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trust , backsliding , and the possibility of losidg the gift of God ; St . Pfeter plainly expresses this in his 2 nd Epistle , iil 20 , 21 : For if % after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ , they are
again entangled thereto , and overcome , the latter end is worse with them than the beginning . For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness , than after they have known it , to turn from the holy commandmeni delivered unto them ;
Methodism teaches that the sins committed irt a state of grace cannot cause us to fall away , or exclude U 3 from salvation . Such , on the first head , are some of the arguments whieh have prevented the pastors of Geneva from falling into the snare , and exchanging the gospel for Methodism .
2 hdly . Conduct and sentiments of the Methodists * If we examine the conduct and sentiments of tlie Methodists , we shall see how important it is to preserve ourselves from them " .
Charity is the basis of the Christian life . This doiand thou shalt live , said the Sa > viour . Charity thinhtithno evil ; faith vvithout charity is unavailing ; these are the declarations of the Holy Spirit , 1 Cor . xiii . The Methodists condemn whatever is inconsistent with
Methodism ; we hear them say without emotion , with the most perfect calmness , " we are certain of our own salvation , but the multitude atre doomed to destruction ; you yourselves are doomed to destruction . " Intolerance
and a condemning spirit characterize these persons . Humility , that sentiment which inspires the painful thought that we have not improved the divine grace and assistance ; humility , that
Christian virtue , is practically blotted out from the catalogue of virtues ; Methodism sounds the trumpet to proclaim its deeds ; if a missionary be sent out , or a Bible or little tract given away , reports and rpemorials must announce the circumstance to
the world If the Methodist does not walk about , like the Pharisees of Jerusalem , with broad phylacteries , laden . with portions of the sacred books , yet he is never tvithoutthe Bible in his
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pocket ; lie watches for the moment wfceti he can pull ii oni and jmbliely display it ; every Where , in his own house , in the streief , in stage coaches , in ^ all his conversation , he is-every minute pronouncing the name of the Lord , and the words piety and faith are ever on his lips ; he prays with
the ostentation of those who prayed at the corners of the streets ; his eyes are habitually turned towards heaven , and on his countenance is written , God 9 I thank thee that Cam not as other men * and with this sentiment , he believes that he goes down to his house Justified .
Even the women , in this sect , lose the reserve and modesty which are their natural characteristics ; instead of keeping at home and-serving as examples of private virtues , witnessed only by God and their little circle of
friends , like the peacock spreading its admired plumage , they go about attracting attention , in what they call doinst the work of the Lord , or revealing his counsel . They thus acquire an unshrinking self-possession which sometimes amounts almost to
audacity ; girls of 13 or 14 years of age lecture their pastors , and unblushmgly accuse them of not being Christians ; young ladies likewise write epistles to clergymen , filled with passages of Scripture improperly applied ; or go to those ministers at their own houses
to oppose them in what they consider the glorious fight of faith ; in their presumptuous ignorance they give a repetition of what they have heard addressed to the president of their religious assembly , and youthful maidens thus take upqn them to catechise and instruct their own instructors .
Children gravely and shamelessly deny the Christianity of their parents , and pronounce sentence of damnation upon them : we often hear them quoting * the irreverent speech of the
Dairyman ' s Daughter ^ who interrupted hec father as he prayed and wept by the side of her death-bed , by saying , cc Father , weep not for me , but weep for your own sins . "
How ostentatious is this sect in . their Jewish observance of the Sabbath ; in their prohibition during that day of the most innocent pleasures ! Religion amongst them assumes not the appearance of a friend , a sister , a mother , anxious and zealous for our
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Theological Contmver $ ies at Geneva . 131
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1824, page 131, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2522/page/3/
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