PREFACE TO THE PRESENT EDITION. Lord." THE reader of the following admirable trea- a livelihood, and by my labour to gather wha tise will naturally feel a curiosity to know would suffice for my necessities the remainsomething of its author. That he was a good der of my days. In this it has pleased God man, a sincere Christian, gifted with a sound to prosper me beyond my expectations. And mind and clear discriminative powers, no one now, thanks to the divine Providence, I am it seems to me can reasonably doubt, but our free from worldly anxieties and at liberty to acquaintance with his life is extremely limit- speak the truth as I find it in his word, and I ed and imperfect. We know, indeed, that he employ the happy leisure which his goodness was a native of the canton of Neufchâtel, affords me in the preparation of this work Switzerland, but of the time of his birth, of upon the plan of God, that I may do my duty his family and connexions, we know nothing. in this respect, in the only way that is now He was a minister of the gospel at Chaux-de- left me, and finish my career in this world Fonds, formerly a small village, but now a as I began it, maintaining the word of the considerable town, eight or ten miles from the eity of Neufchatel, the capital of the canton. This was probably about 1770. Here by a very careful and impartial study of the Bible, guided by an earnest desire to gain a knowledge of the truth, pure truth, he was brought at last to an unwavering faith in the infinite goodness of God, and in the final holiness and happiness of all men. Nor did he shun to avow and proclaim so great truths. But this frank and conscientious course soon involved him in very serious difficulties. A persecuting spirit has marked the history of the dogma of endless torments in every age and every place where it has existed; and Petit-fested it in nature and grace. It constitutes, pierre was left to experience the "tender mercies" of that harsh creed which he denied. He was most unjustly and cruelly persecuted, was disgraced, deposed, deprived of the means of support at home, and virtually driven an exile to other lands. But the reader must hear him speak on this subject. I translate a passage from the second edition of his treatise. Speaking of the great advantages he gained by an impartial study of the scriptures, he adds "It is true that it has sometimes exposed me to some temporal inconveniences. I was a minister of the gospel. In assuming that office I took an oath at the hands of the clergy that I would sacrifice my body, my life and my estate to maintain the word of the Lord. I have consequently desired to proclaim the counsel or plan of God according to his words without any farther regard to the received doctrine than prudence dictated. The clergy without deciding upon the truth or falsehood of my doctrine, forbid me to preach it, and imposed upon me a law of very rigorous silence. I could not submit to any law that violated my conscience, and was deposed. As I had no means of support but what my lost benefice afforded, I went to a foreign country to gain On leaving Switzerland, he took up his residence in London, where it seems he spent several years, but whether the treatise before us was written there or afterwards on the continent, I am unable to say. It is evident from the passage above, that it was not written till after he had been engaged in business sometime, and probably had retired. The following treatise first appeared in French at Amsterdam, in 1786, and under the title; "Le Plan de Dieu envers les Hommes, tel qu'il la manifesté dans la Nature et dans la Grace." The Plan of God towards men, as he has mani however, but a part of the design which its author had formed, and which was to have been filled up by three other treatises, thus: The first part, which we here present, treats of the infinite goodness of God. The second was to have treated of man, natural or animal, and spiritual. The third of the salvation of all men ; and the knowledge of the truth necessary to their being saved. And the fourth of the revelation of the truth in nature and in grace. In 1791, when a new edition of this treatise "carefully revised" was published in Amsterdam, the author expressed the hope that he should be able in a short time to give the second part of his work to the public, but added that if any unforeseen obstacle should prevent its appearance, this treatise which he had already sent forth might be regarded as complete in itself, "a treatise," he says, on the infinite goodness of God; and, strange to say, this sublime subject is as new as it is interesting." We know not that any other part of the work ever appeared. The call for a new edition in the space of five years, is an evidence that it met with a very respectable sale. Indeed the English translator refers to the approbation it received on the continent, the ardour with which it w.. sought, and the difficulty of obtaining copies in England as reasons for his undertaking a translation. This was in 1788, but two years after its first publication at Amsterdam. Whether a second edition has appeared in England, I cannot say, but it is well known to have gone through two or three editions in the United States, the first of which, I believe, was that of Walpole, N. H., 1801. I need not attempt an analysis of the work, nor is it necessary to say a word in commendation of it. Those who have read it will not require this at my hands; those who have not, of whatever creed or communion they may be, still owe their heads and their hearts a service which they cannot too speedi- PREFACE OF THE TRANSLATOR. THE translator of the following pages having witnessed the approbation they met with abroad, the ardour with which they were sought, and the difficulty with which they were obtained; thinks it may be rendering service to the cause of religion, and contributing to the happiness of mankind, to make them easy of access, in a nation distinguished by its literature, and which in theology and philosophy has produced so many luminaries. The author, a native of Neufchâtel, must be well known to many in this country, having resided in its capital for several years. All who were acquainted with him there, or in Switzerland, admired and honoured him. If in its tenets he differs from those universally held in the Christian, even protestant churches, the candid and judicious reader will not be repulsed by the cry of heresy, for it is to truths thus stigmatized, that the reformation owed its rise. Let them read, examine, and determine for themselves. a wretch so base as to sin because grace has abounded, and with dauntless effrontery ventures to challenge the power and justice of his Maker-let him learn that in proportion to his guilt and depravity, will be his future punishment both in degree and duration. But let the honour of the wise and merciful Creator be vindicated, and mankind be taught to consider him as altogether amiable; whose severities are as much the effect of his goodness, as his rewards. Thus shall his love, and his fear arise together in our hearts; thus will be be known, and honoured, and wisdom be justified of her children. Thirst of fame is disregarded by one who remains concealed, but though I wish to derive no personal merit as a translator, I would carefully avoid diminishing that of the author; to whose sentiments it shall be my endeavour to do justice, by a faithful but not a tedious translation. All who are conversant with the nature of the French language, know that it Nor let the humble pious follower of the admits of a certain declamatory style which gospel take the alarm, or apprehend the mo- they call unction, and which does not so well tives to virtue will be weakened, and mankind correspond with the genius of the English. grow more licentious. To behold the plan of Entirely to divest this work of its original the Deity, as more consistent with his nature idiom, would perhaps be to rob it of that and attributes, and more merciful to his crea- spirit and energy, by which the author has tures, can never be an incentive to vice. Fear, distinguished it. The reader is therefore sois indeed one powerful restraint on imperfect licited, if in the course of this translation some beings, but it must be a rational fear, and not deviations from the established mode of Ensuch as has given rise to infidelity in thou-glish diction should be found unavoidable; sands, or which, if believed, leads to despair. Besides, let me ask, have the terrors of the Lord, when represented in all the horrors of never ending misery, been sufficient to deter many from offending, who have been familiar with the idea from their infancy? Universal bservation shows the contrary. Our Saviour es us by the cords of love. But if there is candidly to place them to this account. They will occur as seldom as possible, for though nobler motives than gratifying the ear by the harmony of flowing periods, actuate the person who gives this essay to the public, yet, as far as sense and sound can be conciliated, the translator would not wish to deprive it even of that recommendation. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. To render man universally and perfectly happy, seems to be the plan on which the Supreme Creator has established his moral government: and the method he employs to compass an end so worthy of its author; is that of enlightening their minds. From whence it follows, that from the knowledge of this plan, may be derived just views of that felicity which the greatest and best of beings, has graciously intended to dispense to the children of men; and of the means by which he will conduct them to it, the knowledge of the truth. This system is clearly expressed in that passage of Scripture, which I have made choice of in the title of this work, where the apostle declares that, God will have all men to be saved: this is their destination, and to come at the knowledge of the truth, is the mean by which he will raise them to it. I therefore dedicate the following pages to the examination and developement of these sublime words of St. Paul. primitive ignorance renders them strangely presumptuous and decisive, their gross imagination, obscuring reason, has served them as a guide, insinuating itself as a judge of things spiritual, which belong exclusively to the more noble faculty of the mind. But above all, self-love, temporal interest, sloth, vanity, pride, and a long list of other corrupt passions; make them deviate and wander through a maze of the most absurd, and sometimes the most monstrous errors; which they never fail to associate with the truths of religion, however incompatible. And as these errors are the unhappy effects of passion, they are afterwards supported by it. How often do men maintain them with a warmth bordering on fury, and impose them on the faith of others, with an inhuman ferocity, deciding for the rest of mankind, and even for posterity, by a plurality of voices, what they shall in future be obliged to believe, or possess as the truth revealed by God, under pain of damnation in the world to come, and frequently of the most cruel sufferings in this, such are the bitter fruits, the sad but inevitable effects of the ignorance, the imagination, and the passions of mankind, even under that dispensation of light which God has vouchsafed them. Deplorable ef fects! which by the obstinate deist, are charged upon religion itself. What I have said on the corruption of truth in the hands of man, is no more than what fatal experience has proved more or less in every age. The plan of God towards mankind, is in nothing different from religion itself considered in its theory. For though religion taken in a general view is the science of happiness and of salvation, yet it may be divided into the two branches, of theory and practice. In its theory it holds up to us, salvation as the destination to which God by his providence and grace calls us: thus far it is the plan of our Great Creator, which I shall endeavour to illustrate in this work. But when taken in a practical view, it shews us salvation as the grand end we are invariably to propose to ourselves, and to which we are constantly to tend, by exerting all our efforts to the enlightening of our understandings, and the sanctifying of our hearts. In this point of view, religion is that part of his plan which the Supreme Being has assigned to us, that we may submit with docility to his government, and thereby become worthy of his benevolent it, be workers together with him. designs towards us, or, as the apostle expresses To what else are we to ascribe that strange fatality, by which we see the absurd side of questions, though never so revolting and extravagant, prevailing over the simple, natural, and rational; almost whenever they have been agitated? Such absurd errors when once received, and consecrated by public authority, and by their antiquity become the formidable obstacles of truth, and gain such a fatal ascendancy even over the minds of those whose understandings reject them, as leads is of superior importance, that even the most per- molate it at the shrine of falsehood, by imeet theory separated from it is so totally use- posing upon it the most rigorous silence; less, that St. James represents a faith of that leaving to error, known to be such; the exnature as dead. Yet it is of the theory of clusive privilege of appearing publicly, and religion that I mean to treat, as that is incom- of perpetuating itself by being openly and parably more corrupted and disfigured by freely taught to the multitude. And can the error, as I shall shew by explaining my rea- sacred rights of truth be thus misconceived? particularly. I say misconceived, for who that properly Although mankind are universally made knows their value, can dare to trample them towards it is slow and obstructed by many cles she meets with, may we not be tempted capable of knowing the truth, their progress under foot? but when we reflect on the obstadifficulties, and amidst their almost impercep- for a moment to believe, as some have boldly tible advances, ignorance, imagination and advanced, that she was of a nature too subpassion, have leisure sufficient left them, to lime and elevated for man, who instead of change the truth of God into a lie, Rom. i. 25, being formed capable of receiving her, w sons more that is to corrupt and falsify the first ideas of made the eternal, and melancholy sport truth, even though revealed by himself. Their norance and error. But far be from thought so contrary to the plan of infinite wisdom; who wills that all men should be saved, and come at the knowledge of the truth, consequently he has created them for it, notwithstanding their original ignorance, their gross imaginations, and turbulent passions. Now, it is on the theory of religion that the evils resulting from the above causes have principally fallen: its admirable morality has better resisted the contagion: though when we see on the one hand a thousand dangerous illusions and superstitions, corrupting its purity, and on the other, the motives to virtue, which are the very essence of morality, and are derived from its theory, perverted, enfeebled, enervated, and almost annihilated; we must lament that it has not wholly escaped the infection. What then can be more necessary than to disencumber religion from the errors which corrupt it, and to present it to inankind in its primitive purity! this shall be my endeavour in this treatise, by faithfully displaying the eternal plan of divine government as made known by God himself, both by nature and revelation. It is in this two-fold manner, that the source of all truth has communicated to us the scheme of his mercy. First, by a natural revelation, by which He enlightens our reason, in offering to its contemplation, the admirable works of creation. Secondly, by a supernatural revelation, by which He condescends to supply the original weakness of our rational powers, and gives us his word; as a more perfect and more efficacious assistance. It is to our reason that God addresses himself in both these revelations; with this capital difference however, that in the former, what we know of the being, perfections, and designs of God, must be deduced from the contemplation of nature, and result from our own discoveries: whereas in the latter, we must only attend with humility, and docility, and comprehend him who speaks for the purpose of enlightening us; for reason cannot be benefited by what it does not understand. The question why God has revealed himself in these two ways is not proper to be discussed here; one very remarkable observation may however be made, which is founded on their perfect agreement. For as the design of our Creator is to bring us to the knowledge of the truth, it is impossible that he should deceive his creatures, and not be himself the God all of truth: consequently his revelations far from contradicting each other, must be found in perfect harmony. indispensably to attend; and by the touchstone of reason and scripture, must every human opinion be tried When we consult reason for the proper understanding of Holy Writ, we draw at once from these two sources. When, for instance, any passage there is susceptible, by the ambiguity of its expression, of two different meanings, because, the same term may sometimes have a literal, and sometimes a figura tive sense annexed to it, it is then the province of reason to determine which of the two is the sense of the passage in question, by adopting that which agrees with the nature of things, of God, of man; and rejecting that which is unnatural, absurd, and false. Such is the use we are to make of reason, in the interpretation of Scripture. And here I solemnly protest, in the presence of the Almighty, that in reading and meditating on his word, to know his will and designs towards us, I have with sincerity, and in his fear, adhered to this rule, I have sought truth in its purity, with simplicity of heart, without hope, or fear of its agreeing or disagreeing, with that catechism which had been taught to receive in my youth, with out sufficient examination; well convinced, that if such, or such opinions were true, I should find them confirmed in Scripture; if false, they would not become true, by my obstinately persisting to believe them without examination; so that I had nothing to loose, or rather I had every thing to gain, by bring ing them sincerely to this test; since the only thing of importance to me was to fly from er ror, and to come at the knowledge of the truth. And this impartial study of Scripture has been attended with great advantage to me. It has confirmed and established me in some of my former opinions, which I have found to be divine truths, and opened my eyes upon others, which I have perceived to be the offspring of prejudice, and error. It has certainly exposed me to some temporal inconvenience, in the exercise of my ecclesiastical functions; as instead of exami ning the truth, or falsehood, of my doctrine, the clergy condemned me to silence; which being contrary to the dictates of my conscience, was followed by my deposition. Thus circumstanced, I was obliged to seek in a foreign country that protection and independence which my own refused me. The suc cess of my endeavours having placed me above the reach of temporal cares, I devote the lei sure with which providence has blessed me, to the interest of truth, and the benefit of mankind, adhering scrupulously throughout this work to the rules I have laid down, con sulting only reason and the word of God, and advancing nothing, but what appears to me. agreeable to these guides; convinced that were I to violate this sacred obligation, ! should be guilty of the most audacious and criminal prevarication. But as God has manifested himself to us in his works, and in his word, it is in these two sacred sources, and in these alone, that we are to seek for the knowledge of his plan, and not in the opinions of our fellow mortals, which are so different, and often so opposite. We may, and we certainly ought to consult them, and examine carefully the reasons on which they are grounded, in order to profit by labours, and use them as succours for As I disclaim all other authorities, however er comprehending our Maker, but it is useful to my subject; so I equally God alone, to whom we are obliged all personal controversy; and confine myself renounce |