This doctrine is undoubtedly in accordance with several passages of Scripture. But its apparent opposition to all our ideas of justice has been a natural cause of doubt as to the correctness of the interpretation, and has led many to

Articles, which are not, perhaps, very generally known. They were drawn up at Lambeth Palace under the eye, and with the assistance, of Archbishop Whitgift, Bishop Bancroft, Bishop Vaughan, and other eminent dignitaries of the Church: 1. God hath from eternity predestinated certain persons to life, and hath reprobated certain persons unto death. 2. The moving or efficient cause of predestination unto life, is not the foresight of faith, or of perseverance, or of good works, or of anything that is in the persons predestinated, but the will alone of God's good pleasure. 3. The predestinate are a predetermined and certain number, which can neither be lessened nor increased. 4. Such as are not predestinated to salvation, shall inevitably be condemned on account of their sins. 5. The true, lively, and justifying faith, and the Spirit of God justifying, is not extinguished, doth not utterly fail, doth not vanish away in the elect, either finally or totally. 6. A true believer, that is, one who is endued with justifying faith, is certified by the full assurance of faith that his sins are forgiven, and that he shall be everlastingly saved by Christ. 7. Saving grace is not allowed, is not imparted, is not granted to all men, by which they may be saved if they will. 8. No man is able to come to Christ unless it be given him, and unless the Father draw him; and all men are not drawn by the Father that they may come to his Son. 9. It is not in the will or power of every man to be saved."

forsake a Church in which it is inculcated.

But

since Christians must unhesitatingly admit the possibility of the soul's eternal existence, and consequently the probability of her rebellion when not manifested upon earth, they are in possession of a belief which points out one mode (although it may well be, not the only one) by which the truth of these inspired declarations is harmonised with perfect justice and goodness.

For with this conviction we are at once compelled to acknowledge, with a heartfelt sense of dependence, the justice which exposes us to certain pain here, and probable punishment hereafter. We confess, with true contrition of heart, that he who is born amid crime and wretchedness, who lives where the voice of religion and instruction is never heard, and who dies without hope and without fear, is, even before his appearance upon earth, indeed and in truth. deserving of temporal and eternal punishment. And not only he, but all the fallen race of Adam, who are by nature born in sin, the children of wrath, and worthy of condemnation.

INDIVIDUAL GUILT.

BUT let us not imagine that it is the nature and position of souls in general,-of other souls with whom we can have little or no concern, which we are now seeking to ascertain. It is we ourselves that are thus interested. It is I myself who am dwelling in eternity. Mine is the heart that in eternity is the home of pride and ambition. Within me is the spirit of contradiction which, while participating in an earthly and a temporary dispensation, continues to make war against the Majesty of Heaven. It is I that, as a fallen angel, am joined with Lucifer in rebelling against the will of the Most High. It is I who glory in the association, and delight with him to strive against all that is holy; for, while my nature knows only a spiritual and eternal existence, while it in truth embraces, or rather is itself, the essential principle of evil alone, I hope not, and I wish not, for pardon. I am unable and unwilling to obtain the means of

justification. I am plunged in the dark abyss of the knowledge of evil, and I delight with Satan in unrepenting obduracy and rebellion.

Nor" do I repent or change,

Though chang'd in outward lustre, that fix'd mind,
And high disdain from sense of injur'd merit,
That with the Mightiest rais'd me to contend,
And to the fierce contention brought along
Innumerable force of Spirits arm'd,

That durst dislike his reign, and, me preferring,
His utmost power with adverse power oppos'd

In dubious battle on the plains of heaven,

And shook his throne. What though the field be lost?
All is not lost; the unconquerable will,

And study of revenge, immortal hate,
And courage never to submit or yield,
And what is else not to be overcome;
That glory never shall his wrath or might
Extort from me. To bow and sue for grace
With suppliant knee, and deify his power,
Who from the terror of this arm so late
Doubted his empire; that were low indeed,
That were an ignominy, and shame beneath
This downfall." a

And for this a punishment is devised; but how different from that which man, through anger or offended pride, inflicts upon his fellow! "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord:

a Paradise Lost.

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for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness." b

Thus, with Him, punishment is not revenge, but a merciful infliction by which the means of reconciliation are given to sinners.

a Isaiah, lv. 8, 9.

b Heb. xii. 5-10.