such variation-precisely the same word is used in both cases. Literally it is-"These shall go away into eternal punishment, and the righteous into eternal life." Here you perceive, the word of God has contrasted the future states of the righteous and the wicked, and declared that, as to their duration, they are equal. None doubt that the rewards of the righteous will be endless; and none, therefore, ought to doubt, that the punishment of the wicked will be endless likewise. Receive this solemn, awful truth, my young friends, and hold it fast. That the disbelief of it has an injurious practical tendency, there can be no reasonable question. If the belief of endless punishment is insufficient fully to restrain the guilty, what must be the effect, when each individual is left to reduce it to such limits as his own self-flattery, and an inadequate sense of guilt, may dictate? Surely it cannot be the calculation of any rational mind to seek relief from fear, in any refuge but that which will yield a full security against "the wrath to come." Such a refuge, and such only, is the Lord Jesus Christ-" Knowing the terrors of the Lord, we persuade men" to hasten their flight to him. To him therefore-0 to him-betake yourselves, without further delay! United to him, you will be safe from the floods of interminable perdition, that will certainly overwhelm all who die in that state of sin and misery, in which we are placed by the primitive apostasy. Grant, O most merciful God! grant that none who now receive this warning, may neglect the great salvation, till the door of mercy be for ever shut! Amen.

LECTURE XIX.

DID GOD LEAVE ALL MANKIND TO PERISH IN THE ESTATE OF SIN AND MISERY?

We are now to turn our view from the ruin to the redemption of man; from the covenant of works, to the covenant of grace. It is the twentieth answer of the Catechism which introduces this subject, in the following words:

"God having, out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery; and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer."

In treating this answer, I will lead you to consider:

I. The fact asserted, that some of the fallen human race were chosen, or elected by God, to eternal life; while some were left in their "estate of sin and misery."

II. That this election is to be attributed solely to the "good pleasure of God," as its cause.

III. That the election made was "from all eternity." IV. That a covenant of grace was "entered into" by God the Father with his eternal Son, as the head and Redeemer of the elect world.

V. That by Christ all his people "are brought out of a state of sin and misery, into a state of salvation."

You are not to expect a long discussion on each of these points. The subject of the decrees of God, of which the decree of election is one, has heretofore been considered; and for this reason the less needs to be said at present-the general argument having already been laid before you, it would be superfluous to repeat it. My chief view in the distribution I have made, is to show you the method I shall follow

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in speaking to the answer before us; and thus to assist your after recollection of what shall be said.

I. Some of the human race were chosen, or elected, by God, to eternal life; while some were left in their "estate of sin and misery." This is a doctrine of our church, which we believe is explicitly and unequivocally taught in Scripture; and perfectly consonant with reason and observation. Among a multitude of Scripture passages which might be, as they cften have been, adduced in support of this truth, let the following suffice: Ephes. i. 4, 9, 11.—" According as he hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:-Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself:-In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated, according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." Rom. viii. 30. 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." 2 Tim. i. 9.-" Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus, before the world began." These passages of Scripture, my dear youth, are not perverted from the scope of the context, as is too often done in quoting Scripture. They are quoted in their genuine spirit and meaning, as used by the inspired writers. And if they do not clearly tell us, that all those who are saved, were particularly chosen to salvation by God, while others were not so chosen, I do not know how language can express this doctrine. And all the comments and expositions which go to exclude this doctrine from Scripture, when these and similar passages are brought into view, appear to me-although I acquit the writers of a design to pervert the word of God-so strained, harsh, and unnatural, that they do, in fact, confirm the doctrine wich they seek to invalidate, as the real

doctrine of inspiration. They show that the most ingenious glosses cannot make the oracles of truth plausibly speak another language. And upon what principle of reason or observation is this doctrine to be rejected? Men do not seem to startle at it so much, when applied to the angels. Those of them who fell, are left without a Saviour and without hope. The doctrine of election contemplates all mankind as sinners, deserving to die. If all deserve it, God's showing mercy to some, certainly does no injury to others they are not dealt with hardly. And from analogy, we have every reason to believe that as many are saved, as is consistent with the general purposes of God's moral government.

II. Our second point is, that the good pleasure of God, is the only assignable ground of his electing some of the human family to eternal life. Those who know not how to deny this doctrine as a part of Scripture, and who yet want a solution of it contrary, as we believe, to Scripture, have said that God foresaw who would be disposed to repent and believe, and who would not; and that he chose, or elected, those who, he foresaw, would believe, and left the rest.

But here we think, is a complete inversion of the Scripture order of causes and effects. In almost all the passages already cited, faith and other holy exercises are represented as effects, following the purpose of God, and not as the cause of that purpose. We choose therefore to refer election wholly to the sovereign purpose of God, operating on sinners, all of one character and of one desert; and to say, "even so Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." The sovereign acts of God are always infinitely reasonable in themselves; but in the mean time they proceed on reasons not known to us.

III. The choice which God made of his people was from eternity. This is the doctrine of Scripture in the cited passages; and it is equally the doctrine of reason. It is contrary to the perfection of the divine nature, to suppose that the Deity has a succession of views and purposes. "He is of one mind, and who can

turn him?-Known unto God are all his works, from the beginning of the world." And to this place I have reserved the remark, that all who hold the doctrine of efficacious grace, and that it is this grace alone that makes one man differ from another, hold, in effect, the whole doctrine of election, as maintained by our church. Take for illustration a common case. Here are two persons, under the light of the gospel, who enjoy equally the means of grace-The one becomes pious; the other remains destitute of true religion. What makes them differ? You say, the grace of God -he gave his grace to one, and not to the other. And was it a purpose of the moment in the Divine mind, to give his grace to one and not to the other—a new purpose at the time he did it? Did not the Deity eternally purpose and know, that he would do this in time? You dare not deny it. If you do, you deny the foreknowledge and perfection of God. Here then is the whole of election which we hold-the gift of efficacious grace in time, to those on whom God eternally purposed to bestow it.

Or will you say that he gave equal grace to both; but the one improved it, and the other did not? For the sake of the argument, let this for a moment be admitted. But then I ask-could he not have given grace that certainly would have been effectual, to him who remains without religion? You will not so limit God and his grace, as to say he could not. But he actually did not. He left the person in question without effectual grace-And here is all the doctrine of reprobation which we hold.

On the whole then, the Calvinistic doctrine on this subject is no more terrific, or hard to be received, than that of many of those who often cry out against it and revile it. When I spoke on the general subject of predestination-of which, as I have already remarked, election is only a branch-I inculcated the duty of receiving truths, on sufficient evidence, which in theory we know not how exactly to reconcile and bring together. I showed you that we do this without hesitation in regard to other subjects, and that we