him my desire to be wholly his. Too transient, alas! have been the blissful visions; and too often succeeded by a degeee of supineness and languor hardly reconcileable with a Christian life! My temper, under this affliction, has been much too little regulated by the spirit of the meek and lowly Jesus. This has been the cause of much grief to me, and, I trust, of unfeigned humiliation before God; for though there may not be wanting some plausible excuses on this head, drawn from the influence of a complaint so completely nervous, yet I am too sensible of pride at the bottom : - a sin, I believe, from my own experience, the most difficult of all to root out of the heart! Lord, assist me by thy Spirit, - subdue the evil propensities of my nature, form and increase within me those graces which evidence and adorn the Christian profession,-and may my present trial be eminently blessed to the promotion of so desirable an end!

I have once more, this evening, solemnly examined myself on those points which can never be too fully or satisfactorily Liade out. In the presence of Almighty God, I have seriously asked, Is it my supreme desire to be the Lord's? Can I submit myself to him in all things?-content to suffer the loss of earthly comforts and prospects if he please,-yea, in every event to acquiesce in his will without murmuring or repining? My faith feebly answers, I trust I can." Thanks be to God for this hope! It assures me, that I am prepared for whatever may befal me. All is yours, whether life or death, things present or things to come; all is yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's.' I have, in the best manner my feeble frame would enable me, and I humbly hope, confiding in superior aid, devoted myself afresh to the Lord; desiring that he would accept me as his child, adopt me into his covenant, and so teach me, by his Spirit, that I may in future see all things in God, and God in every thing that I may love him more, serve him inore faithfully, and be enabled, by faith, to look forward, with unshaken confidence, to the inoment that finishes my earthly career, as the period when my bliss is consummated and secured for eternity! Surely, if such be the issue of my troubles, I need not repine at the continuance of the stroke. * God in himself is bliss enough, take what he will away;' for these light afflictions, which are but for a moment, shall work out for you a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory!

'If sin be pardon'd, I'm secure,

Death hath no sting beside;

The law gave Sin its damning pow'r,

But Christ, my ransom, died!'

I could wish to enlarge on so pleasing, so animating a topic; but, for the present, I must forbear. My spirits, too great for my strength, begin to sink under the infirmities of the body. O that I may be enabled to cultivate with care the Christian growth, till full perfection crown my hopes in everlasting bliss!'

་

Such was his close and serious enquiry in the view of eternity; and who can doubt of the sincerity of his design, or the happy result of his examination!

[To be concluded in our next.]

OBSERVATIONS ON THE JUSTICE OF GOD, IN ELECTING SINNERS TO EVERLASTING LIFE.

My dear Friend,

IN A LETTER TO A FRIEND.

You observe, and I believe justly, that what is chiefly urged by Arminians against the doctrine of Election is, That it is inconsistent with the justice of God. I shall, therefore, in this letter,

according to your request, make some brief observations on the justice of God, in electing sinners to eternal life. You will ob.

serve,

1. If it can be proved that the doctrine of Election is taught in Scripture, it no more concerns the Calvinists than it concerns the Arminians, to shew that it is consistent with the justice of God. We are sure God is infinitely just in all his ways. He is the Rock: his work is perfect; for all his ways are judgment, -a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is he.' All the actions of God, from everlasting to everlasting, must be consistent with his justice; and if the Scriptures represent it as a fact, that God has, in sovereign grace, elected a certain number of the seed of Adam to everlasting glory, we may be fully satisfied that he is infinitely just herein, though we should be unable to shew how he is just. Let it be your great concern to believe whatever God has been pleased to reveal in his word, and feel the humbling, comforting, and transforming influence of every divine truth on your mind: then you may look forward with the greatest composure and joy, unto the great and glorious day when Christ himself shall descend from Heaven, and summon all intelligent creatures to stand in his presence! Then he will abundantly manifest, to the satisfaction of all, that the judgments of God are according to truth!

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II. This objection has been very satisfactorily answered already by the apostle Paul. It is very observable, that the same objection was brought against the doctrine of Election, as stated by Paul in his days, as is now brought against the doctrine of Election, as stated by the Calvinists; and this is a presumptive proof that the Calvinists understand and state this doctrine in the same way as the apostle did. In the 9th of the Romans, Paul, having proved, by many Scriptures and examples recorded in the Old Testament, That God, in making choice of the vessels of mercy, acts entirely as a Sovereign (verse 14), supposes an objector as saying, 'Is there not unrighteousness with God?' and, verse 19, as saying, Why does he yet find fault? Wro hath resisted his will?' Now, I desire you will take notice how the apostle answers this objection. "Nay, but who art thou, O man who repliest against God? Shall the thing formed, say unto him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lamp to make one vessel to honour and another to dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and make his power known, endured, with much long-suffering, the vessels of wrath, fitted to destruction,and, that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had before prepared unto glory, even us, whom he hath called, not only of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles?" In Paul's reply to this objection, you will observ two things:

1. That he abundantly confirms and establishes the doctine, that God in saving sinners acts entirely as a Sovereign. It is a certain and undeniable fact, That God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and that he will have compassion on whom he will have compassion.' And, 2. Seeing it is a fact that God does so act, it would be exceedingly impious, and the height of blasphemy, for any mortal to call God to account, or to ask him What doest thou? It would be certainly much more becoming poor worms of the dust to stand, wonder, and adore, and to say, with the profoundest humility, O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For, Who hath known the mind of the Lord?or, Who hath been his counsellor?-or, Who hath first given unto him, and it shall be recompensed to him again? -- for of him, and through him, and to him, are all things:- to whom be glory for ever. Amen *.

III. Though we confess that the thoughts of God are very deep, and his Sovereign deerees far above our comprehension, yet, we are able, in some measure, to comprehend, that there is no injustice in God's bestowing his undeserved favours upon whom he pleases. The Arminians profess to believe, as well as the Calvinists, That all men are sinnners, and as such, that all men deserve everlasting punishment. For the wages of sin is death.' If, therefore, all have sinned, and, consequently, deserve everlasting punishment, there could have been no injustice with God, bad he not saved any of the sinful race of Adam, but reserved them, as he did the fallen angels, in everlasting chains, under darkness, to the judgment of the great day. Consequently, if it be a fact that all deserve to perish for ever, it is of infinite mercy and goodness that any are saved; and God, in saving some, does not in the least injure others. Eternal life is God's sovereign gift; but eternal death is the natural consequence, or just wages of sint; and God's bestowing a sovereign gift on some, does not injure others.

The doctrine of God's sovereignty, in bestowing his favours without any regard to deservedness in the receivers of them, is far from being discouraging to those who are convinced that they deserve nothing but everlasting punishment. If you were about applying to some superior for an undeserved favour, and he were represented to you as a person who never bestowed any favours on the undeserving, would you not be greatly discouraged from making application? But if, on the other hand, he should be represented to you as a person who always bestowed his favours for his own sake, without any regard to merit in the receivers of them, you would be greatly encouraged to make application, and hope to succeed. My dear Friend, God

is a Sovereign: he bestoweth his favours altogether for his own sake,' without any regard to merit in the receivers of them. He will have mercy on whom he will have mercy.' Though you are fully convinced that you are a sinner, and conscious you deserve nothing at his hand but everlasting death, cast yourself at his feet, and pray that he would glorify his gracious name in saving you, through the merits of Christ, and you shall certainly find that he delights in mercy.

I am yours, &c.

J. R.

THE FOLLY AND DANGER OF QUACKERY. Mr. Editor,

-

I HAVE lately perused, in one of your Numbers, a familiar description of the human eye; the curious fabric and wonderful economy of which, being contemplated with due seriousness, must prove a cure for Atheism: but, perhaps, your readers may think me a strange logician, when I suggest that the slightest examination of this complicated little organ, must evince, to every. candid mind, the extreme folly and mischievous tendency of Quackery.

My aunt's great-grandmother (by some bargain with a farrier) got possession of a receipt for an eye-salve, which, as a matter of course, was presently declared to be an infallible remedy for bad eyes. 'Nobody can tell for what sort of bad eyes this nostrum was adapted; but it accidentally gained vast reputation; and my aunt freely bestows it on any good woman who applies to her for the eye curing ointment. It is quite in vain that I expostulate with her on the impropriety of such a weak and indiscriminate procedure, or that I urge the opinion of Nosologists, who enumerate two or three hundred species of bad eyes. She answers, That this is a never-failing application, when properly employed; and she flatters herself, that her intentions are good, if the means should sometimes happen to do harm. The people are as ignorant of the medicinal qualities and fitness of my aunt's family composition, as she and her agents are of the precise kind or degree of the existing maladies which they treat.

These female benefactresses, one and all, agree that a gold watch, or a roasting-jack, when out of order, should only be put into the hands of a mechanic who understands the peculiar structure of such machines; and yet they presumptuously imagine themselves qualified, by a single nostrum, to rectify the numerous disorders of a much more delicate and ingenious organ than a watch or jack; and this, without pretending to know any thing at all about its mechanism. I really want language to characterize this inconsistency of sentiment and conduct. They allow also, that the parts and properties of a violin or harpsichord must be Rr

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accurately studied by the artist who would correct its discordant sounds; and yet do not consider, that the minute and diversified parts which compose the eye or the ear must be closely inspected and understood, before a person is competent to undertake the cure of its various imperfections! The causes of derangement in those tender organs are likely to be far more intricate and complex than the sources of discord in a musical instrument, formed by the art of man. Nothing can, therefore, exceed the credulity of trusting an ignorant person, who professes to cure deafness, without any knowledge of the structure and economy of the ear, or confiding in the skill of an illiterate quack, pretending to remove disorders of the eye, without being familiar with its mechanism and functions. The folly of encouraging such practices is greatly aggravated by the consideration, that a slight deviation from the proper treatment may injure or destroy a noble faculty, which cannot be restored for all the accumulated wealth of both the Indies!

The argument is precisely the same, whether we speak of local or general diseases, whether we name the eye, the the ear, brain, the lungs, the stomach, the surface of the body, or the whole corporeal frame. It can hardly be necessary to remark, That empirical remedies and cosmetics, if powerful in their operation, are always dangerous tools in the hands of quacks or illinformed practitioners. Though the medicines themselves may be good, and may, by chance, be sometimes useful, the administration of them will often be highly pernicious, if not destructive, to the human species. This serious thought may pacify the feelings of those mistaken readers (if there be any such) who will regret to see the notice contained on the cover of your last Number, which discountenances Quackery, by shewing that the Conductors of the Evangelical Magazine, after too long forbearance and patience, have at length resolved to exclude from their pages every species of Advertisement connected with empiricism, and hazarding the injury of health by unauthorized medical pre

tensions.

I hail the day on which this determination has been avowed, as evincing the complete triumph of sober Reason over obstinate Blindness, and disinterested Self-denial over sordid Avarice. It men of sound sense and real philanthropy, more attentive to the public welfare than to the emoluments which would accrue from a permission so generally granted by the proprictors of other periodical publications; and it is particularly worthy of notice, That although the funds arising from the sale of their Magazine are wholly appropriated to charitable purposes, its Conductors will not promote or endure the practice of a public evi, under its most plausible forms, and when perpetrated by others, in hopes of thereby extending further relief to deserving individuals. I am, &c.

affords a proof, in my opinion, that the.

Loudon.

B. L.