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Elijah. These were "a remnant according to the "election of grace," and the rest of the nation were not. Is it not then undeniable, that there was a national election to external advantages, and a personal election entirely distinct from it? an election of individuals from among the elect nation? and that the national election of Israel was a type and figure of the personal election of the true Israel," the church of the first-born, who are "written in heaven?" The texts which are next adduced in the Refutation, as further proofs of the election of Israel,2 are considered by expositors, almost universally, as prophecies relative to the future dealings of God with the nation of Israel; and as coincident with the words of our Saviour,

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Except those days should be shortened, no "flesh" (that is, none of Israel) "should be saved; "but for the elect's sake those days shall be "shortened."3 But this subject will be more fully ⚫ considered in another place: nor are proofs needful of the national election of Israel, as it is not denied by Calvinists.

"In the numerous passages of the Old Testa❝ment, in which they are thus spoken of, there is

not the slightest allusion to their being predes'tinated to happiness in the world to come; nor in'deed will any one contend that all the Jews were designed for eternal salvation. They were elected in this world only, as an introductory and preparatory step to the execution of God's merciful ' scheme of human redemption through the incar'nation and sufferings of Christ.' 4

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'Heb. xii. 23.

Matt. xxiv. 22.

2 Is. xliii. 20. xlv. 4. lxv. 9.

* Ref. 203.

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This is a decisive proof that the national election of Israel was an entirely different thing from the election spoken of in the New Testament; being only a shadow or type of it. "God hath "from the beginning chosen you unto salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief "of the truth; whereunto he hath called you by "our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our "Lord Jesus Christ."1 "Elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanc"tification of the Spirit unto obedience, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." 2 Wherever election and predestination are spoken of in the New Testament, concerning Christians, they are uniformly connected with "things which

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accompany salvation," 3 as the reader may easily perceive by examining and comparing the scriptures referred to.-The election of Israel was indeed an introductory and preparatory step to the 'execution of God's merciful scheme of human 'redemption;' but had the Israelites themselves no advantages in consequence of it? "What ad

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vantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is "there of circumcision? Much every way; chiefly "because that unto them were committed the "oracles of God."4 It is probable that, from the days of Moses to the coming of Christ, more persons out of this comparatively small nation, were spiritual worshippers and accepted servants of God, than in all the world besides.

'We shall in like manner find that the same

12 Thes. ii. 13, 14. Eph. i. 4, 5, 11-14. 1 Pet. ii. 9, 10.

2 1 Pet. i. 2. 3 Rom. viii. 28-30. Col. iii. 12. 2 Tim. i. 9. Tit. i. 1, 2. Rom. iii. 1, 2.

Elijah. These were "a remnant according to the "election of grace," and the rest of the nation were not. Is it not then undeniable, that there was a national election to external advantages, and a personal election entirely distinct from it? an election of individuals from among the elect nation? and that the national election of Israel was a type and figure of the personal election of the true Israel," the church of the first-born, who are "written in heaven?" The texts which are next adduced in the Refutation, as further proofs of the election of Israel,2 are considered by expositors, almost universally, as prophecies relative to the future dealings of God with the nation of Israel; and as coincident with the words of our Saviour,

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Except those days should be shortened, no "flesh" (that is, none of Israel) "should be saved; "but for the elect's sake those days shall be "shortened."3 But this subject will be more fully · considered in another place: nor are proofs needful of the national election of Israel, as it is not denied by Calvinists.

'In the numerous passages of the Old Testa'ment, in which they are thus spoken of, there is 'not the slightest allusion to their being predes'tinated to happiness in the world to come; nor in'deed will any one contend that all the Jews were designed for eternal salvation. They were elected

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' in this world only, as an introductory and preparatory step to the execution of God's merciful ' scheme of human redemption through the incar'nation and sufferings of Christ.' 4

'Heb. xii. 23.

3 Matt. xxiv. 22.

2 Is. xliii. 20. xlv. 4. lxv. 9.

4
* Ref. 203.

66

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This is a decisive proof that the national election of Israel was an entirely different thing from the election spoken of in the New Testament; being only a shadow or type of it. "God hath "from the beginning chosen you unto salvation, "through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief "of the truth; whereunto he hath called you by "our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our "Lord Jesus Christ."1 "Elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanc"tification of the Spirit unto obedience, and 'sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." 2 Wherever election and predestination are spoken of in the New Testament, concerning Christians, they are uniformly connected with "things which accompany salvation,"3 as the reader as the reader may easily perceive by examining and comparing the scriptures referred to.-The election of Israel was indeed 'an introductory and preparatory step to the execution of God's merciful scheme of human redemption;' but had the Israelites themselves no advantages in consequence of it?" What ad"vantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is "there of circumcision? Much every way; chiefly "because that unto them were committed the "oracles of God."4 It is probable that, from the days of Moses to the coming of Christ, more persons out of this comparatively small nation, were spiritual worshippers and accepted servants of God, than in all the world besides.

1

'We shall in like manner find that the same

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2 2 Thes. ii. 13, 14. Eph. i. 4, 5, 11-14. 1 Pet. ii. 9, 10.

Rom. iii. 1, 2.

Tit. i. 1,

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words, elect and chosen, are applied to collective 'bodies of men who were converted to the gospel, without any restriction to those who were obedient to its precepts, and will hereafter be saved; and ' that an infallible certainty of salvation, in conse¿ quence of a divine decree, is not attributed to any ' number of Christians, or to any single Christian, ' throughout the New Testament.''

This is a statement which will require much proof: but let every argument have its due weight. What collective bodies of men were converted 'to the gospel,' in the same manner that Israel was chosen as a nation? Even the three thousand converted on the day of Pentecost, and the "tens "of thousands" 2 who afterwards believed, were merely a remnant of the nation of Israel; and like the seven thousand in the days of Elijah, " a "remnant according to the election of grace." God had "not cast away his people whom he fore"knew,"3 even when he rejected that nation from being his church. "Israel hath not obtained that "which he seeketh for; but the election hath "obtained it: and the rest were blinded."-The more copious of the apostolical epistles are addressed to the churches, or to the saints, and not to individuals: yet these were not collective bodies, they were not, as Israel is, elect nations; but a small remnant out of the large population of Asia, Macedonia, Achaia, and Rome, "according to the "election of grace."-In the epistles, however, to Timothy and Titus, the apostle joins himself with the person to whom he writes, when he speaks on this subject and thus applies it to individuals.4

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