After this, you must propose another difficulty, which regards the fubject itself; for the former only refpects the fenfe of the words. You may therefore add, that this difcourfe of Jefus Chrift seems to disagree with the doctrine of irrefiftible grace; (3) for , moderatio. See alfo Rom. ix. 22. Phil. iii. 8. 2 Cor. iv. 17. Heb. vi. 17. So Ariftotle, TO VEOY, for η νεολης. So Thucydides, to abgadiailor, for Tn acelny. Vide Paf. de dialect. Græc. nov. test. 33. The expreffion is proverbial. Nam quæ infcitia eft adverfus ftimulum calces? Terentii Phorm. at 1. fc. 2. 27. (3) Irrefiftible grace. Few fubjects have been fo much controverted as this, from S. Auftin's time to the prefent: but, as neither learning, nor law, nor councils, have been able to fettle the difpute, and as great evils have been produced by it, any modern. minifter may with a good grace decline the controverfy. See Voffii bift. Pelag. et Ufferii Gottefchalci et prædeft. controv. ab eo mote hist. We will beg leave, however, to make five remarks on this controversy. 1. After the preaching of many thousand fermons, and the publishing of innumerable volumes, for and againft irrefiftible grace, fome people think, there was truth and argument, as well as wit, in the title, which Father Bouhours put to a book, which he published on this fubject-Sur je ne scai quoi-On I know not what-for this dispute muft have been fhortened, if it had not been agreed, had the difputants defined their terms. S. 2. Difciples have gone farther than their masters. Auftin lays down his doctrine of grace in twelve propofitions, the substance of which is this, Converfion flows from the influence of the holy Spirit, and not from the unaffifted efforts of the human mind. He calls this notion recta fides, and the oppofite opinion he names occultum et horrendum virus. Auguftin. op. epift. ad Vital. tom. ii. ep. 107. Calvin thought, S. Austin did not mean to destroy the free agency of man by his doctrine of grace, Dicit Dominum bomines fuis voluntatibus trabere, fed quas ipfe operatus eft. And thus Calvin himself underftood it. But many of the difciples of this reformer pretend, if I may speak fo, to be more Calviniftic than Calvin himself. Vide Calv. inftit. lib. ii. cap. 3. cap. 4. quomodo operetur Deus in cordibus hominum. Voffius fays, the church always held the doctrine of grace in harmony with the free agency of men. Semper hoc ecclefiæ for this doctrine directs us to conceive of grace as of an infinite power, which gloriously triumphs over the heart of man; which bows and turns it ecclefiæ catholicæ judicium fuit, cum gratia, fed fub gratia tamen, confpirare amice arbitrii libertatem. Nempe, ut B. Auguftinus fcite dicebat, Si non eft Dei gratia, quomodo falvat mundum? Et fi non eft liberum arbitrium, quomodo judicat mundum? Hift. Pelag. lib. i. cap. I. 3. The primitive fathers held different opinions about grace and free-will, and most of them fpeak obfcurely and contradictorily about human depravity, and divine affiftance. However, to their praise be it faid, they agreed to differ. Vid. Centuriat. Magdeburg. cent. ii. cap. 4. Inclinat. doctrinæ. 4. The author of chriftianity has not entered any definitive propofition on this difpute in the facred code; no chriftian, therefore, difobeys him by not fubfcribing an article about it. Plain chriftians feem to be nearest the truth; for they believe, without metaphyfical fpeculations, that the deftruction of the wicked is all of themselves, and the falvation of the righteous all of the Lord. 5.It is very doubtful, whether thefe violent difputes, afterall, have been about grace. Some think, they have been about fomething elfe. I will tranfcribe two paffages from two as famous French writers: the reader will make his own ap plication. "Whence come, faid I, the great animofities between the Janfenifts, and your fathers, the Jefuits? Do they proceed from your differing in opinion about the doctrine of GRACE? What nonfenfe, faid he, what nonfenfe it is to think, that we hate one another for not having the fame opinion about GRACE! 'tis neither THAT, nor the FIVE PROPOPOSITIONS, that have jet us at variance. THE JEALOUSY OF GOVERNING CONSCIENCES is the caufe of all the mischief. The Janfenifts found us in pofJeffion of this government, and bed a mind to difpoffefs us. Works of Monf. de St. Evremond, vol. i. Conversation between Marefchal D' Hocquincourt, and Father Can as it pleafes God, and infpires it with fuch motions as feem good to him; as a light, that illuminates the eyes of our understanding, diffipating our darkness and ignorance. Much lefs ftill does the language of Jefus Chrift feem to agree with what the fcripture elsewhere fays, that he attracts us with the favour of his good ointments; that be works in us to will and to do; that he draws us with the cords of a man, and the bands of love. How then is it poffible for us to refift the motions of his grace? To explain thefe difficulties, you must obferve, that the triumph of grace is not inftantaneous; that immediately, when it folicits us in propofing divine objects to us, all thofe objects, which attach us to the world, rife and prefent themselves to our minds; fuddenly there is a confultation in us, and a conflict between fpiritual and carnal objects; that our hearts, full of the world, with pleasure attend to all on that fide to prevent the change, and, on the contraay, with reluctance they attend to what grace propofeth; for grace is a ftranger, and a man muft condemn himself to follow felves in their own church on Affumption-day. Puys declared folemnly before a number of confiderable perfons met to adjust the differences, that he had not directed the book against the fociety, that on the contrary, he had an affecsionate efteem for it ; on which Father Aby directed thefe words to him: Sir, my belicoing that your quarrel vas against THE SOCIETY, of which I have the honour to be a member, obliged me to take pen in hand to answer it, and I thought the manner of my proceeding lawful and justifiable: But, coming to a better underftanding of your intention, I am now to declare to you, that there is NOT ANY THING, that might binder me from efieeming you a man of a VERY ILLU MINATED JUDGMENT, OF Pafchal's provincial letters, follow it. Add to all this, pleasures and carnal interefts poffefs all our love, and we have a natural averfion to the cross of afflictions, which accompanies the profeffion of the gofpel. This is the meaning of the phrafe, Kick against the pricks, and this comes from the hardness of our hearts: but in the elect of God grace finally furmounts all the oppofitions of fin, and obtains a complete and entire victory over it. Therefore when we fay, grace is irrefiftible, efficacious, and victorious, we do not mean, that in the first moments there is not a violent and terrible conflict, we only mean, that, in the end, victory declares for the grace of the gospel. (4), The fcripture, it is true, fpeaks of the foft and agreeable ways of converting grace, and it proposes to us our fupreme good, our eternal falvation; and the motives, with which it folicits us, are most agreeable, if confidered abfolutely in themselves: but it is alfo certain, that, if confidered in comparison with the falfe pleasures, which we find in worldly objects, and in relation to the ftate of him, who is attached to the world, the tendereft acts of grace do not appear tender to him, on the contrary, they are bitter and difguftful. Accefs to that eternal happiness, which grace fets before us, is attended with a thousand forrows; to obtain it we muft on the one fide renounce all, that depraved appetites love, and on the other, expofe ourselves to all, that nature fears. The ways of grace are then pleasant to a man, when he refolves (4) Grace is efficacious. Meminerimus, Deum hoc honore dignari electos fuos, ut alacres ad juffa capeffanda concurrant, foloque nutu regantur. Neque enim pro fuis agnofcet Chriftus nifi qui libenter jugum fubibunt, et figno dato fiftent fe in ejus confpectum. Calvin, in Pjal cx. 3. refolves to obey the call: but at first, by oppofing fin, it produces various difagreeable agitations of mind, which for a while attend the convert, and hence come all our resistances. (5) (5) Grace produces various agitations of mind. This ftruggle in the human mind between truth and error, vice and virtue, ftyled by the apoftle, A law in the members warring again that of the mind, has been abundantly ridiculed of late days, and the conqueft of truth and virtue by the aids of the holy Spirit, which Mr. Claude calls irrefifible grace, has been deemed little better than madness. But methinks, he cannot be a very rational, much less a very fpiritual man, who talks at this rate. To país fpiritual things, the very heathens felt fomething of this kind, I mean, a propensity to refift even the dictates of a natural unenlightened mind. Thus when Tully bids his friend fatisfy himself about the immortality of his foul by reading Plato's Phodo, he makes him reply, Feci mehercule, et quidem fæpius, fed nefcio quomodo, dum lego affentior, cum pofui librum et mecum ipfe de immortalitate animorum cœpi cogitare, affentio illa omnis elabitur. A. Me nemo de inmortalitate depellet. M. Laudo id quidem; etfi nihil nimis oportes confidere: movemur enim fæpe aliquo acute conclufo: labamus 1114 In tamufque fententiam, clarioribus etiam in rebus: in his eft enim aliqua obfcuritas. Cic. Tufc. difp. lib. i. ii. 32. edit Davifii. Hence Socrates fays, Пore ουν η ψυχη της αλήθειας απίεται. Λογίζεται δε γε πε τοτε καλλιγά οταν αυτην τετων μηδεν παραλύπη, μητε ακοή, μητε όψις, μητε άλγηδων, μητε τις ηδονη, αλλ' ότι μαλιτα αυτή καθ' αυτην γίγνηται, έωσα χαίρειν το σώμα, καὶ καθόσον δύναται μη κοινωνεσα, αυτω μετ' απλόμενη όξέγηται το όντος, &c. Platonis Phado. 9. Every body knows the flory of Arafpes. Cyrus having taken Panthea, the wife of Abradates, king of Sufiana, prifoner, and hearing that the was an extraordinary beauty, refused to fee her, wifely queftioning the strength, of his own virtue to refift a temptation fo powerful. Arafpes, a a young nobleman of Media, had no fuch fufpicions about himself; he thought himself more than a match for any fuch temptation. To his keeping Cyrus committed the lady, ftrictly charging him not to offer any thing against her honour. The frail Arafpes too foon gave the lady reason to complain to Cyrus, who reproved him, and to whom the young convict gave this anfwer: Alas! now I know myfelf, |