in him above others, who could venture to cherish any hope at all? Certainly there would be a fearful prospect for those who have long continued in their sins : for they would naturally say, How can God ever look with compassion on such a sinner as me ? The old therefore, and the dying, would at once be driven to despair. But when we are told, that God "has mercy on whom he will have mercy," and dispenses his blessings freely to whomsoever he will, the vilest sinner in the universe may say, ' Then I will not despair : I know, I have nothing whereby to recommend myself to him : but he is at liberty to shew mercy to the very chief of sinners : and in that character will I apply to him, that he may glorify himself in me.' This is a just and scriptural way of arguing : and it may be adopted by all who " know the plague of their own heart," even though they may have lived in sin throughout their whole lives, and be now come to the borders of the eternal world : they may say, ' His grace is his own ; he may dispense it as he will ; and, where sin has abounded, His grace may superabound. He chose Paul in order " that in him he might shew forth all long- suffering for a pattern " to the Church in all ages ; and I will hope, that in me also he will shew, before the whole assembled universe, how far his grace can reach.' This is the true, legiti- mate, and only use which an unconverted sinner should make of God's electing love.]
2. It should fill all who are the subjects of it with the deepest humility —
[Many ignorantly imagine, that the idea of God having elected us would fill us with pride : and if his election had respect to some goodness in us above others, and were founded on our superior merits, there were some ground for pride. But when God, in ordaining men to life, has respect only to his own sovereign will and pleasure, and to the manifestation of his own glory, no man has any ground to boast : nor will any man who is a partaker of this grace wish to boast. On the contrary, he will be disposed rather to say with the pro- foundest adoration, " What was I, Lord, that thou shouldest visit me ? " This is the effect which the conferring of an un- deserved favour has on every humble mind. Elizabeth, when the blessed Virgin, after her miraculous conception, came to visit her, exclaimed, " Whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come unto mem?" How much more then will the saint be filled with wonder that the Lord himself should come, and take up his abode within his very soul ! Again ; when Mephibosheth was told by David that his Father's property should be restored to him, and that he should eat
m Luke i. -13.