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fluty perpetually to watch and pray , that they be not drawn into temptations : itoMfch & tldf nfcgfcct W do , they may not ? miif be hiirried away by the flesh * the world , and Satan , into even great and dreadful sins , but even uaiiy « ometitoes , by the just permission of Goci , be thus drawn aside .
But , by sach dreadful sins , they greatly offend < Jod ^ ineur the guilt of death , grieve the Holy Spirit , interrupt the exercise of faith , and often for a time lose all sense of the divine favoor ; until * having by deep repentmwe returned into the right teaw , th 4
fatherly mercy of God agam visits them . —* With the utmost sincerity and in a godly manner , they are distressed for the sins which they have committed ; by faith and with a contrite heart they seek and obtain forgiveness
through -the blood of the Mediator ; being reconciled they again enjoy the favour of God , they adore his tender mercies in which they trust , and they thenceforward the more diligently work out their own salvation with fear
and trembling . This doctrine of the Perseverance of those who are realty beiievers and holy persons , and the assurance of it , though God hatb , in his word , most abundantly revealed
it to the glory of his name and the comfort of pious souls , and hath impressed it upon the hearts of the faithful ; yet the carnal principle does not receive it , Satan hates it , the world
scoffs ; at it , Ignorant men andhijpo * critesabtKse it , and false teachers oppose it . But the church of Christ has always most affectionately loved and constantly maintained it / ' Qd&ta Syn . Dordr . Pars i . p . 271 , ed . 1623 . ) Whatever faults of structure and
conduct may attach to Mr . Malan ' s Allegory , I trust that your candid readers will free it from the charge of an Antinomian tendency upon the evidence of its concluding sentence . I must observe that the awful sword , which afterwards becomes a friendly lamp , is intended to represent the law
of God . The very image shews that the wriler holds in honour the holy law , as the guide of the believer ' s life . ** Rely then on God , with your whole souL Keep yourselves close to Jesus , the Aattior and Firiisher of your feicli . Mount up on high , O believers , led by the law , your kind and gracious guide . Lay fast hold on the cross of
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your Saviour ; and v let no one take yoiir crown !*• ( P . 61 . ) . Mr . Bakewell affords a remarkable proof how little qualified lije is to report fairly the sentiments bfqne whom he dislikes , be they ' . njj&t or wrong , when he writes , " What Christian preachersever laid claim to the power 6 f crushing his enemies to dust with the breath of his nostrils ? Yet this
dangerous power M . Malan appears , from his oyrn testimony , to possess , though he good-naturedly declines calling it forth . " Mr . B . cites a pas *
sage which he regards as decisively confirming his accusation . Now , per * . mit me to bring forwards the whole of the passage . One of the parties ia the conversation says ~ -
" Yes indeed , this is what distresses Us j to see persons irritating them * , selves against the gospel , and against pious Christians and their religious meetings , as . if they took up their time in playing- at charades , or met
together to make grimaces at each other . Yet those very persons , far from offering any thing in their x > wn lives more wise , more useful , or more holy , satisfy themselves with raising the outcry , * See , see these simpletons , these proud people , who meet in evenings to read the Bible and
pray ; as if that were a proper tim £ for such doings I 9 Yet at these very hours , both on Sunday and other evenings , they are sitting dowa to cards and playing off their sarcasms at those who are probably at the very moment praying for them . Really this vexes one /*
" The Genevese minister . Let us allow no such feeling . The Lord who reigns in heaven and whose name is the Lord of hosts , sees and hears them : and , since he sustains , above these poor deluded persons , the vault of heaven which , covers their heads ,
let us not crush them with our censure , with ou * indignation . There is a way , quite easy and which will succeed , to make the cards fall from their hands , and to put a Bible in
their place . This way is to shew them plainly all the happiness , all the delight , all the peace and patience , which this Bible makes to abound in the hearts and throughout the whole life of those who love it . Let them but once compare that holy and sweet effect with the empty restlessness , the
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4 Wi ** Modern Swiss Catvinists . * 733
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1825, page 733, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2543/page/29/
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