wil'; and declares that capital objections are in his way, and that, till they are an. .vered, he thinks it his duty equally to oppofe Honeflus and the Reconciler. Hear we then his objections, and let us fee if they are as unanswerable as he fuppofes them to be. Obj. 1. "You want to frighten me from the doctrines of grace, and to drive me into the herefy of the free-willers, by perpetually urging, that the perfonal, unconditional, and eternal rejection of the non-elect is inconfiftent with divine mercy, goodness, and juftice but you either deny, or grant God's foreknowledge. If you deny it, you are an atheift: it being evident, that an ignorant God is no God at all. If you allow it, you must allow that, when God made fuch men as Cain and Judas, he foreknew that they would certainly deferve to be damned: and that when he made them upon that foreknowledge, he made them that they might NECESSARILY deferve to be damned. And is not this granting all that we contend for, namely, that God does make, and of confequence has an indifpu. table right of making ve's of wrath, without any refpect to works and free-will? Is it not far better to fay, that we have no free-will, than to rob God of his prefcience." Anf. We need neither rob God of his prefcience, norman of his free will. I grant, God made angels and men, that if they would not be eternally faved, they might be damped. But what has this doctrine to do with yours, which fuppofes that he made fome angels and men that they might absolutely and neceffarily he damned, Is not our doctrine highly confiftent with God's goodness and juftice; while yours is the reverfe of thefe divine perfections ? Again, Your argument, tho' ingenious, is inconclufive, be-cause it is founded upon the common miflake of fhift- ing the words upon which it chiefly turns. The Haw of it confifts in fubftituting the claufe NECESSARILY defr rve to be damned, inftead of the claufe CERTAINLY deferve to be damned; juft as if there was no difference between certainly and neceffity. But a little attention will convince you of your error. It is certain that I write this moment, but am I neceffitated to it? May I not drop my pen, and meditate, read, or walk? The chaẩm which, in many cafes, feparates abfolute certainty from abfolute neceffity, is as immenfe as that, which fands between a point and infinity. Take notice of the infect that buzzes about your ears: does it not exift as certainty as God himself? but would it not be a kind of blafphemy to fay that it exifts as neceffarily? Would it not at least be paying to a fly, an honour which is due to none but God, the only fupreme and abfoluteneceflary Being? And when you fupport your doctrines of grace by confounding certainty with neceffity, do you not fupport them by confounding two things, which, in a thoufand cafes, and especially in the prefent one, have no more connexion than the two poles? Have not judicious Calvinifts granted, that although the prefcience of God concerning Judas's deftruction could not ftand (cum eventu contrario) with his falvation; yet it flood perfectly well (cum poffibilitate ad eventum contrarium) with the POSSIBILITY of his falvation? And is not this granting, that although God clearly faw, that Judas would not repent, he clearly faw alfo that Judas might have repented in the accepted time, which is all that I contend for. See Davenant's Animad. Cambridge Edition, 1641. page 38. To be a little more explicit : let me again intreat you to fall with me before the throne of grace, where the Redeemer teaches mortals to be meek, lowly, and wife in heart. Spread your doubts before him in fuch humble language as this: "Thou Light of the world, let not thy creature remain in darkness with refpect to the the most important quellion in the world. Am I appointed neceffarily to fin on and be damned? Is my damnation finished? Haft thou absolutely ordained me to be a veffel of wrath, and irrevocably appointed my eternal rejection without any refpect to my perfonal free-will? Does thy fore-knowledge neceffitate my actions, or may I chufe life or death, and through thy mercy, or justice, have either the one or the other, according to my free unneceffitated choice-my choice equally oppofed to unwillingness and to neceffity?— Speak, gracious Lord, that if I am a neceffary agent, $1 may, without any farther perplexity, yield myfelf to be carried by the irrefiftible ftream of thy free-grace, or of thy free-wrath, to the throne in heaven, or to the dungeon in hell, which thou haft appointed for me from all eternity, according to the doctrine of the heathen poct: Solvite mortales animos, curifque levate: If Christ is the Logos;-if he is Reafon and the Word the eternal Wisdom, and the uncreated Word of the Father? may we not get a fatisfactory answer to the preceding queftion by confidering with humble prayer his unerring word, and by diligently liftening -to the reafon which he has given us? And fhall I take an unbecoming liberty if I fuppofe, that He himself expoftulates with Zelotes in fuch words as thefe? "Son of man, if thou chargeft the reprobation of the damned, or their predeftination to eternal death, upon my free-wrath, my fovereignty, or Adam's fin, thou infulteft my goodnefs and juftice. That reprobation O ye mortals, difmifs your cares, and unbend your minds. Predeftination rules the world: all things happen according to a fixed decree. Mauilius. has has no properly-original cause, but their own perfonat free-will. I would a thousand times have crufhed thy primitive parents into atoms, when they forfeited my favour, rather than I would have spared them to propagate a race of creatures, moft of whom, according to thy doctrines of grace, are under an abfolute neceffity to fin on and be damned. Thou haft a wrong idea of my word and attributes. With the wisdom, and equity of a tender-hearted judge 1 condemn the victims of ,my juftice, and I do it merely for their perfonal and ollinate contempt of my free-grace. Be then no longer mistaken my decree of reprobation is nothing but a fixed refolution of giving finners over to the perversenefs of their free will, if they refift the drawings of my free-grace to the end of their day of initial falvation. And what can be more equitable than fuch a refolution? Is it not right that free-agents, who to the laft despise my goodness, fhould becom. monuments of my defpifed goodness, which is but another name for my vindictive juftice?" "I forefaru indeed, that by fuch a final contempt: of my grace, many would bring deftruction upon themselves; but, having wifely decreed to make a world of probationers and free-agents, I could not neceffarily incline their will to obedience, without robbing them of free-agency: ncr could I rob them of freeagency without foolishly defeating the counfel of my own mind, and abfurdly spoiling the work of my own hands. Befides, from the beginning, my intention was not only to fhow my power and goodness in creating, but also to difplay my wifdom and justice in governing accountable creatures, to whom, without refpe&t of perfons, I fhould render according to their works eternal life to them, who by patient continuance in welldoing feek for glory; but tribulation and anguish to them that are contentious and disobedient.” "I abhor "I abhor extorted, forced, neceffary fubmiffion in rationals: it fuits the daftardly children of the devil, and not the free-born fons of God. I could not then in wisdom fend upon this world fuch overpowering ftreams of light; or permit the tempter to spread fuch thick darkness upon it, as might invincibly, or neceffari'y turn the fcale of man's will for loyalty or rebellion. So unadvised a ftep would immediately have taken them out of probation, in which 1 had placed them." "Again: Had I directly or indirectly thrown into the scale a weight fufficient to turn it irrefiftibly, I fhould have acted a most unreasonable and deteftable part: (1) A most unreasonable part; for if 1 alone COMPLETELY work out the falvation of believers, according to what thou calleft finifbed falvation, nothing can be more abfurd, than to appoint a day of judgment and rewards, to bestow upon the elect an eternal life of glory according to THEIR WORKS: (2) A molt de teflable part; for if I earneftly invited all the wicked to chufe life, after having abfolutely chofen death for most of them, fhould I not fhow myself the moft hypocritical of all tyrants?" "But, thou ftumbleft at my fore-knowledge, and afkeft, why I beftow the bleffings of initial Jalvation upon those whofe free-agency will certainly abufe my goodness, and do defpite to the fpirit of my faving grace." Thou thinkeft, "It is wrong in me to give them that will perish the cup of initial falvation, when I know they will not accept the cup of eternal falvation. Thou fuppofeft it would be bettter to reprobate them at once, than to expose them to a greater damnation, by putting it in their power to reject the terms of eternal falvation, and by that means to fall from initial falvation. But I fhall filence thy objections by propofing |