That, when Mr. Wesley advanced his consequence, he neither “showed himself absolutely unacquainted with the first principles of reasoning," nor" offered up the knowledge he has, as a whole burnt sacrifice on the altar of malice, calumny, and falsehood." And, (2.) That, when Mr. Toplady's appeals to Scripture and reason are made fairly to stand upon their legs," they do his doctrine as little service as his limping arguments.

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SECTION IV.

An answer to the arguments by which Mr. Toplady endeavours to reconcile Calvinian reprobation with Divine JUSTICE.

We have seen how unhappily the translator of Zanchius has reconciled his doctrines of grace and absolute election with God's holiness : let us now see if he has been more successful in reconciling his doc. trines of wrath and absolute reprobation with Divine justice.

ARG. XVI. Page 35. "Justice consists in rendering to every man his due." Mr. Toplady gives us this narrow definition of justice to make way for this argument: God owes us no blessing, and therefore he may gratuitously give us an everlasting curse. He does not owe us heaven, and therefore he may justly appoint that eternal sin and damnation shall be our unavoidable portion. But is not a king unjust when he punishes an unavoidable fault with uninterrupted torture, as well as when he refuses to pay his just debts?

True,

ARG. XVII. (Ibid.) "God is not a debtor to any man." (strictly speaking;) but, (1.) Does not God owe to himself, to behave like himself, that is, like a gracious and just Creator toward every man? (2.) When God, by his promise, has engaged himself judicially to render to every man "according to his works," is it just in him to necessitate some men to work righteousness, and others to work iniquity, that he may reward the former, and punish the latter, according to arbitrary decrees of absolute election to life, and of absolute reprobation to death? And, (3.) Do not the sacred writers observe, that God has condescended to make himself a debtor to his creatures by his gracious promises? Did Mr. Toplady never read, "He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth to the Lord, and," look, "what he layeth out it shall be paid again?" Prov. xix, 17. When evangelical Paul hath "fought a good fight," does he not look for a crown from the "just Judge," and declare that "God is not unrighteous to forget our labour of love ;" and, "if we confess our sins," is not God bound by his justice, as well as by his faithfulness, "to forgive, and cleanse us?" 1 John i, 9.

ARG. XVIII. (Ibid.) "If it can be proved that he [God] owes salvation to every rational being he has made, then, and then only will it follow that God is unjust in not paying this debt of salvation to each, &c. What shadow of injustice can be fastened on his conduct for, in some cases, withholding what he does not owe?" This argument is introduced by Mr. Toplady in a variety of dresses. The flaw of it consists in supposing that there can be no medium between eternal salvation, and appointing to eternal damnation; and that, because God may absolutely elect as many of his creatures as he pleases to a crown of

glory, he may absolutely reprobate as many as Calvinism pleases to eternal sin and everlasting burnings. The absurdity of this conclusion will be discovered by the reader, if he look at it through the glass of the following illustrations:-Mr. Toplady is not obliged, by any rule of justice, to give Mr. Wesley a hundred pounds, because he owes him no money; and therefore Mr. T. may give Mr. Wesley a hundred gratuitous stripes, without breaking any rule of justice. The king may, without injustice, gratuitously give a thousand pounds to one man, ten thousand to another, a hundred to a third, and nothing to a fourth; and therefore the king may also, without injustice, gratuitously give a hundred stabs to one man, a thousand to another, and ten thousand to a third; or, he may necessitate them to offend, that he may hang and burn them with a show of justice.

ARG. XIX. Page 36. "I defy any man to show in what single respect the actual limitation of happiness itself is a jot more just and equitable (in a Being possessed of infinite power) than the decretive limitation of the persons who shall enjoy that happiness." The question is not whether God can justly limitate the happiness of man; or the number of the men, whom he will raise to such and such heights of happiness. This we never disputed; on the contrary, we assert with our Lord, that when God gives degrees of happiness, as a benefactor he may "do what he pleases with his own;" he may give five talents to one man, or to five thousand men ; and two talents to two men, or to two millions of men. Wherein then does the fallacy of Mr. Toplady's argument consist? In this most irrational and unjust conclusion: God may, without injustice, "limit the happiness" of his human creatures, and the number of those who shall enjoy such and such a degree of happiness; and therefore he may also, without injustice, absolutely reprobate as many of his unborn creatures as he pleases, and decree to protract their infernal torments to all eternity, after having first decreed their necessary fall into sin, and their necessary continuance in sin, as necessary means, in order to their necessary end, which is eternal damnation. Is not this an admirable Vindication of Calvin's Decrees? Who does not see that the conclusion has no more to do with the premises than the following argument -The lord chancellor may, without injustice, present Mr. T. to a living of fifty pounds, or to one of two hundred pounds, or he may reprobate Mr. T. from all the crown livings; and therefore the lord chancellor may, without injustice, sue Mr. T. for fifty pounds, or two hundred pounds, whenever he pleases. What name shall we give to the logic which deals in such arguments as these?

ARG. XX. Page 37. "He [man] derives his existence from God, and therefore [says Arminianism] God is bound to make his existence happy." I would rather say God is bound both by the rectitude of his nature, and by the promises of his Gospel, not to reprobate any man to remediless sin and eternal misery, till he has actually deserved such a dreadful reprobation, at least by one thought, which he was not absolutely predestinated to think. But Calvinism says that God absolutely reprobated a majority of men before they thought their first thought, or drew their first breath. If Mr. T. had stated the case in this plain manner, all his readers would have seen his doctrine of wrath without a veil, and would have shuddered at the sight.

VOL. II.

28

ARG. XXI. (Ibid.) "If God owe salvation to all his creatures as such, even the workers of iniquity will be saved, or God must cease to be just." I never heard any Arminian say that God owes salvation, that is, heavenly glory, to all his creatures, as such for then all horses, being God's creatures as well as men, would be taken to heaven. But we maintain that God will never mediately entail necessary, remediless sin upon any of his creatures, that he may infallibly punish them with eternal damnation. And we assert, if God had not graciously designed to replace all mankind in a state of initial salvation from sin and hell, according to the various dispensations of his redeeming grace, he would have punished Adam's personal sin by a personal damnation. Nor would he have suffered him to propagate his fallen race, unless the second Adam had extended the blessings of redemption so far as to save from eternal misery all who die in their infancy, and to put all who live long enough to act as moral agents, in a capacity of avoiding hell by "working out their own eternal salvation" in the day of their temporary salvation; a day this, which inconsistent Calvinists call "the day of grace."

Mr. Toplady, after decrying our doctrine of grace, as leading to gross iniquity, indirectly owns that the conditionality of the promise of eternal salvation guards our Gospel against the charge of Antinomianism,—a dreadful charge this, which falls so heavily on Calvinism. Conscious that he cannot defend his lawless, unconditional election to eternal life, and his wrathful, unconditional reprobation to eternal death, without taking the conditionality of eternal salvation out of the way, he attempts to do it by the following dilemma :—

ARG. XXII. Page 38. "Is salvation due to a man that does not perform those conditions? If you say, Yes; you jump, hand over head, into what you yourself call Antinomianism. If you say that salvation is not due to a man, unless he do fulfil the conditions, it will follow that man's own performances are meritorious of salvation, and bring God himself into debt."

We answer, 1. To show the tares of Calvinism, Mr. Toplady raises an artificial night by confounding the sparing salvation of the Father, the atoning salvation of the Son, the convincing, converting, and per fecting salvation of the Spirit. Yea, he confounds actual salvation from a thousand temporal evils; temporary salvation from death and hell; initial salvation from the guilt and power of sin; present salvation into the blessings of Christianity, Judaism, Heathenism; continued salvation into these blessings; eternal salvation from death and hell; and eternal salvation into glory and heaven: he confounds, I say, all these degrees of salvation, which is as absurd as if he confounded all degrees of life, the life of an embryo, of a sucking child, of a school boy, of a youth, of a man, of a departed saint, and of an angel. When he has thus shuffled his cards, and played the dangerous game of confusion, what wonder is it if he wins it, and makes his inattentive readers believe that what can be affirmed with truth of salvation into heavenly glory, must be true also when it is affirmed of salvation from everlasting burnings; and that because God does not owe heaven and angelical honours to unborn children, he may justly reprobate them to hell and to Satanical, remediless wickedness as the way to it.

2. Distinguishing what Mr. Toplady confounds, we do not scruple to maintain, that though God is not bound to give existence, much less heavenly glory, to any creature; yet all his creatures, who never personally offended him, have a right to expect at his hands salvation from everlasting fire, till they have deserved his eternal and absolute reprobation by committing some personal and avoidable offence. Hence it is, that all mankind are born in a state of inferior salvation: for they are all born out of eternal fire; and to be out of hell is a considerable degree of salvation, unless we are suffered to live unavoidably to deserve everlasting burnings, which is the case of all Calvin's imaginary reprobates.

3. Mr. Toplady "throws out a barrel for the amusement of the whale, to keep him in play, and make him lose sight of the ship"-the fire ship. For, in order to make us lose sight of absolute reprobation, remediless wickedness, and everlasting fire, which (if Calvinism be true) is the unavoidable lot of the greatest part of mankind even in their mother's womb; he throws out this ambiguous expression, "salvation due ;" just as if there were no medium between "salvation due," and Calvinian reprobation due! Whereas it is evident that there is the medium of non-crea tion, or that of destruction in a state of seminal existence!

4. The flaw of Mr. Toplady's argument will appear in its proper magnitude, if we look at it through the following illustration:-A whole regiment is led to the left by the colonel, whom the general wanted to turn to the right. The colonel, who is personally in the fault, is pardoned; and five hundred of the soldiers, who, by the overbearing influence of their colonel's disobedience, were necessitated to move to the left, are appointed to be hanged for not going to the right. The general sends to Geneva for a Tertullus, who vindicates the JUSTICE of the execution by the following speech:-"Preferment is not due to obedient soldiers, much less to soldiers who have necessarily disobeyed orders; and therefore your gracious general acts consistently with JUSTICE in appointing these five hundred soldiers to be hanged, for, as there is no medium between not promoting soldiers, and hanging them, he might justly have hanged the whole regiment. He is not bound, by any law, to give any soldier a captain's commission; and therefore he is perfectly just when he sends these military reprobates to the gallows." Some of the auditors clap Tertullus' argument: P. O. cries out, that it is "most masterly;" but a few of the soldiers are not quite convinced, and begin to question whether the holy service of the mild Saviour of the world is not preferable to the Antinomian service of the absolute reprobater of countless myriads of unborn infants.

5. The other flaw of Mr. Toplady's dilemma consists in supposing that Gospel worthiness is incompatible with the Gospel; whereas, all the doctrines of justice, which make one half of the Gospel, stand or fall with the doctrines of evangelical worthiness. We will shout it on the walls of mystic Geneva :-They that follow Christ shall "walk with him in white," rather than they that follow antichrist; "for they are [more] worthy. Watch and pray always, that you may be counted worthy to escape, and to stand rewardable before the Son of man. Whatever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, &c, knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance." For he will say,

in the great day of retribution, “Come, ye blessed, inherit the kingdom, &c; for I was hungry, and ye gave me meat, &c. Go, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, &c; for I was hungry, and ye gave me no meat," &c. The doctrine of Pharisaic merit we abhor; but the doctrine of reward. able obedience we honour, defend, and extol. Believers, let not Mr. Toplady "beguile you of your reward through voluntary humility. If ye live after the flesh ye shall die: but if ye, through the Spirit, mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For we shall all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in the body, accord. ing to what he has done, whether it be good or bad." Look to yourselves, that ye lose not the things which ye have wrought. So fight, that you may not be reprobated by remunerative justice. "So run, that you may [judicially] obtain an incorruptible crown. Remember Lot's wife. By patient continuance in well doing seek for glory;" and God, according to his gracious promises, will "render you eternal life: for he is not" untrue to break his evangelical promises, nor "unrighteous to for get your work that proceedeth from love." Your persevering obedience shall be graciously rewarded by "a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give you at that day; and then great shall be your reward in heaven." For Christ himself hath said, "Be faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life. My sheep follow me, and I will give unto them eternal life" in glory. For I am "the author of eternal salvation to them that obey me." What can be plainer than this Gospel? Shall the absurd cries of popery! merit! &c, make us ashamed of Christ's disciples; of Christ's words, and of Christ himself? God forbid! Let the Scriptures-"let God be true," though Mr. Toplady should be mistaken.

ARG. XXIII. Page 38. "If he [God] be not obliged, in justice, to save mankind, then neither is he unjust in passing by some men; nay, he might, had he so pleased, have passed by the whole of mankind, without electing any one individual of the fallen race; and yet have continued holy, just, and good."

True: he might have passed them by without fixing any blot upon his justice and goodness, if, by passing them by, Mr. T. means "leaving them in the wretched state of seminal existence," in which state his vindictive justice found them after Adam's fall. For then an unknown punishment, seminally endured, would have borne a just proportion to an unknown sin, seminally committed. But if, by passing some men by, this gentleman means, as Calvinism does, "absolutely predestinating some men to necessary, remediless sin, and to unavoidable, eternal damna. tion;" we deny that God might justly have passed by the whole of mankind; we deny that he might justly have passed by one single man, woman, or child. Nay, we affirm that if we conceive Satan, or the evil principle of Manes, as exerting creative power, we could not conceive him worse employed, than in forming an absolute reprobate in embryo; that is, "a creature unconditionally and absolutely doomed to remediless wickedness and everlasting fire."

As the simple are frequently imposed upon by an artful substituting of the harmless word, "passing by," for the terrible word," absolutely reprobating to death," I beg leave to show, by a simile, the vast differ.