some countries are visited with that first of all national blessings, the _light of the gospel_, while others are suffered to lie for ages buried in paganism and superstition;—why, in particular, the Jews should have been God’s favorite people for more than half the period of the world’s present existence, and the Gentiles excluded from their privileges, till the set time for their incorporation arrived;—and why the gospel meets with a more favorable reception in some places than in others, where there is no reason to suppose that the difference arises from any superior disposition in the hearts of the inhabitants, all being alike dead in sin. These are phenomena in the dispensations of providence, which, according to the principles of some, ought to be made a subject of curious and querulous investigation, as well as the mysterious dealings of divine grace. But, if God hath a right to do what he will with his own, in dispensing temporal favors, why should he not be equally a sovereign in bestowing spiritual ones? since, among all the children of men, there does not exist a single claimant deserving for his own sake either the one or the other, in the smallest degree of vouchsafement? “Who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?” Rom. xi. 35. And, if any, viewing the goodness and severity of God with a curious eye, should still persist in reiterating objections, and ask, “Why doth he yet find fault? for, who hath resisted his will?” Our answer is in the words of St. Paul, “Nay, but, O man! who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?” Rom. ix. 20.