A certain woman, named Lydia, heard us: whofe heart the Lord opened, fo that the attended to the things that were spoken by Paul. Ibid. v. 14.

As many, as were ordained unto eternal life, believed. Acts xiii. 48.

I am carnal, fold under fin. For that which I do, yes, I am far from approving: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. To will is prefent with me: but how to perform that which is good, I find not. For the good that I would, I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. When I would do good, evil is prefent with me. I delight in the law of God, after the inner man: but I fee another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of fin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who fhall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God, through Jefus Christ our Lord. So then, with the mind, I myself ferve the law of God: but, with my flesh, the law of fin. Rom. vii. 1425. According to the account which St. Paul here gives of himself, he no more dreamed of his being a felf-determiner, than of his having attained to finlefs perfection. No wonder that fome flaming Arminians have a peculiar fpite against this apostle!

In whom [i. e. in Chrift] we alfo have obtained an inheritance being predeflinated, according to the purpose of him who worketh all things according to the counfel of his own will, Eph. i. 11.

Speaking of affliction and perfecution, the apoftle comforted himself and his fellow-fufferers, by refolving all into neceffity: that no man fhould be moved by thefe affli&ions; for ye yourfelves know, that we are appointed thereto. 1 Theff. iii. 3.

What idea St. James entertained, concerning free-will and felf-determination, fully appears from the following admonition: Ye know not [much lefs, can ye be the difpofers of] what fhall be on the

morrow.

morrow. For what is your life? it is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time, and then vanifheth away. Ye ought to fay, if the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. James iv. 14, 15. —— Why did St. James reafon in this manner? Becaufe he was endued with grace and fenfe to be a necef-. fitarian.

So was St. Peter. Hence he tells the regenerated elect, to whom he wrote, Ye alfo, as lively ftones, are built up, a fpiritual houfe. 1 Pet. ii. 5. This

is giving free-will a ftab under the fifth rib. For, can ftones hew themfelves, and build themselves into a regular houfe? no more, in this apoftle's judgment, can men form themselves into temples of the Holy Ghoft. It is the effect of neceffitating grace.

The prophecy came not, in old time, by the will of man: but holy men of God fpake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 2 Pet. i. 21.--Neceffity again.

There fhall come, 'in the last days, fcoffers, walking after their own lufts. 2 Pet. iii 3.-But the apoftle could not have been fure of this, without taking neceffity into the account: or, as himself expreffes it, unless they who ftumble at the word, were appointed to difobedience. 1 Pet. ii. 8.

There are certain men crept in unawares, who were before, of old, ordained to this condemnation. Jude 4. If fo, were not the fin and condemnation. of those men neceffary and inevitable?

CHAP. V.

Proofs that Chrift Himself was an abfolute Neceffitarian.

LEST any, who may not, hitherto, have confidered the fubject, with the fame attention that I have done, fhould be ftartled at the title of

this chapter; I fhall adduce the larger evidence, in order to make good what the title imports. The reader will not, however, expect a fynopfis of the whole evidence, by which this great truth is authenticated for, were I to attempt that, I muft tranfcribe well-nigh all the 89 chapters of the four evangelifts.

It should feem that our bleffed Lord began his public miniftrations with his fermon on the Mount; recorded Matt. v. vi. and vii. In that difcourfe, are the following paffages.

One jot, or one tittle, fhall in no wife pass from the law, until all be fulfilled.

Thou canst not make one hair white or black.

Your Father, who is in heaven, maketh his fun to rife on the evil and the good, and fendeth rain on the juft and on the unjuft. Surely, man can neither promote, nor hinder, the rifing of the fun and the falling of the rain!

Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.-How can a free-willer fay the Lord's Prayer?

Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit unto his ftature? The word a fignifies both ftature, and age. As we have no fingle term,' in English, which comprifes both thofe ideas together; the paffage fhould be rendered periphra- ftically which of you, by being anxious, can either make addition to his ftature, or prolong the duration of his life?

Be not tormentingly diftreffed, concerning futurity for futurity fhall take care of its own things. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof: i. e. commit yourselves, in a believing and placid ufe of reasonable means, to the will and providence of him, who has already lain out the whole plan of events in his own immutable purpofe. The appointed meafure of fuppofed evil is infallibly connected with its VOL. VI. (29.)

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day,

day, which no corrodings of imaginary anticipation can either ftave off, or diminifh.

"Reasonable means! are not all means, hereby, fhut out of the cafe?" No. Not in any respect whatever. For we know not what means God will blefs, until we have tried as many as we can. But, when all tried, the refult ftill refts with him.

I shall only quote one other paffage, from the fermon on the Mount.-The rain [of affliction] defcended, and the floods [of temptation] came, and the winds [of perfecution] blew, and beat upon that houfe [the house of an elect, redeemed, converted foul]: but it fell not; for it was founded upon a rock. That is, in plain English, it could not fall.' It stood, neceffarily: or, as the fenfe is yet more forcibly expreffed in St. Luke, when the flood arofe, the ftream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it. Luke vi. 48.

In other parts of the gofpels, we find Chrift reafoning and acting on the highest principles of neceffity.

I will; be thou clean: faid he, to the poor leper. What was the confequence? And immediately his leprofy was cleanfed. Matt. viii. 3. The effect neceffarily followed. The leper could not but be healed.

And, indeed, what were all the miracles wrought by Jefus, but effects of his irresistible and neceffitating power? Let the Chriftian reader examine and weigh each of thofe miracles, with this remark in his eye; and he will foon become a convert to the doctrine of neceffity. Was it poffible Was it poffible for those miracles not to have taken effect? i. e. was it poffible for Chrift's miracles not to have been miracles? Was it chance, which armed his word with ability to heal and to deftroy? If fo, farewell to all Chriftianity at once. I can perceive no fhadow of medium between neceffity and rank infidelity.

Neither

Neither can I make any thing of the prophecies of Christ, unless thofe prophecies be confidered as infallible: i. e. as inferring a certain, or neceffary, accomplishment, in every part. For, if a fingle predicted circumftance can poffibly happen, otherwife than it is foretold; the entire argument, for the truth of divine revelation, drawn from the topic of prophecy, moulders into duft.

Nor is the Arminian felf-determining hypothefis more compatible with (what is the effential bafis of prophecy) the fore-knowledge of God. If, for example, it fo lay at the free-will of Chrift's betrayer and murderers, that they might, or might not, have betrayed and crucified him; and if it fo lay at the free-will of the Romans, as that they might, or might not, have destroyed Jerufalem; it will follow, that thofe events were philofophically contingent : i. e. there was no certainty of their taking place, till after they actually had taken place. The felfdetermining will of Judas might poffibly have determined itself another way. So might the felf-determining will of every perfon concerned in the crucifixion of Chrift. And fo might the felf-determining wills of thofe Romans, who befieged and razed Jerufalem. Confequently (on that principle,) divine fore-knowledge could not, with certainty, know any thing of the matter. For that which is not certainly future, is not certainly fore-knowable. It may be emptily confidered, as poffible: or (at the very utmost) be uncertainly gueffed at, as not improbable. But knowledge must be left out of the queftion: for knowledge will ftand on none but *

certain

There are four links, which all the art of man can never feparate; and which proceed in the following order: Decree-Fore knowledge-Prophecy-Neceffity. Let us take a fhort Scripture view of thofe facred links, and of their connection with each other.

I am God, and there is none elfe; I am God, and there is none like me: declaring the end, from the beginning; and, from antient times, the things that are not yet done: faying, my counsel shall stand, and I will

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