19. It is the foundation of the Christian religion; because in it the two-fold love of God may be united together,-God's love of righteousness [or justice], and his love of men, may with the greatest consistency be reconciled to each other.

20. Lastly. This doctrine of Predestination has always been approved by the great majority of professing Christians, and even now, in these days, it enjoys the same extensive patronage.* It cannot afford any person just cause for expressing his aversion to it; nor can it give any pretext for contention in the Christian Church.

It is therefore much to be desired, that men would proceed no further in this matter, and would not attempt to investigate the unsearchable judgments of God,-at least that they would not proceed beyond the point at which those judgments have been clearly revealed in the scriptures.*

This, my most Potent Lords, is all that I intend now to declare to your Mightinesses, respecting the doctrine of PRE

* This was then, and is now, an absolute fact: The moderate and pacific creed of the great Melancthon, (of which that of Arminius, on this point in particular, was an exact copy,) had infused itself into all the Reformed National Churches of Europe, except those who adopted the Presbyterian Platform of Geneva-such as the Churches of France and Scotland. Our own excellent Church imbibed much of this spirit; and has retained it in greater purity and with less interruption, than any even of the professed Lutheran Churches: This has often been satisfactorily proved; but in no work has the commanding evidence in its favour been stated so luminously as in Dr. Richard LAURENCE'S most erudite Bampton Lectures for 1804, the reasoning of which is unanswerable. Omitting therefore, all allusion to the Christians of the Greek and Romish Churches, there would be no difficulty in proving, that the great majority of modern Protestants approve and maintain the doctrine of CONDITIONAL ELECTION AND REPROBATION.

* How mildly does Arminius deliver the reproof, which is too often and most unaptly employed by the Calvinists, Nay, but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? God has been pleased to reveal his truth in his word, and to declare, The soul that sinneth shall die.-Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, &c. Yet the Calvinists evade the force of the first of these passages, by teaching, that "an elect soul, though he fall foully, cannot fall finally." And they labour to wrest the plain and obvious meaning of the second, by intimating, that, by "the wicked and unrighteous man" there mentioned, is to be understood" a believer under a cloud," which is a commodious Calvinistic epithet for a man of that class of believers who, notwithstanding their profession of faith, live in the practice of sin.-God also declares, He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not, shall be damned. What is the Calvinistic improvement upon these Divine expressions? It is, after the manner of Dr. Twisse and the other great masters of the fatal system, (page 586), that God first decreed who should" be saved;" and then, it was determined as a secondary arrangement, that those who are thus decreed to salvation should "believe and be baptized: " In this summary manner is removed that grand incentive to conversion held out by the scriptures, which makes final salvation to be dependent upon faith and perseverance foreseen.-On the other part, the Calvinists further aver, that God first decreed who they were that should "be damned," and afterwards passed another decree that the persons thus destined to damnation should "not

DESTINATION, about which there exists such a great controversy in the Church of Christ. If it would not prove too tedious to your Lordships, I have some other propositions which I could wish to state, because they contribute to a full declaration of my sentiments, and tend to the same purpose as that for which I have been ordered to attend in this place by your Mightinesses.

There are certain other articles of the Christian Religion, which possess a close affinity to the doctrine of Predestination, and which are in a great measure dependent on it: Of this description are the Providence of God, the Free-will of man, the Perseverance of saints, and the Certainty of Salvation. On these topics, if not disagreeable to your Mightinesses, I will in a brief manner relate my opinion.

II. THE PROVIDENCE OF God.

I consider Divine Providence to be "that solicitous, con"tinued, and universally present inspection and oversight of "God, according to which he exercises a general care over the "whole world, but evinces a particular concern for all his [intel"ligent] creatures without any exception, with the design of pre"serving and governing them in their own essence, qualities, "actions, and passions, in a manner that is at once worthy of "Himself and suitable to them, to the praise of his name and "the salvation of believers."-In this definition of Divine Providence I by no means deprive it of any particle of those properties which agree with it or belong to it; but I declare, that it preserves, regulates, governs, and directs all things, and that nothing in the world happens fortuitously or by chance. Be

believe." By this unsound doctrine (for a sanction to which the inventors blasphemously invoke the name of the Great and Merciful God), is undermined the force of all the threats and gracious expostulations contained in the scriptures, and final damnation is no longer chargeable to the personal negligence and obstinacy of the sinner, because it is not made, according to the scriptural plan, to be a lamentable consequence of unbelief and disobedience foreseen.

How necessary is it, on all occasions, to hold fast the form of sound words, and to propound the offers of the gospel in the expressive and gracious terms in which they have been indited by the Holy Spirit! I can assure the reader, that, in wading through some of the muddy productions of the early Divines of Calvin's school, I have met with numerous practical inversions of evangelical expressions. But I will now give one instance of a virtual perversion: St. Paul has said, Let GOD be true, but every man a liar! Omitting all irreverent mention of the Divine Name,-of which, or of the Divine Attributes, those aged teachers of Calvinism seem at times to have had very little recollection, the point towards the establishment of which many of them bent all their mental energies, was obviously this-" Let Calvin's scheme of Predestination be true, although every other man that dissents from it be accounted a liar!"

side this, I place in subjection to Divine Providence both the free-will and even the actions of a rational creature: So that nothing can be done without the will of God, not even any of those things which are done in opposition to it;-only we must observe a distinction between good actions and evil ones, by saying, that "God both wills and performs good acts," but that "He only freely permits those which are evil." Still farther than this, I very readily grant, that even all actions whatever concerning evil that can possibly be devised or invented, may be attributed to Divine Providence,―employing solely one caution, "not to conclude from this concession that God is the cause of sin." This I have testified with sufficient clearness, in a certain disputation concerning the Righteousness and Efficacy of Divine Providence concerning things that are evil, which was on two different occasions treated in Leyden as a divinity-act, at which I presided. that disputation I endeavoured to ascribe to God whatever actions concerning sin I could possibly conclude from the scriptures to belong to him; and I proceeded to such a length in my attempt, that some persons thought proper on that account to charge me with having made God the author of sin. The same serious allegation has likewise been often produced against me, from the pulpit, in the city of Amsterdam, on account of those very theses; but with what show of justice such a charge was made, may be evident to any one, from the contents of my written answer to those Thirty-one Articles formerly mentioned, which have been falsely imputed to me, and of which this was one.

*

In

The reply of Arminius may be seen in the twenty-third of those Articles. The very judicious disputation to which it refers, constitutes the Ninth and Tenth of his Public Lectures, and was undertaken in consequence of some passionate words which escaped from the lips of Gomarus when he presided, as moderator, at a disputation on Divine Providence, and after some solid arguments had been urged, with great modesty and according to the practice of the University, against that learned Professor's theses, by A. C. Vlietius, who was a divinity-student under the joint tutelage and care of Arminius and his morose uncle Kuchlinus. This circumstance caused many reports to be circulated, respecting the erroneous opinions which Arminius was said to entertain on the same subject. He therefore determined immediately to prepare the Theses mentioned in the text: And though the disputation of Gomarus on the general theme had been maintained on the 30th of April 1605, our author held another, only four days afterwards, on the particular question of the effect of Divine Providence upon moral evil. In the interval between these two Academical Acts, our author addressed to his friend Uitenbogardt, on the 2nd of May, a letter, of which the following is a very interesting extract:

"The day before yesterday, in a Disputation on the Providence of God, Gomarus in answer to the objections of Vlietius, who had stated them with

III. THE FREE-WILL OF MAN.

This is my opinion concerning the Free-will of man:-In his primitive condition as he came out of the hands of his Creator, man was endowed with such a portion of knowledge, holiness, and power, as enabled him to understand, esteem, consider, will, and to perform THE TRUE GOOD, according to the commandment delivered to him: Yet none of these acts could he do, except through the assistance of Divine Grace. -But in his lapsed and sinful state, man is not capable, of and by himself, either to think, to will, or to do that which is really good; but it is necessary for him to be regenerated and renewed in his intellect, affections or will, and in all his powers,

sufficient modesty, spoke in such a manner as betrayed the commotion of his mind to all the audience. He likewise uttered some expressions against me, as he supposed: But the person who made him acquainted with my words, had deceived him with a perverse and unfair narration. Without feeling any concern, I listened to him while he spoke with the greatest vehemence; and this is the practice which I will try to pursue, that I may be able to produce the whole of my forces when required by necessity.

"You cannot believe how imperfectly they [my enemies] are prepared to attack the opinions of other people and to defend their own: Or rather, you not only can believe this fact, but, being instructed by personal experience, it constitutes a part of your knowledge. These are the principal arguments which they employ: Such have been the sentiments of all the Doctors of the Church! This is the unvarying opinion of the Reformed Church! But in no quarter do I hear, THUS SAITH THE LORD!

"At present I am preparing some Theses on the Righteousness and Efficacy of the Providence of God concerning evil; and I intend to propose them in regular course within a few days, as subjects of public disputation. In the explanation of this matter I cannot give myself complete satisfaction. Yet I will attempt something, and will freely declare my sentiments: For I can do this, without clashing against either the Confession or the Catechism. I wish it were possible for me previously to explain my sentiments on this point before you and Borrius, and to submit them to your examination and judgment: In that case it is probable, nay it is very certain, the three united together would be able to accomplish what one cannot do by himself. My declaration will at least amount to this: I not only acknowledge Providence in general, but also its influence concerning evil. For I ascribe to it the following actions: Prohibition and Permission respecting the beginning of sin, Determination and Direction respecting its progress, and, respecting its end, Punishment, (in which part I shall treat on the withdrawing of grace, the being given over to a reprobate mind, &c.) I shall then discuss the topic of its being remitted or pardoned."

With what amiable diffidence and ingenuousness did this great man disclose his views and intentions to his intimate friends! It is a tolerably fair test of the orthodoxy of the sentiments briefly described in the preceding extract, when one party accuses the author of entertaining doubts concerning Providence in general,' and another charges him with carrying that doctrine to such a length, in regard to the permission of evil, as to make God the author of sin" What a profound genius must Plancius the detractor have possessed, who could discover this frightful consequence in the Theses of Arminius, and who warned his Calvinistic audience at Amsterdam against its infectious nature!

by God in Christ through the Holy Spirit, that he may be qualified rightly to understand, esteem, consider, will, and perform whatever is truly good. When he is made a partaker of this regeneration or renovation, I consider that, since he is delivered from sin, he is capable of thinking, willing, and doing that which is good, but yet not without the continued aids of Divine Grace. *

In the Book entitled A Necessary Doctrine and Erudition for any Christian Man, which was principally composed by Archbishop Cranmer, examined and approved by a Convocation of the Clergy, (several of whom afterwards suffered as martyrs for the truth,) and which was published with the royal sanction in 1543, long before the birth of Arminius, it is said, "The commandments and threatenings of Almighty God in scripture, whereby man is called upon and put in remembrance what God would have him to do, most evidently do express and declare, that man hath Free-will also now after the full of our first father Adam.-What undoubtedly should be said in vain, unless there were some faculty or power left in man, whereby he may, by the help and grace of God, (if he will receive it, when it is offered to him,) understand his commandments, and freely consent and obey unto them. Which thing, of the Catholic Fathers, is called Free-will, which if we will describe, we may call it conveniently in all men, A certain power of the will joined with reason, whereby a reasonable creature, without constraint, in things of reason discerneth and willeth good and evil; but it willeth not that good which is acceptable to God, except it be holpen with grace: but that which is ill, it willeth of itself.-Besides many other evils that came by that transgression [of our first parents], the high power of man's reason and freedom of will were wounded and corrupted, and all men thereby brought into such blindness and infirmity that they cannot eschew sin, except they be illuminated and made free by an especial grace, that is to say, by a supernatural help and working of the Holy Ghost, which although the goodness of God offereth to all meu, yet they only enjoy it, who by their free will do accept and embrace the same. Nor they also that be holpen by the said grace, cau accomplish and perform things that be for their wealth, but with labour and endeavour : so great is in our nature the corruption of the first sin, and the heavy burden bearing us down to evil.-Free-will, before it may will or think any godly thing, must be holpen by the grace of Christ, and by his Spirit be prevented and inspired, that it may be able thereto; and, being so made able, may from thenceforth work together with grace; and, by the same sustained, holpen and maintained, may do and accomplish good works and avoid sin, and persevere also and increase in grace. It is surely of the grace of God only, that first we be inspired and moved to any good thing: But, to resist temptations, and to persist in goodness and go forward, it is both of the grace of God, and of our free will and endeavour."

In the Nuremberg Catechism, a work containing above 500 pages, which was translated into English by Archbishop Cranmer, and published in 1547, it is said: "And therefore we say in this creed, I believe in the Holy Ghost. But it is necessary some things here to speak of the manner of sanctification, how and after what manner the Holy Ghost doth hallow us, that we may so prepare ourselves, or rather give place to the Holy Ghost, which preventeth us, that he with his light and Almighty strength and power may work his will in us. Give your hearts to God, like wax, apt and meet to receive what thing soever it shall please him to print in you.-And take this for a sure conclusion, and doubt nothing thereof, that the Holy Ghost, as he hath begun these things in us, so he will finish the same in us, if we obey him, and continue in faith to the end of our lives. For he that continueth to the end, shall be saved.-We wretched siuners do not first prevent God, and go before him in the work of