Chapter II
That there is "an ejection of grace, with a non-election or passing by others. That difference to be out of the pure grace and good pleasure of God. Which purpose of election is the cause of their effectual calling and salvation.
I say then, Hath God cast away his people ? God forbid. For 1 also am an
Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not
cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thy altars ; and I am
left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him ? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed
the knee to the image of Baal. Even so then at this present time also there
is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no more of works ; otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace ; otherwise work is no more work. What then ?
Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for ; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. ROM. XI. 1-7.
It was a great exercise to Paul s spirit, as appears by chapter ix., in the
beginning, and unto the carnal Jew a stumble, a shrewd objection against Christianity itself, that after the Messiah, our Christ, was come in the flesh, and was ascended to heaven, and his gospel had had its course among that
nation, both by Christ s own ministry amongst them, and of his apostles after him, that there should be so few of that nation that believed on him ;
yea, that the generality of that nation were cast off by God upon their hav
ing rejected him for their Messiah, when as yet there had been made all
along the Old Testament such large and abundant promises to that nation, of whom Christ was to come, which might have been expected should have been fulfilled unto them upon his coming amongst them in the flesh. The consideration of which might and did lie in the way, as a great stumblingblock unto his former doctrine of salvation by faith on Christ. This you have insinuated from the coherence of the fourth and fifth verses of chapter ix. : In that they were Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, arid the pro mises; whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever, as the Christians professed their Christ to be. And that yet these Israelites should so few of them be
professors of him, was a strong presumption that therefore it was not he that was the true Messiah. And this objection is again revived in the first verse of this second chapter
: Hath God cast away his people ? (meaning the Jews.) Now unto this he there gives two answers. His first answer. That God had not
* cast away his people whom he fore knew, or whom he aimed at in his promises of the covenant of grace, the word of promise. The carnal Jew understood by God s people the whole, or at least the generality of their nation, unto whom yet, but as in a type, those forecited privileges and promises were made ; and under that respect it was they made up the church of the Old Testament. He therefore care
fully puts in, you see, by way of distinction, He hath not cast away his
people whom he foreknew ; as if he had said they were his people in outward
profession, and endowment of outward privileges, but those really and indeed his people, whom he hath chosen to salvation, and they [who] were so foreknown
16 OF ELECTION. [BOOK I.
by him only are his, as he emphatically indigitates, and he hath cast off not
one of them. All and every one of them he intended and had in his eye when he made those promises of the covenant of grace, those he hath not, nor
ever will cast off. And as for the rest, they were his people but by outward
profession, rather typically such, as in a shadow of the other hidden ones
amongst them, for whose sake it was those promises and privileges were
continued to the community of that nation ; these only are said to be the
children of the promise and the children of God, and none other : Rom.
ix. 6, 7, Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel which are of Israel : neither because they are the seed of
Abraham, are they all children : but, in Isaac shall thy seed be called. And what he understands by children of promise, he exemplifies by Isaac, whom he proves to have been a child of promise in respect of the election of
his person without foreseen conditions in him, and by virtue of which elec
tion, had been called. This he doth, ver. 9, 11, as I shall shew when I come to speak unto his instance in the following story of election, which
manifestly dissolves the strength of their objection that they were all
Israelites, and that to them the adoption pertained, in ver. 4, 5. For that
to have been but in respect of outward profession, title, and external calling, and also because they were types and shadows of the true seed to come, this
distinction of typical Israelites, and Israelites indeed, and in truth, plainly appears to be in his intent to avouch, in that he flatly denies that all of Israel were Israel ; that is, as Christ says of Nathanael, an Israelite indeed. He
denies also that they were children of God, ver. 7, or rightly the children of Abraham according to God s intent in his promise to the seed, although according to the flesh they were, as you find it express in ver. 7, and
* that to them belonged the adoption, or title
although of them he had said,
of children.
His second answer. Observe that word, ver. 5 of chap, xi., For the pre sent time ; it is that there are so few, but in ver. 25, 26, He would not have them ignorant of this mystery, that blindness in part is happened to
Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved.
Now that which I intend in the words is, that he clearly resolves the utmost account of that paucity or fewness of them, who at that present were
* His people whom he foreknew, and then again, those who at that present time, he says, were then saved, he calls in ver. 5,
saved, into election, &c. Thus in those words, ver. 2,
* a remnant, and a remnant according to the election of grace ; and in ver. 7, What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for ; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.
I shall therefore further, to lay a foundation for this my subject, open these two verses, 2d and 5th. Wherein,
First, That by his people whom he foreknew, ver. 2, is meant his elect out of grace.
His people; and made his by election. God casting his eye upon them, said within himself of them, Those are mine; as John xvii. 6, Thine are mine, and thou gavest them me. The elect, afore ever they are converted, are styled by God his people: Acts xviii. 10, I have much people in this
city. And Christ saith, Sheep I have not of this fold (Gentiles), them I must bring. They were sheep afore they were brought in, and they were so determinately, fixedly, and resolutely God s sheep, foreknown by him to be such, as that Christ himself (to whom God hath committed the salvation of them) saith, I must bring them in, as upon God s peremptory command
CHAP. II.] OF ELECTION. 17
to have them saved. And therefore election, or foreknowledge of them, is as the cause joined with their being his: 2 Tim. ii. 19, The Lord knows who are his.
Secondly, This their election, that makes them his, and is here signified by foreknowledge whom he foreknew is a word appropriated to the
elect and their election by God ; and election is ascribed unto it, as in Rom.
viii. 29, Whom he did .foreknow, he also did predestinate; and 1 Peter
i. 1, Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father; that is, out of that special foreknowledge which God took of those whom he chose ; even such a foreknowledge as is common to no other creatures or persons, although
known unto God are all his works from the beginning. And as several
interpreters have observed on the same word, Rom. viii. 29, he saith not
ot/- veotfdei, whom he knew, as but with a bare, simple act of knowledge, for so he doth all things; but ovg xoosyvu, whom he acknowledged, approved of with a knowledge of liking and love. And so he notes,
1. A singular love joined with the foresight of them, or God s casting a
loving eye with affection upon them. Words of knowledge import affection ;
conjugal communion which is .transacted between man and wife, and riseth from the entirest love, is styled knowledge of each other; as, on the contrary,
1 1 know you not, and I never knew you, doth in Christ s speech express an utter rejection and privation of affection to them.
2. There is wgi (or before) added to this knowledge ; by comparing other
scriptures to which, imports that this his love was before the foundation of the world, and so from everlasting. And so that particle is explained in the same chapter of Peter, ver. 20, when Christ s election is spoken of, whose
election is the pattern of ours : Who verily was foreordained afore the foundation of the world; and Christ himself, John xvii. 25, Thou lovedst me afore the foundation of the world.
3. It was not such a foreknowledge as that whom he foresaw would believe, and be holy, that them, as such foreseen, he chose and loved ; that were un
worthy of God, qui scientiam non acclpit a rebus, and had been an uncertain foundation for God to build upon, who builds not upon sand, the mutable
will of the creature; but the foundation of God is said to be sure, by
this, that he knows who are his; qui, not qua, that is, the individual persons, who they are ; not who, that is, so or so qualified. And in Rom. viii. 29 it
is not said he predestinated those whom he foreknew that would be conform
able to the image of his Son. No ; but, on the contrary, that those whom he foreknew, and so loved, he predestinated to be conformable unto the
image of Christ his Son. Yea, and in this place, Rom. xi. 6, he expressly puts it wholly upon grace, and utterly excludes works foreseen, as the motive unto God : And if by grace, then it is no more of works ; otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace ; otherwise work is no more work.
And thus the sense or meaning of this foreknowledge riseth up to this, that those particular persons, whom out of pure grace and love, without any con
sideration of works of any kind that were to be in them, he casting his love
freely upon them, did, from everlasting, and out of that love, choose to be
his, and they are alone his people. And so for substance and in effect, both these words in verse 2, whom he foreknew, and those that after follow, a remnant according to election of grace, prove both to be one and the same. The doctrine I draw the words summarily forth into is, That there is an election of some, with a non-election, or passing by, of
others ; which election is out of the pure grace of God, and is the cause of
their effectual calling and salvation.
VOL. IX. B
18 OF ELECTION. [BOOK I.
There is another general doctrine to follow from out of the interpretation
of the fourth and fifth verses, viz., That those two companies, or forces of men, the election, and the rest,
or non-elected, have been extant in all ages of the world, and have divided
mankind past, and will be found in the world, to the end thereof, for time
to come.
The former of these two is indeed the ultimate subject in my aim, which
that latter serves to confirm ; but the second shall be the doctrine which I
shall more largely insist upon, and that but so far as it is a medium of proof
to evidence the first, that there is an election, &c. ; and my handling of that
(the first) shall be only so far out of an interpretation of the first, second, and third verses, which, when performed, I shall leave the further evidence
thereof unto the instances and story of the second doctrine ; for which also
I shall find a good specimen and ground in the text itself, in verse 4, when
they come to be opened.
As for the first doctrine proposed, and the interpretation of verses 1, 2, 3,
5, 6, &c., I shall go over the words thereof by parts, as they are placed in
that doctrine.
1. That there is an election. That is in the letter of the text, wherein the
elect are called the election ; and election imports a calling, or singling some from others; as 2 Thes. ii. 13, on g/Xgro, exemit, seleyit, he exempted,
excepted some; or, as it is here in verse 4, reserved to himself. If some
were not passed by, there were not an election. On the opposite side, the
other are called the rest, ver. 7; that is, non-elected. And to say the
rest, is the mildest and softest word that could be given of it, and importeth
merely a non-election, as it stands in this distinction here from the election, which is its opposite. Again, 2. Of the one he says God did foreknow them, his people which he fore
* The Lord knows who are his; he speaks it of election. But there is another
knew, and by his foreknowing took them to be his: 2 Tina, ii. 19,
part of that distinction (for such those words in verse 2 are), there is a rest, whom he never knew. Although he foreknew them as he foreknows all
things, yet without a love or owning of them; thus Christ, Mat. vii. 23, I
never knew you ; there is the badge of the rest, that he says he never knew them. That never reacheth up as high as eternity, and that from thence even unto that hour he never knew them. And as he never did know them, so he never will to eternity. You see here are two companies, the elect, and
the rest; one foreknown, and the other never known.
3. There are different issues and events befall these two ; proceeding, the one from God s foreknowing the one, and the other, that God never knew them. The first doth infallibly obtain: The election have obtained it. Obtained what ? and how ? Effectual calling first, and salvation at last
thereby. What, then, does befall the rest ? They were blinded ; so the
text, And the rest were blinded. In like equipage Christ speaks in the 10th of John, that he had sheep which were not yet to be called; so at
verse 16, And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold : them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice ; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd ; and that his Father had given them him. And then oppo
: ver. 26, Ye are not of my sheep ; and the same different events do follow upon each that are here said to
sitely he speaks of another company
befall these two companies here. Even as here, of those that were his
sheep he says, ver. 16, They shall hear my voice, and them I must bring; and verses 27, 28, My sheep hear my voice, and I give unto them eternal
life ; and they shall never perish. But of the other, You believe not,
CHAP. II.] OF ELECTION. 19
because you are not of my sheep, ver. 26. Observe, it is not that Christ
says they were not of his sheep because they believed not ; but, on the con
trary, they believed not because they were not of his sheep. And it was election of the first sort that put the difference; for the first, he calls his
sheep, because the Father had given them him, and that before their calling and believing; for, says he, I have sheep which are not of this fold: them
also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. So it was his Father s gift of them afore calling, for which they are in these places called his sheep ; and given by his Father with such a command as, I must bring them in, says Christ.
4. This separation by election is out of pure grace; that was another
thing I put into the doctrine. And so it is here said to be according to the election of grace; that is, grace was the founder and sole author of that
decree, and that election merely of grace ; for it follows, ver. 6, If it be of
grace, then it is no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace; which
plainly excludes works of man, as foreseen, and therewith shuts out also the
will of man, which is the author of works, to be in any way the cause of such
an election as foreseen. He makes these two utterly exclusive one of the
other, that is, as to the point of electing; as it follows, If it be of works, it
is no more of grace ; otherwise work is no more work. Admit but the least of works, it is no more of grace out of which God electeth ; they are two
contradistinct, opposite things.
For the further confirmation of this main doctrine, now gathered out of the eleventh chapter, I might here largely shew that the same is the very scope of the ninth chapter, and withal give the correspondencies which these pas sages in this eleventh chapter do hold, with the like in the ninth chapter ; in which ninth he had treated the doctrine of election and preterition, as in the proper seat for them ; and this eleventh chapter that follows is a part of the application and praxis of that very same doctrine treated in chapter ix. And it is as evident to me that he treats in that ninth chapter the doctrine of the election of persons, without the consideration of any worth or dignity in them foreseen, as certainly as that the coming of Christ in the flesh, and his being crucified, were foretold in Psalm xxii. or in the 53d chapter of Isaiah.
He had indeed begun in a way of general thesis, or summary position, to propound the doctrine of election in the chapter afore, and how effectual
calling, &c., flows from thence, and depends thereupon, as so many links upon the first link of that golden chain ; that is, in chapter viii. from verse 28-30,
* We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he did also predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born amongst many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified. And upon occasion of that grand objection I fore-specified, that God had left the com munity of that nation of the Jews to obstinacy against Christ and unbelief, whose yet were the promises, &c., and that so few of that nation had enter tained the gospel, he was necessitated thereupon to prosecute and clear the same doctrine more at large, as that which had put the difference between those few that were saved of that nation, and that generality that were left to blindness. And this he begins to do from the instances of the fathers of that nation, in those eldest, primitive times thereof; shewing how that, from the first, election by grace of the persons of Isaac and Jacob in Abraham s
family (the founder of that nation) had put the vast discrimination between
20 OF ELECTION. [BOOK I.
them two, and the persons of Ishmael and Esau, whom God had rejected. And therefore no wonder if the same difference fell out upon the same foun
dation, in the succeeding children of Isaac and Jacob. These being leading
examples, and types of what was to come; notwithstanding the promise made was to Abraham and his seed, for inheriting eternal life, which the Jews
understood to be universal of their whole nation, but was indeed but inde
finite, which the apostle s argument, ver. 7, 8, doth shew they were.
The occasion of his proceeding upon this argument, in the 9th chapter,
being thus stated, you then have the main subject of that 9th chapter sum
marily proposed in ver. 11, the latter part of the verse, viz. : That the purpose of God, according to election, might stand ; not of works, but of him that calleth.
And this doctrine, as thus stated, he fetcheth out from those two instances
of Isaac and Jacob, as a genuine inference, and conclusion thence deduced ; which I shall but give the sense of in brief: and this inference or conclusion,
though drawn but from those two instances among the Jewish nation, he yet
proposeth as a general maxim, appliable to all other men in the world that
are elect, whether they be Jew or Gentile. The same reason holds of them
as it did of these two, Isaac and Jacob.
That, &c., chap. ix. ver. 11. This particle shews the final cause or intent
of God, and of Paul s alleging these two examples according to God s true
intent in them ; as if he had said, to this end or purpose, God hath in
the Scriptures put this open difference of Isaac and Jacob s persons from
that of Ishmael and Esau s, that he might give forth a most manifest and
general demonstration of the like in the condition of all others.
That God s pur})ose according to election. Which, first, always imports with
it a singling forth one, or divers, from others who are not chosen ; and so here doth connotate the rejection of others, namely, Ishmael and Esau ; or
else, secondly, that clause is put in to distinguish it to be that sort of pur poses which are election purposes ; that whereas to reject, or pass by others,
is from a purpose too ; but this is his purpose according to election ; or,
thirdly, that clause may be thus understood : that God s purpose made
according to the way, mode, or manner of election ; which in the eleventh
chapter, he using the same phrase, doth there intend it to express that it is out of pure grace. And such was this of Isaac and Jacob s : it was after the way and mode election useth to hold ; out of the principle of pure
grace, whence election always proceeds. This further to have been, to the end,
That it might stand ; that is, firm, or sure ; as being built upon the
unchangeable will and good pleasure of grace in God himself. That did not stand waiting, or suspend upon man s will, to see how it would work, and cast the matter, and use his grace, ere he would decree or purpose their
salvation.
Not of works : as they are in us, and from us. And his reason insinuated in that word, might stand, shews why he took that course ; for if it had been of works, that might make the decree or purpose wavering and uncertain.
But of him, that calleth. That whereas God had also decreed that works of faith and obedience should exist in them, he saith yet that his purpose of election to save them depended not on those works, but on his grace, to work those works efficaciously in them ; which when he did elect, he withal decreed to put forth by calling them, which was God s act on them, and
gives an invincible demonstration that no work, as theirs, either afore call
ing or after, was the measure or condition that in election God went by ; but his calling immediately proceeding from election, begins first with them,
CHAP. II.] OP ELECTION. 21
and works all in them ; that so the whole glory might be his that calleth, and not of them that are called : he working that calling, and the works in and of them thence flowing, from his own almighty power and grace ; and
therein executing but that which his purpose of election had from everlasting determined.
This doctrine and maxim the apostle professeth to be a just inference from both the examples of Isaac and Jacob (whom he accordingly wrought an effec
tual calling in) ; but had chosen their persons in his eye and purpose simply considered, thus to call and work upon them, and by so calling them, to save them. And from the particular examples of these two, his scope is to shew in them, as examples and types, that God doth the like with the rest of the sons of men, especially that live in the church and household of God.
And this is no other but the sum of the doctrine of election as we teach
it, and state it out of him ; which thus in these instances at the first pro pounded, he then pursues in the rest of the chapter, from ver. 14 to ver. 24 :
* What shall we say then ? Is there unrighteousness with God ? God
forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same
purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and
that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault ? For who hath
resisted his will ? Nay, but man, who art thou that repliest against God ?
Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus ? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour ? What if God,
willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much
longsuffering the vessels of wrath, fitted to destruction : and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had
afore prepared unto glory. Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews
only, but also of the Gentiles. In which words he further proceeds by answering some queries, and three objections, to clear the same assertion
laid down in ver. 11 ; which I shall not now enlarge upon, they all so broadly speaking the same very thing which he has thus declared in ver. 11, and
inferred from those particular examples of these two, as examples as well as
types of the rest of the sons of men, who prove to be either vessels of mercy or of wrath.
And then, when he had thus delivered the doctrine of God s decrees about
mankind, unto ver. 24, he then proceeds to the execution thereof upon those
: Of him that calleth,
elect, which, in ver. 11, he had said was by calling
according to that decree ; which calling he, in the last words of ver. 23, expresseth to be a preparing of them for that glory, which was by his decree ordained them. And so he goes on, ver. 24 :
* Even us, whom he hath
called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. And the difference which effectual calling, proceeding from election, puts between the elect and
others, he handles from that verse unto the end of the 10th chapter.
That which, in the third place, I observe, is the correspondency, or rather
identity, which the forementioned passages in the llth chapter (wherein my text is) do hold with the like in that foregone, chap. 9th, which shews that his scope as to this point of election is one and the same in both, and which do therefore give light each to the other.
4 In this llth chapter (the scope whereof I have last given), 1, he revives
22 OF ELECTION. [BOOK I.
the application of that doctrine to the Jews, upon the very same occasion he
had entered upon it in ver. 9. And there it was said that these Jews had
the privilege of being Israelites, and that to them pertained the adoption or
title of the children of God, the covenants and the promises ; and that
theirs were the fathers, meaning especially Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ;
thus in ver. 4, 5 ; and yet that nation should, in the community of it, be
left to infidelity, and but so few whom the promises had taken effect upon. This he insinuates in those words, as containing the substance of an objec
tion, Not as though the word of God had been of no effect, or had been
wholly void and frustrate ; which implies that such an objection did
lie^ in men s minds, or at least might do, and so weaken the truth of that doctrine
of Christ, which he had delivered in the former part of this epistle, as being
utterly inconsistent with so great and high titles of privileges enumerated in
the verses afore. 2. They imply that there were yet some whom the word
of God had taken hold upon, and these enough to vindicate the truth of God s
word declared concerning them; and, thirdly, those words, not as though, otr^
oJov, sound plainly a prevention or preoccupation of that objection ; fourthly, the word there spoken of is meant the promise made to Abraham, and his
seed, to be heirs of eternal life, which is thus expressed concerning Isaac and
Jacob, the two persons here instanced in the text, that they were heirs of
the same promise with him, as Heb. xi. 9, which the Jews understood to be
universal unto all his seed after the flesh ; and that, therefore, they were
* all the children of God, as their reply to Christ shews in John viii., which
the apostle his answer and arguing in ver. 7, 8, Neither, because they are
the seed of Abraham, are they all children : but, in Isaac shall thy seed be
called ; that is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the
children of God : but the children of the promise are counted for the seed, shews to have been at the bottom, as the cause and occasion of this his vin-
dici-ce, or apologetical discourse, as I may well call it. Now, then, look at this false supposition, that all the people of Israel were
the children of God, by reason of their being Abraham s and Israel s or Jacob s seed ; and hereupon those their titles and privileges aforesaid were
the occasion, in that ninth chapter, of his treating of the doctrine of election
there ; so here, in this eleventh chapter, he reassumes the very same occa
sion, when he goes on to apply it to the Jews, beginning at the very first
* I say then, Hath God cast away his people ? He speaks in reality the same thing ; to which he answers, ver. 2, with that distinction taken from election, God hath not cast away his people whom he foreknew. The
verse,
occasion is the same, and the answer is the same ; and the objection is solved
by the doctrine of election.
2. The difference put between the true Israelite and the outward, is
* The
resolved into election, and that of pure grace as the foundation thereof:
election obtained it* ver. 7, and the rest were blinded. And that election, such as was out of pure grace, by virtue of which it was that they obtained
it, by obtaining through that election an effectual calling; for want of which, the rest, or non-elect, were left to their hardness. Such a grace as was
purely grace, unintermingled with works foreseen, as in the verses afore, when he said, a remnant, according to the election of grace, ver. 5. He then explains what that grace was, and indeed that word carries its own inter
* then it is no more of works : otherwise grace is no more grace, ver. 6. Insomuch as Austin, comparing these passages of both chapters together,
pretation with it : For if by grace, saith he,
* and especially that of ver. 11 of
chap, ix., For the children not being yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand ;
CHAP. II.] OF ELECTION. 23
not of works, but of him that calleth ; with these now mentioned in chap. xi. ver. 5 and 6, observeth the accord* and agreement of the same scope in both.
3. And, thirdly, the accord appears in that the apostle termeth those few of the Jews called the election, a remnant, in both places ; also in chap. ix.
ver. 27 : Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the
sea, a remnant shall be saved ; which, as relating unto the words, ver. 25 and 26, De Dieu interpreteth as spoken of election, and so fully accords with
* There is a remnant according to the election. The corollary brought off from these references and respects of these two
ver. 5, chap, xi.,
chapters, one to the other, as touching election, is, that if election to life and salvation out of pure grace be the subject of the eleventh chapter, it must be also intended in the ninth chapter. Now the difference that is put between the election and the rest, in that eleventh chapter, is purely and
clearly that which is in order unto the obtaining of eternal life, and there
fore must be intended in the instances of Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, also ; which some have gone about to divert, by contending the scope of both
to have been solely in respect of temporal things, and that in their posteri ties also.
And surely, if many of the several passages in either chapter be compared
together, this election we contend for, without respect to the foreseen con
ditions, will appear to have been the subject in both, if in either of them ; they both speak ad idem, unto the same thing.
This for the interpretation of 1st, 2d, 3d, 5th, 6th, and 7th verses of the eleventh chapter.
I shall now proceed to the instance alleged by the apostle of an election and non-election, in Elias s days, among the people of that nation ; or to an
interpretation of the third, fourth, and fifth verses of the eleventh chapter.
Lord, they have killed thy projihets, and digged down thine altars; and I am
left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him ? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed
the knee to the image of Baal. Even so then at this present time also there
is a remnant according to the election of grace.
The allegation of this single instance for all other is to confirm his asser
tion, viz., that there was an election ; for so he closeth it at last, in ver. 5, Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the
election of grace ; also to confirm what he had last said, that God had not
cast away his people whom he foreknew ; but had an election of grace con
tinued in that nation of the Jews, when yet the face of the generality of that
nation were apostates from God, and his true worship ; and that yet God had a people whom he foreknowing had reserved to himself, whom the pro mises made to that nation had taken hold of, and with an eye and respect unto whom, and for whose sake the nation had the promises indefinitely given to
them, even as in chap, ix., in the fore-part thereof, he had in like manner
discoursed. And his inference from thence accordingly is, ver. 5. And
therefore it followed not that because the generality of that nation believed not in Paul s time, but were hardened, that therefore Christ Jesus, whom
the apostle preached, was not the true Christ, because it had no greater effect upon the multitude of that nation, who were, in profession, and in the
style of the old covenant, the outward people of God, whilst yet God had a very considerable number that had embraced Christ, and the promises made in him, and were the true people of God ; that is,
* whom God * Cui loco satis iste locus concordat. Ep. 106 ad Sixtum.
24 OP ELECTION. [BOOK I.
foreknew, says he, should be existent in those days. Even as there were seven thousand in Elias s time in God s list and catalogue, which were
enough then to make this good, that though the generality of that people were left to unbelief, yet God having a number, though but of some, whom
election had saved, and preserved from a froward generation, that God had not cast away his people now, when Christ was preached to them ; not now, when so few believed ; for God had far fewer in Elias s time among the ten tribes ; for still God had them, and as many of them for a people to
him, embracing his Son, whom he foreknew, and had chosen for his ; and
this was sufficient to break the force of the objection they made. But why God foreknew so few among them in that age, this the apostle resolves into God s good pleasure and foreknowledge.
This is a pat and pertinent instance to this purpose, and in many parti culars parallel to the state of things in the apostle s days, which is likewise the apostle s scope, besides the former, as the apostle s own words in the
applying of the instance shews, Even so then also at this time. I shall
therefore compare them in a few things.
1. In himself. God hath not cast off his people, for I also am an
* I am left alone; which shews, if there had been but one Israelite that had believed in Christ,
Israelite; so Elias had instanced in himself alone: ver. 3,
it had solved the cavil.
2. Elias makes intercession against Israel : They have killed thy pro phets, and digged down thine altars ; and they seek my life ; and so now
might Paul have said in like manner in his times, that his countrymen, the
Jews, had stirred up persecution everywhere; their great business was to go about to throw down the churches, and sought his life above all others ; of which you may read in the story of the Acts, and in the epistles, summed up,
IThes. ii. 15, 16.
3. It was election made the difference in men s spirits then and now, which election of those in Elias s time, is expressed by this, I have reserved to
myself/ pays God, ver. 4, I have left, as the words of God are in the story of the Kings; answerably election that now was in Paul s time, he calls them
Xtfipa, or xaraXf/z/^a, a remnant, a residue, or reserve, the word reserved in ver. 4 answering to Xf^/xa in ver. 5. 4. They are parallel in the fewness. There were then but seven thousand, and now in Paul s time not many thousands in comparison ; for although at
first there was a great flush, and that, Acts xxi. 20, the brethren -of Jerusalem say unto Paul, Thou seest, brother, how many thousand of the Jews which
believe, yet afterwards there was an ebb, both in a cessation of any more being converted, as also by so great an apostasy of many that had professed Christ ; as it was evident to Paul God had cast off the generality of that nation.
But the main thing I observe is the force of this word xareX/aw ; it im
ports, first, a laying hold on some when all were going, and they are there fore said to be reserved, as things that are left when others are gone. And of those that be elected, he says that he reserved them to himself; oppositely, the other, he left them [to] go where they would : he let them go after Baal ; he suffered them to walk in their own ways, as in Acts xiv. 16; He left them to their own counsels, Ps. Ixxxi. 12 ; he left them to themselves ; but, says God, those I reserve for myself. And this expresses the grand end of election, with difference from what becomes of others. Election is a reservation unto God ; it is his own reserv ing persons for himself ; they have the whole of him ; all the love, all the blessedness he hath, they have among them. It is not only he chooses them
n 25
CHAP. II.] OF ELECTION.
from within himself, as having no motive out of himself why he should do
it; therefore it is said of election, which he purposed in himself; but
further, it is for himself, he reserves himself for them, and reserves them
for himself.
Use 1. And therefore it is as grand an evidence as any other, that thou
are elected, if thou sequesterest thyself unto God, and choosest him for him
* My lot is fallen in a good ground ; the Lord is my portion, says my soul.
self, and sayest of him,
2. Let the saints therefore not live to themselves. We live not to our
selves, nor die to ourselves, but to the Lord ; for we are God s, reserved
by election.
3. Let men take heed how they meddle with the saints ; they are God s, reserved for himself. Says David to Saul s courtiers and his own enemies, Know that God hath chosen the man that is godly (David means himself) to himself, and therefore take heed of wronging or opposing of me, Ps. iv.
4. God is engaged to carry thee on, and to carry thee through, for he hath reserved thee for himself; therefore he will not lose what is so selfly* designed and chosen for himself. The Lord s portion is his people. 5. You see what keeps men in evil times, as these seven thousand were
kept in the times of Elias, from the superstitions and idolatries of the times ;
it is election. Rev. xiii. 8, And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship the beast, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
6. The worst and most persecuting times that are, cannot extinguish the
elect. Ahab and Jezebel could not, nor yet cause them to defile their con
sciences. Jezebel searched every corner, and yet Elias lives; and three hundred f prophets were hid with him in a cave, and lived, though with bread and water.
7. If you be the elect ones of God, that God hath reserved for himself,
it is no matter what times you live in. The Lord hath appointed in several
successions, greater and lesser difficulties. Some times wherein the churches have peace, and some wherein they stand in jeopardy of their lives every moment ; and some must have the worst, for as the day is his, so the dark some night is his, as the psalmist speaks of good and evil times. Thus those did in Ahab s time ; and what matter was it, seeing God had reserved them to take them to himself. If it be thy lot to live in as bad as they
did, yet whereas heaven is reserved for thee, and God hath reserved thee
for himself, thou needest not be anxious ; thou shalt stand up in thy lot, as the angel comforted Daniel, who would fain have lived to have seen those
blessed days the angels told him of. When times in any age are upon the
tropic of turning from bad to good, there are some precious ones shall die
just in the vertical point, as old Simeon did, and never enjoy the prosperity
of them.
8. Be content with little in the world, and out of the world. Thou seest that God, that made the world, contents himself with but a few, but a rem nant ; and so he hath them safe with him to heaven, he satisfies himself with the enjojing them to eternity. Were thy houses and thy goods burned, care not, seeing God hath reserved thee wholly for himself.
* That is, particularly or exclusively ED. t Quan hundred ? ED.
26 OF ELECTION. [BOOK I.