will of God is properly divided into secret and revealed-and these do not always correspond, or as it is expressed, "are apparently different." The revealed will, they say, embraces the Divine commands and precepts. The secret will fixes the event beyond the possibility of change or contingency. Thus, when a command, or warning, or invitation, is given to the reprobate, or those who are finally lost, this is called the revealed will of God. But the secret will, renders it absolutely impossible for them to do otherwise than go counter to the revealed will. And this disobedience to the revealed will of God, is called wilful and obstinate, and those who are in it, are said to be justly punished for their wilful disobedience, and obstinate refusal to accept salvation: though the secret will cannot be resisted; and the reprobate are as completely governed by it, as the elect themselves.

Perhaps there is no system of opinions received among men, which contains so many paradoxes, as the doctrine of unconditional election and reprobation: and none that is more difficult to reconcile with itself, with Scripture, and with

reason.

In the first place, we cannot conceive how

is most certain and unalterable, so that no elect person can perish, nor any reprobate be saved." p. 86, 87.

"Although the will of God, considered in itself, is simply one and the same, yet in condescension to the present capacities of men, the divine will is very properly distinguished into SECRET and REVEALED. Thus it was

his REVEALED will, that Pharaoh should let the Israelites go; that Abraham should sacrifice his son; and that Peter should not deny Christ: but, as was proved by the events, that it was his SECRET will that Pharaoh should NOT let Israel go, that Abraham should NOT sacrifice Isaac, and that Peter SHOULD deny his Lord." p. 18, 19.

"God's hidden will is PEREMPTORY and ABSOLUTE; and threfore cannot be hindered from taking effect." p. 21.

"Whatever comes to pass, comes to pass by virtue of this absolute, omnipotent will of God, which is the primary and supreme cause of all things." p. 21.

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a man can be said to act voluntarily, when he is urged to what he does, by irresistible force and necessity: how he can be said to be obstinate and wilful, in refusing to accept salvation, when it never was in his power to accept it: when he was first introduced into a course of evil, and continued in it, by necessity which he cannot possibly resisit: and how he can be justly punished for actions thus committed, appears equally opposed to the simplest principles of reason.

In the 32d chapter of Jeremiah, we have this language of the Almighty: "For the children of Israel, and the children of Judah, have only done evil before me from their youth: for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, saith the Lord. For this City hath been to me as a provocation of mine anger and of my fury, from the day that they built it, even unto this day; that I should remove it from before my face; because of all the evil of the children of Israel, and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And they have turned unto me the back and not the face, though I taught them, rising up early & teaching them, yet they have not harkened to recieve instruction. But they set their abominations in the house which is called by my name to defile it. And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech, which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin." How then could it be his secret will, that they should do these things?

If we admit this doctrine, it must follow, that all laws, human and divine, are mere mockery-all regard to our actions-all efforts to be virtuous and happy, are futile and ridiculous; because the whole course of events in this world, as well as the condition to be experienced in the next, are fixed beyond the power of altering either. What signify the pompous appendages of civil government? Laws, penalties, and punishments, have no effect: the secret will of God fixes all things, and renders every thing else inoperative. What are the institutions and rules of religious society, and the preaching of the Gospel, but solemn mockery, played off to excite the fears of the multitude, and create unnecessary distinctions and troubles in society? Why say repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand? The message passes into air, and the event remains the same. Why draw distinctions between vice and virtue? The distinction is lost in the absolute decrees, and the saint and the sinner may regard each other as brethren, faithfully and punctually accomplishing the will of the same God, who has assigned to each, his proper place and business, "in filling up his grand designs of providence and grace."

It is happy for mankind, as this doctrine is admitted, that its supporters have insisted on the necessity of means. Though this is a contradiction to the principle, yet it is important to the wellbeing of society. They insist too on religious rectitude, and the practice of virtue, and make as decided distinctions between virtuous and vicious characters as others. This too, is a departure from their principle, and it is well for the human family that this departure is made. They preach to the elect and reprobate-they insist on the moral obligations that rest on all-consider that every man is bound to love, honor, and obey God, and that he

should actually do so-that if he violates civil or religious duties, he is left without excuse-is culpable-is amenable to laws, human and divine. And in the ordinary transactions of life, a man may do this, or omit that, according to his own will. Thus, as relates to practical purposes, the doctrine is not sustained: it is held as a solemn truth, at once believed and disbelieved. And the welfare of civil society, depends on this practical dereliction of the principle in question. For if this principle were brought into operation, without any of the checks which religious feeling and the good sense of mankind have given-it would completely paralyze every laudible and virtuous effort, both public and private. The secret will and unchangeable decree, which cannot be resisted or changed, would be supposed to do all for us. We need to cultivate neither our fields nor our minds-neither resist temptation, nor admonish the wicked, nor encourage the humble christian. The eternal fiat will clothe our fields without our toil-light and knowledge will spring up without the discipline of schools and the painfulness of research-the wicked will pursue the undeviating tenor of his way; and the elect will neither be comforted by our sympathy, nor discouraged by our forgetfulness. We ourselves shall not be the better for treading the path of selfdenial, nor the worse for giving the loosened rein to our perverse inclinations. These are the natural tendencies of the principle in question. And every precept, human and divine-every measure tending to the public good, every act of social duty, and every religious exercise in the human mind, are in direct opposition to this principle, and its simple operation in human affairs.

But much labor has been devoted to the doctrine, to reconcile it to Scripture and to reason.

The principal support which has been drawn from the Scriptures, has been from the Epistle to the Romans, and a few other passages. But this is by taking detached portions of Scripture, and giving them a construction: for the Scriptures no where assert that a fixed, unalterable decree determines beforehand the salvation of all that are saved, and the destruction of all that are lost. Those who

contend that the Scriptures are the primary rule of faith and practice, are certainly bound to support their faith and practice, by plain and clear declarations of Scripture, and not by forced construction: and especially as this construction would militate against the whole scope of Scripture testimony.

We know that detached sentences may be taken from any writing we please, and, by the help of constructions, be made to convey an idea, altogether different from that intended by the writer. If we would understand his sentiments, we must take into view his whole design, and not reject the explanations which he gives of his own language.

To those who rest their hopes of salvation on fore-ordination, it may not be improper to remark, that if their opinions on these subjects are unfounded, the pride of opinion will be a poor compensation for the consequences of the fatal error. In a concern so important as the salvation of the soul, it is certainly unwise to be governed by prejudice, or the bias of education, or previous opinion. Multitudes adhere to opinions once adopted, with a pertinacity that seems to suggest the belief, that to maintain the opinion, is the great and important object in view, without once considering that it may be erroneous, and if erroneous, its effects may be of the most melancholy consequences to themselves and others. If it is a point of true wisdom to examine, with care, our titles to earthly inheri