SECTION VII.-The rest of mankind, God was pleased, according to the unsearchable counsel of his own will, whereby he extendeth or withholdeth mercy as he pleaseth, for the glory of his sovereign power over his creatures, to pass by and to ordain them to dishonor and wrath for their sin, to the praise of his glorious justice.

Matt. xi. 25. At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Ver. 26.--Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. Rom. ix. 17-For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Verse 18.Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Verse 21.-Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour? Verse 22. What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endureth with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction. 2 Tim. ii. 19.-Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. And let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. Verse 20. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honour and some to dishonour. Jude, verse 4. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Peter ii. 8. And a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed.

The terrific representation which this article exhibits, of the moral character and government of the supreme Jehovah, appears to me totally inconsistent with the description Scripture gives of Him, as "the God and Father of all;" that Lord "who is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger, and of great mercy; who is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works;" "who so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life; for God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved."2 This inconsistency I have endeavoured, in the preceding Work to exhibit, with what success the reader must decide; it only remains to consider the Scripture proofs which the most learned and most zealous defenders of this system have here brought forward to support this depressing tenet.

Certainly the quotation from Matt. xi. 25 and 26, does not appear a clear proof. Many preceding passages in this discourse of our Lord, indicate the connexion between the conversion of men to Christianity, and the voluntary attention which they yield to its evidence and to its preachers. Thus the question put by the two disciples sent from John the Baptist, "Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?" Our Lord answers, by stating his stupendous miracles, as abundant proof of his being the Messias, and from all, impresses this inference, "Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. 33 Surely this indicates that their being offended or not offended, to a certain degree depended on men's seriously attending to these miracles, and was imputable to their own free choice-not fixed by a predestinating decree.

1 Psalm exly. 8, 9. Vid. supra Discourse III. on this Text, p. 204.

2 John iii. 16, 17. Vid. supra Discourse IV. on this Text, p. 216. 3 Matt. xi. 3, 6

Thus, also, on exposing the inconsistency of those who rejected John the Baptist, because he appeared in an austere character, and equally rejecting our Lord, though appearing in a mild and social one, he adds-"but wisdom is justified of her children," or as it has been well paraphrased, "when the perverseness of men has done its utmost, in aspersing the preachers of true religion, wisdom and virtue will still vindicate themselves, and the methods of Divine Providence, in its several dispensations of mercy to mankind, will finally appear to be wise and good, in the destruction of the proud and obstinate, and the salvation of the humble and teachable." The same dependence of faith on our voluntary attention, not merely on a predestinating decree, is still more clearly indicated by our Lord's closing statement of John the Baptist's real character-" From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force;" i. e. those who by earnest attention to the doctrine, readiness to embrace, and zeal to obey it, contend, as it were, to seize upon it, they shall succeed. Does this lead us to believe that men are wholly passive in their reception of the Gospel, to which they are predestined, without any regard to their foreseen faith or obedience? Again, our Lord adds, "If ye will receive it, this is Elias which was for to come; he that hath ears to hear let him hear." Does this indicate that their hearing or not hearing was to depend not at all on their own choice, but was fixed by an eternal absolute decree? He then proceeds to "upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not." Now if their non-repentance was eternally decreed, was this upbraiding to be looked for? Indeed, it was before remarked, (vide supra p. 179) that the principle on which it was founded is utterly repugnant to the system of absolute predestination. Would not all this lead us to assign to our Lord's very next words, a decidedly contrary purpose?" At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes; even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." Now here we naturally ask, whom does our Lord mean by the wise and prudent? I presume, men distinguished by, and confiding in, their learning and talents-and by babes, persons humble and teachable, but yet ignorant, and entirely dependent for religious knowledge on revealed instruction. This circumstance in the divine economy, but briefly noticed by our Lord, seems fully illustrated by St. Paul, in 1 Cor. i. 17 to 31, in which the apostle explains why God did not select the wise and prudent, i. e. those who were celebrated for human wisdom and philosophy, or for natural sagacity and genius, as the preachers of his gospel : "Christ (says he) sent me to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect: for the preaching of the cross is, to them that perish, foolishness, but to us who are saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent; where is the wise, where is the Scribe, where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? for after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God, by the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe." Now if these passages have a meaning corresponding to the quotation from St. Matthew, then our Lord's expression cannot have any reference to election or reprobation in a future world, for the entire statement of St. Paul evidently refers to the divine economy in preaching the Gospel on earth, so as most clearly to illustrate its heavenly original, as being opposite, in the modes of its establishment, to the prejudices and expectations of men, and unsupported by any methods in which human agency could claim such share, as would give reason to suspect the success of the Gospel depended on mere human exertion. For, (adds St. Paul,) the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness, but to them who are called” (i. e. invited into the church of God, and on listening to, and complying with the call, received as Christians,) "both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the

1 Matt. xi. 19.

66

2 Matt. xi, 12, 13, 14.

wisdom of God. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are the instruments employed in this calling, or persons who have answered it; but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; that no flesh should glory in his presence;" or, as he has in the very next chapter expressed the same idea, where he speaks of his own preaching, and declares, "Brethren, when I came to you, I came not with excellency of speech or wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God, for I determined not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified; and I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling, and my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." (And why?) "That your faith should not stand" (that is, be clearly seen not to have been established) "in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." This then was the principle which the declaration and the example of the apostle establishes, and which our divine Lord, by his prayer to his heavenly Father, ardently avows, and concurs in; neither the one nor the other, had any reference to the doctrine of absolute predestination, excluding from grace and salvation, by an eternal decree, all but the elect.

It is, indeed, most strange, that our Lord should have been thought to have had such an exclusive idea in his heavenly mind, when he instantly proceeds, first, to avow his universal power as Lord of all, when he says "all things are delivered unto me of my Father," and that from Him alone could be derived that knowledge which is necessary to salvation; adding, "and no man knoweth the Son but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father but the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." Does he after this, declare that he will employ that power and diffuse that knowledge only for the elect, excluding all the remaining myriads of mankind? No; his gracious invitation is unlimited and all-merciful-" Come unto me, ALL YE that travail and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest; take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Is this language consonant to the predestinarian doctrine, which declares that the merciful Saviour contemplates the great mass of mankind loaded with the burden of their sins, which yet he has from himself resolved they shall bear to all eternity, without offering the smallest aid to relieve them-the smallest hope that they can by any possibility find rest unto their souls. Oh! how deeply to be lamented, that serious and pious men should thus be blinded by a pre-conceived system, so as not to see and rejoice in the beams of divine mercy, which emanate from Jesus the Son of God, who is "the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person, full of grace and truth." How gloomy and dejecting is this system of reprobation when contrasted with that Gospel which, as the angelic host proclaimed, was fraught "with glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men !"

I now proceed to the other scriptural proofs here adduced, to support the doctrine of absolute reprobation, reserving the case of Pharaoh, and the passages connected with it, for the last.

The quotation from 2 Tim. ii. 19, 20, has been already considered in the comment on the scriptural proofs of Article IV. vide this Appendix, supra p. 56. There remains the passage from Jude, verse 4, in which we find the words "certain men have crept in unawares, ordained to this condemnation,”—and 1 Peter ii. 8. Men who stumble at the word, being disobedient whereunto also they were appointed. The proof of the doctrine of absolute reprobation, derived from these passages, rests entirely on the force of the words ordained and appointed, and implies this assertion, that God has from eternity ordained and appointed the individuals designated by the apostles, to the perpetration of those crimes, which was to be followed by condeinnation, i. e. God is represented as ordaining the persons spoken of by St. Jude, to be

1 In the original is an ellipsis, which our translation fills up with the words, are called. Whitby -are called by, or made use of to propagate the Gospel.

21 Cor. ii. 1-5.

3 Matt. xi. 27-30.

ungodly, to be men turning the grace of God into lasciviousness, and to deny the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ, and being before (i. e. before they were born,) of old, i. e. from all eternity so ordained, that is, predestinated to this guilt, which it was therefore impossible they should avoid, they were of consequence ordained, i. e. predestinated to condemnation. And in St. Peter, that the men who stumbled at the word, being appointed, i. e. predestinated from eternity so to stumble, and to be thus disobedient, which therefore they could not avoid, must in consequence irretrievably perish, according to the previous decree and effectual working of God's secret will.

Surely it requires strong proof to establish this procedure as part of the moral government of God.

Now, with respect to St. Peter, the words plainly bear this sense-to you that believe, belongs (ʼn run) the honour of being built upon that corner-stone, which the builders rejected, into a spiritual house; but to them that are disobedient, belongs the prophecy concerning those who reject that corner-stone; a prophecy which our Lord himself has explained, when he declares to the unbelieving Scribes and Pharisees, "Therefore I say unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof, and whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder." In this sense the passage of St. Paul is exactly parallel to our Lord's declaration, and must be understood, "to them who refused him he is a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them that stumble at the word, being disobedient, Eis o xai stinsav, for which also these stones were laid, or put, the corner-stone for the building up of believers, the stone of stumbling for the disobedient to stumble at." Thus the expected Messias, considered as bearing opposite relations to those who received him in a contrary manner, represents, as it were, two different objects; to believers he is a corner stone, elect and precious; to unbelievers, "who seek for righteousness, not by faith, but by the works of the law," Rom. ix. 33, he is a stumbling stone and rock of offence; and thus we see the harmony, not only between the statements of our Lord and of St. Peter, but also between both, and the words in which Simeon describes the effect of our Lord's appearance, on different classes of men: "Behold, this child is set for the falling and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be spoken against, that the thoughts (dia20ysuo the reasonings or opposite modes in which truth is received), of many hearts may be revealed." From this union of the different passages of Scripture, relating thus to one and the same object, it clearly appears that no one of them gives any sanction to the doctrine of irrespective reprobation, but all refer to, and illustrate that equitable arrangement, conspicuous in the divine economy by which the manner in which men receive and employ the means of salvation, influences their efficacy on themselves, and promotes or destroys their eternal happiness.

If it be insisted that the words " they were appointed," must be applied to the men who stumble, who were appointed, or rather placed so as to stumble, let it be recollected that it was because they were unbelievers and disobedient; this they were, not by a previous divine decree, but by their own choice; but it was appointed that all thus disposed should "be broken on that stumbling stone;" and certainly it seems not at all extraordinary, that THEY, i. e. the disobedient, should be thus permitted to stumble, but that this punishment should be a part of the divine economy to manifest by their stumbling their wickedness, and thus, by their rejection of Christ, justify God's rejection of them, the justice of which would not have been so manifest, had they, without being detected, acted the part of hypocrites; particularly in the case of casting off the Jews, his chosen and favoured people, it was essential that the Gentiles should perceive the justice of God's dealings on their first introduction into Christ's church-thus it was appointed, that on the first preaching of the Gospel there should be a marked line drawn between believers and hypocrites, and thus Christ was to be like the "fuller's soap," and the "refiner's fire ;" thus was he to come, "with his fan in his hand, and thoroughly to purge his floor." Thence Judas, after his task was

done, shewed" that he was the son of perdition," and "went openly to his own place;" thence Ananias and Sapphira were so fearfully visited, that "great fear came upon the whole church, and upon as many as heard those things; and believers (not pretenders,) were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women; but of the rest, (who were not believers,) durst no man join himself to them, as Ananias and Sapphira had hypocritically done For the same reason, (says John of the antichrists of that day)—they went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us." 1 John ii. 19. I see nothing, therefore, extraordinary in God's thus appointing that the disobedient and unbelieving should stumble at Christ, and thus exhibit his justice in their being broken to pieces. Jude 4. The words in the original, adduced to support the doctrine of absolute predestination, are, « Certain men have crept in unawares, οι Παλαι Προγεγραμμένοι SIG TOUTO TO xgiμa, literally, men of old prophesied of, as to this condemnation ; "ungodly men, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness, and denying the Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." Now, let me ask, would this passage, so translated, sanction the inference that the persons here spoken of were, by an eternal decree of God, predestinated necessarily to commit the crimes, and necessarily acquire the character here given them? Or does it not plainly mean no more, than that it was prophesied that men committing such crimes and deserving such a character, and therefore subject to such condemnation, should creep into the church? Now that this is the real meaning of the apostle, is most certain from the whole tenor of this epistle, which had for its object to exhort, and warn, and stimulate, those who were "the sanctified in God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called (into his true church and true faith), TO CONTEND for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints”—and as he affectionately concludes, “But my beloved, REMEMBER ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts; these be they who separate themselves, sensual, not having the Spirit. But ye beloved, BUILDING YOURSELVES UP on your most holy faith, PRAYING in the Holy Ghost, KEEP YOURSELVES in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, unto eternal life."

Now the words I have marked-to contend, to remember, to build themselves up, to pray, to keep themselves, do not all these establish a doctrine and feeling utterly opposite to that of irrespective election, finished salvation, indefectible perseverance, as belonging to the sanctified?

But what is perhaps still more decisive, the apostle indicates that those who were apparently some of those whom he had stigmatised as "ungodly men," were not yet all entirely irretrievable and hopeless,—no, he exhorts that efforts should be made for their conversion and salvation-efforts which he encourages, as hoping they would not be totally useless-" of some have compassion, making a difference, and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire-hating even the garment spotted by the flesh;" that is, those who have incautiously, rather than deliberately, yielded to seduction, and fallen into guilt, compassionate and labour to save with earnest and affectionate remonstrance, as in sorrow, rather than in anger, making a difference between them and others more perverse and depraved. Yet even these strive, if possible, to save; urging on them vehemently, the terrors of the Lord, and, as it were, violently pulling them out of the fire of God's wrath; yet do this with caution, lest on approaching and communing with them, you should be infected and polluted as with an unclean thing. Let me ask every serious and pious christian, does not all this utterly subvert the doctrine, and condemn the feeling which imputes to the God of mercy an absolute decree of irrespective reprobation, condemning men before they were born, or have done any good or evil, to unavoidable guilt, and hopeless eternal misery.

I shall now proceed to consider the eighth and ninth chapters of the epistle to the Romans, and the example of Esau, Jacob, and of Pharaoh included in them. I have indeed, considered all these in the preceding work, from p. 229 to p. 235-and also

1 Jude 1, 2, 3, and from v 17 to the end.