excellent
but mistaken parents with sorrow to the grave!

If the unguarded preaching of "the doctrines of grace," and the
scanty instruction given on the great duties of practical religion,
have contributed to the demoralized state of the people, let it not
be supposed that other causes have been wanting to swell the tide of
corruption. From the Revolution, toleration has been gradually
enlarged, until all salutary restraints have been swept away, and
the glorious liberties of our country have degenerated, by a fatal
abuse, into unbridled licentiousness. The press is daily infusing
poison into the public mind. What once would have been punished as
_profaneness_ and _blasphemy_, is no longer noticed by the gentle
guardians of the law, and _treason_ has almost ceased to be a crime.
Liberalism has trampled over law, and the reigning evils have been
unhappily aggravated by those whose position in the state ought to
have dictated other conduct than that of making anarchical
principles the road to dominion.

V.--CALVINISM IS NOT THE DOCTRINE OF SCRIPTURE OR OF THE ANGLICAN
CHURCH.

The general tenor of the Holy Scriptures is so clearly against it,
that it is impossible to account for the facts or the doctrines of
the Bible on supposition of the truth of the Calvinistic theology:
Nor would it be needful to discuss the subject, however briefly, on
scriptural grounds, but for a few particular texts which are cited
against the current testimony of the word of God. It is said that
_one_ text, if plain and direct, is evidence enough for the
establishment of any doctrine. This may be a sound canon of
interpretation, where the one text admits but one meaning, and that
meaning is not opposed by conflicting evidence, but not otherwise.
In the present instance, there exists, in addition to the opposing
stream of Scripture testimony, the following strong presumption
against the Calvinistic view of particular texts. Supposing the
doctrine of Calvinistic fatalism to be correct, no explanation can
be given of the general tenor of Divine revelation, none which _can_
be made to harmonize with that doctrine. The entire history of
providence and redemption, as given in the Bible, proceeds on the
principle, not of fate, but of freedom; and if we are not free, we
are reduced to the suspicious and unworthy conclusion, that the
secret and the revealed will of God are at variance with each other;
that we are deceived by a scheme of things d