GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 



119 





CMre thi happiness of each individual, and of 

 the system as one great whoie that the laws of 

 God were almost directly contrary to the lead 

 ing maxims of morality which prevailed in the 

 world and that they struck at the root of all 

 those principles of pride, ambition, revenge, and 

 iaxi - ,urity, which almost universally directed the 

 conduct of individuals and of nations. 



If, then, we find in a book which professes to 

 be a revelation from heaven, a system of moral 

 laws which can clearly be shown to be the basis 

 of fho moral order of the universe, and which 

 are calculated to secure the eternal happiness of 

 all intellectual beings it forms a strong pre 

 sumptive proof, if not an unanswerable argu 

 ment, that the contents of that book are of a ce 

 lestial origin, and were dictated by Him who 

 gave birth to the whole system of created be 

 ings. 



VII. From this subject we may learn the ab 

 surdity and pernicious tendency of Antinomian- 

 ism. Of all the absurdities and abominations 

 which have assumed the name of Religion, I 

 know none more pernicious and atheistical in its 

 tendency, than the sentiment which is tenacious 

 ly maintained by modern Antinomians, &quot; That 

 Christians are set free from the law of God as a 

 rule of conduct.&quot; That in the nineteenth cen 

 tury of the Christian era, amidst the rapid pro 

 gress of physical and moral science, under the 

 mask of a Christian profession, and with the 

 moral precepts and injunctions of the prophets 

 of Jesus Christ, and of his apostles, lying open 

 before them, a set of men, calling themselves ra 

 tional beings, should arise to maintain, that there 

 is such a thing as &quot; imputed sanctification,&quot; that 

 the moral law is not obligatory upon Christians, 

 and that &quot; whoever talks of progressive sanctifi 

 cation is guilty of high treason against the ma 

 jesty of heaven&quot;* is a moral phenomenon truly 

 humbling and astonishing ; and affords an addi 

 tional proof, to the many other evidences which 

 lie before us, of the folly and perversity of the 

 human mind, and of its readiness to embrace 

 the most wild and glaring absurdities ! If the 

 leading train of sentiment which has been pro- 

 recuted in the preceding illustrations be admit 

 ted, there appears nothing else requisite in order 

 to show tfie gross absurdity and the deadly ma 

 lignity of the Antinornian system. If any sys 

 tem of religion be founded on the cancellation of 

 every moral tie which connects man with man, 

 and man with God if its fundamental and dis 

 tinguishing principles, when carried out to their 

 legitimate consequences, would lead men to hate 

 their Creator and to hate one another if it can 

 be shown, that the operation of such principles 

 constitutes the chief ingredient of the misery 

 which arises from &quot; the worm that never dies, 



Se Cottle s &quot; Strictures on the Plymouth Anti 

 nomians. 



and the fire which is never quenched ; w and that, 

 if universally acted upon, they would overthrow 

 all order in the intelligent system, and banish 

 every species of happiness from the universe it 

 necessarily follows, that such a system cannot 

 be the religion prescribed by the All-wise and 

 benevolent Creator, nor any part of that revela 

 tion which proclaims &quot;peace on earth and good 

 will among men,&quot; and which enjoins us to &quot; love 

 the Lord our God with all our hearts, and our 

 neighbour as ourselves.&quot; 



The Antinornian, in following out his own 

 principles, if no human laws or prudential consi 

 derations were to deter him, might run to every 

 excess of profligacy and debauchery might in 

 dulge in impiety, falsehood, and profanity might 

 commit theft, robbery, adultery, fraud, cruelty, 

 injustice, and even murder, without considering 

 himself as acting contrary to the spirit of his reli 

 gious system. On his principles, the idea of 

 heaven, or a state of perfect happiness, is a phy 

 sical and moral impossibility ; and the idea of 

 hell a mere bugbear to frighten children and fools. 

 For, wherever the moral law is generally observ 

 ed, there can be no great portion of misery ex 

 perienced under the arrangements of a benevo 

 lent Creator ; and if this law be set aside, or 

 its observance considered as a matter of indiffer 

 ence, the foundation of all the happiness of saints 

 and angels is necessarily subverted. A heaven 

 without love pervading the breasts of all its in 

 habitants, would be a contradiction in terms ; 

 but love, as we have already seen, is the founda 

 tion of every moral precept. 



I trust the moral conduct of the deluded mor 

 tals who have embraced this system is more re 

 spectable than that to which their principles 

 naturally lead ; but the consideration, that such 

 absurd and dangerous opinions have been deduc 

 ed from the Christian revelation, should act as a 

 powerful stimulus on the Christian world, for di 

 recting their attention to a more minute and 

 comprehensive illustration than has hitherto been 

 given, of the practical bearings of the Christian 

 system, and of the eternal and immutable obliga 

 tion of the law of God, which it is the great end 

 of the gospel of Christ to enforce and demon 

 strate. For it is lamentable to reflect how many 

 thousands of religionists, both in North and in 

 South Britain, even in the present day, have 

 their minds tinctured, in a greater or less degree, 

 with the poison of Antinomianism, in conse 

 quence of the general strain of many of the doc 

 trinal sermons they are accustomed to hear, and 

 of the injudicious sentiments they hare imbibed 

 from the writings of the supralapsarian divines oi 

 the seventeeth centuaty. 



VII J. Faith and icpentance, as required in 

 the Gospel, are absolutely necessary, in the pre 

 sent condition of man, in order to acceptable 

 obedience to the divine law. &quot; Without faitn it 

 is impossible to please God ; for he that cometb 



