INTRODUCTION. WHATEVER judgment may be formed by others on the subjects that are treated of in these pages, I can assuredly say, they are not with me matters of speculation, or of hastily formed opinion; but the definite and entirely practical conclusions of my own mind, long and deeply exercised upon the Word of God, and anxiously desiring to be led into the simplicity of truth, and obedience to the will of God. It is not at all needful to carry any one along the painful course of mental and moral discipline,—the doubts and questionings, the fears and trials, the hesitations and conflicts,-through which the Lord is constrained, from their waywardness, to lead some of his children to the discovery and practice of his revealed will. For sure I am, that our path would be much less thorny and perplexed were it not for the pride of our hearts, and our carnal reasonings in the things of God, and our extreme reluctance to walk in the simplicity of faith, with the Word of our Heavenly Father only and his promised Spirit as our guide. It is a delightful truth for the child of God to rest upon, "If thine eye be single thy whole body shall be full of light;" and, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him." And, that the light may not be obscured in his walk, nor the heavenly wisdom be bestowed in vain, as to his practical judgments and the direction of his course, he has this principle of an inspired apostle, "Immediately I conferred not with flesh. and blood,"-for, "we walk by faith, not by sight." Leaving, then, the path which I have travelled in the pursuit of truth to the judgment of Him who has witnessed all its intricacies and windings, and endeavouring entirely to forget myself, it has been my desire to place before the mind the definite truth of God's word upon each of the subjects on which I have been led to speak; for to this authority alone our souls should bow, and by this standard alone must every question that can agitate a Christian's mind, be tried. It is my desire, that whatever the Lord has enabled me to present for the service of his church, may be calmly judged by believers in Christ in every denomination (to the world, in these matters, I make no appeal); and, that it may be strictly tried by the only unchanging and unerring standard and test of the truth-the written Word of God: for assuredly the principal questions here brought under review are of common concern to the whole Church of God, and ought to awaken the prayerful inquiry of every disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ; for, as we shall all be judged by God's Word at last, it is manifest that our only safe position is, through the grace of God, to judge ourselves, and all we do, by it now. Plainly, as a servant of Christ, and with the clearly-expressed will of my Master in my hand, I can have nothing to do, while judging of truth and duty, with any inquiries about their accordance, or otherwise, with the received and cherished systems of men. My only guide is the fully-declared mind of Christ; for it is a thing beyond all question to a child of God, that wherever, or with whomsoever, he may stand, he cannot be in a right position, unless he have with him, unequivocally, the mind and approbation of his Father and his God. Some of the points, indeed, claim the more particular attention of Christians amongst the Independents, with whom I have been associated from my earliest days; and connected with whom, as a body, I have sustained the office of a pastor during a period of nine years. And more especially still do I address myself, on some matters, to Christian brethren at Islington Chapel, where I have, during the last three years, as the Lord enabled me, "laboured in word and in doctrine;" and of the most of whom I may say, with humble confidence, "If I be not a pastor to others, yet doubtless I am to you; for the seal of my pastorship are ye in the Lord," having gathered you in the Lord through the ministry of His Word. This (to me the most beloved) part of the flock of God, must not for a moment imagine that, because they are mentioned last, any disparagement of their interests or importance is intended; for indeed I have named them in this order, simply because, in point of numbers, they form the narrowest of the three concentric circles in which it is my desire and hope that, as God shall please, the truths and principles I am called to present may circulate. |