excluded from the gospel covenant.

We will now meet the objector on the doctrine of election and
reprobation, the substance of which is as follows--After man fell, God
was pleased to provide a Saviour for a part of the human family. That
elect number he chose in Christ before the foundation of the world,
gave them eternal life in him, and for them only he tasted death. The
gospel is now to be preached to the whole world, and as long as they
reject it, they are unbelievers. But the elect shall sooner, or later,
all be brought to believe.

We will examine the foundation on which this statement rests. To bring
it clearly before you, we will take an example. Suppose there is a
congregation of one hundred persons. Fifty of them were elected to
everlasting life before the foundation of the world--were secured by a
Saviour, and the rest were reprobated to endless wo. For them no
Saviour was designed, and no eternal life ever has, or ever will be
given them in him. Suppose a sermon is preached to those one hundred;
and the fifty, who are elected, believe the record of their eternal
life, are brought to the obedience of faith, while the other fifty
remain unmoved. The preacher turns upon them and pronounces them
_unbelievers_. But In what sense are they unbelievers? There has been
no truth presented to them, which they disbelieve. Must they believe
that Christ is their Saviour, or that they have an eternal life in
him? But they would in such case believe a lie. If they believed right
the reverse of the elect,--_believed_ that God was their enemy and
that Christ was not their Saviour, they would be _believers_. But if
they believed what the fifty converts did, they would be
_unbelievers_. We here repeat one premise laid down in our last
discourse--viz. In order for any man to be styled a _believer or