Having these evidences in my mind of my election, and viewing it as an immutable truth, my spirit rejoices not merely in what success I have had in the ministry, but that my name is written in heaven;—but while I have thus, at times, been rejoicing in it, a dark season has succeeded, and satan and his emissaries have troubled my mind about the doctrine of reprobation.
I beg leave to send you a few remarks on this subject, which, I trust, will relieve your mind, as they have mine. The term _reprobation_, or _reprobated_, is no where to be found in the Bible. The word _reprobate_ occurs once in the Old Testament, and six times in the New, and not once in reference to pre-damnation. But, though the term does not, yet the thing itself is clearly revealled. The awful characters of God, as a sovereign and a judge, is set almost entirely out of the view of man, by preachers and writers; and when they occur to the mind, it stirs up all the hatred and infernal enmity of the human heart. Here the most meek, innocent, and holy people (in their own estimation) boil with fury and rage; yet it is a truth, that God, as a sovereign, having no other counsellor but his most holy will, has chosen some, and left others. If he found them holy, he left them so; if he found them sinful, he left them so; he did them no injury, it was an act of his own will, who has a right to do what he pleases, and it is impious to ask _why_; for so it seemed good in his sight. But the damnation of sinners is in consequence of sin, and, as a righteous judge, he decreed to punish sin; nor _does_ he, nor _will_ he, nor _can_ he damn or consign any one to hell, but the violators of his own laws. Is not this just? His decree to punish sin does not force men to sin, they sin naturally, and freely, and wilfully; and living and dying, enemies to God, they receive the reward of their crimes. You may ask, cannot God save them? He can; but that he _does_ not, is evident—and that he _will_ not, is equally as clear. For he that made them will _not_ have mercy upon them, and he that formed them will shew them _no_ favor. Here I must refer you to Sacred Scripture; to Huntington’s “Free Thoughts in Captivity;” Dr. Gill, on “Election and Reprobation;” Toplady’s “Letter to John Wesley;” Coles, on “God’s Sovereignty;” and a little pamphlet lately published, by Mr. Hargreaves, Baptist Minister of Little Wild-street, London, on “Reprobation.” The subject itself is a profound depth.