A Theodicy, or, Vindication of the Divine Glory

Ye, who live, Do so each cause refer to Heaven above, E’en as its motion, of necessity, Drew with it all that moves. If this were so, Free choice in you were none; nor justice w...

I made him just and right; Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall. Such I created all the ethereal powers And spirits, both them who stood and them who fail’d; Freely the...

Sweet Eden was the arbour of delight; Yet in his lovely flowers our poison blew: Sad Gethsemane, the bower of baleful night, Where Christ a health of poison for us drew; Yet all...

The world, indeed, is even so forlorn Of all good, as thou speakest it, and so swarms With every evil. Yet, beseech thee, point The cause out to me, that myself may see And unto...

I told ye then he should prevail, and speed On his bad errand; man should be seduced, And flatter’d out of all, believing lies Against his Maker; no decree of mine Concurring to...

In the preceding part, we considered the doctrine of predestination, under the name of necessity, in its relation to the origin of evil. We there endeavoured to show that it den...

Section I. God desires the salvation of all men. Section II. The sufferings of the innocent, and especially of infants, consistent with the goodness of God. Section III. The suf...

Our voluntary service He requires, Not our necessitated; such with him Finds no acceptance, nor can find; for how Can hearts, not free, be tried whether they serve Willing or no...

Heaven seeth all, and therefore knows the sense Of the whole beauteous frame of Providence. His judgment of God’s kingdom needs must fail, Who knows no more of it than this dark...

The commonly received systems of theology are, it is confessed by their advocates, attended with manifold inconveniences and difficulties. The habit of mind by which, notwithsta...

O blessed Well of Love! O Flower of Grace! O glorious Morning Starre! O Lampe of Light! Most lively Image of thy Father’s face, Eternal King of Glorie, Lord of Might, Meeke Lamb...

And thus, Transfigured, with a meek and dreadless awe, A solemn hush of spirit, he beholds All things of terrible seeming: yea, unmoved Views e’en the immitigable ministers, Tha...

Having reconciled the existence of sin with the purity of God, and refuted the objections against the principles on which that reconciliation is based, we next proceeded to the...

Thou art the source and centre of all minds, Their only point of rest, eternal Word! From Thee departing, they are lost and rove At random, without honour, hope, or peace. From...

Love is the root of creation,—God’s essence. Worlds without number Lie in his bosom, like children: he made them for this purpose only,— Only to love, and be loved again. He bre...

The Existence Of Sin. Section I. The attempts of Calvin and Luther to reconcile the scheme of necessity with the responsibility of man. Section II. The manner in which Hobbes, C...

Section I. It may be objected that the foregoing scheme is "new theology." Section II. It may be imagined that the views herein set forth limit the omnipotence of God. Section I...

Holiness Of God. Section I. The hypothesis of the soul’s preexistence. Section II. The hypothesis of the Manicheans. Section III. The hypothesis of optimism. Section IV. The arg...

What Time this World’s great Workmaister did cast, To make all things such as we now behold, It seems that he before his eyes had plast A goodly patterne, to whose perfect mould...

But He, who knew what human hearts would prove, How slow to learn the dictates of his love, That, hard by nature and of stubborn will, A life of ease would make them harder stil...

Distinctions. Section I. The views of Spinoza in relation to the reality of moral distinctions. Section II. The attempt of Edwards to reconcile the scheme of necessity with the...

Goodness Of God. Section I. The unequal distribution of favours, which obtains in the economy of natural providence, consistent with the goodness of God. Section II. The Scriptu...

Section I. The attempts of Calvin and other reformers to show that the system of necessity does not make God the author of sin. Section II. The attempt of Leibnitz to show that...

Necessity. Section I. The scheme of necessity is based on a false psychology. Section II. The scheme of necessity is directed against a false issue. Section III. The scheme of n...

Section I. The scheme of necessity denies that man is the responsible author of sin. Section II. The scheme of necessity makes God the author of sin. Section III. The scheme of...

Section I. General view of the relation between the divine and the human power. Section II. The Pelagian platform, or view of the relation between the divine and the human power...

Section I. The reason why theologians have concluded that God designs the salvation of only a part of mankind. Section II. The attempt of Howe to reconcile the eternal ruin of a...

Infants Reconciled With The Goodness Of God. Section I. All suffering not a punishment for sin. Section II. The imputation of sin not consistent with the goodness of God. Sectio...

Goodness Of God. Section I. The false grounds upon which the doctrine of the eternity of future punishment has been placed. Section II. The unsound principles from which, if tru...

God. Section I. The sufferings of Christ not unnecessary. Section II. The sufferings of Christ a bright manifestation of the goodness of God. Section III. The objections of Dr....