here, by the blessings which He has scattered and left behind Him; or rather, I am sure that He is here, by the blessings which at every moment He is dealing out. How does the grass grow, the fruit ripen, the animals live? it is because God gives grass for the cattle, and corn and herb for the service of man; it is because God feeds the fowls of the air, and they fly by His power.

I will not, then, set it down among possibilities, among probabilities, that there may probably or possibly be a God, but among the greatest certainties, of which the mind of man is capable; as a thing of which I have as much evidence, as that there is any visible being at all, as great as that I have myself the power of thought.

Endeavour to view the blessed God in the light in which the Gospel of His Son has placed him. It is so noble and so amiable to view, that if you accustom yourselves to it, you will de- | light to dwell upon it, and to review it again and again. It represents God, not as slighting this world of ours, even when it had offended Him, not as immediately destroying it, or as marking its inhabitants for a day of slaughter, as traitors, and maintained at the expense of the king till their execution day is come; but as entertaining thoughts of love and mercy toward poor, sinful man, as caring for us with a great care, and employing His counsels, even long before we were born, for our deliverance, and for our salvation. It represents Him as busying Himself so much (if I may use the expression) about us and our concerns, as to send His own Son to inform us who He himself is, and what He would have us to be, what He expects from us on the one hand, and what we may expect from Him on the other. Yea, as sending His Son in a mortal body that He might converse with us for a long time, and might sow the seeds of true religion in our world, seeds which were to last as long as this world itself, and that He might at length die for us too, and redeem us to God, by pouring forth His own blood, and that He might leave a Gospel behind Him, written by the inspiration of His Spirit, which, under Divine blessing and grace, might be the food and comfort of souls from one generation to another that Gospel which He brought down from heaven. Oh! did those poor blind heathens reverence and adore a senseless image of deity because they supposed it of heavenly original, the image that fell down from Jupiter out of heaven! What reason have we to value Christ and His Gospel as of celestial original indeed; and to love that God who sent us such a present, a blessing so much more valuable than the sun in the firmament. And how delightful should it be to us to look to the blessed God in this, as "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," and, in and through Him, as "the Father of mercies, and the God of all consolation."

Labour to secure an interest in God through Christ, and then it will be pleasant to maintain a sight of Him. The great reason why men look at God no more is because they dread the sight of Him, their consciences telling them that He is their enemy, or at least that He may be so; that it is at best a very dubious case whether they have any interest in Him or not. Labour, therefore, I beseech you, to make it out to your own souls, as a plain and evident thing, that you have a covenant interest in God. And how can this be done but by solemnly laying hold of His covenant in Christ, and by setting your seal to it? Wilt thou not, says God, from this time cry unto me, My Father, Thou art the guide of my youth? And surely it is a pleasant thing for a dutiful and affectionate child to look upon his Father. View Him not merely as reconcilable, as one who may, perhaps, lay aside His wrath and become your friend, but as one who is actually reconciled. Go to Him, therefore, this day and say, "Lord, I have been a rebel, and I have deserved to die for my rebellion. I deserve that He who made me should not have mercy on me, and that He who formed me should show me no favour. But I have heard that Thou art a merciful God. I have been told that Thou didst condescend to say, and even to swear, that Thou desirest not the death of a sinner.' I have been told that Thou didst send Thine own dear and gracious Son into this world of ours to call back poor lost creatures to Thee, and to purchase pardon for them, and to declare it to them; yea, that Thou hast assured us by Him that he 'who believes shall have eternal life.' Now, Lord, I believe, help Thou my unbelief.' I have been told that Thou hast been pleased to make a covenant, a new and better covenant, with poor sinners, of which He is the surety. I desire to enter myself into this covenant; I am heartily willing to be saved by Thee in Thine own way, and therefore I beseech Thee that Thou wouldst save me. I beseech Thee that Thou wouldst become my God and Father in Christ, and I present myself to Thee in token of this desire, and would gladly, whenever Thou shalt give me an opportunity, do it at Thy table. Yea, I desire daily to repeat it as my own act and deed, to give myself to Thee, and to receive Thee, through Christ, into my soul as my portion, and hope, and God." When you are conscious of this temper you will view God not only with pleasure, but I had almost said, in allusion to the common form of our expressing ourselves, with pride (but that were improper), with humble joy and triumph, as the Psalmist, "Behold this God is our God!" O how I delight to fix my eyes upon Him, and survey Him in this view! This God, with all His infinite wisdom and almighty power, and immense inexhaustible treasure of goodness, and mercy, and faithfulness, and love, is mine, and mine for ever. Shall one man view his estate, and another his

honour with satisfaction? and another perhaps things which are seen, but at those things which his person, and another even his dress, and inwardly congratulate himself that he is so rich, and so powerful, and so beautiful, and so fine? And shall not I, with infinitely greater satisfaction, view my God, and congratulate my own soul that I am so happy as to possess Him, and to stand in such a relation to Him? I would do it every day and every hour.

JOIN WESLEY.

1703-1791.

the good works or righteousness of the receiver; not on anything he has done, or anything he is. It does not depend on his endeavours. It does not depend on his good tempers, or good desires, or good purposes and intentions; for all these flow from the free grace of God; they are the streams only, not the fountain. They are the fruits of free grace, and not the root. They are not the cause, but the effects of it. Whatsoever good is in man, or is done by man, God is the author and doer of it. Thus is His grace free in all; that is, no way depending on any power or merit in man, but on God alone, who freely gave us His own Son, and "with Him freely giveth us all things."

But is it free for all, as well as in all? To this some have answered, "No; it is free only for those whom God hath ordained to life; and they are but a little flock. The greater part of mankind God hath ordained to death; and it is not free for them. Them God hateth; and, therefore, before they were born, decreed they should die eternally. And this He absolutely decreed, because so was His good pleasure-because it was His sovereign will. Accordingly, they are born for this,-to be destroyed body and soul in hell. And they grow up under the irrevocable curse of God, without any possibility of redemption; for what grace God gives, He gives only for this, to increase, not prevent, their damnation."

This is that decree of predestination. But methinks I hear one say, 66 This is not the predestination which I hold: I hold only the election of grace, What I believe is no more than this,that God, before the foundation of the world, did elect a certain number of men to be justified, sanctified, and glorified. Now, all these will be saved, and none else; for the rest of mankind God leaves to themselves. So they follow the imaginations of their own hearts, which are only evil continually, and, waxing worse and worse, are at length justly punished with everlasting destruction."

Is this all the predestination which you hold? Consider; perhaps this is not all. Do not you believe God ordained them to this very thing? If so, you believe the whole decree; you hold predestination in the full sense which has been above described. But it may be you think you do not. Do not you then believe God hardens the hearts of them that perish? Do not you believe He (literally) hardened Pharaoh's heart; and that for this end He raised him up, or created him? Why, this amounts to just the same thing. If you believe Pharaoh, or any one man upon earth, was created for this end-to be damned you hold all that has been said of predestination. And there is no need you should add that God seconds His decree, which is supposed unchangeable and irresistible, by hardening the hearts of those vessels of wrath whom that decree had before fitted for destruction.

Well, but it may be you do not believe even this; you do not hold any decree of reprobation; you do not think God decrees any man to be damned, nor hardens, irresistibly fits him, for damnation; you only say, "God eternally decreed that all being dead in sin He would say to some of the dry bones, Live, and to others He would not; that, consequently, these should be made alive, and those abide in death-these should glorify God by their salvation, and those by their destruction."

Is not this what you mean by the election of grace? If it be, I would ask one or two questions: Are any who are not thus elected saved? or were any, from the foundation of the world? Is it possible any man should be saved unless he be thus elected? If you say, "No," you are but where you was; you are not got one hair's breadth further; you still believe that, in conof God, the greater part of mankind abide in sequence of an unchangeable, irresistible decree death, without any possibility of redemption; inasmuch as none can save them but God, and He will not save them. You believe He hath absolutely decreed not to save them; and what is this but decreeing to damn them? It is, in effect, neither more nor less; it comes to the same thing; for if you are dead, and altogether unable to make yourself alive, then, if God has absolutely decreed He will make only others alive, and not you, He hath absolutely decreed your everlasting death; you are absolutely consigned to damnation. So then, though you use softer words than some, you mean the self-same thing; and God's decree concerning the election of grace according to your account of it, amounts to neither more nor less than what others call God's decree of reprobation.

Call it, therefore, by whatever name you please, election, preterition, predestination, or reprobation, it comes in the end to the same thing. The sense of all is plainly this,-by virtue of an eternal, unchangeable, irresistible decree of God, one part of mankind are infallibly saved, and the rest infallibly damned; it being impossible that any of the former should be damned, or that any of the latter should be saved.

But if this be so, then is all preaching vain. It is needless to them that are elected; for they, whether with preaching or without, will infallibly be saved. Therefore, the end of preaching-to save souls-is void with regard to them; and it is useless to them that are not elected, for they cannot possibly be saved. They, whether with preaching or without, will infallibly be damned. The end of preaching is, therefore, void with regard to them likewise; so that in either case our preaching is vain, as your hearing is also vain.

This, then, is a plain proof that the doctrine of predestination is not a doctrine of God, because it makes void the ordinance of God; and

God is not divided against Himself. A second is that it directly tends to destroy that holiness which is the end of all the ordinances of God. I do not say none who hold it are holy (for God is of tender mercy to those who are unavoidably entangled in errors of any kind); but that the doctrine itself that every man is either elected or not elected from eternity, and that the one must inevitably be saved, and the other inevitably damned-has a manifest tendency to destroy holiness in general; for it wholly takes away those first motives to follow after it, so frequently proposed in Scripture, the hope of future reward and fear of punishment, the hope of heaven and fear of hell. That these shall go away into everlasting punishment, and those into life eternal, is no motive to him to struggle for life who believes his lot is cast already; it is not reasonable for him so to do, if he thinks he is unalterably adjudged either to life or death. You will say, "But he knows not whether it is life or death." What then?-this helps not the matter; for if a sick man knows that he must unavoidably die, or unavoidably recover, though he knows not which, it is unreasonable for him to take any physic at all. He might justly say (and so I have heard some speak, both in bodily sickness and in spiritual), "If I am ordained to life, I shall live; if to death, I shall die; so I need not trouble myself about it." So directly does this doctrine tend to shut the very gate of holiness in general-to hinder unholy men from ever approaching thereto, or striving to enter in thereat.

This is evident as to all those who believe themselves to be reprobated, or who only suspect or fear it. All the great and precious promises are lost to them; they afford them no ray of comfort, for they are not the elect of God; therefore they have neither lot nor portion in them. This is an effectual bar to their finding any comfort or happiness, even in that religion whose ways are designed to be " ways of pleasantness, and all her paths peace."

And as to you who believe yourselves the elect of God, what is your happiness? I hope, not a notion, a speculative belief, a bare opinion of any kind, but a feeling possession of God in your heart, wrought in you by the Holy Ghost, or the witness of God's Spirit with your spirit that you are a child of God. This, otherwise termed "the full assurance of faith," is the true ground of a Christian's happiness. And it does indeed imply a full assurance that all your past sins are forgiven, and that you are now a child of God. But it does not necessarily imply a full assurance of our future perseverance. I do not say this is never joined to it, but that it is not necessarily implied therein; for many have the one who have not the other.

If

Now, this witness of the Spirit experience shows to be much obstructed by this doctrine; and not only in those who, believing themselves reprobated, by this belief thrust it far from them, but even in them that have tasted of that good gift, who yet have soon lost it again, and fallen back into doubts, and fears, and darknesshorrible darkness that might be felt. And I appeal to any of you who hold this doctrine, to say, between God and your own hearts, whether you have not often a return of doubts and fears concerning your election or perseverance. you ask, "Who has not?" I answer, very few of those that hold this doctrine; but many, very many of those that hold it not, in all parts of the earth-many of those who know and feel that they are in Christ to-day, and "take no thought for the morrow;" who "abide in Him" by faith from hour to hour, or, rather, from moment to moment; many of these have enjoyed the uninterrupted witness of His Spirit, the continual light of His countenance, from the moment wherein they first believed, for many months or years, to this day.

As directly does this doctrine tend to destroy several particular branches of holiness. Such are meekness and love-love, I mean, of our enemies of the evil and unthankful. I say not, that none who hold it have meekness and love (for as is the power of God, so is His mercy); but that it naturally tends to inspire or increase a sharpness or eagerness of temper, which is quite contrary to the meekness of Christ; as then specially appears, when they are opposed on this head. And it as naturally inspires contempt or coldness towards those whom we suppose outcasts from God. "O but," you say, "I suppose no particular man a reprobate." You mean you would not if you could help it; but you cannot help sometimes applying your general doctrine to particular persons; the enemy of souls will apply it for you. You know how often he has done so. But you rejected the thought with abhorrence. True; as soon as you could; but how did it sour and sharpen your spirit in the meantime? You well know it was not the spirit of love which you then felt towards that poor sinner, whom you supposed or suspected, whether you would or no, to have been hated of God from eter-"by the Holy Ghost which is given unto them." nity.

Thirdly, this doctrine tends to destroy the comfort of religion, the happiness of Christianity

That assurance of faith which these enjoy excludes all doubt and fear. It excludes all kinds of doubt and fear concerning their future perseverance; though it is not properly, as was said before, an assurance of what is future, but only of what now is. And this needs not for its support a speculative belief, that whoever is once ordained to life must live; for it is wrought, from hour to hour, by the mighty power of God,

And therefore that doctrine is not of God, because it tends to obstruct, if not destroy, this great work of the Holy Ghost, whence flows