In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: Ephesians 1:11
Mark, when it is said, “We are chosen in Christ,” we are not to understand, as if the death and merits of Christ were the foundation of election: No, that’s from the Grace and Love of the Father, this is the Fountain from whence election flows; hence the Elect are called the Father’s: (John 17:16) “Thine they were, and thou gavest them me.” Yet the death of Christ is the foundation of all grace in the Church-militant, and glory in the Church-triumphant (1 Thess. 5:9,10). The Father from free Sovereign Grace, chooses a number out of the world in their fallen state when in misery, and makes them vessels of mercy (Rom. 9:23). But, if Christ will have the honour to be their Lord, He must pay a certain sum for them, no less than His blood; because Justice had said, the man (if he transgressed) should die, either in his person or in a Surety. So here is “Mercy and Truth met together, Righteousness and Peace kiss each other,” (Ps. 85:10). Here is the Mercy of the Father meets the Righteousness of the Son; the Mercy of the Father, in providing a Surety to pay and satisfy Himself; the Justice of Christ, in laying down His life. These sweetly agree in order to the everlasting peace of a lost sinner; so that when it’s said, “We are chosen in Christ,” it intends as He was to be the Head, of the church the body; as He the King, the church the Kingdom: but not chosen in Christ, as if His death were to merit our election, that was from the Father’s Love; yet His death is the fountain of all grace in time, and all glory in eternity.
Hercules Collins (1646 – 1702) From a sermon delivered in 1696 entitled: “Mountains of Brass: Or A Discourse Upon The Decrees of God”
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