I know of course that a certain predestination is taught in the Bible, and a certain election. But then the question is about the meaning of the words. To make out this, we should bear in mind what St. Paul was writing about when he used them, especially in the 8th and 9th chapters of the Epistle to the Romans.

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In the 8th chapter of this Epistle, he is speaking of the sufferings which the Roman Christians had to undergo. Both Jews and Gentiles thought that sufferings were a sign of God's displeasure; so that it was a great trial to the early Christians, to find that, in spite of all their glorious hopes, they had to suffer persecution and wrong in this world. Now it is the suffering body of Christians at Rome, that St. Paul addresses as predestined to glory and what could be so heartening, so full of comfort, to suffering and persecuted Christians, as to know that, though they were through much tribulation to enter into the kingdom of God,"* yet that they were to enter into it at last: that their salvation was no afterthought, but a great, original plan: that God had all along intended to call, and justify and finally glorify the faithful followers of his son? It would be no comfort to the whole body, to be told that some of them were pre-destined to glory, and some to condemnation: the comfort was, to know, that all believers were to be saved; it being of course understood, that the believers spoken of were to be true believers, men who would seek for glory, and honour, and immortality, by patient continuance in well doing.†

The 9th chapter begins with a beautiful expression of St. Paul's affection for his countrymen the Jews, and of his sorrow for their obstinate refusal to acknowledge Jesus to be the Christ. It then goes on to show, that God had not bound himself in any way to confine salvation to the one nation of the Jews; but as he had before cast off two whole branches of Abraham's descendents, .(the children of Ishmael and of Esau)...and that by a decision of his will, for which he was accountable to no man, and which he had not thought proper to explain. . .so he might then reject those of Abraham's descendents who would not be parties to his new covenant in Christ; so he might take into his Church all those, who, though not children of Abraham by natural descent, were yet children of his faith, the faith to which the promises were made, and of which circumcision was but the seal. † Acts xiv. 22.

*See Rom. ii. 4.

All the persons mentioned in this chapter are the heads or rulers of nations, and are spoken of as such; and the clay which the potter marred in the presence of Jeremiah, was the house of Israel.* Are we from such passages as these to con clude that, in a christian country, one man is chosen, and will be saved by irresistible grace, do what he may; whilst another is passed over by virtue of an eternal decree against him, which Calvin himself, the great teacher of the system, confessess to be a horrible decree?

It is certain that, even if the doctrine were true, it ought to be as if it were not true; because no man could have any ground even to hope that he was predestined to life, except by the fruits of faith. If A is as likely to be saved as B, for any thing that we know; and B as A; then neither A nor B can get any comfort from the notion of his fate being already determined by God, till he finds that the Spirit of God is really enabling him to lead a life of holiness. Calvin himself teaches this in so many words: "As" (he says) "het assigns the first place in our election to the gratuitous good pleasure of God; so on the other hand he wishes it to be gathered by us from its effects. For nothing is more dangerous and more preposterous than to pass over our calling, and look for the certainty of our election in the hidden foreknowledge of God; for this is too deep a labyrinth."

The notion of individual predestination would do away with the plainest teaching of Christ and his Apostles. It would turn the affectionate appeals of our Lord into painful mockery the Gospel would be a collection of invitations to those, of whom many could not accept them: it would call upon those to repent and believe, who could not repent and believe; it would call upon men to take Christ's easy yoke upon them, who had no power either to refuse or to accept it; and all its free and general offers would be free and general in sound only, but in reality confined to some definite and predetermined number.

Man loves to feel superiority: he loves to draw a broad line of distinction between himself and others: he loves exclusiveness. But the Christian must not narrow the terms of salvation, which Christ his master laid down. Christ promised salvation to all who should believe and be baptized.§

Preposterous conduct is that which puts the first last, and the last first: which absurdly alters the order of things. § Mark xvi. 16.

He addressed men as if they were free: he complained of the perverseness of those who yielded neither to the austere morality of the Baptist, nor to his own milder and more winning appeals. He tells us what soil it is, in which the seed of the Gospel will bear abundant fruit, the soil of an honest and good heart. He tells us, that they who do the will of God, shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or not:† he tells us that the reason why men did not come to the light which he brought into the world, was;‡ that they loved darkness, and that, because their deeds were evil.

I have made these remarks, my friends, because I believe in my heart that Calvin's doctrine is not to be found in the Bible, and that its natural fruit is either presumption or despair; according to the soil in which it is planted. True, it has been held by holy men; but these men did not begin but end with the doctrine: they did not set themselves down as predestined to glory till they were far advanced in their christian course. And this is what I entreat you to imitate them in, if you still think the doctrine true. Begin with God's purpose in Christ, of saving all sincere Christians;§ and never be tempted to gather your own predestination to glory from any thing but your own religious feeling and conduct. Keep before you the solemn warning of our seventeenth Article, that " for curious and carnal persons lacking the spirit of Christ to have continually before their eyes the sentence of God's predestination, is a most dangerous downfall, whereby the devil doth thrust them either into desperation, or into wretchlessness of most unclean living, no less perilous than desperation.

Let us strive and pray that we may never come to hate the light by a course of sinful actions; if we wilfully continue in sin; if we do not strive to break the chains of sin, whether many or few, that still bind us to a guilty service; we shall fear the light that will reprove our deeds, and at last hate it. Let us strive and pray that we may do truth: and by doing truth have boldness to come to the light, that our deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God; wrought from a sense of christian duty, and offered to God by Christ, our High Priest, as acceptable fruits of that faith in Him, which God has promised to reward!

*Luke, viii. 15. † John vii. 17.

John iii. 19.

§ See Eph. i. 9. "His good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fulness of times, he might gather together in one all things of Christ." Joh. iii. 21.

THOMAS FULLER, born 1608; died 1661.

As I shall often quote the words of this admirable old writer, I will here introduce him to the reader in the language of one of the best judges we have lately had amongst us.

"The writings of Fuller are usually designated by the title of quaint, and with sufficient reason; for such was his natural bias to conceits, that I doubt not upon most occasions it would have been going out of his way to have expressed himself out of them. But his wit is not .. a dry faculty of surprising; on the contrary, his conceits are oftentimes deeply steeped in human feeling and passion. Above all his way of telling a story, for its eager liveliness and the perpetual running commentary of the narrator, happily blended with the narration, is, perhaps, unequalled."-CHARLES LAMB.

I add two of his Personal Meditations :

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Lord,-Within a little time I have heard the same precept in sundry places, and by several preachers pressed upon me. The doctrine seemeth to haunt my soul: whithersoever I turn, it meets me. Surely this is from thy Providence, and should be for my profit. Is it because I am an ill proficient in this point, that I must not turn over a new leaf, but am still kept to my old lesson? Peter was grieved, because our Lord said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me ? But I will not be offended at thy often inculcating the same precept, but rather conclude that I am much concerned therein, and that it is thy pleasure that the nail should be soundly fastened in me, which thou hast knock'd in with so many hammers."

Lord, I do discover a fallacy whereby I have long deceived myself. Which is this: I have desired to begin my amendment from my birth-day, or from the first day of the year, or from some eminent festival: that so my repentance might bear some remarkable date. But when those days were come, I have adjourned my repentance to some other time. Thus whilst I could not agree with myself when to start, I have almost lost the running of the race. I am resolved thus to befool myself no longer. I see no day but today; the instant time is always the fittest time. In Nebu

chadnezzar's Image,* the lower the members, the coarser the metal ;—the further off the time, the more unfit. To-day is the golden opportunity; to-morrow will be the silver season; next day but the brazen one; till at last I shall come to the toes of clay, and be turned to dust. Grant therefore that

*Dan. ii. 32.

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to-day I may hear thy voice. And if this day be obscure in the calendar and remarkable in itself for nothing else, give me to make it memorable in my soul, thereupon by thy assistance beginning the reformation of my life."

SEEDS AND PLANTS.†

(PART I.)

"OH Mamma, I'm so hot!" said little Emily Harlow, as she flung back her bonnet and fanned her flushed and tired face with her gloves. "I'm so hot. I've been working in my garden ever since twelve o'clock."

Then go up stairs, my dear, said Mrs. Harlow, and take off your things.

E.—Oh no, Mamma, I must go out again: I want to sow my mustard and cress, that it may be up before Henry comes

home.

M.--Well then, dear, take off your tippet, and sit here with me till you are rested. I've hardly seen you this morning. Mamma-said Emily after a few minutes-what a wonderful thing a seed is !

M.-It is indeed my dear; but I should like to hear your own reasons for thinking it so wonderful.

E. Why, Mamma, how can this little dry bit of a seed grow up into a green plant? And then it is not the least like what it will be; not in the least, is it Mamma?

M.-Not in the least, Emily; and you are right in thinking the growth of a plant from a little brown, hard seed very wonderful. Who is it, dear, that makes the plant bear its seed? and has given to that seed the power of growing into another plant like that from which it sprung?

E. It is God, Mamma:-God said-but I will fetch my Bible and read the exact words.

Emily read the 11th and 12th verses of the first chapter of Genesis.

And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

* Psalm xcv. 7. Founded on Paley, Nat. Theol. Ch. xx,