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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
work
of 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, they
were
chosen
of
God,
from
among the
rest
of
that
nation,
to become
part of
his
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-