in his dispensations, is thus declared in the chapter preceding that which we have been considering : " Whom he did predes- tinate, them he also called ; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified*1." And, among those who are exalted to glory, there will be no difference in relation to this matter : they will all acknowledge that " they did not choose God, but God theme ;" and that " they loved him because he first loved themf :" and, in ascrib- ing glory to his name, they will remember this saying, " To him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and the Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Aniens."]
Having shewn, I trust, the truth of the affirmation, I proceed to state, II. The improvement to he made of it —
Amongst the diversified uses to be made of it, I will mention three:
It should teach us,
1. A holy fear and jealousy respecting ourselves —
[It is here admitted that we are of Israel: that, as the Jews had all been admitted into covenant with God by cir- cumcision, so have we by baptism ; and that, as " to them belonged the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the Law, and the service of God, and the pro- mises," so do all the blessings of the Gospel belong to ush, precisely in the same manner and to the same extent that the privileges of God's ancient people belonged to them. But as, then, " all were not Israel who were of Israel," so now all are not Christians indeed who are called by the name of Christ. Our descent from Christian parents will do no more than the descent of Israel from Abraham did for them. We are ex- pressly told on this head, that the unconverted among them were not the true circumcision : they were only " the concision:" " the circumcision were those who worshipped God in the Spirit, and rejoiced in Christ Jesus, and had no confidence in the flesh'." And this is the description of the true Christian: no one deserving that name who does not answer to that cha- racter. The Apostle further confirms this, when he says, " He is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is that cir- cumcision which is outward in the flesh : but he is a Jew who is one inwardly: and circumcision is that of the heart; in the
d Rom. viii. 30. e John xv. 16. f 1 John iv. 10, 19.
g Rev. i. 5, G. h Rom. ix. 4, 5. j Phil. iii. 3.