studied, and with the further assistance of all the books and writings in the world, if void of immediate divine revelation, never has known, nor ever can know, God, in relation either to his essence or those excellent attributes which are in correspondence and unison with his pure, holy, and unchangeable nature; for that which may be known of God is manifest within man," and that not by his reasoning powers, but by the immediate impression and unpremeditated sensations which the immortal spirit of man feels and sees by being brought into contact with, and under the certain and self-evident influence of, the spirit of God upon it. And hence man is enabled to attribute to God his due only from sensible and self-evident experience. Just the same as in a natural and outward relation: we see the outward sun, we feel its warmth, and walk in its light; and are thereby enabled to ascribe to it with certainty (and not from blind and ignorant supposition) its real excellences. So also it is as it respects the invisible God; that although as it regards our outward senses or the powers of our reasoning faculties, he is to us an impenetrable secret, yet he is clearly and sensibly manifested to the immortal soul of man, by the light of his spirit, or the radiance of the Heavenly Sun, which is God. By which manifestation the apostle was enabled to declare from self-evident certainty, that "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all;" and that "if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood," which means no doubt the spiritual life, "of Jesus Christ his son, cleanseth us from all sin." Hence man in this enlightened state is enabled to ascribe to God his just and righteous due; for as, by an entire submission and faithful obedience to the inspiration and requirings of the spirit of God, man witnesses, by selfevident experience, a redemption from sin, and such an entire mortification of self, as to be brought not only to love his neighbour as himself, but to love even the most cruel of his enemies so as to pray to God for them, he comes to a * Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them-Rom. i. 19. self-evident knowledge of at least two of the divine attributes, namely, his infinite power and his infinite mercy. For knowing in himself the entire impossibility under which he lies of performing this by any power of his own, he ascribes it all to God, as the sole author thereof. And as by this inward revelation all the secrets of his heart are laid open, without a possibility of hiding any thing from him, so there arises a selfevident sense of his infinite prescience. And so also it is, as it relates to all his other attributes, necessary for man to have any knowledge of in this state of being. But man cannot rightly and rationally attribute any thing to God but what he has knowledge or experience of, as every thing else must be founded on supposition, as something that may be or may not be; and therefore cannot be a subject of belief, or any part of a Christian's creed. And here let me observe, that the term infinite implies no more, even in relation to the Divine Being, than that there is a great First Cause, not limited or bounded by any other being or cause. But to what extent this unbounded liberty is exercised, at any one time, either as it regards his general or his special providence, or as it regards the attributes of an infinite God, no finite being can have any just idea or conception of; for, no doubt, the infinite Jehovah has ways of seeing, knowing, and acting, which no finite being can comprehend or have any knowledge of. And therefore, how monstrous for any man to assert, that if there be a God, he must from all eternity not only have seen and known, but also have willed and ordained, every event, both small and great, good and bad; yea, every foul action and thought originating in the chambers of wantonness and debauchery; and if he is not such a being, then thou sayst there is no God, or at least thy arguments and reasonings fairly imply such a conclusion and consequence. From which there results, as it relates to the all-wise and infinite Jehovah, the most palpable and daring presumption and absurdity: for what can be more so, than to charge the Almighty with being the author of all the murder, lying, blasphemy, swearing, robbing, and stealing, together with the whole catalogue of sin and iniquity in the world? Would it not have been more prudent to have deferred advancing such erroneous doctrines, until thou hadst become better informed, and hadst a better understanding of the Scriptures? For, although thou hast quoted many passages to give a cover to thy assertions and reasonings, yet they afford no proof. Hadst thou, in thy researches after knowledge, been concerned to know the first step of wisdom-the right knowledge of thyself-such an humbling view of thy own insufficiency and entire ignorance of the Divine Being, and all his glorious attributes, would, I trust, have preserved thee from falling into thy present errors. Errors great indeed, and fatal in their consequences; for if men were capable of believing with confidence thy opinions, either as regards the doctrine of unconditional predestination and election, or the doctrine of universal salvation, both of which certainly and necessarily resolve in one, who could any longer call any thing he has his own? for all would fall a prey to the villains and sturdy rogues of this belief. And, indeed, a belief of these opinions would most assuredly make thousands more of that description, than there already are; as every temptation to evil, to gratify the carnal desires, would be yielded to, as that which was ordained to be; and of course would be considered as something agreeable to God's good pleasure; and therefore not only our goods and chattels would become a prey to every ruffian of this belief, but even our wives and daughters would fall victims to the superior force of the abandoned and profligate, as believing they could do nothing but what God had ordained to be. But we are thankful in the sentiment, that no rational intelligent being can possibly embrace, in full faith, these inconsistent doctrines; as they are founded on nothing but supposition: and supposition can never produce real belief, or a faith that any rational creature can rely upon. I am fully convinced, that the doctrines thou art endeavouring to disseminate, and which have been professed by thousands in days past, and are held by many in the present day, have their origin in a profound ignorance of God and his righteous attributes, from which source infidelity and unbelief have been produced. For the creature, in his limited and carnal wisdom, undertaking to search out the essence and first cause of all things, without possessing a capacity or power for such investigation, can only proceed therein by guessing and surmising hence the infidel springs up, who assures us, as his opinion, that all things come by chance; and which, I conceive, fairly embraces thy doctrine of "one eternal now;" which implies, if it implies any thing, that all things have been hurled into existence in an instant, by mere blind chance, and without any intelligent designing First Cause. This difference only excepted; thou guessest or surmisest that there is a First Cause; and thou supposest him to be of such a particular fancied description, and if he is not just what thou hast described him to be, thou assurest us he has no being. And as one supposition or guess is as good and as certain as another, until the one or the other is proved by evidence, therefore the infidel's guess or supposition is not only as rational but even more consistent than thine: for thou supposest a great First Cause, just, pure, holy, and merciful, and at the same time makest him the author of all the injustice, impurity, unholiness, and cruelty which exist; but the infidel believes all things to come by chance, and, therefore, charges no wrong upon any one. I will now notice thy great struggle to reconcile contradictions, and by which thou art at variance with the doctrine of the apostle, where he says, that "faith without works is dead;" for thou sayst that every individual, who in this life. becomes fit for the blessings of paradise, must have been preordained thereto of course, thou entirely destroys man's free agency, and if that be taken away the work is all done; man can neither fall nor rise; do wickedly nor justly; commit sin nor do good: therefore his actions and thoughts must be all good, and likewise good for nothing, as they can neither make him happy nor miserable. Away then goes all salvation and all reprobation, for by thy doctrine they sink into eternal oblivion. I will now seriously ask thee, whether the servant in the parable, was condemned to the shades of darkness for having, or not having, a talent to improve? Thou wilt, I trust, most certainly acknowledge, as the scriptures and common sense assure us, that it was for having one. Then certainly he must have had power and ability to improve it: and if he had power to improve it, as the other two did theirs, then certainly it was his master's will that he should have improved it. Hence we are assured, from the tenor of this parable, that a certain act and thing has been done, that the all-righteous and unchangeable Jehovah neither willed nor ordained, unless he willeth contraries; which I conclude neither thou nor any other person would be willing to believe. Hence it further appears, that the act of disobedience originated entirely in the independent will of man; as has every other sin in the world. It is a fact which must be admitted, that every man that has sinned hath self-evident knowledge of it, if any thing can be self-evident to man and therefore, if thy premises are well founded, that every thing that the Divine Being foreknows he wills and ordains, then the conclusion will follow, according to thy arguments, that he has not foreknown any sin; for I think there is nothing more certain, as above proved, than that the Divine Being never willed nor ordained the commission of any. Sin arises entirely out of the corrupt independent will of man ; and which will is not of God's creating, but springs up and has its origin in man's disobedience and transgression, by making a wrong use of his liberty. And as this corrupt will of man is adventitious to him and no part of his original state, but has its origin in the wrong use of his free agency, by which he has fallen from God into a state of darkness and death; so, when through the renewed emanations of the divine light and life, man is again quickened, and brought to see his wretched condition, and in this divine visitation, while lengthened out to him, he makes a new election, in which he chooses God for his portion, and his inward light and law for his guide, and follows it in faithful obedience, then he knows his corrupt will to be slain, and cast out into the ocean of oblivion, and God's |