themselves being the judges, this Scripture merely
affirms that a certain portion of mankind are chosen or elected to eternal
life; while in regard to the ground, or the reason, of their election, it
is most perfectly and profoundly silent.

Hence it leaves us free to assume the position, that those persons were
elected or chosen who God foresaw would, by a cooeperation with his Spirit,
make their calling and election sure. And being thus left free, this is
precisely the position in which we choose to plant ourselves, in order to
vindicate the divine glory against the awful misrepresentations of
Calvinism: for, in the first place, this view harmonizes the passage in
question with other portions of the divine record, and allows us, without
the least feeling of self-contradiction, to embrace the sublime word, that
God "will have all men to be saved;" and that if any are not made the
heirs of his great salvation, it is because his grace would have proved
unavailing to them.

Secondly, this view not only harmonizes two classes of seemingly opposed
texts of Scripture, but it also serves to vindicate the unbounded glory of
the divine goodness. It shows that the goodness of God is not partial in
its operation; neither taking such as it leaves, nor leaving such as it
takes; but embracing all of the same class, and that class consisting of
all who, by wicked works, do not place themselves beyond the possibility
of being saved. Unlike Calvinism, it presents us, not with the spectacle
of a mercy which might easily save all, but which, nevertheless,
contenting itself with a few only, abandons the rest to the ravages of the
never-dying worm.

Thirdly, at the same time that it vindicates the glory of the divine
mercy, it rectifies the frightful distortion of the divine justice, which
is exhibited in the scheme of Calvinism. According to this scheme, all
those who are not elected to eternal life are set apart as the objects on
which the Almighty intends to manifest the glory of his justice. But how
is this glory, or his justice, manifested? Displayed, we are told, by
dooming its helpless objects to eternal misery for the non-performance of
an impossible condition! A _display_ of justice this, which, to the human
mind, bears every mark of the most appalling cruelty and oppression. _A
display of justice stamped with the most terrific features of its
opposite_; so that no human mind can see the glory of the one, for the
inevitable mani