tures, that the eternal Election which there is of Saints to Faith and Holinefs, is alfo an Election of them to eternal Salvation; hence their Appointment to Salvation must also be abfolute, and not depending on their contingent, felf-determining Will. From all which it follows, that it is abfolutely fix'd in God's Decree, that all true Saints fhall perfevere to actual eternal Salvation. But I must leave all thefe Things to the Confideration of the fair and impartial Reader; and when he has maturely weigh'd them, I would propofe it to his Confideration, whether many of the firft Reformers, and others that fucceeded them, whom God in their Day made the chief Pillars of his Church, and greatest Inftruments of their Deliverance from Error and Darkness, and of the Support of the Caufe of Piety among them, have not been injured, in the Contempt with which they have been treated by many late Writers, for their teaching and maintaining fuch Doctrines as are commonly called Calvinistic. Indeed fome of these new Writers, at the fame Time that they have reprefented the Doctrines of these ancient and eminent Divines, as in the highest Degree ridiculous, and contrary to common Senfe, in an Oftentation of a very generous Charity, have allowed that they were honeft well-meaning Men : Yea, it may be fome of them, as tho' it were in great Condefcenfion and Compaffion to them, have allowed that they did pretty well for the Day which they lived in, and confidering the great Difadvantages they laboured under: When at the fame Time, their Manner of speaking has naturally and plainly fuggefted to the Minds of their Readers, that they were Perfons, who through the Lowness of their Genius, and Greatnefs of the Bigotry, with which their Minds were fhackled, and and Thoughts confined, living in the gloomy Caves of Superftition, fondly embraced, and demurely and zealously taught the most abfurd, filly and monftrous Opinions, worthy of the greatest Contempt of Gentlemen poffeffed of that noble and generous Freedom of Thought, which happily prevails in this Age of Light and Inquiry. When indeed fuch is the Cafe, that we might, if fo difpofed, fpeak as big Words as they, and on far better Grounds. And really all the Arminians on Earth might be challenged without Arrogance or Vanity, to make these Principles of theirs wherein they mainly differ from their Fathers, whom they fo much defpife, confiftent with common Sense; yea, and perhaps to produce any Doctrine ever embraced by the blindeft Bigot of the Church of Rome, or the moft ignorant Musulman, or extravagant Enthufiaft, that might be reduced to more, and more demonftrable Inconfiftencies, and Repugnancies to common Senfe, and to themselves; tho their Inconfiftencies indeed may not lie fo deep, or be fo artfully vail'd by a deceitful Ambiguity of Words, and an indeterminate Signification of Phrafes. I will not deny, that thefe Gentlemen, many of them, are Men of great Abilities, and have been helped to higher Attainments in Philofophy, than those ancient Divines, and have done great Service to the Church of God in fome Refpects: But I humbly conceive, that their differing from their Fathers with fuch magifterial Affurance, in these Points in Divinity, muft be owing to fome other Cause than fuperiour Wisdom. It may alfo be worthy of Confideration, whether the great Alteration which has been made in the State of Things in our Nation, and fome other Parts of the Proteftant World, in this and the past Age, by the exploding fo generally Cal viniftic ކ vinistic Doctrines, that is fo often spoken of as worthy to be greatly rejoyced in by the Friends of Truth, Learning and Virtue, as an Inftance of the great Increase of Light in the Chriftian Church; I fay, it may be worthy to be confidered, whether this be indeed a happy Change, owing to any fuch Caufe as an Increase of true Knowledge and Understanding in Things of Religion; or whether there is not Reafon to fear, that it may be owing to fome worse Cause. And I defire it may be confidered, whether the Boldness of fome Writers may not be worthy to be reflected on, who have not fcrupled to fay, That if thefe and thofe Things are true (which yet appear to be the demonftrable Dictates of Reafon, as well as the certain Dictates of the Mouth of the moft High) then God is unjust and cruel, and guilty of manifeft Deceit and Double-dealing, and the like. Yea, fome have gone fo far, as confidently to affert, That if any Book which pretends to be Scripture, teaches fuch Doctrines, that alone is fufficient Warrant for Mankind to reject it, as what cannot be the Word of God. Some who have not gone fo far, have faid, That if the Scripture seems to teach any fuch Doctrines, fo contrary to Reason, we are obliged to find out fome other Interpretation of thofe Texts, where fuch Doctrines feem to be exhibited. Others exprefs themselves yet more modeftly: They express a Tenderness and religious Fear, left they fhould receive and teach any Thing that should seem to reflect on God's moral Character, or be a Difparagement to his Methods of Adminiftration, in his moral Government; and therefore exprefs themselves as not daring to embrace fome Doctrines, though they feem to be delivered in Scripture, according to the more obvious and natural Con Conftruction of the Words. But indeed it would fhew a truer Modesty and Humility, if they would more entirely rely on God's Wifdom and Difcerning, who knows infinitely better than we, what is agreeable to his own Perfections, and never intended to leave thefe Matters to the Decifion of the Wisdom and Difcerning of Men; but by his own unerring Instruction, to determine for us what the Truth is; knowing how little our Judgment is to be depended on, and how extremely prone, vairt and blind Men are, to err in fuch Matters. The Truth of the Cafe is, that if the Scripture plainly taught the oppofite Doctrines, to thofe that are fo much stumbled at, viz. the Arminian Doctrine of Free-Will, and others depending thereon, it would be the greatest of all Difficulties that attend the Scriptures, incomparably greater than its containing any, even the most mysterious of those Doctrines of the firft Reformers, which our late Free-thinkers have fo fupercilioufly exploded. Indeed it is a glorious Argument of the Divinity of the holy Scriptures, that they teach fuch Doctrines, which in one Age and another, thro' the Blindnefs of Men's Minds, and ftrong Prejudices of their Hearts, are rejected, as moft abfurd and unreasonable, by the wife and great Men of the World; which yet, when they are most carefully and ftrictly examined, appear to be exactly agreeable to the most demoftrable, certain, and natural Dictates of Reafon. By fuch Things it appears, that the Foolishness of God is wiser than Men, and God does as is faid in 1 Cor. i. 19, 20. For it is written, I will deftroy the Wisdom of the Wife, I will bring to nothing the Understanding of the Prudent. Where is the Wife! Where is the Scribe! Where is the Difputer of this World! Hath not God made foolish the Wisdom of this World? And as it ufed used to be in Time paft, fo it is probable it will INDEX. |