ies of character, to love him with approval
is, as I am constituted, an impossibility. But to ordain the "acts
of the wicked," as Hodge says that God did, in order to spread
Christianity, was neither just nor good. It was doing evil that good
might come. Instead of being wise it was, if it were so, an
exhibition of unwisdom as regards the very end of creation, as it
was fitted to drive men away from, instead of bringing them to, God.
And yet wisdom, Divine wisdom, was exercised in reference to those
very persecutions. It was true, as Tertullian said, that the "blood
of the martyrs was the seed of the Church." By means of the
sufferings of the early Christians men's minds were directed to that
religion which supported its adherents in the midst of their
accumulated sorrows. Their patience, their heroic bravery in facing
grim death, threw a halo of moral glory around the martyrs which
touched the hearts of true men who lived in the midst of general
degeneration. The Christians were driven from their homes, but they
carried the truth with them.

"The seeds of truth are bearded, and adhere we know not when, we
know not where." In the world of nature there are seeds with hooks,
and others have wings to be wafted by the breeze to their proper
habitat. And if Divine wisdom watches over the seeds of the
vegetable kingdom, does it not stand to reason that it will do so in
regard to truth? God overrules the evil, and makes it the occasion
of good. Joseph was immured in jail, but from it he ascended to a
seat next the throne. Christ was crucified, but from the blessed
cross came streams of blessing. Paul was incarcerated, but from his
prison came "thoughts that breathe and words that burn," that have
kept alive the flame of piety for more than a thousand years. The
people of God still suffer, but, like the asbestos cloth when thrown
into the fire, they, by these sufferings, become purified and made
meet for the coming glory. In thus overruling evil, God, we say,
shows the highest wisdom and love fitted to secure our trust and
affection; but to ordain evil would be an illustration of supreme
folly, fitted to lower him in the estimation of angels and of men.

CHAPTER III.

THE DOCTRINE OF PREDESTINATION CONSIDERED WITH REFERENCE TO ALMIGHTY
POWER.

THE POWER OF GOD is held as supporting universal foreordination. As
in the case of wisdom, God's power must be recognised as infinite.
It is true, indeed, that creation does n