members are all created anew in Christ Jesus. I hear the creature man give glory to God, acknowledging, "Thine eye did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them." Why should this acknowledgment be deemed inapplicable to the Head of the Church? It is the joy of a renewed mind to notice his reference to his Father's purpose in that delightful prayer; Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory!" But hereafter, when he shall behold his glorious body the Church made perfect in holiness, how transporting will it be to hear him say, Father, behold! I and the children whom thou hast given me!"

I appeal, yet further, to the understanding of my friend, and aşk, Whether it be not perfectly fit and just that God should discriminate? You are sensible of the misery of our natural state. None have any ability for their own salvation; none any claim; no reasonable complaint can be offered;

every mouth is stopped;" and if any are saved, it must be" to the praise of the glory of Free. Grace." If others perish, it is after God has endured them with much long-suffering; they are "vessels of wrath fitted" (not by any operation of the Divine decree, but by their own sin, fitted) "for destruction." (Rom. ix. 22.)

Let us take care that we have right apprehen sions of the Divine decree. If I conceive aright, the decree of God relates not so much to the actions of men, as to the Divine proceedings. It determines not, at least directly, what man shall do, but what God will do. Man, as a depraved creature, if left to himself, will do wickedly, and, by fatal neces sity, must perish. God, in his just and wise and holy decree, resolves how far sin shall be permitted and punished; and to what extent his mercy shall be manifested. Then, the doctrine of predestination, fairly stated, cannot be said to make God the author of sin. Wherever there is repentance and faith, "the exceeding greatness of God's power is to be acknowledged. But when man sins, and continues in impenitence and unbelief, the cause is to be found, not in God's decree, but in the depravity and perverseness of his own nature. The decree establishes no fatal necessity; it imposes no restraint on human liberty. True, it permitted the fall of man; it permitted the cruelty of Joseph's brethren, and the murderous proceedings of the Jews and Romans; yet they acted with unrestrained freedom: and if the wrath of God still abide on the guilty sinner, he will be confounded, and never able to open his mouth in answer to that appeal, "Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God?" (Jer. ii. 17.) The wages," "the just recompence, " of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ

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our Lord." It is likewise to be remarked: The decree offers no discouragement to the use of means. It is not a determination that men shall be saved, let them live as they will. It comprehends the means with the end. The saved of the Lord are "chosen to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth." (2 Thess. ii. 13.) In like manner, with invariable exactness is decreed the annual product of the earth, the term of man's life, and the issue of every scheme and pursuit of the human heart. Yet, hence arises no impediment to the exertions of the husbandman, the physician, or the merchant. It gave unto Paul the lives of all who sailed with him; yet they must continue "in the ship, or they cannot be saved." (Acts xxvii. 23.)

This view of the decree will help us to a ready interpretation of some passages of Scripture that at first sight may appear hard to be understood :-" As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." (Rom. ix. 13.) Mercy saves the one; the other is left under a righteous condemnation. It is said of God, that "whom he will, he hardeneth;" that he "hardened Pharoah's heart," (ver. 18.) and the heart of the Jews." (John xii. 4.) Nothing more is meant than that he withheld his Spirit from them. He took off the restraint from their lusts, and left them in the power of Satan.-I have often regarded water, in its natural state, and without the influence of the sun, as a striking emblem of the heart of man, without the grace of God. It is cold and hard as

fice; it obstinately resisteth every impression. Then David's prayer shall be mine, "Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me!,"

Dear Saviour, steep this rock of mine,

In thine own crimson sea:
None but a bath of blood Divine
Can melt the flint away.

Indeed, my friend, I consider it, not only as just and fit, that God should discriminate, and that from eternity, but I cannot account for the salvation of any one sinner but on this ground. It must of necessity be so. Does the word of truth represent man in his natural state as "dead in trespasses and sins? destitute of every degree of Divine affection or apprehension? Solemn thought! "Who then can be saved?" My only consolation is found in that assurance, "With man, indeed, this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matt. xix. 25, 26.) This is our encouragement in prophesying to dry bones. And does God, in any instance, effect so great a change? Then, from eternity he foreknew it. And if he foreknew it, it was because he decreed it. Nor can I think that the notices of this decree, in the Word of God, while accompanied with so many precious promises to encourage penitential and believing prayer, can reasonably resist the hope of one sensible sinner. Rather should it enliven expectation, and embolden prayer.

In reading the Scriptures, you will find some

passages that clearly support this doctrine; and others, that seem to wear a different aspect. One distinction, if I mistake not, generally serves as a clue to an easy interpretation: I mean, the distinction between the covenant of grace and the dispensation of that covenant.-The covenant, as a sacred stipulation between the Father and the Son from all eternity, is, with reference to the parties contracted for, determinate; to them its promises are unconditional and absolute." The foundation on which they stand is firm; " in hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised" to Christ, their Representative, "before the world began." (Tit. i. 2.)-The dispensation of the covenant, in the overture of the Gospel, is indefinite and conditional. Our God appears on a throne of mercy: he "hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked;" his sceptre is mercy; his proclamations mercy; his apostles and ministers are commissioned to go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." And they have authority for saying, " As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you, in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God!" These are the means by which the chief Shepherd is pleased

to seek and to save that which is lost." Thus the eternal decree is brought into effect, and unbelievers are left without excuse.-Observing this distinction, you will readily see, that, in reality, there is nothing contradictory between absolute promises and conditional overtures. The former belong to