self decreeing, and tberefore if he is from everlasting to ever. lasting, they are so likewise. 3. The decrees of God are most free 66 he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy," 4. They are most wise decrees, as the apostle expresses it, speaking of them " a depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God in them," Rom. xi. 33.-5. They are immutable and unalterable: they are the mountains of Brass, out of which come forth the horses and chariots, the executioners of divine providence. Zech,vi. 1-8. 6. The decrees of God are always effectual; they cannot be frustrated or disannulled, or become of no effect; For the Lord of hosts bath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? Isai. xiv. 27. OF THE SPECIAL DECREES OF GOD, RELAT. ING TO RATIONAL CREATURES, ANGELS, THE special decrees of God, respecting rational creatures, commonly go under the name of predestination; this is usually considered as consisting of two parts, and including the two branches of election and reprobation, both with res pect to angels and men; for each of these have place in both. Angels; some of them are called elect angels, 2 Tim. v. 21. others are said to be reserved in chains, 2 Pet ii. 4. Men; some of them are vessels of mercy; and others are the rest that are left in, blindness, Rom. ix. 22, 23, I shall begin with, I. The election of angels; of this the scriptures speak but sparingly, and therefore the less is necessary to be said concerning it: there is a similarity between their election and the election of men; though in some things there appears a little difference,-1. The election of angels, as well as of men, is of God: they are called the angels of God, Luke xii. 8, 9. 2. Their election, as that of men, lies in a distinction and separation from the rest of their species not only by their charac. ters; but by their state and condition. 3. in their election their were considered as on an equal foot with others not elected, as men are; as men are considered, when chosen, as in the pure mass, having done neither good nor evil, so were angels; 4. their election, though it is not said to be made in Christ, as the election of men nor could it be made in him, considered as Mediator; yet they might be chosen in him, as they seem to be, as an Head of conservation; as an Head both of eminence to rule over them; and of influence, to communicate grace and strength to them; to confirm them in their state in which they are; for Christ is the head of all principality and power, Col. ii. 10. 5. Though the angels are not chosen to salvation as men are; as that signifies a deliverance from sin and misery; yet they are chosen to happiness, to communion with God now, whose face they ever behold; and to a confirmed state of holiness and impeccability. II. The election of men to grace and glory, is next to be considered; and it may be proper in the first place to take some notice of the election of Christ, as man and mediator; who is God's first and chief elect; and is, by way of eminency, called his elect; Behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth, Isai. xlii. 1. and oftentimes the chosen of God, Psal. lxxxix. 3. Luke xxiii. 35. 1 Pet. ii. 4. either,-1. It respects the choice of the human nature of Christ to the grace of union with him as the Son of God, Heb. x. 5. Psal. cxxxix. 16. or,-2. The character of elect, as given to Christ, respects the choice of him to his office as Mediator in which he was set up, and with which he was invested, and had the glory of it before the world began. He was first chosen and set up as an Head: and then his people were chosen, as members of him, 1 Pet. i. 18-20. Rom. iii. Some are of opinion that this doctrine of election, admitting it to be true, should not be published, neither preached from the pulpit, nor handled in schools and academies, nor treated of in the writings of men; the reasons they give, are because it is a secret, and secret things belong to God; and because it tends to fill men's minds with doubts about their salvation, and to bring them into distress, and even into desa pair; and because some may make a bad use of it, to indulge themselves in a sinful course of life, and argue, that if they are elected they shall be saved, let them live as they may, and so it opens a door to all licentiousness: but these reasons are frivolous and groundless; the doctrine of election is no secret, it is written as with a sunbeam in the sacred scriptures; a truly gracious man may know for himself his election of God, 1 Thess. i. 4, 5. The first question to be put to a man by himself, is not, am I elected? but, am I born again? am I a new creature? am I called by the grace of God, and truly converted? If a man can arrive to satisfaction in this matter, he can have no doubt about his election; that then is a clear case and out of all question. If the apostle thought himself bound to give thanks to God for his choice of the Thessalonians to salvation; how much more reason had he to bless the God and Father of Christ for his own election, as he does 2 Thess. ii. 13. Eph. i. 3, 4. With what exultation and triumph may a believer in Christ take up those words of the apostle, and use them with application to himself, Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? Rom. viii. 33. yea our Lord Jesus Christ exhorts his disciples, rather to rejoice that their names were written in heaven. Strange! that this doctrine should of itself lead to licentiousness, when the thing itself, contained in it, is the source of all holiness; men are chosen, according to this doctrine, to be holy. How clearly and fully does the apostle Paul enlarge on this doctrine of election in Rom. ix. and xi. and in Eph. i. and 2 Thess. ii. and in other places? and since it is so plentifully declared in the Bible, we need not be ashamed of it, nor ought we to conceal it. I proceed then, ture. 1. To observe the phrases by which it is expressed in scripIt is expressed by being ordained to eternal life, Acts xiii. 48. As many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Some, in order to evade the force and evidence of these words in favour of election, would have them rendered, As many as Q were disposed for eternal life, believed; but this is not agreeable to the use of the word throughout the book of the Acts by the divine historian ; by our translators it is rendered determined in Acts xv. 2. and appointed in chap. xxii. 10. and xxviii. 23. and here preordained, in the vulgate Latin version, and by Arias Montanus; besides, there are no good dispositions for eternal life in men before faith; whatsoever is not of faith, is sin; and men, in a state of unbelief and unregeneracy, are foolish and disobedient. This act of God is also expressed by the names of persons being written in heaven, and in the Lamb's book of life, Luke x. 20. Heb. xii. 22. Phil. iv. 8. Rev. xiii. 8. But the more common phrases used concerning it, are those of being chosen and elected, Eph. i. 4. 2 Thess. ii. 13. Rom. viii. 33. and xi. 7. The election treated of is not, -1. An election of a nation to some external privileges, as the people of Israel, who were chosen of God to be a special people above all people on the face of the earth; as in Rom. ix. 4, 5. but in the same context it is observed, that they were not all Israel, or God's elect, it was only a remnant of them that were of this sort, which should be eternally saved.-2. Nor of an election to offices; as the sons of the house of Aaron were chosen to minister, in the office of priests, to the Lord; and as Saul was chosen to be king over Israel; and the twelve were chosen to be apostles of Christ; for there were many in the priestly office very bad men; and Saul behaved so ill, as to be rejected of God from being king, that is, from the kingdom being continued in his family; and though Christ chose twelve to be his apostles, one of them was a devil.-3. Nor of an election of whole bodies and communities of men, under the character of churches, to the enjoyment of the means of grace: Eph. i. 4. is no instance of this. Those who he says were chosen in Christ, were not the Ephesians only, but others also. The phrase of being chosen in Christ, is sometimes used of a single person, and so is not appropriate to communities and churches, Rom. xvi. 13. When the apostle Peter speaks of some he writes to as elect, according to the fore knowledge of God, and as a chosen generation, 1 Pet. i. 2. and ii. 9. he does not write to them, and speak of them, as a church; for he writes to strangers, scattered abroad in several countries. 4. Nor is this act of election under consideration, to be understood of the effectual vocation of particular persons; though that is sometimes expressed by choosing men out of the world, 1 Cor. i. 26, 27. the reason of which is, because vocation is a certain fruit and effect of election, and is a sure and certain evidence of it; For whom God did predestinate, them he also called, Rom. iii. 30. But then election and vocation differ, as the cause and the effect, the tree and its fruit, a thing and the evidence of it. But-5. This is to be understood of the choice of certain persons by God, from all eternity, to grace and glory, 2 Thess. ii. 13. This is the first link in the golden chain of man's salvation. II. The next thing to be considered is, by whom election is made, and in whom it is made; it is made by God, and it is made in Christ. 1. It is made by God, as the efficient cause of it; God, who is a sovereign being, and has a right to do what he will with his own; shall he be denied that which every man thinks he has a right unto and does? Do not kings choose their own ministers; masters their servants; and every man his own favourites, friends, and companions? And may not God choose whom he pleases to communion with him, both here and hereafter; or to grace and glory? He does this, and therefore it is called election of God; of which God is the effi. cient cause, 1 Thess. i, 4, and the persons chosen are called God's elect, Rom. viii. 33. Luke xviii. 7. This act is, for the most part, ascribed to God the Father, Eph, i. 3, 4. Sometimes it is ascribed to Christ, and he takes it to himself, I speak not of you all; I know whom I have chosen, John xiii. 18. Nor is the blessed Spirit to be excluded; for since he has a place in the decree of the means, he must have a concern with the Father and the Son in the act itself, as the efficient cause of it. This being the act of God, it is for ever; unchangea. able and irrevocable. 2, This act is made in Christ, accord |