ciations, as well as the history of the favours granted to the Jewish nation, and the judgments executed upon them, is utterly irreconcilable with the idea of unconditional decrees, or of the fate of men collectively or individually being fixed before they were born, and unalterable by any exertions in their power. On the contrary, nothing is more clear, than the conditionality of the divine dispensations respecting them—the favour of God being granted to them on the condition of their obedience, forfeited by their transgression, and restored again on their repentance.

This is most clearly and most emphatically declared by their law-giver in his solemn address to the assembled nation, recalling to their recollection the covenant into which they had entered with their God, when he gave them the law from mount Sinai " When the Lord," says Moses, "spake unto you out of the midst of the fire, and declared unto you his covenant which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments which he wrote on two tables of stone, and the Lord commanded me to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it: take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves that ye forget not the covenant of the Lord your God for if ye do evil in his sight, to provoke him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it; and the Lord shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the Lord shall lead you. But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul, when thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shall be obedient to his voice, for thy God is a merciful God, He will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers, which he sware unto them."* And again, on the renewing this covenant immediately before their entrance into the promised land; "See I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;

*Deut. iv. 12-31.

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in that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them: I denounce unto you this day that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land whither thou passest over Jordan, to go to possess it., I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life that both thou and thy seed may live. That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto Him; for He is thy life, and the length of thy days; that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them."*

Such is the summary principle, suitably to which the dispensations of God to the Jews were conducted, according to the conditions of a covenant graciously vouchsafed by God, freely entered into by that chosen people, and carried into effect, according to the observance of these conditions, agreeably to the rules of retributive justice, combined with the tenderness of long-suffering mercy.

To the accurate observance of this conditional covenant on the part of God, every part of the Jewish history bears witness. Thus, immediately before the close of his life, Joshua “called for all Israel, for their elders and for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers," and made to them this impressive and solemn appeal; "behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth, and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you, and not one thing hath failed thereof; therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are come upon you which the Lord your God promised you, so shall the Lord your God bring upon you all evil things, when you have transgressed the covenant of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and have bowed yourselves unto them;

*Deut. xxx. 15, &c.

then shall the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord your God hath given you." He then repeats all the wonders of power and mercy which God had exerted in rescuing them from Egypt, and fixing them in the land of their inheritance; and concludes "Now, therefore, fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and serve ye the Lord; and if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served, that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, for the Lord our God, he it is that brought us out of the land of Egypt, and did these great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way in which we went, and drave out all the people of the land before us, therefore will we also serve the Lord, for he is our God."

This vow of grateful obedience Joshua would not fully accept, without reminding the people of the character of that divine sovereign, to whom they thus pledged their allegiance, and the penalties he would inflict on their apostacy. For "Joshua said unto the people; Ye cannot serve the Lord, for he is an holy God, he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins; if ye forsake the Lord, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good. And the people said unto Joshua, nay, but we will serve the Lord; and Joshua said unto the people, ye are witness against yourselves, that ye have chosen you the Lord, to serve him; and they said, we are witnesses. Now, therefore, put away, (said he,) the strange gods which are among you, and incline your hearts unto the Lord God of Israel; and the people said unto Joshua, the Lord our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey; and Joshua made a covenant with the people that day. And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a

*Josh. xxiv. 1, &c.

great stone, and set it up there under an oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord; and Joshua said unto all the people, behold this stone shall be a witness unto us, for it hath heard all the words of the Lord which he spake unto us; it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God. So he let them depart, every man to his inheritance.”

Can any transaction more clearly show, that divine election does not control human liberty, or divine grace destroy the power of man to obey or disobey, to worship or deny his God, as he shall choose? Does it not also show that, the divine favour is conditional, corresponding to, and changing with the conduct of man and therefore utterly irreconcilable with absolute predestination, and unchangeable, unconditional decrees?

The subsequent history abundantly confirms the same conclusions. It records that the people "served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord that he did for Israel. But when that generation were gathered unto their fathers, and there arose another generation after them which knew not (that is, considered not) the Lord, nor yet the works he had done for Israel, the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim; and the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies, as the Lord had said, and as he had sworn unto them, and they were greatly distressed; nevertheless the Lord raised them up judges, and then the Lord was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for it repented the Lord because of their groanings, by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them. And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, they returned and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way; and the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel; and he said, because this people hath transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice, I also will not henceforth drive out from before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died; that through them, I

may prove Israel whether they will keep the name of the Lord, to walk therein as their fathers did keep it, or not. Therefore the Lord left those nations, without driving them out hastily, neither delivered he them into the hand of Joshua.”* Here is another summary of the divine administration over the Jews, displaying as clearly as words or facts can display, the freedom and contingency of human actions, and the conditionality of the divine measures, subjecting men to various circumstances of probation, according to their various and changing dispositions and conduct, and dispensing favours or punishment, changing as they behave under such probation; all which seems plainly inconsistent with every idea of any fixed necessity in human conduct, or any immutable character in the divine decrees, fixing unconditionally the conduct or fortunes either of nations or individuals.

Every subsequent important event in the Jewish history exemplifies the government of God, exercised over that chosen people, according to conditional decrees. On the establishment of the kingly government, the prophet Samuel* first vindicates the equity of his own administration, as appointed by God to act as judge; he then reminds them of the righteous acts of the Lord to their fathers, of his hearing their cry in Egypt, and delivering them; of their forgetting the Lord their God, and serving Baalim and Ashtaroth; of God, in consequence, delivering them into the hands of their enemies; of their repenting and crying unto God, and the Lord sending judges who rescued them; and finally, of their presumption and ingratitude, in asking a king when the Lord their God was their king: and he then proved the divine displeasure by a miracle. But still God would not forcibly control their actions; he complied with their desires, and gave them a king, but in such a manner as preserved unimpaired their sense of his own sovereign authority, and prove to them that their king must still be his vicegerent. "And all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel, and said unto him, pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God, that we die not, for we have added unto all our sins this evil, to ask us a king. And Samuel said unto the

*Josh. xxiv. 31, and Judges ii. 6, to the end.

+1 Sam. viii.