cause the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world, to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world, to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things which are; That no flesh should glory in his presence." 1 Cor. i.

25-29.

III. It is vain then for men to speculate about the mode in which divine creating power operates, either in nature or grace. He has told us his word is the declaration of his will, by which he applies the blessings of redemption to his people; that in the regenerate it is his will exercised. How childish and futile, then, are the cavils and objections of men against the divine mysteries, revealed in the word! "The omnipotence of God, it must be allowed, bears to every created power the same relation of awful superiority, which his

infinite wisdom and goodness bear to the humble knowledge and virtue of his creatures. In contemplating it, we consider only his will, as the direct antecedent of those glorious effects. which the universe displays. .... We conceive only the divine will itself, as if made visible to our imagination, and all nature at the very moment rising round. . . . . Such is the great charm of the celebrated passage of Genesis, descriptive of the creation of light. It is from stating nothing more than the antecedent and consequent, that the majestic simplicity of the description is derived. God speaks, and it is done. We imagine nothing intermediate. In our highest contemplation of his power, we believe only, that, when he willed creation, a world arose; and that in all future time, his will to create cannot exist, without being followed by the instant rise into being of whatever he may have willed; that his will to destroy any thing, will be, in like manner, followed by its non-existence; and his will to vary the course of things by miraculous appear

* Brown's Philosophy, Vol. I. pp. 74, 75.

IV. It forms no part of the present design to speak of the meritorious, or procuring cause of regeneration, which is the righteousness of Christ.

V. It forms no part of the present design to speak of the efficient cause of regeneration; that subject having been discussed in the first part of the work.

VI. It is then to the external means employed by the Holy Ghost in the application of salvation to his people that the present inquiry is directed. These means are two-fold, direct or principal, and indirect, or subordinate. These terms are selected for the want of better. By direct means is intended the word as just explained. By indirect means are intended all the positive institutions of scripture now in force. Under the Old Testament economy of the covenant, these were the Levitical ritual, prophecy, occasional commands, like that given to Moses in the wilderness to erect the brazen serpent, and to the Syrian to wash in Jordan. These positive institutions, though given in part for the removal of temporal calamities, were, nevertheless, typical of the positive institutions under the New Testament, which

are the ministry of the word, sacraments, and the external order of the church. These indirect means are as variously employed as the various dispensations of divine providence towards nations, churches, families, and individuals. If it should be thought, the dispensations of divine providence ought to be ranked with indirect means of grace, the author cannot object. But he prefers to regard the providence of God as it furnishes instruments, occasions, and opportunities for the employment of means; because through all the revolutions brought about in his mysterious providence, since the canon of revelation was closed, positive institutions have been invariably the indirect, and the word the direct means of regeneration.

VII. This distinction between direct and indirect means is clearly marked in the scriptures. "For," says Paul, "I have begotten you through the gospel." 1 Cor. iv. 15. Paul was the medium through whom the word was conveyed to the Corinthians: and thus he was the instrument in the providence of God, of constituting them into their church state, and bringing them externally into a covenant rela

tion with God, by means of the gospel which he had preached to them. But this was not all. Some at least among the Corinthians had been regenerated: "IN CHRIST JESUS I have begotten you through the gospel." Here, again, Paul's agency must be limited to the ministry of the word; yet both the begetting to a church state, and to a new life, were effected "through the gospel." So then, while Paul was the medium through which the Holy Ghost conveyed the word to the Corinthians, the word was the medium through which he conveyed himself into their hearts, in the regenerating act.

VIII. The positive institutions of the New Testament, then, are either the medium of conveyance or helps to the word. The sacraments are a symbolical representation to the senses of the spiritual things revealed in the word; consequently, they are helps to it, as they produce in the minds of believers more lively and permanent impressions of divine things. They are also dependent upon the instrumentality of the word for any efficacy which may attend their administration. In the case of adults, faith in Christ, as he is revealed in the word, is a necessary prerequisite to a right reception of baptism; and, in like manner, self-examination