is honest in the sight of God. The application of the word "reprobate" to himself, is again of itself a decisive proof that St. Paul did not mean by it, a person to whom the capacity of attaining Salvation was denied. These are the only instances in which the word adóximos occurs in the New Testament, and in no one of them is any decree of God mentioned or implied. The word in its primary signification is applied to metals or coins, which, not standing the test of purity, are rejected. In Ulpian we find the expressions reprobi nummi and reproba pecunia (%), so that adóximos and reprobus correspond to each other both in their original and derived senses. As metals and coins, when tried by their proper test, and found not to be pure and genuine, are rejected as base; so men, if their Faith does not stand that test to which it pleases God to subject it, are rejected as worthless. The word dóximos occurs frequently in the New Testament, and always bears a sense opposite to that of rejected; it is six times translated approved (a), and once tried (b): its exact meaning seems to be approved after trial, as adóximos signifies rejected after trial; (z) Lib. 30. the (a) Rom. c. 14. v. 18. c. 16. v. 10. 1 Cor. c. 11. v. 19. 2. Cor. c. 10. v. 18. c. 13. v. 7. 2. Tim. c. 2. v. 15. (b) Jas. c. I. v. 12. the prominent idea in both is probation with its possible results (c). It appears then that the Calvinistic doctrines of Election and Reprobation can receive no countenance from the passages of Scripture in which these words occur, since they are used in senses (c) We shall find a corresponding sense in all the cognates of the word doxos: in the Septuagint the word domáce signifies to try: Ps. 66. v. 10. and Prov. c. 17. v. 3. with direct allusion to the trial of metals. In the following passage the Greek word translated "trial" is δοκίμιον, and the word translated tried is δοκιμαζομένε, “ that the trial of your Faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise, and honour, and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ," I Pet. c. I. v. 7: Here the trial of men's Faith, upon which their Salvation is made to depend, is expressly compared with that of gold, the most valuable of metals, and therefore the most likely to be 'adulterated. The word doxaw is in the following passage translated "to try," "not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts," 1 Thess. c. 2. v. 4. and the word doxun is translated trial in the following passage, "in a great trial of affliction," 2 Cor. c. 8. 2. The word doxímov is translated by the substantive "trying" in the following passage, "the trying of your Faith worketh patience," Jas. c. 1. v. 3. The word doyux occurs several times in the New Testament, but never means an eternal decree of the Almighty. The words δεδογμένον, ἐδέδοκτο, &c. the passive tense of doxéw, which might express decrees, do not, I believe, occur in the New Testament. See Hesychius, v. adóximos; also Biel's Thesaurus Phil. vv, ἀδόκιμος, δόκιμος, δοκιμάζω, δοκίμιον, κ. τ. λ. Q v. senses very different from those which the advocates for absolute decrees affix to them. The Jews first, and the Christians afterwards, were the elect people of God. God gave the Law to the Jews by the hands of Moses, and the Gospel to the Christians by his own blessed Son Jesus Christ, as the rule of their respective lives. God was pleased, both by the Law and by the Gospel, to enter into Covenant (d) with his chosen people. the Jews and Christians; to promise reward to the obedient, and to threaten punishment to the disobedient. But neither in the Law, nor in the Gospel, does he promise certain and infallible Salvation, or threaten absolute and inevitable perdition, to any number, or to any description, of persons, except as they shall or shall not comply with the expressed conditions. Under both Covenants, the rewards and punishments are made to depend upon the voluntary conduct of each individual. There is a mutual connexion and exact consistency between these two Covenants; they are indeed parts of the same system decreed by the inscrutable counsels of God, before the world began. Let (d) The very idea of Covenant is inconsistent with the Calvinistic system. Covenant implies conditions; absolute decrees reject all conditions. A Covenant says, you shall have such or such a reward, if you act in the manner stipulated; absolute decrees say, that it is irreversibly determined by the arbitrary will of God, that you shall or shall not be saved, without any respect to your conduct, Let us now examine some other texts of Scripture, which are urged by Calvinists as favourable to their tenets of Election and Reprobation, although the words themselves do not occur in them. "The Lord hath made all things for himself; yea, even the wicked for the day of evil (e):" The wicked are indeed the work of His hands as being a part of the Creation; and he gave them the faculties which they have abused and perverted to a sinful purpose; but this power to abuse and pervert is inseparable from the character of a free agent. The true meaning of this passage is, that God made all things to display his own glorious attributes; and that even wicked men, whose existence and frequent prosperity may seem scarcely reconcileable with the divine perfections, will in the end be found to furnish the strongest proof of his long-suffering in bearing with their iniquities, and of his power and justice in punishing their incorrigible depravity: upon such men " the day of evil" will ultimately come: "the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction; they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath (ƒ):" "What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction (g)?' St. John in his Gospel says that, (e) Prov. c. 16. v. 4. Though (f) Job, c. 21. v. 30. (g) Rom. c. 9. v. 22. Christ had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: that the saying of Esaias the Prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them (h):" There are many passages in the Gospels similar to this, and we are not to understand by them, that the events took place merely for the purpose that the sayings of the antient Prophets might be fulfilled; or that God, by hardening the hearts, and blinding the understandings of the Jews, made it impossible for them to believe. God foresaw that a very large proportion of the Jews would reject the Gospel; and he was pleased to foretel this among other events relative to the advent and ministry of Christ. It was designed that the fulfilment of these various predictions should form a part of the evidence of the divine authority of the Gospel. What the Prophets had predicted, was certain to come to pass; but this certainty by no means caused the events to be the decrees of God. They did not happen because they were foretold, but they were, for the wisest purpose, foretold, because it was foreseen they would happen. The (h) John, c. 12. v. 37–40. prescience |