Presbyter.  "  Brother  Leland,  do  you  not  believe  that
God  chose  his  people  in  Christ,  before  the  foundation  of
the  world?"

Leland  (looking  up}.  "  I  know  not,  brother,  what  God
was  doing  before  he  began  to  make  this  world."

Presbyter.  "  Brother  Leland,  but  do  you  not  believe
that  God  had  a  people  from  before  the  foundation  of  the
world?"


BROTHER  LELAND  AND   THE  PRESBYTER.  85

Leland.  "  If  he  had,  brother,  they  were  not  our  kind  of
folks.  Our  people  were  made  out  of  dust,  you  know,  and
before  the  foundation  of  the  world  there  was  no  dust  to
make  them  of."

Presbyter.  "  You  believe,  brother  Leland,  that  all  men
are  totally  depraved  ? "

Leland.  "  No,  brother ;  if  they  were,  they  could  not
wax  worse  and  worse,  as  some  of  them  do.  The  devil  is
no  more  than  totally  depraved."

Presbyter.  "  Well,  there  are  other  questions  that  will
embrace  all  these  in  substance.  I  will  ask,  whether  you
do  not  believe  that  sinners  are  justified  by  the  righteous-
ness of  Christ  imputed  unto  them  ? "

Leland.  "Yes,  brother,  provided  they  will  do  right
themselves;  but  I  know  of  no  righteousness  that  will
justify  a  man  that  won't  do  right  himself."

Presbyter.  "  Brother  Leland,  I  will  ask  you  one  more
question:  Do  you  not  believe  that  all  the  saints  will  per-
severe through  grace  to  glory,  and  get  home  to  heaven  at
last?"

Leland.  "  I  can  tell  you  more  about  that,  my  brother,
when  I  get  there  myself.  Some  seem  to  make  a  very  bad
start  of  it  here."

The  Presbyter,  seeing  that  the  audience  was  greatly
amused,  proposed  to  his  colleagues  that  they  should  retire
for  a  few  moments,  and  consult  together.  After  returning,
they  remarked  to  the  congregation,  that  brother  Leland
had  not  answered  the  questions  as  satisfactorily  as  they
could  wish,  but  they  all  knew  that  he  had  many  eccentrici-
ties, for  which  they  should  make  every  allowance;  that
they  had  concluded  accordingly  to  ask  him  a  few  questions
touching  his  call  to  the  ministry.
