to do the works of the first Adam? If so, they must be the followers of the first Adam; they cannot be the followers of Christ : for it is impossible that they should follow both at the same time, seeing their works are so essentially different from each other. And this is the difference between them: The only true followers of Christ, are those who deny themselves of all the carnal propensities of a fallen nature, who do the works of Christ, and walk in obedience to his example; and these may, with strict propriety, be called christians.

On the other hand, those who live in the works of generation, follow the example of the first Adam. By doing his works, they necessarily become his followers; and therefore are not true christians: for, "As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.'

People may profess what they will; they may be called presbyterians, episcopalians, baptists, methodists, or what not; yet so long as they live in the works of the first Adam, and follow his example, they do not follow Christ. Those who assume the name of christians, do thereby implicitly profess to be a spiritual people. But what evidence do they give of being a spiritual people, while they live according to the propensities of a carnal nature? We would request the candid observer to notice the lives and conduct of those who, notwithstanding their profession, are led and governed by the same natural propensities as the non-professor, the Deist and Atheist, and compare them with those who, agreeable to their profession, do actually deny themselves of all the natural propensities of a carnal nature, and manifest by their fruits that they are governed by a superior law, in living a life agreeable to the example of Jesus Christ, and then say whether the practice of the former or latter appears the most consistent with the spirit of christianity.

Here is the deception which has so long blinded the eyes of the professors of chritianity; they see not the most essential difference between the first and second Adam: hence in their works they are the real followers of the former, while they follow the latter in profession only. The idea of following both at the same time, proceeds from the same delusive principle, which supposes that because we are the natural offspring of the first Adam, we are therefore bound to follow him in the work of generation; and that this is no impediment to our becoming the spiritual offspring of the second Adam, and following him in the regeneration. So readily is the the carnal mind of man led to believe that which it most desires, however contrary to the dictates of reason and truth. This is literally blending the flesh with the spirit, which the apostle Paul declares " are contrary the one to the other."+ † See Gal v. 17.

*1 Cor. xv. 48.

As well may we talk of a man's travelling both east and west at one and the same time, as of his following Christ in the regeneration, while living in the works of generation. The thing is impossible; because the work of regeneration is the operation of the Spirit of Christ upon the soul, which destroys the nature of sin, and raises the soul out of the fallen nature of the first Adam, into the spiritual life of Jesus Christ the second Adam. And this can never be gained by any soul short of crucifying the flesh with all its affections and lusts. Yet so unwilling are mankind to have the fallen nature of the flesh crucified in themselves, that they will use every means in their power to nourish and preserve it, as tho they were even unwilling to go to Heaven without it; and will therefore contrive any way to carry it along with them. But their contrivance will all be in vain; for that nature must die before the soul can ever live to God, or find an entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven. All professors of christianity will agree that mankind are lost in Adam; and that there is no redemption but in and through Christ. "For as in Adam all die; so in Christ shall all be made alive." If in Adam all die, then it follows that the works of Adam bring death; consequently we must quit these works before we can be made alive in Christ. "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God." So testified Christ; and here let it be again repeated. It is impossible for souls to find salvation from sin, under the light of the gospel, revealed in this day, short of utterly renouncing the work of generation, and crucifying the flesh with all its affections and lusts. Nor will any soul ever pass through the new birth and be redeemed to God, until the whole of that fallen nature, root and branch, is entirely destroyed out of the soul; and the longer a soul lives in the indulgence of that nature, the more difficult, painful and distressing will it be for that soul to crucify it; and this, he will find, must be his own work, or he can never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. If a man "must be born again," he must, in passing through this birth, be raised out of that nature in which he had his first birth; and become dead to all its propensities

Objection 5. But if this be so, says the objector, what is become of the good old patriarchs and prophets? They lived in the works of natural generation, and, as you say, followed the example of old Adam, in this respect, and not the example of Jesus Christ; your doctrine must therefore exclude them from the Kingdom of Heaven and are they all lost?

Answer. They could not follow the example of Jesus Christ; because he had not then appeared; and he could not set them an example before he made his appearance. Those who lived before the coming of Christ, were under "the law of a carnal commandment ;" and while they strictly obeyed that law, and lived up to

the light of God, given in their day, they found justification before God, and were blessed of God and protected from evil according to the measure of their light and obedience; and this was all they could do in that day. They could not be redeemed from a fallen nature, in that day; because, as Christ had not then appeared, the work of redemption could not take place. But Christ having been promised, as their Redeemer, to appear in the fulness of time, they lived and died in the faith of that promise; they looked forward to a future day, the day of full salvation and redemption.

Hence the apostle, in speaking of the faith of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the rest of the patriarchs and prophets, says, "And these all having obtained a good report through faith, re"ceived not the promise: God having provided some better thing "for us, that they without us should not be made perfect."* These having been faithful to walk according to the light which was revealed in their day, were owned and blessed of God: they departed in faith and rested in hope, believing that the time would come when the promised redemption would appear. Their having left their earthly tabernacles, and consigned those mortal bodies to the dust long before the day of redemption appeared, could not exclude them from its benefits when the time was fully come. For the work of redemption, being a spiritual work, must operate upon the soul, whether in the body or out of it; and therefore the separation of the soul from the body, cannot prevent this operation.

The patriarchs and prophets having been faithful unto death, and having rested in hope, and waited with patience God's appointed time, for the gospel of Christ to appear, their faith directed them into a willing obedience to it. They had now to pass through its purifying fire, in order to cleanse them from the fallen nature of the first Adam, before they could gain their redemption and be made perfect in glory. In this work of purification, they are united with those of the same faith in the body; so that those who are present in the body, and those who have departed out of it, become one in Christ; and being joined together in the same spirit, and under the operations of the same gospel, they are made perfect in righteousness together. Thus they become the real followers of Christ in their disembodied state, not having had that privilege while in the body; and in this manner, they with us are made perfect.t

This doctrine will doubtless appear new and strange to those who have always been bound, by the tradition of their fathers, to a different faith. And as they have been taught to believe no doctrine but what can be proved from the scriptures, they will naturally ask, Where is the scripture evidence of this? But let the dark veil of the flesh be removed from the eyes of the mind, and no one

will then ask for scripture evidence to prove a doctrine which must carry with it, and in it, the most certain conviction. As the scriptures are but a record of those events which were revealed and brought to pass in former dispensations, it cannot reasonably be expected that they should contain doctrines which were not to be made manifest until the fulness of time came, unless it were by types and shadows, or the mysterious revelations of prophecy, which are but imperfectly understood, if understood at all, before the fulfilment takes place. Yet the spirit of the scriptures, if not pointedly expressive on these subjects, is in every respect, conformable thereto, without a single instance of any thing to the contrary.*

CHAPTER III.

The subject continued, in which further objections are stated and answered, & the doctrine of continence and celibacy confirmed. WE shall proceed to answer a few more objections which are frequently advanced against the doctrine of celibacy and conti

nence.

Objection 6. The primitive christians did not all live lives of celibacy, but many of them lived in a state of matrimony, as we find in the New Testament, and the apostle Paul tolerated them in it, as appears in his first epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 7th, where he gives directions concerning husbands and wives. Were not these people christians?

Answer. If they were christians, the same apostle calls them carnal, and severely reproves them for their carnality. But as the time had not then arrived for a full revelation of the man of sin to be made, and as that revelation was necessarily connected with the second coming of Christ; therefore these Corinthian christians, who were with so much difficulty persuaded to renounce their former licentious practices, were tolerated in living, in some measure, according to the course of the world. The same toleration was also extended to other gentile churches; but the church at Jerusalem seems to have preserved a greater measure of purity than any other. And tho it is clearly evident that the primitive christians had received a far greater measure of divine light than had ever before been revealed on earth; yet while they were still under the vail of the flesh, they could not have a full sight of that way of redemption which they still waited for; and therefore they were justified in walking in obedience to that degree of light which they had received; and as this was all they could then do, God required no more of them.

* See Acts ii. 34. 1 Pet. iii, 19. & iv 6. Rev. vi. 9, 10, 11.

See 1 Cor. iii. 1 to 4

But the apostle Paul evidently saw further; he clearly saw that a day of further light and greater purity must necessarily take place, at the second appearing of Christ. Peter and John, and doubtless others, had similar views, and looked forward to a day of greater purity and holiness. But they also saw that a falling away would first take place, in which Antichrist would rise and exercise great power and dominion: "For that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first."*

The falling away of the primitive church, which was attended with the introduction of a flood of corruption, in morals and manners, was the occasion of those dark and deceitful doctrines which have blinded the eyes of the professors of christianity to the present day. In every age, the great object of the spirit of Antichrist, in all his works, has been to counterfeit the religion of Christ. And what more effectual method could he devise, than to attach erroneous meanings to the names of christian doctrines, and blend them with practices which have not the most distant connection with the pure gospel of Christ? Hence arose that universal deception which supposes that generation and regeneration are perfectly consistent with each other; that christains may practice the generation of the flesh, and at the same time be subjects of the regeneration of the spirit; that is, that they may at once live according to the flesh and walk according to the spirit, regardless of the apostle's testimony that, "these are contrary the one to the other." Hence also, the resurrection of the soul from the fallen nature of the flesh, is understood to mean, a resurrection of the natural body of flesh and bones, from the mouldering ruins of the grave.

The names of these, and many other doctrines of the gospel, are retained, while the real substance is wholly perverted and lost in antichristian darkness. This is undoubtedly the principal cause that modern professors of christianity do not discover the real distinction between the flesh and the spirit, and see the utter impossibility of following Christ in the regeneration of the spirit, while living in the practical generation of the flesh. Hence all those christians, so called, whether of primitive or modern times, who, under their christian profession, have lived in the practical works of generation, can be viewed in no other light than as carnal christians; and with all their christianity, they can never gain complete possession of the Kingdom of Heaven, until they are completely purified from the nature of the flesh and all its corrupt and debasing propensities. And tho in consequence of having obeyed the light which they had received, they may be free from condemnation; yet they cannot find their redemption short of passing through the purifying fire of the gospel.