many cavils in the hearts of men against this truth. I say, election is not only to the end, but also to the means; in my text the end is concealed, and the means only expressed; but in some other places of scripture, the end only is expressed, and the means are concealed, but they should still be joined together. Election, properly, is the appointing of some to eternal life, for that is the end of election: so saith the apostle, 1 Thess. v. 9. God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. There the end is only mentioned, and not the means. Sometimes the means are only expressed, as here in my text, Elect to the sanctification of the Spirit, and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus,' where he only names, the means, but not the end; though he names it a little after ver. 4. Unto an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in the heavens for you. Remember this always, that the purpose of God, according to his fore-knowledge, is an appointment with respect to the end and the means also: It is a purpose of God falling on persons in great wisdom, and in great sovereignty, and it is always unto the end with the means; we are elected to the end, and to the means, in order to the reaching that end. There are three things that I would say by way of use, from this general glance that I have given you of these words, Elect according to the fore-knowledge of God the Father; and so shall

conclude at this time.

Use first. Learn to adore and worship an electing God. Here is the name of God shining forth; he doth whatsoever seemeth good in his sight: Our Lord Jesus Christ himself adores his Father on this account, Luke x. 21. I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes; even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. That Even so, Father, is, Amen, Father; "I pay my praise to thy name for "doing so, and I put my amen to thy determinations.” Adore, I say, an electing God. Who art thou, O man, that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed, say unto him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay? Rom. ix. 21. Shall God, in the infiniteness of his wisdom and good-will, make a world of crea

tures, and shall he not have the disposing of them, and all that belong to them? Sirs, there is the height of corruption working in that heart which cannot stoop to an electing God, to a God, determining the final and the eternal issue of all the works of his hands.

Use second. Admire electing love: as you are to adore an electing love, so you are to admire electing love. Electing love hath no cause at all for it; redeeming love hath no cause in us, but it hath a cause; sanctifying grace hath no cause in us, but it hath a cause. Let us consider a little how this matter rises; a poor believer is brought to the possession of eternal life because he is a man in Christ; when Christ redeemed this poor creature, there was no cause at all in the man, but there was a good cause for the thing. For this cause, saith our Lord, came I unto this hour, John xii. 37. iz. his Father's will. Why a believer in Christ Jesus should be admitted to glory, there is a good cause for it; it is promised that a man in Christ Jesus shall not perish: Why did Christ die? there was no cause at all in us, for we were a company of poor lost creatures, but Christ had good cause for it; This commandment, saith he, have I received of my Father, John x. 18. and I must obey it." But if we rise higher to electing love, there is no cause at all for that; when we come to the top, there indeed we are swallowed up, only this, Even so, for so it seemed good in thy sight. Electing love is a marvellous thing, and therefore though it be a sovereign thing, it is always managed in the depth of love, saith the apostle, Eph. ii. 4, 5. God who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us. When did he love us with that great love? From everlasting; and that love broke forth in quickening them together with Christ.

Use third. Wisely search into your own concern in this matter; learn I say, to search wisely into your own concern in this great deep of election; do the other two things, and you will find this to be the easier. Learn to adore the great God, in his choosing and doing with his own creatures as he will; and admire that marvellous love, which acts in chusing some to everlasting life, and then come in and search for your own concern in this matter wisely. Election is a great height

it is, if I may so say, the uppermost round of the ladder of salvation: all comes down from that to us, but we must not strive to set our foot first upon that, no, we must rise up to it by sanctification of the Spirit, and by the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ; it is by the fruits of electing love that we must come to know it: so saith the apostle, 2 Thess, ii. 13. God hath chosen you from the beginning to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. When faith on the truth of the gospel, and the sanctification of the Holy Spirit is wrought in the heart, then the poor creature may say, "Now I see that I have an interest in the electing love

The

of God" and as salvation comes this first way, and hath its first spring in electing love, so at last it issues in it. glory of salvation shines in this: so saith our Lord, Matth. xxv. Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: as if our Lord should say, "You were many times in the dark, and oftentimes doubted "what my Father's love and purpose were about you; but now "I bring you to the kingdom of glory, and tell you it was pre"pared for you by my Father from the foundation of the "world." But as yet we can only see into the borders of this depth. Oh! what an ocean is the wisdom and knowledge and counsel of a sovereign God ! how unsearchable are his ways, and his judgments past finding out? It is long since that he said to Moses, I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion upon whom I will have compassion; so that it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sherveth mercy. Rom. ix. 15, 16. We should bless God for this doctrine of election; so doth the apostle, Eph. i. 3, 4, 5. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we might be holy and without blame before him in love; having predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, that we might be to the praise of the glory of his grace: To him be glory for ever. Amen.

SERMON III.

1 PETER i. 2.

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.

You

OU have heard of the penman of this epistle, Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ: you have heard also the description of the parties to whom it was written, namely, to the scattered Jews in several parts of the world; and he describes them, as ye have heard, two ways: 1st, From their outward condition before the world, they were scattered strangers. 2dly, He describes them from their state in God's sight, and in this view they are described as elect, as sanctified, and as redeemed. The first part of this description, I have spoken to, Elect according to the fore-knowledge of God the Father: a deep truth that should be firmly believed, and not curiously pryed into. This electing love and grace is the part of God the Father in our salvation.

I would now, in the next place, speak unto the part of the Son of God in our salvation, from that clause, the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus. I know that this is the third thing in the order of the words, but it is the second thing in the order of nature for the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ doth necessarily precede, and go before the sanctification of the Spirit; and therefore (not only because the natural order is so, but also because of the work we have this day to do in remembering this blood of our Lord) I shall first speak to this latter part of the text, The sprinkling of the blood of Jesus.

And I would in the first place lay this before you, that the apostle Peter was a Jew, and is here writing to the Jews, who well understood the Old Testament, and knew by the apos. tle's words, what this sprinkling did respect and allude to: therefore I would take a little notice of those sprinklings of blood that we find in the Old Testament; those sprinklings that were typical of our Lord Jesus Christ and those the

apostle doth certainly refer unto in this expression, the sprinkling of blood.

1st, The first sprinkling of blood that we find in scripture, was the sprinkling the blood of the Paschal Lamb at the first passover; for it is not certain whether ever the same practice was used afterwards. Though the Paschal Lamb was eaten for many ages after, yet the sprinkling of the blood thereof upon the threshold, I do not find by the word of God, that ever it was practised but the first time, and there was a special reason for it: the reason of that appointment was this; the first passover that ever was kept, was kept by the children of Israel in Egypt; and it was on the same night in which the hand of God went forth in destroying all the first-born in Egypt; the eldest in every family was slain by the angel of the Lord, and immediately on that they were delivered.

They eat the passover for their supper, and at midnight the angel slew the first-born; and immediately on that there was a cry of death throughout all the land of Egypt; and the Israelites were thrust out, and Pharaoh sent them away free. You may find the institution of this ordinance, Exod. xii. 6, 7, 12, 13. And ye shall kill it in the evening, and they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side-posts, and on the upper door-posts of the houses; for I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt; and the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass `over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. And it is again repeated, ver. 22, 23. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel, and the two side-posts, with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning; for the Lord will pass through to smile the Egyptians: and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel and on the two side-posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you. What a clear type was this of Jesus Christ! the sprinkling of the blood of the true passover, was declared hereby to be the only preservative from the destroying angel; so that let it be an Israelite, of what family soever he was, yet if the

W