A Practical Discourse of Gods Sovereignty, Part 3 · Section 5
V. Election is in Christ. OR, The Elect are Choſen in Chriſt.
It was requiſite, the New Covenant ſhould have an Head and Mediatour, as well as the Old; That Righteouſneſs and life might flow from Him into all the Elect Seed; as ſin and death had done from Adam: In which reſpect, Chriſt and He are ſet forth as Parallels, in Romans 3. from ver 12. to 21.
The benefits which the Elect are Choſen unto, they are made partakers of by their Union with Chriſt; He is the Root in whom the Fulneſs dwels: Not only the Foundation on which the Church is built; but the Rock which affords all the Spiritual Materials of the Heavenly Temple; Even the Cement that holds one part to another, and the whole to Himſelf; and this, by virtue of the Decree. For, we are to Conſider, that there is a Decretive Union before the Actual, and That influenceth This into Being; and that as really, as the determined death of Chriſt did the Salvation of Thoſe who died before Him.
Though Chriſt be not the Cauſe of Election; yet He is the Grand Means, by whom we obtain the bleſſedneſs we were Choſen unto: By Him it is, That We have Acceſs into that Grace, Rom. 5. 2.wherein we ſtand: And we ſhall find, that the Epiſtles generally, when they ſpeak of the Great things relating to Salvation; do ſtill bring in Chriſt as the Perſon principally concern'd about it.
Salvation (indeed) is a Gift; Tit. 3. 6it is perfectly Free: yet not to be had, Rom. 5. 18, 19.but in Chriſt: It comes upon us through His Righteouſneſs. As by One's diſobedience many were made ſinners: ſo by the Righteouſneſs of One (by means of their Oneneſs with Him) ſhall many be made Righteous.
Mankind (by their Apoſtacy in Adam) had deſtroyed in themſelves, the whole of that Principle, which would have lead them to God, as their life and bleſſedneſs: And had (withal) contracted ſuch an Eumity againſt Him, and Repugnancy to all Overtures for Returning to Him; (And this Gulph was ſo fixed) as would for ever have kept God and us aſunder; had not that bleſſed Project of Chooſing in Chriſt been ſet on foot to diſſolve it. It could not be done by any Created Power; Nor could Creatures ſo much as propound a Way for it: And if they could, who durſt ſo harden himſelf, as to Mention the Thing, which onelyonly could do it! But, The Great God, bleſſed for ever, He findes out a way for it: And the ſame Love that ordain'd to Eternal life, would alſo put it in ſuch a way, as ſhould ſurely take effect: And to this end, (viz. That Thoſe Ordain'd to Salvation, might be both Rightfully entituled to that Salvation, and ſucceſſefully brought into it) They were put into Chriſt by Election: He was the Chief and Eminent Elect One; The Firſt-born and Prince of the Family; and all the Elect beſides were given to Him (as younger Brethren) to be maintain'd upon His Inheritance.
It is plain to him that reads, That the whole of Salvation was laid upon Chriſt; That He bears up the Pillars of it; and that all ſhoulders elſe had been too weak: He is both the means and Center, by whom, and in whom, God will have all things gathered together in One: He was made God with us, That we might be made One in God; as appears by the ſcope of His Prayer in the 17th. of John. In Him the Father is well pleaſed; and out of Him there is nothing pleaſing to God, or good for Men: We are therefore ſaid to be Choſen in HimaEph 1▪ 4.; To be Called in HimbPhil. 3 14.; To be Created in HimcEph. 2. 10.; To be Preſerved in Himd…ude, v…r. 2.; and in Him to be bleſſed with all ſpiritual Bleſſings. Bleſſings in themſelves,de. Eph. I. 4. would not be ſo to us, if not in Chriſt; And being in Him, all things are turned into bleſſings to us: For, now Nothing can come at us, but as coming through Him; and what ever ſo comes, is Ti…ctured, by His Divine Excellency, and made Propitious to us: And hereby it is, That the Thing we were Choſen unto; is effectually and unfailably Provided for.
There may divers good Reaſons and Ends be aſſign …d for God's Chooſing the Elect in Chriſt: As,
I. That by bringing in Man's Reſtauration this way,Arg. 1. He might (as it were) Baffle His great Adverſary, and Outſhoot him in his own Bow: And it well became the Wiſdom and Grace of God, Thus to do. The devil thought, by Poiſoning the Root, to Vitiate and Ruin the whole Stock and Progeny; and he fail'd not of His Deſign. The Lord would therefore, by putting His Elect into a Head uncapable of Degeneracy, Retrieve that Ruin; and not only recover them, but bring them into a Better Eſtate than that they had loſt: He would ſet up a Man, that ſhould be too hard for the Devil; and be able, both to Deſtroy Him, and Diſſolve his Works: And He hath accordingly done it. In which Method of Man's Recovery, is a great Anſwerableneſs to the Method of his Ruin; And it is a Thing, the Lord would have us to mind,Rom. 3. 12▪ 21. as appears by the Parallel beforementioned.
II. That by ſhewing us His Righteouſneſs in the way and manner of our Recovery;Arg. 2. we might the more readily ſubſcribe to His Righteouſneſs in the imputation of Adam's ſin: For, without the ſight and knowledge of One, we cannot with any heartineſs ſubmit to the other. Hence, Some, in their too-bold Arguings againſt Election, have alledged, That What Adam did, was without their Conſent.
III. If the Elect had not been in Chriſt,Arg. 3. the ſatisfaction He undertook for Sinners, could not have availed them. As Adam's ſin could not have been ours, if not in him: So neither the Righteouſneſs of Chriſt, if not in Him: Our ſins could not have met upon Him, nor we have been Iuſtified and Reconciled by the blood of His Croſs; If He had not ſuſtain'd our perſons, and ſtood in our ſtead. Another's Act cannot be mine, either as to Profit or loſs, if there be not some kind of Oneneſs between us.
IV. If not in Chriſt,Arg. 4. we could not have been Sanctified: The Lump was ſanctified the firſt fruits; Rom. 11. 16. The Wilde-Olive-Nature could not be ſuppreſt and changed, but by grafting into the True. As a Man cannot be Naturally born, Without relation to Adam as his Natural head: ſo 'tis impoſſible to be born again, (or Regenerated) without the like relation of Union to Chriſt as his Spiritual Head: There is no being a New Creature, without being in Chriſt:2 Cor. 5. 17. They that are joyned unto the Lord (and they only) are one Spirit with Him. The branch muſt be in the Vine, before its ſap can be derived into it: He that ſanctifieth, and they that are ſanctified, muſt be One; There muſt be a Contact, (a touching of Him) before this virtue can come from Him.
V. They were Choſen into Chriſt,Arg. 5. That the Salvation they were Choſen unto, might be invincibly ſecured; of which, this putting them into Chriſt, is a pledge irrevocable. Their Ʋnion with Him, is their ſtability; It is That makes them hold out (as He Himſelf did) till all is finiſhed:Iſa. 42. 4. He did not fail, nor was diſcouraged; ſo neither ſhall they; and this becauſe he is their Head; This makes them victorious over all the power of the enemy.
Election, indeed, makes their Salvation ſure; but it is by this way of Putting them into Chriſt: In whom the heirs of the World to come are preſerv'd; whiles the World of ungodly are deluged in Perdition—.Gen. 6. 18. (Adam, therefore, whiles a Common Perſon, and as ſuch, could not be ſaid to be in Chriſt: If he had, he could not have fallen:) For,Joh. 5. 26. the Father hath given the Son to have life in Himſelf; (i. e. to have it as a Root) That all in Him might ſtill be ſupplied from an increated Grace and Power; which holds them faſt to Himſelf; and ſo, from Withering and falling off. It is not Grace received by us, that keeps us: But that Grace which received us to the Glory of God the Father; Rom. 15. 7.which ſtill Communicates a freſh ſupply, Through Jeſus Chriſt.
Having gone theſe few ſteps, towards the Compaſs and extent of Election; It concerns us alſo to know; where this broad River hath its Head: What Rock it is, That this Immenſe Fabrick is built upon: That we may not give the honour of it to another; nor indanger our ſelves by ſettling on a wrong foundation: To ſhew which is the Scope and Subject of the Sixth particular under this General Head: viz.