ject. You are, however, bound to do it, or give up your system.

From the above cited scriptures, (and many more of a similar import might be added) I think it is unequivocally proved, that God has not foreordained whatsoever comes to pass. For it is impossible he should ordain that in which he hath no pleasure, which he hateth, and which his soul abhorreth, and which never came into his mind they should do, and which he commanded not.

10. I cannot but notice another instance of your method of confounding things which have no connexion. In the case of Joseph and his brethren, you confound God's providential manner of restraining, checking, and overruling the evil propensities and designs of these wicked brethren, and so making them subservient to his purpose, with his having decreed from all eternity that they should possess those evil propensities, and that they should form those wicked designs, and that they should be directed in that particular way. If the world had not been wicked, if the Egyptians had not been sunk into idolatry and sensuality, if the brethren of Joseph had not been jealous traitors, and if the Canaanites had not been grievous sinners against God, there would have been no necessity for the slavery of Joseph, the scourge of famine, the ten successive plagues of Egypt, &c. These were events which originated from the depravity and wickedness of the times, and not from a predetermining cause in the infinitely holy God. Things being as

they were, through the prevalence of the wicked and perverse conduct of men, God so checked and overruled their nefarious designs, by his particular providence, as to make them subserve the developement of his benevolent purposes to the sons of men. The Scourge of famine was sent upon the land of Canaan, to punish its inhabitants for their wickedness, and Joseph's brethren for their hatred to him, and duplicity to their aged father; while Joseph was highly exalted in Egypt, as a reward for his fidelity, and to keep much people alive. To effect this gracious purpose, the murderous disposition of his brethren was checked, and their hearts turned to sell him. All this may be seen, and the hand of God adored, without resorting to the horrid idea that God from all eternity decreed the wickedness of all these nations and people, that he might have an opportunity to display his sovereignty in punishing them in this life with temporal plagues, and in the life to come, with everlasting torments. In all the abovementioned transactions, we see wisdom and mercy, contrasted with folly and malevolence.

11. So also, your observations in page 25, seem founded on the erroneous supposition that the providence of God is only seen and acknowledged in connexion with your doctrine of decrees; whereas nothing can be more incorrect. God governs the world in wisdom. He rules mankind as free, responsible agents, and not by a dire necessity, as your doctrine supposes. And we have no hesita

tion in saying, because both scripture and the nature of things dictate it to us, that the wise and benevolent providence of God, extends to all causes and events, and that it so checks and restrains the evil designs of the wicked, and guides, directs, and nourishes the good designs of the righteous, as to make them all tend to his own infinite glory, and the ultimate good of those who love him, and keep his commandments. So that although he did not decree that mankind should sin, yet out of tender compassion to them, he has provided a sovereign remedy for all their malidies; and mercifully assists those who are willing to accept of its healing influence, in making a saving application of it to their souls. He daily feeds and nourishes his faithful children with the consolations of his Spirit, and the sincere milk of his word, that they may grow up into Christ in all things, who is their living head. He maketh the sun to rise on the just and unjust, and sendeth rain upon the evil and the good. He watereth the earth that it may bud, and bring forth fruit abundantly for man and beast. His ways are ways of pleasantness, and all his paths are peace. Every good and every perfect gift cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. And in all the works and ways of God, we see no spots of impurity, no signs of eternal hatred to one part of the human family, stiled reprobates. Your unfounded notion of decrees, and the scriptural doctrine of providence, are as different as are the supreme deities

worshipped by the Persians, which you have mentioned.* Your system makes all evil originate in the author of all good,-whereas the other represents him as seated upon a throne of justice, goodness and wisdom, governing the world in righteousness, forbidding and restraining sin, as far as is consistent with man's nature as a responsible agent; and encouraging holiness in his creatures, by all those commanding motives which are adapted to the nature, circumstances, and capacity of probationers for eternity. We are not therefore under

* The following texts have been supposed to support the doctrine of foreordination. I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things. Isa. xlvi. 6, 7. No doubt but God designed in these words to assert his sovereign authority over all things, in opposition to the peurile notion of the Persians, who invented the doctrine of two supreme Deities, the one the author of light and peace, the other the author of darkness and evil. In the beginning God made the heavens, and the earth, and divided the light from the darkness. After man had rebelled, God sent the evil of expulsion from paradise upon him, as a just punishment for his disobedience. And in every age of the world God inflicts temporal judgments upon mankind for their wickedness. Is there evil in the city, and the Lord hath not done it. Plague, pestilence, sword and famine, are all the messengers of his ven. geance which he sends upon cities devoted to wickedness. Every man ought to know that there is a difference between moral and natural evil. The latter is often, and perhaps always, a judicial punishment, which the Lord inflicts upon sinners for their immoral conduct. But if moral evil is also created by the Almighty, so that sinners perfectly answer the mind of God when guilty of it, how can they be justly punished for it?

the necessity of seeking shelter, under your heterogenious doctrine of decrees, in order to avoid the phantasm of chance. Those who attribute this fairy doctrine to us, are as unjust as your doctrine represents God to be; which says, that he from all eternity decreed that men should fulfil the counsel of his will by sinning, and then sends them to hell for so doing.

12. In page 6, you say "These decrees also made it sure, that no more rational creatures would apostatize, or remain in apostacy, than the greatest good of the universe made necessary." As this is a favourite argument with all the Hopkinsian writers, it may not be amiss to spend a few thoughts upon it. The greatest good of the universe must be the greatest number of intelligent creatures made happy. In regard to God himself, he is, from the essential properties of his nature, happy-supremely so. If therefore the decrees of God respect the greatest good of the universe, he must have sought the happiness of all his intelligent creatures. For certainly the greatest possible good of the universe, would be the order, harmony, and perfection of the whole, both in the physical and moral world. According to this mode of reasoning, take your decrees for the data, universalism would be the result. But such a result is expressly contradicted by scripture. Now, if we lay down a first principle, from which a conclusion necessarily follows, which contradicts an established and admitted fact, that principle must be false,