salonians, that himself, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, give thanks to God always for them all," knowing their election of God," i. 1, 4: and that "God hath not appointed them unto wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ," i. 5, 9. and still more fully in the second Epistle, "We are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our Gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Thus also St. Peter addresses his first Epistle" to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." I. i. 2. I. v. 13.

That this is the real intention of St. Paul, in styling the churches" the elect of God," may be farther collected from the use he makes of the fact in the way of argument. He introduces it as an incentive to a degree of holiness not less unknown to them before, than the God by whom they were chosen, and the faith to which they had been called: "We are not of the night, nor of darkness; therefore let us not sleep, as do others, but let us watch, and be sober." I Thess. v. 5, 6. "God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation; therefore stand fast." 2 Thess. ii. 13. "Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meek ness, long suffering."* Col. iii. 12. "The grace of God, that bringeth salvation, has appeared unto all men, teaching us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world, looking for that

* Virtues, it may be remarked, particularly the growth of the Gospel, and beyond any others unknown to the Gentiles.

blessed hope, and the glorious appearance of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." Titus ii. 11. "What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." 1 Cor. vi. 19.

*

It is evident from these passages that St. Paul draws an inference from the fact of election to the duty of holiness. But the regular consequence of Calvinistic election, is to hold it up as the cause and fountain from which all holiness springs; as the reason why the Christian is zealous of good works, not why he ought to be. If, then, St. Paul argues in the other way, and urges it to the converts as an inducement to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, that they have been chosen to hear the law and the means of salvation offered to them by a God whose servants must purify themselves even as he is pure; I think it follows, that St. Paul speaks of election to the grace of the Gospel, and not of such personal election as Calvinists teach: election which leads infallibly to holiness as a mean of the salvation which has been determined from the foundation of the world.

On these grounds I conclude, that the elect of St. Paul are those Gentile converts who had been unexpectedly called to the knowledge and favour of God, and to consequent faith and holiness. At the same time, it is no doubt true, that those first Christian churches were in fact called, and elect, and chosen in a very pecu

*" Proinde electio est fons omnis sa

lutaris boni; unde fides, sanctitas et reliqua dona salvifica, ipsa denique vita æterna, ut fructus et effectus ejus profluunt: secundum illud Apostoli, Elegit nos (non quía eramus, sed) ut essemus sancti et inculpati in conspectu ejus in charitate. Ephes. i. 4." Artic. Dord. Art. ix.

liar manner, wholly inapplicable to the case of individuals in other times. The Holy Spirit, as we are informed in the Scripture itself, immediately directed the steps of the Apostles to those cities where God in his wisdom foresaw that it would be best to plant the earliest churches. In this sense the people of Thessalonica and Philippi were truly called, to whom Paul and Silas were directed by special intimations of the Holy Spirit; and those of Pergamus and Bithynia rejected, which countries the Apostles would have evangelized in preference, if left to themselves.

The same remark may be justly extended to individuals. In every age God has chosen from mankind certain persons, as the instruments of his designs, and ministers of his revelations. To enumerate these, would be to give a summary of the Jewish history. To come nearer to the point: no one can deny that John the Baptist, that the twelve Apostles, and Paul, and Mark, and Luke, and Cornelius, with Titus and Timothy, and the majority of those to whose agency the promulgation of the Gospel was first committed, were selected from their countrymen in a manner no less peculiar than the object for which they were chosen. If there were any doubt of this, St. Paul must himself remove it, when he reminds Timothy that "God had saved them, and called them with an holy calling, not according to their works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given them by Christ Jesus before the world began," and says, in another place, that he was "chosen by the pleasure of God, who separated him from his mother's womb, and called him by his grace to reveal his Son, and preach him among the Heathen." Whether this choice were altogether independent of the suitableness of their character to the divine purposes, I am not bound to consider. St. Paul, indeed; seems to insinuate the contrary, by saying, "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, who was before a blasphemer, and a persecu

tor, and injurious; but I obtained. mercy, because I did it ignorantly, in unbelief." 1 Tim. i. 13. But however this be determined, no one can argue that these are cases by which we can judge of the mode of God's dealing with the great body of mankind. These are as evidently exceptions to the general dispensation of things regarding individuals, as the case of the Jews stands peculiar among nations. God required but one people to preserve his oracles, and saw fit to select the Israelites. So he required but one Prophet in an age to declare his will, and he chose Moses, or Samuel, or Elijah, or Daniel, or John the Baptist, or St. Paul; but are the rest of the Jews to be considered reprobate, non-elect,* and left to the just punishment of their sin and unbelief," because these individuals are separated from among them as the more immediate ministers of his will? It is here, and not universally, that the question properly applies, which is sometimes asked more triumphantly then reverently,

May not God do what he will with his own?" Where any especial commission is to be given, the Almighty Governor of the world may, in full exercise of his wisdom and justice, choose from mankind the delegate fitted to his purpose, or may raise up one who shall be fitted for it beyond the other sons of men; but in the ordinary dispensation of his conduct towards mankind, whether regarding the infliction of punishment or the distribution of benefits, he cannot will to do that with his own which shall be contrary to the excellence of his nature and attributes.†

(To be continued.)

"Secundum decretum electorum

corda, quantumvis dura, gratiose emollit, et ad credendum inflectit, non electos autem justo judicio suæ malitiæ et duritiæ relinquit." Sententia Dord. Art. vi.

See a very striking and convincing illustration of this sentiment in the late Bishop Horsley's Sermons on Matt. xx. left is not mine to give, but it shall be 23: To sit on my right hand and on my given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father,"

CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY

(In England.)

DESIGNATION OF THE REV. MR. SPER

SCHNEIDER.

On the 9th of July, a Special General Meeting of the Society was held, at its House in Bartlett's Buildings, for the purpose of dismissing the Rev. Mr. Sperschneider, to his labours as a Missionary to India. On this occasion the Archdeacon of London delivered a charge to Mr. Sperschneider, of which the following is an abstract.

Archdeacon Pott's Charge to the Rev. J. G. P. Sperschneider,

In stating his view of the object of the Meeting, the Archdeacon remarks

"It is a mixed scene, of Gratulation and of Farewell, in which we are now engaged; for your stay among us is so limited by pressing circumstances, that these alternatives, so interesting in the scenes of human intercourse, are brought near together. It will, therefore, be my aim to offer something which may answer to the word of Greeting; and something also which, I trust, you will be willing to take with you as the word of Valediction, the counsels and the blessings of sincere and cordial friends."

On these subjects the Archdeacon enlarges, with his accustomed discernment and piety. We shall select some passages, which will serve, at once as an able vindication, and an enlightened guide of Missionaries in the Eastern World.

The topics of Congratulation are the past exertions in India, under the Society, of Members of the Lutheran Church the settled states of the British power in the East-the counsel and support of the Bishop of Calcutta-the progress of Education and the happy dispositions, with respect to the diffusion of Christianity, which now prevail in

Christianity among the inhabitants of India.

"But having turned for a moment to past labours, it must be owned, that, when we regard the boundless population to which those good endeavours were directed, we cannot but indulge a sigh, and look with heaviness of spirit upon the small increase which has been added, even by their pains, to the Christian Flock. Alas! the obstacles are many, and as, full of difficulty as they are abundant.

"In a land where superstition and idolatry are linked with insuperable prejudice, and bound by chains of adamant upon the hearts of men—a land where all things are tied to the strict and never-changing rule of rigorous castes, and determined by fantastic notions both of honour and disgrace, notions which are stronger in the minds of those who harbour them than the love of life itself-it is hard to win a passage to the understanding, and still more hard to wean the heart from its attachments. Where none are very busy, and where the wants of life are easily supplied, you may have many hearers for a little moment: but, though you gain the leisure and attention of a listening ear, yet the choice is sealed; and pleas, which cannot be resisted on the ground of argu ment or reason, may receive a ready answer on the score of fixed and unalterable usage. The stern laws of the Brahmin and the Prince, alike despotic, and alike inflexibly devoted to one form of things, and that the worst that can be, will be opposed to every just persuasion. If you urge them with their gross and unworthy misconceptions of the nature and the will of God, or the monstrous follies of their fabulous theology, they will turn it off with a sly civility perhaps, or with a popular and careless proverb. You may be told that "heaven is a wide place, and has a thousand gates ;" and that their religion is one by which they hope to enter. Thus, together with their fixed persuasions, they have their sceptical conceits. By such evasions they can dismiss the merits of the case from all consideration; and encourage men to think that

the vilest superstition may serve to every salutary purpose, and be accepted in the sight of God as well as truth and righteousness. To this detestable opinion, too shallow for the name of sophistry, there are not wanting some consenting voices among those possessing better privileges; among those who must add ingratitude to folly, when they venture to maintain such sentiments. If such opinions, however, do find abettors among men who enjoy the light of truth, and who should prize it at its real worth, can we wonder that the faith which they profess should make but little progress beyond the limits of their own land?"

In promoting the welfare of our Indian Empire, the Archdeacon allows full weight to the influence of a wise and impartial Government; but very forcibly urges both the duty of propagating Christain Truth, and its superior influence on the community. "An equal, uncorrupt administration of the course of law and justice which forms the peculair glory of our own realm, is transferred already to the Courts of its dependencies. It is asked, then, how benefits so precious, which guard the rights of personal security, of property, and conscience, can be further amplified, aug pented, and enlarged? Can THEY put this question, who know what the life of man is at the best in this world, and who should know what his hope may be in a better scene? The enlargement, then, of the benefits of civil freedom, must consist in the cultivation and encouragement of moral and religious principles, without which there can be no adequate improvement in the human character, and therefore no successful operation of external laws; without which, the sum of every reasonable satisfaction in the heart of nan must be wanting; and, without which, there can be no intelligible apprehension of a future state, no just presumptions, and no hopeful earnest of that happiness to which the soul of man aspires as the fountain leaps up to its springs, and points in its utmost elevation to the level of its native current.

"Without doubt, the work of moral culture will advance, in no light measure, where the salutary end of Civil Government shall be maintained. But, indeed, there is a debt to Truth; a debt which they who love the Truth can never overlook. There is a public service to be rendered, which Truth only, that Truth which has God for its author and its object, can supply. The best improvement and the noblest exaltation of the moral character of man, can only be made good by just conceptions of the moral attributes of God. Behold, then, the perpetual ground of every truth by which the choice of man can be directed! It is here, that the work of sound instruction must begin. His own name, his own excellence, his own perfections, form the ground of every treaty which God opens with the reasonable creature; the ground of every argument and evidence which he proposes for their notice, and of every truth which he reveals for their acceptance. Where this first principle of truth and knowledge shall be vindicated and established, the monstrous errors of idolatry and superstition (the twofold bane of all improvement in the life of man) must be supplanted. The field will then be opened to communicate the knowledge of God's gracious will; and to teach men what his counsels and provisions have been for the succour and salvation of a fallen race, for reconciliation after trespass, for the restitution and recovery of a lost integrity, and for the glad inheritance of future and eternal glory.

"Do but consider for a moment, with reference to that first requisite to the hope of man-his reconciliation before God-how gross and deplorable the state of doubt and ignorance had been, and must continue still to be, in Heathen Countries. Regard those doubts, and that distressful ignorance, as they are manifested in the miserable victim to fantastic penances in those regions to which your views are now directed. Observe the desperate resolve, the cold, deliberate, yet frantic purpose of the self-devoted zealot, who wades from the margin to the stren