"works in the hearts of men to incline their "wills whitherfoever he will, whether it be "to good or to evil"?" Surely whatever glofs the fupporters of thefe pofitions may attempt to put upon their deformity, when we connect them with the refolution of every thing into the "certain, immutable, and most efficacious "will of God," and with the position, "that "whatever comes to pafs, comes to pafs by "virtue of the abfolute omnipotent will of "God, which is the primary and fupreme "cause of all things;" to affirm, that God willeth the being and commiffion of fin, is to affirm that his will, his certain, immutable, and moft efficacious will, his abfolute and omnipotent will, is the primary and fupreme cause of it. Shall I be called upon to difprove such pofitions; and to fhow, how God can be omnipotent, if fin be not the refult of his will? I anfwer, that fuch inquiries are much better shut up in the general declarations of Scripture, which teach us, that "God tempteth not any "man," that "he is not a God that hath plea"fure in wickednefs"," and that "this is the "will of God, even our fanctification ;" and in " De Grat. et lib. Arb. cap. xxi. 1 Theff. iv. 3. * Enchir. c. xxvii, z Pf. v. 4. 66 thofe general reprefentations, which refer us no farther for the caufe of fin, than to the feductions of our fpiritual enemy, and to the depraved appetites of our own finful nature. For, as to that paffage in Ifaiah, (and if there be any others of the fame tendency,) "I make peace and create evil; I the Lord do all "these things;" that is a wife and pious diftinction, which Melanthon infifts upon, between fin and the punishment of fin; rightly maintaining, that it is of the latter that the Prophet (peaks, for that he afcribes, not moral evil, but penal fufferings to the creation of God, who ordained them in righteous vengeance for the fins of his people". If. xlv. 7. See Toplady, p. 60. < Amos iii. Non eft malum in civitate, quod non fecit Dominus. Hujufmodi dicta cumulantur ab iis, qui vociferantur, Deum effe caufam peccati. Hic autem nota fit omnibus vetus et neceffaria diftinctio. Differunt peccatum et pæna. Ac ufitate peccatum nominatur malum culpæ, quod eft averfio a Deo et odium Dei, quod nequaquam vult Deus, et nequaquam efficit. Sed pænæ funt deftructiones rerum aut corporum, ut incendia, diluvia, morbi, fames; aut in anima pavor aut dolor, horribiliter puniens eam talis pæna eft opus juftitiæ Dei, et nominatur malum pænæ: fæpe igitur Prophetæ fic loquuntur, Deum hæc mala efficere, id eft, has pænas velle ordine juftitiæ. Sic Jerem. inquit in Threnis, cap. iii. Quis dixit, ex ore altiffimi nec bona nec mala veniunt. Ubi objurgat Epicureos, qui fomuiant, res fecundas et adverfas cafu accidere. Sic et apud Jefa. cap. xlv. Ego Deus fa In the mean time, that thefe doctrines of Calvinifm are effentially different from those of the fatalifts of old, which Juftin Martyr reprefents as diametrically oppofite to fuch as were taught by the Apoftles and embraced by the primitive Church, it is for their abettors, if poffible, to prove; and to exonerate themfelves from the charge alleged against the patrons of neceffity by Eufebius, that "their "opinions abfolve finners from guilt, as doing "nothing of their own accords which is evil, "and would caft all the blame of all the wick"edness committed in the world upon God "and upon his providence; whether he him"felf impel them to wickedness against their ❝will, or order matters fo that they be con"strained to do it by fome other caufe." ciens pacem et creans malum, de rebus fecundis et pænis intelligatur. De Caufa Peccati, Op. vol. ii. p. 239. 4 Ούτω γαρ ήμεις την εκπυρωσιν φαμεν γενήσεσθαι, αλλ' εχ' ὡς οἱ Στωικοι κατα τον της εις αλληλα παντων μεταβολης λογον· ὁ αισχιςον εφάνη αλλ' εδε καθ' είμαρμένην πραττειν της ανθρωπος η πάσχειν τα γινόμενα, αλλα κατα μεν προαίρεσιν έκαςον κατορθών n άuaprave. Juft. Mart. Apol. i. Op. p. 45. edit. Par. 1615. • Είτ' εν αυτός καθ' ἑαυτον, ειτ' εν παλιν αυτός δια τινος άλλης προς αυτού μεμηχανημένης ανάγκης, τους εκ εθέλοντας τοις δε τοις κακοις περιβαλλοι, αυτός αν είη, και εκ αλλος, ὁ παντων κάκων ποιητικός και εκ ετ' αν εν δίκη ἡμαρτηκως λεγοιτ' αν ὁ ἄνθρωπος, αλλ' ὁ τότε ποιητης θεός. και τις αν τότε γενοιτ' αν ἑτερος λόγων aσebesatos; Eufebii Præp. Evang. lib. vi. c. 6. p. 251. Par. ασεβέςατος 4. Again; He is a God of wisdom: when "he founded the earth and established the hea"vens," wisdom was his companion and his delight, the partner of his councils, and the infeparable affeffor of the everlafting throne. But much as the Calvinift would attribute to the divine Omnifcience, he circumfcribes it within the limits of certain fancied decrees. "He foreknew," fays Auftin, "because he "predeftinated":" "He therefore foreknows "the end of man," fays Calvin, Calvin," because he "has ordained and decreed ith." Nor can he discover any method for promoting God's honour more fuitable to his wifdom, than that of pretending to impofe laws upon his creatures, whom he has previously difabled from obeying them; of treating men in the work of redemption as mere machines, whom he had created free and reasonable agents; and of appointing, by an abfolute and irrevocable decree, that thofe things, which he most hates and abhors, fhould be most practifed, and that those, which he most loves and approves of, should be omitted. f Prov. iii. 19. viii. 22-30. 9 Hoc eft ergo prædeftinavit: fine dubio enim præfcivit, fi prædeftinavit. Auguft. de Dono Perfev. cap. xviii. Inficiari nemo poterit, quin præfciverit Deus quem exitum habiturus effet homo, antequam ipfum conderet; et ideo præfciverit, quia decreto fuo fic ordinarat. Culo. Inft. III. xxiii. 7. 5. Again; He is "a God of truth." He is not a man that he fhould lie; and falfehood is the object of his hatred and difguft. "Faith"ful in his promises," faith St. Clement, "and juft in his judgments, he who hath com"manded men not to lie, much less fhall he "be a liar himfelf; for nothing, but a lie, "is impoffible with God." But where, we humbly afk, is his truth, if, as will presently be more fully argued, his covenant be broken, and his promises rendered null? Where is his truth, if it be properly attributed to him by Calvin, that "God hath two wills, the one "outward and revealed, whereby he most tenderly invites finners to his grace, and "moft graciously calls them to repentance, "feeming as though he were earnestly defir66 ous of their falvation; whereas his other "will is inward and fecret, which is irrefifti❝ble, and takes effect infallibly; and by this "he brings men through ways unavoidable "to an estate and course of fin here, and then "to eternal damnation and punishment here"after1?" "Let us not pretend that there are iDeut. xxxii. 4. * Ταυτη εν τη ελπιδι προσδεδέσθωσαν αἱ ψυχαι ἡμων τῳ πιςῳ εν ταις επαγγελίαις, και τῷ δικαίῳ εν τοις κριμασιν. Ὁ παραγίειλας μη ψευδεσθαι πολλῳ μαλλον αυτός ο ψεύσεται. Ουδεν γαρ αδυνατον τῷ Θεῷ, ει μη το ψεύσασθαι. Epift. i. ad Cor. cap. τω ! Hoc verum eft, quia neminem ex peccatoribus, qui |