discloses how Saul and the men of Keilah meant to act, and would have acted, had it remained in their power; and he thus induces David to change his plans, so as to frustrate these intentions. In the preceding narrative, it may be observed, that if David had not reverted to God for counsel and help in his terror and perplexity-if he had not relied on the information derived from the divine oracle, with the assurance of faith, and attended to the warning vouchsafed to him, with the most prompt obedience, he could not have been preserved. The nature of the divine interposition thus appears adapted to the religious character of David, and exhibits an instance of a moral governor calling forth, confirming, and rewarding the virtues of piety, faith, and obedience.

At other times, Saul is permitted to pursue David without any apparent check or opposition; but at the last, a providential arrangement of circumstances, as at the cave of En-gedi, places him in the power of David; whom divine grace influences to spare him, and in the event to overcome evil with good. For "David said to Saul, wherefore hearest thou men's words, saying, behold, David seeketh thine hurt; behold, this day thine eye hath seen how that the Lord had delivered thee today into mine hand in the cave; and some bade me kill thee, but mine eye spared thee, and I said, I will not put forth my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord's anointed. The Lord therefore be judge between me and thee, and sée and plead my cause, and deliver me out of thine hand. And when Saul heard his voice, and saw that he had cut off the skirt of his robe, and not killed him," (his malignity being overpowered, and his better feelings revived,) "he lifted up his voice and wept, and said unto David, Thou art more righteous than I, for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil. For if a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away; wherefore the Lord reward thee good, for that thou hast done unto me this day; and now behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand; swear now therefore unto me, by the Lord, that thou wilt not cut off my seed after me, and that thou wilt not destroy my name out of my father's house; and David sware

unto Saul; and Saul went home, and David and his men gat them up unto the hold."*

The good effect wrought on Saul by this gracious interposition of Providence, proved, however, short and transitory; his malignant jealousy of David revived, and impelled him again to seek the life of the faithful, brave, and generous object of his hatred and his fear. Once again, the long-suffering mercy of God interposed to subdue his malice, and recall him to repentance; his life was again placed in the power of David, and again spared with unparalleled generosity and forbearance, which produced a temporary repentance and reconciliation on the part of Saul. Ultimately, however, this monarch, whom no judgments could bend, and no mercy soften, was abandoned of God; "for when he saw the host of the Philistines who were come to invade him, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled; and when he inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets." He now attempted to penetrate into the secrets of futurity by necromancy, which he had himself stigmatised as the height of impiety; and God in wrath permitted him to hear his doom pronounced. It was executed, partly by the host of the Philistines, and partly by his own despair, when he closed a life of impiety by a death of suicide.

In this whole narrative, do we not perceive the true nature of God's divine government over the sons of men, and is it not plainly conditional and strictly moral? Do not the facts show, that the prescience of God does not interfere with the freedom and the contingency of human conduct; but that God tries men, and rewards or punishes them according to their behaviour under such trial, not according to antecedent decrees, having no regard to their conduct, either past or foreseen? Do they not prove that the long-suffering mercy of God never abandons the sinner, till he has rejected all the means of grace, and hardened his heart against judgments, and warnings, and calls to repentance, repeated and powerful, so that it is clear the sinner is without excuse, and the judge of all the earth does right? Is not the nature of such a system of government, as exemplified by the sacred

history, very repugnant to every idea of absolute predestination, and unconditional decrees-to a fixed necessity in human actions, an unalterable election to eternal life or reprobation to death eternal, before the individual is born, or hath done ought, good or evil? No, my fellow Christians, however isolated texts may be distorted, so as to exhibit this terrific and revolting picture, the universal tenor and clear facts of Scripture exhibit a plan of divine government wholly different from such a schemeharmonizing with the dictates of reason, and with the consciousness of freedom and accountableness on the part of man, and of long-suffering mercy on the part of God.

This conditionality of the divine decrees, this adaptation of the divine dispensations to the conduct of man, placed in a state of probation, free to choose whether he will obey or disobey the divine command, and in consequence of such his choice, receiving the reward or the punishment which he has forewarned would follow-all this is so important, in enabling us to judge whether the doctrine of absolute predestination is supported or contradicted by the general tenor of holy writ, that it cannot be too accurately examined.

Here it is to be observed, that as man is placed in a state of probation, the ultimate result of that probation it is, which determines his final doom from the just judgment of God. This is most clearly expressed, and most earnestly inculcated by the prophet Ezekiel; who is commanded to warn the people of Israel, with the awful declaration adjoined, that He shall himself be answerable for the destruction of those whom He does not faithfully forewarn; and who thus expresses the command; "O, thou son of man, speak, unto the house of Israel, Thus ye speak, saying, if our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how shall we then live."* This irreligious and unfounded distrust of the divine mercy, the prophet is commanded, in language which seems to exclude the idea of absolute reprobation, to reprove and to dispel; saying unto them, as I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye, from vour evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

Ezek. xxxii. 10.

Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people -the righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression: as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness: neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth. When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousness shall not be remembered: but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it. Again, when I say unto the wicked, thou shall surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right; if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die. None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him; he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live. Yet the children of thy people say, the way of the Lord is not equal; but as for them, their way is not equal. When the righteous turneth from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, he shall even die thereby. But if the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby, Yet ye say, the way of the Lord is not equal; O ye house of Israel, I will judge you every one after his ways.' Can any language more clearly and decidedly declare, that the divine decrees with respect to every individual, are changed as their conduct changes, and that their final doom is determined by the final result of the probation which they undergo; not fixed by any decree of absolute predestination?

The conditionality of the divine decrees is as signal to the house of David, as it had been to the house of Saul. Saul's kingdom would have been established over Israel for ever, but for his not keeping the commandment of God. The divine promise to establish the kingdom of David for ever, was given on his manifesting a sincere and humble piety in his zeal to build a temple for his God. For this act the sovereignty was limited to his family for ever, but his successors, each in their place, were subject to moral retribution. God declared: "if thy son commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with

* Ezek. xxxiii. 10-20.

the stripes of the children of men, but my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee."*

Solomon's pious choice, imploring the gift of wisdom rather than riches, wealth, honour, or long life, was rewarded not only with the gift of wisdom, but with that temporal prosperity which he had not presumed to ask. But he unhappily was so corrupted by this prosperity, that he did evil in the sight of the Lord; for his wives turned his heart after other gods; and the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice. And had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he kept not that which the Lord commanded. Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon, forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee and will give it to thy servant. Notwithstanding, in thy days I will not do it, for David thy father's sake; but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom, but will give one tribe to thy son, for David my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen."†

Jeroboam was selected to govern the ten tribes in place of the house of Solomon, with this distinctly conditional promise; "it shall be, if thou wilt hearken unto all that I command thee, and wilt not walk in my ways, and do that which is right in my sight, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, that I will be with thee, and build thee a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Israel unto thee."‡

Jeroboam, however, was seduced by worldly policy to break his covenant with God, and introduce the golden calves, "which made Israel to sin." And God, in retribution, denounced the utter destruction of his house. Thus were all the decrees of God, and his government of his people, evidently conditional— rewarding fidelity, punishing transgression, and adapting its dispensations to the conduct of its subjects, who were evidently free and uncontrolled in their choice; while it was ultimately so

2 Sam. vii. 14.

† 1 Kings, xi. 6, 9-13. +1 Kings, xi. 38.