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with butter and honey, was not considered as morally endowed, until such time as age and understanding had matured his capacity into acquired ability of moral discernment. And with this strictly agrees, what Almighty God said unto the surly prophet, who pined for the destruction of human kind, viz. "Should not "I spare Ninevah, that great city, wherein are more "than six score thousand persons, that cannot discern "betwixt their right hand and their left, and also "much cattle?"

Amongst these undiscerning persons were probably some ideots; but the great body of them unquestionably were infant children. And these children, as well as the cattle were deemed deserving objects of divine compassion. If Jonah was in any wise tinctured with Hopkinsianism, he doubtless, must have ranked children not with mere agents, but with totally depraved moral agents. And consequently must have considered both parents and children as being each alike personally deserving of destruction. But happy it is for the infantile race of Adam, that however agreed the prophet Jonah and doctor Emmons may be in opinion, as to their moral character of deserts, yet, that Almighty God hath so graciously and unequivocally declared his most full dissent from both.

Further absurdities to be noted in my next.

LETTER XII,

SIR,

WERE any other man besides doctor Emmons to have asserted, that, "the scripture ascribes all the actions of men to God, as well as to themselves;" and were such person to maintain in the same sense as the doctor does, that the "hearts, and hands of Satan, and wicked men, are governed by God," he probably would forfeit forever his reputa tion both for veracity and understanding, in the esti mation of many, who now receive these tenets, as gospel truths, for no other reason, but merely because advanced by the man, to whose domination they have surrendered the exclusive right of judging upon these points.

That God so far governs the hearts and hands of wicked men and devils, as often to hold them in chains and fetters, so that they cannot commit all the wicked. ness, or practise all the mischief which they design, and which, if unrestrained, they would perform, are propositions which no sober minded and well informed person will doubt or deny. But that God excites and stimulates the hearts of devils and wicked men, to make them more wicked, and urges them on to prac tise all the wickedness which they do commit, is what the doctor himself believes, and is the belief which he endeavours to instil into the minds of his readers. With the horrible impiety of this vile tenet, I am not about to intermeddle. This must be accounted for

before the tribunal of that God, whose character is thereby impeached. But its monsterous absurdity, is what I would here more particularly notice. And in order that this absurdity may more distinctly appear, I will apply the doctor's notion of divine influence on the hearts of devils, as an explicative, to two particular scripture passages.

Passage First. "For this purpose the Son of God "was manifested that he might destroy the works of "the devil."

Passage Second. Jesus "arrived at the country of "the Gadarenes, where met him, out of the city, a "certain man who had devils a long time, and wear "no clothes; neither abode in any house but in the "tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell "down before him, and with a loud voice said, what "have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most "high? I beseech thee torment me not. And Jesus "asked him, saying, what is thy name? And he said "Legion, because many devils were entered into him. "And they besought him, that he would not com"mand them to go out into the deep. And there was "there an herd of many swine, feeding on the moun"tain; and the devils besought him, that he would "suffer them to enter into the swine. And he suffer"ed them. Then went the devils out of the man, "and entered into the swine: and the herd ran vio"lently down a steep place, into the lake, and were "choked."

In the former of these passages we learn from St. John, that Christ's errand into this world was to de-

stroy the devil's works. And in the latter passage,, the Evangelist Luke, presents Christ before us in the very act of fulfiling his important mission. But from doctor Emmons we learn, that the devils were but sub.. ordinate agents in the several works which they performed; for according to his doctrine, God governed the devil's hearts and hands by a positive exciting influence. On this plan therefore, deity and devils were co-workers together. And consequently, Christ by destroying the works of the devil, destroyed also the works of his Father. For he destroyed the works of this alliance of co-operation. And from the whole, as thus elucidated, we discover unity of purpose, voice, and action, amongst the devils themselves. Whilst collision and opposition of effort exist betwixt the Almighty Father, and the Son. For the many devils united into legion, act most perfectly together, and act only when acted upon. Divinely stimulated, they at first became devils. Under a similar excitement they combined into a legion, and so excited, entered into, and abode in the man. When Christ commanded them to come forth, the Father excited them to solicit permission to enter into the swine; and when permission was obtained, this governing divine stimulus was expelled with them: and with and in them, entered into the swine, and, as it before through the legion governed the demoniac, so now through the same medium it precipitated the demoniac herd, to rush headlong into immediate ruin.

But from this detestable tenet, permit me, sir, to call your attention to the doctor's newly invented key for unlocking scripture difficulties, viz. "When "Pharaoh is to be blamed, he is said to harden his "own heart; but when the divine sovereignty is to "be acknowledged, God is said to harden his heart. "So, again, when the guilt of the crucifiers of Christ "is mentioned, they are said to perpetrate the horrid "deed with wicked hands: but when the benevolent "design of the deity is exhibited, the hand, as well as "the counsel of God is said to be concerned therein. "If we carry this idea in our minds, we can easily "expound some passages, which have been often mis"understood, and misapplied. Amongst others, the "following texts, viz. Psalm CXLI, 4-Psalm cxix, "36-Isaiah LXIII, 17-Romans vi, 17-James 1, "13, 14, 15, 16, 17-and chapter 111, 14, 15, 16, "17. In these passages it is denied, that the bad ac❝tions of men may be ascribed to God, and equally "denied on the other side, that the good actions of "men may be ascribed to themselves: but yet it is "asserted in these same passages, that the agency of "God is concerned in disposing men both to good " and evil.” "Here is no difficulty, if we only allow "that there is a propriety sometimes, in ascribing the "actions of men wholly to themselves, and sometimes, "in ascribing their actions wholly to God." "This

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