depravity of our nature prevents uniform and perfect obedience; and were even that attainable, it would give no claim to the reward of everlasting happiness. If there be sincerity of endeavour on our part, founded in a true and lively Faith, the gracious Father of the Universe is pleased, for the sake and through the mediation of his Son, not only to overlook the deficiency of the performance, but to grant an incorruptible crown of glory; and thus "eternal life is the free-gift of God through Jesus Christ." What a sublime idea does this scheme of Universal Redemption convey, of the goodness and of the wisdom of the Deity! It is no less than the offer of everlasting happiness from the Creator to his fallen creatures, without any encouragement to their sins, or any violation of his own sacred laws. The disclosure and execution of this plan God reserved for his own appointed time; but at no time has he left himself without a witness. The works of Creation, and the law written upon men's hearts, always supplied a ground for Faith, and a rule for practice. At every period of the world, to fear God and to work righteousness, have been discoverable and practicable duties. Men will be judged according to the light which has been afforded them, by the dispensation under which they have lived, whether it shall have been the law of Nature, the law of Moses, or the law of

the

the Gospel, all equally derived from the same. divine Author. The virtuous Heathen, the obedient Jew, and the sincere Christian, will all owe their Salvation to the precious blood of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The degrees of happiness, as we are taught to believe, will vary; but although they are all eternal, and all flow from the same divine source, the faithful disciples of the blessed Jesus may humbly hope, that a peculiar inheritance is reserved in heaven for them, as "the prize of their high calling in Christ."

HAVING thus shewn that Universal Redemption is taught in Scripture, and that it is strictly conformable to the attributes of the Deity; and having shewn that the Calvinistic doctrines of Election and Reprobation have no foundation in the written word of God, and are inconsistent with the Divine perfections; I shall now proceed to prove, that Universal Redemption is also the Doctrine of our Church.

The 39 Articles contain not a single expression, which can be considered as limiting the Redemption purchased by the blood of Christ. They mention the effects of Christ's death only three times in the second Article it is said, "Christ suffered, to reconcile his Father to us, and to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for actual

34

actual sins of men:" original guilt belongs to all men, and therefore the actual sins of all men must likewise be understood: and consequently, according to this Article, Christ died, to be a sacrifice for the sins of the whole human race. In the 15th Article, it is said, "Christ came to be the Lamb without spot, who, by sacrifice of himself once made, should take away the sins of the world;" an expression taken from the New Testament, and too comprehensive to be adopted by those who meant to assert the doctrine of partial Redemption. And in the 31st Article the doctrine of Universal Redemption is plainly and unequivocally asserted, "The offering of Christ once made, is that perfect Redemption, propitiation, and satisfaction for all the sins of the whole world, both original and actual:" Words cannot be more comprehensive than those which are here used, "all the sins of the whole world, both original and actual,"-every sin, of every sort, of every human being. Can then any one, after reading these words, contend, that it is consistent with our Articles, to maintain that Christ died for the sins of only a part of the world, and that it is absolutely impossible for the rest of mankind to attain salvation, through the merits of his death?

The 17th Article is entitled, "of Predestination and Election," and it begins with a definition

of

of Predestination; "Predestination to life (a) is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby (before the foundations of the world were laid) he hath constantly decreed by his counsel, secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting Salvation, as vessels made to honour:" "Predestination to

life"

(a) No persons, either in Scripture or in our Public Formularies, are said to be predestinated to death, or to punishment, or to unbelief. Nefas est dicere Deum aliquid nisi bonum prædestinare. Aug. de Præd. cap. 2. Nunquam usurpatur poopia (prædestinare) nisi de bonis rebus. Grot. Even the Authors of the Centuriæ Magdeburgenses, who were Calvinists, say, Quoties Apostoli verbo Predestinationis utuntur, nihil aliud eo indicant, quam ut inquirentem causas cur ad Salutem æternam consequendam nulla alia sit via, quam ea quæ Christo est nobis parata, docent sic Deo in arcano suo consilio, quo voluit miseriis generis humani mederi, placuisse, eumque ut eo modo fieret ordinasse, et velle ut a se præscriptum da Salutem compendium agnoscamus et apprehendamus. Cent. Magd. cent. 1. lib. 2. cap. 4. p. 238. The truth is, that the word Predestination does not occur in Scripture, and the word predestinate is used in our Version only in two passages, namely Rom. c. 8. and Eph. c. I. both of which have been explained in this Chapter, and from which the former part of our seventeenth Article is taken. The Greek word translated predestinate in these two passages, is used by St.Luke, Acts, c.4. v. 28, where it is translated "determined before ;" and by St. Paul, 1 Cor, c. 2. v. 7. where it is translated "ordained." It occurs, I believe, in no other part of the New Testament.

life" is here declared to be the eternal purpose of God, to deliver from curse and damnation, and to bring to everlasting Salvation-But who are to be thus delivered and saved?" Those whom God hath chosen in Christ out of mankind," that is, that part of mankind to whom God, in his inscrutable counsels, has, from all eternity, decreed to make known the Gospel, which is, as we have seen, the Scriptural sense of the word chosen or elect (a); and consequently "to bring them by Christ to everlasting Salvation" does not mean actually saving them, but granting them the means of Salvation through Christ, which is also a signification authorized by Scripture (b). The Article proceeds to describe those who profit by this "everlasting purpose of God," " Wherefore they which be endued with so excellent a benefit of God, be called according to God's purpose by his Spirit working in due season: they through Grace obey the Calling: they be justified frecly: they be made sons of God by Adoption: they be made like the Image of his only-begotten Son Jesus Christ: they walk religiously in Good Works; and at length, by God's mercy, they attain to everlasting felicity:" Salvation, which is attainable hy all Christians,

(a) It will afterwards appear, that the word Elect is used in the same sense, in the Form of Baptism, and also in the Catechism of our Church.

(b) Vide pages 38 and 244 of this work.