and led by the Spirit, may under the pressure of great temptation, neglecting to ask the Lord's deliverance, be carried away and fall into the lowest depths, yet, by God's mercy, before he is hardened in wickedness, he may " come to himself" and again "arise and go to his Father: " and shall we say he will not be received? As long as we are in this world, we shall ever be liable to temptation, and we shall often yield; if consequently "the ¡grant of repentance" were denied to all who sin after Baptism or receiving the Holy Ghost-no flesh could be saved.

Therefore the Church rightly condemns as unscriptural the doctrine of the Perfectionists who say that after regeneration of the Holy Ghost we can sin no more; and equally those who hold that every wilful sin committed after being made sons of God, is that unpardonable one of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, which can as little be forgiven in this world as in the next.

In this world there is yet time to remember "from whence we are fallen, and repent, and do the first works, lest he will come unto us quickly, and will remove our candlestick out of his place, except we repent." For the day of repentance will be past when the sentence is pronounced; "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still."

ARTICLE XVII.-" Of Predestination and Election."

"Whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son; . . . whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified."

For the Calvinistic doctrines on this subject, see the extracts from the Lambeth Articles given on pages xvi. Our Article, avoiding the dogmas of that or any other school, as usual returns to the simple teaching of Scripture, and in its first paragraph follows virtually the language of the Apostle as given above, speaking of predestination to life only, avoiding all allusion to that to death, connecting it with our voluntary acceptance of grace; making no attempt to solve that inscrutable mystery of the sovereignty of God, and freewill of man.

This is a summary of the doctrines contained in Articles X. XI. XII. In those we saw, First, how man cannot repent and turn to God, except first called and drawn by His Spirit; when having called us He enables us by His grace to obey that call: Next, how having come, we are freely justified, and made the elect children of God, and then through His Spirit, "walk religiously in good works," which are the fruits of a lively faith; which is in strict accordance with the passage given; "Whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom

he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified."

Does anyone doubt his personal election, and seek to assure himself of his salvation? The assurance may easily be his. If he have elected God for his Father, the Lord Jesus for his Saviour, the Holy Ghost for his Sanctifier, he may be very sure it is because the Lord has first elected him. "We love him because he first loved us." He loved us from all eternity. "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life." Our Saviour's atonement was not, as some assert, the cause of God's love to us, but on the contrary, was caused by that love. Therefore our Article says in its second paragraph that the consideration of this truth to those who are under the influence of the Holy Spirit, and have their affections weaned from this world, and set on things above, "is full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort," assuring us of our election in Jesus Christ "before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will." If we feel ourselves justified, it is because we have first been predestinated and called, and it will be through our own hindering of the grace of God working out His eternal purpose, if we fail of being glorified, for

when He begins a good work in us, it is that He may perform it unto the end. Surely the contemplation of God's love to us, will "fervently kindle" ours to Him in return.

But our Article goes on to warn those who are as yet unjustified and unsanctified against indulging in the false security of thinking that God having given sentence of their predestination which till regeneration they have no warrant for asserting— they may live what ungodly or careless lives they choose, and yet are safe; forgetting that "whom he did predestinate . . . them he also glorified," which so far as it alludes to this life means sanctification by the indwelling of the Spirit. Some persons have this stereotyped religion; they say, they are chosen and predestinated, their names written in the Lamb's Book of Life; therefore they are safe, and how they live and walk in this world does not affect their safety. There is no such doctrine as this in the Bible. If our names are not found at last blotted out of the Book of Life, it is not that they are indelibly printed there, but because we have trusted and looked to Him who loved us from the beginning, loves us still, and will love us unto the end, and while we abide in Him none can pluck us out of His hand.

Not less a delusion of Satan is the idea that we have not been individually chosen and called, and therefore in despair submit to what we think our fate. This is nothing else than wilful rejection of

God's promises and salvation, "who will have all men to be saved, and come to a knowledge of the truth."

In its last paragraph our Article teaches us to accept God's promises and offers as presented to us in Scripture, without speculating on what is purposely hidden from our finite minds; and instructs us to follow and obey His revealed will as plainly and clearly set before us in the same Word. In which advice it has set us an example, in declining to enter into speculations, and rejecting the dogmas of theological systems, from which it turns to the plain words of the Bible, refusing to accept those tenets of Calvinism which go beyond what is expressly laid down in God's Word in their strivings after "an impossible logical comprehensiveness.” It is worthy of observation, what a cautious, careful, conciliatory tone, pervades these Articles treating of abstruse and difficult doctrines, contrasted with the bold, decided language of those dealing with the essential, fundamental truths on which absolute unity is needful.

In either case however, the Bible is the sole and constant authority and guide referred to and followed. The maxim with which the Articles were compiled was in spirit at least, " In necessariis unitas, in non-necessariis libertas, in omnibus caritas."