prophane, yet they open a door of righteousness to the elect and holy, and shew them the way to heaven, and the path of access unto God. Yet you would have us abstain from the mention of these grand doctrines, and leave our people in the dark as to their election of God: the consequence of which would be, that every man would bolster himself up with a delusive hope of share in that salvation which is supposed to lie open to all; and thus genuine humility, and the practical fear of God, would be kicked out of doors. This would be a pretty way indeed of stopping up the gap Erasmus complains of! Instead of closing up the door of licentiousness, as is falsely pretended, it would be in fact opening a gulf into the nethermost hell. Still you urge, Where is either the necessity, or utility, of preaching predestination? God himself teaches it, and commands us to teach it; and that is answer enough. We are not to arraign the Deity, and bring the motives of his will to the test of human scrutiny; but simply to revere both him and it. He, who alone is all-wise and all-just, can in reality (however things appear to us) do wrong to no man; neither can he do any thing unwisely or rashly. And this consideration will suffice to silence all the objections of truly religious persons. However, let us for argument's sake go a step farther. I will venture to assign over and above, two very important reasons, why these doctrines should be publicly taught: 1. For the humiliation of our pride, and the manifestation of divine grace. God hath assuredly promised his favour to the truly humble. By truly humble, I mean those who are endued with repentance, and despair of saving themselves; for a man can never be said to be really penitent and humble, till he is made to know that his salvation is not suspended in any measure whatever on his own strength, machinations, endeavours, free-will, or works; but entirely depends on the free pleasure, purpose, determination, and efficiency of another; even of God alone. Whilst a man is persuaded that he has it in his power to contribute any thing, be it ever so little, to his own salvation, he remains in carnal confidence; he is not a self-despairer, and therefore he is not duly humbled before God; so far from it, that he hopes some favourable juncture or opportunity will offer, when he may be able to lend an helping hand to the business of his salvation. On the contrary, whoever is truly convinced that the whole work depends singly and absolutely on the will of God, who alone is the author and finisher of salvation; such a person despairs of all self-assistance; he renounces his own will, and his own strength; he waits and prays for the operation of God; nor waits and prays in vain. For the elect's sake, therefore, these doctrines are to be preached, that the chosen of God, being humbled by the knowledge of his truths, self-emptied and sunk as it were into nothing in his presence, may be saved in Christ with eternal glory. This, then, is one inducement to the publication of the doctrine; that the penitent may be made acquainted with the promise of grace, plead it in prayer to God, and receive it as their own. 2. The nature of the Christian faith requires it. Faith has to do with things not seen. And this is one of the highest degrees of faith, steadfastly to believe that God is infinitely merciful, though he saves (comparatively) but few, and condemns so many; and that he is strictly just, though of his own will he makes such numbers of mankind necessarily liable to damnation. Now, these are some of the unseen things whereof faith is the evidence. Whereas, was it in my power to com -- prehend them, or clearly to make out, how God is both inviolably just and infinitely merciful, notwithstanding the display of wrath and seeming inequality in his dispensations respecting the reprobate; faith would have little or nothing to do. But now, since these matters cannot be adequately comprehended by us in the present state of imperfection, there is room for the exercise of faith. The truths, therefore, respecting predestination in all its branches, should be taught and published; they, no less than the other mysteries of Christian doctrine, being proper objects of faith on the part of God's people."* With Luther the excellent Bucer agrees; particularly on Eph. i. where his words are, "There are some who affirm that election is not to be mentioned publicly to the people. But they judge wrongly. The blessings which God bestows on man are not to be suppressed, but insisted and enlarged upon; and if so, surely the blessing of predestination unto life, which is the greatest blessing of all, should not be passed over." And, a little after he adds, "Take away the remembrance and consideration of our election, and then, good God! what weapons have we left us wherewith to resist the temptations of Satan? As often as he assaults our faith (which he is frequently doing) we must constantly, and without delay, have recourse to our election in Christ as to a city of refuge. Meditation upon the Father's appointment of us to eternal life is the best antidote against the evil surmisings of doubtfulness and remaining unbelief. If we are entirely void of all hope and assurance respect * Lutherus, De Serv. Arbitr. in respons. ad ult præf..t. Erasmi. ing our interest in this capital privilege, what solid and comfortable expectation can we entertain of future blessedness? How can we look upon God as our gracious Father, and upon Christ as our unchangeable Redeemer? without which, I see not how we can ever truly love God : and if we have no true love towards him, how can we yield acceptable obedience to him! Therefore, those persons are not to be heard who would have the doctrine of election laid (as it were) asleep, and seldom or never make its appearance in the congregations of the faithful." To what these great men have so nervously advanced, permit me to add, that the doctrine of predestination is not only useful, but absolutely necessary to be taught or known. For, : 1. Without it we cannot form just and becoming ideas of God. Thus, unless he certainly foreknows, and foreknew from everlasting, all things that should come to pass, his understanding would be finite and a Deity of limited understanding, is no Deity at all. Again, we cannot suppose him to have foreknown any thing which he had not previously decreed; without setting up a series of causes, extra Deum, and making the Deity dependent for a great part of the knowledge he has, upon the will and works. of his creatures, and upon a combination of circumstances exterior to himself. Therefore, his determinate plan, counsel, and purpose, (i. e. his own predestination of causes and effects, is the only basis of his foreknowledge: which foreknowledge could neither be certain, nor independent, but as founded on his own antecedent decree. 2. He alone is entitled to the name of true God, who governs all things, and without whose will (either efficient or permissive) nothing is or can be done. And such is the God of the scriptures; against whose will not a sparrow can die, nor an hair fall from our heads, Mat. x. Now what is predestination, but the determining will of God? I defy the subtilest semi-pelagian in the world to form or convey a just and worthy notion of the Supreme Being, without admitting him to be the great cause of all causes else, himself dependent on none who willed from eternity, how he would act in time, and settled a regular determinate scheme of what he would do, and permit to be done from the begin ning to the consummation of the world. A contrary view of the Deity is as inconsistent with reason itself, and with the very religion of nature, as it is with the decisions of revelation. Nor can we rationally conceive of an independent, all-perfect first cause without allowing him to be, 3. Unchangeable in his purposes. His decrees and his essence coincide: consequently, a change in those would infer an alteration in this. Nor can that being be the true God, whose will is variable, fluctuating, and indeterminate: for his will is himself willing. A Deity without decrees and decrees without immutability, are, of all inventions that ever entered the heart of man, the most absurd. 4. Without predestination to plan, and without providence to put that plan in execution, what becomes of God's omnipotence? It vanishes into air. It becomes a mere non-entity. For what sort of omnipotence is that which may be baffled and defeated by the very creatures it has made! Very different is the idea of this attribute suggested by the Psalmist, Psalm cxiii, "Whatsoever the Lord willed, that did he in heaven and in earth, and in the sea, and in all deep places:" i. e. He not only made them when he would but orders them when made. 5. He alone is the rue God, according to scripture representation, |