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may do this, resolves to endow them with faith, but to condemn others and not to endow them with faith. Yet many people declare, that this is the kind of predestination on which the apostle treats in the passages just cited: But I deny what they

assert.

I grant that there is a certain eternal decree of God, according to which He administers the means necessary to faith and salvation, and this He does in such a manner as He knows to be suited to righteousness, that is, to his mercy and his severity. But about this decree I think nothing more is necessary to be known, than that faith is the mere gift of the gracious mercy of God; and that unbelief is partly to be attributed to the fault and wickedness of men, and partly to the just vengeance of God, which deserts, blinds and hardens sinners.

But concerning that predestination by which God has decreed to save and to endow with faith some particular persons, but to damn others and not endow them with faith, so various are the sentiments entertained even by the divines of our profession, that this very diversity of opinion easily declares the difficulty with which it is possible to determine any thing respecting it. For while some of them propose, as the object of predestination generally considered, that is, of election and reprobation, man as a sinner and fallen in Adam; others lay it down, man considered as created and placed “in puris naturalibus." Some of them consider this object to be, man to be created; or, as some of them express it, man as salvable and damnable, as capable of being created and of falling. Others of them lay down the object of election and reprobation, which they denominate NON-ELECTION and PRETERITION, man considered in common and absolutely; but they lay down the object of reprobation, on which they bestow the appellation of PREDAMNATION and AFFIRMATIVE REPROBATION, man a sinner and guilty in Adam. Lastly, some of them suppose that the object must be considered entirely in common, man as yet to be created, as created, and as fallen.

I am aware that, when this diversity of opinion is offered as an objection, it is usual to reply, that in [summa] the substance of the matter there is complete agreement, although some difference exists in the circumstances. But it would be in my power to prove, that the preceding opinions differ greatly in many of the things which conduce to the very matter and substance of this kind of predestination; but that of consent or agreement there is nothing except in the minds of those who hold such sentiments,

and who are prepared to bear with those who dissent from them as far as these points extend.

Such a mode of consent as this, [of which they are themselves the patrons,] is of the highest necessity in the Christian Church; as, without it, peace can by no means be preserved. I wish that I also was able to experience from them any such benevolent feelings towards me and my sentiments. In that species of predestination upon which I have treated, I define nothing that is not equally approved by all: On this point alone I differ,—I dare not with a safe conscience maintain in the affirmative any of the preceding opinions. I am also prepared to give a reason for this conscientious scruple when it shall be demanded by necessity, and can be done in a suitable manner.

IV. GRACE AND FREE WILL.

CONCERNING Grace and Free Will, this is what I teach according to the Scriptures and orthodox consent:-Free Will is unable to begin or to perfect any true and spiritual good, without Grace. That I may not be said, like Pelagius, to practise delusion with regard to the word "Grace," I mean by it that which is the Grace of Christ and which belongs to regeneration: I affirm, therefore, that this grace is simply and absolutely necessary for the illumination of the mind, the due ordering of the affections, and the inclination of the will to that which is good: It is this grace which operates on the mind, the affections, and the will; which infuses good thoughts into the mind, inspires good desires into the affections, and bends the will to carry into execution good thoughts and good desires. This grace [prævenit] goes before, accompanies, and follows; it excites, assists, operates that we will, and cooperates lest we will in vain. It averts temptations, assists and grants succour in the midst of temptations, sustains man against the flesh, the world, and Satan, and in this great contest grants to man the enjoyment of the victory. It raises up again those who are conquered and have fallen, establishes and supplies them with new strength, and renders them more cautious. This grace commences salvation, promotes it, and perfects and consummates it.

I confess that the mind of [animalis] a natural and carnal man is obscure and dark, that his affections are corrupt and inordinate, that his will is stubborn and disobedient, and that the man himself is dead in sins. And I add to this, That teacher obtains my highest approbation who ascribes as much as possible to Divine

Grace; provided he so pleads the cause of Grace, as not to inflict an injury on the Justice of God, and not to take away the free will to that which is evil.

I do not perceive what can be further required from me: Let it only be pointed out, and I will consent to give it, or I will shew that I ought not to give such an assent. Therefore, neither do I perceive with what justice I can be calumniated on this point, since I have explained these my sentiments, with sufficient plainness, in the Theses on Free Will which were publicly disputed in the University.*

V.-JUSTIFICATION.

THE last article is on Justification, about which these are my sentiments:-Faith, and faith only, (though there is no faith alone without works,) is imputed for righteousness. By this alone are we justified before God, absolved from our sins, and are accounted, pronounced and declared RIGHTEOUS by God, who delivers his judgment from the throne of grace.

I do not enter into the question of the active and the passive righteousness of Christ, or that of his death and of his life. On this subject I walk at liberty: I say, "Christ has been made of God to me righteousness :" "He has been made sin for me, that through faith I may be the righteousness of God in Him."

Nor yet do I refuse to confer with my brethren on this question, provided such conference be conducted without bitterness, and without an opinion of necessity, [that the partial view of any one should be generally received,] from which scarcely any other result can ensue than the existence of distraction, and of increased effervescence in the minds of men, especially if this discussion should occur between those who are hot controversialists and too vehement in their zeal.

But some persons charge me with this as a crime,—that I say, The act itself of faith, that is, believing itself, is imputed for righteousness, and that in a proper sense, and not by a metonymy. I acknowledge this charge; as I have the apostle St. Paul, in Romans iv, and in other passages, as my precursor in the use of this phrase. But the conclusion which they draw from this affirmation, namely, "that Christ and his righteousness are excluded from our justification, and that [eam] our justification is thus attributed to the worthiness of our faith," I by no means concede it to be possible for them to deduce from my sentiments. * See Fage 189.

For the word, "to impute," signifies, that faith is not righteousness itself, but is graciously accounted for righteousness; by which circumstance all worthiness is taken away from faith, except that which is through the gracious [dignatio] condescending estimation of God. But this gracious condescension and estimation is not without Christ, but in reference to Christ, in Christ, and on account of Christ; whom God hath appointed as the propitiation through faith in his blood.

I affirm, therefore, that faith is imputed to us for righteousness, on account of Christ and his righteousness. In this enunciation, faith is the object of imputation; but Christ and his obedience are the impetratory [procuring] or meritorious cause of justification. Christ and his obedience are the object of our faith; but not the object of justification or divine imputation, as if God imputes Christ and his righteousness to us for righteousness: This cannot possibly be, since the obedience of Christ is righteousness itself, taken according to the most severe rigour of the law. But I do not deny, that the obedience of Christ is imputed to us; that is, that it is accounted or reckoned for us and for our benefit, because this very thing,-that God reckons the righteousness of Christ to have been performed for us and for our benefit,-is the cause why God imputes to us for righteousness our faith, which has Christ and his righteousness for its object and foundation, and why He justifies us by faith, from faith, or through faith.

If any one will point out an error in this my opinion, I will gladly own it: Because it is possible for me to err, but I am not willing to be a heretic.

THE preceding then, as far as I remember, are the Articles which your Excellency mentioned to me, with my explanations of them produced from sincerity of mind; and as thus sincere I wish them to be accounted by all who see them. This one favour I wish I could obtain from my brethren, who are associated with me in the Lord by the profession of the same religion,-that they would at least believe me to have some feeling of conscience towards God: And this favour ought to be easily granted by them, through the Charity of Christ, if they be desirous to study his disposition and nature.

Of what service to me can a dissension be which is undertaken merely through a reckless humour of mind, or a schism created

in the church of Christ, of which by the grace of God and Christ, I profess myself to be a member? If my brethren suppose that I am incited to such an enterprise through ambition or avarice, I sincerely declare in the Lord, that they know me not. But I can confess that I am so free from the latter of these vices, as never to have been tickled, on any occasion, even with the most enticing of its snares,-though it might be in my power to excuse or palliate it under some pretext or other. With regard to Ambition, I possess it not, except that honourable kind which impels me to this service,-to inquire with all earnestness in the Holy Scriptures for Divine Truth, and mildly and without contradiction to declare it when found, without prescribing it to any one, or labouring to extort consent, much less through a desire to "have dominion over the faith of others," but rather for the purpose of my winning some souls for Christ, that I may be a sweet savour to Him, and may obtain [probum nomen] an approved reputation in the church of the Saints. This good name I hope I shall obtain by the grace of Christ, after a long period of patient endurance; though I be now a reproach to my brethren, and " made as the filth of the world and the offscouring of all things" to those who with me worship and invoke one God the Father, and one Lord Jesus Christ, in one Spirit and with the same faith; and who have the same hope with me of obtaining the heavenly inheritance through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I hope the Lord will grant unto me, that they and I may meekly meet together in his great name, and institute a Christian conference about those things which appertain to religion: O may the light of that sacred and happy day speedily shine upon me! In that assembly I engage, through the grace of God, to manifest such moderation of mind and such love for truth and peace, as ought deservedly to be required and expected from a servant of Christ Jesus.

In the mean time [till this assembly can be convened] let my brethren themselves remain quiescent and suffer me to be quiet, that I may be at peace and neither annoy them nor create any uneasiness. If they entertain other thoug..ts concerning me, let them institute an [ecclesiastical] action against me: I will not shun or evade the authority of a competent judge, neither will I forfeit my recognisances by failing to appear.

If it be supposed that the minds of those who hear me are pre-occupied in my favour, at a distance, by some politic subtlety which I display; and that the matter is so managed through

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