George Paxton Address to the Secession
James Dodson
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ADDRESS
TO THE
SECESSION CHURCH.
FATHERS, BRETHREN, AND PRIVATE CHRISTIANS,
THE God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the richness of his mercy, put it into the hearts of our fathers, at the beginning of the Secession, to lift up their Testimony against the prevailing corruptions of the Church to which they belonged; filled them with dauntless resolution, with admirable wisdom, and inflexible perseverance; and animated their struggles with his gracious presence. Having pleaded with their mother in vain, they forsook a communion where they could no longer remain with a good conscience; and, following the path of duty, and the bright example of reforming churches, organized the Secession church, and unfurled a standard for the covenanted reformation and uniformity of these nations, which they displayed with integrity, firmness, and success. For the sake of that good cause, they cheerfully exposed themselves to contempt and scorn; to mockings and reproaches; to painfulness and watchfulness; to labours and fatigues; to the loss of all things; for their actions showed, that in resolution and purpose, they loved not their lives unto the death. These eminent and revered Confessors are gone to receive the reward of their faithful contendings, in the land of rest. Their immediate successors caught the mantle of their ascending fathers, and, like them, abounded in service and sufferings, for the sake of Christ and his church. They too, ruled with God, and were faithful with the saints. Israel “served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the Elders that out-lived Joshua, who had known all the works of the Lord that he had done for Israel.” “And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers; and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.” Only the gleanings of the second generation of Seceders are left, and like
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Isaac, behold now, they are old, and know not the day of their death. Have we no reason to fear that another generation is rising after them, which know not the Lord, nor yet the works which he hath done for our Israel? We are still the friends of the covenanted cause; we still hold the principles of our fathers: but have we no reason to complain, that it is not with us, as in times past? Hath not our love to God and to one another, have not the zeal and holiness which enlightened the conduct of the first Seceders, suffered a sad decline? Have we no careless, time-serving ministers among us; none that are disaffected to the cause they have sworn to support? Are there none who overlook or encourage those irregularities among their people, which are contrary to our profession, and their own engagements? Are we conscientious in teaching our people the peculiar principles of our public creed? What then mean their ignorance in these important matters, their disaffection and their silence?
It is but too obvious, that a desire of conformity in principle and practice to the times, which has ever been fatal to the church where it was suffered to prevail, is quenching the honourable Christian ambition of dwelling alone, and keeping our garments unspotted from the world, which so greatly distinguished our excellent fathers. But one of the strongest evidences of decline, is the marked disinclination which great numbers in our communion discover to the duty of Public Vows. If those in official stations are themselves averse to covenant renovation; if they are negligent to instruct their people in the nature and necessity of this duty, we need not wonder at the general reluctance. These are the beginings of apostasy; and of these the most respectable in public and private life, are loudly complaining. But experience proves, that spiritual declension is as the letting out of water. Spiritual judgments, the sure signs of the Lord’s displeasure, for the growing unfaithfulness of ministers and people, increase in number, and deeply affect us. These plagues the general Synod yearly enumerate and deplore in their acts for public fasting; but they are not suitably regarded. We ought to consider our ways ere it be too late; before the Lord, provoked by our iniquities, forsake us and return to his place. We must return to our first love, to our first works. If we would not run with the multitude to do evil, and at last share in their punishment, we must break off our sins by righteousness; we must provoke one another to love and to good works; we must double our diligence, in our respective stations, to keep the commandments of God, to observe his ordinances, and hearken to his voice. It is our duty to study
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with diligence and care, to understand, to love, and to prosecute with vigour, the cause in which we are engaged. The voice of duty and of interest, call upon us to hold fast our attainments, and go on to perfection. Look around upon the churches of the Reformation, and especially upon the Church of Scotland, which cast out your fathers for their integrity, and take warning. Their present enormous corruption began with disinclination to the cause of God, and the desire of pleasing a sinful world. If these poisonous weeds are already rooted in our vineyard, we must tear them up and cast them away, by a believing improvement of all divine ordinances, and especially by renewing our Solemn Covenants. These were the means by which the Church of Scotland recovered her purity, and rose to such eminence in the first periods of the Reformation. By the same means have we been delivered from a corrupt and dangerous communion, and preserved to this day: and by no other, can we reasonably hope, by the blessing of God, to restore and preserve the life and power of religion, and guard against the sins and desolations of other churches. “Though thou Israel play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend.” “Come and let us return unto the the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us, in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord, his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain; as the latter and former rain unto the earth*.”
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* Hos. vi. 1—3.
THE END.
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