know not, till they themselves discover it by the effects produced upon them : nor will it ever be known who tlie the non-elect are, till the day of judgment shall reveal it. Buttliis we know, — and this we affirm for the comfort of all, — that " every one who asketh, receiveth; and every one that seeketh, findeth; and that to every one that knocketh, shall the gate of heaven be opened "." What can the most deter- mined opposer of the doctrine of election say more than this, or ivishfor more than this ?
Some will yet further urge, That, if this doctrine be true, men may be saved without any regard to holiness. This ob- jection is of the same kind with the former: and that there is no just ground for it, our text itself sufficiently declares : for we are " elect unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ ;" — elect, not to salvation only, but to obedience also ; — to the one as the means, and to the other as the end.]
What is spoken respecting our being elect " to the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ," will lead me to shew, that whom the Father has elected, II. Christ redeems —
On the subject of obedience being an end to which we are elect, we shall speak under the next head : at present, we confine ourselves to the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
That the elect are sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ, is certain —
[Moses, when he confirmed the covenant which tlie Is- raelites entered into with their God, sprinkled both the ;\ltar and the people with the blood of the sacrifices ^ : and in like manner we, when we embrace the covenant of grace, are sprinkled with tlie blood of our Great Sacrifice, which purges us from the guilt of all our former sins, and sanc- tifies us as an holy people unto the Lord : " We come to the blood of sprinkling, which speaketh better things than the blood of Abel '."
And here it is particularly to be noticed, that it is not by the shedding of the Redeemer's blood that any are saved, but hy the application of it to their souls. Millions " perish for whom Christ died"":" but no one ever perished, whose " heart had been sprinkled from an evil conscience," and " purged from dead works to serve the living God '."J
To this they are elected, as to the necessary means of their acceptance with God —
[None,
5 Matt. vii. 7, 8. " Exod. xxiv. 6, 8. ' Heb. xii. 24.
" 1 Cor. viii. 11. ' Heb. ix. 14. & x. 22.
96 1 PETEu, I. 1,2. [1154.
[None, however elect by God the F'ather, could come to God, unless a sacrifice were provided for them. All are sin- ners : all need pardon for their multiplied iniquities : no man could make satisfaction for his own sins. One sacrifice was provided of God for the whole world, even the sacrifice of God's only-begotten Son. Through that, God determined from all eternity to accept them : and in due time he reveals it to them, as the way opened for their access to him. Thus they are brought to see Christ, as " the way, the truth, and the life :" and thus they receive " redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of all their sins."
We must not however imagine that God elects any in a way inconsistent with his own honour. He does not by a mere absolute decree forgive them : he does not so overlook the honour of his own law, or disregard the demands of his own truth and justice. On the contrary, he provides for them a Saviour, through whose atoning blood they may be forgiven, and in whose obedience they may find a justifying righteous- ness. If he elected them simply to salvation without any re- gard to an atonement, he would exercise one attribute at the expense of all the rest : but in electing them to the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, he provides for the honour of his broken law, and maintains in united and harmonious exercise the glory of all his perfections : he provides, that " Mercy and truth should meet together, and righteousness and peace should kiss each other '"."]