The extraordinary and unhesitating confidence with which you state your opinions, even on the most important and solemn subjects, and the air of authority with which you endeavour to enforce them, is in such striking contrast to that humility and reverence with which we are accustomed to hear such subjects treated, that it naturally excites some suspicion that there are views and feelings in the mind of the preacher not in accordance with that meek and quiet spirit which is the necessary qualification of a Christian teacher: and when we turn from the tone and manner of the discourse to some of the opinions delivered, I am afraid that suspicion will ripen into certainty, and that there will be too much evidence of a mind not habituated to reflections on its own infirmities, but proud^[28] in its acquirements, and vaunting in its own strength. For we find you glorying in the ability to withstand the enemy of your peace, and gratifying yourself with the honour to be derived from the victory.^[29] In this elevation of mind you say, that it would be a debasement to man, were he placed by the Almighty in a situation from which he could not fall;^[30] and that had we been content to remain in a state of innocence, we should have continued to be but as mere machines.^[31] To rely on any other than your own exertions you think degrading, and would not accept the sacrifice which is offered for your sins by the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ.^[32]

We are, indeed, placed in a state of probation, surrounded with temptations and perplexed with dangers: we have before us the prospect of a change into a never-ending state, and that state is promised to be one of endless felicity to those who, with a sincere and humble heart, seek the God of Israel for their portion. To such, and such alone, is promised the exceeding great reward; and, though it is our duty to acquiesce, without repining, in our station and allotment here, temeracious indeed must that man be, who, with such a prize before him, would, for the gratification which the honour of a victory over his own evil propensities might afford, prefer the hazardous contest to that state of innocence with which our first parents were blessed before the fall; and confident indeed must he be in his own merits, if he rejects the offer of an intercessor, and relies on them alone for a fund not only to redeem his errors here, but to purchase the rich inheritance of eternal happiness.

Such a state of mind alone could conceive the singular idea of opening an account current with the Creator,^[33] and call it religion; to ask a record of our sins, and boldly claim our offsets; and to rely on the accumulated balance of our own works: to gain the prize of everlasting life from the justice and not from the mercy of the Almighty, and not to pray with David, "have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness; according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions."

Such an account would indeed be a novelty: there is no difficulty in filling the debtor side of the ledger: the melancholy list of man's frailties and vices furnish ample materials; but, from whence the mighty balance reserved for the great purchase should arise is not easily to be conceived. Let us figure to ourselves a man not immured in sloth or sunk in wickedness, but one whose march through life has been in the path of propriety and virtue, arranging his account,

Here, then, is no balance; virtue is generally rewarded in this life; and, if the Christian is to look for redemption, is it not "by standing fast and holding to the traditions which we have been taught," by which we shall know that as all have sinned and fallen short, so we can only be justified by grace "through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God."^[34]

You may say that your idea of opening an account with the Creator was only by way of illustration, but what does it illustrate? Is our situation with our Creator such, that works are sufficient to insure our salvation? and do you believe that if "in looking over the leaf and seeing where the balance strikes,"^[35] we should find it to be in our favour, we may indulge in sin and iniquity until the balance is brought to an equilibrium? Do not you believe in the efficacy of repentance, and that the truly repentant sinner may receive remission of his sins, although it may be in the eleventh hour, and when they are of a crimson colour, or a scarlet dye?

The idea is indeed cold and heartless; in sentiment most degrading, and in its deductions most pernicious. How different from the inspirations of the man of old, when musing on the sacred mount of Zion, or on the banks of Shiloah's stream fast, by the oracles of God, he saw the dawn of that auspicious day, when HE, our promise would appear to blot out our transgressions and redeem us from our sins—and with what holy rapture did he announce the joyful tidings? "Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son. Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. The sun shall be no more thy light by day: neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory."

But this is not the Messiah of whom you preach: yours is like yourself, a peccable man clothed with infirmities and liable to transgression; and who, so far from having the power to give salvation to others, was himself tempted to sin.^[36] You profess to believe that Jesus Christ is "the way, the truth, and the life," but in direct opposition to the plain intent and purport of the sentence, you declare it only means that he had power to cure outward diseases and give strength of body to enjoy the good things of this life;^[37] that for this only was he sent, and his power was but as a figure or shadow of the great Comforter. But even with this perversion, the facts you state will not support your argument. It is true that Jesus Christ healed the diseases of individuals; but surely no rational being can suppose that such was the object of his mission, for the number of the healed was so small that it could have had no perceptible effect on the general outward health of mankind, or even of the particular people to whom he appeared.

You say you believe that the Scriptures were written by divine inspiration, and that Jesus did nothing "but as he received power and command from His heavenly Father;"^[38] and these Scriptures tell us that when the Pharisees began to reason and said "who can forgive sins but God alone?" Jesus answered, is it "easier to say thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, rise up and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, he said unto the sick of the palsy, I say unto thee arise, and take up thy couch and go unto thine house: and immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house glorifying God."^[39]

Here we have a plain historical narration, from which it is evident that the sick was healed to convince an unbelieving people, by an act of supernatural power perceptible to their senses, that Jesus was clothed with authority to forgive sins. You however say it was a figure or shadow, and as these terms are often in your mouth, it may be proper to enquire whether you understand their true meaning, and whether by any possible construction of language they can be considered as illustrative of your view of the subject. They are here used as synonymous, and mean the expression of an idea by resemblances: if I speak of persons in the morning of life, I am understood to mean youth; and if I say, the king of day is rising in the east, every body understands it to mean the sun; and there are other figurative resemblances more obscure, but no one can, without violating every principle of reason, attempt to adduce as authority for, and illustrative of his opinions, expressions which so far from resembling are in direct opposition to them, merely because he chooses to call them figurative.

If indeed there are any individuals who believe they can perceive any resemblance between your inferences and the facts; and that when Jesus said he healed the sick, in order that the Pharisees might know that he had power on earth to forgive sins, he meant it only as a figure, and that he claimed authority only as to the cure of outward diseases; their conclusion must be arrived at by a process which the uninitiated do not understand: and if your argument is according to the analogy of reason, it cannot be of that reason which arrives at the truth by observation and deduction, but the reason of your new school of metaphysics, which discerns without reflection all things at first sight.^[40]

Were you reading a letter informing you that a friend had departed on a journey, riding on a black horse, and was told by one of your auditors that the expression was figurative and that he meant a white cow, you would probably laugh; and yet the incongruity is not greater than some of your own discoveries. For instance, Paul said "let your women keep silence in your churches;" and you observe that all who are truly enlightened will understand that the woman means the selfish spirit which ought not to be permitted to speak in churches; but you have forgot to tell us how to apply the succeeding observation that "if they will learn any thing they must consult their husbands at home." Nor is it probable that Paul, (although a bachelor,) was so uncharitable as to believe the selfish spirit so identified with woman, as to render her a proper emblem of it.

In this instance Paul was recommending a rule of conduct, and ought to be allowed to speak for himself: so thought Robert Barclay, and in accounting for the exhortation he has given the probable reason of it. He considered it neither as an allegory or a figure; but he had not arrived at that degree of spiritual knowledge which enabled him to discover in every page of the Bible a meaning in direct contradiction to the plain and obvious sense of the written language. Religion was with him not an occult science, nor the Bible a caballistick book which can never be read to advantage until the truths contained in it have been previously revealed to us.^[41] On the contrary, he believed with the Apostle Paul "that these things were written for our learning," that "the holy scriptures are able to make wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus," and that "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto every good work."^[42]