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remain in wilful ignorance; yet the light of the spirit, from time to time shines into their hearts, which causes them to palpitate with horror, at the misery and danger of their situation. But when death approaches a soul without the spirit of God, and of course in spiritual darkness, then, and not till then, will its ten-fold misery appear! which even the tragic muse cannot delineate.

"The vale of death! that hush'd Cimmerian vale, Where Darkness brooding o'er unfinish'd Fates, With raven wing incumbent, waits the day (Dread day!) that interdicts all future change! That subterranean world, that land of ruin! Fit walk, Lorenzo, for proud human thought! There let my thought expatiate, and explore Balsamic truths and healing sentiments, Of all most wanted, and most welcome, here. For gay Lorenzo's sake, and for thy own, My soul! The fruits of dying friends survey; 'Expose the vain of life; weigh life and death; 'Give death his eulogy; thy fear subdue; And labour that first palm of noble minds, A manly scorn of terror from the tomb.' 'Is death then guiltless? How he marks his way With dreadful waste of what deserves to shine; Art, genius fortune, elevated power!

• With various lustres these light up the world,
'Which Death puts out, and darkens human race.'
I grant Lorenzo! this indictment just:

The sage, peer, potentate, king, conqueror;
Death humbles these; more barbarous life than man,
Life is the triumph of our mouldering clay;
Death of the spirit infinite! divine!

Death has no dread but what frail life imparts;
Nor life true joy but what kind death improves.
No bliss has life to boast, till death can give
Far greater; Life's a debtor to the grave,
Dark lattice! letting in eternal day."

I would here candidly acknowledge, that there are some sentiments in the epistles of St. Paul, which seem both directly and indirectly to favour the doctrine of predestination; and many of his sayings are hard to be understood. Even one of his cotemporaries, the apostle Peter, acknowledges this to be the case. Hear what he says on this subject.

"And account that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto yon; as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they

do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction." 2 Pet. iii. 15, 16.

In order that the reader may for himself see the truth of the above assertion, I will transcribe, or quote some of the doctrines of St. Paul, most difficult to be understood.

"As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that will. eth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth."

It is a lamentable fact, that not only the unstable and unlearned, but also. the most sincere, and best informed men in different ages of the world, have differed in judgment respecting the

sentiments and doctrines of St. Paul If therefore, men possessing the best hearts, and the most informed heads, have differed so materially on this important subject, it is most assuredly, my duty, to be modest while suggesting my opinion on this topic; I feel nevertheless, tremblingly solicitous to remove this formidable barrier to the title and subject matter of our work, without which our labour is all in vain; for if the doctrine of unconditional reprobation is true, I must be a liar, and the truth is not in me. I have one obvious failing, which I here humbly acknowledge; and that is, to be too acrimonious in my animadversions: “I know the right, and yet the wrong pursue;" because, when I view with my intellectual eyes, the mountains of mi sery observable in Christendom, and which originate, exclusively, in the arbitrary power assumed by hypocritical Christian priests, and Christian potentates, I cannot refrain from irritation, and humbly pray my good God to pardon his servant, for this de

viation from Christian moderation.What I now propose in vindication of the impartiality of Jehovah, I do with modesty and great deference to those distinguished authors, who have differed from me in sentiment, on this subject," the latchets of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose." There has been so much said on this subject already, that it is impossible to say any thing on it, but what has been previously anticipated; what therefore I am going to add, is for those, who, like myself, feel a cogent desire to find, "that God is just, and yet the justifier of all (not part of) those who obey the spirit of Christ." The votaries of controversy I have not the most distant idea of proselyting. They stick to their text to the last moment; particularly the foreknowledge of God. For my part, I cannot (perhaps because I am so foolish) see, wherein God's foreknowledge or afterknowledge can consist. According to the idea I have formed of the God of my salvation, a moment with him is

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