GODS ELECTION OF MEN IN JESUS CHRIST. {SEAM. n. fer ? What hast thou that thou hast not received ?" When St. Paul had described the gentiles as dead in trespasses and sins ; Eph. ii. 1. he ranks himself in the third verse among the children of wrath by nature, and as walking in the lust of the flesh and the mind, and confesses himself also to have been dead in sin, verse 4. but ive are quickened, saith he, to a life of holiness, by God who is rich in mercy, verses 4, 5. In themselves ,they were all without strength ; Rom. v. 6. but they are, raised to a spiritual life, by the exceeding greatness of that power which raised Christ Jesus from the dead ; Epli. i. 19, O. They were in themselves carnal and sensual, nor could they make themselves spiritual and heavenly; and therefore they must be " born again, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. They must be born of the spirit ;" John i, 13. and chapter iii. 5, 6. that is, they must have a mighty change pass upon their natures by the opera- tion of the blessed Spirit. In Eph. ii. á, 9. " neither faith nor good works are originally of ourselves; faith is the gift of God, and we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works." Thus you see this blessed work of conversion, of changing the heart of man, is described in such language as excludes man him- self from being its original author : it is regeneration or :a new birth, it is a resurrection from the dead, it is a new creation; all proper expressions to shew that the work is divine, and must have God for the author of it. Proposition III. " The distinction that is made by this workof God in the heart of men, is attributed in .scripture, not to any merit in man, which God foresaw, but to the free grace of God toward his people and his special choice or election of them, to be partakers Of these blessings." So the words of my text: We are cho- sen to be made holy, according to the good pleasure of his will. If some among the Jews, who were God's chosen visible church did believe in Christ, and receive :this salvation, theywere chosen of God, from among the rest of that nation, to become part ofhis invisible church by mere grace. When the greatest part of Israel re- jected, the Messiah, yet there was a remnant of Jews, ,according to the election of grace, who became Chris tians; and " if it is grace, then no more Of works, other-
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