worlds, the ever expanding oceans of moral beauty and blessedness that roll through the ages of eternity, would cease to be.

The system of moral government, therefore, yields infinite glory to God and blessedness to his universe. But sin has invaded it, and introduced an immense evil. This has come of the malvolition of a portion of the free minds of the moral system, not of any fault in the divine government. We are to regard sin not as that which God prefers to holiness in its place, but as that which he prefers to the non-existence of the moral system. So that while the decrees of God extend to all events, he does not decree sin in the same sense in which he does holiness; for while the former is from eternity an object of his aversion, the latter is an object of his delight.

The divine decrees compel none to sin, exclude no sinner on probation from salvation, and militate not against the sincerity of God's invitations and commands to all men. Hence the existence of sin is no evidence against the goodness of God, while at the same time it is not an evil that has started up and taken him by surprise, seeing he has from eternity anticipated it and laid the plan of his government accordingly. There is no fortuity with him; for his kingdom is from eternity to eternity, all lying within the grasp of his infinite mind.

God administers not only a moral but a providential government-his providential, sustaining to his moral government the relation of means to an end. Hence God's providential government is to be regarded as a

system of measures or doings on his part to secure the ends of his moral government. Creating and controling the material elements; causing the events of life, health, prosperity, affliction, sickness, death; providing atonement for sin, sabbaths, Bibles, a preached gospel ; granting the gifts of the Spirit, in the inspiration of the Scriptures and the renovation of men-all these belong to providential government, of which Jesus Christ has the control. "By him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things were created by him and for him, and he is before all things, and by him all things consist." “All power,” said Christ, "is given unto me in heaven and on the earth." As the providential government is thus laid "upon his shoulders," by him the world is managed, by him this race of sinners is placed under an economy of grace, by him an atonement has been made, by him the gift of the Spirit procured, by him all grace and blessings come to men ; and consequently all availing prayer must be offered in his name and for his sake.

A portion of God's moral subjects, including some angels and the entire human race, have become involved in sin. Instigated by a fallen spirit, our progenitors fell, and by some unrevealed mode of consequence, all their posterity are a race of sinners. Not that they are guilty for the sins of Adam and Eve; not that they are born into the world actual transgressors before they act; not that they do not retain entire powers of moral agency; not that all become equally

sinful, or any in this life as sinful as they can be; not that they are destitute of noble constitutional qualities; but that their first and continued moral disposition is not the love to God which the law demands, but the reverse; that they are thus destitute of holiness, at variance with the divine government, so that there is none righteous, no, not one. They have all gone out of the way-the world lieth in sin.

Instead, however, of descending upon men with the fires of deserved wrath, God has come in the subduing compassion of the cross of Christ, at once opening a way for the penitent to return and inviting the repentance of all; sustaining unimpaired the authority of the legal administration, while yet placing mankind under a dispensation of grace. The Christian atonement is thus the brightest conceivable display of the divine glory. It is God calling on men, on angels, to behold how inflexible is his justice, yet how great his compassion; how determined he is to sustain his law, yet how unwilling that men should perish. Here mercy and truth meet together, righteousness and peace embrace each other, and the glory of the divine character shines as the sun when he walketh in brightness. Here it is we pause and exclaim, Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us! Take from the gospel the atonement, and it is no longer the gospel.

A portion of mankind are brought to repentance and induced to accept of this atonement. This is the fruit of God's eternal, electing grace. While God does for all, in the way of reclaiming grace, what he sees to be

wise; he does no more for any. So that while his election is according to the good pleasure of his will, his will is yet under the direction of infinite wisdom and benevolence. Every good being must surely respond to this, Even so, Father, for so it seemeth good in thy sight.

The revolution of character by which men become new creatures in Christ Jesus, is called regeneration, or being born again. This is a change in moral disposition, from the love of sin to the love of holiness, from unbelief to faith, from the dominion of Satan to the service of God. Before this change, its subject resisted the divine government, now he submits to it; before, he was impenitent, now, he is penitent; before, he was self-righteous, now, he depends alone on grace; before, Christ was by him lightly esteemed, now, he is to him the chief among ten thousands; before, his face was set towards perdition, now, it is set towards heaven. He is a new creature ;-old things have passed away, all things have become new. He realizes a new and exalted happiness-the happiness of sins forgiven, peaceful conscience, communion with heaven, and hopes full of immortality. His eye kindles with new lustre, his heart thrills with new animation. The eternal God is now his refuge, and underneath him are the everlasting arms. He is spiritually a child of God and an heir of glory.

All who are thus renewed, or effectually called, are also justified. This is a justification of grace. It does not denote personal righteousness, but that the relation of the subject to the law is now such that he is no

longer exposed to its penalty. No man is justified on the ground of obedience to the law, for by the deeds of the law shall no flesh living be justified," nor yet on the ground of repentance, for repentance can neither remove past transgression nor make adequate expression of its evil. Evangelical justification proceeds only upon the ground of the redemption wrought out for us by Christ. "We are justified freely by grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." It is passed upon men when they are renewed or effectually called. "Whom he called, them he also justified." It is conditioned on faith. "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

All who are thus renewed and justified, are also adopted. Adoption goes farther than justification;the one being a governmental, the other a paternal act. Justification restores the transgressor to the law, adoption restores him to the heart and arms of his heavenly Father. Adoption confers all the exalted privileges of a child of God, making its subject an heir of God and a joint heir through Christ to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading.

All the renewed, justified, and adopted, will persevere unto eternal life. Not that holiness is in itself invincible, for it has been overcome in the case of Adam and some angels, not that there is any perseverance independently of divine grace, nor yet that Christians do not often falter in duty and walk in darkness, but that they never utterly fall from the gracious state. It is contradictory to the analogy of nature, that God should commence such a work and leave it