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O Lord, who shall stand? But with thee there is forgiveness, that thou mayest be feared." "Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe.”

§ 11. I make no apology to the reader for dwelling so much upon this point; especially as his Lordship gives a very different account of Calvinism. And as he is pleased to say, that those who are called Evangelical ministers not only delude their unlearned 'congregations, and encourage vice and immo'rality among their followers, but they really ' delude themselves, and fall into opinions and 'assertions totally inconsistent with the spirit of our holy religion,'-that the manner in 'which they perform the duties of their minis'try, both public and private, is injudicious and mischievous in the extreme,'-and that 'the dangerous tendency of their tenets and

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practice cannot be exposed too frequently, or ' with too much earnestness,'-it seemed requisite to give the reader an opportunity to form his own judgment, which of the two methods is most conformable to the sacred oracles, and most conducive to the interests of real Christianity.

§ 12. His Lordship dwells much on the importance of "Good Works," and of the Clergy

insisting upon them as the condition of our salvation. Certainly good works are very good things; but among what congregations are they actually found to the greatest extent, and in the greatest variety? If those of the Evangelical Clergy be candidly compared with those of the gentlemen whom his Lordship defends in opposition to them, they need not shrink at the comparison. Where shall we find most devotion, punctuality in attending divine ordinances, family worship, catechising the young and ignorant, visiting the poor, the widow and the fatherless, abstinence from the schools of levity and vice, charitable contributions, reformation of manners, order in society, and an awakening concern to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling? If their hearers be more inclined to frequent circles of dissipation and folly, the card table, the ball, the assembly, the play, the opera, or the horse-race; if they are more addicted to the jovial board, or the deceitful glass, to delight in theatrical exhibitions,, novels and romances, to frequent political clubs and spouting societies, to utter profane oaths, and on trivial occasions to take the most holy name in vain; if they are more given to pursue their diversions on the Lord's day, or less conscientious in keeping it holy in religous exercises; if they are more lax in observing the relative duties of

parents and children, masters and servants; if they are more cruel to men or brutes, or less chaste and temperate, honest and industriouslet them by all means be condemned in the comparison. If otherwise, the following admonition may be seasonably remembered: "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour."

CHAP. III.

AVOWED SENTIMENTS OF THE BISHOP ON REDEMPTION, AND PREDESTINATION, EXAMINED.

SECT. I.

The Bishop's avowed Sentiments on REDEMPTION, examined.

1, 2. The subject stated.

3. The revealed character of God. § 4, 5. The actual state of mankind. § 6. A revelation of the divine character to sinners. § 7. Though under no obligation in justice, it became his mercy to do this. 8. The foundation of the gospel call. 9. What is required of the sinner. 10. God's right to influence the heart. 11. The exercise of this right, no hardship upon any. §12, 13. The grounds of obligation to obey the gospel. 16. This point further discussed.

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17. The price of Redemption. 18. Redemption itself. § 19. The design of God in the sacrifice of Christ. § 20. As a Governor; and 21. As a Sovereign. § 22. Though this price is an adequate basis of reconciliation; yet 23. None will be reconciled to God until they are divinely influenced. 24. CALVIN'S view of Redemption. 25. That the benefits of Christ's passion extend to the whole human race; and § 26. That every man is enabled to attain salvation, examined. § 27-28. That the remedy is of equal extent with the evil, examined.

§ 1. UNDER this head we are taught by his Lordship, that the benefits of Christ's passion extend to the whole human race-and that universal righteousness and pardon are the effects of Christ's obedience. As most terms are capable of different acceptations, as already shewn under

the foregoing discussion, according to the connexion in which they stand, it is not my present design so much to controvert the use of the general expressions 'the whole human race,' and

universal righteousness and pardon,' as to examine the sentiment intended to be conveyed by them in their present situation. For this purpose, it will be proper to produce the passages

themselves. The doctrine of universal Redemption, namely, that the benefits of Christ's 'passion extends to the whole human race; or, that every man is enabled to attain salvation

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through the merits of Christ, was directly opposed by CALVIN, who maintained, that God from all eternity decreed that certain individuals of the human race should be saved, and that the rest of mankind should perish everlastingly, without the possibility of attaining salvation. Again, It is natural to conclude, that the remedy, proposed by a Being of infinite power and mercy, would be commensurate to the evil; and therefore as the evil operated instantly in producing the corruption of Adam's nature, which was soon transmitted to his offspring, we may infer that all, who were to partake of that corrupt nature, were to partake also of the appointed remedy.-All 'nations of the earth, past, present, and to come,

* Refut. p. 181.

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