And so Election is, etc.[1] Compare the Definition of Election in the Canons of Dort, chapter I, article VII,[2] and the vigorous exegesis of the same in SPANHEIM’S Decadum Theologicarum VII, § 3, opera, tome 3, column 1235.
[1] Marckius’ definition from his Compendium, chapter VII, § 21: “And so Election is, the Gracious Predestination of certain ones, fewer in number, and generally more despised in state, out of mankind, going to fall, certainly to obtain Salvation through Faith and Repentance, and for the demonstration of the praise of Divine grace in them.” [2] Canons of Dort, chapter 1, article 7: “Election is the unchangeable purpose of God, whereby, before the foundation of the world, He hath out of mere grace, according to the sovereign good pleasure of His own will, chosen, from the whole human race, which had fallen through their own fault from their primitive state of rectitude into sin and destruction, a certain number of persons to redemption in Christ, whom He from eternity appointed the Mediator and Head of the elect, and the foundation of salvation. “This elect number, though by nature neither better nor more deserving than others, but with them involved in one common misery, God hath decreed to give to Christ, to be saved by Him, and effectually to call and draw them to His communion by His Word and Spirit, to bestow upon them true faith, justification and sanctification; and having powerfully preserved them in the fellowship of His Son, finally, to glorify them for the demonstration of His mercy and for the praise of His glorious grace, as it is written: ‘According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved’ (Ephesians 1:4-6). And elsewhere: ‘Whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified them He also glorified’ (Romans 8:30).”