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SERM.
IL)
GOD'S
ELECTION
OF MEN IN
JESUS
CHRIST.
23
Is
there a
book
of
life
written
?
It
is
in the
Lamb's
book
of
life
:
The
names
Of
all
the
chosen
sons
and
daughters
of
God
were
written down
in this book,
but
his
name stands first
there
in divine
characters,
as
the
first
chosen,
and the head
of
all the
rest
:
for before the
foundation
of
the world,
God
gave the
care
of
all
these
persons
to his best
beloved
Son.
Hence
it
is
you find
our
Saviour
so
often
speaking
of
those
who
were
given
hirn by
the
Father, out
of
this
world
;
John
xvii. 2.
" Thou
hast
given
thy
Son
power
over
all
flesh,
that
he
should
give
eternal
life
to as Many
as
thou bast given
him
;"
which
the
twentieth
verse
of
this
chapter
teaches
us
to
apply
to all
who should believe
on him,
through
the word
of
the apostles,
as well as
to
.
the
apostles
themselves. And in verse
24.
"
All
that
the
Father bath
given
me,
must
be with me
where
I
am."
And
John
vi.
57.
"
All
that
the
Father
bath
given
me,
shall come
unto
me,
that
they may
have
life."
'
Hence
also
arise those
glorious expressions
of
St.
Paul
;
2
Tina.'
i.
9.
God
hath
saved
us,
and called
us with
a
holy
calling
;
not according
to
our
works,
but according
to his own
purpose and
grace,
which
was given us
in
Christ Jesus,
before the
world
began." Tit.
i.
1,
2.
"
St.
Paul speak-
ing
of
the faith
of God's
elect, he
adds
in,.hope
of
eternal
life,
which
God
that cannot
lie,
hath promised
before
the world began. "'
Here
is
grace
given to men,
before the beginning
of
the world
;
but it
is
given
more
immediately
to
Christ their
head,
in
trust
for
them,:
Here
is
.a
promise
of eternal
life
made before the
crea-
tion
;
but it
was
made to Christ, for
them,
before
they
had
a
being.
Examples
of
this
kind are
common
among
men, when one
person
is
made
trustee
of
an
estate for
many children, or heirs
that
are yet unborn, and
he
stands engaged
to
make them possessors
of
it
in
succes-
sive
seasons.
I
have
put
all these
texts together,
that
we
may ob-
serve the
whole
current of scripture running
this
way,
and leading our
thoughts
to'
this
great
doctrine,
viz.
that
as
God
has
chosen
his
people before the foundation
of
the
world to
holiness and
salvation,
so
he
has
given
them
for
this
purpose into the hands
of
his Sou.
-Nor
did the
Son
of
God
refiise
this glorious
trust,
but
chearfully
un-
dertook
the work
:
So
he
is
represented
in
the Old Tes-
c4