reason why I should forget the title of my book, which calls me to point out the bad arguments of our opponents, and not their ill humour. If I absurdly spent my time in passing a censure upon Mr. Toplady's spirit, he would with reason say, as he does in the Introduction to his Historic Proof, page 35, "After all, what has my pride or my humility to do with the argument in hand? Whether I am haughty or meek is of no more consequence either to that, or to the public, than whether I am tall or short.", Besides, having again and again, myself, requested our opponents not to withdraw the controversy by personal reflections, but to weigh with candour the arguments which are offered, I should be inexcusable if I did not set them the example. Should it be said, that Mr. Wesley's character, which Mr. Toplady has so severely attacked is at stake, and that I ought purposely to stand up in his defence:* I reply, that the personal charges which Mr. Toplady interweaves with his arguments, have been already fully answered by Mr. Olivers; and that these charges being chiefly founded upon Mr. Toplady's logical mistakes, they will, of their own accord, fall to the ground, as soon as the mistakes on which they rest shall be exposed. If Logica Genevensis is disarmed, Charitas Genevensis will not be able to keep the field. If good sense take the former prisoner, the latter will be obliged to surrender to good nature. Should this be the case, how great a blessing will our controversy prove to both parties! The conquerors shall have the glory of vindicating truth; and the conquered shall have the profit of retiring from the field with their judgments better informed, and their tempers better regulated! May the God of truth and love grant, that if Mr. Toplady have the honour of producing the best arguments, I (for one) may have the advantage of yielding to them! To be conquered by truth and love, is to prove conqueror over our two greatest enemies, error and sin. MADELEY, Oct. 1775.

* See "A Letter to the Rev. Mr. Toplady," by Mr. Olivers.

AN

ANSWER

ΤΟ

THE REV. MR. TOPLADY'S

« VINDICATION of the decrees," &c.

SECTION 1.

Shewing that, upon the Calvinian scheme, it is an indubitable truth, that some men shall be saved, do what they will, till the efficacious decree of Calvinian election necessitate them to repent and be saved; and that others shall be damned, do what they can, till the efficacious decree of Calvinian reprobation necessitate them to draw back, and be damned.

THE doctrinal part of the controversy between Mr. Wesley and Mr. Toplady may, in a great degree, be reduced to this question: If God, from all eternity, absolutely predestinated a fixed number of men, called the elect, to eternal life, and absolutely predestinated a fixed number of men called the reprobate, to eternal death, does it not unavoidably follow, that, "The elect shall be saved, do what they will;" and that "The reprobate shall be damned, do what they can ?" Mr. Wesley thinks, that the consequence is undeniably true: Mr. Toplady says, that it is absolutely false, and charges Mr. Wesley with "coining blasphemous propositions," yea, with "hatching blasphemy, and then fathering it on others," (pages 7, 8,) and, in

upon the word blasphemous, he says, "This epithet is not too strong. To say, that any shall be saved, do what they will, and others damned, do what they can, is, in the first instance, blasphemy against the holiness of God; and, in the second, blasphemy against his goodness" And again, (p. 34,) after repeating the latter clause of the consequence, viz. "The reprobate shall be damned, do what they can," he expresses himself thus: "One would imagine, that none but a reprohate could be capable of advancing a position so execrably shocking. Surely it must have cost even Mr. Wesley much, both of time and pains, to invent the idea, &c. Few men's invention ever sunk deeper into the despicable, launched wider into the horrid, and went farther in the profane. The satanic guilt of the person, who could excogitate, and publish to the world, a position like that, baffles all power of description, and is only to be exceeded (if exceedable) by the satanic shamelessness which dares to lay the black position at the door of other men.-Let us examine, whether any thing occurring in Zanchius, could justly furnish this wretched defamer with materials for a deduction so truly infernal.”—Agreeably to these spirited complaints, Mr. Toplady calls his book, not only "More Work for Mr. J. Wesley," but also "A Vindication of the Decrees and Providence of God, from the defamations of a late printed paper, entitled, The Consequence Proved.' I side with Mr. Wesley for the consequence; guarding it against cavils by a clause, which his love for brevity made him think needless. And the guarded consequence, which I undertake to defend, runs thus: From the doctrine of the absolute and unconditional predestination of some men to eternal life, and of all others to eternal death, it necessarily follows, that some men shall be SAVED, do what they will, till the absolute and efficacious decree of election actually necessitate them to obey, and be saved; and that all the rest of mankind shall be DAMNED, do what they can, till the absolute and efficacious decree of reprobation necessitate them to sin, and be damned.

An illustration will at once shew the justness of this consequence to an unprejudiced reader. Fifty fishes sport in a muddy pond, where they have received life. The skilful and Almighty Owner of the pond has absolutely decreed, than ten of these fishes, properly marked with a shining mark, called Election, shall absolutely be caught in a certain net, called a gospel-net, on a certain day, called the day of his power; and that they shall, every one, be cast into a delightful river, where he has engaged himself, by an eternal covenant of particular redemption, to bring them without fail. The same Omnipotent Proprietor of the poud has likewise absolutely decreed, that all the rest of the fishes, namely, forty, which are properly distinguished by a black mark, called reprobation, shall never be caught in the gospel-net; or that if they are entangled in it at any time, they shall always be drawn out of it, and so shall necessarily continue in the muddy pond, till, on a certain day, called the day of his wrath, he shall sweep the pond with a certain net, called a law-net, catch them all, and cast them into a lake of fire and brimstone, where he has engaged himself, by an everlasting covenant of non-redemption, to bring them all without fail, that they may answer the end of their predestination to death, which is to shew the goodness of his law-net, and to destroy them for having been bred in the muddy poud, and for not having been caught in the gospel-net. The owner of the pond is wise, as well as powerful. He knows, that, absolutely to secure the end to which his fishes are absolutely predestinated, he must absolutely secure the means which conduced to that end; and therefore, that none may escape their happy or their unfortunate predestination, he keeps night and day his hold of them all, by a strong hook, called necessity and by an invisible line, called divine decrees. By means of this line and hook it happens, that if the fishes, which bear the mark election, are ever so loth to come into the gospel-net, or to stay therein, they are always drawn into it in a day of pow erful love; and if the fishes which bear the m

reprobation, are, for a time, ever so desirous to wrap themselves in the gospel-net, they are always drawn out of it in a day of powerful wrath. For, though the fishes seem to swim ever so freely, yet their motions are all absolutely fixed by the owner of the pond, and determined by means of the above-mentioned line and hook. If this is the case, says Mr. Wesley, ten fishes shall go into the delightful river, let them do what they will, let them plunge in the mud of their pond ever so briskly, or leap towards the lake of fire ever so often, while they have any liberty to plunge or to leap. And all the rest of the fishes, forty in number, shall go into the lake of fire, let them do what they can, let them involve themselves ever so long in the gospel-net, and leap ever so often towards the fine river, before they are absolutely necessitated to go, through the mud of their own pond, into the sulphureous pool. The cons sequence is undeniable, and I make no doubt that all unprejudiced persons see it as well as myself: As sure as two and two make four, or, if you please, as sure as ten and forty make fifty, so sure ten fishes shall be finally caught in the gospel-net, and forty in the law-net.

Should Mr. Toplady say, that this is only an illustration, I drop it, and roundly assert, that if two men, suppose Solomon and Absalom, are absolutely predestinated to eternal life; while two other men, suppose Mr. Baxter and Mr. Wesley, are absolutely predestinated to eternal death; the two elect shall be saved do what they will, and the two reprobates shall be damned do what they can. That is, let Solomon and Absalom worship the abomination of the Zidonians, and of the Moabites, in ever so public a manner; let them, for years, indulge themselves with Heathenish women, collected from all countries; if they have a mind, let them murder their brothers, defile their sisters, and imitate the incestuous Corinthian, who took his own father's wife; yet they can never really endanger their finished salvation. The indelible mark of unconditional election to life is upon them; and forci. ble, victorious grace shall, in their last moments, if not