natural meaning, new and inextricable difficulties are incurred ?*

In fhort, there appears to be no rational or confiftent medium, between admitting that God, according to the fcriptures, has chofen and determined that all the moral evil which does, or ever will exift, should take place, and confequently is fo far the origin and caufe of it: Or believing and afferting, that fin has taken place, in every view, and in all respects, contrary to his will, he having done all he could to prevent the existence of it; but was not able; and is therefore not the infinitely happy, uncontrolable, fupreme Governor of the world; but is dependent, difappointed, and miferable! No one, furely, will adopt the latter How then can he avoid admitting the former?

3. If the fcriptures which have been mentioned, where hardening the hearts of men, blinding and shutting their eyes, and inclining and turning their hearts, when they practice moral evil, &c. If thefe fcriptures are to be underflood; as meaning no more than that God

orders

CALVIN, reprefents thofe as very unreafonable, and perverting the scriptures, who infift that no more is meant than a bare permission, when God is faid to harden the hearts of men, shut their eyes, &c. He speaks of them as frigidi fpeculatores, diluti moderatores; to whofe delicate ears fuch fcripture expreffions seem harsh, and are offenfive. They therefore, he observes, fuften them down, by turning an action into a permishon, as if there were no difference between acting and fuffering, i. e. fuffering others to act. He fays, Such who will admit of a permiffion only, fufpend the counsel and deter mination of God, wholly on the will of man. But that he is not ashamed or afraid to fpeak as the Holy Spirit does: And does not hesitate to approve and embrace what the fcripture fo often declares, viz. That God blinds the minds of wicked men, and hardens their hearts, &c. See CALVIN'S Commentary on Exod. iv. t. vii. 3.—Josh. ix. 29.-Rom. ix. 19. See also WEST'S Effay on Moral Agency, page 241, 246.

When the Apostle Paul fays, "And whom he will he hardeneth,” he refers to the words of God, when he repeatedly fays to Moses, that he would, and actually did harden the heart of Pharaoh: And he does not attempt to foften or alter the expression in the leaft, when he applies it to all who are hardened.

orders their fituation, and external circumftances to be fuch, that, confidering their difpofition, and the evil bias of their minds, they will, without any other influence, be blinded and hardened, &c, then all those scriptures, which speak of God's changing and foftening the heart, taking away the hard heart, and giving a heart of flesh; opening the eyes of men, and turning them from darkness to light, and from fin to holiness, working in them to will and to do, and caufing them to walk in his ways, &c. may, and muft, be understood in the fame way, as not intending any special divine influence on the mind, as the origin and caufe of virtuous, obedient, holy vo litions; but only his ufing means with them in an external way; putting them under advantages, and fetting motives before them; fo that if they be well difpofed, or will difpofe themselves to obedience, they may be holy, &c. To be fure, it cannot be argued from the expreffions themselves, that the latter exprefs or intend any more real influence on the minds of men, or divine agency, by which God is the origin and cause of virtuous exercises; than the former do with respect to men's finful exercises; for the expreffions are as unlimited, plain and strong, which speak of the former, as those which are used for

the latter.

The Arminian, and all of his caft, underfland the lat ter, as they do the former, as intending no internal, decifive influence on the mind, turning the heart or will one way, or the other; but ordering external circumftances, &c. And are they not herein more confiftent, than the profeffed Calvinist, who infifts that the latter cannot be understood as expreffing lefs, than that God, by his agency and influence on the minds of men, does actually produce all virtuous volitions, as their real origin and caufe; while he as confidently afferts, that the former cannot mean any fuch thing; but understands

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them

PART I. them as the Arminian does: Were they confiftent, they would give up the caufe to the Arminian, and own that the latter expreffions, may well be understood, as he understands them, and muft mean no more, if the former do not. This is mentioned, it must be obferved, as argumentum ad hominem, to convince these profeffed Calvinifts, or whatever they chufe to call themselves, that they are really inconfiftent; and, in this point, are taking a measure to strengthen their oppofers, rather than to convince or confute them. This leads to another obfervation.

4. They who object to the divine agency being the origin and cause of finful volitions, because, in their view, this is inconfiftent with freedom and moral agency, in fuch volitions, and with any blame or crime in that which is the effect of fuch a caufe; muft, if confiftent with themselves, reject the doctrine of the divine agency, as the cause of virtuous volitions and exercifes, on the fame ground, and for the fame reason.

If any kind or degree of fuppofed influence and agency, which is antecedent to a man's volition, and the caufe of its taking place, renders fuch volition not free, and not the man's own volition and exercise, so that he is neither virtuous nor vicious in having and exerting fuch a choice; then there is no freedom or virtue in the exercifes of thofe called good men, which are the effect of powerful divine influence, caufing them to take place: But if fuch agency and influence, producing virtuous volitions in men, be confiftent with the freedom of men, in fuch volitions; and they are as much their own exercifes, and they are as virtuous, and as much their own virtue, as if they had taken place without fuch previous influence; or as they could be, on any poffible fuppofition; then all this is as true of all contrary or finful volitions of men, whatever kind or degree of influence

and

and agency be exerted, antecedent to their existence, and as the cause of it.

This obfervation is made for the fake of thofe, who make the above objection against there being any origin or cause of finful volitions, antecedent to their exiftence; fuppofing this is inconfiftent with man's freedom and blame in fuch exercifes: And yet, they believe and affert, that all virtuous exercises of men are the fruit and effect of divine influence, as their origin, which efficacioufly causes them to take place; and that these exercises are as really and as much their own, and as virtuous, and praife worthy, as if they had taken place, without any fuch previous influence and caufe, were this poffible. It is defirable that this palpable, grofs inconfiftence of theirs, might be difcerned, and attended to by them; upon which they would drop this objection, as wholly without foundation, or urge it equally against the virtuous exercises of men, being the effect of any previous, divine, efficacious influence, as their origin and cause; and renounce it as inconfiftent with the liberty and moral agency of men; by which they will be confiftent with themfelves in this point, however inconfiftent they may be with the Bible.

Both the one and the other is indeed, equally and altogether confiftent, with human liberty, and with virtue and fin. No fuppofable or poffible influence or agency, previous to the exercises of the will, which is the origin and cause of such exercises, can render men lefs free in fuch voluntary exercifes, or the lefs virtuous or vicious: And that because liberty confifts, and is exercis ed, in willing and chufing; and in nothing that does or can take place antecedent to the volitions of men, or as the confequence of them: And virtue and fin confift in the exercises of the will or heart, and in nothing else; and men are finful or holy according to the nature and quality

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quality of these. These are most certain and evident truths, which has been in fome measure fhown above; and which ought to be always kept in view, when attending to this fubject.

5. There is a certain connection between God's hardening the hearts of men, and fhutting or blinding their eyes, whatever this may be, or imply; and their voluntarily hardening their own hearts, and fhutting or clof. ing their own eyes; fo that when or wherever the one takes place, the other does alfo.

1

When God is faid to harden Pharaoh's heart, he is, at the fame time, faid to harden his own heart. God faid to Mofes, that he would harden the heart of Pharaoh.* And it is repeatedly faid that he hardened his own heart, as the Lord had faid,† referring to his faying, that he would harden the heart of Pharaoh. So it is faid, Pharaoh finned yet more, and hardened his heart; and in the first verfe of the tenth chapter, the Lord faid unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart; referring to the 'inftance juft before mentioned, of Pharaoh's hardening his own heart. Hence it ap pears, that whenever God hardened the heart of Pharaoh, he hardened his own heart; and whenever Pharaoh did harden his heart, God did alfo harden it: And that this is true of every inftance of hardness or obftinacy of the heart, God hardens the heart; and the finner himself hardens his own heart.

It does not follow from this, as fome have thought it did, that God's hardening the heart of Pharaoh, and his hardening his own heart, are one and the fame thing. This fuppofition is contrary to the reprefentation, and the express words. Here are two diftinft agents, who are faid to be concerned, and to act, in producing one and