Esau, and Pharaoh, already alluded to, my answer will be: These persons are not mentioned with regard to their own individual states, advantages, or disadvantages, but solely with regard to the fate of the Jewish Church generally; which, we are told again and again, was a chosen, holy, and peculiar people, purely with regard to the situation in which they had been placed, and not with regard to their own individual characters; for, in this point of view, they are usually addressed as stubborn, stiff-necked, and rebellious, in the

extreme.

Now, with reference to the passage, "afore prepared unto glory" (argonroimaσev siç doğav), no one will suppose, that it can possibly be stretched to mean any thing more than what the prophecies following it are intended, as predictions (not metaphysically) to teach; namely, to inform us that God had in his goodness provided for the calling and blessing of the Gentiles, who thus became vessels fitted for the further purposes of mercy. The passages, then, may thus be paraphrased: "Vessels which He afore declared should be put into a situation fitting them to receive the grace which should bring them to glory: even us whom He hath called, &c." Where the word (gonoípaσev) predestined, can with no colour of probability be taken abstractedly and absolutely, but with reference to the divine will, not as investigated from the nature of the attributes, but as revealed by the Prophets; because the Writers of Scripture never expressly appeal to any such principles: their constant practice being to appeal to the declarations of the revealed word, and not to the properties of the Divine mind, as we find in the cases already adduced. The predestination, therefore, urged in this place, and I will affirm in every other, rests not on metaphysical, but authoritative, grounds; nor can the calling of the Gentiles rest on minata; id etiam refellemus. Supplicia et tormenta, nec non egregias remunerationes pro unius cujusque operum dignitate retribui, per prophetas edocti, id quam verum est, profitemur. Nam si hoc non sit, sed fato omnia fiant, nullum omnino erit liberum in nobis arbitrium (oûrs rò ip' hμïv kotiv öλos, i. e. and in no respect (rested) upon us, which appears to me a different sentiment from the nullum omnino liberum arbitrium, &c. of the Latin translator). Si enim fatale sit, hunc quidem esse bonum, illum verò malum; neque ille fuerit probandus, neque hic reprehendendus," &c. Apol. p. 83. This is the more remarkable in Justin, because he had been a philosopher, and appears in a few instances still to have retained some of his original notions.

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any other; because, as already stated, no other is recognised by revelation.

But it may also be urged, that to predestine any event, must with the Almighty signify, that it shall not only come to pass, but also that it shall be brought about by an immediate exertion of his power. My reply is: The purposes predestinated or predicted just alluded to, came to pass, and these were certainly effected by an immediate exertion of the Divine power. This, then, will satisfy the terms of Scripture; and, when this is done, the passages themselves cannot be adduced to prove some other point; much less an abstract question apparently the most foreign possible to their purpose. Nor, even if we allow the question, is it in my power, or that of any other person, to determine what is, or what is not, now brought about by an exclusive exertion of the Divine energies. I may say, however, that Scriptural instruction proceeds not upon the doubtful results of such questions. It treats men as rational agents, such as can discriminate between good and bad in a practical way; and as having power enough to perform some things, and to abstain from others. Upon complying, then, with its precepts, further and sufficient assistance is promised; and, as far as human reason or knowledge can go, this is the most rational and suitable way of proceeding with such beings. In the case of Abraham the commandments given are," Walk before me, and be thou perfect." "Sacrifice thy son, thine only son to me;" and to the performance of these, promises are annexed. Abraham obeys, and the promises are realised. Similar doctrines are ever after urged upon the Jewish Church; and the consequences have invariably been, such as we are taught to expect should follow. The same doctrines, and, indeed, the very same commandments, varied only in such a way as to suit the circumstances under which they are urged, are still given; and, as formerly, the consequences predicted are constant. Abstract reasoning has never been resorted to, and probably on this account: it would, in cases of this kind, require an extent of knowledge which we do not and cannot possess; and would, therefore, tend rather to bewilder than to edify, to perplex than to instruct. But, in a practical sense, I mean, in appealing to God's previously revealed will, pre

destination is not only a most intelligible, but a most comfortable doctrine; it informs the believer, that God has graciously provided for him, as a chosen vessel, mercies great beyond conception, although he may not be a lineal descendant of Abraham- that God, who had first separated, made holy, and peculiar to himself, the descendants of the Patriarch, and who then declared that this privilege should again be opened to all mankind, has now done this; and, that the Gentile has now before him the means of grace, which, if duly applied, shall insure him both the hope and the fruition of glory—that the promise is sure to all the seed, provided it stand on the faith of Abraham; and that between the Jew and the Gentile there is now no difference, the same Lord over all being rich unto ALL that call upon him. Chap. x. 12, 13.

It will now be necessary only to cite the Apostle's application of this argument to shew, that the Christian believer stands on precisely the same grounds with the Jewish, equally liable to mistake, to failure, and to forfeit all the privileges thus presented for his good. Chap. xi. 17–23. “If some of the branches," says he, "be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive-tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive-tree; BOAST NOT against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. Well; BECAUSE OF UNBELIEF THEY WERE BROKEN OFF; and thou standest BY FAITH. BE NOT HIGH-MINDED, BUT FEAR: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore, the goodness and severity of God: ON THEM WHICH FELL, severity; but toward thee, goodness, IF THOU CONTINUE IN HIS GOODNESS: otherwise THOU ALSO SHALT BE CUT OFF. And they also, IF THEY ABIDE NOT IN UNBELIEF, SHALL BE GRAFFED IN for God is able to graff them in again." In the Epistle to the Hebrews, too, this subject is treated precisely in the same manner. Chap. iii. 6, &c. "But Christ as a Son over his own house; whose house we are, IF WE HOLD FAST the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, To-day, if ye will hear his voice, HARDEN NOT YOUR HEARTS, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation

in the wilderness, &c. (v. 12.) TAKE HEED, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called to-day: LEST ANY OF YOU BE HARDENED THROUGH THE DECEITFULNESS OF SIN. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end; while it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, HARDEN NOT YOUR HEARTS, as in the provocation.... But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. (Chap. iv.) LET US THEREFORE FEAR, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For UNTO US WAS THE GOSPEL PREACHED, AS WELL AS UNTO THEM but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. (v. 11.) LET US

LABOUR THEREFORE TO ENTER INTO THAT REST, LEST ANY MAN FALL AFTER THE SAME EXAMPLE OF UNBELIEF."

Nothing, I think, can be more explicit and obvious than. the doctrine of the Apostle is on this head. The goodness of God is, according to him, so blended with the responsibility of man, as to make a whole infinitely more harmonious and encouraging than any thing to be found in all the philosophy the world ever saw. Man is, indeed, represented as a short-sighted, weak, and sinful creature, endued nevertheless with knowledge extensive enough duly to estimate the boon of mercy here proposed, and with power sufficient to render at least an imperfect but willing obedience to the precepts laid down. Upon a cordial reception of the means, and a sincere desire and endeavour to comply with the terms, all necessary aid is promised, on the one hand to concur and further; and of mercy, on the other, to accept and bless. And thus, while all confidence in self is abjured, and every fear kept alive, lest the believer should fall from his steadfastness; the very weaknesses and liability to error and to lapse, to which he well knows he is subject, will only tend to make him the more firmly place his faith on Him who is subject to no such defects, and whose grace he also knows.

shall never fail: not because these services have any thing good in themselves, but because He has commanded that they should be thus tendered, and has also declared that this labour "shall not be in vain in the Lord."

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It now be may to examine a few other passages of proper Scripture usually cited on these points, for the purpose of ascertaining whether they coincide with what has here been said or not. The following is generally advanced as one of the strongest (Jer. xxxii. 40):-" And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me." This, as it stands, seems certainly very strong; and to convey an assurance that no possible failure can happen to him who only believes our principal question will therefore be: Is it an exact and faithful rendering of the original Scripture? I answer: I believe it is not. The passage is this:- ???

עוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר לֹא־אשׁוּב מֵאַחֲרֵיהֶם לְהֵיטִיבִי אוֹתָם וְאֶת־יִרְאָתִי אֶתֵּן which I would translate : " And I ,בִּלְבָבָם לְבִלְתִּי סוּר מֵעָלָי:

will (surely) make with them the everlasting covenant, (by) which I will not turn back from (following) after them, for my doing them good; and my fear (or religion) will I place in (or on) their hearts, for (their) not receding from me :" or, more freely, "I will make the everlasting covenant with them, by virtue of which I, on my part, will never cease to bless them; and, I will, by this means, lay my fear upon them, in order that they may not depart from me."

It is a remarkable fact, that this is the general sense given by the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Syriac versions, as well as by the Targumist:-how any other could have been thought of by our translators, I am at a loss to discover. In this case, then, we find nothing more said than what is every where else inculcated in the Scripture; namely, that God has, on his part, promised to be gracious; but that he has laid upon them who would be the objects of his mercy, a law to which they are bound to render the most constant and hearty obedience.

It will, perhaps, be unnecessary to examine any more of the passages usually appealed to on this head; the most decisive one, as it has been thought, is surely in the most perfect