OR, Experimental Religion, AS DISTINGUISHED FROM FORMALITY ON THE ONE HAND, AND SET IN A SCRIPTURAL AND RATIONAL LIGHT. In two Discourses ; IN WHICH SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL ERRORS BOTH OF THE ARMINIANS AND AN- IS IN JESUS, EXPLAINED AND PROVED. The whole adapted to the weakest capacities, and designed for BY JOSEPH BELLAMY, D. D. LATE OF BETHLEM, CONNECTICUT. WITH A PREFACE BY THE REV. MR. EDWARDS. ISAIAH XXX. 21....And thine ears shall bear a word behind thee, saying, This BOSTON, PRINTED...1750. MORRIS-TOWN, RE-PRINTED BY HENRY P. RUSSELL. ..... PREFACE. THE-being of GOD is reckoned the first, greatest, and most fundamental of all things that are the objects of knowledge or belief; and, next to that, must be reckoned the nature of that religion which God requires of us, and must be found in us, in order to our enjoying the benefits of his favor: Or rather this may be esteemed of like importance with the other; for it in like manner concerns us to know how we may honor and please God, and be accepted of him, as it concerns us to know that he has a being. This is a point of infinite consequence to every single person; each one having to do with God as his supreme judge, who will fix his eternal state, according as he finds him to be with or without true religion. And this is also a point that vastly concerns the public interests of the Church of God. It is very apparent that the want of a thorough distinction in this matter, through the defect either of sufficient discernment or care, has been the chief thing that has obscured, obstructed, and brought to a stand all remarkable revivals of religion which have been since the beginning of the reformation; the very chief reason why the most hopeful and promising beginnings have never come to any more than beginnings; being nipt in the bud, and soon followed with a great increase of stupidity, corrupt principles, a profane and atheistical spirit, and the triumph of the open enemies of religion. And from hence, and from what has been so evident, from time to time, in these latter ages of the church, and from the small acquaintance I have with the history of preceding times, I cannot but think, that if the events, which have appeared from age to age, should be 〃 |