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commanded them at firft, for once: but his conformity to them is perpetual. This is, without doubt, very irreverently and very incautiously expreffed. Whence it has been common with many Christian writers, to tax the Stoics with fetting up a firft caufe, fuperior to God himfelf, and on which he is dependent.

But, I apprehend, thefe philofophers meant, in reality, no fuch thing. All they defigned to inculcate, was, that the will of God, and his decrees, are unchangeable; that there can be no alteration in the divine intention; no new act arife in his mind no reverfion of his eternal plan; all being founded in adorable fovereignty; ordered by infallible wif‐ dom; ratified by omnipotence; and cemented with immutability. Thus Lucan:

Finixit in æternum caufas; quá cuneta coërcet,
Se quoque lege tenens.

And this, not through any imbecillity in God, or as if he was fubject to fate, of which (on the contrary) himself was the ordainer; but because it is his pleasure to abide by his own decree. For as Seneca obferves, "Imminutio majeftatis fit, & confeffio erroris, mutanda feciffe. Neceffe eft ei eadem placere, cui nifi optima placere non poffunt:" it would detract from the greatness of God, and look as if he acknowledged himfelf liable to mistakes, was he to make changeable decrees: his pleasure muft neceffarily be always the fame; feeing, that only, which is beft, can, at any time, please an all-perfect being. A good man (adds this philofopher) is under a kind of pleafing neceffity to do good; and, if he did not do it, he could not be a good man.

"Magnum hoc argumentum eft firme voluntatis, ne mutare quidem poffe:"it is a striking proof of a magnanimous will, to be abfolutely incapable of changing.

And

And fuch is the will of God: it never fluctuates, nor varies. But, on the other hand, was he fufceptible of change; could he, through the intervention of any inferior caufe, or by fome untoward combination of external circumftances, be induced to recede from his purpose, and alter his plan; it would. be a most inconteftible mark of weakness and dependence: the force of which argument made Seneca, though a heathen, cry out, "Non externa Deos cogunt; fed fua illis in legem æterna voluntas eft:" outward things cannot compel the gods; but their own eternal will is a law to themselves. It may be objected, that this feems to infer, as if the Deity was ftill under fome kind of reftraint. By no means, Let Seneca obviate this cavil; as he effectually does, in these admirable words: Nec Deus ab hoc minùs liber aut potens eft; ipfe enim eft neceffitas fua:" God is not, hereby, either lefs free, or lefs powerful; for he himself is his own neceffity.

On the whole, it is evident, that when the Stoics fpeak, even in the ftrongest terms, of the obligation of fate on God himself, they may and ought to be understood, in a fenfe worthy of the adorable, uncreated Majefty.In thus interpreting the doctrine of fate, as taught by the genuine philofophers of the Portico, I have the great St. Auftin on my fide: who after canvaffing, and justly rejecting the baftard, or aftrological fate; thus goes on:" At qui omnium connectionem feriemque caufarum, quá fit omne quod fit, fati nomine appellant; non multum cum eis, de verbi controverfia, certandum atque laborandum eft: quandoquidem ipfum caufarum ordinem, & quandam connectionem, fummi Dei tribuunt voluntati:" i. e. But for those philofophers [meaning the Stoics] who, by the word fate, mean that regular chain, and feries of caufes, to which all things that come to pafs, owe their immediate existence; we will not earnestly contend with thefe perfons, about a mere term and we the rather

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rather acquiefce in their manner of expreffion, because they carefully afcribe this fixt fucceffion of things, and this mutual concatenation of causes and effects, to the will of the Supreme God. Austin adds many observations, of the fame import; and proves, from Seneca himself, as rigid a Stoic as any, that this was the doctrine and the meaning of his philo fophic brethren.

A LETTER

A

LETTER

ΤΟ THE

Rev. Mr. JOHN WESLEY:

Relative to his pretended Abridgement of

ZANCHIUS ON PREDESTINATION.

Sic fatus fenior, Telumque imbelle fine Ictu
Conjecit: rauco quod potinùs ære repulfum;
Et fummo Clypei nequicquam Umbone pependit.

ENEID II.

Credulitate, Puer; Audaciâ, Juvenis; Deliriis, Senex.

Mr. DE BOZE's Epitaph on HARDOVIN, the French Jefuit.

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