SERMON III.

EPHESIANS i. 4, 5, 6.

According as he hath chofen us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predeftinated us to the adoption of children by Jefus Chrift unto himfelf, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praife of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved:

IN the verse preceding the words now read, the Apostle thankfully acknowledges the great mercy of God, who has bleffed us with all fpiritual bleffings in heavenly things in Chrift Fefus.These bleffings he proceeds to enumerate; and the firft which he mentions is, God's choofing us to be an holy people to himself, and adopting us to the privileges of children.

The Jews, for many ages, had been the peculiar people of God, feparated from other nations, and diftinguished by fpecial advantages. God had now seen fit to take the Gentiles into covenant with himself, and to abolish the diftinction between them and his ancient people.

The Jews believed that God from the beginning had chofen them to falvation, and had appointed the Meffiah in due time to appear in the world,

that none of them might perifh. But the Apostle, to remove from the Jews all caufe of boafting, and from the Gentiles all ground of difcouragement, here declares, that God from the beginning had chofen the Gentiles in Chrift, and predeftinated them to a place in his church, that, in the enjoyment of the gospel, they might become holy and be made mete for heaven.

In our text we may obferve the following particulars.

That God had chofen and predeftinated thefe Ephefians.

That they were chofen to be holy and without blame before him, in love.

That they were predeftinated to the adoption of children to himfelf.

That they were chofen in Chrift Fefus.

That the reason of God's choofing them was the good pleafure of his own will.

That the purpose for which they were chofen was the praife of the glory of his grace.

1. We may, firft, obferve, that God chofe and predeftinated thefe Ephefian Chriftians before the foundation of the world.

Thofe fpiritual privileges and bleffings, which they enjoyed or expected, were the refult of that glorious plan, which the infinite wifdom and abundant grace of God had formed: For, as it is faid, verfe 11. they were predeftinated according to the purpose of him, who worketh all things after the counfel of his own will.

When we speak of God's foreknowledge or predef tination of events, we muft always keep in mind this idea, "that his thoughts are not as our thoughts, but as the heavens are higher than the earth, fo are his thoughts higher than ours."

This Apostle speaks of Chriftians, as predeftinated according to God's purpofe. Peter fays, They are elected according to the foreknowledge of God. But

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this mode of fpeaking rather expreffes things according to the imperfect manner in which we apprehend them, than according to the perfect manner in which they exift in the divine mind: God's understanding is infinite. He views things immediately and intuitively as they are, Darkness and light, paft and future, are alike to him. "He feeth not as man feeth, nor are his years as man's days. But he inhabiteth eternity; and one day is with him as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." Therefore all the phrafes, which we meet with in fcripture, concerning God's remembrance of things paft, foreknowledge of things to come, and deliberation on things prefent, are to be underflood, not as literally expreffive of the real operations of his mind, but as figuratively adapted to the weak conceptions of ours. "His knowledge is too wonderful for us; it is high, we cannot at

tain to it."

We know things paft by memory, and our memory we affift by records; fo God is often faid to remember things, and to keep a book of remembrance. But we are fenfible that thefe expreffions only denote God's perfect knowledge of those things, which to us are paft-not a laborious recollection of them, or an artificial method of affifting his memory. So, on the other hand, God is faid to foreknow things which are future, to foreordain things which fhall be done, to write, in the volume of his book, things which his counsel has determined; which phrafes do not fignify that things are really future and diftant to his view-that his mind is reaching forward-that he writes down a plan of operations for his own direction; but they reprefent the perfect, confummate, unerring wifdom with which he governs the universe.

Viewing the matter in this light, we shall be fen. fible that our perplexity concerning God's foreknowledge and decree, arifes from the imperfection

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of our minds, and the narrownefs of our comprehenfion; and that there is no more inconfiftency between the freedom of moral agents and God's foreknowledge, than there is between this and his prefent knowledge; for with respect to him, foreknowledge and present knowledge are the fame; the difference is only with refpect to us, with whom things exift by fucceffion.

The word election, or choofing, is, in fcripture, used in various fenfes.

Sometimes it fignifies the appointment of a perfon to fome eminent office or fervice. Chrift fays to his difciples," I have chofen you twelve;" i. e. I have chofen you to be my difciples, and preachers of my gospel. He does not mean that he had chosen them all to falvation, for one of them was a fon of perdition. In this fenfe Paul was a chofen veffel to bear Chrift's name among the Gentiles. And Cyrus, Saul, and David are called God's chofen, because they were defignated to be kings, for the execution of fome great purposes of providence.

The word fometimes intends approbation; as when Chrift fays, "Many are called, but few are chofen;" i. e. few are accepted and approved.

Often the word is ufed in a large fenfe, to comprehend the whole body of God's profeffing people, whom he has chofen out of the world to be a peculiar people to himself. The whole nation of the Jews are ftyled God's elect, and his chofen. The Christian church, the whole number of profeffed believers, are called a chofen generation, a peculiar people.

But this general fenfe of the word implies a more particular fenfe. If God has chofen fome nations rather than others, to enjoy the means of falvation, then he gives fome an advantage above others to obtain falvation; and this is as much an act of fovereignty as the election of particular persons.

And, without question, fome, in the nation, chosen to thefe privileges, will thereby eventually be made partakers of the falvation revealed. And there are fome expreffions, in fcripture, which feem to import an appointment of perfons to obtain this falvation, as well as to enjoy the means of it. Paul fays to the Theffalonians, "God hath chosen you to falvation through fanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he hath also called you by our gofpel." The Apoftle Peter calls Chriftians, "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God, through fanctification of the fpirit." Election, in these paffages, cannot be understood merely of an appointment to external privileges, for the fubjects of it are faid to be chofen through fanctification and faith. Now they were not brought to the enjoyment of the gofpel by their faith and holinefs, but they were brought to thefe by the gospel. They were called to fpiritual privileges while they were in impenitence and unbelief. The gospel was not the fruit, but the mean of their faith.

That there is an election to falvation, Chriftians are generally agreed: In their manner of explaining it, is the chief difference. Some fuppofe it to be abfolute and without regard to perfonal qualifications; others fuppofe it to be conditional, and grounded on a forefight of faith in the perfons chofen.

In all questions of this kind there are two great points, which we must keep in view-our dependence on the grace of God; and our moral agency. On the one hand, we must not fo conceive of God's election, and the influence of his grace, as to fet afide our free agency and final accountableness; nor, on the other hand, muft we fo explain away God's fovereignty and grace, as to exalt man to a ftate of independence. While we fhun these extremes, we shall not dangerously err in the doctrine before us.