cross, to every one not born of God,
is foolishness. The preaching of the
cross of Christ is offensive to every
one not born of God ; but, to those
born of God, it is the power of God.
Now, dear reader, we must not un
derstand that there is not one man or
one person, who seeks after God ; for
God has liad, in all ages, a people
who have sought after him. Adam,
after he had an imputed righteous
ness, called upon God. Abel, Seth,
Noe, Abraham and thousands have;
and thousands now, seek after God.—
David sought him, and was deliver
ed from all his troubles. Nathaniel
sought him because he was an Israel
ite indeed. Cornelius sought him
and was heard. And the blessed Sa
vior exhorts and says, “seek,” &c.
Now, there is no contradiction in
this text and the following: “ Seek,”
&c. ; “Son, give me thy heart;”
“ If any man thirst, let him come un
to me and drink;” “Seek the Lord
while he may be found,” &c. The
gospel of tills text is : there has never
been one of Adam’s family unregen
erated, unborn of God, who has ever
sjought after God.
Now, there is no contradiction in
these texts; but there is a beautiful
harmony—all full of sublime truths
of the gospel. And there is nothing
but glad tidings presented to the poor,
to the desirous, to the distressed, to
the penitent, and to the mourner.—
They strengthen the weak knees,
hold up the hands that hang down,
and, in short, they bring comfort to
every child of God, when the true
gospel is unfolded. There is no ar-
rainianism contained in it, and there
is no arminian that can preach the
pospel that is in it. This text is uni
versal, extending to the utmost bounds
of the inhabited globe.
Now, if I present the gospel of this
text, all the preaching and practices
of the arminian denominations, which
kiclude all but the Old Baptist, preach
and practice an anti-christian system.
Now, if there are none in the unre
generate state who seek after God,
and, according to the text, there are
none, it is plainly understood that all
the instrumentalities used by the ar-
minians, of Avhatsoever sort, to bring
about a new birth, arfe contrary, and
in opposition to this text; for they
who use them, suppose they belong
to the unspiritual-born class. The
carnal mind is the mind of all who
are not born of God, and this mind
is enmity against God, not subject to
his law, &c. Now, how can it be
reasonably supposed that this carnal
mind can be persuaded to seek after
God; for it is evidently taught in
the bible that, indeed, it is not sub
ject to the law of God. The law of
repentance, the law of godly sorrow,
the law of love or charity, and the
liaw of faith, are laws of God ; hence,
must, of necessity, proceed from a
pure fountain—a good tree, a servant
of God, a penitent child,born of God.
“Without faith, it is impossible to
please,God.” “ They lhat come to
God must believe that he is, and that
he is a rewarder of them that dili
gently seek him. Here, in these
scriptures, we learn that faith is in
dispensably necessary to one coming
to God. And since faith is not without
charity, which, in a gospel sense, is
love to God or love of God, it lovi-
cally follows, that a man must have
this love in order to be a true peni
tent or mourner. And, now, since
every man is led by the Spirit of God,
or by the spirit of mammon, to be an
honest, humble, and earnest mourn
er, he must, of necessity, be led by
the Spirit of God. On this point,
Paul says, “ They that are led by the
Spirit of God are (now) the sons
of God.” So we clearly see, by in-
spiration, that the practice of getting
up men and women, under a system
of works, supposing these mourners
are not children born unto the Lord,
it matters not what kind of works,
whether it is baptism, preaching,
singing, relating affecting circumstan
ces, exciting the carnal mind, it is in
opposition to this text, and , of course
to every text in the bible.
Since there must be, in every pen
itent, a principle to overcome every
impediment, it, of necessity, must be
something above our nature; it must
be a heaven-born principle, and this
principle is truth. Paul says, “What
soever is born of God evercometh the
world, and this is the victory that
overcometli the world, even our faith.”
Here, we see that true evangelical
faith is born of God, and should we
suppose that one should have this
heaven-born faith before he is a child
born of God, born again, regenerat
ed ? Now, since inspiration teaches
the delightful truth, that “there is
no condemnation to them who are in
Christ Je&iis,” and the true mourner
is a ehiid born of God; so found to
be, by a logical analysis of my text;
this mourner is in Ciirist Jesus, and
is under the reign of grace. Jesus
reigns as a Prince, or is a Prince, in
his Father’s kingdom, and grants re
pentance to all his subjects, and, as a
Savior, forgives all sins, or saves his
people from their sins. My dear
reader, if you are a mourner, this is
glad tidings to you. All sins com
mitted against Christ, by bis people,
shall be forgiven.
Now, since there was no repentance
granted by the breach of the first cov
enant, but death did and must follow ;
There can be no repentance granted
to any one while under this breach,
and since all arc under it, who are
not born of God, it logically follows
that a man must be born again be
fore he is a sujbect of repentance.—
Why should ii be tliouglit strange
that a man born of God should feel
the curse? Being iu the world, in
the flesh, and not of the world, he
feels the power of the curse. When
one is born of God, he is adapted
for another clime; he hiis become a
stranger and a pilgrim in this world ;
he ha.-, no continuing city, but seeks
one; and he hears tlie howling of the
ravenous beasts. He feels the ab
sence of his mate and mourns for His
return, or, perhaps more eon'ectly,
she feels the absence of her mate, and,
like a dove, mourns. And the main
cause of her mourning is, the think
ing of the mistreatment, and bad con
duct toward her beloved Husband.
She fears he will not return again.—
But, dear mourner, Jesus your Hus
band says, “ Blessed (now) are they
that mourn, for they shall be com
forted.” Be assured your mate, your
Husband will return; for be ia a
PI’ince, and will grant repentance and
forgive you.
Now, the dark, dense wilderness is,
in fact, not a wilderness to the flon,
and the owl, because they are adapt
ed for this region or clime. So it is
with one not born of God, or adapt
ed for heaven. He loves this world,
and the things of this world, and
they are congenial to him. They
were assimilated to him, and, hence,
he is never a mourner in a spiritual
gospel sense.
Inspiration teaches us to preach,
“either make the tree good and his
fruit good, or make the tree bad and
his fruit corrupt.” “ No fountain
can send forth, at the same time, both
sweet and bitter water.” No man
can serve two masters at the same
time. Now, since God repents for
no man, nor exercises faith for any
man, it plainly follows that these
graces proceed from a good tree, and
that these scriptures teach the fact,
that no one calls upon God, but those
born of God; that while oite is an
enemy to God or the servant of mam
mon he will not seek after God ; that
man is either the servant of the one
or the other; that there is no beino-
worshipped but these two, by any
man, and that there is no me
dium between unregeneration and re
generation.
The proposition, not long since
argued by a Lutheran and a Meth
odist was, “No man can pray accept-
al)!y until he is ’oorn of God.” I
think the affirmative is plainly
taught in the Scriptures ; hut if the
proposition had been presented as
my text, that “ there is none that
seeketh afterGod,” it would have been
better; for the affirmative is so plain
ly taught by inspiration, that notone
but he who is blinded by the god of
this world can err therein.
It is said that the prayer of the
wicked availeth nothing, and that a
corrupt tree bears corrupt fruit, and
since prayer is good fruit, it follows
that a corrupt tree cannot bear it.—
Notice the “can not.” This affirms
and proves the affirmation of the
proposition. The text does not say
that the unregenerate can not pray
to God, hut that they do not. The
statement of the discussion that I
saw says the Methodist gained the
day, predicated upon the circumstan
ces of Peter and Cornelius, the thief
on the cross, and the jailor, Ac. Now
I think these circumstances run in
harmony with the text, “There is
none that seeketh after God.”
Cornelius, the jailor, and all like
characters are children born of God,
calling upon and seeking after him
as their heavenly Father. Now, if
this Lutheran supposes that this new
birth is brought forth by or in bap
tism, language, letters, or any thing
of a literal and external nature, he is
not far from being as blind as the
Methodist.
Ill conversation with an episcopa
lian not long since, and argueing the
gospel of the text, he said : “If I be
lieved the doctrine that you advocate,
I would never preach again ; and if
it was so, there would be no use of
preaching.” I will now present my
thoughts on the subject. Paul says
“it pleased God by the foolishnas.s
of preaching to save them that be-
preach Christ and him crucified, to
the Jews a stumbling-block, and
unto the Greeks foolishness.” But
this power of God, oonsidered fool
ishness with the Greek, saves who?
an unbeliever, and all are included
in unbelief in ihdr natural state?—
No. But a believer. It saves the
child born of God ; it is his meat and
drink, and is
glad
tidings. Paul’s
preaching was to the Jew a snim-
bling-bloek, and to the Greeks fool
ishness. Then Paul’s preaching did
not produce the spiritual birth. Buf
unto them who are called, both Jew
and Gentile, it was the power of God,
Was it the power of God to any but
those whom God had called ? No.—
This calling is nothing more nor less
than the new birth. Again, Paul
say.s, that he was not ashamed of tho
gospel of Christ; for it is the power
of God unto salvation, but to whom?
to every one that hears it? No. To
the unregenerate or unbeliever? No.
But to every one that believeth.—
Then it is indispensably necessary ia
order to the gospel or seed, that the
ground be previously priepared. Of
preaching, Paul says, again: “ For the
preaching of the cross is to them that
perish (now) foolishness, hut unto us
who are (now) saved it is the power
of God.” In every esse, the {)repa-
ration of the heart or ground, is a
prerecpisite to tbj! success of the gos
pel.. I think it is illogical and
unscriptnral to suppose that the
Holy Ghost gets in water, or clothes
himself in language to produce re
generation, or bring to the birth.—
Jerusalem above is the mother of
all saints, whether in the ages of
Abel, Seth, Noo, Abraham, Moses,.
David or Paul; is the mother of all
infants, dying in infancy; all idiots,
and all heathens, as Corncliu.s, Job,
Ac. Now this mother has but one
law to bring forth children—one law
in all ages.
But now, dear brethren and reader,
is it so, that there is none that seek
eth afterGod. Paul quotes from Da
vid and says so. Do you believe it ?
Paul made this a.ssertion after a log
ical analysis of the Old Testament.—■
He dec'ares that the Jew, by nature,
was as corrupt as the Gentile, both
being under sin. Then, if under sin,
neither one vdll seek after God.—
Hence, until they are liberated, will
they ever call upon God? But does
God not quicken them, or send an
arrow of conviction, and under this
state, they repent and mourn ? To
this question I think the scripture's
plainly tc'ach. They make a mark,
and all regenerate or those horn of
God are on one side of it, and the
unregenerate or those not born of
God are on the other side. No one
be on the mark. This is em-
caii
phatically and plainly taught. Ei
ther make tho tree and its fruit srood.
O y
or the tree and its fruit corrupt. All
fruit is cither good or had. But may
repentance, penitence, and godly sor
row not spring from a corrupt foun
tain? Then may an impure foun
tain send forth sweet water. But may
one not be quickened and then under
go a travail before he is bom of God.
To this I will say, that Jerusalem
above, or the covenant of grace, trav-