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particularly considered, and therefore we shall endeavour to prove,

1. That though election oftentimes, in the Old Testament, respects the church of the Jews, as enjoying the external means of grace, yet it does not sufficiently appear that it is never to be taken in any other sense; especially when there are some of those privileges which accompany salvation mentioned in the context, and applied to some of them, who are thus described; or when there are some promises made to them, which respect more than the external means of grace; therefore if there were but one scripture that is to be taken in this sense, it would be a sufficient answer to the universal negative, in which it is supposed, that the Old Testament never intends by it, any privilege, but such as is external, and has no immediate reference to salvation. Here I might refer to some places in the evangelical prophecy of Isaiah, which are not foreign to our purpose; as when it is said, Thou Israel, art my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen; and I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away, Isa. xli. 8, 9. that this respects more than the continuance of their political and religious state, as enjoying the external means of grace, seems to be implied in those promises that are made to them, in the following words, which not only speak of their deliverance from captivity, after they had continued sometime therein, but their being made partakers of Gods special love, which had an immediate reference to their salvation thus it is said, in the following, Fear not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee, yea, Iwill help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness; and elsewhere God, speaking to the Jews, says, I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and I will not remember thy sins, chap. xliii. 25. and, Israel shall be saved in the Lord, with an everlasting salvation; ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded, world without end, chap. xlv. 17. There are also many other promises, which seem to import a great deal more than the external privileges of the covenant of grace, which many very excellent Christians have applied to themselves, as supposing that they contain those blessings which have a more immediate reference to salvation; and it would detract very much from the spirituality and usefulness of such-like scriptures, to say that they have no relation to us, as having nothing to do with the Jewish nation, to whom these promises were made.

Object. To this it may be objected, that these promises are directed to the church of the Jews, as a chosen people; and ⚫ therefore to suppose that there were a number elected out of them to eternal salvation, is to extend the sense of the word beyond the design of the context, to destroy the determinate sense thereof, and to suppose an election out of an election.

Answ. Since the word election, denotes persons being chosen to enjoy the external means of grace, and to attain salvation by and under them, it may, without any impropriety of expression, be applied in these different senses, in the same text; so that Israel may be described as a chosen people in the former sense, and yet there might be a number elected out of them, who were chosen to eternal life, to whom this promise of salvation more especially belonged, who are distinguished from the general body of the Jewish nation, who are called, in the other sense, God's elect; as when it is said, I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord; the remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies, &c. Zeph. iii. 12, 13. So that as Israel was an elect people, chosen out of the world to enjoy the external privileges conferred upon them, as a church, which they are supposed to have mis-improved, for which they were to be carried captive into Babylon; there was a remnant chosen out of them to be made partakers of the blessings that accompany salvation, such as are here promised; these are not considered as a church, governed by distinct laws, from those that Israel was governed by; and therefore not as a church selected out of that church, but as a number of people among them whom God had kept faithful, as having chosen them to enjoy better privileges than those which they had as a professing people; or as a number elected to be made partakers of special grace, out of those which had been made partakers of common grace, which they had miserably abused, and were punished for it.

2. Our Saviour speaking concerning the final destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman army, and a great time of distress that should ensue hereupon, tells them, in Matt. xxiv. 22. that those days should be shortened for the elect's sake, that is, those who were chosen to eternal life, and accordingly should be converted to the Christian faith, not from among the heathen, but out of the Jewish nation; for it is to them that he more particularly directs his discourse, forewarning them of this desolating judgment; and he advises them to pray that their flight be not on the Sabbath-day, ver. 20. intimating thereby, that that nation deemed it unlawful to defend themselves from the assaults of an enemy on the Sabbath-day, though their immediate death would be the consequence thereof; therefore this advice was suited to the temper of the Jews, and none else: No people in the world, except them, entertained this superstitious opinion concerning the prohibition of self-defence on the Sabbath-day; from whence it may therefore be inferred, that our Saviour speaks of them in particular, and not of the Christians, which were amongst them; upon which account it seems probable, that these are not intended by the elect, namely, that small number for whose sake those days of distress and tribu

lation were to be shortened ;* therefore there were an elect people whom God had a peculiar regard to, who should afterwards be converted to Christianity, namely, a number elected to eternal life out of that people, who were elected to the external privileges of the covenant of grace. And this farther appears from what follows, where our Saviour speaks concerning false Christs, and false prophets, that should shew great signs, and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they should deceive the very elect, Matt. xxiv. 24. Now it cannot be supposed of them that are called false Christs, that they would attempt to pervert the Christians, by pretending to be the Messiah; for that would be impracticable, inasmuch as they did not expect any other to come with that character since our Saviour; whereas the Jews did, and many of them were perverted thereby to their own ruin; but it is intimated here, that the elect people, which was among them, should be kept from being deceived by them, inasmuch as they were chosen to obtain salvation, and therefore should believe in Christ by the gospel.

There is also another scripture, which seems to give countenance hereunto, where the apostle shews, that God had not cast away his people, Rom. xi. 2. to wit, the Jews, that is, he had not rejected the whole nation, but had made a reserve of some who were the objects of his special love, as chosen to salvation; and these are called, A remnant according to the election of grace, ver. 5. and this seems still more plain from what follows, ver. 7. What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, that is, righteousness and life, which they sought after, as it were, by the works of the law, which, as is mentioned in the foregoing verse, is inconsistent with the attaining it by grace; but the election, that is, the elect among that people have obtained it; for they sought after it in another way, and the rest were blinded, that is, the other part of the Jewish nation, which were not interested in this privilege, were left to the blindness of their own minds, which was their ruin.

To this let me add one scripture more, Rom. ix, 6, 7. where the apostle, speaking concerning the nation of the Jews, distinguishes between the natural and spiritual seed of Abraham, when he says, All are not Israel that are of Israel, that is, there was a remnant according to the election of grace, who were chosen to eternal life out of that people, who were in other respects, chosen to be made partakers of the external privileges that belonged to them, as God's peculiar people. The sum of this argument is, that though, it is true, there are some scriptures that speak of the church of the Jews, as separated from the world, by the peculiar hand of divine providence, and favoured with the external means of grace, yet there are others * See the contrary opinion defended by Whitby in loc

in which they are said to be chosen to partake of privileges of an higher nature, even those which accompany salvation; therefore election, in the Old Testament, sometimes signifies God's purpose, relating to the salvation of his people.

2. We shall proceed to consider how election is taken in the New Testament, in opposition to those who suppose that it is there used only to signify God's bringing persons to be members of the Christian church, as being instructed in the doctrines relating thereunto by the apostles:* The principal ground of this opinion is, because sometimes whole churches are said to be elected, as the apostle speaks of the church at Babylon, as elected together with them, to whom he directs his epistle, 1 Pet. i. 2. compared with chap. v. 13. by which it is supposed that nothing is intended, but that they were both of them Christian churches. If this be the sense of every scripture in the New Testament, that treats of election, then we must not pretend that the doctrine we are maintaining is founded on it: But on the other hand, we think we have reason to conclude, that when we meet with the word in the New Testament, it is to be understood, in most places, for God's eternal purpose relating to the salvation of his people. I will not pretend to prove an universal negative, viz. that it is never taken otherwise, but shall refer to some scriptures, in which it is plainly understood so, and endeavour to defend this sense thereof.

The first scripture that we shall refer to, is in Eph. i. 4. He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and without blame before him in love; and, in ver. 5. he speaks of their being predestinated to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ; that this respects not the external dispensation of God's providence, in constituting them a Christian church, or giving them the knowledge of those doctrines, on which it was founded; but their being chosen to salvation and grace, as the means thereof, according to God's eternal purpose, will very evidently appear from the context, if we consider that they who are thus chosen, are called faithful in Christ Jesus, which implies much more than barely to be in him by external profession: they are farther described, as blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ, in ver. 3. or blessed with all those blessings which respect heavenly things; grace, which they had in possession, and glory, which they had in expectation; and they are farther described, as having obtained redemption through the blood of Christ, and forgiveness of sins; and all this is said to be done, according to the riches of his grace, and the good pleasure of his will, who worketh all things after the counsel thereof; and certainly all this must contain much more than the external dispensation of providence * See Whitby's discourse, &c. page 10, & seq.

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relating to this privilege, which they enjoyed as a church of Christ.

Again, in 1 Thess. i. 4. the apostle says concerning them, to whom he writes, that he knew their election of God. That this is to be understood of their election to eternal life, is very evident; and, indeed, he explains it in this sense, when he says, God hath, from the beginning, chosen you unto salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit, and the belief of the truth, Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 Thess. ii. 13, 14. the gospel is considered as the means of their attaining that salvation, which they are said to be chosen to; so that their election contains more than their professed subjection thereunto as a church of Christ: Besides, the apostle gives those marks and evidences of this matter, which plainly discover that it is their election to salvation that he intends; accordingly he speaks of their work of faith, labour of love, and patience of hope, in our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the gospel's coming not in word only, but also in power, 1 Thess. i. 3, 5. by which he means not the power that was exerted in working miracles, for that would be no evidence of their being a church, or of their adhering to the doctrines that were confirmed thereby, since every one, who saw miracles wrought, did not believe; therefore he means, that by the powerful internal influence of the Holy Ghost, they were persuaded to become followers of the apostles, and the Lord, and were ensamples to others, and public-spirited, in endeavouring to propagate the gospel in the world. Certainly this argues that they were effectually called by the grace of God, and so proves that they were chosen to be made partakers of this grace, and of that salvation, that is the consequence thereof.

There is another scripture, in which it is very plain that the apostle speaks of election to eternal life inasmuch as there are several privileges connected with it, which the Christian church, as such, cannot lay claim to: thus, in Rom. viii. 33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Now if justification or freedom from condemnation, accompanied with their being effectually called here, which shall end in their being glorified hereafter, be the result of their election, as in ver. 30. then certainly this includes in it more than the external privileges of the covenant of grace, which all who adhere to the Christian faith are possessed of, and consequently it is an election to salvation that the apostle here intends.

Object. It is objected, that it is more than probable, when we find, as we sometimes do, whole churches styled elect in the New testament, that some among them were hypocrites; particularly those to whom the apostle Peter writes, who were con

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