fession of these two kingdoms, which thus ever mutu ally war against each other with so much power and force, would alone be sufficient to confute the doctrine of Free-will: seeing that, we are compelled to serve in the kingdom of Satan, until we be liberated by a divine power. All this, I say, is known in common among Christians, and fully confessed in their proverbs, by their prayers, by their pursuits, and by their whole lives. Sect. CLXIV.-I OMIT to bring forward that truly Achillean scripture of mine, which the Diatribe proudly passes by untouched-I mean, that which Paul teaches, Rom. vii. and Gal. v., that there is in the saints, and in the godly, so powerful a warfare between the spirit and the flesh, that they cannot do what they would. From this warfare I argue thus :If the nature of man be so evil, even in those who are born again of the Spirit, that it does not only not endeavour after good, but is even averse to, and militates against good, how should it endeavour after good in those who are not born again of the Spirit, and who are still in the "old man," and serve under Satan? Nor does Paul there speak of the 'grosser affections' only, (by means of which, as a common scape-gap, the Diatribe is accustomed to get out of the way of all the scriptures,) but he enumerates among the works of the flesh heresy, idolatry, contentions, divisions, &c.; which he describes as reigning in those most exalted faculties; that is, in the reason and the will. If therefore, flesh with these affections war against the Spirit in the saints, much more will it war against God in the ungodly, and in Free-will. Hence, Rom. viii., he calls it enmity against God."-I should like, I say, to see this argument of mine overturned, and Free-will defended against it. As to myself, I openly confess, that I should not wish Free-will to be granted me, even if it could be so, nor any thing else to be left in my own hands, whereby I might endeavour something towards my own salvation. And that, not merely because in so many opposing dangers, and so many assaulting devils, I could not stand and hold it fast, (in which state no man could be saved, seeing that one devil is stronger than all men ;) but because, even though there were no dangers, no conflicts, no devils, I should be compelled to labour under a continual uncertainty, and to beat the air only. Nor would my conscience, even if I should live and work to all eternity, ever come to a settled certainty, how much it ought to do in order to satisfy God. For whatever work should be done, there would still remain a scrupling, whether or not it pleased God, or whether he required any thing more; as is proved in the experience of all justiciaries, and as I myself learned to my bitter cost, through so many years of my own experience. the But now, since God has put my salvation out of way of of my will, and has taken it under his own, and has promised to save me, not according to my working or manner of life, but according to his own grace and mercy, I rest fully assured and persuaded that he is faithful, and will not lie, and moreover great and powerful, so that no devils, no adversities can destroy him, or pluck me out of his hand. "No one (saith he) shall pluck them out of my hand, because 警 my Father which gave them me is greater than all." Hence it is certain, that in this way, if all are not saved, yet some, yea many shall be saved; whereas, by the power of Free-will, no one whatever could be saved, but all must perish together. And moreover, we are certain and persuaded, that in this way, we please God, not from the merit of our own works, but from the favour of his mercy promised unto us; and that, if we work less, or work badly, he does not impute it unto us, but, as a father, pardons us and makes us better. This is the glorying which all the saints have in their God! Sect. CLXV.-AND if you are concerned about this, that it is difficult to defend the mercy and justice of God, seeing that, he damns the undeserving, that is, those who are for that reason ungodly, because, being born in iniquity, they cannot by any means prevent themselves from being ungodly, and from remaining so, and being damned, but are compelled from the necessity of nature to sin and perish, as Paul saith, "We all were the children of wrath, even as others," when at the same time, they were created such by God himself from a corrupt seed, by means of the sin of Adam,- -Here God is to be honoured and revered, as being most merciful towards those, whom he justifies and saves under all their unworthiness: and it is to be in no small degree ascribed unto his wisdom, that he causes us to believe him to be just, even where he appears to be unjust. For if his righteousness were such, that it was considered to be righteousness according to human judgment, it would be no longer divine, nor would it in any thing differ from human righteousness. But as he is the one and true God, and moreover incomprehensible and inaccessible by human reason, it is right, pay, it is necessary, that his righteousness should be incomprehensible: even as Paul exclaims, saying, "Oh the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" But they would be no longer "past finding out" if we were in all things able to see how they were righteous. What is man, compared with God! What can our power do, when compared with his power! our strength, compared with his strength! our knowledge compared with his wisdom! What is What is our substance, compared with his substance! In a word, what is all that we are, compared with all that he is! If then we confess, even according to the teaching of nature, that human power, strength, wisdom, knowledge, substance, and all human things together, are nothing when compared with the divine power, strength, wisdom, knowledge, and substance, what perverseness must it be in us to attack the righteousness and judgments of God only, and to arrogate so much to our own judgment, as to wish to comprehend, judge, and rate, the divine judgments! Why do we not, here in like manner say at once-What! is our judgment nothing, when compared with the divine judgments !-But ask reason herself if she is not, from conviction, compelled to confess, that she is foolish and rash for not allowing the judgments of God to be incomprehensible, when she confesses that all the other divine things are incomprehensible? In every thing else we concede to God a divine majesty; and yet, are ready to deny it to his judgments! Nor can we for a little while believe, that he is just, even when he promises that it shall come to pass, that when he shall reveal his glory, we shall all see, and palpably feel, that he ever was, and is,-just! Sect. CLXVI.-BUT I will produce an example that may go to confirm this faith, and to console that "evil eye" which suspects God of injustice.-Behold! God so governs this corporal world in external things, that, according to human reason and judgment, you must be compelled to say, either that there is no God, or that God is unjust as a certain one saith, I am often tempted to think there is no God.' For see the great prosperity of the wicked, and on the contrary the great adversity of the good; according to the testimony of the proverbs, and of experience the parent of all proverbs. The more abandoned men are, the more successful! "The tabernacles of robbers (saith Job) prosper." And Psalm lxxiii. complains, that the sinners of the world abound in riches. Is it not, I pray you, in the judgment of all, most unjust, that the evil should be prosperous, and the good afflicted? Yet so it is in the events of the world. And here it is, that the most exalted minds have so fallen, as to deny that there is any God at all; and to fable, that fortune disposes of all things at random: such were Epicurus and Pliny. And Aristotle, in order that he might make his First-cause Being' free from every kind of misery, is of opinion, that he thinks of nothing whatever but himself; because he considers, that it must be most irksome to him, to see so many evils and so many injuries. But the prophets themselves, who believed there |