were written for our admonition," with this particular view among others, "that he who thinketh he Standeth, might take heed least he fall." verfe 12.

Can any one defire a clearer illuftration of the fubject in hand, or wish for a more fatisfactory folution of this difficulty, fo artfully raised about univerfal redemption, than the draught which the Apostle has here laid before us? But the misfortune is, that a prevailing attachment to fyftems of modern compofition has brought on, I fhall not fay a total rejection, but at least a strange forgetfulness of the fcripture system of Christianity, which yet all join in acknowledging to be the true one. Certain it is, that scripture declares Christianity to be a great mystery, founded on the mysterious doctrine of a trinity of perfons in one JEHOVAH; and in particular in GoD (one of these persons) manifested in the flesh, and so become CHRIST, from whom this mysterious system has received its appellation; Acts xi. 26. It declares further, that the falvation of man is a pre-concerted scheme of love and mercy, TIT. i. 2; by the eternal covenant in and of JEHOVAH, not with, but for man; and it expreffes, in terms fufficiently adequate to our weak capacities, the several parts which the Three Great Ones, and man too, as the happy object of all,

have to act in this bleffed fcheme, as it is compendi ously delineated by a venerable father of the primitive church, good old IRENEUS of Lyons:-" The Spirit operating, the Son adminiftering, the Father approving, man confummating unto falvation." Book iv. cap. 37. And again; "The Father well pleased, the Son administering and forming, the Spirit nourishing and increasing, man himself gradually profiting and attaining towards perfection." Cap. 75. Such is the fcripture reprefentation of this beautiful plan.

No Chriftian, it is prefumed, denies either the omniscience or omnipotence of the Divine Being, or that all things both in heaven and earth are under his controul and direction. But, allowing that God does in fome sense decree things, will it follow from thence that his decrees are of that abfolute kind, as to exclude all contingency of human events? Your decided pofitions on this fubject are drawn from a conception, formed on a mysterious fubject, beyond the reach of a finite understanding, and upon which man can know no more than GOD has been pleafed to reveal. The only idea prefented to my mind upon this fubject is drawn from thofe facts recorded in facred ftory, which authorise the conclusion, that fome of GOD's decrees at leaft are in a degree

man events.

of fubferviency to human actions. Striking facts of this kind occur in the case of AHAB, 1 Kings xxi. 29; in that of HEZEKIAH, ISAIAH XXxviii. 5; and in that of Nineveh, JONAH iii. 10; in all which cafes the Divine decree was altered, by the fubfequent conduct of the party concerned in it. The cafe of BENHADAD king of Syria, 2 Kings viii. 10, furnishes a striking fpecimen of the confistency of the foreknowledge of GOD with the contingency of huThe prophet's anfwer to HAZAEL'S enquiry respecting BENHADAD's recovery was this: Go, and fay unto him, thou mayeft certainly recover; howbeit the LORD hath fhewed me, he shall furely die." Means there were, which had they been made ufe of, would certainly have effected the cure: GOD faw they would not be employed. In the cafe of ST. PAUL'S fhipwreck, which has been already mentioned, the certainty of efcaping from it was connected with the poffibility of the proper means not being made ufe of for that purpose; otherwise ST. PAUL'S address to the failors on the subject had been unneceffary; the means were made use of, and the crew confequently faved. If Sir, from facts recorded in facred story, we are authorised to say, that` in fome inftances GOD has thought fit to make his

decrees fubfervient to the actions of men, do we, as you suggest, thereby deny Him the right of a fovereign? Should not poor short-fighted mortals rather leave GOD to govern the world in his own way, without prefuming to form any judgment upon his proceedings, further than He has been pleased to furnish documents for the purpofe? So long as we keep to the letter of the fcripture, we tread on fafe ground; when we speculate beyond it, we plunge into a depth which man has no line to fathom.

It is not denied, that when GoD pleases, He can direct the actions of wicked men to fome particular purpose. We know that He both can and does. But as God has not been pleased to make man his counfellor, we therefore leave this business in his hands, confident, that a time will come when GOD will be justified in all his ways. We bow to what we cannot understand. In the words of the late Dr. OGDEN, "filence fuits with ignorance."

But when, in page 73, you go further, and give the reader to understand, that GOD's pofitive decree fo overrules human agency in the use of the means, as to render man a mere machine, I am bound to oppofe fuch doctrine; because fuch doctrine is con trary to the whole tenour of fcripture, where rewards

are conftantly promised to those who obey, and pu nishments denounced against those who do not. To bring forward proofs on this fubject would be an endless undertaking; at the fame time that it muft be an unneceffary one for all those who have not laid afide the use of their Bibles. I fhall, therefore, only take notice of one particular paffage of fcripture, which, from the authority of our SAVIOUR, proves to demonstration, that this fuppofed overruling will of the DEITY, respecting the falvation of individuals, does not constitute a part of the Divine plan. "These things, I fay, (fays CHRIST, fpeaking to the Jews) that ye might be faved. But ye will not come unto me that ye may have life." former of these two verfes

JOHN V. 34, 40. The plainly fhews, (by the

particle wa, which is aTaTxov, or what marks the final caufe of the foregoing words) that our SAVIOUR did not only offer, but intend the falvation of the Jews; whilft the latter verfe fhews as plainly that the Jews refused it.

"You can form (you fay, in your preface to Bishop BABINGTON's fermon) no idea of grace, but as it conquers whatever opposes its progrefs." In other words, grace, according to your idea, must be irrefiftible. AUGUSTIN, under whofe authority you