chose him And the Apostle John 1 Ep. 4.10 sayes this is love not that we loved God first but that he loved us and for that reason sent his Son not as foreseeing our Affection but as pursuing the Intent and procuring in us the Effects of his own And the Apostle Paul doth every where assert Faith to be a Fruit and not a Cause of Election that we are chosen unto Good Works not for them i. e that they who are Predestined shall certainly Believe not they who Believe were therefore Predestined which is the summe of his Discourse Eph. 1. So that in the Act of Election men are to be considered as meerly Passive i. e as Creatures not as Believers as such who were liable to be disposed by God how he pleased but had no Possibility of meriting any thing from him This is affirmed of the Israelites in Generall Deut. 7. that God chose them not because they were better or more Righteous then other People but because he set his Heart upon them And lest they should perhaps pride themselves with a Conceit that for their own worth and Excellence this Priviledge was given them they are expressely told there was no such matter for they were a stiffenecked and Rebellious People Deut. 9.6 Able rather to thwart and if possible to undoe Gods Election then to procure it Thus we find Math. 11. that Christ preached the Gospell to Bethsaida and to them of Capernaum who were so far from meriting that our Saviour affirmes of them Sodom and Gomorrah had they enjoyed the like Favour would have been much more repentantant then they And to conclude in Particulars the Apostle Paul handling this very Argument and intending for ever so far as Scripture evidence will reach to silence the Disputer of this World that God alone may have the Glory of his Grace he instances in Jacob who was by Virtue of this Absolute Election preferred before Esau the Temporall Condition serving to shadow out the Eternall for lest any Imagination should arise as if Jacob in himselfe were the more deserving of the Two he saies it was done before any of them had done either Good or Evill Rom. 9.11 And if it should be Asked how it came to passe that one was taken and the other left what did induce God to put such a Difference between Two who were Morally Equall and Naturally Esau was to have the Advantage the Apostle addes that it was done to this End that the Purpose of God according to Election might stand not of Workes but of him that calleth Wherein the Apostle pleading the Cause of Gods Honour and being Jealous of his Prerogative resolveth all things into Gods Purpose and referres us thither to seek the Ultimate Difference of men's either Temporall or Eternall Condition And he that will not acquiesce when he thus finds it written but will bring his Wit to strive and Wrestle against the Will of God he cannot alter that but onely does unhappily evince to himselfe that while he continues that Humor he is not of the Number of Gods Elect for all that are a Willing Humble and Obedient People Against this which hath been urged there is that I know of but one Considerable Objection and that is if the Number of those which shall be saved be limited and Certaine so that there is no Possibility for more how comes it to passe that the Prophets and Apostles are so Importunate with all indifferently to Come in and Repent that they might be saved and God himselfe is often brought in in Scripture chiding and Expostulating with Sinners for destroying themselves and for refusing Salvation which seems to be a Vain and Ludicrous thing if the Number be so Set already that there is no Roome for more This Objection is yet made more Tragicall by the many Heavy charges and Enditements which are drawn up against this as some stile it Partiall and Cruell dealing from the Common Places of Gods Justice and Mercy which men who love themselves are very willing to Enlarge and therefore easily hearken to those who dare declaime upon such Subjects But these Vaine and Empty Flourishes however insoluble they may seeme to some who are guided by the first Impression and sound of Words are of no Importance if we fix Election onely upon Gods Will for this will presently cut off all Witty Cavills if we can prove that God will indeed have it so and therefore I look upon the former Objection as their maine strength because it immediately tends to Practise and seemes to beget this Opinion that Gods Secret and Revealed will do Thwart Contradict each other Therefore I answer 1. That though few shall be saved and those Few determined yet because they are unknown to us we are to look upon all as in a saveable Condition Thus the Prophets and Apostles did in their so frequent and Repeated Instances with those to whom they preached and their Example we are to follow For peremptorily to conclude against any and to deny them the meanes of Salvation because they are not Elected is an Uncharitable Presumption in us which we shall more heavily account for then they will do for their Disobedience and Unbeliefe 2. There is no other way for those who are Elected to come to the Knowledge of the Truth but by a Generall Proposall of it Indifferently to all which is our Saviours meaning in those many Parables which intimate a Promiscuous Call from whence he concludes that though many are Called yet few are Chosen and we may invert the Proposition thus though Few are Chosen yet many must be called In this World the Tares and the Wheat must be equally Tended and though they grow together with some discernable Difference yet it is not the Ministers businesse to make a Finall Sepatation Lastly There is a Twofold end in Preaching the Gospell the first and principall is to bring in Gods Elect but Secondarily it serves to condemne the Reprobate and to make their Damnation Just .. For what can they pleade at the last day to Justifie their Unbeliefe since when they were Called as it were by name yet they did willingly exclude themselves and thereby as the Apostle sayes of the Jewes here judged themselves Vnworthy of Eternall Life Thus the Apostle saies that Gods Divinity and Spirituall Being was discovered in the Creation and if it was asked to what Purpose since so few did either Believe or Worship him as they ought he answers that it was for this End 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 1.20 That they might have nothing to Pleade no quirke nor Apology left to Excuse their Atheisme and Idolatry And if our Gospell be hid saith he it is Hid to those which are lost 2 Cor. 4.3 discovered to them but hid in them because they do not take paines as they should to search out its inward and Spirituall meaning So we are saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sweet smelling Sacrifice to God 2 Cor.
Ability or Skill 2. Authority or Power And Man wants both in this Case 1. First Man wants Ability or Skill Vaine man cap. 11.12 saith Job would be wise though he be borne like the wild asse Colt i. e. Man would still reteine his Ambitious Humour of pretending to know Good and Evill he would still exalt himselfe and be like God although that very Desire has made him become like the Beasts which perish Rash Heady and Impertinent For since our Fall Pride has taken up the Place of Reason and Arrogance fills that Roome which Knowledge possessed before As in a vessell when Water or the more solid body goes out presently Aire comes in To take a Briefe Survey of mans Weaknesse and Inability we will consider him 1 In Himselfe 2 As compared to God 1 First Consider Man in himselfe and then I may aske the Question which our Apostle doth here What art then O Man Declare us thy Originall discover thy Excellence where lies thy Worth whence comes thy Preheminence Survey thy Out-side and tell me what seest thou a rotten perishing Carkasse As our Saviour said of the Tombes how glorious soever they seemed yet they were but Tombes i.e. Charnell-houses Faire without but Rotten within So the most Beautifull and Specious out-side Deck it Disguise Trimme and Adorne it how you will yet it is still but Dust you may change and vary its shape you cannot change and alter its substance Gen. 11.19 Dust thou art said God to Adam and to dust shalt thou returne Was not this a sad story for Adam to heare when he thought of nothing else but of being as the Divell had promised him like unto God knowing goood and evill God doth presently undeceive him by minding him of his Originall and telling him what would be the Exit of all his Borrowed Glory This no doubt did levell his Thoughts and lay low those Proud Imaginations which otherwise might have ceazed him since a Casket of so meane a value can scarce be conceived to conteine in it a Jewell of any Excellent Price I will not Gen. 6.3 saies God alwaies strive with man for that he also is flesh which may be interpreted for that he is of the same weak Fraile and Infirme Nature with other Creatures Wherein God seemes to make it as an Argument of his Bearing with man because Man was Flesh i.e. unable to beare what God was able to lay upon him But if God drawes an Argument of Compassion from Mans Frailty ought not we from thence likewise to draw an Argument of Submission If God is pleased to forbear punishing and striving with us because we are but Flesh ought not we for the same Reason much more to forbear judging of Gen. 18.27 and contending with him This use did Abraham make of it Behold saith he I have now taken upon me to speake unto the Lord who am but Dust and Ashes Abraham lookes upon it as a Boldnesse for which he seems to aske Pardon that he undertook so much as to speak to God since he was but Dust and Ashes how much lesse do we thinke for the same reason would he have offered to have disputed with him But Secondly look into man a little nearer and search his Inward and Hidden worth what is that Principle which men ordinarily do so much boast of and magnify They call it Reason and pray what is Reason Is it not that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Carnall or Animall man 1 Cor. 11.14 which cannot conceive the things of God and looks upon all the Actings of the Holy Spirit as Folly Certainly a small wind will fill our Saile if such a Principle of knowledge as this can puffe us up little cause have we to boast of that which cost us so deare and is so little worth for as to get Reason we lost Paradise so till we renounce our Reasons we can never recover it But take Reason at its best and highest Elevation Prov. 20.27 Salomon sayes it is the Candle of the Lord and shall the Candle say to the Sun thou hast no Light in thee Shall our Faint Glimmering and Derivative Lustre preferre or oppose it selfe to the Fountaine from which it issued There is a Spirit in man saith Job cap. 32.8 but the Inspiration of the Almighty giveth understanding and do we think he gave it for these purposes to argue and dispute his doings so much to abuse and misimploy our Talent is certainly a greater sin and will bring down a greater Punishment then barely not to use it In short mans Reason at its best and utmost extent is a Narrow Shrunke and Limited thing in Spirituall things altogether blind and perverse in Naturall things either Ignorant or onely changing Ignorance into Uncertainty and shall a man so much stretch this Principle as by it to condemne his Maker shall we with this scantling measure Infinity or set our selves Judges in the highest administrations of Providence who cannot demonstratively prove the Motion of the smallest Atome what is this but to darken Counsell by words without knowledge Job 38.2 to put a False Comment upon a Cleare Text and to blurre the beauty of Providence with our Perverse and short-sighted Interpretations Secondly Mans Inability doth yet farther appeare if you consider him as compared to God It is not for nothing here that the Apostle doth put this Question Who art thou O Man that replyest against God but he does it thereby to aggravate the Sinfull Presumption of the Disputer it was against God therefore the more heinous And indeed a man can never know his owne Weaknesse and Imperfection aright till he has lost himselfe in contemplating the Vast Abysse and Ocean of Gods Perfection as if we would exactly know whether a thing be little or not we do not use to set it by something that is lesse but to compare it unto something Greater as a Sparke to the Flame a Drop to the Ocean and the like So in this case while a man Centers in himselfe and drawes all his Lines inward he may perhaps please himselfe with some thoughts of Selfe-sufficiency but when he once goes out of himselfe and takes a strict view of the Amazing Greatnesse and Majesty which God discovers even in his works of Providence then doth a man presently begin to perceive his own Emptinesse For suppose a man were kept up close imprisoned in a Dungeon all his dayes and if after some time of Durance there in that Horror and Darkenesse he should by chance have a little Glimpse of light let in to him at a small Cranny how infinitely would he be delighted and pleased with it but if afterwards he were taken from thence and by degrees fitted to endure and then placed in full Sun-shine how strangely would he loath his former place of Restraint and Bondage It is just so with a man who by degrees is taken off from himselfe and prepared to a gracious Discovery of Gods
to that alone I would resigne and give up my Faith and not willingly suffer my selfe to partake either of their Fate or of their Folly who cannot endure to be Taught but in Spirituall and therefore Inconceivable Things would faine be wise above what is written For that there is a Set and Limited Number appointed to Salvation appeares from Scripture in that God is said to Know who are his 2 Tim. 2 19. i.e. Not their Natures onely but their Names also for therefore our Saviour Luc. 10.20 bids his Apostles rejoyce in that their Names were written in Heaven put into Gods Muster-roll and Catalogue of Eternity from whence they could never be blotted out Known unto the Lord saith the Apostle are all his works 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from Ever Act. 15.18 i. e. so known as to be disposed and ordered by him nay therefore known because ordered for so to distinguish between Gods Knowledge and his Power as in his Actions ad extrà to separate one from the other is to speake neither Sense nor Scripture for whom God for knew them all them onely them not in their Qualifications but in their Respective persons did he predestine to be conformable to the Image of his Son Rom. 8.29 Math. 10.30 And if of an Elect person all the Haires are Numbred how much more of Christs Mysticall Body are all the Members numbred which Body is already compleat as to Gods Purpose concerning it and to Imagine that any shall fill a place there whom God doth not already know as particularly as if they were Actually Existing is to measure Eternity by time and to make God like our selves Fraile and Fallible The Reason of this is because every Act of God is Absolute as his Nature is so are the Actions which flow from it Unconditionall and Irrespective For the clearing of which Reason it will be necessary to explaine in the Act of Election 1. How God who Elects 2. How man who is elected are to be Considered For the First Many there be that think God in the Act of Election is to be Considered as a Judge and hence argue against this Absolute and Irrespective Election from those Known and Obvious places of Scriptures Gen. 18.25 Rom. 3.5 Act. 10.30 Shall not the Judge os all the Earth do right shall God accept persons or preferre one before another when all are Equall how is this Reconcileable to his Justice I answer that in the Act of Election God is not to be considered as a Judge because 1. A Judge as a Judge is tied to a Rule which he may not Transgresse but what Rule can be Imagined to Tye God except what he hath set himselfe which in the Act of Election that being Eternall and flowing onely from the Will of God cannot rationally be supposed 2. The Businesse of a Judge as a Judge is to Bestow Rewards and Punishments according to Merit but in Election the Motive onely on Gods part is Grace and the End is Glory 3. God is not at all Obliged to Man he that made man may freely appoint him to what Ends he pleases without doing him any Injury for hath not the Potter power over his Clay though for a man to plead with God in this Case is somewhat a worse Solecisme then for Clay to quarrell with the Potter Since there Matter strives only with its Fashioner but here Nothing contends with its Maker There the Clay though it be not a vessell of Honour yet remaines Clay still but here not the Quality only but the Substance likewise is subject to the Pleasure of its Framer Lastly The Apostle being to give a Reason of this Difference between one man and another ascribes it altogether to Gods good pleasure and for a Proofe of that Assertion he alledges a Saying of God himselfe Rom. 9.15 I will have Mercy on whom I will have Mercy So that the Act of God in chusing some to Everlasting Life and refusing others is not an Act of Justice for they neither did nor could deserve it nor is it properly an Act of Mercy for that any should be saved at all was meerly from Mercy but that these rather then others was not properly from Mercy ' because Mercy is Equall to all that Equally deserve it or Equally stand in need of it but here between Equalls a distinction is made Election therefore is an Act of Soveraigne Will the Apostle calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 1.5 The good pleasure of Gods will which as none can resist so none ought to Question for neither is Man stronger than God nor ought he to think himselfe Wiser Thus God in the Act of Election is not to be Considered ut Judex sed ut Dominus as a Judge but as a Soveraigne For the second viz. how the Persons who are Elected are to be Considered Some affirme they are to be looked upon as Believers viz. That God foreseeing some would embrace Faith and Salvation when it was offered them he did therefore chuse some unto Everlasting Life And this Conceit is not onely maintained by our Moderne Arminians but that I may not seeme to mince the matter was in generall the opinion of almost all the Greeke and Latine Fathers except only Austine of the Primitive and Purer Times They who have read them will affirme as much and they who doubt may read their Sayings to this Purpose faithfully Collected by Vossius in his Historia Pelagiana But this Supposition however Plausible as indeed what is not that gives man a Power and though backed with so much Authority yet seems to me to be directly contrary both to Reason and Scripture First to Reason because 1. This puts something as a Cause to move Gods will for if Faith foreseen in man were the Cause why God chose him then something without God shall have an Influence upon him which certainly is very Absurd if not Blasphemus for if God shall be supposed to take a Reason of his Actings from something without himselfe that thing must needs alter him and consequently be greater than he Secondly because this very Faith thus foreseen is the Gift of God as the Apostle affirmes Eph. 2.8 and none that I know deny it so that if Faith foreseen were the Cause of chusing any the Decree of God must thus be ordered I foresee that I will give such a one Faith therefore I decree that I will save him i.e. I decree to give the meanes before I have yet appointed the End which is a Method of Marshalling Gods Decrees that a knowing Heathen would be ashamed to think of More might be urged but I hasten to Scripture Confutation we find our Saviour sayes of his Disciples which who sees not how Applicable it is to all the Elect that he chose them they had not chosen him Joh. 15.16 but if Faith foreseen were a Cause he must have said the cleane contrary for then he would have chosen them because they had first