Christians, but in Mind and Manners reprobate and unbelieving; and whofe Infidelity and Difobedience will therefore render their Calling of none Effect, and receive its Portion with the Unbelievers, where fhall be Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth. Whilft thofe Few who fhall be real as well as nominal Chriftians, who fhall clothe themselves with the Wedding Garment of an humble Faith, and fincere Obedience, fhall be chofen out of the common Herd of titular Chriftians, and shall be distinguished from the reft, as the Servants, the beloved, the choice Servants of their Master, by being admitted to the Marriage Feast of the Lamb, and made to reign with him for ever and ever. For the Punishment of him that fuffers is not here refolved into an absolute and unconditional Decree, that he fhould be rejected, and the rest admitted, but into his not having on the Wedding Garment ; and their Admiffion is thereby tacitly founded in this, that they had it. So that what our bleffed Saviour here declares, concerning the future Salvation of Mankind, is no more than what is the Design of the whole Gofpel to afcertain, and what he often declares in other Places; namely, that not every one that faith anto bim Lord, Lord, not every one that pretends to believe in him, and to call him Lord and Mafter, hall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he only that doth the Will of his Father which is in Heaven; and that because

the Number of the latter will upon Enquiry appear to be very small, with Respect to the former, therefore of the many which shall be called to profefs him, and shall embrace that calling, few only fhall be chofen, fo as to be rewarded by him.

From which Interpretation of this Parable it is very evident, that the Words Calling and Election are here used both in a general and conditional Senfe. They fignify the calling of Men to embrace the Gofpel, and the electing of fuch to enjoy the Rewards of it, as, whoever they are, fhall perform the Conditions that Gofpel requires. There is nothing here that can give the leaft Shadow of a Foundation for the Doctrines of a peremptory and eternal Decree, concerning the Perfons of fuch as fhall be faved or damned; but if the Word Decree must be used on this Occafion, all that it here fignifies, is that Decree which the Gospel every where proclaims, that whoever will repent and believe the Gofpel fhall hereafter be admitted into eternal Glory, and whoever will not shall go into everlafting Fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels. And let not therefore the pious and well-meaning Chriftian be difcouraged in the Performance of his Duty, with falfe Terrors and groundless Fears of his not being of the Number of God's Elect; if he fincerely believes, and to his utmoft obeys, the Gofpel, he is of that Number, in the Senfe

our bleffed Lord here used that Word, and in the true Senses in which it is used in every other Place in the New Teftament. An Enquiry into which is the

Second Particular to which I proposed to fpeak. And upon this Enquiry it will, I apprehend, appear,

1. That in many of the Places of the New Teftament, where we find the Words we tranflate Election, Elect, and sometimes Chofen, and otherwife, I fay, that in many of thofe Places thefe Words are used as fynonymous to the Terms, choice, dear, beloved, excellent, precious, and the like. 2. That in most of thofe Places they are used as equivalent to the general Term Chriftian; and fignify no more than a Person's being, as it were, chofen out of the World, and in a particular Manner, dedicated to God, by the Profeffion of the most pure and holy Religion. And

3. That these Terms do in few of those Places relate at all to the future State of Chriftians; and in none, in that Sense in which the Predeftinarians understand them.

1. The firft Obfervation is, that in many of the Places where we find the Words we translate Election and Elect, they are used as fynonymous to the Terms, choice, precious, beloved,

beloved, excellent, and the like. And in this Senfe, I think, we find it, Luke xxiii. 35. in the Derifion of the Jewish Rulers on our crucified Lord, whilft he hung on the Cross,; He faved others, fay they, let him fave himfelf, if be be Chrift the CHOSEN, or the ELECT of God. That is, if he really be the Redeemer of the World, if he be that beloved Son of God, in whom he is well pleafed; let him deliver himself from Death, as he is faid to have done many others, and by coming down from the Crofs demonstrate to us, that he is fo much the Favourite of Heaven as to be beyond the Reach of any human Punishment or Power. In this Senfe Saint Paul charges his Son Timothy to observe his Inftructions, (1 Tim. v. 21.) before God and the Lord Jefus Chrift, and the elect Angels; that is, the chief, or moft excellent Angels, in Oppofition to Devils; in the fame Sense as we find it faid, that Pharoah's chofen or elect Captains, that is, the chief or most valiant of his Captains, were drowned in the Red Sea, (Exod. xv. 4.) and, as it is faid of the many Afberites, (enumerated 1 Chron. vii.) that they were Heads of their Father's House, choice, or elect Men, and mighty Men of Valour, chief of the Princes. In like Manner it is faid of the Apostles and Elders, and the whole Church at Jerufalem, that they fent chofen or elect Men to Antioch, to carry their Answer to the Questions which had been

I

put

put to them. It seemed good to us, say they in their Letters, (Acts xv. 22, 25.) to fend chofen or elect Men unto you, with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, that is, to fend Men of Distinction and Eminence among us, as Paul and Barnabas are among you. For thus the Words are explained in that very Place, when it is faid of Judas, firnamed Barfabas, and Silas, who were the Persons fent, that they were chief Men among the Brethren. And thus St. Peter ufes the Word three Times in the Compafs of a few Verses, (1 Pet. ii. 4, 6, 9.) and adds fuch other fynonymous Terms to it, as must make it very difficult to misunderstand him. Speaking of our bleffed Lord, the Author and Finisher of our Faith, he describes him as one who was indeed (1 Pet. ii. 4.) difallowed or rejected of Men, but chofen or elected of God, and PRECIOUS; and in the next Verfe but one, he quotes a Paffage out of Ifaiah concerning him, Behold I lay in Sion a chief CornerStone, ELECT, PRECIOUS: Where it may be obferved, that the Word elect is not in the Prophet, but is added by the Apostle, as fynonymous to the Term precious: And again, laftly, fpeaking of the Chriftians, three Verfes lower in the fame Chapter, his Defcription of them is, that they are a chofen, or elected Generation, a Royal Priesthood, an holy Nation, a peculiar People, and made fuch that they should fhew forth the Praises of him

who