Prieston aiversity Library A PLEA FOR RELIGION AND THE SACRED WRITINGS; ADDRESSED TO THE DISCIPLES OF THOMAS PAINE, AND WAVERING CHRISTIANS OF EVERY PERSUASION. WITH AN APPENDIX; CONTAINING THE AUTHOR'S DETERMINATION TO HAVE RELINQUISHED HIS CHARGE IN THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH; AND THE REASONS ON WHICH THAT DETERMINATION WAS FOUNDED. BY THE LATE REV. DAVID SIMPSON, M. À. MINISTER OF CHRIST CHURCH, MACCLESFIELD. He that believeth shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be damned. FROM THE SIXTH LONDON EDITION. JESUS CHRIST. PHILADELPHIA: PUBLISHED BY M'CARTY & DAVIS, No. 171 MARKET-STREET 1825. SIMON PROBASCO, PRINTER. PREFACE. IT hath been said by the excellent Bishop Horne, that, "in times when erroneous and noxious tenets are diffused, all men should embrace some opportunity to bear their testimony against them." It will be allowed by every dispassionate observer, that if erroneous and noxious tenets were ever diffused among men in any age, they are eminently so in the present. I am so far, however, from considering this in the light of a misfortune to the general cause of truth, that I am persuaded purposes of the most important nature are to be answered by it, in the course of Divine Providence, But notwithstanding this persuasion, I have thought it my duty, in the following pages, to bear a decided testimony against some of the most perņicious of those errors which prevail among us, and to stand forward as an advocate in behalf of Religion in general, and the Sacred Writings in particular. If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? One might suppose, prior to experience, Infidelity was a thing of so gloomy and uncomfortable a nature, that no man of the least decency of character could be found who would embark in the desperate scheme. But when we consider the many awful threatenings recorded in the Bible against persons of a certain description, the numerous passages apparently liable to very serious objections, the natural darkness of the human understanding, the perverseness of the human will, and the imperious calls of contending passions, we need not be surprized that a large proportion of irreligious characters, who have little hope from divine mercy, and much to fear from divine justice, should be induced to embark in any scheme, that is calculated to afford them present indulgence, and free them from apprehensions of future danger. Thomas Paine's deistical principles may buoy up the minds of persons of this character, while health and prosperity smile upon them, but they will generally fail us in seasons of adversity, and especially in the views of approaching dissolution.* Give me a Religion that will stand by me at all seasons, in prosperity and adversity, in sickness and in health, in time and eternity. I would not give a rush for Religion, which will only serve my turn when the sunshine of worldly favour illumines my steps, and fail me when I stand in the greatest need of its support. This is the case with Deism, as many have found to their extreme sorrow, when the eternal world drew near, and dawned upon their astonished sight. More than one of the unhappy Mutineers, who have lately been executed on board his Majesty's ships of war, found themselves in this awful predicament, as their fate approached. Corrupted by Paine's Age of Reason, when they conceived themselves free from danger, they gloried in their shame; but when the King of Terrors came to stare them in the face, they saw their folly, repented, believed, and trembled in the views of the eternal world. Different, indeed, was the conduct of many other of these unhappy men, some of whom were, apparently at least,. * "You have been used," said good Mr. M. Henry, a little before his death, to a friend, "to take notice of the sayings of dying men. This is mine, that a life spent in the service of God, and communion with him, is the most.comfortable and pleasant life that any one can live in this world." (RECAP) 5713 .858 332356 |