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and therefore the event cannot have been the object of a certain and infallible prescience.

It has been argued, that our Lord prayed for Peter, which is perfectly correct; and he prayed that Peter's faith might not fail. Thus we see that our Lord's prediction, and his prayer, were in direct opposition to each other. If the prayer had succeeded, the prediction must have failed; but the prediction was verified, and therefore the prayer was unsuccessful. The prayer of our Lord demonstrates that the prediction could not have been absolute, and that the prescience which it implied could not have been certain; it proves the possibility of resistance on the part of Peter, and it equally proves that our Lord did most earnestly desire, that his predictions might operate as a seasonable and effectual warning, and that Peter might eventually escape the impending evil. The scripture narrative is as follows:

"Then said Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night. Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men should be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, that this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee." Matt. xxvi. 31-35. For my own part, every succeeding perusal of the foregoing history, serves but to strengthen in my mind the conviction, that our Lord's prediction of the fall of Peter, ought only to be regarded as a suasive and seasonable warning; and if that disciple had paid that attention to the premonition which his duty imperiously demanded, he would neither have forfeited his character or his peace.

After the Lord had interrogated Peter thrice on the sincerity of his love, he proceeded to say to him, “ Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast young, thou girdest thyself and walkedst whither thou wouldest; but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following. Peter seeing

him, saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me." John xxi. 18-22. I will now ask, whether any unprejudiced mind would ever think of deducing the doctrine of eternal prescience from the foregoing narration, in relation to the death of either Peter or John? It is evident on the face of the history, that the Lord had already determined that Peter should indeed drink of the cup which he would drink of, and endure the death of the cross: but whether the Lord had then actually determined that John should survive the destruction of Jerusalem, does not certainly appear; the issue is avowedly suspended on the will of the Redeemer, who did ultimately so determine. A certain prescience of the absolute purposes of the Deity, is a rational and intelligible subject; because the absolute purposes of God are supported by his infinite agency, and are recognised by his infinite intelligence: but an unoriginated prescience, and a certain prescience of contingent events, are contradictions as gross and palpable as were ever foisted upon the credulity of the human mind.

The prescience, and consequently the prediction, of the incorrigible obstinacy of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, are of precisely the same description as those which relate to the treachery of Judas, and the cowardice of Peter. It was the opinion, or judgment, of the Supreme Being upon a moral and contingent issue; it was indeed founded upon a perfect knowledge of the character and the heart of that wicked prince, and was the deliberate judgment of an infinite mind on the case, and therefore it must have possessed the very highest degree of probability that the prediction of a fortuitous issue could possibly contain; but after all, if the issue itself remained precarious, the prediction must have been, at least, as precarious as the issue which it foretold. So that when the Almighty said unto Moses, "I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand," (Ex. iii. 19.) he must have spoken these words to encourage Moses under the disappointments he was likely to meet with, and to assure him that notwithstanding the obstinacy of Pharaoh, the Lord would eventually deliver the people from the land of Egypt; but it

would not be possible to understand those words as implying an absolute certainty, without involving the most unscriptural, and unreasonable, and blasphemous consequences. If the issue had been inevitable, the conduct of the Deity, in the case of Pharaoh, must have been a solemn mockery, and the whole iniquity of that horrible affair, after all, must have belonged, in reality, to the eternal Jehovah, and not to the traduced and vilified king of Egypt. But every defender of the doctrine of eternal prescience does, in his conscience, believe that the issue was not morally inevitable, and that Pharaoh might possibly have yielded to the frequent solicitations of mercy, and might have escaped the destruction of the Red Sea. If, therefore, the issue was indeed precarious, the prediction could not have been absolute, nor could the anticipations of the Deity on that subject have been certain and infallible. In the natural government of the world, and in the distribution of rewards and punishments, the purposes of the Deity are absolute, and the agency of God is irresistable, and therefore his anticipations must be certain and infallible; but in the government of moral agents, his purposes are conditional, because his agency is only suasive, and is not irresistable, and therefore his anticipations of all moral issues, although they must be ranked among Divine probabilities, they cannot possibly have the nature of absolute and infallible certainties.

The prediction of the murder of Benhadad, king of Syria, by Hazael, and the cruelties of Hazael towards the people of Israel, present a case of the same description with the former. Perhaps the purpose of murdering Benhadad had been already formed, even before he stood before the prophet Elisha, and we are sure that the prophet spoke under the inspiration of that Being who was privy to the thoughts of Hazael's heart. And as to the cruelties which he afterwards practised upon the people of Israel, they were but the natural developements of his character, which was already well known to the Deity, and which is indeed rendered sufficiently conspicuous in the history of that affair. But if Hazael acted as a free agent in that part of his conduct which the prediction anticipated, and which is what I presume that no person will deny, then the issue predicted could

not have been inevitable, nor could the prescience which the Deity had of that issue be certain and infallible.

That there must be Divine probabilities as well as human probabilities, must be evident to every man who will reflect for a moment on the nature of the moral government of the world, and on the nature of a suasive agency exercised by the Deity on the human heart. The agency of God, in the government of moral and accountable creatures, is such as will comport with the freedom of human conduct, and with the contingency of a moral issue: and therefore, in relation to the moral government of the world, and to the moral actions of human beings, as well as to the final issue of human life, the agency and the knowledge of the Divine Governor of the world must be the same in their nature and the same in extent; where his agency is infallible, his knowledge must be certain; but where his agency is not invincible, his knowledge cannot possibly have the property of an infallible and absolute certainty.

The destruction of the temple involves the revocation of some of the most explicit promises and predictions of the Old Testament. "They that trust in the Lord, shall be as Mount Zion, that abideth for ever." Ps. cxxvi. 1. "For the Lord hath chosen Zion, he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell, for I have desired it." Ps. cxxxii. 13, 14. Why leap ye, ye high hills? This is the hill which God hath desired to dwell in; yea, the Lord will dwell in it for ever." Ps. lxviii. 16. And are such declarations concerning the habitation of God in Mount Zion, compatible with an eternal prescience of the events denounced in the following predictions? "And Jesus went out and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye all these things? Verily, I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." Matt. xxiv. 1, 2.

Our Lord's predictions concerning the future sufferings of his disciples for the sake of the Gospel, are premonitions, founded upon his knowledge of the wickedness of men, and especially the wickedness of that

generation, and a knowledge of their determined hosti. lity, and their implacable enmity to the cause of Christ. "But take heed unto yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten; and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them." Mark xiii. 9. These premonitions are, however, accompanied with the strongest assurances of Divine consolation and assistance in the hour of trial. "But when they shall lead you and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand, what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost." Mark. ix. 10.

And when the Lord forewarned his disciples that the hatred of the Jews to the Gospel, would break asunder every social bond, and dissolve every natural charity of the human heart, he did but anticipate the probable developement of those evil principles, which were already at work, and which had been rendered already so conspicuous. And hence, he said unto his disciples, " For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?" Luke xxiii. 32. If the fire of persecution be already hot enough to scorch and consume a living tree, covered with foliage and saturated with vital sap; what ravages will it be likely to make, when it comes to devour the severed branches, cut off from the sap and nourishment of the living trunk; and when their native moisture will be absorbed, and they will be ready to take fire by every spark? "Now the brother shall betray

the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall he hated of all men for my name's sake." Mark xiii. 12, 13. But are the foregoing predictions to be so understood, as to imply, that the Deity certainly and infallibly foreknew the persons and the names of all those persecutors and those sufferers of whom the Redeemer spoke? and that the issues which he foretold were absolutely certain, and that in relation to those very identified persons? On the hypothesis that such predictions were personal and direct predictions, and the issues which they anticipated the object of a personal, and certain, and eternal prescience; what practical or salutary purpose could the delivery of such

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