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ANTINOMIANS.

THE Antinomian derives his name from two Greek works, AT, against, and Noμos, a law; his favourite tenet being, that the law is not a rule of life to believers. It is not easy to ascertain what he means by this position. But he seems to carry the doctrine of the imputed righteousness of Christ, and of salvation by faith without works, to such lengths as to injure, if not wholly destroy, the obligation to moral obedience. Antinomianism may be traced to the period of the Reformation, and its promulgator was John Agricola, originally a disciple of Luther. The Papists, in their disputes with the Protestants of that day, carried the merit of good works to an extravagant length; and this induced some of their opponents to run into the opposite extreme. "This sect (says the Encyclopædia) sprung up in England during the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, and extended their system of libertinism much farther than Agricola, the disciple of Luther. Some of their teachers expressly maintained, that as the elect cannot fall from grace, nor forfeit the divine favour, the wicked actions they commit are not really sinful, nor are they to be considered as instances of their violation of the divine law; consequently they have no occasion either to confess their sins, or to break them

off by repentance. According to them, it is one of the essential and distinctive characters of the elect, that they cannot do any thing displeasing to God, or prohibited by the law." Luther, Rutherford, Sedgwick, Gataker, Witsius, Bull, Wiliams, (founder of the Dissenting Library in Red-Cross Street) &c. have written refutations; whilst Crisp, Richardson, and Saltmarsh, put forth defences of the Antinomians. Wisgandus wrote "A Comparison between Ancient and Modern Antinomians." The late Rev. Mr. Fletcher, vicar of Madely, in Shropshire, published Four Checks to Antinomianism, which have been read and much admired.

The term Antinomian has been frequently fixed on persons by way of reproach; and therefore many who have been branded with this name have repelled the charge. There are many Antinomians, indeed, of a singular cast in Germany, and other parts of the continent; they condemn the moral law as a rule of life, and yet profess a strict regard for the interests of practical religion. Many persons, however, who reprobate the system of John Calvin, pronounce Antinomianism to be nothing more than Calvinism run to seed. Speculative sentiments of any kind ought not to be carried to a degree which might endanger even in appearance the sacred cause of morality.

III.

OPINIONS RESPECTING CHURCH GOVERNMENT, AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF CEREMONIES.

"THE extent of Christianity in the world, or all those several kingdoms and countries where the Christian religion is professed and embraced (says Mr. Martin in his Philological Library) are, taken together, called Christendom; and this consists of many (some more general, some more particular, &c.) different religious societies, which are called churches. A Christian church is a society or congregation of men and women, who are called out from the vicious world by the preaching of the gospel, and are regulated in all the parts of their ritual discipline and articles of faith by the plain rules and prescriptions of the New Testament, and whose lives are correspondent to their holy professions. The ministers of the Christian Church, in its primitive state, were extraordinary or ordinary. The Extraordinary were chiefly three: 1. Apostles, who were delegated by Christ with power and commission to preach the gospel, and work miracles in confirmation thereof, among all nations. 2. Prophets, who were not such as simply foretold things, but those to whom God was pleased to reveal his more secret counsels and designs, and who related and preached the same to men.

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3. Evangelists, such as were assistants to the apostles in preaching the gospel, and were endued with many extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit, as of languages and interpretations, &c. But since the establishment of Christianity in the world, these extraordinary offices have ceased. The ordinary ministers of the Christian church are principally three: 1. A Bishop, who had the oversight of the flock or church of Christ; to him pertained the preaching of the word, and due regulation of the church in faith and manners. And this rule and precedence of the bishop is called Episcopacy. 2. Presbyters or Elders, or Priests; these were such as preached the word, and administered the sacraments, and performed all the other sacred functions of the mi-. nistry, under the inspection of the bishop. But it is a controversy, whether the scripture doth not intend the same person or officer by the ap-.. pellations Bishop and Presbyter. The power of the Presbyter is called Presbytery. 3. Deacons ; these were such as officiate in that part of the Christian ministry which related to the poor; and their business was to take the collections of money made in the church, and to distribute it to the necessities of the poor, and other sacred: uses and their office, properly speaking, is called the Ministry or Deaconship. These officers are perpetual in the Christian church." Af

ter this introductory explanation of the Christian church, I proceed to the Opinions respecting Church government and the administration of Ceremonies.

PAPISTS.

THE Papists are so denominated from their leading tenet-the infallibility and supremacy of the Pope (in the Latin, Papa, signifying father,) which they strenuously maintain. By the infallibility of the Pope, is understood, that the Pope cannot err in ecclesiastical matters; and by his supremacy is meant his authority over all the churches, and sometimes over the princes of the earth. This enormous power has been for some time diminishing, and the Roman Catholics at present are divided on the subject. Some allow the Pope's infallibility and supremacy in their full extent; others acknowledge them in part; and a third wholly reject them. The late Father O'Leary's Tracts also may be consulted, who had a dispute on Popery with John Wesley. They also profess to believe, 1. In seven sacraments-baptism, confirmation, the eucharist, penance, extreme unction, or the anointing the sick in the prospect of death, orders, and matrimony. With respect to the Eucharist, or Lord's Supper, they hold the doctrine of transub

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