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out into utter darkness; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." And in his prayer, John xvii. he says. I pray for them; I pray not for the world, (those among the Jews who died in their sins) but for them which thou hast given me ; for they are thine, and all thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. Holy Father keep through thine own name, those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are."

The distinction runs through all Paul's writings; several passages of which, to the point, have been already quoted; which, to avoid repetition as much as possible, we shall forbear to mention here. The 9, 10 and 11th chapters of his Epistle to the Romans, are especially full to this point.

St. Peter brings it into view with great clearness in the 2d chapter of his first Epistle. It is to be noted that this Epistle is addressed to the strangers (i. e. believing Jews) dispersed through Pontus, Galatia, Capadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are characterized, as "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the father, through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." To them, he says, "Unto you therefore which believe, he is precious; but unto them which be disobedient; the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence; even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient, where unto also they were appointed. a chosen generation, a royal But ye are priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should shew forth the praises of him, who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light."

Finally, this distinction is presented in the sealing of a definite number out of every tribe of Israel, mentioned in the 7th chapter of the Apocalypse." And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God; and he cried aloud to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth, and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in

their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed, and there were sealed an hundred, and forty and four thousand, of all the tribes of the children of Israel.'

Facts exactly coincide with these doctrinal representations of the scripture. Abraham had other children, besides Ishmael and Isaac. He had six sons by a woman, whom he married after Sarah's death. But they were not counted for the seed, respected in the promise. Gen. xxv. 5. "Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac, as the heir; but unto the sons of the Concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son while he yet lived, eastward unto the east Country." Jacob had an ele. vation to the prejudice of Esau, as to his primogeniture. He was established the heir, and counted for the seed, with whom the covenant was to take effect, before he was born. Gen. xxv. 23. The whole history of Jacob exhibits him in this light, as an object of special covenant favor, in distinction from Esau. The Israelites and Edomites, as bodies, were as distinguishable, as are now the Church and the world. Some of Israel fell in the wilderness; and others entered into the promised land. In the time of Rehoboam the largest branch was cut off from the stock. The ten tribes separated from the tribe of Judah, and went off into idolatry, in which they have continued to the present day. The seed was from that time perpetuated peculiarly in the tribe of Judah. "In Judah God was known. He refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim: But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved; and he built his sanctuary like high places, like the earth which he hath established forever." Psalm 1xxviii. 67-69. When Elijah complained of the apostacy of the people as universal, God assured him, that," he had reserved to himself seven thousand men, that had not bowed the knee to the image of Baal."

When the Messiah appeared, he sat, in exact fulfilment of the prediction delivered by Malachi, "as a re

finer and purifier of silver. He was a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppressed the hireling in his wages, the widow and fatherless, and that turned aside the stranger from his right, and that feared not God." According to the prophetic denunciation of John, he gathered the wheat into his garner, and burnt up the chaff with unquenchable fire. To as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them who believed on his name." To the residue he says, Mat. xxiii. 34. "Behold I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes, and some of them ye shall kill, and crucify; and some of them ye shall scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city; that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation." By generation here is evidently intended, according to the distinction urged; not all numerically who lived in that day; but all of a class; those who were blinded. In the days of the Apostles, some stood by faith, while others were broken off for unbelief. And in eternity, we find, as a representation of the issue, Dives in hell, and Lazarus in Abraham's bosom, both of them natural descendant from Abraham.

From the position that the term seed was designed to comprehend all the individuals numerically, what consequences, directly opposed to all this scripture evidence, and to millions of facts, will follow? It will follow, that no soul could ever be cut off from his people. It will follow, that all the seed numerically have had the faith of Abraham, and are saved. It will follow, that divine sovereignty does not discriminate between one part of Abraham's natural offspring and another, where it is expressly insisted on, all over the scriptures; it will follow, that no wrath can be expressed towards any part of the nominal seed; and yet it

is expressly said, "that wrath has come upon them to the uttermost.” It will follow, that it was a valid covenant plea, which the Jews advanced, "We have Abraham to our father; whereas, it is expressly condemned, as having no warrant in the covenant.

It will follow, that the covenant was so constructed as to give the reins entirely to licentiousness, with respect to the descendants of Abraham; in the same manner that the doctrine of universal salvation does, with respect to the world at large, and it will follow, that all the solemn denunciations of the holy Jesus against the hypocrites among the Jews, were words without reason or meaning.

Upon the whole, we conclude with certainty, that the seed respected in the covenant, and with whom it was established, is that portion of the natural descendants of Abraham, who were predestinated to be joint heirs with Christ of an everlasting inheritance. These are numerous, and are characterized in a manner which does by no means apply to all the nominal Israel. For the writer to the Hebrews says xi. 13 and 14 verses. "Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth: Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city.

Having ascertained whom we are to understand by the seed, we are next to enquire respecting the visibility of the seed. This is of importance, that we may have just views of the divine economy in regard to the Church, and that we may duly regulate our own conduct. A thing may be contemplated as being what it is in the sight of God, who cannot err; and what it appears to be in the sight of man, who has not intuition,

* How strange that any one should suppose the promises respected ultimately temporal objects; when the true Israel did not in this world receive them."

but whose judgment is to be regulated by evidence. To God, before whom all things are naked and open, the distinction between visible and invisible does not apply. But to men, who receive their ideas through a fallible medium, it does. We find ourselves often mistaken with respect to the objects we contemplate. The earth appears to us à plain, and that it is, has been the serious opinion of thousands of philosophers. But voyagers have proved it to be a globe. Judas was considered, by his fellow disciples, as a friend to Christ, till the treasonable designs of his heart were disclosed. The divine Being, perfectly wise and good, ever treats man according to his nature. He does not require of him knowledge beyond the reach of his capacities. His institutions, and laws, must of course be ever understood, as coinciding with his condition and capacity. They must be suited to the doctrine, that, man looketh on the outward appearance. To interpose by constant revelations, in order to determine the real moral state and future destiny of every individual, would be incompatible with a state of trial. To unmask the hypocrite, and extirpate him from the midst of the holy people, would be to anticipate the judgment. Engaged to perpetuate a seed to Abraham, and designing them, not only as monuments of his grace, but as depositaries of his will, it was necessary that God should form them into a visible society; that they should be as a city set on an hill which cannot be hid. In this case they would have reciprocal obligations to one another. They would be visibly brethren; and be bound to treat each other as such. This visible society would necessarily comprehend some, and it may be very many, who are not really children of promise. The wheat and the tares, as is the case in the Christian Church, would necessarily grow together. The purest discipline would not prevent; and never was designed to prevent it. Discipline is designed to extirpate open offenders; but not those, who, though in the sight of God they may be servants of Satan, in the sight of men, are servants of God. For God to deter.

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