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النشر الإلكتروني

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FARTHER APPEAL

TO MEN OF

REASON AND RELIGION.

By JOHN WESLEY, M. A.
Late FELLOW of Lincoln-College, Oxford.

PART II.

THE SIXTH EDITION.

Cry aloud, fpare not, lift up thy Voice like a Trumpet,
and fhew my People their Tranfgreffion, and the
Houfe of Jacob their Sins. Iaiah lviii. 1.

LONDON:

Printed by J. Paramore, at the Foundry, Upper Moorfields:
And fold at the New Chapel, City-Road, and at the Rev. Mr.
Welley's Preaching Houfe in Town and Country. 1786.

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1.1. IT is not my present design to touch on any particular Opinions, whether they are right wrong: nor on any of thofe fmaller points of practice, which are variously held by men of different perfuafions: but first, to point out fome things which on common principles are condemnin all; and fecondly, fome wherein thofe of each denomination, and yet found

ed by men of every

denomination,

with their own

are more particularly inconfiftent principles.

And, firft, it is my defign, abstracting from Opinions of every kind, as well as from difputable points of practice, to mention fuch of thofe things as occur to my mind, which are on common prineiples condemned, and notwithstanding found,. more or lefs, among men of every denomination. 2. But before I enter on this unpleafing task, I

befeech

you, brethren, by the mercies of God, by whatever love you bear to God, to your country, to your own fouls; do not confider who fpeaks, but what is fpoken. If it be poffible, for one hour

A. 2.

lay

lay prejudice afide; give what is advanced a fair hearing. Confider fimply on each head, is this true, or is it falfe? Is it reafonable, or is it not? if you afk, "But in whofe judgment ?" I answer, In your own; I appeal to the light of your own mind. Is there not à faithful witness in your own breaft? By this you muft ftand or fall. You cannot be judged by another man's confcience. Judge for yourself by the beft light you have. And the merciful God teach me and thee whatsoever we know not!

Now, as I fpeak chiefly to thofe who believe the fcriptumes, the method I propofe is this, first, To obferve what account is given therein of the Jews, the antient church of God, inafmuch as all these things were written for our inftruction, who fay, we are now the vifible church of the God of Ifrael. condly, To appeal to all who profefs to be members thereof, to every one who is called a Chriftian, How far, in each inftance, the parallel holds? And how much we are better than they?

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3. First, 1 am to observe what account the fcrip. tures give of the Jews, the antient church of God. I mean, with regard to their moral character; their tempers and outward behaviour.

No fooner were they brought out of Egypt, than we find them murmuring against God, (Exod. xiv. 12.) Again, when he had just brought them through the Red Sea with a mighty hand and a stretched out aim, (c. xv. 24.) And yet again, quickly after, in the wilderness of Zin, your murmurings (faith 'Mofes) are not against us, but against the Lord, (c. xvi. 8. Nay, even while he was giving them bread from heaven, they were ftill murmuring and tempting God, c. xviii. 2, 3.) and their amazing language at that feafon was, Is the Lord among us or not? (c. xvii. 4.)

The fame fpirit they fhewed, during the whole forty years that he bore their manners in the wil derness: a folemn teftimony whereof, Mofes fpake in the ears of all the congregation of Ifrael, when

God

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