Whereas, this Reprobation Doctrine, here,
Not only Sense and Reason would cashier;
But take, by its pretext of sov'reign sway,
All goodness from the Deity away;
Both heav'n and hell confounding with the cant,
Virtue and Vice, the Sinner and the Saint;
Leaving (by irresistible decree,
And purpose absolute what man shall be),
Nothing in Sinners to detest so much
As God's contrivance how to make them such.
That ever Christians blest with Revelation,
Should think of his decreeing men's damnation!
The God of Love! the Fountain of all good!
Who made, says Paul, all Nations of one blood,
To dwell on earth; appointed time and place,
And for what end this pre-ordaining grace?
That they might seek, and feel, and surely find,
The life in God, which God for man design'd.
We are his offspring - for in that Decree,
The pagan Poet and St. Paul agree:
We are his offspring - now, Sir, put the case
Of some great man, and his descending race;
Conceive this common Parent of them all,
As willing some to stand, and some to fall:
Master, suppose of all their future lot,
Decreeing some to happiness, some not;
In some to bring his kindness into view,
To shew in others what his wrath can do;
To lead the chosen children by the hand,
And leave the rest to fall - who cannot stand.
I might proceed, but that the smallest sketch
Shows an absurd, and arbitrary wretch;
Treating his offspring so, as to forbid
To think that ever God Almighty did;
To think that creatures, who are said to be
His offspring, should be hurt by his decree;
Which had they always minded, Good alone,
And not a spark of Evil, had been known:
For his Decree, Appointment, Order, Will,
Predestinating Goodness, Pow'r and Skill,
Is, of itself, the unbeginning Good,
The pouring forth of an un-ending flood:
Of ever-flowing bliss, which only rolls,
To fill his vessels, his created souls.
Happy Himself the true divine desire,
The love that flames through that eternal fire;
Which generates in him th' eternal light,
Source of all blessing to created light,
Longs with a holy earnestness to spread,
The boundless glories of its Fountain-head?
To raise the possibilities of life,
Which rest, in him, into a joyful strive;
Into a feeling sense of him, from whom
The various gifts of various blessings come.
