sarily implying a free refusal of life; and a free choice of life, necessarily supposing a free refusal of death, in a state of temptation, and probation? And is not this doctrine perfectly agreeable to such scriptures as these ; "He shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good;-Choose whom you will serve; Because ye refused, &c. and did not choose the fear of the Lord, &c. therefore shall they eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices?" Upon the preceding observations, seconded by the arguments which shall follow:-upon the consent of all judicious and good men, who sooner or later grant, that there are such things as God's grace, and man's unnecessitated choice; and consequently such things as Free-grace and Free-will in the moral world: upon the repeated testimony of the most pious christians of all denominations, who agree, that we ought to give God the glory of our salvation, and to keep to ourselves the blame of our damnation :-and upon almost numberless declarations of the scriptures. I rest these two propositions, which, if I mistake not, deserve the name of Gospel-axioms, 1. Our salvation is originally of God's free-grace.2. Our damnation is originally of our own free-will. Honestus, who believes in general that the Bible is true, cannot decently oppose the first axiom; for, according to the Scriptures, God's free-grace gave Christ freely for us, and to us. For us, that he might be a propi. tiation for the sins of the whole world: And to us, that by "the light which enlightens every man that comes into the world," the strong propensity to evil, which he had con 1. God hath freely done great things for man; and the still greater things, which he freely does for believers, and the mercy with which he daily crowns them, justly entitle him to all the honour of their salvation; so far as that honour is worthy of the primitive Parent of good, and First Cause of all our blessings. The first of these Propositions extols God's Mercy, and the second clears his Justice: while both together display his Truth and Holiness-According to the doctrine of freegrace, Christ is a compassionate Saviour; ac cording to that of free-will, he is a righteous Judge. By the first, his rewards are gracious; by the second, his punishments are just. By the first, the mouths of the blessed in heaven are opened to sing deserved hallelujahs to God and the Lamb: And by the second, the mouths of the damned in hell are kept from uttering deserved* blasphemies *I do not mean that any blasphemy against God is deserved; but that, according to all our ideas of jus tracted by the fall of Adam, might be counterbalanced; and that, by the saving grace of God, which has appeared to all men, we might, while the day of salvation lasts, be blessed with a gentle bias to good, to counteract our native bias to evil; and be excited by internal helps, external calls, and gracious opportunities, to resist our evil inclinations, to follow the bias of divine grace, and to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling," in due subordination to the Saviour and his grace. Nor can Zelotes, who professes a peculiar regard for God's glory, reject the second gospel-axiom with any decency: For, if our own free-will makes us freely and unnecessarily neglect so great salvation as Christ initially imparts to us, and offers eternally to bestow upon us, on the gracious terms of the gospel; is it not ridiculous to exculpate us by charging either God or Adam, or both together, with our damnation? And do we not cast the most horrible reflection upon the Judge of the earth, and the Father of mer cies, if we suppose, that he has appointed, a day to judge the world in righteousness, and sentence to the gnawings of a worm that dieth not, and to the preyings of a fire that is not quenched, numberless myriads of his poor creatures, merely for wanting a faith which he determined they should never have: or for doing what they could no more help to do, than a pound can help weighing sixteen ounces? Impartially read any one book in the Bible, and you will find that it establishes the truth of the two following Propositions: 2. He wisely looks for some return from man: and the little things which obstinate unbelievers refuse to do, and which God's preventing grace gives them ability to perform, justly entitle them to all the shame of their damnation. Therefore, although their temporal misery is originally from Adam; yet their eternal ruin is originally from them. selves. against God and his Christ. According to the first, God remains the genuine parent of tice, this wOULD BE the case, if the doctrine of free. will were false. For, supposing man and angels are not endued with free-agency, is it not evident, that they are mere instruments in the hand of a superior, irresistible agent, who works wickedness in and by them, Coles," All things were present with God from eteragreeably to this unguarded proposition of Elisha nity; and his decree the cause of their after-existence:" And does not reason cry aloud, that such an Almighty Agent is more culpable than his overpowered, passive tools? Can Zelotes himself say, that a highwayman does not deserve hanging more than the pistol which he fires, and the horse which he rides when he commits murder? What an immense field does the doctrine of bound-will open in hell for the most execrable blasphemies? The Lord forgive its supporters, for they good: And according to the second, devils and apostate men, are still the genuine authors of evil.—If you explode the first of these propositions, you admit pharisaic dotages, and self-exalting pride; if you reject the second, you set up antinomian delusions, and voluntary humility: But if you receive them both, you avoid the contrary mistakes of Honestus and Zelotes, and consistently hold the scriptural doctrines of faith and works;free-grace and free-will;-divine mercy and divine justice;-a sinner's impotence and a saint's faithfulness. know not what they do! The gospel leaves even heathen unbelievers without excuse, Rom. i. 20; but the modern "doctrines of grace," furnish all sorts of infidels with the best excuses in the world. "God's predestination caused Adam's sin and their own; and God's decree kept Christ from dying for, and his Spirit from sincerely striving with them." As these necessary consequences of Calvinism encourage "Mr. Fulsome" to sin here; so [if ars doctrines of grace were true] they would comfort him in hell, hereafter. Read the Scriptures in the light, which beams forth from those two capital truths; and that precious book will in some places, appear to you almost new. You will at least see a beautiful agreement between a variety of texts, that are irreconcileable upon the narrow, partial schemes of the pharisees, and of the antinomians. Permit me to give you a specimen of it, by presenting you with my SCALES; that is, by placing in one point of view, a number of opposite truths, which make one beautiful whole, according to the doctrine of the two gospel-axioms. And may the Father of lights so bless the primary truths to Honestus, that he may receive the doctrine of free-grace; and the secondary ones to Zelotes, that he may espouse the doctrine of free-will! So shall those inveterate contenders be happily reconciled to modera tion, to the whole gospel, and to one another. SECTION III. Containing, 1. The golden Beam of the Scripture-Scales: 2. The Chains by which they are suspended: And 3. A rational account of the Origin of Evil. SCRIPTURAL PRINCIPLES, making the BEAM of the SCRIPTURE SCALES. 1. THERE is a GOD, i. e, a wise, good, and just Governor of his creatures. 1. It was a design highly worthy of a wise Creator, to place mankind in a state of earthly bliss, and to put their loyalty to the trial, that he might graciously reward the obedient, and justly punish the rebellious. 1. The Lord is loving to every man, and his Mercy is over all his works. Psa. cxlv. 9. 1. Grace super-abounded, when God in the midst of wrath remembering mercy, promised a SAVIOUR to Adam personally, and to us seminally, Rom. v. 20. Gen. iii. 15. 1. Not as the offence, so also is the freegift. For if through the offence of one, many be dead; much more the grace of God and the gift by grace, which is by Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. Rom. v. 15. 1. By man came the Resurrection of the dead; for in Christ shall all be made alive. 1. By the Obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Rom. v. 19. 1. That grace might reign, through righteousness unto eternal Life, by Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom v. 21. 1. Therefore, &c. by the righteousness of one the free-gift came upon all men to justification of life. Rom. v. 18. 1. The Lord is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 2 Pet. iii. 9. Hence it follows, that, 1. God's Free-grace gave Christ to atone 2. There are Men, i. e. rational creatures capable of being morally governed. 2. Our wise Creator has actually executed that design. To have done otherwise, would have been inconsistent with his distributive justice, an attribute as essential to him as goodness, knowledge, or power. 2. The Lord is righteous to every man, and his justice is over all his works. 2. Sin abounded when the first man personally fell by the wrong use of his free-will and caused us to fall in him seminally. Rom. v. 20. Gen. iii. 6. 2. Death reigned from Adam.-By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin: and so Death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Rom. v. 12, 14. 2. By man came Death-in Adam all die. 1 Cor. xv. 21, 22. 2. By one man's disobedience many were made sinners. Rom. v. 19. 2. As Sin hath reigned [through unrighte ousness] unto Death, [by Adam] Rom. v. 21. 2. Even so by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Ibid. 2. Why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye. Ezek. xviii. 31, 32. Hence it follows, that, 2. Man's free-will helped by the Spirit of for man, and initially gives the Spirit of grace to sanctify man. 1. To guard the doctrine of grace, divine justice appointed, that a certain sin, called a "doing despite to the Spirit of grace," and a "sinning against the Holy Ghost," or a wil ful persisting in disobedient unbelief, to the end of the day of salvation, should be emphatically the sin unto eternal death; and that those who commit it, should be the sons of perdition. See Matt. xii. 32. Mark iii. 29. Luke xii. 10. 1 John v. 16. John xvii. 12. grace, may receive Christ implicitly as the light of men, or explicitly as the Saviour of the world. 2. Some men commit that sin. For some men "tread under foot the Son of God, count the blood of the covenant, wherewith they were sanctified, an unholy thing, do despite to the Spirit of grace,-and draw back unto perdition. Heb. x. 29, 39.-"Falling from their own stedfastness,-and even denying the Lord that bought them, they bring upon themselves swift destruction," 2 Pet. ii. 1, and "perish in the gain-saying of Core." Jude 11. THREE PAIR OF GOSPEL-AXIOMS. Which may be considered as the GOLDEN-CHAINS, by which the Scripture Scales hang on their Beam. I. 1. EVERY obedient believer's Salvation is originally of God's free-grace. II. 1. God's free-grace is always the first cause of what is good. III. I. When God's free-grace has begun to work moral good, man may faithfully follow Him, by believing, ceasing to do evil, and working righteousness, according to his light and talents. Thus is God the wise Rewarder of them, that diligently seek him, according to these words of the apostle: "God, at the revelation of his righteous judgment, will render to every man according to his deeds: eternal life to them, who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory.-Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompence rest to them who are troubled," for his sake;-to "give them a crown of righteousness, as a righteous Judge ;"-and to make them "walk with Christ in white, because they are worthy [in a gracious and evangelical sense."] Hence it appears, that God's design in the three grand economies of man's Creation, Redemption, and Sanctification, is to display the riches of his free-grace and distributive justice: by showing himself the bounteous Author of every good gift, and by graciously rewarding the worthy; while he justly punishes the unworthy according to their works, agreeably to these awful words of Christ and his prophets," For judgment I am come into this world. The Lord hath made all things for himself: yea even the [men, who to the last will remain] wicked, for the day of evil. -Because he hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness:and to all the wicked that day will be evil and terrible: "For behold the day cometh, says the Lord, that shall burn as an oven; and all that do wickedly shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts." "But the righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: 2. EVERY unbeliever's Damnation is originally of his own personal free-will. 2. Man's free-will is always the first cause of what is evil. 2. When man's free-will has begun to work moral evil, God may justly withdraw his slighted grace, and reveal his deserved wrath, working natural evil. Thus is God the righteous Punisher of them that obstinately neglect him, according to such scriptures as these: "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?-Ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal: Hear now, O ye house of Israel, Is not my way equal?-I will judge you every one after his way.-Is God unrighteous, who taketh vengeance? God forbid! How then shall God judge the world?-Thou art righteous, O Lord, &c. because thou hast judged thus.Thou hast given them blood to drink, for they are worthy [in a strict and legal sense.] so that a man shall say, Verily there is a re ward for the righteous! Doubtless there is a God that judgeth the earth!" or Upon this rational and scriptural plan, may we not solve a difficulty, that has perplexed all the philosophers in the world? "How can you, say they, reasonably account for the Origin of Evil, without bearing hard upon God's infinite goodness, power, knowledge? How can you make appear, not only that a good God could create a world, where evil now exists in ten thousand forms; but also, that it was highly expedient, he should create such a world, rather than any other?" ANS. When it pleased God to create a world, his Wisdom obliged him to create it upon the plan, that was most worthy of a God. Such a plan was undoubtedly that, which squared best with all the divine perfections taken together. Wisdom and Power absolutely required, that it should be a world of rational as well as of irrational creatures; of free, as well as of necessary agents; such a world displaying far better what St. Paul calls ToλUTOLKIλog oogia, the multifarious, variegated WISDOM of God, as well as his infinite Power in making, ruling, and over-ruling various orders of Beings. It could not be expected, that myriads of free-agents, who necessarily fell short of absolute perfection, would all behave alike. Here God's Goodness demanded, that those who behaved well should be rewarded; his Sovereignty insisted, that those who behaved ill should be punished; and his distributive justice and equity required, that those who made the best use of their talents, should be entitled to the highest rewards; while those who abused divine favours most, should have the severest punishments; Mercy reserving to itself the right of raising rewards, and of alleviating punishments, in a way suited to the honour of all the other divine attributes. what David calls the law of the Lord; St. Paul, the law of Christ; St. James, the law of liberty; and what our Lord calls, MY sayings,-MY commandments, &c. Being conceived in sin, since the Fall, and having all our powers enfeebled, we cannot personally keep the first Covenant: Therefore, as the first Adam broke it for us; Christ the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, graciously came to make the Law of Innocence honourable, by keeping it for us, and to give us power to keep his own Law of Liberty; that is, to repent, believe, and obey for ourselves. Therefore, with respect to the law of the first covenant, Christ alone is, and must be, our Foundation, our Righteousness, our Way, our Door, our Glory, and all our Salvation. But, with respect to the Second Covenant, the case is very different: For this covenant and its law of liberty, requiring of us personal repentance and its fruits,-personal faith and its works, all which together make up evangelical obedience, or the obedience of faith; it is evident, that, according to the requirements of the covenant of grace, our obedience of faith, is [in due subordination to Christ] our Righteousness, our narrow way. our straight Gate, our Glory, and our Salvation: Just as a farmer's care, labour, and industry, are, in due subordination to the blessings of divine Providence, the causes of his plentiful crops. This being granted (and I do not see how any man of reason and piety can deny it) it evidently follows: 1. That a world, in which various orders of free as well as of necessaryagents are admitted, is most perfect: 2. That this world, having been formed upon such a wise plan, was the most perfect that could possibly be created: 3. That, in the very na ture of things, evil may, although there is no necessity that it should, enter into such a world; else it could not be a world of free agents, who, are candidates for rewards offer- If you do not lose sight of this distinction; ed by distributive justice: 4. That the blem--if you consider, that our salvation or damishes and disorders of the natural world, are only penal consequences of the disobedience of free-agents: And 5. That from such penal disorders we may indeed conclude, that man has abused free-will, but not that God deals in free-wrath.-Only admit therefore the freewill of rationals, and you cannot but fall in love with our Creator's plan; dark and horrid as it appears, when it is viewed through the smoked glass of the Fatalist, the Manichee, or the rigid Predestinarian. SECTION IV. Containing, 1. An observation upon the Terms of the Covenants; and 2. A balanced specimen of the antipharisaic gospel, displaying CHRIST'S glory in the first Scale; and of the anti-solifidian gospel, setting forth the Glory of evangelical OBEDIENCE in the second Scale. To reconcile the opposite parts of the Scriptures, let us remember, that God has made two covenants with man; The Covenant of Works, and The Covenant of Grace. The first, requires uninterrupted obedience to the law of paradisaical innocence. The second enjoins repentance, faith, and humble obedience to all those gospel-precepts which form nation have two causes, the second of which never operates but in subordination to the first ;-if you observe, the the first Cause of our eternal Salvation is God's free grace in making, and faithfulness in keeping, through Christ, his gospel-promises, to all sinners who freely submit to the terms of the gospel: and that consequently, the Second Cause of that salvation is our own prevented freewill, submitting to the obedience of faith, through the helps that Christ affords us.If, on the other hand, you take notice, that the first Cause of our eternal Damnation is always our own free-will, doing despite to the Spirit of Grace; and that the Second Cause of it is God's justice in denouncing, and his faithfulness in executing, by Christ, his awful threatnings against all that persist in unbelief to the end of their day of initial salvation, generally called "the day of Grace."-If you consider these things, I say, you will see, that all the scriptures, which compose my Scales, and some hundreds more, which I omit for brevity's sake, agree as perfectly as the different parts of a good piece of music. We now and then find, it is true, a solo in the Bible; I mean a passage that displays only the powerful voice of free-grace, or of free-will. Hence Zelotes and Honestus con clude, that there is no harmony but in the single part of that truth which they admire: Supposing that the accents of free-grace and free-will, justly mixed together, form an en thusiastical or heretical noise, and not an evangelical, divine concert. Thus much by way of introduction. FIRST SCALE. Scriptures that display the glory of CHRIST, the importance of primary Causes, the excellence of original merit, and the power of freegrace. 1. Jesus saith unto him, I am the Way, &c. no man cometh to the Father but by me. -I am the Door: By me if any man enter in he shall be saved, John xiv. 6. x. 9. 1. Other Foundation can no mar lay, than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.-I lay in Sion a chief Corner-stone, &c. he that believeth on him shall not be confounded, 1 Cor. iii. 11. 1 Pet. ii. 6. 1. God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of Christ.-He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord, Gal. vi. 14. 1 Cor. i. 31. 1. My soul shall be joyful in my God, for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, Isa. Ixi. 10.—My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour, Luke i. 47. 1. Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ.-He hath covered me with the Robe of righteousness, as a bride adorneth hers with her Jewels, Rom. xiii. 14.-Isa. lxi. 16. 1. Christ is made unto us of God righte ousness, 1 Cor. 1. 30. 1. Neither is there salvation in any other : for there is none other Name [or person] under heaven whereby we must be saved. Acts iv. 12. 1. Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, Heb. ix. 28. 1. Behold! the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. John. i. 29. 1. Look unto me, Isa. xlv. 22. 1. Consider the high-priest of our profession Jesus Christ, Heb. iii. 1. 1. Jesus was made a Surety of a better Testament, Heb. vii. 22. [Note: It is not said, that Jesus is the Surety of disobedient believers but of that Testament, which cuts off the entail of their heavenly inheritance. See Eph. v. 5.] 1. Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree. 1. God has made him [Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, 2 Cor. v. 21. 1. By his Knowledge shall my righteous servant [Christ] justify many, Isa, liii, 11. SECOND SCALE. Scriptures that display the glory of Obedience, the importanc of secondary Causes, the excellence of deserved Worthiness, and the power of Free-will. 2. Christ, in his Sermon upon the Mount, strongly recommends the obedience of faith, as the strait Gate and the narrow Way which leads unto Life, Matt. vii. 13. 2. Not laying again the Foundation of Repentance.-Charge the rich that they do good, &c. laying up for themselves a good Foundation against the time to come. Heb. vi. 1. 1 Tim. vi. 17, 19. 2. Let every man prove his own Work, and then shall he have kavɣnμa, glorying in himself alone, and not in another, Gal. vi. 4. [It is the same word in the original.] 2. This is our rejoicing, the testimony of our Conscience, that in simplicity and godly Sincerity, &c. we have had our conversation in the world, and to you-wards. 2 Cor. i. 12. 2. I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness and it covered me my judgment was a Robe and a Diadem, I was eyes to the blind, &c, Job. xxix. 13, 14, 15. 2. The righteousness of the Righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the Wicked shall be upon him, Ez. xviii. 20. 2. Take heed to thyself and to thy doctrine, &c. for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee, 1 Tim. iv. 16. 2 Let every man prove his own Work :For every man shall bear his own burden, Gal. vi. 4, 5. 2. Put away the evil of your Doings from before mine eyes, Isa. i. 16. 2. Look to yourselves, 2 John 8. 2. Consider thyself:-Let us consider one another, Gal. vi. 1. Heb. x. 24. 2. The Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King: He will save us; [consistently with those glorious titles;] Isa. xxxiii. 22. |