AN APPEAL

ΤΟ

MATTER OF FACT AND COMMON SENSE:

OR,

A RATIONAL DEMONSTRATION

OF

MAN'S CORRUPT AND LOST ESTATE.

BY THE REV. JOHN FLETCHER,

VICAR OF MADELEY, SALOr.

Ye pompous sons of Reason idolized,

And vilified at once; of Reason dead,
Then deified, as monarchs were of old;

Wrong not the Christian; think not Reason yours;
"Tis Reason our great Master holds so dear;
'Tis Reason's injured rights his wrath resents;
"Tis Reason's voice obey'd his glorious crown;
To give lost Reason life he pour'd his own;
Believe, and show the reason of a man;
Believe, and taste the pleasure of a God;

Through Reason's wounds alone thy faith can die.-YOUNG.

The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.—LUKE.

TO THE PRINCIPAL INHABITANTS

OF THE

PARISH OF MADELEY, IN THE COUNTY OF SALOF.

GENTLEMEN,-You are no less entitled to my private labours than the inferior class of my parishioners. As you do not choose to partake with them of my evening instructions, I take the liberty to present you with some of my morning meditations. May these well-meant endeavours of my pen be more acceptable to you than those of my tongue! And may you carefully read in your closets what you have, perhaps, inattentively heard in the church! I appeal to the Searcher of hearts that I had rather impart truth than receive tithes. You kindly bestow the latter upon me; grant me, I pray, the satisfaction of seeing you favourably receive the former, from, gentlemen, your affectionate minister and obedient servant,

MADELEY 1772.

J. FLETCHER.

CONTENTS OF APPEAL.

INTRODUCTION.

PART I.

The doctrine of man's corrupt and lost estate is stated at large in the words of the prophets, apostles, and Jesus Christ; and recapitulated in those of the articles, homilies, and liturgy of the Church of England.

PART II.

Man is considered as an inhabitant of the natural world, and his fali is proved by arguments deduced from the misery in which he is now undeniably involved; compared with the happiness of which we cannot help conceiving him possessed, when he came out of the hands of his gracious Creator.

A view of this misery in the following particulars, I. The disorders of the globe we inhabit, and the dreadful scourges with which it is visited. II. The deplorable and shocking circumstances of our birth. III. The painful and dangerous travail of women. IV. The untimely dissolution of still-born, or new-born children. V. Our natural uncleanliness, helplessness, ignorance, and naked. ness. VI. The gross darkness in which we naturally are, both with respect to God and a future state. VII. The general rebellion of the brute creation against VIII. The various poisons that lurk in the animal, vegetable, and mineral world, ready to destroy us. IX. The heavy curse of toil and sweat to which we are liable; instances of which are given in the hard and dangerous labours of the author's parishioners. X. The other innumerable calamities of life And, XI, the pangs of death.

us.

PART III.

Man is considered as a citizen of the moral world, a fiee agent, accountable to his Creator for his tempers and conduct; and his fall is farther demonstrated by arguments drawn from XII. His commission of sin. XIII. His omission of duty. XIV. The triumphs of sensual appetites over his intellectual faculties. XV. The corruption of the powers that constitute a good head; the understand

ing, imagination, memory, and reason. XVI. The depravity of the powers which form a good heart; the will, conscience, and affections. XVII. His mani. fest alienation from God. XVIII. His amazing disregard even of his nearest relatives. XIX. His unaccountable unconcern about himself. XX. His detestable tempers. XXI. The general outbreaking of human corruption in all individuals. XXII. The universal overflowing of it in all nations. Five ob jections answered. XXIII. Some striking proofs of this depravity in the general propensity of mankind to vain, irrational, or cruel diversions; and XXIV. In the universality of the most ridiculous, impious, inhuman, and diabolical sins. XXV. The aggravating circumstances attending the display of this corruption. XXVI. The many ineffectual endeavours to stem its torrent. XXVII. The obstinate resistance it makes to Divine grace in the unconverted. XXVIII. The amazing struggles of good men with it. XXIX. The testimony of heathens and Deists concerning it: and, after all, XXX. The preposterous conceit which the unconverted have of their own goodness.