is, that the same things cannot be the duty of man, and the gift of God : or, in other words, that what is matter of promise, can on no occasion, be the matter of obligation. The Scriptures frequently affirm faith and repentance to be the gifts of God ; hence it is concluded that they cannot be obligatory on the unregenerate ; a conclusion diametrically opposed to innumerable passages in the Old and Xew Testament, which insist, in the most peremptory style, on true conversion and a lively faith, as the most essential duties, which other passages are equally express in exhibiting as matter of promise. A new heart will I give them, says the Lord by Ezekiel, and a new spirit will I put within them, and I will take away the heart of stone, and give them a heart

tions to God as it is to rise from our seat." The difference in nature between physical and moraFinability, does not destroy the reality of either: the latter is as real as the former, and may be as absolute, j. a. w.

of flesh. The same prophet cries, Make you a new heart, for why will ye die, house of Israel ? in exact accordance with the language of St. James, Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. The burden of our Saviour's ministry, as well as that of his forerunner, was, Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand ; while St. Peter, who perfectly knew the genius of Christianity, affirms that Christ is exalted to give repentance and the remission of sins. Circumcise your hearts, said Moses, and he no longer stiff-necked : the same Moses had been previously commissioned to declare, The Lord thy God shall circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed. Now the circumcision of the heart we are taught by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Komans, to regard as the distinguishing feature of the truly regenerate — of him who is a Jew inwardly, whose praise is not of man, but of God. Whoever impartially weighs the import of these Scriptures, must be convinced that the same things are, in fact, matter of command, and the subject of promise, and must, consequently, be prepared to acquiesce in the decision of infinite wisdom on this subject, however much he may be at a loss to explain or account for it. The consistency of the promises and of the commands in question, arises from the matter of each being of a moral nature. If we will allow ourselves to reflect, we shall perceive that the will, and the will only, is the proper object of command, and that an agent is no otherwise accountable, or susceptible of moral government, than as he is the subject of voluntary powers : we shall also perceive that the disordered state of the will, or the radical indisposition of an agent to comply with legitimate commands, which is »the same thing, by no means exempts him from their obligation, nor tends in the least degree to render the addressing such commands to him absurd or improper. That they will not be complied with while that disordered state subsists, is true : but legitimate commands, enforced by proper sanctions, are amongst the strongest motives ; that is, they tend in their own nature to incline the will, and therefore they cannot be withheld, without virtually relinquishing the claim of authority and dominion. This may suffice to evince the propriety of issuing commands, notwithstanding the known and radical indisposition to comply; or, which comes to the same thing, whatever be the state of the icill. With respect to the other side of the supposed contradiction, what can be plainer than that the will, as well as every other faculty of the mind, is under divine control, and that God can with infinite ease, in what instances, and in what manner he please, so change and modify it, as to induce a prompt and cheerful compliance with his requisition? What should prevent him, at whose disposal are the hearts of the mightiest of men, to make his people willing in the day of his power f

It is instructive, as well as amusing, to trace the coincidence which is often found betwixt systems which appear at first view at the utmost variance from each other. The grosser Arminians and Pelagians contend, that it is the duty of all men to repent and believe, because all possess an inherent power of so doing, without special or supernatural assistance. The high Calvinists, on the contrary, deny that any man in a state of unregeneracy is under an obligation to perform those duties, because they are not possessed of the requisite ability. Thus both concur in making moral ability the measure of obligation; a position which, when the terms are accurately defined and cleared of their ambiguity, conducts us to this very extraordinary conclusion, that men are obliged to just as much of duty as they are inclined to. On these, and other points connected with them, the reader, if we are not mistaken, will find much solid instruction in the following Treatise, accompanied with such a constant attention to the great end of theological discussion, the promotion of practical piety, as can scarcely fail of affording high satisfaction to serious minds. To this Treatise, and to another on a similar subject, by my excellent and judicious friend, Mr. Fuller, the Dissenters in general, and the Baptists in particular, are under great obligations, for emancipating them from the fetters of prejudice, and giving free scope to the publication of the gospel. By these means a considerable revolution has been effected in the sentiments of the denomination to which I have the honor to belong : the excrescences of Calvinism have been cut off; the points of defence have been diminished in number, and better fortified; truth has shone forth with brighter lustre, and the ministry of the gospel has been rendered more simple, more practical, and more efficacious. In reply to such as may object to the metaphysical subtlety which pervades some parts of the following Treatise, I would avail myself of the distinction admirably illustrated by Tucker, in his " Light of Xature pursued/' He observes, that although metaphysical reasoning rarely, if ever, conduces to the discovery of truth, it is of great advantage in the detection of sophistry ; and that the mist and confusion in which moral subjects have been involved, by crude and undigested metaphysics, can only be exploded by the temperate use of that which is true and genuine; so that the chief praise of metaphysics is the cure of its own ills, the repair of the mischief which itself has wrought. The reader will observe, that the author employs metaphysics, not to rear the fabric of truth, which can only be effected by a profound deference to inspiration, but to demolish a rotten superstition which conceals its beauty.

Gratitude and veneration compel me to add, that with all the imperfections of the work, and the disadvantages under which the author of it labored, I shall ever esteem it one of the great favors an indulgent Providence has conferred upon me, to have possessed >uch a father, whom in all the essential features of character it will be my humble ambition to imitate, though conscious it must ever be

Haud passibus sequis.

ROBERT HALL.

Sept. 1824.

PART L DOCTRINAL DIFFICULTIES.

CHAPTER L

THE DEITY OF CHRIST.

It is only from the sacred Scriptures we can have information respecting the person and work of our precious Redeemer : to these he appealed in the days of his flesh, saying, Search the Scriptures, for they testify of me : but with what deceitfulness is the word of God handled by many, when the person of Christ is the subject of inquiry ! Instances might easily be multiplied ; but I shall mention only the following.

1. Some, in order to overthrow his claim to divinity, and the supreme love of his people, have collected passages of Scripture, which plainly declare his inferiority to God : from which they infer, with an appearance of good will to truth, that 3 (25)

as Scripture is evidently consistent with itself, he therefore who is therein declared to be inferior to deity, cannot possibly be divine. But a little attention is sufficient to discover that art is substituted in the room of argument, and sophistry occupies the place of sense. Every good man will rejoice in the harmony and consistency of divine revelation, and readily allow that inferiority and equality are opposites, and that in the sense in which Christ is spoken of as inferior, he is not, cannot be equal with God.

But as in the person of Christ two distinct natures are united, in consequence of which he is Immanuel, God with us; it does not follow, because he has a nature inferior to God, yea, even to angels, that his superior nature is not properly divine. Ten thousand testimonies in proof of his humanity do not in the least degree enervate his claim to deity : those who maintain the divinity of the blessed Saviour, as firmly believe him to be properly man, as they do who deny him to be God over all.

It is our unspeakable felicity, that the Son of God was sent into the world as a Mediator, to make peace between Jehovah in his public character as a governor, and rebellious men, that the Lord God might dwell among them, and they with him. In order to accomplish which, it was necessary he should assume human nature, and dwell among us. To reconcile God and man, it was needful he should be a middle person, possessing the nature of both, and as equally interested in favor of each party, be able to establish Heaven's righteous claim, and raise self-ruined man to a state of safety, dignity, and delight.

Considered as a complex person, he condescended to act officially on our behalf, as if inferior to Deity. As Mediator he acted under the direction and commission of his Father ; and as such, was God's servant, though his Son ) therefore said, of himself he could do nothing : not through the want of ability, but being under official obligations to adhere to his Father's directions. Though an ambassador can do nothing of himself, and is bound in duty to act in all things in conformity to his instructions, yet it is not from thence inferable that his nature, ability, or mental powers, are inferior to those of his sovereign ; for the limitation is not the effect of- personal debility, but of office capacity. The blessed Jesus is therefore not only inferior to God as man, but as Mediator ; nevertheless, inferiority in office does not prove, nor imply, inferiority of nature. On the contrary, the errand on which he came was so infinitely important, awful, and arduous, that he could not have discharged his trust without the power and pene-