UPRIGHT, both in heart and will,
We by our God were made;
But we turn'd from good to ill,
And o'er the creature stray'd;
Multiplied our wandering thought,
Which first was fixed on God alone;
In ten thousand objects sought
The bliss we lost in one.

From our own inventions vain
Of fancied happiness,
Draw us to thyself again,

And bid our wanderings cease;
Jesus, speak our souls restored,
By love's divine simplicity;
Reunited in our Lord,

And wholly lost in thee.

II.

ENSLAVED to sense, to pleasure prone, Fond of created good;

Father, our helplessness we own,

And trembling taste our food.

Trembling, we taste: for, ah! no more
To thee the creatures lead:
Changed, they exert a baneful power,
And poison while they feed.

Cursed for the sake of wretched man,
They now engross him whole;
With pleasing force on earth detain,
And sensualize his soul.

Grov'ling on earth we still must lie,
Till Christ the curse repeal;

Till Christ, descending from on high,
Infected nature heal.

Come, then, our heavenly Adam, come,
Thy healing influence give:
Hallow our food, reverse our doom,
And bid us eat, and live!

The bondage of corruption break;
For this our spirits groan;
Thy only will we fain would seek,
Oh save us from our own !

Turn the full stream of nature's tide;

Let all our actions tend

To thee their Source: thy love the guide,
Thy glory be the end.

Earth then a scale to heaven shall be;
Sense shall point out the road;

The creatures all shall lead to thee,
And all we taste be God.

16

21

SERMON LVIII.

ON PREDESTINATION.

Whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be con formed to the image of his Son:—whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justi fied: and whom he justified, them he also glorified."—ROM. viii. 29, 30.

1. "OUR beloved brother Paul," says St. Peter, "according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you; as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction." (2 Pet. iii. 15, 16.)

2. It is not improbable, that among those things spoken by St. Paul, which are hard to be understood, the apostle Peter might place what he speaks on this subject in the eighth and ninth chapters of his Epistle to the Romans. And it is certain, not only the unlearned, but many of the most learned men in the world, and not the "unstable" only, but many who seemed to be well established in the truths of the gospel, have, for several centuries, "wrested" these passages "to their own destruction."

3. "Hard to be understood" we may well allow them to be, when we consider how men of the strongest understanding, improved by all the advantages of education, have continually differed in judgment concerning them. And this very consideration, that there is sc wide a difference upon the head between men of the greatest learning, sense, and piety, one might imagine would make all who now speak upon the subject ex

ceedingly wary and self-diffident. But I know not how it is, that just the reverse is observed in every part of the Christian world. No writers upon earth appear more positive than those who write on this difficult subject. Nay, the same men who, writing upon any other subject, are remarkably modest and humble, on this alone lay aside all self-distrust,

"And speak ex cathedrâ infallible."

This is peculiarly observable of almost all those who assert the absolute decrees. But surely it is possible to avoid this: whatever we propose, may be proposed with modesty, and with deference to those wise and good men who are of a contrary opinion; and the rather, because so much has been said already on every part of the question, so many volumes have been written, that it is scarcely possible to say any thing which has not been said before. All I would offer at present, not to the lovers of contention, but to men of piety and candour, are a few short hints, which perhaps may cast some light on the text above recited.

4. The more frequently and carefully I have considered it, the more I have been inclined to think that the apostle is not here (as many have supposed) describing a chain of causes and effects; (this does not seem to have entered into his heart;) but simply showing the method in which God works; the order in which the several branches of salvation constantly follow each other. And this, I apprehend, will be clear to any serious and impartial inquirer, surveying the work of God either forward or backward; either from the beginning to the end, or from the end to the beginning.

God

5. And, first, let us look forward on the whole work of God in the salvation of man; considering it from the beginning, the first point, till it terminates in glory. The first point is, the foreknowledge of God. foreknew those in every nation who would believe, from the beginning of the world to the consummation of all things. But, in order to throw light upon this dark question, it should be well observed, that when we

speak of God's foreknowledge, we do not speak according to the nature of things, but after the manner of men. For, if we speak properly, there is no such thing as either fore-knowledge or after-knowledge in God. All time, or rather all eternity, (for time is only that small fragment of eternity which is allotted to the children of men,) being present to him at once, he does not know one thing before another, or one thing after another; but sees all things in one point of view from everlasting to everlasting. As all time, with every thing that exists therein, is present with him at once, so he sees at once whatever was, is, or will be, to the end of time. But observe: we must not think they are because he knows them. No; he knows them because they are. Just as I (if one may be allowed to compare the things of men with the deep things of God) now know the sun shines: yet the sun does not shine because I know it, but I know it because he shines. My knowledge supposes the sun to shine, but does not in any wise cause it. In like manner, God knows that man sins; for he knows all things: yet we do not sin because he knows it, but he knows it because we sin; and his knowledge supposes our sin, but does not in any wise cause it. In a word, God, looking on all ages, from the creation to the consummation, as a moment, and seeing at once whatever is in the hearts of all the children of men, knows every one that does or does not believe, in every age or nation. Yet what he knows, whether faith or unbelief, is in no. wise caused by his knowledge. Men are as free in believing or not believing as if he did not know it at all.

6. Indeed, if man were not free, he could not be accountable either for his thoughts, words, or actions. If he were not free, he would not be capable either of reward or punishment; he would be incapable either of virtue or vice, of being either morally good or bad. If he had no more freedom than the sun, the moon, or the stars, he would be no more accountable than they. On supposition that he had no more freedom than them, the stones of the earth would be as capable of reward, and