THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION.

“And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life, believed." ACTS XI. 48.

Q. To what were these Gentiles ordained?

A. They were ordained to eternal life.

Q. When were they ordained to eternal life?

A. From the foundation of the world; "Known unto God are all his works from the beginning." Acts xv. 18.

Q. How came they to believe?

A. Because they were ordained to eternal life.

Q. Did all who were present believe?

A. No. "Some raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coast.

Q. How many believed?

A. "As many as were ordained to eternal life, believed."

"But we are bound to give thanks unto God alway 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." II. THESS. II. 13.

Q. Who had chosen these Thessalonians?

A. God.

Q. To what had he chosen them?

A. To salvation.

Q. Through what means were they to be brought to salvation: A. "Through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the fruth."

Q. When had he chosen them?

A. "From the beginning."

Q. Was this doctrine displeasing to Paul?

A. Far from it; for, he felt bound to give thanks to God alvay, because" of it.

"And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath-day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias: and, when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, fo set at liberty them that are bruised; to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is the scripture fulfilled in your ears

And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, is not this Joseph's son? And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. And he said, Verily I say unto you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you of a truth, Many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land: but unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill, whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. LUKE IV. 16—29.

Q. Were these people pleased with the first part of this discourse of our Saviour?

A. They were very highly pleased. The eyes of all them. that were in the synagogue were fastened on him." And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words that proceeded * out of his mouth."

Q. What was it that pleased them so highly?

A. The news of the favours Christ had to bestow; relief for the broken hearted, deliverance for the captive, sight for the blind, &c. The worst of men are willing to hear of favors to be bestowed on them.

Q. What works had Christ been performing in Capernaum? A. He had healed the sick, and had caused the lame to walk, the blind to see, and the deaf to hear.

Q. What was implied in the language of these people of Nazareth, when they said to him, "Whatsoever things we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country?

A. Their meaning was this, We have as much claim on you for these miraculous favors, as the people of Capernaum had, and unless you do as much for us as you have done for them, your conduct will be partial and unjust.

Q. Had the people of Capernaum, any claim on Christ for these. favours?

A. None; they had no more claim than the people of Nazareth.. If Christ wrought miracles at either place, it was of his own self-moving goodness, and not because the inhabitants, had any right to demand them.

Q. How did he reply to their suggestion.

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A. He at once held before them the doctrine of God's unqualified sovereignty, who has a right to do what he will with his

own, and to give or withhold his favors as he chooses.

Q. How did the case which he mentions, of the widows in Israel, illustrate the divine sovereignty i

A. There was great famine throughout the land. Elias was sent by Jehovah to a widow of Sidon, whose whole stock of provision was reduced to a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruise. He was divinely commissioned to assure her that the meal should not waste, nor the oil fait until the day that the Lord should send rain upon the earth. And she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. I. KINGS, XVII. 3-16.

Now observe, that during this same famine, there were many widows in Israel,' who needed assistance, doubtless, as much as this widow of Sidon, and who had as strong claims for this miraculous aid as she, for in truth, neither she nor they had any claim on God at all. God had power to send assistance to all; and he had a right to send it to one, or to all, or to none, just as he pleased. In his adorable sovereignty, he sent assistance to the widow of Sidon, and to none of the widows of Israel.

Q. How did the case of Naaman illustrate the divine sovereignty?

A. Naaman the Syrian was a leper; he was miraculously healed; but at the same time, there were many lepers in Israel who were not healed. They needed healing as much as Naaman. They had as much claim on the Lord as he had. God had power to heal them all. He had a right to heal one, or all, or none, just as he saw best. In his wonderful sovereignty, he healed Naaman, and the lepers of Israel were not healed.

Q. What was the character of these people of Nazareth whom Christ addressed?

A. They were very ungodly people.

Q. Did they like the doctrine of God's absolute sovereignty, which Christ preached to them?

A. Far from it. They hated it most bitterly, and gave decided proofs of their hatred. All they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.'

Q. Is the doctrine of God's sovereignty offensive to those whose hearts are holy?

A. Not at all. Jesus Christ, whose heart was perfectly boly, when contemplating the absolute sovereignty of God, rejoiced in the following rapturous strains: "I thank thee O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes. Even so Father. for so it seemed good in thy sight.' Matt. xi. 25, 26. Here the Lord Jesus thanks the Father for doing that which the oppos ers of divine sovereignty complain of as partial and unjust.

Q. Is human nature the same now, that it was when Christ preached at Nazareth?

A. Certainly it is. Solomon tells us that As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man.'

Q. Is it strange, that the doctrine of God's sovereignty, which was so violently opposed when Christ preached it, should stil! be violently opposed in our sinful world?"

A. Not at all. Solomon tells us that "The thing that hath been, is that which shall be, and there is no new thing under the

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ;-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 predestinated us unto the adoption of children, by Jesus Christ, to himself according to the good pleasure of His will,-To the praise of the glory of His grace wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved.In whom we have redemption thro' His blood-the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace;-Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;-Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself;-That in the dispensation of the fullness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on carth; even in Him;-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;-That we should be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ.-Eph. i. 4-12. There is, undoubtedly, nothing more entirely beyond the cognizance of the human mind, than the ways of that mysterious Being who "fills immensity with his presence" and "who worketh all things after the council of his own will;" and yet, perhaps, there is no subject upon which reason, more presumptuously, indulges its speculations. Few qualities of the human heart are more inveter ate than its pride and self-sufficiency; and it is, indeed, a most broad and glaring proof of this, that notwithstanding the many humiliating evidences which Deity has given us, both within and without us, of our extreme short-sightedness, impotency and dependence, yet puffed up with the the foolish vanity of human reason, we boldly, launch forth into stupid conjectures about the mysteries of the invisible God: and resting upon our own supposed fallibility, we are, almost, unwilling to receive the truths which

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He has spoken, unless they agree with our own preconceived opinions. The benevolent author of our being, in compassion' to the blindness of human nature, has condescended to give to his creatures a revelation of his sovereign will. To this revelation we are to look for all our information respecting our duties and our doctrines; to its supreme authority we are to sacrifice the bigotry of prejudice-the vagaries of imagination and the pride of reason. We should study the Book of Revelation with all the humility of conscious ignorance; and cast aside our own speculations about the "ways of God to man" as no more efficient than the sallies of childish imbecility. The great business of scripture investigation should be the interpretation of its language; and not the continued effort to twist its meaning into a support of some preconceived notion of our own. Did the professed followers of Christ realize this principle? Did they practically, as well as theoretically, make the word of God and not human reason the standard of their belief: Did they humbly and studiously seek to learn the character and designs of Deity from His own Revelation of them, instead of seting up their own self-existent opinions and then exerting ingenuity and argument to render them consistent with the doctrines of the Bible, it is believed that the differences of religious belief, would be easily accommodated and speedily reconciled.-Let us then, in this spirit, enter upon the consideration of the passage before us, realizing that we have all to learn-nothing to dictate knowing that God is immutably true, and that human reason is impotent, and the human heart liable to delusion.

The language of scripture is generally plains and although more beautifully touching and more eloquently sublime than any other writing, it can mostly be comprehended by the humblest capaci ties. When, therefore, in the first part of the passage we arc about to discuss, Paul offers up his praises to "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," who he declares hath chosen us in lim before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love," it would seem that it were impossible to mistake the meaning he wishes to convey. The plain declaration contained in this passage of scripture, that before our world was made, the Almighty Disposer of human events, in whose Omniscient survey the past-the present-and the future are equally seen, had selected from the common mass of mankind. those persons who should, by their righteousness, inherit eternal life, would seem in its import as decisive-unequivocal and as little liable to misconstruction as the simplest and strongest assertion upon the subject, which the warmest advocate for the doctrine of election might hazard. And strange, indeed, it is, that those who think they see an inconsistency in this doctrine, will not, at once, understand the folly of their logical researches into Heaven's mysteries, when in His ample revelations upon the subject, God déclares that the wisdom of man is "foolishness" with Him; and