of devout but unbelieving religion, will accufe us of trifling, in gravely bringing forward Scripture to prove that faith means believing.-But -would that all profeffors of the Gofpel did. but know that fimple truth.

This paffage declares, in the second place, what the children of God think of Chrift; what it is they believe concerning him, to the exclufion of thofe falfe views of him, or to speak more plainly thofe falfe Christs, which the rejectors of the true, have and glory in. They believe-not that a faviour of fome kind or another has appeared; or that an unknown fomething has been done towards the falvation of men; or that a person, who went by the name of Christ, lived and died about 1800 years ago: they believe-that Jefus is THE CHRIST-that very Chrift and no other, whom God hath fet forth in his word-promifed of old by his prophets-and proclaimed as come by his apoftles: in fhort, their views of Jefus, the Chrift, are derived from what they know to be the only unerring fource of intelligence on that fubject, the word of God; fo that in believing that Jefus is the Chrift, they fubmit to the whole record of God concerning his Son, the glorious Gospel of God our Saviour. Thefe (faith John at the latter end of his Gospel) are written, that ye might believe that Jefus is the Chrift the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name. So they who know that Jefus is the Chrift, have learned the great truth which the Scriptures were written to make known-they believe the Gospel-they have heard and learned of the Father-they are born of Godthey fhall be faved.

A.

THE

THE PURPOSE of GRACE.

NOTHING is more capable of demonftration,

if we take it for granted that the Scriptures are the word of God, than that the felf-moved good pleasure of Jehovah's eternal purpose, is the grand original fource of all fpiritual and eternal bleffings: according as it is written, Who hath faved us, and called us-according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Chrift Fefus before the world began.-The choice of the Mediator's perfon, in whom men fhould be bleffed, and his fore-ordination to be the beginning of the new creation, was the effect of mere good pleafure, and fovereign favor. I will GIVE thee for a covenant to the people, is the language of pure grace. In the eternal purpose, Chrift ftands the first and chief elect. Hence the Father calls him, Mine elect, in whom my foul delighteth. He is the first-born among many brethren in the household of faith, the family of heaven; the centre of Jehovah's delights amongst the fons of men. In him God is well pleafed; and out of him, he is nothing but difpleafure against finners. Hence the remnant according to the election of grace, are chofen in Him; and unless this had been the cafe, there could have been no falvation. That Jehovah's good pleasure was the only cause of a people's being chofen in Christ before the foundation of the world, and of grace being treasured up in Him, by the Divine decree, for the falvation and glorification of numberless finners, is a fact which fhines with the clearest luftre, and is demonftrated and confirmed in the

oracles

oracles of unerring truth. Hence we read of a remnant according to the election of grace-of predeftination to the adoption of children, according to the good pleasure of his will, which he had purpofed in himself, &c. And it is equally plain from the fame authority, that his original defign in the appointment of Chrift, &c. was his own glory, the manifestation of his fovereignty, wifdom, juftice,, holiness, mercy, faithfulness, power, and truth..

But though this good pleasure of the Divine goodness is fo grand in its own nature,-fo full of Divine fovereignty,-fo confiftent with all the Divine perfections,-fo infinitely worthy of HIMSELF to make known, that he is represented as delighting in the fame, before he gave birth to time, or existence to creatures; yet it is most difguftful to, and mortally hated by, the fons of pride, who think. no reproaches too odious to caft upon it! But why is it fo?. Why should man reply against God? Why does the creature pro ceed fo impioufly, as to call the God that made him to his bar, and cenfure and condemn his conduct, who has a fovereign right to do according to his own pleasure, in heaven and earth, without being fubject to any one's enquiry into the reafons of his procedure?

The true caufe of this ungodly oppofition is, that vain man would fain have fome ground of glorying in himself before. God, whereas the language of the Bible is, The loftiness of man fball be bowed down, and the haughtiness of man fball be made low and the LORD ALONE fhall be exalted. It not only forbids creatures glorying in the Divine prefence; but ftrips them of all their fancied importance, and leaves them deftitute of the least pretence to, or ground of boafting.

Hence

Hence the very finews of human pride are cut; and every one that is faved, enters the kingdom of heaven upon the fame footing as a little child. But however this fublime truth is hated, traduced, and rejected, by thofe who fancy themselves rich, and fo ftand in need of nothing; it will ever prove falutary to those who view themselves as poor and miserable; because towards fuch it wears the most encouraging, friendly, and fmiling afpect: for, if rightly understood, the doctrine of Divine fovereignty opens a door of hope, prefents an all-fufficient relief, to thofe who are justly condemned, and on the very verge of defpair. The felf-fufficient, like their prime leader, go about to pervert this heavenly doctrine: for although, like him, they can use Scripture; and in general terms, talk highly about the eternal purposes of grace; yet under that name, they set up a thing contrary in its nature to the true grace of God. Such are they who make the true caufe of the divine choice to falvation and eternal life, to centre in fome foreseen works, pious defires, repentance, &c. But could we imagine that man appeared, in the foreknowledge of God, as pure and holy as the angels who finned not; yet if that were the cause, or in any sense the reason, that influenced Jehovah to choose them, though we might discover faithfulness and justice in the Almighty, when accomplishing his defigns, we directly lofe fight of fovereign grace. And though the fignification of the term grace be twisted and turned by falfe criticism, to blind the eyes of the weak and unstable; yet an authority higher than human, warrants us to fay, that if any, or all of the above-mentioned things be the cause of any being chosen to eternal life, Grace is no

more

more grace. Yea, we may go further, and yet keep within the bounds of revealed truth. The eternal purpose of grace was not the effect of Jehovah's foreknowledge, even of the fpotless obedience, and perfect atonement of Chrift This is not the cause of everlasting love, and the eternal purpose; but the fruit and effect thereof. John iii. 16. Much lefs then would it comport with the Scripture account of the eternal purpofe, or the genuine fignification of grace, to fay that forefeen works, or any inward qualities whatever in the creature, were the moving cause, or even the remoteft medium of the divine. choice.

Again; the fuppofition that any thing forefeen in the creature, influenced the divine choice, is oppofed by that state, which the word of God reprefents mankind univerfally to be in, and in which the divine prefcience must have univerfally beheld them, viz. a state of fin, in which they lay polluted as an unclean thing; and obnoxious to the divine wrath; which it would be blafphemy to fuppofe could draw out the love of the holy God, fo could not be any reafon of the divine approbation or choice. But the Holy Ghoft, even the Spirit of truth who cannot err, makes void the hypothefis we are oppofing, when he tells us, that they who were chofen in Christ Jefus before the foundation of the world, and predeftinated to the adoption of children by Jefus Chrift, according to the good pleasure of bis will, to the praife of the glory of his grace,-were dead in trefpaffes and fins, and by nature the children of wrath, even as others. Thus He who fearches the mind of God reports, and we know that his witness is true.

Further;