Declare the Will of God to that Rebellious People; and to Denounce the fad Calamities that fhould certainly befall them, if they did not timely and Sincerely Repent: and therefore, to hinder the Execution of thofe fevere Judgments, he earnestly Exhorts them, in the Name of God, to leave off their Sins: thus Chap. 18. 30, 31. Repent and Turn your felves from all your Tranfgreffions, fo Iniquity shall not be your Ruin: Caft away from you, all your Tranfgreffions, and make you a new Heart and a new Spirit. This we fee, was the Purport and Bufinefs of the Holy Prophets; to fhew the People their Tranfgreffions, and the House of Ifrael their Sins; how much they had provoked the Almighty, and yet how Inclinable and Willing he was to be Reconciled unto them, if they would turn from the Iniquities that they had committed. As this was the Method of Almighty God, under the Difpenfation of the Law, so was it the great Defign of our Bleffed Lord, under the Revelation of the Gofpel, to bring Men off from their Sins, and fhew them the Poffibility

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of Repentance and Reformation. The Difciples went out and Preach'd every where, That Men Should Repent: and thofe facred Writings, which they left to the World, do abundantly Prefs that Duty on us; Exhorting us to caft off the Unfruitful Works of Darkness; to Mortifie our Corrupt Affections; to be Transformed, by the renewing of our Minds; to Forfake our Sins, and become the Servants of God; with many other Admonitions to the fame Purpose: So that if we fum up the Evidence of Scripture, it will appear, That an Habit of Sin, how Difficultly foever it may be Relinquifhed, is notwithftanding Poffible to be forfaken: and upon fuch a kind of Poffibility, all thofe Calls and Invitations of Holy Scripture are founded, And this brings me to confider, another fort of Evidence, and that is, Reafon. And here let us firft obferve, That if it were Impoffible for any Habitual Sinner to forfake his Iniquity, and become a good Man; or for those to do Good, who had long been accuftomed to do Evil: why! then, it was

a vain Meffage that the Holy Prophets went upon: they preach'd as it were to fo many Statues, when they told the Rebellious House of Ifrael their Tranfgreffions, and that Perverse and Refractory People their Sins; when they called upon them to Repent, and Turn from all their Wickednefs; That Iniquity might not be their Ruin. What! Could Jeremiah change the Ethiopian's Skin, or wash off the Leopard's Spots ? Could his Doctrine prevail upon that Difobedient People, to bring them to Repentance, who were grown old in their Iniquities, and confirm'd in their Sins by a long Habit? Yes, furely, it was poffible, though it had not that general Effect: it was certainly as poffible for them to do so, as for thofe of Nineveh; who we read, Repented at the preaching of Jonah, and by their fincere Humiliation, diverted that direful Judgment which was Threatned to them. Again, It was Poffible for them, and 'tis poffible for every grievous Sinner to leave off their Sins; or elfe, we must fay, all Exhortations to Repentance

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are Ludicrous, and that Almighty God Mocks them by his Calls and Invitations: which to affirm, is most Impious and Blafphemous. If it be not Poffible, why does the Prophet Ezekiel fo folemnly Declare, Chap. 18. 27. That when the wicked Man turneth away from his Wickedness that he hath committed, and doth that which is Lawful and Right, he shall fave his Soul alive: because he Confidereth, and Turneth away from his Tranfgreffions that he hath committed, he shall furely live, he shall not Die. And here I might Appeal to a multitude of Examples, that are, and have been in the World, of fuch as have come off from a finful Course of Life; from Intemperance to Sobriety; from Incontinence to Chastity; and from many other Great and Notorious Crimes, to which they had formerly been Addicted: All which are fo many undeniable Proofs, not only of the Poffibility; but what is more, of the Reality of the Thing. If it fhall here be Objected, That thefe Men were Predeftinated to what they did; they could not choose;

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hey could not do otherwife; Almighy God had fo appointed it, and who can refift his Will? This no Man certainly can do, in Matters wherein he hath abfolutely Determined his own Pleasure: But in this Cafe, To affirm fatal Decrees to be made for thefe Men's Converfion, and confequently for the Impenitency of others, is to destroy Free Will in Man, and to take away that, which is the Foundation of all Rewards and Punishments, and to deftroy the Notions of Good and Evil: For the Doctrine of abfolute Decrees and irrefiftible Grace, are Inconfiftent with a reasonable Service, and a Freedom of Will, in Matters of Religion; And, indeed, fuch Tenents tend to make Men Prefumptuous or Defperate; either Planetary Saints, or fatal Reprobates. 'Tis Manifeft from the whole Frame and Conftitution of Religion; from the Propofals of our Duty, and all the Reproofs and Exhortations; the Threats and Promifes, both of the Law and Gofpel, That Almighty God deals with us as Free and Rational Agents; does not force

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