say, "Because God has graciously predestinated us to be conformed to the image of his Son, therefore we need not be anxious to bear his blessed likeness:" but this inference we utterly abhor. But where is the impiety of attributing repentance, faith, holiness, and obedience, wherever they are really found, to the effectual operation of the Spirit of God, and from hence alone inferring, that he designed from eternity, to produce that change which he has effected in time?

As to the death of Christ, which we have already observed must be considered as an astonishing instance of sovereign goodness, since nothing but the greatness of our guilt rendered such a sacrifice necessary; is it impious to suppose, that the Saviour, in laying down his life, had a special regard to those, who shall actually enjoy the benefits of his redemption? We think, indeed, that some of our brethren have carried the metaphorical idea of debtor and creditor too far; who seem to suppose, that there must have been just so much suffering endured by the Saviour, as would exactly suffice for the sins of the number saved. We think this idea savors of creature littleness; shall I say of petty retail arithmetic? If fewer had been saved, I apprehend the Saviour would have suffered no less; nor, if a greater number, would he have needed to suffer more. The dignity of the sufferer put such a value on his sacrifice, that if all the sinners on earth had been saved and glorified, on the footing of his obedience unto death, God would not have been exposed to any reflection on his moral character. The law was honored more by his obedience, than it could have been honored by the eternal obedience of Adam and all his posterity; and the evil of sin was more affectingly displayed in the sufferings of Immanuel, than it could have been manifested in the punishment of all mankind, had they endured the curse of the law for ever. But I must own I can scarcely call by a milder name than impiety, that feeling which could induce an eminent Arminian to say,

"Take back my int'rest in the Lamb,

Unless the Saviour died for all."

Surely the person who penned those lines, could not have, at the time, any just idea of the necessity of the atonement.

Hitherto, it is but a small part of the human race, who have heard of the Redeemer: however, the Calvinists will yield to none in their zealous endeavors to spread the gladtidings all over the globe. And we strenuously maintain, that wherever the gospel is fully published, every one who hears it has an equal warrant to apply to the Saviour; and is assured of his being as willing as he is able to save all that come unto God by him. I own, that I should think it impiety to deny, that God had a right to have adopted a different method, from that which he has wisely chosen. He might have sent an angel to make known the gospel to those only whom he intended actually to save; and no injustice could have been charged upon him. But he has been pleased to send pardoned sinners to tell their fellow-criminals, that he has laid help upon one who is mighty to save. God hath committed to us the ministry of reconciliation. Now then we perform an embassy for Christ, as though God did beseech men by us, we pray them in Christ's stead. Be ye reconciled to God." We assure them that all things are ready, and invite them to the feast which the great King has made for the nuptials of his Son: but, alas! with one accord, they begin to make excuse, though there is nothing to hinder them from accepting the invitation, but wilful ignorance of their own perishing condition, alienation from God, aversion to Christ, and love to sin and the world.

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This leads me to another branch of Calvinism, the entire corruption of human nature, or the enmity of the carnal mind to God, and its refusal of subjection to his law; with the utter unwillingness of sinners to stoop to salvation by grace, and cordially to accept of the mediation of Christ. Is it impious to believe, that these sinful dispositions are SO predominant in the human heart, that none but God can conquer them? Is there any impiety in crediting the testimony of the Prophet, that the heart of man is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked? and in supposing that even men of learning deceive themselves, when they talk of a self-determining power in their wills, by which they can chuse, at any time, what they now hate; and can turn themselves from sin to holiness, without any influence from above?

We ascribe to sinners, as that wherein their inability, either to obey the law, or to embrace the gospel, chiefly consists, a depraved disposition of mind, which is averse to the retaining God in their knowledge, to the owning of his authority, or to their placing their happiness in God. They are under the influence of sinful selfishness, which leads each to pursue a private interest of his own, which has no subordination to the divine glory, nor connexion with the general good. Hence no man can be found, who loves God with all his heart, or his neighbour as himself, except those who have been renewed in the spirit of their minds. Some seek their highest gratification in the lusts of the flesh, and others in the lusts of the mind; but all have strayed like lost sheep, they have turned aside every one to his own way. And now, though a glorious method of salvation is revealed in the gospel, worthy of God, and worthy of all acceptation, yet sinners hold fast deceit, and refuse to return. Though it suits their circumstances most exactly, yet it does not suit their mental taste; it is too humiliating in its import, and too holy in its tendency, for them to relish it because it excludes all boasting, and self-righteousness, and forbids all sinful self-indulgence; and therefore sinners reject the counsel of God against themselves. It is a very hard thing to convince them of their danger, and much harder to convince them of their guilt; that they really deserve the wrath of a holy God, and need to be saved from it by the great propitiation. They are unwilling to own, that there was a necessity of Christ's dying for them, and that, because they were all under a just sentence of death; and they are unwilling to yield to his claim, that all who admit that humiliating truth, should consider themselves as the property of their Saviour; being not their own, but bought with a price. beyond all computation, and therefore bound to live, not to themselves, but to him who died and rose again. It is possible some may be found, who would give up many sinful indulgences, especially of the grosser sort, and attend strictly to many outward duties, if they might but establish their own righteousness, and have at least a share in meriting eternal life while others would give up the idea of merit, and allow salvation to be of grace, if they might but be excused

from the trouble of obedience, and the necessity of crucifying the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof. But a thorough return to God, a cordial reception of Christ in all his offices, and that for all the purposes for which he is revealed in the gospel, is more than can be effected by merely human agency, and what will never be the result of the sinner's own free will. We will join the most zealous Arminians, in asserting the justice of God's commands, and the reasonableness of obeying them; and in proclaiming the sufficiency of Christ's atonement, and the free and indefinite invitations of the gospel: we will labor, knowing the terrors of the Lord, to persuade men to flee from the wrath to come; and knowing the ability and willingness of Christ to save, we will beseech sinners to return to God, in the name of the blessed Mediator; but verily we should utterly despair of success, if we had nothing on which to depend, but moral suasion on our part, and the pliability of the will on the part of our hearers.

This leads to the fourth point of Calvinism. We are impious enough to believe that God can operate effectually on the human heart! Yes, we believe he can give a new bias to the will itself; he can renew a sinner in the spirit of his mind; he can take away the heart of stone, and give an heart of flesh. We cannot believe, that he has shut himself out, by any supposed law of nature, that in case of the most unnatural disaffection, rebellion, and disorder breaking forth among rational creatures, he would never interpose immediately for its removal. It might, indeed, be suspected that the guilt of sinners would be an impediment to his gracious operations on their hearts, to restore them to his holy image; but his infinite wisdom having provided for the removal of guilt, by the atonement of God's incarnate Son, is it wonderful that he should also interfere for the removal of depravity, by the efficacious influence of his Holy Spirit? Would it not be a strange, if not an impious supposition, that after all which the Saviour had done and suffered, it should be left to contingency, or to the will of sinners, whether his gospel should have any success, or whether it should be universally rejected?

But if God can thus effectually influence the mind of a

he

sinner, is he bound to exert it, in every case alike? or may operate on just what he pleases? Is it impious for us to suppose, that he who converted Manasseh, could have converted Ahaz; that he who humbled Nebuchadnezzar, could have humbled Pharaoh; that he who changed the heart of Saul of Tarsus, could have changed that of his candid tutor, Gamaliel? Yet, while those whom God turned to himself are under infinite obligations to distinguishing grace; those whom he left to go on frowardly in the way of their own hearts, have no excuse for their sin, nor ground of complaint against God.

Did any faithful minister ever preach the gospel to a large congregation, in which there were any hearers, whose hearts he that hath the keys of David could not have opened, as he did the heart of Lydia? In such a congregation, is the Most High bound to look out the richest, the handsomest, the most pliable, or those that already possess the greatest semblance of virtue, and make the word effectual to their conversion? or may he not, if he pleases, take the meanest, the most illiterate, the most profligate, the most obdurate, and show the power of his grace in their thorough conversion? May he not, on such an occasion, take whom he will, and leave whom he will to his own choice? If he may choose whom he will convert to-day, might he not determine on doing so yesterday, or even from eternity? What impiety would it be, to assert that he might and did determine it so early? What pious man will rather choose to say, with Grevinchovius, I made myself to differ, who might have chosen to resist, God's predetermination, but did not;' than with Paul to acknowledge," By the grace of God, I am what I am."

We have only to examine the fifth point of Calvinism, and see if there be any impiety in that; viz. in the doctrine of perseverance. We do believe, that whom the Lord loveth, he loveth to the end. That he who hath begun a good work in the human heart, will carry it on, till the day of Christ; that believers are kept by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation. Is there any impiety in this belief? Please to observe, that it is a perseverance in holiness for which we