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372

ON ABSOLUTE PREDESTINATION.

GOD? And who dare pry into what he has referved as a fecret from us?
[indent] But this we may be fure of, that his commands, or his promifies, cannot contradict his decrees, how fecret foever; and therefore we ought diligently to obey his commands, and cheerfully to truft in his promifes, without confound-ing ourselves about fuppofed decrees, of which we know nothing at all, nor ought to inquire.
[indent]I have read a ftory of a pious man, who was much trou-bled about his election or reprobation, and prayed earneftly that GOD would let him know, whether he was predefti-nated to falvation; and that a voice anfwered him, "What "if you dud know?" To which he replied, that "if he " were fure to be faved in the end, how cheerfully could " he defpife all the allurements of flefh and blood, and with " joy follow the commands of Chrift, even to hte death!" "Would you do all this," faid the voice, "Then do fo and "You fhall be fure to be faved." 
[indent] Whether the flory be true or not, it is no matter; the moral of it does determine this queftion. This is the only way to make our calling and election fure. Let us work, and not difpute, not perplex ourselves about hidden decrees, but fee to follow that which is plainly commanded; and then we may fafely truft to what is pormifed, and commit our fouls to GOD in well-doing, as unio a faithful Creator. Let us look upin everything, whcih weaken our hands in this, to be (as it truly is) the fuggeftion of the devil; and le tus fhake off that lethargy of glaring upon decrees, which we underftand not, till it transforms un into ftone, that we have neither courage nor ower to move hand or foot towards hea-ven, but ftand dozing unpon that earth, which we find finking and helplefs; let it fink, and ourfelves with it, even into hell, crying out, What, can we help it; for we are decrees? Yet never offer to move one foot from it! this is enchant-ment indeed, and a wonderful degree of it, It is like a man;s head turning round upon a precipice, which makes 
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 ON ABSOLUTE PREDESTINATION. 373
him run to meet his death. It is faid, that a fquirrel, hav-ing once faftened his eye upon that of a rattlefnake, has no powerto look off him, but dancing from bough to bough with a fearful crying, leaps down at laft upon the ground, and darts itself into his mouth. This is too like the con-dition of these men, whom nothing shall detain, whomno argument can persuade from their own ruin. The old fer-pent has caught them with the enchantment of his eye, and they are dancing themselves into his mouth. The eternal and secret decrees of GOD are a precipice, enough to turn this head of an angel; they veil their faces, and dare not pry into that infinite abyss. Yet poor man will not be content, unless he can fathom it; and will leap into that gulph, though he is sure it must swallow him. Is there anything in GOD, which we muft not, cannot know? Yes fure; for nothing but infinite and inaccessible in GOD, if not his eternal and secret decrees? And what can follow out pref-selves? Especially when GOD has commanded that we should not prefs upon these, threatened us severely id we do, and has, for an example to us, poured out his ven-geance, in a dreadful manner, upon the heads of those who would not be restrained from this unwarrantable and presumptuous curiosity of prying into secrets. 
But after all, what is the ground of these supposed hidden decrees of GOD, with which these men so unmeansurably perplex themselves? 
They are all founded upon the very weak reasonings of short-sighted men, concerning the foreknowledge of GOD; which being certain and infallible, consequently they argue, that whatever he foresaw from eternity, mist necessarily come to pass; an that therefore it cannot be left to the liberty of our will to act otherwise, than exactly according to what GOD has foreseen; else it would be in our power to defeat GOD's foreknowledge and render it fallible. Hence they throw off all free-will. and make it inconsistent with the foreknowledge of GOD: and then again 
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Transcription Notes:
Please note the difference between the shape of f and s in this printing. 'S' occurring at start and middle of words is shaped like 'f' but without the crossbar. (S at word-end is like a modern 's'.) Needs correcting.