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"That a certain, great and glorious number, were elected by God, in his 'eternal counsel and purpofe, from the reft of fallen mankind, to be in time effectually called and juftified, in order to their being finally bro't to eternal life and glory; and this out of his meer good pleasure, and for the praise of his glorious grace. "And if the truth of this is once evinced to the conviction of a fober, honeft,and serious mind, it may be hop'd all difguft at it will ceafe, and every thought that exalts it felf against it will be fupprefled.

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I In the first place, this truth muft be establish'd by the authority of the facred fcriptures. Hither we muft refer the deci fion of all points in religion. Here we muft repair to know of every doctrine whether it be of God. Now, What faith the Scripture concerning this doctrine? And furely be that runs may read this truth throughout the facred pages.

Let me prepare the way to the more direct and pofitive proof I fhall fetch from the bible, by firft of all prefenting you with fome fcripture inftances of a lower election, of God's chufing and predeftinating certain perfons by name, and fome of them long before they were born, to fome fpecial privileges, high honours, and fignal fervi

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ces in the world. And if these may'nt be taken for pofitive proof of that election we are treating of, yet they will ferve greatly to illuftrate it, and they are by very judicious Divines look'd upon as examples and patterns of it, inasmuch as they plainly fhew that the glorious God does act with respect to the children of men, with a fovereign liberty, and in a way of difcriminating favour; yea, many of them were inftances of the very election we are now to exhibit the proof of, inasmuch as it plainly appears by the account the fcripture gives of them, that at the fame time they were called to those external privileges and temporal honours to which they were chofen, they were also called to the fpiritual and faving bleffings of the covenant of grace.

Thus Abraham was pitch'd upon to be the root and father of God's peculiar people, whom he would own and honour above all the nations of the world; and alfo to be one from whofe loins theMeffiah himself fhould defcend. Gen. 12. begin Now the Lord had faid unto Abraham, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy fathers boufe, unto a land that I will shew thee. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great ; and thou shalt be a blessing.

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And I will blefs them that bless thee, and curfe them that curfe thee: and in thee fhall all families of the earth be blessed. A high honour and advancement indeed! Yet he was more blefled in thofe fpiritual bleffings which accompanied it. For he was at the fame time made a juftified believer; as we read, Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. † He had a cove

nant intereft in and relation to God, and fuch acceptance with the Almighty, as to be fpoken of in this ftile,The friend of God. * And was there any thing in abraham, to move God thus to prefer him above the reft of his kindred? No, in no wife. It was all special grace and favour. For he was a ftupid idolater as well as the reft of his family, and had ferv'd God no better than they The fcripture represents God as acting herein with a fovereign liberty, and by a free hand of mercy fnatching him as a brand out of the burning Joshua, in Gods name, declares this to the tribes of Ifrael when they were aflembled at Shechem, Josh. 24 2, 3 Thus faith the Lord God of Ifrael. Your fathers dwelt on the other fide of the flood in old time, even Terah the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor; and

t Rom. 4. 3. * James 2. 23.
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they ferved other God's. father Abraham from the other fide of the flood, &c. For this God is ador'd long after in a folemn aflembly of the children of Ifrael, Neh. 9 7, 8. Thou art the Lord the God,who didft chufe Abram, and broughteft him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham, and madeft a covenant with him. And when the prophet had occafion to put that people in mind of their original, he does it in these terms, Ifai. 51. 2, 3. Look unto the rock whence je are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bear you; for I called him alone, and blessed him.

With the like fovereign liberty he acted with respect to Abraham's feed. He takes not all of them; but in Ifaac fhall thy feed be called t. Thus Ifaac was taken, and not Ishmael. And tho' in answer to Abraham's prayer for Ifmael, common bleffings are fecur'd to him, yet covenant bleffings are referv'd for Ifaac, and appropriated to him, who was not yet born. Gen. 17. 18, 19, 20. And Abraham faid unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! And God said, Sarah tby wife fhall bear thee a fon indeed; and thou

+ Gen. 21. 12.

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fhalt call his name Ifaac: And I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his feed after him. And as for Ifhmael, I have heard thee: Behold I have bleed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply bim exceedingly: twelve princes hall be beget, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant will I establish with Ifaac, whom Sarah fhall bear unto thee at this fet time in the next year.

The like fovereignty was exercis'd in the cafe of Jacob and Efau, who fe ftory is recorded in the 25th ch. of Genefis, and is recited and referr'd to by the apostle in the 9th ch. to the Romans, to illuftrate and confirm the truth we are establishing. They were both the fons of Ifaac by one mother, and were twin-brethren. But there was a difference made between them by the divine counsel, before they were born. Both lay ftrugling alike in their mothers womb, when it was faid, The younger shall ferve the elder. And contrary to the intention of Ifaac, Faceb inherits the bleffing. And tho' the good father blefled Jacob unwittingly, and by mistake, yet, being afterwards convinc'd that he was the perfon for whom God defign'd the bleffing, and on

* Gen. 25. 22, 23.

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