them liars.

When doctrines were offered to the Bereans, it is said, they searched the scriptures daily, whether these things were so ;" and we may suppose these people at Ephesus adopted the same plan, and found that some who affected to be apostles were no better than liars.

The

St. Paul foretold that there would be false teachers at Ephesus, and he therefore exhorts the elders there "to feed the church of God, which he had purchased with his own blood." "I know this (says he) that after my departing, grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock; and of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them." Acts xx. 28, 29. same apostle writing to Timothy, says, "preach the word, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts they shall heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears." 2 Tim. iv. 3. But woe be to those ministers who thrust themselves into the ministry, and preach what is not written, to please men, and keep back what is written, from fear of men; for God has declared that he is against such. Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not nor commanded them; therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord. He that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully; for what is the chaff to the wheat saith the Lord ?" Jer. xxiii. 32. Let those that are taught of the Lord, and that belong to him, imitate these people at Ephesus, and try those that stand before them as ministers of the church; let them try their doctrines by the word of God, and by their fruits which they produce in themselves and others, and they shall find out those that are liars, and turn away from them as wolves in sheep's clothing.

66

But it was not only their works, and their patience, and circumspect walk, and caution in trying false teachers by the word, which the Lord saw and approved of in his people at Ephesus: but he tells them also that he knew that "they had borne and had patience, and for his name's sake had laboured and had not fainted.' They had borne afflictions, reproaches and persecutions, which like burdens had pressed heavy on them; and yet were not moved by them, but bore them with constancy and cheerfulness; and had borne Christ's name and gospel among the Gentiles in spite of the opposition of men ; and the grace of patience which they had received from God had been in lively exercise, and was not worn out through the length and greatness of their trials; and they laboured not for lucre's sake, nor for party's sake, but for the honour of Christ, and the good of souls: and they were not weary of labouring for Christ's name sake, so as to quit his service.

Now, though Christ saw much in his people at Ephesus to approve of, and gives them a character which may well shame many in these days, who call themselves by his name and profess to belong to him; yet they were not perfect, for he says "he had somewhat against them."

Christ has nothing against his people, his faithful ministers, and his true churches, in a judicial way, or to their condemnation; for St. Paul says, "There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." (Rom. viii. 1.) The apostle does not say that there is nothing condemnable in them; for sin is in them, which they know to their hurt and trouble; and they have many condemnations from their own hearts; and from the men of the world, who are always ready to condemn them.

The Father has no legal condemnation against them, for they are "justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus," (Rom. iii. 24;) and the Son has none, for it is by his righteousness that they are justified; and, the Holy Spirit has none, for he bears witness to their spirits, that they are in a state of justification. Christ has no legal condemnation against those that were "chosen in him before the foundation of the world," (Ephes. i. 4.) whom he betrothed to himself in a conjugal relation, and who are united to him as members to an head; and the reason is, that the Lord laid on him their iniquities, as the sins of the people of Israel were laid on the scape goat; and he has removed them all away; and he has procured the pardon of all their sins by his blood; and he has abolished all by his sacrifice; and justifies from all by his righteousness; and saves them from all their sins.

But though Christ has nothing against his people in a judicial way, for he has done for them all that the law and justice of God required; yet he has often things to complain of in them, and to rebuke and chastise them for, in a way of providence: and this was the case with his people at Ephesus, for he rebukes them for having left their first love. He does not say that they had lost their love;-for love to God and Christ, and his saints, is a divine principle planted in the hearts of God's people at the time of their regeneration, and it cannot be lost, for it is his gift; and St. Paul tells us, that "the gifts of God are without repentance," (Rom. xi. 29.) that is, they are immutable and unalterable; God never revokes them, or calls them in again, or takes them away from the persons on whom he bestows them. Whatever God purposes, or promises to give, or really does give to his people, whether into the hands of Christ for them, or into their own, he never repents or reverses.

Though the grace of love cannot be lost, it may vary as to the exercise of it; and this was the case with the Lord's people at Ephesus; their love was not as it had been at their first conversion, when it is usually in lively exercise; their love had abated in its warmth and fervour; and thus what Christ had foretold, had come to pass, that "the love of many would wax cold:" through the prevalence of corruption; the old man of sin rising up against the new man of grace; through the temptations of the world; from a desire of ease, and to be free from reproach and persecution; from covetousness; and from contentions and divisions among themselves. Christ knew this; he

saw the coldness of his people's love, and was displeased, and therefore chides and rebukes them for it.

He is not

And do not we, my christian friends, in these days deserve a similar rebuke from Christ, for the coldness of our love to him and to his saints? Will our love bear the test of Paul's description of that precious grace in his 1st Epistle to the Corinthians? Of him that is possessed of it, he says, "He suffereth long and is kind, envieth not, vaunteth not himself, is not puffed up, does not behave himself unseemly, seeketh not his own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." He suffers long, or is patient under God's afflictive dispensations, and under the reproaches and persecutions of men for the sake of Christ and his gospel. He envies not others the temporal goods which they may enjoy as Joseph's brethren envied him. He is not ostentatious of what temporal or spiritual advantages he may enjoy above others. puffed up with pride when he excels others in knowledge, or is above them in station; and does not behave himself unseemly either by his conduct or conversation. He seeks not his own things only, or chiefly, but those things which relate to the glory of God, the enlargement of Christ's kingdom, the spread of his gospel, and the temporal and spiritual good of the saints. He is not easily provoked to wrath, but gives place to it. "He thinketh no evil of those that have wronged him, but forgives them freely as God for Christ's sake has forgiven him. He rejoiceth not in iniquity, but mourns over his own, the corruption of his heart, and the infirmities of his life; and is grieved at the profaneness and immorality that abound in the world. rejoiceth in the truth of the gospel when preached, as one that findeth great spoil. He beareth all things, the burdens of his brethren, the infirmities of the weak, and the reproaches and persecutions of the world. He believeth all things that God hath said in his word, even when above the reach of his understanding. He hopes the best of all men, that wicked men may repent, and that professors may be sincere; and he endures all things, even things disagreeable to the flesh, for the elect's sake, for the gospel's sake, and especially for Christ's sake. Solomon says, "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water he turneth it whithersoever he will," (Prov. xxi. 1.) May he spiritualize our earthly hearts, expand our selfish hearts, and warm our cold hearts, with the love of himself.

September 20, 1826.

ELAH.

He

FRAGMENT.

WORKS without faith, are like a suit of clothes without a body, empty faith without works is a body without clothes, no warmth, wants heat: works without faith are not good works, and faith without good works, is as good as no faith, but a dead faith. Then only are they themselves, when they are together: what God hath joined, let no man put asunder.

ORIGINAL ESSAYS..

XXI.

ON REPROBATION.

ELECTION, the first branch of predestination, having formed the subject of the last Essay, it is incumbent on us now to consider reprobation, the second branch; which by divine help we will do with the solemnity and caution it demands. It is an imperative duty to take up the subject with solemnity; because there is contained in it considerations of an awful nature, both to the regenerate and unregenerate, and it has to do with the high decrees of him who spake and it was done, who commanded and it stood fast. And it requires to be treated on with caution; for the majority of those who make a profession of religion, reject it from their creed, and many who hold the doctrine, dishonour the scripture record, by clothing their statements in doubtful and untenable terms.

He who in truth and in honesty of heart believes in election, must of necessity, and will without dissimulation, acknowledge his belief in reprobation. The holy scriptures know of no middle path between sovereign choice and sovereign rejection in the eternal decrees; and man would know of none, or rather, would not assume that there is any, were it not for the judicial blindness that has, through sin, seized his mental faculties, incapacitating him for understanding or possessing right conceptions of the things of God. Had not sin perverted and destroyed the perceptive faculties which man in his original state possessed, doubtless he might have attained, on this side heaven, such an acquisition of knowledge in the ways of God, as would clearly develope what is now secreted in mystery, even to those who are spiritual. But notwithstanding the tremendous havoc produced by the fall, faith, of the operation of the Spirit, lays hold of the covenant, and will not lose possession of its resting-place; amidst the raging commotions from satan, sin, and the world, it fastens on the sure ground-Jehovah's eternal counsel and purpose.

There is a people whom God hath "set apart" for himself, on whom to display the riches of his grace; and there is a people "against whom the Lord hath indignation for ever." Mal. i. 4. The doctrine, as communicated to the church in new-testament terms, stands thus : "God willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction." Rom. ix. 22. And the solemn answer the Lord gave his servant Job will, as long as the world exists, stand in reproof of the despisers of this decree; yea, the regions of the damned witness, and will eternally, to the astounding interrogation: "shall he that con

tendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it." So long as there remains one that reproveth God, and that contendeth with him, be it the honour, as it is the duty of the servants of God, ever to contend for the right faith, according to the dictates and teachings of the divine Spirit.

As the decree preceded the performance of any act on the part of the creature; neither what men call good works could move God to choose men; nor could evil works cause him to reject men. The apostle's conclusion is, that against which there can be no effectual appeal, neither in this world nor in the world to come : "therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth." This rock of offence to the unbeliever is not to be removed by the craft and chicanery of enthusiastic theologists; for it must remain a stumbling stone to those who are ignorant of God's righteousness, and out of the way of truth.

Whether the decree be considered to have gone forth against man as in his original and pure state, or as in his fallen and impure con-. dition, there are no warrantable means of qualifying the argument to subserve the purposes of unenlightened minds. In the state of innocence there were no qualifications possessed by one differing from the other; and in his lapsed state there is no difference in the degree of the guilt of each. Not only so; for if sin were the cause of the decree, all men would be reprobate alike, as all equally became thereby obnoxious to divine wrath. The whole race, as they merited the vengeance of God, would have eternally endured the same, but for the display of this sovereignty, which while in a state of unregeneracy all oppose. Sin is the cause of death, but in no sense whatever of the righteous decree: to suppose so we should add sin to sin, and must argue for creature acts antecedent to the works of God, thus charging him foolishly.

Thus we hold the decree of reprobation to be wholly the result of God's free will, and that, like his own perfections, it stands firm and immutable, neither to be disannulled by the opposition of earth, nor the machinations of hell. Jehovah hath said, and who shall subvert his infinite designs? "My counsel SHALL stand, and I WILL do all my pleasure."

"Is there," then, according to the rebellious suggestions and declarations of the opposers of the doctrine, "unrighteousness with God?" Observe once more. Had God chosen some men for their good works, and rejected others on account of their bad works; who, of the whole host in opposition, would charge God with unrighteousness? Nor had the choice and rejection proceeded on the ground of foreseen good and evil works, would they have been liable to such an objection. But that, they being not yet born, and having done neither good nor evil, God should make this difference-the one chosen and the other left; here appears, to the natural man, some shew or semblance of unrighteousness; nor is it surprising that the carnal mind should raise the objection: but what says the apostle in reply