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as due, purely and wholly, to the bounty and benevolence of GOD through Christ; and not as a reward due to man's services, or as, in any way or degree, earned by his own. efforts. Suppose a man to have all this, fully and clearly, represented to him; and that he is asked, whether he be willing to accept this justification and salvation, as a free gift on the part of his GoD and Saviour. We suppose man to be free to accept, or to refuse, this gift, so proffered. Suppose, then, that a man, having the full "knowledge of good and evil," should, through blindness, and pride, and self-sufficiency, say, that he felt able, by his own powers, to act up to the law of righteousness, to eschew evil and to do good, so as to be able to establish a claim to reward on the score of his own merits; that he should refuse to acknowledge, that all that he had done in obedience to that law, was worthless and unprofitable; should refuse, to attribute his entire justification, solely, to the righteousness of Christ; to accept salvation, purely, as a free gift; should claim to be, in part at least his own Saviour; would not such a man exclude himself, altogether, from the benefits of Christ's sacrifice; or would the gifts of

eternal life be forced, as it were, upon him?

The only answer which man can offer to such a question is this: The author of eternal life must be free to give it, to whom He will, and when, and as, He wills. It is His gift. Man has nothing to do with His disposal of it. Certainly, nothing short of the grossest spiritual blindness could lead man, thus, to reject what is so freely offered, "without money and without price;" and to suppose, that he has power to establish, by his own acts, a claim to eternal life. Yet, as no kind, or degree, or amount, of unrighteousness can remain unsatisfied, unexpiated, unjustified, by the sacrifice of Christ; so the Deity might, without any impeachment of His holiness, grant to the rejector of his offer, when, at last, convinced of his fatal error, that gift which he had, at first, refused to receive on the terms upon which it was proffered. And the blindness, which could so infatuate a man as to lead him to reject the free gift of eternal life in heaven, might, yet, be imputable to that "body of sin," for all whose sinfulness the sacrifice of Christ was appointed and offered; so that, the very rejection of Christ's offer, would be, already,

7, 8.

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expiated by that sacrifice. That very blindness on the part of man, might, indeed, be a part of God's eternal scheme. Thus it is with Israel, the ancient people of GOD. The vast majority of that people, originally God's chosen people, "were blinded, according as it is written, God hath given the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears Rom. xi. that they should not hear, unto this day." "I say then," argues St. Paul, "have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid : But through their fall salvation (is come) unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy; now, if the fall of them (be) the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fulness? "d" For, if the casting away of them (be) the reconciling of the world, what (shall) the receiving (of them -15. be) but life from the dead? "For," thus the apostle winds up his argument, "I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness, in part, is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, and so all Israel shall be saved. As concerning the gospel (they) are enemies for your sakes.-For the gifts and

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calling of GoD are without repentance (¿μe-
Táμeλnta). For as ye, in times past, have not
τάμελητα).
believed GOD, yet have now obtained mercy
through their unbelief; even so have these
also, now, not believed; that, through your
mercy, they may also obtain mercy. For
GOD hath concluded them all in unbelief,
that He might have mercy upon all." What
words can, more strongly, express, that the
blindness of Israel was part of God's scheme
-that the continuation of this "blindness,"

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until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in," is, also, a part of His eternal purpose? What words can, more clearly and concisely, express the sinfulness of all men, whether Jews or Gentiles, before God, and the boundless mercy, and the universal salvation, secured by the scheme of Christianity? And who, after reading this exposition of that glorious scheme of universal mercy, will not take up the Apostle's concluding words, and exclaim, "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of GOD! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!

mind of the Lord?

For who hath known the

Or, who hath been His counsellor? Or, who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto Him again?

f Rom. xi.

25, 26, 28

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33-36.

For, of Him, and through Him, and to Him, (are) all things, to whom be glory for ever,

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Rom. xi. Amen." The Jews rejected Christ, they mocked, they crucified Him. But, it was part of God's eternal scheme that Christ should, thus, be rejected, and mocked, and crucified. If the Lord of life and glory had not been, thus, rejected and crucified; all mankind would, yet, and for ever, be in sin and without justification, and God's eternal scheme would have been frustrated.

It is not for man, then, to usurp the throne and tribunal of the Deity, and to judge his fellow man. Let him look to himself; and let him leave the administration of that mysterious scheme, which he cannot comprehend, to that eternal Being, who conceived and instituted it; who, alone, knows, what man is; what the amount of his free-will, and freeagency; what the necessary consequence of his incarnate condition; and who has founded that eternal scheme, with reference to man's necessities, and blindness, and impotency; and has founded it, purely, and entirely, in benevolence and love.

Eternal life is the gift of God, not of Eph. ii. 9. works lest any man should boast. And what "works" could man perform which should

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