instead of saving all, we are totally unqualified to explain. Agreeably to the expression used in our Confession of Faith, the Calvinists are accustomed to say that the great end of the whole system is the glory of God, or the illustration of his attributes; that as he displayed his mercy by saving some from that guilt and misery in which all were involved, so he displays his justice by punishing others for that sin, in which, according to his sovereign pleasure, he chose to leave them. Arminian writers are accustomed to reprobate, with much indignation, an expression which appears to them to represent the glory of God as a separate end, pursued by him for his own pleasure, without any consideration of the happiness of his creatures, or any attention to their ideas of justice. But, bearing in mind the whole character of the Deity, considering that He, who may do what he will, being infinitely wise and good, can do nothing but what is right, it is obvious that his glory is inseparably connected with the happiness of his creatures. What the weakness of our understanding leads us to call different parts of a character, are united with the most indissoluble harmony in the divine mind; and his works, which illustrate his attributes, do not display any one of them in such a manner as to obscure the rest. From this perfect harmony between the wisdom and goodness of God, his creatures may rest assured that every circumstance which concerns their welfare is effectually provided for in that system which he chose to produce; and the whole universe of created intelligence could have chosen nothing for themselves so good, as that which is ordained to be, because it illustrates the glory of the Creator. At the same time, it must be acknowledged, that we do not make any advances in our acquaintance with the ends of the system by adopting this expression. The expression implies that there is a balance or proportion among the different attributes, that the display of one is bounded by the display of another, and that there are certain limits of every particular attribute implied in the perfection of the divine mind. But it leaves us completely ignorant of the nature of those limits, and it does not presume to explain why the justice of God required the condemnation of that precise number who are left to perish, and how his mercy was fully displayed in the salvation of that precise number who are called the elect. We are still left to resolve the discrimination which was made, and the extent of that discrimination, into the good pleasure of God; by which phrase is meant, not the will of a being acting capriciously for his own gratification, but a will determined by the best reasons, although these reasons are beyond our comprehension : and all doubts and objections, which the narrowness of our views might suggest, are lost in that entire confidence, with which the magnificence of his works and the principles of our nature teach us to look up to a Being, of whom, and by whom, and to whom are all things.

It may be thought, upon a superficial view, that the account which has been given of the origin of evil represents sin as not less agreeable to the Almighty than virtue, since both enter into the plan which he ordained, and both are considered as the fulfilment of his purpose.

* Confession of Faith, iii. 3.

This specious and popular objection has often been urged with an air of triumph against the Calvinistic system. But the principles which have been stated furnish an answer to the objection. The evil that is in the universe was not chosen by God upon its own account, but was permitted upon account of its connexion with that good which he chooses. The precise notion of God's permitting evil is this, that his power is not exerted in hindering that from coming into existence, which could not have existed independently of his will, and which is allowed to exist, because, although not in itself an object of his approbation, it results from something else. According to this notion of the permission of evil, we say that although this world, notwithstanding the evil that is in it, promotes the end which the Creator proposed, and carries into effect the purpose which he had in creating it, yet he beholds the good that is in the world with approbation, and the evil with abhorrence. We gather from all the conceptions which we are led to form of the Supreme Being that he cannot love evil: we feel that he has so constituted our minds that we always behold moral evil with indignation in others, with self-reproach in ourselves: we often observe, we sometimes experience the fatal effects which it produces; and we find all the parts of that revelation which the Scriptures contain, conspiring to dissuade us from the practice of it. In this entire coincidence between the deductions of reason, the sentiments of human nature, the influence of conduct upon happiness, and the declarations of the divine word, there is laid such a foundation of morality as no speculations can shake. This coincidence gives that direct and authoritative intimation of the will of our Creator, which was plainly intended to be the rule of our actions: and the assurance of the moral character of his government, which we derive from these sources, is so forcibly conveyed to our understandings and our hearts, that if our reasonings upon theological subjects should ever appear to give the colour of truth to any views that are opposite to this assurance, we may, without hesitation, conclude that these views are false. They have derived their colour of truth from our presuming to carry our researches farther than the limited range of our faculties admits, and from our mistaking those difficulties which are unaccountable to an intelligence so finite as ours, for those contradictions which indicate to every intelligent being the falsehood of the proposition to which they adhere.

These are the general principles, upon which the ablest defenders of the Calvinistic system attempt to vindicate that system from the charge of being inconsistent with the nature of man and the nature of God. As they furnish the answer to philosophical objections, I have stated them, as much as possible, in a philosophical form, with very little reference to the authority of Scripture, and without the use of those technical terms which occur in books of Theology. But it is not proper for us to rest in this form. To afford a complete view of the evidence and of the application of these principles, I mean first to present a comprehensive account of that support which the Calvinistic system derives from Scripture secondly, to give a general history of Calvinism, of the reception which at different periods it has met with in the Christian church, and of what may be called its present state :-and then to conclude the subject by applying the principles which have been 4 F

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stated as an answer to the two objections, in a concise discussion of various questions that have agitated the Christian church, and in an explication of various phrases that have been currently used in treating of these questions. The questions turn upon general principles, so that although they have been spread out in great detail, and although they seem to belong to different subjects, all that is necessary in discussing them is to show the manner in which the general principles apply to the particular questions. The general principles will be elucidated by this various application; and we shall be able, after having travelled quickly over so much debateable matter, to mark the consistency with which all the parts of the Calvinistic system arise out of a few leading ideas.

Reid on the Active Powers.

King on the Origin of Evil.

Clarke's Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God.
Whitby on the Five Points.

Locke.

Edwards on Free Will.

Butler's Analogy.

CHAPTER X.

GENERAL VIEW OF THE SUPPORT WHICH SCRIPTURE GIVES TO THE CALVINISTIC SYSTEM.

THE passages adduced from Scripture by the friends and the adversaries of this system are so numerous, and have received interpretations so widely different, that I should engage in an endless field of controversy, if I attempted to notice particular texts, and to contrast in every instance the Arminian and the Calvinistic exposition of them. But a labour so tedious and fatiguing is really unnecessary, for the same principles, upon which the Calvinistic exposition of one passage proceeds, apply to every other. Instead, therefore, of repeating the same leading ideas with a small variation of form, I shall simply mention that an index of particular texts may be found in the proofs annexed to several chapters of the Confession of Faith, in the quotations that are made in every ordinary system under the several heads which belong to the doctrine of predestination, and in those books which should be read upon the subject. And I shall endeavour to arrange this multifarious matter under the three following heads, which appear to me to constitute the support which Scripture gives to the Calvinistic system. 1. All the actions of men, even those which the Scripture holds forth to our abhorrence, are represented as being comprehended in the great plan of divine providence. 2. The predestination of which the Scripture speaks is ascribed to the good pleasure of God. 3. And the various descriptions of that change of character, by which men are prepared for eternal life, seem intended to magnify the power, and to declare the efficacy of that grace by which it is produced. I shall then state the answers given by the Calvinists to that objection against their system which has been drawn from the commands, the counsels, and the expostulations of Scripture.

SECTION I.

ALL the actions of men, even those which the Scripture holds forth to our abhorrence, are represented as being comprehended in the great plan of divine providence. I do not mean merely that all the actions of men are foreseen by God. Of this the predictions in Scripture afford evidence which even the Arminians admit to be incontro

vertible. But I mean that the actions of men are foreseen by God not as events independent of his will, but as originating in his determination, and as fulfilling his purpose. By many sublime expressions the Scriptures impress our minds with an idea of the universal sovereignty of God, of the extent and efficacy of his counsel, and of the uncontrolled operation of his power throughout all his dominions. Even those beings and events, that appear to counteract his designs, are represented as subject to his will, as not only at length to be subdued by him, but as promoting, while they operate, the end for which he ordained them.-Psal. lxxvi. 10.-Prov. xvi. 4.-Is. xlv. 7. -Lam. iii. 37, 38. Such expressions receive a striking illustration from many of the histories recorded in Scripture. The barbarity of the brethren of Joseph, which filled their minds with deep remorse, was intended by God as an instrument of providing a settlement for the posterity of Abraham. "As for you," said Joseph to his brethren, Gen. 1. 20, "ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.” God did not merely turn it to good after it happened, but he "meant it unto good." The obstinacy of Pharaoh, in refusing to let the people go out of that country to which the wickedness of the sons of Jacob had led them, was, in like manner, a part of the plan of divine providence; for, as God said unto Moses, Exod. x. 1, 2, “I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might show these my signs before him; and that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son, what things I have wrought in Egypt.” "I have hardened his heart," not by exerting any immediate influence leading him to sin, but by disposing matters in such a manner that he shall not consent; he shall suffer for his obstinacy; but that obstinacy is appointed by me to give an opportunity of exhibiting those signs, which shall transmit the Law of Moses to future ages with unquestionable proofs of its divine original. The folly of the princes, whose territories adjoined to the wilderness, in refusing the children of Israel a free passage when they went out of Egypt, the combination of the kings of Canaan, which brought destruction upon themselves, and the oppression and ravages of those who carried Israel into captivity, are all held forth in the historical and prophetical books of Scripture, as proceeding from the ordination of God. Of Cyrus the good prince, whose edict recalled the Jews from captivity, the Almighty says, Is. xliv. xlv. "He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, thou shalt be built; mine anointed, whose right hand I have holden; whom, for Jacob my servant's sake, I have called by his name." But of Nebuchadnezzer also, the destroyer of nations, whose pride is painted in the strongest colours, and whose punishment corresponded to the enormity of his crimes, thus saith the Almighty, Jer. xxvii. 4—8, “I have made the earth, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me: and now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzer the king of Babylon my servant." And again, Ezek. xxx. 24, 25, "I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand,—and he shall stretch it out upon the land of Egypt."

The infidelity of the Jews who lived in our Saviour's time, the envy and malice of their rulers, and the injustice and violence with