However willing we might be, upon some explanation, to subscribe to the first part of the principle, that there is in created natures a tendency to nihility, yet to the second we totally demur. But even the first is not indisputable. In created natures, the Doctor says, there is a tendency to nihility: does he mean, the Creator gives them such a tendency? or, that he cannot give them any opposite tendency? or, that substance hath any tendency to be or not to be, apart from the power and will of the Creator? If God wills a creature into existence, it must remain in existence eternally; unless the first will involved a specific limitation, or be followed by a second, willing the nihility of that creature. We can see no incongruity in believing that God at first willed souls, spirits, bodies to be eternal; and that this will gave them a tendency the opposite of nihility; and that tendency, (though we object to the term,) is essential to them, though not independently of God; for, independently of his will, there could neither be existence, nature nor tendency; and he could not deal with those which have a tendency to nihility as if they had none. But as to the second branch of the great principle of this theory-that creatures, morally considered, have, simply as creatures, an inevitable necessary tendency to defection we deny it utterly; and, so far from its being true, we apprehend, divine displeasure could exist against rational intelligences only on the supposition of the reverse, that is, of a palpable and direct violation of all their moral tendencies and hence, that moral evil, so far from being a mere yielding to the necessary tendency of their original nature, is a disruption of those tendencies, and a violence offered to every moral principle, be it active, or be it passive

power, or passive power-bestowed as the essential condition of accountableness.

The hypothesis itself we have long deemed a reliefless shift; and we know that we are supported in this opinion by the matured and deliberate judgment of the ablest divines both of England and Scotland. We would not, however, leave these strictures without stating that there is a broad line of distinction to be observed between the hypothesis and the Essay on Equity and Sovereignty in which it is developed. We deem it incumbent, therefore, to state, that we place the value of the essay on other ground; and that it appears to us to derive its chief claim to public esteem from the important and useful limitation of sovereignty, to the right of giving or withholding gracious benefits, as opposed to what has been too generally apprehended as involved in the idea of sovereignty-viz. a right to do all and every thing within the compass of absolute divine will and power. Sovereignty, as Dr. W. shows, does not extend indefinitely on both sides of the boundary line called equity, but merely refers to the right of imparting or withholding such benefits as are purely gratuitous. In support of this view, Dr. W. has done much, and particularly in the second edition of his essay, which, as Mr. G. states, is greatly improved; but on the hypothesis itself, wherever we meet with it, and that is not unfrequently in the Doctor's later productions, we feel disposed always to write TEKEL. We should not have offered these passing strictures upon what has long been considered a defunct theory, had not the author of the present volume made a laboured effort at its reanimation.

That Dr. W. and his biographer should speak with confidence of the progress of the views

ject of surprise, because we are quite confident they are as much mistaken as to the matter of fact, as they are in the theory to which it relates. But we were still more grieved to find some degree of asperity employed in censuring those who have not fallen into the Doctor's views, as though they had neither ability to understand it, nor patience to study it, nor candour enough to do its author justice. With Mr. G.'s attachment to the memory, and admiration of the abilities of his late friend, we can have no quarrel; but with the manner in which he has expressed himself of men who opposed Dr. W.'s theory men certainly of equal respectability, learning, and talent-we confess ourselves dissatisfied. In short, we could have wished that the author of this admirable volume had suffered the controversy upon passive power to sleep, as it inevitably must, in defiance of all attempts at resuscitation. The author might have contented himself with a mere narrative of the facts connected with it, and a brief analysis of the different tracts which appeared at the time, without mingling further in the strife, or reviving it; and this, we think, should have been his course, especially as the office of umpire cannot be honourably sustained by one who has previously committed himself as a strenuous partizan.

We make these remarks with the utmost respect and esteem for Mr. G., and with regret that, in a work so full of interest, so well written, so complete, and so much, in other respects, what a biography of a scholar, and a theologian should be, there should exist even these inconsiderable grounds of objection. After all, we fear we may have given offence by our honesty, and may have failed to convey to our readers the high sense we en

It is the result of great labour, of very patient and close attention to the numerous publications of Dr. W., and is altogether ably and elegantly written, well digested, and well arranged. The Appendix contains several long and elaborate notes on Metaphysics-the Notion of the Deity-Liberty and Necessity, and Moral Science; in all of which the learned biographer displays considerable acuteness and extent of research. Had we space, or were the subject generally interesting, we should certainly contest, in friendly opposition, several of the author's fundamental principles; but we have no inclination. Metaphysics is a thin and shapeless element-a soil that promises much and yields little. -a shifting sand—a feast spread with large and splendid covers, but empty dishes and innutritious viands.

Auro non dapibus oneratur mensa: Ministri Apponunt oculis plurima, pauca gulæ.

We take our leave of Mr. G. with many thanks for the interesting volume he has composed, and with our cordial recommendation of his labours to the attention of our readers. We may mention, that the volume contains an excellent likeness of Dr. W., but that we observed no account of his age at the time of his death.

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On Personal Election and Divine Sovereignty; a Discourse, with an Appendix containing Notes and Observations on Collateral Subjects. By Joseph Fletcher, A. M. Third Edition. London: Westley.

(Concluded from page 256.) WE have long been satisfied, that the question regarding personal election hinges upon one point, namely, whether the conversion of a sinner, whether the first spiritual movements of the unrenewed heart to God, be, or be not the

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effect of divine influence. If they be, we cannot see how, with any thing like consistency, the doctrine of election can possibly be denied. Whatever God does, he must have intended to do. And if the intention existed the preceding moment, are we to suppose that it did not exist the moment before that? And, in a word, where, in tracing the intention back, can we consistently or rationally stop short of eternity? We should have no objection, then, to place the doctrine on this issue. The Scriptures represent the "carnal mind" as enmity against God." If it can be proved that enmity, without any extraneous influence, may, by voluntary choice, change itself to love, we are ready to give up the necessity of personal election. The Scriptures represent the change that takes place in the conversion of a sinner as a new birth, a resurrection, a creation :-if it can be successfully shown, that a change so designated can be of the sinner's own producing; nay, if it can be shown to be of the sinner's own commencing-for really if he be capable of beginning the work, he is capable of doing it all—if he can make the first movement of spiritual life and action, he may make the second and the third; if he can find in himself the vivifying principle, we can have little difficulty as to the subsequent development of the functions of life~ if he can himself introduce the germ, we may leave to himself the foliage, the blossom, and the fruit. If the possibility, then, of selfchange can be established, we are ready to give up the doctrine of personal election. But if, on the contrary, it be God that begins the work of grace, then we must insist upon it, God must have previously intended to begin it; and this intention, or purpose, carried back, as we are constrained to do with all divine purposes and intentions, to eternity, is election. The idea of NEW SERIES, No. 6.

a portion of grace common to all, but improved by some to salvation, and not by others, makes no alteration here; inasmuch as this common grace is not the cause of the difference between one sinner and another; this arises from the improvement of it; and the question then resolves itself intoWhence the disposition so to improve it? Is it from the sinner himself, or is it from God?

The view which we have thus given of the question, is substantially and forcibly urged by Mr. Fletcher.

"Whatever distinctions may be conceived to exist," says he, "between prescience and fore-ordination, there can be no doubt as to the virtual identity of the terms when applied to all the instances of

positive and immediate energy. Now the exertion of power in the conversion of a sinner (if we believe the testimony of revelation) is as clearly the effect of that energy, as his creation. On this subject, the language of the apostle, in the epistle before us, is peculiarly worthy of our notice. He describes the power displayed in the conversion of the Ephesians, to be the exceeding greatness of his power, according to the working of that mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead." But if the conversion of a sinner require such an amazing energy to effect it, then every instance in the whole course of time from its first to its latest periods, in which such an energy is exerted, must not only be distinctly foreknown, but must be foreknown, in consequence of the fixed and immutable determinations of infinite sovereignty. If any of the human race be actually saved, and their salvation proceed upon the principles we have stated; if it be the effect of spiritual influence, and that spiritual influence result from divine sovereignty, then there must have been an intention to display that

sovereignty, to communicate that influence, to effect that salvation; and the intention must have been personal in its objects, eternal in its date, and determinate in all the means by which its designs of mercy are to be accomplished."-pp. 29, 30.

These three particulars are then illustrated and established, in a course of argumentation through which our limits will not permit us to follow the eloquent preacher. The following short paragraph is excellent, and places the proof of 2 S

election in a point of light that has always appeared to our minds equally simple and satisfactory.

"The operations of mind as well as the actions of matter, are understood by his wisdom, and controlled by his agency. To suppose the formation of a plan in his infinite counsels, on which the everlasting

salvation of millions of the human race

should depend, and the development of which should involve in it the whole scheme of Providence in all its vast and mysterious dispensations, and to imagine that any part of that plan should be indeterminate, abandoned to the accidents of time, or to the capricious uncertainties of the human will, is to conceive of monstrous and in

comprehensible contradictions. But why do I speak of accidents and uncertainties? There can be nothing contingent or uncertain in the views of the great Divinity. Fate, and chance, and blind necessity, should be for ever excluded from the conceptions we form of the Omniscient mind. He is HIS OWN REASON, and HIS OWN LAW; and ' OF HIM, AND THROUGH HIM, AND TO HIM ARE ALL THINGS!'' pp. 30, 31.

It does, indeed, appear to us "a monstrous and incomprehensible contradiction," utterly repugnant to all our conceptions of the wisdom of the Supreme, that the whole of the stupendous scheme, for the salvation of man, should have been devised and executed, and then left to a mere peradventure, whether it should have any result, whether a single soul should be saved in consequence of it. But we must go even further. For, in our apprehension, if human nature be in the state of spiritual alienation and death, in which the Bible affirms it to be,-it would not be a mere uncertainty whether any would be saved, whether any would avail themselves of its proposals, and become partakers of its benefits;-it would be a certainty that none would.

"If it still be suggested," says Mr. F., "that the ordination to eternal life, was the consequence of foreseen faith and holiness;-I ask, of what are faith and holiness the consequence ? What are their ultimate and immediate causes? Is not such an assumption directly subversive of the Apostle's language? he hath chosen ns,' not because he foresaw our holiness,

but THAT WE SHOULD BE HOLY?' Holiness is the consequence, and not the rea son; the intended effect, and not the exciting cause, of divine favour."

Nothing can be clearer than this. Indeed, we are astonished that any should ever have broached such a sentiment as that of election on the ground of foreseen holiness, who profess at all to adhere to the doctrine of salvation by grace. It is very manifest, that the reason of any divine purpose must be the same as the reason of the divine act, that is the fulfilment of the purpose. It will therefore follow, that election on the ground of holiness foreseen, is, in principle, the very same as salvation on the ground of holiness existing. Election, is salvation in and purpose: the Divine Being cannot purpose to save on one ground, and actually save on another.

"The difficulty is not in the purposes, but in the dispensation of grace; and if the sovereignty of Divine mercy in the salvation of some can be harmonized with the equity of Divine justice in the punishment of others, there can be no rational objection against the preceding determination."-p. 39.

We would gladly extract the whole of what remains on this head

of discourse, in which the preacher ably and eloquently replies to the questions-"How can we reconcile the existence of such an ante

cedent decree of salvation with the responsibility of man, or with the universality of moral and evangelical obligations? How can it be Gospel; and why is it proclaimed the duty of ALL to believe the to all, indefinitely, if the gracious intentions of God are under any limitation whatever?" But our limits have already been transgressed. We refer our readers to the discourse itself, and to note VI. of the appendix.

For the same reason, we must pass hastily over the remaining parts of the discourse. Under the third head, the MEDIUM of spiri

tual blessings, Mr. F. states it as "the pre-eminent glory of the Gospel, that it reveals the doctrine of mediation; that it exhibits a perfect accordance between the sovereignty of Divine mercy, and the immutable claims of Divine justice." He shows how "this accordance is secured by the constitutions of a mediatorial system;" -pointing out the nature of mediation in general, and briefly vindicating the particular kind of mediation which constitutes the grand specific peculiarity of the christian system,”—namely," ME

DIATION BY SACRIFICE."

"The moral necessity of a sacrificial mediation arises from the justice of God; and every scheme which rejects this scriptural doctrine, or by the artifice of general and ambiguous terms, explains away its meaning, is an implied reflection on the divine veracity, supposes an exorbitance in the prior demands of the law, deranges the order and harmony of the divine perfections, and nourishes the flattering, presumptuous hope of impunity. On the other hand, the admission of this doctrine gives consistency, harmony, and grandeur to the discoveries of revelation, accounts for the prevalence of sacrifices, explains the design of the Mosaic economy, and justifies the rapturous emotions, and ardent language of the primitive believers. On no other supposition than that of its truth, can we give any rational interpretation to the sentiments and feelings of the sacred writers. Deprived of this principle, the grand magnificence of revelation is ruined, and its glory departed for ever. It is the source of hope and consolation to the saints on earth, and the theme of enlightened and eternal contemplation in the heavenly world. Angels desire to look into the sufferings of Christ and the glory that follows; and in the Lamb that was slain, and who redeemed them unto God by his blood,' the spirits of the just made perfect, will for ever rejoice.”—p. 45.

We are not quite sure of the correctness of the terms in which the fourth head is announced"the DESIGN of SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS." The design specified is,

that we should be holy." But in the text, the holiness does not appear as the design of the bestowment of spiritual blessings, but as the design of election;-and

in this connexion, after all, it stands in the author's illustrations. There has perhaps been, in the announcement of this head, a slight sacrificing of accuracy to the neatness and compact uniformity of the method. Holiness is rather a part, and a leading part too, of the spiritual blessings themselves, than the design of their bestowment.

"The special design of God in the economy of grace, to secure the personal holiness of all who are interested in its blessings"-is a subject of paramount importance: and, long as the discourse is, we should not have complained of Mr. F. had he, in preparing this third edition, entered into it a little more at large. A few pages setting forth the unscriptural absurdity of the antinomian heresy, would have been acceptable from such a pen, especially in a discourse, of which the main design is to establish, on scriptural grounds, some of those very doctrines, the perversion and abuse of which constitute the basis of the pernicious system. What is said, however, was perhaps enough at the time when the discourse was preached; and, in point of excellence, it is in harmony with its general character :

"Without holiness no man shall sce the Lord.' Heaven is the scene of perfect purity. There nothing shall enter that defileth; and a moral capacity for the enjoyments and services of that exalted state must be possessed in time, or the incapacity will remain for ever! Here the character must be formed, which is to fix our future destiny.

"The language of the text leads us to anticipate the glory of that period, when all who have been chosen in Christ'

shall he holy and without blame before

him.' This will be the state of ultimate and perfect bliss. What, Christians, is the source of your most poignant sorrow? What renders the life of repentance as necessary as the life of faith? What so often fills you with anxious solicitude and deep contrition? The sin that cleaves to you that mingles with your holiest duties, that constantly impedes your progress and that intrudes on your most sacred joys, embitters your happiest hours. Why do