been no ground for his anxiety respecting their continuance in the faith, or as to any change which the tempter might have wrought in them; much less would it have been necessary for him to go on to the end, as he describes himself doing in his second epistle to Timothy, labouring and enduring all things for the elect's sake, that they may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.' That both his own and their salvation was still to be worked out, and was still conditional, appears most clearly from various passages throughout his writings: We are heirs of God,' he says in one place, and joint heirs with Christ, if so be we suffer with him;' and in another, if ye live after the flesh ye shall die; but if ye by the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.' And again, I, therefore, so run not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air; but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast-away;' and the constancy with which he kept this great object of his own salvation ever before him, as a thing still depending upon his own exertions, we see

strongly marked in another passage also, when he says, I account not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.' From all these places it seems to me impossible not to infer, that however a man may have been called to the salvation of the Gospel, and so far be considered, according to the scriptural sense of the word, elect, yet his final salvation is by no means a certainty, inasmuch as with this great apostle himself it was regarded only as a hope of his calling;' in which hope he laboured to the end, in order to obtain the promised reward. It is needless to multiply quotations; but I cannot forbear recurring to one to which I have before alluded, namely, that which speaks of the called according to God's purpose; here also it is said, that all things work together for good to them that love God. Now who, let me ask you, are they that love God?"

"That question," I replied, " is answered by Christ himself: If ye love me, keep my commandments.'

6

"Precisely so," he rejoined; " on which account we see the apostle in another place exhorting his converts : 'We then as workers together with him (Christ) beseech you that ye receive not the grace of God in vain :' let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall:'-' so run that ye may obtain :'-'fight the good fight of faith:- lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called.' So that predestination is not decisive of the eternal state; for even over the predestinate the crown of righteousness' is suspended upon a condition, a condition of persevering unto the end in faith and obedience to Christ. * And thus you see, at the same time, the free agency of man established; for if he were not a responsible being, of

"Who believe and continue in the faith." "It seems then," says Milton," that there is no particular predestination or election, but only general; or, in other words, that the privilege belongs to all who heartily believe and continue in their belief, that none are predestined or elected irrespectively, e. g. that Peter is not elected as Peter, or John as John, but inasmuch as they are believers and continue in their belief; and that thus the general decree of election becomes personally applicable to each particular believer, and is ratified to all who remain steadfast in the faith.". Christian Doctrine, article

Predestination.

what use were the exhortations of the Apostle? To one absolutely decreed to salvation from the beginning there was no need of enjoining a steadfast faith to turn from the evil of his ways and live; to watch lest he should fall into temptation, or to be ready to give an account hereafter; and to one who was doomed from the beginning to perish eternally, it was not only of no use, but it was cruelty in the extreme to deceive him by exhortations to holiness, which, however sought after and pursued, could avail nothing." Here, taking hold of a volume and opening it, he continued, "Bishop Horsley's Sermon On Christ's Reply to Zebedee's Children' is so strong upon this point, that I must read you a passage from it, to show you how clear and striking were his notions on this difficult subject, for such it really is. 'I say,'

says this great man, 'there cannot be any certain persons unconditionally predestined after this manner: John the son of Zebedee to this office, James the son of Zebedee to that, Peter to a third, whatever the conduct of John, James or Peter in their apostolical ministry in the present life may have been. It is certain that God's foreknowledge hath from the beginning

extended, not only to the minutest actions of the life of every man who ever was to live, but even to the most secret motives from which each man's actions were to spring; to his thoughts, his wishes, his fears, his likings and aversions. God, therefore, had from all eternity as exact a knowledge of every man's character, as true an estimation of his good or ill deserts, as can be had, when the man shall have lived to finish the career of virtue or of vice, which God hath ever foreseen that he would run. This foreknowledge of every man's character cannot but be accompanied with the foreknowledge of the particular lot of happiness or misery which it will be fit he should receive. And since to perceive what is fit, and to resolve what is fit shall be, must be one act, or, if not absolutely one, they must be inseparable acts in the divine mind, it should seem indeed that every man's final doom, in consequence of an ⚫ exact view of his future life, must have been eternally determined. But this is only to say that the world, with its whole consequence of events, has ever been present to the Creator's mind. And however difficult the thing may be for the human apprehension, this predetermina

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