"contradictory wills in God," faid the wife Melan&thon; for, for this very cause the "word of the Gospel has been delivered, that "it may fhow the true and uncounterfeited ❝ will of God." "Let us not pretend that "there are contradictory wills in God," repeatedly deprecating the propagation of fo grievous an error; "for God is true; not at "variance with his own wisdom, and with the "word, which he has uttered and establish"ed "." If the very heathen condemned the man, who could fpeak one thing and mean another, as no lefs hateful than the gates of refipifcunt, repudiat; quin potius fine exceptione omnibus ignofcit: fed interea non obftat hæc Dei voluntas, quam in verbo fuo proponit, quin decreverit ante creatum mundum, quid facturus effet de fingulis hominibus, &c. Calv. in Ezech. xviii. 23. m Sciamus de voluntate Dei ex verbo revelato ftatuendum effe; nec fingendas effe contradictorias voluntates in Deo. Hanc ipfam ob caufam vox evangelii tradita eft, ut oftendat voluntatem Dei veram et non fimulatam. Melancth. Comm. in Rom. ix. Op. vol. iv. p. 160. Tertia admonitio, cum dictum fit, neceffario judicandum effe de voluntate Dei ex verbo ab ipfo tradito non ex imaginationibus humanis, tenenda eft etiam hæc regula; Non effe ponendas contradictorias voluntates in Deo, quia Deus verax eft. Ibid. Nec fingendæ funt in Deo contradictoriæ voluntates, quia Deus eft verax; non diffentiens a fua fapientia, et a verbo quod edidit et fanxit. Ejufd. de Caufa Peccati, vol. ii. p. 238. hell', with what decency can we afcribe fuch duplicity to the King of heaven, “all whose "works and his counfels of old are faithfulness " and truth?" It was the pious and prudent advice of one of our most estimable Bishops to his Clergy," In all your fermons and dif"courfes fpeak nothing of God but what is honourable and glorious; and impute not to "him fuch things, the confequences of which "a wife and good man will not own. Never "suppose him to be the author of fin, or the procurer of our damnation. For God can"not be tempted, neither tempeth he any man. "God is true, and every man a liarh." 66 6. Again; It is one of the firft principles of religion, and it is ftated exprefsly by an Apoftle, and recognized throughout the Bible, as a primary article of faith, that "God is the ❝rewarder of them who diligently feek him." But according to the fyftem of Calvin, his rewards are irrefpective: and whatever be the diligence or floth with which he is fought, and whether he be fought or not, they are determined by an everlasting decree, as un " Εχθρος γαρ μοι κεινος, όμως αίδαο πυλησιν, Ὃς χ ̓ ἕτερον μεν κευθει ενι φρεσιν, αλλο δε βαζει. Dan. iv. 37. If. xxv. 1. Hom. Il. ix. S12. Bp. Jer. Taylor. See Enchir. Theolog. vol. ii. p. 274. 66 66 66 alterable, as it is unconditional. To talk of "men's gradually working out their own falvation, by their own honeft endeavours and through the ordinary affiftance of God's grace, with a humble reliance on the merits "of Chrift," is farcaftically described as 66 our "common divinity." "To call on men to do "fo and fo, to keep themselves in a juftified "ftate," is derided as "forry divinity'." Electing love is that, which "alone makes believers "differ from the reft of their brethren":""no "demerit on their part can arife to defeat the operation of God's grace":""no unlovely backflidings can deprive them of it":" and as to finners, although "the whole life be "spent in hardness and impenitency," yet, if they be in the number of the elect, 66 66 "divine grace fhall gloriously triumph in their con" verfion, in their dying moments ":" "no "duties, no obligations are required of them; 66 no terms, no conditions; neither ifs nor "buts; they shall come; and if they them"felves will not, the Lord will make them willing in the day of his power." 46 Whitefield's Works, vol. iv. p. 152. 1 Ibid. vol. i. p. 299. Ibid. vol. vi. p. 138. • Hawker's Zion's Pilgrim, p. 60. Hawker's Prop against Despair, p. 16. 7. Again; It is one of his fcriptural properties, that he is a God, "who heareth the prayer;" who " giveth to every one that "afketh;" who "giveth his Holy Spirit, and "with him all good things, to them that afk " in his Son's name';" and who "giveth not 66 to them that afk not." And therefore our Church exhorts us to "confefs our fins to Almighty God, with an humble, lowly, pe"nitent and obedient heart, to the end that "we may obtain forgiveness of the fame, by "his infinite goodness and mercy." "If I "fhould go through all the ftories, which' "fhow us the efficacy of prayer," fays the venerable Bishop Latimer, after citing fome memorable examples, "I fhould never have "done; for no doubt faithful prayer faileth "never it hath remedied all matters. For it brought to pass, that when God would deftroy the Ifraelites, he could not, because of "Mofes's prayer: Mofes let God of his pur 66 pofe. And no doubt God loveth to be "letted: for God loveth not to punish or "deftroy the people; and therefore by a pro 66 phet God complaineth, that there was not "found a good man, which might fet himself "as a strong wall before the people; that is to fay, which was fo earnest in prayer, that 66 Pf. lxv. 2. Luke xi. 9. Matt. vii. 11. Luke xi. 13. "God could not punish the people." But on the Calvinistic hypothefis, all prayer is vain' and ineffectual. 66 Thy prayers," it is affirmed, "however frequent or fervent, do not influ 66 ence the Lord to elect and choose thee to "falvation"." The elect need not folieit that, which is theirs by an irreversible law of Omnipotence; nay, it is as abfurd to pray or intercede for that which God hath abfolutely decreed from all eternity fhall come to pafs, as to pray and intercede, that the world may not be drowned again; or that Chrift may come to judgment or be the Judge of the quick and dead; or that the bodies of the faints may arife; or for any other thing which fhall infallibly come to pass by virtue of God's abfolute decree from all eternity. Whilft, as to the reprobate, that I may adopt the expreffive language of the Poet, Prayer againft his abfolute decree No more avails, than breath against the wind, It is argued indeed, in reply to this objection, that "prayer is the duty of all without exception. Every created being (whether 66 * Latimer's Sermons, vol. ii. p. 540. Paradife Loft, book xi. line 311. |