and the World hath hated them because they are not of the World even as I am not of the World Here are two distinct Partys described by Christ the one is Prayed for the other is not the one is hated the other hates the very Practice of the latter denotes the Persons to be Children of another Father distinct from those they hate There is nothing more discovers Men to be the Children of the Devil than their hating Righteousness and not loving those who appear to be Godly 1 Jo. 3.10 In this the Children of God are manifest and the Children of the Devil whosoever doeth not Righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his Brother As Love to God his Truth and such as bear his Image is an infallible Character of an Elect Child of God Jo. 13.35 1 Jo. 3.14 1 Jo. 4.7 So to hate God his Truth and such as bear his Holy Image is the indelible Character of a Reprobate designed for Eternal Destruction 1 Jo. 3.10 The second thing in the Proposition to be considered is the End and Design of God in that Act of his in Electing and Choosing which is twofold First as it respects the Creatures Elected viz. that they might partake of the Special Grace of God here on Earth and of Eternal Glory in the Kingdom of Heaven through Christ his Son according to that of Paul Ephes 1.4 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 2 Thes 2.13 Because God hath from the beginning Chosen you to Salvation through Sanctification of the Spirit and Belief of the Truth Vers 14. Whereunto he called you by our Gospel to the obtaining of the Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ 1 Thes 5.9 For God hath not appointed us to Wrath but to obtain Salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ Secondly with respect to God Electing viz. That the Glory of his Soveraign Free and rich Grace might be Extolled and Praised for ever according as the Apostle expresseth it in Ephes 1.6 To the Praise of the Glory of his Grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved Vers 11 12. In whom also we have obtained an Inheritance being predestinate according to the purpose of him who worketh all things according to the Counsel of his own Will that we should be to the Praise of his Glory who first trusted in Christ The third thing in the Proposition to be considered is to take Notice of the Properties in that Act of God Electing Those Properties are in number three First God in Electing and Choosing some Sinners to himself out of the corrupted Mass of fallen Mankind on whom he purposed to shew Mercy He did Elect and Choose them most freely there was nothing at all in the Objects Elected and Chosen that could move God wherefore he should Elect one Sinner more or sooner than another for as fallen into Sin and equally obnoxious to the Curse of the Law and the Wrath to come were all the Sons and Daughters of Adam lookt on by God when he fixed his Electing Love on some and actually rejected and passed others by on whom the most High God as an uncontrolable Soveraign purposed to execute the fierceness of his Wrath for Sin The reason or impulsive cause of this Difference which the tremendous God saw fit to make between Sinners equally guilty and obnoxious to the Curse and Wrath of God is not to be sought out of God himself An Example and lively Instance hereof we have in Rom. 9.11 which the Wise God hath seen sit should be recorded on purpose to stop the mouth of Carnal reason which is so wretchedly prone to Question and Dispute against his Soveraignty over his Creatures The Children being not yet Born neither having done any good or evil that the purpose of God according to Election might stand not of Works but of him that calleth It was said unto her the Elder shall serve the Younger As it is Written Jacob have I Loved but Esau have I Hated The Wise God foreseeing the purblind Reasonings and Cavillings of Carnal Mens unsanctified Brains against the Doctrine of Gods absolute Soveraignty in disposing of the Eternal concerns of his rational Creatures fallen by Sin into a state and condition of Misery through their own default hath seen good for the vindication of his own Prerogative to make known to the Sons of Men and that by the unerring Wisdom and unquestionable Authority of so great a Man as Paul the great Apostle of the Gentiles the reason of Gods Method in proceeding to Elect some of fallen Mankind to a state of Life and Salvation through a Redeemer and Reprobating others leaving them for ever to perish in that Sin and Misery into which they did without any constraint wilfully plunge themselves to be no other than his own most free and holy Will seeing that he alone is the undoubted Soveraign of the World who hath an indisputable right to determine what to do with or how to dispose of Sinning Rebels without being any way liable to the controulment of any of his Creatures especially such of them as by Sin have forfeited their very Being to the Divine Justice and who while in an unreconciled State are not capable of knowing him or of being subject to his Divine Law The good Will and Pleasure then of the Blessed God is the Source and Fountain whence the great Disparity between the Elect and the Reprobate World doth spring not any thing in the Creatures themselves as Arminian Cavillers dream and conceit it doth This will evidently appear if the Reader will but with a becoming modesty and unprejudic'd judgment read the whole Chapter at length and with fervent Prayer to God for the Wisdom of his Spirit look narrowly into and with sobriety consider the 11th and the 16th Verses where it plainly appears that the two conceited Qualifications of which the Enemies of Election are usually proud and which they hold and teach are the procuring cause of the Difference between the good and the evil Men on Earth viz. the Free Will in Man and the good Works which unregenerate Men do but conceit they do they are both met with and equally discarded by God from having any room or place among the causes which put God either upon Choosing the Elect or rejecting the Reprobate Mark the 11th Vers That the purpose of God according to Election might stand not of Works but of him that calleth With this agrees Ephes 2 8.9 For by Grace are ye Saved through Faith and that not of your selves it is the Gift of God Not of Works least any Man should boast And Tit. 3.5 Not by Works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his Mercy he hath Saved us c. Vain unregenerate Man would fain perswade himself that he is worse than Threadbare Rags of his polluted Morality negative and positive is a covering sufficient
on directing and sending the poor sin-sick wounded Sinner to the Son of God with his Wounds and Plague-sores to be healed pressing him to believe in the Son of God out of whom no Salvation is to be found Hereto I add the peremptory Command of God himself that the poor despairing Soul believe on the Son of God 1 Jo. 2.23 Mark 16.16 By these Methods and Ways of God's own appointment God is pleased to work saving Conversion and effectual Faith in the Souls of elect Sinners To what hath been offered out of God's own Word to prove the Doctrine of Particular Election before time I here set down the Judgment of the most Orthodox Protestant Churches concerning the same Not that I think the Word of God stands in any need of Humane Testimony to help it out but rather to shew forth the sweet Harmony which is between the Holy Scriptures and the Saints of God in their Holy and Orthodox Confessions of their Faith concerning the present so much controverted and impugned Doctrine of Election and Reprobation before time As also to shame those nominal Protestants both Non. and Conformists who have so apparently turn'd the back upon their own Articles of Faith whereby both the one and the other Party hath not a little strengthened the Foundation of the Jesuits hope of bringing England's Neck once more under the Papal Yoke From which I heartily wish and sincerely pray that God will ever keep us I begin with the Church of England Predestination to Life is the everlasting Purpose of God whereby before the Foundations of the World were laid he hath constantly decreed by his Counsel secret to us to deliver from Curse and Damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of Mankind and to bring them by Christ to everlasting Salvation as Vessels made to Honour Wherefore they which be endued with so excellent a Benefit of God be called according to God's Purpose by his Spirit working in due season They through Grace obey the Calling they be justified freely they be made Sons of God by Adoption they be made like the Image of his only begotten Son Jesus Christ they walk religiously in good Works and at length by God's Mercy they attain to everlasting Felicity See 39 Articles of the Church of England Article 17th of Predestination and Election Secondly The Confession of Faith agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster By the Decree of God for the Manifestation of his Glory some Men and Angels are predestinated to everlasting Life and others to everlasting Death 1 Tim. 5.21 Mat. 25.41 Rom. 9.22 These Angels and Men thus Predestinated and fore Ordained are particularly and unchangeably design'd and their number is so certain and definite that it cannot be either encreased or diminshed Those of Mankind that are Predestinated unto Life God before the Foundation of the World was laid according to his eternal and immutable Purpose and the secret Counsel and good Pleasure of his Will hath chosen in Christ unto everlasting Glory out of his meer free Grace and Love without any foresight of Faith or good Works or Perseverance in either of them or any other thing in the Creature as Conditions or Causes moving him thereunto and all to the praise of the Glory of his Grace As God hath appointed the Elect unto Glory so hath he by the eternal and most free Purpose of his Will fore-ordain'd all the means thereunto 1 Pet. 1.2 Ephes 1.4 5. Ephes 2.10 2 Thes 2.13 Wherefore they who are Elected being fallen in Adam are Redeemed by Christ are effectually called unto Faith in Christ by his Spirit working in due Season are Justified Adopted Sanctified and kept by his Power through Faith unto Salvation 1 Thes 5.9 10. Tit. 2.14 Rom. 8.10 Ephes 1.5 1 Pet. 1.5 Neither are any other Redeemed by Christ effectually Called Justified Adopted Sanctified and Saved but the Elect only Jo. 17.9 Rom. 8.28 Jo. 10.26 The rest of Mankind God was pleased according to the unsearchable Counsel of his own Will whereby he extendeth or withholdeth Mercy as he pleaseth for the Glory of his Soveraign Power over his Creatures to pass by and to ordain them to Dishonour and Wrath for their Sin to the praise of his glorious Justice Mat. 11.25 26. Rom. 2.12 2 Tim. 2.19 1 Pet. 2.8 See The Assemblys Confession of Faith Chap. 3. of the eternal Decree of God To this the Church of Scotland hath fully agreed With this also agrees the Articles of Faith of the Church of Ireland in Bishop Vsher's time See those Articles And Vsher's Body of Divinity Quest What are the parts of Predestination Answ Election and Reprobation 1 Thes 5.9 Rom. 9.13 22 23. Quest What is Election Answ It is the everlasting Predestination or Fore-appointing of certain Angels and Men unto everlasting Life and Blessedness for the praise of his Grace and Goodness 1 Tim. 5.21 Jo. 15.16 Rom. 9.22 23. Ephes 1.4 5 6 9. Quest What is Reprobation Answ It is the eternal Predestination or Fore-appointment of certain Angels and Men unto everlasting Dishonour and Destruction God of his own freewill determining to pass them by refuse or cast them off and for Sin to Condemn and Punish them with eternal Death Prov. 16.4 Exod. 9.16 Rom. 9.17 22. 2 Tim. 2.20 Mat. 25.41 See Vsher's Body of Divinity pag. 91 92. The Church of France in the 12th Article of the Confession of her Faith hath these words viz. We believe that God out of that Corruption and general Curse into which all Men were plung'd doth free those whom in his eternal and immutable Counsel he elected of his meer Goodness and Mercy in our Lord Jesus Christ without the Consideration of Works leaving the rest in the same Corruption and Damnation to shew forth in these his Justice and in them the Riches of his Mercy for none of them are better than others because God hath separated them c. The Synod of Dort in the 7th Canon doth lay down this plain and clear Definition of Election thus viz. Election is the unchangeable Purpose of God by which before the Foundation of the World according to the free good pleasure of his Will of his meer Grace he hath chosen out of all Mankind to Salvation in Christ a certain and set number of Men neither better nor more worthy than others but lying in the common Misery with others and fallen from original Righteousness into Sin and Destruction by their own fault c. And in the 15th Canon of Reprobation they say thus viz. The Holy Scripture doth manifest and commend unto us this eternal and free Grace especially when it doth farther witness That not all Men are elected but that some are not elected or are passed by in the eternal Election of God viz. Those whom God according to his free just unreproveable and immutable good Pleasure decreed to leave in the common Misery into which they had cast themselves by their own fault and not to
not only to hide his Ulcerous and plague Sores of Guilt and Vileness from the pure and All-seeing Eyes of an Infinite Majesty but also to deck and adorn his Soul so as to bespeak him an Object sit for a Holy God to behold with delight Oh horrid delusion worse than Frenzy or Madness it self this being but a Temporary Malady which may by the use of ordinary means be holpen but that the Bane and Destruction of the Immortal Soul which nothing but the despised Grace of God in Christ can cure such miserably deluded Souls will not find it easy to believe that to think so highly of their own Qualifications is the greatest bar or hinderance which keeps them from Salvation Read also with care Vers 16 So then it is not of him that Willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth Mercy Let the Adversaries of the Doctrine I am now vindicating but consider that Man as fallen into Sin and Misery of his own accord is the Object of Election and Reprobation and let them if they can tell or shew me how a Natural Man in his Lapsed Guilty State can possibly either Will or Act any thing but what is both for matter and manner most vile and abominable in the sight of that God who is Purity and Holiness it self in the Abstract And if so wherefore then should the most Just and Holy God be conceived to elect Men for that which he can do no other than hate and loath as the best Duties of an unregenerate Person are both contrary to the Nature of God and also repugnant to his Just and Holy Law When unregenerate Men talk and brag of their Duties and Qualifications as that which must recommend them to God and purchase for them a Right to the Crown that fades not away they think and speak as Men in a midnight Dream not understanding what they say or whereof they affirm and the head Spring of this their Boasting of their Qualifications is the profound Ignorance and Luciferian Pride which sways their unrenewed Spirits having never passed under the killing Severity of the Law of God set home on the Conscience by the Spirit of Bondage to prepare them for healing by the Lord Jesus Christ Until this Work of the Lord pass on the Soul no Child of Adam can possibly prize the Son of God or see himself to be utterly undone till with the Rich Man in the Parable the unquenchable Flames of Hell discover his Misery to him Luke 16.23 From what hath been observed from the Scriptures now referred to plain it is that God in Electing some and Reprobating others of Adam's Posterity cannot without Blasphemy be said to elect or choose any Man to a state of Life and Glory for any thing of good which he foresaw would be in the Sinner fallen into a state of Sin and Misery And therefore if there was nothing of foreseen Good in the Creature elected for which God had respect to him more than to another it must unavoidably follow that in God electing not in the Sinner elected is the impulsive or moving Cause viz. His own Soveraign good Pleasure God as hath been already observed in Electing and Reprobating Men looks on them as fallen and guilty Creatures who had wrought their own Misery by their voluntary breach of his Royal Law To none of them was the most High any way obliged He might have sent them all to the same Place and Condition of the fallen Angels whose Conduct and Example they followed in rebelling against their Holy Soveraign And which of all the Reprobates now in Hell will it avail to dispose the Point of God's Soveraignty with him or to enquire why or wherefore he hath left them in that sad and deplorable Estate of Sin and Misery Pertinent to the Business in hand is that Query which Augustin puts in his Book of the City of God Quis fecit Reprobum saith he Who made the Reprobate to which he himself replies Quis nisi Deus Who saith he but God Again he Queries Quare Deus fecit Reprobrum Why did God make the Reprobate to which he answers Quia ita voluit Because saith he it was his Will Again he Queries Quare Deus voluit Reprobum facere Why saith he was it God's Will to make the Reprobate a Reprobate He answers the Cavilling Querist or Saucy and Pragmatical Enquirer with that of Paul Rom. 9.20 O Homo tu quis es Qui Respondeas Deo O Man who art thou that Replyest against God If Augustin were now living on Earth and should Read the Reply which Grevincovius that Blaspheming Proud Arminian made to the Query which Paul put to the called Corinthian who excelled in the Gifts of God 1 Cor. 4.7 For who maketh thee to differ and what hast thou that thou hast not received to which Grevincovius most Arrogantly and Blasphemously replies I my self make my self to differ I say if Augustin were to Read this Arminian's Answer to Paul it would not be difficult to guess at what rate Augustin would treat his Insolency If the abused Grace of God changed him not before Death it is most dreadful to think and seriously to consider how little the Freewil and Learning of which he was greatly proud do now avail him at the Barr of the Great Judge no doubt but he finds in woful Experience what an Impar Congressus or unequal Match he is for the great Jehovah to dispute Matters with Oh! that Men of his Spirit and pernicious Principle were Wise to consider things aright before they see and feel their Folly in the unquenchable Flames of God's Wrath in Hell Let it be farther considered how express the Spirit of God is in charging on Adam and all his Off-spring without Exception the breach of his Law and on that very account accounting them all guilty Criminals and unclean Polluted Sinners who by their voluntary Apostacy have forfeited his Favour and lost his Blessed Image wherein the Glory and Happiness of the Rational Creature consisted as the Apostle witnesseth Rom. 3.23 For all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God And in ver 19. Now we know that what things soever the Law saith it saith to them who are under the Law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God The conclusion whereof he sets down in ver 20. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight for by the law is the knowledge of sin With Paul concurrs all the Prophets and the other Pen-men of Holy Scriptures setting forth the wretched Condition of all Mankind by the Apostacy of Adam the natural and faederal Head of his Children The Condition then of all Adam's Posterity being such as renders every Sinner Culpable before God and not only so but utterly uncapable of willing or acting the least part of that Duty which God's Law requires to a helping or recovering himself out