sidered at all. To imagine that a belief in a doctrine revealed in Holy Scripture can be otherwise than productive of real good to the child of God, is little less than a reflection on Divine wisdom. "Every Scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness; that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work." And the doctrine we are about to consider will be found on the one hand very full of comfort to those who love God and walk in his holy ways, and, on the other hand, full of rebuke, warning, and admonition to those who resist His Will and obey not the Gospel of His Son.

It is said, however, that Predestination is a mystery, better left alone and not enquired into, as it is alleged that subjects such as this, are full of nice, subtil, and profitless speculation, and that no good can result from attempting to pry into the secrets of God.

Both these allegations are true, but the attaching them necessarily to the subject we are about to consider is an error arising from ignorance. True, the subject may lead to subtil and profitless speculation if great care be not exercised and no rein be put upon the imagination, and besides, there is always the danger of going too farpassing beyond the analogy of the faith, and presumptuously attempting to lay open the secret things of God.

But are we to be deterred from ascending the Mount of God on account of the difficulty of climbing, and the danger which the many precipices present? God would have His people to search into His way of acting, that they may thus learn more of His mind and His blessed purposes. He appeals to them directly in some

cases, Isaiah v. 3-4; Ezekiel xviii. 25-29; Matt. xxi. 40, 46; Luke xii. 56, 57.

The Almighty, who alone knows what is best suited to the condition of His creatures, has not thought fit in His wisdom to communicate the knowledge of Divine things to them in one broad uniform current of information. That which is essential to salvation He has conveyed in terms clear and explicit, but that which is not, is only touched on lightly and indirectly. That a knowledge of the Scripture doctrine of Predestination is helpful to us in our life of faith and our growth in holiness is true, but that it is absolutely necessary to the exercise of faith or to the advancement in holiness is not true, for we may often understand the terms of a proposition-fully assent to a doctrine-without a clear apprehension of all that is included in it; nay, is it not the fact that we may even be able to prove and defend a doctrine without being competent to explain it in detail or realize all the consequences which flow from it? On the subject of Predestination we find nothing in Holy Scripture like the exactness of a logical method or the subtilties of metaphysical distinctions. The inspired writers display no solicitude about rigorous definitions or refined reasoning, they declare in simple language the great truthentering into no defence of the mercy or justice of God, making no attempt to reduce Divine revelation within the scanty grasp of finite understandings. The Holy Ghost was given to guide us into all truth, and the investigations of faith, and the meditation and enlightenment of holy men in past ages cannot be regarded as nought. Predestination, like most other doctrines, has been developed in the process of time. As Dr. Newman says, "No one

doctrine can be named which starts complete at first and gains nothing afterwards from the investigations of faith and the attacks of heresy. The Church went forth from the old world in haste, as the Israelites from Egypt, with their dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs being bound up in their cloths upon their shoulders." 1

Probably the majority of those who complain that the subject is too speculative to be of practical value, and who decry so loudly anything which has the appearance of what they describe as prying into the secrets of God, are those who are dull of understanding and uninterested in the deep things of God. Truth, it is said, lies at the bottom of a well, and as St. Basil justly remarks "Truth is hard to be taken by hunting, and must be found out by a narrow observing of her footsteps on every side."

It is with the hope of placing the doctrine of Predestination and Election in a simple light, and with the desire of making it helpful to many, that the Author has attempted the ensuing treatise.

Much confusion arises from the vague way of speaking of Election, as if there were but one object and one end of Election. God elects some to one thing and others to another. He has His election in the Church-He has His election in the Jew-and He has His election in the heathen. When therefore Election to eternal life is spoken of a degree of uncertainty and vagueness arises which is very embarrassing. This accounts to some extent for the endless amount of controversy which has arisen on the subject, some writers, really holding practically similar opinions, being apparently ranged in hostile ranks.

1 Developments of Doctrine, cap. ii. § 1.

It must be clearly understood that in the first chapterunder the head "Predestination," the Author has referred to Predestination and Election in the abstract,-to Election to eternal life generally,—rather than to Election to any particular position of life and glory, to which it is the purpose of the Almighty to bring His Elect ones; and that he has examined the objections to Predestination generally, rather than entered into details. That chapter has been written mainly with the object of laying down in general terms those broad principles upon which the Scheme of Election subsequently propounded is based, and of leading up to it.

That so many of those taking part in the great controversy which has for generations disturbed the minds of men, have perverted and distorted the meaning of their opponents is remarkable. The fiery zeal and party asperity which have been displayed have caused Christianity to weep and infidelity to rejoice. And yet good Arminians and Calvinists approach much nearer to one another than they are able to see by reason of their attributing to each other doctrines which they respectively repudiate. For instance, Calvinists are apt to attribute to Arminians the denial of original sin, and of justification by faith, and to assert that they make holiness not only the qualification, but a part also of their claim to heaven. On the other hand, Arminians are apt to assign to their Calvinist brethren the holding of the doctrine of Election in such a way as to indulge in a secret persuasion that provided they have faith, it matters little whether it operates in good works, and that they not only exclude holiness as a meritorious condition, but deny its necessity

altogether, and thus practically echo the licentious maxim "let us sin that grace may abound."

Now it is quite clear that these attributed dogmas are not held by pious persons on either side-they find no place in their admitted creed. That there have been men of extreme views who have gone so far as to hold them and teach them cannot be denied, but the Calvinist or Arminian of the present day is in general, let us thank God, free from the extreme and highly offensive dogmas which have found favour on either side in past generations.

Much of the contention between the parties consists in the use of ill-defined terms and in mutual misapprehension. But it must be admitted that human language is almost inadequate as a vehicle for conveying what is often the intention of the writer, at least so as to be free from objection in the hands of an opponent, and the very best reasoners who have entered into the controversy have used terms which are ill-defined or vague, and which, to say the very least, have been open to objections when viewed from a different standpoint.

Let us then endeavour to be as little dogmatic as possible in our views, holding them in humility and sobriety, remembering the many eminent and pious divines who have thought differently from ourselves. Let us bear in mind that there may even be found excuses for the means which have been adopted in this polemic warfare. Divines on both sides have been actuated by a sincere desire to guard Christianity from what they have conceived to be errors of the highest importance. The means they have adopted may not have been wise, for they have usually departed from the broad outlines of Holy Writ to lay down propositions which they have conceived to be