the saints to be the grand object | to please God; that all impeniof the divine purpose. See 1Thess. tent sinners must perish; that v. 9; For God hath not appoint- except a man be born again he ed us to wrath, but to obtain sal- cannot see the kingdom of God; vation by our Lord Jesus Christ. and that without holiness no man Also 2 Thess. ii. 13; We are shall see the Lord. But we mainbound to give thanks always to tain, that the purpose of God God for you, brethren beloved of does not rest on the foresight of the Lord; because God hath these qualities; and that they arise from the beginning chosen you from the decree as their original to salvation, &c. This being the spring and cause. This will apobject of the divine decree, we pear evident from the following must either acknowledge that testimonies. Eph. i. 4; Accordelection is personal, or that the ing as he hath chosen us in him purpose of God may be defeated before the foundation of the and fail of its accomplishment.world, that we should be holy I therefore conclude that elec-and without blame before him in tion is the choice of a certain love. In which words we are number to salvation. But there have been some who have acknowledged this, yet have asserted, that the decree is founded on the foresight of faith, repentance, and good works. In opposition to this I add, 4. That the decree of election is absolute and unconditional, not founded on the foresight of any worthiness in the objects of it, but arising from the sovereign good pleasure of God. evidently taught, that God chose his people, not because he foresaw they would be holy, but with a design to make them holy. They are also predestinated by him to be conformed to the image of his Son; which intimates that his design concerning them is, to render them like Christ in holiness in this life, that they may be like him in glory hereafter. And the execution of the decree is represented in This will stand on the decided this manner by Peter, 1 Epistle testimony of one passage, if there i. 2; Elect according to the forewere no other. There is a rem- knowledge of God the Father, nant according to the election of through sanctification of the Spigrace; and if by grace, then is it rit unto obedience, and sprinkling no more of works; otherwise of the blood of Jesus Christ. grace is no more grace. But if Which is equal to saying the divine it be if works, then is it no more purpose is carried into effect, by grace; otherwise work is no more the sanctifying operations of the work, Rom. xi. 5, 6. But when Holy Spirit. Consequently the we assert that the decree of elec-proposition is confirmed by every tion is absolute and unconditional, passage of scripture which let not our meaning be misrepre- ascribes the beginning and prosented or misunderstood. It is gress of religion to the grace of far from my intention, as I am God. For to assert that by a persuaded it is from yours, to gracious influence the saints are maintain, that election super-prepared for glory, is in effect the sedes the necessity of faith, re- same as to say that they were pentance, a new heart, and holi- eternally ordained to it. But it ness of life. We firmly believe, may be objected, that in the pasthat without faith it is impossible sage last quoted, as well as in I beg your patience while I state, in a very brief manner, a general argument, which at once concludes for the whole of the doctrine for which I have been pleading. 1. It is the plain doctrine of scripture, that the whole human race are involved in such depths of sin and misery, as to have no ability in any degree to restore and save themselves. 2. When any are recovered from this deplorable situation, and brought to a state of salvation, the happy change is ascribed to God as its author, and is produced by the operation of his Spirit. 3. God will not abandon his own works of grace; but where he has begun the good work, he will perform it unto the day of Christ. another place, election is connected with the foreknowledge of God. To this I would answer, Since not the pious qualities, but rather the persons of the elect are said to be foreknown, it must be very unreasonable to oppose this to the clear evidence produced on the other side; and in the very places where the word occurs, every religious endowment is ascribed to a divine agency. From what has been now advanced, it is most evident that holiness is as much the end of election as eternal happiness and therefore there is no room to plead, that the doctrine is unfavourable to the interests of real piety. 5. The decree of election is immutable, certain, and infallible. That is, it renders the salvation of its objects not merely possible or probable, but certain and infallible. This necessarily follows from the nature of a divine purpose. For if the blessed God has once resolved to advance any of our race to glory, what can cause him to alter his resolution? He perfectly foreknew every thing in their character and circumstances, so that nothing unforeseen could intervene to pre-final happiness should depend on vent the accomplishment of his purpose. Nay, such a change is totally inconsistent with the very nature of God. The eternity or duration of God does not admit of a succession; and therefore there can be no succession in his purposes. What he once resolves to do, he never departs from. Therefore, if election intends the appointment of some to obtain life and glory, it must remain immutable, and will certainly be carried into effect. This I would confirm with our Lord's words, John x. 28, 29; I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, &c. 4. This therefore must have been his purpose and design from eternity; since it would be a denial of his perfection to suppose, that any new designs can enter into his mind, which were not adopted by him from eternity. On the whole, the question is, Is man his own saviour, so that his his own resolutions and exertions; or receives he the blessing entirely as the gift of God through Christ, and as the effect of the operation of his grace? The former is not free from impiety; but if we admit the latter, then we must receive the doctrine for which I have pleaded. There are several important questions connected with this doctrine, the clear statement and solution of which would throw much light on it, as well as vindicate it from objections; but having exercised your patience sufficiently already, I can take no notice of them. I must therefore proceed to a brief Improvement | enabled to show, that the docof the subject: and I conceive trines of grace are according to that there are two very important godliness, and productive of purposes, which the real belief of holiness. this truth is suited to answer. 1. To mortify the pride of man, and lay the sinner prostrate in the dust before the Lord. Letter written by the Rev. Ro- HONOURED BRETHREN, We cheerfully embrace this op Dost thou believe that thou art a child of God, and dost thou entertain a hope of eternal blessedness? Then I would ask, Who hath made thee to differ? and what hast thou that thou hast not received? What will it avail us to hold in theory the soundest doc-portunity of publicly addressing trine, if our hearts are under the reign of pride? I am bold to declare, that the humble and contrite heart, which mourns before God, and adores the sovereignty of his grace, is of greater value than all the orthodoxy we can boast. Here I might easily show, that no doctrine can so strongly enforce a compassionate and forbearing, a meek and candid spirit, as that which we have been considering. We owe all to so | vereign goodness; let us therefore cultivate benevolence and kind-this Association, that the churches ness. 2. To support and encourage | the people of God under all their burdens and discouragements. If this doctrine be true, then the eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. Who shall separate from the love of Christ? Trust therefore in the Lord for ever. 3. Let us hold and profess this grand truth soberly, consist. ently, scripturally. This we shall do, if we hold the connexion of the means with the end. And this will excite us to pursue holiness as the way to glory. Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord. The honour of the truth depends much on our spirit and our conduct. May we be you, and of expressing in this manner our approbation of the grand principle of all trust in your societies, the responsibility of officers to those who appoint them. In obedience to your own free nomination we have attended this Association, and agreeably to your direction we send you this account of it. It appears by the several letters sent from the churches in this connexion, and by the accounts given by the ministers and messengers present at on the whole are in a prosperous state. All the congregations are supplied with ministers; the ministers are zealously employed in the duties of their office; the people respect and attend the public ordinances; and although there are some just causes of humiliation and complaint, yet | there are far more causes of gratitude and praise. In order to preserve your present prosperity, and to promote your future edification, permit me to remind you of the importance of the principles, the practices, and even the peculiarities of your churches, and to recommend each to your particular attention. Religious PRINCIPLE is of the utmost importance to our churches: the very being of them depends on it. For, as they are not supported by the state for any temporal purposes, they cannot long subsist without it; or, if they do subsist awhile, they are unanimated carcasses; they have a name that they live and are dead. nipotence; and in pardoning the principals, he displays a love beyond the softest compassion of the tenderest heart. The knowledge and belief of these articles produce in the heart a disposition to universal holiness, which expresses itself in a pious conformity to natural obligations, and to the positive institutes of religion; in a benevolent discharge of every social duty to our fellow-creatures; and in a regular veneration for ourselves. The good man God is an infinite Spirit, an object of contemplation, but not of vision. His excellence visible in all the works of nature, and in all the ways of Providence,-and just and proper notions of his per-views his high and holy calling, fections including the virtues that and rises superior to the slavery are necessarily connected with the of sin. Every idea that operates revelation of those perfections to in this matter is a religious prinus, from that system of natural ciple, and miserable is the state of religion, which St. Paul calls the those who are destitute of it. An truth of God, and which, for its unprincipled mind is an easy utility as far as it goes, should be prey to every vice. Some indiviinculcated among christians.duals, void of the knowledge of Christianity elucidates and con- the miserable moral state of man, firms the truth of natural religion, are full of pride and presumption; and it also reveals other facts, others, destitute of faith in the which the highest human pene- atonement, are involved in distress tration could never have disco- and despair; while others are vered. Of this kind are the in- rioting in the excesses of this life, troduction, the extent, and the and violating every divine compenalty of moral evil; the plan mand, to gratify their senses and of redemption; the person of the their passions, through their fatal Redeemer; and the present and ignorance of a blessed immortalifuture state and felicity of the ty. If whole societies retain the redeemed. Christianity collects ceremonies of religion, after they the divine glories into a point in have lost their faith and knowthe person and offices of Christ, ledge, they resemble a dead cardisplaying a brightness so strik- case placed in a living attitude, ing as to fix and affect every be- and wrapped in a gaudy shroud. holder, and at the same time If, therefore, brethren, you value cooling and softening the object, your own happiness, or that of so as to render it at once the most your children, and families, and magnificent and the most con- friends, and above all, that of descending, the most formidable the church to which you belong, and the most amiable object in you must inculcate religious all the compass of contemplative principle; you must point to the thought. Here God appears su-Teacher sent from God, and say premely terrible to sin, and suto those around you, "This is premely good to the sinner. In God's beloved Son, hear him." punishing our substitate, he sits the inflexible Judge, surrounded with all the terrible pomp of om This leads us to the second article, the importance of the PRACTICES of your churches. Beside quiring them to repeat by heart four or five questions and answers in a printed catechism to you once a week, and by familiarly explaining them to them; or by requiring them to repeat to you by heart one verse of scripture every day, from which you may derive familiar questions, and lead them by this means into a habit of thinking, reflecting, and reasoning, on the great truths of religion. How happy will you be to see the good seed bring forth in one child thirty, in another sixty, in another a hundred fold! How happy, in your dying moments, to be able to say to a pious son, I go the way of all the earth; but thou art a wise man, and knowest what thou oughtest to do! You should pay the greatest attention to this branch of family religion, in order to wipe off that foul scandal which some zealots have cast on us for not sprinkling our infants, as if we were careless about their salvation, because we omit a superstitious custom. Maintain the general practice of every moral virtue, and of every christian grace, you will, we dare say, pay a particular attention to those practices which have a tendency to instil the principles of religion.-Make conscience of a regular attendance on public worship, as often as the church meets for this purpose.-Attend diligently, with your families, to the word preached by your pastors: it is the power of God to salvation. Be present in your places before the worship begins; avoid dissipation and indolence while it continues; stay till the service is over; then meditate on it in retirement; turn it into prayer, or converse with one another on what you have heard. The last part of divine service is a fine expressive significant part of it. The minister, who is the ambassador of Christ, spreads holy hands over you, and prays on your part that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, may be, and declares on God's part that parental re-private social meetings, for singgard is with you all, to which ing, prayer, and christian conyou cannot but say Amen.-Pub- ference; habituate yourselves to lic worship among you receives weep with them that weep, to reno solemnity from architecture, joice with them that rejoice, to instrumental music, history, or bear one another's burdens, and painting; yet it has a peculiar so- to promote one another's temporal lemnity when it is performed interest. Deal with one another; with reverence and godly fear. employ one another; intermarry John the Baptist was a plain together; give one another adhomely man; but Herod feared vice and assistance; consider him, knowing that he was a just your whole species as your bre man and a holy.-Keep up family thren; but regard your own religion, the reading of the community as your family. holy scriptures, singing, and Finally. Be patient, prudent, prayer, or the last at least. A and tender to one another's infir little forecast will gain you time mities. Conceal them from the for this twice a day, and study to world; let the too common pracmake it short and agreeable, that tice of whispering them among it may not disgust, but edify your yourselves sink into disuse; pity families. Catechize your chil- and pray for the weak; exhort dren and servants; either by re- them by the mildness and gentle - |