2 Pet. i. 10, 11. Brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure : for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall : for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abun- dantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
IN the system of religion which the inspired pen- men have transmitted to us, duty and privilege go hand in hand. It is " the Divine power alone which gives us all things which pertain unto life and godli- ness :" but we must exert ourselves in dependence on that power, to " escape the corruption that is in the world through lust." This plain and scriptural idea gives the true solution to many difficulties that occur in the sacred volume, and particularly so to those which arise from the words before us.
In the text are set before us,
I. Our duty —
Though all are agreed that our duty is here de- clared, the opinions of men differ widely respecting the precise nature of that duty. Our first point therefore is to fix the true meaning of the text —
[By our " calling and election," is meant that effectual call which men receive when they are truly converted unto Goda, and which both evinces, and results from, God's eternal purpose to save their souls b.
a This is manifest from 1 Cor. i. 26. b 1 Thess. i. 4, 5.
Now those who deny the doctrine of election, argue thus. We are commanded to " make our election sure;" and, if we neglect to do so, we may " fall" and perish for ever: therefore there is no such thing as is generally understood by " election;" and that which is so called in Scripture, is nothing more than a designation of God to the enjoyment of outward privileges, or an acceptance of us upon certain conditions.
To avoid these consequences, many who hold the doctrine of election affirm, that the exhortation in the text means only that we should exert ourselves to get an assured sense of our election.
But there is no such ambiguity in the original, as there is in our translation. Whatever the text may prove or disprove, it can have but one meaning; namely, that we are to make our election firm, and, by diligence in good works, to secure the benefits to which God has elected us.
This however does not disprove the doctrine of election. The truth is, that God elects us to holiness as the means, as well as to glory as the endc : He elects us to the end by the means* \ so that the end can never be secured but by the means prescribed. Though therefore God does elect us unto salvation, we can never partake of that salvation, if we be not found in a diligent discharge of all our duties, and the constant exercise of all moral virtuese. Hence St. Paul, notwithstand- ing he was assured of his final enjoyment of heaven f, was careful to " keep his body under and bring it into subjection, lest, after having preached to others, he himself should be a cast-away";" and hence we also are commanded to "look to ourselves, lest we lose the things we have already wrought, and so come short of our full reward h." The truth lies, not in a simple affirming or denying of the doctrine of election, but in connecting the means with the end, as the joint objects which God, in his eternal purpose, has determined to ac- complish.']
The meaning of the text being ascertained, the duty contained in it is clear —
[There is a connexion between all the graces of the Spirit: they are so many links in a chain, no one of which can be dis- pensed with. If we have faith, we must add to it " valour,'' that shall encounter difficulties ; " knowledge," that shall re- gulate the whole of our deportment ; " temperance," that shall make us indifferent to the pleasures of sense ; " patience," that shall carry us through all hardships; " godliness," that shall