unalterable decrees of Heaven Sometimes again you shall have several persons promise or intend to meet together at such a place upon such a day for such or such an end and this they do supposing themselves to be free and indu'd with an ability of being as good as their word and it is a shrewd sign that what they supposed was true when at a Club a Coffeehouse a publick Feast a Rendezvous or an Exchange you shall find them all accordingly met together which if the fatal Hypothesis were true it seems utterly impossible for them to be but most of them by that particular necessity by which they are governed would either be kept at home or carry'd violently some other way to which they were predetermin'd before this assignation was made To conclude we have had very warm and fierce Contentions about things necessary and things indifferent and about the Civil Magistrates power as to the latter in Religious affairs which if the Calvinistical Doctrine be true is a very needless Controversie for according to them if they will stand to their own Principles there is nothing indifferent either in Sacred matters or in Civil but all things are necessary because unavoidably determined And so the Controversie is happily at an end and we should be much to blame for censuring such innocent people for such unavoidable Scruples but that we cannot help it which if this Hypothesis be true is the Universal reason and excuse of all our actions And thus I think I have proved that the Doctrine of Transubstantiation it self how absurd or contradictious soever it may seem yet it is not more inconsistent with the common sentiments of Mankind and with the plain acknowledgments of its own Defenders with reason experience and with common sense than this of the Stoical or Calvinistical fate which most of the actions of our lives and most if not all the Passions which we find within our selves are combined in a strict confederacy to overthrow it being directly contrary to the nature of the one and to the suppositions upon which the other proceed Another very just exception which has been made and managed to very great advantage by a very Reverend and Learned person Dr. Tillotson Dean of Canterbury against the absurd and blasphemous Doctrine of Transubstantiation is this That it overthrows the whole Fabrick of the Christian Religion by destroying that Foundation upon which it stands that is to say its Divine Authority attested by those Miracles by which it was confirmed because we have no way to judge of Miracles or to distinguish them from the ordinary and usual Phaenomena of nature but by the testimony of our senses which if they may deceive us in their proper objects when they are placed in the most advantageous circumstances to make an unerring Judgment then it is impossible for us in any case given to determine when a Miracle is wrought and when it is not and consequently that Religion whose Sanction and Authority is founded upon Miracles can never be thought to be sufficiently confirmed And what has been said of Transubstantiation the very same may be applied to the Predestinarian Doctrine against which as being founded in the fatal determination of all humane Actions there is a loud and a perpetual Clamour of common sense and experience But besides this it is farther evident from other considerations That if the Doctrine of absolute Reprobation be true the Scriptures of the New Testament are both a very false and a very impertinent Book it being not only plainly contradictory to so many plain Texts of whose true meaning and signification there can be no manner of doubt or question but to the whole Oeconomy of the Gospel to the design of Christ's coming into the world to the design of his Suffering to the reason of his Intercession and Lastly to the genius and temper of the Christian Dispensation S. John tells us 1 Joh. 4. 8. God is love He that loveth not saith he knoweth not God for God is love but you know it is a common rule denominatio sumitur à parte potiori if therefore of those who are born into this world there be not above one in a Thousand who are the Objects of this love and favour while all the rest are irreversibly doom'd to be the eternal examples of his utmost Vengeance and Displeasure and all this for no reason but what depends upon his Arbitrary power and will without any other Consideration then it is manifest if a man were to draw a Character of God Almighty and to exhort Mankind to imitate his example he must preach a Doctrine quite contrary to that which was taught by the Disciple whom Jesus loved and who was himself so full of love to his Brethren it being more suitable to the nature of God if the Calvinistical Painters have drawn him right to say he that hateth not knoweth not God for God is hatred the same may be said of all those other Pathetical exhortations to the mutual endearment and love of one another which are to be met with in the same Chapter of that good Disciple Beloved saith he v. 7. Let us love one another for love is of God and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God And again v. 9 10 11. In this was manifested the love of God towards us because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our Sins Beloved if God so loved us we ought also to love one another Lastly v. 19 20 21. We love him because he first loved us If a man say I love God and hate his Brother he is a lar For he that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen And this Commandment have we from him that he who loveth God love his Brother also It is St. Paul's own exhortation in the Epistle to the Ephesians c. 4. v. 31 32. Let all Bitterness and Wrath and Anger and Clamour and Evil speaking be put away from you with all Malice and be you kind one to another tender Hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you So the same St. John tells us in the third Chapter of his Gospel at the 16th and 17th verses God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life For God sent not his Son into the World to Condemn the World but that the World through him might be saved And our Saviour himself in his incomparable Sermon on the Mount exhorts his Disciples to mutual Kindness and Charity for one another and for their very Enemies from the example of God Matth. 5. v. 44 45. Love your Enemies bless them that Curse you do good to them that hate
be deceiv'd in their proper objects when they are duly circumstanced to take a right cognizance of them Which if it be admitted for true we can not tell whither any such Miracles were ever wrought or no there being the same possibility of our senses being deceiv'd in one case as in another p. 215 216 And the same is likewise true of the Doctrine of Reprobation if it be admitted for true in the Calvinistical sense for there is no question but God doth reprobate obstinate and impenitent sinners the whole Oeconomy of the Gospel is overthrown all the dutyes recommended in it are either destroyed or â—â—erted the design of Christs coming into the world is frustrate and so is that of his passion and his intercession p. 216 217 When St. John exhorts us to mutual love after the example of God 1. Joh. 4 8. He that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love it ought to have been considered if the Calvinistical Doctrine be true that denominatio sumitur a parte potiori and therefore if we consider how small the proportion of the elect is in comparison of those that are arbitrarily doom'd to Eternal Torments it would have been a truer proposition and a more Legitimate inserence He that hateth not knoweth not God for God is hatred and more to the same purpose from p. 217 to 221 It is by no means in this case sufficient to say that the reprobation of so great a number of mankind is owing to the Sin of Adam who acted freely in what he did for it is impossible that a free action in him should be the true and proper cause of a necessary nature in us p. 221 Since therefore God did at least for see the fall of Adam and upon supposition of that fall did reprobate so great a proportion of Mankind by concluding them under an irresistible pravity it is the same thing as if he had condemned them antecedently to the fall of Adam that is without any respest or regard to it from all Eternity or if he had condemned the 〈◊〉 the same state though Adam had not fallen at all because a simple decree and a decree founded upon a condition that will certainly come to pass are to all intents and purposes the same p. 222 But Mr. Calvin confesses plainly that God did plainly preordain the fall of Adam and therefore the former considerations return with greater force if God so hated us and if he be the best and the more noble patern for our imitation then ought we also to hate our selves and one another from p. 222 to 224 The horrid Blasphemy of this doctrine and its inconsistence with the word of God which is the rule and measure of our Christian Faith aggravated from several considerations from p. 224 to 228 Three ways by which Christ may be said to have redeemed us p. 228 First he Redeems us from the Bondage of sin or from the Dominion of it in our hearts and from the gloomy night of ignorance which hovered over the Jewish and the Heathen world by his example his Gospel and his Spirit but where there is no liberty there can be no sin where there can be no endeavour or imiâ—ation which suppose a freedome and a power of not imitating and not indeavouring there can be no example to them that have it not in their power to obey the Gospel is in vain proposed and the influences of the spirit where they are irresistible as Calvin ever supposes them to be cannot properly be said to redeem us in any measure from sin but only to drive us out of one necessity into another p. 228 229 Secondly Christ redeems us by his satisfaction but where there is no sin there needsno satisfaction neither indeed in propriety of so speech can there be any and where there is no Freedome there can be no sin so that after all the Calvinistical bitterness against the Socinian Haeriticks for so I call them and so I think them to be they themselves deny the satisfaction every whit as much and with more detestable circumstances than the Socinians themselves do from p. 229 to 232 The third way of redemption is by the intercession of Christ which though in the Orthodox Creed that is in the Creed of those that believe rightly concerning the nature of the humane soul and the nature of its Will it be very good â—â—â— useful and intelligible sence yet admit the Calvinistical Doctrine to be true and nothing is more useless and impertinent nay nothing can possibly be thought of more contemptibly ridiculous than that is p. 232 233 Again if we consider Christ as exercising the Office of supream Judge as he will do at the last day it is manifest that there can be nothing which can in propriety of speech be called a judgment where there is no difference made betwixt the moral good or evil of things and it is as certain that in the Calvinistical necessity which destroys the very nature of Morality and Religion no such difference can possibly be suppos'd so that a judgment in this case would be every whit as ridiculous at the last day as an intercession before it p. 234 235 And as nothing is more inconsistent with the whole current of the Scriptures than the Doctrine of Reprobation so neither is there any thing so destructive of that meekness and humility which it was one of the main designs of the Gospel to encourage and promote nothing that is so naturally productive of insolence and Pride of a fastidious contempt and scorn of one man towards another nothing so exactly fitted to make Parties and Divisions among men and to continue and propagate those Divisions when they are made to the great prejudice of the publique peace and the perpetual disturbance of the world from 235 to 237 Six accounts to be given of the rise and progress of the Doctrine of absolute reprobation p. 237 First account to be taken from a too inconsiderate interpretation of those places wherein Justification is ascribed wholly to faith in opposition to the works of the Law of Moses or to that justifycation which pretends to be obtained by a perfect obedience to the Laws of nature or an absolute and entire conformity in all parts of our lives to the duties and obligations of natural Religion p. 237 238 Two reasons why justication could not be obtained by the Law of Moses the one drawn from the nature of the law it self which was but a shadow of a more perfect dispensation and the other from the defectiveness and imperfection of that obedience which was given it p. 239 But neither was the law of Nature by reason of humane Frailty which renders it morally impossible for us to walk up to the utmost perfection of that Law sufficient of it self in order to this end p. 240 A sin being committed there are but five ways possibly to be thought of by which justification that is the Remission of that
Divine worship which must have continued still in force so long as those shadows were not done away by the more perfect Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross Secondly By this means God gave the world the strongest assurance that it could possibly receive of his Veracity or of his fixt and unalterable resolution to perform on his part the Conditions of that new Covenant which he had entered into with Mankind whose sanction was founded in the Blood of his only Son it being not only unreasonable but impious and highly derogatory to the Honour and Majesty of God to suppose that the Divinity it self should condescend to appear in the form and likeness of a Servant should take our Flesh and our Nature upon him should stoop to those mean Indignities which were offered him by the vilest of men and should suffer such a shameful and ignominious Death upon the Cross by the hands of Sinners and in the scandalous Company of two notorious Malefactors and all this to no purpose in the world Thirdly A third reason why this Method was taken seems to me to have been not only that by faith in a crucified God we might have sufficient assurance of the remission of Sins but also that by his Resurrection and Ascension which were consequent upon that Crucifixion we might have the most sensible Demonstration that could be given us of the certainty of our own Resurrection and of those Eternal Joys that expect us in Heavenly places there being no way so proper to bring life and immortality to light as for him who first made so clear and perfect a discovery of them to rise himself from the Dead and become the first-fruits of them that slept and if to these three you will add likewise a fourth Consideration it may be this that if God had bestowed a gratuitous remission upon the world that is for I would not be mistaken in the use of that word a remission without any satisfaction made for Sin either by our selves or our Proxy it would have argued such an easiness in the Divine nature in the opinion of many men that it would rather have proved an encouragement to continue in Sin than an obligation as it ought to be in point of Gratitude to greater strictness and Holiness of Conversation as on the Contrary if for this reason without shedding of Blood there could be no forgiveness it follows plainly that nothing less than the Sacrifice of God himself upon the Cross would serve the turn because nothing short of this could possibly be a compleat Expiation and Atonement for the Sins of the whole world but it would be so far from it that all the Sacrifice that could be offered would fall infinitely short of the value of this and God might as well pardon us without any Atonement at all as by that which would be so infinitely disproportionate to the guilt of the offending Parties Further Though it be certain that God could not possibly give the world a more signal Demonstration of his love than by sending his only begotten and his entirely beloved Son to die for it for he that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things Rom. 8. 32 Yet this will but enhance and aggravate the Condemnation of our Disobedience if after so dear a purchase paid for our Redemption we shall still notwithstanding continue in an obstinate and wilful course of Sin for how shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation And now having thus clearly explained what is meant by Justification namely the pardon of our Sins or the remission of that right of Punishment which is devolved upon God by them and having likewise seen by what means this Justification is to be procured that it cannot be obtained by any thing in our selves but that it is wholly oweing to the Grace and Mercy of God in and through the meritorious Death and passion of his Son and our Saviour Jesus Christ the Righteous who knew no Sin neither was guile found in his Mouth and who by the Sacrifice of himself once offered upon the Cross made a full perfect and compleat Satisfaction Propitiation and Redemption for the Sins of all Mankind We may now from hence give such a clear and solid Exposition of many places in the writings of St. Paul which are so miserably abused and stretched beyond their true extent by the Calvinistical Doctors as to make them for ever hereafter utterly useless to that cause and party which without that method which I have used cannot so convincingly be done by any other way of proceedure St. Paul tells us Rom. 11. v. 6. if we are saved by Grace then is it no more of Works otherwise Grace is no more Grace But if it be of Works then is it no more Grace otherwise Work is no more Work and Gal. 2. 16. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but by the Faith of Jesus Christ even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the Faith of Christ and not by the works of the Law For by the works of the Law shall no Flesh be justified Lastly Eph. 2. 4 5. God who is rich in Mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in Sins hath quickned us together with Christ by Grace ye are saved And again v. 8 9. For by Grace are ye saved through Faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast Which places together with several others of a like purport and signification are so far strained beyond their true sence and meaning by Calvinistical Interpreters as if God in the justification of a Sinner had no regard to any previous Conditions of Repentance or good Works but that he proceeded perfectly by an arbitrary Goodness and had not the least respect to any other Consideration whatsoever which it is plain does not only destroy the necessity of Obedience and a good Life but renders all the exhortations and Encouragements to it which are so plentifully and so pathetically interspersed up and down the Scriptures both of the old and the new Testament and all the arguments or menaces made use of to deter us from sinful gratifications or desires not only useless but ridiculous and consequently very unbecoming the Majesty of that God in whose name and Authority they are delivered and St. Paul would be very inconsistent with himself if this opinion were true when in the 12th of his Epistle to the Romans v. 1 2. he exhorts them with so much passion as he does I beseech you Brethren by the Mercies of God that ye present your Bodies a living Sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable Service and be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that good that