them exactly; though they have not communion with all the members of the body, yet they have all communion with the head; what then should be people's great concern, but to labour to know this about themselves, that they are of the scattered remnant that shall be gathered together into one at that day? It will be a sad charge, if Christ shall have to give it in against any of you, Matt. xxiii. 31. How often would I have gathered you, and ye would not? Christians should cheer their hearts, and rejoice their spirits, in the lively hope of this blessed gathering together, when all the elect of God shall be gathered together into one place, never to be scattered any more. So much for this first thing; the first description of these strangers scattered abroad, as relating to their outwaad condition in the world.

The second description of them is from what they were before God; they were a company of distressed and dispersed strangers, but yet they were God's elect ones. They were elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, and elect to the sanctification of the Spirit, and elect to the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus; a strange description of election! Election is properly of eternal life, and to the utmost period of it, saith the apostle, 2 Thess. ii. 13. God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. But the apostle here speaks of election to justification and to sanctification: here he comprehends the steps and methods and means by which the purpose of election is made effectual. The last design of election is to possess the elected of eternal life; but not by skipping immediately from the grace of election to the state of glory; no, there are several steps between them, Rom. viii. 30. Whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also jus tified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. But I cannot enter on these things now, and shall only add a word or two in general.

The Lord needed not us, nor any of those creatures that are better than we; his setting his love upon a company of the children of men, and giving them to the Son to be redeemed by him, is an act to be wondered at in time and to eternity; it is wondered at on earth, and will be more and better wondered at in heaven. The Lord now and then takes a few, and

picks them up through the nations where they are scattered; they were all of the same mass, of the same lump, lying in the same pit; Peter was no better than Judas, nor Judas any worse than Peter; Cain was no worse than Abel, and Abel was no better than Cain, till grace made the difference. Jacob and Esau were alike, till grace made the difference; when they were in the same womb, at the same time, yet, saith the Lord, Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated. Unaccountable love! and unaccountable hatred too! Deep! O how deep are the ways of God, and his judgments past finding out? Who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who being his counsellor hath instructed him? he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth that he doth. For bold ignorant creatures to open their mouth against God, is but like the clay grumbling against the potter; woe be unto them that strive with the Lord: we should not strive with our Maker, but lie down and look with wonder at the inconceivable depth of his wisdom; and we should learn to say over our Lord's thanksgiving, Luke x. 21. We thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes. There are but few of the great and the wise, the mighty men after the flesh that are called; But God hath chosen the weak and the foolish, and the things that are not, to confound the things that are mighty, that no flesh might glory in his presence, but that he who glorieth might glory in the Lord, 1 Cor. i. 27, 28.-The Lord hath revealed to us in his word, and he makes it good to us in his daily dealings, that his people are a scattered company throughout this world; but it will be a lovely sight to see them all together, to see them complete, to see them gathered together into Christ the head; such a head! and such a body will be a marvellous sight indeed! never was any thing like it seen since the creation. It was doubtless a lovely sight, if there had been any with the Divine Being, to have looked and seen all things starting from nothing: to see the heavens.extended, and the earth established; to see the sun, the moon, and the stars starting up and shining at the commanding word of their maker. It was a great change, from the chaos and the confusion of the first mass, VOL. IV.

B

to that beautiful world God made; but there will be a far greater and a more notable change between the state of the church militant, that are fighting and suffering and strangers here below, and that glory which is to be revealed at the appearing of Christ, when he comes in his own and in his Father's glory. A poor believer now seems to be a dis tressed creature, despised of men; but he is precious in God's sight: where there is but the least drop of the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus, there God's heart is; that covers all, that ennobles all: if we are but sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ we need fear nothing; we may keep the passover and the sprinkling of blood, and the destroying angel shall not touch us.

The next thing that the apostle speaks of is the sanc tification of the Spirit, which is given to all the people of God, as though yet in small measures; it is but like a little leaven in a great deal of meal, and we are to wait for the blessing of God till it leavens the whole, and we be sanctified. throughout.

SERMON II.

1 PETER i. 1, 2.

Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia; 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: Grace unto you, and peace be multiplied.

THESE words, which are the apostle's preface to this epis tle, contain three things. 1st, The penman, how he is described, an apostle of Jesus Christ: what sins this man was guilty of, and what grace he met with to raise him again to this dignity, I spoke to in the former discourse. 2dly, I also made some entrance upon the second thing, the description

of the parties to whom the epistle is directed; and they are described two ways: 1st, As to their condition before the world: they were strangers, and strangers scattered abroad; and here are no less than five different countries named, that they were scattered in, Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia; and Bithynia. Never a word of England here, no, there was nothing but darkness in this land at that time: we should reckon it a great, comfort and honour, if the name of the land that we were born and live in, was found in the holy scriptures. There is not the name of any country, that hath the gospel in any measure flourishing in it at this day, that is named in all the New Testament. There is Italy named there, and Rome, that is now the seat of the beast; there is Spain named there, that is now the darkest kingdom in all the world that bears the name of Christian: Greece and Illyricum are named in the New Testament, and many other places that are now under the dominion of the Turks. Those strangers that the apostle writes to were scattered through the countries here. I showed you how they were strangers, and how they were scattered strangers; all believers are strangers whilst they are here, and generally they are scattered through several parts of the world; but there is a day coming, when they shall all be gathered together into one. Thus far I have gone. 2dly, The persons that he writes to, though they are described as strangers in the world, yet they were not so with relation to God: They were strangers scattered; but were they strangers to God too? no, far from it. For they are said here to be "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." There are several things that I would first take notice of in general from the view of these words, before I enter on any of the three particulars in them. We find in this description, a plain hint of that divine truth, the Trinity of persons in one God: the blessed three are all here named, God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Ghost, the Spirit, with a distinct regard to poor sinners; the Father electing, the Son redeeming, and the Spirit sancti

are one,

e

fying. This is a mystery of faith plainly revealed in th word, but is plainly knowable by no man: for always the nearer that a divine mystery lies to the being of God, the greater depth it is. The will of God about our duty is not without a mystery; his will about the lot of men, according to his own sovereign counsel (of which we shall have occasion to speak), is yet a deeper mystery; but revelations about himself, are yet a great deal deeper than any of them. The word reveals them, There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three 1 John v. 7. A place of scripture, that the devil's diligence hath not been small to weaken, and to beat out of the Bible, though in vain. When our Lord was going to heaven, he charged his disciples to baptize men in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; these are three names; but these three names have but one name; the great name of God is ascribed to them all. There has been a great deal of disturbance given to the church of Christ in several ages, on account of the faith of this truth; the wisdom of corrupt men is a very fertile soil in objections and quarrellings, with divine unsearchable truths; the plain course of a Christian is to believe and adore what is plainly revealed, though it cannot be perfectly known.

II. I would note from these words in general, that these three have a distinct part about man's salvation; I say these three, they have each of them a distinct part about man's salvation, and thence they come to be known best to us, as their power is felt and experienced by us: I make no doubt but there were undeniable proofs in the Old Testament of a trinity of persons. Divine power and godhead is ascribed to one, and to another, and to a third; frequently it is so in the Old Testament, but this is plain, that the light about this great doctrine of the Trinity, broke forth more especially when Christ came into the world. The Son of God came from the Father, and the Son as from the Father sends the Spirit. This is Christ's own testimony of himself; I come forth from the Father, John xvi. 26. "You call him 46 your God; he sent me; and I as his Son, send the "Spirit." The church of God, in the Old Testament times,