THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 / THE 
 
 DOCTRINE 
 
 OF 
 
 ABSOLUTE PREDESTINATION 
 
 STATED AND ASSERTED : 
 
 TRANSLATED IN GREAT MEASURE TROK 
 THE LATIN OF 
 
 JEROM ZANCHIUS: 
 
 WITH 
 
 SOME ACCOUNT OF HIS LIFE PREFIXED*. 
 
 AND 
 
 AN APPENDIX 
 
 CONCERNING THE FATE OF THE ANCIENTS* 
 ALSO, 
 
 A CAVEAT AGAINST UNSOUND DOCTRINES. 
 
 TO WHICH IS ADDED, 
 
 A LETTER TO THE 
 
 REV. JOHN WESLEY. 
 
 BY AUGUSTUS TOPLADY, A. B. 
 
 VICAR OF BROAD-HEMBURY, DEVON, 
 
 NEW-YORK ? 
 
 PUBLISHED BY GEO :GE LINDSAY. 
 
 Taut & Thomas, Printers 
 1811. 

 
 N . 
 
 * 
 
 ! Xfch? Jones. , 
 
 %**
 
 151 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Page 
 
 Recommendatory Preface, containing a 
 short history of the Rise and Progress of 
 
 Arminianism jp 5 
 
 A Short Sketch of the Life of Augustus 
 
 Toplady 15 
 
 Toplady's Preface. General observations, 
 concerning Predestination, Providence, 
 
 and Fate 23 
 
 Life of Zanchy 47 
 
 Introductory View of the Divine Attributes 69 
 
 CHAP. I. Explanation of Terms .... 107 
 
 II. Of Predestination at large ... 117 
 
 III. Of Election in particular . . 129 
 
 IV. Of Reprobation 140 
 
 V. On the Preaching of these Doc- 
 trines 163 
 
 Short Dissertation concerning Fate .... 200 
 Caveat against Unsound Doctrines ... 209 
 A Letter to the Rev. John Wesley .... 267 

 
 RECOMMENDATORY PREFACE. 
 
 -**<-.- 
 
 OF all the devices formed by Satan, and em- 
 ployed to sully the glory of divine truth, that 
 which is now commonly called Arminianism, is 
 the most ancient, the most dangerous, and the 
 most successful. Since the fall of man, it has 
 existed in the world, in every age and in every 
 country. It may be called the religion of our 
 fallen nature ; and will never want friends and 
 advocates on earth, so long as the spirit of error 
 and the corrupt heart are permitted to exert their 
 wicked influence. It is a system of principles, 
 stated in direct opposition to the sovereignty of 
 God, displayed in the distribution of his favours 
 among men ; and is utterly eversiye of the whole 
 plan of grace revealed in the gospel. It proclaims 
 open war against the essential prerogative of Deity 
 his absolute right of determining the final state 
 1
 
 6 RECOMMENDATORY PREFACE. 
 
 of rational beings, considered as guilty and fallen ; 
 and makes the divine purpose entirely dependent 
 on the creature's will. The great God is impi- 
 ously dethroned, that the vile idol of free will 
 may be exalted in his room. The proud usurper, 
 being seated on the throne, dares to arraign at 
 his bar, every thing human and divine ; and pre- 
 sumes to judge, approve, or condemn every arti- 
 cle of the divine testimony, and every piece of 
 divine conduct, as they appear right or wrong to 
 the corrupt heart the depraved will. 
 
 This is a system founded in ignorance, sup- 
 ported by pride, fraught with atheism, and will 
 end in delusion. But it is well calculated to gain 
 general consent among all who were never tho- 
 roughly convinced of the evil of sin, nor felt the 
 burden of guilt pressing their consciences ; nor 
 have seen the purity of the divine law, their own 
 lost and helpless state, and the absolute necessity 
 of Christ's righteousness for justification and 
 eternal life. The carnal heart is naturally proud, 
 and regards, with fond attention, whatever tends 
 to flatter its vanity and self-importance. Such is 
 the palpable tendency of the Arminianism scheme. 
 It gently whispers us in the ear, that, even in a 
 fallen state, we retain both the will and the power 
 of doing what is good and acceptable to God : 
 that Christ's death is accepted by God as an 
 universal atonement for the sins of all men ,* in 
 order that every one mat/, if he will, save himself 
 by his own free will, and good works : that, in
 
 RECOMMENDATORY PREFACE. 7 
 
 the exercise of our natural powers, we may arrive 
 at perfection even in the present life, &c. These, 
 and the like unscriptural tenets, are so much 
 adapted to the legal bias of the corrupt heart, that 
 we need not wonder at the favourable reception they 
 have met with in every period of the church. 
 
 If we consult the history of past ages, it will be 
 found, that this set of corrupt principles has al- 
 ways occupied a chief place in the faith and pro- 
 fession of corrupt churches. In the latter times 
 of the Jewish church, the body of that people 
 were so strongly attached to this legal scheme, 
 that they utterly rejected Christ and his righte- 
 ousness, and went about to establish a righteous- 
 ness of their own. The gospel church was no 
 sooner planted, than the spirit of error began to 
 work. The Arminian leaven in the heart was 
 set a working by the Arminian or Judaizing 
 teachers of those days, which produced such a 
 strong fermentation in some churches, that they 
 seem to have almost entirely departed from the 
 faith. Of this melancholy change the church of 
 Galatia presents an affecting instance. The apos- 
 tles and other ministers of Christ, by their ser- 
 mons, their disputations, and writings, laboured 
 
 trd to stem the torrent, and prevent the infection 
 from spreading through the church : But alas, 
 this mystery of iniquity continued to work, 
 through the fostering care of the father of lies, 
 and by the craft and assiduity of his numerous 
 emissaries. During the three first centuries of the
 
 8 RECOMMENDATORY PREFACE, 
 
 Christian church, it was continually on the in- 
 crease ; and, about the beginning of the fourth, it 
 broke out with open violence under the name of 
 the Arian heresy. 
 
 This was little else but a new name clapt upon 
 an old mass of error, which had been lying in de- 
 tached fragments, up and down in the Christian 
 world from the beginning. By Arius they were 
 all gathered up and artfully formed into one com- 
 plete system of falsehood and blasphemy. His 
 opposition was chiefly directed against the doc- 
 trines of Christ's Eternal Sonship of his co-es- 
 sentiality and co-equality with the Father : but 
 his system included in its bosom the very essence 
 of the Socinian and Arminian errors. 
 
 In the year of our Lord 325, the pastors of 
 the church assembled in a general council at 
 Nice, in Bythinza, to concert measures for check- 
 ing the spreading infection. They drew up that 
 admirable form of sound words, called the Ni- 
 cene Creed, or Confession of Faith. It was 
 subscribed by all present; and even by Arius 
 himself, that temporizing arch-heretic ; merely 
 to serve a present turn, and with a fixed design 
 of throwing off the mask as soon as a favourable 
 opportunity should offer. In a few years he 
 openly retracted ; and, gaining the ear of the 
 Roman emperor, he filled the church with tumult 
 and blood, and attempted to banish truth, and 
 exterminate its professors from the earth. 
 
 The spirit of error and delusion seemed to be 
 let loose from all restraint. Multitudes of new
 
 RECOMMENDATORY PREFACE. 9 
 
 heresies suddenly sprung up in almost every 
 corner of the church. Pelagius, a British monk, 
 in the beginning of the 5th century, appeared on 
 the stage to plead the cause of error and decry 
 the doctrines of grace. The Scripture doctrine 
 of absolute and unconditional Predestination he 
 boldly denied asserting that God was directed 
 in determining the final state of sinful men by 
 his foreknowledge of human actions Original 
 Sin, both imputed and inherent, he counted a 
 mere figment He maintained the modern Armi- 
 nian tenet of Free Will in its utmost extent ; af- 
 firming that a man retains full power to chuse 
 what is good, and to do what is well-pleasing to 
 God, without any supernatural aid That men I 
 in the present state may attain sinless perfection, 
 if they only suitably improve their natural f 
 powers and the common means of grace That 
 Justification before God is by works, and not by 
 faith in the righteousness of Christ. 
 
 This many-headed monster was hatched long 
 before the days of Pelagius ; but never till then 
 did it assume an aspect so alarming and formida- 
 ble. Its venom soon overspread the whole con- 
 tinent of Europe, and reached the British Isle. 
 As every poison ha& its antidote, so the cause of 
 truth did not then want many noble champions, 
 who stood up in its defence. Among others the 
 Lord raised up the justly celebrated Austin, who, 
 with a bold imd well directed stroke, cut off this 
 
 Hydra's head. But the deadly infection had al- 
 1 *
 
 10 RECOMMENDATORY PREFACE. 
 
 ready spread too wide to be easily cured. It 
 lurked in the bowels of a corrupt and apostati- 
 zing church, until it made its way to the papal 
 chair gained the consent of general councils, 
 and became the avowed creed of the antichristian 
 church. 
 
 At the commencement of the protestant re- 
 formation, the standard was again lifted up in de- 
 fence of the doctrines of grace. The scriptures, 
 which for many ages had lain concealed in the 
 musty cabinet of dead languages, were now trans- 
 lated into the vulgar tongue of every country 
 where the reformation got footing. The inven- 
 tion of printing greatly accelerated the diffusion 
 of knowledge ; and the writings of the ancient 
 fathers, particularly of Austin, were eagerly 
 sought after, carefully read, and publicly taught 
 by the most illustrious reformers, such as, Cal- 
 vin, Luther, Zulinglius, Bucer, Melancthon, Zan- 
 eh'nis, and others. Men were filled with astonish- 
 ment of their former ignorance and infatuation. 
 Satan fell, as lightning from heaven, before the 
 preaching of the everlasting gospel. His king- 
 dom was full of darkness ; but his heart burned 
 with rage, and he set ever^ engine to work to 
 prevent the total ruin of his^iterest and empire. 
 He moved earth and hell a^mist the witnesses of 
 Christ, and the earth was soaked with the blood 
 of the saints. But truth prevailed over all the 
 fury of persecution. 
 
 The old and more successful method of oppo- 
 sing the cause of God was then tried. Floods
 
 RECOMMENDATORY PREFACE. 11 
 
 of error broke in upon the church. Soci?ius, a 
 man of great cunning and considerable learning, 
 sent abroad a new edition of the old Arian here- 
 sy, with additional strokes of bold blasphemy. 
 After him arose Arminins, in Holland, who re- 
 vived in a new dress the old Pelagian heresy. 
 It caused great convulsions in the seven United 
 Provinces ; and occasioned the meeting of the 
 famous Synod of Dort, at which the errors of 
 Arminius and his party were solemnly tried, and 
 condemned. But the old leaven continued still 
 to ferment in the bowels of the church. It stole 
 into Britain about the beginning of the last cen- 
 tury ; but dared not openly to shew its blotched . 
 face, until Archbishop Laud introduced it to / 
 court, and made it the Shibboleth of his party. ' 
 The execution of that haughty and arbitrary 
 prelate, with the dispersion of his powerful fac- 
 tion, had nearly cleared the island of the Armi- 
 nian plague : when lo, a second inundation broke 
 in upon the land, at the restoration of king- 
 Charles II. By his debauched court, every thing 
 serious was treated with buffoonery and scorn; 
 but, because the Arminian clergy were found 
 more pliant tools for the ruling party; divines 
 of this stamp were generally preferred to the 
 more considerable ecclesiastical benefices. Eng- 
 land was soon overrun with Arminianism, and 
 the old-fashioned doctrines of grace were every 
 where run down as gross fanaticism, and their 
 abettors stigmatized with the name of enthusi- 
 asts.
 
 12 RECOMMENDATORY PREFACE, 
 
 The noxious weed was openly transplanted 
 into our Scotch soil after the restoration ; when 
 our Presbyterian pulpits were invaded and forci- 
 bly seized by an army of curates of the corrupt 
 communion of the Church of England. The 
 prejatical form of church government was in- 
 deed pulled down in North Britain, at the revo- 
 lution : but not a few of the episcopal incum- 
 bents were continued in their charges, and em- 
 bodied into our national church, upon very gene- 
 ral and equivocal terms. From this impure 
 source has sprung much of that corruption of 
 doctrine which now overspreads the whole land. 
 
 Deism, or absolute Scepticism seem, in the 
 present day, to be the prevailing and fashionable 
 creed among many who move in the higher 
 spheres of life. Socinianism has of late years 
 made very rapid progress among professors of 
 different descriptions. But Arminianism of all 
 others, is the most prevalent ; and may be styled 
 the vulgar error. It comes soliciting our ac- 
 ceptance with all the false charms of a harlot, 
 decked out in such captivating colours, as too 
 well suit the vitiated and depraved taste of cor- 
 rupt nature. It finds an advocate in every man's 
 bosom. Its cause is pleaded by all the strength 
 and subtlety of carnal reason. 
 
 As a seasonable antidote against this growing 
 evil, the following short treatise and sermon are 
 sent abroad, warmly recommended to the atten- 
 tion of the public. Many volumes have been
 
 RECOMMENDATORY PREFACE. 13 
 
 wrote, on the Arminian controversy : but I have 
 met with nothing that more completely, and in 
 so concise a manner, cuts it up by the roots. 
 This valuable translation of Zanchy on predes- 
 tination, came into my hands about two years 
 ago, with some other pieces of Mr. Tcpladifs 
 own works. The manly boldness of the learned 
 translator and author, his fervent zeal for purity 
 of gospel doctrine, and his masterly way of dis- 
 secting and exposing error very much struck and 
 pleased me.* I felt much regret that his wri- 
 tings should be so little known in Scotland, 
 whefe they are so much needed. To have re- 
 published all his works would have required se- 
 veral volumes, and, consequently put it out of 
 the reach of the poor to become acquainted with 
 them. Besides, they are not all equally adapted 
 to general edification. Some of them are pro- 
 fessedly composed for the meridian of England ; 
 and directly pointed against the reigning errors 
 of the English clergy. The two pieces selected 
 are no less suited to the state of matters on this, 
 than on the other side of the Tweed. This 
 edition is chiefly intended for the accommodation 
 of such as are in narrow worldly circumstances, 
 
 * The greatest men have their peculiarities, their favour- 
 ite modes of expression, and are liable to be mistaken in 
 some things. The admirable Augustus Toplady, with all 
 his excellencies, is not an unexceptionable author, either as 
 to matter or m inner. But where shall we find such among 
 uninspired men ? JIumanum est errare.
 
 14 RECOMMENDATORY PREFACE, 
 
 and can spare very little for the purchase of 
 books. It is put into circulation at one fourth of 
 the original cost of the London edition. May 
 the Divine Spirit make it extensively useful for 
 convincing and reclaiming the erroneous, and for 
 comforting and confirming all the true friends of 
 the, precious doctrines of grace, through the 
 churches of Christ. 
 
 ALEXANDER PRINGLE. 
 
 PERTH, 
 Nov. 9, 1793-
 
 
 A 
 SHORT SKETCH 
 
 OF THE LIFE AA'D CHARACTER 
 or 
 
 AUGUSTUS MONTAGUE TOPLADY, 
 
 RECTOR OF BROAD-HEMBURYj DEVON. 
 
 J\lR. Toplady* was second son to Richard 
 Toplady, Esq. a major in the army. He was 
 born at Farnham, in Surrey, on Tuesday, the 
 4th of November, 1 740. The first rudiments of 
 his education he received at Westminster School. 
 He very early discovered an uncommon vigour 
 of mind, and made proficiency in the languages 
 much beyond most of his contemporaries. He 
 used to employ his by-hours, while at the gram- 
 mar-school, in writing exercises for such idle or 
 dissipated young nobility as either could not, or 
 would not write them themselves. By this means 
 he sometimes gained three or four shillings a day. 
 
 * The substance of this short account of Mr. Toplady's 
 life is taken from the Christian's Magazine, for January, 
 1791, with some additions and alterations.
 
 16 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF 
 
 After his father's death, his mother (having 
 some claims upon an Irish estate) took him with 
 her into that kingdom ; and entered him a stu- 
 dent in Trinity College, Dublin, where he soon 
 took his degree of Bachelor of Arts. He was an 
 indefatigable student in every branch of literature 
 and science ; but, as he very early devoted him- 
 self to the service of Christ in the church, he 
 chiefly cultivated those studies which were best 
 calculated to make him (through the divine bles- 
 sing) an able minister of the New Testament. 
 He took much pains to render himself a profici- 
 ent in the Hebrew and Greek languages, that he 
 might be qualified to read and study the scrip- 
 tures of truth in their sacred originals. His 
 writings abundantly shew that he was, in a high 
 degree, master of them both. 
 
 About the 15th year of his age, it pleased God 
 to bring him under awakenings of conscience, on 
 account of the guilt and misery of his natural 
 state ; and to shew him his absolute need of Christ. 
 He was a considerable time in great perplexity 
 and doubt between the Arminian and Cahinistic 
 schemes. He read with avidity many books on 
 each side. At last a kind of Providence brought 
 in his way Dr. Manton on the 17th of John: 
 which was made the happy mean of giving his 
 strong Arminian prejudices the first effectual 
 blow. By the time he arrived at his 1 8th year, 
 he had (through the Spirit's supernatural teach- 
 ing) attained a clear and settled belief of the doc- 
 trines of grace ; and continued to the day of his
 
 AUGUSTUS MONTAGUE TOPLADY. 17 
 
 death a bold and determined enemy to the Armi- 
 nian heresy. He used often to say among his in- 
 timates, "that he should, when in heaven, re- 
 member the year 1758, (the 18th of his age) with 
 gratitude and joy. 
 
 He entered into orders on Trinity Sunday, the 
 6th of June, 1762. He was soon after inducted 
 into the living of Blagdon, in Somersetshire, and 
 afterwards into that of Broad-Hembury, in De- 
 vonshire. In both charges he shewed himself an 
 able, faithful, and zealous servant of Christ ; " a 
 labourer that needeth not to be ashamed ; rightly 
 dividing the word of truth." It was during his 
 residence at Broad-Hembury that he composed 
 the greater part of those valuable works, which 
 will perpetuate and endear his memory to all the 
 friends of truth through succeeding ages. He 
 occasionally visited London, and soon contracted 
 an intimacy with an extensive circle of friends 
 there. The lustre of his pulpit talents could not 
 be hid. He was much followed, and much ad- 
 mired. Three years before his death his health 
 began to be much impaired by close study and 
 excessive application. He began to apprehend 
 that the air of Devon was too moist for one of 
 his delicate constitution. By the advice of friends 
 he removed to London in the year 1775. But 
 he had not well arrived, when he was earnestly 
 solicited by his numerous friends, to engage to 
 preach in the chapel belonging to the French Re- 
 formed, in Leicester Fields. Their pressing im- 
 portunities, and an ardent desire of being useful 
 2
 
 18 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF 
 
 to immortal souls, prevailed over every other con- 
 sideration. For a short time he statedly supplied 
 that charge. But intense application to study, and 
 late sitting, soon wasted his remaining strength, 
 and accelerated the premature end of his minis- 
 try and labours. He fell into a consumption, 
 and entered into his Master's joy on the 11th of 
 August, 1778, the 38th year of his life, and the 
 16th of his ministry. 
 
 His bodily frame seems to have been rather 
 tall and slender ; and his natural temper extreme- 
 ly keen and boisterous. Impatient of contradic- 
 tion, he was in the heat of disputation, apt to be 
 hurried on by the mere impetuosity of his pas- 
 sions, to a degree of warmth bordering on dic- 
 tatorial insolence. 
 
 His mind was endowed with vast powers of 
 conception. His understanding was clear and 
 capacious, his judgment solid and correct, his 
 imagination lively, and his invention uncommon- 
 ly prompt and fertile. His great natural powers 
 were much improved by a liberal education and 
 close study. His early acquaintance with the power 
 of religion induced him to delight much in the stu- 
 dy of the scriptures. He soon acquired, under 
 divine influence, a very accurate and extensive 
 knowledge of the word of God. In his public 
 labours he eminently deserved the noble charac- 
 ter of Apollos, " A man mighty in the scrip- 
 tures." His writings clearly show his intimate 
 acquaintance with the ancient fathers and sys- 
 tematic writers. He seems to have inherited a
 
 AUGUSTUS MONTAGUE .TOPLADY. 19 
 
 large portion of the zeal and spirit of Austin and 
 Broadxvardin : and, like them too, to have bent 
 the whole force of his genius against the Pelagian 
 and Arminian heresies. The narrow escape which, 
 through the grace of God, he made, from being 
 entangled in the fascinating toils of Arminianism 
 might, perhaps, determine him the more to embrace 
 every opportunity of exposing the danger to others. 
 Being born and educated in the bosom of a church 
 w r hich was overrun with this error, he boldly stood 
 forth as a resolute defender of the doctrines of 
 grace, from both pulpit and press. Arminians 
 of every denomination smarted under his lash. 
 This error seems to have been his favourite game; 
 and, whenever it started, he followed the chace 
 until he run it down. So fully was he versed in 
 this controversy, that, he never seems more mas- 
 ter of his subject than when dissecting and con- 
 futing Arminianism. Many a sore drubbing poor 
 Mr. Wesley, and his adherents, received from his 
 able pen. Upon the whole, he was a burning and 
 shining light a skilful champion in the cause of 
 God and a lively and zealous Christian. He 
 died as he lived glorying only in the cross of 
 Christ, and triumphing in the freedom and riches 
 of adorable grace. 
 
 A little before his death, a report was in circu- 
 lation, raised and industriously propagated by 
 the Arminian faction, .that he had recanted those 
 Calvinistic doctrines which he had all along pub- 
 licly maintained with such strength of argument 
 and warmth of zeal. When the false rumour
 
 20 THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF 
 
 came to his ears, he was filled with much indig- 
 nation at this weak and wicked effort of his ene- 
 mies against him. And, although he was very 
 much weakened through long and severe distress, 
 yet he determined openly to contradict this lying 
 invention from the pulpit, and close his minis- 
 try by exhibiting, an open testimony in vindica- 
 tion of the doctrines of grace. With the greatest 
 fortitude of soul he executed his resolution ; al- 
 though his voice was now become so weak that 
 he could not be distinctly heard. 
 
 Speaking to a friend about this matter, he said, 
 " My dear friend, these great and glorious truths 
 which the Lord, in rich mercy, has given me to 
 believe, and which he has enabled me, though 
 very feebly, to stand forth in the defence of, are 
 not (as those who believe not, or oppose them say) 
 dry doctrines, or mere speculative points No : 
 but, being brought into practical and heart expe- 
 rience, they are the very joy and support of my 
 soul : and the consolations flowing from them, 
 carry me far above the things of time and sense." 
 In his last moments, he was favoured with much 
 comfortable experience of the divine presence ; 
 and finished his course under a strong gale of 
 sensible assurance. " Oh, what a day of sunshine 
 this has been to me !" (would he sometimes say) 
 *'I want words to express it it is unutterable. 
 Oh my friends, how good is God ! almost with- 
 out interruption, his presence has been with me ! 
 What a great thing it is to rejoice in death ! 
 Christ's love is unutterable !" Some passages of
 
 AUGUSTUS MONTAGUE TOPLADY. 21 
 
 scripture he frequently repeated ; and descanted 
 with peculiar emotions of joy and rapture upon 
 the latter part of Rom. viii. When very near the 
 end of his conflict, on his awaking from a slum- 
 ber, he cried out, " Oh what delights ! who can 
 fathom the joys of the third heavens ! I cannot 
 find words to express the comforts I feel in my 
 soul ! they are past expression. The consola- 
 tions of God to such an unworthy wretch are so 
 abundant, that he leaves me nothing to pray for 
 but a continuance of them. I enjoy a heaven al- 
 ready in my soul. My prayers are all con- 
 verted into praise. Nevertheless, I do not for- 
 get, that I am still in the body, and liable to all 
 those distressing fears which are incident to human 
 nature, when under temptation, and without any- 
 sensible divine support : but so long as the pre- 
 sence of God continues with me, in the degree in 
 which I now enjoy it, I cannot but think that such 
 a desponding frame is impossible." 
 
 Within an hour of his death he called his 
 friends and servant, and asked them, If they could 
 give him up ? they replied in the affirmative, since 
 it pleased God to be so gracious to him : then said 
 he, *' I bless the Lord you are brought so cheer- 
 fully to part with me, and give me up into the 
 hands of my dear Redeemer ! it will not be long 
 when God will take me ; for no mortal man can 
 live, (bursting into tears of joy) after the glories 
 which God has manifested to my soul." Soon 
 after this, he closed his eyes, and slept in Jesus* 
 2 *
 
 22 THE LIFE AND CHARACTER, ETC. 
 
 Thus died this great and good man. May- 
 such striking displays of divine love and sove- 
 reign grace encourage all who truly believe in the 
 Lord Jesus, to trust him more confidently, to 
 love him more ardently, to follow him more sub- 
 missively, and to serve him more zealously; in 
 the well-grounded hope, that they too, in the end, 
 shall find death prove their unspeakable gain.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 ^*gi2i73ta 
 
 WHEN I consider the absolute independency 
 of God, and the necessary, totai dependence of all 
 created things on him their first cause ; I cannot 
 help standing astonished at the pride of impotent, 
 degenerate man, who is so prone to consider 
 himself as a being possessed of sovereign freedom, 
 and invested with a power of self-salvation ; able, 
 he imagines, to counteract the designs even of In- 
 finite Wisdom, and to defeat the agency of Omni- 
 potence itself. Ye shall be as gods, said the 
 tempter, to Eve, in Paradise : and ye are as 
 gods, says the same tempter now, to her apostate 
 sons. One would be apt to think, that a sugges- 
 tion so demonstrably false and flattering, a sug- 
 gestion the very reverse of what we feel to be 
 our state ; a suggestion, alike contrary to scrip- 
 ture and reason, to fact and experience ; could 
 never meet with the smallest degree of credit. 
 And yet, because it so exactly coincides with 
 the natural haughtiness of the human heart; men 
 not only admit, but even relish the deception, 
 and fondly incline to believe that the father of 
 lies does, in this instance at least, speak truth.
 
 24 PREFACE. 
 
 The scripture-doctrine of predetermination, 
 lays the axe to the very root of this potent delusion. 
 It assures us, that all things are of God. That 
 all our times, and all events, are in his hand. 
 Consequently, that man's business below is to fill 
 up the departments, and to discharge the several 
 offices, assigned him in God's purpose, from ever- 
 lasting : and that, having lived his appointed time, 
 and finished his allotted course of action and suf- 
 fering, he that moment quits the stage of terres- 
 trial life, and removes to the invisible state. 
 
 The late deservedly celebrated Dr. Young > 
 though he affected great opposition to some of 
 the doctrines called Calvinistic ; was yet compel- 
 led, by the force of truth, to acknowledge, that 
 " There is not a fly but has had infinite wisdom 
 concerned, not only in its structure, but in its 
 destination."* Nor did the late learned and ex- 
 cellent Bishop Hopkins go a jot too far, in assert- 
 ing as follows : " A sparrow, whose price is but 
 mean, two of them valued at a farthing (which 
 some make to be the 10th part of a Roman penny, 
 and was certainly one of their least coins,) and 
 whose life, therefore, is but contemptible, and 
 whose flight seems giddy and at random ; yet it 
 falls not to the ground, neither lights any where, 
 without your Father. His all-wise Providence 
 hath before appointed what bough it shall pitch 
 on ; what grains it shall pick up : -where it shall 
 
 * Centaur not Fabulous, Letter H
 
 PREFACE. 2$ 
 
 lodge, and where it shall build ; on what it shall 
 live, and when it shall die. Our Saviour adds, 
 The very hairs of your head are all numbered. 
 God keeps an account, even of that stringy ex- 
 crescence. Do you see a thousand little motes 
 and atoms wandering up and down in a sun- 
 beam ? It is God that so peoples it ; and he 
 guides their innumerable and irregular strayings. 
 Not a dust rises in a beaten road ; but God 
 raiseth it, conducts its uncertain motion, and, 
 by his particular care, conveys it to the certain 
 place he had before appointed for it : nor shall 
 the most fierce and tempestuous wind hurry it any 
 farther. Nothing comes to pass but God hath 
 his ends in it, and will certainly make his own 
 ends out of it. Though the world seem to run 
 at random, and affairs to be huddled together in 
 blind confusion and rude disorder ; yet God 
 sees and kn'nvs the concatenation of all causes 
 and effects, a I so governs them, that he makes a 
 perfect harmc y out of all those seeming jarrings 
 and discords. It is most necessary, that we 
 should have our hearts well established in the 
 firm and unwavering belief of this truth ; That 
 whatsoever comes to pass, be it good or evil, we 
 may look up to the hand and disposal of all, to 
 God In respect of God, there is nothing casual, 
 nor contingent, in the world. If a master should 
 send a servant to a certain place, and command 
 him to stay there till such a time ; and, presently 
 after, should send another servant to the same 
 [place ;] the meeting of these two is wholly casn
 
 26 PREFACE- 
 
 al in respect of themselves, but ordained and fort* 
 seen by the master who sent them. So it is its 
 all fortuitous events here below. They fall out 
 unexpectedly as to us ; but not so as to God. 
 He foresees, and he appoints all the vicissi- 
 tudes of things."* 
 
 To illustrate this momentous doctrine, especial- 
 ly so far as God's sovereign distribution of grace 
 and glory is concerned, was the chief motive 
 that determined me to the present publication. In 
 perusing the works of that most learned and 
 evangelical divine, one of whose performances 
 now appears in an English dress ; I was particu- 
 larly taken with that part of his Confession of 
 Faith (presented A. D. 1562, to the Senate of 
 Strasburgh,) which relates to Predestination. It 
 is, from beginning to end, a regular chain of solid 
 argument, deduced from the unerring word of 
 divine revelation, and confirmed by the co-inci- 
 dent testimonies of some of the greatest lights 
 that ever shone in the Christian church. Such 
 were Austin, Luther, Bucer. Names that will 
 be precious and venerable as long as true reli- 
 gion has a friend remaining upon earth. 
 
 Excellent as Zanchifs original piece is, I yet 
 have occasionally ventured both to retrench and 
 to enlarge it, in the translation. To this liberty 
 I was induced, by a desire of rendering it as com- 
 plete h treatise on the subject as the allotted corn- 
 
 Sermon upon Providence; from Matth, x. 29, oQ
 
 PREFACE. 27 
 
 pass would allow. I have endeavoured rather 
 to enter into the spirit of the admirable author; 
 than with a scrupulous exactness to retail his 
 very words. By which means the performance 
 will prove, I humbly trust, the more satisfactory 
 to the English reader ; and, for the learned one, 
 he can at any time, if he pleases, by comparing the 
 following version with the original Latin, both 
 perceive wherein I have presumed to vary from 
 it ; and judge for himself whether my omissions, 
 variations, and enlargements, are useful and just. 
 
 The Arminiaus (I know not, whether through 
 ignorance, or to serve a turn) affect at present to 
 give out, That Luther and Calvin were not agreed 
 in the article of Predestination. A more palpa- 
 ble mistake was never advanced. So far is it 
 from being true, that Luther (as I can easily 
 prove, if called to it) went as heartily into that 
 doctrine as Calvin himself. He even asserted it 
 with much more warmth, and proceeded to much 
 harsher lengths in defending it, than Calvin ever 
 did, or any other writer I have met with of that 
 age. In the following performance, I have for 
 the most part, carefully retained Zanchy's quota- 
 tions from Luther ; that the reader, from the 
 sample there given, might form a just idea of 
 Luther's real sentiments concerning the points in 
 question. 
 
 Never was a publication of this kind more sea- 
 sonable than at present. Arminianism is the 
 grand religious evil of this age and country. It 
 has more or less infected every protestant denp-
 
 28 PREFACE. 
 
 mination amongst us, and bids fair for leaving us, 
 in a short time, not so much as the very profes- 
 sion of godliness. The power of Christianity has, 
 for the most part, taken its flight long ago ; and 
 even the form of it seems to be on the point of 
 bidding us farewell. Time has been when the 
 Calvinistic doctrines were considered and defend- 
 ed as the palladium of our established church, by 
 her bishops and clergy ; by the universities, and 
 the whole body of the laity. It was (during the 
 reigns of Edward VI. Queen Elizabeth, James 
 I. and the greater part of Charles I. as difficult 
 to meet with a clergyman, who did not preach the 
 doctrines of the church of England, as it is now 
 to find one w r ho does. We have generally forsa- 
 ken the principles of the reformation ; and Icha- 
 bod, or Thy glory is departed, has been written 
 on most of our pulpits and church-doors ever 
 since. 
 
 u Thou, O God, hast brought a Vine out of 
 E gvpt ; thou hast cast out the heathen, and plant- 
 ed it. 
 
 " Thou preparedst room before it, and didst 
 cause it to take deep root ; and it filled the land. 
 
 " The hills were covered with the shadow of it, 
 and the boughs thereof were like the goodly ce- 
 dars. 
 
 " She sent out her boughs to the sea, and her 
 branches unto the river. 
 
 " Why hastthou then broken down her hedges, 
 so that all they, who pass by the way, do pluck 
 her ?
 
 FREFACE. 29 
 
 " The boar, out of the wood, doth waste it ; and 
 the wild beast of the field doth devour it. 
 
 " Return, we beseech thee, O God of Hosts ! 
 Look down from heaven, and behold and visit 
 this vine ; 
 
 ** And the vineyard, which thy right hand hath 
 planted ; and the branch that thou madest strong 
 for thyself ! 
 
 "'So will we not go back from thee : quicken us, 
 and we shall call upon thy name. 
 
 " Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts ! cause 
 thy face to shine, and we shall yet be saved." / 
 Psalm lxxx. 
 
 Never was description more strikingly expres- 
 sive of the state our national church is at present 
 in ! Never was supplication more pertinently 
 adapted to the lips of her genuine sons ! 
 
 In vain do we lament the progress of Popery ; 
 in vain do we shut up a few private mass-houses ; 
 while our presses teem, and our pulpits ring, with 
 the Romish doctrines of merit and free xvill : 
 doctrines, whose native and inevitable tendency 
 is, to smooth the passage for our fuller coalition 
 with Antichrist. If we are really desirous to 
 shun committing spiritual adultery with the mo- 
 ther of harlots and abominations, we must with- 
 draw our feet from the way that leadeth to her 
 house. 
 
 Blessed be God, the doctrines of grace are 
 
 again beginning to lift up their heads amongst us : 
 
 a sign, it is to be hoped, that the Holy Spirit hath 
 
 not quite forsaken us ; and that cur redemption, 
 
 3
 
 30 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 from the the prevailing errors of the day, draw- 
 eth near. Now, if ever, is the time for all who 
 love our church and nation in sincerity, to lend an 
 helping hand to the ark ; and contribute, though 
 ever so little, to its return. 
 
 The grand objection usually made to that im- 
 portant truth, which is the main subject of the 
 ensuing sheets, proceeds on a supposition of par- 
 tiality in God, should the Calvinistic doctrine be 
 admitted If this consequence did really follow, 
 I see not how it would authorize man to arraign 
 the conduct of Deity. Should an earthly friend 
 make me a present often thousand pounds, would 
 it not be unreasonable, ungrateful, and presump- 
 tuous in me, to refuse the gift, and revile the 
 giver, only because it might not be his pleasure 
 to confer the same favour on my next door neigh- 
 bour ? In other cases, the value of a privilege or 
 of a profession is enhanced by its scarceness. A 
 virtuoso sets but a little esteem on a medal, a 
 statue, or a vase, so common that every man who 
 pleases may have one of the same kind : he 
 prizes that alone as a rarity, which really is 
 such ; and which is not only intrinsically valu- 
 able, but which lies in few hands. Were all men 
 here upon earth, qualified and enabled to appear 
 as kings, the crown, the sceptre, the robe of state, 
 and other ensigns of majesty, would presently 
 sink into things hardly noticeable. The distin- 
 guishing grandeurs of royalty, by ceasing to be 
 uncommon would quickly cease to be august and 
 striking. Upon this principle it was, that Henry
 
 PREFACE. 31 
 
 IV. of France, said on his birth-day, " I was 
 born as on this day ; and, no doubt, taking the 
 world through, thousands were born on the same 
 day with me : yet, out of all those thousands, I 
 am, perhaps, the only one whom God hath made 
 a king. How signally am I indebted to the pe- 
 culiar bounty of his Providence !" Similar are 
 the reflections and the acknowledgments of such 
 persons as are favoured with the sense of their 
 election in Christ to holiness and heaven. 
 
 " But what becomes of the non-elect ?" You 
 have nothing to do with such a question, if you 
 find yourself embarrassed and distressed by the 
 consideration of it. Bless God for his electing 
 love, and leave him to act as he pleases by them 
 that are without. Simply acquiesce in the plain 
 scripture account? and wish to see no farther 
 than revelation holds the lamp. 'Tis enough for 
 you to know, that the Judge of the whole earth 
 will do right. Yet will you reap much improve- 
 ment from the view of predestination, in its full 
 extent, if your eyes are able steadfastly to look at 
 all which God hath made known concerning it. But 
 if your spiritual sight is weak, forego the inquiry, 
 so far as reprobation is concerned ; and be con- 
 tent to know but in part, till death transmits you 
 to that perfect state, where you shall knoxv even 
 as you are known. Say not, therefore, as the op- 
 posers of these doctrines did in St. Paul's davs : 
 " Why doth God find fault with the wicked ? Fof 
 who hath resisted his will ? If he who only can 
 convert them, refrains from doing it, what room
 
 32 PREFACE, 
 
 is there for blaming them that perish, seeing it & 
 impossible to resist the will of the Almighty l n 
 Be satisfied with St. Paul's answer : " Nay, but 
 who art thou, O man, that repliest against God ?" 
 The apostle hinges the matter entirely on God's 
 absolute sovereignty. There he rests it; and 
 there we ought to leave it.* 
 
 Were the whole of mankind equally loved 
 of God, and promiscuously redeemed by Christ, 
 the song which believers are directed to sing 
 would hardly run in these admiring strains : To 
 him that hath loved us, and washed us from our 
 sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings 
 
 * Some of the more considerate Heathens treated God's 
 hidden will with an adoring reverence, which many of our 
 modern Arminians would do well to imitate. Thus Bicm 
 (KAeoJV KXt Mv^r. 10) 
 
 Kgtveiv u>c eTreotxe 3-ttjtx egrx figolttri. 
 
 'Tis not for man to sit in judgment on the actions of God. 
 
 So Theognis (yvo/*. 141, 142.) 
 
 AvSgaxoi 2s fix] act st 9tf*4Qefit1, tifofis yJV. 
 
 S~e xx]x t/ipiji^oi -axvrx reXxn vaov. 
 We men are foolish in our imagnations, and know nothing: 
 
 But the gods accomplish all things according to their own 
 mind. 
 
 And again, (Lin. 687, 683.) 
 
 Ovx, t$i B-)i}floi(}t zrqaq xBxvxIm; ia,x%ivxg-&xi, 
 
 ucft frixtiv et-zreiv. Jev< thJo $-e/xJf. 
 "Tis not lawful for mortals to enter the lists with the gods, 
 
 nor to bring in an accusation against them.
 
 PREFACE. S3 
 
 and priests unto God, Sec. Rev. i. 5, 6. An 
 hymn of praise like this, seems evidently to pro- 
 ceed on the hypothesis of peculiar election on the 
 part of God, and of a limited redemption on the 
 part of Christ ; which we find still more explicitly 
 declared, Rev. v. 9. where we have a transcript 
 of that song, which the spirits of just men made 
 perfect are now singing before the throne, and be- 
 fore the Lamb : Thou wast slain and hast re- 
 deemed us unto God by thy blood, out of e very- 
 kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. 
 Whence the elect are said to have been redeem- 
 ed from among men. Rev. xiv. 4. 
 
 In short, there is no such thing, as casualty, 
 or accident, even in things of temporal concern ; 
 much less in matters spiritual and everlasting. If 
 the universe had a Maker, it must have a Gover- 
 nor, and if it has a Governor, his will and Provi- 
 dence must extend to all things, without exception. 
 For my own part, I can discern no medium between 
 absolute predestination and blank Atheism. 
 
 Mr. Rollin,* if I mistake not, has, somewhere, 
 a fine observation to this effect : That " It is 
 
 * Since the above was written, I have met with the fine 
 passage to which it refers. " Providence delights to conceal 
 its wonders under the vail of human operations." Rollin's 
 Arts and Sciences of the Ancients, vol. 3 p- 480. 
 
 Mr. Hervey has likewise a most beautiful and judicious 
 paragraph to the same effect ; where, speaking of what is 
 commonly termed accidental death, this admirable writer 
 asks : " Was it then a random stroke ? doubtless, the blow 
 Game from an aiming, though invisible hand. God presideth 
 over the armies of heaven. G o c ruleth among the inhabi- 
 3 #
 
 34 PREFACE. 
 
 usual with God, so carefully to conceal himself, 
 and to hide the agency of his Providence behind 
 second causes ; as to render that very often un- 
 discernable and undistinguishable from these." 
 Which wisdom of conduct, and gentleness of 
 operation, (not less efficacious, because gentle and 
 invisible,) instead of exciting the admiration they 
 deserve ; have, on the contrary, given occasion 
 to the setting up of that unreal idol of the brain, 
 called chance. Whereas, to use the lovely lines 
 of our great moral poet, 
 
 All Nature is but Art unknown to thee ; 
 
 All Chance, Direction which thou canst not see. 
 
 tants of the earth. And God conducteth what men call 
 chance. Nothing, nothing comes to pass through a blind 
 and undiscerning fatality. If accidents happen, they happen 
 according to the exact foreknowledge, and conformably to 
 the determinate counsels of eternal wisdom. The Lord, 
 with whom are the issues of death, signs the warrant, and 
 gives the high commission. The seemingly fortuitous disas- 
 ter, is only the agent, or instrument, appointed to execute the 
 supreme decree. When the king of Israel was mortally 
 wounded, it seemed to be a casual shot. A certain man drew 
 a bow at a venture, (1 Kings xxii. 34) At a venture, as he 
 thought. But his hand was strengthened by an omnipotent 
 aid ; and the shaft levelled by an unerring eye. So that what 
 iue term casualty, is really providence ; accomplishing 
 deliberate designs, but concealing its own interposition. 
 How comforting this reflection ! Admirably adapted to sooth 
 the throbbing anguish of the mourners, and compose their 
 spirits into a quiet submission ! Excellently suited to dissi- 
 pate the fears of godly survivors ; and create a calm intre- 
 pidity, even amidst innumerable perils !" Hervey's Medita- 
 tions, vol. 1. p. 27, 28.
 
 FREFACE. 35 
 
 Words are only so far valuable, as they are 
 the vehicles of meaning. And meaning, or ideas, 
 derive their whole value from their having some 
 foundation in reason, reality, and fact. Was I, 
 therefore, to be concerned in drawing up an Ex- 
 purgatory Index to language, I would, without 
 mercy, cashier and proscribe such words as chance, 
 fortune, luck, casualty, contingency, and mishap. 
 Nor unjustly For they are Voces, and praeterea 
 nihil. Mere terms without ideas. Absolute 
 expletives, which import nothing. Unmeaning 
 cyphers, either proudly invented to hide man's 
 ignorance of real causes, or sacrilegiously de- 
 signed to rob the Deity of the honours due to his 
 wisdom, providence, and power. 
 
 Reason and Revelation are perfect unisons, in 
 assuring us, that God is the supreme, indepen- 
 dent first cause ; of whom, all secondary and in- 
 ferior causes are no more than the effects. Else, 
 proper originality and absolute wisdom, unlimited 
 supremacy and almighty power,, cease to be at- 
 tributes of Deity. I remember to have heard an 
 interesting anecdote of King William and Bishop 
 Burnet. The Arminian prelate affected to won- 
 der ** how a person, of his Majesty's piety and 
 good sense, could so rootedly believe the doctrine 
 of absolute predestination." The Royal Calvin- 
 ist replied Did I not believe absolute predes- 
 tination, I could not believe a providence. For, 
 it would be most absurd to suppose that a Being 
 of infinite wisdom would act without apian : for 
 which plan, predestination is only another name.
 
 36 PREFACE. 
 
 What, indeed, is predestination, but God's de- 
 terminate plan of action ? and what is providence, 
 but the evolution of that plan ? In his decree, 
 God resolved within himself what he would do, 
 and what he would permit to be done : By his 
 providence, this effective and permissive will 
 passes into external act, and has its positive ac- 
 complishment. So that the purpose of God, as 
 it were, draws the out-lines, and providence lays 
 on the colours. What that designed, this com- 
 pletes : what that ordained, this executes. Pre- 
 destination is analogous to the mind and inten- 
 tion ; providence, to the hand and agency of the 
 artificer. Hence, we are told, that God worketh 
 {there's his providence'] all things, after the coun- 
 sel of his own will [there's his decree,] Eph. i. 11. 
 And again, he doth according to his will, in 
 the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of 
 the earth : and none can stay his hand [i. e. his 
 will, and the execution of it, are irresistible,] nor 
 say unto him, what dost thou ? i. e. his purpose 
 and providence are sovereign, and for which he 
 will not be accountable to his creatures. Dan. 
 iv. 35. 
 
 According, therefore, to the Scripture repre- 
 sentation, Providence neither acts vaguely and at 
 random, like a blind archer, who shoots uncer- 
 tainly in the dark, as well as he can ; nor yet 
 pro re nata, or as the unforeseen exigence of 
 affairs may require : like some blundering states- 
 man, who plunges (it may be) his country and 
 Kimself into difficulties, and then is forced to ua-
 
 PREFACE. 37 
 
 ravel his cobweb, and reverse his plan of opera- 
 tions, as the best remedy for those disasters, 
 which the court-spider had not the wisdom to 
 foresee. But shall we say this of God ? It were 
 blasphemy. He that dwelleth in heaven, laugheth 
 all these miserable after-thoughts to scorn. God, 
 who can neither be over-reached, nor overpower- 
 ed, has all these wretched post-expedients in 
 derision. He is incapable of mistake. He knows 
 no levity of will. He cannot be surprised with 
 any unforeseen inconveniences. His throne is in 
 heaven, and his kingdom ruleth over all. What- 
 ever, therefore, comes to pass, comes to pass as 
 a part of the original plan : and is the offspring 
 of that prolific series of causes and effects, which 
 owes its birth to the ordaining and permissive 
 will of him, in whom we all live, and are moved,* 
 and have our being. Providence, in time, is the 
 hand that delivers God's purpose, of those beings 
 and events, with which that purpose was preg- 
 nant from everlasting. The doctrine of equivo- 
 cal generation is not more absurd in philosophy, 
 than the doctrine of unpredestinated events is in 
 theology. 
 
 Thus, the long train of things is, though 
 
 A mighty maze, yet not without a plan. 
 
 God's sovereign will is the first link ; his unalter- 
 able decree is the second; and his all active pro- 
 vidence the third, in the great chain of causes. 
 
 * ^.tiSfL'Jtu. Acts xvii. 2S,
 
 3$ PREFACE. 
 
 What his will determined, that his decree esta- 
 blished, and his providence either mediately or 
 immediately effects. His will was the adorable 
 spring of all, his decree marked out the chan- 
 nel, and his providence directs the stream. 
 
 " If so," it may be objected, " It will follow, 
 that whatever is, is right." Consequences can- 
 not be helped. No doubt, God, who does no- 
 thing in vain ; who cannot do any thing to no 
 purpose, and still less to a bad one ; who both 
 acts and permits with design ; and who weighs 
 the paths of men, has, in the unfathomable abyss 
 of his counsel, very important (though to us se- 
 cret) reasons, for permitting the entrance of moral 
 evil, and for suffering both* moral and natural 
 evil still to reign over so great a part of the cre- 
 ation. Unsearchable are his judgments [ttfifijftd, 
 decrees] and his ways [the methods and dispensa- 
 tions of his providence] past finding out. Who hath 
 known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been 
 his counsellor ? For, of him, and through him, 
 and to him, are all things. Rom. ii. 33, 34, 36. 
 As to myself, I can, through grace, most heartily 
 adopt the maxim of Bengelius, Non plus sum ere, 
 non minus accipere :f I neither wish to know more 
 
 * Grotius himself is forced to own, " Quae vero permittun- 
 tur Scelera, non carent interim suo Fructu," i. c. even the 
 crimes which God permits ihe perpetration of, are not with- 
 out their good consequences. (De Veritat. liel. L 1. sect. 19.) 
 A bold saying this ! But the sayer was an Arminian : and 
 therefore we hear no outcry on the occasion. 
 
 t Ordo Temporum, cap. viii. p. 302-
 
 PREFACE. 39 
 
 than God has revealed, nor to remain ignorant 
 of what he has revealed. I desire to advance, 
 and to halt, just when where the pillar of God's 
 word stays, or goes forward. I am content that 
 the impenetrable veil, divinely interposed between 
 his purposes and my comprehension, be not drawn 
 aside, till faith is lost in sight, and my spirit re- 
 turn to him who gave it. But of this I am as- 
 sured, that echo does not reverberate sound so 
 punctually, as the actual disposal of things answers 
 to God's predetermination concerning them. 
 This cannot be denied, without dethroning pro- 
 vidence, as far as in us lies, and setting up for- 
 tune in its room. There is no alternative. I 
 defy all the sophistry of man, to strike out a 
 middle way. He that made all things, either di- 
 rects all things he has made, or has consigned 
 them over to chance. But what is chance ? a 
 name for * nothing. Arminicmism, therefore, is 
 Atheism* 
 
 * The late learned and indefatigable Mr. Chambers has, in 
 his valuable Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, under the word 
 chance, two or three observations so pertinent and full to 
 this remark, (viz. of chance being a name for nothing) that 
 I cannot help transcribing them. " Our ignorance and pre- 
 cipitancy lead us to attribute effects to chance, which have a 
 necessary and determinate cause. 
 
 " When we say a thing happens by chance ; we really mean 
 no more than that its cause is unknown to us : and not, as 
 some vainly imagine, that chance itself can be the cause of 
 any thing. From this consideration, Dr. Bentley takes occa- 
 sion to expose the folly of that old tenet, the world was 
 ?nade by chance.
 
 40 PREFACE. 
 
 I grant that the twin doctrines of Predestina- 
 tion and Providence are not without their diffi- 
 culties. But the denial of them is attended with 
 ten thousand times more and greater. The diffi- 
 culties on one side, are but as dust upon the ba- 
 lance : those in the other, as mountains in the 
 scale. To imagine that a Being of boundless 
 wisdom, power, and goodness, would create the 
 universe, and not sit at the helm afterwards, but 
 turn us adrift to shift for ourselves, like an huge 
 vessel without a pilot, is a supposition that sub- 
 verts every notion of Deity, gives the lie to eve- 
 ry page in the Bible, contradicts our daily experi- 
 ence, and insults the common reason of mankind. 
 
 Say's! thou, the course of nature governs all ? 
 The course of nature is the art of God. 
 
 The whole creation, from the seraph down to the 
 invisible atom, ministers to the supreme will, and 
 is under the special observation, government, and 
 
 " The case of the painter, who, unable to express the foam 
 at the mouth of an horse he had painted, threw his sponge in 
 despair at the piece, and by chance did that which he could 
 not before do by design, is an eminent instance of the force 
 of chance. Yet, it is obvious, all we here mean by chance 
 is, that the painter was not aware of the effect : or, that he 
 did not throw the sponge with such a view. Not but that he 
 actually did every thing necessary to produce the effect. 
 Insomuch that, considering the direction wherein he threw 
 the sponge, together with iisform, and specific gravity ; the 
 colours wherewith it was smeered, and the distance of the 
 hand from the piece ; it was impossible, on the present sys- 
 tem of things, that the effect should not follow."
 
 PREFACE. 41 
 
 direction of the Omnipotent mind : who sees all, 
 himself unseen j who upholds all, himself unsus- 
 tained ; who guides all, himself guided by none; 
 and who changes all, himself unchanged. 
 
 u But does not this doctrine tend to the estab- 
 lishment of fatality ?" Supposing it even did, 
 were it not better to be a Christian fatalist, than 
 to avow a set of loose Arminian principles, which 
 if pushed to their natural extent, inevitably ter- 
 minate in the rankest Atheism ? For, without 
 predestination, there can be no Providence ; and, 
 without Providence, no God. 
 
 After all, What do you mean by fate ? If you 
 mean a regular succession of determined events, 
 from the beginning to the end of time ; an unin- 
 terrupted chain, without a single chasm ; all de- 
 pending on the eternal will and continued influen- 
 ence of the great First Cause : this is fate, it 
 must be owned, That it and the scripture predes- 
 tination are, at most, very thinly divided ; or, ra- 
 ther, entirely coalesce. But if by fate is meant, 
 either a constitution of things antecedent to the 
 will of God ; by which he himself was bound, ab 
 origine ; and which goes on of itself, to multiply 
 causes and effects, to the exclusion of the all-per- 
 vading power and unintermitting agency of an in- 
 telligent, perpetual, and particular Providence : 
 neither reason nor Christianity allows of any 
 such fate as this. Fate, thus considered, is just 
 such an extreme, on one hand, as chance is on 
 the other. Both are alike, unexistable. 
 4
 
 42 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 It having been not unusual with the Arminian 
 writers to tax us with adopting the fate of the 
 ancient Stoics ; I thought it might not be unac- 
 ceptable to the English reader, to subjoin a brief 
 view of what those philosophers generally held, 
 (for they were not all exactly of a mind) as to 
 this particular. It will appear to every compe- 
 tent reader, from what is there given, how far the 
 doctrine of fate as believed and taught by the 
 Stoics, may be admitted upon Christian princi- 
 ples. Having large materials by me for such a 
 work, it would have been very easy forme to have 
 annexed a dissertation of my own upon the sub- 
 ject : but I chose to confine myself to a small ex- 
 tract from the citations and remarks of the learn- 
 ed Lipsius, who seems in his Physiologia Stoi- 
 corum, to have almost exhausted the substance of 
 the argument, with a penetration and precision 
 which leave little room either for addition or 
 amendment. In a cause, therefore, where the 
 interest of truth is so eminently concerned I 
 would rather retain the ablest counsel when it can 
 be had, than to venture to be myself her sole ad- 
 vocate. 
 
 For my own particular part, I frankly confess 
 that, as far as the coincidence of the Stoical fate, 
 with the Bible predestination* holds good; I 
 
 * " Now I am in some measure enlightened," (says the 
 Rev. Mr. Newton, of Olney,) I can easily perceive, that it 
 is in the adjustment and concurrence of seemingly fortuitous 
 circumstances, that the ruling- power and wisdom of God are
 
 PREFACE. 43 
 
 see no reason why we should be ashamed to 
 acknowledge it. St. Austin, and many other 
 great and excellent men, have not scrupled to ad- 
 mit both the word [viz. the word fate\ and the 
 thing properly understood.* I am quite of Lip- 
 
 rnost evidently displayed in human affairs. How many such 
 casual events may we remark in the history of Joseph, which 
 had each a necessary influence in his ensuing' promotion I If 
 the Midianites had passed by a day sooner, or a day later ;- 
 .Jf they had sold him to any person but Potiphar ; If his mis- 
 tress had been a better woman ; If Pharaoh's officers had 
 not displeased their Lord; or, if any, or all these things had 
 fallen out in any other manner or time than they did, ail 
 that followed had been prevented : the promises and pur- 
 poses of God concerning Israel, their bondage, deliverances, 
 polity, and settlement, must have failed: and as all these things 
 tended to and centred in Christ, the promised Saviour; the 
 desire of all nations would not have appeared. Mankind had 
 been still in their sins, without hope ; and the counsels of God's 
 eternal love, in favour of sinners, defeated. Thus we may 
 see a connexion between Joseph's first dream and the death 
 of our Lord Christ, with all its glorious consequences. So 
 strong, though secret, is the concatenation between the 
 
 greatest and the smallest events ! What a comfortable 
 
 thought is this to a believer, to know, that amidst all the va- 
 rious, interfering designs of men, the Lord has one constant 
 design, which he cannot, will not miss : namely, his own glo- 
 ry, in the complete salvation of his people ! And that he is 
 wise, and strong, and faithful, to make even those things, 
 which seem contrary to this design, subservient to promote 
 it !" See p. 96. and seq. of a most entertaining and instruc- 
 tive piece, entitled An authentic Narrative of some remark- 
 able and interesting Particulars, in the Life of *****, in a 
 Series of Letters, 1765. 
 
 * For a sample, the learned reader may peruse the judi- 
 cious chapter, De Fato, in Abp. Bradvardin'i immortal book 
 De Causa Dei, lib. i. cap. 29
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 sius 1 s mind : " Et vcro non aversabor Stoici no- 
 men; sed Stozci Christiani : I have no objection 
 to being called a Stoic so you prefix the word 
 Christian to it."* 
 
 Here ended the first lesson : i. e. here ended 
 the preface to the former edition of this tract. 
 A tract, whose publication has raised the indig- 
 nant quills of more than one Arminian porcu- 
 pine. 
 
 Among those enraged porcupines, none has 
 hitherto bristled up so fiercely as the high and 
 mighty Mr. John Wesley. He even dipt his 
 quills in the ink of forgery on the occasion ; as 
 Indians tinge the points of their arrows with poi- 
 son, in hope of their doing more effectual execu- 
 tion. The quills, however, have reverberated, 
 and with ample interest, on poor Mr. John's own 
 pate. He felt the unexpected pain, and he has 
 squeaked accordingly. I will not here add to 
 the well deserved chastisement he has received : 
 which, from more than one quarter, has been such, 
 as will probably keep him sore, while his sur- 
 name begins with W. Let him, for his own 
 sake, learn, as becomes a very sore man, to lie 
 still. Rest may do him good : motion will but 
 add to his fever, by irritating his humours already 
 too peccant. Predestination is a stone, by rashly 
 falling on which, he has more than once been la- 
 mentably broken. I wish him to take heed, in 
 
 * Oper. torn, i, Def Posthum- cap. ii. p. 118.
 
 PREFACE. 45 
 
 due season, lest that stone at length fall on him. 
 For, notwithstanding all his delinquencies, I 
 would still have him avoid, if possible, the catas- 
 trophe of being ground to powder. 
 
 - 
 
 4 *
 
 SOME ACCOUNT OP 
 
 THE LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 JEROM ZANCHIUS. 
 
 AT has been asserted,* that this great divine was 
 born at Alzano, a town of Italy, situate in the 
 valley of Seri, or Serio. But the learned John 
 SturmiuSy who was not only Zanchy's contempo- 
 rary, but one of his most intimate friends, ex- 
 pressly affirms in a *speech delivered on a pub- 
 lic and important occasion, That he was nobili 
 natus familia Berg-ami j born of an illustrious 
 family at Bergamo, the capital of a little pro- 
 vince in the north-west of Italy, anciently a part 
 of Gallia Cispadana ; but A. D. 1428, made a 
 parcel of the Venetian territory, as it still con- 
 tinues.^ I look upon Sturmius's testimony as 
 
 * Melch. Adam Vit. Theolog. Exterior, p. 148. and Bayle's 
 Hist. Diet under the article Zanchius. 
 
 f Addressed by Sturmius, to the senate of Stratsburgv, 
 March 20, 1562- and inserted afterwards into the works of 
 Zanchy, Tom. vii- part 2- col. 408. 
 
 * Complete Syst. of Geog. vol. 1. p. 843.
 
 48 THE LIFE OF 
 
 decisive : it being hardly credible, that he could 
 mistake the native place of a colleague, whom he 
 so highly valued, who was living at the very 
 time, and with whom he had opportunity of con- 
 versing daily. Sturmius adds, That there was 
 then remaining at Bergamo, a fortress (built pro- 
 bably by some of Zanchy's ancestors) known by 
 the name of The Zanchian Tower. 
 
 In this city was our author born, Feb. 2, 1516. 
 At the time of his birth, part of the public ser- 
 vice, then performing, was, a light to lighten the 
 Gentiles, &c. And by God's good providence 
 the reformation broke forth the very next year in 
 Germany, under the auspices of Luther ; and 
 began to spread far and wide. 
 
 At the age of twelve years, Zanchy lost his fa- 
 ther,* who died of the plague, A. D. 1528. 
 His motherf survived her husband but three 
 years. Deprived thus of both his parents, Zan- 
 chy resolved on a monastic life ; and accord- 
 ingly, joined himself to a society of Canons Re- 
 gular.^: He did this partly to improve himself in 
 literature, and partly for the sake of being with 
 some of his relations, who had before entered 
 themselves of that house. Here he continued 
 
 * Francis Zanchius ; who seems to have been a native of 
 Venice, and was by profession a counsellor. 
 
 f Barbara ; sister to Marc Antony Mutius, a nobleman of 
 great worth and distinction. 
 
 * At Lucca. See the Biogr. Diet- vol- viii. p. 267, under 
 the article Peter Martyr.
 
 JEROM ZANCHIUS. 49 
 
 nineteen years; chiefly devoting his studies to 
 Aristotle, the languages, and school-divinity. 
 
 It was his happiness to become acquainted very 
 early in life with Celsus Maximian, count of 
 Martinengo ; who, from being like Zanchy, a bi- 
 goted papist by education, became afterwards a 
 burning and shining light in the reformed church. 
 Of our author's intimacy with this excellent no- 
 bleman, and its blessed effects, himself gives us 
 the following account:* u I left Italy for the gos- 
 pel's sake ; to which I was not a little animated by 
 the example of count Maximian, a learned and 
 pious personage, and my most dear brother in 
 the Lord. We had lived together under one 
 roof, and in a state of the strictest religious 
 friendship for the greater part of sixteen years ; 
 being both of us Canons Regular, of nearly the 
 same age and standing, unisons in temper and 
 disposition, pursuing the same course of studies, 
 and which was better still, joint hearers of Peter 
 Martyr, when that apostolic man publicly ex- 
 pounded St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, and 
 gave private lectures on the Psalms to us his 
 monks." From this memorable period we are 
 evidently to date the eera of Zanchy's awakening 
 to a true sight and experimental sense of divine 
 things. His friend, the count, and the learned 
 Tremellius, were also converted about the same 
 time, under the ministry of Martyr. 
 
 * Zanchii Epist. ad Lantgray. Operum. Tom, vii, part. 1. 
 col, 4.
 
 50 THE LIFE OF 
 
 This happy change being effected, our author's 
 studies began to run in a new channel. " The 
 count," says he, " and myself betook ourselves 
 to a diligent reading of the Holy Scriptures ; to 
 which we joined a perusal of the best of the fa- 
 thers, and particularly St. Austin. For some 
 years we went on thus in private, and in public 
 we preached the gospel as far as we were able in 
 its purity. The count, whose gifts and graces 
 were abundantly superior to mine, preached with 
 much greater enlargement of spirit, and freedom 
 of utterance than I could ever pretend to : it was 
 therefore, no wonder that he found himself con- 
 strained to fly his country before I was. The 
 territory of the Grisons was his immediate place 
 of retreat ; from whence removing soon after, he 
 settled at Geneva, where he commenced the first 
 pastor of the protestant Italian church in that city. 
 Having faithfully executed this sacred office for 
 some years, he at length comfortably fell asleep 
 in Christ*," A D 1558, after having, on his 
 death-bed, commended the oversight of his flock 
 to the great Calvin. 
 
 It was in the year 1550, that Peter Martyr 
 himself was obliged to quit Italy ; where he could 
 no longer preach, nor even stay with safety. To- 
 ward the latter end of the same year, eighteen of 
 his disciples were forced to follow their master 
 from their native land ; of which number Zanchy 
 
 * Zanch. tit supra '
 
 JEROM 2.ANCHIUS. 51 
 
 was one. Being thus a refugee, or, as himself 
 used to express it, " delivered from his Babylon- 
 ish captivity ," he went into Grisony, where he 
 continued upwards of eight months ; and then to 
 Geneva, where after a stay of near a twelve- 
 month, he received an invitation to England, 
 (upon the recommendation of Peter Martyr, then 
 in this kingdom,) to fill a divinity professorship 
 here ; I suppose at Oxford, where Martyr had 
 been for some time settled. Zanchy embraced 
 the offer and began his journey, but was detained 
 on his way by a counter invitation to Strasburgh, 
 where the divinity chair had been lately vacated 
 by the death of the excellent Caspar Hedio. 
 
 Zanchy was fixed at Strasburgh, A. D. 155S, 
 and taught there almost eleven years ; but not 
 without some uneasiness to himself, occasioned 
 by the malicious opposition of several, who per- 
 secuted him for much the same reason that Cain 
 hated righteous Abel, 1 John iii. 12. Matters 
 however went on tolerably during the life-time of 
 Sturmius, who was then at the head of the uni- 
 versity, and Zanchius's fast friend. At Stras- 
 burgh it was, that he presented the famous de- 
 claration of his faith concerning Predestination, 
 Final Perseverance and the Lord's Supper. He 
 gave it in to the Senate, October 22, 1562. Of 
 this admirable performance, (i. e. of that part of 
 it which respects the first of these points) the 
 reader may form some judgment by the following 
 translation.
 
 52 THE LIFE OF 
 
 In proportion as the old senators and divines 
 died off, one by one, Zanchy's situation at Stras- 
 burgh, grew more and more uncomfortable. 
 Matters at length came to that height, that he was 
 required to subscribe to the Augsburgh confes- 
 sion, on pain of losing his professorship. After 
 mature deliberation, he did indeed subscribe ; 
 but with this declared restriction, modo drthodoxe 
 intelligatur. Notwithstanding the express limi- 
 tation with which he fettered his subscription, 
 still this great and good man seems, for peace 
 sake, to have granted too much concerning the 
 manner of Christ's presence in the Lord's sup- 
 per ; as appears by the first of the three theses, 
 maintained by him at this time : 1. Verum Chris- 
 ti corpus, pro nobis traditum ; s? verum ejus 
 sanguinem, in peccatorum nostrorum remissionem 
 effusum ; in Ccena vere manducari &? bibi. 
 Though the other two positions do effectually 
 explain his meaning : 2. Verum id, non ore, s? 
 dentibus corporis, sed vera jide. 3. Ideoqne, a 
 solis Jidelibus. I shall here beg leave to inter- 
 pose one question naturally arising from the sub- 
 ject. What good purpose do the imposition and 
 the multiplication of unnecessary subscriptions, 
 to forms of human composition tend to promote ? 
 It is a fence far too low to keep out men of little 
 or no principle ; and too high, sometimes, for 
 men of real integrity to surmount. It often opens 
 a door of ready admission to the abandoned ; 
 who, ostrich like, care not what they swallow, so 
 they can but make subscription a bridge to secular
 
 JEROM ZAXCHIUS. 53 
 
 interest : and, for the truly honest, it frequently 
 either quite excludes them from a sphere of ac- 
 tion, wherein they might be eminently useful, or 
 obliges them to testify their assent in such terms, 
 and with such open professed restrictions, as ren- 
 der subscription a mere nothing. 
 
 Not content with Zanchy's concessions, several 
 of the Strasburgh bigots* persisted in raising a 
 controversial dust. They tendered accusations 
 against him, of errors in point of doctrine ; par- 
 ticularly for his supposed heterodoxy concerning 
 the nature of the Lord's supper; his denial of the 
 ubiquity of Christ's natural body, and his pro- 
 testing against the lawfulness of images, &c. 
 Nay, they even went so far, as to charge him with, 
 unsound opinions concerning predestination and 
 the perseverance of the truly regenerate ; so early 
 did some of Luther's pretended disciples, after 
 the death of that glorious reformer (and he had 
 not been dead at this time above fifteen years,) 
 begin to fall off from the doctrines he taught, 
 though they still had the effrontery to call them- 
 selves by his name ! 
 
 * Particularly John Marbach, a native of Schawben, or 
 Swabia; a turbulent, unsteady theologist -, pedantic and abu- 
 sive ; a weak but fiery disputer, who delighted to live in the 
 smoke of contention and virulent debate. He was, among- the 
 rest of his good qualities, excessively loquacious ; which made 
 Luther say of him, on a very public occasion, Ori hujus Sucvi 
 ?::tnquam aranece poierunt tei'as texere ; " This talkative Sw* 
 bian need not be afraid of spiders ; for he keeps his lips ia 
 such constant motion, that no spider will ever be able to 
 weave a cobweb on his mouth." 
 
 5
 
 54 THE LIFE OF 
 
 A grand occasion of this dissention was a Look 
 concerning the Eucharist, and in defence of Con- 
 substantiation, written by one Heshusius; a fierce, 
 invidious preacher, who lavished the opprobrious 
 names of heretic and atheist on all without dis- 
 tinction, whose religious system went an hair's 
 breadth above or below his own standard. In his 
 preface, he grossly reflected* on the Elector Pal- 
 atine, (Frederic III.) Peter Martyr, Bullinger, 
 Calvin, Zuinglius, CEcolampadius, and other great 
 divines of that age. Zanchy, in mere respect to 
 these venerable names, did, in concert with the 
 learned Sturmius, prevail with the magistrates of 
 Strasburgh to prohibit the impression. Mr. Bayle 
 is so candid as to acknowledge, That " Zanchy 
 caused this book to be suppressed, not on account 
 of its doctrine, which he left to the judgment of 
 the church, but for the calumnies of the pre^ 
 face. 1 ' Zanchy was a zealous friend to religious 
 liberty. He had too great a share of good sense 
 and real religion, to pursue any measures which 
 simply tended either to restrain men from declar- 
 ing their principles with safety, or to shackle the 
 human mind in its inquiries after truth. But he 
 ardently wished to see the contending parties of 
 every denomination carry on their debates with 
 christian meekness, modesty, and benevolence ; 
 and, where these amiable ingredients were want- 
 ing, he looked upon disputation as a malignant 
 
 * Vide Zanc Op. Tom. vii. part 2. col. 250, 25!
 
 JEROM ZAXCIIIl):?. 55 
 
 fever, endangering the health, peace, and safety 
 of the church. When candour is lost, truth is 
 rarely found. Zanchy's own observations,* sub- 
 joined below, exhibit a striking picture of that 
 moderation, detachment from bigotry, and libe- 
 rality of sentiment, which strongly characterize 
 the Christian and the Protestant* 
 
 Notwithstanding the precautions taken by the 
 magistrates, Heshusius's incendiary piece stole 
 through the press : and Zanchy's efforts to stifle 
 it3 publication, were looked upon by the author's 
 party, as an injury never to be forgiven. They 
 left no methods unassayed, to remove him from 
 his professorship. Many compromising expedients 
 were proposed by the moderate of both parties. 
 The chapter of St. Thomas (of which Zanchy 
 himself was a canon) met to consider what course 
 should be pursued. By them it was referred to 
 a select committee of thirteen. Zanchy offered 
 to debate the agitated points in a friendly and 
 peaceable manner with his opponents : which of- 
 
 * Si liber iste non fuisset refortus tot calumniis & convitiis, 
 turn in ipsum principem Palatinum, turn in tot prxclaras ec- 
 clesias & earum doctores ; ego non curassem in ejus impres- 
 sionem impediri. Licet eniin unicuique suam sententtam scrl* 
 btre et explicare. Seel cum audirem tot ecclesias in libro ista 
 damnari hxreseos & atheismi ; idque non propter unum aut 
 alterum articulum fidei, qui impugnaretur, sed solummodo 
 propter interpretationem aliquam verborum, in qua neque ta- 
 ta relig-io consistit, neque salus periclitatur: adductus fui,Ut 
 libri istius impressionem, &c. 
 
 Zanch. ubi supr-
 
 56 THE LIFE OF 
 
 fer not being accepted, he made several journies 
 to other churches and universities in different 
 parts of Germany ; and requested their opinions, 
 which he brought with him in writing. Things, 
 however, could not be settled till the senate of 
 Strasburgh convened an assembly from other 
 districts, consisting partly of divines, and 
 partly of persons learned in the laws. These re- 
 ferees, after hearing both sides, recurred to the 
 old fruitless expedient of agreeing On certain ar- 
 ticles to which they advised each party to sub- 
 scribe. Zanchy, desirous of laying these unchris- 
 tian heats, and, at the same time, no less deter- 
 mined to preserve integrity and a good con- 
 science, subscribed in these cautious terms : 
 Hanc doctrince formulam ut piam agno$co y ita 
 etiam recipio : " I acknowledge this summary of 
 doctrine to be pious, and so I admit it." This 
 condescension on Zanchy's part was not follow- 
 ed by those peaceful effects which were expect- 
 ed. The peace was too loosely patched up to be 
 of any long duration. His adversaries began to 
 worry him afresh ; and just as measures were 
 bringing on the carpet, for a new and more last- 
 ing compromise, our divine received an invitation 
 to the church of Chiavenna ; situate on the bor- 
 ders of Italy, and in the territory of the Grisons. 
 Augustin Ma'inard, pastor of that place, was 
 lately dead ; and a messenger arrived to let Zan- 
 chy know that he was chosen to succeed him. 
 Having a very slender prospect of peace at Stras- 
 burgh, he obtained the consent of the senate to
 
 JEROM ZANCHIUS. 57 
 
 tesign his canonry of St. Thomas, and professors- 
 ship of divinity. Whilst the above debates were 
 pending-, he had received separate invitations 
 to Zurich, Geneva, Leyden, Heidelberg, Mar- 
 purg and Lausanne ; but, till he had seen the re- 
 sult of things at Strasburgh, he did not judge any 
 of these calls sufficiently providential to deter- 
 mine his removal. 
 
 He left Strasburgh,* in November, 1563, and 
 entered on his pastoral charge at Chiavenna, the 
 beginning of January following. But he had not 
 long been there, before the town was visited by 
 a dismal pestilence, which, within the space of 
 seven months, carried off twelve hundred of the 
 inhabitants. Zanchy, however, continued to ex- 
 ercise his ministry as long as there was an as- 
 sembly to preach to. At length, the far greater 
 part of the townsmen being swept away, he re> 
 treated for a while with his family to an adjoin- 
 ing mountain. His own account is this (Tom. 
 
 * Attended by his servant, Frideric Syllsspurg, a native 
 of Hesse : concerning whom Zanchy thus writes ; JOisccsn 
 Argentina, una cum Jido, non tarn J'amulo, quain, amico 0" 
 fratrc, Friderico Syllapurgio, He* to ; juvene bonorum llterarum 
 studioso, C? tanx doctrinae amanti : " A learned youth, and a 
 lover of the gospel ,- whom I look upon, not so much in the 
 light of a domestic, as of a faithfid friend, and a Christian 
 brother." 
 
 Opcr. T. vii. part 1. col. 36. 
 I hardly know which was most extraordinary : the good 
 qualities of the servant, or the gratitude and humility of ttoe 
 master 
 
 5 *
 
 58 THE LIFE OP 
 
 vii. part. 1. col. 36, 37.) " Mainard, my pious 
 predecessor, had often foretold the calamity with 
 which the town of Chiavenna has been since vi- 
 sited. All the inhabitants have been too well 
 convinced, that that holy man of God did not pro- 
 phesy at random. When the plague actually be- 
 gan to make havoc, I enforced repentance and 
 faith while I had a place to preach in, or any*con- 
 gregation to hear. Many being dead, and others 
 having fled the town, (like ship -wrecked mariners, 
 who, to avoid instant destruction, make toward 
 what coast they can ;) but very few remained : 
 and, of these remaining few, some were almost 
 terrified to death, others were solely employed in 
 taking care of the sick, and others in guarding the 
 walls. They concurred in advising me to con- 
 sult my own safety, by withdrawing for a time, 
 till the indignation should be overpast. I betook 
 myself, therefore, with all my family, to an high 
 mountain, not a vast way from the town, yet re- 
 mote from human converse, and peculiarly form- 
 ed for contemplation and unmolested retirement. 
 Here we led a solitary life for three months and 
 an half. I devoted my time chiefly to medita- 
 tion and writing, to prayer, and reading the scrip- 
 tures. I never was happier in my own soul, nor 
 enjoyed a better share of health." Afterwards, 
 the plague beginning to abate, he quitted his re- 
 treat and resumed the public exercise of his func- 
 tion. 
 
 After four years continuance at Chiavenna, 
 Frederic III. Elector Palatine, prevailed with
 
 JEROM ZANCHIUS. 5 ( J 
 
 him to accept a divinity professorship in the uni- 
 versity of Heidelberg, upon the decease of the fa- 
 mous Zachary Ursin. In the beginning of the 
 year 1568, Zanchy entered on his new situation ; 
 and shortly after opened the chair with an admi- 
 rable oration, De conservando in ecclesia puroputo 
 verbo Dei. In the same year he received his 
 doctor's degree ; the Elector Palatine, and his 
 son prince Casimir, honouring the ceremony 
 with their presence. 
 
 He had not been long settled in the palatinate, 
 when the Elector (one of the most amiable and 
 religious princes of that age) strongly solicited 
 him to confirm and elucidate the doctrine of the 
 Trinity, by writing a professed treatise on that 
 most important subject : desiring him, moreover, 
 to be very particular and explicit in canvassing 
 the arguments made use of by the Socinians, 
 who had then fixed their head quarters in Poland 
 and Transylvania, and were exhausting every ar- 
 tifice of sophistry and subterfuge, to degrade 
 the Son and Spirit of God to the level of mere 
 creatures. Zanchy accordingly employed his 
 leisure hours in obeying this pious command. 
 His masterly and elaborate treatise, De Dei na- 
 iura ; and that De tribus Elchim una eodemque 
 Jehova; were written on this occasion: treatises 
 fraught with the most solid learning and argu- 
 ment, breathing at the same time, the amiable 
 spirit of genuine candour and transparent piety. 
 Among a variety of interesting particulars, he 
 does not omit to inform his readers, that Ljelius
 
 60' THE LIFE Ofr 
 
 Socinus, and other favourers of the Servehan hy- 
 pothesis, had spared rreither pains nor art to per- 
 vert his judgment, and win him over to their 
 party ; but that, finding him inflexible, they had 
 broke off all intercourse with him, and from art- 
 ful, adulators, commenced his determined ene- 
 mies. An event this, which he evenlooked upon as 
 a blessing, and for which he conceived himself 
 bound to render his best thanks to the supreme 
 head of the church, Christ Jesus, He retained 
 his professorship at Heidelberg ten years ; when, 
 the elector Frederic being dead, he removed to 
 Newstadt, the residence of prince John Casimir, 
 count Palatine. Here he chose to fix his station 
 for the present, in preference to two invitations he 
 had just received j one from the university of 
 Leyden, then lately opened ; the other from the 
 Protestant church at Antwerp. The conduct of 
 Divine Providence respecting Zanchy's frequent 
 removals is very observable. He was a lover of 
 peace, and passionately fond of retirement. But he 
 was too bright a luminary to be always continued in, 
 one place. The salt of the earth must be sprink- 
 led here and there, in order to be extensively use- 
 ful, and to season the church throughout. Hence, 
 God's faithful ministers, like the officers in a mo- 
 narch's army, are quartered in various places ; 
 stationed and remanded hither and thither, as may 
 most conduce to their master's service. 
 
 The church of Newstadt enjoyed our author 
 Upwards of seven years. Being by that time far 
 advanced in life, and the infirmities of age coming
 
 JEROM ZANCHIUS. 61 
 
 on him very fast, he found himself obliged to 
 cease from that constant series of labour and in- 
 tenseness of application, which he had so long and 
 so indefatigably undergone. He was, at his owa 
 request, dismissed from public service at New- 
 stadt, by the elector Casimir j receiving at the 
 same time, very substantial marks of respect and 
 favour from that religious and generous prince. 
 
 From Newstadt, he repaired once more td 
 Heidelberg; chiefly with a view to see some of 
 his old friends. This proved his last removal on 
 earth ; for shortly after, his soul now ripe for 
 glory, dropped the body, and ascended to heaven 
 about six in the morning of November 19, 1590, 
 iEt. 75. His remains were interred at Heidel- 
 berg, in the college chapel of St. Peter ; where a 
 small monumental stone was set up to his memo- 
 ry, with this inscription : 
 
 Hieronymi hie sunt condita ossa Zanchiij 
 Itali ; exulantis, Christi amore, a patria : 
 Qui theologus quantus fuerit et philosophus, 
 Testantur hoc, libri editi ab eo plurimi ; 
 Testantur hoc, quos voce docuit in scholis ; 
 Quique audiere eum docentem ecclesias. 
 Nunc ergo, quamvis hinc migrant spiritu, 
 Claro tamen nobis remansit nomine.* 
 
 Decessit A. mdxc. Die 19 Novem. 
 
 * Here Zanckj rests, whom love of truth constraint 
 To quit his own and seek a foreign land. 
 How good and great he was, how form'd to shine, 
 How fraught with science human and divine ;
 
 62 THE LIFE OF 
 
 I cannot help lamenting, that no more is to bd 
 collected concerning this incomparable man, than 
 a few outlines of his life ; comprizing little else 
 but a dry detail of dates and removals. 
 
 As to his person, I can find no description of 
 it, except from some very old and scarce prints, 
 most of which were struck from engravings on 
 wood. These represent him as extremely corpu- 
 lent, even to unwieldiness : and yet, from the as- 
 tonishing extent, profoundness and exquisite ac- 
 tivity of his learning, judgment and genius, one 
 might well nigh be induced to imagine, that he 
 consisted entirely of soul, without any dead 
 weight of body at all : for, of his mind, his wri- 
 tings present us with the loveliest image. He 
 seems to have been possessed, and in a very su- 
 perior degree, of those graces, virtues and abili- 
 ties, which ennoble and exalt human nature to 
 the highest elevation it is capable of below. His 
 clear insight into the truths of the gospel is won- 
 derful ! especially, considering that the church of 
 God was but just emerging from the long and 
 dismal night of Popish darkness ; and himself, 
 previous to his conversion, as deeply plunged in 
 the shades as any. It is a blesjing which but 
 few are favoured with, to step, almost at once, 
 out of midnight into meridian day. He was tho- 
 
 Sufficient proof his num'rous writings give, 
 And those who heard him teach and saw him live 
 Earth still enjoys him, tho' his soul is fled : 
 His name is denthless tho' bis dust is de^.
 
 JEROM ZANCHIFS. 63 
 
 roughly experienced in the divine life of the soul; 
 and an happy subject of that internal kingdom of 
 God. which lies in righteousness, and peace, and 
 joy in the Holy Ghost. This enabled him to sus- 
 tain that impetus of opposition, which he almost 
 constantly met with. Few persons have ordina- 
 rily borne a larger share of the cross, and perhaps 
 none ever sustained it better. In him were hap- 
 pily centred, all the meek benevolence of charity, 
 and all the adamantine firmness of intrepidity : 
 qualities, alas, not constantly united in men of 
 orthodoxy and learning. 
 
 He was intimately conversant with the writings 
 of the fathers, and of the philosophers of that and 
 the preceding times. His modesty and humility 
 were singular. No man was ever more studious 
 to preserve peace in the church of Christ, nor 
 more highly relished the pleasures of learned and 
 religious friendship. For some time before his 
 decease, it pleased God to deprive him of his eye- 
 sight ; for this I take to be the meaning of the 
 excellent Meichior Adamus j* to whom I am in- 
 debted for much of the preceding account. His 
 works, which, with his letters, and some other 
 small pieces included, are divided into nine 
 tomes, were collected and published by his exe- 
 cutors some years after his death, and are usually- 
 bound together in three volumes, folio. He was 
 twice married, and had several children ; none of 
 
 * His words concerning' Zanchy are in senecta quo? mmqrxa'm 
 &l<x vcnit, fato Isaaci obnexiu*.
 
 64 THE 1IFE OF 
 
 which, so far as I can find, appear to have sur 
 vived him. 
 
 He is said by Mr. Leigh,* to have been one 
 u of the most scholastical among the Protest- 
 ants :" which, however, may be questioned ; his 
 style and manner of treating an argument be- 
 ing rather plain and solid, than subtil and meta- 
 physical. If scholism be an excellence in a wri- 
 ter, it is certain that the elder Spanhemius, and 
 the great Francis Turretin, have since much ex- 
 ceeded Zanchy in that respect. Our learned 
 countryman, Mr. Matthew Poole, terms himf 
 Theologus non e multis ; cajus commentaria sin- 
 gulari eruditione atque lacumine composita, auc- 
 torem suum doctisszmum referunt : " A divine of 
 the first class ; whose expositions, written with 
 extraordinary learning and ability, prove him to 
 have been a most accomplished scholar." Even 
 Mr. Bayle, who never seems to have been better 
 pleased, than when he could pick an hole in the 
 gown of an ecclesiastic, though himself was the 
 son of one ; yet allows our author to have been 
 *' one of the most celebrated Protestant divines, 
 and that few ministers have been so moderate 
 as he." 
 
 Nor must I omit the honour put upon him by 
 ur university of Cambridge, within five year6 
 after his death. One William Barrett,:): fellow 
 
 Account of Rel. and Learn. Men, p. 370. 
 
 f Svnops. Criticor. vol. iv. part 2- in PrseloqUL ad Lect 
 
 t See Fuller's Hist of Cambridge, p. 150.
 
 JEROM ZANCHIUS. 6$ 
 
 t>f Gonville and Calus college, ventured, April 
 29, 1595, to preach an Arminian sermon, in the 
 face of the university, at St. Mary's. I say, ven- 
 tured ; for it was a bold and dangerous attempt, 
 at that time, when the church of England was in her 
 purity, for any man to propagate Arminianism :* 
 and indeed, Barret himself paid dear for his inno- 
 vating rashness ; which ended in his ruin. The 
 university were so highly offended, both at his 
 presumption in daring to avow his novel, hetero- 
 dox opinions, and for mentioning some great di- 
 vines, among whom Zanchy was one, in terms of 
 the highest rancour and disrespect, that he was en- 
 joined to make a public recantation in that very 
 pulpit from whence he had so lately vented his 
 
 * As every reader may not have a clear determinate idea 
 of what Arminianism precisely is, it may to such be satifac- 
 torv to know, that it consists chiefly of five particulars. (1.) 
 The Arminians will not allow election to be an eternal, pe- 
 -culiar, unconditional and irreversible act of God. (2) They 
 assert, that Christ died equally and indiscriminately for every 
 individual of mankind ; for them that perish, no less than for 
 them that are saved. (3.) That saving- grace is tendered to 
 the acceptance of every man ; which he may, or may not re- 
 ceive, just as he pleases. Consequently, (4.) That the rege- 
 nerating- power of the Holy Spirit is not invincible, but is 
 suspended for its efficacy on the will of man. (5.) That saving 
 grace is not an abiding principle ; but that those who are 
 loved of God, ransomed by Christ, and born again of the 
 Spirit, may (let God wish and strive ever so much to the 
 contrary) throw all away, and perish eternally at last. 
 
 To these, many Arminians U.ck var:t -y of errors beside. 
 But the abeve may be considered as a general skeleton of the 
 leading mistakes which characterize the sect. 
 6
 
 66 THE LIFE OF 
 
 errors. This he did the 5th of May following. 
 Part of his recantation ran* thus : " Lastly, I 
 
 * Postremo, teir.ere hxc verba efludi adversis Johannem 
 Calvinum, virurn de ecclesia Chvisti optime meritum j Eum 
 -himirum ansum fuisse sese attollere supra altissimi & omni- 
 potentis Dei vere altissimum et omnipotent Filium. Quibus 
 verbis me viro doctissimo, vereque pio, magnam injuriam fe- 
 cisse fateor : temeritatemque banc meam ut omnes condone - 
 tis, humillime precor. Turn etiam quod nonnulla adversus 
 P. Martyrem, Theodorum Bezsim, Uierowmum Zaschi- 
 um, Franciscum Junium, et ca:teros ejusdem religionis, Ee- 
 riest* nostra lumina & omamenta, acerbissime effuderim ; 
 eos odioso nomine appellans Calvinistas, & aliis verbis igno- 
 minije gravissimam infamis notam inurens. Quos quia Ec- 
 clesia nostra merito rtveretur, non erat aquum, et ego eorum 
 famam violarem, aut existimationem aliqua ratione imminue- 
 rem ; aut atiquos e nostris dehortarer, ne eorum doctissima 
 
 scripta legerent. 
 
 Strype's Life of Wbitgift. Appendix, p. 186. 
 I cannot help observing one more particular respecting this 
 famous recantation, wherein the recanter thus expressed him- 
 self : Secundo, Petri fidem deficere non potuisse, asserui ; at 
 aliorum posse, &c. i. e. " I asserted, that Peter's faith indeed 
 could not fail, but that the faith of other believers might ; 
 whereas, now being by Christ's own word brought to a better 
 and sounder mind, I acknowledge that Christ prays for the 
 faith of each believer in particular ; and, that by the efficacy 
 of Christ's prayer, all true believers are so supported, that 
 their faith cannot fail." Barret asserted, rank Arminian as 
 he was, that Peter's faith did not actually fail. But we have 
 had a recent instance of an Arminian preacher, who avers 
 without ceremony, that Peter's faith did fail. The passage, 
 verbatim, without adding a jot, or diminishing atitile, stands 
 thus: ** Peter's faith failed, though Chriot himself prayed it 
 tiiight 7iot." ,See a sermon on 1 Cor. ix. 27. preached before 
 the university of Oxford, Feb. 19, 1769, by John Alien, M. A. 
 .vice-fnncipal of Magdalen Hail, p. 17,
 
 JEROM ZANCHIUS. 67 
 
 rashly uttered these words against John Calvin, 
 (a person, than whom none has deserved better of 
 the church,) namely, that he had presumed to ex- 
 alt himself above the Son of God j in saying 
 which, I acknowledge that I greatly injured that 
 most learned and truly pious man ; and I do most 
 humbly entreat, that ye will all forgive this my 
 rashness. I also threw out, in a most rancorous 
 manner, some reflections against Peter Martyr, 
 Theodore Beza, Jerom Zanchy, Francis Junius, 
 and others of the same religion, who were the 
 lights and ornaments o/our church : calling them 
 by the malicious name of Calvinists, and brand- 
 ing them with other reproachful terms. I did 
 wrong in assailing the reputation of these persons, 
 and in endeavouring to lessen the estimation in 
 which they are held, and in dissuading any from 
 reading their most learned works ; seeing our 
 church holds these divines in deserved reverence" 
 I would hope, as our articles of religion have 
 not been changed but stand just as they did at 
 that very time, that the church of England, in 
 the year 1769, still considers the above great men 
 (and Zanchy among the rest) as some of her an- 
 cient lights and ornaments ; and that she 
 
 This is Arminianism double-distilled. The common sim- 
 ple Arminianism, that served Barret, and Laud, and Heylin, 
 will not do now for our more enlightened divines. Whether 
 Peter's faith failed or not, that Mr. Allen's modesty has fail- 
 ed him, is, I believe, what nobody can deny.
 
 68 THE LIFE OF JEROM ZANCHIUfcV 
 
 holds them and their writings, in the same de> 
 served reverence, as did the church of Enjf 
 land in the vear 1595,
 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 DIVINE ATTRIBUTES; 
 
 KECESSARY TO BE PREMISED, IN ORDER TO OCR 
 BETTER UNDERSTANDING THE DOCTRINE OF 
 
 PREDESTINATION. 
 
 ALTHOUGH the great and ever-blessed God 
 is a being absolutely simple, and infinitely remote 
 from all shadow of composition ; he is, neverthe- 
 less, in condescension to our weak and contract- 
 ed faculties, represented in scripture, as possess- 
 ed of divers properties, or attributes, which, 
 though seemingly different from his essence, are 
 in reality essential to him, and constitutive to his 
 very nature.. 
 
 Of these attributes, those on which we shall 
 now particularly descant (as being more immedi- 
 ately concerned in the ensuing subject,) are the 
 following ones ; 1. His eternal wisdom and fore- 
 knowledge. 2. The absolute freedom and liberty 
 of his will. 3. The perpetuity and unchangeable- 
 ness both of himself and his decrees. 4. His om- 
 nipotence. 5. His justice. 6. His mercy. 
 
 Without an explication of these the doctrine 
 f predestination cannot be so well understood : 
 we shall, therefore, briefly consider them, by way 
 of prelim inarv to the main subject. 
 6*
 
 7a 
 
 I. With respect to the divine wisdom and fore- 
 knowledge, I shall lay down the following posi- 
 tions. 
 
 Pos. 1. God is, and always was, so perfectly 
 wise, hat nothing ever did, or does, or can, elude 
 his knowledge. He knew from all eternity, not 
 only what he himself intended to do, but also 
 what he would incline and permit others to do. 
 Acts xv. 18. "Known unto God are all his 
 works, f' *tm<&>, from eternity." 
 
 Pos. 2. Consequently, God knows nothing now, 
 nor will know any thing hereafter, which he did 
 not know and foresee from everlasting : his fore- 
 knowledge being co-eternal with himself, and ex- 
 tending to every thing that is or shall be done. 
 Heb. iv. 13. All things, which comprises past, 
 present and future, are naked and open to the 
 eyes of him with whom we have to do. 
 
 Pos. 3. This foreknowledge of God is not 
 conjectural and uncertain, (for then it would not be 
 foreknowledge) but most sure and infallible : so 
 that whatever he foreknows to be future, shall ne- 
 cessarily and undoubtedly come to pass. For 
 his knowledge can no more be frustrated, or his 
 wisdom be deceived, than he can cease to be God. 
 Nay, ceuld either of these be the case, he actually 
 would cease to be God; all mistake and disap- 
 pointment being absolutely incompatible with the 
 divine nature. ' 
 
 Pos. 4. The influence which the divine fore- 
 knowledge has on the certain futurition of the 
 things foreknown, does not render the interven- 
 tion of second causes needless, nor destroy the 
 nature of the things themselves. 
 
 My meaning is, that the prescience of God 
 does not lay any coercive necessity on the wills 
 of beings naturally free. For instance, '.nun, 
 even in his fallen state, is endued with a natural
 
 71 
 
 freedom of will ; yet he acts, from the first to the 
 last moment of his life, in absolute subserviency 
 (though, perhaps he does not know it, nor design 
 it) to the purposes and decrees of God concern- 
 ing him : notwithstanding which, he is sensible 
 of no compulsion, but acts as freely and volunta- 
 rily, as if he was sai juris, subject to no control, 
 and absolutely lord of himself. This made Lu- 
 ther*, after he had shown how all things necessa- 
 rily and inevitably come to pass, in consequence 
 of the sovereign will and infallible foreknowledge 
 of God, say, that " We should carefully distin- 
 guish between a necessity of infallibility, and a 
 necessity of coaction ; since both good and evil 
 men, though by their actions they fulfil the de- 
 cree and appointment of God, yet are not forci- 
 bly constrained to do any thing but act willingly." 
 
 Pos. 5. God's foreknowledge, taken abstract- 
 edly, is not the sole cause of beings and events; 
 but his will and foreknowledge together. Hence 
 we find, Acts ii. 23. that his determinate counsel 
 and foreknowledge act in concert ; the latter re- 
 sulting from, and being founded on, the former. 
 We pass on, 
 
 II. To consider the will of God : with regard 
 to which we assert as follows. 
 
 Pos. 1. The Deity is possessed not only of 
 infinite knowledge, but likewise of absolute li- 
 berty of will : so that whatever he does, or per- 
 mits to be done, he does and permits freely, and 
 of his own good pleasure. 
 
 Consequently, it is his free pleasure to permit 
 sin : since, without his permission, neither men 
 nor devils can do any thing. Now, to permit, 
 
 * De Scry- Arb. eap. 44-,
 
 72 
 
 is, at least, the same as not to hinder, though it 
 be in our power to hinder if we please : and this 
 permission, or non-hindrance, is certainly an act 
 of the divine will. Hence Austin* says, " Those 
 things which seemingly thwart the divine will, 
 are nevertheless agreeable to it ; for if God did 
 not permit them, they could not be done : and 
 whatever God permits, he permits freely and 
 willingly. He does nothing, neither suffers any 
 thing to be done, against his own will.' And 
 Luther\ observes, that " God permitted Adam 
 to fall into sin, because he willed that he should 
 
 so fall." ; .. , 
 
 Pos. 2. Although the will of God, considered 
 in itself, is simply one and the same; yet, in 
 condescension to the present capacities of men, 
 the divine will is very properly distinguished 
 into secret and revealed. Thus it was his re- 
 vealed will, that Pharaoh should let the Israel- 
 ites go ; that Abraham should sacrifice his son ; 
 and that Peter should not deny Christ, but as 
 was proved by the event, it was his secret will 
 that Pharaoh should not let Israel go, Exod. iVi 
 21. that Abraham should not sacrifice Isaac, 
 Gen. xxii. 12. and that Peter should deny his 
 Lord, Matt. xxvi. 34. 
 
 Pos, 3. The will of God respecting the sal- 
 vation and condemnation of men, is never con- 
 trary to itself; he immutably wills the salvation 
 of the elect, and vice versa : nor can he ever 
 vary or deviate from his own will in any instance 
 whatever, so as that that should be done, which 
 he willeth not ; or that not be brought to pass, 
 which he willeth. Isai. xliv. 10. My counsel 
 shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. Psalm 
 
 * Encliir cap. 100. t *> ^^ Art - c * l5?
 
 . 73 
 
 xxxiii. 11. The counsel of the Lord standetb 
 for ever, and the thoughts of his heart to all ge- 
 nerations. Job xxiii. 13, 14. He is in one mind, 
 who can turn him ? and what his soul desireth, 
 even that. he doth; for he performeth the thing 
 that is appointed for me ; and many such things 
 are with him. Eph. i. 11. Being predestinated, 
 according to the purpose of him, who worketh 
 all things after the counsel of his own will. 
 
 Thus, for instance, Hophni and Phineas heark- 
 ened not to the voice of their father, who repro- 
 ved them for their wickedness, because the Lord 
 would slay them, 1 Sam. ii. 25. and Sihon, king 
 of Heshbon, would not receive the peaceable 
 message sent him by Moses, because the Lord 
 God hardened his spirit, and made his heart ob- 
 stinate, that he might deliver him into the hand 
 of Israel, Deut. ii. 26, 30. Thus also, to add no 
 more, we find that there have been, and ever will 
 be, some whose eyes God blindeth, and whose 
 hearts he hardeneth, i. e. whom God permits to 
 continue blind and hardened, on purpose to pre- 
 vent their seeing with their eyes, and understand- 
 ing with their hearts, and to hinder their conver- 
 sion to God, and spiritual healing by him, Isai, 
 vi. 9. John xii. 39, 40. 
 
 Pos. 4. Because God's "will of precept may 
 in some instances appear to thwart his xvill of 
 determination ; it does not follow, either, 1. that 
 he mocks his creatures, or, 2. that they are ex- 
 cusable for neglecting to observe his will of 
 command. 
 
 (1.) He does not hereby mock his creatures ; 
 for, if men do not believe his word, nor observe 
 his precepts, the fault is not in him, but in them- 
 selves ; their unbelief and disobedience are not 
 owing to any ill mlused into them by God, but 
 to the vitiosity of their depraved nature, and the
 
 74 
 
 the perverseness of their own wills. ' Now, if 
 God invited all men to come to him, and then 
 shut the door of mercy against any who were de- 
 sirous of entering; his invitation would be a 
 mockery, and unworthy of himself: but we insist 
 on it, that he does not invite all men to come to 
 him in a saving way : and that every individual 
 person, who is, through his gracious influence on 
 his heart, made willing to come to him, shall^ 
 sooner or later surely be saved by him, and that 
 with an everlasting salvation. (2.) Man is not 
 excusable for neglecting God's will of command. 
 Pharaoh was faulty, and therefore justly punish- 
 able for not obeying God's revealed will, though 
 God's secret will rendered that obedience impos- 
 sible. Abraham would have committed sin, had 
 he refused to sacrifice Isaac ; and in looking to 
 God's secret will, would have acted counter to 
 his revealed one. So Herod, Pontius Pilate, and 
 the reprobate Jews, were justly condemned for 
 putting Christ to death, inasmuch as it was a 
 most notorious breach of God's revealed will. 
 " Thou shalt do no murder ;" yet, in slaying the 
 Messiah, they did no more than God's hand and 
 his counsel, i. e. his secret, ordaining will, de- 
 termined before should be done, Acts iv. 27, 28. 
 and Judas is justly punished for perfidiously and 
 wickedly betraying Christ, though his perfidy and 
 wickedness were (but not with iiis design) sub- 
 servient to the accomplishment of the decree and 
 word of God. 
 
 The brief of the matter is this ; secret things 
 belong to God, and those that are revealed belong 
 to us : therefore, when we meet with a plain pre- 
 cept, we should simply endeavour to obey it, with- 
 out tarrying to inquire into God's hidden pur- 
 pose. Venerable Bucer, after taking notice how 
 God hardened Pharaoh's heart, and making some
 
 $5 
 
 observations on the Apostle's simile of a potter-' 
 and his clay ; adds,* that ** Though God has at 
 least the same right over his creatures, and is at 
 liberty to make them what he will, and direct 
 them to the end that pleaseth himself, according 
 to his sovereign and secret determination ; yet it 
 by no means follows, that they do not act freely 
 and spontaneously, or that the evil they commit 
 is to be charged on God." 
 
 Pos. 5. God's hidden will is peremptory and 
 absolute : and therefore cannot be hindered from 
 taking effect. 
 
 God's will is nothing else than God himself 
 willing : consequently, it is omnipotent and un- 
 frustrab|e. Hence we find it termed by Austin 
 and the schoolmen, voluntas o?nnipotentissima y be- 
 cause, whatever God wills, cannot fail of being 
 effected. This made Austin say,f " Evil men 
 do many things contrary to God's revealed will ; 
 but so. great is his wisdom, and so inviolable his 
 truth, that he directs all things into those chan- 
 nels which he foreknew." And again, :{: " No 
 free will of the creature can resist the will of God; 
 for man cannot so will, or nill, as to obstruct the 
 divine determination, or overcome the divine 
 power." Once more *' It cannot be questioned, 
 but God does all things, and ever did according 
 to his own purpose : the human will cannot resist 
 him, so as to make him do more or less than it 
 is his pleasure to do, quandoquidem etiam de ipsis 
 Jiominum voluntatibus quod vult facit, since he 
 dees what he pleases even with the wills of men. 
 
 Pos. 6. Whatever comes to pass, comes to pass 
 by virtue of this absolute, omnipotent will of 
 
 * Bucer ad R<jn. ix. f De Civ. Dei. 1 22, c. 1.' 
 
 * Ee Coir. St Grat. c. 14* $ Ibid.
 
 76- 
 
 God, which is the primary and supreme cause of 
 all things. Rev. ix. 11. " Thou hast created all 
 things, and for thy pleasure they are, and were 
 created." Psalm cxv. 3 " Our God is in the 
 heavens ; he hath done whatsoever he pleased." 
 Dan. iv. 35. " He doth according to his will, ia 
 the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants 
 of the earth ; and none can stay his hand, or say 
 unto him, What dost thou ?" Psalm cxxxv. 6. 
 " Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in 
 heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and deep 
 places." Mat. x. 29. " Are not two sparrows 
 sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall 
 to the ground without your Father. To all 
 which Austin subscribes when he says,?* " No- 
 thing is done but what the Almighty wills should 
 be done, either efficiently or permissively." As 
 does Liltlier, whose words are these,f "This 
 therefore must stand ; to wit the unsearchable 
 will of God, without which nothing exists or acts." 
 And again, c. 160. V God would not be such, if 
 he was not almighty, and if any thing could be 
 done without him." And elsewhere, c. 158. he 
 quotes these words of Erasmus : " Supposing 
 /there was an earthly prince, who could do what- 
 ever he would, and none were able to resist him ; 
 we might safely say of such an one, that he would 
 certainly fulfil his own desire : in like manner, 
 the will of God, which is the first cause of all 
 things, should seem to lay a kind of necessity up- 
 on our wills." This Luther approves of, and sub- 
 joins, u Thanks be to God for this orthodox pas- 
 sage in Erasmus's discourse I but, if this be true, 
 what becomes of his doctrine of free will, which 
 he at other times so strenuously contends for ?" 
 
 Tom. 3. in Encbi. f De Serv. Arb. c. 143-
 
 77 
 
 Pos. 7. The will of God is so the cause of all 
 things, as to be itself without cause ; for nothing 
 can be the cause of that, which is the cause of 
 every thing. 
 
 So that the divine will is the ne plus ultra of 
 all our inquiries : when we ascend to that we can 
 go no farther. Hence, we find every matter re- 
 solved ultimately into the mere sovereign plea- 
 sure of God, as the spring and occasion of what- 
 soever is done in heaven and earth. Mat. xi. 
 25. " Thou hast hid these things from the wise 
 and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes : 
 even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy 
 sight." Luke xii. 32. "It is your Father's good 
 pleasure to give you the kingdom." Mat. viii. 3. 
 " I will, be thou clean." Mark iii. 13. " He went 
 up into a mountain, and called unto him whom he 
 would." Jam. i. 18. " Of his own will begat he 
 us, with the word of truth." John i. 13. 
 M Which were born not of blood, nor of the wiH 
 of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." 
 Rom. ix. 15, 18. "I will have mercy on whom I 
 will have mercy, and I will have compassion on 
 whom I will have compassion. Therefore he hath 
 mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom 
 he will he hardeneth." And no wonder that the 
 will of God should be the main spring that sets 
 all inferior wheels in motion, and should like- 
 wise be the rule by which he goes in all his deal- 
 ings with his creatures ; since nothing out of God, 
 i. e. exterior to himself, can possibly induce him 
 to will or nill one thing rather than another. 
 Deny this, and you at one stroke destroy his im- 
 mutability and independency : since he can never 
 be independent, who acts pro re nata, as emergen- 
 cy requires, and whose will is suspended on that 
 of others : not unchangeable, whose purposes vary 
 arid take all shapes, according as the persons or 
 7
 
 78 
 
 things vary, who are the objects of those purpo- 
 ses. The only reason, then, that can be assign- 
 ed, "why the Deity does this, or omits that, is, 
 because it is his own free pleasure. Luther^ in 
 answer to that question, " Whence it was, that 
 Adam was permitted to fall, and corrupt his 
 whole posterity, when God could have prevent- 
 ed his falling," &c. says, " God is a Being, whose 
 will acknowledges no cause : neither is it for us 
 to prescribe rules to his sovereign pleasure, or 
 call him to account for what he does. He has 
 neither superior nor equal ; and his will is the 
 rule of all things. He did not therefore will such 
 and such things, because they were in themselves 
 right, and he was bound to will them ; but they 
 are therefore equitable and right, because he wills 
 them. The will of man indeed may be influ- 
 enced and moved ; but God's will never can. To 
 assert the contrary is to undeify him." Bucer 
 likewise observes,! " God has no other motive 
 for what he does, than ipsa voluntas, his own 
 mere will ; which will is so far from being un- 
 righteous, that it is justice itself." 
 
 Pos. 8. Since, as was lately observed, the de- 
 termining will of God being omnipotent, cannot 
 be obstructed or made void ; it follows, that he 
 never did, nor does he now, will that every indi<- 
 vidual of mankind should be saved. 
 
 If this was his will, not one single soul could 
 ever be lost : (for who hath resisted his will r) 
 and he would surely afford all men those effectual 
 means of salvation, without which it cannot be 
 had. Now God could afford these means as ea- 
 sily to all mankind as to some only : but experi- 
 ence proves that he does not ; and the reason is 
 
 * De Serv. Arb. c 153. | Ad Rem. ix.
 
 79 
 
 equally plain, namely, that he will not : for what- 
 soever the Lord pleaseth, that does he in heaven 
 and on earth. It is said, indeed, by the apostle, 
 that God would have all men saved, and come to 
 the knowledge of the truth ? i. e. as Austin,* 
 consonantly with other scriptures, explains the 
 passage, " God will save some out of the whole 
 race of mankind," that is, persons of all nations, 
 kindreds and tongues. Nay, he will save all 
 men ; i. e. as the same father observes, " every 
 kind of men, or men of every kind," namely, the 
 election of grace, be they bond or free, noble or 
 ignoble, rich or poor, male or female. Add to 
 this, that it evidently militates against the majes- 
 ty, omnipotence, and supremacy of God, to sup- 
 pose that he can either will any thing in vain, or 
 that any thing can take effect against his will : 
 therefore Bucer observes very rightly, ad Rom, 
 ix. " God doth not will the salvation of repro- 
 bates, seeing he hath not chosen them, neither 
 created them to that end." Consonant to which 
 are those words of Luther ,\ u This mightily of- 
 fends our rational nature, that God should, of his 
 own mere unbiassed will, leave some men to 
 themselves, harden them, and then condemn 
 them : but he has given abundant demonstration, 
 and does continually, that this is really the case ; 
 namely, that the sole cause why some are saved, 
 and others perish, proceeds from his willing the 
 salvation of the former, and the perdition of the 
 latter, according to that of Paul, l He hath mercy 
 on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will 
 he hardeneth.' " 
 
 * Enchir. c. 103. Si de Gorr 8; Gr. c 14. f De Serv. 
 Arb. c 161.
 
 80 
 
 Pos. 9. As God doth not will that each indivi- 
 dual of mankind should be saved ; so neither did 
 he will that Christ should properly and immedi- 
 ately die for each individual of mankind ; whence 
 it follows, that though the blood of Christ, from 
 its own intrinsic dignity, was sufficient for the 
 redemption of all men, yet, in consequence of his 
 Father's appointment, he shed it intentionally, 
 and therefore effectually and immediately, for the 
 'elect only. 
 
 This is self-evident. God, as we have before 
 proved, wills not the salvation of every man : but 
 he gave his Son to die for them whose salvation 
 he willed ; therefore his Son did not die for every 
 man. All those, for whom Christ died, are sa- 
 ved; and the divine justice indispensably requires 
 that to them the benefits of his death should be 
 imparted; but only the elect are saved; they 
 only partake of those benefits ; consequently, for 
 them only he died and intercedes. The apostle, 
 Rom. viii. asks, " Who shall lay any thing to 
 the charge of God's elect ? it is God that justi- 
 fies," i. e. his elect, exclusively of others : " who 
 is he that condemneth ? It is Christ that died" 
 for them, exclusively of others. The plain mean- 
 ing of the passage is, that those whom God jus- 
 tifies, and for whom Christ died, (justification 
 and redemption being of exactly the same extent,) 
 cannot be condemned. These privileges are ex- 
 pressly restricted to the elect : therefore God 
 justifies and Christ died for them alone. 
 , In the same chapter, Paul asks ; " He that 
 spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for 
 us all, (i. e. for all us elect persons) how shall he 
 not, with him, also freely give us ail things ?" 
 i. e. salvation, and all things necessary to it. 
 Now, it is certain that these are not given to 
 
 /
 
 81 
 
 every individual ; and yet, if Paul says true, 
 they are given to all those for whom Christ was 
 delivered to death ; consequently, he was not de- 
 livered to death for every individual. To the 
 same purpose St, Austin argues, in Johan. tract. 
 45. col. 335. Hence that saying of Ambrose,* 
 " si non credis, non tibi passus est" i. e. if you 
 are an unbeliever, Christ did not die for you. 
 Meaning, that whoever is left under the power 
 of final unbelief, is thereby evidenced to be one 
 of those for whom Christ did not die : but that 
 all for whom he suffered, shall be, in this life, 
 sooner or later, endued with faith. The church 
 of Smyrna, in their letter to the diocese of Pon- 
 tus, insist every where on the doctrine of special 
 redemption.! Bucer, in all parts of his works, 
 observes, that " Christ died restrictively for the 
 elect only ; but for them universally." 
 
 Pos. 10. From what has been laid down, it 
 follows, that Austin, Luther, Bucer, the scholas- 
 tic divines, and other learned writers, are not to 
 be blamed for asserting that " God may, in some 
 sense, be said to will the being and commission 
 of sin." For, was this contrary to his deter- 
 mining will of permission, either he would not 
 be omnipotent, or sin could have no place in the 
 world : but he is omnipotent, and sin has place 
 in the world ; which it could not have, if God 
 willed otherwise ; for " who hath resisted his 
 will ?*' Rom. ix. No one can deny that God 
 permits sin : but he neither permits it ignorantly, 
 nor unwillingly ; therefore, knowingly and wil- 
 lingly. Vid Aust. Enchir. c. 96. Luther stead- 
 fastly maintains this in his book de Scrv. Arbitr. 
 and Bucer in Rom. 1. However, it should be 
 
 * Ambros. Tom. 2. de fid. ad. Grat. 1. 4. c, I 
 j Yid. Euseb. Hist. 1, 4. c 10. 
 
 7 *
 
 82 
 
 carefully noticed, (1.) That God's permission of 
 sin does not arise from his taking delight in it : 
 on the contrary, sin, as sin, is the abominable 
 thing that his soul hateth : and his efficacious 
 permission of it is for wise and good purposes. 
 Whence that observation of Austin,* M God, 
 who is no less omnipotent than he is supremely 
 and perfectly holy, would never have permitted 
 evil to enter among his works, but in order that 
 he might do good even with that evil," i. e. over- 
 rule it for good in the end. (2.) That God's free 
 and voluntary permission of sin lays no man 
 under any forcible or compulsive necessity of 
 committing it : consequently, the Deity can by 
 no means be termed the author of moral evil , to 
 which he is not, in the proper sense of the word, 
 accessary, but only remotely or negatively so, in- 
 asmuch as he could, if he pleased, absolutely 
 prevent it. ( 
 
 We should, therefore, be careful not to give 
 up the omnipotence of God, under a pretence of 
 exalting his holiness : he is infinite in both, and 
 therefore neither should be set aside or obscured. 
 To say that God absolutely nills the being and 
 commission of sin, while experience convinces 
 lis that sin is acted every day, is to represent 
 the Deity as a weak, impotent being, who would 
 fain have things go otherwise than they do, but 
 cannot accomplish his desire. On the other 
 hand, to say that he willeth sin, doth not in the 
 least detract from the holiness and rectitude 
 of his nature ; because, whatever God wills, as 
 well as whatever he does, cannot be eventually 
 evil : materially evil it may be j but, as was just 
 said, it must, ultimately, be directed to some 
 
 * Enchir. c 11-
 
 83 
 
 wise and just end, otherwise he could not will 
 it : for his will is righteous and good, and the 
 sole rule of right and wrong, as is often observed 
 by Austin, Luther, and others. 
 
 Pos. 11. In consequence of God's immutable 
 will and infallible foreknowledge, whatever things 
 come to pass, come to pass necessarily j though, 
 with respect to second causes, and us men, many 
 things are contingent : i. e unexpected, and 
 seemingly accidental. 
 
 That this was the doctrine of Luther, none 
 can deny, who are in any measure acquainted 
 with his works : particularly with his treatise 
 De servo Arbitrio, or free will a slave : the main 
 drift of which book is, to prove, that the will of 
 man is by nature enslaved to evil only, and, be- 
 cause it is fond of that slavery, is therefore said 
 to be free. Among other matters, he proves 
 there, that, " whatever man does, he does neces- 
 sarily, though not with anv sensible compulsion : 
 and that we can only do what God from eternity 
 willed and foreknew he should ; which will of 
 God must be effectual, and his foresight must be 
 certain." Hence we find him saying,* " It is 
 most necessary and salutary for a Christian to be 
 assured, that God foreknows nothing uncer- 
 tainly ; but that he determines, and foresees, and 
 acts, in all things, according to his own eternal, 
 immutable, and infallible will $" adding u Hereby, 
 as with a thunderbolt, is man's free will thrown 
 down and destroyed." A little after, he shews 
 in what sense he took the word necessity ; " By 
 it," says he, M I do not mean that the will suf- 
 fers any forcible constraint, or coaction ; but the 
 infallible accomplishment of those things, which 
 
 * Cap. 17, in Resp. ad. prcef-
 
 84 
 
 the immutable God decreed and foreknew con^ 
 cerning us." He goes on : Neither the divine 
 nor human will does any thing by constraint ; 
 but, whatever man does, be it good or bad, he 
 does with as much appetite and willingness, as if 
 his wil was really free. But, after all, the will 
 ot Cod is certain and unalterable, and is the go- 
 verness of ours." Exactly consonant to all 
 which are those words of Luther's friend and 
 iellow-labourer, Melancthon :* All things turn 
 out according to divine predestination; not onlv 
 the works we do outwardly, but even the thoughts 
 vve think inwardly:" adding, in the same place, 
 I here is no such thing as chance, or fortune ; 
 nor is there a readier way to gain the fear of 
 Ood, and to put our whole trust in him, than to 
 be thoroughly versed in the doctrine of predes- 
 tination." I could cite, to the same purpose 
 Austin Aquines, and many other learned men 
 but, for brevity sake, forbear. That this is the 
 doctrine of scripture, every adept in those sacred 
 books cannot but acknowledge. See particular- 
 ly, Psalm cxxxv. 6. Mat. x. 29. Prov. xvi. 1. 
 Mat. xxvi. 54. Luke xxii. 22. Acts iv. 28. Eph. 
 i. 11. Isa. xlvi. 10. 
 
 Pos. 12. As God knows nothing now which he 
 did not know from all eternitv, so he wills nothing 
 now which he did not will from everlasting. 
 
 I his position needs no explanation nor enforce- 
 ment ; it being self-evident, that if anv thing can 
 accede to God de novo, i. e. if he can at anv time 
 be wiser than he always was, or will that at one 
 time, which he did not will from all eternity; 
 ttiese dreadful consequences must ensue, (L) 
 lhat the knowledge of God is not perfect, since 
 
 i ii i^.i ii 
 
 t In Eph. I.
 
 85 
 
 what is absolutely perfect non rccipit mag-is $? 
 minus, cannot admit either of addition or detrac- 
 tion. If I add to any thing, it is from a supposal 
 that that thing was not complete before ; if I de- 
 tract from it, it is supposed that that detraction 
 renders it less perfect than it was. But the know- 
 ledge of God being infinitely perfect, cannot con- 
 sistently with that perfection be either increased 
 or lessened. (2.) That the will of God is fluctu- 
 ating, mutable,, and unsteady ; consequently, that 
 God himself is so, his will coinciding with his 
 essence, contrary to the avowed assurances of 
 scripture, and the strongest dictates of reason, as 
 we shall presently show when we come to treat of 
 the divine immutability. 
 
 Pos. 13. The absolute will of God is the ori- 
 ginal spring and efficient cause of his people's sal- 
 vation. 
 
 I say the original and efficient j For sensu com- 
 plexo, there are other intermediate causes of their 
 salvation, which however all result from, and are 
 subservient to, this primary one, the will of God. 
 Such are his everlasting choice of them to eternal 
 life, the eternal covenant of grace entered into by 
 the Trinity in behalf of the elect, the incarnation, 
 obedience, death and intercession of Christ for 
 them all, which are so many links in the great 
 chain of causes ; and not one of these can be ta- 
 ken away without marring and subverting the 
 whole gospel plan of salvation by Jesus Christ. 
 We see then, that the free, unbiassed, sovereign 
 will of God is the root of this tree of life, which 
 bears so many glorious branches, and yields such 
 salutary fruits : He therefore loved the elect, and 
 ordained them to life, because he would, according 
 to that of the apostle, " having predestinated us 
 according to the good pleasure of his will." 
 Eph. i. 5. Then, next after God's covenant for
 
 86 
 
 his people, and promises to them, comes in the 
 infinite merit of Christ's righteousness and atone- 
 ment ; for we were chosen to salvation in him as 
 members of his mystic body, and through him as 
 our surety and substitute, by whose vicarious obe- 
 dience to the moral law, and submission to its 
 curse and penalty, all we whose names are in the 
 book of life should never incur the divine hatred, 
 or be punished for our sins, but continue to eter- 
 nity, as we were from eternity heirs of God and 
 joint heirs with Christ. But still divine grace 
 and favour (and God extends these to whom he 
 will) must be considered as what gave birth to 
 the glorious scheme of redemption, according to 
 what our Lord himself teaches us, John iii. 16. 
 11 God so loved the world, that he gave his only 
 begotten Son," &c. and that of the apostle, 1 John 
 iv. 9. " In this was manifested the love of God 
 towards us, because that he sent his only begotten 
 Son into the world that we might live through 
 him." 
 
 Pos. 14. Since this absolute will of God is 
 both immutable and omnipotent, we infer that the 
 salvation of every one of the elect is most infalli- 
 bly certain, and can by no means be prevented. 
 This necessarily follows from what we have al- 
 ready asserted and proved concerning the divine 
 will, which as it cannot be disappointed or made 
 void, must undoubtedly secure the salvation of 
 all whom God wills should be saved. 
 
 From the whole of what has been delivered 
 under this second head, I would observe, That 
 the genuine tendency of these truths is, not to 
 make men indolent and careless, or lull them to 
 sleep on the lap of presumption and carnal secu- 
 rity ; but, (1.) To fortify the people of Christ 
 against the attacks of unbelief, and the insults of 
 their spiritual enemies ; and what is so fit t
 
 87 
 
 guard them against these, as the comfortable per- 
 suasion of God's unalterable will to save them, 
 and of their unalienable interest in the sure mer- 
 cies of David ? (2.) To withdraw them entirely 
 from all dependence, whether on themselves or any 
 creature whatever ; to make them renounce their 
 own righteousness, no less than their sins in point 
 of reliance, and to acquiesce sweetly and safely in 
 the certain perpetuity of his rich favour. (3.) 
 To excite them from a trust of his good will to- 
 ward them, to love that God, who hath given 
 such great and numberless proofs of his love to 
 men ; and in all their thoughts, words and works, 
 to aim as much as possible at his honour and 
 glory. 
 
 We were to consider, 
 III. The unchangeableness which is essential 
 to himself and his decrees. 
 
 Pos. 1. God is essentially unchangeable in him- 
 self : were he otherwise he would be confessedly 
 imperfect, since whoever changes, must change 
 either for the better or for the worse ; whatever 
 alteration any being undergoes, that being must 
 ipso facto, either become more excellent than it 
 was, or lose some of the excellency which it had. 
 But neither of these can be the case with the 
 Deity : He cannot change for the better, for that 
 would necessarily imply that he was not perfectly 
 good before ; he cannot change for the worse, 
 for then he could not be perfectly good after that 
 change. Ergo, God is unchangeable. And this 
 is the uniform voice of scripture. Mai. iii. 6. 
 "I am the Lord, I change not." James i. 17". 
 u With him is no variableness, neither shadow of 
 turning." Psalm cii. 27. " Thou art the same, 
 and thy years shall have no end." 
 
 Pos. 2. God is likewise absolutely unchange- 
 able with regard to his purposes and promises-
 
 88 
 
 Numb, xxiii. 19. k God is not a man, that he 
 should Ik ; neither the son of man, that he should 
 repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or, 
 hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good ?" 
 
 1 Sam. xv. 29 " The Strength of Israel will not 
 lie, nor repent ; for he is not a man, that he should 
 repent." Job xy.'uu 13. " He is in one mind, 
 and who can turn him ?" Ezek. xxiv. 14. u I, the 
 Lord, have spoken it, it shall come to pass, and I 
 will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, 
 neither will I repent." Rom. xi. 29. " The gifts 
 and calling of God are without repentance." 
 
 2 Tim. ii. 13. " He abideth faithful, and cannot 
 deny himself." 
 
 By the purpose or decree of God, we mean his 
 determinate counsel, whereby he did from all 
 eternity preordain whatever he should do, or 
 would permit to be done in time. In particular, 
 it signifies his everlasting appointment of some 
 men to life, and of others to death ; which ap- 
 pointment flows entirely from his own free and 
 sovereign will. Rom. ix. " The children not yet 
 being 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." 
 
 The apostle then, in the very next words, anti- 
 cipates an objection which he foresaw men of 
 corrupt minds would make to this : " What shall 
 we say then ? is there unrighteousness with God?" 
 which he answers with, God forbid ! and resolves 
 the whole of God's procedure with his creatures 
 into his own sovereign and independent will : 
 For he said to Moses, " I will have mercy on 
 whom I will have mercy, and I will have com- 
 passion on whom I will have compassion. "
 
 89 
 
 We assert, that the decrees of God are not only 
 immutable as to himself, it being inconsistent wiih 
 his nature to alter in his purposes, or change his 
 mind ; but that they are immutable likewise with 
 respect to the objects of those decrees ; so that 
 whatsoever od hath determined concerning every 
 individual person or thing, shall surely and in- 
 fallibly be accomplished in and upon them. 
 Hence we find, that he actually sheweth mercy 
 on whom he decreed to shew mercy, and harden- 
 eth whom he resolved to harden, Rom. ix. 18. 
 " For his counsel shall stand, and he will do all 
 his pleasure," Isa. xlvi. 10. Consequently, his 
 eternal predestination of men and things must 
 be immutable as himself, and, so far from being 
 reversible, can never admit of the least variation. 
 
 Pos. 3. " Although," to use the words of Gre- 
 gorv, u God never swerves from his decree, yet 
 he often varies in his declarations :" That is al- 
 ways sure and immoveable ; these are sometimes 
 seemingly discordant. So, when he gave sentence 
 against the Ninevites by Jonah, saying, Yet forty 
 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown, the 
 meaning of the words is not that God absolutely 
 intended, at the end of that space, to destroy the 
 city ; but that, should God deal with those people 
 according to their deserts, they would be totally 
 extirpated from the earth : and should be so ex- 
 tirpated, unless they rep nted speedily. 
 
 Likewise, when he told King Hezekiah, by the 
 prophet Isaiah, Set thine house in order, for 
 thou shalt die, and not live ; the meaning was, 
 that with respect to second causes, and consider- 
 ing the king's bad state of health and emaciated 
 constitution, he could not, humanly speaking, live 
 much longer. But still, the event shewed that 
 Cod had immutably determined that he should 
 live fifteen years more ; and, in order to that, had 
 
 8
 
 put it into his heart to pray for the blessing de- 
 creed : just as in the case of Nineveh, lately men- 
 tioned, God had resolved not to overthrow that 
 city then ; and in order to the accomplishment of 
 his own purpose in a way worthy of himself, 
 made the ministry of Jonah the means of leading 
 that people to repentance. All which, as it shews 
 that God's absolute predestination does not set 
 aside the use of means ; so does it likewise prove, 
 that however various the declarations of God 
 may appear, (to wit, when they proceed on a re- 
 gard had to natural causes) his counsels and de- 
 signs stand firm and immoveable, and can neither 
 admit of alteration in themselves, nor of hin- 
 drance in their execution. See this farther explain- 
 ed by Bucer, in Rom. ix. where you will find the 
 certainty of the divine appointments solidly as- 
 serted and unanswerably vindicated. We now 
 
 come, 
 
 IV. To consider the Omnipotence of God. 
 
 Pos. 1. God is, in the most unlimited and ab- 
 solute sense of the word, Almighty. Jer. x xii. 
 17. Behold, thou hast made the heaven and the 
 earth by thy great power and stretched-out arm, 
 and there is nothing too hard for thee. Mat. 
 xix. 26. With God all things are possible. The 
 Schoolmen very properly distinguish the omni- 
 potence of God into absolute and actual ; by the 
 former, God might do many things which he 
 does not ; by the latter, he actually does whatever 
 he will* For instance ; God might by virtue of 
 his absolute power, have made more worlds than 
 he has. He might have eternally saved every 
 individual of mankind, without reprobating any : 
 on the other hand, he might, and that with the 
 strictest justice, have condemned all men, and 
 saved none. He could, had it been his pleasure, 
 have prevented the fall of angels and men, and
 
 91 
 
 thereby have hindered sin from having footing in 
 and among his creatures. By virtue ot his actual 
 power, he made the universe ; executes the whole 
 counsel of his will, both in heaven and earth ; 
 governs and influences both men and things, ac- 
 cording to his own pleasure ; fixes the bounds 
 which they shall not pass ; and, in a word, work- 
 eth all in all, Isa. xlv. 7. Amos iii. 6. John v. 
 17. Acts xvii. 26. 1 Cor xii. 6. 
 
 Pos. 2. Hence it follows that, since all things 
 are subject to the divine control, God not only 
 works efficaciously on his elect, in order that they 
 may will and do that which is pleasing in his 
 sight ; but does likewise frequently and power- 
 fully suffer the wicked to fill up the measure of 
 their iniquities, by committing fresh sins. Nay, 
 he sometimes, but for wise and gracious ends, 
 permits his own people to transgress : for he has 
 the hearts and wills of men in his own hand, and 
 inclines them to good, or delivers them up to evil, 
 as he sees fit, yet without being the author of sin ; 
 as Luther, Bucer, Austin and others, have piously 
 and scripturally taught. 
 
 This position consists of two parts ; (1.) That 
 God efficaciously operates on the hearts of his 
 elect, and is thereby the sole author of all the good 
 they do. See Eph. iii. 20. Phil. ii. 13. 1 Thess. 
 ii. 13. Heb. xiii. 21. St. Austin* takes no few- 
 er than nineteen chapters, in proving that what- 
 ever good is in men, and whatever good they are 
 enabled to do, is solely and entirely of God ; who, 
 says he, M works in holy persons all their good 
 desires, their pious thoughts, and their righteous 
 actions ; and yet these holy persons, though thus 
 wrought upon by God, will and do all these things 
 freely : for it is he who rectifies their wills, 
 
 De Grat. & lib. Arb. a c 1. usque ad c. 20.
 
 92 
 
 which, being originally evil, are made good 
 by him ; and which wills, after he hath set 
 them right and made them good, he directs 
 to good actions and to eternal life ; wherein 
 he does not force their wills, but makes them 
 willing." (2.) That God often lets the wicked 
 go on to more ungodliness : which he does, 1. 
 Negatively, by withholding that grace, which 
 alone can restrain them from evil. 2. Remotely, 
 by the providential concourse and medi ation of 
 second causes ; which second causes, meeting and 
 acting in concert with the corruption of the re- 
 probate's unregenerate nature, produce sinful 
 effects. 3. Judicially, or in a way of judgment. 
 Prov. xxi. 1. M The king's heart is in the hand of 
 the Lord, as the rivers of waters ; he turneth it 
 whithersoever he will :" And if the king's heart, 
 why not the hearts of all men ? Lam. iii. 38. 
 " Out of the mouth of the Most High proceedeth 
 not evil and good ?" Hence we find, that the Lord 
 bid Shimei curse David, 2 Sam. xvi. 10. That he 
 moved David himself to number the people, com- 
 pare 1 Chron. xxi. 1. with 2 Sam. xxiv. 1. 
 Stirred up Joseph's brethren to sell him into 
 Egypt, Gen. 1. 20. Positively and immediately har- 
 dened the heart of Pharaoh, Ex. iv. 21. Deli- 
 vered up David's wives to be defiled by Absa- 
 lom, 2 Sam. xii. 11. and xvi. 22. Sent a lying 
 spirit to deceive Ahab, 1 Kings xxii. 20 23. 
 And mingled a perverse spirit in the midst of 
 Egypt, i. e. made that nation perverse, obdurate 
 and stiffnecked, Isai. xix. 14. To cite other in- 
 stances would be almost endless, and, after these, 
 quite unnecessary; all being summed up in that 
 express passage, Isai. xlv. 7. I make peace and 
 create evil; I the Lord do all these things." 
 See farther, 1 Sam. xvi. 14. Psalm cv. 25. Jer. 
 xiii. 12, 13. Acts ii. 23. and iv. 28. Rom. xi. 8.
 
 93 
 
 2 Thess. ii. 11. Every one of which implies more* 
 than a bare permission of sin. Bucer asserts this, 
 not only in the place referred to below, but con- 
 tinually throughout his works; particularly on 
 Mat. vi. s. 2. where this is the sense of his com- 
 ments on that petition, lead us not into tempta- 
 tion j " It is abundantly evident, from most ex- 
 press testimonies of scripture, that God, occa- 
 sionally in the course of his providence, puts both 
 elect and reprobate persons into circumstances of 
 temptation : by which temptation are meant, not 
 only those trials that are of an outward, afflictive 
 nature, but those also that are inward and spiri- 
 tual ; even such as shall cause the persons so 
 tempted actually to turn aside from the path of 
 duty to commit sin, and involve both themselves 
 and others in evil. Hence we find the elect com- 
 plaining. Isa. lxiii. 17. " O Lord, why hast 
 thou made us to err from thy ways, and harden- 
 ed our hearts from thy fear ?" But there is also 
 a kind of temptation, which is peculiar to the non- 
 elect ; whereby God, in a way of just judgment, 
 makes them totally blind and obdurate : inasmuch 
 as they are vessels of wrath fitted to destruction." 
 See also his exposition of Rom. ix. 
 
 Luther] reasons to the very same effect : some 
 of his words are these ; " It may seem absurd to 
 human wisdom, that God should harden, blind 
 and deliver up some men to a reprobate sense ; 
 that he should first deliver them over to evil, and 
 then condemn them for that evil ; but the believ- 
 ing, spiritual man sees no absurdity at all in 
 
 * Vid Auguitin, de Grat. & lib. Arbitr. c. 20. & 21- & Bucc; 
 in Rom. i. sect. 7. 
 
 t De Serv. Arb. c. 8- & 146. & 147 usq- ad. c- 16S 
 8 *
 
 94 
 
 this ; knowing that God would be never a whit 
 less good, even though he should destroy all 
 men." And again ; " God worketh all things in 
 men ; even wickedness in the wicked : for this is 
 one branch of his own omnipotence." He very 
 properly explains, how God may be said to hard- 
 en men, &c. and yet not be the author of their sin ; 
 " It is not to be understood (says he) as if God 
 found men good, wise and tractable, and then 
 made them wicked, foolish and obdurate ; but 
 God finding them depraved, judicially and pow- 
 erfully excites them just as they are, (unless it is 
 his will to regenerate any of them ;) and, by thus 
 exciting them, they become more blind and ob- 
 stinate than they were before." See this whole 
 subject debated at large in the places last refer- 
 red to. 
 
 Pos. 3. God, as the primary and efficient cause 
 of all things, is not only the author of those ac- 
 tions done by his elect, as actions^ but also as 
 they are good actions ; whereas, on the other 
 hand, though he may be said to be the author of 
 all the actions done by the wicked, yet he is not 
 the author of them in a moral and compound 
 sense, as they are sinful ; but physically, simply, 
 and sensu diviso y as they are mere actions, ab- 
 stractedly from all consideration of the goodness 
 or badness of them. 
 
 Although there is no action whatever, which is 
 Dot in some sense, either good or bad ; yet we 
 easily conceive of an action, purely as such, with- 
 out adverting to the quality of it : so that the 
 distinction between an action itself and its deno- 
 mination of good or evil, is very obvious and 
 natural. 
 
 In and by the elect, therefore, God not only 
 produces works and actions through his almighty 
 .power j but likewise through the salutary influ*
 
 95 
 
 ences of his Spirit, first makes their persons good, 
 and then their actions so too : but, in and by the 
 reprobate, he produces actions by his power alone; 
 which actions, as neither issuing from faith, nor 
 being wrought with a view to the divine glory, 
 nor done in the manner prescribed by the divine 
 word, are on these accounts properly denomi- 
 nated evil. Hence we see that God does not im- 
 mediately and per se infuse iniquity into the 
 wicked ; but, as Luther expresses it, powerfully 
 excites them to action, and withholds those gra- 
 cious influences of his Spirit, without which 
 every action is necessarily evil. That God, ei- 
 ther directly or remotely, excites bad men as well 
 as good ones, to action, cannot be denied by any 
 but Atheists, or by those who carry their notions 
 of free will and human independency so high as 
 to exclude the Deity from all actual operation in 
 and among his creatures ; which is little short of 
 Atheism. Every work performed, whether good 
 or evil, is done in the strength and by the power 
 derived immediately from God himself, in whom 
 all men live, move, and have their being, Acts 
 xvii. 28. As, at first, without him was not any 
 thing made which was made ; so now, without 
 him is not any thing done which is done. We 
 have no power or faculty, whether corporeal or 
 intellectual, but what we received from God, sub- 
 sists by him, and is exercised in subserviency to 
 his will and appointment. It is he who created, 
 preserves, actuates, and directs all things. But 
 it by no means follows from these premises, that 
 God is therefore the cause of sin ; for sin is no- 
 thing but *ve/A, illegality, want of conformity to 
 the divine law, 1 John iii. 4. a mere privation of 
 rectitude j consequently, being itself a thing pure- 
 ly negative, it can have no positive or efficient 
 cause, but only a negative and deficient one i a& 
 several learned men have observed*
 
 96 
 
 Every action, as such, is undoubtedly good ; it 
 being an actual exertion of those operative pow- 
 ers given us by God for that very end : God 
 therefore may be the author of all actions, (as he 
 undoubtedly is) and yet not be the author of evil. 
 An' action is constituted evil three ways ; by pro- 
 ceeding from a wrong principle, by being direct- 
 ed to a wrong end, and by being done in a wrong 
 manner. Now, though God, as we have said, is 
 the efficient cause of our actions, as actions ; yet, 
 if these actions commence sinful, that sinfulness 
 arises from ourselves. Suppose a boy, who 
 knows not how to write, has his hand guided by 
 his master, and nevertheless makes false letters, 
 quite unlike the copy set him ; though his pre- 
 ceptor, who guides his hand, is the cause of his 
 writing at all, yet his own ignorance and unskil- 
 fulness are the cause of his writing so badly. 
 Just so, God is the supreme author of our action, 
 abstractedly taken ; but our own vitiosity is the 
 cause of our acting amiss. 
 
 I shall conclude this article with two or three 
 observations. And, (1.) I would infer, that if 
 we would maintain the doctrine of God's omni- 
 potence, we must insist upon that of his univer- 
 sal agency : the latter cannot be denied, without 
 giving up the former. Disprove that he is al- 
 mighty, and then we will grant that his influence 
 and operations are limited and circumscribed. 
 Luther says,* " God would not be a respectable 
 being if he were not almighty, and the doer of all 
 things that are done ; or if any thing could come 
 to pass in which he had no hand." God has, at 
 least a physical influence on whatsoever is done 
 by his creatures, whether trivial or important, 
 good or evil. Judas as truly lived, moved, and 
 
 * . i . J r. 
 
 * De Serv. Arb- c* 169;
 
 97 
 
 had his being from God, as Peter j and Satan 
 himself, as much as Gabriel : for, to say that sin 
 exempts the sinner from the divine government 
 and jurisdiction, is abridging the power of God 
 with a witness ; nay, is razing it from its very 
 foundations. 
 
 (2.) This doctrine of God's omnipotence has a 
 native tendency to awaken in our hearts that re- 
 verence for, and fear of the divine Majesty, 
 which none can either receive or retain, but those 
 who believe him to be infinitely powerful, and to 
 work all things after the counsel of his own will. 
 This godly fear is a sovereign antidote against sin ; 
 for if I really believe that God, by his unintermit- 
 ted operation upon my soul, produces actions in 
 me, which, being simply good, receive their malig- 
 nancy from the corruption of my nature (and 
 even those works that stand opposed to sins, are, 
 more or less, infected with this moral leprosy ;) 
 and if I consider that, should I yield myself a 
 slave to actual iniquity, God can, and justly 
 might, as he has frequently done by others, give 
 me up to a reprobate mind, and punish one sin, 
 by leaving me to the commission of another ; 
 surely, such reflections as these must fill me with 
 awful apprehensions of the divine purity, power 
 and greatness, and make me watch continually, 
 as well against the inward risings, as the outward 
 appearance of evil. 
 
 (3.) This doctrine is also useful, as it tends to 
 inspire us with true humility of soul, and to lay 
 us, as impotent dust and ashes, at the feet of 
 sovereign omnipotence. It teaches us, what too 
 many are fatally ignorant of, the blessed lesson of 
 self-despair ; i. e. that, in a state of unregenera- 
 cy, our wisdom is lolly, our strength weakness, 
 and our righteousness nothing worth : that, there- 
 fore, we can do nothing either to the glory of
 
 98 
 
 God, or the spiritual benefit of ourselves, and 
 others, but through the ability which he giveth ; 
 that in him our strength lieth, and from him all 
 our help must come. Supposing we believe, that, 
 whatsoever is done below or above, God doeth 
 it himself; that all things depend, both as to their 
 being and operation, upon his omnipotent arm 
 and mighty support; that we cannot even sin, 
 much less do any good thing, if he withdraw his 
 aid ; and that all men are in his hand, as clay in 
 the hand of the potter ; I say, did we really be- 
 lieve all these points, and see them in the light 
 of the divine Spirit, how can it be reasonably 
 supposed that we could wax insolent against this 
 great God, behave contemptuously and supercili- 
 ously in the world, or boast of any thing we 
 have or do ? Luther informs us,* that he " used 
 frequently to be much offended at this doctrine, 
 because it drove him to self-despair ; but that he 
 afterwards found, that this sort of despair was 
 salutary and profitable, and near akin to divine 
 grace." 
 
 (4.) We are hereby taught not only humility 
 before God, but likewise dependence on him, and 
 resignation to him. For, if we are thoroughly 
 persuaded that, of ourselves, and in our own 
 strength, we cannot either do good or evil ; but 
 that, being originally created by God, we are in- 
 cessantly supported, moved, influenced, and di- 
 rected by him, this way or that, as he pleases ; 
 the natural inference from hence will be, that, 
 with simple faith, we cast ourselves, entirely, as 
 on the bosom of his Providence ; commit all our 
 care and solicitude to his hand ; praying, with- 
 out hesitation or reserve, that his will may be 
 
 * De Serv. Arb. c 161.
 
 99 
 
 done in us, on us, and by us ; and that, in all his 
 dealings with us, he may consult his own glory 
 alone. This holy passiveness is the very apex of 
 Christianity. All the desires of our great Re- 
 deemer himself were reducible to these two ; 
 that the will of God might be done, and that the 
 glory of God might be displayed. These were the 
 highest and supreme marks at which he aimed, 
 throughout the whole course of his spotless life, 
 and inconceivably tremendous sufferings. Hap- 
 py, thrice happy that man, who hath thus far at- 
 tained the mind that was in Christ ! 
 
 (5.) The comfortable belief of this doctrine 
 has a tendency to excite and keep alive within us 
 that fortitude, which is so ornamental to, and ne- 
 cessary for us, while we abide in this wilderness. 
 For, if 1 believe with the Apostle, that all things 
 are of God, 2. Cor. v. 18. I shall be less liable 
 to perturbation when afflicted, and learn more 
 easily to possess my soul in patience. This was 
 Job's support : he was not overcome with rage 
 and despair, when he received news that the Sa- 
 beans had carried off his cattle, and slain his ser- 
 vants, and that the remainder of both were con- 
 sumed with fire ; that the Chaldeans had robbed 
 him of his camels ; and that his seven sons were 
 crushed to death, by the falling of the house 
 where they were sitting : he resolved all these 
 misfortunes into the agency of God, his power 
 and sovereignty, and even thanked him for doing 
 what he would with his own, Job i. 21. If ano- 
 ther should slander me in word, or injure me in 
 deed, I shall not be prone to anger, when, with 
 David, I consider that the Lord hath bidden 
 him, 2 Sam. xvi. 10. 
 
 (6.) This should stir us up to fervent and in- 
 cessant prayer. For, does God work powerfully 
 and benignly ia the hearts of his elect ? and is
 
 100 
 
 he the sole cause of every action they do, which 
 is truly and spiritually good ? Then it should be 
 ur prayer, that he would work in us likewise 
 both to will and to do, of his good pleasure : 
 and if, on self-examination, we find reason to 
 trust, that some good thing is wrought in us ; it 
 should put us upon thankfulness unfeigned, and 
 cause us to glory, not in ourselves but in him. 
 On the other hand, does God manifest his displea- 
 sure against the wicked, by blinding, hardening, 
 and giving them up to perpetrate iniquity with 
 greediness ? which judicial acts of God, are both 
 a punishment for their sin : and also eventual ad- 
 ditions to it : we should be the more incited to 
 deprecate these tremendous evils, and to beseech 
 the King of heaven, that he would not thus lead 
 us into temptation. So much concerning the 
 omnipotence of God. I shall now, 
 
 V. Take notice of his Justice. 
 
 Pos. 1. God is infinitely, absolutely, and un- 
 changeably just. 
 
 The justice of Cod may be considered either 
 immanently, as it is in himself, which is, proper- 
 ly speaking, the same with his holiness ; or tran- 
 siently and relatively, as it respects his right con- 
 duct towards his creatures, which is properly 
 justice. By the former he is all that is holy, 
 just, and good ; by the latter, he is manifested to 
 be so, in all his dealings with angels and men. 
 For the first, see Deut. xxxii. 4. Ps. xcii. 15. 
 for the second, Job viii. 3. Ps. cxlv. 17. Hence 
 it follows, that whatever God either wills or does, 
 however it may, at first sight, seem to clash with 
 our ideas of right and wrong, cannot really be 
 unjust. It is certain, that, for a season, he sore- 
 ly afflicted his righteous servant Job ; and, on 
 the other hand enriched the Sabeans, an infidel 
 and lawless nation, with a profusion of wealth
 
 101 
 
 and a series of success ; before Jacob and Esau, 
 were born, or had none either good or evil, he 
 loved and chose the former, and reprobated the 
 latter : He gave repentance to Peter, and left Ju- 
 das to perish in his sin : and, as in all ages, so, to 
 this day, he hath mercy on whom he will, and 
 whom he will he hardeneth. In all which, he 
 acts most justly and righteously, and there is no 
 iniquity with him. 
 
 Pos. 2. The Deity may be considered in a 
 threefold view : as v>od of all, as Lord of all, 
 and as Judge of all. 
 
 1. As God of all, he created, sustains, and 
 exhilerates the whole universe : causes his sun to 
 shine, and his rain to fall upon the evil and the 
 good, Mat. v. and is 'Zur^ txv]ui eti6e&>7rav , the pre* 
 server of all men, 1 Tim. iv. 10. For, as he is 
 infinitely and supremely good, so also is he com- 
 municative of his goodness ; as appears not only 
 from his creation of all things, but especially 
 from his providential benignity. Every thing 
 has its being from him, as Creator ; and its well- 
 being from him, as a bountiful Preserver. 2 
 As Lord, or sovereign of all, he does as he will 
 (and has a most unquestionable right to do so} 
 with his own ; and, in particular, fixes and deter- 
 mines the everlasting state of every individual 
 person, as he sees fit. It is essential to absolute 
 sovereignty; that the sovereign have it in his 
 power to dispose of those, over whom his juris- 
 diction extends, just as he pleases, without being* 
 accountable to any : And God, whose authority 
 is unbounded, none being exempt from it ; may, 
 with the strictest holiness and justice, love or 
 hate, elect or reprobate, save or destroy any of 
 his creatures, whether human or angelic, accord- 
 ing to his own- free pleasure and sovereign pur- 
 pose. 3. As Judge of all, he ratifies what lte 
 9
 
 102 
 
 does as Lord, by rendering to all according to 
 their works ; by punishing the wicked, and re- 
 warding those whom it was his will to esteem 
 righteous and to make holy. 
 
 Pos. 3. Whatever things God wills or does, are 
 not willed and done by him because they were, 
 in their own nature, and previously to his willing 
 them, just and right : or because, from their in- 
 trinsic fitness, he ought to will and to do them : 
 but they are therefore just, right and proper, be- 
 cause he, who is holiness itself wills and. does 
 them. 
 
 Hence Abraham looked upon it as a righteous 
 action to slay his innocent son. Why did he so 
 esteem it, because the law of God authorized 
 murder ? No ; for, on the contrary, both the law 
 of od and the law of nature peremptorily for- 
 bad it : but the holy patriarch well knew, that the 
 will of God is the only rule of justice , and that 
 what he pleases to command is, on that very ac- 
 count just and righteous. # It follows, 
 
 Pos. 4. That although our works are to be ex- 
 amined by the revealed will of God, and be de- 
 nominated materially good or evil, as they agree 
 or disagree with it ; yet, the works of God him- 
 self cannot be brought to any test whatever : for, 
 his will being the grand, universal law, he him- 
 self cannot be, properly speaking, subject to, or 
 obliged by, any law superior to that. Many 
 things are done by him, such as chusing and re- 
 probating men, without any respect had to their 
 works ; suffering people to fall into sin, when, if 
 it so pleased him he might prevent it; leaving 
 many backsliding professors to go on and perish in 
 their apostacy, when it is in his divine power to 
 sanctify and set them right ; drawing some by 
 
 * Compare also JBxod. iii- 22. with Exod. xx, 15-
 
 I 
 
 103 
 
 his grace, and permitting many others to continue 
 in sin and unregeneracy ; condemning those to 
 future misery, whom, if he pleased, he could un- 
 doubtedly save ; with innumerable instances of 
 the like nature, (which might be mentioned) and 
 which, if done by us, would be apparently unjust, 
 inasmuch as they would not square with the re- 
 vealed will of God, which is the great and only 
 safe rule of our practice. But, when he does 
 these and such like things, they cannot but be 
 holyj equitable, and worthy of himself: for, 
 since his will is essentially and unchangeably just, 
 whatever he does, in consequence of that will, 
 must be just and good likewise. From what has 
 been delivered under this fifth head, I would in- 
 fer, That they, who deny the power God has of 
 doing as he will with his creatures, and exclaim 
 against unconditional decrees as cruel, tyranni- 
 cal, and unjust; either know not what they say, 
 nor whereof they affirm ; or are wilful blasphe- 
 mers of his name, and perverse rebels against 
 his sovereignty : to which at last, however un- 
 willingly, then will be forced to submit. 
 
 I shall conclude this introduction with briefly 
 considering in the 
 
 Sixth and last place, the Mercy of God. 
 
 Pos. i. The Deity is, throughout the scriptures, 
 represented as infinitely gracious and merciful, 
 Exod. xxxiv. 6. Nehem. ix. 17". Psalm ciii. 8. 
 1 Pet. i. 3. 
 
 When we call the divine mercy infinite, we do 
 not mean tha* it is, in a way of grace, extended to 
 all men, without exception ; (and supposing it was, 
 even then it would be very improperly denomina- 
 ted infinite on that account, since the objects of it, 
 though all men taken together, would not amount 
 to a multitude strictly and properly infinite) but, 
 that his mercy towards his own elect, as it knew
 
 104 
 
 no beginning, so is it infinite in duration, and 
 shall know neither period nor intermission. 
 
 Pos. 2. Mercy is not in the Deity, as it is in 
 us, a passion, or affection ; every thing of that 
 kind being incompatible with the purity, perfec- 
 tion', independency and unchangeableness of his 
 nature : but, when this attribute is predicated of 
 him, it only notes his free and eternal will, or 
 purpose, of making some of the fallen race happy, 
 by delivering them from the guilt and dominion 
 of sin, and communicating himself to them in a 
 way consistent with his own inviolable justice, 
 truth, and holiness. This seems to be the proper 
 definition of mercy, as it relates to the spiritual 
 and eternal good of those who are its objects. 
 But it should be observed, 
 
 Pos. 3. That the mercy of God, taken in its 
 more large and indefinite sense, may be consider- 
 ed, 1. as general, 2, as special. 
 
 His general mercy is no other than what we 
 commonly call his bounty ; by which he is, more 
 or less, providentially good to all mankind, both 
 elect and non-elect : Mat. v. 45. Luke vi. 35. 
 Acts xiv. 17. and xvii. 25 28. By his special 
 mercy, he as Lord of all, hath in a spiritual 
 sense, compassion on as many of the fallen race 
 as are the objects of his free and eternal favour : 
 the effects of which special mercy are, the rer 
 demption and justification of their persons 
 through the satisfaction of Christ ; the effectual 
 vocation, regeneration, and sanctification of them, 
 by his Spirit ; the infallible and final preservation 
 of them in a state of grace on earth ; and their 
 everlasting glorification in heaven. 
 
 Pos, 4. There is no contradiction, whether 
 real or seeming, between these two assertions, 
 1. That the blessings of grace and glory are pe- 
 culiar to those whom God hath in his decree of
 
 105 
 
 predestination, set apart for himself; and 2. 
 That the gospel declaration runs, that whosoever 
 willeth, may take of the water of life freely, Rev. 
 xxii. 17. "Since, in the first place, none can 
 will, or unfeignedly and spiritually desire a part 
 in these privileges, but those whom God previ- 
 ously makes willing and desirous ; and, secondly, 
 that he gives this will to, and excites this desire 
 in, none but his own elect. 
 
 Pos. 5. Since ungodly men, who are totally 
 and finally destitute of divine grace, cannot know 
 what this mercy is, nor form any proper appre- 
 hensions of it, much less by faith embrace and 
 rely upon it for themselves ; and since daily expe- 
 rience, as well as the scriptures of truth, teach 
 us that God doth not open the eyes of the repro- 
 bate, as he doth the eyes of his elect, nor savingly 
 enlighten their understandings ; it evidently fol- 
 lows that his mercy was never, from the very 
 first, designed for them, neither will it be applied 
 to them : but, both in designation and applica- 
 tion, is proper and peculiar to those only, who 
 are predestinated to life ; as it is written, the 
 election hath obtained, and the rest were blinded, 
 Rom. xi. 7. 
 
 Pos. 6. The whole work of salvation, together 
 with every thing that is in order to it, or stands 
 in connexion with it, is sometimes in scripture 
 comprised under the single term mercy ; to shew 
 that mere love and absolute grace were the grand 
 causes why the elect are saved, and that all merit, 
 worthiness, and good qualifications of theirs were 
 entirely excluded from having any influence on 
 the divine will, whv they should be chosen, re- 
 deemed, and glorified, above others. When it is 
 said, Rom. ix. " He hath mercy on whom he 
 will have mercy," it is as much as if the Apostle 
 had said, " God elected, ransomed, justified,, r&* 
 9 *
 
 106 
 
 generates, sanctifies and glorifies whom he plea- 
 ses :" every one of these great privileges being 
 briefly summed up, and virtually included, in that 
 comprehensive phrase, * He hath mercy." 
 
 Pos. 7. It follows, that whatever favour is 
 bestowed on us, or wrought by us, whether in 
 will, word, or deed; and whatever blessings 
 else we receive from God, from election quite 
 home to glorification; all proceed merely and 
 entirely from the good pleasure of his will, and 
 his mercy towards us in Christ Jesus. To him, 
 therefore, the praise is due, who putteth the dif- 
 ference between man and man, by having compas- 
 sion on some, and not on others.
 
 THE 
 DOCTRINE 
 
 or 
 
 ABSOLUTE PREDESTINATION 
 
 STATED AND ASSERTED. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 WHEREIN THE TERMS COMMONLY MADE VSE OF IN 
 TREATING OF THIS SUBJECT, ARE DEFINED AND 
 
 EXPLAINED. 
 
 HAVING considered the attributes of God, as 
 laid down in scripture ; and, so far, cleared our 
 way to the doctrine of predestination j I shall, 
 before I enter further on the subject, explain the 
 principal terms generally made use of when treat- 
 ing of it, and settle their true meaning. In discour- 
 sing on the divine decrees, mention is frequently 
 made of God's love and hatred ; of election and 
 reprobation ; of the divine purpose, foreknow- 
 ledge, and predestination ; each of which we shall 
 distinctly and briefly consider. 
 
 I. When love is predicated of God, we do not 
 mean that he is possessed of it as a passion, or 
 affection. In us it is such ; but if, considered in 
 that sense, it should be ascribed to the Deity, it 
 would be utterly subversive of the simplicity per- 
 fection, and independency of his being. Love,
 
 108 
 
 therefore, when attributed to him, signifies, I. 
 his eternal benevolence, i. e. his everlasting will, 
 purpose, and determination to deliver, bless, and 
 save his people. Of this, no good works wrought 
 by them are in any sense the cause. Neither are 
 even the merits of Christ himself to be consider- 
 ed as any way moving or exciting this good will 
 of God to his elect ; since the gift of Christ to 
 be their mediator and redeemer, is itself an ef- 
 fect of this free and eternal favour, borne to them 
 t by God the Father, John iii. 16. " His love to- 
 wards them arises merely from the good pleasure 
 of his own good will, without the least regard to 
 any thing ad extra, or, out of himself." The 
 term implies, 2. complacency, delight, and ap- 
 probation. With this love, God cannot love even 
 his elect, as considered in themselves ; because 
 in that view, they are guilty, polluted sinners ; 
 but they were from all eternity objects of it, as 
 they stood united to Christ, and partakers of his 
 righteousness. Love implies, 3. actual benefi- 
 cence ; which, properly speaking, is nothing else 
 than the effect or accomplishment of the other 
 two : those are the cause of this. This actual 
 beneficence respects all blessings, whether of a 
 temporal, spiritual, or eternal nature. Temporal 
 good things are indeed indiscriminately bestow- 
 ed in a greater or less degree, on all, whether 
 elect or reprobate ; but they are given in a cove- 
 nant way, and as blessings to the elect only ; to 
 whom also the other benefits, respecting grace 
 and glory, are peculiar. And this love of bene- 
 ficence no less than that of benevolence and 
 complacency, is absolutely free, and irrespective 
 of any worthiness in man. 
 
 II. When hatred is ascribed to God, it im- 
 plies, 1. a negation of benevolence ; or, a reso- 
 lution not to have mercy on such and such men,,
 
 109 
 
 nor to endue them with any of those graces 
 which stand connected with eternal life. So, 
 Rom. ix. u Esau have I hated, i. e. I did 
 from all eternity, determine within myself, not ta 
 have mercy on him." The sole cause of which 
 awful negation is not merely the unworthiness of 
 the persons hated, but the sovereignty and free- 
 dom of the divine will. 2. It denotes displea- 
 sure and dislike : for sinners who are not interest- 
 ed in Christ, cannot but be infinitely displeasing 
 to, and loathsome in the sight of eternal purity. 
 3. It signifies a positive will to punish and 
 destroy the reprobate for their sins ; of which 
 will the infliction of misery upon them hereaf- 
 ter, is but the necessary effect, and actual execu- 
 tion. 
 
 III. The term election, that so very frequent- 
 ly occurs in scripture, is there taken in a fourfold 
 sense; 1. and most commonly signifies, "That 
 eternal, sovereign, unconditional, particular, and 
 immutable act of God, where he selected some 
 from among all mankind, and of every nation un- 
 der heaven, to be redeemed and everlastingly 
 saved by Christ." 2. It sometimes and more 
 rarely signifies, " That gracious and almighty act 
 of the divine Spirit, whereby God actually and 
 visibly separates his elect from the world, by ef- 
 fectual calling." This is nothing but the mani- 
 festation and partial fulfilment of the former elec- 
 tion ; and by it, the objects of predestinating 
 grace are sensibly led unto the communion of 
 saints, and visibly added to the number of Cod's 
 declared, professing people. Of this our Lord 
 makes mention, John xv. 19. " Because I have 
 chosen you out of the world, therefore the 
 world hateth you." Where, it should seem, the 
 choice spoken of, does not refer so much to 
 God's eternal immanent act of election, as hi?
 
 110 
 
 open, manifest one ; whereby he powerfully and 
 efficaciously called the disciples forth from the 
 world of the unconverted, and quickened them 
 from above, in conversion. 3. By election is 
 sometimes meant, " God's taking a whole nation, 
 community, or body of men, into external cove- 
 nant with himself, by giving them the advantage 
 of revelation, or his written word, as the rule of 
 their belief and practice, when other nations are 
 without it." In this sense, the whole body of 
 the Jewish nation was indiscriminately called 
 elect, Deut. vii. 6. " because that unto them were 
 committed the oracles of God. Now, all that are 
 thus elected are not therefore necessarily saved j 
 but many of them may be, and are, reprobates : 
 as those of whom our Lord says, Mat. xxiii. 20. 
 " that they hear the word and anon with joy 
 receive it, &c." And the apostle John, 1 Epist. 
 chap. ii. " They went out from us, i. e. being fa- 
 voured with the same gospel revelation we were, 
 they professed themselves true believers no less 
 than we ; but they were not of us, i. e. they were 
 not with us chosen of God unto everlasting life, 
 nor did they ever in reality, possess that faith of 
 his operation, which he gave to us ; for, if they 
 had in this sense, been of us, they would no doubt 
 have continued with us ; they would have mani- 
 fested the sincerity of their professions, and 
 the truth of their conversion by enduring to the 
 end, and being saved." And even this external 
 revelation, though it is not necessarily connected 
 with eternal happiness, is nevertheless productive 
 of very many and great advantages to the people 
 and places where it is vouchsafed ; and is made 
 known to some nations, and kept back* from 
 
 See Psalm cilvii. 19, 20.
 
 Ill 
 
 others, according to the good pleasure of him, 
 who worketh all thing after the counsel of his 
 own will. 4. And lastly, election sometimes 
 signifies, " The temporary designation of some 
 person or persons, to the filling up some particu- 
 lar station in the visible church, or office in civil 
 life." So Judas was chosen to the apostleship, 
 John vi. 70. and Saul to be king of Israel, 1 Sam. 
 x. 24. " This much for the use of the word 
 election." On the contrary, 
 
 IV. Reprobation denotes either, 1. God's 
 eternal preterition of some men, when he chose 
 others to glory, and his predestination of them to 
 fill up the measure of their iniquities, and then to 
 receive the just punishment of their crimes, even 
 destruction from the presence of the Lord, and 
 from the glory of his power. This is the prima- 
 ry, most obvious, and most frequent sense, in 
 which the word is used. It may likewi e signify, 
 
 2. C=od's forbearing to call by his grace, those 
 whom he hath thus ordained to condemnation : 
 but this is only a temporary pretention, and a 
 consequence of that which was from eternity. 
 
 3. And lastly, the word may be taken in ano- 
 ther sense, as denoting God's refusal to grant to 
 some nations the light of the gospel revelation. 
 This may be considered as a kind of national re- 
 probation ; which yet does not imply that every 
 individual person, who lives in such a country, 
 must therefore unavoidably perish for ever ; any 
 more than that every individual, who lives in a 
 land called Christian, is therefore in a state of sal- 
 vation. There are no doubt, elect persons among 
 the former ; as well as reprobate ones among the 
 latter. By a very little attention to the context, 
 any reader may easily discover in which of these 
 several senses the words elect and reprobate are 
 U6ed, whenever they occur in scripture.
 
 112 
 
 V. Mention is frequently made, in scripture, 
 of the purpose* of God : which is no other than 
 his gracious intention from eternity of making 
 his elect everlastingly happy in Christ. 
 
 , VI. When foreknowledge is ascribed to God, 
 the word imports, 1. that general prescience, 
 whereby he knew from all eternity, both what he 
 himself would do, and what his creatures, in con- 
 sequence of his efficacious and permissive de- 
 cree, should do likewise. The divine foreknow- 
 ledge considered in this view, is absolutely uni- 
 versal ; it extends to all beings that did, do, or 
 ever shall exist ; and to all actions that ever have 
 been, that are, or shall be done, whether good or 
 
 * The purpose of God does not seem to differ at all from 
 predestination : that being as well as this, an eternal, free, 
 and unchangeable act of his will. Besides, the word purpose, 
 when predicated of God in the New Testament, always de- 
 notes his design of saving his elect, and that only, Rom. viii. 
 28. & ix. 11. Epb. i. 11. & iii. 11. 2 Tim. i. 9 As does the 
 term predestination ; which, throughout the whole New Tes- 
 tament, never signifies the appoimment of the non-elect to 
 WTath.; but: singly and solely the fore-appointment of the elect 
 to grace and glory : though, in common theological writings, 
 predestination is spoken of as extending to wbattver God 
 does, botli in a way of permission and efficiency ; as in the 
 utmost sense of the term it does. It is worthy of the lead- 
 er's notice, that the original word 7rge6e s-<s, which we render 
 purpose, signifies not only an appointment, but a fore-appoint- 
 ment, and such a fore-appointment as is efficacious, and can- 
 not be obstructed, but shall most assuredly issue in a full 
 accomplishment: which gave occasion to the following judi- 
 cious remark of a late learned writer; "sr> oOecis a Paulo 
 sxpe usurpatur in elect ionisnegotio, addesignandum, consili- 
 um hoc Dei non esse inanem quandam &. inefficacem vellei- 
 tatem j Bed constans, deternunatum, et immutabile Dei pro- 
 posimm. Vox enim est efficaciae summx, ut notant gram- 
 matici veteres ; et signate vocatur a Paulo. wgoSecrts wy ret. 
 KctXlob tveg'ybtv1&', consilium ill i us, qui effic;<citer omnia 
 operatur ex benephxito suo." Ti'eretin. Institut. Tom. 
 1. loc. 4. quaest. 7. s. 12.
 
 113 
 
 evil, natural, civil, or moral. 2. The word of- 
 ten denotes that special prescience which has for 
 its objects his own elect, and them alone ; whom 
 he is in a peculiar sense said to know and fore- 
 know, Psal. i. 6. John x. 27. 2 Tim. ii. 19. Rom. 
 viii. 29. 1 Pet. i. 2. and this knowledge is con- 
 nected with, or rather the same with love, favour, 
 and approbation, 
 
 VII. We come now to consider the meaning 
 of the word predestination, and how it is taken in 
 scripture. The verb predestinate is of Latin 
 original, and signifies in that tongue, to delibe- 
 rate beforehand with one's self, how one shall 
 act : and in consequence of such deliberation, to 
 constitute, foreordain, and predetermine, where, 
 when, how, and by whom, any thing shall be 
 done, and when it shall be done. So the Greek 
 verb js-poo^i^m, which exactly answers to the Eng- 
 lish word predestinate, and is rendered by it, sig- 
 nifies, to resolve beforehand within one's self 
 what to do, and before the thing resolved on is 
 actually effected, to appoint it to some certain use, 
 and direct it to some determinate end. The He- 
 brew verb habhdeL, has likewise much the same 
 signification. 
 
 Now, none but wise men are capable (especial- 
 ly in matters of great importance) of rightly de- 
 termining what to do, and how to accomplish a 
 proper end, by just, suitable, and effectual means : 
 and if this is confessedly a very material part of 
 true wisdom, who so fit to dispose of men, and 
 assign each individual his sphere of action in this 
 world, and his place in the world to come, as the 
 all-wise God ? and yet, alas ! how many are there 
 who cavil at thfcse eternal decrees, which, were 
 we capable of fully and clearly understanding 
 them, would appear to be as just as they are so- 
 vereign, and as wise as they are incomprehensi- 
 10
 
 114 
 
 Lie ! Divine preordination has for its objects, all 
 things that are created : no creature, whether ra- 
 tional or irrational, animate or inanimate, is ex- 
 empted from its influence. All beings whatever, 
 from the highest angel to the meanest reptile, and 
 from the meanest reptile to the minutest atom, 
 are the objects of God's eternal decrees and par- 
 ticular providence. However the ancient fathers 
 only make use of the word predestination as it re- 
 fers to angels or men, whether good or evil : and 
 it is used by the apostle Paul in a more limited 
 sense still ; so as by it to mean only that branch of 
 it which respects God's election and designation of 
 his people to eternal life, Rom. viii. 30. Eph. i. 11, 
 But that we may more justly apprehend the 
 import of this word, and the ideas intended to be 
 conveyed by it, it may be proper to observe, that 
 the term predestination, theologically taken, ad- 
 mits of a fourfold definition : and may be consi- 
 dered as, 1. "That eternal, most wise, and im- 
 mutable decree of God, whereby he did, from 
 before all time determine and ordain to create, 
 dispose of, and direct to some particular end, 
 every person and thing to which he has given, or 
 is yet to give, being ; and to make the whole cre- 
 ation subservient to, and declarative of, his own 
 glory." Of this decree, actual providence is the 
 execution. 2. Predestination may be consider- 
 ed as relating generally to mankind, and them 
 only : and, in this view, we define it to be, " The 
 everlasting, sovereign, and invariable purpose of 
 God, whereby he did determine within himself, 
 to create Adam in his own image and likeness, 
 and then to permit his fall ; and to suffer him, 
 thereby to plunge himself, and his whole posteri- 
 ty ," (inasmuch as they all sinned in him, not on- 
 ly virtually but also federally and representative- 
 Jy) " into the dreadful abyss of sin, misery and
 
 115 
 
 death." 3. Consider predestination as relating to- 
 the elect only, and it is, " That eternal, uncondi- 
 tional, particular, and irreversible act of the di- 
 vine will, whereby, in matchless love, and adora- 
 ble sovereignty, God determined within himself 
 to deliver a certain number of Adam's degene- 
 rate* offspring, out of that sinful and miserable 
 estate, into which, by his primitive transgression, 
 they were to fall :" and in which sad condition 
 they were equally involved with those who were 
 not chosen : but, being pitched upon, and sin- 
 gled out by God the Father, to be vessels of 
 grace and salvation (not for any thing in them, 
 that could recommend them to his favour, or enti- 
 tle them to his notice, but merely because he 
 would shew himself gracious to them,) they were 
 in time actually redeemed by Christ : are effec- 
 tually called by his spirit, justified, adopted, 
 sanctified, and preserved safe to his heavenly 
 kingdom. The supreme end of this decree is 
 the manifestation of his own infinitely glorious 
 and amiably tremendous perfections : the inferior, 
 or subordinate end, is the happiness and salvation 
 of them who are thus freely elected. 4. Predes- 
 tination, as it regards the reprobate is, "That eter- 
 nal, most holy, sovereign, and immutable act of 
 
 * When we say, that the decree of predestination to life 
 and death respects man as fallen, we do not mean, that the 
 fall was actually antecedent to that decree : for the decree- 
 is truly and properly eternal, as all God's immanent acts un- 
 doubtedly are ; whereas the fall took place in time. What 
 we intend, then, is only this, viz. that God, (for reasons, 
 without doubt, worthy of himself, and of which we are, by 
 no means, in this life competent judges) having, from ever- 
 lasting', preremptorily ordained to suffer the fall of Adam ; 
 did likewise, from everlasting, consider the human race as 
 fallen : and, out of the whole mass of mankind, thus viewed
 
 116 
 
 God's will, whereby he hath determined to leaver 
 some men to perish in their sins, and to be justly 
 punished for them." 
 
 and foreknown as impure, and obnoxious to condemnation; 
 vouchsafed to select some particular persons, (who, collec- 
 tively, make up a very great, though precisely determinate, 
 number) in and on whom he would make known the ineffa- 
 ble riches of his merer,
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 WHEREIN THE DOCTRINE OF PREDESTINATION 
 IS EXPLAINED, AS IT RELATES IN GENERAL 
 TO ALL MEN. 
 
 JL HUS much being premised, with relation to 
 the scripture terms commonly made use of in 
 this controversy, we shall now proceed to take a 
 nearer view of this high and mysterious article, 
 And, 
 I. We, with the scriptures, assert, That there 
 is a predestination of some particular persons to 
 life, for the praise of the glory of divine grace ; 
 and a predestination of other particular persons 
 to death : which death of punishment they shall 
 inevitably undergo, and that justly, on account 
 of their sins. 1. There is a predestination of 
 some particular persons to life. So, Mat. xx. 15. 
 " Many are called but few chosen ;" i. e. the gos- 
 pel revelation comes indiscriminately to great 
 multitudes ; but few, comparatively speaking, are 
 spiritually and eternally the better for it : and 
 these few, to whom it is the savour of life unto 
 life, are therefore savingly benefited by it, be- 
 cause they are the chosen or elect of God. To 
 the same effect are the following passages, among 
 many others : Mat. xxiv. 22. " For the elect's 
 sake, those days shall be shortened." Acts xiii. 
 48. " As many as were ordained to eternal life 
 believed." Rom. viii. 30 " Whom he did pre^- 
 10 *
 
 118 
 
 destinate, them he also called." And verse 33. 
 " Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's 
 elect ?*' Eph. i. 4, 5. " According as he hath 
 chosen us in him, before the foundation of the 
 world, that we should be holy, &c. Having pre- 
 destinated us to the adoption of children by Je- 
 sus Christ unto himself, according to the good 
 pleasure of his will." 2 Tim. i. 9. " Who hath 
 saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not 
 according to our works, but according to his 
 own purpose and grace, which was given us in 
 Christ before the world began." 2. This elec- 
 tion of certain individuals unto eternal life was 
 for the praise of the glory of divine grace. This 
 is expressly asserted in so many words, by the 
 apostle, Eph. i. 5, 6. Grace, or mere favour, 
 was the impulsive cause of all : It was the main 
 spring, which set all the inferior wheels in motion. 
 It was an act of grace in God, to choose any, 
 when he might have passed by all : It was an act 
 of sovereign grace, to choose this man rather than 
 that, when both were equally undone in themselves, 
 and alike obnoxious to his displeasure. In a word, 
 since election is not of works, and does not pro- 
 ceed on the least regard had to any worthiness in its 
 objects ; it must be of free, unbiassed grace : but 
 election is not of works, Rom. xi. 5, 6. therefore, 
 it is solely of grace. 3. There is, on the other 
 hand, a predestination of some particular persons 
 to death. 2 Cor. iv. 3. " If our gospe? be hid, it 
 is hid to them that are lost." 1 Pet. ii. 8. 
 " Who stumble at the word, being disobedient ; 
 whereunto also they were appointed." 2 Pet. ii. 
 12. "These, as natural brute beasts, made to be 
 taken and destroyed." Jude ver. 4. " There are 
 certain men crept in unawares, who were before 
 f old ordained to this condemnation." Rev. 
 xvii. 8. " Whose names were not written in the book
 
 119 
 
 of life from the foundation of the world." But 
 of this we shall treat professedly, and more at 
 large, in the filth chapter. 4. This future death 
 they shall inevitably undergo : for, as God will 
 certainly save all whom he wills should be sav- 
 ed ; so he will as surely condemn all whom he 
 wills shall be condemned ; for he is the Judge of 
 the whole earth, whose decree shall stand, and 
 from whose sentence there is no appeal. " Hath 
 he said, and shall he not make it good ? hath he 
 spoken, and shall it not come to pass ?" And 
 his decree is this ; that these, i. e. the non-elect, 
 who are left under the guilt of final impenitence, 
 unbelief, and sin, shall go away into everlasting 
 punishment ; and the righteous, . i. e. those who, 
 in consequence of their election in Christ, and 
 union to him, are justly reputed, and really con- 
 stituted such, shall enter into life eternal, Mat. 
 xxv. 46. 5. The reprobate shall undergo this pun- 
 ishment justly, and on account of their sins. Sin 
 is the meritorious and immediate cause of any 
 man's damnation. God condemns and punishes 
 the non-elect, not merely as men, but as sinners : 
 and, had it pleased the great Governor of the uni- 
 verse, to have entirely prevented sin from having 
 any entrance into the world, it should seem as if 
 he could not, consistently with his known attri- 
 butes, have condemned any man at all. But, as 
 all sin is properly meritorious of eternal death ; 
 and all men are sinners ; they, who are condemn- 
 ed, are condemned most justly, and those who 
 are saved, are saved in a way of sovereign mer- 
 cy, through the vicarious obedience and death of 
 Christ for them. 
 
 Now, this twofold predestination, of some to 
 life, and of others to death, (if it may be called 
 twofold, both being constituent parts of the same 
 decree) cannot be denied, without likewise deny-
 
 120 
 
 ing, 1. most express and frequent declarations 
 of scripture, and, 2. the very existence of God : 
 for, since God is a being perfectly simple, free 
 from all accident and composition ; and yet, a 
 will to save some and punish others, is very often 
 predicated of him in scripture ; and an immove- 
 able decree to do this in consequeuce of his will, 
 is likewise ascribed to him ; and a perfect fore- 
 knowledge, of the sure and certain accomplish- 
 ment of what he has thus willed and decreed, is 
 also attributed to him ; it follows, that whoever 
 denies this will, decree, and foreknowledge of 
 God, does implicitly and virtually, deny God 
 himself : since his will, decree, and foreknow- 
 ledge are no other than God himself willing, and 
 decreeing, and foreknowing. 
 
 II. We assert, that God did from eternity de- 
 cree to make man in his own image ; and also 
 decreed to suffer him to fall from that image in 
 which he should be created, and, thereby to for- 
 feit the happiness with which he was invested : 
 which decree, and the consequences of it, were 
 not limited to Adam only ; but included, and ex- 
 tended to all his natural posterity. 
 
 Something of this was hinted already in the 
 preceding chapter : we shall now proceed to the 
 proof of it. And, 1. That God did make man 
 in his own image, is evident from scripture, Gen. 
 i. 27. 2. That he decreed from eternity so to 
 make man, is as evident ; since, for God to do any 
 thing without having decreed it, or fixed a pre- 
 vious plan in his own mind, would be a manifest 
 imputation on his wisdom : and, if he decreed 
 that now, or at any time, which he did not 
 always decree, he could not be unchangeable. 
 3. That man actualy did fall from the divine im- 
 age and his original happiness, is the undoubted 
 voice of scripture, Gen. iii. And, 4. That he
 
 121 
 
 fell in consequence of the divine decree,* we 
 prove thus : God was either willing that Adam 
 should fall, or unwilling, or indifferent about it. 
 If od was unwilling that Adam should trans- 
 gress, how came it pass that he did ? Is man 
 stronger, and is Satan wiser, than he that made 
 them ? Surely, no. Again ; could not God, had 
 it so pleased him, have hindered the tempter's 
 access to paradise ? or have created man, as he 
 did the elect angels, with a will invariably deter- 
 mined to good only, and incapable of being bias- 
 ed to evil ? or, at least, have made the grace and 
 strength, with which he indued Adam, actually 
 effectual to the resisting of all solicitations 10 sin ? 
 None but atheists would answer these questions 
 in the negative. Surely, if God had not willed 
 the fall, he could, and no doubt would, have pre- 
 vented it : but he did not prevent it : Ergo, he 
 willed it. And, if he willed it, he certainly de- 
 creed it : for the decree of God is nothing else 
 but the seal and ratification of his will. He does 
 nothing but what he decreed ; and he decreed 
 nothing which he did not will : and both will and 
 decree are absolutely eternal, though the execu- 
 tion of both be in time. The only way to evade 
 the force of this reasoning, is to say, that " God 
 was indifferent and unconcerned, whether man 
 stood or fell." But in what a shameful, unwor- 
 thy light does this represent the Deity ! Is it pos- 
 sible for us to imagine, that God could be an idle, 
 careless spectator, of one of the most important 
 events that ever came to pass ? Are not " the very 
 hairs of our head all numbered ?" or does 
 " a sparrow fall to the ground, without our hea- 
 
 * Ses this article judiciously stated, and nervously assert- 
 ed by Witsius, in his Erron. 1. 1. cap. 8 g. 10 25.
 
 122 
 
 Venly Father ?" If then things, the most trival 
 and worthless, are subject to the appointment of 
 his decree, and the control of his providence ; how 
 much more is man, the master-piece of this low- 
 er creation ? and above all, that man Adam, who, 
 when recent from his Maker's hands, was the 
 living image of God himfelf, and very little infe- 
 rior to angels ! and on whose perseverance was 
 suspended the welfare, not of himself only, but 
 likewise that of the whole world. But, so far 
 was God from being indifferent in this matter, 
 that there is nothing whatever, about which he is 
 so ; for he worketh all things without exception, 
 after the counsel of his own will, Eph. i. 11. con- 
 sequently, if he positively wills whatever is done, 
 he cannot be indifferent with regard to any thing. 
 On the whole, if God was not unwilling that Adam 
 should fall, he must have been willing that he 
 should ; since, between God's willing and nilling, 
 there is no medium. And is it not highly rational, 
 as well as scriptural ; nay, is it not absolutely ne- 
 cessary, to suppose, that the fall was not contrary 
 to the will and determination of God ? since, if it 
 was, his will (which the apostle represents as be- 
 ing irresistible, Rom. ix. 19.) was apparently 
 frustrated, and his determination rendered of 
 worse than none effect. And how dishonourable to, 
 how inconsistent with, and how notoriously sub- 
 versive of, the dignity of God, such a blasphemous 
 supposition would be, and how irreconcileable with 
 every one of his allowed attributes, is very easy to 
 observe. 5. That man, by his fall, forfeited the hap- 
 piness with which he was invested, is evident, as 
 well from scripture as from experience ; Gen. iii. 
 7, 10, 16, 17, 18, 19, 23, 24. Rom. v. 12. Gal. 
 iii. 10. He first sinned, (and the essence of sin 
 lies in disobedience to the command of God) and 
 then immediately became miserable ; misery be-
 
 123 
 
 ing, through the divine appointment, the natural 
 and inseparable concomitant of sin. 6. That the 
 fall, and its sad consequences, did not terminate 
 solely in Adam, but affect his whole posterity, is 
 the doctrine of the sacred oracles : Ps. li. 5. 
 Rom. v. 12, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19. 1 Cor. xv. 22. 
 Eph. ii. 3. Besides, not only spiritual and eter- 
 nal, but likewise temporal death is the wages of 
 sin, Rom. vi. 23. James i. 15. And yet we see 
 that millions of infants, who never, in their own 
 persons, either did or could commit sin, die con- 
 tinually. It follows, that either God must be un- 
 just in punishing the innocent; or that these in- 
 fants are, some way or other, guilty creatures : if 
 they are not so in themselves, (1 mean actually 
 so, by their own commission of sin) they must 
 be so in some other person ; and who that person 
 is, let scripture say, Rom. v. 12, 18. 1 Cor. xv. 
 22. And, I ask, how can these be, with equity, 
 sharers in Adam's punishment, unless they are 
 chargeable with his sin ? and how can they be 
 fairly chargeable with his sin, unless he was their 
 federal head and representative, and acted in their 
 name, and sustained their persons when he fell ? 
 III. We assert, that as all men, universally, 
 are not elected to salvation ; so neither are all 
 men, universally, ordained to condemnation. 
 This follows from what has been proved already : 
 however, I shall subjoin some farther demonstra- 
 tion of these two positions. 1 . All men universal- 
 ly are not elected to salvation. And, first, this 
 may be evinced a posteriori : it is undeniable, 
 from scripture, that God will not in the last day, 
 save every individual of mankind, Dan. xii. 2. 
 Mat. xxv. 46. John v. 29. Therefore, say we, 
 God never designed to save every individual ; 
 since, if he had, every individual would and must 
 be saved, for " his counsel shall stand, and he
 
 124 
 
 will do all his pleasure." See what we have al- 
 ready advanced on this head, in the first chapter, 
 under the second article, Position 8. Secondly, 
 this may be evinced also from God's foreknow- 
 ledge. The Deity, from all eternity, and conse- 
 quently, at the very time he gives life and being 
 to a reprobate, certainly foreknew, and knows, in 
 consequence of his own decree, that such an one 
 would fall short of salvation : now, if God fore- 
 knew this, he must have predetermined it ; be- 
 cause his own will is the foundation of his de- 
 crees, and his decrees are the foundation of his 
 prescience ; he therefore foreknowing futurities, 
 because, by his predestination, he hath rendered 
 their futurition certain and inevitable. Neither 
 is it possible, in the very nature of the thing, 
 that they should be elected to salvation, or ever 
 obtain it, whom God foreknew should perish : 
 for then the divine act of pretention would be 
 changeable, wavering and precarious ; the divine 
 foreknowledge would be deceived ; and the di- 
 vine will impeded. All which are utterly im- 
 possible. Lastly, That all men are not chosen 
 to life, nor created to that end, is evident, in that 
 there are some who were hated of God before 
 they were born, Rom. ix. 11, 12, 13. are fitted 
 for destruction, verse 22. and made for the day 
 of evil, Prov. xvi. 4. 
 
 But, 2. All men universally are not ordained 
 to condemnation. There are some who are cho- 
 sen, Mat. xx. 1G. An election, or elect number, 
 who obtain grace and salvation, while the rest are 
 blinded, Rom. xi. 7. a little flock, to whom it is 
 the Father's good pleasure to give the kingdom, 
 Luke xii. 21. A people whom the Lord hath 
 reserved, Jer. 1. 20. and formed for himself, Isai. 
 xliii. 21. A peculiarly favoured race, to whom it 
 is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom
 
 125 
 
 of heaven ; while, to others, it is not give, 
 Mat. xiii. 1 1. A remnant according to the election 
 of grace, Rom. xi. 5. Whom God hath not ap- 
 pointed to wrath, but to obtain salvation by Je- 
 sus Christ, 1 Thess. v. 9. In a word, who are a 
 chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy na- 
 tion, a peculiar people, that they should shew 
 forth the praises of him who hath called them 
 out of darkness into his marvellous light, 1 Pet. 
 ii. 9. And whose names, for that very end, are 
 in the book of life, Phil. iv. 3. and written in 
 heaven, Luke x. 20. Heb. xii. 23. Luther* 
 observes, that, in the 9th, 10th, and 11th chapters 
 of the epistle to the Romans, the apostle particu- 
 larly insists on the doctrine of predestination.; 
 " Because," says he, " all things whatever, 
 arise from, and depend upon, the divine appoint- 
 ment ; whereby it was preordained who should 
 receive the word of life, and who should disbe- 
 lieve it ; who should be delivered from their 
 sins, and who should be hardened in them ; and 
 who should be justified, and who condemned." 
 
 IV. We assert, that the number of the elect, 
 and also of the reprobate, is so fixed and deter- 
 mined, that neither can be augmented or dimi- 
 nished. 
 
 It is written of God, that he telleth the num- 
 ber of the stars, and calleth them all by their 
 names, Psalm cxlvii. 4*. Now it is as incompa- 
 tible with the infinite wisdom and knowledge of 
 the all-comprehending God, to be ignorant of the 
 names and number of the rational creatures he 
 has made, as that he should be ignorant of the 
 stars and the other inanimate products of his al- 
 mighty power : and, if he knows all men in gene- 
 
 In Prefab ad cpist. ad Hum. 
 11
 
 126 
 
 ral taken in the lump, he may well be said, in a 
 more near and special sense, to know them that 
 are his by election, 2 Tim. ii. 19. And, if he 
 knows who are his, he must, consequently, know 
 whp are not his, i. e. whom, and how many he 
 hath left in the corrupt mass, to be justly punish- 
 ed for their sins. Grant this, (and who can help 
 granting a truth so self-evident ?) and it follows 
 that the number, as well of the elect as of the 
 reprobate, is fixed and certain : otherwise God 
 would be said to know that which is not true, and 
 his knowledge must be false and delusive, and so 
 no knowledge at all : since that which is in it- 
 self, at best but precarious, can never be the 
 foundation of sure and infallible knowledge. 
 But that God does indeed precisely know to a man 
 who are and who are not, the objects of his electing 
 favour, is evident from such scriptures as these, 
 Exod. xxxiii. 17. "Thou hast found grace in 
 my sight, and I know thee by name." Jer. i. 5. 
 " Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee." 
 Luke x. 20. U Your names are written in hea- 
 ven." Luke xii. 7. " The very hairs of your 
 head are all numbered." John xiii. 18. "I know 
 whom I have chosen." John x. 14. "I know 
 my sheep, and am known of mine." 2 Tim. ii. 19. 
 " The Lord knoweth them that are his." And, 
 if the number of these is thus assuredly settled 
 and exactly known, it follows that we are right 
 in asserting, 
 
 V. That the decrees of election and reproba- 
 tion are immutable and irreversible. 
 
 Were not this the case, 1. God's decrees 
 would be precarious, frustrable, and uncertain ; 
 and, by consequence, no decree at all. 2. His 
 foreknowledge would be wavering, indetermi- 
 nate, and liable to disappointment ; whereas, it 
 always has its accomplishment, and necessarily
 
 127 
 
 infers the certain futurity of the thing or things 
 foreknown : Isa. xlvi. 9, 10. " I am God, and 
 there is none like me, declaring the end from 
 the beginning and from ancient times the things 
 that are not yet done ; saying, My counsel shall 
 stand, and I will do all my pleasure." 3. Nei- 
 ther would his word be true, which declares, that, 
 with regard to the elect, the gifts and calling of 
 God are without repentance, Rom. xi. 29. that 
 whom he predestinated, them he also glorified, 
 chap. vii. 80. that whom he loveth, he loveth to 
 the end, John xiii. 1. with numberless passages to 
 the same purpose. Nor would his word be true, 
 with regard to the non-elect, if it was possible 
 for them to be saved ; for it is there declared, 
 that they are fitted for destruction, &c. Rom. ix. 
 22. Foreordained unto condemnation, Jude 4. 
 and delivered over to a reprobate mind, in order 
 to their damnation, Rom. i. 28. 2 Thess. ii. 12. 
 4. If, between the elect and reprobate, there was 
 not a great gulf fixed, so that neither can be 
 otherwise than they are ; then, the will of God 
 (which is the alone cause why some are chosen 
 and others are not) would be rendered ineffica- 
 cious and of no effect. 5. Nor could the justice 
 of God stand, if he was to condemn the elect, 
 for whose sins he hath received ample satisfac- 
 tion at the hand of Christ ; or if he was to save 
 the reprobate, who are not interested in Christ, 
 as the elect are. 6. The power of God (whereby 
 the elect are preserved from falling into a state of 
 condemnation, and the wicked held down and shut 
 up in a state of death) would be eluded, not to say 
 utterly abolished. 7. Nor would God be unchange- 
 able, if they, who were once the people of his love, 
 could commence the objects of his hatred ; or if 
 the vessels of his wrath could be saved with the
 
 128 
 
 vessels of grace. Hence that of St. Austin ;* 
 " Brethren," says he, " let us not imagine, that 
 God puts down any man in his book, and then era- 
 ses him : for, if Pilate could say, what I have writ- 
 ten I have written, how can it be thought that the 
 griat God would write a person's name in the book 
 of life, and then blot it out again :" And may we 
 not, with equal reason, ask, on the other hand, 
 How can it be thought, that any of the reprobate 
 should be written in that book of life, which con- 
 tains the names of the elect only ? or, that any 
 should be inserted there r who were not written 
 among the living from eternity ? I shall conclude 
 this chapter with that observation of Luther,f 
 " This," says he, u is the very thing that rases the 
 doctrine of free-will from its foundations ; to wit, 
 that God's eternal love of some men, and hatred 
 of others, is immutable and cannot be reversed.." 
 Both one and the other will have its full accom- 
 plishment.. 
 
 * Tom. 8. in Psalm 68. col. 738. f De Serv- Arbiter, c.ip. 1SS.
 
 CHAPTER lit. 
 
 CONCERNING ELECTION UNTO LIFE J OR PRE- 
 DESTINATION, AS IT RESPECTS THE SAINTS 
 IN PARTICULAR. 
 
 HAVING considered predestination, as it re- 
 gards all men in general ; and briefly shewn that 
 by it, some are appointed to wrath, and others to 
 obtain salvation by Jesus Christ, 1 Thess. v. 9. I 
 now come to consider more distinctly that 
 branch of it, which relates to the saints only, and 
 is commonly styled election. Its definition I 
 have given already in the close of the first chap- 
 ter : what I have further to advance from the 
 scriptures on this important subject, I shall re- 
 duce to several positions, and subjoin a short ex- 
 planation and confirmation of each. 
 
 Pos. 1. Those who are ordained unto eternal 
 life were not so ordained on account of any wor- 
 thiness foreseen in them, or of any good works 
 to be wrought by thtm ; nor yet for their future 
 faith : but purely and solely, of free, sovereign 
 grace, and according to the mere pleasure of God. 
 This is evident, among other considerations, from 
 this ; that faith, repentance and holiness, are no less 
 the free gifts of God, than eternal life itself. Eph. 
 ii. 8. " Faith is not of yourselves, it is the gift 
 of God. Phil. i. 29. " Unto you it is given to 
 believe." Acts v. 31. " Him hath God exalted 
 with his right hand, for to give repentance." 
 Acts xi. 18. " Then hath bod also to the Gen- 
 ii *
 
 130 
 
 tiles granted repentance unto life." In like man- 
 ner, holiness is called the sanctification of the 
 Spirit, 2 Thess. ii. 13. because the divine Spirit 
 is the efficient of it in the soul, and, of unholy, 
 makes us holy. Now, if repentance and faith 
 are the gifts, and sanctification is the work of 
 God, then these are not the fruits of man's free 
 will, nor what he acquires of himself; and so 
 can neither be motives to, nor conditions of, his 
 election, which is an act of the divine mind, an- 
 tecedent to, and irrespective of, all qualities what- 
 ever, in the persons elected. Besides, the apos- 
 tle asserts expressly, that election is " not of 
 works, but of him that calleth ;" and that it pass- 
 ed before the persons concerned had " done 
 either good or evil," Rom. ix. 11. Again, if 
 faith or works were the cause of election, God 
 could not be said to choose us, but we to choose 
 him ; contrary to the whole tenor of scripture ; 
 John xv. 16. " Ye have not chosen me, but I 
 have chosen you." 1 John iv. 10, 19. " Herein 
 is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved 
 us. We love him, because he first loved us." 
 Election is every where asserted to be Cod's 
 act and not man's, Mark xiii. 20. Rom. ix. 17. 
 Eph. i. 4. 1 Thess. v. 9. 2 Thess. ii. 13. Once 
 more, we are chosen that we might be holy, not 
 because it was foreseen we would be so, Eph. i. 
 4. Therefore, to represent holiness as the reason 
 why we were elected, is to make the effect ante- 
 cedent to the cause. The apostle adds, verse 5. 
 " having predestinated us according to the good 
 pleasure of his will :" most evidently implying, 
 that God saw nothing extra se<, had no motive 
 from without, why he should either choose any 
 at all, or this man before another. In a word, 
 the elect were "freely loved," Hos. xiv. 4. 
 " freely chosen," Rem. xi. 5, 6. and " freely re-
 
 131 
 
 deemed," Isa. Hi. 3. they are " freely called," 
 2 Tim. i. 9. " freely justified," Rom. iii. 24. 
 and shall be "freely glorified," Rom. v. 23. 
 The great Augustine in his book of Retractions, 
 ingenuously acknowledges his error in having 
 once thought, that faith foreseen was a condition 
 of election : he owns that that opinion is equal- 
 ly impious and absurd ; and proves that faith is 
 one of the fruits of election, and consequently, 
 could not be in any sense a cause of it : "I could 
 never have asserted," says he, u that God, in choos- 
 ing men to life, had any respect to their faith, 
 had I duly considered that faith itself is his own 
 gift." And, in another treatise of his,* he has 
 these words ; u Since Christ says, ye have not 
 chosen me, &c. I would fain ask, whether it be 
 scriptural to say, we must have faith before we 
 are elected ; and not rather, that we are elected 
 in order to our having faith !" 
 
 Pgs. 2. As many as are ordained to eternal 
 life, are ordained to enjoy that life in and through 
 Christ, and on account of his merits alone, 1 
 Thess. v. 9. Here let it be carefully observed, 
 that not the merits of Christ, but the sovereign 
 love of God only, is the cause of election itself : 
 but then, the merits of Christ are the alone pro- 
 curing cause of that salvation to which men are 
 elected. This decree of ( od admits of no cause 
 but of himself; but the thing decreed, which is 
 the glorification of his chosen ones, may and 
 does admit, nay, necessarily requires, a meritori- 
 ous cause ; which is no other than the obedience 
 and death of Christ. 
 
 Pas. 3. They who are predestinated to life, 
 are likewise predestinated to all those means 
 
 De Prxdest cap. 17.
 
 132 
 
 which are indispensably necessary in order to 
 th-'ir meetness for, entrance upon, and enjoyment 
 of, that life : such as repentance, faith, sanctifica- 
 tion, and perseverance in these to the end. 
 
 Acts xiii. 48. a As many as were ordained to 
 eternal life believed." Eph. i. 4. " He hath 
 chosen us in him, before the foundation of the 
 world, that we should be holy, and without blame 
 before him in love." Eph. ii. 10. " For we [i. e. 
 the same we, whom he hath chosen before the 
 foundation of the world] are his workmanship, 
 created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which 
 God hath foreordained that we should walk in 
 them." And the apostle assures the same Thes- 
 salonians whom he reminds of their election, 
 and God's everlasting appointment of them to 
 obtain salvation, that this also was his will con- 
 cerning them, even their sanctification. 1 Thess. 
 i. 4. and v. 9. and iv. 3. and gives them a view 
 of all these privileges at once, 2 Thess. ii. 13. 
 " God hath, from the beginning, chosen you to 
 salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit, 
 and belief of the truth." As does St. Peter, 
 1 Pet. 1. 2. ''elect through sanctification of the 
 Spirit, unto obedience, and sprinkling of the 
 blood of Jesus Christ." Now, though faith and 
 holiness are not represented as the cause where- 
 fore the elect are saved ; yet, these are con- 
 stantly represented, as the means through which 
 they are saved, or as the appointed way wherein 
 God leads his people to glorv ; these blessings be- 
 ing always bestowed previous to that. Agree- 
 able to all which is that of Austin :* Whatso- 
 ever persons are, through the riches of divine 
 grace, exempted from the original sentence of 
 
 * De Corrept. & Grat- cap. 7-
 
 133 
 
 condemnation, are undoubtedly brought to hear 
 the Gospel ;* and when heard they are caused to 
 believe it ; and are made likewise to endure to 
 the end, in the faith which works by love : and 
 should they at any time go astray, they are re- 
 covered and set right again." A little after he 
 adds ; u All these things are wrought in them 
 by that God, who made them vessels of mere}-, 
 and who, by the election of his grace chose them 
 in his Son, before the world began." 
 
 Pos. 4. Not one of the elect can perish, but 
 they must all necessarily be saved. The reason 
 is this ; because God simply and unchangeably 
 wills, that all and every one of those whom he 
 hath appointed to life should be eternally glori- 
 fied ; and, as was observed toward the end of 
 the preceding chapter, all the divine attributes 
 are concerned in the accomplishment of this his 
 will. His wisdom which cannot err ; his know- 
 ledge which cannot be deceived ; his truth which 
 cannot fail ; his love, which nothing can alien- 
 ate ; his justice, which cannot condemn any, 
 for whom Christ died ; his power, which none 
 can resist ; and his unchangeableness, which can 
 never vary : from all which it appears that we 
 do not speak at all improperly, when we say, that 
 the salvation of his people is necessary and cer- 
 tain. Now, that is said to be necessary, quod 
 ncquit aliter esse, which cannot be otherwise than 
 it is : and if all the perfections of God are enga- 
 ged to preserve and save his children, their safe- 
 ty and salvation must be, in the strictest sense of 
 
 * We must understand this in a qualified sense, as in- 
 tending 1 that all those of the elect, who live where the chris- 
 tian dispensation obtains, are, sooner or later, brought to 
 hear the gospel, and to believe it.
 
 134 
 
 the word necessary. See Psalm ciii. 17. and 
 exw. 1, 2. Isaiah xlv. 17. and liv. 9, 10. Jer. 
 xxxi. 38. and xxxii. 40. John vi. 39. and x. 28, 
 29. and xiv. 19. and xvii. 12. Rom. viii. 30, 38, 
 39, and xi. 29. 1 Cor. i. 8, 9. Phil. i. 6. 1 Pet. i. 
 4', 5. 
 
 Thus St. Austin,* " Of those whom God hath 
 predestinated, none can perish, inasmuch as they 
 are his own elect." And, ib. " They are the 
 elect, who are predestinated, foreknown, and call- 
 ed according to purpose. Now, could any of 
 these be lost, God would be disappointed of his 
 will and expectations ; but he cannot be so dis- 
 appointed : therefore, they can never perish. 
 Again, could they be lost, the power of God 
 would be made void by man's sin ; but his power 
 is invincible : therefore, they are safe." And 
 again, cap. 9. *' The children of God are written 
 with an unshaken stability, in the book of their 
 heavenly Father's remembrance." And, in the 
 same chapter he hath these words ; " Not the 
 children of promise but the children of perdi- 
 tion shall perish : for the former are the predes- 
 tinated, who are called according to the divine 
 determination ; not one of whom shall finally 
 miscarry." So likewise Luther,] " God's decree 
 of predestination is firm and certain ; and the ne- 
 cessity resulting from it is, in like manner, im- 
 moveable, and cannot but take place. For we 
 ourselves are so feeble, that if the matter was 
 left in our hands, very few, or rather none would 
 be saved : but Satan would overcome us all." To 
 which he adds : " Now, since this steadfast and 
 inevitable purpose of God cannot be reversed nor 
 
 * Tom. 7 De Corr. & Grat. cap. 7. 
 f In Prxf'at. ad Epist. ad Rom.
 
 135 
 
 disannulled by any creature whatever ; we have 
 a most assured hope, that we shall finally tri- 
 umph over sin, how violently soever it may at 
 present rage in our mortal bodies." 
 
 Pos. 5. The salvation of the elect was not the 
 only, nor yet the principal end of their being cho- 
 sen j but God's grand end in appointing them to 
 life and happiness, was to display the riches of 
 his own mercy, and that he might be glorified in 
 and by the persons he had thus chosen. 
 
 For this reason, the elect are styled vessels of 
 mercv, because they were originally created, and 
 afterwards, by the divine Spirit created anew, 
 with this design, and to this very end, that the 
 sovereignty of the Father's grace, the freeness of 
 his love, and the abundance of his goodness, 
 might be manifested in their eternal happiness. 
 Now God, as we have already more than once 
 had occasion to observe, does nothing in time 
 which he did not from eternity resolve within 
 himself to do : and if he in time creates and re- 
 generates his people, with a view to display his 
 unbounded mercy ; he must consequently have 
 decreed from all eternity to do this with the same 
 view. So that the final causes of election appear 
 to be these two : 1. and principally, The* glory 
 
 * Let it be carefully observed, that, when with the scrip- 
 lares we assert the glory of God to be the ultimate end of 
 his dealings with angels and men, we do not speak this with 
 respect to his essential glory, which he has as God, *nd 
 which, as is infinite it is not susceptible of addition, do* ca- 
 pable of diminution : but of that glory which is purely rr.ani- 
 festative, and which Mircroelius in his Ltxic. Pliilosoph. col. 
 471. defines to be, " Clara rei, cum laude, notitia; cum, nem- 
 pe, ipsa sua eminentia est magna, augusta, et conspicua." 
 And the accurate Mastright, Cekbrato.ceu manifestatio, (qu9e 
 magis proprie glorificatio, quam gloria, appeliatur) qua, ag- 
 nita intus eminentia, ej usque congrua xstimatio, propalatur 
 Sc extollitur. Theolog. lib. 2- cap.^22. s. 8.
 
 136 
 
 of God ; 2. and subordinatelv, The salvation of 
 those he has elected : from which the former ari- 
 ses, and by which it is illustrated and set off. So, 
 Prov. xvi. 4. " The Lord hath made all things 
 for himself." And hence that of Paul, Eph. i. 
 44 He hath chosen us to the praise of the glo- 
 ry of his grace." 
 
 Pos. G. The end of election, which with re- 
 gard to the elect themselves, it is eternal life ; I 
 say this end, and the means conducive to it, 
 such as the gift of the Spirit, faith, &c. are so in- 
 separably connected together, that whoever is 
 possessed of these, shall surely obtain that ; and 
 none can obtain that who are not first possessed of 
 these. Acts xiii. 48. " As many as were ordain- 
 ed to eternal life," and none else, " believed." 
 Acts v. 31. 4 ' Him hath God exalted to give re- 
 pentence unto Israel, and remission of sins :" not 
 to all men, or to those who were not, in the coun- 
 sel and purpose of God, set apart for himself; 
 but to Israel, all his chosen people, who were 
 given to him, were ransomed by him, and shall 
 be saved in him with an everlasting salvation. 
 Tit. i. 1. " According to the faith of God's 
 elect ;" so that true faith is a consequence of 
 election, is peculiar to the elect, and shall issue in 
 
 life eternal. Eph. i. " He hath chosen us 
 
 that we might be holy ; therefore, all who are 
 chosen, are made hoi)-, and none but they : and 
 all who are sanctified, have a right to believe 
 they were elected, and that they shall assuredly 
 be saved. Rom. viii. 30. " Whom he did pre- 
 destinate, them he also called ; whom he called, 
 them he also justified; and whom he justified, 
 them he also glorified." Which shews, that ef- 
 fectual calling and justification are indissolubly 
 connected with election on one hand, and eternal 
 happiness on the other : that they are a proof of
 
 137 
 
 the former, and an earnest of the latter. John x. 
 26. " Ye believe not, because ye are not of my 
 sheep }" on the contrary, they who believe, 
 therefore believe, because they are of his sheep. 
 Faith then is an evidence of election, or of be- 
 ing in the number of Christ's sheep, consequent- 
 I5-, of salvation : since all his sheep shall be sav- 
 ed. John x. 28. 
 
 Pos. 7. The elect may through the grace of 
 God attain to the knowledge and assurance of 
 their predestination to life ; and they ought to 
 seek after it. The Christian may, for instance, 
 argue thus ; " As many as were ordained to eter- 
 nal life believed :" through mercy I believe, 
 therefore I am ordained to eternal life. " He 
 that believeth shall be saved :" I believe, there- 
 fore, I am in a saved state. " Whom he did 
 predestinate, he called, justified, and glorified :' ? 
 I have reason to trust that he hath called and jus- 
 tified me : therefore I can assuredly look back- 
 ward on my eternal predestination, and forward 
 to my certain glorification. To all which fre- 
 quently accedes the immediate testimony of the 
 divine Spirit, witnessing with the believer's con- 
 science, that he is a child of God, Rom. viii. 16. 
 Gal. iv. 6. 1 John v. 10. Christ forbids his 
 little flock to fear, inasmuch as thev might, on 
 good and solid grounds, rest satisfied and as- 
 sured, that " it is the Father's unalterable good 
 pleasure to give them the kingdom," Luke xii. 
 28. And this was the faith of the aposle, Rom. 
 viii. 38, 39. - 
 
 Pos. 8. The true believer ought not only to be 
 thoroughly established in the point of his own elec- 
 tion, but should likewise believe the election of all 
 his other fellow-believers and brethren in Christ. 
 Now, as there are most evident and indubitable 
 marks of election laid down in scripture , a child 
 12
 
 238 
 
 of God, by examining himself, whether those 
 marks are found on him, may arrive at a sober 
 and well-grounded certainty of his own particu- 
 lar interest in that unspeakable privilege : and, 
 by th.e same rule whereby he judges of himself, 
 he may likewise (but with caution) judge of 
 others. If I see the external fruits and criteria 
 of election on this or that man ; I may reason- 
 ably, and in a judgment of charity, conclude 
 such an one to be an elect person. So St. Paul, be- 
 holding the gracious fruits which appeared in the 
 believing Thessalonians, gathered from thence, 
 that they were elected of God, 1 Thess. i. 4, 5. 
 and knew also the .election of the Christian Ephe- 
 sians, Eph. i. 4, 5. as Peter also did that of the 
 members of the churches in Pontus, Galatia, &c. 
 
 1 Pet. i. 2. It is true indeed, that all conclusions 
 of this nature are not now infallible, but our judg- 
 ments are liable to mistake : and God only, whose 
 is the book of life, and who is the searcher of 
 hearts, can absolutely know them that are his, 
 
 2 Tim. ii. 19. yet, we may without a presumptu- 
 ous intrusion into things not seen, arrive at a 
 moral certainty in this matter. And I cannot 
 see how christian love can be cultivated, how 
 we can call one another brethren in the Lord, 
 or, how believers can hold religious fellowship 
 and communion with each other, unless they have 
 some solid and visible reason to conclude, that 
 they are loved with the same everlasting love, 
 were redeemed by the same Saviour, are parta- 
 kers of like grace, and shall reign in the same 
 glory. 
 
 But here let me suggest one very necessary cau- 
 tion ; viz. that though we may at least very pro- 
 bably infer the election of some persons, from the 
 marks and appearances of grace which may be 
 discoverable in them ; yet, we can never judge
 
 139 
 
 any man whatever to be a reprobate. That there 
 are reprobate persons is very evident from scrip- 
 ture, (as we shall presently shew ;) but who they 
 are, is known alone to him who alone can tell 
 who and what men are not written in the Lamb's 
 book of life. I grant that there are some par- 
 ticular persons mentioned in the divine word, of 
 whose reprobation no doubt can be made, such 
 as Esau and Judas : but now the canon of scrip- 
 ture is completed, we dare not, we must not pro- 
 nounce any man living, to be non-elect, be he at 
 present ever so wicked. The vilest sinner may, 
 for aught we can tell, appertain to the election of 
 grace, and be one day wrought upon by the Spi- 
 rit of God. This we know that those who die in 
 unbelief, and are finally unsanctified, cannot be 
 saved : because God in his word tells us so, and 
 has represented these as marks of reprobation : 
 but, to say that such and such individuals, whom 
 perhaps we now see dead in sins, shall never be 
 converted to Christ, would be a most presumtu- 
 ous assertion, as well as an inexcusable breach of 
 the charity which hopeth all things.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 of reprobation; or predestination, as it 
 respects the ungodly. 
 
 X ROPI what has been said in the preceding chap- 
 ter concerning the election of some, it would una- 
 voidably follow, even supposing the scriptures 
 had been silent about it, that there must be a re- 
 jection of others ; as every choice does most 
 evidently and necessarily imply a refusal : for, 
 where there is no leaving out there can be no 
 choice. But, beside the testimony of reason, 
 the divine word is full and express to our pur- 
 pose : it frequently, and in terms too clear to be 
 misunderstood, and too strong to be evaded by 
 any who are not proof against the most cogent 
 evidence, attests this tremendous truth, that some 
 are of old foreordained to condemnation. I 
 shall, in the discussion of this awful subject, fol- 
 low the method hitherto observed, and throw 
 what I have to say into several distinct positions, 
 supported by scripture. 
 
 Pos. 1. God did from all eternity decree to 
 leave some of Adam's fallen posterity in their 
 sins, and to exclude them from the participation 
 of Christ and his benefits. 
 
 For the clearing of this, let it be observed, 
 that in all ages the much greater part of man- 
 kind have been destitute even of the external 
 means of grace ; have not been favoured with
 
 141 
 
 the preaching of God's word, or any revelation 
 of his will. Thus, anciently, the Jews, who 
 were in number the fewest of all people, were 
 nevertheless, for a long series of ages, the only 
 nation to whom the Deity was pleased to make 
 any special discovery of himself : and it is ob- 
 servable, that our Iord himself principally con- 
 fined the advantages of his public ministry to 
 that people ; nay, he forbad his disciples to go 
 among any others, Mat. x. 5, 6. and did not 
 commission them to preach the gospel indiscri- 
 minately to Jews and Gentiles till after his re- 
 surrection, Mark xvi. 15. Luke xxiv. 47". Hence, 
 many nations and communities never had the ad- 
 vantage of hearing the word preached ; and con- 
 sequently were strangers to the faith that cometh 
 thereby. It is not indeed improbable but some 
 individuals, in these unenlightened countries, 
 might belong to the secret election of grace ; 
 and the habit of faith might be wrought in these : 
 however, be that as it will, our argument is not 
 affected by it ; it is evident that the nations of 
 the world were generally ignorant, not only of 
 God himself, but likewise of the way to please 
 him, the true manner of acceptance with him, 
 and the means of arriving at the everlasting en- 
 joyment of him. Now if God had been pleas- 
 ed to have saved those people, would he not 
 have vouchsafed them the ordinary means of sal- 
 vation ? would he not have given them all things 
 necessary in order to the end ? but it is undenia- 
 ble matter of fact, that he did not ; and to very 
 many nations of the earth, does not, at this day. 
 If then, the Deity can, consistently with his at- 
 tributes, deny to some the means of grace, and 
 shut them up in gross darkness and unbelief; 
 why should it be thought incompatible with his 
 immensely glorious perfections, to exclude som<? 
 12 *
 
 U2 
 
 persons from grace itself, and from that eternal 
 life which is connected with it ; especially, see- 
 ing he is equally the Lord and sovereign dispo- 
 ser of the end to which the means lead ; as of 
 the means which lead to that end ? both one and 
 the other are his ; and he most justly may, as he 
 most assuredly will, do what he pleases with his 
 own. 
 
 Besides, it being also evident, that many, 
 even of them who live in places where the gos- 
 pel is preached, as well as of those among whom 
 it never was preached, die strangers to God and 
 holiness, and without experiencing any thing of 
 the gracious influences of his Spirit : we may 
 reasonably and safely conclude, that one cause of 
 their so doing, is because it was not the divine 
 will to communicate his grace unto them : since, 
 had it been his will, he would actually have 
 made them partakers thereof; and had they 
 been partakers of it, they could not have died 
 without it. Now, if it was the will of God in 
 time to refuse them this grace ; it must have 
 been his will from eternity, since his will is, as 
 himself, the same yesterday, to-day, and for 
 ever. 
 
 The actions of God being thus fruits of his 
 eternal purpose, we may safely, and without any 
 danger of mistake, argue from them to that ; 
 and infer, that God therefore does such and such 
 things because he decreed to do them ; his own 
 will being the sole cause of all his works. So 
 that from his actually leaving some men in final 
 impenitency and unbelief, we assuredly gather, 
 that it was his everlasting determination so to 
 do : and, consequently, that he reprobated some 
 from before the foundation of the world. 
 
 And, as this inference is strictly rational, so is 
 it perfectly scriptural. Thus, the judge will in
 
 143 
 
 the last day, declare to those on the left hand, I 
 never knew you. Mat. vii. 23. i. e. " I never, 
 no, not from eternity, loved, approved, or acknow- 
 ledged you for mine :" or, in other words, " I 
 always hated you." Our Lord, in John xvii, 
 divides the whole human race into two great 
 classes : one he calls the world ; the other, the 
 men who were given him out of the world. The 
 latter, it is said, the Father loved even as he lo- 
 ved Christ himself, verse 23. but he loved 
 Christ before the foundation of the world, verse 
 24. i. e. from everlasting ; therefore, he loved the 
 elect so too : and if he loved these from eterni- 
 ty, it follows, by all the rules of antithesis, that 
 he hated the others as early. So, Rom. ix. 
 " The children not being yet born, neither having 
 done good or evil, that the purpose of God," &c. 
 From the example of the twins, Jacob and Esau, 
 the apostle infers the eternal election of some 
 men, and the eternal rejection of all the rest. 
 Pos. 2. Some men were from all eternity, not 
 only negatively excepted from a participation of 
 Christ and his salvation ; but positively ordain- 
 ed to continue in their natural blindness, hardness 
 of heart, &c. and that, by the just judgment of 
 Cod. See Exoc'. ix. 1 Sam. ii. 25. 2 Sam. xvii. 
 14. Isa. vi. 9, 10, 11. 2Thtss. ii. 11, 12. Nor 
 can these places of scripture, with many others 
 of like import, be understood of an involuntary 
 permission on the part of God ; as if God bare- 
 ly suffered it to be so, quasi invitus, as it were by 
 constraint, and against his will ; for he permits 
 nothing which he did not resolve and determine 
 to permit. His permission is a positive, deter- 
 minate act of his will ; as Austin, Luther, and 
 Bucer, justly observe : therefore, if it be the will 
 of God, in time, to permit such and such men to 
 continue in their natural state of ignorance and
 
 144 
 
 corruption ; the natural consequence of which is, 
 their falling into such and such sins ; (observe, 
 God does not force them into sin ; their actual 
 disobedience being only the consequence of their 
 not having that grace which God is not obliged to 
 grant them ;) I say, if it be the will of God thus 
 to leave them in time, (and we must deny de- 
 monstration itself, even known, absolute matter 
 of fact, if we deny that some are so left,) then it 
 must have been the divine intention from all 
 eternity so to leave them, since, as we have al- 
 ready had occasion to observe, no new will can 
 possibly arise in the mind of God. We see that 
 evil men actually are suffered to go on adding 
 sin to sin ; and if it be not inconsistent with the 
 sacred attributes actually to permit this, it could 
 not possibly be inconsistent with them to decree 
 that permission before the foundations of the 
 world were laid. 
 
 Thus, God efficaciously permitted (having so de- 
 creed) the Jews to be, in effect, the crucifiers of 
 Christ j and Judas to betray him ; Acts iv. 27, 28. 
 Mat. xxvi. 23, 24. Hence we find St. Austin # 
 speaking thus ; "Judas was chosen, but it was to 
 do a most execrable deed : that thereby the death 
 of Christ, and the adorable work of redemption by 
 him, might be accomplished. When, therefore, 
 we hear our Lord say, " Have not I chosen you 
 twelve, and one of you is a devil i" we must un- 
 derstand it thus, that the eleven were chosen in 
 mercy; but Judas in judgment : they were cho- 
 sen to partake of Christ's kingdom ; he was cho- 
 sen and pitched upon to betrav him, and be the 
 means of shedding his blood." 
 
 De Conr. & Grat. cap. 7-
 
 145 
 
 Pos. 3. The non-elect were predestinated, not 
 only to continue in final impenitency, sin, and un- 
 belief; but were likewise for such their sins, 
 righteously appointed to infernal death hereafter. 
 
 This position is also self-evident : for it is cer- 
 tain, that in the day of universal judgment, all 
 the human race will not be admitted into glory, 
 but some of them transmitted to the place of 
 torment. Now, God does, and will do, nothing, 
 but in consequence of his own decree, Psalm 
 cxxxv. 6. Isai. xlvi. 11. Eph. i. 9, 11. therefore, 
 the condemnation of the unrighteous was decreed 
 of God ; and, if decreed by him, decreed from 
 everlasting : for all his decrees are eternal. Be- 
 sides, if God purposed to leave those persons un- 
 der the guilt and the power of sin, their condem- 
 nation must of itself necessarily follow ; Since, 
 without justification and sanctification (neither of 
 which blessings are in the power of man) none 
 can enter heaven, John xiii. 8. Heb. xii. 14. 
 Therefore, if God determined within himself 
 thus to leave some in their sins (and it is but 
 too evident that this is really the case ;) He 
 must also have determined within himself to 
 punish them for those sins (final guilt and final 
 punishment being correlatives which necessarily 
 infer each other ;) but God did determinate both to 
 leave and to punish the non-elect : therefore 
 there was a reprobation of some from eternity. 
 Thus, Mat. xxv. " Go ye cursed into everlasting 
 fire, prepared for the devil and his angels ;" for 
 Satan and all his messengers, emissaries, and imi- 
 tators, whether apostate spirits, or apostate men. 
 Now, if penal fire was, in decree, from ever- 
 lasting, prepared for them ; they, by all the 
 laws of argument in the world, must have been, 
 in the counsel of God prepared, i. e. designed, 
 for that fire ; which is the point I undertook to
 
 146 
 
 prove. Hence we read, Rom. ix. of vessels of 
 wrath fitted to destruction, j*T>f7'o-j^* '? ouruXttxi, 
 put together, made up, formed, or fashioned, for 
 perdition ; who are, and can be no other than the 
 reprobate. To multiply scriptures on this head 
 would be almost endless : for a sample, consult 
 Prov. xvi. 4. 1 Pet. ii. 8. 2 Pet. ii. 12. Jude 
 4. Rev. xiii. 8. 
 
 Pos. 4. As the future faith and good works of 
 the elect were not the cause of their being cho- 
 sen, so neither were the future sins of the repro- 
 bate the cause of their being passed by; but both 
 the choice of the former, and the decretive omis- 
 sion of the latter, were owing merely and entire- 
 ly to the sovereign will and determinating plea- 
 sure of God. 
 
 We distinguish between pretention, or bare 
 non-election, which is purely a negative thing; 
 and condemnation, or appointment to punishment : 
 the will of God was the cause of the former, 
 the sins of the non-elect are the reasons of the latter. 
 Though God determined to leave, and actually 
 does leave, whom he pleases, in the spiritual 
 darkness and death of nature, out of which he 
 is under no obligation to deliver them ; yet he 
 does not positively condemn any of these merely 
 because he hath not chosen them, but because 
 they have sinned against him : see Rom. i. 21 
 24. Rom. ii. 8, 9. 2 Thess. ii. 12. Their prete- 
 ntion, or non- inscription in the book of life, is 
 not unjust on the part of God, because, out of a 
 world of rebels, equally involved in guilt, God, 
 (who might, without any impeachment of his 
 justice, have passed by all, as he did the repro- 
 bate angels) was most unquestionably at liberty, 
 if it so pleased him, to extend the sceptre of his 
 clemency to some ; and to pitch upon whom he 
 would as the objects of it. Nor was this exerap-
 
 147 
 
 tion of some any injury to the non-elect ; whose 
 case would have been just as bad as it is, even 
 supposing the others had not been chosen at all* 
 Again, the condemnation of the ungodly (for it 
 is under that character alone that they are the 
 subjects of punishment, and were ordained to it) 
 is not unjust, seeing it is for sin, and only for 
 sin. None are or will be punished but for their 
 iniquities ; and all iniquity is properly meritori- 
 ous of punishment; where then is the supposed 
 unmercifulness, tyranny, or injustice of the Di- 
 vine procedure ? 
 
 Pos, 5. God is the creator of the wicked, but 
 not of their wickedness : he is the author of their 
 being, but not the infuser cf their sin. 
 
 It is most certainly his will, for adorable and 
 unsearchable reasons, to permit sin ; but, with 
 all possible reverence be it spoken, it should seem 
 that he cannot, consistently with the purity of his 
 nature, the glory of his attributes, and the truth of 
 his declarations, be himself the author of it. Sin, 
 says the apostle, entered into the world by one 
 man, meaning by Adam : consequently, it was 
 not introduced by the Deity himself. Though, 
 without the permission of his will, and the con- 
 currence of his providence, its introduction had 
 been impossible ; yet is he not hereby the author 
 of sin so introduced.* Luther observes, (De 
 
 * It is a known and very just maxim of the schools, Effec- 
 tus sequitur causam proximam : "An effect follows from, and 
 is to be ascribed to the last immediate cause that prodi ced 
 it." Thus, for instance, if I hold a book, or a stone, in my 
 hand, my holding it is the immediate cause of its not falling' ; 
 but, if I let it go, my letting it go is not the immediate cause of 
 its falling : it is carried downward by its own gravity ,which is, 
 therefore, the causa proxime efftctus, the proper and immedi- 
 ate cause of its descent. It is true, if 1 had kept my hold of 
 it, it would not have fallen: yet still, the immediate direct
 
 148 
 
 Serv. Arb. c. 42.) " It is a great degree of faith, 
 to believe, that God is merciful and gracious, 
 though he saves so few, and condemns so many ; 
 and that he is strictly just, though in consequence 
 of his own will, he made us not exempt from lia- 
 bleness to condemnation." And cap. 148. Al- 
 though God doth not make sin, nevertheless he 
 ceases not to create and multiply individuals in 
 the human nature, which, through the withhold- 
 ing of his Spirit, is corrupted by sin : just as a 
 skilful artist may form curious statues out of bad 
 materials. So, such as their nature is, such are 
 men themselves j God forms them out of such a 
 nature." 
 
 Pos. 6. The condemnation of the reprobate is 
 necessary and inevitable. 
 
 Which we prove thus : It is evident from 
 scripture that the reprobate shall be condemned. 
 But nothing comes to pass (much less can the 
 condemnation of a rational creature,) but in conse- 
 quence of the will and decree of God. Therefore 
 the non-elect could not be condemned, was it not 
 the divine pleasure and determination that they 
 should. And if God wills and determines their 
 condemnation, that condemnation is necessary 
 and inevitable. By their sins, they have made 
 themselves guilty of death : and, as it is not the 
 will of God to pardon those sins, and grant them 
 repentance unto life ; the punishment of such 
 impenitent sinners is as unavoidable as it is just. 
 It is our Lord's own declaration, Mat. vii. that 
 
 cause of its fall, is its own weight, not my quitting 1 my hold. 
 The application of this to the Providence of God, as concern- 
 ed in sinful events, is easy. Without God there could have 
 been no creation ; without creation, no creatures ; without 
 creatures, no sin. Yet is not sin chargeable on God : for ef~ 
 fectus sequitur causam proxiinam.
 
 149 
 
 a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit :" 
 or, in other words, that a depraved sinner cannot 
 produce in himself those gracious habits, nor ex- 
 ert those gracious acts, without which no adult 
 person can be saved. Consequently the repro- 
 bate must, as corrupt, fruitless trees, (or fruitful 
 in evil only,) be " hewn down, and cast into the 
 fire," Mat. iii. This, therefore, serves as another 
 argument in proof of the inevitability of their 
 future punishment: which argument, in brief, 
 amounts to this ; They who are not saved from 
 sin must unavoidably perish : but the reprobate 
 are not saved from sin ; (for they have neither will 
 nor power to save themselves, and God, though he 
 certainly can, yet he certainly will not save them :) 
 Therefore, their perdition is unavoidable. Nor 
 does it follow from hence, that God foixes-the 
 reprobate into sin, and thereby into misery, 
 against their wills ; but that in consequence of 
 their rratural depravity (which it is not the divine 
 pleasure to deliver them out of, neither is he 
 bound to do it, nor are they themselves so much 
 as desirous that he would,) they are voluntarily 
 biased and inclined to evil : nay, which is worse 
 still, they hug and value their spiritual chains, 
 and even greedily pursue the paths of sin, which 
 lead to the chambers of death. Thus God does 
 not (as we are slanderously reported to affirm) 
 compel the wicked to sin, as the rider spurs for- 
 ward an unwilling horse : God only says, in ef- 
 fect, that tremendous word, Let them alone, 
 Mat. xv. 14. He need but slacken the reins of 
 providential restraint, and withhold the influence 
 of saving grace ; and apostate man will, too 
 soon, and too surely, of his own accord, fall by 
 his iniquity : he will presently be, spiritually- 
 speaking, a felo de se, and, without any other ef- 
 ficiency, lay violent hands on his soul. So that, 
 13
 
 ISO 
 
 though the condemnation of the reprobate is un- 
 avoidable ; yet the necessity of it is so far from 
 making them mere machines, or involuntary 
 agents, that it does not in the least interfere with 
 the rational freedom of their wills, nor serve to 
 render them less inexcusable. 
 
 Pos. 7. The punishment of the non-elect was 
 not the ultimate end of their creation ; but the 
 glory of God. 
 
 it is frequently objected to us, that, according 
 to our view of predestination, " God makes 
 some persons on purpose to damn them :" But 
 this we never advanced ; nay, we utterly reject 
 it, as equally unworthy of God to do, and of a 
 rational being to suppose. The grand, principal 
 end. proposed by the Deity to himself, in his 
 formation of all things, and of mankind in par- 
 ticular, was the manifestation and display of 
 his own glorious attributes. His ultimate scope 
 in the creation of the elect is to evidence and 
 make known by their salvation, the unsearchable 
 riches of his power and wisdom, mercy and love : 
 and the creation of the non- elect is for the dis- 
 play of his justice, power, sovereignty, holiness, 
 and truth. So that nothing can be more certain, 
 than the declaration of the text we have frequent- 
 ly had occasion to cite, Prov. xvi. " The Lord 
 hath made all things for himself, even the wick- 
 ed for the day of evil." On one hand, the ves- 
 sels of wrath are fitted for destruction, in order 
 that God may shew his wrath and make his pow- 
 er known, and manifest the greatness of his pa- 
 tience and long suffering, Rom. ix. 22. On the 
 other hand, he afore prepared the elect to salva- 
 tion, that on them he might demonstrate the 
 riches of his glory and mercy, verse 23. As, 
 therefore, Cod himself is the sole author and ef- 
 ficient of all his own actions : so is he, likewise,
 
 151 
 
 the supreme end to which they lead, and in which 
 they terminate. 
 
 Besides, the creation and perdition of the un- 
 godly answer another purpose (though a subordi- 
 nate one,) with regard to the elect themselves ; who, 
 from the rejection of those, learn, 1. To admire 
 the riches of the divine love toward themselves, 
 which planned, and has accomplished, the work 
 of their salvation : while others, by nature on an 
 equal level with them, are excluded from a par- 
 ticipation of the same benefits. And such a view 
 of the Lord's distinguishing mercy is, 2. A most 
 powerful motive to thankfulness, that, when they 
 too might justly have been condemned with the 
 world of the non-elect, they were marked out as 
 heirs of the grace of life. 3. Hereby they are 
 taught ardently to love their heavenly Father ; 
 4. To trust in him assuredly for a continued sup- 
 ply of grace while they are on earth, and for the 
 accomplishment of his eternal decree and pro- 
 mise by their glorification in heaven ; and, 5. To 
 live as becomes those who have received such 
 unspeakable mercies from the hand of their God 
 and Saviour. So Bucer somewhere observes, 
 That the punishment of the reprobate, " is use- 
 ful to the elect ; inasmuch as it influences them 
 to a greater fear and abhorrence of sin, and to a 
 firmer reliance on the goodness of God." 
 
 Pos. 8. Notwithstanding God did from all 
 eternity irreversibly choose out and fix upon 
 some to be partakers of salvation by Christ, and 
 rejected the rest) who are therefore termed bv 
 the apostle, et Xoin-ot, the refuse, or those that re- 
 mained, and were left out ;) acting in both ac- 
 cording to the good pleasure of his own sove- 
 reign will : yet he did not herein act an unjust, 
 tyrannical, or cruel part ; nor yet shew himself 
 a respecter of persons.
 
 152 
 
 1. He is not unjust in reprobating some : nei- 
 ther can he be so ; for " the Lord is holy in all 
 his ways, and righteous in all his works," Psalm 
 cxlv. But salvation and damnation are works of 
 his,: consequently, neither of them is unrigh- 
 teous or unholy. It is undoubted matter of fact, 
 that the Father draws some men to Christ, and 
 saves them in him with an everlasting salvation ; 
 and that he neither draws nor saves some others : 
 and, if it be not unjust in God actually to for- 
 bear saving these persons after they are born, it 
 could not be unjust in him to determine as much, 
 before they were born. What is not unjust for 
 God to do in time, could not, by parity of ar- 
 gument, be unjust in him to resolve upon and 
 decree from eternity. And, surely, if the apos- 
 tle's illustration be allowed to have any proprie- 
 ty, or to carry any authority, it can no more be 
 unjust in God to set apart some for communion 
 with himself in this life and the next, and to 
 set aside others, according to his own free plea- 
 sure ; than for a potter, to make out of the same 
 mass of clay, some vessels for honourable, and 
 others for inferior uses. The Deity, being abso- 
 lute Lord of all his creatures, is accountable to 
 none for his doings ; and cannot be chargeable 
 with injustice for disposing of his own as he 
 will. 
 
 Nor, 2. Is the decree of reprobation a tyran- 
 nical one. It is, indeed, strictly sovereign ; but 
 lawful sovereignty and lawless tyranny are as re- 
 ally distinct and different, as any two opposites 
 can be. He is a tyrant, in the common accepta- 
 tion of that word, who, 1. Either usurps the 
 sovereign authority, and arrogates to himself a 
 dominion to which he has no right : or, 2. Who, 
 being originally a lawful prince, abuses his pow- 
 er, and governs contrary to law. But who dares
 
 153 
 
 to lay either of these accusations to the divine 
 charge ? God, as Creator, has a most unquestion- 
 able and unlimited right over the souls and bo- 
 dies of men ; unless it can be supposed, contra- 
 ry to all scripture and common sense, that, in 
 making of man, he made a set of beings superi- 
 or to himself, and exempt from his jurisdiction. 
 Taking it for granted, therefore, God has an ab- 
 solute right of sovereignty over his creatures ; 
 if he should be pleased (as the scriptures repeat- 
 edly assure us that he is) to manifest and display 
 that right, by graciously saving some, and justly 
 punishing others for their sins Who are we 
 that we should reply against God ? 
 
 Neither does the ever blessed Deity fall under 
 the second notion of a tyrant ; namely, as one 
 who abuses his power by acting contrary to law : 
 for, by what exterior law is he bound, who is 
 the supreme lawgiver of the universe ? The laws 
 promulgated by him are designed for the rule of 
 our conduct, not of his. Should it be objected, 
 that, " His own attributes of goodness and jus- 
 tice, holiness and truth, are a law to himself ;" 
 I answer, that, admitting this to be the case, 
 there is nothing in the decree of reprobation as 
 represented in scripture, and by us from thence, 
 which clashes with any of these perfections. 
 With regard to the divine goodness, though the 
 non- elect are not objects of it in the sense the 
 elect are ; yet even they are not wholly excluded 
 from a participation of it. They enjoy the good 
 things of providence, in common with God's- 
 children, and, very often, in a much higher de- 
 gree. Besides, goodness, considered as it is in God, 
 would have been just the same infinite and glori- 
 ous attribute, supposing no rational beings had 
 been created at all, or saved when created. To 
 which may be added, that the goodness of the 
 13 *
 
 154 
 
 Deity does not cease to be infinite in itself, only 
 because it is more extended to some objects than, 
 it is to others : The infinity of this perfection, as 
 residing in God and coinciding with his essence, 
 is sufficiently secured, without supposing it to 
 reach indiscriminately to all the creatures he 
 has made. For, was this way of reasoning to 
 be admitted, it would lead us too far, and prove 
 too much : since, if the infinity of his goodness 
 is to be estimated by the number of objects up- 
 on which it terminates, there must be an abso- 
 lute proper infinity of reasonable beings to ter- 
 minate that goodness upon : consequently, it 
 would follow from such premises, either that 
 the creation is as truly infinite as the Creator; 
 or, if otherwise, that the Creator's goodness could 
 not be infinite, because it has not an infinity of 
 objects to make happy.* Lastly, if it was not 
 
 * The late most learned and judicious Mr. Chartioci has, 
 in my judgment at least, proved most clearly and satisfacto- 
 rily, that the exclusion of some individual persons from a 
 participation of saving grace is perfectly consistent with 
 God's unlimited goodness. He observes, that " The good- 
 ness of the Deity is infinite, and circumscribed by no limit3. 
 The exercise of his goodness may be limited by himself; 
 but his goodness, the principle, cannot : for, since his essence 
 is infinite, and his goodness is not distinguished from his es- 
 sence ; it is infinite also. God is necessarily good in his na- 
 ture ; but free in his communications of it. He is necessa- 
 rily good, effective, in regard of his nature ; but freely good, 
 effective, in regard of the effluxes of it to this or that parti- 
 cular subject he pitcheth upon. He is not necessarily com- 
 inunicative of his goodness, as the sun of its light, or a tree 
 of its cooling shade, which chooses not its objects, but en- 
 lightens all indifferently, without variation or distinction ; 
 this were to make God of no more understanding than the 
 sun, which shines, not where it pleases, but where it must. 
 He is an understanding agent, and hath a sovereign right to 
 choose his own subjects. It would not be a supreme, if it 
 were not a voluntary goodness. It is agreeable to the nature 
 of the Highest Good to be absolutely free ; and to dispense
 
 155 
 
 rncompatible with Clod's infinite goodness, to pass 
 by the whole body of fallen angels, and leave 
 them under less guilt of their apostacy ; much 
 less can it clash with that attribute, to pass by 
 some of fallen mankind, and resolve to leave 
 them in their sins, and punish them for them. 
 Nor is it inconsistent with the divine justice, to 
 withhold saving grace from some ; seeing the 
 grace of God is not what he owes to any. It is 
 a free gift to those that have it ; and is not due 
 to those that are without it : consequently, there 
 can be no injustice in not giving what God is 
 not bound to bestow. 
 
 There is no end of caviling at the divine dis- 
 pensations, if men are disposed to it. We might, 
 with equality of reason, when our hand is in, 
 
 Lis goodness in what methods and measures he pleases, ac- 
 cording- to the free determinations of his own will, guided 
 by the wisdom of his mind, and regulated by the holiness of 
 his nature. He will be good to whom he will be good. 
 When he doth act he cannot but act well : So far it is neces- 
 sary : yet he may act this good or that good, to this or that 
 degree ; so it is free ; as it is the perfection of his nature, it 
 is necessary : as it is the communication of his bounty, it is 
 voluntary. The eye cannot but see, if it be open ; yet it 
 may glance on this or that colour, fix upon this or that ob- 
 ject, as it is conducted by the will. What necessity could 
 there be on God to resolve to communicate his goodness 
 [at all >] it could not be to make himself better by it ; for 
 he had [before] a goodness incapable of any addition. What 
 obligation could there be from the creature? Whatever 
 sparks of goodness any creature hath, are the free effusions 
 of God's bounty, the offspring of his own inclination to do 
 well, the simple favour of the donor. God is as unconstrain- 
 ed in his liberty, in all his communications, as [he is] infinite 
 in his goodness, the fountain of them." CharnocPs Works' 
 vol. 1. p. 583, &c. With whom agrees the excellent Dr. 
 Bates (sirnamed forhis eloquence, the silver-tongued ;) and 
 who, if he had a silver-tongue, had likewise a golden pen : 
 " God," says he "is a wise and free agent ; and as he is infi- 
 nite in goodness, so the exercise of it is voluntary, and only 
 so far as he pleases." Harm- of Div. Attrib. chap. 3. 

 
 156 
 
 presume to charge the Deity with partiality, for 
 not making all his creatures angels, because it 
 was in his power to do so, as charge him with 
 injustice for not electing all mankind. Besides, 
 how can it possibly be subversive of his justice, 
 to' condemn, and resolve to condemn, the non- 
 elect for their sins ; when those very sins were 
 not atoned for by Christ, as the sins of the elect 
 were ? His justice in this case is so far from 
 hindering the condemnation of the reprobate ; 
 that it renders it necessary and indispensable. 
 Again, is the decree of sovereign preterition, and 
 of just condemnation for sin, repugnant to the 
 divine holiness ? not in the least : so far from it, 
 that it does not appear how the Deity could be 
 holy, if he did not hate sin, and punish it. Nei- 
 ther is it contrary to his truth and veracity. Quite 
 the reverse. For, would not the divine veracity 
 fall to the ground, if the finally wicked were not 
 condemned ? 
 
 3. God in the reprobation of some does not 
 act a cruel part. Whoever accused a chief ma- 
 gistrate of cruelty, for not sparing a company of 
 attrocious malefactors, and for lettingthe sentence 
 of the law take place upon them by their execu- 
 tion ? If, indeed, the magistrate please to pity 
 some of them, and remit their penalty, we ap- 
 plaud his clemency ; but the punishment of the 
 rest is no impeachment of his mercy. Now, 
 with regard to God, his mercy is free and volun- 
 tary. He may extend it to, and withhold it from 
 whom he pleases, Rom. ix. 15, 18. and it is sad 
 indeed, if we will not allow the Sovereign, the 
 all-wise Governor of heaven and earth, the same 
 privilege and liberty we allow to a supreme ma- 
 gistrate below. 
 
 Nor, 4. Is God, in choosing some and rejecting 
 others, a respecter of persons. He only comes
 
 157 
 
 under that title, who, on account of parentage, 
 country, dignity, wealth, or for any other* exter- 
 
 * 7r^oa-a>7ro\fi^ix, Persons Acceptio, quummag is huic fave- 
 mus, quam illi, ob circumstantiam aliquam, ceu qualitatem, 
 externam, ei adhacrentem ; puta genus, dignitatem, opes, 
 patriam, &c. Scapula, in voc. 
 
 So that elegant, accurate, and learned Dutch divine, Lau- 
 rentius : Haec vero [\. e. x^o<TuwoXri-^ieC\ est, quando perso- 
 na persons prxfertur ex causa indebita : puta, si judex 
 absolvat reum, vel quia dives est, vel quia potens, vel quia 
 magistrates est, vel quia amicus &prepinquus est, &c. " That 
 is respect of persons, when one man is preferred to another 
 on some sinister and undue account: as when a judge acquits 
 & criminal, merely because he is rich, or powerful, or is his 
 friend, or relation, &c." Comment in Epist. Jacob, p. 92. 
 
 Now, in the matter of election and pretention, God is influ- 
 enced by no such motives : nor, indeed, by any exterior in- 
 ducement, or any motive, extra se, out of himself. He does 
 not, for instance, condemn any persons on account of their 
 poverty : but on the reverse, hath chosen many who are poor 
 in this world, Jam. ii. 5. Nor does he condemn any for be- 
 ing rich ; for some even of the mighty and noble are called 
 by his grace. 1 Cor. i. 26. He does not respect any man's 
 parentage, or country ; for the elect will be " gathered to- 
 gether from the four winds, from under one end of heaven to 
 the other," Mat. xxiv. 31. and he hath redeemed to himself a 
 select number, " out of every kindred, and tongue, and peo- 
 ple, and nation," Rev. v. 9. and vii 9. So far is God from 
 being in any sense a respecter of persons, that, in Christ Je- 
 sus, there is " neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male 
 nor female," Gal. Ill- 28. He does not receive one, nor re- 
 ject another, merely for coming or not coming under any of 
 these characters. His own sovereign will, and not their ex- 
 ternal or internal circumstances, was the sole rule, by which 
 he proceeded in appointing some to salvation, and decreeing 
 to leave others in their sins : so that God is not herein a 
 respecter of their persons, but a respecter of himself, and 
 his own glory. 
 
 And as God is no respecter of persons, because he chooses 
 some as objects of his favour, and omits others ; all being on 
 a perfect equality ; so neither does it follow, that he is such, 
 from his actually conferring spiritual and eternal blessings on 
 the former, and denying them to the latter : seeing these 
 blessings are absolutely his own, and which he may, there- 
 fore without injustice give or not give at his pleasure. Dr.
 
 158 
 
 rral consideration, shews more favour to one per- 
 son than to another. But that is not the case with 
 God. He considers all men as sinners by nature ; 
 and has compassion not on persons of this or that 
 sect, country, sex, age, or station in life, because 
 they are so circumstanced, but on whom, and be- 
 cause he will have compassion. Pertinent to the 
 present purpose is that passage of St. Austin :* 
 
 Whitby himself, though so strenuous an adversary to every 
 thing that looks like predestination, yet very justly observes 
 (and such a concession, from such a pen, merits the reader's 
 attention,) Locum non habet [sell. irgorujreXirj/tx} in bonis 
 mere liberis & gratuitis ; neque in iis, in quibus, unum alteri 
 prseferre, nostri arbitrii aut privilegii est. Ethic Compend. 
 1. 2. c. 5. sect. 9. i. e. " The bestowing" [and consequently, 
 the withholding] " of 6uch benefits, as are merely gratui- 
 tous and undeserved, does not argue respect of persons ; nei- 
 ther is it respect of persons to prefer one before another, 
 when we have a right, and it is our pleasure so to 
 do." I shall only add the testimony of Thomas Aquinas , 
 a man of some genius, and much application ; who, though 
 in very many things, a laborious trifler, was yet, on some 
 subjects, a clear reasoner, and judicious writer. His words 
 are, " Duplex est datio ; una quidem pertinens ad justitiam ; 
 qua, scilicet, aliquis dat alicui quod ei debetur; & 
 circa tales dationes attenditur personarum acceptio. Ali est 
 datio ad liberalitatem pertinens ; qua, scilicet, gratis datur 
 alicui quod ei non debetur. Et talis est Collatio munerum 
 gratiae, per quae peccatores assumuntur a Deo. Et, in hac 
 donatione, non habet locum personarum accef>tio ; qui quili- 
 bet, absque injustitia, potest de suo dare quantum vult. 8c 
 cui vult: secundum illud, Mat. xx. Annon licet mihi, quod 
 volo, facere ? tolle quod tuum est, h vade." i. e. " There is 
 a twofold rendering or giving ; the one a matter of justice, 
 whereby that is paid to a man which was due to him. Here 
 it is possible for us to act partially, and witli respect of per- 
 sons :" [Thus, for example's sake, if I owe money to two men, 
 one of whom is rich, the other poor ; and I pay the rich man, 
 because he has it in his power to sue me, but defraud the other, 
 because of his inability to do himself justice ; I should be a 
 respecter of persons But, as Aquinas goes on] " There is 
 a second kind of rendering or giving ; which is a branch of 
 
 * Tom. 2. Epist 105. ad Sixtum Presb
 
 159 
 
 " Forasmuch as some people imagine, that they 
 must look on God as a respecter of persons, if 
 they believe, that, without any respect had to the 
 previous merits of men, he hath mercy on whom 
 he will, and calls whom it is his pleasure to call, 
 and makes good whom he pleases. The scrupu- 
 lousness of such people arises from their not duly 
 attending to this one thing, namely, that damna- 
 tion is rendered to the wicked as a matter of 
 debt, justice, and desert ; whereas, the grace 
 given to those who are delivered, is free and un- 
 merited : so that the condemned sinner cannot al- 
 lege that he is unworthy of his punishment ; 
 nor the saint vaunt or boast, as if he was worthy 
 of his reward. Thus, in the whole course of this 
 procedure, there is no respect of persons. They 
 who are condemned, and they who are set at li- 
 berty, constituted originally one and the same 
 lump, equally infected with sin, and liable to 
 vengeance. Hence, the justified may learn from 
 the condemnation of the rest, what would have 
 been their own punishment, had not God's free 
 grace stepped in to their rescue." 
 
 Before I conclude this head, I will obviate a 
 fallacious objection, very common in the mouths 
 of our opponents : " How," say they, " is the 
 
 mere bounty and liberality, by which that is freely bestowed 
 on any man which was not due to him. Such are the gifts of 
 grace, whereby sinners are received of God. In the bestow- 
 ment of grace, respect of persons is absolutely out of the 
 question ; because every one may and can, without the least 
 shadow of inj ustice, give as much of his own as he will, and 
 to whom he will : according to that passage in Mat. xx. " Is 
 it not lawful for me to do what I will [with my own ?3 take 
 up that which is thine, and go thy way." Aquin. Summ. 
 Theol. 2 2d* Qu. 63 A. 1. 
 
 On the whole, it is evident, that respect of persons can 
 only have place in matters of justice, and is but another name 
 for perversion of justice : consequently, it has nothing to do 
 with matters of mere goouness and bounty, as all the bless- 
 ings of grace and salvation are.
 
 160 
 
 doctrine of reprobation reconcileable with the 
 doctrine of a future judgment ?" To which I an- 
 swer, that there need no pains to reconcile these 
 two, since they are so far from interfering with 
 each other, that one follows from the other, and 
 the former renders the latter absolutely necessary. 
 Before the judgment of the great day, Christ 
 does not so much act as the judge of his crea- 
 tures, as their absolute Lord and Sovereign. 
 From the first creation to the final consumma- 
 tion of all things ; he does, in consequence of his 
 own eternal and immutable purpose (as a divine 
 person,) graciously work in and on his own elect, 
 and permissively harden the reprobate. But, 
 when all the transactions of providence and grace 
 are wound up in the last day, he will then pro- 
 perly sit as Judge ; and openly publish, and so- 
 lemnly ratify, if I may so say, his everlasting de- 
 crees, by receiving the elect, body and soul, into 
 glory, and by passing sentence on the non-elect 
 (not for their having done what they could not 
 help, but) for their wilful ignorance of divine 
 things, and their obstinate unbelief; for their 
 omission of moral duty, and for their repeated 
 iniquities and transgressions. 
 
 Pos. 9. Notwithstanding God's predestination 
 is most certain and unalterable, so that no elect 
 person can perish, nor any reprobate be saved ; 
 yet it does not follow from thence, that all pre- 
 cepts, reproofs, and exhortations, on the part of 
 God, or prayers on the part of man, are useless, 
 vain, and insignificant. 
 
 1. These are not useless with regard to the 
 elect, for they are necessary means of bringing 
 them to the knowledge of the truth at first : af- 
 terwards, of stirring up their pure minds by way 
 of remembrance, and of edifying and establish- 
 ing them in faith, love, and holiness. Hence 
 that of St. Austin : " The commandment wilJf
 
 161 
 
 tsll thee, O man, what thou oughtest to have ; re- 
 proof will shew thee wherein thou art wanting ; 
 and praying will teach thee from whom thou must 
 receive the supplies which thou wantest." Nor, 
 2. Are these vain with regard to the reprobate : 
 for, precept, reproof, and exhortation may, if duly 
 attended to, be a means of making them careful 
 to adjust their moral, external conduct, accord- 
 ing to the rules of decency, justice, and regular- 
 ity ; and thereby prevent much inconvenience to 
 themselves and injury to society. And, as for 
 prayer, it is the duty of all, without exception. 
 Every created being (whether elect or reprobate, 
 matters not as to this point) is as such de- 
 pendent on the Creator for all things : and if de- 
 pendent, ought to have recourse to him, both in 
 a way of supplication and thanksgiving. 
 
 But, to come closer still. That absolute pre- 
 destination does not set aside, nor render super- 
 fluous, the use of preaching, exhortation, &c. we 
 prove from the examples of Christ himself and 
 his apostles, who all taught and insisted upon the 
 article of predestination ; and yet took every op- 
 portunity of preaching it to sinners, and enforced 
 their ministry with proper rebukes, invitations, and 
 exhortations, as occasion required. Though they 
 shewed unanswerably, that salvation is the free 
 gift of God, and lies entirely at his sovereign 
 disposal ; that men can of themselves do nothing 
 spiritually good : and that it is God, who of his 
 own pleasure, works in them both to will and to 
 do ; yet, they did not neglect to address their au- 
 ditors, as beings possessed of reason and con- 
 science, nor omitted to remind them of their du- 
 ties as such ; but shewed them their sin and dan- 
 ger by nature, and laid before them the appointed 
 way and method f salvation, as exhibited in the 
 gospel. Our Saviour himself, expressly, and in 
 14
 
 162 
 
 terminis, assures us that no man can come to 
 him except the Father draw him : and yet he 
 says, " Come unto me all ye that labour," &c. 
 St. Peter, in the 2d of Acts, told the Jews, that 
 they had fulfilled the determinate counsel and 
 foreknowledge of God, in putting the Messiah to 
 death ; and yet sharply rebukes them for it. St. 
 Paul declares, " It is not of him that willeth, nor 
 of him that runneth ;" and yet exhorts the Corin- 
 thians, u so to run as to obtain the prize." He as- 
 sures us, Rom. viii. that " we know not what we 
 pray for as we ought ;" and yet, 1 Thess. v. di- 
 rects us to " pray without ceasing." He avers, 
 1 Tim. ii. that the " foundation, or decree of the 
 Lord standeth sure ;" and yet cautions him, who 
 " thinks he stands, to take heed lest he fall." St. 
 James, in like manner says, that " Every good 
 and perfect gift cometh down from above ;" and 
 yet exhorts those who want wisdom, to ask it of 
 God. So, then, all these being means whereby 
 the elect are frequently enlightened into the 
 knowledge of Christ, and by which they are, af- 
 ter they have believed through grace, built up in 
 him ; and are means of their perseverance to 
 the end ; these are so far from being vain and in- 
 significant, that they are highly useful and neces- 
 sary, and answer many valuable and important 
 ends, without in the least shaking the doctrine of 
 predestination in particular, or the analogy of 
 faith in general. Thus St. Austin,* " We must 
 preach, we must reprove, we must pray ; be- 
 cause they to whom grace is given will hear and 
 act accordingly ; though they to whom grace is 
 not given will do neither." 
 
 * e Bon. Persev. cap, 14
 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 SHEWING THAT THE SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE 
 OF PREDESTINATION SHOULD BE OPENLY 
 PREACHED AND INSISTED ON ; AND IOR 
 WHAT REASONS. 
 
 XJPON the whole, it is evident that the doctrine 
 of God's eternal and unchangeable predestina- 
 tion should neither be wholly suppressed and laid 
 aside, nor yet be confined to the disquisition of 
 the learned and speculative only ; but likewise 
 should be publicly taught from the pulpit and 
 the press, that even the meanest of the people 
 may not be ignorant of a truth which reflects 
 such glory on God, and is the very foundation of 
 happiness to man. Let it, however, be preached 
 with judgment and discretion : i. e. delivered by 
 the preacher as it is delivered in scripture ; and 
 no otherwise. By which means it can neither be 
 abused to licentiousness, nor misapprehended to 
 despair ; but will eminently conduce to the 
 knowledge, establishment, improvement and com- 
 fort of them that hear. That predestination 
 ought to be preached I thus prove : 
 
 1. The gospel is to be preached, and that not 
 partially, and by piecemeal, but the whole of it. 
 The commission runs, " Go forth and preach 
 the gospel ; the gospel itself, even all the gos- 
 pel, without exception or limitation, for so far as 
 the gospel is maimed, or any branch of the evan- 
 gelical system is- suppressed and passed over in
 
 164 
 
 silence, so far the gospel is not preached. Re- 
 sides, there is scarce any other distinguishing 
 doctrine of the gospel can be preached in its pu- 
 rity and consistency, without this of predestina- 
 tion. Election is the golden thread that runs 
 through the whole christian system j it is the 
 leaven, that pervades the whole lump. Cicero 
 says of the various parts of human learning, 
 " Omnes artes, quae ad humanitatem pertinent, 
 habent quodam commune vinculum, and quasi 
 cognatione quadam inter se continentur : i. e. 
 The whole circle of arts have a kind of mutual 
 bond and connexion ; and, by a sort of recipro- 
 cal relationship, are held together, and interwo- 
 ven with each other." Much the same may be 
 said of this important doctrine ; it is the bond 
 which connects and keeps together the whole 
 christian system ; which without this, is like a 
 system of sand, ever ready to fall to pieces. It 
 is the cement which holds the fabric together ; 
 nay, it is the very soul that animates the whole 
 frame. It is so blended and interwoven with the 
 entire scheme of gospel doctrine, that when the 
 former is excluded, the latter bleeds to death. 
 An ambassador is to deliver the whole message 
 with which he is charged. He is to omit no 
 part of it, but must declare the mind of the sove- 
 reign he represents, fully and without reserve. 
 He is to say neither more nor less than the in- 
 structions of his court require. Else, he comes 
 under displeasure, perhaps loses his head. Let 
 the ministers of Christ weigh this well. 
 
 Nor is the gospel to be preached only, but 
 preached to every creature ; that is, to rea- 
 sonable beings promiscuously and at large ; to all 
 who frequent the christian ministry, of every 
 state and condition in life ; whether high or low, 
 young or old, learned or illiterate. All who at-
 
 165 
 
 tend on the ministrations of Christ's ambassa- 
 dors have a right to hear the gospel fully, clearly, 
 and without mincing. Preach it, says Christ, 
 Mark xvi. 15. x^vf*?*, publish it abroad, be its 
 criers and heralds ; proclaim it aloud, tell it out, 
 keep back no part of it, spare not, lift up your 
 voices like trumpets. Now, a very considerable 
 branch of this gospel is, The doctrine of God's 
 eternal, free, absolute, and irreversible election of 
 some persons in Christ to everlasting life. The 
 saints were singled out, in God's eternal purpose 
 and choice, ut crederent, to be endued with faith, 
 and thereby fitted for their destined salvation. 
 By their interest in the gratuitous, unalienable 
 love of the blessed Trinity, they come to be, sub- 
 jectively, saints and believers ; so that their 
 whole salvation, from the first plan of it in the 
 divine mind, to the consummation of it in glory, 
 is at once a matter of mere grace, and of abso- 
 lute certainty. While they who die without faith 
 and holiness, prove thereby that they were not 
 included in this elect number, and were not 
 written in the book of life. The justice of God's 
 procedure herein is unquestionable. Out of a 
 corrupt mass, wherein not one was better than 
 another, he might (as was observed before) love 
 and choose whom and as many as he pleased. It 
 was likewise without any shadow of injustice at 
 his option, whom and how many he would pass 
 by. His not choosing them was the fruit of his 
 sovereign will ; but his condemning them after 
 death, and in the last day is the fruit (not of 
 their non-election, which was no fault of theirs ; 
 but) of their own positive transgressions. The 
 elect, therefore, have the utmost reason to love 
 and glorify God which any beings can possibly 
 have : and the sense of what he has done for 
 them is the strongest motive to obedience. On 
 14 *
 
 166 
 
 the other hand, the reprobates have nothing to 
 complain of, since whatever God does, is just 
 and right, and so it will appear to be (however 
 darkly matters may appear to us now,) when we 
 see him as he is, and know him even as we are 
 known. 
 
 And now, why should not this doctrine be 
 preached and insisted upon in public ? a doctrine 
 which is of express revelation ; a doctrine that 
 makes wholly for the glory of God; which con- 
 duces in a most peculiar manner to the conver- 
 sion, comfort, and sanctification of the elect : 
 and leaves even the ungodly themselves without 
 excuse ! 
 
 But perhaps you may still be inclined to ques- 
 tion, Whether predestination be indeed a scrip- 
 ture doctrine. If so, let me by way of sample 
 beg you to consider the following declarations, 
 1. Of Christ, 2. Of his Apostles. 
 
 Mat. xi. " If the mighty works that have been 
 done in thee had been done in Tyre and Sidon, 
 they would have repented," &c. whence it is evi- 
 dent that the Tyrians and Sidonians, at least the 
 majority of them, died in a state of impeni- 
 tency ; but that, if God had given them the 
 same means of grace afforded to Israel, they 
 would not have died impenitent : yet these means 
 were not granted them. How can this be ac- 
 counted for ? only on the single principle of 
 peremptory predestination, flowing from the 
 sovereign will of God. No wonder then, 
 that our Lord concludes that chapter with 
 these remarkable words, " I thank thee, Holy 
 Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou 
 hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, 
 and hast revealed them unto babes : even so, Fa- 
 ther ; for so it seemed good in thy sight" Where 
 Christ thanks the Father for doing that very
 
 167 
 
 thing which Arminians exclaim against as unjust, 
 and censure as partial ! 
 
 Mat. xii. " To you it is given to know the 
 mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them 
 it is not given." 
 
 Mat. xx. 23. " To sit on my right hand, and 
 on my left, is not mine to give, *M' < j7o'|m.*?( 
 'jTTo m Kale* t*#, except to them for whom it hath 
 been prepared by my Father :" q. d. Salvation is 
 not a precarious thing : the seats in glory were 
 disposed of long ago in my Father's intention and 
 destination : I can only assign them to such per- 
 sons as they were prepared for in his decree. 
 
 Mat. xxii. " Many are called, but few 
 chosen :" i. e. All who live under the sound of 
 the gospel will not be saved ; but those only who 
 are elected unto life. 
 
 Mat. xxiv. " For the elect's sake, those days 
 shall be shortened :" and ibid. " If it were pos- 
 sible, they should deceive the very elect :" where 
 it is plain Christ teaches two things; 1. That 
 there is a certain number of persons who are 
 elected to grace and glory ; and 2. That it is ab- 
 solutely impossible for these to be deceived into 
 total or final apostacy. 
 
 Mat. xxv. " Come, ye blessed of my Father, 
 inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the 
 foundation of the world." 
 
 Mark xi. " Unto you it is given to know the 
 mystery of the kingdom of God : but to them 
 that are without," i. e. out of the pale of elec- 
 tion, ** all these things are done in parables ; 
 that, seeing, they may see, and not perceive ; 
 and hearing, they may hear, and not understand ; 
 lest at any time they should be converted, and 
 their sins should be forgiven them." 
 
 Luke x. " Rejoice, because your names are 
 written in heaven."
 
 168 
 
 Luke xii. " It is your Father's good pleasure 
 to give you the kingdom." 
 
 Luke xvii. " One shall be taken and the other 
 shall be left." 
 
 John vi. " All that the Father hath given me, 
 shall come unto me ;" as much as to say, These 
 shall, but the rest cannot. 
 
 John viii. " He that is of God heareth God's 
 words , ye therefore hear them not because ye 
 are not of God :" not chosen of him. 
 
 John x. " Ye believe not, because ye are not 
 of my sheep." 
 
 John xv. " Ye have not chosen me, but I have 
 chosen you." 
 
 I come now, 2. To the Apostles. 
 
 John xii. 57", 40. "They believed not on him, 
 that the saying of Esaias the prophet might be 
 fulfilled which he spake ; Lord, who hath be- 
 lieved our report ? and to whom hath the arm of 
 the Lord been revealed ? Therefore they could 
 not believe, because Esaias said again, He hath 
 blinded their eyes, and hardened their hearts, 
 that they should not see with their eyes, nor un- 
 derstand with their hearts, and be converted, and 
 I should heal them." Without certain prescience 
 there could be no prophecy ; and without predes- 
 tination no certain prescience Therefore, in or- 
 der to the accomplishment of prophecy, prescience, 
 and predestination, we are expressly told that 
 these persons could not believe, a* s^W*v7a, they 
 were not able ; it was out of their power. In 
 short, there is hardly a page in St. John's gospel 
 which does not either expressly or implicitly 
 make mention of election and reprobation. 
 
 St. Peter says of Judas, Acts i. " Men and 
 brethren, the scriptures must needs have been 
 fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost, by the mouth of 
 David, spake before concerning Judas," So ver.
 
 169 
 
 25. " That he might go to his own place :" to 
 the place of punishment appointed tor him. 
 
 Acts ii. " Him, being delivered by the deter- 
 minate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye 
 have taken, and with wicked hands have cruci- 
 fied and slain." 
 
 Acts iv. u Herod, and Pontius Pilate, and the 
 Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered 
 together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy 
 counsel determined before to be done : -rgoeogiG-e 
 ymo-3-*/, predestinated should come to pass." 
 
 Acts xiii. u And as many as were ordained to 
 eternal life believed :" reTXT^tioi, designed, desti- 
 ned, or appointed unto life. 
 
 Concerning the apostle Paul what shall I say ? 
 every one that has read his epistles knows that 
 they teem with predestination from beginning to 
 end.* I shall only give one or two passages : and 
 begin with that famous chain, Rom. viii. '* Whom 
 he did foreknow (or forelove, for, to know often 
 signifies in scripture to love) he also did predes- 
 tinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, 
 that he might be the firstborn among many bre- 
 thren :" that as in all things else, so in the busi- 
 ness of election, Christ might have the pre-emi- 
 nence ; he being first chosen as a Saviour, and 
 they in him to be saved by him : " moreover, 
 
 * A friend of mine who has a large property in Ireland, 
 was conversing one day with a popish tenant of his upon re- 
 ligion. Among other points they discussed the practice of 
 having public prayers in an unknown tongue My friend took 
 down a New Testament from his book-case, and read part of 
 1 Cor. xiv. When he had finished, the poor zealous papist 
 rose up from his chair, and said with great vehemence, " I 
 verily believe St. Paul was an heretic." 
 
 Can the person who carefully reads the epistles of that 
 great apostle doubt of his having a thorough-paced predes- 
 tinaricin ?
 
 170 
 
 whom he did predestinate, them he also called ; 
 and whom he called, them he also justified ; and 
 whom he justified, them he also glorified." 
 
 The 9th, 10th, and 11th chapters of the same 
 epistle are professed dissertations on, and illus- 
 trations of, the doctrine of God's decrees ; and 
 contain likewise a solution of the principal objec- 
 tions brought against that doctrine. 
 
 Gal. i. " Who separated me from my mother's 
 womb, and called me by his grace." 
 
 The first chapter of Ephesians treats of little 
 else but election and predestination. 
 
 2 Thess. ii. After observing that the repro- 
 bates perish wilfully, the apostle, by a stri- 
 king transition, addresses himself to the elect 
 Thessalonians, saying, " But we are bound to 
 give thanks unto God always for you, brethren, 
 beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the 
 beginning chosen you to salvation, through sanc- 
 tification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." 
 
 2 Tim. i. " Who hath saved us, and called us 
 with an holy calling, not according to our works, 
 but according to his own purpose and grace, 
 which was given us in Christ before the world 
 began." 
 
 St. Jude, on the other hand, describes the re- 
 probate as " ungodly men, who were of old fore- 
 ordained to this condemnation." 
 
 Another apostle makes this peremptory decla- 
 ration ; " Who stumble at the word, being diso- 
 bedient, whereunto also they were appointed : 
 but ye are a chosen generation, [yws sx.tex.To->, an 
 elect race] a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a 
 peculiar people, xx<&> ? ^/sro/jjowv, a people pur- 
 chased to be his peculiar property and posses- 
 sion, 1 Pet. ii. 8, 9. To all which may be added, 
 
 Rev. xvii. 8. " Whose names were not written in 
 the book of life from the foundation of the world."
 
 171 
 
 All these texts are but as an handful to the har- 
 vest ; and yet are both numerous and weighty- 
 enough to decide the point with any who pay the 
 least deference to scripture authority. And let 
 it be observed, that Christ and his apostles deli- 
 vered these matters, not to some privileged per- 
 sons only, but to all at large who had ears to 
 hear, and eyes to read. Therefore it is incum- 
 bent on every faithful minister to tread in their 
 steps by doing likewise : nor is that minister a 
 faithful one, faithful to Christ, to truth, and to 
 souls, who keeps back any part of the counsel of 
 God, and buries those doctrines in silence which 
 he is commanded to preach upon the house-tops. 
 
 The great St. Austin, in his valuable treatise 
 De Bono Persever. effectually obviates the objec- 
 tions of those who are for burying the doctrine 
 of predestination in silence. He shews that it 
 ought to be publicly taught ; describes the neces- 
 sity and usefulness of preaching it ; and points 
 out the manner of doing it to edification. And 
 since some persons have condemned St. Austin, 
 by bell, book, and candle, for his steadfast at- 
 tachment to, and nervous, successful defences of, 
 the decrees of God, let us hear what Luther, that 
 great light in the church, thought respecting the 
 argument before us. 
 
 Erasmus (in most other respects a very excel- 
 lent man) affected to think that it was of danger- 
 ous consequence to propagate the doctrine of 
 predestination, either by preaching or writing. 
 His words are these : u What can be more use- 
 less than to publish this paradox to the world ? 
 namely, that whatever we do, is done not by vir- 
 tue of our own free will, but in a way of neces- 
 sity, &c. What a wide gap does the publication 
 of this tenet open among men for the commis- 
 sion of ail ungodliness J What wicked person
 
 
 172 
 
 will reform his life? Who will dare to believe 
 himself a favourite of heaven ? Who will fight 
 against his own corrupt inclinations ? Therefore, 
 where is either the need or the utility of spread- 
 ing these notions from whence so many evils 
 seem to flow r" 
 
 To which Luther replies : " If, my Erasmus, 
 you consider these paradoxes (as you term them) 
 to be no more than the inventions of men, why are 
 you so extravagantly heated on the occasion ? In 
 that case your arguments affect not me ; for there 
 is no person now living in the world, who is a 
 more avowed enemy to the doctrines of men 
 than myself. But, if you believe the doctrines 
 in debate between us to be, as indeed they are, 
 the doctrines of God, you must have bid adieu to 
 all sense of shame and decency thus to oppose 
 them. I will not ask, Whither the modesty of 
 Erasmus is fled ? but, which is much more im- 
 portant, Where, alas ! are your fear and rever- 
 ence of the Deity, when you roundly declare, 
 that this branch of truth, which he has revealed 
 from heaven, is at best useless, and unnecessary 
 to be known ? What ! shall the glorious Creator 
 be taught by you, his creature, what is fit to be 
 preached, and what to be suppressed? Is the 
 adorable God so very defective in wisdom and 
 prudence as not to know, till you instruct him, 
 what would be useful, and what pernicious ? or 
 could not he, whose understanding is infinite, 
 foresee previous to his revelation of this doctrine, 
 what would be the consequences of his revealing 
 it, till those consequences were pointed out by 
 you ? You cannot, you dare not say this. If, 
 then, it was the divine pleasure to make known 
 these things in his word, and to bid his messen- 
 gers publish them abroad, and leave the conse- 
 quences of their so doing to the wisdom and pro-
 
 ITS 
 
 vidence of him, in whose name they speak, and 
 whose message they declare, who art thou, O 
 Erasmus, that thou shouldest reply against God, 
 and say to the Almighty, What doest thou ? St. 
 Paul, discoursing of God, declares peremptorily, 
 Whom he will he hardeneth : and again, God 
 willing to shew his wrath, &c. And the apostle 
 did not write this to have it stifled among few per- 
 sons, and buried in a corner; but wrote it to the 
 Christians at Rome ; which was in effect bring- 
 ing this doctrine upon the stage of the whole 
 world, stamping an universal imprimatur upon it 
 and publishing it to believers at large throughout 
 the earth. What can sound harsher in the uncir- 
 cumcised ears of carnal men, than those words 
 of Christ, Many are called, but few chosen ? and 
 elsewhere, I know whom I have chosen. Now, 
 these and similar assertions of Christ and his 
 apostles, are the very positions which you, O 
 Erasmus, brand as useless and hurtful. You 
 object, "If these things are so, who will endea- 
 vour to amend his life ?" I answer; Without 
 the Holy >. host no man can amend his life to 
 purpose. Reformation is but varnished hypo- 
 crisy unless it proceed from grace. The elect 
 and truly pious are amended by the Spirit of 
 God : and those of mankind who are not amend- 
 ed by him will perish. You ask moreover, Who 
 will dare to believe himself a favourite of hea- 
 ven ? I answer ; It is not in man's own power to 
 believe himself such upon just grounds, till he is 
 enabled from above. But the elect shall be so 
 enabled : they shall believe themselves to be what 
 indeed they are. As for the rest, who are not en- 
 dued with faith, they shall perish; raging and blas- 
 pheming as you do now. But, say you, These 
 doctrines open a door to ungodliness. I answer ; 
 Whatever door they may open to the impious and 
 15
 
 174 
 
 prophane, yet they open a door of righteousness to 
 the elect and holy, and shew them the way to hea- 
 ven, and the path of access unto God. Yet you 
 would have us abstain from the mention of these 
 grand doctrines, and leave our people in the dark 
 as to their election of God : the consequence of 
 which would be, that every man would bolster him- 
 self up with a delusive hope of share in that salva- 
 tion which is supposed to lie open to all ; and thus 
 genuine humility, and the practical fear of God, 
 would be kicked out of doors. This would be a pret- 
 ty way indeed of stoppingup the gap Erasmus com- 
 plains of ! Instead of closing up the door of licen- 
 tiousness, as is falsely pretended, it would be in 
 fact opening a gulf into the nethermost hell. Still 
 you urge, Where is either the necessity, or util- 
 ity, of preaching predestination ? God himself 
 teaches it, and commands us to teach it ; and that 
 is answer enough. We are not to arraign the 
 Deity, and bring the motives of his will to the 
 test of human scrutiny z but simply to revere 
 both hhn and it. He, who alone is all-wise and 
 all-just, can in reality (however things appear to 
 us) do wrong to no man ; neither can he do any 
 thing unwisely or rashly. And this considera- 
 tion will suffice to silence all the objections of 
 truly religious persons. However, let us lor ar- 
 gument's sake go a step farther. I will venture 
 to assign over and above, two very important 
 reasons, why these doctrines should be publicly 
 taught : 1. For the humiliation of our pride, and 
 the manifestation of divine grace. God hath as- 
 suredly promised his favour to the truly humble. 
 By truly humble, I mean those who are endued 
 with repentance, and despair of saving them- 
 selves ; for a man can never be said to be really 
 penitent and humble, till he is made to know th it 
 his salvation is not suspended in any measure
 
 175 
 
 whatever on his own strength, machinations, en* 
 deavours, free-will, or works ; but entirely de- 
 pends on the free pleasure, purpose, determina- 
 tion, and efficiency of another ; even of God 
 (alone. Whilst a man is persuaded that he has it 
 in his power to contribute any thing, be it ever so 
 little, to his own salvation, he remains in carnal 
 confidence ; he is not a self-despairer, and there- 
 fore he is not duly humbled before God ; so far 
 from it, that he hopes some favourable juncture 
 or opportunity will offer, when he may be able to 
 lend an helping hand to the business of his salva- 
 tion. On the contrary, whoever is truly convin- 
 ced that the whole work depends singly and abso- 
 lutely on the will of God, who alone is the au- 
 thor and finisher of salvation ; such a person de- 
 spairs of all self-assistance ; he renounces his own 
 will, and his own strength ; he waits and prays for 
 the operation of God ; nor waits and prays in vain. 
 For the elect's sake, therefore, these doctrines are 
 to be preached, that the chosen of God, being hum- 
 bled by the knowledge of his truths, self-emptied 
 and sunk as it were into nothing in his presence, 
 may be saved in Christ with eternal glory. This, 
 then, is one inducement to the publication of the 
 doctrine ; that the penitent may be made acquaint- 
 ed with the promise of grace, plead it in prayer 
 to God, and receive it as their own. 2. The na- 
 ture of the Christian faith requires it. Faith has 
 to do with things not seen. And this is one of 
 the highest degrees of faith, steadfastly to be- 
 lieve that God is infinitely merciful, though he 
 saves (comparatively) but few, and condemns so 
 many ; and that he is strictly just, though of 
 his own will he makes such numbers of mankind 
 necessarily liable to damnation. Now, these are 
 some of the unseen things whereof faith is the 
 evidence. Whereas, was it in my power to com-
 
 176 
 
 prehend them, or clearly to make out, how God 
 Is both inviolably just and infinitely merciful, not- 
 withstanding the display of wrath and seeming 
 inequality in his dispensations respecting the re- 
 probate ; faith would have little or nothing to 
 do. But now, since these matters cannot be ade- 
 quately comprehended by us in the present state 
 of imperfection, there is room for the exercise of 
 faith. The truths, therefore, respecting predes- 
 tination in all its branches, should be taught and 
 published ; they, no less than the other mysteries 
 of Christian doctrine, being proper objects of 
 faith on the part of God's people."* 
 
 With Luther the excellent Bucer agrees j par- 
 ticularly on Eph. i. where his words are, " There 
 are some who affirm that election is not to be 
 mentioned publicly to the people. But they 
 judge wrongly. The blessings which God be- 
 stows on man are not to be suppressed, but in- 
 sisted and enlarged upon ; and if so, surely the 
 blessing of predestination unto life, which is the 
 greatest blessing of all, should not be passed 
 over." And, a little after he adds, " Take away 
 the remembrance and consideration of our elec- 
 tion, and then, good God ! what weapons have 
 We left us wherewith to resist the temptations of 
 Satan ? As often as he assaults our faith (which 
 he is frequently doing) we must constantly, and 
 without delay, have recourse to our election in 
 Christ as to a city of refuge. Meditation upon 
 the Father's appointment of us to eternal life is 
 the best antidote against the evil surmisings of 
 doubtfulness and remaining unbelief. If we are 
 entirely void of all hope and assurance respect- 
 
 Eras mi 
 
 Lutherus, De Serr. Arbitr. in rcspons. ad ult prsf. t 
 ;mi.
 
 177 
 
 kig our interest in this capital privilege, what 
 solid and comfortable expectation can we enter- 
 tain of future blessedness ? How can we look 
 upon God as our gracious Father, and upon 
 Christ as our unchangeable Redeemer ? without 
 which, I see not how we can ever truly love God : 
 and if we have no true love towards him, how 
 can we yield acceptable obedience to him ! There- 
 fore, those persons are not to be heard who 
 would have the doctrine of election laid (as it 
 were) asleep, and seldom or never make its ap- 
 pearance in the congregations of the faithful." 
 . To what these great men have so nervously 
 advanced, permit me to add, that the doctrine of 
 predestination is not only useful, but absolutely 
 necessary to be taught or known. For, 
 
 1. Without it we cannot form just and becom- 
 ing ideas of God. Thus, unless he certainly 
 foreknows, and foreknew from everlasting, all 
 things that should come to pass, his understand- 
 ing would be finite : and a Deity of limited 
 understanding, is no Deity at all.. Again, we 
 cannot suppose him to have foreknown any thing 
 which he had not previously decreed ; without 
 setting up a series of causes, extra Dewn, and 
 making the Deity dependent for a great part of 
 the knowledge he has, upon the will and works 
 of his creatures, and upon a combination of cir- 
 cumstances exterior to himself*. Therefore, his 
 determinate plan, counsel, and purpose, (i. e. his 
 own predestination of causes and effects, is the 
 only basis of his foreknowledge : which fore- 
 knowledge could neither be certain, nor inde- 
 pendent, but as founded on his own antecedent 
 decree. 2. He alone is entitled to the name of 
 true God, who governs all things, and without 
 whose will (either efficient or permissive) nothing 
 ! s or can be done.. And such is the God of the 
 15 *
 
 178 
 
 scriptures ; against whose will not a sparrow can 
 die, nor an hair fall from our heads, Mat. x. Now 
 what is predestination, but the determining will 
 of God ? I defy the subtilest semi-pelagian in 
 the Vorld to form or convey a just and wor- 
 thy notion of the Supreme Being, without ad- 
 mitting him to be the great cause of all causes 
 else, himself dependent on none : who willed 
 from eternity, how he would act in time, and 
 settled a regular determinate scheme of what he 
 would do, and permit to be done from the begin- 
 ning to the consummation of the world. A con- 
 trary view of the Deity is as inconsistent with 
 reason itself, and with the very religion of na- 
 ture, as it is with the decisions of revelation. 
 Nor can we rationally conceive of an indepen- 
 dent, all-perfect first cause without allowing him 
 to be, 3. Unchangeable in his purposes. His de- 
 crees and his essence coincide : consequently, a 
 change in those would infer an alteration in this. 
 Nor can that being be the true God, whose will is 
 variable, fluctuating, and indeterminate : for his 
 will is himself willing. A Deity without decrees 
 and decrees without immutability, are, of all in- 
 ventions that ever entered the heart of man, the 
 most absurd. 4* Without predestination to plan, 
 and without providence to put that plan in exe- 
 cution, what becomes of God's omnipotence ? It 
 vanishes into air. It becomes a mere non-entity. 
 For what sort of omnipotence is that which may- 
 be baffled and defeated by the very creatures it 
 lias made ! Very different is the idea of this at- 
 tribute suggested by the Psalmist, Psalm cxiii. 
 " Whatsoever the Lord willed, that did he in hea- 
 ven and in earth, and in the sea, and in all deep pla- 
 ces :" i. e. He not only made them when he would, 
 but orders them when made. 5. He alone is the 
 true God, according to scripture representation,
 
 179 
 
 who saves by his mere mercy and voluntary 
 grace, those whom he hath chosen, and righteous- 
 ly condemns (for their sins) those whom he 
 thought fit to pass by. But, without predestina- 
 tion there could be no such thing, either as sove- 
 reign mercy, or voluntary grace. For, after all, 
 what is predestination but his decree to save 
 some of his mere goodness : and to condemn 
 others in his just judgment ? Now, it is most 
 evident that the scripture doctrine of predestina- 
 tion, is the clearest mirror wherein to see and 
 contemplate these essential attributes of God. 
 Here they all shine forth in their fulness of har- 
 mony and lustre. Deny predestination and you 
 deny (though perhaps not intentionally, yet by 
 necessary consequence,) the adorable perfections 
 of the Godhead : in concealing that^ you 
 throw a vail over these ; and in preaching that 
 you hold up these to the comfort, the establish- 
 ment, and the admiration of the believing world. 
 II. Predestination is to be preached, because 
 the grace of God (which stands opposed to all 
 human worthiness) cannot be maintained without 
 it. The excellent St. Austin makes use of this 
 very argument. " If," says he, " these two 
 privileges" [namely, faith itself and final perse- 
 verance in faith] " are the gifts of God ; and if 
 God foreknew on whom he would bestow these 
 gifts ; (and who can doubt of so evident a truth ?) 
 it is necessary for predestination to be preached 
 as the sure and invincible bulwark of that true 
 grace of God, which is given to men without 
 any consideration of merit."* Thus argued St. 
 Austin against the Pelagians, who taught, that 
 grace is offered to all men alike ; That God, for 
 
 * De Bono Persever. cap. 21.
 
 180 
 
 his part, equally wills the salvation of all ; and 
 that it is in the power of man's free will to ac- 
 cept or reject the grace and salvation so offered. 
 Which string of errors do, as Austin justly ob- 
 serves, centre in this grand point, gratiam secun- 
 dum nostra merita dari ; that God's grace is not 
 free, but the fruit of man's desert. Now the doc- 
 trine of predestination batters down this delusive 
 Babel of free will and merit. It teaches us that 
 if we do indeed will and desire to lay hold on 
 Christ and salvation by him, this will and desire 
 are the effect of God's secret purpose and effect- 
 ual operation : for he it is who worketh in us, 
 both to will and to do of his own good pleasure ; 
 that he that glorieth should glory in the Lord. 
 There neither is nor can be any medium between 
 predestinating grace, and salvation by human 
 merit. We must believe and preach one or the 
 other : for they can never stand together. No 
 attempts to mingle and reconcile these two incom- 
 patible opposites can ever succeed ; the apostle 
 himself being judge ; " If," says he, " it [namely 
 election] be by grace, then is it no more of works ; 
 otherwise grace is no more grace : but if it be of 
 works, then is it no more grace : otherwise work 
 is no more work, Rom. xi. 6. Exactly agreea- 
 ble to which is that of St. Austin : " Either pre- 
 destination is to be preached as expressly as the 
 scriptures deliver it, viz. That with regard to 
 those whom he hath chosen, the gifts and calling 
 of God are without repentance ; or we must 
 roundly declare as the Pelagians do, that grace is 
 given according to merit."f Most certain it is 
 that the doctrine of gratuitous justification 
 through Christ, can only be supported on that of 
 
 f De Bono Persever. cap. 16,
 
 is i 
 
 gratuitious predestination in Christ : since the 
 latter is the cause and foundation of the former. 
 III. By the preaching of predestination man 
 is duly humbled, and God alone is exalted : hu- 
 man pride is levelled- and the Divine glory shines 
 untarnished because unrivalled. This the sacred 
 writers positively declare. Let St. Paul be 
 spokesman for the rest, (Eph. i. 5, 6.) Having 
 predestinated us To the praise of the glory of 
 his grace. But how is it possible for us to render 
 unto God the praises due to the glory of his grace 
 without laying this threefold foundation ? 1. That 
 whosoever are, or shall be saved, are saved' by his 
 alone grace in Christ, in consequence of his eter- 
 nal purpose, passed before they had done any 
 one good thing. 2. That what good thing so- 
 ever is begun to be wrought in our souls (whe- 
 ther it be illumination of the understanding, rec- 
 titude of will, or purity of aiFections,) was be- 
 gun altogether of God alone ; by whose invinci- 
 ble agency grace is at first conferred, afterwards 
 maintained, and finally crowned. 3. That the 
 work of internal salvation (the sweet and certain 
 prelude to eternal glory) was not only begun in 
 us of his mere grace ; but that its continuance, its 
 progress, and increase are no less free, and 
 totally unmerited, than its first original donation. 
 Grace alone makes the elect gracious ; grace 
 alone keeps them gracious ; and the same grace 
 alone will render hem everlastingly glorious in 
 the heaven of heavens. 
 
 Conversion and salvation must in the very na- 
 ture of things, be wrought and effected either by 
 ourselves alone ; or, by ourselves and God to- 
 gether ; or solely by God himself The Pelagi- 
 ans were for the first. The Arminians are for 
 the second. True believers are for . the last ; 
 because the last hypothesis, and that only, is
 
 182 
 
 built on the strongest evidence of scripture, rea- 
 son, and experience j it most effectually hides 
 pride from man, and sets the crown of undivided 
 praise upon the head, or rather casts it at the 
 feet of that glorious triune God, who worketh all 
 in all. But this is a crown which no sinners 
 ever yet cast before the throne of God, who were 
 not first led into the transporting views of 
 his gracious decree to save freely and of his own 
 will the people of his eternal love. Exclude, 
 therefore, O Christian, the article of sovereign 
 predestination from thy ministry, or from thy 
 faith ; and acquit thyself, if thou art able, from 
 the charge of robbing God. 
 
 When God does' by the omnipotent exertion of 
 his Spirit, effectually call any of mankind, in 
 time, to the actual knowledge of himself in 
 Christ; when he likewise goes on to sanctify the 
 sinners he has called, making them to excel in 
 all good works, and to persevere in the love and 
 resemblance of God to their lives end : the ob- 
 serving part of the unawakened world may be 
 apt to conclude that the converted persons might 
 receive such measure of grace from God, because 
 of some previous qualifications, good disposi- 
 tions, or pious desires, and internal preparations, 
 discovered in them by the all-seeing eye ; which, 
 if tjrue, would indeed transfer the praise from 
 the Creator, and consign it to the creature. But 
 the doctrine of predestination, absolute, free, un- 
 conditional predestination, here steps in, and 
 gives God his own. It lays the axe to the root 
 of human boasting, and cuts down (for which 
 reason the natural man hates it) every legal, 
 every independent, every self-righteous imagina- 
 tion, that would exalt itself against the grace of 
 God and the glory of Christ. It tells us, That God 
 hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in his
 
 183 
 
 Son, according as he hath chosen us In him, be# 
 fore the foundation of the world, in order to our 
 being afterwards made holy and blameless before 
 him in love, Eph. i. Of course, whatever truly 
 and spiritually good thing is found in any person, 
 it is the special gift and work of God : given 
 and wrought in consequence of eternal, unmerit- 
 ed election to grace and glory. Whence the 
 greatest saint cannot triumph over the most aban- 
 doned sinner, but is led to refer the entire praise 
 of his salvation, both from sin and hell, to the 
 mere good will and sovereign purpose of God, 
 who hath graciously made him to differ from 
 that world which liethin wickedness. Such be- 
 ing the tendency of this blessed doctrine, how 
 injurious, both to God and man would the sup- 
 pression of it be ? Well does St. Austin argue : 
 " As the duties of piety ought to be preached 
 up, that he who hath ears to hear may be instruct- 
 ed how to worship God aright ; and as chastity 
 should be publicly recommended and enforced, 
 that he that hath ears to hear may know how to 
 possess himself in sanctification. And as chari- 
 ty moreover should be inculcated from the pul- 
 pit, that he who hath ears to hear may be exci- 
 ted to the ardent love of God, and his neigh- 
 bour ; in like manner, should tod's predestina- 
 tion of his favours be openly preached, that he 
 who hath ears to hear may learn to glory, not in 
 himself but in the Lord." * 
 
 IV. Predestination should be publicly taught 
 and insisted upon, in order to confirm and 
 strengthen true believers in the certainty and con- 
 
 De Bono Persever. cap. 29.
 
 184 
 
 licence of their salvation.* For, when regene- 
 rate persons are told, and are enabled to believe, 
 that the glorification of the elect is so assuredly 
 fixed in God's eternal purpose, that it is impossi- 
 ble for any of them to perish ; and when the re- 
 generate are led to consider themselves as actu- 
 ally belonging to this elect body of Christ ; what 
 can establish, strengthen, and settle their faith 
 like this ? Nor is such a faith presumptuous ; for 
 every converted man may and ought to conclude 
 himself elected : since God the Spirit renews 
 those only who were chosen by God the Father, 
 and redeemed by God the Son. This is an hope 
 xvhich maketh not ashamed, nor can possibly 
 issue in disappointment, if entertained by those 
 into whose hearts the love of God is poured 
 forth by the Holy Ghost given unto them, Rom. 
 v. o 
 
 The holy triumph and assurance resulting 
 from this blessed view, are expressly warranted 
 by the apostle, Rom. viii. where he deduces ef- 
 fectual calling from a prior predestination ; and 
 infers the certainty of final salvation from effect- 
 ual calling. Whom he did predestinate, them he 
 also called; and whom he called, them he also 
 justified ; and whom he justified, them he also 
 glorified. How naturally from such premises, 
 does the apostle add, Who shall lay any thing 
 
 * Our venerable reformers in the 17th of our xxxix arti- 
 cles, make the very same observation, and nearly in the same 
 words : " The godly consideration of predestination and 
 our election in Christ is full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeak- 
 able comforts to godly persons ; because it cloth greatly e6- 
 tabliah and confirm their faith of everlasting salvation, to be 
 enjoyed through Christ, &c."
 
 183 
 
 to the charge of God's elect ? Who, and where 
 is he that condemneth them ? Who and what 
 shall separate us from the love of Christ ? In 
 all these things we are, and shall be more than 
 conquerors through him who hath loved us : for 
 I am persuaded [iriicue-fuit* I am most clearly 
 and assuredly confident,] that neither death nor 
 life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, 
 nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, 
 nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able 
 to separate us from the love of God, which is in 
 Christ Jesus our Lord. So, elsewhere, The 
 foundation of the Lord, i. e. his decree or pur- 
 pose, according to election standeth sure ; hav- 
 ing this seal, The Lord knoxoeth them that are 
 Ms : which is particularly noted by the apostle, 
 lest true believers might be discouraged, and be- 
 gin to doubt of their own certain perseverance 
 to salvation, either from a sense of their remain- 
 ing imperfections, or from observing the open 
 apostacy of unregenerate professors, 2 Tim. ii. 
 How little obliged, therefore, are the flock of 
 Christ to those persons, who would, by stifling 
 the mention of predestination, expunge the sense 
 and certainty of everlasting blessedness from the 
 list of Christian privileges ! 
 
 V. Without the doctrine of predestination we 
 cannot enjoy a lively sight and experience of 
 God's special love and mercy towards us in 
 Christ Jesus. Blessings not peculiar, but confer- 
 red indiscriminately, on every man without ex- 
 ception, would neither be a proof of peculiar love 
 in the donor, nor calculated to excite peculiar 
 
 * Certus sum, Ar. Montan. Cert fide persuasum mihi 
 habeo, Erasm. Victa omni dubitatione Bengal. I am as- 
 sured, Dutch version. 
 
 16
 
 186 
 
 wonder and gratitude in the receiver. For in- 
 stance ; rain from heaven, though an invaluable 
 benefit, is not considered as an argument of God's 
 special and peculiar favour to some individuals 
 above others : and why ? because it falls on 
 all alike : as much on the rude wilderness, and 
 the barren rock, as on the cultivated garden, 
 and the fruitful field. But the blessing of elec- 
 tion, somewhat like the Sibylline books, rises in 
 value proportionally to the fewness of its objects. 
 So that when we recollect that in the view of 
 God (to whom all things are at once present,) 
 the whole mass of mankind was considered as 
 justly liable to condemnation on account of origin- 
 al and actual iniquity ; his selecting some indi- 
 viduals from among the rest, and graciously set- 
 ting them apart in Christ for salvation, both from 
 sin and punishment, were such acts of sovereign 
 goodness, as exhibit the exceeding greatness, and 
 the entire freeness of his love, in the most 
 awful, amiable, and humbling light. In order 
 then, that the special grace of God may shine, 
 predestination must be preached ; even the eter- 
 nal and immutable predestination of his people 
 to faith and everlasting life. " From those who 
 are left under the power of guilt," says St. Aus- 
 tin, " the person who is delivered from it may 
 learn what he too must have suffered, had not 
 grace stept in to his relief. And, if it was grace 
 that interposed, it could not be the reward of 
 man's merit, but the free gift of God's gratuitous 
 goodness. Some, however, call it unjust for 
 one to be delivered, while another, though no 
 more guilty than the former, is condemned : If 
 it be just to punish one, it would be but justice 
 to punish both. I grant that both might have 
 been justly punished. Let us therefore give 
 thanks unto God our Saviour, for not inflicting
 
 187 
 
 that vengeance on us, which from the condemna- 
 tion of our fellow-sinners we may conclude to 
 have been our desert no less than theirs. Had 
 they as well as we been ransomed from their 
 captivity, we could have framed but little concep- 
 tion of the penal wrath due in strictness of jus- 
 tice to sin : and on the other hand, had none of 
 the fallen race been ransomed and set at liberty, 
 how could divine grace have displayed the rich- 
 es of its liberality* ?" The same evangelical fa- 
 ther delivers himself elsewhere to the same ef- 
 fect : " Hence," says he, " appears the great- 
 ness of that grace by which so many are freed 
 from condemnation : and they may form some 
 idea of the misery due to themselves, from the 
 dreadfulness of the punishment that awaits the 
 rest. Whence those who rejoice, are taught to 
 rejoice, not in their own merits {quce paria esse 
 vtdent damnatis, for they see that they have no 
 more merit than the damned,) but in the Lord."f 
 Hence results, 
 
 VI. Another reason, nearly connected with 
 the former, for the unreserved publication of this 
 doctrine : viz. That from a sense of God's pecu- 
 liar, eternal, and unalterable love to his people, 
 their hearts maybe enflamed to love him in return. 
 Slender indeed will be my motives to the love of 
 God, on the supposition that my love to him is 
 before hand with his to me ; and that the very 
 continuance of his favour is suspended on the 
 weathercock of my variable will, or the flimsy 
 thread of my imperfect affection. Such a preca- 
 rious dependent love were unworthy of God ; 
 and calculated to produce but a scanty and cold 
 
 * Epist. 105. ad Sixt. Presb. 
 
 f De Predest Sanctor. lib. 1. cap. 9.
 
 I8& 
 
 reciprocation of love from man. At the happi- 
 est of times, and in the best of frames below, 
 our love to God is but a spark (though small and 
 quivering, yet inestimably precious, because di- 
 vinely kindled, fanned and maintained in the 
 soul, and an earnest of better to come :) where- 
 as love, as it glows in God, is an immense sun, 
 which shone without beginning, and shall shine 
 without end. Is it probable, then, that the spark 
 of human love should give being to the sun of 
 divine ? and, that the lustre and warmth of this 
 should depend on the glimmering of that P yet 
 so it must be if predestination is not true : and 
 so it must be represented if predestination is not 
 taught. Would you therefore know what it is 
 to love God as your Father, Friend, and Saviour; 
 vou must fall down before his electing mercy. 
 Till then you are only hovering about in quest of 
 true felicity. But you will never find the door, 
 much less can you enter into rest, till you are en- 
 abled to love him because he hath first loved you, 
 1 John iv. 19. 
 
 This being the case, it is evident, That with- 
 out taking predestination into the account, genu- 
 ine morality and the performance of truly good 
 works will suffer, starve, and die away. Love 
 to God is the very fuel of acceptable obedience. 
 Withdraw the fuel, and the flame expires. But 
 the fuel of holy affection (if scripture, experience 
 and observation, are allowed to carry any convic- 
 tion J can only be cherished, maintained, and in- 
 creased in the heart, by the sense and apprehen- 
 sion of God's predestinating love to us in Christ 
 Jesus. Now our obedience to God will always 
 hold proportion to our love. If the one be re- 
 laxed and feeble, the other cannot be alert and 
 vigorous. And electing goodness being the 
 very life and soul of the former ; the latter evem
 
 18 ) 
 
 good works, must flourish or decline inproportion 
 as election is glorified or obscured. Hence arises a 
 
 Vllth Argument for the preaching of predes- 
 tination : namely, that by it we may be excited to 
 the practice of universal godliness. The know- 
 ledge of God's love to you will make you an ar- 
 dent lover of God : and the more love you have 
 to God the more will you excel in all the duties 
 and offices of love. Add to this, that the scrip- 
 ture view of predestination includes the means, 
 as well as the end. Christian predestinarians are 
 for keeping together what God hath joined. He 
 who is for attaining the end, without going to it 
 through the means, is a self-deluding enthusiast. 
 He, on the other hand, who carefully and con- 
 scientiously uses the means of salvation as steps 
 to the end, is the true Calvinist. Now, eternal 
 life being that -to which the elect are ultimately 
 destined ; faith (the effect of saving grace,) and 
 sanctification (the effect of faith,) are blessings to 
 which the elect are intermediately appointed. 
 " According as he hath chosen us in him before 
 the foundation of the world, that we should be 
 holy and without blame before him in love," 
 Eph. i. 4. " We are his workmanship, created 
 in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God 
 hath before ordained, that we should walk in 
 them," Eph. ii. 10. u Knowing, brethren belo- 
 ved, your election of God : Ye became follow- 
 ers of us and of the Lord," 1 Thess. i. 4. 6. 
 " God hath chosen you to salvation through 
 sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth," 
 2 Thess. ii. 13. Elect, according to the fore- 
 knowledge [or ancient love] of God the Father, 
 through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedi- 
 ence," 1 Pet. i. 2. 
 
 Nor is salvation (the appointed end of elec- 
 tion) at all the less secure in itself (but the more 
 16 *
 
 190 
 
 so) for standing necessarily connected with the 
 intervening means : seeing both these and that 
 are inseparably joined, in order to the certain ac- 
 complishment of that through these. It only 
 demonstrates, that without regeneration of heart, 
 and purity of life, the elect themselves are not 
 led to heaven. But then it is incontestable from 
 the whole current of scripture, that these inter- 
 mediate blessings shall most infallibly be vouch- 
 safed to every elect person in virtue of God's 
 absolute covenant, and through the effectual 
 agency of his almighty Spirit. Internal sanctifi- 
 cation constitutes our meetness for the kingdom 
 to which we were predestinated ; and a course of 
 external righteousness is one of the grand eviden- 
 ces, by which Ave make our election sure to our 
 own present comfort and apprehension of it.* 
 
 VIII. Unless predestination be preached, we 
 shall want one great inducement to the exercise 
 of brotherly kindness and charity. 
 
 When a converted person is assured on one 
 hand, that all whom God hath predestinated to 
 eternal life, shall infallibly enjoy that eternal life 
 to which they were chosen ; and, on the other 
 hand, when he discerns the signs of election, not 
 only in himself, but also in the rest of his fellow- 
 believers, and concludes from thence (as in a 
 judgment of charity he ought,) that they are as 
 
 * 1 Pet. i. 10. Give diligence to make your calling and 
 election /ZeGcctxv, undoubted; that i9, to get some solid and in- 
 contestable evidence of your predestination to life "Bffc<^, 
 is de quo fiducia concipitur ; is de quo nobis aliquid certo per- 
 suademus. Unde apud Thuc 3-(Zt<oxt&' ctft-t, rtfjo voivo-eiy' 
 certa fides habetur mihi, hoc focturum me esse. BeC<?, 
 certo explorato. Btxt&iu.xi Mem fa.cio; pro comperto habeo." 
 Scap. So, s\7riq [icSxix is an undoubting hope, 2. Cor. i. T- 
 And $tZxiorte(&- \xy<& is a more assured and unquestion- 
 able word of prophecy, 2 Pet. 1. 1%
 
 191 
 
 really elected as himself, how must his heart 
 glow with love to his Christian brethren ! How 
 feelingly will he sympathize with them in their 
 distresses ! How tenderly will he bear with their 
 infirmities ? How readily will he relieve the for- 
 mer, and how easily overlook the latter ! no- 
 thing will so effectually knit together the hearts 
 of God's people in time as the belief of their 
 having been written by name in one book of life 
 from everlasting ; and the unshaken confidence 
 of their future exaltation to one and the same 
 state of glory above, will occasion the strongest 
 cement of affection below. This was possibly 
 one end of our Saviour's so frequently remind- 
 ing his apostles of their election : namely, that 
 from the sense of such an unspeakable blessing, 
 in which they were all equally interested, they 
 might learn to " love one another with pure 
 hearts fervently ;" and cultivate on earth that 
 holy friendship which they well knew from the 
 immutability of God's decrees would be eternal- 
 ly matured, to the highest perfection and refine- 
 ment in heaven. St. Paul likewise might have 
 some respect to the same amiable inference, 
 when treating of the saints collectively, he uses 
 those sweet and endearing expressions, He hath 
 chosen us, He hath predestinated us, &c. that be- 
 lievers, considering themselves as <rvnx.Mr.loi, or co- 
 elect in Christ, might be led to love each other 
 with peculiar intenseness, as the spiritual chil- 
 dren of one electing Father, brethren in grace, 
 and joint-heirs of glory. Did the regenerate of 
 the present age but practically advert to the ever- 
 lasting nearness in which they stand related to 
 each other, how happy would be the effect ! 
 
 Hence it appears, that since the preaching of 
 predestination is thus evidently calculated to 
 kindle and keep alive the twofold congenial flame
 
 192 
 
 of love to God and love to man : it must by ne- 
 cessary consequence^conduce 
 
 To the advancement of universal obedience, 
 and to the performance of every social and reli- 
 gious duty :* which alone, was there nothing 
 else to recommend it, would be a sufficient mo- 
 tive to the public delivery of that important doc- 
 trine. 
 
 Lastly, without a due sense of predestination, 
 we shall want the surest and the most powerful 
 inducement to patience, resignation, and depend- 
 ence on God, under every spiritual and temporal 
 affliction. 
 
 How sweet must the following considerations 
 be to the distressed believer ! 1. There most cer- 
 tainly exists an Almighty, all-wise and infinitely 
 
 * Our excellent Bishop Davenant instances, particularly in 
 the great religious duty of prayer. " The consideration of 
 election," says this learned and evangelical prelate, " doth 
 stir up the faithful to constancy in prayer : for having learnt 
 that all good tending to salvation is prepared for them out of 
 God's good pleasure, they are hereby encouraged to call for, 
 and as it were, to draw down from heaven by their prayers 
 those good things which from eternity were ordained for the 
 elect. Moreover, the same spirit of adoption, who beareth 
 witness to our spirit that we are God's chosen children, is also 
 the spirit of prayer and supplication, and enflameth our hearts 
 to call daily upon our heavenly Father. Those, therefore, 
 who, from the certainty of predestination do pretend that the 
 duty of prayer is superfluous, do plainly show that they are 
 so far from having any certainty of their predestination, that 
 they have not the least sense thereof. To be slack and slug- 
 gish in prayer is not the property of those who, by the testi- 
 mony of God's Spirit, have got assurance of their election ; 
 but rather of such as have either none or very small apprehen- 
 sion thereof. For as soon as any one by believing doth con- 
 ceive himself to be one of God's elect children, he earnestly 
 desireth to procure unto himself by prayer those good things 
 which he believeth that God prepared for his children be- 
 fore the foundation of the world." Bp. Davenant's Animad- 
 versions on an Arminian treatise, entitled God's JLoYe to Man- 
 kind, p. 526, & seq.
 
 193 
 
 gracious God. 2. He has given me in times 
 past, and is giving me at present, (if I had but 
 eyes to see it,) many and signal intimations of 
 his love to me, both in a way of providence and 
 grace. 3. This love of his is immutable : he 
 never repents of it, nor withdraws it. 4. What- 
 ever comes to pass in time is the result of his 
 will from everlasting. Consequently, 5. My af- 
 flictions were a part of his original plan, and are 
 all ordered in number, weight and measure. 6. 
 The very hairs of my head are every one count- 
 ed by him : nor can a single hair fall to the 
 ground but in consequence of his determination. 
 Hence, 7. My distresses are not the result of 
 chance, accident, or a fortuitious combination of 
 circumstances : but, 8. The providential accom- 
 plishment of God's purpose ; and 9. Designed 
 to answer some wise and gracious ends. Nor, 
 10. shall any affliction continue a moment longer 
 than God sees meet. 11. He who brought me 
 to it, has promised to support me under it, and 
 to carry me through it. 12. All shall most as- 
 suredly work together for his glory and my good. 
 Therefore, 13. "The cup which my heavenly 
 Father hath given me to drink, shall I not drink 
 it ?" Yes : I will in the strength he imparts even 
 rejoice in tribulation : and using the means of 
 possible redress which he hath, or may hereafter 
 put into my hands, I will commit myself and the 
 event to him, whose purpose cannot be over- 
 thrown, whose plan cannot be disconcerted, and 
 who, whether I am resigned or not, will still go 
 on to work all things after the counsel of his own 
 will.* 
 
 * The learned Lipsius thus writes to an unmarried friend, 
 who appears to have referred himself to his judgment and 
 direction j Sive uxor ducitur, site omittitur, &c. Whether
 
 194 
 
 Above all, when the suffering Christian takes 
 his election into the account, and knows that 
 he was by an eternal and immutable act of God 
 appointed to obtain salvation through our Lord 
 
 you marry or live single, you will still have something or 
 other to molest you : nor does the whole course of man's 
 present sublunary life afford him a single draught of joy, 
 without a mixture of wormwood in the cup. This is the uni- 
 versal and immutable law, which to resist, were no less vain 
 than sinful and rebellious. As the wrestlers of old had their 
 respective antagonists assigned them, not by their own choice, 
 but by necessary lot ; in like manner, each of the human 
 race has his peculiar destiny allotted to him by Providence, 
 To conquer this is to endure it. All our strength in this 
 warfare is to undergo the inevitable pressure. It is victory 
 to yield ourselves to fate." Lips Epist miscell. cent. 1. ep- 
 43. opor. torn. 2. p. 54. Edit. Vesaliens. 1675. 
 
 About two years after, this celebrated Christian Seneca 
 wrote as follows to the same person, (Theodore Leewius) 
 who had married and just lost his wife in childbed ; Jam 
 Jatum quid ? Jieterna, an aterno, in sternum, Dei Lex : what 
 is fate I God's everlasting ordinance : an ordinance which he 
 settled in eternity, and for eternity : an ordinance which he 
 can never repeal, disannul, or set aside, either in whole or in 
 part. Now if this his decree be eternal, a retro and immove- 
 able, quoad futurum : why does foolish man struggle and 
 fight against that which must be ? Especially, seeing fate is 
 thus the offspring of God, why does impious man murmur 
 and complain ? you cannot justly find fault witli any thing de- 
 termined or done by him ; as though it were evil or severe : 
 for he is all goodness and benevolence. Was you to define his 
 nature, you could not do it more suitably than in those 
 terms. Is therefore your wife dead ? debuit : it is right she 
 should be so. But was it right that she should die, and at 
 that very time, and by that very kind of death ! Most cer- 
 tainly. Lex ita lata ; the decree so ordained it. The rest* 
 less acumen of the human mind may sift and canvass the ap- 
 pointments of fate, but cannot alter them. Were we truly 
 wise we should be implicitly submissive, and endure with 
 willingness what we must endure, whether we be willing or 
 not. A due sense of our inability to reverse the disposals 
 of Providence, and the consequent vanity of resisting them, 
 would administer solid repose to our minds, and sheathe, if 
 not remove the anguisii of affliction. And why should we 
 even wish to resist ? Fate's supreme ordainer is not only the
 
 195 
 
 Jesus Christ ; that, of course, he hath a city pre- 
 pared for him above, a building of God, an 
 house not made with hands, but eternal in the 
 heavens ; and that the heaviest sufferings of the 
 present life are " not worthy to be compared 
 with the glory which shall be revealed in the 
 saints ; what adversity can possibly befall us, 
 which the assured hope of blessings like these 
 will not infinitely overbalance ? 
 
 " A comfort so divine, 
 May trials well endure." 
 However keenly afflictions might wound us on 
 their first access ; yet, under the impression of 
 such animating views, we should quickly come to 
 ourselves again, and the arrows of tribulation 
 would in a great measure become pointless. 
 Christians want nothing but absolute resignation 
 to render them perfectly happy in every possible 
 circumstance : and absolute resignation can only 
 flow from an absolute belief, and an absolute 
 acquiescence in God's absolute providence, 
 founded on absolute predestination. The apos- 
 tle himself draws these conclusions to our hand, 
 in Rom. viii. where, after having laid down as 
 most undoubted axioms, the eternity and immu- 
 tability of God's purposes ; he thus winds up the 
 whole : " What shall we say then to these things, 
 if God be for us, who can be against us ? who 
 
 all-wise God, but an all-gracious Father. Embrace every 
 event as good and prosperous, though it may for the present 
 carry an aspect of the reverse. Think you not that he loves 
 and careth for us more and better than we for ourselves. 
 But as the tenderest parent below doth oftentimes cross the 
 inclinations of his children, with a view to do them good ; and 
 obliges them both to do and to undergo many things against 
 the bent of their wills, so does the great Parent of all." Ibid. 
 epist. 61. p. 82-
 
 196 
 
 shall separate us from the love of Christ ? shall 
 tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, 
 or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? nay : in all 
 these things we are more than conquerors, 
 through him that loved us. 
 
 Such, therefore, among others, being the uses, 
 that arise from the faithful preaching, and the cor- 
 dial reception of predestination ; may we venture 
 to affirm, with Luther, hac ignorata doctrina, 
 neque /idem, neque ullum Dei cultum, consistere 
 posse f that " Our faith, and all right worship of 
 God, depend in no small degree, upon our know- 
 ledge of that doctrine."* 
 
 The excellent Melancthon, in his first common 
 places (which received the sanction of Luther's 
 express approbation,) does, in the first chapter, 
 which treats professedly of free will and pre- 
 destination, set out with clearing and establishing 
 the doctrine of God's decrees ; and then pro- 
 ceeds to point out the necessity, and manifold 
 usefulness of asserting and believing it. He even 
 goes so far as to affirm roundly, that u A right 
 fear of God, and a true confidence in him, can 
 be learned more assuredly, from no other source 
 than from the doctrine of predestination." But, 
 Melancthorfs judgment of these matters will 
 best appear from the whole passage ; which the 
 reader will find in the book and chapter just re- 
 ferred to. 
 
 44 Divina Predestinatio" says he, " Liberta- 
 tern homini adimit : Divine predestination quite 
 strips man of his boasted liberty : for, all things 
 come to pass according to God's fore-appoint- 
 ment, even the internal thoughts of all creatures, 
 
 De Serv. Abitr. cap. 20.
 
 197 
 
 no less than their external works. Therefore, v 
 Eph. i. the apostle gives us to understand, that 
 God " performeth all things according to the 
 counsel of his own will." And our Lord him- 
 self asks, Mat. x. u Are not two sparrows sold 
 for a farthing ? yet one of them falleth not to the 
 ground, without your Father." Pray, what can 
 be more full to the point, than such a declaration ? 
 So Solomon, Prov. xvi. " The Lord hath made 
 all things for himself j yea, even the wicked for the 
 day of evil." And in the xxth chapter, u Man's 
 goings are of the Lord : how then can a man un- 
 derstand his own way ?" To which the prophet 
 Jeremiah does also set his seal, saying, chapter 
 x. " O Lord, I know that the way of man is not 
 in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct 
 his own steps." The historical part of scrip- 
 ture teaches us the same great truth. So, Gen. 
 xv. we read that the iniquity of the Amorites was 
 not yet full. In 1 Sam. ii. we are told, Eli's sons 
 hearkened not to his reproof, because the Lord 
 toould slay them. What could bear a stronger 
 resemblance to chanfre and accident than Saul's 
 calling upon Samuel, only with a view to seek out 
 his father's asses ? (1 Sam. ix.) yet, the visit 
 was foreordained of God, and designed to an- 
 swer a purpose little thought of by Saul, 1 Sam. 
 ix. 15, 16. [See also a most remarkable chain 
 of predestinated events in reference to Saul, and 
 foretold by the prophet, 1 Sam. x. 2, 8.] " In 
 pursuance of the divine preordination, there went 
 with Saul a band of men, " whose hearts God had 
 touched," 1 Sam. x. 26. The harshness of king 
 Rehoboam's answer to the ten tribes, and the sub- 
 sequent revolt of those tribes from his dominion, 
 are by the sacred historian expressly ascribed to 
 God's decree : " wherefore, the king hearkened 
 not unto the people : for the cause was from the 
 
 17
 
 198 
 
 Lord, that he might perform his saying which the 
 Lord spake by Ahijah the Shilonite, unto Jero- 
 boam the son of Nebat," I Kings xii. 15. 
 What is the drift of the apostle Paul, in the 9th 
 and 10th of Romans, quam ut omnia, qua 
 fiunt, in destinationem divinam referat f but to 
 resolve all things that come to pass into God's de- 
 stination ? the judgment of the flesh, or of mere 
 unregenerate reason, usually starts back from this 
 truth with hGrror : but on the contrary, the judg- 
 ment of a spiritual man will embrace it with af- 
 fection. Neque enim vel timorem dei, vel Jiduci- 
 mn in deum, certius aliunde disces, quam ubi im- 
 bueris animum hac de predestinat'iGne sententia : 
 u You will not learn either the fear of God or 
 affiance in him from a surer source than from 
 getting your mind deeply tinctured and seasoned 
 with this doctrine of predestination." Does not 
 Solomon in the book of Proverbs, inculcate it 
 throughout ; and justly : for how else could he 
 direct men to fear God and trust in him ? the same 
 he does in the book of Ecclesiastes : nor had any 
 thing so powerful a tendency to repress the pride 
 of man's encroachingreason, and to lower the swel- 
 ling conceit of his supposed discretion as the firm 
 belief quod a Deo jiunt omnia, that all things are 
 from God. What invincible comfort did Christ im- 
 part to his disciples in assuring them that " their 
 very hairs were all numbered" by the Creator ? Is 
 there then (may any objector say,) no such thing 
 as contingency ? no such thing as chance, or for- 
 tune ? No. Omnia necessario evenire scriptures 
 docent ; the doctrine of scripture is, that all tilings 
 come to pass necessarily. Be it so, that to you 
 some events seem to happen contingently ; you 
 nevertheless must not be run away with by the 
 suggestions of your own narrow-sighted reason. 
 Solomon himself, the wisest of men, was so deep-
 
 109 
 
 ly versed in the doctrine of inscrutable predesti- 
 nation as to leave this humbling maxim on re- 
 cord ; ** When I applied my heart to know wis- 
 dom, and to see the business that is done upon 
 the earth ; then I beheld all the work of God, that 
 a man cannot find out the work that is done un- 
 der the sun ; because, though a man labour to 
 seek it out, yet he shall not find ; yea, further, 
 though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he 
 not be able to find it," Eccles. viii. 16, 17* 
 
 Melancthon prosecutes the argument much far- 
 ther ; but this may suffice for a specimen. And 
 it is not unworthy of notice, that Luther so highly 
 approved of Melancthon's performance, and es- 
 pecially of the first chapter (from whence the 
 above extract is given ;) that he [Luther] thus 
 writes of it in his epistle to Erasmus, prefixed to 
 his book De Serv. Arb. " That it was worthy of 
 everlasting duration, and to be received into, the 
 ecclesiastical canon." Let it likewise be observ- 
 ed, that Melancthon never to the very last re- 
 tracted a word of what he there delivers ; which 
 a person of his piety and integrity would most 
 certainly have done, had he afterwards (as some 
 have artfully and falsely insinuated) found rea- 
 son to change his judgment on these heads. 
 
 FVVIS.
 
 A.N 
 APPENDIX 
 
 CONCERNING 
 
 THE FATE OF THE ANCIENTS. 
 
 FROM THE LATIN OF JUSTUS LIPSIUS.* 
 
 J ATE, (says Apuleius) according to Plato, is 
 that, " Per quod, inevitabiles cogitationes Dei 
 atque incepta complentur ;" whereby the purpo- 
 ses and designs of God are accomplished. Hence, 
 the Platonics considered providence under a 
 three-fold distinction ; 1. The procidentia prima, 
 or that which gave birth to all effects ; and is de- 
 lined by them to be m newlx Qta v*sje-< 5 , the in- 
 tention, or xvill of the Supreme God, 2. The 
 procidentia secunda, or actual agency of the se- 
 condary or inferior beings, who were supposed 
 to pervade the heavens, and from thence by their 
 influence, to regulate and dispose of all subluna- 
 ry things ; and especially to prevent the extinc- 
 tion of any one species below. 3. The proci- 
 dentia tertia, supposed to be exerted by the Genii, 
 whose office it was to exercise a particular care 
 over mankind, to guard our persons, and direct 
 our actions. 
 
 But the stoical view of providence, or fate, 
 was abundantly more simple, and required no 
 
 * Vide Lipsii Physiolojj. Stoic. Lib. 1. Dissert, xii.
 
 201 
 
 such nicety of distinction. These philosophers 
 did at once derive all the chain of causes and ef- 
 fects from their true and undoubted source, 
 the will of the one living and true God. 
 Hence, with these sages, the words Deity, Fate, 
 Providence, were, frequently reciprocated, as 
 terms synonymous. Thus Seneca, speaking of 
 God ; u Will you call him fate P You will call 
 him rightly ; for all things are suspended on 
 him. Himself is causa causaram, the cause of 
 causes beside." The laws of the universe are 
 from God ; whence the same philosopher else- 
 where observes, Omnia certa et in ceternum 
 dicta lege decurrere ; All things go on according 
 to a certain rule or decree ordained for ever ; 
 meaning in the law of fate. So Cicero : " All 
 things come to pass according to the sovereignty 
 of the eternal law." And Pindar probably had 
 an eye to this, where he says, Ne^oy nxvlm jSot<ri~ 
 
 Xeet, Svxtmv ri %xi x6tx,vx]<av, eivxt. That the law ril- 
 
 leth all, whether gods or mortals. Manlius most 
 certainly had : 
 
 Sed nihil in tola magis est mirabile mole. 
 
 Quam Ratio, 12 certis quod Le gibus omnia parent. 
 Where, by Ratio, is evidently meant the decree- 
 ing mind of God ; and, by Leges, is meant fate, 
 or that series of causes and effects which is the 
 offspring of his decree. 
 
 Homer cannot begin his Iliad without assert- 
 ing this grand truth: A*- &' tJtkniU pi?w. The 
 counsel or decree of Jupiter was fulfilled. The 
 divine poet sets out on this exalted principle ; he 
 puts it in the front of the noblest poem in the 
 world, as a testimony both of his wisdom and his 
 faith. It was as if he had said, " I shall sing of 
 numberless events, equally grand, entertaining, 
 and important ; but I cannot begin to unfold 
 them without laying down this, as a first, funda- 
 17 *
 
 202 
 
 mental axiom, that, though brought to pass by the 
 instrumental agency of men, they were the fruit 
 of God's determining will, and of his all-direct- 
 ing providence." 
 
 x^either are those minuter events, which seem- 
 ingly are the result of chance, excluded from this 
 law. Even these do not happen, but come to pass 
 in a regular order of succession, and at their due 
 period of time. u Causa pendet ex causa : pri- 
 vata ac publica longus or do rerum trahit" says 
 Seneca ; " Cause proceeds from cause : the long 
 train of things draws with it all events, both 
 public and private." Excellent is that of Sopho- 
 cles ; (Aj. Flagell.) 
 
 TL?a p.sv xv kcci rxvlu, text rx 7rxvV xei, 
 xTx,otf*,' xv uv6ga7ronri fA>i%xvxv Gen<;. 
 'Oreo JV fir) rx' eriv v yv&yxi (fytXx, 
 KernO* exeivx <?t%y{\<a. kcctu rxS~t. 
 
 i. e. " I am firmly of opinion, that all these 
 things, and whatever else befall us, are in conse- 
 quence of the divine purpose : Whoso thinks 
 otherwise is at liberty to follow his own judg- 
 ment, but this will ever be mine." 
 
 The Long-us ordo rerum, mentioned by Sene- 
 ca, is what he elsewhere styles, Causarum im- 
 plexa series, or a perpetual implication of causes. 
 This, according to Laertius, was called by the 
 Stoics, cctncc rm oiluv eteofisw, an involved, or con- 
 catenate causuality of whatever has any exist- 
 ence : for, !??*&' is a chain, or implicate connec- 
 tion. Agreeably to this idea, Chrysippus gives 
 the following definition of fate : 'Etf-ixefwyv uvxi, 
 
 tyvriy,w a-vy]x^iv raiv oXcat, *| xiS'ih, rav irtgm rots iltgots 
 7r:.i,y.xXn6av jtuv , xf^tlxQaXa x.xi xtcx^xZxIh very,*; ry^roixvl^ 
 c-ntiirXoxn. " Fate is that natural, established or- 
 der and constitution of all things from everlast- 
 ing, whereby they mutually follow upon each
 
 203 
 
 other, in consequence of an immutable and per- 
 petual complication." 
 
 Let us examine this celebrated definition of 
 fate. 1. He calls it natural e-t>v7<*|<s- meaning by 
 nature, the great Natura Prima, or God : for 
 by some Stoics, God and nature are used promis- 
 cuously. But, because the Deity must be sup- 
 posed both to decree and to act with wisdom, in- 
 telligence, and design, fate is sometimes men- 
 tioned by them under the name of Aoy*, or rea- 
 son. Thus they define fate, (Laert in Zen.) 
 
 tifixgfisvtii), Xoytv, kx6 ov o x.(>(rfjL(&* S'tt^xyelxf to be 
 
 that supreme " reason, whereby the world is 
 governed and directed," or more minutely, thus; 
 Aoyov, x.tx.6' ov <?x jjuv yeyovojx yeyeve, rx <& Xivo^ax 
 ytierxt, rx JV ycvyc-oftevx ycvya-erxi. " That reason, 
 whereby the things that have been, were ; the 
 things that now are, have a present existence ; 
 and the things that are to be shall be. Reason, 
 you see, or wisdom, in the Deity, is an antece- 
 dent cause, from whence both providence and in- 
 ferior nature are derived. It is added in Stobceus, 
 /LieTxXxfiGxvet gs ra Aoc-y, tjjv x\*)6hxv, tjjv xtrixv, tj 
 <pvo-iv, tjjv uvxtrxr.v. i. e. that Chrysippus some- 
 times varies his terms ; and, instead of the word 
 reason, substitutes the words truth', cause, na- 
 ture, necessity : intimating, that fate is the true, 
 natural, necessary cause of the things that are, 
 and of the manner in which they are. 2. This 
 fate is said to be *f xihu, from everlasting. Nor 
 improperly : since the constitution of things was 
 settled and fixed in the divine mind (where they 
 had a sort of ideal existence) previous to their ac- 
 tual creation, and therefore considered as certainly 
 future, in his decree, may be said to have been in 
 some sense co-eternal with himself. 3. The immu- 
 table and perpetual complicatio}i r menUozit;d in the 
 definition, means no more than that reciprocal in-
 
 204 
 
 volution of causes and effects from God down- 
 wards, by which things and events, positis omni- 
 bus ponendis, are necessarily produced, accord- 
 ing to the plan which infinite wisdom designed 
 from the beginning. God, the Jirst cause, hath 
 given being and activity to an immense number 
 of secondary subaltern causes ; which are so inse- 
 parably linked and interwoven with their re- 
 spective effects (a connexion truly admirable, 
 and not to be comprehended by man in his pre- 
 sent state,) that those things which do in reality 
 come to pass necessarily, and by inevitable des- 
 tiny seem, to the superficial observer, to come to 
 pass in the common course of nature, or by vir- 
 tue of human reasoning and freedom. This is 
 that inscrutable method of divine wisdom, M A 
 qua" (says St. Austin) " est omnis modus, om- 
 nis species, omnis ordo, mensura, numerus, pon- 
 dus ; a qua sunt semina formarum, formse semi- 
 num, motus seminum atque formarum." 
 
 Necessity is the consequence of fate. So Tris- 
 megistUS ! nv7<* ^V yirvtrctt Qvtsi y.oti ilfttt ff tstii) KXt hk 
 
 ra 7rygct)iiii ia. ^vo JV ra~]a xvlotyvtii; JVvst^eis, v#5-jsa 
 
 x.cci ii^oou,; V}) . i. e. " All things are brought about 
 by nature and by fate': neither is any place void 
 of providence. Now providence is the self-perfect 
 reason of the super-celestial God ; from which 
 reason of his issue two native powers, necessity 
 and fate." Thus, in the judgment of the wiser 
 Heathens, effects were to be traced up to their 
 producing- causes ; those producing causes were 
 to be farther traced up to the still higher causes, 
 by which they were produced ; and those higher 
 causes, to God, the cause of them. Persons, 
 things, circumstances, events, and consequences, 
 are the effects of necessity : Necessity is the 
 daughter of fate : Fate is the offspring of God's
 
 205. 
 
 infinite wisdom and sovereign will. Thus, all 
 things are ultimately resolved into their great 
 primary cause ; by whom the chain was original- 
 ly let down from heaven, and on whom every 
 link depends. 
 
 It must be owned, that all the fatalists of anti- 
 quity, ("particularly among the Stoics) did not con- 
 stantly express themselves with due precision. A 
 Christian, who is savingly taught by the word and 
 Spirit of wod, must be pained and disgusted, not 
 to say, shocked, when he reads such an assertion 
 
 as Tjjv Kf}V6>p.iiw (Migxi esJaoflS/av e?t ctTotyvret* kcci <gj. 
 
 God himself cannot possibly avoid his destiny, 
 (Herodot. 1.) or that of the poet Philemon: 
 
 AaXot {Zxrtheav curiv, <j< /SCNAfs v, 
 'O - etnocF-xta. 
 
 Common men are servants to kings ; kings are 
 servants to the gods; and God is a servant to ne- 
 cessity. So Seneca : " Eadem necessitas & Deos 
 alligat ; irrevocabilis Divina pariter atque huma- 
 na cursus vehit. Ille ipse, omnium conditor ac 
 rector, scripsit quidem fata, sed saquitur. Sem- 
 per paret : Semel jussit^' The self-same neces- 
 sity binds the gods themselves. All things, di- 
 vine as well as human, are carried forward by 
 one identical and overpowering rapidity. The 
 supreme Author and Governor of the universe 
 hath indeed written and ordained the fates ; but 
 having once ordained them, he ever after obeys 
 them. He commanded them at first, for once ; but 
 his conformity to them is perpetual. This is, with- 
 out doubt, very irreverently, and very incau- 
 tiously expressed. Whence it has been common 
 with many Christian writers to tax the Stoics with 
 setting up a Jirst cause superior to God himself, 
 and on which he is dependent.
 
 1206 
 
 B ut, I apprehend, these philosophers meant in 
 reality no such thing. All they designed to in- 
 culcate was, That the will of God and his decrees 
 are Unchangeable : that there can be no altera- 
 tion in the divine intention ; no new act arise in 
 his mind: no reversion of his eternal plan; all 
 being founded in adorable sovereignty ; ordered 
 by infallible xoisdom; ratified by omnipotence ; 
 and cemented with immutability. Thus Lucan : 
 
 Finxis in ceternum caasas ; qua cuncta coercet, 
 
 Se quo que lege tenens. 
 
 And this, not through any imbecility in God, 
 or as if he was subject to fate, of which (on the 
 contrary) himself was the ordainer ; but because it 
 is his pleasure to abide by his own decree. For, as 
 Seneca observes, " Imminutio majestatis sit, and 
 confessio erroris, mutanda fecissa : Necesse est et 
 eadem placere, cui nisi optima placere non pos- 
 sunt:" u It would detract from the greatness of 
 God, and look as if he acknowledged himself liable 
 to mistakes, was he lu make changeable decrees : 
 his pleasure must necessarily be always the same : 
 seeing that only which is best, can at any time, 
 please an all-perfect being, a good man (adds this 
 philosopher) is under a kind of pleaoing necessity 
 to do good ; and, if he did not do it, he could 
 not be a good man." 
 
 " Magnum hoc argumentum est firmse volun- 
 tatis, ne mutare quidem posse :" " It is a striking 
 proof of a magnanimous will, to be absolutely 
 incapable of changing." And such is the will 
 of God, it never fluctuates nor varies. But, on 
 the other hand, was he susceptible of change, 
 could he through the intervention of any inferi- 
 or cause, or by some untoward combination of 
 external circumstances, be induced to recede 
 from his purpose, and alter his plan, it would be 
 a most incontestable mark of weakness and dc-
 
 207 
 
 pendence : the force of which argument made 
 Seneca, though a heathen, cry out " Non exter- 
 na Deos cogunt ; sed sua illis in legem seterna 
 voluntas est ;" " Outward things cannot compel 
 the Gods ; but their own eternal will is a law to 
 themselves." It may be objected, that this 
 seems to infer, as if the Deity was still under 
 some kind of restraint : By no means. Let Se- 
 neca obviate this cavil, as he effectually does in 
 these admirable words : " Nee Deus ab hoc mi- 
 nus liber aut potens est ; Ipse enim est necessitas 
 sua " God is not hereby, either less free, or 
 less powerful ; for he himself is his own neces- 
 sity." 
 
 On the whole, it is evident that when the Sto- 
 ics speak, even in the strongest terms, of the ob- 
 ligation of fate on God himself, they may and 
 ought to be understood in a sense worthy of the 
 adorable uncreated Majesty. In thus interpret- 
 ing the doctrine of fate, as taught by the genuine 
 philosophers of the Portico, 1 have the great St. 
 Austin on my side ; who, after canvassing, and 
 justly rejecting the bastard, or astrological fate; 
 thus goes on : " At qui omnium connectionem 
 seriemque causarum, qua fit omne quod fit, fati, 
 nomine appellant ; non multum cum eis, de ver- 
 bi controversia, certandum atque laborandam est : 
 quandoquidem ipsum causarum ordinem, and 
 quandam connectionem, summi Dei tribuunt 
 voluntati:" i.e. " But for those philosophers, 
 [meaning the Stoics] who, by the word fate, 
 mean that regular chain and series of causes, 
 to which all things that come to pass owe 
 their immediate existence : we will not earnestly 
 contend with these persons about a mere term, 
 and we the rather acquiesce in their manner of 
 expression, because they carefully ascribe this
 
 208 
 
 fixed succession of things, and this mutual con- 
 catenation of causes and effects, to the ivill of the 
 supreme God." Austin adds many observations 
 of. the same import ; and proves from Seneca 
 himself, as rigid a Stoic as any, that this was the 
 doctrine, and the meaning of his philosophic 
 brethren.
 
 A 
 
 CAVEAT 
 
 AGAINST UNSOUND DOCTRINES: 
 
 BEING 
 THE SUBSTANCE OF 
 
 A SERMON 
 
 PREACHED IN THE PARISH CHURCH 
 
 OF 
 
 ST. ANN, BLACKFRYARS; 
 
 ON SUNDAY, APRIL 20, 1770. 
 
 -^SYSfc- 
 
 BY AUGUSTUS TOPLADY, A. B. 
 
 VICAR OF BROAD-HEMEURV, DEVON. 
 
 -SX&Vfc 
 
 Seeing, then, that we have such hope, we use great plainness 
 of speech... ,2 Cor. Hi. 12. 
 
 e"S<it.>e. 
 
 NEW-YORK.- 
 
 PUBLISHED BY GEORGE LINDSAY. 
 
 Paul ? Thomas, Printers. 
 
 1811.
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 A HE ensuing discourse was first preached at St. Matthew, 
 Bethnal Green, April 22. Some persons then present, to 
 whose judgment and request I pay the highest deference, 
 desired me to retrieve as much of it as I could the Sunday 
 following at St. Ann's ; with a view to its being taken in 
 short-hand, and published. 
 
 The loss of my nearest relative, soon after this sermon 
 was preached, and the many avocations occasioned by that 
 lamented and unexpected event, account but too well for the 
 delay with which the publication has been attended. Having, 
 however, transcribed it at last from the notes of the person 
 who penned it at the time of its delivery, I now transmit it to 
 the press, most affectionately and respectfully inscribed to 
 my dear London friends, whose favours, equally great, nu- 
 merous, and unmerited, I have no other public way of ac- 
 knowledging. 
 
 London, July 3, 1770-
 
 A SERMON, Xc. 
 
 AND IF THERE BE ANY OTHER THING THAT IS CON- 
 TRARY TO SOUND DOCTRINE. 1 Tim- i. 10. 
 
 ^T Paul is commonl) r , and most probably, sup- 
 posed to have written this epistle about A. D. 65, 
 that is, about two years before his own martyr- 
 dom, and about thirty-one after our Lord's ascen- 
 sion he addressed it to Timothy, who, though a 
 very* young man, had been some time in the minis- 
 try, and was then entrusted with the oversight of 
 the church at Ephesus. In the estimation of un- 
 prejudiced reason, " honourable age is not that 
 which standeth in length of time, nor that is 
 measured by number of years : but wisdom is 
 the grey hairs unto men, and an unspotted life is 
 old age."f 
 
 But Timothy, though young, was far from ro- 
 bust. He was only strong in the grace that is in 
 Christ Jesus. His regenerate, heaven-born soul, 
 dwelt in a sickly, infirm body, whence we read 
 of his -srvMxt xrScuixi^ 1 Tim. v. 23. or frequent 
 indispositions arising perhaps originally from a 
 natural delicacy of constitution ; and certainly 
 increased by a rigid abstemiousness and constant 
 course of ministerial labours. Thus our hea- 
 
 * 1 Tim. iv. 12. t Wisd. iv. 8, 9.
 
 212 
 
 venly Father, graciously severe, and wisely kind, 
 takes care to infuse some salutary bitter into his 
 children's cup below ; since, were they here to 
 taste of happiness absolute and unmingled ; were 
 not the gales of prosperity, whether spiritual or 
 temporal, counterpoised, more or less by the 
 needful ballast of affliction, his people (al- 
 ways imperfect here,) would be enriched to their 
 loss and liable to be overset in their way to the 
 kingdom of God. Wherefore, consummate fe- 
 licity, without any mixture of wormwood, is re- 
 served for our enjoyment in a state where perfect 
 sunct'ifi cation will qualify us to possess it. In 
 heaven, and there only, the inhabitants shall no 
 more say in any sense whatever, I am sick.* 
 
 St. Paul in the opening of his apostolic direc- 
 tions to Timothy, adopts the same simple, majes- 
 tic, and evangelical exordium, with which the 
 rest of his epistles usually begin. Paul an apos- 
 tle of Jesus Christ, ordained and sent forth by 
 the head of the Church, the supreme Master of 
 the spiritual vineyard, without whose internal, 
 authoritative commission, none have a real right 
 to minister in sacred things, or to thrust the sickle 
 into God's harvest. For how can men preach 
 to purpose, so as to be instruments of conviction, 
 comfort, and sanctification, except they be sentf 
 of God, and owned of him ? whence the apostle 
 adds, By the commandment}: of God our Saviour, 
 and the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our hope. 
 As an English nobleman who travels to some 
 foreign court, cannot reasonably expect to be re- 
 ceived as the representative of his sovereign 
 
 * Isai. xxxiii. 24- \ Rom. x. 15. 
 
 % Ksst' 7n/ysjv, according to the positive injunction, or 
 express designation.
 
 213 
 
 here, unless charged with an actual delegation, 
 and able to produce the credentials of his mis- 
 sion ; no more is any individual authorized to 
 arrogate to himself the honour of a divine am- 
 bassage, but he that is called of God, as was Aa- 
 ron.* A sufficient degree of gospel light and 
 knowledge, an ardent love of souls, and a disin- 
 terested concern for truth, a competent measure 
 of ministerial gifts and abilities, and above all, a 
 portion of divine grace and experience, a saving 
 change of heart, and a life devoted to the glory 
 of God, are essential prerequisites to an evangeli- 
 cal discharge of the sacred function. 
 
 The first verse may be read thus : " Paul an 
 apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the express 
 or authoritative designation of Jesus Christ our 
 God, Saviour, and Lord."f So the passage ma)- 
 be rendered : and so perhaps it ought to be un- 
 derstood in its natural and most obvious con- 
 struction. Now, even supposing that the apostle 
 had not the divinity of Christ immediately in 
 view at the time of his writing these words, yet 
 you must either give up his inspiration, or believe 
 that Christ is, with the Father and the Spirit, 
 God over all, blessed for ever ; since, on a sub- 
 ject of such unspeakable consequence, it would 
 have argued a degree of negligence, little short 
 of criminal, had the apostle expressed himself 
 in terms palpably liable to misapprehension. I 
 therefore conclude, that both as a scholar and as 
 a Christian, as Gamaliel's pupil, and as an inspi- 
 red apostle, our sacred penman would have deli- 
 vered himself in a far more guarded style, had 
 not the Son of God been indeed God the Son* 
 
 * Heb. v. 4. 
 18 *
 
 214 
 
 Either .Tesus is the God, Saviour and Lord of 
 his people, or St. Paul was guilty of such inex- 
 cusable inaccuracy as every writer of common 
 sense and common honesty would be sure to 
 avoid. 
 
 He goes on to style the blessed Jesus our 
 hope. Ask almost any man, " Whether he 
 hopes to be saved eternally ?" he will answer in 
 the affirmative. But inquire again, " On what 
 foundation he rests his hope ?" Here, too, many 
 are sadly divided. The Pelagian hopes to get 
 to heaven by a moral life, and a good use of his 
 natural powers. The Arminian, by a jumble of 
 grace and free will, human works and the merits 
 of Christ. The Deist, by an interested obser- 
 vance of the social virtues. Thus merit-mon- 
 gers of every denomination, agree in making any 
 thing the basis of their hope, rather than that 
 foundation, which God's own hand hath laid in 
 J?ion. But what saith scripture ? It avers again 
 and again, that Jesus alone is our hope : to the 
 exclusion of all others. And to the utter anni- 
 hilation of human deservings. Beware, there- 
 fore, of resting your dependence, partly on 
 Christ, and partly on some other basis. As 
 surely as you bottom your reliance partly on the 
 rock, and partly on the sand, so certainly, unless 
 God give you an immediate repentance to your 
 acknowledgment of the truth, will your suppo- 
 sed house of defence fall and bury you in its ru- 
 ins, no less than if you had raised it on the sand 
 alone : Christ is the hope of glory.* Faith in his 
 righteousness, received and embraced as our sole 
 justifying obedience before God, and the love of 
 Christ (an inseparable effect of that faith opera- 
 ting on our hearts, and shilling in our lives ;) are 
 
 Col. i. 17.
 
 215 
 
 the most solid evidences we can have below, of 
 our acceptance with the Father, and of our being 
 saved in Jesus with an everlasting salvation. 
 
 " Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith J 
 grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father, 
 and from the Lord Jesus Christ." Some have 
 thought that Timothy was not converted under 
 the ministry of St. Paul : and they ground their 
 conjecture on Acts vi. 1, 2. where Timothy is 
 mentioned as a disciple, and a person well report- 
 ed of by the Christians at Derbe and Lystra, pre- 
 vious to St. Paul's visitation of those places. 
 That Timothy was a nominal professor of reli- 
 gion, and a youth of circumspect behaviour, are 
 evident from that passage : which external form 
 of godliness was probably the effect of ihe reli- 
 gious* education he had the happiness to receive 
 from his earliest childhood. But from St. Paul's 
 compellation of him as " his own son in the 
 faith," it may, I think, be reasonably inferred, 
 that the young disciple was led from the outer 
 court of mere external profession, into the sanc- 
 tuary of heavenly and spiritual experience, ei- 
 ther by the private labours, or under the public 
 ministry of this apostle. And none but those 
 ministers whose endeavours have been blest to 
 the conversion of souls ; and those persons, who 
 have been born of God by their instrumentality ; 
 can form any idea of that spiritual relation, and 
 unspeakably tender attachment, which subsist be- 
 tween spiritual fathers and the children of grace 
 whom God hath given them. 
 
 Timothy had been a true believer some con- 
 siderable time before St. Paul wrote this epistle. 
 Consequently, by the " grace, mercy and peace," 
 
 * 2 Tim. Hi. 15.
 
 116 
 
 which he prayed might be the portion of his be= 
 loved converts ; we are to understand, not the 
 first vouchsafement, but a large increase of those 
 spiritual blessings and comforts : that he might 
 have repeated discoveries, and continued mani- 
 festations of the Father's electing grace ; of 
 Christ's redeeming mercy ; and experience that 
 sweet peace and joy in believing which are 
 fruits of the Holy Spirit's influence, and flow from 
 fellowship with him. Privileges these, which 
 unawakened men will always ridicule ; but to 
 which every real Christian will ardently aspire. 
 
 Time would fail me should I attempt to con- 
 sider all the intervenient verses. I find myself 
 at a loss, not what to say, but what to leave un- 
 said. However, I shall observe as briefly as I 
 can, that one grand reason of Su Paul's writing 
 this epistle, was to put Timothy on his guard 
 against the dissemination of corrupt doctrines, 
 and the insidious arts of corrupt teachers, with 
 which the church of Ephesus, where Timothy- 
 was now stationed, seems to have been particu- 
 larly infested. Unregenerate ministers are much 
 the same in all ages, and in every country : An 
 unconverted preacher in England, and an uncon- 
 verted preacher in Italy, so far as matters mere- 
 ly spiritual are concerned, stand nearly on a level. 
 These all are what the Ephesian schismatics 
 were desirous to be, teachers of the law, or legal 
 teachers. And all unconverted people, whether 
 their denomination be protestant or popish, desire 
 to be hearers of the law, and are displeased when 
 they hear any thing else. We are naturally fond 
 of that very law, which unless the righteousness 
 of Christ is ours, is the ministration of death, 
 pronounces us accursed, and binds us over to 
 everlasting ruin. The pernicious error against 
 which Timothy was directed to guard hi s flock,
 
 217 
 
 was a dependence on the law, and the works of 
 it, for salvation. And the reason why this de- 
 structive tenet was taught and enforced by some 
 preachers of that day, and has been taught by 
 their successors ever since, is assigned by the 
 apostle j who observes, that those blind guides 
 " understand neither what they said, nor where- 
 of they affirmed :" For if they had understood 
 any thing of God's inviolable holiness ; of the 
 law's inflexible rectitude, extent, and spirituali- 
 ty ; of man's total inability to fulfil it perfectly, 
 (and without perfect obedience the law cannot 
 justify,) they would at once have ceased to be 
 teachers of the law, and simply pointed sinners 
 to that Saviour alone, who " is the end of the 
 law for righteousness to every one that believ- 
 eth,"* ; 
 
 Fashionable as the doctrine of legal, condition- 
 al justification is, we may say to every indivi- 
 dual that embraces it, " Thefe is one that con- 
 demns you, even Moses, in whom you trust."f 
 and the very law on which you rest : for its lan- 
 guage is, " He that breaketh me only in one 
 point, is guilty of all. \ And cursed is every 
 man that continueth not in all things that are 
 written in the book of the law to do them." 
 Shew me the man who has never offended in one 
 point ; who hath continued in all things prescri- 
 bed by Jehovah's perfect law ; who loves the 
 Lord with all his heart, and his fellow-creatures 
 as himself ; shew me the man who from the first 
 to the last moment of his life comes up to this 
 standard ; and then you will shew me a man who 
 can be justified by works of his own. 
 
 * Rom. x. 4. f John v. 45. 
 
 James ii. 10. Gal iji. 10>
 
 218 
 
 But if no such person could ever be found, 
 Jesus Christ the righteous, singly excepted, St. 
 Paul's conclusion stands unshaken, that they who 
 teach or hold justification by any other obedience 
 than that of Christ, " neither know what they 
 say, nor whereof they affirm." 
 
 Yet notwithstanding we neither are nor can be 
 justified by the law still the uses of the law 
 are numerous and important : whence the apos- 
 tle takes care to add that the law is good, or an- 
 swers several valuable purposes, if a man use it 
 lawfully. Nothing can be more evident than that 
 by the law in this place is meant the moral law. 
 The ceremonial could not possibly be intended ; 
 because it is not now to be adhered to, and is no 
 longer in force : Whereas the apostle speaks of 
 a law which is to this very day unrepealed and 
 of standing use : " The law is good if a man use 
 it lawfully." Of this law there is a two-fold 
 use : Or rather an use and abuse. The use of 
 the law is, among other things, first to convince 
 us of our utter sinfulness ; and then secondly, to 
 lead us to Christ, as the great and only fulfiller 
 of all righteousness. Now, the law does not an- 
 swer these important ends directly and of itself, 
 but in a subserviency to the Holy Spirit's influ- 
 ence j* when that adorable person is pleased to 
 
 * " A gracious sight of our vileness," says one of the 
 ablest and most useful writers of the last century, " is the 
 work of Christ only, by his Spirit. The law is indeed a 
 looking-glass ; able to represent the filthiness of a person : 
 but the law gives not eyes to see that filthiness. Bring a 
 looking glass and set it before a blind man, he sees no more 
 spots in his face than if he had none at all. Though the 
 glass be a good glass, still the glass cannot give eyes ; yet, 
 if he had eyes, he would in the glass see his blemishes. 
 The apostle James compares the law to a looking-glass ; and 
 a faculty to represent is all the law posseaseth ; but it doth
 
 2W 
 
 make the law instrumental to the conversion of 
 a sinner. In which case, having shaken us out 
 of our self-righteousness, and reduced us to an 
 happy necessity of closing with the righteous- 
 ness of Christ ; the law has still another and a 
 farther use no less momentous : For, thirdly, It 
 from that moment forward stands as the great 
 rule of our practical walk and conversation: 
 Seeing a true believer is not without law, (<*vo,.9s 
 a lawless person,) towards God: but is mop*?, 
 within the bond of the law to Christ : # Not ex- 
 empted from his control, as the standard of mo- 
 ral action, though delivered from its power and 
 execration, as a covenant of works. 
 
 These are the three grand, lawful uses of the 
 law. On the other hand, if any of us are so de- 
 plorably lost to all sense of Christian duty and 
 gospel privilege, as to suppose that by our own 
 partial conformity to the law, how sincere soever 
 it be, we can work out, and work up a righ- 
 teousness for ourselves, wherein to stand before 
 the tribunal of God, and for which to obtain any 
 favour at his hand, we use the law unlawfully : 
 we sadly mistake the very end for which the law 
 was promulgated, which was, that under the effi- 
 cacy of grace, and the teachings of the blessed 
 Spirit it might bring us to a knowledge of ourf 
 guilt, and a sense of our^: danger ; convince us 
 of our helplessness, and as a schoolmaster, 
 bring us to Christ, that we may be justified by 
 faith, and not by the works of the law : for by 
 
 not impart a faculty to see what it represents. It is Christ 
 alone who opens the eyes of men to behold their own vile- 
 ness and guilt. He opens the eyes, and then in the law a 
 man sees what he is." 
 
 * 1 Cor. ix. 21. f Rm. iii. 20 * Deut. xxxiii. 2. Heb.- 
 U. 18, 19, 20, 21- Psalm cxix, 96. Rom. vii. 3.
 
 220 
 
 the works of the law, as performed by us, shall 
 no flesh be justified.* 
 
 That grand error of the heart (for it is an 
 heart-error, as well as an head-error, deeply 
 rooted in our corrupt nature, as well as perni- 
 ciously pleasing to unassisted reason,) which mis- 
 represents justification as at all suspended on 
 causes or conditions of human performance ; will, 
 and must, if finally persisted in, transmit the un- 
 believer, who has opportunities of better infor- 
 mation, to that place of torment, u where the 
 worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." 
 
 The apostle goes on : " Knowing that the law 
 is not made for a righteous man, but for the dis- 
 obedient," &c. The phrase, a righteous man, 
 means, in its strictly evangelical sense, one that 
 is in- Christ ; or, who is righteous before God in 
 the righteousness of his Son, apprehended by 
 faith. Now, the law, i. e. the damnatory sen- 
 tence of it, was not designed for such a person. 
 Weak believers have sometimes a good deal to 
 do with the law, and are apt to hover about 
 mount Sinai ; but the law has nothing to do with 
 them any more than a creditor, who has received 
 ample payment from the hand of a surety, can 
 have any remaining claim on the original debtor. 
 The law took, as it were, our heavenly Bonds- 
 man by the throat, saying, " Pay me that thou 
 owest," and Jesus acknowledged the demand. 
 He paid the double debt of obedience and suffer- 
 ing to the utmost farthing. So that, as some 
 render the words under consideration, " the law 
 lieth not against a righteous man j"t its claims 
 are satisfied ; its sentence is superseded ; its con- 
 
 * Gal, iii. 24. and ii. 16. t A<x< J^e? a Kuri>
 
 221 
 
 demning power is abolished. And whoever have 
 been enabled to fly for refuge to the righteous- 
 ness of Christ, and to lay hold on the hope set 
 before them, may depend on this as a most cer- 
 tain truth, that " Christ hath redeemed them 
 from the curse of the law, having been himself 
 made a curse for them."* Such are not under 
 the law, whether as a covenant of works to be 
 saved by, or as a denunciation of wrath to be con- 
 demned by; but they are under grace ;f under 
 that sweet dispensation of everlasting love, which, 
 when made known to the believing soul, at once 
 ensures the practice of universal godliness, and 
 refers the entire praise of salvation to the un- 
 merited grace of Father, Son, and Spirit. I said, 
 that the dispensation of grace ensures the prac- 
 tice of universal godliness ; for, considered as 
 a rule of moral conduct, the law most certainly 
 if designed for believers. And indeed, only be- 
 lievers can yield real, acceptable obedience to the 
 law ; for, " Without faith it is impossible to 
 please God :":(: and " Whatever proceedeth not 
 from faith is sin." Therefore, if God hath not 
 wrought living faith in your heart, you have ne- 
 ver performed one truly good work in your 
 whole life. 
 
 St. Paul next proceeds to draw a catalogue of 
 sins, against which the denunciations of the law 
 are most eminently levelled : closing the list with 
 the words first read, " And if there be any other* 
 thing that is contrary to sound doctrine." A 
 plain intimation, that error in principals funda- 
 mental, has a very unfavourable influence on 
 practicals ; and that, in proportion as the doc 
 
 ' Gaiiii. 13. f Rom. vi. 14 * Heb. si. 9. $ lWin.xiv.lJ 
 
 19
 
 222 
 
 trines of God are disbelieved, the commandments 
 of God will be disobeyed. Doctrinals, there- 
 fore, are not of that small significance which the 
 injudicious and the heterodox affect to give out. 
 For, though matters of doctrine are by some con- 
 sidered merely as the shell oi religion, and experi- 
 ence only as the kernel ; yet let it be remembered, 
 that there is no coming at the kernel but through 
 the shell ; and, while the kernel gives value to the 
 shell, the shell is the guardian of the kernel. 
 Destroy that, and you injure this. The apostle 
 in the words before us stamps the evangelical 
 doctrines with the seal of dignity, usefulness, and 
 importance ; as is evident from the epithet he 
 makes use of. He calls the system of gospel 
 truths, sound doctrine : Cyiccivxrv h<t$y.x*ict, salu~ 
 tary, health-giving doctrine ; not only right and 
 sound in itself, but conducing to the spiritual 
 strength and health of those that receive it : 
 Doctrine, that operates like some efficacious re- 
 storative on an exhausted constitution ; that ren- 
 ders the sin-sick souls of men healthy, vigorous, 
 and thriving : that causes them through the bles- 
 sing of divine grace, to " grow as the lily, and 
 to cast forth the root as Lebanon, to revive as 
 the corn, and to flourish as the vine, to diffuse 
 their branches, and rival the olive-tree,"* both 
 in beauty and fruitfulness. 
 
 On the other hand, unsound doctrine has the 
 very opposite effects. It impoverishes our views 
 of God, withers our hopes, makes our faith lan- 
 guid, blasts our spiritual enjoyments, and lays the 
 axe to the very root of christian obedience. We 
 may say of it as the Jewish students said on 
 another occasion, there is death in the pot. If 
 
 * IIos. xiv.
 
 223 
 
 you eat it you are poisoned. With the utmost 
 attention, therefore, should we attend to the 
 apostle's caveat, and avoid every thing " that is 
 contrary to sound doctrine." 
 
 Many such things there are. I have not time 
 even to recite, much less to expatiate on them all. 
 I shall, therefore, only endeavour, as God may en- 
 able me, to point out a few very common, but 
 very capital errors, which are totally inconsistent 
 with sound doctrine. 
 
 Previous to my entrance on this part of the 
 subject, I would premise two particulars : 
 
 1. That what I am going to observe, does not 
 proceed from the least degree of bitterness against 
 the persons of any, from whom I differ ; and, 
 
 2. That I am infinitely remote even from the 
 slightest wish of erecting mj'self into a dictator 
 to others. 
 
 The rights of conscience are inviolably sacred ; 
 and liberty of private judgment is every man's 
 birthright. If, however, any like Esau, have 
 sold their birthright for a mess of pottage, by 
 subscribing to articles they do not believe, merely 
 for the sake of temporal profit or aggrandise- 
 ment, they have only themselves to thank for the 
 little ceremony they are entitled to. With re- 
 gard to myself, as one whom God has been pleas- 
 ed to put into the ministry ; above all, into the 
 ministry of the best and purest visible church in 
 the whole world ; I should be a traitor to God, 
 to Christ, to the scriptures, and to truth un- 
 faithful to souls, and to my own conscience, if 
 I did not, without fear or favour, declare the 
 entire counsel of God, so far as I apprehend my- 
 self led into the knowledge of it. Inconsider- 
 able as I am, many of you are, no doubt, ac- 
 quainted with the variety of reports that have 
 been spread (especially since this time of my be-
 
 2M 
 
 ing in town) concerning me, and the doctrines 
 by which I hold it my indispensable duty to abide. 
 I deem myself, therefore, happy, in having one 
 more opportunity to testify the little that I know 
 concerning that "mystery of the gospel which 
 God ordained before the world for our glory." 
 And I desire in the most public manner to thank 
 the great Author of all consolation, for a very 
 particular instance of his favour, and which I look 
 upon as one of the most felicitating circumstances 
 of my whole life : I mean my early acquaintance 
 with the doctrines of grace. Many great and 
 good men who were converted late in life, have 
 had the whole web of their preceding ministry 
 to unravel, and been under a necessity of re- 
 versing all they had been delivering for years be- 
 fore. But it is not the smallest of my distin- 
 guishing mercies, that, from the very commence- 
 ment of my unworthy ministrations I have not 
 had a single doctrine to retract, nor a single word 
 to unsay. I have subscribed to the articles, 
 homilies, and liturgy, live separate times, and 
 that from principle ; nor do I believe those forms 
 of sound words because I have subscribed to 
 them, but I therefore subscribed them because I 
 believed them. I set out with the gospel from 
 the very first : and having obtained help from 
 God, I continue to this day witnessing both to 
 small and great, saying no other things than Mo- 
 ses and the prophets,"* Jesus, and his apostles, 
 have. said before me. And, in an absolute de- 
 pendence on the divine power and faithfulness, I 
 trust that I shall to the end be enabled to count 
 neither health, wealth, reputation, nor life itself, 
 dear to me, so I may finish my course with joy, 
 
 * Acts xxvi. 22
 
 225 
 
 and fulfil the ministry which I have received of 
 the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the 
 grace of God."* 
 
 " Careless (myself a dying man) 
 Of dying men's esteem : 
 Happy if thou, O God, approve, 
 Though all beside condemn." 
 
 If the most accomplished and respectable per- 
 son of all heathen antiquity could declare, that 
 he " would rather obtain the single approbation 
 of Cato than have a triumph voted to him by 
 the senate," much more will a christian minister 
 prefer the approbation of God to all the tvanid 
 eclats of an applauding universe. 
 
 I shall arm myself this afternoon with a two- 
 fold weapon : with the bible in one hand, and 
 our church articles in the other. I shall appeal 
 at once for all I have to say to the authority of 
 God's unerring oracles, and to their faithful epi- 
 tome, the decisions of the church of England. 
 They who perhaps set light by the scriptures, 
 may yet pay some decent deference to the 
 church : and they who it may be pay little atten- 
 tion to church determinations, will render impli- 
 cit credit to the scriptures. So that, between the 
 bible and the thirty-nine articles I hope I shall 
 be able to cdrry my point, and, as far as my sub- 
 ject leads me, enter a successful caveat against 
 whatever things are contrary to sound doctrine. 
 In attempting this I shall fix my foot upon Ar- 
 minianism ; which, in its several branches, is the 
 gangrene of the protestant churches, and the 
 predominant evil of the day. 
 
 What think you, 
 
 * Acts xx. 24. 
 
 19 *
 
 226 
 
 I. Of conditional election ? We have indeed, 
 some who deny there is any such thing as election 
 at all. They start at the very word, as if it were 
 a spectre just come from the shades and never 
 seen before. I shall waste no time on these men. 
 They are out of the pale, to which my allotted 
 plan confines me at present. They cannot be 
 church of England men who proscribe a term 
 that occurs so frequently in her offices and stan- 
 dards of faith ; nor can they even be Christians 
 at large who cashier with affected horror, a word 
 which, under one form or other, is to be met with 
 between forty and fifty times at least in the New 
 Testament only. 
 
 My business now is with those who endea- 
 vour to save appearances by admitting the word, 
 while in reality they anathematize the thing. 
 These profess to hold an election ; but then it is 
 a conditional one, and founded, as they suppose, 
 on some good quality or qualities foreseen in the 
 objects of it. Thus bottoming the purposes of 
 God on the precarious will of apostate men ; 
 and making that which is temporal, the cause of 
 that which was eternal. " The Deity," say per- 
 sons of this cast, " foreknowing how you and I 
 would behave, and foreseeing our improvements 
 and our faithfulness, and what a proper use we 
 should make of our free will, ordained us, and 
 all such good sort of people, to everlasting life.'* 
 
 Nothing can be more contrary to sound doc- 
 trine, and even to sound reason than this. It 
 proceeds on a supposition that man is before- 
 hand with God in the business of salvation ; and 
 that the resolutions of God's will are absolutely 
 dependent on the will of his creatures : That he 
 has in short created a set of sovereign beings, 
 from whom he receives law ; and that his own 
 purpose and conduct are shaped and regulated
 
 227 
 
 according to the prior self-determinations of in- 
 dependent man What is this but atheism in a 
 mask ? for where is the difference between the 
 denial of a first cause, and the assignation of a 
 false one ? 
 
 Quite opposite is the decision of inspiration, 
 Romans xi. 6. where the apostle terms God's 
 choice of his people, an election of grace, or a 
 gratuitous election ; and observes that " If it be 
 of grace, then is it no more of works ; other- 
 wise grace were no more grace : but if it be of 
 works, then is it no more grace ; otherwise work 
 were no more work." Conditional grace is a 
 most palpable contradiction in terms. Grace is 
 no longer grace than while it is absolute and free. 
 You might with far greater ease bring the two 
 poles together, than effect a coalition between 
 grace and works in the affair of election. As 
 far, and as high as the heavens are above the 
 earth, are the immanent acts of God superior to 
 a dependence on any thing wrought by sinful, 
 perishable man. 
 
 Consult our seventeenth article, and you will 
 clearly see whether conditional election be the 
 doctrine of the church of England. " Predesti- 
 nation to life is the everlasting purpose of God, 
 whereby before the foundations of the "world were 
 laid, he hath constantly decreed by his coun- 
 sel secret to us, to deliver from curse and dam- 
 nation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out 
 of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to ever- 
 lasting salvation as vessels made to honour" Is 
 there a word about conditionally here ? On the 
 contrary, is not election or predestination unto 
 life peremptorily declared to be God's own 
 everlasting purpose, decree, counsel and choice ? 
 The elect are said to be brought to salvation, not 
 as persons of foreseen virtue and pliableness ;
 
 226 
 
 but simply and merely " as vessels made to ho- 
 nour." Add to this that the article goes on to 
 style election a benefit, or gift; u Wherefore, they 
 that be endued with so excellent a benefit." 
 But how could predestination or blessedness be 
 so termed, if it were suspended on the foresight 
 of something to be wrought by the person pre- 
 destinated ? For a condition in matters of spirit- 
 ual concern, is analogous to a price in matters of 
 commerce; and a purchased gift is just as good 
 sense as conditional grace. 
 
 Our venerable reformers were two well ac- 
 quainted with the scriptures and with the power 
 of God to err on a subject of such unutterable 
 moment. Whence, in the article now cited they 
 took care to lay God's absolute and sovereign 
 election as the basis of sanctification : so far 
 were they from representing sanctification as the 
 ground-work of election. Our modern invert- 
 ers of Christianity, the Arminians, by endeavour- 
 ing to found election upon human qualifications, 
 resemble an insane architect, who, in attempting 
 to raise an edifice, should make tiles and laths 
 the foundation, and reserve his bricks and stones 
 for the roof. Quot sunt hominum virtutes, toti- 
 dem sunt dei dona, said the learned and excel- 
 lent Du Moulin : and if sanctification be God's 
 gift, men's goodness could not possibly be a mo- 
 tive to their election ; unless we can digest this 
 enormous absurdity, viz. that God's gifts may 
 be conditional and meritorious one of another. 
 Do you imagine that God could foresee any ho- 
 liness in men, which himself did not decree to 
 give them ? You cannot suppose it, without be- 
 lieving at the same time, that God is not the au- 
 thor of all good ; and that there are, or may be, 
 some good and perfect gifts, which do not de- 
 scend from the Father of lights ; and that the
 
 229 
 
 apostle was widely mistaken when he laid down 
 this axiom, that " it is God who of his own good 
 pleasure worketh in us both to will and to do." 
 
 According to our church, God's election leads 
 the van ; sanctification forms the centre ; and 
 glory brings up the rear :* " Wherefore, they 
 that be endued with so excellent a benefit of 
 God be called, according to God's purpose, by 
 his Spirit working in due season ; they, through 
 grace, obey the calling ; they be justified freely ; 
 they be made the sons of God by adoption." 
 Hitherto good works are not so much as men- 
 tioned. Why so? Because our reformers were 
 Antimonians, and exploded or despised moral 
 performances ? by no means. Those holy per- 
 sons were themselves living confutations of so 
 vile a suggestion. The tenor of their lives was 
 as blameless as their doctrine. But they had 
 learned to distinguish ideas, and were too judi- 
 cious, both as logicians and divines, to represent 
 effects as prior to the causes that produce them. 
 They Avere not ashamed to betake themselves to 
 the scriptures for information, and to deliver out 
 the living water of sound doctrine pure and un- 
 mingled as they had drawn it from the fountains 
 of truth. Hence, election, calling, justifica- 
 tion, and adoption, are set forth, not as caused by, 
 but as the real and leading causes of that moral 
 change, which sooner or later takes place in the 
 children of God. For thus the article goes on ; 
 ' They be made like the image of his only be- 
 gotten Son Jesus Christ : they walk religiously 
 in good works ; and at length, by God's mercy, 
 they attain to everlasting felicity." 
 
 This then is the order: 1. Election : 2. Ef- 
 fectual Calling : 3. Apprehensive Justification : 
 
 * Art. xvil
 
 230 
 
 4 Manifestative Adoption : 5. Sancti/ication : 
 6. Religious walking in goodxvorks : 7. Continu- 
 ance in these to the end : which last blessing 
 must of necessity be included, because the arti- 
 cle adds, that these elect, regenerate persons, at- 
 tain at length to everlasting felicity } which they 
 could not do without final perseverance, any 
 more than you or I, upon our departure from 
 this church, could arrive at our respective homes, 
 if we finally stop short of them by the way. 
 such, therefore, being the chain and process of 
 salvation, how impious and how fruitless must 
 any attempt be, either to transpose or put asun- 
 der what God has so wisely and inseparably 
 joined together ! 
 
 Unless we take absolute election into the ac- 
 count, we must either suppose that God saves no 
 man whatever, or that those he .saves are saved 
 at random, and without design. But his good- 
 ness forbids the first, and his wisdom excludes 
 the latter. Absolute election therefore must be 
 taken into the account, or you at once ipso facto, 
 strike off either goodness or wisdom from the 
 list of divine perfections. That scheme of doc- 
 trine must necessarily be untrue, which repre- 
 sents the Deity as observing no regular order, no 
 determinate plan, in an affair of such consequence 
 as the everlasting salvation of his people. I can- 
 not acquit of blasphemy, that system which likens 
 the Deity to a careless ostrich, which having de- 
 posited her eggs, leaves them in the sand to be 
 hatched or crushed, just as chance happens. 
 Surely he who numbers the very hairs of his 
 people's heads, does not consign their souls, and 
 their eternal interests to precarious hazard ! the 
 blessings of grace and glory are too valuable and 
 important to be shuffled and dealt out by the hand 
 of chance. Besides, if one thing comes to pass
 
 either without or contrary to the will of God ; 
 another thing, nay, all things may come to pass 
 in the same manner ; and then, good by to pro- 
 vidence entirely. 
 
 When Lysander the Spartan paid a visit to 
 king Cyrus (at Corinth, if I mistake not,) he 
 was particularly struck -with the elegance and or- 
 der, the variety and magnificence of Cyrus's gar- 
 dens. Cyrus, no less charmed with the taste and 
 judgment of his guest, told him with visible emo- 
 tions of pleasure, " These lovely walks with all 
 their beauty of disposition and vastness of ex- 
 tent, were planned by myself; and almost every 
 tree, shrub, and flower, which you behold, was 
 planted by my own hand." Now, when we take a 
 view of the church, which is at once the house 
 and garden of the living God j that church which 
 the Father loved for which the Son became a 
 man of sorrows and which the Holy Spirit de- 
 scends from heaven in all his plentitude of con- 
 verting power, to cultivate and build anew j 
 when we survey this living paradise, and this 
 mystic edifice, of which such glorious things are 
 spoken,* and on which such glorious privileges 
 are conferred, must we not acknowledge, Thy 
 sovereign hand, O uncreated love, drew the plan of 
 this spiritual Eden ! Thy hand, almighty power, 
 set every Hying tree, every true believer, in the 
 courts of the Lord's house. Thy converted people 
 are all righteous ; they shall inherit the land for 
 ever, even the branches of thy planting, the work 
 of thy hands, that thou mayest be 'glorified if 
 
 Admitting election to be thus a complete, eter- 
 nal, immanent act in the divine mind, and conse- 
 quently irrespective of any thing in the persons 
 
 * Psalm lxxxv. 2- f Isai. Ix. 21.
 
 232 
 
 chosen ; then (may some say) " Farewell to gos- 
 pel obedience ; all good works are destroyed." 
 If, by destroying good works, you mean that the 
 doctrine of unconditional election destroys the 
 merit of good works, and represents man as in- 
 capable of earning or deserving the favour and 
 kingdom of God, I acknowledge the force of 
 the objection. Predestination does, most cer- 
 tainly destroy the merit of our works and obe- 
 dience, but not the performance of them : since 
 holiness is itself one end of election,* and the 
 elect are as much chosen to intermediate sanctifi- 
 cation on their way as they are to that ultimate 
 glory which crowns their journey's end :| and 
 there is no coming at the one but through the 
 other. So that neither the value, nor the neces- 
 sity, nor the practice of good works is superse- 
 ded by this glorious truth : our acts of evangeli- 
 cal obedience are no more than marshalled, and 
 consigned to their due place : restrained from 
 usurping that praise which is due to the alone 
 grace of (od ; and from arrogating that office, 
 which only the Son of God was qualified to dis- 
 charge. 
 
 * Eph. 1.4. 
 
 f " Because we deny salvation by our own deeds," says 
 one of our good old divines, " the Papists charge us with 
 being enemies to prood works. Rut am 1 an enemy to a no- 
 bleman because I-will not attribute to him those honours, 
 which are due only to the king > If I say to a common sol- 
 dier in an army, You cannot lead that army against the ene- 
 my, will he thei*efore say, Then I may be gone ; there is no 
 need of me! or if I see a man at his day labour, and say to 
 him, You will never be able to purchase an estate of 10,000/. 
 per annum by working in that manner ; will he therefore 
 give over his work, and say he is discouraged." Mr. Paik's 
 Cornm. on Romans, p. 177.
 
 233 
 
 That election as taught by the scriptures (and 
 from thence by our reformers,) not only carries a 
 favourable aspect on universal piety and holi- 
 ness, but even ensures the practice of both, is evi- 
 dent among many other passages, from that of 
 the aposde, 2 Thess. ii. 1 3. " We are bound to 
 give thanks always to God for you, brethren, be- 
 loved of the Lord, because God hath from the be- 
 ginning," i. e. from everlasting, " chosen you to 
 salvation through" [not for, but through] " sanc- 
 tification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth." 
 How very opposite were St. Paul's views of the 
 tendency of this doctrine, from those of the Pe- 
 lagian and Arminian objectors to it ? They are 
 perpetually crying out that it " ruins morality, 
 and opens a ready door to licentiousness." He, 
 on the contrary, represents the believing consi- 
 deration of it as a grand incentive to the exer- 
 cise of our graces, and to the observance of mo- 
 ral dut) . Let us, says he, who are of the day, 
 who are enlightened into the knowledge of this 
 blessed privilege, and can read our names in the 
 book of life ; " Let us, who are thus of the day, 
 be sober; putting on the breast-plate of faith 
 and love, and for an helmet, the hope of salva- 
 tion : for God hath not appointed us to wrath, 
 but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 1 Thess. v. 8, 9. Now, if election secures the 
 performance of good works, and upon its own. 
 plan, renders them indispensably necessary, I 
 should be glad to know how good works can suf- 
 fer by the doctrine of election ? You may as well 
 say that the sun, which now shines into this 
 church, is the parent of frost and darkness. No, 
 it is the source of light and warmth. And you 
 and I want nothing more than a sense of God's 
 peculiar, discriminating favour , " shed abroad 
 20
 
 234 
 
 in our hearts by the Holy Ghost given to us,"* to 
 render us more and more fruitful in every good 
 word and work." As an excellent personf ob- 
 serves, u That man's love to God will be with- 
 out end, who knows that God's love to him was 
 without beginning." 
 
 II. What think you of that fashionable tenet, 
 so contrary to sound doctrine, concerning the 
 supposed dignity and rectitude of human nature 
 in its fallen state ? A doctrine as totally irrecon- 
 cileable to reason and fact, as if an expiring leper 
 should value himself on the health and beauty of 
 his person ; or a ruined bankrupt should boast 
 his immensity of wealth. 
 
 As soon as we are born we go astray. Nay, 
 I will venture scripture authority to carry the 
 point higher still. All mankind are guilty and 
 depraved before they are born. u Behold I was 
 shapen in wickedness, and in sin did my mother 
 conceive me."| A thunderbolt to human pride, 
 and a dagger in every heart of natural excellence. 
 Thus speaks the bible ; and thus experience 
 speaks. Our own church likewise delivers her 
 judgment in perfect conformity to both. 
 
 Article 9. Of original or birth sin. "Ori- 
 ginal sin standeth not in the following [or imi- 
 tation] of Adam, as the Pelagians do vainly 
 
 * Rom. v. 5. f Dr. Arrowsmith. f Psalm li. 
 
 In this article express mention is made of the Pelagians ; 
 but nothing is, by name, said of the Arminians. The reason 
 is plain. At the time when our articles passed the two 
 houses of convocation in the year 1562, Arminius, who was 
 then only two years of age (for he was born A. D. 1560,) 
 had not begun to sow his tares : he was no more than a 
 schismatic in embryo- Arminianism is a mushroom of latter 
 date, than the re-establishment of the Church of England, by 
 Elizabeth. It was not till the latter end of her reign, that 
 Arminianism had any great footing even in Holland the seat
 
 235 
 
 talk ; but it is the fault [by imputation] and cor- 
 ruption [by internal, hereditary derivation] of 
 the nature of every man who naturally is engen- 
 dered of the offspring of Adam : whereby man 
 is very far gone from original righteousness, and 
 is of his own nature inclined to evil ; so that the 
 flesh lusteth always contrary to the Spirit. And 
 therefore in every person born into this world, 
 It," [namely, original or birth sin] " deserveth 
 God's wrath and damnation." 
 
 Now what becomes of those plausible, sophis- 
 tical similes, which compare the natural mind of 
 man to a sheet of white paper ? or to a pliant 
 Ozier, which you may bend with ease this way 
 or that ? Or to a balance in eeguiIibrio y which you 
 may incline to either side, according as you 
 throw more or less weight into the scale ? Or to 
 a wax tablet, on which you may stamp what im- 
 pressions you please ? Alas ! The impression is 
 already made. The thoughts and purposes of 
 
 of its nativity. I say in Holland, for there this grand corrup- 
 tion of the reformation began ; and from thence it found its 
 way to England. It was a Dutch wind that blew Arminian- 
 ism over to this island many years after our articles were re- 
 settled as we now have them. Therefore it is that only Pela- 
 gianism is mentioned. However, though Arminianism is 
 younger by about 1200 years than Pelagianism, its nature 
 and tendency are much the same in fact. The seeming dif- 
 ference lies in little more than this : Pelagius spoke out : 
 Van Harmin (commonly called Arminius,) with more art but 
 less honesty, qualified and disguised the poison, that it might 
 not he quite so alarming. Somewhat like what a good man 
 remarked long ago, concerning the leaven or false doctrines 
 of the Pharisees ; " Christ," says he, " compares the errors 
 of the Pharisees to leaven. Why so ? because of its secret 
 mixture with the wholesome bread. You do not make your 
 bread all of leaven, for then nobody would eat it ; but you 
 mingle it skilfully, and by that means both go down together. 
 Thus our Lord intimates, that the Pharisees mixed their 
 errors with some truths, and therefore he directs them to 
 beware, lest with the truths they swallow the errors also." 
 Gurnall's Christian Armour, vol. I. p. 104. Octavo edition.
 
 336 
 
 man's heart, previous to regeneration, are (spirit- 
 ually considered) only evil and that continually.* 
 When converting grace lays hold of us, there is 
 not only an heart of flesh to be given, but an 
 heart of stone to be taken away.f God must 
 not only write his own law on the minds of his 
 people ; but must obliterate the law of sin and 
 death, which has a prior footing in every man 
 that naturally is engendered of the offspring of 
 Adam. So much for the spiritual and moral rec- 
 titude of man, while unregenerate What think 
 you, 
 
 III. Of conditional redemption j? Another mo- 
 dish tenet, and no less contrary to reason and 
 sound doctrine than the preceding. We are 
 gravely told by some that " Christ did indeed 
 die, but he did not die absolutely, nor purchase 
 forgiveness and eternal life for us certainly : his 
 death only puts us into a salvable state ; making 
 God placable, and pardon possible." The whole 
 efficacy of his sufferings, according to these per- 
 sons, depends on our beginning towardly and 
 complying : Which if we are, we then come in 
 for a share in the subsidiary and supplementary 
 merits of Christ; having first qualified our- 
 selves for his aid, by a performance of certain 
 conditions required on our part, and entitled 
 ourselves to the favour and notice of God. Ac- 
 cording to this scheme (which is only the reli- 
 gion of nature spoiled spoiled by an injudi- 
 cious mixture of nominal chrislianity,) the ado- 
 rable Mediator, instead of having actually ob- 
 tained eternal redemption^ for his people, and 
 secured the blessings of grace and glory to those 
 for whom he died : is represented as bequeath- 
 ing to them only a few spiritual lottery-tickets 
 
 * Gsn. vi. 5. t Ezck. xxxvi, 26. | Heb. ix. 12
 
 237 
 
 which may come up blanks or prizes, just as the 
 wheel of chance and human caprice happens to 
 turn. Our own righteousness and endeavours 
 must first make the scale of eternal life prepon- 
 derate in our favour ; and then the merits of 
 Christ are thrown in to make up good weight. 
 The Messiah's obedience and sufferings stand, it 
 seems for mere cyphers ; till our own free will is 
 so kind as to prefix the initial figure, and render 
 them of value. I tremble at the shocking con- 
 sequences of a system, which (as one well ob- 
 serves) considers the whole mediation of Christ 
 as no more than " a pedestal on which human 
 worth may stand exalted :" nay, (to use the lan- 
 guage of another) which "sinks the Son of God 
 how shall I speak it ? into a spiritual huckster, 
 who, having purchased certain blessings of his 
 Father, sells them out afterwards to men upon 
 terms and conditions." 
 
 But, my brethren, u I hope better things con- 
 cerning you ; even the things that accompany 
 salvation." We have not, I trust, so learned 
 Christ: or rather, so mislearned him, and the 
 work he came from heaven to accomplish. God 
 forbid that we should be found in the number of 
 those, who adopt a principle so highly derogato- 
 ry from the glory of divine grace, and so deeply 
 dishonourable to the great Saviour of sinners. 
 To the law, and to the testimony*. How speaks 
 St. Paul ? He avers, that Jesus, " By the one 
 offering of himself, hath perfected for ever the 
 salvation of them that are sanctified."* And our 
 Lord expressly declared in the most solemn 
 prayer that ever ascended from earth to heaven, 
 " I have finished the work which thou gavest me 
 to do."f Who then, art thou, O man, that darest 
 
 * Keb. x. 14 f John xvii- 4. 
 
 20*
 
 238 
 
 to tack an imaginary supplement of thy own, to 
 the finished work of Christ? Such a conduct 
 were to charge incarnate Truth with uttering a 
 falsehood ; and would be equivalent to saying, 
 *'No, thou didst not finish the work of redemption 
 which was given thee to do : Thou didst, indeed 
 a part of it, but I myself must add something to 
 it, or the whole of thy performance will stand 
 for nothing." 
 
 " He appeared once in the end of the world," or 
 at the close of the Jewish dispensation, to do 
 what ? to render sin barely pardonable on the 
 sinner's fulfilment of previous terms ? No : but 
 actually to put awav sin by the sacrifice of him- 
 self.* The apostle's expression is, that Christ 
 appeared, E<s *0stjj5-< u/axglixs, unto the utter abo- 
 lition of sin : so that by virtue of his perfect ob- 
 lation, sin should neither be charged upon, nor 
 eventually mentioned to, those for whom he was 
 offered up. "The iniquity of Israel shall be 
 sought for, and there shall be none ; and the sins 
 of Judah, and they shall not he found : for I will 
 pardon them whom I reserve."f In a word, ei- 
 ther the death of Christ was not a real and per- 
 fect satisfaction for sin ; or, if it was, then upon 
 every principle of reason and justice, all that sin 
 must be actually forgiven and done away, which 
 his death was a true and plenary satisfaction for. 
 On the supposition that his redemption was not 
 absolute j it vanishes into no redemption at all. 
 Go over, therefore, fairly and squarely, to the te- 
 nets of Socinus, or believe that Christ is the 
 Lamb of God, who in deed and in truth, beareth 
 and taketh away the sins of the world.:}: 
 
 How speaks the church of England, concerning 
 this important matter ? I refer you to her. 
 
 * Heb. ix. 25. | Jer. 1, 20. i John i. 29,
 
 239 
 
 31st Article, Of the one oblation of Christ t 
 finished upon the cross " The offering of Christ 
 once made, is that perfect redemption, propitia- 
 tion, and satisfaction, for all the sins of the whole 
 world, both original and actual ; and there is no 
 other sacrifice for sin but that alone." 
 
 Do not let that expression, the whole world, 
 stumble you. You remember what our Te Deum 
 says, " When thou hadst overcome the sharpness 
 of death, thou didst open the kingdom of heaven 
 to all believers." So in the above article; The ob- 
 lation of Christ once made for all the sins of the 
 whole world, i. e. the whole world of believers : 
 for God's elect are a world within a world. The 
 whole world is a scripture term ; and the compi- 
 lers of our articles did well in adopting it. But 
 do you imagine that every individual of mankind 
 is meant ? surely, no ; for, were redemption thus 
 universal, salvation would and must be of equal 
 extent : otherwise, either God the Father would 
 be unjust, or the blood-shedding of Christ could 
 not be (what our articles affirm it to have been) 
 a perfect satisfaction for all sin. Let unlimited 
 redemption be once proved, and I will take upon 
 myself to prove unlimited salvation. 
 
 There are many scripture passages where the 
 phrases world, and whole world, are, and must 
 be understood in a restricted sense. So, where 
 St. Paul thus addresses the Roman converts : 
 " Your faith is spoken of, or celebrated, through- 
 out the whole world," i. e. throughout the 
 whole believing world, or christian church : 
 for none but believers would applaud and cele- 
 brate the Romans for their faith in Christ. Rom. 
 i. 8. " We are of God," says the apostle John, 
 "and the whole world lieth in the wicked one," 
 John v. 19. Where, if the whole world denote 
 every individual of mankind, it would follow,
 
 that both the apostle himself, and the Christians 
 to whom he wrote, were, at that very time, in 
 the wicked one ; and consequently, that he was 
 guilty of self-contradiction, in saying, we are of 
 God. In the book of Revelations, Satan is sty- 
 led the deceiver of the -whole world, chap. xii. 9 
 and the whole world are said to wonder after the 
 beast, chap. xiii. 3. meaning, a considerable part 
 of the world. 
 
 Nay, even in daily conversation, it is custom- 
 ary with us to make use of the word world, in a 
 limited signification. So when we speak of the 
 learned world, the busy world, the gay world, 
 the polite world, the religious world, we do not 
 mean that every man in the world is learned, bu- 
 sy, gay, polite, or religious, we only mean, those 
 in the world who are so. 
 
 To close this head. Upon the supposition of 
 a random redemption, and a precarious salvation ; 
 St. Paul's inference, " who shall condemn ? it is 
 Christ that died ;" might be easily answered and 
 overthrown : since, if the Arminian hypothesis be 
 true, millions of those for whom Christ died will 
 be condemned ; and what heightens the absurdi- 
 ty, condemned on account of those very sins for 
 which Christ did die. A supposition exploded 
 by the apostle as impossible. Surely, Christ 
 knew for what and for whom he paid the ransom- 
 price of his infinitely precious blood ! nor would 
 the Father purchase to himself a church of elect 
 persons for his own peculiar residence, and then 
 leave Satan to run away with as many of the 
 beams and pillars as he pleases. Equally con- 
 trary to sound doctrine, is, 
 
 IV. The tenet of justification by works. 
 
 All human righteousness is imperfect : and to 
 suppose that God, whose judgment is always ac- 
 cording to truth, will by a paltry commutation*
 
 241 
 
 which he every where disclaims, and which the 
 majesty of his law forbids, be put off with not 
 only a defective, but even a polluted obedience, 
 and justify men by virtue of such a counterfeit 
 (at most a partial) conformity to his command- 
 ments ; to imagine that the law accommodates 
 itself to human depravation, and Chameleon 
 like, assumes the complexion of the sinners with 
 whom it has to do, is Antinomianism of the gross- 
 est kind. It represents the law as hanging out 
 false colours, and insisting on perfection, while 
 in fact it is little better than a formal patent for 
 licentiousness j and degrades the adorable law- 
 giver himself into a conniver at sin. 
 
 Add to this, that if God can consistently with 
 his acknowledged attributes, and his avowed de- 
 clarations, save guilty, obnoxious creatures, with- 
 out their bringing such a complete righteousness 
 as the law demands ; it will necessarily follow 
 that God, when his hand is in, may save sinners 
 without any righteousness at all, since the same 
 flexibility, which (as the Arminians suppose) in- 
 duces God to dispense with part of his law, may 
 go a step farther, and induce him to set aside the 
 whole moreover, if our persons may be justifi- 
 ed without a legal (i. e. a perfect) righteousness ; 
 it will follow on the same principle, that our sins 
 may be pardoned without an atonement ; and 
 then, farewell to the whole scheme of Christianity 
 at once. 
 
 There are two grand axioms which enter into 
 the very foundation of revealed religion : 
 
 1. That the law will accept no obedience short 
 of perfect, as the condition of justification : and, 
 
 2. That ever since Adam's first offence, man 
 has, and can have, no such obedience of his own. 
 
 What then must a sinner do to be saved ? He 
 must believe in and rest upon that Saviour, whQ
 
 242 
 
 was by gracious imputation " made sin for us, 
 that we," by a similar exchange, " might be 
 made the righteousness of God in him."* If 
 this be the gospel scheme of salvation, the apos- 
 tle's assertion will be incontestable : " as many 
 of you as are justified by the law," or seek jus- 
 tification on the footing of your own works, "are 
 fallen from grace,"f revolted and apostatized 
 from that gospel system, which teaches that men 
 are justified by the grace of God, flowing through 
 Christ's righteousness alone. ^ Alas ! how hard- 
 ly are we brought to accept salvation as a gift of 
 mere favour ! We are for bringing a price in our 
 hands, and coming with money in our sack's 
 mouth : notwithstanding the celestial direction is, 
 " Buy wine and milk, without money and with- 
 out price j" i. e. take as absolute possession of 
 pardon, holiness and eternal life, as if they were 
 your own by purchase ; but remember, that you 
 nevertheless have them gratis, without any de- 
 sert, nay, contrary to all desert of yours We did 
 not bribe God to create us, and how is it possible 
 that we should pay him any thing for saving us ? 
 Zeuxis, the celebrated Grecian painter, used 
 towards the latter part of his life^ to give away, 
 his pictures without deigning to accept of any 
 pecuniary recompense. Being asked the reason, 
 his answer was, " I make presents of my pic- 
 tures because they are too valuable to be purcha- 
 sed. They are above all price." And does not 
 God freely give us a part in the book of life, an 
 interest in his Son, and a title to his kingdom ; 
 nay, does he not make us a present of himself in 
 Christ ; because these blessings are literally above 
 all price ? too great, too high, too glorious to be 
 purchased by the works of man ? Because we 
 
 2 Cor. v. fGaJ.v. 4. * Rom. v. 21. Isai. lv.l c
 
 243 
 
 cannot merit them, God is graciously pleased 
 freely to bestow them. It is equally sad and 
 astonishing to observe the ingredients of that 
 foundation, on which self-justiciaries build their 
 hopes of heaven. First, there is a stratum of 
 free will ; then, of good dispositions ; then, of 
 legal performances; next, a layer of what they 
 term divine aids and assistances, ratified and 
 made effectual by human compliances ; then, a lit- 
 tle of Christ's merits j then, faithfulness to helps 
 received : and, to finish the motley mixture, a 
 perseverance of their own spinning. At so 
 much pains is a Pharisee, in going about to es- 
 tablish his own righteousness, rather than em- 
 brace the bible way of salvation, by submitting 
 to the righteousness of God the Son.* 
 
 Now, what says the church of England, con- 
 cerning the cause and manner of our acceptance 
 with the Father? Thus she speaks, and thus all 
 her real members believe : 
 
 Article IX. Of the justification of man. 
 " We are accounted righteous before God alone 
 for the merits of our Lord and Saviour - esus 
 Christ." One would imagine this might have 
 been enough to establish the point ; but utterly to 
 -preclude self-righteousness from all possibility of 
 access, the church immediately adds, " And not 
 for our own works or deservings." 
 
 Here the old question naturally recurs, 
 " What then becomes of good works ?" The 
 plain truth is, that till a man is justified by faith, 
 he can do no good works at all. 
 
 Article XIII. Of tuorks done before jus- 
 tification. u Works done before the grace of 
 -Christ, and the inspiration of his Spirit, are not 
 
 * Rom. s. 3,
 
 244 
 
 pleasant to God :" and, if so, how is it possible 
 that he should justify us on account of them ? 
 But, why are they not pleasing to God ? " For- 
 asmuch," adds the article, as they spring not 
 from faith in Jesus Christ." 
 
 " Well but, may some say, " admitting that 
 works done before justification do not properly 
 recommend us to God, they may at least qualify 
 us for believing ; and thereby be remotely a con- 
 dition, sine qua non, of justification." The 
 church will not allow even of this. For, treat- 
 ing in the above article, of works prior to justi- 
 fication, she adds : neither do they make men 
 meet to receive grace." This clinches the nail, 
 and cuts up self-righteousness, root and branch. 
 But does the church stop here ? no : to put the 
 whole matter as far beyond doubt as words can 
 place it, she closes her decision thus ; " Yea, 
 rather, for that they are not done as God hath 
 willed and commanded them to be done, we 
 doubt not but they have the nature of sin." 
 Now, if works wrought previous to justification, 
 are sin, it is absolutely impossible that we should 
 be justified by works, unless sin can be supposed 
 to recommend us to God's favour. Which, to 
 imagine, were Antimonianism outright What 
 think you, 
 
 V. Of the doctrine of uneffectual grace P A 
 doctrine which represents Omnipotence itself as 
 wishing and trying, and striving to no purpose. 
 According to this tenet, God, in endeavouring 
 (for it seems it is only an endeavour) to convert 
 sinners, may, by sinners, be foiled, defeated, and 
 disappointed : He may lay close and long siege 
 to a soul, and that soul can from the citadel of 
 impregnable free will, hang out a flag of defiance 
 to God himself, and by a continued obstinacy of 
 defence, and a few vigorous sallies of free agen-
 
 245 
 
 5cy compel him to raise the siege* In a word, 
 the Holy Spirit, after having for years, perhaps, 
 danced attendance on the will of man, may at 
 last, like a discomfited general, or an unsuccess- 
 ful petitioner, be either put to ignominious flight, 
 or contemptuously dismissed, re infecta, without 
 accomplishing the end for which he was sent. 
 
 Can then the Lord and giver of life ; can he, who, 
 like the adorable Son, is God of God and God 
 with God; shall the blessed Spirit of grace, who is 
 in glory, equal, and in majesty co-eternal, with 
 the other two persons of the Godhead, and has 
 all power both in heaven and in earth ; shall he 
 who liath the key of David ; who openeth and 
 no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man open- 
 eth ;"* shall he knock at the door of the human 
 heart, and leave it at the option of free will to in- 
 sult him from the window, and bid him go from 
 whence he came ? Surely, men's eyes must be 
 blinded indeed before they can lay down such a 
 shocking supposition for a religious aphorism ; 
 and even go so far as to declare that unless God 
 is vanquished by man, " There can be no such 
 thing as virtue or vice, reward or punishment, 
 praise or blame !" 
 
 The main root of the error consists greatly in. 
 not distinguishing between the gospel of grace, 
 and the grace of the gospel. The gospel of 
 grace may be rejected, but the grace of the gos- 
 pel cannot. God's written message in the scrip- 
 tures, and his verbal message by his ministers, 
 may or may not be listened to ; whence it is re- 
 corded, " All the day long have I stretched forth 
 my hand to a disobedient and gainsaying peo- 
 ple."! But when God himself comes and takes 
 
 * Rev. iii. 7. f Rotn. x - 21. 
 
 21
 
 246 
 
 the heart into his own hand ; when he speaks 
 from heaven to the soul, and makes the gospel of 
 grace a channel to convey the grace of the gos- 
 pel, the business is effectually done. " If God 
 makes a change, who can turn him away ?"* 
 Whatsoever he doth, it shall be for ever ; no- 
 thing can be put to it, nor any thing be taken 
 from it ; and God doth it, that men should fear 
 before him,"f and acknowledge that the excel- 
 lency of converting power is of him and not of 
 
 A modern schismatic, now living, thought he 
 both showed his wit and gravelled his opponents 
 in saying, that according to the doctrine of our 
 church, "The souls of men can no more vanquish 
 the saving grace of God, than their bodies can 
 resist a stroke of lightning." I would ask the 
 objector, whether he ever knew of any lightning 
 like that which flashed from the Mediator's eye, 
 when he turned and looked upon Peter ? and 
 something similar is experienced by every con- 
 verted person. The Lord turns and looks upon 
 a sinner who then relents, and cries out with his 
 whole heart, " O Lord, my God, other lords 
 besides thee have had dominion over me :" but 
 now by thee, through the energy of thy renew- 
 ing influence, " will I make mention of thy 
 name only." " "Vyhom have I in heaven but 
 thee ? and there is none upon earth that I desire 
 in comparison of thee."^} When God says to the 
 heart, seek thou my face : the reply is, and can- 
 not but be, " Thy face Lord will I seek."** For 
 God, who in the beginning of the creation, com- 
 
 * See the marginal translation of Job xi. 10. 
 
 f Eccl. iii- 14. } 2 Cor. iv. 7- Isai. xxvi. 13. 
 
 If Psalm lxxiii.25. ** Psalm xxvii. 8.
 
 247 
 
 tJianded the light to shine out of darkness, hatli 
 by an exertion of power, equally invincible, and 
 as certainly effectual, shined into our hearts, to 
 give us the light of the knowledge of God as it 
 is manifested in the person and grace of Jesus 
 Christ.* Wherefore, then do men say, we are 
 lords, and we will come no more unto thee,f 
 except we ourselves choose it ? Alas, alas ! did 
 the master rest with us we should never choose 
 to come to God at all. If w* did not first change 
 our wills we should never even will that great 
 change, that internal regeneration, without which 
 no man can see the kingdom of heaven.:): God, 
 I am bold to declare, would not have been Lord 
 of any hearts now under this roof, had he not, 
 by the constraining power of his own love, ef- 
 fectually gained them over, and invincibly attach- 
 ed them to his blessed self. The glorious and 
 independent Creator made us at first without 
 our leave ; and yet, according to the modern sys- 
 tem, he must ask and wait for our leave before 
 he can make us anew ! 
 
 Do you desire to know the judgment of the 
 church upon this point ? You have it in her 
 seventeenth Article ; where, speaking of God's 
 elect people, she asserts that " They are called, 
 according to his purpose, by his Spirit working 
 in due season ;" and immediately adds, that 
 " they, through grace, obey the calling." God's 
 converting call therefore is such as produces obe- 
 dience to it ; i. e. it is triumphantly efficacious : 
 and rendered successful, not by the will and to- 
 wardliness of the person called, but by the pow- 
 er and grace of him that calleth. Nay, so far is 
 the efficacy of divine influence from being sus- 
 
 * 2 Cor. vi. 6. fJer. ii. 3L ^ John iiu.1.
 
 248 
 
 pended on any internal or external ability of the- 
 creature, that in our tenth article, concerning 
 free will, the church expresses herself thus I 
 The condition of man since the fall of Adam is 
 such, that he cannot turn, nor even prepare him- 
 self by his oxvn natural strength and good 
 ivorks, to faith and calling upon God* 
 
 VI. What think you of Antinomianism f 
 By Antinomianism, I mean that doctrine which 
 teaches, " that believers are released from all ob- 
 ligation to observe the moral law as a rule of 
 external obedience : that, in consequence of 
 Christ's having wrought out a justifying righte- 
 ousness for us, we have nothing to do but to sit 
 down, eat, drink, and be merry : That the Mes- 
 siah's merits supersede the necessity of personal, 
 inherent sanctification ; and that all our holiness 
 is in him, not in ourselves : that the aboundings 
 of divine grace give sanction to the commission 
 of sin ', and, in a word, that the whole precep- 
 tive law of God is not established, but repealed 
 and set aside from the time we believe in Christ." 
 This is as contrary to sound doctrine as it is to 
 sound morals ; and a man need only act up to 
 these principles to be a devil incarnate. It is 
 impossible, that either the Son of God, who 
 came down from heaven to perform and to make 
 known his Father's will ; or that the Spirit of 
 God, speaking in the scriptures, and acting upon 
 the heart, should administer the least encourage- 
 ment to negligence and unholiness of life. There- 
 fore, that opinion which supposes personal sanc- 
 tification to be unnecessary to final glorification, 
 stands in direct opposition to every dictate of 
 reason, and to every declaration of scripture. 
 
 Indeed, the very nature of election, of faith, 
 and of all covenant-grace whatever, renders holi- 
 ness absolutely indispensable : forasmuch as.
 
 249. 
 
 without a spiritual and moral resemblance of 
 God, there can be no real felicity on earth, nor 
 any future enjoyment of heaven. Suppose we 
 appeal to experience ? I speak now to you who 
 know in whom ye have believed : to you who 
 have received the atonement, and who have been 
 sensibly reconciled unto God by the death of his 
 Son. If, at any time ye have been off your guard, 
 and suffered to lapse into sin ; how have ye 
 felt yourselves afterwards ? ye have gone with 
 broken hearts and with broken bones.* Ye 
 have found it to be indeed " an evil and a bitter 
 thing to depart," though ever so little, " from 
 the Lord." Ye know by dismal experience that 
 " The way of transgression is hard :" and that 
 sin, like Ezekiel's roll, is written within and 
 without, " with lamentation, and mourning, and 
 woe." The gall of bitterness is inseparable from 
 the bond of iniquity. Upon the principle, there- 
 fore, of mere self-interest, (to go no higher,) a 
 true believer cannot help aspiring to holiness and 
 good works. 
 
 Heaven must be brought down into the human 
 soul, before the human soul can be fitted for hea- 
 ven. There must, as the schoolmen speak, be 
 " a congruity and similitude between the faculty 
 and the object," i. e. there must be an inward 
 meetness for the vision and glory of God, wrought 
 in you by his Holy Spirit, in order to render you 
 susceptible of those exalted pleasures and the ful- 
 ness of joy, which are in his presence, and at his 
 right hand for ever. Was thy soul, O unconverted 
 sinner, to be this moment separated from thy 
 body, and even admitted into heaven, (supposing 
 it was possible for an unregenerate spirit to en- 
 
 * Psalm ii. 
 21 #
 
 250 
 
 ter,) heaven would not be heaven to thee. You 
 cannot relish the blessedness of the new Jerusa- 
 lem, unless God, in the mean while, make you 
 partaker of a ?ieru nature. The Father chose his 
 people to salvation ; the Son purchased for them 
 the salvation to which they were chosen : and the 
 blessed Spirit fits and qualifies them for that 
 salvation by his renewing influences : for, as 
 a dead man cannot inherit an estate, no more can 
 a dead soul (and every soul is spiritually dead, 
 till quickened and born again of the Holy Ghost) 
 inherit the kingdom of God. Yet, sanctification 
 and holiness of life do not constitute any part of 
 our title to the heavenly inheritance, any more 
 than mere animal life entitles a man of fortune to 
 the estate he enjoys : he could not, indeed, enjoy 
 his estate if he did not live ; but his claim to his 
 estate arises from some other quarter. In like 
 manner, it is not our holiness that entitles us to 
 heaven ; though no man can enter heaven without 
 holiness. God's gratuitous donation, and Christ's 
 meritorious righteousness, constitute our right 
 to future glory ; while the Holy Ghost, by in- 
 spiring us with spiritual life, of which spiritual 
 life good works are the evidences and the act- 
 ings) puts us into a real capability of, and fitness 
 for, that inheritance of endless happiness, which 
 otherwise, we could never, in the very nature of 
 things^ either possess or enjoy. 
 
 " Let it be observed," says one of the most 
 learned and judicious writers of this age, u that 
 Christ's active obedience to the law for us, in 
 our room and stead, does not exempt us from per- 
 sonal obedience to it any more than his sufferings 
 and death exempt us from corporal death, or from 
 suffering for his sake. It is true indeed, we do 
 not suffer and die in the sense he did, to satisfy 
 justice, and atone for sin : so neither do we,
 
 251 
 
 yield obedience to the law, in order to obtain 
 eternal life by it. By Christ's obedience for ua 
 we are exempted from obedience to the law in 
 this sense : but not from obedience to it as a 
 rule of walk and conversation, by which to glori- 
 fy God and express our thankfulness to him for 
 his abundant mercies." Travellers inform us, 
 that in Turkey the partisans of the several de- 
 nominations there are distinguished by the co- 
 lour of their shoes ; so that if you meet any per- 
 son in the streets, you need only look at his Jeet 
 to know of what religion he is. And may not 
 the truth of grace be discerned, to at least an 
 high, degree of probability, by the life and con- 
 versation of those who make a religious profes- 
 sion ? The man who says that he knows God, 
 and in works denies him ; who calls Christ Lord, 
 Lord, but does not the thing that he enjoys; 
 whose voice indeed is Jacob's voice, but his 
 hands are the hands of* Esau ; resembles our 
 Saviour's persecutors and murderers of old, who 
 bowed their knees and cried, " Hail, king of the 
 Jews !" while they spit in his face, and smote 
 him with the palms of their hands. The hypo- 
 crite's profession is dark and opaque, but that 
 of a real saint is pellucid and transparent. The 
 
 * A very capital painter in London, lately exhibited a piece, 
 representing a fryar habited in his canonicals. View the 
 painting at a distance, and yovi would think the lV\ar to be in. 
 a praying attitude : his hands are clasped together, and held 
 horizontally to his breast; Ins eyes metkly demissed, like 
 those of the publican in the gospel ; and the good man ap- 
 pears to be quite absorbed in humble adoration and devtut 
 recollection But take a nearer survey and the deception 
 vanishes ; the book which seemed to lie before him, is disco- 
 vered to be a punch bowl, into which the wretch is all the 
 while in reahty onl) squeezing a lemon. How lively a re- 
 presentation of an hypocrite J
 
 252 
 
 rays of grace in a genuine believer pervade his 
 whole behaviour, and are transmitted through all 
 the parts of his practical walk. Though every 
 moral man is not therefore a Christian, yet every 
 Christian is necessarily a moral man. 
 
 When Flaminius, the Roman general, did at 
 the isthmian games announce freedom to Greece 
 in the name of the senate and people of Rome, 
 the transported Greeks received the glorious 
 news with such acclamations of gratitude, and 
 thunder of applause, that some ravens, which 
 were flying over the Stadium, dropped down to the 
 earth stunned and senseless : the very games 
 and exercises were neglected, and nothing but 
 bursting eclats of admiring joy engrossed the 
 day. So, when the Holy Spirit of consolation 
 announces gospel liberty, and eternal redemption 
 to the souls of the awakened the love of sin, 
 and the ravens of detested lust, fall before his 
 sacred influence. Both the toils and the plea- 
 sures of the world are regarded as insignificant, 
 when set in competition with the one thing need- 
 ful. Holy wonder, love and joy quite engage 
 the powers of the believer's mind, during the 
 spring-tide consolations of his first manifestive 
 espousals ; and a sure foundation is from that 
 moment laid for the performance of all those 
 good works, which are fruits of salvation by 
 grace. While faith is in exercise, and a sense of 
 divine favour is warm upon the heart ; a child 
 of God is as much steeled to the allurements of 
 sin, as Octavius was cool to the meretricious 
 charms of Cleopatra. 
 
 Thus, conscientious obedience, though neither 
 the cause nor condition of our justification 
 in the sight of God, nor of our admittance into, 
 his glory ; is, nevertheless, an essential branch 
 both of privilege and duty, as well as a necessa.-
 
 253 
 
 vy indication of our acceptance in the beloved. 
 This is the point of view in which our church 
 Considers good works : viz. not as preceding 
 conditions of salvation, but as subsequent testi- 
 monies and marks of salvation already obtained. 
 
 Article XII. " Of good xvorks. Albeit 
 that good works, which are the fruits of faith, 
 and follow after justification, cannot put away 
 our sins, and endure the severity of God's judg- 
 ment ; yet are they pleasing and acceptable to 
 God in Christ, and do spring out necessarily of a 
 true and lively faith : insomuch that by them a 
 lively faith may be as evidently known as a tree 
 discerned by its fruit." 
 
 VII. What think you concerning the tenet of 
 sinless perfection ? which supposes that the very 
 inbeing of sin may on earth be totally extermina- 
 ted from the hearts of the regenerate ; and that 
 believers may here be pure as the angels that 
 never fell ; yea, (I tremble at the blasphemy)- 
 holy as Christ himself. To hold this heresy is 
 the very quintessence of delusion; but to ima- 
 gine ourselves really in the state it describes, 
 were the very apex of madness. Yet many such 
 there are : some such I myself have known. 
 
 Indwelling sin and unholy tempers do most 
 certainly receive their death's wound in regene- 
 ration ; but they do not quite expire till the re- 
 newed soul is taken up from earth to heaven. 
 In the mean time, these hated remains of de- 
 pravity will too often, like prisoners in a dun- 
 geon, crawl toward the windows, (though in 
 chains) and shew themselves through the grate. 
 Nay, I do not know whether the strivings of in- 
 herent corruption for mastery, be not frequently 
 more violent in a regenerate person, than even 
 in one who is dead in trespasses ; as wild beasts 
 are some times the more rampant and furious
 
 254 
 
 for being wounded. A person of the amplest 
 fortune cannot help the harbouring of snakes, 
 toads, and other venomous reptiles on his lands ; 
 but they will breed, and nestle, and crawl about 
 his estate, whether he will or no. All he can do 
 is to pursue and kill them, whenever they make 
 their appearance ? yet, let him be ever so vigi- 
 lant and diligent^ there will always be a succes- 
 sion of those creatures to exercise his patience 
 and engage his industry. So is it with the true 
 believer in respect of indwelling sin. 
 
 Would you see a perfect saint ? you " must 
 needs go out of the world," then you must go 
 to heaven for the sight : forasmuch as there only 
 are " the spirits of just men made perfect."* 
 This earth on which we live never bore but three 
 sinless persons ; our first parents in the short state 
 of innocence ; and Jesus Christ in the days of 
 his abode below. Of the whole human race be- 
 side, it always was and ever will be true, that 
 there " is not a just man upon earth, who doeth 
 good and sinneth not." The most forward and 
 towering professors are not always the firmest 
 and most solid Christians. Naturalists tell us, 
 that the oak is a full century in growing to a 
 state of maturity ; yei, though perhaps the slow- 
 est it is one of the noblest, the strongest, and 
 most useful trees in the world. How prefera- 
 ble to the flimsy, water-shooting willow ! 
 
 Our church enters an express caveat against 
 the pestilent doctrine of perfection in her 15th 
 article entitled, " Of Christ alone without sin :" 
 where she thus delivers her judgment; 
 
 " Christ, in the truth of our nature, was made 
 like unto us in all things, sin only excepted, from 
 
 * Heb. xii. 23;
 
 255 
 
 which he was clearly void, both in his flesh and 
 his spirit. He came to be a Lamb without spot, 
 who, by sacrifice of himself once made, should 
 take away the sins of the world ; and sin, as St. 
 John saith, was not in him. But all zve, the rest 
 (although baptized and born again in Christ) yet 
 offend in many things ; and if we say we have 
 no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not 
 in us." 
 
 So, it is declared, about the middle of the 
 ninth article, that the " infection of nature doth 
 remain, yea in them that be regenerated." Let 
 me just mention, 
 
 VIII* One more particular, contrary to sound 
 dactrine : I mean the assertion of some who 
 would fain persuade us that it is impossible for 
 us to receive " knowledge of salvation by the re- 
 mission of sin." Such a denial is very opposite 
 to the usual tenor of God's proceeding with his 
 people in all ages. The best believers, and the 
 strongest, may indeed have their occasional faint- 
 ing-fits of doubt and diffidence, as to their own 
 particular interest in Christ : nor should I have 
 any great opinion of that man's faith, who was 
 to tell me that he never had any doubts at all. 
 But still, there are golden seasons when the soul 
 is on the mount of communion with, God when 
 the Spirit of his Son shines into our hearts, and 
 gives us boldness and access with confidence by 
 the faith of him & and when Sunt sine nube 
 dies, may be the Christian's exulting motto. 
 Moreover, a person who is at all conversant with 
 the spiritual life, knows as certainly whether he 
 indeed enjoys the light of God's countenance^ 
 
 Eph. iii. 12. f Psalm lxxxix. la-
 
 256 
 
 or whether he walks in darkness* as a traveller 
 knows whether he travels in sunshine or in rain. 
 And, as a great and good mant observes, " It is 
 no presumption to read what was God's gracious 
 purpose towards us of old, when he, as it were, 
 prints his secret thoughts, and makes them legi- 
 ble in our effectual calling. In this case we do 
 not go up into heaven and pry into God's se- 
 crets ; but heaven comes down to us, and reveals 
 them." 
 
 It may indeed be objected, that the scripture 
 doctrine of assurance, when realized into an ac- 
 tual possession of the privilege, " may tend to 
 foster pride, and promote carelessness." It can- 
 not lead to pride ; for all, who have " tasted that 
 the Lord is gracious^" know by undubitable ex- 
 perience (and one fact speaks louder than a hun- 
 dred speculations,) that believers are then lowest 
 at God's footstool, whenfe they are highest on 
 the mount of assurance. Much indulgence from 
 earthly parents may indeed be productive of real 
 injury to their children ; but not so are the smiles 
 of God ; for the sense of his favour sanctifies 
 whilst it comforts.-^-Nor can the knowledge of in- 
 terest in his love tend to relax the sinews of mo- 
 ral diligence, or make us heedless how we behave 
 ourselves in his sight. During those exalted mo- 
 ments, when grace is in lively exercise, when the 
 disciple of Christ experiences 
 
 *' The soul's calm sunshine, and the heart-felt joy ;** 
 
 corrupt nature (that man of sin within,) and every 
 vile affection, are stricken, as it were, with a tem- 
 porary apoplexy : and the believer can no more, 
 for the time being, commit wilful sin, than an an- 
 
 Isai. 1. 10. f Gumall, Vol. I. p. 127.
 
 257 
 
 gel of light would dip his wings in mud. No : it 
 is when we come down from the mount, and mix 
 again with the world, that, like Moses, we are 
 in danger of breaking the tables of the law. " But 
 is it not enthusiasm to talk of holding intercourse 
 with God, and of knowing ourselves to be the ob- 
 jects of his special love ?" No more enthusiasti- 
 cal (so we keep within scripture-bounds) than it is 
 for a favourite child to converse with his parents, 
 and to know that they have a particular affection 
 for him. Neither in the strictest reason and na- 
 ture of things, is it at all absurd to believe and 
 expect, that God can, and does, and will commu- 
 nicate his favour to his people, and u manifest 
 himself to them, as he does not to the world"* 
 at large. 
 
 Yet, though God is thus graciously indulgent 
 to many of his people, (I believe, to all of them at 
 some time or other, between their conversion and 
 death) still, if they trespass against him, he will 
 not let their offences pass unnoticed nor uncor- 
 rected. Though grace itself is inadmissible, the 
 comfort of it may be sinned away. Salvation is 
 sure to all the redeemed ; but the joy of it may 
 be lost. Psalm li. 12. " Great peace have they 
 that love thy law," and they only. Holiness and 
 consolation are wisely and intimately connected. 
 In proportion as we are enabled to live near to 
 God, to walk humbly and closely with him, and to 
 keep our moral garments clean, we may hope for 
 freedom of intercourse with him, and to assure 
 our hearts before him,t like the happy believers of 
 old, concerning whom it is said, that they walked 
 at once in the fear of the Lord, and in the com' 
 fort of the Holy Ghost4 
 
 John siv. 21, 22. f Ibid. Ul 19. J Acts ix. 31. 
 22
 
 258 
 
 Let not, however, what has been observed con- 
 cerning the blessing of assurance, stumble or dis- 
 courage the feeble of God's flock, on whom, for 
 reasons wise and good, it may not hitherto have 
 been his pleasure to bestow this unspeakable gift. 
 The scripture plainly and repeatedly distinguish- 
 es between faith j the assurance of faith ; and 
 the full assurance of faith : and the first may ex- 
 ist where the other two are not. I know some 
 who have for years together been distressed with 
 doubts and fears, without a single ray of spirit- 
 ual comfort all the while. And yet, I can no 
 more doubt of their being true believers, than I 
 can question my own existence as a man. I am 
 sure they are possessed not only of faith in its 
 lowest degree, but of that which Christ himself 
 pronounces great faith :* for they can at least 
 say, " Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst 
 come under my roof; but speak the word only, 
 and thy servant shall be healed." Faith is the 
 eye of the soul ; and the eye is said to see almost 
 every object but itself : so that )*ou have real 
 faith without being able to discern it. Nor will 
 God despise the day of small things. Little faith 
 goes to heaven no less than great faith ; though 
 not so confortably, yet altogether as surely. If 
 you come merely as a sinner to Jesus, and throw 
 yourself at all events for salvation on his alone 
 blood and righteousness, and the grace and pro- 
 mise of God in him ; thou art as truly a believer 
 as the most triumphant saint that ever lived. 
 And, amidst all your weakness, distresses and 
 temptations, remember that God will not cast out, 
 nor cast off the meanest and unworthiest soul 
 
 * Mat. vui. 8, 10.
 
 259 
 
 that seeks salvation only in the name of Jesus 
 Christ the righteous. When you cannot follow 
 the rock, the rock shall follow you; nor ever leave 
 you, for so much as a single moment on this side 
 the heavenly Canaan. If you feel your absolute 
 want of Christ, you may on all occasions^ and in 
 every exigence, betake yourself to the covenant 
 love and faithfulness of God for pardon, sanctifi- 
 tion and safety, with the same fulness of right 
 and title, as a traveller leans upon his own staff, 
 or a weary labourer throws himself upon his own 
 bed, or as an opulent nobleman draws upon his 
 own banker for whatever sum he wants. I shall 
 only detain you farther, while I warn you ; 
 
 IX. Against another limb of Arminianism, to- 
 tally " contrary to sound doctrine." I mean 
 that tenet, which asserts the possibility of falling 
 finally from a state of real grace* God does not 
 give, and then take axvay. He does indeed fre- 
 quently resume what he only lent ; such as health, 
 riches, friends, and other temporal comforts ; but 
 what he gives, he gives for ever. In a way of 
 grace, u the gifts and calling of God are without 
 repentance :"* He will never repent of bestow- 
 ing them ; and every attribute he has forbids him 
 to revoke them. The blessings of his favour 
 are, " That good part which shall not be taken 
 from those that have it."t 
 
 A parent of moderate circumstances may give 
 his children something to set up with in the world, 
 and address them to this effect j " I have now 
 done for you all that is in my power to do, and 
 gone as far as my circumstances will allow ; you 
 must from henceforward stand on your own feet, 
 
 Rom. x:, 29. " f Luke x. 42,
 
 260 
 
 and be good husbands of the old stock. The pre- 
 servation and improvement of what I have given 
 you must be left to chance and yourselves." In this 
 very view does Arminianism represent the great 
 Father Almighty. But how does scripture repre- 
 sent him ? as saying, " I will never leave thee^ or 
 forsake thee :* Even to your old age, I am he ; 
 and even to hoary hairs will I carry you ; I have 
 made, and I will bear, even I will carry and will 
 deliver you.t " My sheep hear my voice, and I 
 know them, and they follow me, and I give unto 
 them eternal life, and they shall never perish, nei- 
 ther shall any pluck them out of my hand.":j: In 
 a word, if any of God's people can be finally 
 lost, it must be occasioned either by their depart- 
 ing from God, or by God's departure from them. 
 But they are certainly and effectually secure 
 against these two, and these only possible sources 
 of apostacy. For, thus runs the covenant of 
 
 * Heb. xiii. 5. f Isa. xlvi. 4. 
 
 % John x. 28. True, said an Arminian schismatic* grown 
 gray in the service of error, and who still goes up and down 
 sowing- his tares, seeking whom he may devour, and com- 
 passing sea and land to make proselytes : true, Christ's 
 sheep " cannot be plucked forcibly out of his hand by others, 
 but they themselves may slip through his hands, and so fall 
 into hell, and be eternally lost." They may slit, may ihey ? 
 as if the Mediator, in preserving his people, held only a par- 
 cel of eels by the tail ! Is not this a shameless way of slipping 
 through a plain text of scripture ? But 1 would fain ask the 
 slippery sophister, how we are to understand that part of the 
 last cited passage, which expressly declares concerning 
 Christ's people, that they shall never perish? since, perish 
 they necessarily must, and certainly would, if eventually se- 
 parated from Christ ; whether they were to he. plucked out of 
 his hands, or whether they were only to slip through them. X 
 conclude then, that the promise made to the saints that they 
 shall never perish, secures them equally against the possibili- 
 ty of being either wrested from Christ's hand, or of their own 
 falling from it ; since, could one or other be the case, perish 
 they must, and Christ's promise wovdd fall to the ground.
 
 261 
 
 grace ; " I will make an everlasting covenant 
 with them, that I will not turn away from them, 
 to do them good j and I will put my fear in their 
 hearts, that they shall not depart from me, Jer. 
 xxxii. 40. Now, if God will neither leave them 
 nor suffer them to leave him ; their final perse- 
 verance in grace to glory must be certain and in- 
 fallible. 
 
 Having greatly exceeded the limits I designed, 
 I shall forbear to adduce the attestations of the 
 church of England to the doctrines of assurance 
 and preseverance ; especially, seeing I have done 
 this somewhat largely elsewhere.* I must not 
 however conclude without observing, That irre- 
 versible justification on God's part, and subjec- 
 tive assurance of indefectibility on ours, do by no 
 means invest an offending Christian with immu- 
 nity from sufferings and chastisement. Thus 
 Nathan said to David, " The Lord hath put 
 away thy sins ; thou shalt not die ;" yet was he 
 severely scourged though not disinherited for his 
 transgressions. The tenor of God's immutable 
 covenant with the Messiah, and with his people 
 in him, is this : " His seed will I make to endure 
 for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven. 
 If his children forsake my law, and walk not in 
 my judgments ; if they break my statutes, and 
 keep not my commandments ; then will I visit 
 their transgression with the rod, and their iniqui- 
 ty with stripes ; nevertheless, my loving-kind- 
 ness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer 
 my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not 
 break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my 
 
 * In a pamphlet entitled, the church of England vindicated 
 from the charge of ^nni/iianism : where, concerning 1 the 
 doctrine of assurance, seepages 125, 126; and, concerning 
 the doctrine of perseverance, see pages 127130.
 
 262 
 
 lips. I have sworn once for all by my holiness, 
 that I will not lie unto" Jesus the anti-typical 
 David, by suffering any of his redeemed people 
 to perish.* Hence, as it is presently added, they 
 shall be established for ever, as the moon ; and 
 as the faithful witness in heaven ; nay, they shall 
 stand forth and shine, when the sun is turned into 
 darkness, and the moon into blood ; when the 
 stars shall drop from their orbits, and the pow- 
 ers of heaven shall be shaken. As an excellent 
 person somewhere observes, " Our own unbe- 
 lief may occasionally tear the copies of the cove- 
 nant given us by Christ, but unbelief cannot come 
 at the covenant itself. Christ keeps the original 
 deed in heaven with himself, where it can never 
 be lost." 
 
 Upon the whole : are these things so ? then, 
 
 1. How great and how deplorable is the gene- 
 ral departure from the scripture doctrines of the 
 church of England, and the first principles of 
 the reformation ! 
 
 2. How blessed are the eyes that see, how 
 happy are the hearts that feel, the propriety and 
 the energy of these inestimable truths ! And, 
 
 3. How ought such to demonstrate their gra- 
 titude by a practical glorification of God in their 
 bodies and in their spirits, which are his ! Re- 
 semble thunder in your boldness for God, and 
 Xour zeal for truth ; but let your lives shine as 
 lightning, and flash conviction in the faces of 
 those who falsely accuse your good conversation 
 in Christ, and as falsely charge the doctrines of 
 God with a licentious tendency. But let not 
 your zeal be of the inflammatory kind ; let it be 
 tempered with unbounded moderation, gentle- 
 ness and benevolence; and shine forth as the 
 
 Psalm lsxxix. 29, 35.
 
 263 
 
 sun with healing in its wings. Remember who 
 it is that hath made you to differ from others ; 
 and that " a man can receive nothing except it 
 be given him from heaven." John iii. 27. 
 
 Not unto us, therefore, O Lord, not unto us 3 
 but to thy name alone be the praise of every 
 gift, and of every grace ascribed ; for thy loving 
 mercy, and for thy truth's sake. Amen. 
 
 -~<s<3CJ5>-~ 
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 TO THE 
 
 PARISHIONERS OP ST. MATTHEW, 
 BETHJVAL GREEK. 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 AJEFORE the preceding sermon could get 
 through the press, the Rev. Mr. Haddon Smith, 
 who, it seems, serves you as curate, has thought 
 proper to publish a discourse which he delivered 
 in opposition to this, the Sunday after I had the 
 honour of preaching it before you. 
 
 It would render that unthinking, but I would 
 hope well-meaning gentleman, much too consi- 
 derable, were I either to address him by name, 
 or descend to canvass a performance, wherein 
 heat and scurrility endeavour to supply the total 
 vacuity of argument. For Mr, Smith to enter
 
 264 
 
 the lists with such exceeding fierceness against a 
 sermon which he did not hear, and which, hither- 
 to, he has had no possible opportunity of read- 
 ing, discovers a weakness and temerity in, him, 
 which sink him as low beneath my notice, as the 
 established doctrines of our excellent church rise 
 superior to his impotence of censure. When 
 the gentleman shall appear to have at all consi- 
 dered the important articles of faith, on which 
 he has presumed to animadvert ; when the sails 
 of his furious zeal shall be counterballasted by 
 some little degree of judgment, and when he has 
 learned to express himself, if not with Christian 
 decency, yet with common grammatical propri- 
 ety, then, and not till then, shall I deem him a 
 proper object of attention. 
 
 You, gentlemen, can testify, that I never once 
 appeared in your pulpit but at your own particu- 
 lar request; a request which i could not possi- 
 bly have any interested motives for complying 
 with, as I never accepted of the smallest gratuity 
 for my attendance. Is it for this that the enra- 
 ged curate has repeatedly traduced me from the 
 pulpit, and now insults me from the press ? 
 
 For my own part, I am so far from entertain- 
 ing any resentment against Mr. Smith, (with 
 whom I do not remember to have exchanged 
 five words in my life, and whom I should not 
 even know at sight,) or from being deterred by his 
 unmerited abuse, that should I live to see Lon- 
 don again, I shall always deem myself happy to 
 wait on you as usual, whenever either your own 
 desire or the interest of your public charity may 
 command. And as so many of you have fa- 
 voured me with uncommon civility and atten- 
 tion, I am encouraged to offer one request ; a 
 request not in behalf of myself, but of Mr. 
 Smith; viz. that his ill-judged and unbecoming
 
 265 
 
 warmth may not so far alienate your affection 
 from his person, as to make you persist in with- 
 drawing those usual proofs of your beneficence, 
 which formerly you have favoured him with, and 
 which, I am sorry to be informed, have of late, 
 through his defect of candour and humility, been 
 considerably lessened. 
 
 My sermon and his are now before the public. 
 The rashness and seeming malignity with which 
 he appears desirous to plunge into thedepths of an 
 unequal contest, might, in the opinion of some, jus- 
 tify me in the amplest severity of animadversion. 
 But I spare him. I cannot prevail with myself 
 to render " evil for evil, or railing for railing.'* 
 On the contrary, I wish and pray that divine 
 grace may cause him to partake of the " mind 
 which was in Christ Jesus;" and that he may 
 by the same Almighty influence, be made to ex- 
 perience, to believe, and to preach, the inestima- 
 ble truths of that gospel which Jesus taught. 
 
 Mr. John Wesley, (on whose plan of doctrine 
 your curate seems in great measure to have form- 
 ed his own) is the only opponent I ever had, 
 whom I chastised with a studious disregard to 
 ceremony. Nor do I in the least repent of the 
 manner in which I treated him. To have refu- 
 ted the forgeries and perversions of such an as- 
 sailant tenderly, and with meekness, falsely so 
 called j would have been like shooting at a high- 
 wayman with a pop-gun, or like repelling the 
 sword of an assassin with a straw. I rather 
 blame myself, on a review, for handling Mr. 
 Wesley too gently, and for not acquainting the 
 world with all I know concerning the man and 
 his communication. I only gave him the whip, 
 when he deserved a scorpion. 
 
 But as to Mr. Smith, he hitherto, amidst all 
 his ignorance and unguardedness, merits a milder
 
 266 
 
 treatment. Want of talents and of thought ap- 
 pear in every paragraph of his sermon : but I 
 am willing to believe him not wholly destitute of 
 integrity. Though he opposes the doctrines of 
 the church of England with virulence, yet he 
 seems to do so from principle. Under this per- 
 suasion, I at present give him rope. Hereafter, 
 should he rise into any thing like a respectable 
 antagonist, I may, perhaps, hook him, and pull 
 him in Till then I take my leave both of the 
 curate and of his preachment, with that justly ad- 
 mired line, which is at once equally picturesque 
 of his behaviour, and expressive of my fixed de- 
 termination. 
 
 Du loqueris Lapides Ego Byssina Verba repo- 
 nam. 
 
 I am, with much respect and regard, 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 Your obliged and obedient servant, 
 
 AUGUSTUS TOPLADY. 
 
 road-ffembury } Jug. 31, 1770. 

 
 LETTER 
 
 TO THE 
 
 REV. JOHN WESLEY.- 
 
 RELATIVE TO HIS PRETENDED 
 
 ABRIDGMENT OP 
 ZANCHIUS ON PREDESTINATION. 
 
 BY AUGUSTUS TOPLADY, A. B. 
 
 VICAR OF BROAD-HEMBURY, DEVON. 
 
 MNbtti 
 
 Sic fatus senior, Telumque imbelle fine Ictu 
 Conjecit : rauco quod protinus aere repulsum ; 
 Et summo Clypei nequicquam Umbone pependit. 
 
 JEneid J J. 
 Credulitate, puer; Audacia, juvenis; Delirius, senex. 
 Mr. De Boze's Epitaph onHordovin, the French Jettrit, 
 
 JfEW-YORK> 
 
 PUBLISHED BY GEORGE LINDSAV 
 Paul G Thomas, Printer}- 
 
 1811.

 
 ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 PRESENT EDITION. 
 
 AN IXE months are now elapsed since the first publication 
 of this letter: in all which time, Mr. W. has neither apolo- 
 gized for the misdemeanor which occasioned his hearing 
 from me in this public manner, nor attempted to answer the 
 charge entered against him. Judging, probably, that the 
 former would be too condescending in one who has erected 
 himself into the leader of a sect ; and that the latter would 
 prove rather too difficult a task, and involve him in a subse- 
 quent train of fresh detections ; he has prudently omitted 
 both 
 
 Some of his followers, however, have not been so tamely 
 unactive on this occasion as their pastor. Anxious at once 
 to palliate his offence, and to screen his timidity ; several 
 penny and two-penny defences have successively appeared : 
 wherein the anonymous scribblers wretchedly endeavoured 
 to gather up, and put together, the fragments of a shattered 
 reputation. The very printers, the mid wives who handed 
 these " insects of a day" into public existence, were asha- 
 med to subjoin their names at the bottom of the title pages. 
 
 Two Lay-Preachers, in particular, have feebly taken up 
 the cudgels for their master. Of one I shall say very little, 
 as he writes with some degree of decency Of the other, I 
 shall not say much ; for both his talents and his morals sink 
 him far below the dignity of chastisement. This illiterate 
 " haberdasher of small wares" entitles his penny effusion, as 
 well as 1 remember, " A letter of thanks to the Rev. Mr. 
 Toplady, in the names of all the hardened sinners in London 
 and Westminster." The poor creature, it is plain from his 
 title-page, aims at humour ; and yet unhappily for such a de- 
 sign, he is in reality but too literally qualified to act as a sec- 
 retary in chief to the sinners of London and Westminster. 
 For he has given very numerous and ample proofs of his 
 
 23
 
 270 
 
 own sinnership, and that there can hardly exist in those two 
 cities a more atrocious sinner than himself. 1 will not pol- 
 lute this paper with a recital of his crimes. They who 
 know the man are no strangers to his communication. 
 Though a doctrinal Pharisee, his life has long ago evinced 
 him a practical Sadducee. Surely, Arminianism is like to 
 flourish mainly under the auspices of such able and virtu- 
 .us advocates ! 
 
 And so much for Mr. Wesley's redoubtable subalterns. 
 
 ** What image of their fury can we form ? 
 Dulness and rage. A puddle in a storm." 
 
 If my advice carries any weight with them, they will care- 
 fully peruse their Spelling-books, before they make another 
 sally from the press. As to themselves, and their refined 
 productions, 1 mean to take no farther notice of either. I 
 am quite of Air. Gay's opinion ; 
 
 " To shoot at crows is powder thrown away." 
 
 I had almost forgot the Monthly Reviewers. One word 
 concerning them, and I have done. The two Reverend gen- 
 tlemen who are hired to dissect and characterize whatever 
 comes within the divinity department, a Calendis ad Calendas ; 
 would fain have it, in their superficial strictures on the first 
 edition of this letter, that I am angry with Mr. Wesley. If 
 by anger the ingenious animadverters mean a just and be- 
 coming disapprobation of Mr. Weslev 's lying abridgment, and 
 of the surreptitious manner in which he smuggled it into the 
 world ; I acknowledge myself in this respect angry. 1 hope 
 the Reverend Reviewers will not in their turn be angry too, 
 at seeing themselves tacked to the list of Mr. Wesley's al- 
 lies : since in their mode of representing my dispute (or to 
 adopt their own military term, my battle) with that gentle- 
 man, they seem to rank themselves in the number of his 
 seconds. The reason is obvious. Mr. W. is a red-hot Ar- 
 minian : and the sagacious Doctors can discern, with half an 
 eye, that Arminianism lies within a bow-shot of Socinianism 
 and Deism. Yet notwithstanding the alliance is thus not al- 
 together unnatural, why should these two Divines, who are 
 certainly possessed of abilities which might do honour to 
 Jmman nature, by a narrow, sordid attachment to party, ren- 
 der those abilities less respectable ? 
 
 Jiroad-tiemhurj, Jan. 9, 1772.
 
 LETTER 
 
 REV. JOHN WESLEY. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 JTOSSIBLY, the following letter may fall into 
 the hands of some who are unacquainted with the 
 merits of the occasion on which I write. For 
 the information of such, I must premise, that in 
 November, 1769, I published a two shilling 
 pamphlet, entitled. " The Doctrine of Absolute 
 Predestination stated and asserted : With a 
 Preliminary discourse on the Divine Attributes. 
 Translated, in great measure, from the Latin of 
 Jerom Zanchius." 
 
 Though you are neither mentioned nor alluded 
 to throughout the whole book, yet it could 
 hardly be imagined, that a treatise, apparently 
 tending to lay the axe to the root of those per- 
 nicious doctrines, which, for more than thirty 
 years past you have endeavoured to palm on 
 your credulous followers, with all the sophistry of 
 a Jesuit, and the dictatorial authority of a Pope ; 
 should long pass without some censure from 
 the hand of a restless Arminian, who has so ea- 
 gerly endeavoured to distinguish himself, as the 
 bell-wether of his deluded thousands,
 
 272 
 
 Accordingly in the month of March, 17TO, 
 out sneaks a printed paper (consisting of one 
 sheet, folded into twelve pages, price one penny) 
 entitled, " The Doctrine of Absolute Predesti- 
 nation stated and asserted by the Rev. Mr. 
 
 A. T ." Wherein you pretend to give 
 
 an abridgment of the pamphlet above referred 
 to. But, 
 
 I. Why did you not make your abridgment 
 truly public ? For an apparent reason : That, if 
 possible, it might elude my knowledge, and so 
 escape the rod. Born of a stolen embrace, it 
 was needful for the spurious, pusillanimous 
 performance to steal its way into the world. It 
 privately crept abroad from the Foundry, the 
 seat of its nativity; it was sold indeed, but sold 
 under the rose ; it was carefully circulated in the 
 dark ; and the friends of Mr. Wesley were 
 designed to be the sole sphere of its acquaint- 
 ance. Thus " Every one that doeth evil hateth 
 the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his 
 deeds should be reproved." In such conduct I 
 can discern much of the Jesuit, but nothing of 
 the saint. I had to this hour remained unap- 
 prized of the secret stab, but for the information 
 received from some of superior integrity to your- 
 self. I will put Christianity quite out of the 
 question, and suppose it to have no kind of in- 
 fluence. But should you not, at least, act as a 
 man of common honour ? Come forth openly, 
 Sir, in future, like an honest, generous assailant ; 
 and, from this moment forward, disdain to act 
 the ignoble part of a lurking, sly assassin. 
 
 II. Why did you not abridge me faithfully 
 and fairly ? Why must you lard your ridiculous 
 compendium with additions and interpolations of 
 your own ? especially as you took the libertv of
 
 273 
 
 prefixing my name to it ? your reasons are obvi- 
 ous. My publication had spread among some 
 of your people ; and the longer it continued to 
 diffuse itself the more you trembled for your Dia- 
 na. Hence, Demetrius like, you found it need- 
 ful, by the help of a pious fraud, to prejudice 
 your Ephesians against the doctrines of St. Paul. 
 The book was like to give the Arminian Babel a 
 shake ; therefore no way so effectual to secure it, 
 as by endeavouring to spike the canon which 
 was planted against it. That you might seem to 
 gratify the curiosity of your partisans, and keep 
 them really hood-winked at the same time, you 
 draw up a flimsy, partial compendium of Zan- 
 chius; a compendium which exhibits a few de- 
 tached propositions, placed in the most disadvan- 
 tageous point of view, and without including any 
 part of the evidences on which they stand. 
 
 But this alone was not sufficient to compass 
 the desired end. Unsatisfied with carefully and 
 totally suppressing every proof alleged by Zan- 
 chius in support of his argument, a false co- 
 louring must likewise be superinduced, by insert- 
 ing a sentence or two, now and then, of your own 
 foisting in. After which you close the motley 
 piece, with an entire paragraph, forged every 
 word of it by yourself ; and conclude all, as you 
 began, with subjoining the initials of my name f 
 to make the ignorant believe, that the whole, with 
 your omissions, additions, and alterations, actu- 
 ally came from me. An instance of audacity 
 and falsehood hardly to be paralleled ! 
 
 I am very far from desiring the reader to take 
 my word in proof of the charge alleged against- 
 you. As an instance of your want of honour, 
 veracity, and justice, I refer to the following 
 paragraph, 1. As published by me; and 2. As 
 quoted by you. 
 
 23 *
 
 274 
 
 l. 
 *"' When all the trans- 
 actions of Providence 
 and grace are wound up 
 in the last day ; he 
 (Christ) will then pro- 
 perly sit as Judge, and 
 openly publish and so- 
 lemnly ratify, if I may 
 so say, his everlasting 
 decrees, by receiving 
 the elect, body and soul, 
 into glory : and by pass- 
 ing sentence on the non- 
 elect (not for having 
 done what they could 
 not help, but) for their 
 wilful ignorance of di- 
 vine things, and their 
 obstinate unbelief; for 
 their omissions of mo- 
 ral duty, and for their 
 repeated iniquities and 
 transgressions." Doctr. 
 of Abs. Pred. page 93. 
 
 2. 
 " In the last day 
 Christ will sit as Judge, 
 and openly publish 
 and solemnly ratify his 
 everlasting decrees, by 
 receiving the elect in- 
 to glory, and by pass- 
 ing sentence on the 
 non-elect, {not for ha- 
 ving done what they 
 could not help, but) for 
 their wilful ignorance 
 of divine things, and 
 their obstinate unbelief^ 
 for their omissions of 
 moral duty, and for their 
 repeated iniquities and 
 transgressions which 
 they could not help." 
 Wesley's Abridgment, 
 page 9. 
 
 Whether my view of the doctrine itself be, in 
 fact, right or wrong, is no part of the present in- 
 quiry : the question is, have you quoted me fair- 
 ly ? Blush, Mr. Wesley, if you are capable of 
 blushing. For once publicly acknowledge your- 
 self to have acted criminally : " Unless," to use 
 your own words on another occasion, " Shame 
 and you have shook hands and parted." 
 
 Your concluding paragraph, which you have 
 the effrontery to palm on the world as mine, runs
 
 275 
 
 thus : *** The sum of all this : One in twenty (sup- 
 pose) of mankind are elected ; nineteen in twen- 
 ty are reprobated. The elect shall be saved, do 
 what they will ; the reprobate shall be damned, 
 do what they can. Reader, believe this, or be 
 damned. Witness my hand, A T ." 
 
 In almost any other case, a similar forgery 
 would transmit the criminal to Virginia or Ma- 
 ryland, if not to Tyburn. If such an opponent 
 can be deemed an honest man, where shall we find 
 a knave ? What would you think of me, was I 
 infamous enough to abridge any treatise of yours, 
 sprinkle it with interpolations, and conclude it 
 thus : " Reader, buy this book or be damned. 
 Witness my hand, John Wesley !" 
 
 And is it thus you contend for victory ? are 
 these the weapons of your warfare ? Is this 
 bearing down those who differ from you with 
 meekness ? Do you call this binding with cords 
 of love : Away, for shame, with such disinge- 
 nuous artifices. At least endeavour to conceal 
 that narrow, sectarian spirit, which betrays itself, 
 more or less, in almost every thing you write. 
 Renounce the low, serpentine cunning, which 
 puts you on falsifying what you find yourself 
 unable to refute. And as you regard your cha- 
 racter, and the cause you espouse, dismiss those 
 dirty subterfuges, (the last resources of mean, 
 malicious impotence) which degrade the man of 
 parts into a lying sophister, and sink a divine be- 
 neath the level of an oyster-woman. Cease to 
 fight, like the French, with old nails and broken 
 glass. Charge fairly, and fire as forcible as you 
 can. But, if you persist to employ the weapons 
 of scurrility and falsehood ; the splinters will not 
 
 Wesley's Abridgment, page 12.
 
 276 
 
 only recoil on yourself, but you will continue t<a 
 be posted for a theological coward. 
 
 And why should you of all people in the 
 world, be so very angry with the doctrines of 
 grace ? Forget not the days and months that are 
 past. Remember that it once depended on the 
 toss of a shilling, whether you yourself should 
 be a Calvinist or an Arminian. Tails fell up<- 
 permost, and you resolved to be an Universalist. 
 'Twas an happy throw which consigned you to 
 the tents of Arminius ; for it saved us from 
 the company of a man, who, by a kind of reli- 
 gious gambling, peculiarly his own, risqued his 
 faith on the most contemptible of all lots ; and 
 was capable of tossing up for his creed, as port- 
 ers or chairmen toss up for an halfpenny. 
 
 I have read of princes and other eminent per- 
 sons who, having risen from ignoble life to great- 
 ness, took care to have some striking memorials 
 of their former obscurity frequently in their 
 view, by way of a counterpoise to pride r and as 
 a preservative from being exalted above mea- 
 sure. When, from the pinnacle or your own im- 
 portance, you look down upon the advocates for 
 free grace, and consider them as reptiles, to be 
 treated as you please, only recollect the hum- 
 bling circumstance of which I have just remind- 
 ed you ; and repress the complacent swellings of 
 self-adulation, by some such soliloquy as this ; 
 u I have been in danger myself of believing 
 that St. Paul says true, when he declares that 
 God hath mercy on whom he will have mercy. 
 How precious was the shilling, and above all, 
 how lucky was the throw, which convinced me 
 of St. Paul's mistake !" Forgive us, if we as 
 implicitly determine our faith by the scriptures, 
 as you determined yours by the fall of the splen- 
 did shilling*
 
 277 
 
 But, even since this memorable epocha, you 
 have by no means proved yourself that steady 
 Arminian you would have the world believe. 
 Proteus like, you disdain to be shackled and cir- 
 cumscribed by any certain form. Her ladyship 
 of Loretto, though she has a different suit for 
 every day in the year, is semper eadvm^ when 
 compared with the quondam Fellow of Lincoln 
 College. There are times when you vary as 
 much from your preceding self, as you do at all 
 times from the rest of mankind. Possessed of 
 more than serpentine elability, you cast your 
 slough, not once a year, but almost once an hour. 
 Hence your innumerable inconsistencies, and fla- 
 grant self-contradictions, the jarring of your 
 principles (ever at intestine war with each other) 
 and the incoherence of your religious system. 
 Your scheme of doctrines reminds me of the 
 feet of a certain visionary image, which as the 
 sacred penman acquaints, seemed to be compo- 
 sed of iron and clay 5 heterogeneous materials, 
 which may indeed be put together, but will ne- 
 ver incorporate with each other. Somewhat like 
 the necromantic soup, of which you have proba- 
 bly read in the tragedy of Macbeth ; your doc- 
 trines may be stirred into a chaotic jumble, but 
 witchcraft itself would strive in vain to bring 
 them into coalition. On the contrary, evangeli- 
 cal truth knows nothing of this Harlequin as- 
 semblage. It is not, like Joseph's coat, of many 
 colours, nor made up of a patch from Donatus, 
 of another from Pelagius, and a third from 
 Arminius : but is invariably simp'e, uniform 
 and harmonious ; resembling the robe of its ado- 
 rable teacher, which was without seam, and wo- 
 ven from the top throughout. 
 
 On one occasion, you had the candour to own 
 your levity as to points of faith. I am acquaint-
 
 278 
 
 ed with a very respectable person (Mr. J. D.) 
 who, not many years ago, taking the freedom to 
 tell you, that " Your prejudices, like armed men, 
 stood with their swords ready drawn, to guard 
 all the passes of conviction, and hew down every 
 truth as fast as it presented itself to your mind ;" 
 you had the usual honesty to answer, " Ah ! 
 Sir, if you knew how distressed I have been, 
 what doctrines I should embrace, and how I 
 have been tossed about from system to system, 
 you'd think me the most open to conviction, and 
 the least liable to prejudice, of any man you 
 ever knew." This answer did you real honour, 
 for I am persuaded you spoke true. Yet, why 
 should you, who have been so remarkably tossed 
 about, take upon you to revile those who have 
 been enabled to stand fast ? I hope for your own 
 sake, that you will never cease tossing about till 
 you have gained the harbour of truth ; and that, 
 amidst all your manifold shifting from system to 
 system, you will at length be enabled to fix on 
 the only right system, which asserts the lawful- 
 ness of God's doing what he will with his own. 
 I am told, the penny^sheet (which occasions 
 this free address) is to be followed some time 
 hence, by a four-penny pamphlet against Zan- 
 chius ; wherein you are to besiege the doctrine 
 of predestination in form. Commence the siege 
 and welcome. Open your trenches and plant 
 your batteries. Bring forth your strong argu- 
 ments, and play them off with vigour. I pub- 
 licly profess and subscribe my name to it, that, 
 if I cannot beat you back, I'll freely capitulate, 
 and own myself conquered. But remember, that 
 if you would do any thing to purpose, you must 
 make a regular attack. You must encounter the 
 whole of Zanchius, and take his arguments in 
 their regular connexion and dependency on each
 
 279 
 
 ether. You must go through with my preface, 
 which I prefixed to my translation of that great 
 man. Having carried and dismantled the out- 
 work, you must next proceed to demolish the Dis- 
 sertation on the Divine Attributes ; which ha- 
 ving destroyed, you are then to assail the cita- 
 del ; I mean, those five stubborn chapters, which 
 make up the body of the treatise itself. All 
 the allies, or the arguments drawn from scripture 
 and reason, must likewise be put to the sword. 
 This should you attempt, to do in a manner wor- 
 thy of a scholar and a divine, I shall have no 
 objection (if life and health continue) to mea- 
 suring swords, or breaking a pike with you. 
 Controversy, properly conducted, is a friend to 
 truth, and no enemy to benevolence. When the 
 flint and the steel are in conflict, some sparks 
 may issue which may both warm and enlighten. 
 But I have no notion of encountering a wind- 
 mill in lieu of a giant. If, therefore, you come 
 against me (as now) with straws instead of ar- 
 tillery ; and with chaff in the room of ammuni- 
 tion ; I shall disdain to give you battle : I shall 
 only laugh at you from the ramparts. 
 
 Much less, if you descend to your customary 
 recourse of false quotations, despicable invec- 
 tive, and unsupported dogmatisms, shall I hold 
 myself obliged to again enter the list with you. 
 An opponent who thinks to add weight to his 
 arguments by scurrility and abuse, resem- 
 bles the insane person, who rolled himself in 
 mud in order to make himself fine. I would 
 no more enter into a formal controversy with 
 such a scribbler, than I would contend for the 
 wall with a chimney-sweeper. 
 
 When some of your friends gave out, two or 
 three months before your late doughty publica- 
 tion, that Mr. John (as they call you) was shut-
 
 280 
 
 ting himself up,* in order to answer the Trans- 
 lator of Zanchius ; I really imagined that some- 
 thing tolerably respectable was going to make its 
 appearance. But 
 
 3,uid dignum tanto tulit hie Promissory Hiatu ? 
 
 After the teeming mountain had been shut up 
 a competent time, long enough to have been 
 brought to bed of an Hercules, forth creeps a 
 puny, toothless mouse, a mouse of heterogene- 
 ous kind ; having little more than its head and 
 tailt from you ; and the main of its body made 
 up of some mangled, castrated citations from 
 Z,anchius. 
 
 Currente Rota, cur Urceus exit f 
 
 If I may judge of the future by the past, and 
 unless you amend greatly in a short time, your 
 four-penny Supplement, when it appears, will be 
 no less inconsiderable than the penny sheet al- 
 ready extant. And, as the mouse is not cheap 
 at a penny, I am very apprehensive, the rat, 
 when it ventures out, will be too dear at a groat. 
 
 Hitherto, your treatment of Zanchius resem- 
 bles that of some clumsy, bungling anatomist, 
 who, in the dissection of an animal, dwells much 
 on the larger and more obvious particulars ; but 
 quite omits the nerves, the lymphatics, the mus- 
 cles, and the most interesting parts of the com- 
 plicate machine. Thus, in your piddling extract 
 
 * Dreadful his thunder, while imprinted, roar ; 
 
 But when once publish'd, they are heard no more. 
 
 So, distant bug-bears fright ; but neai or draw, 
 
 The block's a block, and turns to mirth j our awe. 
 
 Dr. Young. 
 
 f The Advertisement, on the back side of Mr. Wesiey'5 
 Title-page: and his concluding Paragraph, p. 12.
 
 281 
 
 from the pamphlet you have thought proper to 
 curtail, you only give a few of the larger out- 
 lines, without at all entering into the spirit 
 of the subject, or so much as producing (so far 
 from attempting to refute) any of the turning 
 points, on which the argument depends. Wrench 
 the finest eye that ever shone in a lady's head, 
 from its socket, and it will appear frightful and 
 deformed ; whereas, in its natural connexion, the 
 symmetry and brilliancy, the expressiveness and 
 the beauty, are conspicuous. So it often fares 
 with authors. A detached sentence, artfully mis- 
 placed, or unseasonably introduced ; maliciously 
 applied, or unfairly cited ; may appear to carry 
 an idea the very reverse of its real meaning. 
 But replace the dislocated passage, and its pro- 
 priety and importance are restored. I would 
 wish every unprejudiced person, into whose hands 
 your Abridgment of my translation ha3 fallen, 
 to suspend his judgment concerning it, till he 
 sees the translation itself. On comparing the 
 two together, he will at once perceive how can- 
 did and honest you are ; and what quantity of 
 confidence may be reposed on your integrity as 
 a citer. 
 
 When I advert to the unjust and indecent man- 
 ner in which you attacked the late Mr. Hervey ; 
 above all, when I consider how daringly free you 
 have made with the scriptures themselves, both 
 in your commentaries, and in your alterations of 
 the text itself; I cease to wonder at the auda- 
 cious licentiousness of your pen respecting me. 
 I should rather wonder, if you treated any oppo- 
 nent with equity, or canvassed any subject im- 
 partially. Rise but once to this, and I shall both 
 wonder and rejoice. 
 
 You give me to understand, that I am but " a 
 young translator." Granted. Better, however* 
 24
 
 262 
 
 to be a young translator, than an old plagiary. 
 Which of our ancient divines have you not eva- 
 porated and spoiled ? and made them speak a lan- 
 guage, when dead, which they would have start- 
 ed from, with horror, when alive ?jf 
 
 l 
 " Yet Brutus is an honourable man." 
 
 How miserably have you pillaged even my pub- 
 lication ? Books, when sent into the world, are 
 no doubt, in some sense, public property. Zan- 
 chius, if you chose to buy him, was yours to 
 read ; and, if you thought yourself equal to the 
 undertaking, was yours to answer : but he was 
 not yours to mangle. Remember how narrowly 
 you escaped a* prosecution some years ago, for 
 pirating the poems of Dr. Young. 
 
 I would wish you to keep your hands from li- 
 terary picking and stealing. However, if you 
 cannot refrain from this kind of stealth, you can 
 abstain from murdering what you steal. You 
 ought not, with Ahab, to kill, as well as take pos- 
 session ; nor giant like, to strew the area of your 
 den with the bones of such authors as you have 
 seized and slain. 
 
 On most occasions you are too prone to set up 
 your own infallible judgment as the very lapis ly- 
 dius of right and wrong. Hence the firebrands, 
 arrows, and death, which you hurl at those who 
 presume to vary from the oracles you dictate. 
 Hence, particularly, your illiberal and malevo- 
 lent spleen against the Protestant Dissenters ;f 
 though yourself are, in many respects, a Dissen- 
 
 * See almost every part of what Mr. Wesley miscalls, The 
 Christian Library. 
 
 f '' How little is the case mended at the meeting ? either 
 the teachers are new-light men, denying the Lord that 
 bought them ; or they are Predestinarians, and so preach pre-
 
 283 
 
 ter of the worst kind. I would not, however, by 
 this declaration, be understood, as if I meant to 
 dishonour that respectable body, by classing you 
 with them ; for you stand alone, and are a Dis- 
 senter of a cast peculiar to yourself. And yet, like 
 Henry I. you are for making the length of your 
 own arm the standard-measure for every body 
 else. ,No wonder, therefore, that you eminently 
 inherit the fate of Ishmael : that your " hand, 
 is against every man, and every man's hand 
 against you." Strange ! that one who pleads so 
 strenuously for universal love in the Deity, 
 should adopt so little of the love for which he 
 pleads ! That a person of principles so large, 
 should have an heart so narrow ! Bigots of eve- 
 destination and final perseverance, more or less. Nor is it 
 expedient for any Methodist Preacher, to imitate the Dissen- 
 ters in their manner of praying ; either in his tone, or 
 in his language, or in the length of his prayer. Neither 
 should we sing like them, in a slow, drawling manner. We 
 sing swift, both because it saves time, and because it tends to 
 awaken and enliven the soul." 
 
 Mr. Wesley's Preserv. against unsettled notions, p. 344. 
 
 How much more civilly, not to say cordially, this gentleman 
 shakes hands with the Papists, let his own words declare : 
 " Can nothing be done, even allowing us on both sides to re- 
 tain our opinions, for the softening our hearts towards each 
 other ? My dear friend consider, I am not persuading you to 
 leave or change your religion: but to follow after that fear 
 and love of God, without which all religion is vain. I say 
 not a word to you about your opinions, or outward manner 
 of worship We ought, without tins endless jangling about 
 opinions, to provoke one another to love and to good works. 
 Let the points wherein we differ stand aside. Here are 
 enough wherein we agree. O Brethren, let us not still fall 
 out by the way !'' 
 
 Mr. Wesley's letter to a Roman Catholic, p. 4, 8, 10. 
 
 Far be it from me to charge Mr. Wesley with a fond- 
 ness for all the grosser parts of Popery. Yet I fear the 
 partition between that church and him, is somewhat thinner 
 than might he wished. Or, rather, like the loving Pyramus 
 and Thisbe, they endeavour to remedy the want of a perfect 
 oalition, by kissing each other through an hole in the walh
 
 ry denomination arc much the same : and of all 
 vices, bigotry is one of the meanest and most 
 mischievous. Its shriveled, contracted breast, 
 leaves no room for the noble virtues to dilate and 
 play. Candour, benevolence, and forbearance be- 
 come smothered and extinguished ; partly, from 
 being crampt by littleness of mind , partly from 
 being overwhelmed with intellectual dust. Bi- 
 gotry is a determined enemy to truth ; inasmuch 
 as it essentially interferes with freedom of inqui- 
 ry, restrains the grand indefeisible right of pri- 
 vate judgment, confines our regard to a party, 
 and, by limiting the extent of moderation and 
 mutual good-will, tears up charity by the very 
 roots. In short, bigotry is the very essence of 
 Popery ; and, too often leads votaries before they 
 are aware, into the bosom of that pretended 
 church, whose doctrines and maxims are the worst 
 corruption of the best religion that ever was. 
 And though this baneful vice is so uncomforta- 
 ble in itself, so contrary to the genius of the 
 gospel, and so extensively pernicious in its 
 effects ; yet, is it not as common as it is detesta- 
 ble ? May all God's children be enabled to cast 
 it with the rest of their idols, to the moles and 
 to the bats ! 
 
 You have obliquely given me a sneering lec- 
 ture upon " modesty, self-diffidence, and tender- 
 ness" to opponents : And, it must be owned, that 
 the lesson comes with a peculiar grace, and quite 
 in character from you. The words sound well : 
 But, like many other prescribers, you say, and do 
 not. Else,, why do you represent me as telling 
 my readers, that they must, upon pain of damna- 
 tion, believe that only one person in twenty 
 is elected ?" Why do you introduce me as en- 
 joining them to believe, under the same penalty, 
 <* That the elect shall he saved a do what they
 
 285 
 
 Will ; and the reprobate be damned, do what they 
 can ?" This is a sample, indeed, of your own 
 modesty, tenderness, and self-diffidence : but, 
 God forbid, that I should give such dismal proof 
 of mine. I believe and preach, that the chosen and 
 ransomed of the Lord, are " appointed to salva- 
 tion through sanctification of the Spirit, and be- 
 lief of the truth :" And, with regard to the rest, 
 that they will be condemned, not for doing what 
 they can in a moral way, but for not doing what 
 they can : for not believing the gospel report ; 
 and for not ordering their conversation according 
 to it. 
 
 Let me likewise ask you, when or where I 
 ever presumed to ascertain the number of God's 
 elect ? Point out the treatise and the page 
 w T herein I assert that only " One in twenty of 
 mankind arc elected." The. book of life is not 
 in your keeping, nor in mine. The Lord, and 
 the Lord only, " knoweth them that are his." 
 He alone, " who telleth the number of the stars, 
 and calleth them all by their names ;" calleth also 
 a his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out ;" 
 first, from a state of sin into a state of grace, and 
 then into a state of glory. Yet, as the learned 
 and devout Beza expresses himself, " I shall ne- 
 ver blush to abide by that simplicity, which the 
 Holy Spirit, speaking in the scriptures, hath been 
 pleased to adopt :"* And 'tis but too certain,. that 
 in the scriptures are such awful passages as 
 these ; " Broad is the way, and wide the gate, 
 which leadeth to destruction, and many there be 
 that go in thereat :" While, on the other hand, 
 " Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, that 
 leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. 
 
 * Me vero iflius simplicitalis, quam Sp. S. amplexus est p 
 nunquam pudebit, Beza, in Matth. ii. 2- 
 
 24 *
 
 286 
 
 Many are called, but few chosen. Fear not lit- 
 tle flock ; for it is your Father's good pleasure to 
 give you the kingdom. There is a remnant ac- 
 cording to the election of grace." Declarations 
 of this tremendous import, instead of furnishing 
 you with fuel for contention, and setting you on 
 a presumptuous and. fruitless calculation of the 
 number that shall be saved or lost ; should rather 
 bring you on your knees before God, with your 
 hand upon your breast, and this cry in your lips : 
 w Search me, O Lord, and try me ; prove me 
 also, and examine my thoughts. Shew " me 
 to which class I belong. Give me solid proof 
 that my name is in the Lamb's book of life, by 
 making it clear to me that I am in the faith.' 7 
 And ever remember, that true faith utterly dis- 
 claims all ground of pretension to justification 
 and eternal life, but on the sole footing of God's 
 absolute grace, and the Messiah's finished re- 
 demption. Pelagianism is for serving the Deity, 
 as Pope Celestine III. is said to have treated the 
 Emperor Henry VI. It quite kicks off the 
 crown from the head of sovereign grace, and makes 
 the will of God bend, and truckle, and shape it- 
 self to the caprice of man. Arminianism, some- 
 what more specious, but altogether as pernicious r 
 cuts the crown in two, by dividing the praise of 
 salvation between God and man, and fairly runs 
 away with half. On the contrary, the faith which 
 is of Divine operation, acts like the Emperor 
 Charles V. when he retired from the throne : It 
 resigns the crown entirely, and renounces it for 
 ever, without reserving so much as a single jew- 
 el for itself. 
 
 Should the Holy Spirit vouchsafe to lead you 
 thus far -, you will then no longer be ready to ob- 
 ject, " That the elect shall be saved, do what they 
 will :" For you will know by heart- felt experi-
 
 287 
 
 ence, that the converted elect are, and cannot but 
 be, ambitious to perform all those good works, in 
 which God hath ordained them to walk ; and to 
 act worthy of him, who hath graciously and ef- 
 fectually called them to his kingdom and glory. 
 Your pretended fear of Antinomianism, like 
 your real fear of the Comet, which was expect- 
 ed to have appeared a few years back, is per- 
 fectly idle and chimerical. You publicly testified 
 your apprehensions, that the latter would dry up 
 our rivers, and burn up our vegetables, if not 
 reduce the earth itself to a cinder. But your 
 prophecies proved to be, " The baseless fabric 
 of a vision :" and our rivers, trees, and earth, 
 remain as they were. Nor will the doctrines of 
 grace, experimentally received into the heart, 
 destroy or weaken the obligations of moral* vir- 
 
 * Consciousness of guilt, and dread of detection, frequently 
 put bad men upon entering those accusations against their 
 opponents, which, without such a timely precaution, they are 
 justly apprehensive, will be charged upon themselves ; like 
 the apostate spirits in Milton, who were for turning their own 
 torments into weapons against heaven. Such is the prudent 
 conduct of very many Arminians. Fully aware, that their 
 own lives are none of the best, they affect to cry out against 
 Calvinism, as though she was the very mother and nurse of 
 licentiousness. Were she really so, what myriads would de- 
 sert the standard of Arminius, and flock to the banner of Cal- 
 vin ! But all, who are capable of discernment know, that the 
 pretended licentious tendency of Calvinism (so called) is no 
 more than idle flourish and empty declamation. Were the 
 doctrines of grace unfavourable to strict morality, we should 
 quickly see them the reigning system of the age. On the 
 contrary, they are therefore at present unfashionable, because 
 they make no allowance for the wickedness of the wicked. 
 'Tis a fundamental axiom with us, who abide by the princi- 
 ples of the reformation, that holiness of heart and life is (not 
 the cause, price or condition, but which adds infinitely 
 stronger security to the interests of moral virtue) an essential 
 and inseparable part of that very salvation, to which the elect 
 were chosen from everlasting. A Calvinist must, conse-
 
 283 
 
 tue. On the contrary, they will operate on 
 the practice, not like your scorching comet 
 on our globe ; but like the genial beams of 
 the sun, which diffuse gladness, and occasion 
 fruitfulness, wherever they arise. Whoever wish- 
 es in earnest to lead a new life, must first cordi- 
 ally embrace the true old doctrine of salvation by 
 grace alone. In short, your own tenet of sin- 
 less perfection, leads directly to the grossest An- 
 tinomianism. I once knew a lady whom you 
 had inveigled into your pale, and who, in a short 
 space, professed herself perfect. Being in her 
 company some time after, I pointed out a part of 
 her conduct, which to me seemed hardly com- 
 patible with a sinless state. Her answer was to 
 this effect : " You are no competent judge of my 
 behaviour. You are not yourself perfectly sanc- 
 tified ; and therefore see my tempers and actions 
 through a false medium. I may to you seem an- 
 gry : but my anger is only Christian zeal." I could, 
 moreover, mention the names of some of your 
 quondam followers, who from professing them- 
 selves sinless, have cast off all appearance of god- 
 liness, and are working all manner of iniquity 
 with greediness. If you are in search of Anti- 
 nomians, truly and justly so called, )'ou must 
 look for them, not among those whom you term 
 Calvinists, but among your own hair-brained* 
 
 quently, renounce botli the letter and the spirit of his own 
 constitutive principles (i. e. he must cease to be a Calvinist) 
 ere he can, consistently, degenerate into a sensualist. 
 
 * I might, with too much justice, add, that some of Mr. 
 W.'s own lay-preachers are indisputably to be numbered 
 among practical Antinomians. These, however, are regard- 
 ed by their partisans as very excellent men, that have not yet 
 attained to perfection, though they are in a fair way for it. 
 If Mr. Wesley should have the front to deny, that any of his-
 
 289 
 
 perfectionists. Had not you yourself (to re- 
 mind you of but one instance) a proof of it, not 
 very long ago ? You formed a scheme of collect- 
 ing as many perfect ones as you could, to live to- 
 gether under one roof. A number of these flowers 
 were accordingly transplanted from some of your 
 nursery-beds to the hot- house. And an hot- 
 house it soon proved. For, would we believe it ? 
 the sinless people quarrelled in a short time at 
 so violent a rate, that you found yourself forced 
 to disband the select regiment. Had you kept 
 them together much longer, that line would have 
 been literally verified in these squabbling mem- 
 bers of your church militant ; 
 
 " The males pull'd noses, and the females caps." 
 
 A very small house I am persuaded would hold 
 the really perfect upon earth. You might drive 
 them all into a nutshell : but to return. 
 
 I cannot dismiss your objection, concerning 
 the supposed fewness of God's truly elect peo- 
 ple, without observing, that how few soever they 
 may appear, and really be, in a single genera- 
 
 preaching' mechanics are men of loose lives, I have it in my 
 power to appeal t.) facts, which a tenderness for those per- 
 sons, as individuals of mankind, and a concern for the honour 
 of human nature in general, restrain me at present from hold- 
 ing up to public view. Nor would I be thought to hint at 
 these things with pleasurable triumph. I feel too strongly 
 for the interests of christian obedience, and for the happiness 
 of souls, to exult over the vices of the vicious; but, when men 
 whose lives would he a disgrace to heathenism ; when men, 
 whom Socrates or Seneca would have blushed to own for 
 disciples ; take upon them to arraign the doctrines of the 
 Scriptures, and of our established church, under a pretence 
 of guarding against those immoralities of which they them- 
 selves are notorious and noon-day examples. What can such 
 shameless railers expect, but to have their own real crimes 
 deservedly exposed \
 
 290 
 
 tion, and as balanced with the many unrighteous 
 among whom they live below ; yet when the 
 whole number of the Redeemer's jewels is made 
 up when the entire harvest of his saints is ga- 
 thered in when his complete mystic body is 
 presented collectively before the throne of his 
 Father : they will amount to an exceeding great 
 multitude, which no man can number. On earth* 
 the company of the faithful may to us who know 
 but in part, resemble Elijah's cloud, which at first 
 seemed no "bigger than a man's hand:" where- 
 as in the day of God, they will be found to over- 
 spread the whole heavens. They may appear 
 now, to use Isaiah's phrase, but as " two or three 
 berries on the top of a bough, or as four or five 
 in the most fruitful branches thereof;" but they 
 shall then be like the tree in Nebuchadnezzar's 
 vision, " the height of which reached unto hea- 
 ven, and the sight of it to the end of all the 
 earth : the leaves whereof were fair, and the 
 fruit thereof much." The kingdom of glory 
 will both be more largely and more variously 
 peopled than bigots of all denominations are 
 either able to think, or willing to allow. 
 
 Go now, Sir, and dazzle the credulous with 
 your mock victory over the supposed reproba- 
 tion of " nineteen in twenty." Go on to chalk 
 hideous figures on your wainscot ; and enjoy the 
 glorious triumph of battering your knuckles in 
 fighting them. But father no more of your hi- 
 deous figures on me. Do not dress up scare- 
 crows of your own, and then affect to run away 
 from them as mine. I do not expect to be treat- 
 ed by Mr. John Wesley with the candour of a 
 gentleman, or the meekness of a Christian ; but 
 I wish him, for his reputation's sake, to write 
 and act with the honesty of an heathen.
 
 291 
 
 You affect to be deemed a minister of the na- 
 tional church. Why then do you decry her doc- 
 trines, and as far as in you lies, sap her disci- 
 pline ? That you decry her doctrines needs no 
 proof : Witness for example, the wide discrepan- 
 cy between her decisions and yours, on the ar- 
 ticles of free will, justification, predestination, 
 perseverance, and sinless perfection ; to say no- 
 thing concerning your new-fangled doctrine of 
 the intermediate state of departed souls.* 
 
 That you likewise do not overflow with zeal 
 for the discipline! of the Church of England is 
 manifest not only from the numerous and intri- 
 
 * In Mr. Wesley's first edition of his notes on the New 
 Testament, published in 1755, are the two following asser- 
 tions : than which, even he himself has, perhaps, never given 
 a more striking specimen of presumption and inconsistency. 
 " Enoch and Elijah are not in heaven, but only in paradise ;" 
 note on John iii. 13. " Enoch and Elijah entered at once in- 
 to the highest degree of glory, without first waiting in para- 
 dise ;" note on Rev. xix. 20. This it is to be wise above 
 what is written ! 
 
 f Mr. Wesley's rebaptization of some adult persons is 
 anodier proof of this charge. I could point out by name 
 more than one who have undergone from his hands a reitera- 
 tion of that sacred ceremony. I shall only at present, men- 
 tion a single instance, which I had from the person herself, 
 with permission to publish her name at full length, in case 
 Mr. W. should deny the fact. Mrs. L. S. now living in South- 
 wark, was baptized in a bathing tub, in a cellar, by Mr. John 
 Wesley ; who, at the time, held her down so very long under 
 water, while he deliberately pronounced the words of the ad- 
 ministration, that some friends of her's, who were present, 
 screamed out from an apprehension that she was actually 
 drowned ; and she herself was so far gone, that she began to 
 grow insensible, and was lifted out of the water but just time 
 enough to save her life. Yet this is the man, who, in the 
 writings which he has published to the world, professes to 
 hold infant baptism, and that by sprinkling, not by im- 
 mersion ! 
 
 Quo teneatn Yulius mutantetn Protea J\iodo ?
 
 192 
 
 cate regulations, with which you fetter f your so- 
 cieties, but from the measures you lately pursu- 
 ed, when a foreign mendicant was in England, 
 
 \ The rules of what Mr. Wesley calls the Band-Societies, 
 demonstrate the miserable servitude of those who are ad- 
 mitted into that gossiping club. The whole of these rules 
 would be too tedious to insert. One or two of them, as sam- 
 ples of the rest, may not be unacceptable to the reader. 
 
 " To speak, each of us in order, freely and plainly, the true 
 state of our souls ; with the faults we have committed in 
 thought, word or deed ; and the temptations we have felt 
 since our last meeting." 
 
 " To desire some person among us to speak his own state 
 first, and then ask the rest in order, as many and as search- 
 ing questions as may be concerning their state, sins and 
 temptations." 
 
 Among the questions proposed to such as are candidates 
 for admission into this pretended sanctum sanctorum, is the 
 following: 
 
 " It is your desire and design to be on this and all other 
 occasions entirely open, so as to speak every thing that is in 
 your heart without exception, without disguise, and without 
 reserve." 
 
 The printed account from whence these extracts were 
 taken verbatim, adds ; that the five following questions are 
 to be asked at every meeting : 
 
 1. " What known sins have you committed since our last 
 meeting ? 
 
 2. " What temptations have you met with ? 
 
 3. " How was you delivered ? 
 
 4. " What have you thought, said or done, of which you 
 doubt whether it be sin or not ? 
 
 5. " Have you nothing you desire to keep a secret ?" 
 The reader doubtless will, on this occasion, be reminded 
 
 of the popish practice of auricular confession. For my own 
 part I make no scruple to acknowledge, that confession as 
 managed in the church of Rome, is infinitely preferable to 
 confession, as conducted under the auspices of Mr. Wesley. 
 In those countries, where Popery is established, confession is 
 made only to one person, and he a priest : who, if he divul- 
 ges what is made known to him under the character of con- 
 lessor, is liable by law to suffer death. But in these Band 
 Societies, the most open and unreserved confession is, it 
 seems, made in the hearing of a dozen or twenty eld wo-
 
 293 
 
 who went by the name of Erasmus, and styled 
 himself Bishop of Arcadia. This old gentle- 
 man passed for a prelate of the Greek church ; 
 though to me, it seems not improbable that he 
 might rather be a member of the Romish. This 
 much, however, is certain ; that the chaplains 
 of the then Russian Ambassador here, knew no- 
 thing about him ; and that to this day the Greek 
 church in Amsterdam believe him to be an im- 
 postor. With regard to this person, I take the 
 liberty of putting one or two queries to you. 
 
 1. Did you, or did you not, get him* to ordain 
 several of your layrpreachers, according to the 
 manner of what he tailed the Greek ritual ? 
 
 men and boys, who are at liberty to blab out all they hear*, 
 without being 1 obnoxious to any penalty at all. 
 
 I shall only transcribe from the above account the two fol* 
 lowing rules, imposed on these same societies : 
 
 1. " To wear no needless ornaments ; such as rings, ear- 
 rings, necklaces, lace, ruffles. 
 
 2. " To use no needless self-indulgence ; such as taking 
 snuff or tobacco i unless prescribed by the physician." 
 
 * There is something vastly curious in the letter of or- 
 ders which this vagrant gave to the persons he pretended to 
 ordain. I once saw an original letter, or certificate, of this, 
 kind, signed by himself. It was written in very mean Greek : 
 and which added to my persuasion of Erasmus's being an im- 
 postor, was drawn up, not in the modern Greek which the 
 Christians of that church now use, but in the ancient : and 
 if I am not greatly mistaken the words were likewise ac 
 cented. I read it over twice ; and most sincerely wish I had 
 taken a copy of it : But at that time I regarded it only as an 
 article of present curiosity. A friend of mine, however, 
 who improved his opportunity rather better, took a transla- 
 tion of it ; which, on my after request, he favoured me with; 
 and upon the strength of memory, I can venture to assure 
 the public, that the version is materially a just one. I be- 
 lieve it to be perfectly so. It runs thus : 
 
 " Our measure from the grace, gift and power of the all- 
 holy and life-giving Spirit, given by our Saviour Jesus 
 Christ to his divine and holy apostles, to ordain sub-deacons 
 and deacons j and also to advance to the, dignity of a priest ! 
 25 

 
 294 
 
 2. Did these lay-preachers of yours, or did 
 they not, both dress or officiate as clergymen 
 of the church of England, in consequence of 
 that ordination ? And under the sanction of you? 
 own avowed approbation ; notwithstanding, put- 
 ting matters at the best, they could only be mi- 
 nisters of the Greek church, and which could 
 give them no legal right to act as ministers of 
 the church of England. Nay, did you not re- 
 peatedly declare, that their ordination was to all 
 intents and purposes as valid as your own, which 
 you received forty years ago at Oxford ? 
 
 3. Did you, or did you not, strongly press this 
 supposed Greek Bishop to consecrate you a bish- 
 op at large, that you might be invested with a 
 power of ordaining what ministers you pleased 
 to officiate in your societies as clergymen ? And 
 did he not refuse to consecrate, alleging this for 
 his reason, that according to the canons of the 
 Greek church, more than one bishop must be 
 
 Of this grace, which hath descended to our humility, I have 
 ordained sub-deacon and deacon, at Snow-fields Chapel, on 
 the 19th day of Nov. 1764, and at Wells-street Chapel, on 
 the 24th of the same month, Priest ; the Rev. Mr. W. C. ac- 
 cording to the rules of the holy Apostles and of our faith. 
 Moreover, I have given to him power to minister and teach, 
 in ail the world, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, no one forbid- 
 ding him in the church of God, wherefore, for that very pur- 
 pose I have made this present letter of recommendation 
 from our humility, and have given it to the ordained Mr. W. 
 C. for his certificate and security. 
 
 " Given and written at London, in Britain, November 
 24th, 1774. 
 
 ERASMUS, Bishop of Arcadia." 
 
 I cannot help suspecting, that his humility, as he styles 
 himself, if the truth was known, nearly related to another 
 certain old gentleman, who no less humbly writes himself, 
 Servant of the servants of God. His humility of Arcadia., 
 and his- holiness of Rome, are, I doubt not, soJts of one and 
 the same ewlesi&stioaji mother,
 
 295 
 present to assist, at the consecration of a new 
 
 one 
 
 4. In all this, did you or did you not palpably 
 violate a certain oath, which you have repeatedly 
 taken ? I mean the oath of supremacy : part of 
 which runs thus ; 
 
 " And I do declare that no foreign prince, 
 person, prelate, state, or potentate, hath or ought 
 to have any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre- 
 eminence, or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, 
 within this realm : so help me God." 
 
 Now is not the conferring of orders an act of 
 the highest ecclesiastical power and authority ? 
 And was not this man a foreigner ? And were 
 not the steps you took, a positive acknowledg- 
 ment of a foreign power and jurisdiction ! And 
 was not such acknowledgment a breach of your 
 oath ? 
 
 It matters not whether Erasmus was in fact 
 an impostor or a genuine Greek Bishop. Unless 
 you was very insincere, you took him to be what 
 he passed for. If you did not, you was party to a 
 fraud. Either way, pretend no longer to love the 
 church of England! you who so lately endeavoured 
 to set up imperium in imperio J If you are honest, 
 you will either publicly confess your fault ; or, 
 for ever throw aside your gown and cassock. 
 You will either return to the service of the 
 church, or cease to wear her livery. You may 
 think, perhaps, that I make too free, in expostu- 
 lating with you so plainly. And yet on maturer 
 thought, I question whether you may or not. 
 How can Mr. Wesley, who on all occasions makes 
 so very free with others, be angry with young 
 translators for copying (though at a humble dis- 
 tance) so venerable an example. Nor indeed 
 ought a person who, beyond even what truth 
 and decency permit, take so great liberties with
 
 296 
 
 the rest of his contemporaries ; to wonder, if so 
 far as decency allow, the rest of his contempora- 
 ries take as great liberties with him. 
 
 You complain, I am told, that the evangelical 
 clergy are leaving no stone unturned u to raise 
 John Calvin's ghost, in all quarters of the land." 
 If you think the doctrines of that eminent and 
 blessed Reformer to be formidable as a ghost ; 
 you are welcome to do all you can toward lay- 
 ing them. Begin your incantations as soon as 
 you please'. The press is open : and you nevea? 
 had a fairer opportunity of trying your strength 
 upon John Calvin, than at present. Only take 
 care that you do not, with all your skill in theo- 
 logical magic, get yourself into a circle, out of 
 \vhich you may find it difficult to retreat And 
 alittleto mitigate your wrath against the raisers of 
 Calvin's ghost, remember, that you yourself have 
 been a great ghost-raiser in your time. Who rais- 
 ed the ghosts of John Goodwin, the Arminian re- 
 gicide ; and of Thomas Grantham, the Arminian* 
 Baptist ? who raised a ghost of Monsieur* De 
 
 * As a specimen of Mr. Wesley's regard to, at least the mi- 
 nutiae of Popery, I shall select a few passages from his life of' 
 this Monsieur De plenty, which now lies before me. The rea- 
 der will observe, tnat the sentences enclosed with inverted 
 commas are Mr. Wesley's own words. 
 
 He speaks favourably of this French Papist, for his regu- 
 larly " saying the Itinerarium" and then " singing the Lita- 
 nies of our Lord," before he set out on any journey; and for 
 taking due care to " sing the Vespers," while he was upon the 
 road page 3- Among the instances of Monsieur's humility, 
 are reckoned (page 9 and 10.) his not permitting "a cushion 
 to be carried for him" when he went to mass ; and his fre- 
 quently saying " his prayers at the outside of the church." 
 Also his going abroad to visit a monastery " on foot," and 
 that too " in thawing weather :" nay, he would sometimes 
 ' traverse, in a manner, all Paris," even when " it poured 
 down with rain." And yet, with all this mad humility, Mr. 
 De Kenty, it seems, kept a coach of his own. Had he been
 
 297 
 
 Renty the French Papist ; and of many other Ro- 
 mish enthusiasts ; by translating their lives into 
 English for the edification of Protestant readers ? 
 
 consistent, he would have entirely shorn himself of this su- 
 pernumerary convenience, by laying down his carriage. But 
 then, where would have been the merit of spontaneously tra- 
 versing all Paris on foot when it poured down with rain ? His 
 dutiful demeanour to the priest, which had the care of his 
 soul, as its father-confessor, is a feature of Mr. De Renty's 
 saintship, on which Mr. Wesley, with peculiar rapture, dwells 
 and dilates. Page 11. " A further proof of his humility, was 
 his carriage to his director. He did nothing that concerned 
 himself without his conduct. To him he proposed whatever 
 he designed either by speaking or writing, clearly and punc- 
 tually ; desiring his advice, his pleasure, and his blessing up- 
 on it ; and that with the utmost repect and submission. 
 And without reply, or disputing, he simply and exactly fol- 
 lowed his order. 3 * This was good Catholic obedience indeed ! 
 and, no doubt, Mr. Wesley had a view, in proposing such an 
 example to the imitation of his Protestant followers. Under 
 the article of De Renty's " self-denial and mortification," we 
 are informed (page 14.) that "he made but one meal a day 
 for several years," and " always of the worst provisions he 
 could meet with." He would " often step into a baker's 
 shop," and dine on * a piece of bread and a draught of wa- 
 ter." From the same principle of gloomy and unthankful su- 
 perstition, he would do penance, by " passing the night in a 
 chair," or lying down " in his clothes and boots," or sleep- 
 ing " on a bench till morning." Being at Pontois, " in win- 
 ter," he desired " the Carmelite Nuns not to make a fire, or 
 prepare a bed" for him. " He parted with several books," 
 (page 16.) " because" they w r ere " richly bound." He " used 
 no gloves in any season ; wore no clothes, but plain and 
 close made ;" and " carried no silver" in his pockets, " ex- 
 cept for charity." After which detail of austerities, the bio- 
 grapher gravely adds, " I have seen him in his coach, with a 
 page and footman." His coach, I presume, was to carry him 
 on foot, when it rained ; his page was to hold up his clothes, 
 which were plain and close made ; and the office of the foot- 
 man was to reach him his gloves, whereof he wore none in 
 any season. Who could ever have surmised, that such a 
 doleful series of mortification and self-denial would end in 
 the fopperies of a coach, a page, and a footman ! Mr. De 
 Renty's vanity, which mixed itself with his very austerities, 
 reminds me of what I am told is common in the streets cf-
 
 298 
 
 Should you take any notice of this letter I have 
 three requests to make ; or rather, there are three 
 particulars on which I have a right to insist : 
 
 1. Don't quote unfairly. 
 
 2. Don't answer evasively. 
 8. Don't print clandestinely. 
 
 Paris ; where you may see many a blind beggar bawling for 
 alms in a bag-wig, his hat under his arm, a wooden sword 
 by his side, and paper ruffles adorning the hand that is ex- 
 tended to receive charity. But to return to the hero of the 
 tale. Having had a quarrel with his mother, and the breach 
 being made up, " he was no sooner returned home, than he 
 caused Te Deum to he sunp," page 24. " He had great re- 
 spect to holy persons ; especially to priests. Whenever he 
 met them, he saluted them with profound humility ; and, in 
 his travels, would alight off his horse to do it," page 33- Nob 
 does Mr. Wesley omit to inform us, page 39, of Mr. De 
 Renty's regard to such fugitive Papists, as had either render- 
 ed themselves obnoxious to the laws at home, or preferred 
 begging in France, to living under an heretical government 
 in, Great-Britain. " He was the firs': that motioned some re- 
 lief to the poor English, driven by persecution out of their 
 own country." Nor must~his very pilgrimages be overlooked. 
 " Going, one day, to visit the holy place of xMontmatre ; af- 
 ter his prayers said in the church, he retired into a desolate 
 part of the mountain, near a little spring : there he kneeled 
 down to prayer ; and that ended, he dined on a piece of bread 
 and a draught of water." Page 45. Would it not have been 
 still more devout, not to have dined at all on such holy 
 ground ' " One day he visited a person, who, from a ground- 
 less suspicion, had cruelly vised his wife. Mr. De Renty ac- 
 costed him with such soft language, that he was persuaded, 
 at length to go to confession, which he had not done in 
 twelve years before." Page 47, 48. Himself, says Mr. Wes- 
 ley, speaking of Mr. De Renty's last illness, " made his con- 
 fession, almost every day till his death." Page 62. 
 
 I dismiss these, and many other passages in this obnoxious 
 performance, without farther remark. Their tendency is 
 self-evident. I shall only add, that, if the reader has a de- 
 sire to see still more enormous instances of Romish supersti- 
 tion and fanaticism, he will find them in Mr. Wesley's lives 
 of some Spanish monks, (who, more nationally grave, did not 
 imitate the French ascetic, by retaining their coaches, pages, 
 and footmen) in the last volume, or last but one of his com- 
 relation, entitled The Christian library.
 
 99 
 
 Canvass the points of doctrine wherein we dif- 
 fer, as strictly as you can. They will stand the 
 test. They scorn disguise. They disdain to sue 
 for quarter. Truth like our first parents in 
 a state of innocence, can shew herself naked with- 
 out being either afraid or ashamed : " And he 
 that doth truth, cOmeth to the light, that his deeds 
 may be made manifest that they are wrought 
 in God." 
 
 May you at last, begin to act from this princi- 
 ple, and no longer prostitute your time and talents 
 to the wiredrawing of chicanery, and the circu- 
 lation of error ? I am not insensible of your parts : 
 But alas ! what is distinguished ability, if not 
 wedded to integrity ? No less just, than ingeni- 
 ous, is the remark of a learned and noble writer : 
 ** The riches of the mind, like those of fortune, 
 may be employed so perversely, as to become a 
 nuisance and pest, instead of an ornament and 
 support to society."* 
 
 I am, 
 
 Yours, &c. 
 
 AUGUSTUS TOPLADY. 
 
 Dialogues of the dead, p. 297. edit. 1765. 
 
 THE END.
 
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