"children," may not, and that fome do not, ultimately remain in that ftate of election and grace: that, in the language of her Liturgy, we who are God's people and inheritance, may have "his Holy Spirit taken from us :” or, as it is expreffed in her 16th Article, that "they who have received the Holy Ghost, "may depart from grace given, and fall into "fin," deadly fin, according to the context; with a poffibility indeed, but therefore without a certainty, of repenting and rifing again; and therefore with a poffibility also of perishing eternally: or, as her fentiments are more largely conveyed in her " Homily of falling "from God," that they "which are the cho"fen vineyard of God, may be no longer of "his kingdom, may be no longer governed "by his Holy Spirit, may be put from the grace and benefits that they had, and ever "might have enjoyed through Chrift; may "be deprived of the heavenly light and life, "which they had in Chrift, whilst they abode "in him; may be (as they were once) as men "without God in this world, or rather in "worse taking. And, in fhort, may be given "into the power of the Devil, which beareth "the rule in all them that be caft away from God, as he did in Saul and Judas: and may "be brought to fo vile a condition, that they 66 "fhall be left meet for no better purpose, than "to be for ever condemned in hell." And this we teach, because, among a multitude of other authorities, God has told us by the mouth of his Prophet Ezekiel, that "when a righteous man turneth away from his righ"teousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth ❝in them, for his iniquity that he hath done "fhall he die":" becaufe St. Peter exhorts the Chriftian converts to " give diligence to make "their calling and election fure:" because St. Paul admonishes the Corinthians, "let him "that thinketh he standeth, take heed left he "fall," and "befeeches them that they re"ceive not the grace of God in vain :" becaufe he affirms of perfons," who have once "been partakers of the Holy Ghost, that such 66 men may fo fall away, that it may be imit.may poffible to renew them again unto repent"ance" and because he defcribes himself as ftriving with the most refolute and indefatigable exertion, "left that by any means, when " he had preached to others, he himself should "be a cast-away i." 66 It is the Calvinistic doctrine, that all those, who are not in the number of the elect, are passed over, rejected, or reprobated by God; who has by an eternal and unalterable decree preordained, predeftinated and doomed them, before they were born, to certain and everlafting death, ruin, perdition and damnation ; for which he himself fits and prepares them ; to which they are devoted, not because he forefees their unworthinefs, but folely becaufe he wills it; and which, from the very hour of their birth, he hath made it impoffible for them to escape, and hath precluded and repels them from the means of efcaping *. Avoiding * Liquet Deum occulto confilio libere, quos vult, eligere, aliis rejectis. Inft. lib. iii. cap. xxi. fect. 7. -aliis damnatio æterna præordinatur. Ibid. fect. 5. Quos Deus præterit, reprobat. Ibid. cap. xxiii. fect. 1. dicimus, æterno et immutabili confilio Deum femel conftituiffe, quos olim femel vellet-exitio devovere. Ibid. cap. xxi. fect. 7. Alioqui dixiffet Paulus, reprobos fe dedere vel projicere in exitium. Nunc vero fignificat, antequam nafcantur, jam fuæ forti addictos effe. Comm. in Rom. ix. 23. Dubium non eft, quin utraque præparatio ab arcano Dei confilio pendeat. Ibid. Quia perditum Deus volebat, obftinatio cordis divina fuit ad ruinam præparatio. Inft. lib. ii. cap. iv. fect. 3. Falfum eft Deum, prout unumquemque gratia fua-indignum prævidet, ita-reprobare. Comm. in Rom. ix. 11. Dei nutu fieri-ut alii ab ejus aditu arceantur. Inft. lib. iii. cap. xxi. fect. 1. Confilio nutuque fuo ita ordinat, ut inter homines ita nafcantur, ab utero certæ morti devoti, qui fuo exitio ipfius nomen glorificent. Ibid. cap. xxiii. fect. 6. ticle) "this moft dangerous downfall, whereby" (as our Church expreffes herself in the 17th Ar"the Devil doth thruft curious and car"nal perfons, lacking the fpirit of Chrift, ei"ther into desperation, or into wretchleffness "of most unclean living, no lefs perilous than "defperation;" our doctrine is, in the language of our Liturgy and Homilies, that "God "willeth not the death of a finner, but that "he fhould rather turn from his fin and be "faved1;" and that, as the condemnation of every man, that shall perish," will have been 66 heaped upon himself by his own wickedness "and the ftubbornness of his heart; which 66 defpifed the goodness, patience, and long"fuffering of God, when he called him con❝tinually to repentance;" fo there is no man but by the grace of God he may escape and be faved through Chrift, provided he “take "heed betime, while the day of falvation last"eth; and abuse not the goodnefs of God, "who calleth us mercifully to amendment, "and of his endless pity promifeth us forgive"ness of that which is past, if with a perfect "and true heart we return unto him." And -quos damnationi addicit, his jufto quidem et irre. prehenfibili, fed incomprehenfibili, ipfius judicio vitæ adi tum præcludi. Inft. lib. iii. cap. xxiii. fect. 7. See the Commination Service, and the Second Part of the Sermon of Falling from God. this doctrine we fupport on the general promifes of Scripture, and on innumerable indivi dual paffages, which might be cited in support of its feveral parts; and more especially on the declaration in the Prophet Ezekiel, where they are all exprefsly afferted. "When the "wicked man turneth away from his wicked"nefs that he hath committed, and doeth "that which is lawful and right, he fall fave "his foul alive. I will judge you, O house of Ifrael, every one according to his ways, "faith the Lord God. Repent, and turn your"felves from all your tranfgreffions; fo iniqui66 ty shall not be your ruin. Caft away from 66 you all your tranfgreffions, whereby ye have "tranfgreffed; and make you a new heart "and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O "house of Ifrael? For I have no pleafure in "the death of him that dieth, faith the Lord "God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live yem." 66 It is not without extreme repugnance, that I can bring myself to credit my own statement, that fuch opinions as thofe, which have been juft afcribed to our affailants, could ever have been foberly maintained, as the declarations of the oracles of God. Yet that fuch opinions in their full extent, Ezek. xviii. 27, 30, 31, 32. |