Chief and Eminent Elect One The First-born and Prince of the Family and all the Elect besides were given to Him as younger Brethren to be maintain'd upon His Inheritance It is plain to him that reads That the whole of Salvation was laid upon Christ That He bears up the Pillars of it and that all shoulders else had been too weak He is both the means and Center by whom and in whom God will have all things gathered together in One He was made God with us That we might be made One in God as appears by the scope of His Prayer in the 17th of John In Him the Father is well pleased and out of Him there is nothing pleasing to God or good for Men We are therefore said to be Chosen in Him a Eph 1 4. To be Called in Him b Phil. 3 14. To be Created in Him c Eph. 2. 10. To be Preserved in Him d â—ude vâ—r 2. and in Him to be blessed with all spiritual Blessings Blessings in themselves d e. Eph. I. 4. would not be so to us if not in Christ And being in Him all things are turned into blessings to us For now Nothing can come at us but as coming through Him and what ever so comes is Tiâ—ctured by His Divine Excellency and made Propitious to us And hereby it is That the Thing we were Chosen unto is effectually and unfailably Provided for There may divers good Reasons and Ends be assign â—â—d for God's Choosing the Elect in Christ As I. That by bringing in Man's Restauration this way Arg. 1. He might as it were Baffle His great Adversary and Out-shoot him in his own Bow And it well became the Wisdom and Grace of God Thus to do The devil thought by Poisoning the Root to Vitiate and Ruin the whole Stock and Progeny and he fail'd not of His Design The Lord would therefore by putting His Elect into a Head uncapable of Degeneracy Retrieve that Ruin and not only recover them but bring them into a Better Estate than that they had lost He would set up a Man that should be too hard for the Devil and be able both to Destroy Him and Dissolve his Works And He hath accordingly done it In which Method of Man's Recovery is a great Answerableness to the Method of his Ruin And it is a Thing the Lord would have us to mind Rom. 3. 12 21. as appears by the Parallel beforementioned II. That by shewing us His Righteousness in the way and manner of our Recovery Arg. 2. we might the more readily subscribe to His Righteousness in the imputation of Adam's sin For without the sight and knowledge of One we cannot with any heartiness submit to the other Hence Some in their too-bold Arguings against Election have alledged That What Adam did was without their Consent III. If the Elect had not been in Christ Arg. 3. the satisfaction He undertook for Sinners could not have availed them As Adam's sin could not have been ours if not in him So neither the Righteousness of Christ if not in Him Our sins could not have met upon Him nor we have been Iustified and Reconciled by the blood of His Cross If He had not sustain'd our persons and stood in our stead Another's Act cannot be mine either as to Profit or loss if there be not some kind of Oneness between us IV. If not in Christ Arg. 4. we could not have been Sanctified The Lump was sanctified the first fruits Rom. 11. 16. The Wilde-Olive-Nature could not be supprest and changed but by grafting into the True As a Man cannot be Naturally born Without relation to Adam as his Natural head so 't is impossible to be born again or Regenerated without the like relation of Union to Christ as his Spiritual Head There is no being a New Creature without being in Christ 2 Cor. 5. 17. They that are joyned unto the Lord and they only are one Spirit with Him The branch must be in the Vine before its sap can be derived into it He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified must be One There must be a Contact a touching of Him before this virtue can come from Him V. They were Chosen into Christ Arg. 5. That the Salvation they were Chosen unto might be invincibly secured of which this putting them into Christ is a pledge irrevocable Their Vnion with Him is their stability It is That makes them hold out as He Himself did till all is finished Isa 42. 4. He did not fail nor was discouraged so neither shall they and this because he is their Head This makes them victorious over all the power of the enemy Election indeed makes their Salvation sure but it is by this way of Putting them into Christ In whom the heirs of the World to come are preserv'd whiles the World of ungodly are deluged in Perdition Gen. 6. 18. Adam therefore whiles a Common Person and as such could not be said to be in Christ If he had he could not have fallen For Joh. 5. 26. the Father hath given the Son to have life in Himself i. e. to have it as a Root That all in Him might still be supplied from an increated Grace and Power which holds them fast to Himself and so from Withering and falling off It is not Grace received by us that keeps us But that Grace which received us to the Glory of God the Father Rom. 15. 7. which still Communicates a fresh supply Through Jesus Christ Having gone these few steps towards the Compass and extent of Election It concerns us also to know where this broad River hath its Head What Rock it is That this Immense Fabrick is built upon That we may not give the honour of it to another nor indanger our selves by settling on a wrong foundation To shew which is the Scope and Subject of the Sixth particular under this General Head viz. VI. That Election is founded upon Grace Or The good pleasure of God's will is the only Original Cause and Motive of Election As in Men's Genealogies there is no stop until you come up to God the Father of all Luke 3. 23. 38. So is it in the order of Causes relating to Men's Salvation The efficiency of all things that are mediate and subordinate depending on God as First and Sovereign His Willing the futurition of them is the cause of their being and We shall never judge Rightly unless we come up to the Will and Good Pleasure of God as the Sovereign Rule and Law of His Works And this I term The onely Original Cause of Election to shut out Faith foreseen with all the works and worthyness of Men from being any way Causal Influential or Motive thereto and so from sharing in the Glory of God's Grace which He is very jealous of and will not impart to any The Ground or Moving Cause of God's Election is quite different from the manner
teach Themselves Rom. 2 from 17 ver to 21. And in Rom. 3. where they are Ranked together he proves them to be All under Sin None Righteous None that understandeth None that seeketh after God None that doth good No not One Yea This depravement of Nature was so deep and indelibly fixed That the Lord Himselfe tells them The Blackmoor might as soon change his skin as they learn to do well All which with abundantly more be speaks a condition extreamly remote from yielding a Cause of this blessed Election IV. If God's love to Men had its Rise and Beginning from their love to Him it would not have that singular eminency in it Joh. 3. 16. that is justly ascribed to it So God lâ—ved the World So as not to be exprest So as not to be paralel'd So as not to be understood until we come to that State wherein we shall know as we are known By this it is 1 Cor. 13. 12. that God's love to Men is so highly celebrated in 1 Joh. 4. 10 Herein is love Not that we loved God but that God loved us And Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed up on us 1 Joh. 3. 1. Which surely then is not after the manner of Men Matth. 6. 46. For even Publicans do so Luke 6 32 35. and Sinners love those that love them But to love Enemies and whiles Enemies as to love a Woman a Wife that is an Adulteress this is according to God's love to His Chosen But Notwithstanding these Scriptures with others seem purposely written to obviate such conceptions as would feign our loving of God to be the ground and Motive of His love to us Yet great endeavours there are to Father Election upon foreseen faith and works which That They call the Covenant of Grace has they Say qualified and capacitated all Men for and which certain more pliant ingenuous and industrious persons as they speak would attain unto by the helps they have in common with other Men But this pedigree of Election is excepted against as being not rightly deduced For 1. Men having in Adam devested themselves of all that was holy and good the Lord could not foresee in them any thing of Worth or Desirableness but what Himself should work in them Anew and that of pure Grace and favour For sin and deformity could not be motives of love And that the Elect of themselves were in no wise better than other Men is evident by the Scriptures late-quoted where the Holy Ghost asserting the universal depravement of humane nature exâ—empts not one But if such excellent and distinguishing qualifications as Faith and Holiness had been foreseen and so imputable to them the Spirit of Truth would not have Rank'd them Even with the Children of wrath as He doth Eph. 2. 3. But 2. If they were otherwise what could they add unto God Job 37. 24. Ch. 35 7. Ch. 41. 11. Or whereby could they oblige Him He respecteth not any that are wise of heart If thou be Righteous what givest thou Him And who hath prevented Me says the Lord that I should repay him i. e. Who is he that is a fore hand with God Deut. 10. 17. in doing ought that might induce His favour He regardeth not Persons nor taketh Rewards He is not propitious to any for what they can do for Him or bring to Him Take Paul for an Instance He walked up to the light he had Was blameless lived in all good Conscience knew no evil by himself a rare degree of legal Righteousness But that it was not this moved God to make him a Chosen Vessel he thankfully acknowledgeth with self-abasement upon every occasion Tit. 3. 5. Tin 1. 14. 15. 2. Tim. 1. 9. 3. Faith follows Election God respects the person before his offering you 'l say perhaps Abel was respected as a Believer and his offering for his Faith True But that Faith of his was not the primary cause of God's respecting him If Abels Person had not been respected first he had never been a Believer For Faith is the work and gift of God and according to the course of all judicious Agents he that will work must first pitch on the Subject He will work upon and he that gives on the person he will give unto Heb. 11. 6. Besides Rom. 14. 23. Abel could do nothing before he Believed that might move God to give him Faith therefore it could not be Abel's foreseen Faith that was the Cause of his Election The Scripture speaks often of iron-sinew'd-Necks and Brazen Brows and of Men's being in their blood when the Lord said They should live As also that God loved Jacob before he had done any good thing and that the Saints love God because He loved them first But no-where of Foreseen Faith and Holiness as the Cause and Ground of God's love to Men. 4. Faith and Holiness are Middle things They are neither the Foundation nor Top-stone of Election They are to Sovereign Grace as Stalks and Branches are to a Root by which the Root conveyes its virtues into its principal fruit Ephes 2. 8 By Grace ye are saved through Faith 2. Thes 2. 13 Chosen to Salvation through Sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the Truth They are no more the Cause of Election than the Means of an End are the first Cause of Purpose Nay no more than Tatnai's propension to build the Temple and to provide Sacrifices for the God of Heaven was the Cause of Darius his Decree that those things should be done Ezra 5. and 6. Chapters 5. If men be Predestinate to Faith and Holiness as they are according to Rom. 8. 38 â—9 and 1. Pet. 1. 2. Then they were not seen to be such before their Predestination Or if they were then their Election as to that particular would seem impertinent There can no Rational account be given why Men foreseen to be such should be so solemnly predestinate thereto So likewise If Salvation be the inseparable product of Faith and Holiness according to John 5. 24 He that believeth hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation 1. Pet. 1. 9. Receiving the End of your Faith the Salvation of your Souls Then to ordain to Salvation those foreseen to be so qualified would seem a thing both needless and insignificant It would look like the sending of Men where they would have gon of Themselves Such sapless irregular and injudicious Notions are very unworthy that Celebrious and for ever Adorable Act of Predestination And if duely weighed would set us further off from the doctrine of Self-advancement which stands in so point-blank opposition to the Doctrine of God's Grace V. Arg. 5. It could not stand with the wisdom and Goodness of God to found the Salvation of His People on a failable bottom Which it must be said to be if dependent on any thing besides His own Immutable Will For whatever it was that Election had being from
Persecutor in the Company Paul was a Chosen Vessel And this in brief was the Reason of it as you have it recorded in Acts 22. 14 The God of our Fathers hath chosen thee That thou shouldest know His will The Jews had many Means of knowing the Messiah and Inducements to believe in him which the Gentiles had not And yet These embrace the Gospel whiles the Jews Reject it Those who sought after Righteousness fell short of it Rom. 10. 20. when Those who sought it not attain'd it For the bottom-Reason of which different Dispensation We are referr'd to Election Rom. 11. 7 The Election hath obtained and the Rest were blinded How variously are several Men affected in hearing the same word The Sheep and the Rest have both the same Outward means One Neglects it attends not at all or Regards not what he hears A second quarrels it as the Jews often did A Third is perswaded almost as Agrippa was and those that would hear Paul agen of that Matter A Fourth is Pricked in the heart and called effectually It 's a stumbling-block to some Foolishness to Others And to some 't is the Power of God Acts 2. 39. And these some are such as were Elected of Those to whom the Promise was made and are therefore termed The Called according to His Purpose Rom. 8. 28. Rom. 8. And agen in 2 Tim. 1. 9 They are said to be Called according to His own Purpose and Grace which was given them in Christ before the World began They are first Chosen Ps 65. 4. and then Caused to approach unto God There is almost no end of Scriptures to this purpose I shall instance one more so close up this Particular All the blessings which the Saints are blessed with in time are all bestowed according to God's Decree of Election before time as is manifest from Eph. 1. ver 3 4 5. Where I observe 1. That Election goes afore the Actual Donation of Spiritual blessings 2 Tim. 19. For These are given in time That was afore time And That which comes After cannot be the Cause of That which went Afore it One Effect may be the Cause of another but not the Cause of That which caused it self 2. That the Actual Donation of Spiritual blessings is according to Election i. e. Election is the Rule by which the Dispensation is guided It is Adequate with Election and Answerable thereto even as the Impression is to the Printing-Types Or as the fashion of Davids body to the platform thereof in God's book and the Tabernacle to the patern shewn in the Mount According to which all things were made as well in respect of Number Weight and Measure as Form and Figure Spiritual blessings are not given to One More or Fewer or in other manner but just as Election hath laid it forth Which also is further confirm'd by Rev. 21. 27 Where we finde That None are admitted into the Holy City but whose Names were written in the book of life And Whosoever was not found written in that book was cast into the lake of fire chap. 20. 15. Which shews That at the latter day Acts 13. 48. it will be taken for granted That as many as were ordained to Eternal life believed And that all and every One without the list of Election dyed in Unbelief That the Election obtained Rom. 11. 7. and the Rest were blinded Therefore Faith and Holiness are not the Cause but the Certain effect and inseparable Consequent of Election IV. Our last Enquiry is Of the Way and Manner of God's Dispensing spiritual Blessings And that is Effectually and Freely I. Effectually The Soul is not turned to God by a Twyne-Thread Nor doth the Lord content Himself with Wishing and Woulding that it might be so after the manner of Men who either are Indifferent in the thing Or have not Wherewith to Effect their desires Nor merely by propounding Moving and striving by Moral Suasions Instructions Threatnings and the like which are of little avail with a dark Understanding and fixed enmity which every Natural Man is acted by But by the putting-forth of a Power Invincible A Power that will not be said Nay but what it Wills That it will doe What it undertakes it goesthorow with To doe a thing Effectually is to doe it Perfectly Thorowly Successfully that is So to use and apply the Means that the End designed is surely brought-to-pass And this Notwithstanding all the Weakness Aversness and Repugnancy of the Carnal Mind against it I might produce Instances not-a-few touching God's Effectual Working to bring-about things of lesser Moment How unwilling was Moses to be His Messenger to Pharaoh Exod. 3 4. So opposite to it That when he had no farther plea nor excuse to make chap. 4. v. 13. he carries it Perversly towards the Lord send by the hand of him whom thou shouldest send But having designed him for the Work He leaves him not until He had won him to it ver 18. So Pharaoh resolv'd he would not let the people goe But I will stretch out my hand saies God and he shall let you goe ver 20. Much more will He make His Arm bare for the salvation of His Chosen And it must be so done I. Because otherwise the Elect should be in no better condition than Other men For until conversion Satan hath as fast hold of them as of the Rest Adam's fall was the Devil's Master-peece To bring men into his own condemnation is the Trophee he glories in and being a Prince both proud subtile and Imperious you may not think he will be Baffled or Complimented out of his hold Intreaties Menaces and force of Arguments are of no weight with him He laughs at your strong Reasons and Counts them but rotten wood Mark 5. 4. Jesus I know and His Spirit I know but what are these No this kind goes not forth by consent Nothing will move him but that Power which Heaven and Earth do bow under He that made him and he onely can cause his sword to approach unto him and take the Prey from this Terrible One And for this it was that our Saviour tells the Apostles when he sends them to turn Men from Satan unto God That all power in Heaven and Earth was committed to him Math. 28. 18. And that in this power He will be with them to the end of the World Which was indeed but Needfull For they had surely gon on a sleeveless errand a weak and fruitless design if Christ himself thus impower'd had not gone with them And for the Elect themselves They are of themselves no better disposed to this work than those that Never shall be wrought-upon They are Enemies in their minds Darkness Dead in sins and Children of wrath even as Others And this they are by Nature Their State therefore could never be changed if a Power Invincible and Invincibly Resolved in what It undertakes were not engaged in
of Men who commonly pitch upon things for some Natural Aptness or Meetness of them for their Work They will not take a knotty cross-grain'd or wind-shaken piece of Timber to make a Pillar of State But the Lord pitches upon such and such to choose the poor base weak foolish things of the world the worst of Men and chief of Sinners The instances of Paul Manasseh Mary Magdalen and others make it evident and of these He is pleased to make Pillars for the House of God Pilluis of State indeed whereon to write His own Name to manifest thereby His Sovereignty Holiness Wisdome Power Righteousness and Free Grace to Eternity The Lord's way and method in bringing His Sons to Glory is the best Demonstration of the Right order of Causes For though there be a Concurrence of many things as Causes and Effects one of another yet if observ'd in their Order they will still lead us up to the Goad Pleasure of God as First and Supream and perfectly Independent The Current of the New Testament Runs wholly this way and hangs the whole of Salvation both Means and End expresly on the Divine Will Luke 1â— 32 It is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom Chap 10. 21 Thou hast hid these things from the Wise and revealed them to babes For so it seemed good in thy sight Rom. 11. 5 A Remnant according to the Election of Grace Ephes 1. 5 Predestinate to the Adoption of Children according to the good pleasure of His Will Redemption also and the forgiveness of Sins according to the riches of His Grace the same Grace that Elected Ver. 7 The making known the mystery of His Will this also is according to that His Good pleasure which He had purposed in Himself Ver. 9. Yea all the operations of God whether for us upon us or by us they All have their Rise from the same Spring and are Carried by the same Rule He worketh all things after the Councel of His Own Will Ver. 11. And for the Old Testament you have it sufficiently exemplified there in the Instances before given and especially touching the ground of God's love to the People of Israel who in that respect Deut. 7. 8. Ch 9. 4. Ch. 10. 15. were the Arch-type of the Spiritual Election viâ— That His own good pleasure was the only cause of His Choosing them above other Nations He loved them because He loved them And good Reasons there are why Election should be founded upon Grace and why it could not with respect either to God's Glory or the Elect's Security be founded otherwise And the I. Is from the Sovereignty of God Whose Will being the Supream Law admits not a Co-ordinacy Much-less will it stand with Sovereign Power to be Regulated by the will of another That would be a Contradiction to Sovereignty For that which Regulates is superiour to that which is regulated by it Sovereign Princes to shew their Prerogative affirm their acts of Grace to be of their own meer Motion And their Grants are reputed the more Authentique for being so exprest The like we find in Scripture frequently ascribed to God That He will have Mercy on whom He will have mercy Rom 9. 18. That He worketh all things not by Motives from without Eph 1. 11. but after the Councel of His own Will Rom 9. 16. That it is not of Men's Willing or Running but of God who sheweth Mercy When the World had been drown'd for their obdurate impenitency the Few that remain'd were as bad as before and those that should come after the Lord foresaw would be the same One would think now The natural Result of this Experiment should be I will utterly cut them off and be troubled with them no more But the Lord's thoughts are not our thoughts He argues and concludes in another Mode I will not again any more Curse the ground for man's sake And He is pleased to give the same Reason here why He Will not as before why He would asis seen by comparing Gen. 6 5 and 7. with Chap. 8. 21. See also the Instance of God's dealing with Ephraim He was wroth with Him and smote Him and Ephraim so far from Relenting That he went on frowardly i. e. Stubbornly as Resolved in his Course I hid me sayes the Lord and was wroth Esa 57. 15. This one would think if Ephraim had in him but a spark of Ingenâ—ity should have Moved him to alter his Course But what cares Ephraim He still keeps the same way and it was the way of his heart not an inconsiderate Pet or sudden Temptation but Natural and fixed All which the Lord sees and considers and having laid all together Resolves to heal him Isa 57. 18. and Restore Comforts to him On the other hand Those good Soules who feared the Lord and Obeyed the voice of his servant Isa 50. â—1 They yet walked in darkness and had no light ye may be sure They would gladly have understood their Condition namely That they were such as feared the Lord Their Will could not be Wanting to a Thing so greatly importing their Comfort Nor they were not Idle in seeking for it They Walked though in the Dark but could not Walk themselves out of it They are still as they were They had no light By these contrary Examples ye may see That the Sovereignty of God still keeps the Throne and His dispensments of Mercy whether in purpose or in Act are not Governed by the Wills of Men They are things too low to be Councellors to God And if it be thus in things of temporary Concernment much more in that great business of Eternal Election which is the Sublimest Act of Sovereign Power And yet This hinders not but That every Man at last shall be judged according to his works II. Arg. 2. Election must be founded onely upon Grace because Grace and Works are Inconsistent in the Cause of salvation The scripture is every Cautelous of admitting any thing as a Concomitant with Grace in this Matter yea although it be a Thing that doth alway accompany Grace and That without which a Man cannot be Saved The Apostle puts them in opposition and is very intent on the Argument as a thing of great Moment in Rom. 11. Where first he shews That amidst that general Defection of the Iewish Nation there still was a Remnant whom God had Reserv'd These he terms The Foreknown ver 2. and in the 7. ver he calls them plainly The Election And then lest any should ascribe it to a false cause as in that paralel Case he resembles it to viz That they had not bowed the knee to Baal but stuck to the True Religion when others fell off he tells us No Their Election was founded upon Grace And as for Works they had no place in the Causality of it By Grace he means the Free Favour of God who is not moved by any thing without Himself But what He
does He does it Freely without respect to Mens desert Nay their Vndesert rather is an expedient Consideration in this Act of Grace By Works I understand All that Self-Righteousness Goodness Conformity to the Law Or what ever else is performable by Men. These viz Grace and Works he proves as inconsistent as Contraries can be and that the least Mixture would vary the kind If but a sâ—ruple of Works be taken in Grace is no more Grace For to him that worketh is the Reward not reckoned of Grace but of Debt Rom. 4. 4. Grace and Faith are well agreed These both have the same scope and end But Rom. 4. 4. Grace and Works have always Clash'd The setting up of the One is the deposing of the other Either the Ark must Out or Dagon down One Temple cannot hold them both Rom. 3. 28. To the same effect is the drift of that discourse in Gal. 5. It appears from Acts 15. 1. That some there were who taught a Necessity of Circumcision as without which they could not be saved Pretty willing they were to admit of Christ so they might joyn Circumcision with Him and keeping the Law of Moses But this dangerous daubing with things unmixable our holy Apostle could not brook both as reflecting on the honour of his Master and undermining their onely Foundation And therefore to keep them from or bring them off that perillous Quick-sand he tells them expresly These two cannot stand together in that matter For if they be Circumcised they are Debtors to the whole Law and Christ is become of none effect to them because they are fallen from Grace It is as if he had said If you take in any part though never so little of Legal Observances as Necessary to your being Justified ye forfeit the whole benefit of Gospel-Grace The Grace of Christ is sufficient for you He is a Saviour Compleat in Himself and if you look though but a squint at any thing else it is a Renouncing of Him He will be Saviour altogether or not at all And therefore he tells them again and that with a kind of vehemency Gall. 5. 2. That if they be Circumcised Christ shall profit them Nothing And as a Man may not put in his Claim for Justification on accompt of his Works so neither of his Faith as if That were Mâ—terially or Influentially Causal of Justification For Faith it self as it is the Believers Act comes under the Notion of a Work Let us therefore Consider What part it is that Faith holds in this Matter least whiles we cast out Works as not standing with Grace we make a Work of Faith It is Faith's Office to make the Soul live wholly on Another and to Renounce Self ability as much as Self desert To apprehend that Righteousness by which Grace Justifies Not onely to be Justified thereby upon your Believing but to work in you even that Faith by which you apprehend it Isa 45. 24. answerable to that of the Prophet In the Lord have I Righteousness and Strength He that will be Saved must come as an ungodly Person to be justified freely by the Grace of God He must reckon himself an Vngodly Man to the very instant of his Justification True it is The Just shall live by Faith but 't is also true That it is not their own Faith or act of believing that they live by though not without it Which also seems the Apostle's meaning where he sayes The life which I now live I live by the Faith of the Son of God Where note That as Faith is the life of a Believer so Christ is the life of his Faith I live saith he yet not I but Christ liveth in Me Christ was his life and he lived on Christ by virtue of Christ's living in him Notwithstanding all which it is evidently true and must constantly be affirm'd That Grace and Works will still be together in the way of Salvation the one doth not extinguish or exclude the other Only not as Collegues or Joint-Causers thereof But rather as a Workman and his Tooles which himself first makes and then workes with them By Grace ye are saved through Faith Eph. 2. 8. and that not of your selves it is the Gift of God Even this believing or Acting faculty is a Creature of Grace's raising up and therefore in the Throne 't is meet that Grace should be above it Works therefore how good soever are not the Cause of Salvation and if so then not the cause of Election for This indeed is the Cause of them both And Works if right and truly Good will alwayes be ready to own their Original and to keep in their own place Where also they will be most considerable and do the best service III. Arg. 3. That the good pleasure of God's Will gives Rise and Foundation to Election is further argued from Men's Incapacity to afford any ground or Motive to God for such a Gift Adam stood not so long as to beget a Son in his first Image It is sâ—en by his first-born Cain what all his natural Sâ—ed would naturally be And though there be some that do Magnifie Man and presume to speak of him at another rate yet evident it is by Scripture-light and experience of those Renewed That Man fallen is poâ—r blind Naked and at enmity with all that is truly good and that he is never more Remote and farr off from God than whiles in high thoughts of himselfe Glorying in his own Understanding Strength Worthyness Freedom of Will Improvement of Common Grace and the like For These make him proud and presumptuous and to have slight thoughts of that special and peculiar Grace by which he must if ever be Renewed and Saved But the Lord Himself who best knows him reports the matter quite otherwise and we know that His witness is true viz. That all the imaginations of their heart are onely evil continually Gen. 6 5. That their inward part is very wickedness Ps 53. 1. That every Man is brutish in his knowledge Jer 10 14 ver 8 21. Altogether brutish and foolish yea even their Pastours that is the very best and most intelligent amongst them Ch 4. 22. Eccles. 91 3. They are wise to do evil but to do good have no understanding And their hearts are full of madness And it was not thus only with the Gentile Nations who were left to walk in their own way but even with the Jews Isa 5. 4. who had all the means of becoming better that could be devised Excepting that of special Electing Grace which took-in but a Remnant They were called Jews Rested in the Law Made their boast of God Knew His Will Approved the things that were excellent Were confident that they were a Guide of the blind and a light to them that were in darkness Instructors of the foolish Teachers of Babes And yet all this while and in the midst of all these high attainments did not
by what Title The Answer is They all do belong to Elect Persons and That in right of their Election To put Effects in the place of Causes and Causes of Effects is a great absurdity in Natural things and yet how prone are we to it in Matters of Divine Concernment which chiefly comes from the pride of our Spirits who fain would be Some-body in procuring our own happiness and do therefore ascribe it to any Cause rather than That which is proper to it This is a Great Evil and the more perilous and catching because espoused by Some of no-common-profession and That with great pretences of Reason for it To Refute which your most rational course will be To search and consult the Scriptures whose testimony and right Reason do always sort-together And if by this Ascent you follow Salvation and all the Conducements thereto up to their Head you shall find them all to be intirely and absolutely of God and contained in the same Decree And consequently That Faith and Holiness are the Effect and certain Consequent of Election The genuine Import of Scripture-Salvation is broad and comprehensive extending to all manner of Requisites which any way conduce to the perfect accomplishment of the thing it self Outward Salvation what ever belongs to the Outward Man's preservation As Water Bread Walls Bulwarks c. Isa 26. 1. Salvation will appoint Walls and Bulwarks i. e. The promise of Salvation implies and carries in it all things pertaining to Safety So Spiritual Salvation what ever pertains to Blessedness and Glory as Redemption Faith Holiness and Holding-out to the End Any of which being absent would invalidate all the rest As one Round of a Ladder pluck'd-out hinders your ascent to the Top. If One gives me a piece of Land that is round-inclosed the Law gives me a Way to it though no express mention thereof in my Deed so as to take the profits Otherwise litle would his Gift signifie to Me Salvation is That the Elect are endowed with Faith and Holiness the necessary Way to their actual possession And therefore These they must be ordained unto and are as well as to Salvation it self For being Predestinate to the Adoption of Sons Rom. 8. 28. Eph. 1 5. 1 Joh. 3. 2. and to be conformed to the Image of Christ which is not perfectly accomplished till His appearing in Glory they must be Predestinate also to all those intermediate Dispensations and Graces which are requisite thereto For Right to the End gives Right to the Means They are therefore said to be Chosen to Salvation through Sanctification of the Spirit 2 Thes 2 13. and belief of the Truth In order of Intention God wills the End first and then the Means In order of Execution the Means first as directive to That End Ro. 8. 30. Eph. â— 4 8 10 The End is the cause of the Means and Election the Cause of them both The Promise of Canaan to Abraham's Seed did virtually contain what ever must come between the making of the Promise and the final performance of it As 1 To multiply his Seed into a Nation 2 To keep Esau Laban and Others from hurting them 3 To provide for them in time of famine 4 To preserve and increase them in Egypt notwithstanding the Egyptians craft and cruelty to suppress them 5 To bring them forth with an high hand in contempt of Pharaoh's Resolvedness against it and his Potency to withstand it 6 To divide the Sea before them and provide them a Table in the Wilderness 7 To cause their Enemies hearts to faint and become as Water 8 To send the Hornet before them and to fight for them c. For Otherwise the Lord 's giving them Canaan had been but as the Pope's giving England to the Spaniard that is If he could get it And lastly To pardon their manifold great and high provocations by which they exposed themselves to wrath and extirpation daily So is it in the Case of Election It draws with it even All that is tendent to the Saints actual Investiture with Glory The Apostle therefore linketh Eternity past with Eternity to come He makes Election and Glorification the two extream points of the Compass Calling and Justification which are parts intermediate he founds upon the First in order to the Last and gives you their Set-course in Rom. 8. 38. Whom He did Foreknow Then also He did Predestinate To what to be conformed to the Image of His Son And whom He did Predestinate them also He Called And what did He Call them to He Called them to Holiness to Glory and Virtue 2 Pet. 1. 3. And whom He Called them also He Justified and Glorified These All do belong to One and the same persons and that by virtue of the Decree and no one of them did ever go alone The like Succession of Causes and Effects ye have in the 16th of Ezekiel Ezek. 16. 6-12 The Lord finds them in their blood that is in their natural condition He enters into Covenant with them and makes them His Own there 's Election Then He Washes them and that throughly there 's their Justification And then Adorns them there 's their Sanctification which always is Consummated in Glory In the 17th of the Acts Acts 17. 1-5 ye have Paul preaching at Thessalonica The same Doctrine was propounded to all indefinitely and it must be so for the Minister knows not the Elect from other Men But the Holy Ghost who searcheth the deep things of God and hath the Management of this Work committed to him Joh. 10. 3. Isa 27. 12. He knew the Elect by Name and accordingly took them Gather'd them One by One each One in his proper time and open'd their Ear to discipline Making them That they were Chosen unto And the same Apostle in his Epistle to the Thessalonians where he Celebrates the effects of this Sermon brings in their Election as the Cause of their Conversion Knowing Brethren beloved 1 Thes 1. 4 5. your Election of God For our Gospel came not to you in Word only as it did to others but in power So in the Acts Acts 13. 48. ch 2 47. As many as were Ordained to Eternal life believed And the Lord added to the Church daily whom diâ— He add such as should be Saved Effectual Calling is a sure Demonstration of Election and the first Effect by which it can be known That precious Faith through which we are Saved is obtained through the Righteousness of God 2 Pet. 1. 7. and our Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1. 7. 1 It is given through the Righteousness of God the Father and so it either respects His Ordaining us to Eternal life In which Act He did implicitely engage Himself to give us Faith which may therefore be called The Faith of God's Elect T it 1. 1. Or else it respects His promise made to Christ Isa 53. 10. Tit. 1. 2. with 2 Tim. 1. 9. That setting
spilt on the ground But though this Promise of Christ be virtually a Promise of all Grace yet because of our slowness of heart to believe and to win us off from our legallizing Notions the Lord condescends to gratify His People in Words as well as Substance And therefore V. To make it expresly evident that all Spiritual blessings are perfectly free He hath put them all into Absolute Promises Not that all Promises run in that tenor Many of them have Conditions annex'd which also in their place are of very significant usefullness Gen. 22. 12-18 Joh. 3. 16. chap. 14. 6. Math. 5. 8. 2 Cor. 7. 1. Mark 16. 16. Joh. 10. 9. 1. As proofs of our willing Subjection to God 2. Directives by what Mediums we must get-to the Blessedness design'd us 3. How we must be qualified for the enjoyment of it 4. As Marks and Evidences of our being in the way to it and of those to whom it doth belong But this Annexion of Conditions does not imply a power in Men to perform them tho' perform'd they must be before we enjoy the promised Good Nor does the effect of those Promises depend upon any Act to be done by us which some other Promise doth not provide us with But That Great Fundamental Promise on which is founded our hopes of Eternal life Tit. 1. 2. was Absolute 't was given afore the world Though dearly conditional to Him with whom the Compact was made yet perfectly free and Absolute to us And therefore the adding of Conditions to After-Promises may not be taken as invalidating that First Promise Or as a Defeazance to it It 's a Scripture Maxim That the Covenant which was before confirmed of God in Christ Gal. 3. 17. the Law which was Four hundred and thirty years after cannot disannul that it should make the Promise of none effect The like may be said of Promises made in Time viz That the Conditionalness of Some does not make-void the Absoluteness of Others As the Law was to Christ such are Conditional Promises to the Absolute They shew what we should be and do and by consequence that we can neither be nor do as we should and thence Inferr The Necessity of Divine Grace to undertake for us And then indeed is the Freeness of Grace adorable which promiseth help in terms of an Absolute tenor And accordingly we find That whatever is in one Scripture made the Condition of Acceptance with God and Eternal life In other Scriptures those very Conditions are promised without Condition Some of which we have a Prospect of in the following ballance Conditional Promises Wash ye make you clean Cease to doe evil learn to doe well Come now and tho' your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow Isa 1. 16 18. Repent and turn so iniquity shall not be your ruin Ezek. 16. 30. Make you a new heart and a new spirit v. 31. Hear and your Soul shall live Isa 50. 3. If thou shalt seek the Lord thy God thou shalt find Him if thou seek Him with thy whole heart Deut. 4. 29. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart Deut. 10. 6. Return O backsliding Children Jer. 3. 14. If ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the land Isa 1. 19. I will yet for this be enquired of by the House of Israel Ezek. 36. 37. He that endureth unto the end the same shall be saved Math. 24. 13. Promises of the Condition Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean From all your filthiness will I cleanse you Ezek. 36. 25. I will forgive your iniquity and your sin I will remember no more Jer. 31. 33. I will put a new spirit within you Ezek. 11. 19. A new heart also will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you chap. 36. 26. Thou shalt return and obey the voyce of the Lord Deut. 30. 8. They shall return unto Me with their whole heart Jer. 24. 7. I am found of them that sought me not Isa 65. 1. The Lord thy God will Circumcise thine heart Deut. 30. 6. I will heal their Backslidings Hosea 14. 4. Thy People shall be willing Psal 110. 3. I will cause you to walk in my Statutes Ezek. 36. 27. Phil. 2. 13. I will pour upon the House of David the Spirit of Grace and Supplications Zach. 12. 10. They shall not depart from me Jer. 32. 40. Who shall confirm you unto the End 1 Cor. 1. 8. Jer. 3. 19. These are some of those Many exceeding-Great and Precious promises 2 Pet. 1. 4. by which we are made partakers of the Divine Nature And if duly consider'd would much conduce to establish the present Truth which asserts the Absolute free-giving of All things pertaining to life and Godliness ver 3. And this nothing more plainly contradicts than to make the Dispensments of Grace to depend on the Wills and improvements of Natural Men To shut-out which is a principal scope of Absolute Promises 1 Cor. 1. 29. Ch. 12. 6. Phil. 2. 13. That no flesh should glory in His presence Since it is God that worketh all in all and That of His own good pleasure Now If any should ask by the way Wherein the special love of God to Elect persons discovers it self before their Conversion I cannot assigne any plain or Open discoveries of it by which the Elect may be known from other Men All outward things fall alike to all The heir whiles a Child differs nothing from a Servant altho' he be Lord of all by Election Gal. 4. 1. Yet there are divers gracious operations of that love towards them even in common providences Albeit they are not perceiv'd till afterwards As 1. In keeping-alive the Root or Stem they were to grow from which might be a principal cause of His adding 15. years to Hezekiah's life viz. for Josiah's sake who was to come of his lineage Manasseh his grandfather not being yet born So those dayes of tribulation were shortened and many of the Jewes kept alive by the Providence of God for the Elect's sake that should be of their progeny perhaps two thousand years after 2. In preserving the Elect themselves from many a death which they were obnoxious to before their Conversion As He also did Manasseh And this was the Cause when Satan had them in his Nett and had drag'd them to the pits brink That the Lord sent from Heaven and saved them Psal 57. 3. Job 33. 24. Deliver him I have found a Ransom He is Mine and I have designed him to another end 3. In keeping them from the unpardonable Sin Thus Paul being a Chosen Vessel was kept without that knowledg of Christ which some of the Pharisees had For otherwise his persecuting the Church of God had bin uncapable of pardon as appears by 1 Tim. 1. 13. I obtained Mercy because I did it ignorantly 4. In casting the lot of their habitation where He hath planted
And therefore as sayes the Apostle We are alwaies confident That when absent from the Body we shall be present with the Lord ver 6 8. This is also further confirm'd by that compendious Promise Jer. 31. 33. I will be their God and they shall be my People Every word here hath a peculiar emphasis 1. That He will be a God to them 2. Their God and 3. for ever This I will imports both a fix'd Resolution Time without limit It is as if He had said Though other lords have had the Rule over you and you have still a Proneness to Revolt to them It shall not be I will not be Outed any more I 'l heal your backslidings and be your God still I 'l carry it towards you and for you as becomes a God to doe and I will make you such a People as becometh God to own I will not be ashamed to be called your God Heb. 11. 16. It would indeed be both a disparagement and dissatisfaction to God if His People should fail of that He made them for which certainly cannot be because God is theirs and if God be theirs all things are theirs both this World and that to come 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. Lastly Arg. VII For the final Perseverance of Believers a Principal Argument is fetch'd from the Sovereign Decree of Election I call it Sovereign partly Because it is the highest Manifestation of God's absolute Dominion over His Creatures in Choosing whom He would and passing-by the Rest Partly also because all sorts of things what soever are subjected to it and made subservient to its final accompliâ—hment And this I take for a principal Reason why Election is so frequently placed in Eternity or before the Foundation of the World viz To shew That the very Fabrick of the World and all Occurrences therein were so contrived and framed in God's Decree as having Election for their primary scope and End That this first Cause is the Supream Moderator of all intermediate Causes and is it self subject to None It was not any loveliness in Elect persons which moved God to love them at first so neither shall their unlovely backslidings deprive them of it though it may be eclips'd by their own default to the breaking of their bones The Lord Chose them for that blessed Image of His Own which He would afterwards imprint upon them and this He still prosecutes through all dispensations That Elect Nation the Jews They apostatized from God and did worse than any Other yet the Lord would not utterly cast them off In Samuel's time their wickedness was very great yet saith he to stay them from total apostacy The Lord will not forsake you But what is the ground of that his great confidence and grand Warranty The very same that now we are upon The Lord will not forsake you because It hath pleased the Lord to make you His People Not because they remembred their duty and returned to God but because He remembred for them His Covenant In pursuance whereof He long maintained their title Notwithstanding their often-repeated forfeitures and when in Captivity brought them home again And indeed Ezek. 16. 62 63. Nothing so melts the hearts of Those in Covenant with God as the the Lord should be pacified towards them after all their abominations The manner of God's dealings with this people is especially Instructive to help the faith of the spiritual Election upon all occasions as holding-forth the special Regard the Lord hath for them because of His Covenant That tho' He may and will punish their iniquities yet His loving kindnefs He will not take from them Ezek. 36. 11. And He puts it still upon His having once Chosen them as you have it in Jeremy ch 41. 9 I have chosen thee and not cast thee away This later Clause And not cast thee away seems added to shew That His Choosing them was an Act unrepealable q. d. I knew aforehand What thou wouldst Doe and how thou wouldst prove and if I had meant Ever to Cast thee off yea if I had not Resolved against it I would not have Chosen thee at all But since I have Be sure I 'l stand by thee I will strengthen thee I will help thee I will uphold thee with the Right hand of my righteousness It is true The body of that Nation for their unbelief are now broken off There is a suspenfion of the outward part of the Covenant Not that God inteds an Utter Rejection of them Rom. 11. 7. For such as have part in the special Election are alwaies saved And the time will come when All Israel shall be saved Rom. 11. 24. For as touching the Election They are beloved still tho' yet unborn For their sakes it was That the dayes of tribulation were shortened Matth. 24. 22. Which answers to Isa 65. 8. Destroy it not there is a blessing in it The Lord will not so much respect What they have deserved as what His own Covenant is concerning Abraham's Seed Which Minding of His Covenant is from the Vnchange ableness of His Purpose And therefore he saith Rom. 11. 24. They shall be grafted in agen Yea though they be driven into all lands Scattered into Corners Mingled with the Heathen and become so like them as Not to be known asunder yet being His Chosen Ones and within His Covenant He will bring them out of their holes Isa 27. 12. and Gather them One by One i. e. He will do it accurately exactly punctually So as none shall be Wanting Though Sifted among all Nations Amos 9. 9. Not One Grain shall fall to the Earth The Reservation mentioned in Rom. 11. is God's Omnipotent Safe-garding His Elect when the Generality of the Nation fell to Idolatry They would have gon All as well as Some 2 Thes 2. 11 12 13. had not Election held them back as appears by comparing the 4 and 5 verses It is therefore said to be According to the Election of Grace Which intimates That Election was the Patern or Original and Reservation the Copy of it And That this was not a single Case or Restrained to the time that then was is evident from Math. 24 Where our Saviour foretells That the Subtilty of Deceivers and temptations of the time should be such and the Torrent rise to that height and strength That it will be a thing next to Impossible Not to be Carried away by it But for the Elect They are safeguarded from it How By the coming-in of the First and Sovereign Cause By the virtue of which the force and influence of all those second Causes shall either be prevented or Romoved Mitigated Inverted Ezek. 9. 6. shortened or Over-ruled and the faith of his Sealed Ones so Confirmed Rev. 7. 3. that they shall not be hurt by them Yea and which is more Those very things which are destructive to Others shall work life in Them Deut. 23. 5. This turn'd
ever Shaken you may be and tossed with tempest but never Over-turn'd because ye have an Eternal Root Electing love is of that Sovereignty That it Rules and Over-rules all in Heaven and Earth Christ Jesus our Saviour and Lord The Holy Ghost our Sanctifier Councellor and Comforter in all that they have done do or will do do still pursue that scope All Ordinances Providences Temptations Afflictions and whatever can be Named be it good or be it bad in it self Life death things present and things to come are all made Subservient to the Decree of Election And do all Work-together To compass and bring-about its Most glorious designment If the Course and Conduct of Common Providences were truly lined-out It would yield an illustrious Prospect How much more the Conduct Order and End of those special Providences which are proper to and conversant about Election When all the peeces therof shall be brought-together and set-in-order how beautifull will it be Angels and Men shall shout for the Glory of it Then 't will be evident God has done nothing in vain or impertinent to your blessedness That what ever hath befallen you here however contrâ—ry to your present sense and opinion of it was dâ—spensed in very faithfuâ—ness to you That if any of those manifold and seemingly Cross Occurrences you have been exercised-with had been omitted it would have been a Blank in your story a blot in your Scutcheon of honour When you shall see What Contrivances have been against you what Art Subtilty Malice and Power they were agitated-with How unable you were to Fore see prevent avoid or repell them And how all the Attributes of God and His Providences each one in its time and place which was always most seasonable came-in to your Rescue Retorting on your adversaries and safeguarding you yea how that which was death in it self was made to work life in you How amiable and admirable will the story of it be That when your faith was weak the Lord did not withdraw from you That when it was at its height and strength He then did for you above all you could believe or think and through an unspeakable Preass of Difficulties and Contradictions He carried-on his work in you even bearing you on Eagle's Wings until He had brought you to Himself How will you Magnifie His work and Admire it then Begin it Now. Secondly Infer II. Let us study more the Knowledg and Contents of this Great truth of Believers Invincible Perseverance the Rise Progress and Tendency of it and what advantages it yields us which indeed are many and very considerable 1. As it is a part of the Doctrine of Election which teacheth That Nothing in us but Grace and love in God was the only Original Cause of our Salvation The knowledge whereof will work in the Soul an holy Ingenuity and love towards God whom nothing offends but Sin Simon answered right Luke 7. 43. when he said He that had most forgiven him would love most Whence it follows That he who believes the Free Remission of all his sins from first to last must needs love God more than One who believes only the pardon of those that are past and that so as that they may all be charged upon him agen Or if not That yet he may possibly perish for those to-come perhaps in the last Moment of his life For he is not sure Nay 't is very doubtfull if dependent on his own natural will That Faith or Repentance shall be his last Act. Now This Grace of Love being the strongest and most operative Principle he that is led by it must act accordingly that is 2 Cor. 4. 16. Vigorously and without weariness as Paul did And Joseph having received large Tokens of God's love to him and expecting more yet argues against and with an holy disdain and sleight of hand puts-by the Temptation How can I doe this and sin against God who hath dealt and will deal so bountifully with me 2. As it teacheth the soul to Depend upon God for its keeping as having His Almighty Power absolutely engaged for it Whereas if the efficacy and event of all that God doth for Me should depend upon something to be done by Me who am a frail Creature and prone to Revolt I should still be in fear because still in danger of Falling and losing all at last And this Fear being an enfeebling passion must needs render my Resistance and all my endeavours both irregular and weak Whereas a Magnanimous and fearless spirit who sees himself Clothed with a Divine Power shall have his Wits as we say more about him to discern Dangers and Advantages and consequently how to eschew the one and improve the other 3. As it gives assurance Our labour shall not be in vain This made those believing Hebrews to endure that great fight of afflictions and to take joyfully the spoiling of their Goods Heb. 10. 33 34. because they knew they had in Heaven a better and more-enduring substance All manner of Accomplishments put-into-one and made your own would not so invincibly Steel your foreheads and strengthen your hearts as To be Sure of Success and to come off Conquerour The Apostle therefore brings it in as the highest encouragement in our Christian Warfare in Rom. 6. 14. and chap. 8. 37. And our blessed Lord Himself who of all others had the hardest Chapter to Run-through It made His Face as a Flint Isa 50. 7. because He knew He should not be Confounded Thirdly Infer III. Make it one and that a Mayn part of your business to foyl and disprove the Objections that are brought against this Doctrine And your Nearest way to it is Growing in Grace 2 Pet. 3. 18. with chap. 1. from the 5th verse to the 10th 1. Lay-aside and Cast-away every weight especially the sin that doth most easily beset you your bosom sin whatsoever it be Isa 2. 20. 1 Thes 5. 5 6 Cast them to the Moles and to the Batts They are not fit-Mates for Day-light Creatures It is a Noble prize you Run-for Therefore Clogg not your self with any thing that may hinder or retard your pace 2. Keep your selves in the Love of God that is keep-up and maintain a spiritual sense of His love to you and a lively answer of holy affections towards Him Whatever may tend to obscure or lessen your sense of it have nothing to doe with that unjust thing keep your self from Idols let nothing have an interest in your love but God and all things els but in subordination and with respect to Him onely 3. Watch against the Beginnings and first Motions of sin Nip it in the bud Abstain from all appearance of evil and walk not on the brink of your liberty It is easier to keep-out an Invader than to Expell him being Entred To keep-down a Rebel and prevent his Rising than to Conquer him when he is up Great and black Clouds have small beginnings the bigness