nformity with
his revealed will, that he contends that God possesses another and a
secret will by which, for some good purpose, he chooses their sin, and
infallibly brings it to pass. If any mind be not appalled by such
doctrines, and chilled with horror, surely nothing can be too monstrous
for its credulity, provided only it relate to the divine sovereignty.

The Arminian with indignation rejects such views of the divine glory. But
does he escape the great difficulty in question? If God forms the design,
says he, not to save all men, he is not infinitely good; but yet he admits
that God actually refuses to save some. Now, what difference can it make
whether God's intention not to save all be evidenced by a preexisting
design, or by a present reality? Is not everything that is done by him, or
left undone, in pursuance of his eternal purpose and design? What, then,
in reference to the point in question, is the difference between the
Arminian and the Calvinist? _Both admit that God could easily save all men
if he would_; that is, render all men holy and happy. But the one says
that he did not design to save all, while the other affirms that he
actually refuses to save some. Surely, if we may assume what is conceded
by both parties, the infinite goodness of God is no more disproved by a
scheme of salvation limited in its design, than by a scheme of salvation
limited in its execution. Hence, it is admitted by many Arminians
themselves, that their own scheme merely mitigates and softens down,
without removing, the appalling difficulty in question.

There are many exceptions to this remark. One of the most memorable of
these is the judgment which Robert Hall(229) pronounces concerning the
solution of this difficulty by the "Wonderful Howe." This solution, as we
have seen, labours under the same defect with those of its predecessors,
in that it rejects the truth that a necessary holiness is a contradiction
in terms. Instead of following the guidance of this truth, he wanders amid
the obscurities of the subject, becomes involved in numerous
self-contradictions, and is misled by the deceitful light of false
analogies.

We shall not here reproduce his inconsistencies and self-contradictions.
We shall simply add, that although he, too, attempts to show why it is for
the best that all should not be saved, he frequently betrays the feeble
and unsatisfactory nature of the impression which his own reasons made
upon his mind. For the