From all these testimonies of holy writ, I saw with great astonishment, 1st. That to the end of time, every preacher sent of Christ, and really belonging to him, must preach diligently to all people, every thing which He preached, and must not add nor diminish ought, on pain of eternal wrath; and that in the GOSPEL alone are to be found all these things which must be so taught. 2dly. That “repentance and remission of sins,” appear to be the essence of the Gospel. 3dry. That the people are to be informed of this, or “that this is to be made known and preached to them.” That in order to obtain these great gifts of God, and be saved, they must repent, believe in Christ, and earnestly ask them by importunate prayer to God, and to God alone; which if they neglect not, they shall succeed, “for every one that asketh receiveth.” Matt. vii. 8, and vi. 12. “Our Father—forgive us our trespasses,” &c. and thus shall they, according to the Gospel, this message from God delivered them, “be loosed” by the Holy Ghost (whom God given to all who thus obey his Gospel) from all their sins, condemnation, and liability to punishment: and this, through the alone infinite merits and “blood of Christ, which cleanseth from all sin.” 1 John i. 7. But that such as will neglect or not believe this Gospel, this divine message, “must be bound,” (i.e.) be condemned; and therefore, that it is God himself, not his servants, that will most assuredly confirm to all believers severally, the message thus delivered by his faithful messengers, and will loose or bind them, forgive or condemn them, severally, according to his Gospel; and therefore, that in the Gospel it is no where found, that any power, farther than this, is given to the servants of God. For though Jeremiah was commissioned of God “to build and to plant kingdoms and nations, to pull down and to destroy them,” (Jer. i. 10.–xvii. 7, 8, 10) yet he never did any such thing in whole or in part, actually, but declaratively only; he delivered his message from God, and according as it was obeyed or rejected, so were those to whom it was sent planted or destroyed—rewarded or punished. And in this sense were the apostles, by preaching the Gospel, to forgive sins, to bind and loose; and also to remove, in conjunction with the members, from the society or church, incorrigible offenders, or to receive them again on true repentance. 1 Cor. v. 1, 5.–2 Cor. ii. 7, 10.
4thly. That, whereas Christ commanded his Gospel to be given and carefully taught to every creature, that it might dwell richly in them; so every creature, therefore, should, above all books and things have the Gospel, and that, to prevent this in any wise, it not to obey Christ, but to contravene his will, which would, of course, be the designation of false and antichristian prophets.
To claim, then, an authority from Christ, to prevent even children from hearing, learning, or having the Gospel, (for Timothy from a child knew the Scriptures) is claiming authority from Christ, to contradict himself, which it blasphemy.
Contrasting these impressive charges, which we must believe, and these doctrines and observations so plainly and so legibly contained therein, with many of the present doctrines and practices of the Church of Rome, I found them in my mind so incongruous, that it became a matter of serious and anxious inquiry how to reconcile such mighty difficulties. Hearing that the ancient Fathers had authorised the doctrines and practices of the church, I had recourse to their writings, and to my astonishment found that they had exalted the authority of the Holy Scriptures, and extolled their divine precepts as the only true and unerring guide to eternal happiness.
This led me to inquire the reason why the present Church of Rome, which professes to be the only true, infallible, holy, and apostolic guide to heaven, differed so essentially both from Scripture and the Ancient Church; and why, instead of following the parting injunctions of our blessed Lord, her priests teach many contrary doctrines, to the injury of many piously disposed minds, leading them from the essential truths of salvation, by faith in the atonement alone, to church authorities lately invented, (to say no worse,) which cannot profit, and to ceremonies and forms of worship unknown in the Primitive Church of Christ?
I anticipate the inconceivably awful condition of a dying sinner, knowing scarcely any thing of the religion of the Lord Jesus but what is represented to his senses by the ceremonies of the mass, the gestures of the Priest, and some vague notions he may form from what is repeated for him in a strange tongue, and I could not but conclude that such ceremonies were ill calculated to give sinners a well grounded hope of salvation; and this I was convinced of, even from seeing the Roman Catholics scramble on Sundays after mass for holy water, holy candles, palm, ashes, &c.—I found on the other hand that the Holy Scriptures reveal Jesus Christ to be the only true, and yet an all sufficient Saviour.—Acts iv. 11, 12, and Heb. vii. 25. That he is made unto all believers, wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption,—1 Cor. i. 30. And that they who ask from our heavenly Father for his Son’s sake, shall receive this salvation, and the fruits of their having received it, will be afterwards manifested in their life and conversation.
No Christian will deny that this is the Gospel way of salvation from sin; and if so, why lead the unwary into the labyrinths of useless ceremonies? One who knows the value of souls cannot but feel deep concern and regret for the delusion of a generous, zealous, and unsuspecting people.
These considerations urged me to state some of the many errors which caused me to separate from a people, whose welfare I shall ever have at heart. I have experienced many signal favours from them, and know the unbounded confidence they place in him, to whom they intrust their salvation. My heart’s desire and prayer for them is, that they may be saved; for I bear them record, they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. To them also were committed the oracles of God, but they have preferred the traditions of men, and awfully surrender their Bible, their only unerring guide, and submitted to learn the doctrines of Jesus Christ, not from his holy word and that of his Apostles, but from men in general very deficient in Scriptural knowledge. [9]
Could I address them, it would be thus: Believe no teacher that comes in the shape of man, or angel; but try the spirits; consult the word of God, that cannot deceive you; compare the words and the actions of men with what you read there, and he who comes nearest to the doctrines of Christ, listen to him, for the Apostle Paul has said, “Though we, or an angel from heaven preach any other Gospel than that already delivered unto you, let him be accursed.”
From all the above considerations and many others which cannot be contained in the limits of a small pamphlet, a serious impression was made on my mind for years, which was increased by being sometimes called on to defend the doctrine of Invocation of Saints, Purgatory, &c. on all such occasions, I found I had not Scriptural, not even rational arguments to support their authenticity; but being still strongly prejudiced in favour of the mother church, I considered her authority was founded by Jesus Christ, and that doubting of her doctrine, would be a glaring breach of the faith of our blessed Lord.