A Book of Gems, or, Choice selections from the writings of Benjamin FranklinFranklin, Benjamin
Religion
A Book of Gems, or, Choice selections from the writings of Benjamin Franklin
Franklin, Benjamin
Churches of Christ
We publish the above to show where the _pressure comes_, and not that
we expect any “fifty dollars reward,” for such men as the writer of
this, always have a loop-hole through which to escape, but we will see
whether the Presbyterian ministry believe “this horrid doctrine.” If
they do not believe the Confession of Faith, they are sailing under
_false colors_ and their profession is a sham. If they do believe
their Confession of Faith, we leave the reader to judge whether they
believe “this horrid doctrine.” Let us hear the Confession: “God from
all eternity did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will,
freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass; yet so as
thereby neither is God the Author of sin, nor is violence offered to
the will of the creature, nor is the liberty of contingency of second
causes taken away, but rather established.” _Con., page 18, God’s
Eternal Decree, chap. iii._
The reader will see nothing about infant damnation in that. Very well;
let us see what is in it. This is in it—that God did foreordain
unchangeably whatever comes to pass. There is more than this in it—he
did this “from all eternity.” Now let us hear the Confession tell what
one of these decrees is: “By the decree of God, for the manifestation
of his glory, some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting
life, and others foreordained to everlasting death.” _Con. page 18._
When was this done? “From all eternity.” What was it done for? “For
the manifestation of his glory.” What was done? “Some men and angels
are predestinated unto everlasting life, and others foreordained unto
everlasting death.” That makes a plain case of it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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