XVIII. — The conclusion of this dissertation — The uses of the doctrine herein vin- dicated— The abominable natuae of sin— God's hatred against sin re- vealed in various ways— The dreadful effects of sin all over the creation— Enmity between God and every sin— Threatenings and the punishment of sin appointed — 'J'lie description of sin in the sacred Scrifiturcj- To what great miseries we are liable through sin— The excellency of grace in pardoning sin through Christ — Gratituile and obedience due from the pardoned — An historical fact concerning Tig- rancs, king of Armenia— Christ to be loved for his cross above all things— The glory of God's justice revealed by this doctrine, and also of his wiadom and holiness, ...... 618
0EOMAXIA ATTESOT2IA2TIKH-
OB,
A DISPLAY OF ARMINIANISM
A DISCOVERY OF THE OLD PELAGIAN IDOL EREE-WILL, WITH THE
NEW GODDESS CONTINGENCY,
ADVANCING THEMSEL\^S INTO THE THRONE OF THE GOD OF HEAVEN, TO THE
PEEJUDICE OF HIS GRACE, PROMDENCE, AND SUPREME
DOMINION 0\'ER THE CHILDREN OF MEN;
THE MAIN EKROKS BY WHICH THEY ARE FALLEN OFF FROM THE RECEIVED BOCTRINE OF ALL
THE REFORMED CHURCHES, WITH THEIR OPPOSITION IN DIVERS PARTICULARS
TO THE DOCTRINE ESTABLISHED IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND,
ARE DISCOVERED AND LAID OPEN OUT OF THEIR OWN
WRITINGS AND CONFESSIONS, AND CONFUTED
BY THE WORD OF GOD.
Produce your cause, saith the Lord : bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. — IsA.
xli.21. Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker ! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth .
Chap. xlv. 9 G:';. 01 KKi(riKu,i, xXi/MiXK x«j /Mvot kya.Q'/fii (}( tI» oiixviv. — Constant., apud Socrat., lib. i. cap. 10.
VOL. X.
PREFATORY NOTE.
The relation of man to his Creator has engaged the attention of earnest and thoughtful miuds, from the days of the patriarch of Uz to the most recent controversies of modern times. The entrance of sin into the world has vastly complicated this relationship; so that, considered in its various bearings, it involves some of the most diiScult problems with which the human intellect has ever attempted to grapple. The extent to which the intellect itself has been weakened and beclouded by the corruption of our nature, renders us the less able to penetrate into the deep mysteries of human duty and destiny. Whether man sins now as essentially affected with the taint of the first sin, and in- volved in the responsibilities of the first siimer, or sins wholly on his own account and by his own free act, under the bias of no connection with Adam, except what connec- tion obtains between example on the one hand and imitation on the other ? whether, on the supposition of a scheme of saving grace, grace is simply divine and external aid to the will of man, already operating freely in the direction of what is good, and so establishing a meritorious claim upon God for the bestowal of such aid, or a superna- tural influence creating in man the very liberty itself to will and to do what is good ? and whether, in the latter view of divine grace, as bestowed in divine sovereignty, and therefore according to a divine purpose, it can be reconciled with human responsi- bility ? — ai-e the questions which produced the sharp encounter of keen and conflicting wits between Pelagius and Augustine of old.
Towards the middle of the ninth century, these questions again assumed distinctive prominence in the history of theological speculation. Gottschalc, a monk of Orbais, distinguished himself by his advocacy of the doctrines of Augustine. It was the doc- trine of predestination chiefly on which he insisted ; and the controversy in his hands assumed this peculiar modification, that not merely the application of gracious influence, but the reference of the atonement, was exhibited as under the limit and regulation of the divine sovereignty and purpose. Not that in this respect he was at variance with Augustine, but the point seems to have been specially and foi-mally mooted in the dis- cussions of this age. His view of predestination embraced an clement which may be reckoned an advance on the Augustinian doctrine; for according to him, predestination was twofold, comprehending the punishment of the reprobate as well as the salvation of the elect; but while he held the predestination of men to the punishment of their sin, he was far from holding, as his opponents alleged, that they were predestinated to the commission of sin. Council wari'cd with council in the case of Gottschalc. Gotts- chalc himself expiated by a death in prison his audacious anticipation of the rights of private judgment and free inquiry in a dark age.
The next revival of the same controversy in substance, though under certain modifi- cations, took place after the Reformation. It is remarkable that at this period dis- cussion on these weighty quest ioris .sprans: up almost simultaneously in three different parts of Europe, and in three schools of theology, among which a wide diversity existed. 'J'hc shackles of mcditcval ignorance were burst asunder by the awakening intelligence of Europe; and if we except the controversy between Protestantism and Topery, on which the lleformation hinged, no point could more naturally engage the mind, in the infancy of its freedom, than the compatibility of the divine purpose with human rc- 8ponsibility; on the solution of which problem the nature of redemption seemed to depend, and around which, by the spell of the very mystery attaching to it, human specula tion in all ages had revolved. When an interdict still lay on theological inquiry, Tliomists and Scotists had discussed it in its metayihysical form, and under a cloud of Bchola.stic subtilties, lest the jealousies of a dominant church should be awakened. But now, when a measure of intellectual freedom had been acquired, and the dispute between free-will on the one hand and efficacious grace on the other involved a practical issue between Home and Geneva, the question received a treatment almost exclusively theo- logical