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from the fovereign will of God. No wonder, then, that our Lord concludes that chapter, with these remarkable words, I thank thee, Holy Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou haft hid these things from the wife and prudent, and haft revealed them unto babes: even fo, Father; for fo it seemed good in thy fight. Where Chrift thanks the Father, for doing that very thing, which Arminians exclaim against as unjuft, and cenfure as partial!

Mat. xiii. To you it is given to know the myfteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

Mat. xx. 23. To fit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, αλλ' εις ή λοιμαται υπο τα alue, except to them for whom it hath been prepared by my Father: q. d. Salvation is not a precarious thing: the feats in glory were difpofed of long ago, in my Father's intention and deftination: I can only affign them to fuch perfons, as they were prepared for, in his decree.

Mat. xxii. Many are called, but few chofen: i. e. All, who live under the found of the gospel, will not be faved; but those only who are elected unto life.

Mat. xxiv. For the elect's fake, those days fhall be shortened, and ibid. If it were poffible, they fhould deceive the very elect: where, it is plain, Chrift teaches two things; (1.) that there is a certain number of perfons, who are elected to grace and glory; and, (2.) that it is abfolutely impoffible for thefe to be deceived into total or final apoftacy. Mat. xxv. Come, ye bleffed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

Mark xi. Unto you it is given to know the myftery of the kingdom of God: but, to them that are without, i. e. out of the pale of election, all these things are done in parables; that, feeing, they may fee, and not perceive; and, hearing, they inay hear, and

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and not understand: left, at any time, they fhould be converted, and their fins fhould be forgiven them.

Luke x. Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

Luke xii. It is your Father's good pleasure, to give you the kingdom.

Luke xvii. One fhall be taken, and the other fhall be left.

John vi. All that the Father hath given me, fhall come unto me as much as to fay, Thefe fhall, but the reft cannot.

John viii. He that is of God, heareth God's words; ye therefore hear them not, because ye are net of God: nor chofen of him.

John x. Ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep.

John xv. Ye have not chofen me, but I have chofen you.

I come now, 2. to the apostles.

John xii. 37, 40. They believed not on him, that the faying of Efaias the prophet might be fulfilled which he fpake; Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because Efaias faid again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their hearts; that they should not fee with their eyes, nor underftand with their hearts, and be converted, and I fhould heal them. Without certain prefcience, there could be no prophecy; and, without predeftination, no certain prefcience. Therefore, in order to the accomplishment of prophecy, prefcience, and predeftination, we are expressly told that these perfons could not believe u ndurao, they were not able; it was out of their power. In short, there is hardly a page, in St. John's gofpel, which does not, either exprefsly or implicitly, make mention of election and reprobation.

St. Peter

St. Peter fays, of Judas, Acts i. Men and brethren, the Scriptures muft needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghoft, by the mouth of David, fpake before, concerning Judas. So, verfe xxv. That he might go to his own place: to the place of punishment appointed for him.

Acts ii. Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and, with wicked hands, have crucified and flain.

Acts iv. Herod and Pontius Pilate, and the Gentiles, and the people of Ifrael, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done; gowe DEVEO Fai, predeftinated should come to pass.

Acts xiii. And as many, as were ordained to eternal life, believed: Tal, defigned, deftined, or appointed unto life.

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Concerning the apoftle Paul, what fhall I fay? every one, that has read his epiftles, knows, that they teem with predeftination, from beginning to end *. I fhall only give one or two paffages: and begin with that famous chain, Rom. viii. whom he did foreknow (or fore-love, for to know often fignifies, in Scripture, to love) he alfo did predeftinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren: that as in all things elfe, fo in the bufinefs of election, Chrift might have the pre-eminence; he being firft chofe, as a Saviour, and they in him to be faved by him: moreover, whom he did predeftinate, them he alfo

* A friend of mine, who has a large property in Ireland, was converfing, one day, with a popifh tenant of his, upon religion. Among other points, they difcuffed the practice of having public prayers in an unknown tongue. My friend took down a New 'Teftament from his book-cafe, and read part of 1 Cor. xiv. When he had finished, the poor, zealous papist rose up from his chair, and faid, with great vehemence, I verily believe St. Paul was an heretick."

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Can the perfon, who carefully reads the epifiles of this great apofle, doubt of his having been a thorough paced predeftinarian?

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called;

called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he alfo glorified.

The 9th, 10th, and 11th chapters of the fame epiftle are profeffed differtations on, and illustrations of, the doctrine of God's decrees; and contain, likewife, a folution of the principal objections brought against that doctrine.

Gal. i. Who feparated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace.

The first chapter of Ephefians treats of little elfe but clection and predeftination.

2 Theff. ii. After obferving, that the reprobates perish wilful y; the apostle, by a striking transition, addreffes himself to the elect Theffalonians, faying: But we are bound to give thanks unto God, always, for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, becaufe .God hath, from the beginning, chofen you to falvation, through fanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth.

2 Tim. i. Who hath faved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose, and grace which was given us in Chrift, before the world began.

St. Jude, on the other hand, defcribes the reprobate as ungodly men, who were, of old, fore-ordained to this condemnation.

Another apostle makes this peremptory declaration; Who flumble at the word, being d fobedient, whereunto alfo they were appointed; but ye are a chofen generation [y ExλEXTOV, an elect race], a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, As fiance, a people purchafed to be his peculiar property and poffeffion, 1 Pet. ii. 8, 9. To all which may be added,

Rev. xvii. 8. Whofe names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world.

All thefe texts are but as an handful to the harveft and yet are both numerous and weighty enough to decide the point, with any who pay the

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leaft deference to Scripture authority. And let it be observed, that Chrift and his apoftles delivered. these matters, not to fome privileged perfons only, but to all, at large, who had ears to hear, and eyes to read. Therefore, it is incumbent on every faithful minister, to tread in their steps, by doing likewife nor is that minifter a faithful one, faithful to Chrift, to truth, and to fouls, who keeps back any part of the counfel of God, and buries thofe doctrines in filence, which he is commanded to preach upon the house tops.

The great St. Auftin, in his valuable treatife De Bono Perfever. effectually obviates the objections of thofe, who are for burying the doctrine of predeftination in filence. He fhews, that it ought to be publicly taught; defcribes the neceffity, and usefulness, of preaching it; points out the manner of doing it to edification. And fince fome perfons have condemned St. Auftin, by bell, book, and candle, for his ftedfaft attachment to, and nervous, fuccefsful defences of, the decrees of God; let us hear what Luther, that great light in the Church, thought, refpecting the argument before us.

Erafmus (in moft other refpects, a very excellent man) affected to think, that it was of dangerous confequence to propagate the doctrine of predeftination, either by preaching or writing. His words are thefe: "What can be more ufelefs, than to publish this paradox to the world? namely, that whatever we do, is done, not by virtue of our own free will, but in a way of neceffity, &c. What a wide gap does the publication of this tenet open among men, for the commiffion of all ungodlinefs! What wicked perfon will reform his life? Who will dare to believe himself a favourite of heaven? Who will fight against his own corrupt inclinations? Therefore, where is either the need, or the utility, of spreading thefe notions, from whence fo many evils feem to flow?"

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