while the judge has his mouth stopped. How horrid the bare thought appeared, in so much as it shocks me to make the supposition! And yet it is no more than what this uncouth system inevitably holds forth; it is the plain undeniable consequence. Let them shift it off that can; and if they cannot, let them renounce so unscriptural, so absurd a scheme, which fathers such broad blasphemies upon the Father of mercies, and the God of truth. VIII. It has a tendency to licentiousness.[4]--It is well known that the human heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; that it is prone to every vice, and is glad to catch at anything to keep itself in countenance. But can anything be better calculated to cause a poor fallen creature to sing to his lusts, and sound a requiem to his sensual soul, than a doctrine which informs him, that "all things are ordained from eternity," and he must sit still, and, if he is a chosen vessel, he will some time or another be called upon; and, if otherwise, all his striving or seeking will avail nothing at all. Besides, if he feels propensities to any sensual appetites, like a true free-thinker, he may say, "What are these passions or appetites for, but that I may gratify them? Or, why should I endeavour to deny myself, seeing I cannot alter what God has decreed? I may eat, drink, dance, sing, swear, live in uncleanness, just as my inclinations lead me. To stem the torrent is in vain, seeing it is fixed, unalterably fixed, nor is it in my power to reverse the same." Nor do there want instances in history of such as have died under the grossest delusions, affirming, if they were deceived, it was God who had deceived them. All the calls to repentance, all the invitations to Christ, all the exhortations to holiness, self-denial, and mortification, plainly imply a capacity to prevent them in the parties addressed, or their labour is absurd; but absolute predestination supposes no such thing, any more than if the stones in the street were exhorted to arise and run, or the sign-posts were exhorted to take up arms and defend the city.