GOSPET, - The Gospel Magazine

513
THE II4IIIUTABLES OF' A FULI,, FRBB, AND FINISHED
SALVATION.
I'o the Editor of the Gospel lllagaziue.
Mn. Eorron,
The essential, eternal, incornprehensible Jehovah, hath been pleased to
unfold his perfections in rhree distinct personalities-Fat[er, Son,-and Holy
Gho"t; eacl of rlrese Divirre Pelsons perior,,ring sepirrate and-pecuiiar ofliceq
and yet unitedlv one glorious l)eitv, Deut. vi,4..- Tl,re kuorvledge of tlris mystery
is rvholly sripernaiural, and utteily ireyond the reach of ali ra"rional t.s.arih.
1'he Divini Fither, the- scriptureJ teil us, rnarle choice or.iginally of all
elect creatures, rvhether angels or rnen, the plan of creation rvas frarned
in the nrind of God, Isa. xl. 14. So u'as tlre design of Redemptiou, I l'hess.
v. 9. But it is the Second Persou who hath executed the vast thoughts of Jehovah;
this glorious Second Person in God, is orrr rnost glorious Chriit, bv rvhorn
all thiugs u'ere created; and by rvlr,rm all things consist, Col. i. I6,17. Irr
this adorable Christ it pleased the Father tlrat all the fulness of the Godhead
should dwell bodilv, and in Christ too, the Divine Fatber rvas furrher pleased to
choose a C,lrurch o?'elect persons, of rvhonr Christ was appointecl tbe'Spir'ltual
!e9d; qgd rvho rvele by6ternal purpose ordained to lre members of His'rnystic
body. This Person having been thus set apart in Christ, by an irrexplicible,
irreversible act of the Diviire rvill, Eph. i. 4-22, and v. 30, ill are rraceable to
Gotl's everlasting love to Christ, and to tlre Church bound up in tlre trundle of
life rvith !im, Rorn. viii. 39, Here we gospelly find thefouitain-cause of the
great aets of tbe Lord Christ on hehalf of his Church, Eplr. ii. 7,
The fall of man, though fully in ttre foreknorvledge o-f God, clearly reyeals to
u6, that on account of Adanr's iall, the etect of God, inen in the first rnan's loins,
lost all their creariorr puritv and perfection ; they became the sulrjects of sin, an
incurableevil,Psal. liii.3,ier.ixx. l2,tsi.i.e irvefeelallrhisioberoor;ue,
bound slaves to Satau, and justly liable to the curse of God. 'I'lris is a state of
such guilt, horror, and rnisery, tlat it cannot be adequately conceived by a fi-.
nite trnderstanding, though siiritual i aud it is the atriolute-conrlition of ill the
deprave descendants of"apoitate Adarrr, Psal. xiv..2, 3. llut here I rvoulrl observe,
tlrat as the elect never, no, never fell, and never could fall from Christ,
rror did he ever cease to be related unto theur as their sniritual Head and Husband
; so it rvas in consequence of this, in the Diviue co'unsels of Godhead, tlrat
He was appointed to be tireir glorious-Mediator and Saviour, Heb. x. 7, Isa.
xlix. 6. Sin lrad cut off all comrnunion betweeu Gotl and elect creatules of the
race- of Adam, inasmuch as God is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot
look on iniquity. But sin did not-dissolvil the union rvhich. bv dirine anpointment,
had iubiisted betrveen Cbrist and his Church, Hos. xiii. 9. Therirfore
it was that help was laid uporr oDe tlrat is rnighty-upon hirn rvho had an
eternal property in elect llersons, so as to claim them for an inheritance; Deut.
xxxii.9. ln the fore.views of the fall, Salvation rvas provided fbr the Church,
that the purpose of God aecording to election might siand, the Lord (Jhrist, by
virtue ofcoverrant transaction in heayen before all time, rvas to redeem lris Churclr
ft_gl rl,C guilt antl misery of sin, rhe rvages of rvhich ii tleath. He rvas to accomplisb
this"gloriousalvafion by'becornirig their Surety-bearing the irnputation
of their sins-enduring tlre rv[ole wrath of God drarv'n dorvn ulion elecf sinners
-and bringing in an 6verlastiog riEhteousness, whereby saved diDnershouid be
preserved antl purified eternally. 1'he Suretyship of Christ for his Church cannot
-be intelligiirle to us, lrut in'proportion as ,ue have right (iospel perceptions
of tbe Person of Christ; Christ''s Divine rvorth and dienitv beionE t,r hirn as
being the Second Person in Jehovah; as such He is Gid 6vel all'blessed for
ever, but Cbrist as the Sulety fol his fallen Church, must be rierved as the
man Jesus taken into personal union rvith the Godlread, lsa" lix. 16, and
John xiv. 10.
This is Chrisr's orvn staternent, and thus to culfess hinr, is to be a partaker