that he has promised to do great things; we know that the purposes of God must stand; and we suspect that the time for their accomplishment is fast drawing nigh. All hearts are in his hand, and all power and grace are at his disposal. He can clothe the feeblest agencies with the mightiest influences, and he can impart to the most insignificant means the greatest measures of success. He does often, in a very sudden and surprising way, revive his work where it seemed ready to become extinct; and what he has done upon a limited scale, he can accomplish, with equal facility, throughout the whole church of the redeemed. That he will do, so there is ground to hope and believe. Let us look forward, also 5. With resolution. Let us resolve, in Divine strength, that we will keep the one main object in view, in regard to our own salvation, to seek first, always first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness; that we will pursue the same great object relating to others; attempting the highest good which we are capable of effecting, and which themselves are capable of receiving, the salvation of their immortal souls. Let us avoid, as much as possible, the exciting and absorbing, but comparatively unimportant topics of the day, that lead to angry controversy; that gender wrath and strife; that break up our peace, sour our tempers, obscure our piety, lower our Christian character, make us the stumblingblock of weak Christians, the grief of all Christians, the ridicule of the world; that alienate our hearts and minds from others, and estrange others from ourselves; that unfit us for the production of any real good in the church, or amongst sinners, and that unfit them to receive any good at our hands. Let us rather study the things that make for peace, whereby one may edify another. Let us make an effort, this year, to get more into the spirit of the Gospel and of Christ, to bear injuries with patience, rather than resent them, and be ready at all times to return good for evil. And, finally, let us look forward— 6. With resignation to the Divine will, in regard to the trials that may await us. As to the comforts of this life, temporal mercies, mental quietude, or even spiritual joys, the Lord may bestow them upon us, or he may withhold them from us, in wisdom and kindness; and it becomes us in the patient pursuit of truth, and performance of duty, in the exercise of faith and prayer, to leave our comforts with the Lord. He does not willingly afflict us, and he will not withhold any good thing from them that walk uprightly. Whether we may continue in the world, through this and following years, or be speedily translated to the world of spirits, is a matter which we should not be over-anxious to learn. About this only should we be concerned, that whether we live, we may live to the Lord, and whether we die, we may die to the Lord; that it may be always for the benefit of others that we live, and for our own benefit that we die; whilst we feel an entire resignation to the Lord's will as to whether of the two it shall be. Whether the Lord may see fit to call us to labours, or to sufferings, if he break up our health, or tie up our hands, or shut up cur mouths, and lay us aside from service in his vineyard, let us be still, and know that he is God. It would be a heavy trial to many of us, were God to unfit us for active service, by wasting sickness, or lingering disease, but He is well able, in those circumstances, to sustain us; and even upon our sick-beds He can make us useful, as patterns of patience in affliction, and examples of the power of Christian principles, in supporting and comforting us, in the most trying circumstances of the present life. And whether we shall live to see much more glorious days for the church on earth, or be taken from the good or the evil to come, we must leave to His disposal, who determines the times before appointed, and the bounds of our habitation, and who arranges the period during which we shall continue to dwell with men on earth. It would be the consummation of our terrestrial felicity to see the world all illuminated with Divine truth, and purified by Divine grace; error and vice driven, with the idols of the nations, to darkness and seclusion; the enemies of Christ brought under his feet, and the church rising every where in its beauty and completeness. That would be most exhilarating; but while our longing hearts anticipate that state, we hear a voice, and yield ourselves, in believing resignation, to its directions, "Go thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in the lot at the end of the days." The whole earth is given to Christ for his inheritance; and we may assure selves that he will assert his power and authority, and reign in glory from the rising unto the setting sun. "Come quickly; even so come, Lord Jesus." our W. T. 9 ELECTION. NO. I. THE DOCTRINE STATED. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. THAT God does what he decrees, and decrees what he does, is an axiom the truth of which is confirmed by an appeal both to the physical and the moral world. All the matter and all the mind in the universe exists as the result of a decree, an eternal decree, that it should exist. Every atom, every seraph, is a monument of God's eternal purpose. They could not be, if God had not determined them to be. The whole universe of being, then, is but one magnificent result of God's creative decree, or of his decree to create. Nor is it less certain that the moral actions of God are the result of an eternal decree. It is a moral act of which the motto of this essay speaks, viz., God's visiting the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name, verses 13-17. It is in reference to this act of visiting the Gentiles, and taking out of them a people for himself, that the apostle James speaks, when he says, "Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.” This work, then, of visiting the Gentiles, and taking out of them a people for his name, was known unto God from eternity, because eternally decreed by him. It could only be known because eternally decreed; inasmuch as it was an event which could only spring from God's own sovereign and gracious purpose. He knew that a people would be taken out of the Gentiles for his name, because he decreed that it should be so. The event was not a contingency, but the offspring of an eternal plan. We may carry this doctrine out to its fullest extent, and maintain, that all God's works of grace were known to him from the foundation of the world, or from eternity, because they were all decreed by him, with infallible certainty, to be done. It must follow as a necessary consequence of this blessed doctrine, that all who enter the mansions of eternal bliss were known unto God from eternity as the heirs of that glory; for this grand and sufficient reason, that they were chosen from eternity by God to be the recipients of that grace which The at once entitles and prepares them for the glorious and incorruptible inheritance. As the "workmanship of God, created anew in Christ Jesus unto good works, in which God had before ordained that they should walk," they were all known to him, from everlasting ages, as a people whom he should take out of a guilty world for his name. argument runs thus: the eternal salvation of any sinner is a work, a wonderful and stupendous work of God; as such, then, it is a work known unto God from eternity; and just for this reason, that it is a work which his own free and sovereign mercy determined him to accomplish. He knows, with infallible certainty, the entire number of those who will ultimately be saved; because the salvation of every single individual of a guilty race is the product of a decree embracing both the means and the end of this mighty and blessed consummation. The doctrine, then, to be established and illustrated in this essay is the following: That the salvation of a sinner, and that the whole process and results of that salvation, are the effect of God's eternal decree; in other words, that, when the number of the redeemed shall be perfected in eternal glory, there will not be one amidst all the countless myriads of "just men made perfect," who will not be there as the result of the decree of God's electing love. In the First place, is there not a glimmering of light on this view of a sinner's salvation, even from reason itself? We firmly believe there is. We do not here appeal to those who reject the Scriptures, or who wish to discard its precious doctrines. With such there is another course to be pursued. We must endeavour to convince them of the truth of the Bible, by powerfully pressing its Divine evidence upon the understanding, the heart, and the conscience; for it appeals to them all. We now speak, however, to those who receive the Bible as the word of God, and who regard it as a revelation of Divine mercy, through a Redeemer, to a guilty race; but who do not believe that there exists an eternal decree of personal election in the Divine mind. To such persons we say, that reason itself might in some measure lead them to doubt the accuracy of their views. We ask, then, at once, Is the salvation of a sinner the work of man, or of God? In other words, Is man the author of his own salvation, or is salvation of the Lord? If salvation be the work of man, if man be the author of his own salvation, why, then, no decree of God can be necessary; for God never decrees what he does not do. But if salvation be the work of God, if God be the sole author of man's salvation, if salvation could never have taken place but for the interposition of God, we are utterly at a loss to conceive how a decree of personal salvation can be reasonably doubted. If it be God's grace which draws or influences the sinner to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ to the saving of the soul, then a decree of personal election must exist; and for this palpable reason, that God, as an infinitely wise Being, can never be supposed to act without a plan, previously arranged and digested in his own all-perfect mind. To imagine that God should exert an influence which should issue in the salvation of an immortal being, without previously determining to exert such influence, is to attribute to the only wise God the folly and caprice of human actions. If every wise and prudent man will endeavour to mark out for himself, so far as mere human forethought will permit, the course which he intends to pursue; we may be sure of this, that He, to whom there can be nothing contingent or uncertain in all the future, will act with a prescience, and an arrangement correspondent with his own all-perfect and infinite mind. Every act of Deity, whether exerted in the material or in the moral world; whether put forth in the formation of suns and systems, or in the creation of moral and accountable agents; whether displayed in the kingdom of nature or grace; whether seen in the wonders of the first creation, or in the still greater wonders of the new creation-must be regarded as the result of a plan and a purpose which overlooked nothing, which included all. The decree or purpose of God is the perfect pattern or model of all his conduct; and the events which develop his blessed will are but the breaking forth of the counsels and decision of the eternal mind. To believe, then, that the salvation of a sinner, which is acknowledged to be the work of God, and which supposes the transformation of a depraved being into the likeness of his own holy image, is an event which can involve any thing short of an immediate personal decree on the part of God, is to entertain a conception most derogatory to that infinite Being, who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. If God absolutely knows all his works from the foundation of the world, yea, even from eternity itself, he must unquestionably foreknow those special acts of grace which involve the salvation of sinners; but if he foreknows these special acts, it must be as the result of a determination or decree to exert them; for they are such acts as could only be put forth by God himself: the conclusion is inevitable, that the salvation of any and every sinner is the result of a decree to exert that saving energy, without which no child of Adam can rise from the ruins of the fall. God's determination to exert that influence by which alone a sinner can be saved, is the only guarantee that renders certain the salvation of any of Adam's race. The entire amount of this train of reasoning is this: If salvation be of God, and not of man, the decree of God must embrace that entire series of actions on the part of God, which issues in the sinner's salvation, as well as the great result itself in the eternal glorification of the redeemed. Concede, then, that God is the Saviour, and not man, and the result is certain, that God foresaw and determined, and foresaw because he determined, the personal salvation of all the heirs of immortal glory. If the single point, then, be admitted, that "salvation is of the Lord," reason itself will suggest, that the inestimable blessing is the result necessarily of a Divine and personal decree, on the part of God, of showing mercy to sinners. The saved are all identified in the mind of God, because all the influences and results of his grace stand naked and open to the mind of Him with whom we have to do. But, Secondly, We proceed a step further, and would endeavour to show, from the direct testimony of Scripture, That salvation is the result of God's decree of personal election. By the decree of election, we mean God's eternal purpose of saving a certain portion of the human race, styled in Scripture, "elect," "a remnant according to the election of grace,' "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father," "a chosen people," "" chosen in Christ, before the foundation of the world." Now, of this decree or purpose on the part of God, the Scriptures are fuil, either by implication, or by direct announcement of the doctrine. So much is this the case, that those who have refused to embrace the doctrine in its Calvinistic form, have been compelled to admit something like a modification of it. Hence the Pelagian notion of election, that it is God's choice of nations, or bodies of men, as the Gentiles, for instance, to the outward privileges of Christianity. Hence, also, the Arminian notion of this doctrine, That God elects men on account of their foreseen faith and good works. With the Scriptures before us, we dare not consider either of these views as a fair or legitimate exposition of the doctrine of election. On the contrary, we affirm, and we hope to prove, that the Bible reveals an election to spiritual and eternal blessings; and that these blessings are conferred unconditionally ; in other words, that faith and holiness are not the source of election; but that election is the source of faith and holiness. And, 1. The blessings included in God's decree are spiritual and eternal blessings; and not merely outward and national. We do not mean to deny that God's decree embraces all the events which his Providence effects, whether for nations or individuals. If the Gentiles were called to participate with the Jews in the same offers of Divine mercy, it was doubtless because the Divine decree embraced the gracious provision. But the question is, and it is the only one which demands investigation here, "Does the scriptural doctrine of election include in it something more than a determination, on the part of God, to bestow upon individuals or bodies of men, the outward means and offers of salvation?" We answer, unhesitatingly, it does include something more. the following declarations of inspired truth settle the question with all serious minds: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ; ac Let cording as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world." Eph. i. 3, 4. Two things are clear from these words: 1st, That the Ephesians were blessed with all those spiritual blessings which true believers enjoy in this world; and, 2ndly, That these blessings were the result of their being chosen in Christ from eternity to be elevated to their saving and happy possession. But, again, Paul thus writes to the Thessalonian believers: "We are bound to give thanks always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." 2 Thess. ii. 13. Will any sober critic affirm, that nothing more is meant, in the choice here spoken of, than an election to the outward means of grace? The salvation mentioned is not surely to be confounded with its mere outward means; for it is declared to be associated with sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. But whatever this salvation includes, the Thessalonians were chosen, or elected, to its blessed possession. In addressing the Roman converts, the same Apostle asserts, that "All things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to his purpose." Now, does this call resolve itself into the possession of the mere outward means of grace? if so, then all things are to work together for good to all who are favoured with the outward dispensation of Divine truth, which we know to be contrary to fact. Let the context expound the Apostle's meaning: "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate them he also called; and whom he called them he also justified; and whom he justified them he also glorified." Rom. viii. 28, 29, 30. Had men determined to lose sight of human systems, and to abide exclusively by the Bible, would they not have gathered from these inspired words the following doctrines 1st, That those who are called into the faith and hope of the Gospel, are called agreeably to a Divine purpose; and, 2ndly, That God's predestinating purpose includes the intermediate and all the ultimate links in the great chain of mercy, which binds lost sinners to the throne of eternal love? Let the reader look at the passage, let him examine it with care; and he will find it a golden chain, at the one end of which, suspended from the throne of God, will be seen God's elective or predestinating purpose; at the other, the eternal glorification of all who are interested in its provisions. The same view of God's decree is conveyed in many other portions of revealed truth. Paul knew the election of the Thessalonians, not by the circumstance that they were blessed with the outward means of grace, but because he beheld their "work of faith and labour of love;" because the Gospel came to them "not in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance;" and because they were "ensamples to all that believed in Macedonia and Achaia." 1 Thess. ii. 10. The apostle Peter addressed the believing Jews of the dispersion, as "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ," 1 Peter i. 2; thus tracing all their spiritual privileges and immunities to God's sovereign and gracious purpose. In one word, the kingdom prepared for God's children is a kingdom which was prepared for them "from before the foundation of the world." Matt. XXV. 34. From this brief, but satisfactory outline of scriptural evidence, we conclude, that the decree of God's election does not embrace merely the outward means of salvation, as bestowed upon any people, but the actual participation likewise of all spiritual and eternal blessings, such as effectual calling, justification, sanctifying grace, and everlasting life: predestination and glorification are the two grand extremes of God's saving plan. Before passing from this part of our subject, we may just observe, that those who reject this view of God's elective purpose, and who regard it merely as an election to the possession of the outward means of salvation, are not freed from any of the difficulties which press upon the Calvinistic scheme. What are the means of salvation but means to an end; that end being the redemption and glorification of the immortal spirit? Now, if there be a difficulty connected with the immediate personal election of some to eternal life, and all the blessings which are introductory to it, is there not an almost equal difficulty in the election of some to the possession of the outward means of grace, when it must be admitted, that without these means men cannot be saved? If there be sovereignty in the one case, there is undoubtedly sovereignty in the other; for, if it be contended by Calvinists that men are saved by reason of a sovereign decree of personal election, it is equally contended by Pelagians, that men are placed in the only path of salvation, by means of a decree, which elects or chooses them to the possession of certain outward means without which they could never be saved. But we observe, The 2. That the blessings involved in God's decree of election are not conferred conditionally, on account of the foreseen faith and holiness of the elect. There is a large and truly respectable class of professing Christians who admit that the decree of election, as stated in Scripture, does include more than a purpose, on the part of God, to bestow upon certain individuals the means of salvation, who yet reject the doctrine of personal and unconditional election. They allow, indeed, that there is an election of persons to eternal life; but then their theory is, that God, foreseeing their faith and holiness, on that account chooses or elects them to the heavenly inheritance. system is stated variously by different Arminians; but it proceeds, in our humble opinion, upon a sad misconception of the entire doctrine of grace, making the discovered excellence of a fallen creature the reason of God's election, rather than God's election the sole cause of all the excellence to which apostate creatures can never attain. Let it not be forgotten that if we are "holy and without blame before God in love," it is because God "hath chosen us in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world." Eph. i. 4. If we attain to "sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth," it is because "God had chosen us unto salvation," 2 Thes. ii. 13, of his own free and sovereign mercy. If we are brought in any humble measure to resemble the pure and spotless Redeemer, it is because God hath "predestinated us to be conformed to the image of his Son; that he might be the first-born among many brethren." Rom. viii. 22. If we are ranked in the family of God, it is because he has "predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his |