As Robert Traill says in Volume 1 of his work, "The first of these privileges is election. And justly it is called the first: for nothing can be before it; for itself is before time; and all that they afterwards receive, flows from it. "
It is interesting to read also John Calvin saying the basic same thing about the gifts and our election.
"Lastly, these phrases denote rather the order of Divine gifts, than the cause of them. In the accumulation of graces upon graces, God derives from the former a reason for adding the next, that he may not omit any thing necessary to the enrichment of his servants. And while he thus pursues his liberality, he would have us always to remember his gratuitous election, which is the source and original of all." -John Calvin, The Institutes, 3. 15. 21. Pg. 21 second volume.
John Brine also says, "Election to salvation is the Ground and Foundation of Regeneration and Sanctification. This gracious Decree is the Fountain of all that Purity and Holiness, which men receive as a Meetness for Heaven: God hath from the Beginning chosen you to Salvation, thro' Sanctification of the Spirit." -The Causes of Salvation And Vocation Considered, pg. 38
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