inability and Election] are so intimately connected, the cautions expressed under the former were spoken once for all, and were held in mind, although not repeated, under the latter doctrine? Or, perhaps, we might conclude that he did not regard these cautions as necessary any longer, because, while he supposed it necessary for him to adapt the premises of his doctrine to men at large, who, being still in their natural condition, must be first made disposed to embrace the doctrine of divine grace, he could now, on the contrary, after establishing this previous point, presuppose readers who had been led from the knowledge of human inability, to lay hold of the divine grace; and in whom, therefore, the work of divine grace was already accomplished.

Suppose, now, that Dr. Bretschneider presents to Calvin his man 66 SO far reformed that he counts himself among the elect," and presents him as possessing such a character. This man says to Calvin: "Hear! you can have no objection to my allowing myself to indulge again in certain sins; for God has elected and renewed me; salvation is appointed for me; and if I fall again, this cannot alter his immutable decree !" What now will Calvin say to him in reply? Something, I conceive, not very unlike the following: "Whether God has elected you, I cannot pretend to know; but that it has not yet pleased him to renew you, I am certain: for if you are renewed, you might, indeed, if any sin should intrude itself upon you against your will, console yourself with the reflection, that this could not alter the divine decree; but how can you, a renewed person, be wil ling that sin should intrude itself upon you, since the first commencement of holiness consists, as you must have already learned from your own Paul, [Pelagius?] in not consenting to sin, but in keeping the will pure,-if you prefer to adopt the language of your patron, rather than mine, and would speak of virtue and vice, of good and evil, rather than of faith and unbelief, of flesh and spirit, as my Paul and Augustine, and Luther and I myself do. If therefore, you consider yourself to be a renewed person, and yet are willing to allow sin to insinuate itself into your mind, you deceive yourself in one point, or the other, and the inconsistency is in yourself, and you must not ascribe it to my doctrine. On the contrary, you will find in my doctrine a rule, which you would seem to need, by which you

may try yourself. For one truly entered upon the work of sanctification, can never, in a believing reliance on his election, indulge in the desire to sin, because it is in his sanctification itself that the Spirit of God gives him the witness that he is a child of God.

It is only in the careless state, that this desire could arise, a state contrary to that of a believing confidence. So soon as one thinks of his election and sanctification, in short of his state of grace, this desire must cease or else this state itself must come to an end, and this witness must be silent.Upon the unconscious and confused state of man, this doctrine can have no other tendency than to lead him back, where it is attentively considered, to a right consciousness; and this may be the effect of this doctrine upon you. in order to draw your attention to your own confused condition, and to excite in you a salutary fear respecting that evil desire which instigates you, -a fear which may restore that balance of mind, in which you may again be susceptible of the influence of truth, I will only recall to your recollection the words* of Augustine, which you are too apt to allow to be superceded by my words, that those persons who afterwards fall, did not in truth live piously, even when they seemed to us to do so; and while they were supposed by us to be elected, were not truly so in the sight of God, and were not separated from the common mass of depravity. And in general, I may say, that there is no better mirror for you to look into, than that whole treatise of this great teacher. For as the faithful servant, moved by the Spirit of God, cannot forbear to exhort and rebuke those who stumble, and are impenitent without knowing whether it will prove to them a means of salvation or condemnation ;†

Aug. de corr. et grat. 12. Et qui, audito evangelio, in melius commutati, perseverantiam non acceperunt... non sunt ab illa conspercione discreti quam constat esse damnatam. 16. Qui vero perseveraturi non sunt, ac sic a fide christiana et conversatione lapsuri sunt, ut tales eos vitæ hujus finis inveniat, procul dubio, nec illo tempore quo bene pieque vivunt, in istorum numero computandi sunt. 20. Et sunt rursus quidam qui filii Dei, propter susceptam vel temporaliter gratiam, dicuntur a nobis, nec tamen Deo. (1 John 2: 19.) 22. Quia ergo non habuerunt perseverantiam, ita nec veri filii Dei fuerunt.

† Aug. de corr. et grat. 25. "Utrum autem ita sit vocatus quoniam qui corripit nescit, faciat ipse cum caritate quod scit faciendum, scit enim talem corripiendum facturo Deo aut misericordiam, aut judicium. 46. Nescientes quis pertineat ad predestinatorum numerum, quis non pertineat sic affici debemus caritatis affectu, ut omnes velimus salvos fieri.

and as any one who, on account of the uncertainty of the result should cease to warn and rebuke, would thus show himself to be a hireling; even so you may calculate, that if you have any thing of the Spirit of God in you, it will proceed in the same way with regard to you, and not cease to warn and to rebuke you whenever you might desire to indulge in sin. And if you do not find yourself thus admonished, you have not, according to my doctrine, any reason to believe that you are a renewed person; and then you must follow my instruction from the outset, and convinced of your inability, learn first of all to seek sincerely for that sincere love of truth, which does not deceive itself, and for that true freedom which does not lust to return again to the flesh pots of Egypt.* If then, through divine grace, you obtain what you seek, and become truly a reformed man, we will then speak with you farther on the doctrine of Election, if it shall then appear to be in any manner dangerous to you."

And hence any one who is, in the sense of Calvin, a renewed person, can never be led by the doctrine of Election to a careless security, since he knows that he should then deprive himself of the evidence of his election, because such an effect could not take place, except from the fact that he was not elected. Those therefore who resort to this subterfuge are designated by Calvin with a somewhat harsh, but not undeserved appellation.

Quite as little can an anxious despondency be regarded as a proper effect of this doctrine. Whoever, on the contrary, is, in Calvin's sense, a renewed person through faith wrought in him by the divine Spirit, will hold to the words of the Redeemer, "whoever believes in me, has eternal life." In possessing this faith, he has so sure a pledge of his election, that if his remaining infirmities should threaten to prevail to his destruction, he would still be able to find again the evidence of his Election in the ever renewed consciousness of the operations of faith working by love.

Nor can any one say, that this is an artificial barrier against these consequences; on the contrary, it results

* Calv. Inst. II. II. 1. Homo nihil boni penes se reliquum esse edoctus.. doceatur tamen ad bonum quo vacuus est, ad libertatem qua privatus est, aspirare.

+ Calv. Inst. III. XXIII. 12. Si electionis scopus est vitæ sanctimonia, magis ad eam alacriter meditandam expergefacere et stimulare nos debet quam ad desidia pretextum valere.

+ Bretschneider's Aphorisms, p. 103.

very simply from this doctrine. And the very same thing is said in the "Solida Declaratio," pp. 805, 806.

But if a person comes, who is not truly reformed by divine grace in Calvin's sense; but one who thinks himself to be so by his own power-with such a person the strictly consistent Calvin will not allow himself to enter into debate respecting the doctrine of Election. How could he do so? This doctrine, according to the title running through the whole of the third book, is nothing else than the doctrine of the manner of receiving the divine grace in Christ. But the person supposed will have nothing to do with the grace of Christ. Between these therefore there can be no object of controversy regarding this doctrine.

The second person supposed by Dr. Bretschneider is one in whom virtue and vice are still in conflict, and who, [it is objected must be led [by this doctrine] to think, that in case of a favourable issue, he may continue to serve his lusts until the time when grace shall be given him, and, in case of an unfavourable issue, that it would be in vain for him to begin a work which could not be completed. To such a person, supposing him to have heard what had been said to the other, Calvin has but little to reply.-In the first place he would say, that he was entirely right in supposing, not only with respect to an unfavourable, but also with respect to a favourable issue, that it is in vain for him to begin the work of his own renovation; for he could not begin it, but only God.

But in the second place, that if it was his will to serve his lusts, it was wrong to say that he is the subject of a conflict between virtue and vice. For holiness of life consists only in willing; and one who should will to serve his lusts, and who should justify himself in so doing, could have felt as yet no love to holiness. But should he ever truly strive to lead a pious life, he need not fear, that his efforts would be unavailing. For this earnest effort could never come but from election itself,*-since he himself has not commenced it, but the divine Spirit.

To the third person supposed,-the one who feels him

* Calv. Inst. III. XXIII. 12. Quod autem suas blasphemias longius extendunt, dum eum qui sit a Deo reprobatus perditurum operam dicunt, si innocentia et probitate vitæ se illi approbare studeat, in eo vero impudentissimi mendacii convincuntur. Unde enim tale studium oriri possit

nisi ex electione.

self incapable of reforming himself, Calvin would impart consolation, and say to him, that if, together with this deep sense of his inability, he had also that wish for improvement of which he spoke, and if he not only professed this with his mouth, but cherished it in his heart, he should then beware of the blasphemy of supposing, that God would render him obdurate. For such a wish is no part of obduracy, but rather of penitency, and he should regard it as a precursive sign that he was already enjoying the influences of the divine spirit by whom alone his renovation could be effected. Even to such a person, therefore, the doctrine of Election has no tendency to do hurt; or to promote despondency.

Thus from none of these cases, can the objection of Dr. Bretschneider (Aphor. p. 98) be sustained, that the Calvinistic theory of Election, when consistently carried out in its application to life, may and must prove exceedingly prejudicial to morality. It is only when views which do not belong to this doctrine are mingled with it, that it may perhaps have an injurious tendency. This, however, ought not to be brought as an objection against the doctrine itself.

In what this foreign element, mixed up with the doctrine of Election, and occasioning these objections to it, actually consists, it cannot be difficult to determine after what has been said. In the first place, Dr. Bretschneider seems to proceed on the supposition, that a person may exercise a desire for virtue, or rather for a pious life, (to substitute a theological term, for one more civil and philosophical, not to say heathenish,) not on its own account, but on account of happiness; as if happiness were the object, and piety the means of attaining it, but both distinguished from each other. He intimates accordingly, that under the influence of such a desire, a person might have advanced to a certain point in a holy life, but if, in the use of this means, he has once become assured of his end, that is, of happiness, he will then naturally desire to return back again to his lusts and appetites. But this is not the supposition on which Calvin proceeds. He teaches his disciple from the very first, that a happy life consists in the knowledge of God, and that the knowledge of God consists in the knowledge of his works, and more especially of his law. He follows Paul in saying, that the inward man, being awakened and renewed by the Spirit of God, has a delight in the law of