The subjects discussed have been for many years the occasion of much controversy and difficulty. Whilst to certain minds it were more agreeable to read exposition of Christian truth, yet the followers of Christ may often have to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. Our Lord's public ministry showed how earnestly He contended for the truth. At every corner He was met by the men of "light and leading" amongst the Jews, and who did their best to oppose Him. Paul, too, when he lived at Ephesus, disputed "daily in the school of one Tyrannus, and this continued by the space of two years." The period of the Reformation was also one of earnest discussion between the adherents of the old faith and the followers of Luther. The questions discussed in those days, both in apostolic and post-apostolic times, were eminently practical; but they were not a whit more so than the questions of Predestination, Reprobation, and Election. These touch every man to the very centre of his being when he awakes from the sleep of indifference, and wishes to know the truth about the salvation of his soul. It has been our object, in the present volume, to dispel the darkness which has been thrown around those subjects, and to let every man see that the way back to the bosom of the heavenly Father is as free to him as the light of heaven. The following treatise consists of an Introduction bearing on the history of the questions discussed; Part I. treats of Predestination; Part II. is on Reprobation, and Part III. on Election. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. _PART I.--PREDESTINATION._ CHAPTER I. THE WORD PREDESTINATION, AND THE DOCTRINE AS HELD BY CALVINISTS. CHAPTER II. CALVINISTIC PREDESTINATION IN REFERENCE TO DIVINE WISDOM. CHAPTER III. THE DOCTRINE OF PREDESTINATION CONSIDERED WITH REFERENCE TO ALMIGHTY POWER. CHAPTER IV. PREDESTINATION CONSIDERED WITH REFERENCE TO DIVINE FOREKNOWLEDGE. CHAPTER V. PROOF-TEXTS FOR CALVINISTIC PREDESTINATION EXAMINED. CHAPTER VI. OBJECTIONS TO CALVINISTIC PREDESTINATION. CHAPTER VII. GENERAL SUMMARY OF THE DOCTRINE. _PART II.--REPROBATION._ CHAPTER I. THE CALVINISTIC DOCTRINE OF REPROBATION STATED. CHAPTER II. THE BIBLE USAGE OF THE WORD REPROBATION. CHAPTER III. PROOF-TEXTS FOR CALVINISTIC REPROBATION EXAMINED. CHAPTER IV. OBJECTIONS TO CALVINISTIC REPROBATION. CHAPTER V. SUMMARY OF THE BIBLE DOCTRINE OF REPROBATION. _PART III.--ELECTION._ CHAPTER I. THEORIES OF CALVINISTIC ELECTION. CHAPTER II. CALVINISTIC ELECTION INVOLVES POSITIVE REFUSAL TO PROVIDE SAVING GRACE FOR THE LOST. CHAPTER III. CALVINISTIC ELECTION CONSIDERED IN REFERENCE TO THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD. CHAPTER IV. CALVINISTIC ELECTION JUDGED BY THE REASON. CHAPTER V. BIBLE TEXTS IN PROOF OF CALVINISTIC ELECTION CONSIDERED. CHAPTER VI. OBJECTIONS TO THE CALVINISTIC DOCTRINE OF ELECTION. CHAPTER VII. THE SCRIPTURAL VIEW OF EVANGELICAL ELECTION.