William Law · 8 of 14

A DEMONSTRATION of the Gross and Fundamental Errors · Part 7

[Dem-253] Nay, it may and must be said, that the right observation of this author's sacrament is directly an act of atheism. For if it is an act, that in its own nature, and according to its peculiar essence, cannot be performed according to what it is, unless it be done without faith, and love, and devotion towards God; then it is directly an act of atheism, because atheism is nothing else but a cessation of faith, love and devotion towards God. But the essence of this author's sacrament cannot be preserved, unless you keep prayer, devotion and thanksgiving out of it. Therefore to perform it rightly according to what it is, is to perform an act of atheism.

[Dem-254] And if at the taking of the bread and wine, you should suffer faith, or love, or adoration of God, or thanksgiving, to take up your mind, you might as well have let the sacrament alone, for you have neglected all that in which its whole nature consists; and have only been in such a state of devotion, as has nothing to do with it, nor can possibly be a part of it. And therefore, if you will perform this sacrament rightly according to this author, you must perform it atheistically; you must excite such a remembrance as excludes faith, love, devotion and thanksgiving, from being a part of it. And your remembrance is not performed, unless it be such a remembrance as these things cannot be a part of.

[Dem-255] The devils are said to believe a God; but why is it that their faith is no religious act, nor of any benefit to them? It is because their faith is only a bare act of believing, just as this author's sacrament has only a bare act of remembering; and that which is the perfection of his sacrament, is their wretchedness.

[Dem-256] If you ask this author, why faith, and prayer, and adoration and thanksgiving, are not of the essence, or cannot be essential parts of the sacrament: all he has to say is this, that the "duty of prayer is a duty absolutely distinct from the participation of the Lord's Supper." {Page 160.}

[Dem-257] It may and must be granted, that prayer, humility, faith, hope, charity, &c., are absolutely distinct from each other; that humility is not prayer, nor faith in its proper idea prayer, and so of the rest. Yet notwithstanding this distinction between them, they are all of them essential to each other. Faith is of the essence of prayer, hope is of the essence of faith, and all of them are essential parts of prayer. Therefore when this author asserts that prayer is not an essential part of the communion, he is just as much in the right, and has as much truth on his side, as he who says, that humility, faith and hope are not essential to prayer, because prayer is distinct from humility, faith and hope.

[Dem-258] What this author saith of the sacrament, that it is one single act, or one single instance of obedience, is only true of his own fiction of a sacrament, which he makes to consist in a single act of the memory; and indeed it would be highly inconsistent with the gospel, to make such a sacrament a means of obtaining the benefits of Christ. But this is not the sacrament of Christ, nor the sacrament which the church of Christ observes.

[Dem-259] For all that relates to our salvation, either on the part of Christ, or on our own part, is plainly united in that sacrament which Christ has instituted. All that relates to our salvation on the part of Christ, is in the sacrament, because he has said that his body and blood are there for the remission of our sins, and that his body and blood are there to be eaten and drank, as the food and life of our souls, therefore Christ as our savior is wholly there.

[Dem-260] And all that relates to our salvation on our own part, is there; because we cannot come to Christ, or find him to be there, as he has said he is, unless we come to him with all those qualities and pious dispositions that correspond to him, as he is an atonement for our sins, and a principle of life to us; therefore all that relates to our salvation, either on the part of Christ, or on our own part, is plainly united in the sacrament. And to call such a communion one single act of obedience, is just the same absurdity, as to say, that the baptism of a heathen converted to Christianity, is but one single instance of obedience. For everything that is implied in such a conversion and baptism, whether it be on the part of Christ, or on the part of the person baptized, is implied in this communion.

[Dem-261] And as the baptism of such a person contains all in it that relates to his salvation, either on the part of Christ, or on his own part, and therefore cannot without great ignorance be called a single instance or act of obedience: so it is with the sacrament, it is all that to the pious communicant, both on the part of Christ, and on his own part, that baptism is to the true converted heathen; and he is made an actual partaker of all the benefits of Christ by it, as the convert is made so by baptism; and therefore it is the same absurdity to call it a single act, or instance of obedience.

[Dem-262] And as it would be vain and groundless to say, that it was inconsistent with the main design of the gospel, to make such baptism the actual partaking of all the benefits of Christ; so it is equally, if not more so, to say the same thing of communion; because every pious and holy disposition is to be supposed to be in an higher state, in the pious communicant, than in the pious desirer of baptism; and therefore, it cannot without much absurdity be supposed, that the sacrament is not as beneficial to the pious communicant, as baptism is to the pious convert.

[Dem-263] For if Christ has appointed this institution, to assure us, that he is there, both as the atonement for our sins, and a principle of life to us, and we come to it with such pious dispositions as correspond and answer to him in both these respects, and make us capable of him; it must be great absurdity to say, that we find him not there as our atonement, nor receive him as a principle of life to us, nor are made partakers of these benefits of him.

[Dem-264] If we stand before this atonement, without such dispositions as correspond to it, we are as absent from the sacrament of Christ, as they are that refuse to come to it; if we eat that which is before us in the sacrament, without such faith and purity as qualify us to receive the flesh and blood of Christ, we are only eating that, which might have been the bread of life to our souls.

[Dem-265] But if we, according to the condition of our humanity, are that which these two essential parts of the sacrament require us to be, then we may and ought as firmly to believe, that we are by this sacrament made actual partakers of all the benefits of Christ, as that we are saved through Christ, and not by ourselves.

[Dem-266] This author makes great complaint of ascribing these benefits to the reception of the communion, because it is, as he says, to put that upon a single instance of obedience, which our blessed Lord has made to depend upon the whole system of all virtues united in us: that is, Christ has made the system of all virtues united in us, to be the only qualification for the actual partaking of his benefits; which is not only utterly inconsistent with the gospel, but nonsensical in itself; for it is saying that we are then only qualified for the benefits of our savior, when we have no need of them; for if all virtues were so united in us, all that our savior could do for us, would be done beforehand.

[Dem-267] But let us take an instance or two from our savior's own words, and then we shall best see how truly this author has said, that he has made the actual partaking of his benefits, to depend upon the whole system of all virtues united. When our blessed Lord stood by Jacob's well, talking with the woman of Samaria, he said to her, "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water; a water which shall be in him that drinketh it, a well of water springing up into everlasting life." {John 4:10.}

[Dem-268] Here, I suppose, are offered to this poor woman all the benefits of the savior of mankind. Our Lord does not say to her, If thou hadst the whole system of all virtues united in thee, then thou mightest be made a partaker of all my benefits; I could make the water of eternal life perpetually spring up within thee.

[Dem-269] No, there is no such jargon as this in the gospel: but as he came as a compassionate savior, to make the blind to see, the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak, and the dead to awake; as he came as a good shepherd to seek that which was lost, and as a physician to heal the sick; so he only says to the woman, if she had asked, that is, if she had felt the want of a savior, as the blind feel the want of sight, and her heart had only desired this gift of God, he would then have bestowed this greatest of all gifts upon her.

[Dem-270] But surely, if this desire in the woman would have made her thus capable of all the benefits of our savior, it cannot be inconsistent with the gospel, to make the same desire as beneficial to a true and pious Christian, as it would have been to an unbaptized Samaritan.

[Dem-271] Again, our Lord saith, "All things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." {Matt. 21:22.} Here you see, all things, and therefore all the benefits of Christ, are ascribed to faith, and we have everything that we can desire or pray for, by virtue of it. Does not our Lord here ascribe as much benefit to faith, as ever anyone ascribed to the holy communion? Or who ever said that of the power, or benefit, or efficacy of the sacrament, which our Lord here says of the benefit of faith in prayer?

[Dem-272] Is not this as inconsistent with the gospel, as the actual partaking of Christ's benefits, by the single duty of receiving the sacrament? Is not this benefit of the prayer of faith as contrary to this author's whole system of virtues united in us, as that other benefit of the sacrament? Is it not as just to say, that this prayer of faith is only a single instance of obedience, as to say so of the sacrament? And is not the main design of the gospel as much destroyed by making faith to be thus beneficial, as by making the communion to be so beneficial?

[Dem-273] Or can it be supposed, that when our Lord, who ascribes thus much to the prayer of faith, when it is alone, would think it too much to be ascribed ot it, when the holy sacrament is united with it? Or must it be supposed, that this prayer of faith loses its virtue and power, is deprived of its excellent effects, only then, when it is a part of the communion of Christ's body and blood.

[Dem-274] Again, our Lord saith, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you." Must not this author have as much to complain of in this doctrine, that ascribes so much to prayer in the name of Christ, as in that doctrine, that ascribes so much to the sacrament? Must he not say, that the praying in the name of Christ, is but one single instance of obedience; and that to say, we are thereby made partakers of all the benefits of Christ, is putting that upon one single act of obedience, which our blessed Lord has made to depend upon the whole system of all virtues united in us? Must he not say, that this account of the power and efficacy of prayer in Christ's name, is a doctrine destructive of the main design of the gospel?

[Dem-275] For everything that this author objects against this doctrine of the sacrament, must with the same strength be objected against these, and many other the like express declarations of our savior.

[Dem-276] Everyone must know that it would be very easy to produce various passages of the gospel, that teach the same doctrine, as these do that I have quoted; and that when this author said, our savior made the partaking of his benefits to depend upon the whole system of all virtues united in us, he had just the same reason and authority from the gospel to say so, as he has to say, that Christ declared he came to seek that which was not lost, to heal those which were not sick, and save those who stood in no need of a savior.

[Dem-277] But now, seeing this is the nature, power, and efficacy of the prayer of faith, and of prayer in the name of Christ; seeing he himself has assured us, that they make us actual partakers of everything that we can ask of the Father, or that he through Christ can give us, we have the fullest assurance, that if we do that which the sacrament requires to be done; if we don't separate faith and prayer in the name of Christ from it, but perform it in this faith and prayer, or make it as it ought to be, a real exercise of this faith and prayer, then we receive in and by it all the benefits of our savior.

[Dem-278] But because this author seems entirely out of his element, when speaking of the benefits of Jesus Christ, and not to be able to speak an intelligible word about it, as to the true grounds and nature of it, but only to puzzle himself and the reader with an empty superficial way of arguing from the sound of words: I shall therefore, in a word or two, endeavor to lay before you the true grounds of the benefits of Jesus Christ, as he is the savior of all mankind.

[Dem-279] It is the fundamental doctrine, or rather the known foundation of all revealed religion, and the known foundation of all natural piety and goodness, that Jesus Christ is the second Adam: that he is a common head, or parent, or person to all mankind, in the same manner as Adam is the common head, or parent, or person to all mankind.

[Dem-280] That a real birth, life, nature, and true man, is in the same truth and reality derived to us from this our second Adam, as a real birth, and life, and nature is derived to us from our first Adam. And that as without any figure or metaphor of speech we are all said to be born of Adam, and descended from him; so we are all in the same dependence upon our second Adam, really and not figuratively born of him, and have our descent from him; spirit of his spirit, life of his life, in the same truth and reality, as every man has the nature of the first Adam.

[Dem-281] And herein is seen the infinite depth of divine love and goodness to mankind, who though they were by the condition of their creation to be derived from one head or parent, and to take his state of perfection or imperfection; yet were by the goodness and care of God for them, provided from the very beginning with a second parent, or common head, who after the fall of the first, and the fallen state that he had brought upon his posterity, should be a common restorer, and put it in every man's power to have the same choice of life and death, as the first man had; that so, they who were lost before they were born, and were made inheritors of a miserable nature without their choice, might have a divine life restored to them in a second parent, which should not be in the power of anyone to lose for them, but should depend entirely upon their own will and desire of it, upon their own faith, and hope, and hungering after it.

[Dem-282] This eternal and immutable truth, worthy of being written in capital letters of gold, is the foundation of all revealed and natural religion: and a standing monument of God's universal goodness and love to all mankind, and such as is sufficient to make all men rejoice and give praise to God.

[Dem-283] For by this truth, all that seems hard and cruel to human reason, that the posterity of Adam should be involved in the consequences of their first Father's fall, (yet how could it be otherwise?) all this, I say, is made a wonderful scene of love, as soon as we consider, that all mankind were redeemed as soon as they were lost, and that their redemption was as early, as universal, and as extensive in its effects, as the fall was. And that no son of Adam is left to inherit a poor, earthy, perishable, corrupt nature from him, without having it in his choice to be born again of a second Adam, and restored, with advantage, to all the riches, and treasures, and blessings of a divine and paradisiacal nature, which were lost without his consent.

[Dem-284] There is something so amazingly loving and merciful in this conduct of divine providence over mankind, that I cannot help thinking, no one can calmly consider it in the quiet of his mind, without having all his infidelity melted down by it. And that such an act of general pardon, as early as the first sin, and a new parent provided for us, to be our parent by choice and faith, as soon as our first parent had undone us without our consent: such an act of pardon being the beginning and foundation of all revealed religion, and of everything that is afterwards revealed in it, has surely enough in it, if once known, to make revealed religion the joy, and comfort, and desire of every man's heart. What would I give that I could but dart one ray of this truth into every unbeliever's heart; for the smallest ray of it would do to everyone as the light that fell from heaven did to St. Paul, it would make as it were scales fall from his eyes: and he would find that all books and systems of infidelity were as unreasonable in themselves, and as hurtful to him, as those commissions were which Paul had from the high priest to bind all that called on the name of Christ.

[Dem-285] But to proceed: that Jesus Christ is thus the savior and universal redeemer of all mankind, that he is this second Adam or parent, giving a new birth and life to all that which was extinguished and lost by Adam; restoring Adam himself, and in him all mankind to a possibility of being born again, by their own will, choice, faith, and desire; and that revealed religion began with the declaration of this redemption, and has revealed nothing but for the sake and support of it, is a truth sufficiently attested by scripture.

[Dem-286] The declaration which God made to Adam immediately after his fall, of a seed of the woman to bruise the serpent's head, was a declaration of pardon and redemption to Adam, and in him to all mankind; for what he said to Adam, that he said to all that were in the loins of Adam; who, as they fell in his fall before they were born, without the possibility of any one man's being exempted from it; so were they all put into his state of pardon and redemption before they were born, without the possibility of any one man's being excluded, or left out of it.

[Dem-287] Thus revealed religion begins with an offer of a second Adam, and upon the foot of an universal pardon and redemption to all mankind. Every son of Adam is in the same covenant with God that Adam was, and has the same bruiser of the serpent as near to him, as he was to Adam, and declared to be his redeemer, in the same degree as he was declared to be the redeemer of Adam.

[Dem-288] And who would seek for arguments against such a savior? Or who would cavil at a revealed religion, that has no other beginning or end, but to reveal an universal redemption? Or who can enough call upon all creation, heaven and earth, angels and men, and everything that hath breath, to praise the Lord for such salvation? You must forgive these little digressions; for I want so much to touch the heart of my reader, and make him in love with God, and his own salvation in Christ Jesus, that I know not how to content myself with bare argument.

[Dem-289] Now this declaration of God to Adam, of his pardon and redemption by the seed of the woman, is not to be considered, as we consider the declaration of a pardon made by some great prince to an offending subject, which is only a declaration of words, that are heard only with our outward ears, and of a person that is entirely distinct from us.

[Dem-290] God's pardoning a sinner, or redeeming fallen man, has nothing like this in it. If this offending subject had his life, and breath, and being in and from this great prince, or could be said to live, and move, and have his being in him; it would be easy, nay, necessary to believe, that his declaration of pardon to him, must be something very different from a pardon of words, and must signify some inward light, or change, or new state of existence in his prince.

[Dem-291] Now this declaration of God's pardon and reconciliation to Adam, and in him to all mankind, is not the declaration of a being that is out of, or separate from us, but of a God in whom we live, and move, and have our being; who is the center of that which is most central in us, the life of our life, the spirit of our spirit: his declaration therefore of pardon is not a declaration of words, or of a being that is separate from us; but must signify some inward change, or new state of our existence in him, or that he is to us, and in us, that which he was not before he pardoned us. For his words are power, and what he speaks he acts; and what he acts, he acts not out of us, but in the inmost essence of our being, because so we exist in him, and he in us.

[Dem-292] If God at the fall had said, Let us save man, the same had been effected, as when he said, "Let us make man." When therefore God said to Adam and Eve, "The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent," what was said, was done; and it was the same thing, had the same meaning and effect, as if he had said, "Be ye henceforth in a state of salvation, and let the redeeming, conquering seed of the woman from this time begin to have power in you, and to be in you a strength and might against the serpent." And what he said was done, as when he said, "Let there be light, and there was light."

[Dem-293] Thus this declaration of pardon and redemption made by God to Adam, and, in him, to all his posterity, was not solely a promise of something to come, or of a pardon that was at a distance, no more than it was the promise of a God that was at a distance from him; but the declaration of something then inwardly done and given, by a God inwardly present in him, and signified no less than God's seeking and manifesting himself again to a creature, that had lost him as his God and only good.

[Dem-294] For how can the anger of that being, "in whom we live, and move, and have our being," be only an anger of words, or made known to us only by words? Or how can it be anything else, but some inward loss of that which is our good in him?

[Dem-295] Or how can his pardon be only a pardon of words, or something heard only with our ears? Or how can it be anything else, but his restoring that to us, or his reviving that in us, which makes us again capable of finding him our God and only good?

[Dem-296] Therefore God's declaration of pardon to Adam, was not barely a promise of something to come, but the pardon itself; and was the real communication of something to Adam, which made him capable of enjoying God as his good, which he had not when he wanted to be pardoned, and which he could not have, if God was in a state of anger with him.

[Dem-297] Now had not God spoken this pardon and reconciliation to Adam after his fall, he had been in the condition of the deep, when it was said, darkness was upon the face of the deep.

[Dem-298] Nay, it had been much worse with him; for had not God made this declaration of pardon and redemption to him at that time, that is, had he not done inwardly in the depth of his soul, something like that which he did to the darkness of the deep, when he spoke light into it, Adam and Eve, and all their posterity, had been inwardly mere devils, and outwardly mere beasts, a motley mixture of both, till the beast fell into the earth, and the soul to the state of devils.

[Dem-299] For had not God thus in the beginning of the fall, before any man was born into the world of Adam and Eve, had he not spoke pardon and redemption unto Adam and Eve; neither they, nor any of their posterity had been capable of any faith, or hope, or desire of God, but had lived as much without all conscience, or instinct of goodness, as the beasts of the earth and devils do.

[Dem-300] Therefore God redeemed man, that is, restored to him a power of being again his creature, or a power of knowing and finding him to be his God, when he said, the "seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head." He redeemed him by communicating to him a sense, a feeling, and a desire of God, by communicating to him a capacity to enjoy him as his only good, by sowing into him a seed of the woman, a spark of life, an instinct of goodness, a taste of heaven, a principle of holiness, a touch of love, the pearl of the gospel, the pledge of immortality, the hidden kingdom of God.

[Dem-301] For all these expressions of a seed, a spark, an instinct, a principle, a pearl and kingdom, are insufficient to express that inward treasure of the soul, and fund of everlasting happiness, which God in the beginning of redemption, or as his act of redemption, communicated to man.

[Dem-302] Now in this degree of redemption is every creature that is born of Adam; he has this kingdom of God in his soul, as a grain of mustard seed, as a spark of life, as a pledge of immortality, as his attraction to God: if he tramples this pearl under his feet, if he will choke this Word, if he will put out this spark, if he will resist this attraction, then his destruction is from himself; and when the carcass of flesh and blood falls off from him, he must find himself in his own hell, and must have the misery of a darkened, anxious, fiery, self- tormented nature for ever, that would not suffer itself to be redeemed.

[Dem-303] But if he will consent to his redemption, and cooperate with that inward redeemer which God has put into his soul; if he will suffer his spark to kindle, his instinct of goodness to spread itself, the light of the life to arise in him, the voice of God to be heard in him; then will the divine life, the inward man, be brought forth in him; and when his body breaks off, heaven will be made manifest in his soul, and he will fall into all the fullness of God. The Son of God will be his light, the Holy Spirit will breathe in him, and the power and omnipotency of the Father will be life and strength in him; and thus, in the completest sense of the words, shall he ever live, and move, and have his being in God.

[Dem-304] And now, my dear reader, what shall I say to you? How shall I do that, which I most of all desire to do, touch your heart? Or how can your heart be untouched with this affecting view of the mercies of God in Christ Jesus, and of the riches and treasures which lie hid in your own soul, wanting nothing but your own consent and good wishes to be manifested in you?