2. This doctrine of predestination destroys the free agency, and of course the accountability of man. That it destroys free will was seen and acknowledged by many predestinarians of the old school. And the opposers of Mr. Wesley and Mr. Fletcher violently assailed them on this subject. Mr. Southey informs us, in his Life of Wesley, that the Calvinists called this doctrine of free will, "a cursed doctrine"--"the most God-dishonouring and soul-destroying doctrine of the day"--"one of the prominent features of the beast"--"the enemy of God"--"the offspring of the wicked one"--"the insolent brat of hell." Others, and the greater part of the Calvinists of the present day, endeavour to reconcile the ideas of _necessity_ and _free agency_. Man, they say, sins voluntarily, because he chooses or wills to sin; therefore he is a free agent. Hence they exhort sinners to repent, and tell them they can repent if they will. By which they mean, the only impossibility of their repenting, is in their will--their _cannot_ is their _will not_. This has led many to think that there is no difference, between their preachers and the Arminians. But let us look at this subject a little, and see if there is not some sophistry concealed in this dexterous coil of words. God, according to this doctrine, secures the end as well as the means, by his decree of predestination. And therefore, as Calvin says, "every action and motion of every creature is governed by the hidden counsel of God." The will, therefore, in all its operations, is governed and irresistibly controlled by some secret impulse, some fixed and all-controlling arrangement. It is altogether futile, then, to talk about free agency under such a constitution; the very spring of motion to the whole intellectual machinery is under the influence of a secret, invincible power. And it _must_ move as that power directs, or it is the hand of Omnipotence that urges it on. He _can_ act as he _wills_, it is true, but the whole responsibility consists in the volition, and this is the result of God's propelling power. He wills as he is _made_ to will--he chooses as he _must_ choose, for the immutable decree of Jehovah is upon him. And can a man, upon the known and universally acknowledged principles of responsibility, be accountable for such a volition? It is argued, I know, that man is responsible, because he _feels_ that he acts freely, and that he might have done otherwise. To this I reply, that this is a good argument, on our principles, to prove that men are free--but on the Calvinistic ground, it only proves that God hath deceived us. He has made us _feel_ that we might do otherwise, but _he knows_ we _cannot_--he has _determined_ we _shall not_. So that, in fact, this argument makes the system more objectionable. While it does not change the fact in the case, it attributes deception to the Almighty. It is logically true, therefore, from this doctrine, that man is not a free agent, and therefore not responsible.