A TREATISE OF Election and Reprobation In Vindication of the Vniversal Grace AND LOVE of GOD TO MANKIND By B. L. LONDON Printed and Sold by T. Sowle in White-Hart-Court in Grâ—â—ious-Street 1700. THE PREFACE IT is God's Will That Testimony should be born Age after Age unto his Truth and that Error and the Deceiveableness of Vnrighteousness as well as Vngodliness and Sin should be Testified against the one being an inlet to the other and the Gate in at which it enters and whoever is inveloped in the one is besmeared with the other But as Light springs up so will Holiness for they are coincident as Sin and Error Light and Truth goes together accompanying each other and so does Darkness and Error He that hath the clear Light and Knowledge of God and lives therein lives an holy Life and is a true Worshipper of Him Let him depart from this and Wisdom soon departs from him for into a malicious Soul Wisdom will not enter nor dwell in the Body that is subject unto Sin such an one shall have no fellowship with Her The Wisdom of the Truth cannot be held without the Obedience of the Truth nor the Light without the Life of it I have liv'd some Years and observed and never saw any Man swerve from Faithfulness but as the gathering together of thick Clouds he became darkened be his Vnderstanding never so clear before of which we have a miserable Instance in G. Keith But he that testifieth against Error and Darkness testifieth against the Root of Vngodliness and Sin and the Region of Evil in which all Filthiness of Abomination is committed for all these are Works of the Night And when these destructive Holds of Satan are discovered Men will flie unto God's Hold. Where it is Day it is Light they are not separable And it is Light 's Nature to discover and manifest things and these Discoveries are of the Truth and for the Information of Man in the things of God and the Vnderstanding being truly Righted draws the Will after it tending much to its righting also It is God's Will and Work that the Light of his Servants shine before Men there 's no cause to be afraid of or suspect the Day 〈◊〉 it 's Light this is concomitant with its warmth Light and Nourishing Heat goes together as Wisdom and Life for Wisdom is a Tree of Life to them that lay hold on her as is Ignorance and Error a Tree of Death And there 's scarce any Error to be met with so deep and depraved as this Man run into about Election and Reprobation which stubs up all Religion by the Roots and stands Dragon-like ready to devour the Gospel and evacuate all Godliness So it is here endeavoured to state and clear those Doctrines from Men's false Notions thereof Which when I had gone a pretty way thorough came accidentally to my hands a Book of George Keith's which he calls Truth Advanced whose Arguments upon this Subject falling quite contrary to mine and unto the Truth it appear'd to me necessary to give an Answer unto it which is accordingly done in the end of this Book B. L. A TREATISE OF Election and Reprobation c. The Introduction Reciting those Scriptures so frequently Vrged in Defence of Election and Reprobation and the Inferences usually though falsly drawn from them with some gross Absurdities that Doctrine naturally resolves into PEter the Apostle maketh this Remark upon the Epistles of the Apostle Paul That in them are some things hard to be understood 2 Pet. 3.16 which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest as they do also the other Scriptures unto their own Destruction And it is still so as it was then the things in his Epistles are the same the difficulty in understanding them and many others of which some are hereafter considered the same now as then and the unlearned and unstable like those of old make the same ill use of them now the others did then And which those places are seems to appear from the many great and continued Disputes that have arisen about them and filled the Minds of People unto this day as these following and some others Rom. 8. v. 29. Whom he did fore-know he also did Predestinate c. 30. Whom he did Predestinate them he also Called and whom he Called them he also Justified and whom he Justified them he also Glorified Rom. 9. v. 11. 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 12 13. It was said unto her The Elder shall serve the Younger as it is written Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated 18. Therefore hath he Mercy on whom he will have Mercy and whom he will he hardeneth 22. What if God willing to shew his Wrath and to make his Power known endured with much long-suffering the Vessels of Wrath fitted to destruction 23. And that he might make known the Riches of his Glory on the Vessels of Mercy which he had afore prepared unto Glory Ephes 1. v. 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 5. Having Predestinated us unto the Adoption of Children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his Will 11. In whom also we have obtained an Inheritance being Predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the Counsel of his own Will Before I enter upon a particular Disquisition of these Scriptures there are a few things to be premised As 1st That for special and eminent Services God hath been pleased to choose out some particular Persons as peculiar Instruments as his choice Prophets and Ministers and hath attended preserved and supported them by his special Providence and divine Power for those eminent Services in his Work and Ministry As the Prophet Jeremiah before formed known of God and sanctified before he came forth of the Womb. Jer. 1.5 Luke 1.15 Acts 9.15 John Baptist filled with the Holy Ghost from his Mother 's Womb. And the Apostle Paul a Chosen Vessel 2dly These and the like being granted do not make for an absolute Election either of a certain definite number of Persons of all that are or shall be saved nor of a personal absolute unconditioned Predestination of the greatest part of Mankind to Damnation 3dly That we oppose the Notion of Reprobation as it opposeth Universal and Saving Grace as come by Jesus Christ and the Notion of a Personal Election absolute as it is set up to limit and confine Saving Grace only to a few Persons and indulge that few as secure in Sin c. Which being premis'd I observe That these Scriptures with several others which are herein after spoken to seem to me to be some of those places hard to be understood of which the Apostle made the Observation
of so great difference sheweth as if they were not all made to the same End Answ The Vessels of Wrath are them that become such through Degeneration and Sin and even towards these God exerciseth great Patience Goodness and Mercy gives them time and space of Repentance indures them with much long Suffering till the Day of their Visitation is over then they are Vessels of Wrath fitted for Destruction but that they were so from before they were Born or fitted to Destruction in their first Structure neither this or any other Scripture holds whosoever are saved it is through Regeneration and Regeneration supposeth Generation and Degeneration going before Regeneration is a restoring our Generation bringing us into our first State and Image and all such are Vessels of Mercy And the Vessels of Wrath are the Unregenerate them in the Degeneration but no Man was made a Vessel of Wrath in the Day in which he was made Object 3. The Scripture saith unto Pharaoh Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up that I might shew my Power in thee and that my Name might be declared throughout all the Earth therefore hath he Mercy on whom he will have Mercy and whom he will he hardeneth From whence some conclude Pharaoh to be made for a purpose of Destruction c. Answ This Scripture refers to Exodus 9.16 where the words in the Lattin are Veruntamen propterea feci ut restares nevertheless therefore I made that thou mighest remain c. or that thou remainest and in the Margent is put Made thee stand instead of which is put in the English Bible For this cause have I raised thee up and in Romans 9.17 For this same purpose where in the Latin both Tremellius Beza c. use the Verb Excitavi and in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the same Signification None of all which Expressions relate to the Creation of Man or Pharaoh's being made to such an end but to something done to him or permitted or suffered after he was Man Nor is it deny'd but God may Judicially harden People after so long and manifest Opposition and Rebellion against him Now were past already Seven of the Plagues of Egypt and the Eighth about to be poured forth so no question God in his Justice sooner might have cut Pharaoh off Yet Time was lengthened to him and his Punishment further deferr'd for God's greater Glory that he might multiply his Signs upon Egypt and so his Power be manifest and Name declared throughout all the Earth and this is all that place imports But not that Pharaoh was made on purpose for this End of Destruction and no other nor doth Temporal Destruction always imply Eternal the terms in the Argument for instances not a few may be collected in Scripture where God pardons the Sin as to the Eternal Punishment of it and yet inflicts an heavy Temporal Punishment I come now to the second part of the Objection Therefore hath he Mercy on whom he will have Mercy and whom he will he hardeneth As to this and such Passages though our Opposers would have them carry their Sense yet read but as they should be read this Apostle's Epistles through and they explain themselves and shew in what manner and order and for what cause God declares his Wrath on the Vessels of Wrath and the Riches of his Glory on the Vessels of Mercy and also teach us That every one who is a Vessel of Wrath becomes such by slighting the Mercies of God graciously tender'd him in the Day of his Visitation For there is such a Day to every one in which they may be saved and wherein God works upon them in order to this End This is a Day of Days an entrance into Life and Glory to them that know and improve it And these are them God will have Mercy on who in the time of their Visitation receive his Grace and Love and through the Power and Work of the Divine Word attain the New Birth And those that God will Judicially harden are they who despise the Riches of his Goodness and Forbearance and Long-suffering as did Pharaoh not knowing that the Goodness of God leadeth to Repentance these through their hardness and impenitent Hearts treasure up Wrath against the Day of Wrath. And the others do not harden their Hearts but obey the Truth Now these different States have different Rewards and thus is Mankind distinguish'd into Vessels of Wrath and Vessels of Mercy Thus is it that some find Mercy and some are Hardened And as to such Expressions as Whom he will he hardeneth and God hardened Pharaoh 's Heart c. they are not to be understood as if hardening Men were simply of God until they have rejected the Tenders of his Love or without long and great Provocation on their part Nor are we to suppose they might not have avoided the cause of such Provocation from any fore-designed Hardening on God's part For during the time of any one's Visitation God freely offers them Mercy and what he doth afterwards hath no influence upon this Argument but even that seems rather a leaving them to themselves a giving them over to a Reprobate Mind to Impenitency and Hardness of Heart than active Hardening of them And so concerning the Hardening of Pharaoh's Heart it is said Exod. 4.21 and 7.13 and 10.27 That God hardened it and in the same Book Exod. 8.32 and 9.35 it is said That Pharaoh hardened his Heart So in the Scriptures first quoted the hardening Pharaoh's Heart is spoken of as God's Act and in the latter the same is spoken of as Pharaoh's Act Which seeming Difference is thus Reconcil'd Hardening in Scripture-sense is to be understood as a Searedness and Insensibility of things concerning the Glory of God and our Happiness which Condition is an effect of a customary and habitual Sinning according to that Saying Consuetudo peccandi Peccati sensum tollit The custom of Sinning takes away the Sense of Sin So Pharaoh persisting in a course of Sin and Wickedness unto great Obdurateness thus it is said He hardened his Heart and God ceasing to strive with him by his Spirit and relinquishing him to that Obdurateness thus it is said God hardened his Heart For as his Provocation was the cause of his Plagues so his Rebellion was the cause of his being Judicially Hardened By all which we may learn in what a Qualified Sense such Scriptures are to be understood and the ill Consequence of a partial taking them which may suffice to this Objection Object 4. Thou wilt say then unto me Why doth he yet find fault For who hath resisted his Will Nay but O Man Who art thou that repliest against God Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it Why hast thou made me thus Hath not the Potter power over the Clay of the same Lump to make one Vessel unto Honour and another unto Dishonour Answ God doth not find fault where his Will is not resisted
Relation who careth for the Life of his Children nourisheth and provides all things necessary for them and if they be wicked and go from him Luke 15. and abuse his kindness and spend their substance upon Harlots as the Prodigal Son if they do but consider and return he seeing them afar off hath Compassion and runs to meet them and kisseth them and brings forth the best Robe and kills the fatted Calf and feeds and clothes them and rejoyceth over them c. Now if our natural Fathers know how to give good Gifts unto their Children how much more shall our Father which is in Heaven give good Gifts to them that ask him Mat. 7. A natural Father declining from this Rule comes under the Reproach of being Unnatural Careless Senceless c. But should he not only omit the Fatherly Love Care and Provision becoming him but also inhumanely Slay the most of his Children how odious a thing would this be amongst Men He would incur the Infliction of Death And yet the Tenents I 'm opposing lay even harder things than these at the door of the Almighty and most Merciful Father the Slaying his Children not only with Temporal but Eternal Death for the Praise of the Power of his Wrath. § 3. Jesus Christ is our High Priest and as such it is his Office to Bless us to offer up our Sacrifices to Attone and Intercede for and in our Behalf Heb. 5.1 2. Every High Priest taken from among Men is ordained for Men in things pertaining to God that he may offer both Gifts and Sacrifices for Sins who can have compassion on the igrant and on them that are out of the way c. And if Men had such great Benefit and Blessing by the High Priests after the order of Aaron how great Blessing and Benefit then have we by our High Priest after the order of Melchizedec who was before Aaron and is greater than Aaron c. Great was the Love of God unto us in giving his Son to be our High Priest to have the oversight and cure of our Souls and ineffable the Benefits Mankind receive by him who being exalted by the right Hand of God and having received from the Father the Promise of the Holy Ghost hath shed forth this in some measure upon all O how wonderfully did he when he took our Nature upon him shew how great was his Goodness to the Sons of Men So if under the Cure of such an High Priest we come to any miscarriage it must be through our selves But what for a Priest do the Priests of these times make him with their Reprobate Doctrine which renders him shutting the Gates of Heaven against the greatest part of the Flock committed to his Cure and instead of interceding to God for them delivering them over to Satan and to Eternal Ruine and this not because of their Wickedness and that they will not be Reclaimed but for the Pleasure of his Father's Will even because God hath Will'd and Decreed it as they say See here how injurious is this Doctrine of Reprobation unto God and Christ in those general Relations of King Father and Priest c. CHAP. III. Reassuming the Substance of those Scriptures and Inferences mention'd in the Introduction most usually Vrged in pleading for Personal Reprobation with particular Answers and Explications to each according to their true and genuine Sense in which is clearly Refuted those false Senses and Meanings which the Predestinarians commonly impose upon them The whole comprised in Ten Objections and their respective Answers HAving thus far gone upon General Reasons I shall now come to a Particular Examen of sundry Scriptures most used in pleading for Personal Reprobation which I shall put as Objections not that they are really so to the Argument I 'm Advancing but the Misunderstanding or that false Sense put upon them So what I put down under the Head of Answer is the Explication of their true genuine Sense and Refutation of those false and foreign Senses and Meanings impos'd on them Which having for avoiding of Cavils premised I proceed Object 1. Though God be Love Good Gracious Merciful c. yet is he Excellent in Power and in Judgment and in plenty of Justice and the Scripture tells us of the Fierceness of his Anger and of his Indignation and of his Wrath and Vengeance c. Deut. 9.7 22. and 13.17 Josh 7.26 Job 37.23 Jer. 50.7 Mic. 7.9 Rom. 12.19 Answ All such places in which God's Anger and Wrath c. are spoken of have respect to Provocation and Offence given and not otherwise for all his Attributes are resolvable into Goodness and Love Mercy and Truth meet together or are united in him and Justice and Peace kiss each other or agree in one in him so speaking of God simply as what he is in himself or what is Primary and Spontaneous in him and he is all Goodness and Love Deus est primario bonus atque ex indole Naturae secundario ex accidente severus idem est ex populi peccato God is primarily good out of the inclination of his Nature but secondarily and accidentally he is severe by reason of People's sins So Anger Wrath Fury and Vengeance the executive part of Justice are consequential from God and not primarily in his Being but stirred up by the Devil and wicked Men proceeding according to his Lusts and the Inclination of their depraved Nature it is the Fruit of their Doings but the Fruit of the Spirit is Love Gal. 5.22 and God is Love God is slow to Anger it is not kindled in him nor repays he Vengeance or Wrath without great Provocation and cause given on our part take away this and Justice is our Friend and Advocate and is as sweet as Mercy It 's Transgression puts the Rod into the Hand of Justice or she Chastizeth not She never smites the Innocent or wounds the Mind that is Guiltless if so it would cease to be it would be no more Justice but it 's the Wicked that are slain at her feet and Transgressors are wounded by her And as Anger Wrath c. are not primary or voluntary in God but as effects of Provocation and Offence so neither is he inclin'd or prone thereto which is an ill Character in a Man and denominates him crabbed peevish angry implacable c. which by no means may be spoken of God Thus the Race of Mankind could not offend their Maker before they were made neither could it be consistent with him to make such a number of Living Souls so Good so Honourable and Resembling Himself to an End so Miserable as the Torments of Hell Object 2. The Scripture mentions Vessels of Wrath fitted for Destruction and also Vessels of Mercy and it is plain some Men are intended by Vessels of Wrath and some Men by Vessels of Mercy Now there is a vast difference betwixt Wrath and Mercy and the Scripture speaking of Mankind under the terms