Free and Impartial Thoughts, on the Sovereignty of God, The Doctrines of Election, Reprobation, and Original Sin: Humbly Addressed To all who Believe and Profess those Doctrines.

I Cannot find, upon the most impartial Retrospection of the Argument, any Reason to alter my Sentiments concerning it; and as it is a Matter of the greatest Importance, ’tis hoped that those who maintain the Doctrines of Election, &c. will afford it all the Weight and Consideration it deserves. But, if there be any among them, who will hear no Reason or Argument whatever, and are sure, only because they are sure, I Have little or no Hopes to prevail with them, to give me a fair Hearing, or to think candidly and impartially about it. But as there are among them, some, who no doubt will allow the Possibility of their being in an Error; to all such I address my self, and beseech them, as much as possible to lay aside Prejudice and Partiality; wisely considering, that many of their Fore-fathers maintained some erroneous Doctrines, with as much Zeal, and Integrity, as they their Descendants now do the Doctrines of Election, &c. and yet saw Occasion to renounce them afterwards.

There is Reason to fear, the just Liberty I have taken with the Doctrines of Election, &c. may, by some, be deem’d Blasphemy against God himself; but I am far from intending any such thing. These Doctrines (I think) on the contrary, are in them selves nothing better than blasphemous, tho’ the Intentions of some who maintain them, be ever so devout and sincere: And if an Impeachment of Doctrines, which, instead of preserving God’s Moral Character, robs him of all that is dear and valuable, or that can render him lovely and adorable to Man, be accounted Blasphemy, the Ignorance and Bigotry of those, who judge after that Manner, ought much to be lamented. It is a melancholy Truth, that where Prejudice, in favour of false Principles, has had early and frequent Access to the Mind, it too often shuts the Ear against Reason and Truth; and ’tis very hard to persuade such People to enter at all, and much less impartially, into the Merits of an Argument advanced against them; nor indeed is the Liberty of Thought on Religious Subjects, duly inculcated in Religious Assemblies: For, the Teachers of Christianity, tho’ they are seldom averse to give us the Compliment of a just Liberty of thinking for ourselves, are but too apt to set the Terrors of the Lord in array against Unbelievers; tho’ perhaps their Dissent may sometimes be only the innocent Effect, of the best Examination they are able to make. And if there be any thing worthy of Notice, in what I have advanced, I hereby intreat all, into whose Hands this Treatise may come, not to be terrified, by any such popular Arts, from making a thorough Examination for themselves; on the other hand, I am altogether as willing to set right, in whatever I may have erred, or been mistaken.

’Tis well known, the 17th Article of our own National Church, greatly favours the Doctrines of Election and Reprobation; and it is also generally believed, that the Better Part of our Clergy entirely disapprove these Doctrines, and would very readily assist in expunging them out of their Creed; which would render their Consciences much easier, than now they are, or can be, under a Subscription in a Sense so very qualified and remote from the natural Intent and Meaning of the Article.

Experience makes it evident, that Education is able to retain Men of the Brightest Understanding, in the Belief of the Greatest Absurdities. But, that Men of Learning, Ingenuity and Experience, who have lived perhaps to the Age of fifty, in the Disbelief of the Doctrines of Election, &c. should after that sincerely embrace them, is to me Matter of great Astonishment; yet this I am inform’d is really the Case, with regard to one of the most ingenious Divines, our Metropolis has to boast of. One Reason may perhaps be alledged, for such an unexpected Alteration of Sentiment, viz. That tho’ we disbelieve these Doctrines, because they are absurd, yet we hold at the same time, others, equally repugnant to Reason, and to Common Sense; and certainly we may as reasonably embrace the one as retain the other. Besides, with what reasonable Expectation of Success could such a Man as this sit down to argue with another of absurd Principles, when he himself might be so easily abash’d and put to Silence, by an Appeal to other Principles, of his own, equally absurd and inexplicable. The best way then, instead of embracing a fresh, absurd, Principle of Faith, is, to renounce the old. I would not willingly Offend Any, by a special Application to particular Societies and Doctrines: let but every Man make an honest Application to himself, and the Articles of Faith he professes, and the Work of Reformation will, I am persuaded, gain something thereby. And that, not only these Doctrines, but every other absurd Principle of Faith, which either Ignorance, or Design, may have introduced into the Christian church, to the Dishonour of God, the Burthen and Reproach of Human Nature, may be utterly exploded, is the incessant Wish, and earnest Desire, of

Free and Impartial

THOUGHTS, &c

CHRISTIANITY having been instituted, by its great Author and Publisher, for the Benefit and Advantage of Mankind, it is pity we should so greatly differ, concerning what Genuine Christianity is; if the Holy Bible, as we generally agree, was designed to lead us to the true Knowledge of God, and to be a standing and perpetual Rule of Faith and Manners to Men, it must surely have been greatly corrupted since the primitive Times of the Gospel, or the Explication of it designedly left to a more excellent and superior Director: For the seeming Contradictions, and Multiplicity of obscure Passages, wherewith it abounds, shew plainly it could never, in its present Condition, be a Rule of Faith, &c. becoming an all-wise and perfect Being, to give to rational Creatures. Every good Man, Society, and State, study Perspicuity in all their Rules, Orders, and Statutes, dispensed to their Families, Members, and Subjects: and can we suppose, that He, who is perfect in Knowledge, would, in the Dispensation of his Laws, take less care of the everlasting State of his immortal Creature Man? Yet it is plain, we differ in our Sentiments of Religion, and greatly too, for want, as I sincerely hope, of the Knowledge of better Helps, to direct our Inquiries, in Matters, the true Knowledge whereof, is of so considerable Moment. Therefore,

I intend, in the Course of this Debate, to descant freely, on the Doctrines of Divine Sovereignty, Election, Reprobation, and Original Sin; and also, on the Arguments which some ingenious Gentlemen have used to support them. But I hope (with regard to the Authors I may possibly name) to be perfectly decent, and to treat them with all becoming Respect and Deference, as I think Men of Integrity, Learning and Abilities deserve; who, though in some Points they may err, and hold Doctrines in their own Nature and Tendency altogether subversive of Religion and Morality, do nevertheless not perceive them to have these Tendencies, and are therefore by no Means chargeable with them. Yet, as touching the Doctrines themselves, I shall presume to speak freely, both in regard to their Nature, and what appears to me to be their genuine Fruits and Effects.

It is with me an establish’d Truth, that the mistaken Notion of some learned Men, concerning the Sovereignty of the Deity, has given these Doctrines a more favourable Acceptance in the World, than otherwise they would, or could, ever have met with; and notwithstanding all the Pains and Arguments these Gentlemen have bestowed, to reconcile their Doctrines to our common Sense of Right and Wrong, it is plain, that, at bottom, this is the grand governing Principle. For, when their Attempts to reconcile these Doctrines with common Sense and Equity fail, they have immediate Recourse to God’s Sovereignty, and even go so far, at least in Effect, as to deny there is any intrinsick Difference in Things themselves, as shall be made appear from their most approved Writers, whenever they are pleased to demand it: But as this Principle of Sovereignty is most certainly their strong Hold, I shall therefore endeavour to go to the Depth of this Argument; and shew, in the first Place, how greatly they misapprehend the Nature of this Attribute; and, in the second Place, granting it to be as they say, I shall then shew the precarious and miserable Condition of all Mankind, not excepting the Elect themselves, under the Government of such an arbitrary Being.

To begin with the first. That God is a Sovereign, we readily allow: But it will not therefore follow, he is morally capable of doing any thing, in its own Nature, immoral or unjust. All religious Debates are allowed to be best determinable by the divine Attributes; and yet nothing is more common, than to single out, and lay the greatest Stress on, that Attribute alone, which appears best to suit our own particular Opinions: which, however innocent our Intention may be, is, I think, in itself, a very erroneous and unwarrantable Procedure; for as God is all-wise and good, as well as almighty and independent, it is, in the Nature of Things, impossible (and therefore we should never admit it possible) he should be capable (in a moral Sense, I mean) of exerting any one particular Attribute in Opposition to, or Diminution from, another. A Sovereign he is, nor can any Creature whatever dispute his unlimited and uncontroulable Power over his whole Creation. But Power alone, without Wisdom and Goodness to make a right Use and Application of it, may be perfect Frenzy, and run into the greatest Latitude of Folly and Tyranny. It is, if I may be allowed the Comparison, like a Vessel that has lost its Helm, continually exposed to the tossing of Winds and Waves. To talk, therefore, of mere Sovereign Pleasure, without Regard to the proper Reason or Fitness of Things, so far operating and bring in the Divine Mind (and which is nothing more than the Presence and Operation of his own Wisdom) in order to prefer what, in its own Nature, is best, and fittest to be done, is excluding from the Deity, those more blessed and valuable Perfections of Wisdom and Goodness, and establishing in their room, and at their Expence, mere Sovereign Power alone. Physically speaking indeed, we allow God can do Evil itself; but the moral Perfections of his Nature, are to us an infallible and unshaken Security, that he never will do it. Man being an impotent and fallible Creature, liable, not only to mistake the true Nature and importance of Things, but when he does understand his Duty rightly, liable also, thro’ the Prevalence of Habit and Passion, to be very backward and defective in performing it, must necessarily be subject to such Laws, as contain in them Rewards and Punishments, proper to influence his Hopes and his Fears.

But as God, on the contrary, is a Being of all possible and infinite Perfections; an exact Knowledge of what we call Right and Wrong, Just and Unjust, ever hath, and always will exit in the Divine Mind, and be to him a perfect, constant, and invariable Rule of Action, in relation to his Creatures. He that is infinite in Knowledge, cannot but know, at all Times, and under the most (to us) difficult and perplex’d Circumstances of Things, what in its own Nature is best, and fittest to be done; and, being void of all Bias, Prejudice, and Passion, cannot but approve of what is right and best; and being likewise Almighty, no Power can possibly interrupt, or prevent what he determined to accomplish: So that it is morally impossible, that God should do an evil Thing, These Truths are so deducible from each other, and in themselves so evident, to all unbiassed and inquisitive Minds, that one would wonder to find Men, of Learning and Integrity, give into the contrary Sentiments; which, in Effect they do, who hold Doctrines naturally subversive of these fundamental Truths, as all certainly do, who depart from the moral Good and Fitness of Things, and resolve all into mere sovereign Pleasure alone, independent of Wisdom and Goodness; which must ever be at hand to cooperate with, and govern the Exertion of, their favourite Attribute, sovereign Power itself; or, if they do not expressly affirm this, they do by another Method the very same thing; and that is, by denying, in Effect, the intrinsick Difference of Good and Evil, which, according to them, has no Foundation in the Nature and Relations of Things, but takes its Rise, only, from the mere Will and Appointment of the Deity. But if all Things are in themselves equally Good, where is the Use to appoint, or the Sense of talking about it? Wisdom and Goodness must, according to this Notion, be idle and unmeaning Sounds, without Sense or Service. But alas! the natural Consequence of maintaining Tenets, so repugnant to common Sense, is seldom less than running into and embracing other Absurdities, in themselves equally great with what they are brought to defend, And here, as some of these Gentlemen are exalted, and I hope deservedly, to the Dignity of Teachers in the Christian Church, they will, I hope, permit me to ask them a Question or two, which I should, on almost any other Occasion, blush to ask any rational Man, viz. If they do not perceive an intrinsic Beauty and Excellence in Virtue, as opposed to Vice; independent of all positive or arbitrary Appointment, tho’ of the Deity itself; and whether, besides the Commands of God, (which to be sure are of high Importance, and ought ever to be urged with great Strength and Energy) they do not also press upon their Hearers, the Practice of Virtue, and endeavour to recommend, and inforce it on the Mind, from its own native Charms? But to make this Matter, still, if possible, more evident; let us suppose the present excellent Order of Things inverted, and that God, of his own mere Pleasure, had given Mankind quite contrary Laws, and commanded Rebellion, Murder, Ingratitude, and all Manner of Intemperance and Debauchery, instead of their opposite virtues; would the same Fitness, Beauty, and Propriety, appear to these Gentlemen, as there now does, in Virtue? If not, from whence the Difference arises, let them answer.

As God is an infinite Mind or Spirit, perfectly acquainted, at every Instant of Time, with whatever hath been, is, or shall be; and all Things possible to be; ’tis evident, that all possible Relations of Persons and Things are fully known to him; and that all moral and divine Obligations, arising from the Relation we stand in to God, and to each other, did, in their own Nature, previous to actual Law or Commandment, exist; because the one was in Time, and the other Eternal; one commenced only (at best) with the Being and Beginning of Creatures, the other was from all Eternity, co-existent with the Divine Wisdom itself; and such an inseparable Concomitant therewith, that, in regard to the Divine Being, himself, it was absolutely impossible, but that, on his creating such a Rank of Beings as we are, moral and religious Obligations must have been invariably and unalterably the same; and if, as these Men teach, God’s having commanded the Practice of Virtue, be its peculiar Sanction, and that alone which distinguishes it from Vice or Evil; then, by the same or as good an Argument, his commanding Light in the Beginning, is all the Reason we have for esteeming Light and Darkness different, (as they really are) the one being the actual Pretence of a real Body, and the other a mere Name, to signify its Absence; not that Vice is therefore a mere Name, to signify the Absence of Virtue, for Comparisons seldom hold good in every minute Particular; but there is a Parity between the two Cases, sufficient to justify my bringing in the one, as an Illustration of the other. There is no Knowledge more certain, than what Mankind commonly have of Good and Evil; and he who, in order to serve any private Scheme of Religion, goes about to depreciate this Knowledge, robs Mankind of all Truth and Certainty whatever, and in the End subjects his own darling Schemes to the same Uncertainty; for if we cannot judge of the Fitness, of plain moral Truth and Duty, neither can we of any Scheme of Religion; especially such as hang together more by Art and human Contrivance, than by Reason or Revelation.

Being very desirous to get all the Information I could, concerning the Matter in Debate; I have attentively read over Mr. Cole’s Treatise on the Sovereignty of God. I know ’tis thought an unanswerable Performance; and, so far as it regards general Christianity, it is worth every Christian’s serious Notice: But as to the Doctrine it was wrote to support, it leaves it (in my Judgment) no better than it found it; but is miserably weak, and defective, as to any Thing that looks like sound Reason, or true Argument; and amounts to no more than this poor Assertion, That because God is a Sovereign, he may do what he pleases: And, from the Instances he brings from Scripture, ’tis plain, that Mr. Cole himself pays as little Regard to the intrinsick Worth and Excellence of Things, as is done by many of his Brethren. The manner in which he has been pleased to give us the Story of Jacob and Esau, proves the Truth of this Observation, I have no great Inclination to spend Time in explaining hard Passages of Scripture, (tho’ if any thing of that kind can be serviceable, or deem’d excellent, ’tis Mr. Taylor of Norwich his Book on Original Sin,) or to trespass on the Reader’s Patience, by throwing one Text of hard and uncertain Meaning against another; for by this means the Controversy hath been needlessly prolonged. Where the Scriptures are plain, positive and reasonable, their Authority ought to be conscientiously adhered to: But as this is not always the Case, the next Thing to knowing what is the true Meaning of any particular Text of Scripture is, to know what it neither does nor can possibly mean; in which Case, the Divine Attributes, and the Nature and Reason, or (if you please) Fitness of Things, is the best Rule. We cannot, it is impossible we should, understand the certain determinate Meaning of any Text of Scripture better, if altogether so well, as we do know certainly, that God is just and good, and know also as clearly, what Justice and Goodness mean, when applied to the Deity, as we do, when we apply them to ourselves. And this Rule, if duly observed, would be abundantly sufficient, to set aside many Interpretations of Scripture, too commonly admitted upon this and the like Occasions. And, besides this never failing Argument (to all who attend duly to its Force) it is worth while, just to remark, that though, as the Bible now stands, there are in it (as we must acknowledge) some Passages, which (especially at first sight) seem to favour the Doctrine of Sovereignty, &c. yet as it is possible, nay sometimes easy, to give them another interpretation, and the general Scope and Tenor of the Scripture being agreeable to such an Interpretation, we have abundantly more Reason to reject, than to admit of the Sense, in which these Gentlemen are pleased to understand and expound many Texts of the Bible, relating to this and other affinitive Points.

I would not, as I observed before, presume to impose on the Reader’s Time and Patience, by entering unnecessarily into the scriptural Part of the Argument; yet I must beg Leave, to make now and then an Observation or two as I go along: And the first Thing that falls in my way is, the Story of Jacob and Esau, and the Account which Mr. Cole gives of it. He not only relates the Story, but assures us, that Jacob’s obtaining the Blessing was of Divine Appointment, and (what is more extraordinary) that the Falsehood and Fraud he practised to accomplish it, was all of God’s own immediate Direction; and this he gives as an Instance of God’s Sovereignty, and proceeding contrary to the moral Fitness of Things, and the Nature of those Laws he hath given to Man. That God intended Jacob the Blessing, or preferred him to Esau, I readily grant; but cannot admit it to be inferred from thence, that the Means, by which it was, as we reckon, accomplished, were Divine also: There is a more natural or (at least) more justifiable way of accounting for the whole Matter. According to the History, it seems plain, that Rebecca only, and not her Husband, was privy to this Designation of the Deity: she had upon Inquiry (when with Child) received such an Assurance from the Lord; which might be the first Cause of her preferring Jacob to Esau, and which in Time, ’tis probable, grew up into a much greater Degree of Partiality and Fondness: All this Time the good Old Patriarch, her Husband, seems to have been entirely unacquainted with the Affair. And when the Time drew nigh, in which, according (as some think) to Custom, he was about to bless his eldest Son, Rebecca then grew diffident of the Accomplishment of the Promise made in Jacob’s Behalf, and applied herself to the Means, which the Text tells us was used on that Occasion. As to the Authority those Heads of Families had to confer Benefits on their Offspring, by way of Blessing, though I shall not now much contend about it, yet give me Leave to make a few Observations. It don’t appear to me that Isaac, in giving his Blessing, did so properly or so much bestow it on the Person of Jacob present, as he did on the Person of Esau absent; because it is the Intention which ought principally to be regarded, and Esau undoubtedly was intended. Again, this way of blessing, if considered in itself as a mere Tradition, could be no more efficacious, than what now prevails in some Parts of the Christian Church. All true Authority of this kind (if any there be) must result from immediate Inspiration and Command; and whether Isaac had these Qualifications, while Jacob stood before him, personating Esau, is a Matter of no small Doubt and Dispute. He was (’tis evident) much surprised at the Cheat, put on him by his Wife and Son, and would doubtless very willingly have given Esau the Preference, according to his first Intention; but something supernatural seems now to have seized and satisfied him, that Jacob was the Person intended; for he cries out, “I have blessed him, yea and he shall be blessed.” And this latter Assurance, and the Energy and Satisfaction wherewith the Words were pronounced, I take rather to have been the true Blessing than the other. For, as the Reason of Jacob’s Dissimulation was intirely owing to his Mother’s Diffidence and Impatience; so, there is no Doubt to be made, but that the Almighty himself would, had she not interfered, have brought it about in a manner becoming his Holiness, and not by Falsehood, Deceit, and Dissimulation. Religion can never be more dishonoured, or the Despensations of God to Mankind receive greater Reproach, than when Divine Purposes are (under God’s immediate Direction) said to be accomplish’d by Methods in themselves evil and immoral, and altogether opposite to His Commands. Hath he forbid us Lying, under the Penalty of Hell-Fire, and shall he himself practise it, or immediately influence another to do it, for the sake of bringing to pass some Event, which he could as easily have accomplish’d, by Methods purely righteous and honourable! And had Jacob never been prompted, or attempted to obtain the Blessing in the manner he did attempt it, ’tis more than probable, that God, who removed Isaac’s Surprise, and caused him to break forth as he did, “I have blessed him, yea and he shall be blessed,” would never have permitted or impowered Isaac, to have blessed Esau, in an effectual manner beyond his Brother: Or if a mere Pronouncing of Words, when uttered as a Blessing from the Heads of Families, was in itself an irreversible Blessing, and Isaac had attempted to bestow it on Esau, God no doubt would have stayed his Mouth by Intimations within; as he did, on another Occasion, the Hand of Abraham, by an Angel without: Provided, I say, it be allowed, that a formal Blessing, from the Mouth of Isaac, was necessary to confirm on Jacob those superior Privileges, which God had designed for him; and that this Interpretation of the Text is more honourable, and better becoming the Truth and Majesty of the Divine Being. I appeal not to Reason only, but to Mr. Cole himself: For whatever Influence Prejudice, or Enthusiasm, may have on some Minds, there are certain Seasons, wherein Truth will display itself to the Realm and Understanding of Mankind, and extort, even from the Mouths of those, who sometimes oppose her, the most ample Concessions in her Favour. Take the following as an Instance —Cole’s Sovereignty of God, Page 41, 2d Edit. “To this also might be added the strict Injunctions that God hath laid upon the subordinate Dispensers of his Law; as namely, to judge the People with just Judgment, not to wrest Judgment, nor respect Persons; yea, he curseth them that pervert Judgment, and will surely reprove them that accept Persons; and shall mortal Man be more just than God? will he, under such Penalties, command Men to do thus, and not do so himself?”