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ºf . The Arians' and Socinians' monitor
being a vision that a young Socinia.
teacher lately had. Baltimore, 1819.
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ARIANS" AND SOCINILANS”
MONITOR;
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. . . .'; * * *
A VISION
. . . . .
... that A.
*.

YOUNG SOCINIAN TEACHER
IATELY HAD. ,
RN which he saw, in the most exquisite Torment, his Tuton, whe died some
years ago; and had from his own mouth the fearful relation of what befel
him at and after his Death. Together with many Instructions, relating - **-
to the Socis IAN Ennons; by all wººth he is turned to the Faith of the
Gospel, and subscribeth his name
ANTI-soci.wus.
BY JOHN MACGOWAN.
AUTHOR or sociNIANIsM ERought to THE TEST; D1Alogues of
DEVILs; DEATH A VISION; THE SHAVER; BUDGET; &c. &c.
*——
FIRST AMERIcAN, FROM THE 20°h London EDI rion, correcz'ED.
25āltimore
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AND HAR FoRD STREETs; AND O. R. Cor NISH, No. 505, s. seconn
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Price, 124 Cents. * .
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ARIANS" AND SOCINIANS"
MIDNITOR. *
&
NURED to self-deception from my youth up, I laughed at the
I fantastical whims of enthusiastic whigs, the dreams of Anabap-
tists, and cunning inventions of mercenary priests; or cranumian
phantasms of weak and unstable men; for by such names I was
pleased to call the glorious doctrines of the everlasting Gospel.—
The doctrine of the Trinity in Unity I contemned, purely because
I could not fully comprehend it.
Reason, saith I, is the touchstone of every truth; the even balance
in which revelation must be weighed. The oracle of God must be
hushed in silence, till reason, adorable reason, is free to speak her
mind: even then it is at the peril of revelation to utter one word
that is beyond the teach of our godlike reason. Every thing that
is divinely mysterious I am wont to treat with derision and con-
tempt. Mysteries in Religion! saith I, mere nonsense! There is
nothing mysterious in it! Nothing mysterious required to be believ-
ed. Reason alone, that noble principle, must give the sanction to
every truth divine. If illustrious reason will not condescend to
sign a certificate for truth, let her wander as a vagabond upon the
face of the earth; no reasonable Christian, sure, will venture to re-
ceive her.
Let fanatics and enthusiasts receive and rely on what they call
holy mysteries, for my own part, I am determined, that my reason
shall act supreme with me, both in matters of faith and practice.
Thus elevated with a high opinion of my rational faculties, and
pregnated with the strongest resolutions never to admit of any other
rule but the dictates of my own reason, one evening lately I walked
abroad into the fields to meditate on the happy estate of mankind,
as being capable of meriting, at the hands of the Omnipotent, a right
to every divine donation, every eternal blessing.
The road which I took led me into a pleasant avenue, on the one
hand decorated with an uniform row of well-grown oaks, extending
their spreading arms almost to the opposite side of the verdant
path, clasped with the supple branches of yielding elms, which in an
even row decorated the hedge on the left. A grassy turf, barely
sheered by the nimble teeth of the bleating sheep, spread the floor
of the avenue ten yards in breadth; every sullying excrement
4 THE ARIANS" AND
was carefully swept up by the yielding broom of the industrious
shepherd, who watchfully followed the fleecy innocents.
Thus alone, secluded from the noise of mankind, I began to im-
prove what I beheld in this pleasant, but lonesome avenue. How
beautifully, thought I, do these stately oaks, with their straight and
solid, their smooth and massy trunks, 'extended arms, and cloathed
branches, represent the man, the happy man, that is fixed in rational
ideas, and guided only by the dictates of his reason. See how the
penetrating roots dig deep into the bosom, and with their forked
talons clasp the entrails of their mother earth; the grizly stem smiles
at the angry rage of stormy gusts which wreak their vengeance
against it. It stands unmoved. He mocks the fury of the most
violent storm. Just so is the man who makes reason his only rule.
Nothing moves him. He smiles at the gusts of enthusiastic zeal.-
He laughs at the dreams of famatics, and mocks at the mysteries of
Luther and Calvin. His mind lays deep hold of directing reason,
and he stands in his paradisiacal rectitude.
These dwarfish shrubs, (continued I) are the lively types of pe-
dantic bigots, who are blindly carried away with enthusiastic fancies
to believe in irrational mysteries, called by them the doctrines of
grace, but which really are the subtle inventions of designing men;
as the shrub is diminutive when compared with the stately oak, so
are those mea compared with these who are the happy disciples of
I'e:LSOI] . * ,
As I thus continued pleasing myself with this improvement of
my evening’s solitude, and blessing God that I was not as other
men, even as these fanatics and irrational Christians are, but believ-
ed and acted according to the dictates of my own reason, I came
near to the end of the avenue, and the path became extremely dark
and narrow. The opposite trees did so interweave their branches
with each other, that no gleam of light could penetrate through the
shade.
It would now have appeared wisdom to have turned my face to-
wards home; but by some unseen power I was seized with a perfect
suspension of thought, and heedlessly walked forward, till at last I
found I had got out of the avenue, and a dusky light appearing, dis-
covered to me a variety of frightful objects. The place into which
I was now got, bore the grizly aspect of a forest devoured by fire;
no blooming flower nor verdant leaf was to be seen in all its vast
extent;-only desolation and destruction. All, all was devastation.
I attended occasionally to the ſearful noises, that as I thought
were, and afterwards proved to be, subterraneous. Sometimes I
heard, like the noise of many waters, the tempestuous roaring of
foaming billows, in fury dashing themselves against the scornful
rocks. Anon, I heard the clinking of chains, the clangor of weapons,
and the hideous yellings of persons in exquisite torments. Great
was the surprise I was now in; my hair stood erect, and the blood
in my veins became cold as the northern ice, my flesh shuddered on
my bones, an unusual tremor evaded my once courageous heart, and
ghastly fear sat trembling on my astonished countenance. My
SOCINIANS’ MONITOR. 5
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nerves became lax, and, in my apprehension, the joints of my limbs
were unhinged, and dewy sweat issued forth from every pore of my
skin. I had neither courage to stand the shock, nor strength to fly
from the awful appearances of imminent danger. I would gladly
have found the avenue through which I entered this solitary waste;
but to no purpose did I look for it, now it was hid from my sight.
In vain I wished that my rambling fancy had been better guarded,
and not exposed me to these nocturnal dangers. Long ere now the
radiant sun having quenched his fiery beams in the western depths,
and left the earth enveloped in darkness, which glooming sat on
every beclouded object.—Nor did the heavens above my head bear
a more pleasant aspect; every luminous body having hid its refulgent
face in the bosom of a sable extended cloud. All these circumstan-
ces concurring to display the horrors of the place, made me conclude
that I was certainly got into the gloomy regions of inexorable Pluto;
but whether I was dead or alive I knew not. In the mean while I
wished, l earnestly wished myself at home, and resolved, that if ever
I reached my peaceful habitation, I would henceforth correct my
wanderings, and regulate them by the judicious rules of safety.
As I was turning over these resolves, I heard a terrible subterra-
neous noise, infinitely more horrible than that fabulously ascribed
to Vulcan's smiths, in the convulsive bowels of the mounts Ætna and
Vesuvius.--Anon, the earth opened her jaws close by the place on
which I trembling stood, and belched forth an hideous quantity of
curling smoke and streaked fire, intermingled with squalid spectres;
the fiery smoke lifted up its grizly summit, like the towering head of
a cloud-piercing pyramid. When the spectres had recahed the mid-
dle path of the aerial regions, they sunk downward, and plunged
into the belching throat that had just now disgorged them. Still it
continued with hideous roarings to vomit up brimstone, smoke, and
coals of fire, mingled with the howling ghosts of the accurst to these
abysmal flames. Notwithstanding these fearful phaenomena were
enough to have spread distraction over all my reasonable faculties,
I found myself, to my own amazement, in the perfect use of my
mind, frightened although I was. t tº
Moveless I stood on the dangerous brink of the issuing pit, nor
had power to turn me to the right hand or left. One step forward
would have plunged me into these devouring flames which proceed-
ed from the unquenchable burnings beneath. Here I stood trem-
bling with fear of the dire event. The eruption beginning to abate,
I heard, as I thought, human voices more distinctly; all was howling
and sorrowful complaint. Dreadful was the yell that filled my ears.
All which I looked on as the most perfect indications of inexpressi-
ble torments.--Weepings and wailings which I heard, I concluded
were the sure diagnostics of consummate pain.
The eruption being now over, I thought I heard a voice which was
familiar to me... and which expressed the most intolerable anguish.
Being by this time somewhat inured to this prodigy, I at last ven-
tured to look down to make what discoveries I could. O horrible!
here was a discovery that quashed reason itself. Amazement chills
imy blood even now when I relate it.
6 THE ARIANS" ANB
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I looked down into this frightful cave; but what did I see? No
gilded beauties, but the stupendous arches of dread perdition. O.
shall the direful idea ever be erased from my mind? A rolling flood
of flaming liquid did play in these sable, these frightful vaults.-
Every revolving billow turned up to the inflammatory surface an
innumerable company of floating spectres, and at the same time
with its sinking front immerged a number equal to that it turned
up. Dreadful was the howl, inexpressible were their direful yellings!
I saw likewise standing on this burning lake a numberless compan
of squalid infernals, armed with flaining instruments of death, wit
which they exercised the most unaccountable cruelty on the unhappy
worldlings, who had involved themselves into unspeakable torment,
inextricable ruin.
In the midst of all, I beheld one person who stood for some time
on the sulphureous billows, surrounded by an enraged company, who
with red hot irons kept pushing against him. He stood aghast, and
fearfully stared at me. He looked as if he would fain have spoken,
but I perceived that his torments prevented him. He waved his
hand to his tormentors, as I took it, begging for respite.
Deep despair and wild distraction Towered on his condemned
countenance. He raved! He foamed! He wrestled! And then sunk
down in silent despair; sullen and pensive, whilst the direful floods
of omnipotent vengeance rolled upon him.
In this place I perceived no intermission of the incessant floods
that rolled along in one continued circle, ever running but never at
an end. These discoveries, I trust, will make me ever fearful of
landing in this place of torment.
At last he lifted himself up from the flaming bed, waved his hand
and called me by my name; and fixing my eyes intently upon him,
H knew him to be the learned Doctor , with whom I had lived
as a pupil, who died some few years ago.
Amazed to see my venerable tutor in such a deplorable condition,
I cried out, “O horrible! What do I see! My learned, my pious tutor
in hell! Am I not asleep, deceived by my deluding fancy?—It can-
not be hel A man whose doctrine and conversation was so governed
by the dictates of reason, cannot be in hell. No, it can never be!—
Thou tormented ghost, I abjure thee by the greatest of names to un-
deceive me! Art thou he? Am I in a dream or not? Is that—but I
cannot doubt it—Tell me, is that the receptacle of the damned?
To which the ghost replied: “Deceived mortal, I see you are sur-
prised to find a person in hell, who in life you esteemed as highly
as an apostle. You see I am not, as you vainly fancied, in the hea-
venly mansions of eternal felicity: but after all my pretentions of
sanctity, am swallowed up unhappily, I am plunged into the unfa-
thomabie abyss of divine indignation, from whence, alas! there is no
redemption. No, it ceaseth now! it ceaseth forever. Ten thousand
worlds, if I had them, now, for one twelvemonth’s respite. But oh!
there is no respite; no intermission of these intolerable pains. Oh!
piercing, piercing pain! More violent far than fire, than burning coals
of juniper. Here the keen arrows of incensed justice, the irresistible
SOCINIANS’ MONITOR. - 7
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wrath of a holy God do pierce me through with unspeakable sorrows;
Oh! that I had never been born! O that I had never been a deceiver!
o that I had been a husbandman, a ploughman, or any thing but a
reacher, Alas! a preacher, a false preacher, endureth a double
j ! Oh! unhappy, wretched preacher, that is rewarded in this fiery
ulnh! 3.
Ye deluded spirits, who by my fallacious deceit have been blind-
ed, and are hither got before me, forbear, O forbear to throw your
flaming darts against me. . Why, O why do you thus torment me.”
Have not I torment enough already? Sure I have afflictions enough
in sustaining the shocks of omnipotent vengeance, without your ma;
licious piercing arrows being pointed at me. Woeful day! accursed
hour! that ever I denied the Lord, the omnipotent Saviour.
Bear with me, thou deceived mortal, for my pains force words from
me, words that are unknown on earth. Oh for a few moments res-
pite whilst I speak to a friendly mortal, and make known to him the
horrors of this place! Ye my tormentors, allow me time only, so
much time as to recite the journal of one twenty-four hours of m
unhappy being; grant me this small favour, it may be the last I shall
request of you through the revolving ages of a never ending eter-
nity. An hour’s intermission, O my tormentors! It cannot in any
wise prejudice you, whereas to me it may be of great advantage.
Hold! do hold your hands, whilst I declare unto others what hath
befallen a Socinian apostle.
Thus you see, Mr. , I cannot by the most pressing intrea-
ties, obtain so long a respite from my torment as to communicate to
you what hath befallen me; but in the midst of unspeakable sorrow
am obliged to converse with you, for my tormentors are inexorable.
I lived as you know to advanced years amongst you, and your
general opinion was, that I was gathered to my people in a good old
age. Oh, the fatal mistake! an old age indeed, but alas! a bad old
age it has proved. When the harbinger of my death began to visit
me, my anxious pupils ministered unwearied attendance. My fel-
low teachers paid their most tender regard, by praying for and con-
versing with me. Both they and I were apprehensive that my sick-
ness was unto death, my dissolution near approaching.
All proper means were used for my relief, but all in vain. No
lengthening out our days beyond the limits of GoD's decree; no, for
he hath numbered our days, and our months are with him; he hath
set bounds to our habitation that we cannot pass over it. Physic
afforded no relief; my pupils were disconsolate; they thought I was
the most apostolic teacher in the world, and if death should cruelly
bereave them of me, they knew not how to repair their loss, nor who
was worthy to supply my place, when, as they thought, I should be
employed in the naore immediate presence of the infinite JEHow AH.
My friends miserably comforted me with my supposed good works.
Q sir! say they, how comfortably may you die, when you consider
the great deliverances you have wrought for the church.-You have
relieved her reasonable members from the irrational doctrines of
Calvinism, overturned original sin, and the doctrine of imputed
4.
8 THE ARIANS” ANI)
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righteousness, by your valuable books, which no man but yourself
could have wrote. Therein you shewed most excellently, how that
man is capable to atone for }. own sins, and to work out his own
salvation from sin and wrath.
As they said, so I foolishly believed, that these antichristian here-
sies were meritorious in the sight of God I depended greatly on
the opinions of men, and thought that my humility, self-denial and
charity, would be a prevalent plea before the throne of the Almighty.
I thought on my death-bed that I felt a great deal of joy and com-
fort on looking back and viewing a well-spent life, as mine at that
time appeared to be. I trusted in my own holiness, and the mercy
of GoD; but, alas! I have since learned that I had none of the former,
and that the latter doth not flow in the channel I sought for it in.
In my latter hours I enjoyed composure of mind, from an expec-
tation that my pure nature would soon be translated to the etherial
climate, where nothing but holiness can dwell. Not in the least mis-
trusting a false, a treacherous heart, that has undone me, but vainly
fancied I stood in paridisiacal rectitude. O the deceit! O the fallacy
of my hope, which lulled me asleep in delusive fancies. My soul
conceived such elevated notions of the divine reward which I thought
I had merited by my labours, that she longed for the dissolving mo-
ment of separation, trusting in the clemency of the gospel lawgiver,
who I thought would bend his law and justice to suit the circumstan-
ces of his reasonable creatures. O dreadful how shall I relate it?
the hourſ the appointed hour, the destined moment of separation
drew nigh. My solicitous soul intreated the pale, the ghastly mes-
senger, to cut short his work, and make a speedy dissolution of the
mortal union. Reluctant nature struggled against the fermenting
poison of the cankered arrow of nature’s destroyer.
Convulsive pangs invaded the nervous fabric, and half persuaded
the weary heart to forbear to throb. Anon, nature, which just before
seemed to be vanquished by the prevalency of the fever, recruits its
strength and mustereth all its powers to resist, as long as might be,
the unfrustrable rage of rapacious death. But alas! the time, the
unhappy moment arrives! Wanquished nature doth at last submit,
yieldeth to the superior power of all conquering death. Here--the
dread surprise! the unexpected, unhappy turn! My deceived ghost
came smiling forth, in full expectation of the righteous reward-
But soon, alas! too soon she was convinced of her fatal mistake. No
sooner arrived she at the pale portal of the lifeless lips, but she be-
held–0; how shall I name it? She beheld––0 horrible! she beheld a
company of devils in the chamber waiting to carry her thence. Pre-
cipitately back she turned to seek for sanctuary in the deserted body
—but now, alas! the gates of mortality were shut. the body refused
to receive its former tenant. She looked to the right hand and to the
left for a way to escape, but no avenue was open for retreat. She
looked up to heaven, but could not stand the shock. Oh, dreadful"
she beheld the Omnipotent loosing his engines, and beginning to play
his direful vengeance upon her. To avoid the horrible galamity, she
looked downward and beheld tempestuous destruction from beneath
moved to meet her at her coming, *
*
SOUINIANS’ MONITOR. 9
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In the midst of all her hurry and unspeakable confusion—the sly
seducing fiends, who had attended me incognito, and administered
false instructions and comfort to me during life, with inconceivable
fury, like so many ferocious panthers, leaped upon and seized me
with their scorching talons; whose tormenting touch diffuseth hell
through the whole being of the unhappy prisoner.
No longer do they act in disguise: having made sure work of my
destruction, they threw off every mask, and appeared devils indeed!
Now a tremendous scene was unfolded! The merciless furies forei-
bly dragged me to appear before the dreadful, the flaming throne.
Infinite amazement, horrible astonishment seized me, when I be-
held the same Saviour whom I had denied on earth, now filling the
majestic, the judgment seat, filled with all the fulness of uncreated
Deity, the whole fulness of the Godhead dwelling bodily in him.—
Infinite numbers of glorious spirits were placed around the refulgent
throne, casting their crowns at the feet of him who sat on the throne
and singing, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, &c, every one
clothed with the righteousness of God which is by faith in Jesus
Christ. The terrible Judge addressed me, and said, Friend, how
camest thou hither, not having on a wedding garment? Alas! now
my boasted reason failed, and horrible guilt surrounded me; dread
confusion environed me on every hand. Self-convicted and self-
condemned, I could not answer a word. All my artful evasions of
truth, my contempt of the person and righteousness of Christ, per-
verting the sacred scriptures to establish my accursed heresies, and
the despite I had done to the grace, doctrines, and servants of God,
all appeared as dreadful witnesses and advocates against me. I lived
in hopes of being judged by a mild judge, according to a yielding
law, but alas! I found an inflexible law and an inexorable judge.—
No allowance was made for mine infirmities, no abatement would
the law admit of No! not in the least, either eternal and perfect
obedience, or perfect and eternal sufferings.
The imperial Judge, who filled the majestic seat, with stern ven-
geance frowning on his irreconciliable countenance, and dire dis-
pleasure lowering on his tremendous brow, pronounced on me the
dread, the irrevocable sentence, the unchangeable doom of a wolf
in sheep’s cloathing; saying, Thou flock-destroying ravager, thou
grace-despising, and God-denying sinner, where is now the God
thou trusted in? if reason is thy God, why does she not deliver
thee from under my vengeful hand? Go learn, accursed spirit, go
learn whether the forments of hell are infinite and of never-ending
duration or not! Feel, wretched being feel! endure all the ponder-
ous weight of my falling vengeance. Hence, apostate! to the des-
tined place of thy eternal abode Here, devils, receive your charge-
away with the miscreant to utter darkness. -
This said, the spouts of omnipotent vengeance were opened, and
the issuing indignation of an angry God falling and breaking upon
my head, (accursed, devoted to destruction,) as a stream of flaming
brimstone, did pierce me through with infinite sorrows.
The obedient inſerty. no sooner received, but obeyed the charge,
1() "THE ARIANS" AND
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seized and fettered me, with chains of all others the most dreadful;
chains made of my own doctrines, from the pulpit and press, inter-
dicted by the great lawgiver, God. O! amazing! that all my hereti-
cal opinions should be so interlaced, as to become a chain stronger
than iron and harder than steel; but so it is, and I shall never, never
be able to break it.
Being fettered and chained, the loathsome spirits, who had attend-
ed me during life and death, dragged me before the awful tribunal
to receive the condemning sentence, did now shoulder and bear me
away, through the dreary passage, to this dark abode. In the lone-
some avenue, that leadet |. the gates of heaven to the bottomless
gulf of perdition, I was frequently met by detached parties of pat-
rolling goblins, who seemed to rejoice to see their companions bring-
ing home to their gloomy abode the learned, the holy doctor, as in
derision they called me. At last, unhappy moment! we arrived at
the iron gates, which opened of their own accord to receive their
frighted prey.
In a moment, in the twinking of an eye, was I seized by the de-
vouring jaws, and swallowed into the craving womb of abysmal hell,
where the worm dieth not, and where the fire is not quenched.
No sooner was I within these frighful mansions, but Arius and
Socinus were apprised of my coming, by fresh bolts of divine indig-
nation being thundered against their apostate heads.
The moment 1 entered, I was environed by a numerous body of
ghastly spectres, who, by my preaching and writings, had been har-
dened against the truth, and heedlessly drowned in everlasting des-
air; they railed against my º cursed my indefatigable di-
|. in destroying of them, and, in fury unspeakable, plunged me
into the bosom of a flaming billow; still they continued their hellish
reproach, and dragged my intoxicated ghost through the reeking li-
quid. And the more fiercely the wrath of the Almighty doth beat upon
them, the more intent are they in renewing my torments. Always,
incessantly, does the breath of J.E. How AH, as a stream of brimstone,
with ardour intense, continue to burn within me! Myriads of skilful
fiends seem to employ ail their wisdom, contriving how to aggravate
my pain.
This, alas! is the unalterable state of your revered apostle, who
you supposed was ranged in heaven near the choir of the ancient
evangelists. Believe me, Mr. , hell is not a fiction, as mistaken
mortals may dream. The wrath of God is something more than a bare
separation from his joyful presence. The pains of hell are not, as
you believe, the dreams of fanatics and enthusiasts, but real, in ex-
pressible pain insupportable anguish increasing daily as more
souls arrive.”
As he had thus spoken, a flaming billow rolled upon, and over-
whelmed him, and it was a considerable time before I saw him again:
o! thought I, if it is thus with the tutor, how will it be in the end
with the pupil P If the leader hath fallen into the ditch, certainly
the followers must, if they walk in his ways and are governed by his
directions. If I am not in a dream or trance; for my own part, if
SOCINHANS” MONITOR. 11
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ever I reach home again, I will examine my Bible better, that I may
know for myself truth from error; for it is a fearful thing thus to
fall into the avenging hands of a denied God. I cannot, no I can-
not endure devouring flames, nor dwell with unqueuchable burnings.
But I hope it is only a dream. O if it may prove only a dream, I
should be exceeding glad. But I was awake when I came from home,
awake when I entered this horrible piace. No, no, it cannot be a
dream, it must be even as I see it.—Oh amazing ! my tutor, so high-
ly esteemed in life, in this condition ; it is surely he, I know is
voice. Yes, yes, it is he.
As I was dº reasoning concerning what I heard and saw, my
tutor was brought up to the surface; and, after he recovered him-
self a little, he stood erect, and said :
“Unhappy soul, to whom, whilst ſiived, my mouth was as an oracle,
and gained your credence and attention sooner than the voice of
God in the Scriptures of truth, as you hold my memory venerable,
hearken to what I say unto you. You seem greatly to question
the truth of the vision which you now behoid, but you may know of
a truth that it is even too true; too real indeed and that it cannot
be otherwise, you will plainly see before you depart from hence.
Wretched pupil, you and your Socinian brethren may know, that
it is not love to all, or any of you, that prompts me thus to expose
to the world what hath befallen me. No! there is no love, no ten-
derness and compassion in the smoky regions of the damned.—Rage,
hatred, envy and malice fill every breast, and pensive lower on eve-
ry beclouded brow. But my reason is this, and none other: when I
arrived in these horrible mansions, I lifted up my eyes, being in ex-
quisite torment, and beheld troops of ray disciples posting after me
to the same pit of destruction. Right well knowing that their ar-
rival would greatly add to my already insupportabie anguish, with
the rich libertine in the Gospel, I raised my voice frºm the belly of
this bottomless abyss, and spake in the language of horrid despair,
if º any means I may prevent the arrival of my brethren in false-
hood, and the souls by me deceived, in hell to Ray unspeakable sor-
row.—I have already more than I can bear, but bear it I must; and
am fearful of its increase, for I see you and your brethren speeed-
ing to this dreadful goal.-O why, why will you follow me, ye delud-
ed ones; As for me, my state is unalterably fixed, the die is cast,
my loss is irreparable, and my afflictions remediless; for there is nei-
ther work nor device in the grave. The irrevocable doom is past,
my tree is fallen, and in hell it must lie; burning, but never to be con-
sumed! dying, yet never dead! But for you, you are yet in a land
of hope, on the acting side of death, on the mortal side of Jordan;
not out of the reach of mercy, and the light of the Gospel of truth
shineth around you. Cast off then your errors, and cleave to the
truths of the Bible, the verbal report of which, as rational creatures
you are capable of receiving; and it will be your condemnation if you
do it not. For I can tell you, if ever salvation do reach your un-
happy souls, it must come through the same truths that I taught you
to deny, but am myself, though too late, alas! convinced of, Oh!
12 THE ARIANS" ANI)
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that I had owned them in time, but now my owning them is only
forced, and by no means acceptable. But that you may avoid the
norrible destruction into which I am involved, hearken to the word
of admonition.
Consider your destructive error relating to the Godhead; you talk
as I did, when I lived amongst you, of an uncreated, supreme, and
eternal God; two who are created and subordinate. , You say that
the first person of the Deity created the second, and the second cre-
ated the third. You say that the Deity of Christ is subordinate; but
believe me, if ever you are so unhappy as to see him in the terrible
manner in which ſ beheld him on the judgment seat, you will have
done with talking of subordinacy in the Godhead. His terrors, the
awful terrors of omnipotence, will pierce you through with infinite
sorrow. His tremendous majesty will frighten you ! Will make the
strongest heart amongst you to wax feeble, and the ruddiest face to
gather blackness.
Is not this infinite vengeance that I sustain? Is not this almighty
wrath that rolls in incessant floods upon me? Yet this is the very
wrath and vengeance of the Saviour whom I denied. Nothing less
than Omnipotence could thus torment, and along with the torment,
convey sustaining strength. Is he a creature? No, verily, this is
uncreated indignation that falls upon me. Ah, besotted befooled !
as I was. Consider how irrational it is to talk of a created God.
Nothing can be God but infinity; but the highest creature is only a
finite being, therefore not God. Was yonder being who pronoun-
ced my decisive doom only a creature ? Why then did the terrors of
Godhead strike me, before the tremendous throne. Could creature
terrors thus pierce me through with infinite torment! racking sorrow!
Is he only a creature, under whose vengeful hand all the infernal
myriads do sprawl in the utmost horror and agony P
Deep infatuation false reason; that denies the supremacy of the
Son. Your reason, were it not grossly perverted, would readily see
in the sacred volume, that the #. is supreme, the Son supreme,
and the Holy Ghost supreme ; and that these three are so insepara-
bly united, as to be only ONE ever-living and supreme GoD. Blind-
ed creatures O my diº will you believe nothing but what
your reason can º Is your reason finite or infinite? Iſ it
is but finite, as you know it is, how can you think thereby to grasp
infinity ? But the light of your reason is only darkness, therefore it
conceiveth irrational ideas of the deep things of God.
Be you assured that when you land in these intolerable mansions,
you will then, if not before, repent that you give the testimony of
reason the preference to that of the divine oracles. O ! what will
you do, wretched men, when your reason bears testimony against
you ? It is a dreadful thing for a man to be witnessed against by his
own reasonable faculties. Yet so it must be when you die, if you
hearken not to the voice of truth, whose invariable dictates instruct
the most enlightened reason to submit itself to revelation.
For my own part, I confess to you, that I am condemned as a wil-
ful idolater; and it will fare no better with you, if you recant not in
SOC INIANS’ MONITOR. 13
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time, for you are all wilful idolaters. You knowingly worship a Be-
ing whom you believe to be only a dignified creature: now know,
that the worship of any being who is not essentially God, how great
soever that Being is, is only rank idolatry. You know likewise that
our Arian and Socinian sect doth, contrary to the law of Gº! and
right reason itself, introduce more gods than one. . What is this but
paganism P. The truth is, we, who were of the Socibian tribe whilst on
earth, now we are in hell are sunk lower in the bottomless abyss,
and endure far higher degrees of forment, than the infidels who
worship the sun, noon, and stars, and all the hosts of heaven. O
blind and perverted reason, that by trusting to thy false dictates, T
have despised the truth and unhappily destroyed myself. O cruelty,
never to be forgotten Treachery never to be forgiven Through
self-deception, cruel in its nature, I have lost, ruined myself!
Unhappy men, when you come to view your tenets in the light of
eternity, as your teacher and fellow-hetesiarch now unhappily does,
you will see that the professed atheists and we do stand on a level.
They deny the being of a God in terms that are obvious and direct;
we deny the same Being in a subtle indirect manner; for in denying
the divinity of the Son, the whole Deity is denied : for the Godhead
of the Father, of the Son, and of the Spirit, is one and the self-same
Godhead, differing only in the manner of subsistence; therefore, in
denying one of the divine subsistences, strictly speaking, you deny
all the three. But as for my disciples, you deny two of these divine
subsistences, and ascribe unto them some kind of unscriptural super-
angelic qualities. Pray what do you call this 2 Is it not real athe-
ism : Cease from following me, I desire you. Burn, O burn my
books against the truth, and forget my irrational heresies. Cease, I
say cease from following after me, before you are swallowed, to my
unspeakable distraction, in the same perdition with me. Believe
what the Scriptures say of him whom you deny, 1ſ any man believe
not that JEsus is the ETERNAL I AM, he shall die in his sins.
A second sentiment of yours, which I advertise you of, and warn
you to recant, is the good opinion you have of your supposed inherent
purity, in opposition to the voice of religion and the dictates of com-
mon sense. O that I had never maligned the truth, by asserting
that the doctrine of original sin is a fallacy Alas! though my re-
pentance is sincere, it is now too late | Is not that predominant pride
which is peculiar to the tribes of the Deists, Socinians, and Arians,
a strong demonstration of our original depravity P Is it not pride
that swelleth our haughty reason to that degree, that it not only
vies with, but even supersedes revelation P. We are wont to say,
that we will believe nothing but what our reason can comprehend.
The native meaning of this declaration is, that the word of God may
err, but reason is infallible. What is this better than Popish pride,
infidel blindness, and Turkish arrogance. Believe me, my follow-
ers, if you chuse to be governed by the dictates of carnal reason,
rather than divine revelation, you will find that yours will do by you
as mine hath done by me; it will plunge you into hell in the end.
Consider, my deluded followers, that if we by our reason had been
* * * * * www w w w w wºwº ,
Gapable of knowing the whole mind of God, there had been no need
of revelation; no need of the Holy Ghost being sent down from hea.
ven to lead his people into all truth : to reprove the world of sin,
of righteousness, and of judgment.
. Doth not your inconsistency in preaching, sometimes contradict-
ing one day what you advance the other, plainly prove the insuffi.
ciency of reason to grasp infinite mysteries. Ah! my disciples, how
can you think to escape the damnation of hell —seeing, though you
pº to hearken to the voice of reason, you only listen partly to
er. :
Reason tells you, that it is irrational to preach and unpreach, to
contradict in one sermon what you preached in another. But how
can you do otherwise, if you id: not to the voice of revelation,
which is perfectly uniform, as reason also doth allow. But you and
I are wont to charge the Scriptures with contradiction; I am now
convinced, indeed, that they are one chain of uniform truth. But,
alas! you remain unconvinced ; and lo! I see you posting after me
to the paths of perdition. Wo is me, for they will not stop till they
be in hell, notwithstanding all my admonitions !
Unhappy disciples! are you not guilty of self-contradictions every
day P Do not you declare that you will believe nothing but what
your reason can comprehend ? And, notwithstanding this declara-
tion, you believe that you are possessed of rational immortal spirits,
and you cannot comprehend how, or in what manner, these spirits
dwell in you. Your reason tells you, that no creature is or ought
to be an object of religious adoration ; but contrary to the dic-
tates of common sense, you worship Jesus Christ, whom you are
taught to call a creature. Your reason tells you, that God must be
an infinite, uncreated, supreme Being : but contrary to all reason,
you and I are wont to talk of a finite, created, and subordinate God.
Witness heaven and earth, if these and many other glaring contra-
dictions are not so many plain symptoms of natural depravity and
darkness. ſ - -
As long as you believe yourselves exempt from natural defilement,
and in no danger by sin; as long as you cry up your own inherent
power and worth, so long are you in a state of condemnation, from
which nothing can save you but the atoning blood of Christ, which
sacrifice I taught you to despise. Blindness as to your own wants
and danger, being a certain testimony of your depravity, and of the
hardness of your hearts against God.
Remember, that as long as you continue in that good opinion you
have of yourselves, so long you are enemies to the cross of Christ,
blasphemous contradictors of God’s holy word, that hath judiciously
concluded all men under sin, and declared them dead in trespasses
and sins, children of wrath &c. O that I had preached thus while
I lived then had not my hell been so hot as alas I find it ! If you
are so unhappy as to follow me to this place of torment, you will
soon be convinced, that your boasted natural light is only darkness ;
that your virtue, so much talked of, is only painted vice ; your
strength imbecility ; and that your pretended Kºś is none other
wº, ºr * * wº, w w w w w w w w w w = w w w w w w w w w -w ºr * ~ * ~ * ºw-uºrum wºrww www.s ºr w w w w = * * * * * * * * wr wº ºr wº
but pride in disguise. Oh! the Socinians’ hell is hot; seven times
hotter than that of the professed Pagans.
A third evil of a damning nature which attendeth your heretical
tribes, is, denying the imputation of Christ’s righteousness for justi-
fication, for pardon, and acceptance; a doctrine of God’s word which
none ever died in the denial of, and escaped the damnation of hell.
Consider, my unhappy followers, that I, having seen the mysteries
of eternity, must be allowed capable of teaching you lessons, that
you, in a state of mortality, are utter strangers unto ; and if you
submitted yourselves to my instruction when I lived on earth, with
far more reason you ought to attend to me now, when my know-
ledge is refined by the flames of hell. º
In denying the imputation of Christ’s righteousness for the sin-
ner’s pardon and acceptance, you in effect deny the justice and
truth of Jehov A.H.-Justice hath said, the soul that sinneth shall
die., truth is engaged to see the decree executed. Now, either the
sinner, must die in himself, or in some other person who stands in
the relation of surety for him : if the sinner die in himself, then is
there salvation for none, for all have sinned: but if he die in his
surety, or if his surety die for him, then what his surety did for him
must be imputed to him for his acceptance. But as I taught you, so
you sav, that he died not in his surety, neither needs he to die in
himself—as a just consequence of this, the mercy and truth of God
do both fall to the ground. Now if both the justice and truth of
God be denied, God himself is denied, and you commence Atheists
on the spot.
Let not you and your brethren strive to evade my arguments,
and think yourselves somewhat better than Atheists: for # C& D $1S-
sure you, that the professed Atheists and we, do compose only one
canton in these infernal regions Is the imputation of Christ's righ-
teousness contrary to reason P Surely no Do not you, Sir, remem-
ber that affair between your two neighbours, Messrs. Austerity and
Falshort, that happened about seven years ago, a little before I died.
Mr. Falshort stood charged in Mr. Justerity's books with the sum
of a thousand pounds. Austerity called on him once and again for
his money, but meeting with nothing but good words and fair pro-
mises instead of satisfactory payment, he resolved to have Mr. Fal-
short’s circumstances tried, and upon trial found, that he was not
worth a thousand pence. Justerity, enraged at the disappointment,
immediately arrested Falshort and laid him in jail, where he lay in
a helpless and hopeless condition, often soliciting Mr. Justerity for a
release. But ſlusterity obstinately persisted in his demands, either
payment of the whole sum, or imprisonment during life.
Mr. Goodwill, a neighbouring gentleman, and relation to Mr. Fal-
short, moved with pity and compassion towards his unfortunate
friend, and being a man of substance and honour, went to Mr. Jus-
terity unknown to Mr. Falshort, and resolved to deliver his poor,
insolvent friend out of prison; but scorning to have it said, that ſlus-
terity should be a loser by his friend Faishort, he paid down cheer-
fully the whole sum, to the satisfaction of the creditor, and deliver-
*
16 THE ARIANS" AND
*********VMºvv^vvvv^^vvv^vvvvvvvvvvvavive vvvvve vºw wavº. war, vº.º. *** V** \rvº v^^\ºvºy
rance of the insolvent: on which payment he obtained a discharge in
full of all demands on the account of Mr. Falshort. Now the query
is, Did.dusterity impute unto Falshort the payment of Mr. Goodwill,
and account it the same as if Falshort himself had paid the debt —
You know he did. Ah! my disciples, your absurd, yet boasted reason,
“if you recant not, will be a terrible devil to torment you when you ar-
rive in these intolerable mansions, as my reason, alas! is the greatest
of all my tormentors. t
But you say, you have no need of the righteousness of another, be-
cause you have power of yourselves to do that which is well pleasing in
the sight of God, and sufficiently work out your own salvation. Now
if you could do so, you would at once stop my mouth. Ah! poor de-
luded mortals, you little know what it is to keep the law of God —
The commandment is exceeding broad
Does there never a vain thought pass through your mind? Does there
never an idle word issue from your mouth? Do you in all things do
unto others as you would they should do unto you ? Unless you
can answer the two first queries in the negative, and the latter in the
affirmative, never boast of strength, but be mortified for want of will to
keep either all or any precept of the moral law perfectly. Remember
what the apostle Paul said of himself, to will is present with me, but
how to perform that which is good I find not. Can the damned to
these dark regions extricate themselves of the inconceivable anguish
into which they are involved P Just as much power have you to work
out your own salvation. You can as soon deliver yourselves from the
torments of hell, if once you are swallowed up in it, as to deliver your-
selves from the slavish bands of your pride and ignorance. Bewitch-
ed Socinians, let right reason have its course, and it will teach you to
submit to revelation. O ! how it pains me to find, that your blood is
required at my hands ! and to see you and your fellows seeking death
in the grossest of heresies. O' my disciples, this is our condemna-
tion, that light is come into the world, and we have loved darkness
rather than light, because our deeds are and have been evil.
As the Doctor had thus spoken, he was surrounded by a number of
merciless furies, seized, and plunged into the flaming abyss, so that
for some time I lost sight of him, and the smoke of historment ascend-
ed up to heaven, darkening the air in its passage.
After the space of about half an hour, I perceived him cast up at the
farther side of a rolling billow, and after some violent strugglings he
stood erect and in horrid distraction said, “Damnation ah me! is
this the damnation I was so often threatened with by the Calvinists,
and as often laughed at it as a fanatic's dream? Is this the hell I so often
heard of, and so fallaciously concluded to consist barely in a separation
from the blissful presence of God P Alas! alas! these floods of ven-
geance that incessantly keep pouring in upon me, are something more
than a bare separation. Blinded teacher who had, and blinded disci-
ples who have, such diminutive notions of the torments of the damned.
Wretched creatures as I lift up my tormented eyes, I behold them
posting onward towards the dreadful goal. If they arrive, my torment,
though already inexpressible, will be greatly aggravated. Let me once
SOCINIANS’ MONITOR. 17.
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more try what effect the eloquence of despair may have upon them.
Who knows but it may retard their march -
Still ! still do you pursue your course, O my deluded followers P
Still will ye remain tenacious of your errors, notwithstanding I
plainly tell you to what dismal distraction they have reduced me !
into what unalterable anguish they have plunged me ! you persevere
in your errors, therefore I must persevere in admonishing you.
Hearken, Sir, hearken Mr. , while I speak to you, and I charge
you to tell your brethren what I say. - -
Your denying the efficacy of divine grace in regeneration and
sanctification is justly ranked among your damnable errors, and is
one of the greatest heresies that ever I taught you. . Had I experi-
mentally known the influences of efficacious grace, I had never come
to this place of torment, but had been joining yonder assembly, yon-
der glorious church of the first-born, which I see afar off written in
heaven, beautified with all the lustre of grace both imputed and im-
parted, clothed with all the radiance of undecaying glory, filled with
the inexpressible pleasures that issue from the throne of sovereign
love and goodness. Alas! I never saw the need of the operations of
unfrustrable grace till I arrived in eternity, and now too late I re-
pent my denial thereof. The flames of hell give a lasting and full
conviction of the truth of all the doctrines of the gospel, and at the
same time that we, the spirits accursed, have no share in their salu-
tary report and influence. -
When, I lived on earth amongst you, I taught you to attend to the
voice of carnal, corrupted reason; now I am in hell, I advise you to
hearken to the voice of right reason, compared with the word of God.
In the word of God conversion is accounted a quickening or rais-
ing from the dead; and reason tells you, that you cannot quicken or
bring to life again the dearest, the most beloved object which death
hath bereaved you of nor can they quicken themselves, or they
would never suffer their delicate bodies to become nauseously putri-
fied in the devouring womb of the hungry grave. For my own part,
I find I cannot quicken my body again, or I would not lie here broil-
ing in these flames.—Some of you have hair of an unlovely colour, of
which you are ashamed, why do ye not change its colour agreeable
to your minds? Others of you, my disciples, have legs or shoulders
not shaped, eyes and temples not set to your liking, why do you not
mend the matter, and alter the proportion of your parts? Your own
reason tells you, you cannot so much as alter the colour of a single
hair of your head. -
But the quickening of the soul is an infinitely greater work. And
is it reasonable to pretend to do the greater, when you are convinc-
ed you cannot do the less? O my disciples! how have I, your blind
leader, darkened your understanding by falsehoºds. Woe is me!
for my followers are at the point of falling into this horrible ditch.
Again, the work of conversion is a creation of the soul anew.
Now if divine grace is not the efficient in this soul-creation, you
yourselves must be the efficient therein. Can you do it? . You pro-
fess you can. Firstº your creating hand on a lesser job before
18 THE ARIANS" ANI)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^*****A*rve vºyvvvvaaaaaaaaaaaaarvarvºvarvavv avanaaaaa a AAAAAAAA
you proceed to the greater. Can you create riches and honour?
You love them well enough; if you have power to create them, why
do so many of you go destitute of both? Can you create peace in
the midst of trouble? Joy in the midst of sorrow? Ease in the midst
of pain? Light in the time and place of darkness? Beauty instead
of deformity? You know you cannot. But to create the soul in
Christ Jesus to good works, is a task by far more difficult. If you
cannot as your consciences confess, do the least, is it then not a great
degree of madness to pretend to do the greatest, even a work that
requires omnipotence to perform?
Hearken, ye blinded mortals, hearken to the voice of him who
hath condemned me! It is not effected by works of righteousness
which we have done, but by the washing of regeneration, and the
renewing of the Holy Ghost. -
Again, inconsistent creature that you are, (saith he to me,) if you
can create yourself anew, why do you not do it? Why are you so
long ere you begin the work? If you must perform the work with
your own single hand, you will be long in finishing it: most likely
you may spend all your lifetime before you are half gone through
with your work, then all your creating labour will be lost. Is it not
highly unreasonable, when a man hears that he must be born again,
created anew, quickened together with Christ, &c. and at the same
time believes that the renewing power is in himself, that he should
sit down contented in an unrenewed condition, not knowing but
death may seize him every moment?” -
Here I was cut to the heart, to see that instead of being guided
whelly by reason, that in many things I both believed and acted con-
trary to reason. The old Doctor, perceiving my confusion, conti-
nued:—
“Consider, that if you deny the operations of the Comforter, you
deny the author of the Bible, who is the very God that made you.
Here you may see that I taught you Atheism in various forms. Oh!
that you repented your receiving my instructions as sincerely as I
repent teaching them, then would not my torment be increased by
your arrival in hell. I do assure you, I recant all these blasphem-
ous errors, though now, alas! it is too late. You may recant in
time, as you are yet on the mortal side of the gulf! Oh! that you
might all recant in time!, I dread your arrival in this fiery Tophet
because it will bring additional torment to me. . .
Miserable teacher that I was, I taught you to deny the operations
of the Holy Ghost, and in doing so to deny the truth of God, which
in fact is the same as to deny God himself. , Oh! what spirit accurs-
ed can stand up under the fury of a denied God! . Alas! if you do
not heartily sign your recantation in time, you must needs stand the
shock, the dreadful shock of his fiery indignation to all eternity.
Another destructive error, by which you treasure up to yourselves
wrath against the day of wrath, is the trust you have in a mild, yield-
ing law, and flexible justice of God the judge. º
You may fancy what you will; but for my part, when I trembling
stood before the awful throne, I found no condescension in, no abate-
ºf
SOCINIANS’ MONITOR. 19
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ments made by the rigid law, not the least flexibility in divine just-
ice! All was stern, all was severe, beyond all possibility of mitiga-
tion. I then found, though never before; that the council of the
Most High doth stand, and that his word is as invariable as himself.
Q: if you had seen as much of the immutability of the law as I have!
you would have done with talking as you do about abatement of its
rigorous demands, or that justice doth make allowances for sins, how-
ever supposed venial. This error of yours doth directly wound both
the mercy and justice of God: for if God is just, then must his law be
fulfilled according to the tenor thereof; if God is merciful, his mercy
must be unbounded; but if, as in effect you say, he in part forgives.
and in part receives, his mercy is limited by the circumstances of the
object. One man requires a greater, another requires a less degree
of mercy. Is not this as great an indignity as you can offer to the
mercy of God? As for me, I now see in the light of eternity, that
wherever salvation comes, it comes wholly, fully, and freely, with-
out money and without price, without any works of righteousness on
the part of man.
Likewise, I now see that God’s justice is infinite, which it could
not possibly be, if it could in any wise pass by the least sin unpun-
ished. Foolish dreamers that we were! to think that God would
drown his justice in the flood of his mercy, would prejudice one at-
tribute of his incomprehensible nature, to the honour of another, and
all for the sake of creatures who are less than nothing in his sight,
altogether vanity. Folly in perfection indeed! That being who is
God must be infinitely holy and just, as well as; infinitely merci-
ful. If he is infinitely holy, then he can make no allowance for
sin. If infinitely just, then his mercy can be extended to none, but
to the honour of his justice. But if his justice can pass over some
sins, why not all sin; and then there would be no need of a Saviour;
for verily, if salvation could have come by the holiness of the crea-
ture, Christ hath died in vain. Have not you an equal right to a
penny which one man may owe you, as to a pound which another
may? Such is the rigour of the law, (and that soon you will find,)
that he who offends in one point, though it were but in a single
thought, is guilty of the whole.—God will by no means clear the
guilty—there is no release from his law’s arrest—no appeal from the
tribunal of his justice! O faithless and unbelieving, as I was, will
you not open your eyes to see the light of instruction? Will you
ever shut your ears against the voice of truth?
I know you say, that when you come to be tried at the divine bar,
that your vices must be put in one scale, and your virtues in the
other; and if there happen to be an equilibrium in the balance, that
God will put so much of his divine clemency, as will make your vir-
tues overweigh your vices.—Alas! alas! I can look back to the time
that I had such a foolish notion, which greatly facilitated my ruin.
But when I came to be weighed, all my deeds were accounted evil;
my virtues, which I formerly thought I had a store of, were when
weighed in the balance of the sanctuary, lighter than nothing, va-
nity itself. You will find, that unless Christ be put in the bal-
2ſ) THE ARIANS AND
ance with you, you will be found wanting, as I was. How should
it be otherwise, when without faith it is impossible to please God,
and whatsoever is not of faith is sin? Why then will faithless mor-
tals pretend to do that which is well-pleasing in the sight of Godø
When I expected my virtues to appear as my wedding garment, I
was struck as with a thunder-bolt, and when I heard the judge, the
holy God to say, Let his filthy rags be burned with him, both he
and they are an abomination to me, from this time forward I will
rejoice over him to do him evil. -
Ah! my disciples, you will find that the first touch of the flames
beneath will at once consume all your supposed virtue. The law
admitteth not of composition, and the justice of God cannot be brib-
ed with imperfect virtues—or rather the appearance of virtue. If
you must stand in your own righteousness, alas! you must bear the
whole weight of J E Hov AH's vengeance, as I do at this day. O that
I had been wise, and had understood this in time, then had not my
latter end been so terribly dreadful. Ah me! these complaints are
now toº late.
Another error whereby your hands are strengthened in wicked-
ness, is your vain imaginations concerning the torments of the
damned. You say that the torments of hell consist only in a sepa-
ration from the joys of heaven, the blissful presence of God: if that,
indeed, were all—it were no hell to souls whose natural language
is—depart from me, O Lord, I desire not the knowledge of thee.
All the heaven unregenerate men desire is an utter separation from
God. But I can tell you from woeful experience, that exclusion
from the mercy of God is inseparable from enduring his wrath. Se-
aration from the joy of heaven, in eternity, is immediately con-
nected with the most exquisite pain. Can the eloquence of angels
persuade me that I feel not the most intolerable anguish? Are these
flaming billows, that roll incessantly upon me, nothing but bare se-
paration? Are these streams of vengeance, that issue continually
from the spouts of omnipotent wrath, nothing but separation? Doth
this noisome smell, arising from the flaming sulphur, impart no tor-
ment to the damned? Do these dismal howlings of souls in unut-
terable agonies—these direful yellings of hideous ghosts, cutting
their flight through the tremendous arches of the expansive Tophet
—yield no degree of torment to the damned ear? Or the sight of
millions of frightful ghosts floating upon the surface of the burning
lake! All the serpentine breed in their most ghastly dimensions,
with all the swelling floods of JEHow AH's vengeance, rolling in con-
tinually on us: Can these be beheld with a peaceful eye! and all
this within view of the over-flowing joys of the righteous, whom on
earth we accounted fanatics, enthusiasts, &c. Is all this, and infi-
nitely more than human heart, in a state of mortality, can form any
idea of, no inore than a bare separation from God? Now I will re-
veal a mystery unto you. You say that the damned are separate
from God: but verily it is a mistake! He is as fully manifested in
these dreadful mansions, as he is in heaven. There he is manifest-
ed in his love, grace, mercy, truth and holiness. Here he is mani-
SOCINIANS’ MONITOR. - 2 :
fested in his holiness, truth, justice and wrath. If this manifesta-
tion of God doth not create a hell of infinite torment, I know not
what possibly can.
But you say, that despair constitutes hell. I ask you, did you
ever sensiuiy know what is meant by despair? ... If you felt the aw-
ful tortment, caused by that gnawing worm, for the space of one mi-
nute, you would dread it as long as you lived. Know of a truth, that
hell is intolerable! Flatter not yourselves, that your punishment
will consist in a separation from the person whom you hate. If you
are so unhappy as to persist in your heresies till the last, you will
find, that one hour in this dark abode will convince you of their
fallacy
But to make the best of a bad bargain, you have got a notion,
that in some future period there shall be a general reiease from the
torments of hell.—This is a flat denial of the oracles of God, an in-
sult on the author, and a crafty method of hardening sinners in
their sins. When I lived on the earth I was of the same mind with
Mr. Bourn; but now I am in hell, and am convinced of its eternity.
Alas! my conviction adds greatly to my torment. Could we who
are confined to this gloomy dungeon but once think of a release, it
would in a great measure alleviate our distress. But such a thought
doth not so much as once enter into our minds.—No, never will
whilst eternity endures. O eternity! eternity! To think of eter-
nity is a galling thought. Any torment is to be chosen, rather than
an eternity of torment. Eternal inevitably it must be! Woe is me,
I am lost! Eternally lost beyond all remedy!
Bewitched man, to measure eternity by the divisions of time.
Here we have no years, months, weeks and days! But eternity is
eternity, that is all you mortals can know of it. Insufferable inso-
lence! thus to assault the truths of Jehov AH, and give the lie to the
God of eternal veracity. Should you treat the laws of an earthly
prince with equal contempt, would he calmly and patiently suffer
it? Is it possible that such daring impiety can go unpunished?
Surely no! -
I charge you, Mr. —, that you write down and publish to the
World all that you have beard and seen, if by that means any of my
deceived followers may be persuaded to, believe the truth, and es-
Cape this direful misery into which I am plunged. Tell them, I
heartily recant all the doctrines whereby I have supplanted the
truths of the gospel. Tell them, I sleeping, dreamed all the days
of my life, and never awoke till vengeance laid hold of me. Tell
them, that if I had liberty to come on earth, and there remain for
one twelve month’s space, I would openly acknowledge all mine
errors, and publicly recant all my heresies. Speak, speak to them,
and do not spare. Tell them, that if here they arrive, their blood
will be as oil in the flames of my torment that now blaze all around
ne, Regard not my memory—Let it be cut off from the earth!
O that the earth were also cut off from my mind! But, alas! I have
the lively image of all my past transactions intimately present with
ne-The sound of my heresies for ever rings in my tormented ears,
22 THE ARIANS" ANI)
*~~~~~~~~vvvºreſvºrºv v^vvva vºwvvvvvvvva var. ******, vvvv^^***A*~vv^vvvvºvvva vAAvva,
After all, remember what I told you at first: it is not love either to
you or them, that makes me thus solicitously concerned for the wel-
fare of you all, but a slavish fear that my already intolerable pains
will be increased on your arrival in this bottomless abyss. Mercy
and love are for ever banished from amongst us.”
As the Doctor had thus spoke, I beheld him surrounded by a
squadron of black infernals, who cut their way, swifter than the
wind, through the smoky arches of dreadful Tophet. They sur-
rounded, seized, and carried him away, as I supposed to renewed
torments, by reason of his hideous shrieks, that reached up unto
heaven, and even now fill my afflicted ears as I write the story.
They carried him off, and I saw him no more.
Amazed I stood on this dangerous precisice, revolving in my
mind what I had heard and seen; astonished to find myselſ so clearly
convicted of infidelity; fearful lest I should share the same end with
my unhappy tutor; and partly wondering that I was not indeed with
him already, because I had hitherto so closely followed his doc-
trines. As I was meditating on these things, I heard a noise equal-
ly frightful with that which I heard at the beginning: I trembling
stood, expecting a second eruption, fearful lest thereby I should be
overwhelmed with certain destruction. As I thus stood dreading
the consequence, the noise waxed louder and louder, like many rol-
ling thunders concentring in one. All the noise seemed to come
from the bowels of the earth. Anon the earth began to tremble, at
last to shake in angrºcommon manner; and by and by the pit, in
which I had seen such wonders, closed its lips and ceased further to
belch forth from its fiery entrails either fire, smoke, or hideous
spectres. This done, the earth regained her stability, and all na-
ture appeared serene.
Not knowing into what place of the world I was got, I judged it
safest to abide where I was, and wait for the wished-for morn; the
welcome harbinger of day already appearing in the east. When
fair Aurora had spread her broidered skirts over all the oriental
world, and darted her pleasant smiles towards the west, I found in
her light, that I was got to the middle of the common on the south
side of the town. Now knowing right-well the place on which I
stood, I began with the light of the day to search for the burning
forest I had seen over night; but could see nothing but what was
usual on the common. I gladly would once more have viewed that
pleasant but solitary avenue, through which I passed the night be-
fore; but no avenue was to be seen! I sought it, but could not find it.
This made me conclude, that both the forest and avenue were only .
visionary. º .
I dreaded going honºe, expecting to find my wife and children bu-
ried in the ruins made by the earthquakes; but to my joyful surprise,
I gladly found them all in perfect health, and my wife told me, that
though she slept none in the night, by reason of my absence, yet
she had heard no uncommon noise, nor felt the least shock of an
earthquake; making further inquiry among my neighbours, they an:
swered in like manner: nor indeed was there to be seen about all
SOCINIANS’ MONITOR. 23
*A* v-Avvalver vºivºuavaravuveeruvºrºvve vºvvvvvvvvvvvvv^^^*** **********Aruvvvv^^
the town the least appearance of a past earthquake: all which tended
to astonish me more and more.
I knew not what to think of the vision.—Certainly, thought I, it
cannot be a dream! But I feared lest my brain was distempered,
and in the midst of its distraction painted-out such apparitions to
me. However two things I resolved on; 1st. utterly to cast off all
Arian and Socinian errors, and embrace the orthodox faith, which
I had despised the day before! but I judged it prudent candidly to
examine the Doctor’s books by the scriptures of truth, before I com-
mitted them to the flames.—2d. I resolved to keep all these things
which I had seen and heard, a profound secret. The regard I had
for the doctor’s memory had great influence upon me.
That very day I began to take a scriptural view of the works of
my unhappy tutor; and in the conclusion found them very worthy
of the fire, which accordingly in due time they fed.
Still I was resolved to hide the vision in my heart, till one night
in my sleep I dreamt, that the Doctor appeared to me in all the
ghastly deformities of a damned spirit, charged me with ingratitude
to that God who had in so uncommon a manner delivered me from
the dangerous heresies I had imbibed from my tutor; and want
of love to my fellow-creatures, in that having got the knowledge of
the truth myself, I did not study to reclaim others from error.—He
said, I had no true regard either for his person or memory, or I
would publish unto mankind what might, in part, prevent the in-
crease of his torments. And withal told me, if I would not resolve
to publish what I had heard and seen, that he would haunt me every
night in my sleep, to my unspeakable mortification.
Self-preservation hath in it a persuasive eloquence; rather than be
troubled every night with the ghost of my unhappy tutor, I have
prevailed with myself to obey him; though for my pains, I expect to
be called a madman by one, a fanatic by another, an enthusiast by
a third, and perhaps by a fourth a malicious person. But I rest
myself content, that the notable day will shew, who is the wisest
disciple of reason, or the maddest enthusiast; who useth and abu-
Seth right reason, whether they that despise my vision, or their hum-
ble servant, whose name henceforth is tº
ANTI-SOCINUS.
FINIS.
-
R. J. Matchett, Printer.
-
IN THE PRESS,
AND SPEEDILY WILL BE PUBLISHED, .
JAt 12% cents,
IN THE SAME MANNER, UNIFORM WITH THIS;
Tālū SHAVIER,
Jl Sermon,
Occasioned by the expulsion of six young men from the
university of Oxford, for praying, reading, and expound-
ing the Scriptures, by the author of the foregoing treatise,
John Macgowan.—And the very moment five hundred
subscribers shall have been obtained, will be put to press,
and produced in quick succession, “Socinianism brought
to the Test, or, Jesus Christ proved to be either the ado-
rable God, or a notorious impostor; in a series of letters
to the Rev. Dr. Priestley,” by the same author. —In these
letters it will be clearly shown, that if the Saviour, was not
a divine person, Mahommedanism is in all respects prefer-
able to the Christian religion, and the Koran, a better book
than the Bible.—This publication will be completed in
three double numbers, at 25 cents each,
The three, to wit: “the Monitor,” “the Shaver,” and
“Socinianism brought to the Test;” may be bound up to-
gether, and will form one neat octavo volume, containing
as much letter press as is commonly sold for two dollars.
June, 1819.
H. WICARY, |
O. B. CORNISH.
|
*...* The publishers have it in contemplation to bring
out an entire set of Macgowan’s works, which have never
been published here; and, if adequate encouragement be
given, they certainly will.