Election

[KenH]

"The truth is, election has no meaning if it is not the expression of God’s will in reference to particular persons and things. He says to each, You shall be thus and thus, not because you choose to be so, but because I the infinite God see fit that you should be so. To one creature He says, You shall be an angel. To another, You shall be a man. To one order of beings, You shall dwell in Heaven; to another You shall dwell on earth. To one man, You shall be born in Judea, where My name is named and My temple stands. To another, You shall be born in Egypt, or Babylon, where utter darkness reigns. To one He says, You shall be born in Britain and hear the glad tidings. To another, You shall be born in Africa where no gospel has ever come. So He expresses His will, and who can resist it? Who can find fault, or say to Him, What doest Thou? Men may object at being placed thus entirely at the disposal of God, but the apostle’s answer to such is, “Nay, but O man, who art thou that repliest against God?” (Romans 9:20). Election, then, is the distinct forth-putting of God’s sovereign will, for the purpose of bringing a thing to pass; which, but for the explicit forth-going of that will, would not have come to pass."

- excerpt from Horatius Bonar's Truth and Error