who bath called them out of Darkness into his marvellous Light. Expreffions fo clear, that they neither need, nor will they well admit of any Explanation. And indeed what is all this but ufing the Word to elect or choose, in its primary, moft proper, and I had almost faid natural Signification? For what is a rational Choice but a Preference given to fome Perfons or Things before others, on Account of fome real or fuppofed Excellence, or Aptnefs in the Perfon or Thing, to promote the Designs intended to be carried on by them.

2. The second Obfervation is, that in most of thefe Places where we find the Words which we tranflate Elect and Election, they are used as equivalent to the general Term Chriftian, and fignify no more than a Perfon's being chofen out of the World, and in a particular Manner dedicated to God by the Profeffion of the most pure and holy Religion. St. John addreffes his fecond Epiftle to an ELECT Lady, and tells her in the Close of it, that the Children of her elect Sifter greet ber; which, whether understood of particular Perfons, or of some particular Churches, fignifies no more than that Person's, or that Church's Profeffion of the Chriftian Faith. The fame Evangelift, fpeaking of the War between the Lamb and the Kings, Rev. xvii. fays, ver. 14. That the Lamb fhall overcome them, for he is Lord of Lords, and King of Kings, and they that are, or fhall overcome,

with him, are called, and chofen, or elected, and faithful; that is, are called to profess him, and chofen out of the World to be dedicated to him, and faithfully discharge the Duties of that Profeffion. Thus St. Peter calls all the Christians, to whom he addreffes his firft Epiftle, Elect, ver. 2. according to the Foreknowledge of God, &c. that is, as appears evident from the whole Chapter and Epistle, Perfons chofen by God, to a more pure Profeffion than the rest of the World, and therefore more strictly obliged to be holy, as he who called them is holy. It is very hard to conceive, either that all the Strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Afia, and Bithynia, fhould be elect in the Predeftinarian Sense; or that St. Peter, if he thought them fuch, should fo earnestly exhort them to live well, which was utterly needless, if they were by an irrefiftible Decree fated to do fo. In like Manner St. Paul fays to his Coloffians, (iii. 12.) Put on therefore, as the ELECT of God, holy, and beloved, that is, as Perfons chofen by him to profess his Name, in a purer Manner, and upon that Account dear to him, Bowels of Mercies, Kindness, Humbleness of Mind, Meeknefs, Long-Suffering, and fo forth. Perfons who were predeftinated to the Means of Salvation, as well as the Enjoyment of it, could not want such Virtues. Salute Rufus chofen, or elected, in the Lord, fays the fame Apoftle to the Ro

mans,

mans, (xvi. 13.) plainly in the fame Sense as he defires, that the Brethren, and the Saints, that is, the Christians in such and fuch Families may be faluted. Thus St. Peter expreffly fays, in the Close of his first Epistle, The Church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, that is plainly, to the Profeffion of Christianity, faluteth you, and Jo doth Marcus my Son. And in this Senfe only can he be understood, when he exhorts those whom he had in his former Epiftle called Elect, according to the Foreknowledge of God, to give all Diligence to make their Calling and ELECTION, that is, their Profeffion of Chriftianity, Jure; and that for this Reason, because if they did thefe Things, that is, the good Works before-mentioned, they should not fall. Had their Election been an abfolute Decree to eternal Life hereafter, and to Holiness here, as the Means of it, it was infallibly fure, without any Diligence of theirs; and they would have been fo far from any Danger of falling as to be beyond a Poffibility of doing fo finally. Thus St. Paul calls himself (Tit. i. 1.) An Apoftle of Jefus Chrift, according to the Faith of God's ELECT, and the acknowledging of the Truth which is after Godliness, or in other Words, according to true Chriftianity; and in this Sense he is called by God himself a chofen or elect Veffel unto him, (Acts ix. 15.) or, as in another Place, (Rom. i. 1.) A Perfon feparated unto the Gospel of God, before the Foundation

Foundation of the World; not decreed abfolutely and unconditionally to eternal Life, but chofen by God before he was born, to bear his Name before the Gentiles, and Kings, and Children of Ifrael, And in this Senfe he plainly tells his Son Timothy, (2 Tim. ii. 10.) That he endured all Things for the ELECT's Sake, that they might also obtain the Salvation which is in Chrift Jefus, with eternal Glory. The Elect, if predeftinated to eternal Life, could be in no Danger of forfeiting it, neither could his Sufferings or Example be at all neceflary to obtain that End for them. The Apostle must therefore mean the Chriftian Church in general, for whose Sake he fuffered fuch Things with Chearfulness and Joy, in Hopes of furthering thereby the Steadinefs and Perfeverance of the Brethren in the Faith, and confequently their Salvation. In like Manner as he rejoices in the Theffalonians, (1 Theff. i. 4.) because he knew their Election in God, that is, their fincere Profeffion of the Gospel, as plainly appears from the following Words, For our Gofpel came not unto you in Word only, but in Power, and in the Holy Ghoft, and in much Affurance; and as he had before obferved, they had fhewn their Works of Faith, and Labour of Love, and Patience in Hope in our Lord Jefus Chrift. And in this Senfe the Evangelifts ufe the Word, when they relate our Saviour's Predictions of the Deftruction of Jerufalem,

the Signs and Appearances which should be the Forerunners of it, and the wonderful Manner in which the Faithful fhould be delivered from it. Except those Days fhould be Jhortened, fay they, no Flesh should be fived; but for the ELECT's Sake thoje Days fll be Shortened; the falje Chrifts and Prophets feall fhew Signs and Wonders, injomuch that they fhall deceive, if it were posible, the very ELECT; God Jhall fend his Angels, and shall GATHER HIS ELECT from the four Winds, from one End of Heaven to the other. That the Calamities here foretold relate to the Jew

Capital and Nation can need no Proof. And that by the Elect is here meant the Jews converted to Chriftianity, the few chofen People whom God preferved for himself amidit this corrupt Nation, is generally acknowledged. And it appears plainly from the Hiftorians, that in Point of Fact, the Days of those Afflictions were very providentially shortned for the Chriftians Sakes, efpecially with Regard to Antioch, the chief Seat of the Chriftians; that Impoftors wrought fuch Signs as would have deceived the Chriftians themselves, had they not been very fteady in the Faith; and that the Chriftians of thofe Days were very wonderfully delivered from those Miseries which the Jews underwent.

And lastly, it will farther appear, that those Expreffions of St. Paul's Epiftles, par

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