34
COD'S ELI4GT1ON OF MEN
;
IN
CHRIST
JE8trs:
(sERM
2Ia
think.it
proper
sometimes to
mention it
on
special occa-
sions,,
as
:part,
of
tl)e
counsel
of God
toward
our
salva-
tion.
Remark
II.
However
this
doctrine
may
be
opposed
by the
reasonings
of
men,
and even ridiculed
ley
a
bold
jest,
yet..
it
t
aetn
appear
to
be
a
divine
truth,
as
the
scriptures
now
:
fieein
to
teach
us,
the
blessed.
God
will
not
be
ashamed
of
it
in
the_
last
great
day
;
then
shall he
unfold
all
the scheme
of
his
original counsels,
and spread
abroad
his
iyansactions.
toward mankind, before
the face
of
all
his
intelligent
creatures.. Rev.
xx.
12.
"
When
the
judgmentshall
be set,
acid
the
books shall be
opened,"
that
is,
the
hook
of divine
laws,
and
the
several dispen-
sations
of
grace,
as well
as
the book
of
divine records,
wherein the
lives
and
actions
of
men were
written
down,
there
shall,
also.,aEl
they,
book
be
openerk even the book
of
life
:
And as
those former
books
compared together,
viz.
the
records
of
the
behaviour
of
men,
whether
good
or
evil,
compared
with
the
laws
and
dispensations
of
God,
shall
shew
the equity
of
the
great Judge
in his
re,
wards
and
punishments;
so the Lamb's book
of
life,
wherein the names
of
his
people
were written down as
elected
in
Christ, before the world began, shall discover
the
blessed
correspondence
between
the
final
sentence
of
happiness pronounced
on holy believers,
and the ori-
ginal
grace
of God
which
chose
them in
Christ
Jesus
unto faith and
holiness,
and secured this happiness for
them.
A
glorious harmony
of
divine wisdom, grace,
and
providence
!
I
cannot
think,
that
any
of
the
cavils
of wit
against
this doctrine
will
stand before the light
of the
great
tri-
bunal. Banter
and ridicule
of
electing
love,
and
of
the
names
written
in the book
of
life,
'however they
may be
applauded
in
a
degenerate
age, will
meet
with
no
applause
before that trelner
dous
appearance.. Every mouth
shall
be
stopped,
the righteousness
of
God
shall
be
cleared
from
every
imputation, the
grace
of
Godshall
be glori-
fied
in
all
his
chosen ones in
that
day,
and Christ shall
be admired
in
all
his
saints.
But
this
leads
me to the
third remark:
Remark
III.
The
whole chain
and.
current
of our sal-
vation, from the beginning to
the
end,
arises
and
proceeds
all
the
way
from
the
:free
grace
of
God, through
the
1