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forming as they do, one great and magnificent unity, very beautiful and glorious, perfect too, when the time of perfection comes, as the idea and purpose of the Father. This is the Church. Election is the basis of the Church, as predestination is the basis of a Providence.

3rd. As to the date of this election; it is before the foundation of the world (comp. Matt. xiii. 35, John xvii. 4, Luke xi. 50, Matt. xxv. 34, 1 Pet. i. 20). This is the same as the expression, "Before the ages or worlds" (1 Cor. ii. 7, comp. Eph. iii. 9, Col. i. 26, 2 Tim. i. 9, and Rom. xvi. 25). This is the ancient love of God to his people of which the Scriptures are so full, and on which the believing soul delights to dwell. His love is no impulsive feeling, varying with the changes of the creature, but the steady, irreversible purpose of His grace, based on the life and death, the doing and dying of the Mediator. We measure the strength of an affection by its permanency, and by the difficulties which it surmounts for the sake of its object. This ancient affection of the Godhead was placed upon His people before the birth of time, and in all the different ages and dispensations. In the successive dynasties and kingdoms, in all the events of Providence as well as the promises and covenants of grace, we see the gradual unfolding of that hidden love of His, until, in the person of the Incarnate Redeemer, the difficulties were all surmounted, and the Father Almighty and His prodigal son might meet! This is the love which the soul delights to contemplate! An effective love! a love that does not shrink back from impediments! a love worthy of God, and necessary for the safety and dignity of his redeemed Church.

4th. The purpose of this election is very clearly stated in one passage—“That we should be holy and

without blame before him in love."

Holy means

separated, consecrated, devoted to God. He would have a loving, devoted, holy people, and for this end He elects them. They are chosen that they should be holy and without blame before Him in love. His purpose in election is sanctification. That they should be His in the fullest sense of the word, His husbandry, His building, His temple, His living sacrifice, His fruit-bearing vine. They live a devoted life which the world cannot understand; they are separated from all other men in their hopes for the future life, and in their conduct towards God in this. Without blame means spotless (Heb. ix. 14), and is applied to the Saviour Himself as the spotless, perfect, sacrificial Lamb (1 Pet. i. 19; see Lev. i. 10, xxii. 19-23, Eph. v. 27, Col. i. 22, Jude 24, Rev. xiv. 5). Such should be the character and life of the chosen people of God, and in so far as they come short of this, they are destroying their own happiness, and withholding from God the proper returns of His love. Election is not an arbitrary, indiscriminating act of God, in order simply to secure the final salvation of so many and no more; no, it is rather the sweet and loving purpose to prevent the ruin of all, and to secure, by His own efficacious grace, the means of saving anyviz., the faith which works by love, and purifies the heart. By their fruits ye shall know them. The elect of God are the holy and blameless ones, of whom the world is not worthy. Look not for the proofs of your election to the hidden counsels of God, but to your own visible life and conversation. There is much meaning also in the phrase," Before Him in love." It is as much as to say, this holy and blameless life is no fancy picture, but a reality, and such a reality as can stand before Him. If you wish to fulfil the requirements of this verse as one of the elect of God, your walk must be holy and

blameless. This is the high end of your election, and they are deceivers and hypocrites who dare to speak of God's electing love while they are caught and captivated by the entanglements of the flesh and the world. Holiness is the end of election, while happiness, peace of conscience, and final glory itself, are subordinate and subsidiary blessings. The holiness of the Church is the earthly glory of God, and she glorifies Him as much, if not more, in her struggles and triumphs here as in her songs and hallelujahs above.

VI. ADOPTION.

"Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved." (Ver. 5, 6.)

I have followed the common punctuation in the fourth verse because the sense is good, and we are accustomed to the phrase "Holy and without blame before Him in love." It is not to be denied, however, that the weight of authorities, and the natural construction, seems in favour of connecting "in love" with the fifth verse, thus-" Having predestinated us in love to the adoption of children," &c. This construction is strengthened by Eph. iii. 17, when, in the Greek, "in love" precedes the participle. If any one wishes to see this point formally argued, he should consult Stier. I deem the decision of little importance, and, therefore, we proceed with the exposition.

1st. Wherein does the predestination of the fifth verse differ from the election of the fourth? Election only, and always, refers to the Church; predestination refers to the Church, and the world, and the whole universe. It is a general, all-embracing principle. He elected us that we should be holy, and to accomplish

this He predestined us to the adoption of sons. Election is a mere passive preference of some rather than others, while predestination is active, and includes the ideas of ordering, defining, and controlling all things according to a settled purpose or plan. Election is the foundation of a Church, and predestination is the basis of Providence. Election implies choice, predestination does not. The Church is both predestinated and elected; but there are many things ordained when there is no election. (Acts iv. 28). In the Church Jehovah is manifested as the God of electing grace and love; while in all history and Providence, among the nations of the earth, and in the different provinces of creation, He is ever present as the presiding, over-ruling, and predestinating God. Prophecy and promise have mainly to do with the Church and the Church's Head, and without a controlling, predestinating Deity, the fulfilment of the prophecies and promises is neither possible nor conceivable.

2nd. But what is this adoption to which we are predestinated? It is the very first of the privileges which Paul ascribes to the Jewish nation: "To whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever" (Rom. ix. 4, 5). In a wide sense, the Jews were nationally the children of God, and the principle of adoption was in their polity; for the Son of God, the Messiah, was the hope of the nation. They were His peculiar people (Deut. xiv. 2) in whom the seeds of righteousness were sown, which afterwards were to fructify and fill the face of the world with fruit. But the adoption is the peculiar privilege and glory of the New Testament Church, in which the incorruptible seed remains, because they are born of God. They have all become the children of

God by faith in Christ Jesus (Gal. iii. 26); they are born, not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John i. 13); by the baptism of water and the baptism of the Holy Ghost they are made partakers of the visible and invisible family of God-the kingdom of grace and the kingdom of glory. In the act of believing they become members of the household of faith, and heirs according to the promises. God stands to them in the relation of a father. The law threatens them no more, for their Surety has borne its penalty. The Spirit that crieth Abba, Father, in their hearts has sealed them unto the day of redemption (Rom. viii. 15, 23, Gal. iv. 5); and they are enabled with a well-grounded confidence to anticipate the heavenly inheritance.

3rd. This adoption into the family of God is by or through Jesus Christ. The Son is the medium of our becoming sons; nor is there any regeneration save through the Spirit which He gives. The work of Christ in our nature, His active and passive obedience, or, as the old divines expressed it, His doing and His dying, are the legal and formal grounds on which the Father proceeds in admitting members into His family and dispensing the spirit of adoption. Under the covert of mediation has the kingdom of grace been administered from the beginning, and the one Mediator is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. God has ordained us to the adoption of children through Jesus Christ, and in this special act we see the principle according to which the whole kingdom of grace is administered. Through Him, God and man are brought together. He is the God-Man and the Man-God. On earth we behold Him as God manifested in the flesh, doing the works, and speaking the words, and manifesting the character of God. To see Him was to see the

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