ing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body (e):" the Apostle here applies the word Elect to all the Colossian Christians, and tells them that they had been "called in one body to the peace of God," through the knowledge of the Gospel; he exhorts them to walk worthy of that holy Faith which they had embraced; and not the slightest intimation is given of any decree of God by which their Salvation was made certain; but on the contrary, their Salvation is represented as depending upon themselves, upon their "continuing in the Faith, grounded and settled, and not moved away from the hope of the Gospel (f)." When Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our Father Isaac; (for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to Election, might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth) it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger: As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated (g):" the purpose of (e) Col. c. 3. v. 12, 13, &c. (ƒ) Col. c. 1. v. 23. (g) Rom. c. 9. v. 10—13. of Election here spoken of, has no relation to a future life, but refers to the Election of the descendants of Jacob to be God's peculiar people, in preference to the descendants of Esau: and this is the meaning of the expression, "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." "The elder shall serve the younger" was not true of Jacob and Esau, as Esau never served Jacob; but it was true of their posterity, as the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, served the Israelites, the descendants of Jacob, which is distinctly mentioned in the original prophecy in the book of Genesis, "And the Lord said unto Rebecca, two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels and the one people shall be stronger than the other people: and the elder shall serve the younger (h).” The word Reprobate, or Reprobation, as used by Calvin, refers to a supposed decree of God; but we shall find it used in a very different sense both in the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament, it occurs only once according to our translation; Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them (i)." In the original Hebrew, and also in the Septuagint Greek version, it is the same word which our translators have rendered (h) Gen. c. 25. v. 23 "reprobate" (i) Jer. c. 6. v. 30. "reprobate" when applied to silver, and "rejected" when applied to the Jews: in both languages we have an active verb, and its passive participle (k); from which it is evident that “reprobate (k) In the original Hebrew, the word translated arodedoniμapovov is the passive participle of the word which signifies to reject, despise, abominate. Of this verb, Gussetius, in his Hebrew Lexicon, written expressly with the design of ascertaining the primary senses of the words, and thence deducing their looser acceptations, remarks, that all its meanings are reducible to one, namely, åñodonμášev, reprobare. He adds, "Actus est judicii, nascens ex opinione qualitatum malarum, seu per se, seu quoad nos, aut saltem ex defectu bonarum, præsertim in comparatione ad subjectum bonis qualitatibus satis instructum. Effectus proximus est prætermissio, abstinentia ab utendo. Id autem fit ob defectus vel physicos vel morales. Et si fiat ob peccata, trahit post se pœnam. 4to. Lipsiæ 1743, p. 867. The same Hebrew word is used 1 Sam. c. 8. v. 7. c. 15. v. 23. 2 Kings, c. 17. v. 20. Is. c. 7. v. 15 and 16.c. 30. v. 12. Jer. c. 7. v. 29. c. 8. v.9. Hos. c. 4. v. 6. c. 9, v. 17. In none of these passages does the word denote an arbitrary decree of God; in some of them, where it is applied to God, as 1 Sam. c. 15. v. 23. Hos. c. 4. v. 6. & c. 9. v. 17. Jer. c. 7. v. 29. the ground of rejection is assigned in the context; and throughout the Old Testament it involves the idea of judgement or discrimination, of God or of man. In the Septuagint version, we find also the word donos applied exclusively to gold or silver, Gen. c. 23. v. 16. 1 Kings, c. 10. v. 18. I Chron. c. 28. v. 18. c. 29. v. 4. 2 Chron. c. 9. v. 17. Zech. c. 11. v. 13. The Hebrew words in these places are various, signifying pure, solid, defecated, current. probate silver" means rejected silver, silver rejected as not being good, in the same manner as God was about to reject the Jews on account of their wickedness. In the Septuagint, the word ádóxiμos occurs twice, although it is not rendered reprobate in our translation, τύπτε ἀδόκιμον αργύ ριον, and τὸ ἀργύριον ὑμῶν ἀδόκιμον (1); and here again the word is applied to base silver, to silver rejected as not genuine. I now proceed to consider the passages in which the word Reprobate occurs in the New Testament. St. Paul speaks of "men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the Faith (m),” ádóximos wepi This those who are unsound in Faith; who in respect of their Faith are precisely what bad money or metal is with respect to its quality, unable to stand the doxin or proof, and therefore rejected as base and worthless. Here is no intimation of any decree of God, by which the greater part of mankind, born in all the different ages of the world, and living under different dispensations, current. Aonípov occurs only twice, namely, Prov. c. 27. v. 21. Ps. 12. v. 7. meaning a test. The Hebrew word signifies a crucible, the test of purity in metals. (1) Prov. c. 25. v. 4. and Is. c. I. v. 22. The Hebrew word in both these passages is the same, and is rightly translated dross. (m) 2 Tim. c. 3. v. 8. pensations, are consigned to eternal and inevitable misery; but it is a prophetic description of the character of persons who will "in the last days" resist the truth of the Gospel, and reject the Faith of Christ. The same Apostle, speaking of the wickedness of the Gentile world prior to the coming of Christ, who, "when they knew God, glorified him not as God (n)," says, that "as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient (o);" this reprobate mind is not represented as the consequence of any antecedent decree of God, but as resulting from their own wilful blindness and voluntary desertion of the worship of the Creator for that of the creature, although they "knew the judgement of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death (p)." In writing to Titus concerning some of the Christian inhabitants of Crete, St. Paul says, "They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every Good Work reprobate (9);” which expression relates merely to the wickedness of certain Cretans, whose lives did not correspond (n) Rom. c. I. v. 21 (0) v. 28. (p) v. 32. with |