Jewish Rabbies' care of God's law

by Anonymous

THE
JEWISH RABBIES'
CARE OF GOD's LAW
AND THE
SCOTISH DOCTORS'
Care of God's Poor,
EFFECTUAL MEANS
For the Deception of those who care for neither.
WITH AN
APPEAL TO THE PUBLIC,
BY UNANSWERED LETTERS, CONCERNING THE CRAFT
OF AN
Arminian Teacher
IN GREENOCK.

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BY A WELL-WISHER TO THE POOR
And the Public Assemblies of God's Worship.

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GLASGOW:
Printed for the Author,
BY T. DUNCAN, 159, SALTMARKET.
———
1818.

THE
Jewish Rabbies' Care, &c.

EVERY town and parish in Scotland have their poor in these times; and certainly call not only for their support, but also that the causes of such unprecedented numbers, and unprecedented needs, of the poor, be inquired into, and healed if possible; for this we cannot impute to a want of soil and food. The earth and its fulness is much more than enough for all its inhabitants, would corruption, and combination of graceless men, suffer it to do what God has given it to do: therefore, I maintain, there is no need for a Malthus plan, to destroy the poor from the earth, if we would destroy corruption, the cause of poverty.

When the Son of God appeared in our world, (the Messiah that was to come, and did come,) he tells us, for this end of being a King was I born, and came into the world. But the Teachers and Rabbies of that time, though he came to his own, agreeably to the prophecies that had gone before of him, were not the men that waited for his coming; they were not the men who knew him when he came, and who flocked around him as their King and Saviour. The reverse was the case: because he avowed his kingly mission, those teachers of the law affirmed he should be put to death, for making himself a king; which thing they did effect, that the counsel of God, before determined, should be accomplished, in the sacrifice and satisfaction of that seed of the woman that was to bruise the head of the serpent, and deliver the people of his kingdom, that all Israel might be saved. Now it is not more clearly revealed in the Old Testament, that the Messiah would come in person, the King of Israel, to deliver his people, than it is in the New Testament, that he shall come in power, to reign with his people on earth a thousand years. Hence it is said, Rev. xx. 6, Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. But as it was at the personal coming of the Messiah, the earth was corrupted, and the law or word of God made of non-effect, by the Rabbies and their traditions; so that nothing of God's word that was not current with them could pass in those times. By reason of this, we find the people were grossly ignorant, and prepossessed against Christ when he appeared, though his works, and words, were such, as were never before seen or heard in Israel; yet all could not restrain their ignorant opposition to him. In the same manner, at this day, so generally considered as the dawn of that glorious day of Christ's reign with his people on earth, the increase of corruption and Doctors, have so manifestly filled up the footsteps of those who withstood the personal reign of Christ, that they act over again the very same part that did the Rabbies by their traditions; and the law or word of God is so evidently made of non-effect by them, that neither the word of God, nor those walking in its light, can this day be known, if not current with the Doctors. Hence was it, that as Christ and his Prophets were thereby hid to the Old Testament professors, so in the very same manner are they in this day of the New Testament. The blessed and holy of Christ's first resurrection cannot be known, by reason of Doctors and their traditions: nothing that is not current with them can pass in these times: adherence to God's word, and knowledge of it, makes the poor and naked so much more hateful in the sight of the professors of this time, and has no more effect with our Doctors than it had with the Jewish Rabbies. Hence the imprisonment of such as dare to obey God's word rather than theirs; and hence is it that meetings have been lately called by our Doctors, to defeat the very word of God, and to force every conscience from its obedience to theirs—said to be for the poor.

In Greenock, a meeting, as I am informed, was called for the poor, where neither Christ nor the Apostle of the Gentiles could have opened a mouth for the poor, had they been there. The Apostle tells us he fought with beasts at Ephesus, but even that would have been denied him there, because he was neither Doctor nor Heritor. I was told, at one of these late meetings of Reverend Gentlemen and Heritors, said to be for the poor, a Reverend Doctor observed, that he had been studying the plan before them for twenty years. But had he employed all that time to have his people honestly instructed, visited, and examined—the ignorant and scandalous of them kept back from eating and drinking damnation to themselves; nay, had he studied how unclean fornicators, adulterers, drunkards, &c. might be reclaimed, and prevented from bringing diseases and misery on themselves and connections; I will venture to say, one half that are now driven on the poor's funds thereby, might have been helpers of the poor, in place of consumers of their funds.^[1] What then were all these twenty years' study of the Doctor for? I answer, Doubtless, it had its end: but it will be a hard task for any one to prove his end was good in seeking to pervert the word of God, and the constitution of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and to bring a yoke upon the necks of Presbyterians that neither we, nor our fathers, were able to bear. Every one who reads God's word with understanding, knows, the giving of alms is there provided for, and is as particularly stated as any precept of God's worship in the Mediator's ordinance, or church upon earth, that people when giving to the poor might thereby lend to the Lord, and was always considered as such in the Church of Scotland, till this Reverend Doctor began his study to throw out of the Church of Scotland that part of God's worship, that the people, like the Doctor, in place of studying God's word, how to lend to the Lord by giving to the poor, according to the divine institution of God, and the constitution of our Church, must study how to give in to their vice-gerent an account of their property and income, that he may make of non-effect the divine precept concerning them, and so make involuntary that which should be voluntary, and that twenty shillings that should be one shilling, and those to neglect the poor that would be kind to the poor. Such are the effects of the Doctor's twenty years' study, as both rich and poor in this place can testify, from what they have experienced of the Doctor's new plan. Before this, no man in Scotland, when Presbyterian principles reigned, was ever called to give to the poor what he could not spare from himself and depending connections, nor to rob shops and houses of merchandize, by giving for the poor what should have paid the merchant; nor were any forced unwillingly to that part of God's worship, for the fear of confiscation of goods or imprisonment. These are the effects of the Doctor's twenty years' study; so that by these effects, and the wisdom of the Doctor's stewardship, he can bring into his hands large sums of money for the poor, and especially for those who were subjects of the Doctor's visitation in affluence, before they became poor, and have relations who may be still affluent. The lame may starve or beg, but such favourites shall not, so long as the Doctor commands the public purse. Yet, such the wages of sin in these places and times, the people feel nothing but the taking of their money from them: they feel for that, but for the perverting of God's word and the constitution of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, they feel nothing more than stalled oxen, which like them will cry for meat. But why is it so? I answer, Because God's gift or grace is withheld from them, and they want that eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord, therefore are not concerned for what concerns it. They are not like our worthy predecessors, who rather suffered unto the death than that they and their children should be denied the liberty of obeying God's word or law, or be the implicit slaves and creatures of erastian prelates, in opposition thereto. Alas! that Isaiah vi. 10. is so applicable to this land and time, "Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert and be healed." Judgment seems to wait for us, and is near. What is the reason that I and so many others have withdrawn our persons and collections from the parish assemblies or Churches of these lands for worship? I answer for myself, and God is my witness of the truth I here relate, it is out of no disrespect to that divine injunction, not to forget the assembling of myself with others in the worship and obedience of God, as in his word; for in this is my chief enjoyment upon earth: and I have travelled far, and spent a good part of my life in quest of such an assembly as I might join with, without disjoining with that word of God by which I am soon to be judged; and, for the want of Christian fellowship, I have been among others in the world as a dove without its mate. ^[2]

I am not a despiser of God's public worship, but one much grieved at public assemblies; so far from worshipping God in spirit and truth, according to his word, they are open contemners of those who would; and though ministers in general have what they call a liberal education, enabling them to read, hear, and understand, the things of the spirit of a man, above those who have not, which I allow to be good and necessary in their own place for public orators,^[3] yet, with respect to the things of the spirit of God, which require a man not only to be a spiritual man, but to walk after the spirit, and not after the flesh, this appears in general foolishness to them, and the man doing so an enthusiast. For if the eye be single in this respect, the body shall be full of light, by that spirit of God enabling them to see many things they never could perceive by human learning, and to prove many things even of God's word, that are not to be believed according to the general acceptation of commentators on God's word. Cor. ii. 5. "That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." Verse 7, "But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world, unto our glory."

It is a very erroneous and general idea of God's word, in the mouth of mostly all professors I have talked with, that because God hath sealed up his word that none shall add to it or diminish from it, he hath also sealed up that spirit from men by which the Scriptures were written, and no extraordinary gifts of God's spirit is now either to be expected or believed. So that hereby the tradition of the Doctors of this day is as effectually opposed to the spirit of God, as was that of the Rabbies to the person of Christ — that no good thing should come out of Nazareth.

The reign of King Jesus with his people upon earth, though many eminent commentators, of whom I am far from undervaluing, yet of those, and these who have rested in their views of the Scriptures, I am ready to say, as Christ to his disciples, "O fools, and slow of heart;" to believe all that the prophets have said, and be thereby blinded to that so manifestly now before the eyes of all, that the man of sin and son of perdition is now clearly revealed, who hath opposed and exalted himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped. For that mystery of iniquity began its work in the Apostles' days, and was to be let grow until the pagan beast who opposed Christ in the reign of his prophetic office on earth, should by the force of Christianity be wounded in his seventh head, or government, making the pagan government declare itself Christian. So that the persecuting beast that was, is not, until healed into an Anti-Christian beast, to begin the opposition of Christ's reign on earth, by the persecuting all for offering unto God such sacrifices as his word requires; and by this persecuting of Christ's priestly office, the second beast began his reign, under the pretext of Christ's vice-gerent on earth, which was to continue twelve hundred and sixty days, until God's two witnesses, or laws for his two kingdoms of men, civil and ecclesiastical, shall have finished their testimony in the street of the great city where the second beast is again wounded unto death, and put down from all power in either government, and that street or kingdom declared the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ, where the Mediator was to reign in his kingdom, not of this world, in all his offices of Prophet, Priest, and King; where the godly were to live in all peace, godliness, and honesty, in their inner court for worship, and their outer court for protection.

But, lo! how suddenly the second beast, as the first, ascends, and, as a third, commences his war against Christ in his kingly office, exalting himself as the others above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, seating himself above the higher powers that be of God: and thus, for preferring these two ordinances of Christ, as Creator and Mediator, the higher powers that be of God, how many of the saints in that street were put to death by this third beast, as by the first and second.— That the righteous judgment of God may be seen on this three-fold beast and Babel, in destroying all these destroyers of the earth; that King Jesus may reign with his people on earth; and that his ordinances, or laws, as God and as Mediator, may be submitted to by all, from the king on the throne to the meanest in the land. For why should any man, ruler or ruled, profess to believe in God and his revelation, and at the same time set himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, as if hypocrisy was enough for God; and his revelation fit only for the support of Popes and Kings, to the opposition of his dear Son, and his blessed reign upon earth. But seeing the third woe of God is to come suddenly on this third part of the beast, and the Kings are now actually gathered into a holy league, that Christ and liberty may not reign; the cry is to every sleeping Christian, in this midnight darkness, Lo! the Bridegroom comes, and who is ready to meet him?

The four following questions, from Rom. xiii. 1, 2, the author thought of submitting to the reader, that, by the aid of the above, he may get a better view of the above passage than the late persecutors in Scotland had, who used to turn up that passage to condemn the conscientious godly in the land, for not submitting their conscience to them, as the higher powers. As but few have got any better view of the passage than what the persecutors had, the questions are certainly an important inquiry.
Q. First.—Who are these higher powers every soul is enjoined to be subject to?
Q. Second.—Why are they to be subject to powers in the plural number?
Q. Third.—Does every soul, in the above, include the subjection of rulers to these higher powers, as well as the ruled?
Q. Fourth. Is it so that none resisteth these higher powers who doth not resist the ordinance of God, and who shall not receive damnation to themselves thereby?

At the same time I have stated these questions for answer, let it be observed, that unless the higher powers are found, that every soul may and ought to be subject to them, without the exception of one soul, agreeably to the truth of that text of Scripture, right reason and common sense, neither the common acceptation of authors, nor their respectability for learning and piety, opposed to these, can be admitted. For it is truly shameful to see men, so correct in letters and words, guilty of such blunders in the things of God. For as there are none of these higher powers to whom subjection is called for and due but of God, and God's ordinance; so it is the height of folly to set up kings not by God, and princes that he did not know, and say, these are the higher powers of God, to whom every soul is to be subject, in opposition to the God that made them, and his revelation, that is so soon to judge them for a never-ending eternity.

First Letter to the Arminian Priest, Mr. M^c.

"Greenock, 5th December, 1817.
"Sir—Having heard you last night on these words, "Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty;" one branch of Christian liberty I could have wished you to have treated of, is that which the Apostle Peter enjoins upon all Christians, "To be always ready to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear." This I wished the more, as I had an opportunity of lately seeing a citation from Mr. Wesley vindicated by Mr. Crabtree, That he, Mr. Wesley, would rather be a Jew, a Turk, a Deist, or even an Atheist, than a Calvinist.

"If such be your sentiments among professors, the general part professed Calvinists, or, as Mr. Wesley views them, professed Atheists, it becomes you, for the exoneration of your own character, as well as your obedience to the divine injunction, to give a reason of your hope to many in Greenock who, if not asking you, are truly desirous to know how your hope stands with respect to these two; and I, as one, shall be truly gratified to hear it."

N.B.—For the information of the reader, this first Letter the author did expect an answer to it; but in place of an answer, the preacher fitted up for him a discourse, probably with the expectation of the author to hear it, the next Thursday evening. But though this was not the case, nevertheless he heard of it; that it was intended to say he was a fool, for attempting to write to the preacher for a reason of his hope; which called forth the second Letter, and now the publication of both, that people may have warning of these deceivers, whether they will take it or not. For while they craftily hide their principles in their preaching, they are busily employed, as a Mr. Walker observes, with their class or drill meetings, to get the simple entangled in their cursed errors. For this I do affirm, their errors are so shameless, that no man, acquainting himself with them and the Bible, will be deceived by them.

Second Letter to the Arminian Priest.

"Sir—Having wrote you some time ago, setting before you that divine injunction, which calls upon every God-fearing man to be ready always to give an answer to every man asking him a reason of the hope in him, with meekness and fear; this I wished the more to have from you, that I know you to belong to the Arminian Methodists, and that as you had brought forward none of their errors in my hearing, such as their denial of the electing love of God in choosing the elect in Christ to salvation, before the foundation of the world, as in Eph. i. 4, affirming they would rather be Atheists than believe he did so; such as their denial of the efficacious atonement of Christ's blood in behoof of his chosen people, in losing none of them, as in John vi. 39, affirming that he who was redeemed by the blood of Christ, and thereby put in his hand a child of grace and saint to-day, may, by the power of sin and Satan, be plucked out of that hand, and in hell to-morrow.

"These, Sir, are the damnable doctrines of Arminian Methodists, which I was in hopes, by reason of your youth, and omission in the discourse I heard, that you might be either ignorant of them, or opposed to them, and that your respect for the injunction of God's word I set before you in my Letter, would have determined you to answer it; the neglect of which forces the conclusion upon me, that you are neither ignorant nor opposed to the above errors, nor respectful of God's injunction, but such a deceiver as Christ hath warned his people was to come upon the earth to deceive many, and, if possible, the very elect. For I confess your craft of keeping out of sight your errors, and your warm-spirited effusions, though in some things I allow more fitted to engage the eye than either the ear or understanding; yet, with the allowance I make for a young preacher, and the partiality I have to an affectionate preacher, you had nearly caught me, as one of the fools that turneth aside to the snare. But though I esteem affectionate preaching, yet, not opposed to truth; for I believe God can only be worshipped in spirit and truth, and therefore I believe not every spirit, but try them by the truth of God's word, whether they are of God with truth, or opposed to God without it. Neither will my warm attachment to old books, especially the Bible, and that old truth which was before the foundation of the world, God's choosing of his elect in Christ, to call them from the others under wrath, to believe in his name and merits for salvation, suffer me to stop long where these are denied. And if I should be such a fool as to stop and dispute with such enemies of truth, yet, I trust, never to run with such, like so many Gaderean swine, by the devil's influence, without stopping or disputing with such guides, till choked in the gulf of endless despair.

"Allow me, Sir, to caution you not to think it a light thing to fill up the judgment of God's word upon yourself, and those that hearken to your deception, as is to be seen in Mark xiii. 22, by seeking to deceive the elect of God, teaching them they are only fools who contend about election, and who are for striving to make it sure to themselves. For that, Sir, of seeking to deceive the elect of God, to make them threw themselves down from dependence on God's electing love in Christ to depend on their own endeavours, to be in a state of grace to-day or damnation to-morrow, as Arminian doctrine teaches, is as impossible as it was for the devil to deceive Christ, when he wanted him to cast himself down from a pinnacle of the temple, in confidence of angels' support. Whoever may receive and depend on your damnable doctrine, must be vessels of wrath, fitted for destruction, as in Rom. ix. 22, for it is not the elect, chosen to salvation, can receive it. And though I have very little expectation that any thing I have wrote unto you will do any thing to break the snare of your delusion, and bring yon out from that erroneous connection with which you are joined, yet, as I consider it my duty to give you this warning, so it is in the discharge thereof that I send this unto you, whatever be the effect; and though Popish and Methodist Priests do not think it worth their while to answer my Letters, yet there are others who think they should be answered, and would be answered, if you, as evil doers, did not find quietness the best substitute for hiding nefarious deeds which cannot bear the light. And, to such, I mean to give your Letters to read, in order to be up with your pulpit eloquence, that those who hear you may hear me also; and if you have any thing to say for yourself before they go to the press, I shall be glad to hear it, and it will much oblige, &c."

Copy of a Letter to a respectable Professor, in consequence of his attending, and exhorting to attend, Mr. M^c.

"Greenock, 16th Feb. 1818.

"Sir—Though your acquirements and respectability make it appear to some too presuming in me either to write unto you or expect an answer from you, yet all that cannot satisfy me that I am discharged from that duty. Having heard of your frequent attendance on the Methodist Preacher, Mr. M^c, nay, of your exhortation of others to attend him, it fills me with horror at your conduct, when I consider their damnable errors, and hear of their open avowed vindication of these in private: such as, they would rather be Jews, Turks, Deists, or even Atheists, than be a Calvinist, to believe that God chose his elect in Christ before the foundation of the world, as in Eph. i. 4—that Christ came to seek and to save all those only, as his lost sheep, as Matt. xv. 24, John xvii. 9, show to every man not fearfully hardened against Scripture evidence.

"If you have any care either for yourself or others, to attend to these words, Proverbs xix. 27, you may read in the works of Wesley and Fletcher, standard Methodists, they hold the holy law of God as an anti-evangelic law, and that there is an evangelic law of love opposed to that holy law of God, whereby Methodists have a power and freedom of will, not only to obtain life, but even in this life to attain to sinless perfection. For confirmation of this, sec Wesley's Christian Perfection, page 223: 'Mistakes and infirmities that flow from the corruptible body, are not contrary to this law of love, and therefore are no sin. The truth is, in a state of perfection every desire is in subjection to the obedience of Christ. The will is entirely subject to the will of God, and the affections wholly fixed on him.'—Page 239. I judge it is as impossible this man should be deceived herein, as that God should lie!

"Were you to condescend to answer my Letter, you would, no doubt, say, you hear no such doctrine from Mr. M^c, neither will you receive it. All this I allow may be: Mr. M^c. is a better politician than to waste his shot where this is no hope of success; and you are the more criminal in the sight of God, and every understanding Christian, to lead, by your example and exhortation, poor silly things into their private traps, who cannot resist being the children of error, and such twofold children of hell as heaven will never admit. I have the charity to believe your having heard from Mr. M^c. that doctrine and zeal you approve, and wish to inculcate in others, was your end in attending, and exhorting others to attend, without consideration of his reserved errors, and the consequences above. But let not that strengthen you to think no evil thereof, or that you may dwell in safety where Satan's seat is, and the doctrine of Balaam and the Nialations are held, though not publicly taught. If you read Rev. ii. 16, you will find you are there called to repent, and, if not, to expect the quick appearance of the Lord, to fight against you with the sword of his mouth. And I am much mistaken, if easy unconcerned professors for the afflictions of Joseph, shall long escape the righteous judgments of God. A bloody sword to Scotland! so long foretold by his servants, and now so near, that there are few professors in Scotland who do not scorn at the idea of God manifesting himself in such an extraordinary way to his people as to let them see and foretel things to come. For, say they, the canon of Scripture is now finished, and extraordinary gifts ceased, therefore, where is the coming of those judgments foretold? But this is no new thing for a people destined to destruction. Had not the antedeluvians, the Sodomites, and the unbelieving Jews, been so strengthened, they might have got repentance, and escaped destruction.

"I hope, Sir, you will pardon my freedom in thus writing unto you; and, if it has the effect of making you judge yourself, and retrace your steps, I shall be glad to hear it.

"Your most obedient Servant."

1. If the shepherd upon the mountains is in danger of neglecting his flock, and will not escape with impunity if he does; why should the shepherds of congregations of immortal souls be suffered in such neglect, to the ruin of both souls and bodies of many, and to the distress of others, through their indolence and breach of faith?
2. OBJECTION.— In this the author contends for a church, as the word of God, perfect, which we never can expect in time, where even the godly do see but in part, and know but in part. I answer, All that I allow; and such a perfection as the Scriptures I expect in no person nor church. But are we, from that consideration, like Tabernaelites, and New Lights, to make of non-effect the express revelation of God's word, allowing every man a right to neglect and pervert the express precepts of God's word, as his blind misguided conscience shall direct. Rom. xiv. 1. "Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations." Whatever conceit these people have of themselves, in stating their objections to creeds or confessions, it is evident from their weakness of faith, in making every thing doubtful in God's word, and depend on men's conscience, they make themselves unfit to be received into any Christian society where the above Scripture is observed: 1 Cor. v. ii. is not doubtful who are to be avoided, and not eat with, as friends of Christ. Neither is it at all doubtful, 2 Cor. vi. 15, 16, 17, whom Christian brethren are to separate themselves from. I allow human infirmities call us to be very tender in separating from the communion of brethren, and that it should be for no matter that is doubtful in its signification, such as the eating of flesh, and keeping of one day more sacred than another, besides the Lord's day, as instanced to the Church of Corinth. But are we on that account to look on all God's word as doubtful, and adhere to corrupt assemblies rather than the word of God? God forbid!
3. But, alas! for the oratory of Doctors in these times, when it would bury all truth and principle, and allow Christians to be any thing — Papists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, or Dissenters of any kind. Such sermons, in my opinion, in place of being four times preached or read, and then printed, had better never seen the light.