have gained nothing. For there are many scriptures, the true sense whereof neither you nor I shall know, till death is swallowed up in victory. But this I know, better it were to say, it had no sense at all, than to say it had such a sense as this. It cannot mean, whatever it mean beside, that the God of truth is a liar. Let it mean what it will, it cannot mean that the Judge of all the world is unjust. No scripture can mean that God is not love, or that his mercy is not over all his works: that is, whatever it prove beside, no scripture can prove Predestination. 27. This is the blasphemy for which (however I love the persons who assert it,) I abhor the doctrine of Predestination: a doctrine upon the supposition of which, if one could possibly suppose it for a moment, call it election, reprobation, or what you please, for all comes to the same thing) one might say to our adversary the devil, “Thou fool, why dost thou roar about any longer? Thy lying in wait for souls is as needless and useless as our preaching. Hearest thou not, that God hath taken thy work out of thy hands, and that he doth it more effectually? Thou, with all thy principalities and powers, can only so assault that we may resist thee. But he can, irresistibly, destroy both body and soul in hell! Thou canst only entice: but his unchangeable decree, to leave thousands of souls in death, compels them to continue in sin, till they drop into everlasting burnings. Thou temptest; he forceth us to be damned: for we cannot resist his will. Thou fool, why goest thou about any longer, seeking whom thou mayest devour? Hearest thou not that God is the devouring lion, the destroyer of souls, the murderer of men? Moloch caused only children to pass through the fire; and that fire was soon quenched: or the corruptible body being consumed, its torments were at an end. But God, thou art told, by his eternal decree, fixed before they had done good or evil, causes not only children of a span long, but the parents also to pass through the fire of hell: that "fire which never shall be quenched;" and the body which is cast thereinto, being now incorruptible and immortal, will be ever consuming and never consumed: but 'the smoke of their torment,' because it is God's good pleasure, ascendeth up for ever. 28. O how would the enemy of God and man rejoice to hear these things were so! How would he cry aloud, and spare not! How would he lift up his voice, and say, "To your tents, O Israel! Flee from the face of this God, or ye shall utterly perish. But whither will ye flee?-Into heaven? He is there.-Down to hell? He is there also. Ye cannot flee from an omnipresent, almighty tyrant. And whether ye flee or stay, I call heaven his throne, and earth his footstool, to witness against you, ye shall perish, ye shall die eternally. Sing, O hell, and rejoice, ye that are under the earth! For God, even the mighty God, hath spoken, and devoted to death thousands of souls, from the rising of the sun, unto the going down thereof. Here, O death, is thy sting! They shall not, cannot escape. For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. Here, O grave, is thy victory! Nations yet unborn, or ever they have done good or evil, are doomed never to see the light of life, but thou shalt gnaw upon them for ever and ever. Let all those morning-stars sing together, who fell with Lucifer, son of the morning. Let all the sons of hell shout for joy! For the decree is past, and who shall disannul it ?" 29. Yes, the decree is past. And so it was before the foundation of the world. But what decree ? But what decree? Even this: "I will set before the sons of men, life and death, blessing and cursing." And "the soul that chooseth life shall live, as the soul that chooseth death shall die." This decree, whereby "whom God did foreknow, he did predestinate,' was indeed from everlasting: this, whereby all who suffer Christ to make them alive, are "Elect, according to the foreknowledge of God," now standeth fast, even as the moon, and as the faithful witness in heaven: and when heaven and earth shall pass away, yet this shall not pass away, for it is as unchangeable and eternal, as the being of God that gave it. This decree yields the strongest encouragement to abound in all good works, and in all holiness: and it is a well-spring of joy, of happiness also, to our great and endless comfort. This is worthy of God. It is, every way, consistent with the perfections of his nature. It gives us the noblest view both of his justice, mercy, and truth. To this agrees the whole scope of the Christian Revelation, as well as all the parts thereof. To this Moses and all the prophets bear witness, and our blessed Lord and all his apostles. Thus Moses, in the name of his Lord, "I call heaven and earth to record against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore, choose life, that thou and thy seed may live." Thus Ezekiel, (to cite one prophet for all) "The soul that sinneth it shall die: the son shall not bear [eternally] the iniquity of the father, (xviii. 20.) The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him." Thus our blessed Lord, "If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink," John vii. 37. (Thus his great Apostle, St. Paul) Acts xvii. 30, "God commandeth all men, every where, to repent." "All men, every where :" every man in every place, without any exception, either of place or person. Thus St. James, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him," James i. 5. Thus St. Peter, "The Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance," 2 Pet. iii. 9. And thus St. John, "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father:-and he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world," 1 John ii. 1, 2. : 30. O hear ye this, ye that forget God! ye cannot charge your death upon him. "Have I any pleasure at all, that the wicked should die, saith the Lord God? (Ezek. xviii. 23, &c.) Repent, and turn from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed,—for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God. Where |