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which conveys the idea of our Lord's gofpel and difpenfation; I appeal to the reader's candour, and to the meaning of the following texts. Babes IN CHRIST. Urbane, our helper IN CHRIST. The churches of Judea which were IN CHRIST.-Baptized INTO CHRIST.-The Mofaic vail is done away IN CHRIST.-IN CHRIST Jefus circumcifion availeth nothing, &c. Again, when St. Paul tells us that his bonds IN CHRIST are manifeft in all the palace, does he not mean the chain with which he was perfonally bound, as a preacher of the chriftian faith? And would not Zelotes make himself ridiculous, if he

CHOSEN to himself [i. e to his rewards of grace and glory, not this or that man out of mere caprice, but]

the man THAT IS GODLY. [That is] The man AFTER HIS OWN HEART. Com: Prayers. Pf. iv, 3.-1 Sam. xiii, 14.-God hath from the beginning CHOSEN you to falvation [yca, out of mere diftinguishing grace, he has chofen you to partake of the GREAT SALVATION of chriftians; not indeed abjolutely, but] thro' fanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth, [as it is in Jefus the truth as it is revealed under the chriftian difpenfation.] 2 Thef ii. 13.

afferted that St. Pauls bonds

in Chrift, were thofe with which he was bound in the perfon of Chrift in the garden of Gethsemane ?]

2. Many are CALLED, [to repentance yea many are CHOSEN that they should be holy, Eph. i. 4] but few are CHOSEN [to receive the reward of perfected holiness

1. There is a remnant [of fews, who believe] according to the election of grace [who, thro' fanctification of the Spirit to obedience, and fprinkling of the blood of Jefus Chrift, makethe reward of the inheritheir calling and election tance.] Mat. xx. 16.fure according to the chrif Wherefore brethren, give tian difpenfation, 1 Peter diligence to make your i. 2]-The election [thofe CALLING and ELECTION Jews, who make their elecSURE for LF ye Do these tion to the bleffings of the things, ye shall never fall. chriftian difpenfation fure 2 Peter i. 10.Put on P 3

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by faith in Chrift:] hath | therefore, as the ELECT obtained it [righteousness] of God, bowels of MERand the rest were blinded; [that is, The unbelieving Jews have not obtained righteoufnefs, BECAUSE they fought it not BY FAITH

CIES For he shall have judgment without MERCY, that hath fhewed no MERcY. Col. iii. 12. James ii. 13

but by BLINDLY oppofing their pharifaic works of the law, to Chrift and the humble obedience of faith.] Rom. xi. 5, 7. ix. 32.

If I am not mistaken, the balance of the preceding fcriptures fhows, that Honeftus and Zelotes are equally in the wrong.-Honeftus, for not rejoicing in freegrace, in the election of grace, and in God's power, love, and faithfulnefs, which are engaged to keep believers while they keep in the way of duty-And Zelotes, for corrupting the genuine doctrines of grace by his doctrines of Calvinian election, neceffity, and unconditional reprobation from eternal life.

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A view of St. Paul's doctrine of ELECTION, laid down in Eph. i. THAT ELECTION confifts in God's choofing from the beginning of the world, that the Gentiles fhould Now Share, thro faith, the bleffings of the gofpel of Chrift together with the believing Jews, who BEFORE were alone the CHOSEN NATION and PECULIAR PEOPLE of God. It is an ELECTION from the obfcure difpenfation of the Heathens, to the luminous difpenfation of the Chriftians; and not an election from a ftate of abfolute ruin, to a ftate of finished falvation. -It is as abfurd to maintain Calvinian election from Eph. i. as to fupport Calvinian reprobation by Rom. What we are to understand by the BOOK OF LIFE, and by the NAMES written therein from the foundation of the world. A conclufion to the first part of this work.

ix.

HEN Zelotes is made afhamed of what Calvin

WH

is made afnam te feems to give

it up, I have nothing to do with reprobation, fays he,

my

my business is with Election. Thus he is no fooner beaten out of Rom. ix, than he retires behind Eph. i. where he thinks he can make a more honourable defence. It may not be amifs therefore to follow him there alfo, and to fhow him, that he entirely mistakes the predeftination, purpofe, and election mentioned in that chapter.

The defign of the apoftle in his epiftle to the Ephefians is two-fold. In the three firft chapters he extols their gracious election, their free vocation, and the unfpeakable privileges of both; and in the three laft, he exhorts them to walk worthy of their election and calling; warning them against antinomian deceivers; and threatening them with the lofs of their heavenly inheritance, if they followed their filthy tenets, and immoral example. This epiftle therefore is a compendium of the new teftament: The former part contains aftrong check to pharifaifm, or to the doctrine of boafting legalifts; and the latter part, a fevere check to antinomianifm, or to the doctrine and deeds of the Nicolaitans. See Eph. v. 5. 6; and Rev. ii. 6, 15, 20.

To be a little more explicit: In the three first chapters St. Paul endeavours to imprefs the hearts of the Ephefians with a deep fenfe of God's free-grace in Christ Jefus, whereby he had compaffionately called, and of confequence mercifully elected them, ignorant and miferable finners of the Gentiles as they were, to partake of all the bleffings of the chriftian difpenfa tion. The apostle tries to inflame them with grateful love to Christ, for fetting them on a level with his peculiar people the Jews, to whom pertained the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the fervice of God, and the [explicit] promises; whofe were the Fathers, and of whom Chrift came, as concerning the flesh.

To prove that this is St. Paul's defign I produce his own words, with fhort illuftrations in brackets. [] Remember, [Jays be] that ye were in time past GENTILES in the flesh, called UNCIRCUMCISION by the circumcifion, &c: [abhorred by the circum

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cifed Jews, because you were uncircumcifed Heathens. Remember] that at that time, ye were without' [the knowledge of] Chrift' [not having fo much as heard of the Meffiah,] being aliens from the common-wealth of Ifrael,' [bating the Jews, and hated of them,] ftrangers to the covenants of promife' [which God bad made with Abraham, Ijaac, and Jacob,] having 'no' [covenant-] hope, and without' [covenant-]'God in the world. But now in Chrift Jefus' [who has fent us into all the world to preach the gospel to every creature.] Ye' [Gentiles] who were fometimes afar off, · are made nigh by the blood of Christ: for he is our peace, who hath made BOTH' [Jews and Gentiles] one, and hath broken down the middle wall of par⚫tition between us, &c. that he might reconcile both❜ [Jews and Gentiles] to God, &c. by the cross; having flain the enmity thereby and came and preach'ed peace to you' [Gentiles] 'who were afar off, and to them that were nigh' [that is, to the Jews :] For thro' him we BOTH' [Jews and Gentiles] have an access by one spirit unto the Father. Now there fore, ye' [Gentiles] are no more ftrangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the [jewish] faints, and of the household' for peculiar people] of God: And are built upon the foundation of the' [Chriftian] apostles, and' [jewish] prophets; Jefus Chrift himself being the chief corner ftone' [which unites the Jews and Gentiles who believe, as a corner ftone joins the two walls which meet upon it. c. In whom you alfo' [Gentiles of Ephefus] are builded together" [with us believing Fews] for an habitation of God thro' the Spirit. Eph. ii, 11, &c.

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The apostle explains his meaning ftill more clearly in the next chapter. For this caufe' [namely that you might be quickened together with us unto Chrift, that you might be raised up together, and placed together with us in heavenly privileges in or by Jefus Chrift:] For this caufe, I Paul am the prifoner of Chrift for you, GENTILES; if ye have heard of the DISPENSATION OF THE GRACE of God, which is given me

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to YOU-WARD: How he made known to me [once a jewish bigot] the mystery, &c. that THE GENTILES 'fhould be fellow-heirs, and of the fame body, and PARTAKERS OF THE PROMISE OF CHRIST by the gofpel, whereof, I am made a minifter, &c. that I 'fhould preach among the GENTILES' [as Peter does among the JEWS] the unfearchable riches of Christ, • &c. Wheretore I defire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you' [Gentiles] which is your glory'. Eph. iii. -13.

The two preceding paragraphs are two keys, which St. Paul gives us to open his meaning with, and to make us understand God's eternal purpose, which he purpofed in Chrift Jefus our Lord, of gathering all things in "Chrift, by calling the Gentiles to be partakers of the gofpel of Chrift, as well as the Jews: a myfiery this, which hath been hid in God from the beginning of the world, Eph. iii. 9; God having then purposed to take the Gentiles into the covenant of peculiarity: altho', for particular reafons, he did it only in St. Paul's days, and chiefly by his inftrumentality. What pity is it then, that Zelotes fhould caft the veil of his prejudices over fo glaring a truth; and should avail himfelf of the apostle's laconic ftyle, and of our inattention, to impofe Calvin's predeftination upon us! Does not the context demonftrate, that St. Paul fpeaks only of God's predeftinating and electing THE GENTILES IN GENERAL [and among them the Ephefians] to fhare the prerogatives of the christian difpenfation? Is it not evident, that as the unbelieving Jews boafted much of their being faved by the work of circumcifion, thro' Abraham: St. Paul keeps the believing Gentiles humble by reminding them, that by grace they were faved -[i.e. made partakers of the great falvation of chriftians] thro' faith: and that not of themselves, nor of their forefathers: it was the gift of God: not of works, not of circumcifion or Mofaic ceremonies, left any of them should boat like the Jews, who, by their fatal glorying in Abraham and in themselves, had hardened their hearts against Christ's gospel, and brought God's

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