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PROPOSITION FIFTEENTH.

The Redemption and Blessedness of Man is not the Fruit of his own Earning, and not directly dependent upon the Works of this Life, but is a Free, Impurchasable, and Impartial GIFT, of the God of Salvation.

PROOFS.

Thou hast thought that THE GIFT of God may be Purchased.'-ACTS. "Thus saith the Lord, Ye have sold yourselves for naught, and Ye shall be Redeemed WITHOUT MONEY.'-Isa. lii. 3.

'Ho! Every One that thirsteth, Come Ye to the Waters, AND HE THAT HATH NO MONEY: Come Ye, buy and eat,— yea, Come buy wine and milk, WITHOUT MONEY AND WITHOUT PRICE.'-İsa. lv. 1.

'The GIFT [not 'Offer'] of God, is Eternal Life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.'-Rom. vi. 23.

"This is the Record, that God hath GIVEN to us Eternal Life through His Son.'-1 John v. 11.

'Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to ['offer'?] GIVE Repentance to Israel, and Remission of Sins.'-Acts v. 31.

'No man can come unto Me, [said the Redeemer,] except it were GIVEN him of My Father.'---John vi. 65.

A man can receive nothing, except it be GIVEN him from heaven.'---John iii. 27.

'A New Heart and One Way also will I GIVE You.'--Ezek. xxxvi. 26; xi. 19; Jer. xxxii. 39; xxiv. 7.

"The world is all-sufficient for itself,

And hell and heav'n are not th' equivalents

Of earth's iniquities and righteousness."

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The Folly of Hoping for Salvation from any but God. "Truly, in vain is Salvation hoped for from the hills, or from the multitude of mountains: Truly, in the Lord God is the Salvation of Israel.'-Jer. iii. 23.

'Consider the work of God: for who [but Himself,] can

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make that straight, which He hath made crooked?'-Eccl. vii. 13.

'Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils, for wherefore is he to be accounted of?'-Isa. ii. 22.

'Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart [confidence] departeth from the Lord; but, Blessed is the man that trusteth in the

Lord.'---Jer. xvii. 5, 7.

COMPLETION OF THE ARGUMENT.

Is this Glorious GIFT a Universal or Partial One? or shall Any be Eternally Excluded from its Participation?

ANSWER.

'Christ, the Bread of Life, cometh down from heaven, and ['offereth, on conditions'?] GIVETH Life unto THE WORLD.'---John vi. 33.

"The Bread that I will GIVE is my flesh, which I WILL GIVE for the Life of THE WORLD.'---John vi. 51.

"Thou hast given him power over All Flesh, that he should GIVE Eternal Life to as many as Thou hast given him.'---John xvii. 2.

'That the Gentiles should be Fellow-Heirs of the same BODY, and Partakers of His PROMISE in Christ, by the Gos pel, according to THE GIFT OF THE GRACE OF GOD.'--Eph. iii. 7.

'Not ONLY as the Offence, So is THE FREE GIFT.--For if through the offence of one, Many [MANKIND] be dead, MUCH MORE, the Grace of God, and THE GIFT BY GRACE, hath abounded unto Many,' [MANKIND.]---Rom. v. 15.

'And not as it was by ONE that sinned so [merely] is THE GIFT. For the judgment was by one [offence, only,] to condemnation; but THE FREE GIFT is of Many, [the MASS, MULTITUDE of] Offences, unto justification.'--v. 16.

For, if by one man's disobedience, Death [universal] reigned by one, MUCH MORE THEY, [the universally dead,] receiving ABUNDANCE OF GRACE, and of THE GIFT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, shall reign in Life by one,' (Christ Jer sus.)---Rom. v. 17.

"Therefore, As, by the offence of one, judgment came upon All Men, to Condemnation: Even So, by the Righteousness of One, THE FREE GIFT CAME UPON ALL MEN, unto Justification of Life.'---Rom. v. 18.

"God GAVE them, [the Unbelieving,] the like GIFT as He did unto us who believed.'---Acts xvii. 17.

'If ye do [the Lord doeth] good to them which do good to you, [Him, only,] what reward [glory] have ye, [hath He?] for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to Receive, [only,] what thank have Ye? for Sinners also lend to sinners, when they Receive as much again.'--Luke vi. 33, 34.

'What man is there, whom, if his son ask bread, he will Give a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will Give him a serpent? If men, then, being evil, know how to Give Good Gifts unto their children, HOW MUCH MORE shall our Father which is in heaven, [who is Good,] GIVE Good Things to them that ask Him.'---Mat. vii. 9--11. 'And our heavenly Father [unlike human parents,] knoweth what things we have need of before we ask him.'---vi. 8.

'God GIVETH [to the elect only ?] to ALL MEN liberally, and upbraideth not,' [that we cannot earn His Gifts.]--Jas.i.5.

When Jesus commissioned his Disciples to commence the great work of preaching the Glad News of his Salvation to every people and every creature, giving them power to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out devils, (the physical in the Scriptures is figurative also of the spiritual;) he commanded them, 'Freely ye have received, FREELY GIVE!'---Mat. x. 1, 8.

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'No man can come unto me, except the Father which sent me draw him; And it is written in the Prophets, They ALL SHALL be taught of God.'---John vi. 44, 45.

'If they which are of the law, [the obedient, only,] be Heirs, Faith [the word Trust is a much nearer approximation to the sense of the original here, and in many other places of Paul's epistles, especially when he writes of The Promise,] is made vOID, and THE PROMISE made of none effect. Therefore it is of Trust, that it might be BY GRACE,

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to the end that the Promise might be SURE TO ALL The Seed, [‘all families,' and 'kindreds,'] not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the trust of Abraham, which is the Father of us ALL.'---Rom. iv. 14--16.

'Thanks be to God for His UNSPEAKABLE GIFT!' ---2 Cor. ix. 15.

And as man is led to view the broad river of the Lord's universal Grace and boundless Mercy, fertilizing the wide earth, whether in its operations for present good, or in the inspiration of hope for the future, or of its healing and sanctifying power; with the steady eye of faith, contemplating the mighty gloriousness of the fathomless GIFT towards which the myriad streams of Almighty Grace are tending, his fervent prayer and ours shall be,

"Roll on, thou mighty river,
Forever and the same,

From God, th' Impartial GIVER,
Thy healing waters came.
Where'er earth's wanderer roameth,
Thou life to him shalt give,
For where the river cometh,
Lo every thing shall live.
The well-springs of Salvation,
Shall swell its blissful tide,
Till all of every nation,
In Jesus shall abide.
When at the throne eternal,

A ransom'd world shall bend,
And, crown'd with peace supernal,
Adore th' Almighty Friend!"

Rev. T. J. GREENWOOD.

PROPOSITION SIXTEENTH.

The Church Universal, which is the Possession and Body of Christ, according to Prop. XI., shall be Eventually SANCTIFIED and UNITED to Him, in Eternal Peace and Reconciliation.

PROOFS.

'Christ loved the Church, and gave himself for it, [he "LOVED THE WORLD," "GAVE HIMSELF A RANSOM FOR ALL." If his 'Church' does not comprise the sinful and unbelieving of mankind, why should he have given himself a sacrifice for it?] that he might SANCTIFY and CLEANSE it, [of what should he cleanse his Church, if it only comprise the pure and holy?] with the washing of water by the word; that he might PRESENT IT TO HIMSELF A GLORIOUS CHURCH, not having spot nor wrinkle, nor any such thing; but that it should be Holy and without blemish. - - For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, [so, 'the Lord abhorreth nothing which His hands have made,' and Jesus loveth his enemies,] but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord his Church. For we* are members of his BODY, of his flesh aud of his bones, [every soul is a necessary member of the everlasting church, in some sphere or other,---read 1 Cor. xii.] For this cause, (as it is written concerning marriage in general,)

* There are about a hundred passages in the writings of Paul, where he thus familiarly speaks in the name of the whole race and universal Family to which he belongs, using the terms WE, US, OUR, YE, &c. as a Representative of the broad Fraternity of his kind, which our Opposing Christians are accustomed to cramp and narrow down in their interpretations, to the pent-up, ungracious measure of human selfishness, and anti-christian illiberality. This is often done at great expense to subject, appositeness, and common sense, and without regard to context, the whole tenor and design of the Gospel, and the plainest principles of reaWould that these, however, were the only expressions in which the mind of the Apostle comprehended and addressed all the children of 'the one God and Father of All,' which have to suffer the abuse of such shrivelled expositions. What better treatment do those plain, universal terms, 'ALL, ALL MEN,' 'ALL THINGS,' &c. which are quite as numerous as the former class, experience at their hands?

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