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This is that day of the LORD, which has already begun to shine forth on the earth, to which the Spirit of Christ which was in the prophets directed their prophetic language; and the day to which the same Spirit directed Peter and the rest of the apostles on the day of Pentecost; and to which he directed the people after he, with John, had healed the lame man. "Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, [sidrpstars, convert,] that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, and he shall send Jesus Christ who before was preached unto you; whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." I am indeed aware that the translation of this Scripture is disputed; and it is argued that in its correct design and acceptation, it is no proof of an after dispensation. But in the common translation, it contains nothing more than the same Apostle has taught, speaking of those who believed in that day; "Who are kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." Therefore not yet known; for they were not yet in possession, but [xoósvor] "Carefully pursuing the end of their faith-the salvation of their souls." And a little after he says: "Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." (1 Pet. i. 5, 9, 13.) Thus he directed the believers to look forward to the second or last revelation of Christ for finished salvation, because the first revelation had already come.

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I grant the words are not as literally translated as they might be ; for I know no reason for translating a past tense of the subjunctive mood by the future indicative. But all that can be gained by an exact translation will not prevent the relation which that text has to the appearing or sending of Jesus Christ in a future day. For [ows av] the phrase rendered when, is never used by the apostles, except in connection with the subjunctive mood, and with respect to futurity. Repent, therefore, and be converted, [or convert,] for the blotting out of your sins; that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and he may send [άroorsiλn] Jesus Christ, who hath been preached to you beforehand, whom heaven must have received until the times of the restitution of all things, of which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his prophets in the time past. For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul who will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel, and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days." (Acts iii. 19-24.)

Now it is evident that the times of the restitution of all things, of which God had spoken by the prophets, had not then come; for the falling away had not yet come, which was to precede those times. But the Spirit of prophecy looked forward with such earnestness to the latter days, as the time of accomplishing the glorious and mighty works of God in his Church, that the lesser changes which were to

intervene were sometimes passed over without notice. Thus the two thousand and three hundred days, predicted by Daniel, seem to have included all the time from the captivity of the Jews by the king of Babylon to the commencement of the final purification of the Church and the setting up of the everlasting kingdom in the second coming of Christ; without so much as noticing the partial restoration of the Jews, before the coming of Christ; the introduction of the Gospel in his first appearing; or the rise and reign of the beast, or Antichrist. In like manner the Spirit in Peter pointed directly to the latter days or times of the restitution of all things, when the kingdoms of this world should become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and there should be one Lord and his name one: for all this was included in the things of which God had spoken by his prophets. But these times were not to come until the seventh angel should sound. Thus these sayings of Peter agree with what he wrote afterwards, giving counsel to believers how they ought to live; "Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God;" as though it had been close at hand. And on this principle, that the spirit of prophecy looked so intensely towards the latter day, or times of restitution and glory, we may account for the trouble and uneasiness among the believers of Thessalonica, as though the day of the Lord were at hand; which occasioned Paul to write to them not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, for that day should not come except there come a falling away first, and that lawless, or man of sin be revealed, whom the Lord would consume with the spirit of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his appearing. But the day is now come; and is as a snare on all the earth.

But the length of time necessary for the accomplishment of the work, is no argument against the suddenness of its introduction, or the sudden awaking of those who are asleep, when the voice of the trumpet reaches them. So that the awaking of those who are asleep, and the equivalent change in those who are not asleep, at least in the same sense, when compared with the same length of time which the prophets and martyrs have been waiting for the kingdom of God, may in prophetic style be said to take place in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. But it does not appear fair arguing, in those who understand the nature of language, to insist that the Apostle, by that phraseology, teaches that the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and the living experience an equivalent change, literally in the period of time there marked. The words, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, are detached from those which follow, For the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed, by that state or structure of language, called a parenthesis, and properly relate to that change which is equivalent to the waking of those who are asleep.

"Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead." It is quite a natural thing for those who are asleep to awake, and for those who are not asleep, in the same sense or degree, to undergo a sudden change of state by the blast of a loud trumpet, which comes after being expected, with the most momentous news. This may be in the things of nature; and it will be granted by all judicious and considerate people, that the Apostle here uses metaphorical language, repre

senting spiritual things by natural; some general resemblance therefore is to be expected. After waking, which is readily effected by the sound of the trumpet alone, follows arising from the dead, which is the duty of the awakened subject, and on which the promise of light from Christ depends. "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you." (2 Cor. vi. 17.) After receiving the light, the next thing in course is to enter on the duties of the day. It is an egregious error, however common, to suppose that the works pertaining to the coming of Christ to judgment are all done in an instant. It is common to all God's dealings with men to proceed by successive steps, and there is no unambiguous authority that he ever intends to depart from that method. The apprehension of a momentary or instantaneous effectuation of the resurrection and judgment has tionably arisen from considering metaphorical language in its appropriate meaning, while the subject in the true spirit of it was misunderstood. That apprehension is also contrary to by far the greatest part even of that kind of language used in the Scriptures on that subject.

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Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? Shall God consign the immensurable majority of mankind to eternal damnation, hopelessly excluded from the peaceful society of the just, who have hitherto remained in invincible ignorance of the way of salvation? Ignorance invincible without farther light and revelation from God! For it is found by painful experience, that with all the knowledge which men can obtain by the letter, multitudes remain in total ignorance of salvation. They cannot gain power over sin; they are overcome by it, and are therefore in bondage to it, and consequently, by the authority of that same word, excluded from the society of the blest. Some, whether to alleviate the allegation of injustice against God, and to dissipate the clouds of horror, or from whatever cause, have palmed on God a contrivance, that all have light enough to leave them without excuse, but not sufficient for their salvation. An allegation this, which could not comport with the honest reputation of the weakest man on earth; and how shall it apply to the infinitely wise and just God? Who cannot in one moment see the fallacy and iniquity of supposing a man inexcusable, by having any degree of light, or any privilege, if it may be so called, which can show him that he is wrong, and ought to do better, but does not supply him with means competent to the end? Sometimes, on the other hand, it is stated, that whosoever will follow the dictates of his own judgment will end safely. But this is the ground-work of infidelity, the pivot on which it turns, and disannuls or supersedes the Gospel altogether. It is indeed a reasonable and just position, that those who honestly obey the light which is within their reach, and lie open to conviction, ready to receive an increase, and do not reject it when offered, but persevere in their honesty, will in the event find salvation, For to him who hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance. But from him who hath not, (or does not make his own by right improvement,) shall be taken away even that which he hath. And in this view, it may be said that men are inexcusable if they are not saved. And this is precisely the principle on which the Apostle states that men are without

excuse, their not improving of the degree of light which they have. "So that they are without excuse: because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were they thankful." (Rom. i. 20, 21.) Herein also men are justly criminated, and die with a double, or tenfold damnation, who reject and disobey, in the blaze of Gospel day-emphatically the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

PART IV.

COMPRISED IN THE SUBSTANCE OF A LETTER TO BARTON W. STONE.

SECTION I.

OF FREEDOM IN RELIGIOUS CONVERSATION.

[THE writer of the following letter was the intimate friend and associate of B. W. STONE. They had both received a liberal education, and possessed excellent talents-had both been instructed in the school of Calvinistic divinity, and were esteemed active, pious and useful preachers of that order. They were also associates in the Springfield Presbytery, and together with a number of others of that association in the States of Ohio and Kentucky, became zealous and powerful preachers in the great revival which so extensively prevailed in the Western States from the year 1800 to 1805, commonly called the Kentucky Revival. During the warmth of that revival, various prophetic declarations came forth and were strongly maintained by these preachers, that another summer would not pass away before the great day of the Lord would be ushered in, and the kingdom of Christ commence.

Accordingly, the year 1805 was marked by the arrival of three missionaries from New Lebanon, in the State of New York, who bore testimony to these preachers and their people, that they were commissioned and sent from the Church at New Lebanon, to announce to them the commencement of Christ's kingdom on earth, and that they were living witnesses to it-that Christ had come to make an end of sin and bring in an everlasting righteousness-that all who were desirous to find the way of life and salvation, were now called to deny themselves of all ungodliness and every worldly lust, and take up a daily cross and follow Christ in the regeneration.

When this subject came to be agitated among these preachers and their people, many of the people readily embraced their testimony, as did the preachers, JOHN DUNDAVY, RICHARD M'NEMAR, and MATTHEW HOUSTON. B. W. STONE was at first much taken with it, but finding the cross against the flesh too great for him, being unwilling to sacrifice all for Christ's sake, he fell back, and afterwards wrote against these people, in which he denounced their religion as a delusion, &c. These circumstances gave rise to the letter.]

BARTON-I have inscribed this letter to you as being the most proper person to whom I could direct it, to answer the proposed ends. Your situation in religious life, and the active part which you take, the liberality of your sentiments, formerly, and your professedly retaining the same to this day, according to the contents of your ADDRESS to the Christian Churches, and the freedom which you have therein used, on different subjects, together with the impression that the truth ought to be fairly investigated and correctly known by all its friends, have induced me to use this freedom with you.

Nothing on this earth is of such importance as Christianity; and no correspondence of the most intimate friendship can be of such utility to mankind as that which promotes the increase of Gospel light and knowledge, and thereby leads to the salvation of souls. However useful other employments may be in their proper place, and however expedient an open and free correspondence on other topics, all must yield to Christianity in point of utility. "For bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness is profitable to all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. Such considerations as these evince the necessity of openness and freedom among those who believe the truth of Christianity, with a readiness to give and receive

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