faithful to him The question is of the continuance of our Love to him John 8. 31. If ye continue in my Word c. John 15. 9 10. As the Father hath loved me so have I loved you continue ye in my Love And if ye keep my Commandments ye shall abide in my Love Now if there were no danger of losing their Love to Christ there were no need for Christ to exhort them to keep his Commands in order to their abiding in his Love But this place shews that Christ having loved his own he loved them to the end of his days 't is not said of their days but all the time of his abode in the World here 's nothing of the final perseverance of the Saints how desperately wicked soever they be but what if the Lord should so set his Love upon these his beloved Disciples that were given him out of the World by his Father that maugre all the Frailties of the Flesh and the Temptations of the World and the Devil yet none of them should be lost but that they should be carried on through all Difficulties to the fruition of Eternal Glory Doth it prove that because some shall never fall that therefore no true Believer can fall away Pray consider the Parable of the Prodigal Son the lost Groat the lost Sheep doth it not shew that a true Believer may be lost and being lost may be found Moderat I believe God hath elected a certain number to Salvation and those that are given out of the World to Christ he will not fail to keep them to himself but will by interposing Grace so preserve them that they shall never perish But the others that Christ died for upon condition of their repentance believing and persevering therein to the end I dare not say but some of these may believe for a time and that with a true Faith believe and yet fall away so as to perish these times have afforded many sad and shaking Examples of this kind and I am not strictly certain of my perseverance and so not fully or strictly certain of my own Salvation Philet O what an uncomfortable Doctrine is this of falling from Grace Philad This Doctrine doth not destroy all Christian Comfort but a Life of much Christian Comfort may be had out of it seeing it is the unchangeable Purpose of God to give Life and Salvation to all those that shall persevere in Faith and Holiness to the end and that if they will but quit themselves like Men abstain from all foolish and hurtful Lusts and not wilfully stab their own Souls nor pull Misery upon their own Heads they shall be happy And what tho true Believers may be under a possibility of perishing yet seeing God hath through his bounty vouchsafed unto them so rich and such full proportion of Means thereby to prevent their perishing and to preserve them from Apostacy so that they need not apostatize or perish except they themselves please why should it abate any of their Comforts or Hopes of Salvation because under a possibility of perishing Men may possibly fall into the Fire and be burnt or into the Water and be drowned from the top of Houses and be dashed in pieces yet no Man lives ever a whit the more uncomfortable because under a possibility of suffering these Evils because they know God hath given them Reason and Understanding to preserve them from these things The Apostle Paul knew that he was under a possibility of being a Cast-away 1 Cor. 9. 27. yet how chearfully and at what an excellent rate of comfort did he live I am perswaded saith he Rom. 8. 38 39. that neither death nor life nor things present nor things to come c. The assurance he had that upon a diligent use of the means which God of his Grace had vouchsafed to him he should prevent his being a Castaway made him live at that height of confidence and courage which he did What can no one injoy comfortable hopes of Heaven unless they have a full and perfect assurance of the continuance of the Love of God to them how loosely and profanely soever they live and that if they commit all manner of Sin and Wickedness affront Heaven defy the Almighty laugh Jesus and his Gospel to scorn yet they run no hazard of losing their Souls Indeed such a Doctrine as this and such is the Doctrine of Absolute and Unconditional Perseverance contributes to the peace and comfort of the carnal part in Men and indulgeth to them a liberty of Sin but no Child of God that hath received of that Spirit whereby it can cry Abba Father either wisheth or desires Heaven or Salvation but in the way of holiness and upon that condition which the Lord Christ injoyned it John 15. 10. Nor is it possible that any Man should have comfortable hopes of Heaven or any assurance of being saved unless he hath through Grace discharged those Duties to which the Blessing and Privileges are therein promised This is the Foundation whereupon through Christ to build our Hopes and Comforts and not that God loves us for we know not what reason and that we cannot possibly sin our selves out of his Love but he will infallibly bring us to Heaven no but saith the Apostle 1 John 2. 3 5. Chap. 3. 18 19 20 24. Chap. 5. 18. hereby we know and are assured that we are in God and that he loves us But how comes Persons to this why if we love him and keep his commandments which if we do we shall never fall 2 Pet. 1. 10. But I must beg your excuse at this time I cannot stay only I desire you to consider this one thing concerning falling from true Grace If we consider Faith and Regeneration in themselves they may be lost because nothing in it self is unchangeable but God it cannot be said of any but God that he cannot lie and if so then all Men may lie and that Lie may be our ruin for ought we know Rev. 21. 27. And tho I do not doubt but that there is a State of Grace attainable in this Life from which Persons by the Grace of God shall never fall yet I would not have you affirm of your selves or any others that you cannot fall how wicked soever you live but rather remember we all stand but by Faith and therefore ought not to be high-minded but fear working out our Salvation with fear and trembling not lest God should forsake us but lest we should forsake God FINIS
the manner of Men yet it is not necessary that all those things which are attributed to God should have something in his Nature correspondent to them according to that ancient Saying Similitudes are not wont to run on all-fours Metaphors are not to be strain'd to express things in themselves quite opposite nor make the parallel run till it grows lame but great care must be taken that no mean base or unworthy thing be attributed to the most high And therefore from the Potter's Power over his Clay to make thereof a Vessel of Honour or Dishonour as he pleaseth to infer positively from thence that God hath purposely made some to be Vessels of Wrath is an unjustifiable Inference from that Similitude Surely the Holy Ghost compares not our most wise Creator to a foolish Potter who because he might make what he would of his Clay did therefore make the greatest number of his Pots to be broken again to shew that he had as well a Power to break them as to make them which none but a mad Man would do but rather to a wise Potter that designs his Work for some good end and use Doubtless God so made all things that not one of his Creatures hath so much cause of dislike as to say why hast thou made me thus No Vessel of Wrath came so made out of his Hands So that if any be Vessels of Wrath the fault is not in him but in themselves by reason of their Infidelity and Contempt of the Lord and his long Sufferance I know this place is usually made use of as a Fortress for such as you are to flee to and is misunderstood to imply what you say but if you will but mind what the Apostle was upon and let this place be expounded by the Context and other places of holy Scripture so that the whole and every part of God's Word may agree in one Truth then we shall never take it in this sense of yours for then this dark and obscure part of Paul's Epistle which the Apostle Peter saith many wrest to their own Destruction 2 Pet. 3. 16. must be taken openly to oppose and contradict the whole Course and Tenour of God's Word Is there no way to understand the 9th of the Romans than by making those places which sound severely to clash against those that sound compassionately Is it not far the best way to interpret hard and doubtful Texts by those many Texts that are clear and easy than to interpret the many clear Texts by one that is dark and difficult or if one Scripture may have a double sense must we needs take it in the worst must I needs say that the Father of Mercy and God of Consolation which doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the Children of Men did absolutely damn him before he had done either good or evil is it not the best so to understand it that his Mercy and Justice his Love and Power may imbrace and kiss each other Now the Scripture speaks in some places darkly and dubiously in other places it expresses the same thing more clearly and certainly the doubtful are to be expounded by the certain and dark places by those that are clear and all Exposition answerably to the Current of Scripture not contrary to it Now it doth seem as if the Apostle in these Words had an Eye to Jeremiah 18. 3 4 c. where he speaks of the Clay in the Potter's Hands not as it was in Creation but in Vocation being marr'd in the Hands of the Potter and so finding it would not be for that use he designed it for made thereof a Vessel as pleaseth him So God sometimes whilst he is at work to fashion a Soul for his own Work by the preaching of the Gospel by the sweet motion of his Spirit by Mercy and long Sufferance yet the Vessel is marr'd the Clav yields not nor is pliable to the Will of God and so finding it will not be a fit Vessel for Honour he makes a Vessel of Dishonour Read the 7 8 9 Verses and compare them with 2 Tim. 2. 20 21. so that it is plain God made of one Lump all Innocent and Upright Gen. 5. ult Eccles 7. ult at the first See what Mr. Loveday saith upon this in his Personal Reprobation Reprobated Page 243 God saith he like a Potter makes of low vile Man honourable Vessels Hath not the Potter any ordinary Potter power over the Clay to make it what Vessel he pleaseth and when a piece thereof runs coarse and is marr'd upon the Wheel hath he not power to make it a less honourable Vessel and hath not God the same and much more power over you that have imbas'd your selves by slighting and abusing all those Mercies he hath designed to bestow upon you and thereby make you honourable To be plain saith the Apostle why may not God for your Disobedience and Rebellion to his Son as zealous as you are for the Law of Moses of a glorious People and invested with all those extraordinary Privileges make you a base and contemptible People and besides your continuing still in Unbelief make your Condition far worse in the World to come Such a Paraphrase as this seems to bear a sweet Harmony with Jeremiah 18. also with the Scope of the whole Context and with the Apostle's conclusive Result Verse 32. that they did not attain to it because they sought it not by Faith but as it were by the Works of the Law So that when Persons do Evil against God and will not obey his Voice but obey Unrighteousness and harden their Hearts against him then he will make them Vessels of Dishonour prepared for Destruction These are they that Jude speaks of Verse 4. that were of old ordained to this Condemnation not simply as they were Men but ungodly Men turning the Grace of God into Wantonness c. By what is or might farther be said we may see that those absolute Decrees of Mers inevitable Damnation is no part of God's revealed Will for if this 9th of the Romans faileth to prove what you bring it for as it is evident it doth then there is not the least shew in the Scripture for it Nay this Opinion of yours seems rather to be taken out of the Turkish Alcoran or Heathen Authors than the Bible for the Holy Scriptures are so far from containing or asserting any such Exercise in God over his Creatures which consists in a most severe and dreadful dooming them from Eternity to endless Misery that on the other hand they frequently exalt him as very gracious loving merciful and bountiful towards all and that there must be a great Breach on the Creatures part in point of Degeneration before the Lord gives him up to ruin Isa 27. 11. yea the Love and Pity of God to his Creature Man exceeds the Affections of a Father to his Son or of the tenderest Mother to her sucking Child Mat. 7. 11. Isa 49. 15. Martha I cannot
not heard of Pharaoh's Rebellion as we now do 1st Thus God was concern'd in hardening Pharaoh's heart as he crost his will by declaring his own 2dly God accidentally hardened Pharaoh's heart by declaring himself above him in Power this must needs provoke him to hear of a Jehovah 3dly By deferring the full Revenging Power so long as he did Eccl. 8. 11. 4thly God hardened his heart accidentally by his condescending to remove his Judgments so soon at his request and that this Act of God hardened his heart you have declared in the History when God had removed this or that Plague it is said that Pharaoh hardened his heart So that after Pharaoh had hardened his heart and dealt deceitfully six times Exod. 8. 29. then the Lord threatned to pour out all his Plagues upon his heart he would punish his acquired hardness with judicial hardness and would withdraw those Influences of his Spirit that should soften him leave him to the perverseness of his own heart and to follow his own Counsel to his destruction Now though I might largely shew you the invalidity of your Opinion as it crosseth some principal Attributes of God God doth not make Decrees contrary to his own Nature nor simply according to his own Will but works all things according to the Counsel of his own Will So that in whatsoever God doth we are not only to look for Will but Counsel Wisdom and such things as tend to Ends worthy of him God's Will always follows his Nature The Apostle saith 2 Tim. 2. 13. God cannot deny himself yet give me leave to give you two Reasons why I cannot assent to your Opinion that God of his meer Pleasure did from all Eternity decree to glorify his Soveraignty in the Eternal Rejection and Damnation of the greatest part of Mankind I will be short because I would willingly put an end to this Discourse at this time Mar. Pray do for the time is far spent the Sun grows low and my Occasions call me away at this time Phil. Then my first Reason is this because no Man had a Being from Eternity nothing having been from Eternity but God and therefore in true Propriety of Speech Men cannot be said to be Reprobated but in time 't is true the Law or Decree of God whereby Men come in time to be reprobated was from Eternity God from Eternity did decree that all those that live and die in a State of Impenitency should perish but this Decree takes hold of Persons in time when they come to be actually disobedient to the Lord As the Lord said to Moses he which sinneth against me him will I blot out of my Book Therefore if nothing be Eternal but God and if that be a truth that whatsoever is in God is God himself then if God condemned or reprobated any from Eternity it must be himself or else we must say that Man was Co-eternal with God and so give the Glory and Honour which is due to God alone to a poor contemptible Creature Mar. But had not Man some kind of Being in God from Eternity as he was the common Root or producent Cause of all Men Phil. Yea and as all Men were singly one in him they were all alike holy innocent and free from blame and so all alike beloved of him all being yet nothing but himself Nay if we consider all Mens State in Adam while he was standing Just and Righteous in that State none of Mankind could be the Object of God's Hatred but of his Love and I hope you will not deny but we were in him while he stood in a State of Righteousness as well as when in a State of Sin and therefore none reprobated when they never had sinned nor were capable of sinning for they could not sin before they had a Being in the Flesh and man had no being in the Flesh from Eternity Therefore c. So that if God proposed from Eternity to appoint to Everlasting Misery Millions of Men it must be whilst they were nothing but himself My second Reason is if God from all Eternity of his meer Pleasure did decree to glorify his Soveraignty in the Eternal Rejection and Damnation of the greatest part of Mankind and that when they were innocent and harmless as above he must of necessity destinate them unto Sin also for where there is no Sin there Punishment cannot justly take place For if a Man be fore-determined to Damnation he must unavoidably sin else he could not be damn'd by this you make God the Author of Sin Mar. I do not say God is the Author of Sin in any yet this I say God did from Enity freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass and if a hair of our Heads falls not to the Ground or a Sparrow to the Earth without the Will of God how can you think that any Action of Men can come to pass or be performed but by the fore-determinate Will of God for all things come to pass according as his Hand and Council had before determined Phil. No 't is likely you will not be so blunt as to say directly that God is the cause of Sin that would spoil all when stated in its proper Terms but I know it is usual with such as you are to put it in a more disguised and specious Phrase that so you may impose with the more Art upon those that are ready to receive as Gospel what you say yet when you say that God hath appointed and unchangeably ordained whatsoever comes to pass it followeth by necessary consequence that he is the Author of it so that there is no Murder nor Whoredom Robberies Blasphemies or any Rogueries whatsoever that fall out in any time or place but they are all the effect of God Almighty's Decrees What Dishonour is done to the God of Love by such Doctrines as these that he should appoint ordain and unavoidably decree to make the greatest part of the World eternally miserable and that he might accomplish his ends did necessitate them to do Evil drawing them on from Sin to Sin till they had filled up the Measure of their Iniquitys that so he might inflict upon them that Vengeance which he had provided for them this is contrary to his revealed Will David saith Psal 5. 4. Thou art a God that hath no Pleasure in Wickedness and James 1. 13 14. Let no Man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for God tempts no Man and John tells us that the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eye and the Pride of Life is not of the Father but of the World Surely God doth not use to necessitate that which his Soul abhors and which he not only forbids in his Word but also is the Condemner of it Saith one of the Antients to wit Prosper vid. God's Love to Mankind p. 50. 'T is against Reason to say that he that is the Damner of the Devil would have any to be his Servants what
that died for him and so he came to be sanctified justified and to obtain Mercy Philet I believe that Paul being an Elect Person was as much in the love and favour of God before he believed as after yea the Elect Corinthians that were Fornicators Idolaters Thieves Drunkards c. 1 Cor. 6. 9 10 11. had as much right to Salvation before they believed as after Philad I look upon this Speech of yours that Paul and the Corinthians during their unbelieving State were as much in the love and favour of God as after to be very impious and opens a gap for Men to run into all manner of Abomination for if I once fancy my self to be one of the Darlings of Heaven one of the Elected ones and that I cannot possibly sin my self out of the love of God and that I am no nearer Salvation after I believe than I was before Why may not I take liberty to commit any crime For it seems Heaven may be found in the way to Hell and in the Service of Sin and Satan I may fulfil the Lusts of the Flesh and of the Mind and be fruitful in the works of Darkness and God love me never the worse no danger of forfeiting my Sonship if this be true all the Precepts of Vertue and Holiness with all the gracious Promises of an Eternal Reward in Heaven are all in vain and all those powerful dissuasions from Sin with those severe threatnings of an Eternal Punishment as a Reward to the guilty are all invalid if the greatest sinner the most prophane Liver may arrive at Heaven as well as the most eminent Saint Did ever such Doctrines proceed from the Lips of Truth or are they to be found in the true Sayings of God No no but rather the contrary Eph. 5. 5. Rom. 2. 8 9. 1 Cor. 6. 9 10 11. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God c. so that no Man that is an unregenerate sinner is or can be said actually to be Elected till Grace comes and Faith comes and puts him into Christ Eph. 3. 17. This is evident from the Ephesians Paul calls them Elect or Chosen before the Foundation of the World and yet however Elected he tells them that during the time they walked according to the Course of this World c. they were the Children of Wrath as well as others and at that time they were without Christ and Strangers to the Covenant of Promise having no hope and without God in the World Eph. 2. 12. Surely it is impossible for any Person to be in Christ and out of him dead and alive old and new born at one and the same time so that before Conversion we are not actually justified This is so clear a thing that the Assembly in their Confession Chap. 11. say God did from all Eternity decree to justifie the Elect. Nevertheless they are not justified until the Holy Spirit doth in due time actually apply Christ unto them And so Dr. Homes in his Antidote against Antinomianism p. 56. If the Lord impute Christ to me a true Christian my sins unto him as 2 Cor. 5. ult and so reputes me justified actually in him He doth all this under the notion of Faith Rom. 4. 3. If any say we are eternally justified in God's Election or Purpose we reply just so as we eternally believe in God's Purpose for he hath purposed eternally both equally He that eternally purposed to justifie did eternally purpose to justifie by Faith Mar. But doth not the Apostle say in Rom. 4. 5. That God justifieth the ungodly Philad Yea but we do not read of those that persevere in their ungodliness that he will justifie them for as God hath never promised so he never purposed Salvation to an unregenerate heart and a loose life Persons may pleasingly dream themselves the Friends and adopted Children of God tho' they will know to their own smart that all that are under the Reign of sin are yet under wrath No Enemy to God and Holiness is actually elected nor hath receiv'd the Spirit of Adoption and if they have not receiv'd the Spirit they are none of his Now where the Spirit of God comes it convinces of sin John 16. 7 8. and witnesseth with their Spirits that they are the Children of God Rom. 8. 16. but do you think that the Holy Spirit will witness for us or bring Joy and Comfort to us if at the same time our Consciences testifie to our Face that our Deeds are Evil and that our walking is not such as to be deemed the workmanship of God created in Christ Jesus to good Works which God hath before ordained Doctor Cliffora upon the New Covenant p. 14. saith excellently Can you imagin that the Spirit seals to a Blank and witnesseth to a Lye What! teach People to cry Abba Father before they are born of God or persuade them they are justified when in a state of unbelief and the Wrath of God abides upon them or assure them they are Heirs of the Promise when they are Strangers to the Covenant or that their Estate is safe when a Curse and Death and Hell are denounced against them Is this the Spirit 's witnessing do you think or his way of sealing No he first works Grace upon the heart and then gives testimony to his own work he sanctifies first and then seals to the day of Redemption Eph. 1. 13 14. Rom. 8. 14. As many as are led by the Spirit of God are the Sons of God and those that have not Christ's Spirit Christ's Image cannot have any true Fellowship with him Can two walk together except they be agreed Amos 3. 3. Doth Reconciliation with God stand with agreement with Satan Can a League with Heaven and Hell stand together Do you think that the Judge of all the Earth will say Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom to his Enemies But Philetus what makes you think that Paul and the Corinthians were as much in the Love and Favour of God before they believed as after Philet Why because their believing and obeying the Gospel was an Effect of their Election Our Persons must first please God before our Actions can please him and when once God loves a Person he never ceaseth to love him for the Gift and Calling of God are without Repentance Rom. 11 29. and so Malachi 4. 6. I am the Lord I change not Now if Paul and the Corinthians were elected before they were born and that then God set his Love upon them and after during their Unbelief and Sin should be supposed not to love them it would argue a strange Inconstancy and Mutability in God and so according to this Notion of Election God must be supposed one while to hate a Person when wicked and another while to love him when regenerate Philad Indeed if we must needs understand that God had elected Paul and the Corinthians as Paul or as Men simply so considered
he ever will his Will is regulated and is acted forth agreeable to his Wisdom Righteousness and Justice and according to his Divine Nature and as God hath made Man a rational Creature so he very seldom forceth Man to repentance against his will yet is the Lord pleased so to will the Salvation of all yea with such an effectual Will that he doth that which is of a proper tendency and sufficient thereunto that unless they wickedly and wilfully oppose the Means they should be saved yea so far as is any ways meet for him to act or assist towards their Salvation Isa 5. 4. What could I have done more that is tho God could have done more than he did yet it was not consistent to that method and stated order of things but more of this hereafter Mar. No Text of Scripture must be understood as to make God Impotent instead of Omnipotent or in the least reflect upon the Soveraignty Immutability and Omnipotency of God as if he could be disappointed in bringing to pass what he hath purposed and intends to do Philad Nor no Scripture must be so interpreted as to disparage or undervalue the Love and Bounty of God to all Men the general tenour of them representing in the highest degree the Goodness of God and as God is perfect in Power perfect in Wisdom so also perfect in Goodness yea Perfection it self any Defect is inconsistent with a perfect Being and above all a Defect in Goodness which gives a Value to the other Attributes of God If therefore some things in Providence or some Passages appear in Scripture that we cannot exactly reconcile but that they seemingly oppose this Point we ought to impute that to our deficiency in understanding and to try if they may not reasonably bear another sense or reserve them to be understood hereafter than to adhere to them in contradiction to the general Tenour of Scripture and the Light of Nature and Reason seeing nothing can be alledged which with that same clearness oppugns the perfection of Goodness in God as others may which assert it And seeing the Nature of Goodness consists in the taking a pleasure in the Happiness of others and in promoting it We must conclude from hence that God hates no Man but loves and desires the Happiness of all Men and that for his Will-sake he reprobates none either from Eternity or in Time to think otherwise greatly opposes God in all his Attributes it opposes his Mercy God is in Scripture declared to be a merciful God Exod. 34. 6. 1 John 4. 16. God is Love yea called the Father of Mercy and God of all Consolation yea rich in Mercy Ephes 2. 4. abundant in Mercy Pray see Psal 33. 5. He loveth Righteousness and Judgment the World is full of the Goodness of the Lord And Mica 7. 18. He retains not his Anger for ever because he delighteth in Mercy And Psal 145. 9. the tender Mercies of God are over all his Works But how God could delight in Mercy and how his tender Mercies are over all his Works I do not understand What doth God delight in Mercy when he hath made such a Decree which sheweth more Severity towards poor Man than Mercy Are his tender Mercies over all his Works when for one only Sin and that once committed and that not in their own Persons he hath shut the greatest part of Mankind up under invincible Sin and Damnation not affording them a Mediator which was the greatest and most choice Act and Manifestation of God's Mercy that he could bless the World withal Now all the Attributes of God must take place upon Man And I beseech you tell me where the tender Mercy of God takes place upon those for whom Christ did not die for you will own there is Mercy in God as well as Justice do you not Philet Yea I do and God by his Decree doth fully manifest both Mercy and Justice his Justice to the Reprobate and his Mercy to the Elect. Philat Well but do you think that one Attribute of God destroys another Doth Justice in God wholly devour and eat up his Mercy leaving no room to take place upon some Persons Philet God who is the Supreme Lord of all may do what he will with his own when Man had sinned he was at perfect liberty whether he would shew Mercy to any or not and if he had made no provision at all for any of fallen Man it could not be termed an Act of Unmercifulness Philad I did not ask you what an Almighty God can or might do but I ask you how or wherein the Goodness and Love of God is manifested to those for whom Christ did not die Or how God who is the Perfection of all Goodness Mercy and Bowels of Pity can be said to bear any Love Good-will or Affection unto those before any personal or actual Sins by them committed upon whose ruin he was so bent that he hath wholly left them without all possibility of escaping Eternal Misery and Torment How can Mercy stand with such a Decree Doth not the Apostle Paul Tit. 3. 4. speak of the appearance of the Love of God our Saviour toward all Men But can there be any appearance of Love and Kindness to those for whom Christ did not die and whom God was resolved from Eternity to exclude from all parts and fellowship in Eternal Life Was not there as much Mercy Kindness and Good-will shewed to the very Devils as to such Men Nay Mr. Keach tells us That if Christ did not die for all God deals more severely with many of Adam's Off-spring than he dealt with the Devils because they were excluded from all terms of Reconciliation for their own actual Disobedience but Mankind only for the Sins of Adam made theirs by Imputation and as they partake of the same Nature Neither is their Condemnation aggravated by Christ's coming as those Persons are for whom Christ did not die Youth 's Celestial Guide Much to the same purpose you may see God's Love to Mankind pag. 136 137 138. That altho the Devils are set forth in Scripture for the greatest Spectacles of God's ireful Severity yet is God more merciful to them than to such Men and though they are both sure to be damned yet in three things Man is in a far worse condition by such a Decree 1. In their appointment to Hell not for their own personal Sins for which only the Devils are damned but for the Sin of another that lived and sinned long before they were born 2. In their unavoidable destination to endless Misery under a colour of the contrary the Devils as they are decreed to Damnation so they know it and look for no other But Men that are appointed to Wrath are yet fed up with hopes of Salvation and made to believe that if they perish 't is not because God would not have Mercy upon them but because they will not be saved when indeed there is no such