as well as the Parent of all Virtue and due Refignation to the juft but infcrutable difpenfations of Providence." See 2 Letters of a Free enquiry into the nature and origin of Evil, 3d. Ed. Let. ft.

Didas. But my dear Phil. This account does not accord with the discoveries of Revelation. Very far from it. Unto Mofes as an author, and the New Teftament as his Expofitor, we ftand indebted for a true folution of this weighty problem. Sin, or moral evil, is the root or fountain of Spiritual and Physical evils of every kind and degree every

where.

Adam was that One Man by whom Sin entered into the world, and Death by Sin. Ever fince his days the world has been full of fin. From Cain to this day, murders and miferies in all nations and ages have abounded. What are all the Hiftories of Mankind, but Records of thefe inconteftable Facts? These facts have been always obferved, confeffed, and lamented, by a few of the wifest and most mo¬ ral in every age. How many falfe and futile hypothefis have men invented, to explore the caufe, and to prescribe a cure! Here human Reason is nonpluffed. Divine Revelation alone has discovered thefe momentous fubjects. The Author of our Being, in compaffion to our otherwife invincible ignorance, has condefcended to teach and inftruct us in the Caufe, the Cafe, and the only Cure, by a Revelation.›

Phil. If, as fome, you fay, have fuppofed no system can be created but evil will unavoidably, and contrary to the will of the Creator, infinuate itself into it, on account of the neceffary Imperfection of every thing created; or, according to others, a natural Bias to evil exift in the things created, Muft not Omnifcience have known this neceffary imper fection and infuperable Bias to evil? And in fuch a cafe, can we fuppofe effential and infallible Truth

B 3

could

could confiftently have pronounced every created thing very good? Gen. i. Ult.

Didas By no means. So that the Origin of Evil, can never be confiftently accounted for from, the works of Creation. To attribute it to any natural Bias or Imperfection in the Creature, what is it but plainly to Palm it upon the Creator? On the other hand, To refer it altogether to the fubtility and deceitful agency of invifible evil fpirits, is entirely to exculpate man.. But to afcribe it to a concatenation of different caufes, is both reasonable and most certainly the Truth. The fhort of it is,

The Serpent deceived Eve; the example and perfuafions of Eve prevailed with Adam; and though the Creator was no Agent in the deadly, criminal action, yet his divine Wisdom and Power did not. think proper fo to interfere as to prevent it; for fuch interference was contrary to Adam's free-agency, and fate of probation in which his Maker had placed him as a candidate for a happy immortality; and in confequence, must both greatly have degraded man, and defeated His own defigns in fo placing him Befides, in case of such an event, His fecret Counfel had determined upon a Plan of Grace and Providence, to bring a far greater Good out of fo great an Evil. This is the Mystery of God," (Rev. x. 7.) and which will only begin to be publicly exhibited upon the ftage of Time in the Days of the voice of the feventh Angel, when he fhall be about to found. In the mean time it is in the womb of futurity, and wrapt up in promises, prophecies, and types, and very little underflood by moft People at prefent, or even in paft ages.

Phil. But that Adam's free-agency was never intended to be controlled, and actually was not, is evident, by his Maker giving him a pofitive Law, with penal fanctions; and punishing him for Vohuntarily tranfgreffing it. But does not the Doctrine

of

of the Abfolute Decrees of God, now that man is fallen, fuppofe him to be as much a mere machine as if he had originally been created one, or his Freedom afterwards controlled?

Didas. Moft certainly it does. For if God has abfolutely "Ordained whatsoever comes to pass," then that Ordination must be the prime and principal Mover in every Action, whatever Inftrument be employed in its performance. And if so, beyond all doubt

"Whatever is, is Right."

Whether finning, or fuffering for fin, are equally of divine appointment. And according to this, all evil, Moral, Spiritual, and Phyfical, muft have their root and fountain in that Decree. The prefent appearances of Providence; His Difpenfations in paft ages; together with fome important paffages of Scripture, all being mifconflrued, Lave induced many of the moft pious and well-meaning Perfons to embrace fentiments, almoft fubverfive of that Religion they intended to promote. They have, in general, contracted the fcale of Redemption and Salvation within fo narrow a compaís, as entirely to exclude the far greatest part of Mankind, not only without the limits of the Redemption which is in Jefus, but alfo, by a fecret Decree of their Maker, have configned them to endless and unfpeakable Torments, whether Chriftians, Jews, Heathens, and even dying Infants.

Phil. If the divine Decree were indeed the real though fecret Caufe of human falvation, would, it not have better comported, with the known Attributes of the Deity, to have comprifed the far greateft part of mankind, rather than fo few, within its faving limits?

Didas. Both reafon and humanity naturally fuppose fo, and scripture gives its fuffrage to the fame benevolent

benevolent fuppofition. What Decree can Sovereign and effential Love pafs upon Mankind, but what is expreffive of fovereign Will? But is not this Will the Determination of infinite goodness, and regulated by unerring wifdom?

Phil. Certainly. But has not God a Secret and a Revealed will?

Didas. We know of none exifting any where but in human fancies. If God has a fecret will, is it poffible that it fhould ever contradict Revelation in any one inftance? If not, what have we to do with it? If it does, what is Revelation good for? What Revealed subject can we fix upon, the Truth of which we fhall not doubt? By what criterion can we poffibly determine wherein this two-fold will agrees or difagrees? Does not this diftinction lead directly from Chriftianity to Scepticifm? How many thousands it has lead into it, who can tell?

Phil. But do not the Arminians, fo called, who profefs the beft and moft liberal Principles, fuch as general Redemption, affert man's free-agency, and Chrift's Univerfal atonement; nevertheless, upon the whole, firmly believe, That very few adults, in comparifon, will ever get to heaven out of any age

or nation?

Didas. This is the general belief. And however Calvinifts and Arminians differ widely in other things, yet their general conclufion is, That very few will be finally faved. Certainly, with regard to mankind, the iffue is nearly the fame, if nine out of ten go to hell; of the Torments of which, take the following account:-" Si omnes homines nati ab Adam ufque ad hodiernum diem, &c. If all the men born, from Adam to this present day, or to be born from him, fhould live to the laft day; and all the fpires of grafs that ever fprung out of the ground were men; and they were to fhare amongst themfelves one Punishment for a mortal fin in Hell, equally

equally fhared amongst them; one particle of that pain attached to each man, would furpafs all the Torments of the holy Martyrs, and all that Thieves and Malefactors ever fuffered, put together." So much for the Torment. Let us attend to their duration. "Tanta funt æternitatis fpatia, &c. Such is Eternity, fays a Divine, That if a damned Perfon in a thousand Years were, to fqueeze one tear from his Eye, it would afford water enough in Time to drown the whole world." To which may be added, that when this period arrived, eternity would be as far from endingras, even! Let it be here most seriously confidered, as above noticed, that it matters little upon the whole, if fuch multi tudes actually go to hell, whether it be from their own fault folely, or from fome Secret Decree of God, configning them thither.

11

Originate from whatever Cause it may, the Idea fhocks reafon and humanity, to reflect upon it; and from either the Calvinian or Arminian conclufions, where fhall the fenfible thinking mind find an Afy lum from the horrid, but unavoidable Idea? That God, whofe very effence is love, and darling attri butes goodness and mercy, fhould merely, for his own Glory, ever pass fuch a horrible Decree as the one fuppofes, is naturally impoffible; because fuch a dire Decree is a plain contradiction to His divine nature. If we acquit Him of fuch a defign in making Mankind, how fhall we vindicate omniscience, omnipotence, juftice, and mercy, in the Government of Mankind? If, on the other hand, fuppofing Univerfal love and redemption true, which certainly is the cafe, yet nevertheless if mankind is fo Providentially placed, and in fuch circumftances, and the obtaining the benefits of that Redemption be attended, with fuch difficulties, and fufpended upon fuch Terms as to be out of the reach of the bulk of the world, which is notoriously the cafe

where