THERE ARE SEVERAL passages in Scripture in which both the Gentile and the Jewish converts are called the elect, and where this term can be used in no other sense than with reference to baptism; St. Paul says, "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect'? shall God who justifies them, or Christ who died for them? shall He who maketh intercession for them, condemn them? The same apostle instructs the Colossians "to put on (as the elect of God holy and beloved) bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering";" &c. These are the graces which we are bound to acquire as members of Christ's kingdom; but we become members of Christ by no other means than by baptism. In saluting Titus, St. Paul speaks of the Christian faith as being held by "the elect of God," of which they had made profession in their baptism. St. Peter alludes to baptism in more distinct terms, when he salutes all Christians as the "elect according to the fore-knowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." Here then there can be no mistake. He addressed Christian men, who according to his own words must have been baptized in Christ's name for the remission of their sins, else they could neither have been Christians, nor the elect of God". They had received that gift of the Holy Spirit, which he said would be conferred in baptism, or by the

*sprinkling of the blood of Christ, namely, “sanctification.” Had there not been a specific time for election, but every one left to fancy that he had been elected, the apostle would have worded his salutation more cautiously than he had done in his Catholic epistle. Upon the Calvanistic scheme of election, it would have been impossible for even an apostle to have addressed all Christians as the elect; but upon the Christian system, he knew that all those scattered Christians whom he addressed, had been baptismally elected, to whom he addressed most anxious exhortations, to make both their calling and their election sure, by clothing themselves with humility, soberness, and vigilance; giving all diligence to add to their virtue, knowledge of divine things, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity.

ST. JOHN ADDRESSED his second epistle "unto the elect lady and her children whom I love in the truth; and not I only but also all they that have known the truth." It is just possible to strain the expression of the elect lady, to mean some particular female and her family; but undoubtedly it must rather indicate a particular Church. The Church universal is the spouse of Christ, and is always called a mother; the mother of all the sons of God; she is always spoken of in the feminine gender; and the individual members of the Church are generally denominated her children. St. John always designates all Christians as "little children;” “children of God;" "the children of God by faith." The elect children then in this text were the baptized members of some particular Church, which God had elected in Christ, and whose members He had predestinated unto the adoption of children. This fact is confirmed by St. John's salutation in the conclusion of this same epistle, where he says, “The children of thine elect sister greet thee;” that is, the Christian Church of Ephesus, as Dr. Lightfoot thinks, sends greeting to her sister Church of Philadelphia. This manifested the holy fellowship and communion which then existed and ought always to exist between sister Churches throughout the world, which having one common faith, one baptism, and one Lord and Head, are elected into the obedience of

* 1 John v. 13. 7 Rom. viii. 16. 8 Gal. iii. 26.

the same faith.

Thus Babylon called And the anti-Christian

"I will only add," says Mr. Pyle, "that St. John, in styling this Christian Church a lady, follows the language of the old Scriptures. herself the lady of kingdoms9.' Babylon is represented as saying in her heart, 'I sit a queen. What these arrogantly and falsely applied to themselves, the Apostle here truly applies to the Christian believers'." This collective election, therefore, of particular Churches means the individual election of their respective children or members in their baptism, in which sacrament they were all sanctified and made children of God. Throughout the whole of the apostolic writings, the members of Christian Churches are represented as Saints, chosen of God, elect, and, as such, beloved. St. Peter accordingly concludes his first epistle with a confirmation of this doctrine, "the Church that is at Babylon [in Chaldea], elected together with you, saluteth you."

IN SPEAKING of His future brethren in Jerusalem, our blessed Lord styles them "the elect." When predicting the calamities that were to come upon the guilty city of Jerusalem, He said they should be so great that except the days of the siege should be shortened no flesh could be saved alive; "but for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened......if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect......and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds." The elect here spoken of were the Jewish Christians residing in Jerusalem at the commencement of its memorable siege. For although the Jews as a nation were rejected; yet as in the time of Elijah when there were seven thousand faithful Israelites, "even so, then at this present time, also there is & remnant according to the election of grace" Christ warned the elect, that is, the Jewish Christians, to flee to the mountains when they saw the Roman army encompassing Jerusalem, and that too, in such haste, that they were not to lose any time in packing up and carrying away any of their effects. The gates might be shut whilst they lingered, and escape made impossible; or if they did escape they might

fall into the hands of the besiegers. The goodness and mercy of God interfered to save this "remnant"-the elect-who no longer trusted in the works of the law but were obedient to the faith; for it is related by Josephus that after the Roman army had even broken ground against Jerusalem, Titus suddenly and unaccountably, as if struck by some panic, withdrew his army for a short time to some distance, and thus left a passage free for the elect to escape. "The election," therefore, mindful of their Lord's merciful warning and promised deliverance, made their escape in this short interval, whilst those who had apostatized and those who still continued to place confidence in the abrogated works of the ceremonial law, having been judicially blinded remained and experienced the horrors of that terrible siege, which were greater than ever had been known before, "or ever shall be."

THE ADOPTION, and the glory, and the covenants, and the first offer of the gospel, belonged of right to the natural seed of Abraham; but in consequence of their hardness of heart and of their rejection of the gospel and of everlasting life, the Apostles turned to the Gentiles. These, according to the design of God from the beginning of the world, joyfully accepted the offered light; and in consequence they became the elect people of God-the spiritual seed of Abrahamthe children of the Promise and of God, " that the purpose of God according to election might stand [good] not of [the] works [of the ceremonial law] but of [the works of the righteousness of] Him that calleth"" the Gentiles into his kingdom. For their unbelief, He rejected his ancient inheritance to whom he had committed His lively oracles; because they persisted in attaining to righteousness through an obstinate observance of the works of the law, instead of by a sincere obedience to the faith delivered by the Apostles. The Gentiles were called and elected to be the Church or peculiar people of God; because He had predestinated and chosen them in Christ before the foundation of the world. As individuals, we are called and elected in baptism, when we were made partakers of the divine nature, and were

4 Rom. ix. 11.

chosen to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and the belief of the truth. All the blessings of the Christian religion have been given to us by divine power and goodness; and therefore an apostle earnestly entreats us, to "give all diligence to make our calling and election sure, by "giving all diligence" to obey the whole will of God, which is in fact the whole duty of man-“if ye will enter into life KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS." The same apostle says, that whosoever lacketh the fruits of the Spirit are ignorant of their religious duties; and above all that they wilfully shut out the light, and close their eyes against the privileges and the obligations of their baptism; "have forgotten that they were [then] purged from their old sins;" that they have forgotten that great fundamental truth, that in baptism their original and actual sins were forgiven; and that they were, through the merits and mediation of Christ, reconciled to God. He adds, therefore, that the only way in which we can make our calling and election sure, is by the diligent performance of our Christian duties. That we should do as the Church teaches and helps us to do, praying always "that it may please God to give us an heart to love and dread Him, and diligently to live after His commandments; to give us true repentance; to forgive us all our sins, negligences, and ignorances; and to endue us with the grace of His Holy Spirit to amend our lives according to His holy will."

BESIDES THE FACTS already stated, that we are called and élected into the kingdom of God in baptism, our names are also at the same time written into the Book of Life, in that sacrament. The Apostle says we then put on Christ; that Christ is in us; that we are Christ's; new creatures in Christ; Christ liveth in us; Christ is formed in us; we are created in Christ Jesus; He dwells in our hearts by faith; we die and rise again with Christ; in short,-Christ is all and in all.

CHRIST IS THE BOOK OF LIFE. This was the faith of Moses and the prophets, as well as it is that of the Christian Church. When the Jewish Church lapsed into idolatry at the foot of Mount Sinai, Moses interceded for them and offered his own soul as their ransom. "Yet now if thou

5 2 Pet. 5-10.