8. As there is this correspondence between the truths of the Bible and religious experience, there is a like analogy between the providence of God and the dispensations of his grace. He is not more sovereign in the one than in the other. It is of him that we ■were born in a Christian land and not heathendom ; among Protestants instead of in Spain or Italy ; of Christian parents and in the bosom of the Church in- stead of In'ing the children of the irreligious and im- moral. It is the " Lord that maketh poor and maketh rich; he bringeth low and lifteth up" (1 Sam. ii, 7). " God putteth down one and setteth up another" (Psa. Ixxv, 7). " It is he giveth power to get wealth" (Deut. viii, 18). " He giveth wisdom to the wise, and knowl- edge to them who know understanding" (Dan. ii, 12). "The Most High ruletli in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he wills" (iv, 17). The Bible is full of this doctrine. God governs all his creatures and all tlieir actions. "lie wovketh all things after the counsel of his own will" (Eph. i, 11). This is a truth of even natural religion ; at least it is recognised l)y all Christians. They pra}^ for favorable seasons, for protection from disease and accident, and from the malice of their enemies. When the pestilence sweeps over the land, and one is taken and another left, we all say, "It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth right in his sight." All that Augustinians teach concern- ing election is, that God acts in the dispensation of grace as he does in his providential government of the ■world. If sovereignty be consistent with justice and goodness in the one case, it must be in the other.
The difficulty which is usually felt on this subject arises from looking at onl}' one aspect of the case. It is true that God gives health, wisdom, riches, power, the knowledge of the truth, saving grace, and life ev- erlasting, according to his good ])leasure. He exer- cises the prerogative of having mercy upon whom he ■will have mercJ^ It is true that what in fact occurs God intended to permit. Although he can, as all Cliristians admit, control the acts of free agents, he permitted the fall of man. He permits the ])resent amount of sin and misery in the world. If so be that multitudes perish in their sins, it is undeniable that (rod intended, for wise reasons, to permit them to per- ish. Wliilc all this is true, it is no less true that he never interferes with the free agency of his rational creatures. If a man of the world determines to make the acipiisition of wealth tlie end of his life, he is per- fectly free in forming tiiat determination.' If he de- termines by diligence and honesty to accomplish his
object, or if he chooses to resort to deceit and fraud, he is in both cases free and responsible. On the other hand, if a man determines to make the salvation of his soul and the service of Christ the great end of his be- ing, he also is perfectly free in the choice he makes. If God makes him willing, he does not act unwillinglj-. Paul was never more free in his life than ■when he made a complete surrender of himself to Christ, saj'- ing, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do.-*" No man, we may well believe, ever sought Christ with the diligence and constancy, under the guidance of the Gospel, which the men of the world exhiliitwho failed of being saved. All who ])erish under the knowledge of the truth i)erish because they deliberately prefer the world to God.
The importance of the doctrine in question arises from the fact that, in the present state of human na- ture, if God by his almighty power did not convert some from the error of their way, no man would be saved. If he left all to themselves, and to those in- fluences of the Spirit common to all who hear the Gos- pel, all ■would continue in their sins. Had not Christ b}' his omnipotence healed some lepers, none would have been healed ; had he not opened some sightless eyes, all the blind would have continued in darkness.
The practical effect of the doctrine that we are en- tirelj' helpless in our sin and guilt, lying at the mercj' of God, is to lead us to cast ourselves at his feet, say- ing, God be merciful to us sinners ! As the deaf, and blind, and leprous, under a sense of helplessness and misery', crowded to Christ for healing, so souls bur- dened with the leprosy of sin are constrained to look to him for help, and those who come to him he will in no wise cast out. (C. H.)
II. Ths Doctrine of Election from the Methodbt Point of View. — 1. John Wesley sums up his view of elec- tion as follows: "I believe it commonlv means one of these two things : (1.) A divine appointment of some particular men to do some particular work in the world. And this election I believe to be not onlj' per- sonal, but absolute and unconditional. Thus Cyrus was elected to rebuild the Temple, and St. Paul, with the twelve, to preach the Gospel. But I do not find this to have any necessary connection with eternal happiness. Nay, it is plain it has not ; for one who is elected in this sense may yet be lost etcrnalh% 'Have I not chosen (elected') you twelve,' saith our Lord, 'yet one of you hath a devil?' Judas, j'ou see, was elected as ^vell as the rest ; yet is his lot with the devil and his angels. (2.) I believe election means, secondly, a divine api)ointment of some men to eternal happiness. But I believe this election to be condi- tional, as well as the reprobation opposite thereto. I believe the eternal decree concerning both is express- ed in these words : ' He that believeth shall be saved ; he that believeth not shall be damned.' And this de- cree, without doubt, God will not change, and man cannot resist. According to this, all true believers are in Scripture termed ehct; as all who continue in unbe- lief Axe so long properly i-eprohates, that is, iinapproved of God, and without discernment touching the things of the Spirit. Now God, to whom all things are pres- ent at once, who sees all eternit}'' at one view, ' calleth the things that are not as though they were,' the things that are not as j'et as though they were now subsist- ing. Thus he calls Abraham ' the father of many na- tions' before even Isaac was born. And thus Christ is called ' the I>amb slain from the foundation of the world,' though he •was not slain, in fact, till some thousands of years after. In like manner God calleth true believers ' elect from the foundation of the world,' although they were not actually elect or believers till many ages after, in their several generations. Then only it was that they were actually elected when they were made 'the sons of God by fnitli.' Then were they in fact chosen and taken out of the world ; 'elect,' saith St. Paul, 'through belief of the truth;'