his free grace and love, without the least foresight of faith and good works, or any conditions performed by the creature; and that the rest of mankind he was pleased to pass by, and ordain them to dishonour and wrath for their sins, to the praise of his vindictive justice."

3.

2. "Jesus Christ, by his death and sufferings, made an atonement for the sins of the elect only." "Mankind are totally depraved in consequence of the fall; and by virtue of Adam's being their publick head, the guilt of his sin was imputed, and a corrupt nature conveyed to all his posterity, from which proceed all actual transgressions: and that by sin we are made subject to death, and all miseries, temporal, spiritual, and eternal.”

4. "All whom God has predestinated unto life, he is pleased, in his appointed time, effectually to call by his word and spirit, out of the state of sin and death, in which they were by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ."

5.

"Those whom God has effectually called, and sanctified by his Spirit, shall never finally fall from a state of grace."

Can a discerning mind reflect upon this system of theology with any degree of approbation? Consider it in its several parts, and attend to the inferences which necessarily flow from it, and then say, whether these be doctrines according to godliness.

Into all our inquiries respecting the moral administrations of Deity, we ought to carry some general and allowed principles. God is a being of absolute perfection. He is immutable in his nature, and no addition can be made to his essential glory

or happiness. A perfect being, a being infinitely powerful, wise and good, in creation must have had a regard to the happiness of the beings to whom he gave existence. In the government of a being possessed of these attributes, existence will not be given to any class of creatures, under circumstances which must necessarily render this existence miserable. The existence of every class of intelligent, moral beings, must be preferable to non-existence, unless by the abuse of their powers, they individually disqualify themselves for the happiness for which they were designed.

With these principles to regulate the inquiry, let us impartially examine the above positions of Calvin, which many pronounce to be the articles of a standing or falling Church,

Adam, the first man, was constituted the federal head of all his posterity. By the abuse of his moral liberty, a wilful transgression of the divine command, he forfeited the happiness of paradise, and became obnoxious to suffering and to death. The original sin of Adam is imputed to each individual of his descendants: they are all born sinners, possess a nature totally depraved: from this polluted source all actual transgressions proceed, and for their sins thus produced, they are made subject to all miseries, temporal, spiritual, and eternal. Before man had fallen from his state of innocence, before man existed, God of his own purpose, and without regard to their moral qualities, elected a small number of these depraved descendants of apostate Adam to unconditional salvation, but ordained the great multitude of the human family to

dishonour and wrath, to the praise of his vindictive justice the vindictive justice, in other words, the revenge of Deity. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, by his death atoned for the sins of the elect; and satisfaction having been made by him to divine justice, the elect, through the Saviour, are justified, and will be admitted to the society of heaven. The representation here is, the innocent is made to suffer for the sins of the offender, that the guilty may escape punishment.

The elect are brought out of a state of depravity and sin into a state of purity and holiness, by the special grace of God, that is, by the irresistible influences of the Divine Spirit; and being thus sanctified, they cannot fall from this pious and holy temper, nor fail of salvation; but the wretched descendants of Adam, who, without their own consent, were made sinners by him, and for whom Christ died not, are the victims of divine wrath, and on them eternal sufferings will be inflicted. They became sinners without their own agency, and they will be made eternally miserable because they did not act in direct opposition to a decree of the Almighty.

Are we not shocked by the mere thought of attributing this system of moral government to God? Is this scheme consistent with the mercy, the goodness, or the justice of Deity? Who appointed Adam to act in this extent for us? How can his sin be imputed to his posterity in such a manner as to render them guilty by his offence? If virtue and vice be not personal attributes, I know not what constitutes moral qualities. I can as

easily conceive of natural qualities being imputed, as moral; as easily conceive of a tall, or a short, of a strong or weak man, by imputation, as of a righteous or sinful man, by imputation.

If Christ fully atoned for the sins of the elect; if, by his sufferings, he made complete satisfaction to the violated law-is the mercy of God manifested by their acquittal? When the surety pays a debt in full, the creditor exercises no clemency in discharging the principal. Does it comport with the justice of God, everlastingly to punish men, who receive a sinful nature as an inheritance, who on earth sin from necessity, and who are absolutely denied the means of acquiring moral or religious qualifications? Can we, especially, reconcile to the justice of God, the infliction of aggravated punishment on sinners, for not accepting the salvation of the gospel, when, in the plan of grace, God passed them by, and ordained them to dishonour and misery? Do not our minds recoil, I was about to have said, with horrour from these principles of Calvinism?

There is not a civil ruler, nor the head of a family in Christendom, who would not be offended, if the system of government were attributed to him in the affairs of a nation, or the transactions of a household, which Calvin attributes to God in the moral government of our world. Suppose a number of men confined in prison, not for hereditary depravity, but for wilful crime-the civil magistrate enters the cells of these convicts, and, without regarding the different shades of their guilt, announees a pardon to a few, and restores to them their

liberty; and then, addressing the great majority, with moving eloquence describes the blessings of a well-ordered society, and the delights of domestick life; and in language of sympathy and compassion, urges them to leave the abodes of darkness, filth, and misery, and return to the pursuits of civil life, and to the bosom of their endeared families, while their every limb is closely shackled, and they are fast bound by immoveable chains to the walls of their dungeon. Should we not say that this was a wanton mockery of impotence, and a cruel insult of the wretched victims of violated law? Is this more than a faint representation of the moral state of sinners to whom the gospel is preached, under the Calvinistick article of reprobation? Shall we dare to make God worse than man?

In what estimation should we hold the man, who, being the father of numerous sons, should promise a rich reward to those who would execute an enjoined service, and threaten those who neglected its performance with the utmost severity of punishment-this father well knowing the required service to be far above the natural powers of his children to some he furnishes the necessary assistance, and on them, they complying with the condition, he confers the promised reward; but because his other sons did not execute an impossible command, and which he had pre-determined they never should execute, the father falls on them, and beats them, without compassion or mercy? Is our heavenly Father less kind, just, and good, than an earthly parent?