23

I

a.

Prædest.

Predestina. then, that the doctrine of absolute decrees is contrary tion. to their ideas of the impartiality and justice of God, we can only answer that we are sorry for them if they have formed ideas of the character of God which are contrary *Calvini to the truth. We presume not like them to call his Tract. de attributes before the tribunal of our understandings; we Eterna Dei only observe the ways of his providence, and declare that thus stands the fact. If he leave whole nations in darkness and corruption, and freely chooses others to communicate the knowledge of himself to them, we need not be surprised if he act in the same manner with individuals. For surely the rejecting immense empires for so many ages is much more unaccountable than the selection of a few individuals, and the leaving others in ignorance and depravity. It is in vain to allege that he extends his mercy to those who make the best use of the dim light which they have. This does not remove the difficulty of a choice and a preference; as it cannot be denied that their condition is very deplorable, and that the condition of others is much more hopeful: so that the mysterious doctrine of election and reprobation is an unquestionable truth under the government of God, seeing that great numbers of men are born in such circumstances that it is morally impossible they should not perish in them; whereas others are more happily situated and enlightened.

16 The lan

redestina

ian.

Nor are we left to common observation upon this uage of point. The language of the sacred scriptures is positive Scripture and clear. The whole reasoning in the ninth chapter to the Romans resolves all the acts of God's justice and mercy, his hardening as well as his pardoning, into an absolute freedom and an unsearchable depth. More pointed expressions for this purpose can scarcely be conceived than those actually made use of. For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth, it was said, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy; for the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. If any man shall still be sufficiently bold to declare that all this is contrary to what he is pleased to consider as just and impartial, we can only reply to him Ubi supra, in the words of the celebrated John Calvin of Genevat. Tibi molestum est ac odiosum, Deum plus posse et facere, quam mens tua capiat; æquali autem tuo interdum concedes, ut suo judicio fruatur. Et tu in tanto furore, Dei mentionem ullam facere audes? "Is it painful to thee that the power and the works of God exceed thy limited capacity? Thou sometimes sufferest thine equal to judge of his own conduct for himself, and darest thou in thy folly to censure the ways of God?" Or rather we may reply in those words of the apostle Paul which immediately follow the passage already quoted. Thou wilt say then to me, Why doth he yet find fault? for who hath resisted his will? Nay but, Oman, who art thou that reVOL. XVII. Part I.

17 An objec

ion an.wered.

+

tion

pliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him Predestinathat formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay; of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? Let these passages, and even the whole of the chapter now alluded to, be explained in any manner that is judged proper, still their import with regard to the present argument will remain the same. If God loved Jacob so as to choose his posterity to be his people, and rejected or hated Esau and his posterity, and this without regard to them or their future conduct, but merely in consequence of the purpose and design of his election; if by the same purpose the Gentiles were to be grafted upon that stock from which the once favoured Jews were cut off, it will follow, not only that the great and mysterious decree of final election is unsearchably free and absolute, but also that all the means of grace are granted or withheld in the same unlimited and free manner according to the sovereign will and good pleasure of God, independent of any foresight of merit on our part. The words of our Saviour express this: I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: The reason of which is given in the following words, Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight, (Mat. xi. 26.). The passage immediately preceding this, shows clearly that the means of grace are not bestowed upon those who, it is foreseen, will make a good use of them; nor denied to those who will make a bad use of them. Wo unto thee Chorazin, wo unto thee Bethsaida: for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But the passages in scripture are innumerable, which declare that the whole character and destiny of every man is the result of the counsel and uncontrouled determination of God. The expression is often repeated in the book of Exodus ; God hardened the heart of Pharaoh, so that he would not let his people go, (Exod. iv. 21.), &c. It is said, that Gød has made the wicked man for the day of evil, (Prov. xvi. 4.). On the other hand, it is said, as many believed the gospel as were appointed to eternal life, (Acts. i. 48.). Some are said to be written in the book of life, of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. xiii. 8.). Every prayer that is used, or directed to be used, in scripture, is for a grace that opens our eyes, that turns the heart, that makes us to go, that leads us not into temptation, but delivers us from evil. All these expressions denote that we desire more than a power or capacity to act, such as is given to all men. deed we do not, and we cannot, pray earnestly for that which we know all men as well as ourselves possess at all times.

In

18

The grace of God is the medium by which his sove-Sure effireign will and absolute degrees are accomplished. Ac- cacy of cordingly, it is set forth in scripture by such expressions grace. as clearly denote its sure efficacy; and that it does not depend upon us to use it or not at our pleasure. It is said to be a creation; we are created unto good works, and we become new creatures: It is called a regeneration, or a new birth; it is called a quickening and a resurrection, as our former state is compared to a feeble, ness, a blindness, and a death. God is said to work in us both to will and to do: His people shall be willing in the day of his power: He will write his laws in their Nn hearts,

tio

Predestina- hearts, and make them to walk in them. In a passage already quoted, the human race are compared to a mass of clay in the hands of the potter, who of the same lamp makes at his pleasure vessels of honour and dishonour. These passages, and this last more particularly, prove that there is an absolute and a conquering power in divine grace; and that the love of God constrains us, as St Paul expresses himself. Our Saviour compares the union and influence that he communicates to believers to the union of an head with the members, and of a root with the branches, which imparts an internal, a vital, and an efficacious influence. The outward means may indeed be rejected, but this overcoming grace never returns empty: these outward means coming from God, the resisting of them is said to be the resisting of God, the grieving or quenching of his spirit; and in that sense we may resist the grace or favour of God; but we can never withstand him when he intends to overcome us; For the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his, (2 Tim.ii. 19.). Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, (Eph. i. 5.).

19

Perseverance of the saints.

20

Arguments

That the saints shall certainly persevere unto the end is a necessary consequence of absolute decrees and of efficacious grace: all depends on God. He of his own will begat us; and with him there is no variableness nor shadow of turning: whom he loves, he loves to the end: and he has promised that he will never leave nor forsake those to whom he becomes a God. Our Lord hath said, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall any pluck them out of my hand, (Jo. x. 28.). Hence we must conclude, that the purpose and calling of God is without repentance, (Heb. xii. 5.). And therefore, although good men may fall into great sins, yet of all those who are given by the Father to the Son to be saved by him, none are lost: The conclusion from the whole is, that God did in himself, and for his own glory, foreknow a determinate number in whom he would be both sanctified and glorified. These he predestinated to be holy, conformable to the image of his Son: they are to be called, not by a general calling in the sense of these words, many are called, but few are chosen; but to be called according to his purpose. He justified them upon their obeying that calling, and in the conclusion he will glorify them; for nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ, (Rom. ix. 19). And he is not less absolute in his decree of reprobation than he is in his election: for ungodly men are said to be of old ordained to condemnation, and to be given up by G d unto vile effctions, and to be given over by him to a reprobate mind.

THUS far we have defended the doctrine of predestiagainst the nation: we proceed next to state the arguments usually adduced in favour of the Arminian system.

doctrine fro a the attributes of God

God is just holy, and merciful. In speaking of himself in scripture, he is pleased to make appeals to the human understanding, and to call upon men to reason with him concerning his ways. The meaning of this is, that men may examine his actions and his attributes with that measure of intelligence which they possess, and they will be forced to approve of them; ny, he proposes him-elf to us as a pattern for our imitation. We are required to be holy as he is holy, and

I

tion.

merciful as he is merciful; which is a proof that he Predestina. accounts us not incapable of forming just notions at least of these attributes. What then can we think of" a justice that shall condemn us for a fact that we never committed? that designs first of all to be glorified by our being eternally miserable, and which afterwards decrees that we shall commit sins to justify this previous decree of our reprobation? For if God originally designs and determines all things, and if all his decrees are certainly effected, it is inconceivable how there should be a justice in punishing that which he himself, by an antecedent and irreversible decree, appointed to be done. Or, setting justice aside, is it possible that a being of infinite holiness, and who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, would by an antecedent decree fix our committing so many sins, in such a manner that it is not possible to avoid them? He represents himself in the scriptures as gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in goodness and truth. It is often said, that he desires that no man should perish, but that all should come to the knowledge of the truth: this is even said with the solemnity of an oath, As I live, saith the Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of sinners. What sense can these words bear if we believe that God did by an absolute decree doom so many of them to everlasting misery? If all things that happen arise out of the absolute decree of God as their first cause, then we must believe that God takes pleasure both in his own decrees and in the execution of them, consequently that he doth take pleasure in the death of sinners; and this in express contradiction to the most positive language of scripture. Besides all this, what are we to think of the truth of God, and of the sincerity of those offers of grace and mercy, with the exhortations and expostulations upon them that occur so frequently in scripture, if we can imagine that by antecedent acts he determined that all these should be ineffectual? In one word, are we to regard our existence as a blessing, and to look up with gratitude to that paternal goodness which has placed us in a land of hope, which formed our nature, weak indeed and exposed to many imperfections, but capable of rising by virtuous efforts and by a patient continuance in well-doing to excellence and to high and immortal felicity? or, are we to curse the hour in which we were born under the dominion of a master, who is not only severe, but absurd, and even adds insult to cruelty; who, after placing us in a goodly habitation, binds us haud and foot, locks the door, blocks up the windows, sets fire to the fabric, and then very mercifully calls upon us to come forth lest we parish?

It is not true that rational beings are nothing in the sight of their Maker. Compared to his Almighty strength and uncreated existence, our powers do indeed diminish into weakness, and our years into a moment: yet although our interests may be unimportant in themscives, the attributes of God with which they are connected are far from being so. There was no necessity for his calling us into existence; but the instant he bestowed upon us that gift, and conferred upon us faculties capable of rising to happiness by the contemplation of himself and of his works, he became our parent, and granted to us a right to look up to him for protec tion and mercy, and to hope that our existence and our faculties were not bestowed in vain. Nor will he

trample

tion

Correspondence between

Predestina- trample upon the just and reasonable hopes of the meanest of his creatures. He is watchful over our interests; he hath sent his Son to die for us; his providence has been exerted for no other purpose but to promote our welfare; and there is joy in heaven even over one sinner that repenteth. Let it be allowed, that the universe was formed for no other purpose but to promote the glory of God; that glory can surely be little promoted by the exertion of undistinguishing and blind acts of power, in the arbitrary appointment to eternal reprobation of millions of unresisting and undeserving wretches*. Is it not more honourable to the Deity to conceive of him as the parent, guide, governor, and judge of free beings, formed after the likeness of himself, with powers of reason and self-determination, than to conceive of him as the former and conductor of a system of conscious machinery, or the mover and controuler of an universe of puppets, many of whom he is pleased to make completely miserable? The most important and fundamental point of religion considered as a speculative science, consists in our forming high and just ideas of God and of his attributes, that from them we may understand the maxims of true and perfect morality. But were we to attempt to form our own natures upon the idea of the divine character that is given us by the doctrine of absolute decrees, we would certainly become imperious, partial and cruel; at least we should not readily learn the virtues of kindness, mercy, and compassion.

Price and Priestley

21

The diffi=culty of

solved.

It is true that, setting aside predestination, it is not easy to show how future contingencies should be prescience certainly foreseen; but it is obvious that such foresight involves no contradiction, (see METAPHYSICS, N° 308); and if the actions of men be free, we know from the train of prophecies, which in the sacred scriptures appear to have been made in one age and fulfilled in another, that contingencies are foreseen by that infinite Being who inhabiteth eternity, and to whom a thousand years are but as one day. The prophecies concerning the death and sufferings of Christ were fulfilled by the free acts of the Jewish priests and people: These men sinned in accomplishing that event, which proves that they acted with their natural liberty. From these and all the other prophecies both in the Old and New Testament, it must be confessed that future contingencies were certainly foreknown, but where to found that certainty cannot be easily resolved We doubt not, however, that we may safely refer it to the infinite perfection of the Divine mind. And it ought to be observed that this difficulty is of a very different nature from that to which our antagonists are reduced on their side of the argument. They are compelled to confess that they cannot reconcile their doctrine with the justice of God, an attribute the nature of which we clearly understand, and which is held forth to our imitation; whereas we are only at a loss how to explain the mode in which the divine prescience is exerted; an attribute which God claims as peculiarly his own, and which it is not to be expected that we should be able in the smallest degree to comprehend. We can go farther than this. Heaven hath given to man two revelations of itself. The one consists in the knowledge which we procure by the right use of our rational faculties; and the other is bestowed by means of the sacred scriptures. Without intending to derogate from the authority of

tion.

22

Scripture

cannot con

inspiration, it is fair to assert, that we are more certain Predestinathat God is the author and bestower of our reason, than that he is the author of the scriptures; at least it is certain that the last cannot contradict the first, because God cannot contradict himself. By the primary revelation from heaven then, that is, by our reason, we are informed that God is true, and just, and good. If an angel from heaven should preach a doctrine contrary to this, we are entitled to say with the apostle, let him be accursed. If our antagonists then should succeed in tradict the proving that the doctrine of absolute decrees, which clear dicrepresents the Deity as cruel and unjust, is contained in tates of scripture, the consequence would be, not that we would reason. believe it, for that is impossible, but that we should be reduced to the necessity of rejecting the authority of the scriptures, because they contradict the previous sure revelation of God, our reason. We believe that the doctrines contained in the scriptures are certainly true, because they were taught by those who wrought miracles and foretold future events in proof of their being inspired by the God of truth. But miracles and prophecy are direct evidences of nothing but the power and wisdom of their Author; and unless we know by other evidence, that this powerful and wise Being is likewise the father of truth and justice, we cannot be sure that the scriptures, notwithstanding their source, are any thing better than a tissue of falsehoods. The very arguments therefore by which predestination is supported, tend to sap the foundation of that revelation from which its advocates pretend to draw them. The case is very different when no doctrine is asserted that is not contradictory to our reason, but only above it. example, when we are told that God can create rational beings, that he attends without distraction to the minutest affairs that pass in a thousand words, that he knows all things, the past, the present, and the future, we do not presume that we comprehend how he can do all this but there is nothing in it that contradicts our reason; we ourselves possess a certain degree of power, can attend at once to a certain number of objects, can in some cases form very sure conjectures about futurity, and we resolve all the rest into the infinite nature and perfections of God.

For

It is farther to be observed, that prescience does not make effects certain because they are foreseen; but they are foreseen because they are to be so that the certainty of the prescience is not the cause, but the consequence of the certainty of the event. The Roman republic has fallen; but our knowledge or ignorance of that event does not render it more or less true and certain. That it was to fall, was as surely true before it happened as it is now; and had we known it beforehand, as many men of sense probably did, it would neither have fallen sooner nor later on that account. This shows that the knowledge which an intelligent being has of a past or future event need not have any influence upon the circumstances that produce

tion.

:

Predestina- of which he was so absurdly offended and such was Christ's saying, That those of Tyre and Sidon, Sodom and Gomorrah, would have turned to him, if they had seen the miracles that he wrought in the towns of Galilee. Since, then, this prescience may be so certain that it can never err or mislead the exertions of providence, and since by this, both the attributes of God are vindicated, and the due freedom of man is asserted, all difficulties seem to be thus easily removed.

24

Christ died for the whole world.

25 Freedom

moral agents.

With regard to the purpose of Christ's death, he is said to be the propitiation for the sins of the whole world; and the wicked are said to deny the Lord that bought them. His death, as to its extent, is set in opposition to the sins of Adam; so that as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men to justification of life, (Rom. v. 18.). The all on the one side must be as extensive as the all on the other: so, since all are concerned in Adam's sin, all must likewise be concerned in the death of Christ. To this we may add, that all men are commanded and required to believe that Christ died for their sins; but no man can be obliged to believe what is not true: he must therefore have died for all. The following passages express clearly the universality of the object of Christ's death. If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world (1 Jo. ii. 1, 2.). The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, (2 Cor. v. 14.). God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him might not perish, but might have everlasting life. (Jo. iii. 16.).

But a proper attention to the nature of man will set essential to the justice of our argument in a still stronger point of view. It is obvious, that such an inward freedom as renders a man the master of his own conduct, and able to do or not do what he pleases, is so necessary to the morality of our actions, that without it they are neither good nor evil, neither capable of rewards nor punishments. Madmen, or men asleep, are not to be charged with the good or evil of what they do; therefore at least some small degree of liberty must be left us, otherwise why are we praised or blamed for our conduct? All virtue and religion, all discipline and industry, arise out of this as their first principle, that there is a power in us to govern our own thoughts and actions, and to raise and improve our faculties. If this be denied, all efforts, all education, all attention bestowed upon ourselves or others, become fruitless and vain. If a man account himself under an inevitable decree, as he will have little remorse for the evil he does while he imputes it to that inevitable force that constrains him, so he will naturally conclude that it is to no purpose for him to struggle with impossibilities. Men are sufficiently inclined to throw all censure off from themselves, and to indulge in indolence; and upon the doctrine of absolute predestination who can blame them, seeing that their efforts can be of no value?

Matter is inactive of itself, and only moves in consequence of its being acted upon by some other being. Man is possessed of a power to begin motion, and to determine it in any direction that he may judge proper. This power

tion.

26

Liberty or

and this intelligence constitute his liberty, and form that Predestinaimage of God that is stamped upon his nature. Whether man possesses this power of acting originally and of himself, or whether he is incapable of forming any resolution, or making any effort, without being acted upon by necessity a a foreign cause, is not a point to be reasoned on or dis- question of puted about it is a question of fact, which, as far as it fact. can possibly be known, every man has it in his power to determine by the evidence of his own consciousness. We

do

aver, then, that every man is conscious that he is a free agent, and that it is not possible for the most staunch predestinarian that has ever yet appeared seriously and practically to convince himself of the contrary. It is not possible for a man in his senses to believe, that in all those crimes which men charge themselves with, and reproach themselves for, God is the agent; and that, properly speaking, they are no more agents than a sword is when employed to commit murder. We do indeed, on some occasions, feel ourselves hurried on so impetuously by violent passions, that we seem for an instant to have lost our freedom; but on cool reflection we find, that we both might and ought to have restrained that heat in its first commencement. We feel that we can divert our thoughts, and overcome ourselves in most instances, if we set seriously about it. We feel that knowledge, reflection, and proper society, improve the temper and disposition; and that ignorance, negligence, and the society of the worthless and abandoned, corrupt and degrade the mind. From all this we conclude, that man is free, and not under inevitable fate, or irresistible motions to good or evil. This conclusion is confirmed by the whole style of scripture, which upon any other supposition becomes a solemn and unworthy mockery. It is full of persuasions, exhortations, reproofs, expostulations, encouragements, and terrors. But to what purpose is it to speak to dead men, to persuade the blind to see, or the lame to run? If we are under impotence till the irresistible grace comes, and if, when it comes, nothing can withstand it, what occasion is there for these solemn discourses which can have no effect? They cannot render us inexcusable, unless it were in our power to be improved by them; and to imagine that God gives light and blessings, which can do no good, to those whom he before intended to damn, only to make them more inexcusable, and for the purpose of aggravating their condemnation, gives so strange an idea of his character as it is not fit to express in the language that naturally arises out of it.

27

the acts of

God de

tures.

Our antagonists seem to have formed ideas of the Some of divine perfection and sovereignty that are altogether false. There is no imperfection implied in the suppo- pend on sition that some of the acts of God may depend upon the conduct the conduct of his creatures. Perfection consists in of his crea forming the wisest designs, and in executing them by the most suitable means. The Author of Nature conducts the planets in their orbits with immutable precision according to fixed rules: but it would be absurd to pretend to manage free agents, or their affairs, in the same manner by mathematical or mechanical principles. The providence that is exerted over material objects is fixed and steady in its operations, because it is fit that material objects which cannot move of themselves should be moved in a regular manner: but free and intelligent beings enjoy a wider range, and ought not to be confined to a prescribed train of exertions; it

may