sion and punishment from God's gracious presence. And can any good reason be given why he who had a right, in virtue of his sovereignty, thus to revoke one covenant, and to institute another, and so to alter the procedure of his government toward mankind, as to place them under an economy of hope and of mercy, placing within their reach his own appointed means of salvation;-can any reason be given, why in virtue of this same right he may not have selected the very number and persons to be saved, concerning whom he hath purposed that they shall never perish, but obtain everlasting life? Who can say that such an exercise of sovereignty would be unjust to those that are left without saving grace, when, if sovereignty had not been at all exercised, all must have inevitably perished? The right, in virtue of which God might have provided salvation for all, for fallen angels as well as for fallen men, may have been exercised, without any impeachment of the divine perfections, in procuring salvation only for a certain number.

But we shall be better prepared to acquiesce in this conclusion, when we have considered the ways in which God shews his sovereignty in our own individual history, and in his providential government of the world. How much of divine sovereignty is seen in the variety of circumstances in which all men are introduced into life, and in placing those circumstances altogether beyond their own control! The circumstances in which a child is born, determine, in a great measure, his future course and character; whether he is to be a prince or a peasant, rich or poor, learned or il 'literate; whether he shall be civilized or savage, a

free man or a slave, a christian or a heathen. How different is the lot, and the probable destination, of the child born of christian parents in Britain, and that of the child born of heathen parents in Africa, or in the wilderness of America! In the one case he is surrounded from his infancy with the character, the objects, the usages of savage life, and the moral certainty is, that his own character will be formed in accordance with the same mode of living: in the other case he possesses as his birthright, the advantages and privileges of a native of the British Isles, is early made acquainted with some of the elementary principles of true religion, and is trained up in the midst of a free and civilized people. Without contrasting cases so remote from each other, we cannot but notice the diversity of allotment of children born under the same government, and ushered into life in the immediate neighbourhood of each other. One is born in a family of rank and of wealth, to inherit the rank and the wealth conveyed to him by his ancestors. From the hour of his birth is he surrounded with attendants to anticipate his necessities, and to furnish him with enjoyments. To the forming of his person, the opening, the instructing, and the strengthening of his mind, constant attention is shewn, and no expenses spared. From his youth up, his hereditary advantages secure for him the marked respect, and the ready obedience of many of his fellow-creatures. To these superior privileges of a temporal nature, are added others still more valuable, because they are religious and spiritual. By every persuasive motive is the great duty inculcated of remembering the Creator in the days of youth: of realizing his presence everywhere and at all times;

to regard the working of his hand in every event and circumstance of his lot; of feeling while he renders to God his best obedience, his sinfulness and unworthiness, so as to look for acceptance altogether to the atonement and merit of the Redeemer; of watching against the beguiling influence of sin, and of praying for deliverance from temptation; of using with dependence on divine teaching, all the appointed means for growing in grace and in spiritual knowledge; and throughout the whole of life of remembering that an account must be given at the judgment-seat of Christ, of all the deeds done in the body. From the earliest dawn of reason is he taught thus to believe, and feel, and practice.

Another child is born in a neighbouring cottage, of parents in poverty, in ignorance, and in vice. From the hour in which he is capable of feeling any want, is he accustomed to penury, and cold, and nakedness. He has been introduced into being, but he is left in a great measure unacquainted with its Author, its uses, and its end. In place of being qualified by a virtuous education to raise himself above indigence, he is taught to beg, and to steal, and to pass his life in vice and in idleness. Of his own character as a sinful and immortal being he knows little; of the way of salvation through the Lord Jesus he is totally ignorant; and of the awful realities that follow death he has scarcely heard, and never thinks. How different is his allotment, as well as his character, from the person born to temporal prosperity, and to spiritual privilege and enjoyment! No one can doubt the exercise of divine sovereignty in determining that human beings should enter into life in circumstances so greatly diversified→→

circumstances over which they have no controul, and which so generally, without the operation of any physical necessity, fix the future character and destiny.

The same divine sovereignty is farther shewn in the providence of God so frequently appointing to men a course of life very different from that which they intended to follow. How different often are the places of our residence, the duties assigned us to perform, and the friends by whom we are surrounded, from those which we originally contemplated! The great majority begin life in the pursuit of the same objects, wealth, honour, and enjoyment; but very few of the competitors ever reach the goal, or gain the prize to which they aspire. The merchant, after being almost within reach of the competency which he wished, sees, by circumstances over which he has no control, by the violence of the elements, or by an extraordinary depreciation of property, his wealth disappear, and himself, and his family, and his hopes, ruined. The husbandman, after having arrived at a comfortable independence, finds himself gradually involved in serious difficulty, and in irretrievable loss, by the great and unexpected fall in the price of his farm produce. The family of rank and fortune, proud of its hereditary distinctions, and guarded from dissolution by all the protection which legislative enactments can render, might seem certain of being conveyed with its honour and wealth to remotest generations; but in spite of all that human laws can do to prevent its extinction, it gradually decays, and is at length lost in the family of mankind.

Of the children in the same family, or in the same

seminary, how different in the course of life are the pursuits, the honours, the destinations, from those which were designed for them by their parents, or which they had confidently looked for themselves! Some were ushered into the world in what were deemed the most favourable circumstances, well educated, well connected, and well furnished; but became self-confident, bold in speculation, ambitious of soon being rich, till at length their property was lost by imprudence, their character by licentiousness, and they sunk into a premature grave before they had lived half their days. Others, with fewer advantages, without influence or friends to recommend them, but with the possession of talents, of industry, and perseverance, advanced to their object with a steadier and more successful aim, and found the wealth and distinction attained to which they aspired. But while they have reached to these, they are as far as ever from the happiness which they had promised themselves: this happiness at every succeeding step has eluded their grasp, and now that they are on the very summit of worldly greatness, they feel themselves destitute of real good. Does not all this shew us that the way of man is not in himself; that it is not in man that walketh to direct his own steps? Does it not teach that God reigns as Sovereign among men, and that it is to his will we are to look for the knowledge of our duty, as the source of our happiness, and as that which is to fix the course we are to run, and also the bounds of our habitation?

The entire dependence of man upon God as the supreme Sovereign is farther seen in His holding the