caufe he has it in his power to fin or not. For hour, fays THEODORET, can he justly punish a nature' [with endless torments] which had no power to do good, but was bound in the bonds of wickedness. And again, • God having made the rational nature with power over • its own actions, averts men from evil things, and provokes them to do what is good by laws and exhortations, but he does not neceffitate the unwilling to embrace what is better, that he may not overturn the • bounds of nature. Innumerable are the paffages of this nature, which might be cited from the • Fathers.' • does. Page 361, &c. The Doctor produces again many quotations from the Fathers, in defence of liberty. Take fome of them. JUSTIN MARTYR argues,-If man has not power by his free choice to avoid evil, and to chufe the good, he is unblameable whatsoever he ORIGEN, in his differtation against Fate, declares that, the affertors of it do free men from all fault, and caft the blame of all the evil that is done upon God. EUSEBIUS declares, that This opinion abfolves finners, as doing nothing on their own accords which was evil; and would caft all the blame of all the wickedness committed in the world upon God and upon his providence. — That men lie under no neceffity from God's foreknowledge [which was of old the chief argument of the fatalifts, efpoufed of late by Mr. Hobbs, and is ftill made the refuge of the predeftinarians] may be thus proved, faith ORIGEN, because the prophets are exhorted in the fcripture to call men to repentance, and to do this in fuch words, as if it were unknown whether they would turn to God, or • would continue in their fins; as in those words of Jeremiah, Perhaps they will hear, and turn every man from his evil way: and this is faid, not that • God understood not whether they would do this or not, but to demonflrate the almost equal balance of their · porver fo to do, and that they might not defpond, or ree mit of their endeavours by an imagination that God's • foreknowledge laid a neceffity upon them, as not leaving it in their power to turn, and fo was the caufe of their fin.-If men, fays CHRYSOSTOM, do pardon their fel• low men, when they are neceffitated to do a thing, much more fhould this be done to men compelled by fate' [or by decrees] to do what they do; for if it be abfurd to punish them, who by the force of barbarians are com pelled to any action, it must be more fo to punish him who is compelled by a fronger power. - If fate be efta: blished, fays EUSEBIUS, philofophy and piety are over• thrown.' Page 364, the Doctor adds: Tho' there is in the rational foul a power to do evil, it is not evil on that • account, faith DIDYMUS Alexandrinus, but be• cause she will freely use that power: and this is not only ours, but the opinion of ALL who speak orthodoxly of • rational beings. St. AUGUSTIN lays down this, as the true definition of fin: Sin is the will to obtain or "retain, that which juftice forbids, and from which IT · IS FREE for us to abstain. Whence he concludes, that No man is worthy of difpraise or punishment, for "not doing that, which he HAS NOT POWER to do: and that if fin be worthy of difpraise and punishment, it is · not to be doubted, tunc effe peccatum cum et liberum eft nolle,' [that our choice is fin, when we are free not to make that choice.] These things, faith he, the Shepherds fing upon the mountains, and the poets in the theatres, and the unlearned in their affemblies, and the learned in the libraries, and the doctors in the Schools, ' and the bishops in the churches, and mankind through. out the whole earth. I conclude this extract by accounting for St. Auguftin's inconfiftency. He was a warm man. And fuch men, when they write much, and do not yet firmly ftand upon the line of moderation, are apt to contradict themselves, as often as they use the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, to oppofe contrary errors. Hence it is, that when St. Augultin oppofes the Manichees, who were rigid boundwillers, he ftrongly maintained Free-will with Pelagius; and when he oppofed the Pelagians, who were rigid free free-willers, he strongly maintained bound-will and neceffity with Manes. The feripture-doctrine of Freewill lies between the error of Pelagius and that of Manes. The middle way between thefe extremes is, I hope, clearly pointed out in Section xx. Upon the whole, he must be perverfe, who can caft his eyes upon the numerous quotations which Dr. Whitby has produced, and deny that the Fathers held the doctrine of the Scripture scales with respect to Free-will; and that, if they leaned to one extreme, it was rather to that of the Pelagians, than to that of the rigid bound-willers, who clothe their favourite doctrine of neceffity with the fpecious names of invincible Fate, irrevocable Decrees, or absolute Predeftination. End of the Appendix. ADVERTISEMENT. THE KEY to the controversy, which is defigned to be ended by the Scripture fcales, proving too long for this place, the publication of it is poftponed. It may one day open the way for An Essay on the XVIIth Article, under the following title: The Doctrines of Grace reconciled to the Doctrines of Justice. BEING An Essay on Election and Reprobation, In which the defects of Pelagianifm, Calvinism, and Arminianifm, are impartially pointed out, and primitive, fcriptural harmony is more fully restored to the gofpel of the day. In the mean time, to fupply the want of the Key, the reader is prefented with the following Copious Index. A CO A COPIOUS INDE TO THE SCRIPTURE IN N the ADVERTISEMENT prefixed to the first part, and in the EXPLANATION prefixed to the fecond part, the names Zelotes, Honeftus, &c. and the words Pharifaifm, Antinomianifm, &c. are explained. Page 11 iv Description of a true proteftant Some Account of the Scripture-scales The Author's three protests xi He expreffes his refpect for his opponents xiii, xix [See alfo on this head] 214, 387 Strictures upon the Three Letters of Rich. Hill, Efq; xv, SECTION I The caufe of the misunderstandings of pious proteftants A view of the GOSPEL AXIOMS, or Weights of The contrary mistakes of Zelotes and Honeftus Directions to use them properly SECTION II. General Remarks on Free-grace and Free-avill I 2, 11 3 57 9 SALVATION Scripture-principles forming the beam of the fcripture fcales The three chains by which they hang A rational account of the origin of evil SECTION IV. 19 An account of the covenant of works, and that nal merit, is balanced with the importance of Obedience, fecond Caufes, and derived worthiness 21 SECTION V. The importance of faith is balanced with that of works SECTION VI. The law is made for believers as well as for unbelievers It is abfurd to make believers afraid of obeying the ten commandments in order to eternal falvation The Decalogue was a rule of judgment for jewish believers. How far it binds chriftian believers The Decalogue is not the Adamic law of innocence, but the jewish edition of the Mediator's practicable law: This is proved by ten arguments 27 22 33 34 35-43 This Doctrine is held by unprejudiced Calvinilts culties, which arise from the vague meaning of 40 41 43 46 49 SEC |