Lines In Praise Of Free Will

This is from the Select Works of William Gadsby . He was certainly against FW . He penned the lines because he was convinced that they contained " the very spirit of Arminianism . " The poem is 5 pages long . I will just give some samples.

Calvin! a name my soul abhors ;
I hate him and his partial cause .
Predestination , God's decree ,
Salvation fix'd eternally ,
All settled by a mighty plan ,
Without consulting noble man !
I'll stand against it while I can ;
Nor will I yield to Paul or Luke ,
Peter , nor Jude , nor Roby's book .
I'll turn the Bible upside down ,
Nor shall its author wear the crown ;
It shall be God and Co. at least ;
My mind is fully fix'd on this ,
Nor can God take it much amiss .

Sure , none so bright and wise as we ,
Can e'er submit to God's decree ;
I'd spurn a God quite from my view ,
Nor think it wrong to hate him too ,
Who did not give all men a chance
Of having an immortal glance
Of that majestic , blissful shore ,
And reign therein for evermore .
Election true ! awful to tell !
I'd rather dwell with fiends in hell ,
Than with a partial God like this ,
In what he calls immortal bliss .
To bend to sovereign Deity
Would be no real bliss to me .
To own God has a sovereign right
To banish sinners from his sight
And plunge them in the burning lake ,
Would make a sovereign creature quake .


But sovereign , settled , fix'd decrees ,
Unchangeable realities ,
Some of old Adam's fallen race ,
Chosen as objects of God's grace ,
Their bliss , their glory made secure ,
In spite of sin or Satan's power .
While all the rest , as good as they ,
Are left to perish from the way ;
While I have power , or tongue , or pen ,
I'll preach , and write , and write again ;
From pulpit , and from press declare ,
A partial God I'll not revere .
There's something galling , I admit ,
In what is called holy writ ;
John , Luke , and Paul , and Peter too ,
With more of this electing crew ;
The Nazarene himself , I fear ,
If studied close , will prove severe .
Distracting thought ! what must I do ?
This mighty host I must break through ,
And that by brave sophistry too ,
Or else my cause will come to naught ,
And I appear not worth a thought .

[ April 14, 2006, 05:07 AM: Message edited by: Rippon ]