mise, and the head of the reprobate we will leave to his own free will? No. Why? It cannot nor shall not be so, saith the Father, for I am the Lord, saith the Father, and this is contrary to my will: for if this head of the election should be upheld, and suppose he should be made in our image, and if he should keep covenant for all his; yet, saith the Father, it shall not be so; for then, saith he, I must take my glory from thee that is daily my delight, and give it to an

other

Christ is the first fundamental thing of justification and sanctification and all: Christ first takes Christianus, and then sends his spirit; he apprehends us Progress first; it is not my being regenerated that puts

me into a right of all these privileges, but it is Christ first takes me, then gives me his spirit, faith, and holiness."

The fourfold view we have of this Divine union in the above representation, is grounded

Westimonyupon the Divine testimony, and has for its basis

the authority of God; and while it secures the glory to his name, it establishes for ever the absolute perpetuity of that state, to which the guilty offender is admitted by the parental efforts of electing love. As this choice which God made of his people was independent of their concurrence, so neither does the certainty of its application nor its continuance arise from the unison

tenor

8; I

other that is but my image. Isaiah xlii. 8 am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.-Well, what must be done now then? Now God must consult his wisdom and counsel: and who was that? It was Jesus Christ, Col. ii. 3, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Prov. viii. 14; Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength, saith Jesus Christ.

Now,

tenor of their minds with the means of its manifestation. The universal experience of the church bears a testimony to this. Have not the doctrines of electing love, together with the counterpart of that Divine act, stood as devouring lions in the way of a trembling believer? Have they not harrassed him night and day?These probably have been according to the order of Divine operations, whips of scorpions under which they have passed, to be brought into the bonds of the covenant. No arguments however founded in truth, and enforced with that enthusiasm peculiar to a desire of promoting the good of others, have ever prevailed in removing these obstacles the soul refused to be comforted, and nothing will remove them until God speaks by his spirit to the heart; "Sinner I have loved thee, I have passed by thee, in thy blood, I said unto thee, in

thy

1

Now, as Christ was counsellor, Isaiah ix. 6, he doubtless is highly concerned with the promotion of both his natures, and both his relations, . his Father, before whom he was always rejoicing, Prov. viii. 30, and with the sons of men that were his delight. Now his counsel must be highly concerned with the glory of his na1ures, and the glory of his person. Now the Father can do nothing without man, Prov. viii. 27, 28, 29, 30, whatsoever he purposes it is in him;

thy blood live." There exists in all men naturally, a disposition of mind which induces them to believe, that God takes a gracious notice of them in proportion to the pious resolutions they have formed, and the piety (falsely so called) of their lives. They cannot suppose it possible that God has fixed his affections upon a guilty wretch, whose swinish nature has led him to the thickest and deepest mire. They suppose that we are first to choose God and his ways, and then there is no fear but God will choose us. This is not the established order of Divine operations. Ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you, &c. John XV. 16. The choice originated with God. I am found of them that sought me not. As this choice is the act of that God who cannot be mistaken, he therefore knowing the end from the beginning, could not choose them from a mistaken

him; if the Father glorifies his Son, he glorifies the man; if he takes counsel of his son, the counsel of the man is in it, and so the consult was divine and human, or reasonable, or we could not have understood it.

First. That there should be one man formed with his body in him, so for form in the same image and likeness of Christ, both in person and body; but what covenant-state to put them in, is the next thing in consult.

view of their real characters.

Well, saith the

Father,

Men choose, and

they as far as it in them lies, counteract the effects of their original choice, because they are deceived in the objects of that choice; but blessed be God, this cannot in any possible sense whatever apply to him his Divine perfections cannot admit the idea of a secondary act, superior in its effects to the primary efforts of his mind: he knew from the remotest period, what he would constitute them in time, and to what state they would be brought by their disobedience at any given period of that time-state existence, he having laid upon him (Christ) the iniquity of us all, must have known them in their number, in their malignity, and in their demerit, otherwise how could the sins, all the sins of God's people, be charged upon Christ? And how could the charge by being brought home with all its weight to him heal

us,

Father, if we make a covenant with one man in the behalf of all, and if that man keeps the covenant, then my purposes according to election cannot stand; and if we set up two heads, I must give the praise to a graven image; and besides, saith the Son, this my body will have no other life, but that which is in man, and so I shall never possess them, nor them me. saith the Father, I will have all my attributes Well, saith the Son, I

set forth and glorified.

៥

Well,

know

us, without an union being constituted between Christ and his people, and a responsibility on his part for them? They all met in his bosom like an hostile army, and meeting there, he subdued them, and in consequence of the chastisement of our peace being laid upon him, the cruel stripes that furrowed his blessed back, the rugged nail that lascerated his pure flesh, and the bloody spear that seperated his ribs and gained entrance to his heart, possess healing virtues to the wounded soul, for through his stripes we are healed. The suspension of the Divine influence upon the cross, under the weight of which, he cried, "My God, my Father, why hast thou forsaken me, must have been equal, yea, more than equal to all the twinges of an agonizing conscience knawed by a never-dying worm, and smarting under the tremendous load of an eternal death. However

awful