tended to perfection and purity:-the Docetæ, and other heretics of old, would not have queftioned the actual fufferings of the Saviour of mankind'; nor the Socinian the atoning efficacy of thofe fufferings; nor the Calvinist have limited their efficacy to a comparatively small portion of mankind; contending, that Chrift did not die for all men, and that God is not willing that all men fhould repent and be faved. "I hold it," faid the judicious Hooker, "for a moft infallible "rule in expofitions of facred Scripture, that "where a literal conftruction will ftand, the "fartheft from the letter is commonly the "worft. There is nothing more dangerous "than this licentious and deluding art, which "changing the meaning of words, as alchymy "doth, or would do, the fubftance of metals; "maketh of any thing what it lifteth; and "bringeth in the end all truth to nothing"."

2. Whilft we take the plain fenfe of Scripture for our leading guide in the interpretation of it, allowance muft fometimes be made for its idiomatical and figurative diction; efpecially where an abfurdity would follow from adhering to the literal fenfe.

z Barrow's Works, vol. iii. p. 239.

■ Mofheim's Eccl. Hift. cent. vi. part ii. ch. 5.

Eccl. Polity, book v. f. 59. vol. ii. p. 244. Oxf. edit.

With this latitude of interpretation we underftand the fixth petition in the Lord's Prayer," Lead us not into temptation;" agreeably to a fcriptural form of speech, which reprefents a perfon as doing that, which he fuffers to be done; and according to a reading taken by St. Cyprian from an old Latin copy, Suffer us not to be led into temptation. "For "what?" as hath been well demanded: " Doth “God lead man into temptation? God forbid! "for God is not the caufe of evil; but we "will call upon him, that, of his manifold "mercies, he may not fuffer us to be tempt"ed." So alfo with refpect to "them, that 66 are loft," thofe abandoned men, " in whom "the God of this world" (that is, as St. Chryfoftom expounds it, not the Devil, but the good God himself)" hath blinded the minds "of them which believe not." "How then "did God blind them ?" faith St. Chryfoftom: "not working in them to that effect; away "with the thought; but by permiffion and "conceffion," for fo, remarks the learned Bar

- Τι γαρ ; Θεος εισάγει ανθρωπον εις πειρασμον ; μη γενοιτο ου γαρ αίτιος των κακων ὁ Θεός· αλλα παρακαλεσομεν αυτόν, ἵνα τοις πολλοις αυτού οικτιρμοίς μη εασῃ ἡμας πειράσθηναι. See Taylor's Life of Christ, part ii. fect. xii.

2 Cor. iv. 3, 4.

• Πως ουν ετυφλωσεν ; ουκ ενεργήσας εις τουτο, απαγε αλλ' apeis xas ourxwgnoas. Chryf. in 2 Cor. iv. 4. Hom. viii. c. 2. Op. tom. x. p. 494. ed. Par. 1732.

row, who cites the comment, the Scripture is wont to fpeak. So again with respect to the declaration, that God "hardeneth whom he "will." But how doth he harden them? furely not by an irresistible influence from above, as from the literal fenfe of the words might at firft be imagined; but by fuffering obftinate finners to follow the bent of their own perverse difpofitions; by fuffering them, as it is elsewhere faid, to " harden their own

hearts." In the fame manner that God commands the Prophet to "fhut the eyes" of thofe, whom two Apoftles, St. Matthew and St. Paul, or rather whom our Saviour and St. Paul, defcribe as "clofing their own eyesi ;" and that he is related in another place to have "moved David" to commit a crime, which he permitted him to commit in compliance with the provocation of Satank. "Whereas," obferves Melancthon, "from the fayings, I will

harden the heart of Pharoah, and whom "he will he hardeneth, the unlearned argue "that God is the efficient caufe of fin; to this "and the like phrafes we must answer, It is "most certain, that verbs active according to "the Hebrew idiom often fignify permiffion,

Barrow's Works, vol. iii. p. 339.

Rom. ix. 18.

i

Exod. viii. 32.

1 Compare If. vi. 10. Matt. xii. 15. and Acts xxviii. 27.

Compare 2 Sam. xxiv. 1. and 1 Chron. xxi. 1.

66

"not efficiency: As, lead us not into temptation, that is, fuffer us not to be overcome "when we are tempted

دو

With the fame latitude of interpretation we understand the fourth petition in the Lord's Prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread:" amounting to no more than a petition, that God will enable us to procure our fuftenance, provided we duly exercife the faculties we enjoy. And thus, in a fcriptural fenfe, it is with all the gifts of God. He "giveth riches;" but it is "the diligent hand that maketh "rich:""he giveth wisdom," but it is "the of understanding who bath it." he giveth faith and repentance, not by infusing them into the mind by an irresistible act of divine grace, but by supplying us with means

66 man

i Primum indurabo cor Pharaonis, hoc ita citatur, cum fit verbum activum, ut indocti ratiocinentur inde, Deum effe caufam efficientem peccati: ad hanc phrafin et fimiles refpondendum eft; Certiffimum eft, Ebraica phrafi verba activa fæpe fignificare permiffionem, non effectionem Ut, ne nos inducas in tentationem, id eft, non finas nos opprimi, cum tentamur. Melanth. de Caufa Peccati,

Opera, vol. ii. p. 238.

Poftea ait, quem vult, indurat: Ubi nota fit Ebræa phrafis, in qua verba activa fæpe permiffionem fignificant : indurat, id eft, finit effe durum, &c. Ejufd. in Epift. ad Rom. ix. vol. iv. p. 960.

Compare Ecclef. v. 19. with Prov. x. 4. and Ecclef. ii. 26. with Prov. x. 23. And fee Whitby's Difcourfes on the Five Points, p. 277.

and motives fufficient for their attainment. Nay, more in fcriptural phrafeology, God is often faid to do a thing, when he does that, which has a proper tendency to the effect, and is fufficient to produce it; although the effect may not be produced by reafon of fome defect or neglect in us, in whom it should have been wrought. "I have purged thee," faith the Lord to Jerufalem, "but thou waft

not purged "." "The goodness of God," faith St. Paul, "leadeth thofe to repentance, "who continue in the hardness and impeni

tency of their hearts" And fuch is the purport of thofe promises to believers in feve ral parts of Scripture; not that the Lord will abfolutely keep them from falling; but that he will beftow on them that affiftance, which is neceffary for their fecurity, provided they be not wanting to themfelves. "The Lord is faithful, who fhall ftablish you, and keep you from evil P:" "Being confident of this, that he which hath begun a good work in

you will perform it until the day of Jefus "Chrift:" "Who fhall confirm you unto "the end, that ye may be blameless in the "day of our Lord Jefus Christ':" and if there any other paffages of fimilar import, they

be