1. If man be not a free agent, all his actions must take place by a Divine decree, in force from all eternity. This is not confined to religious faith or moral conduct; but extends to every thought, word and deed; to private and domestic life, to his food and dress, his amusements and follies. Thus God would be the author of sin, and the sole actor in the world. This is too absurd to be imagined. But there is nothing absurd in supposing, that God created man free, and foresaw the use he would make of his liberty. This foreknowledge imposes no restraint on his actions. They do not take place, because they are foreseen: but it is foreseen, that they will take place. Prescience is merely an internal act of the mind, and can have no influence beyond it. It has no more effect on the future, than knowledge on the present, or memory on the past. What is foreseen, will come to pass certainly, but not necessarily; certainly, because the foreknowledge of God is infallible; but not of necessity, because it is the act of a free agent. If the man change his mind, God foresees, that he will change his mind. The prescience of God and the freedom of man are points, which philosophers find it equally difficult to deny and to reconcile: but thus far, I see no difficulty.

2. It is alleged, that on this supposition, the will of God is subject to the caprice of man: but

this is not true; for the will of God is, that man shall act freely, and he does so. There is no contrariety here. The decrees of God, as to the conduct of free agents, are all conditional, except when some special purpose is to be answered by controlling them. When God declared, that he would destroy Sodom and Nineveh, it was on a tacit condition. Sodom was consumed; Nineveh was spared. This rule is recorded by Jeremiah, xviii. 9. If there were no reservation implied, God would, in such cases, contradict himself; and as to the New Testament, it is manifest, that its exhortations, promises and mercies are all conditional; and that their efficacy depends on their being so.

*

3. Neither does the freedom of man detract from the glory of God; for it is his gift. It rather redounds to his power and wisdom, and also to his goodness, which he declares to be his glory. It required as much power at least, to create a free agent, as a necessary one; and more wisdom to guide the actions of voluntary beings to bring about the ultimate ends of Providence, than to employ necessary agents to execute their tasks: and surely there was more benevolence in leaving it in our power to obey the will of God, to love and serve our brethren, and to improve our own minds, and then graciously to accept

* Exod. xxxiii. 13.

of these services, than to select a few creatures, incapable of serving or pleasing him, for eternal life, and to destine the remainder, equally incapable of offending him, to eternal misery.

Such predestination as this involves the whole scheme of providence and redemption in inextricable confusion; and gives such a horrible representation of our heavenly Father, as robs him of that amiable title. It inflates the imaginary elect with Pharisaical pride, plunges the humble, diffident disciple into the horrors of distraction and despair, and deprives both of them of every incentive to improve in holiness, or abstain from vice. It even contradicts the principal doctrines of the same system; for how can atonement be made for mankind, or regeneration produced in the individual, if "the number of the elect can neither be increased nor diminished?" It limits the free grace of God, and extinguishes his mercy. If God made this arbitrary and secret distinction, how can we presume to offer "supplications for all men?" While ignorant of our own destination, how can we venture to give thanks for ourselves? How can the majority of men love God or Christ?

These arbitrary decrees are incompatible also with the office of an advocate, intercessor and Redeemer; for they refer every thing to the absolute and unconditional predetermination of the Father, and leave nothing for the Son to

perform. Accordingly, the author of this system was obliged to plead his cause against a charge of Arianism; and his opinions were early represented as of an Unitarian tendency.*

It is to be feared, that even this frightful doctrine is often exaggerated by the declamation of the pulpit, and the ravings of ignorant fanatics. But far be it from me to suppose, that their hearers are all subject to the natural effects of this delusion. Many, no doubt, are rendered supine, and others hardened in sin; and learn to repel the pious exhortations of their teachers by their own metaphysical arguments. But we know, that this is not the case with all: on the contrary, the most fervent piety, and assiduous benevolence, prevail among the votaries of these doctrines. The seed of the word is, no doubt, often choked by this thorny theology; but though men listen to such representations with pleasure, and maintain these principles with zeal, nature has fortified them against their influence, and revolts at their consequences.

Although Christian Churches too generally deny the efficacy of virtuous deeds in conciliating the favours of heaven, grossly misrepresent the nature of that service, which the Almighty requires from his rational creatures, or dazzle the minds of the people with splendid shows, and

* Mackenzie's Life of Calvin, p. 43.

puzzle them with metaphysical articles of faith; yet this great truth still forces its way, and appears, however faintly, in the creed of almost every society of believers. That virtue is the end of religion, and happiness, the final results of virtue, that faith is chiefly valuable as a motive to good works, and religious ordinances, as helps to an efficacious and operative faith, are truths so congenial to the human heart, that they cannot be smothered; so instinctive, that impostors have found it necessary to make them the basis of their impositions, so intimately interwoven with our best feelings, so intuitively discerned by our common sense, that those, who deny the value of good works, are found habitually practising them; and are every day detected in indiscriminate acts of charity and mercy. Bigots are better than their profession; gloriously belie their principles by their practice; and adopt those sentiments as the rule of their conduct, which they deny to be the rule of their faith. As those who have embraced the purest form of Christianity, often fall lamentbly and shamefully short of the perfection to which they pretend; so they are better than their professions; the milk of human nature correcting, particularly in the female sex, the harshness and acidity of their faith. The pure and elegant simplicity of evangelical morals mellows and expands the soul. The beauty of virtue transmits a ray