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connects the means with the end. If it is his will that certain objects should be attained, it is also his will that appointed means should be used for their attainment. When David was pursued by Saul, God had determined to preserve him, but as a means of his preservation he purposed that he should not remain at Keilah, whose inhabitants had secretly resolved to deliver him into the hands of his persecutor. When the Apostle of the Gentiles was in perils by sea, it was the purpose of God that both he and all who were in the ship with him should come safe to land; but it was, at the same time, his purpose that the mariners should abide in the ship with them, and be the instruments of their deliverance. When he purposed to bring the redeemed and glorified inhabitants of heaven out of the sin and ruin of the fall, and admit them to the high honours and happiness of his presence, he inseparably connected with these ends the varied means by which their redemption should be attained. If he purposed that the regions of the blessed should be peopled out of this world by a great multitude which no man can number, he purposed that they previously should be made holy, and that faith in Christ, and all its concomitants, should be the means of producing this holiness. If, therefore, we wilfully refuse to use the means, the revealed will of God assures us that we can never attain the end. The connexion in certain cases between the means and the end may altogether resolve itself into the appointment of God's will; while in other cases the connexion approves itself as natural and necessary to our understanding, independently of the divine appointment. Thus there is a necessary

connexion between sin and misery, between enmity against God and everlasting ruin; and we cannot conceive it possible for any appointment whatever to dissolve this connexion. While any being continues under the dominion of reigning and persevering wickedness, he cannot be otherwise than miserable, and the misery which he endures appears to be his due desert. To be carnally-minded is death; and this connexion is so close and so necessary, that by no enactment can the tie ever be broken. In the case of the redeemed the cause is removed, and the effect ceases to operate; sin is subdued, and loses its dominion over them; and their nature is renewed after the divine image in righteousness and true holiness. So complete is the renovation, that the divine power is represented as creating all things new. "I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh."

When we affirm, then, that all things exist according to the divine purpose and plan, we are maintaining a doctrine that is perfectly compatible with the free agency and accountableness of man. While every thing exists in accordance with the purpose of God, that purpose, when it refers to the actions of free agents, is accomplished without the intervention of any physical restraint or influence. It is the more necessary to keep this in our remembrance, as the doctrine in question is sometimes called that of necessity, and

those who maintain it are designated Necessarians. This epithet is far from being happily chosen, as the notion it conveys, in its usual acceptation, is not only repulsive to the common feelings of man, but remote from the truth. The primary and common notion of necessity is that which stands opposed to some imagined and insufficient resistance. We say of things, that they must be, or that they necessarily are, when they are or will be, though we desire or endeavour the contrary, or try to prevent their taking place. When we cannot prevent the occurrence of any thing, let us do what we will, we conceive it to exist necessarily, and irresist ibly. The words necessary and impossible are also used to denote the immutability of certain existences and relations, and our being unable to suppose them otherwise than they are without a contradiction. When the terms are used in this acceptation, the idea of resistance or opposition is entirely excluded. They are applied in this restricted signification to the existence and attributes of God, and to all truth, the opposite of which we cannot conceive impossible. In so far as the word necessity merely signifies the most perfect and absolute certainty, it may be admitted to denote that doctrine which maintains that all things exist, and are brought into being in full accordance with the divine plan and purpose. But the phrase, absolute certainty, is preferable, since all things that have had a beginning, or that will hereafter begin to be, can in no sense be said to be necessary but as their existence is most certain. Whatever is to come to pass hereafter will most certainly exist, not in consequence of any necessity, but on account of

the connexion which it has with the will and the purpose of God. For the counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, and the thoughts of his heart to all generations.

CHAPTER XV.

THE FOREKNOWLEDGE AND ETERNAL PURPOSE OF GOD PROVED TO BE CONSISTENT WITH THE FREE AGENCY OF MAN.

I SHALL attempt to prove the doctrine, that all things exist, and are brought into being, according to the purpose or counsel of God, and which purpose or counsel is eternal and unchangeable as God himself. I own I regard it as highly desirable that this doctrine should be found true. Is it not most encouraging to a weak and dependent creature, to know that he himself, and all events regarding him, whether they have already taken place, or shall hereafter exist, do exist in virtue of the eternal purpose of God? Nothing can proceed from him but what is worthy of the perfection of his nature. The purpose in accordance with which I have my being, which has fixed the bounds of my habitation, which has ordered all the events of my lot, and which extends to all that can possibly befal me in the range of an endless existence, is the purpose of infinite holiness, wisdom, and goodness. Its having been formed from eternity cannot surely diminish its characters of wisdom and beneficence. Nor can I for a moment doubt, whether it is better that this plan which embraces me and all the minutest of my concernments should have been formed

by the God of infinite understanding and love, or that I should be introduced into being without any plan, and entirely abandoned to the guidance of my own limited judgment and discretion. How desirable is it to be so fully the object of the divine counsel, as to have all things respecting me, even the outward circumstances of my lot, ordered by it!

Such must be our feelings and convictions regarding the purposes of the God of goodness and of wisdom, even on the supposition that these purposes had not been made known to us. But how greatly ought these convictions to be strengthened by the fact, that the counsels of God, in so far as they are revealed, recommend themselves to the understanding and conscience of every man. The sum of this counsel is, that God in infinite mercy has provided a Saviour for mankind, that he commands all men everywhere to repent, and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that they may be saved. And to give them strength to repent, and believe, and return to God, he sends down the influences of the Holy Spirit on all who ask them. He makes this offer of pardon and of reconciliation, without restriction or limitation, to every creature. He has given the promise, that "whosoever believeth on Christ should not perish, but have everlasting life:" while he has as expressly declared, that "he who believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." Is not all this in the highest degree worthy of infinite wisdom and goodness? Or is it less worthy of his wisdom and goodness, or of our entire approval, because of its having been planned from eternity?

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