God by the death of his Son.' The old gentleman started from his seat, and, running round the apartment, exclaimed, in a loud and thundering voice, to those who were without, 'Come in and hear gibberish, gibberish, gibberish.' I was astonished, and when he had so far spent his rage, as to remain for one moment silent, I looked full in his face and asked, 'Pray, sir, what language do you make use of? Is it possible that you, a clergyman highly distinguished, the head of the Presbytery, and now in the evening of life, should be so little acquainted with the Scriptures, as to call the language of revelation gibberish?'* * * The conversation closed with bringing Mr. Tennant to make some few concessions; and Mr. Murray showed him that he had as much evidence that he had come in at the door as he had. *See Life of Rev. John Murray, p. 206, Boston, 1827. XXV. ELECT. 'Behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my Spirit upon him; he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.' Isa. xlii. 1. We do not intend to enter largely into the meaning of the word elect, for we are aware that it would lead us to a great length; for no word has occasioned more controversy in the christian church. A general view only will be taken, and the propriety of applying the word to Christ will be shown. The term occurs in twenty-two instances, but is applied to Christ only in the motto and in 1 Pet. ii. 6. St. Paul applies the word to that portion of the House of Israel who embraced the gospel in the primitive age. In the former dispensation, the whole Jewish nation were considered as the elect of God.t * In other instances the word is used in reference to the whole body of the early christians, whether Jews or Gentiles. Our subject seems to present three considerations: I. The Elector. II. The Elected. III. The object of the election. I. The Elector. This all will admit was God himself. This is evident from the motto and from a host *Rom. xi. 7. et seq. + Deut. vii. 8. Isa. xlv. 4. Col. iii. 12. 1 Pet. i. 2. Matt. xxiv. 21, 22. of other passages which might be cited, but they will readily occur to the reader. Having elected Jesus, the Father endowed him with every qualification necessary for the completion. of the work which he was to perform. 'I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thy hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles: to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prisonhouse.'* Then, that we might be assured of the final accomplishment of the great work, the most positive language is everywhere employed: 'He shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth, and the isles shall wait for his law.'t Passages need not be multiplied here, for once admitting Christ Jesus to be the elect of God, it follows that he is every way prepared for the great object of his mission. II. The Elected. Jesus is throughout the Scriptures considered in a peculiar sense as the elect of God-the beloved Son-the true Messiah. No being stands so near the Father as the Saviour of men. He has 'raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.' Universal homage is ultimately to be paid to him, 'to the glory † Ib. 4. Ephes. i. 20-23. * Isa. xlii. 6, 7. of God the Father.' Jesus, in several instances, is distinguished by the same titles that are applied to God himself, but then a distinction is uniformly kept up between the two beings. We are aware that many passages would seem to favor the Trinitarian sentiment, but then we do not believe that the sacred writers had any such doctrine in their minds. Their great theme was the sacred nearness and oneness existing between the Father and the Son; and then we are left to draw our own conclusions. The very language of the motto forbids the idea of the Deity of Christ. It distinguishes Jesus as a servant, as one who is upheld by another, and as one who is to be guided by the Spirit of another, and the one who sends him is represented as delighting in him, which forcibly calls to mind the declaration of God at the baptism in the river Jordan:-This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.'* Possibly, there was an allusion in the motto to an ancient custom of kings, which was to lean on the arm of their most beloved and faithful servant. III. The object of the election. Extended remarks are not necessary here; for many of the very passages which declare the fact that Jesus is elected and sent, also declare the object: 'For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, *** not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.'t 'It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou † John iii. 15, 16. * Matt. iii. 17. mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.'* Indeed, throughout the Bible we find that in all elections, God designs the benefit of the non-elect. Partial election is a doctrine unsupported by divine testimony, and the world has reason to rejoice that a sentiment so fraught with melancholy, and admitting of conclusions so revolting to the best feelings of the heart, and so disgraceful to the divine character, is fast passing into oblivion. More cheering views are prevailing, and in due time, it will be seen that God, in all his dispensations, invariably designs the greatest good of the whole moral and intelligent creation. 'Not light itself so fitted to the orb To nourish and maintain the breathing frame, *Isa. xlix. 6. |