poses, and advance his glory! The whole and every part of this affair was predetermined by God, and the operation of his eternal purpose.-For the effecting of this, it was necessary that Joseph's brethren should hate and persecute him, and send him into Egypt :-that he should be sold to Potiphar--tempted by his wife; and by her means cast into prison. These circumstances, together with those relating to the Butler and Baker-his introduction to Pharaoh--the interpretation of his dreams, and his consequent advancement to the government of Egypt, are all but so many links in the chain-so many successive steps in the conduct of divine providence, towards effecting the end in view. They were all planned and directed by infinite wisdom, and issued exactly according to God's eternal design.

Here, as in a glass, we may see the wisdom of God's moral government ;--the order and connexion of its several parts, and how, in various ways, they all conspire to one great end. Wicked men are but instruments in God's hands. He directs their actions according to his purposes. Their "wrath shall praise him, and the remainder he will restrain.' They are called in Scripture, "God's sword." They cannot defeat his designs-so far from it, they can do nothing but what is exactly accomplishing the divine purpose. In all their acts of opposition to God, they are but fulfilling his counsels, and executing his will.

This was strikingly shown in the conduct of Joseph's brethren. They acted, as to their views and intentions in direct opposition to the government of God. But wherein they dealt proudly, he was infinitely above them. They little thought how the matter would terminate: But it was all under the direction of an invisible hand, and carried into effect by the powerful agency of God. And such were the reflections which Joseph made to his brethren. "As for you, ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive." No thanks were due to them. All the glory he ascribes to God. "God did send me before you"-said he, "to preserve life--so that it

was not you that sent me hither, but God." And this he repeats and repeats to them, to impress it the more deeply on their minds;-that they might feel their own nothingness, and duly acknowledge the agency of God's hand.

And why may we not safely conclude from this exhibition of the divine character, had we no other, that his agency is equally concerned in every thing throughout the system, in all the actions of his creatures, that ever have taken, or will take place? If he be an unchangable being, must it not follow? If he does according to his will, in one instance, why not in all? Is this too hard for omnipotence, or too repugnant to infinite wisdom and goodness? If the wickedness of Joseph's brethren in sending him into Egypt was designed by God, and his agency concerned in effecting it, as Joseph declares to them-" so now it was not you that sent me me hither but God"-why is not the same true respecting the conduct of all men in every age? God's power is still the same. He upholds all creatures, and pervades all space. He acts by an uniform rule. With him is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." He is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever.

Sinners inva

Joseph's brethren meant it for evil. riably do. They act freely and with design. Their actions are their own, though God worketh all things. They meant it for evil-but God meant it unto good. He willed it, and his will is efficacious, for he doth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth." If Joseph's brethren, therefore, were wicked in acting with an evil design, God was holy in his conduct, for he acted with a most benevolent design-" he meant it unto good." We see by the accomplishment that the divine end was good. God had a holy and wise end--and he had an undobted right to his choice of the means, and it was holiness in him to use the means which he did.

From this small specimen of the divine conduct, we have the highest reason to conclude, that God's agency is universal--that all events are planned by his infinite wisdom-that all creatures are in the most abso

lute sense dependent on God, for all their exercises and actions; and that he has one great and glorious end in view, to which he makes the character and actions of every creature, in some way conduce.

We

How is the greatness, the sovereignty, and glorious supremacy of God exaltered in this point of view! How absolutely independent! What wisdom shines, in all the conduct of his moral government! How infinitely exalted above all creatures! He makes his enemies fulfil his purposes, and execute the counsels of his will, even in their acts of rebellion against him; and all to conduce, in the final issue to the greatest possible good of his system. What a happiness it is to be under the government of such a great and good being! We but quarrel with our own happiness, in not choosing to be wholly dependent on him. act the part of proud, short-sighted creatures, in arrogating to ourselves that independence which belongs only to God; or in censuring the wisdom and rectitude of his government, because we cannot comprehend it. His judgments are a great-deep, past finding out. We see but in part, but we see infinite wisdom and goodness in that. Could we but look through the great plan, and examine the connection. and subserviency of its several parts ;--or did we but suitably attend to those epitomes, which God has given us, and adapted to our limited capacities;—a sense of our folly and arrogance in opposing his government, or murmuring under any of his dealings, would, at once overwhelm us with shame and remorse.

Yours, &c.

ARISTARCHUS.

LETTER IX.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

LET us subject our reason to the wisdom of God, and we shall more clearly see the beauty, propriety and justice of his government. This I humbly conceive, would have prevented your next objection. But I will quote and examine it-for whatever is not defensible against every objection, is not truth; and truth can lose nothing by fair examination. The more closely it is investigated, the brighter it will shine, and the more firmly establish its belief in the mind.

"It is a doctrine taught in the Scriptures, proved by experience, and embraced by Christians of almost all denominations, that, God strives with sinners by the influences of his Spirit, in opposition to their evil exercises and wicked practices-the natural tendency of which is to reclaim the sinner from a spirit of rebellion to a temper of conformity and obedience. But how does this consist with the idea that God does at the same time create in the heart of the sinner those same evil exercises, which by his Spirit, he is striving against? Does not this wholly disprove his agency in the production of moral evil? which represents the divine conduct inconsistent with itself; as building and destroying at the same time. It represents God as having two wills, and those in direct opposition to each other. He hath made knnown to us his will in his written law-- Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart." He has taught us to pray," thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." He commands

all men every where to repent and belive the gospel"--and expressly declares, "Who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." 1. Timothy ii. 4. And yet God is represented as having another will, by which he creates all the

sinner's enmity and opposition of heart to his law and all the sin that was ever committed. This is the greatest absurdity--the most palpable jargon."

I would first ask you, my dear friend, not to form your judgment too hastily, or condemn without a fair trial. To talk without standard, and argue without distinctions, is talking at random and aguing to no end. The surest method of determining the specific gravity of any substance, is by the intervention of scales and just weights;-and to know with certainty that a conclusion is just, we must first know that the premises are. Perhaps, when the objection is fairly weighed, the absurdity and jargon of the doctrine in controversy, will be less palpable, than was apprehended.

There are two parts to your objection, as it is stated, though both are essentially the same. They differ but in mode of expression, implying a distinction, where there is no difference. This is as fruitful a source of wrong reasoning, as that of making no distinctions where there is real difference. These are commonly in close connection. They embrace as kindred principles, and by action and reaction, mutually operate both as cause and effect to each other.

Your first complaint is that the doctrine of universal divine agency involves an inconsistency in the divine conduct; or contrary operations upon the same subject at the same time.

That the Spirit of God does strive with impenitent sinners in opposition to their evil exercises and wicked practices, is readily enbraced as a doctrine both of Scripture and experience; but that this implies any self-opposition or inconsistency in the divine conduct, upon the hypothesis of universal agency, is as readily. denied, The objection is evidently built upon the ground of that erroneous principle, that the nature of the effect must necessarily be the same in kind with the nature of its cause. The absurdity of which I have already endeavored to expose. Take away this, and your argument will fall to the ground. This consequence will by no means follow, that, because God worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,