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"Pilate that he should be slain. And, when they "had fulfilled all that was written of him, &c.”1 Was there both obedience and disobedience in this act? In what did the obedience consist? "They thought evil against him, but God meant "it unto good."2 "O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indig"nation. I will send him against an hypocritical "nation, and against the people of my wrath will "I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to

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take the prey, and to tread them down as the "mire of the streets. Howbeit he meaneth not 66 so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in "his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a "few."3 An argument, which, if it prove any thing, proves that Sennacherib, Judas, Caiaphas, Pilate, and all in every age who have fulfilled the prophecies of scripture, while gratifying their own ambition, avarice, cruelty, or lust; were in so doing obeying God, is surely unworthy of a Christian teacher, and ruler of the church.

Had the Lord merely decreed, or predicted, that the Israelites should extirpate, with undiscriminating slaughter, the seven nations of Canaan; without commanding Joshua and Israel to execute the sentence awarded against them; and had they, without most express command, made extirpating war against them; or had they even set themselves to fulfil the decree as made known by the prediction, from motives of rapacity, avarice, resentment, or cruelty; they would have been guilty of atrocious murder, in every instance in which they slew a Canaanite and all the declarations

Acts xiii. 27-30.

2 Gen. 1. 20.

Isaiah x. 5—7.

and invectives of infidels against them, and against the Bible as approving their conduct, would have been unanswerable. But they merely fulfilled the express and repeated command of JEHOVAH; and were the appointed executioners of his vengeance on that devoted race, which had filled up the measure of their sins. Did decrees, even when revealed, warrant the conduct of those who break God's commandments in fulfilling them, the accursed slave-trade might have found a better justification from prophecy, than it ever had in the British senate, from the most able, eloquent, and zealous of its advocates.

If any event ever was absolutely decreed, and most expressly predicted, the crucifixion of Christ was that event: yet that did not at all excuse any of the parties concerned in it from being guilty of the most atrocious wickedness.

The argument here used, carried to its consequences, would, if valid, prove far more than any Anticalvinist intends: for they who hold it must either disavow the belief of the divine prescience and of all prophecy; or excuse an immense proportion, if not the whole, of the wickedness which has ever been committed. If we do not firmly adhere to this fundamental tenet, that the law and command of God are the only rule by which our conduct must be regulated, and by which it will be judged if we admit that divine purposes or predictions, when intentionally or unintentionally fufilled by men, alter the quality of their actions, and in any degree convert disobedience into obedience; we shall open the floodgates to iniquity; while each will profess, when actuated by his own

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selfish passions, that he is executing the decrees of God, or fulfilling the prophecies.

God has not made disobedience inevitable: ' nor is it inevitable in any particular instance; that is, no one commits a sin but by his own unconstrained choice; yet the condition of man after 'the fall of Adam is such, that he cannot turn ' and prepare himself, by his own natural strength ' and good works, to faith and calling upon God: 'wherefore we have no power to do good works, pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working with us, when we have that good will.' If in this sense disobedience is inevitable without preventing grace, the fall of Adam, and our fall in him, has made it so ; not any act or decree of God.

The argument taken from what we ought to do, to prove what it becomes God to do, has been before answered. We ought to do all that we possibly can, consistently with other known and evident duties, to preserve the life and save the soul of every man on earth: but is God bound to exercise his omnipotence to the utmost, to preserve every man's life, and to save every man's soul?It is further asked, 'Is such a decree reconcilable with the attributes of justice and mercy?' The answer to this question must be left to the day of judgment; but I must remind the reader of St. Paul's answer to an objection, not wholly dissimilar: "Why doth he yet find fault? for who "hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who "art thou that repliest against God?" Is the con

Art. X.

duct of JEHOVAH in casting the wicked into hell reconcilable with the attributes of justice and 'mercy?' If it is, then the decree, that he would do so, cannot be irreconcilable with them.

It is highly to be desired that they who engage in religious controversy would reverently avoid all language, which even seems to impeach the conduct of God, on the supposition that their own tenets are not true. The words here quoted are indeed inoffensive, compared with many things in writers on each side of this argument; yet even this question implies more than ought to be hinted, or even allowed in our thoughts. Are we so completely infallible as to be authorized to speak a word implying that, if we be mistaken, God is not just, or faithful, or merciful? On this subject, no tongue can express the irreverence, nay, the blasphemy, which has been uttered, by eager disputers. I am concious that I have no need, nor inclination, to adopt any argument of this kind: but, should I drop one word implying, by fair construction, such a connexion between my sentiments and the honour of the divine perfections, that if the former are erroneous this is exposed to impeachment, or even doubt; I will promise before God, publicly, with shame, to retract it when pointed out to me. Whether Calvinism be true or false, God is infinitely wise, righteous, holy, faithful, good, merciful; worthy of all reverence, adoration, love, confidence, honour and obedience, from all rational creatures to all eternity.-It would indeed be a blessed effect of this publication, if it should render Calvinists, as well as their opponents, more reverently cautious what words they use in the

selfish passions, that he is executing the decrees of God, or fulfilling the prophecies.

God has not made disobedience inevitable: ' nor is it inevitable in any particular instance; that is, no one commits a sin but by his own unconstrained choice; yet the condition of man after the fall of Adam is such, that he cannot turn ' and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and good works, to faith and calling upon God: 'wherefore we have no power to do good works, pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working with us, when 'we have that good will.' If in this sense disobedience is inevitable without preventing grace, the fall of Adam, and our fall in him, has made it so ; not any act or decree of God.

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The argument taken from what we ought to do, to prove what it becomes God to do, has been before answered. We ought to do all that we possibly can, consistently with other known and evident duties, to preserve the life and save the soul of every man on earth: but is God bound to exercise his omnipotence to the utmost, to preserve every man's life, and to save every man's soul?It is further asked, 'Is such a decree reconcilable with the attributes of justice and mercy?' The answer to this question must be left to the day of judgment; but I must remind the reader of St. Paul's answer to an objection, not wholly dissimilar: "Why doth he yet find fault? for who "hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who "art thou that repliest against God?" Is the con

Art. x.

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