full and clear proofs of it in the New Testament And they had need be both full and clear before a Doctrine of this Nature can be pretended to be proved by them In order to the making this Mystery to be more distinctly Intelligible different Methods have been taken By one Substance many do understand a Numerical or Individual Unity of Substance and by Three Persons they understand Three distinct Subsistences in that Essence It is not pretended by these that we can give a distinct Idea of Person or Subsistence only they hold it imports a real diversity in one from another and even such a diversity from the Substance of the Deity it self that some things belong to the Person that do not belong to the Substance For the Substance neither begets nor is begotten neither breathes nor proceeds If this carries in it somewhat that is not agreeable to our Notions nor like any thing that we can apprehend to this it is said That if God has Revealed that in the Scripture which is thus expressed we are bound to believe it though we can frame no clear apprehension about it God's Eternity his being all one single Act his Creating and Preserving all things and his being every where are things that are absolute riddles to us We cannot bring our Minds to conceive them and yet we must believe that they are so because we see much greater Absurdities must follow upon our conceiving that they should be otherwise So if God has declared this inexplicable thing concerning himself to us we are bound to believe it though we cannot have any clear Idea how it truly is For there appear as strange and unanswerable difficulties in many other things which yet we know to be true so if we are once well assured that God has Revealed this Doctrine to us we must silence all Objections against it and believe it Reckoning that our not understanding it as it is in it self makes the difficulties seem to be much greater than otherwise they would appear to be if we had light enough about it or were capable of forming a more perfect Idea of it while we are in this depressed State Others give another view of this Matter that is not indeed so hard to be apprehended But that has an Objection against it that seems as great a prejudice against it as the difficulty of apprehending the other way is against that It is this They do hold That there are Three Minds That the first of these Three who is from that called the Father did from all Eternity by an Emanation of Essence beget the Son and by another Emanation that was from Eternity likewise and was as Essential to him as the former both the first and the second did jointly breathe forth the Spirit and that these are Three distinct Minds every one being God as much as the other Only the Father is the Fountain and is only self-originated All this is in a good degree Intelligible but it seems hard to reconcile it both with the Idea of Unity which seems to belong to a Being of Infinite Perfection and with the many express Declarations that are made in the Scriptures concerning the Unity of God Instead of going farther into Explanations of that which is certainly very far beyond all our apprehensions and that ought therefore to be let alone I shall now consider what Declarations are made in the Scriptures concerning this Point The First and the Chief is in that Charge and Commission which our Saviour gave to his Apostles to go and make Disciples to him among all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost Mat. 28.19 By Name is meant either an Authority derived to them in the virtue of which all Nations were to be Baptized Or that the Persons so Baptized are Dedicated to the Father Son and Holy Ghost Either of these Senses as it proves them all to be Persons so it sets them in an equality in a thing that can only belong to the Divine Nature Baptism is the receiving Men from a State of Sin and Wrath into a State of Favour and into the Rights of the Sons of God and the Hopes of Eternal Happiness and a calling them by the Name of God These are things that can only be offered and assured to Men in the Name of the Great and Eternal God and therefore since without any Distinction or Note of Inequality they are all Three set together as Persons in whose Name this is to be done they must be all Three the True God otherwise it looks like a just Prejudice against our Saviour and his whole Gospel That by his express Direction the first entrance to it which gives the Visible and Foederal Right to those great Blessings that are offered by it or their Initiation into it should be in the Name of Two Created Beings if the one can be called properly so much as a Being according to their Hypothesis and that even in an equality with the Supream and Increated Being The plainness of this Charge and the great occasion upon which it was given makes this an Argument of such Force and Evidence that it may justly determine the whole Matter A Second Argument is taken from this That we find St. Paul begins or ends most of his Epistles with a Salutation in the Form of a Wish Rom. 1.7 Rom. 16.20 24. 1 Cor. 16.23 1 Cor. 1.3 2 Cor. 1.3 Gal. 1.3 Gal 6.18 Eph. 1.2 Eph. 6.23 Phil. 1.2 Phil. 4.23 Col. 1.2 1 Thes. 1.1 1 Thes 5.28 2 Thes. 1.2 2 Thes. 3 18. 1 Tim. 1.2 2 Tim. 1.2 Tit. 1.4 Philem. 3.25 2 John 1.3 which is indeed a Prayer or a Benediction in the Name of those who are so Invocated in which he wishes the Churches Grace Mercy and Peace from God the Father and the Lord Iesus Christ which is an Invocation of Christ in conjunction with the Father for the greatest Blessings of Favour and Mercy That is a strange Strain if he was only a Creature which yet is delivered without any mitigation or softning in the most remarkable parts of his Epistles This is carried further in the Conclusion of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians The Grace of the Lord Iesus Christ the Love of God 2 Cor. 13.14 and the Fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with you It is true this is expressed as a Wiâ—h and not in the nature of a Prayer as the common Salutations are But here Three great Blessings are wished to them as from Three Fountains which imports that they are Three different Persons and yet equal For though in order the Father is first and is generally put first yet here Christ is first named which seems to be a strange reversing of things if they are not equal as to their Essence or Substance It is true the Second is not named here The Father as elsewhere but only God yet since he is mentioned as distinct from Christ and the
for mutual Condescension and Sympathy Upon all these grounds it is evident that the Holy Spirit is in the Scripture proposed to us as a Person under whose Oeconomy all the various Gifts Administrations and Operations that are in the Church are put The Second Particular relating to this Article is the Procession of this Spirit from the Father and the Son The Word Procession or as the Schoolmen term it Spiration is only made use of in order to the naming this Relation of the Spirit to the Father and Son in such a manner as may best answer the sense of the word Spirit For it must be confessed that we can frame no explicite Idea of this matter and therefore we must speak of it either strictly in Scripture-Words or in such Words as arise out of them and that have the same Signification with them It is therefore a vain Attempt of the Schoolmen to undertake to give a reason why the Second Person is said to be generated and so is called Son and the Third to proceed and so is called Spirit All these Subtilties can have no Foundation and signify nothing towards the clearing this matter which is rather darkned than cleared by a pretended Illustration In a word as we should never have believed this Mystery if the Scripture had not revealed it to us so we understand nothing concerning it besides what is contained in the Scriptures And therefore if in any thing we must think soberly upon those Subjects The Scriptures call the Second Son and the Third Spirit so Generation and Procession are words that may well be used but they are words concerning which we can form no distinct Conception We only use them because they belong to the words Son and Spirit The Spirit in things that we do understand is somewhat that proceeds and the Son is a Person begotten we therefore believing that the Holy Ghost is a Person apply the word Procession to the manner of his Emanation from the Father though at the same time we must acknowledge that we have no distinct Thought concerning it So much in general concerning Procession It has been much controverted whether the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father only or from the Father and the Son In the first Disputes concerning the Divinity of the Holy Ghost with the Macedonians who denied it there was no other Contest but whether he was truly God or not When that was settled by the Council of Constantinople it was made a part of the Creed but it was only said that he Proceeded from the Father And the Council of Ephesus soon after that fixed on that Creed decreeing that no Additions should be made to it Yet about the end of the Sixth Century in the Western Church an Addition was made to the Article by which the Holy Ghost was affirmed to proceed from the Son as well as from the Father And when the Eastern and Western Churches in the Ninth Century fell into an humour of quarrelling upon the account of Jurisdiction after some time of Anger in which they seem to be searching for matter to reproach one another with they found out this difference The Greeks reproached the Latins for thus adding to the Faith and corrupting the Ancient Symbol and that contrary to the Decree of a General Council The Latins on the other hand charged them for detracting from the Dignity of the Son And this became the chief Point in Controversy between them Here was certainly a very unhappy Dispute inconsiderable in its Original but fatal in its Consequences We of this Church though we abhor the Cruelty of condemning the Eastern Churches for such a difference yet do receive the Creed according to the usage of the Western Churches And therefore though we do not pretend to explain what Procession is we believe according to the Article That the Holy Ghost proceeds both from the Father and the Son Because in that Discourse of our Saviour's that contains the Promise of the Spirit and that long Description of him as a Person Christ not only says That the Father will send the Spirit in his name but adds That he will send the Spirit Joh. 14.26 and though he says next who proceedeth from the Father yet since he sends him Joh. 15.26 and that he was to supply his room and to act in his Name this implies a Relation and a sort of Subordination in the Spirit to the Son This may serve to justify our adhering to the Creeds as they had been for many Ages received in the Western Church But we are far from thinking that this Proof is so full and explicite as to justify our Separating from any Church or condemning it that should stick exactly to the first Creeds and reject this Addition The Third Branch of the Article is That this Holy Ghost or Person thus proceeding is truly God of the same Substance with the Father and the Son That he is God was formerly proved by those Passages in which the whole Trinity in all the Three Persons is affirm'd But besides that the lying to the Holy Ghost by Ananias and Saphira is said to be a lying not unto men Act. 5.34 but to God His being called another Comforter his teaching all things his guiding into all truth his telling things to come his searching all things even the deep things of God his being called the Spirit of the Lord in opposition to the spirit of a man his making intercession for us his changing us into the same image with Christ are all such plain Characters of his being God that those who deny that are well aware of this That if it is once proved that he is a Person it will follow that he must be God therefore all that was said to prove him a Person is here to be remembred as a Proof that he is truly God So that though there is not such a variety of Proofs for this as there was for the Divinity of the Son yet the Proof of it is plain and clear And from what was said upon the First Article concerning the Unity of God it is also certain that if he is God he must be of one Substance Majesty and Glory with the Father and the Son ARTICLE VI. Of the Sufficiency of Holy Scriptures for Salvation Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to Salvation So that whatsoevet is not read therein nor may be proved thereby is not to be required of any Man that it should be believed as an Article of Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to Salvation In the Name of the Holy Scripture we do understand those Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament of whose Authority was never any doubt in the Church Of the Names and Number of the Canonical Books Genesis The First Book of Samuel The Book of Hester Exodus The Second Book of Samuel The Book of Iob Leviticus The First Book of Kings The Psalms Numbers The Second Book of Kings The Proverbs
called God God's Throne his Holiness his Face and the Light of his Countenance They went up to the Temple to worship God as dwelling there bodily that is substantially so bodily sometimes signifies or in a Corporeal Appearance This seems to have been a Person that was truly God and yet was distinct from that which appeared and spake to Moses for this seems to be the Importance of these words Behold Exod. 23.20 I send an Angel before thee to keep thee in the way and to bring thee to the place which I have prepared Beware of him and obey his voice provoke him not for he will not pardon your transgressions for my Name is in him These words do plainly import a Person to whom they belong and yet they are a pitch far above the Angelical Dignity So that Angel must here be understood in a large sense for one sent of God and it can admit of no sense so properly as That the Eternal Word which dwelt afterwards in the Man Christ Jesus dwelt then in that Cloud of Glory It was also one of the Prophecies received by the Iews That the Glory of the second Temple was to exceed the Glory of the first 2 Hag. 7. The chief Character of the Glory of the first was that Inhabitation of the Divine Presence among them from hence it follows that such an Inhabitation of God in a Creature by which that Creature was not only called God but that Adoration was due to it upon that account was a Notion that could not have scandalized the Iews and was indeed the only Notion that agreed with their former Ideas and that could have been received by them without difficulty or opposition This is a strong Inducement to believe that this great Article of our Religion was at that time delivered and understood in that sense If the Son or Word is truly God he must be from all Eternity and must also be of the same Substance with the Father otherwise he could not be God since a God of another Substance or of another Duration is a Contradiction The last Argument that I shall offer is taken from the beginning of the Epistle to the Hebrews To the apprehending the Force of which this must be premised That all those who acknowledge that Christ ought to be honoured and worshipped as the Father must say that this is due to him either because he is truly God or because he is a Person of such a high and exalted Dignity that God has upon the consideration of that appointed him to be so worshipped Now this second Notion may fall under another distinction that either he was of a very sublime Order by Nature as some Angelical Being that though he was created yet had this high Priviledge bestowed upon him or that he was a Prophet illuminated and authorized in so particular a manner beyond all others that out of a regard to that he was exalted to this Honour of being to be worshipped One of these must be chosen by all who do not believe him to be truly God And indeed one of these was the Arian as the other is the Socinian Hypothesis For how much soever the Arians might exalt him in words yet if they believed him to be a Creature made in time so that once he was not all that they said of him can amount to no more but that he was a Creature of a Spiritual Nature and this is plainly the Notion which the Scripture gives us of Angels Artemon Samosatenus Photinus and the Socinians in our days consider our Saviour as a great Prophet and Lawgiver and into this they resolve his Dignity In opposition to both these that Epistle begins with Expressions that are the more severe because they are Negative which are to be understood more strictly than Positive words Christ is not only preferred to Angels but is set in opposition to them as one of another Order of Beings Made so much better than angels Heb. 1. as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they For unto which of the Angels said he at any time 4 5 Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee When he bringeth in the first-begotten into the world 6 he saith And let all the angels of God worship him 7 Of the angels he saith Who maketh his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire 8 But unto the Son he saith Thy throne O God is for ever and ever And Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth 10 and the heavens are the works of thy hands Thou art the same 12 and thy years shall not fail But to which of the angels said he at any time Sit on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool 13 14. Are they not all ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation This opposition is likewise carried on through the whole second Chapter one Passage in it being most express to shew both that his Nature had a Subsistence before his Incarnation and that it was not of an Angelical Order of Beings since he took not on him the nature of Angels Chap. 2. but the seed of Abraham Thus in a great variety of Expressions 16. the Conceit of Christ's being of an Angelical Nature is very fully condemned From that the Writer goes next to the Notion of his being to be honoured because he was an Eminent Prophet on which he enters with a very solemn Preface inviting them to consider the Apostle and High-priest of our Profession Chap. 3. Then he compares Moses to him 12. as to the point of being faithful to him who had appointed him But how eminent soever Moses was above all other Prophets and how harshly soever it must have sounded to the Iews to have stated the difference in terms so distant as that of a Servant and a Son of one who built the house and of the House it self yet we see the Apostle does not only prefer Christ to Moses but puts him in another Order and Rank which could not be done according to the Socinian Hypothesis From all which this Conclusion naturally follows That if Christ is to be worshipped and that this Honour belongs to him neither as an Angel nor as a Prophet That then it is due to him because he is truly God The Second Branch of this Article is That he took man's Nature upon him in the Womb of the Blessed Uirgin and of her Substance This will not need any long or laboured Proof since the Texts of Scripture are so express that nothing but wild Extravagance can withstand them Christ was in all things like unto us except his miraculous Conception by the Virgin He was the Son of Abraham and of David But among the Frantick Humours that appeared at the Reformation some in opposition to the Superstition of the Church of Rome studied to derogate as
Grace and Spirit descending on his Church He does also intercede for us at his Father's Right-hand where he is preparing a place for us The meaning of all which is this That as he is vested with an unccnceivable high degree of Glory even as Man so the Merit of his Death is still fresh and entire and in the virtue of that the Sins of all that come to God throâ—gh him claiming to his Death as to their Sacrifice and obeying his Gospel are pardoned and they are sealed by his Spirit until the day of Redemption In conclusion when all God's design with this World is accomplished it shall be set on Fire and all the great Parts of which it is composed as of Elements shall be melted and burnt down and then when by that Fire probably the Portions of Matter which was in the Bodies of all who have lived upon Earth shall be so far refined and fixed as to become both Incorruptible and Immortal then they shall be made meet for the Souls that formerly animated them to re-enter every one into his own Body which shall be then so moulded as to be a Habitation fit to give it everlasting Joy or everlasting Torment Then shall Christ appear visibly in some very conspicuous Place in the Clouds of Heaven where every Eye shall see him He shall appear in his own glory that is in his Human glorified Body Luk. 9.26 He shall appear in the glory of his angels having vast Numbers of these about him attending on him But which is above all he shall appear in his Father's glory that is there shall be then a most wonderful Manifestation of the Eternal Godhead dwelling in him and then shall he pass a final Sentence upon all that ever lived upon Earth according to all that they have done in the Body whether it be good or bad The Righteous shall ascend as he did and shall meet him in the Clouds and be for ever with him and the Wicked shall sink into a state of Darkness and Misery of unspeakable Horror of Mind and everlasting Pain and Torment ARTICLE V. Of the Holy Ghost The Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son is of one Substance Majesty and Glory with the Fathei and the Son very and Eternal God IN order to the explaining this Article we must consider First The Importance of the Term Spirit or Holy Spirit Secondly His Procession from the Father and the Son And Thirdly That he is truly God of the same Substance with the Father and the Son Spirit signifies Wind or Breath and in the Old Testament it stands frequently in that Sense The Spirit of God or Wind of God stands sometimes for a high and strong Wind but more frequently it signifies a secret Impression made by God on the Mind of a Prophet So that the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Prophecy are set in opposition to the vain Imaginations the false Pretences or the Diabolical Illusions of those who assumed to themselves the Name and the Authority of a Prophet without a true Mission from God But when God made Representations either in a Dream or in an Extasy to any Person or imprinted a sense of his Will on their Minds together with such necessary Characters as gave it Proof and Authority this was an Illapse from God as a Breathing from him on the Soul of the Prophet In the New Testament this word Holy Ghost stands most commonly for that wonderful Effusion of those Miraculous Virtues that was poured out at Pentecost on the Apostles by which their Spirits were not only exalted with extraordinary degrees of Zeal and Courage of Authority and Uâ—terance but they were furnished with the Gifts of Tongues and of Miracles And besides that first and great Effusion several Christians received particular Talents and Inspirations which are most commonly expressed by the word Spirit or Inspiration Those inward Assistances by which the Frame and Temper of Mens Minds are changed and renewed are likewise called the Spirit or the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost So Christ said to Nicodemus John 3.3 5 6 Lu. 11.18 That except a man was born of water and of the Spirit he cannot see the kingdom of God and that his heavenly Father would give the Holy Spirit to every one that asked him By these it is plain that extraordinary or miraculous Inspirations are not meant for these are not every Christian's Portion there is no question made of all this The main question is Whether by Spirit or Holy Spirit we are to understand one Person that is the Fountain of all those Gifts and Operations or whether by One Spirit is only to be meant the Power of God flowing out and shewing it self in many wonderful Operations The Adversaries of the Trinity will have the Spirit or Holy Spirit to signify no Person but only the Divine Gifts or Operations But in opposition to this it is plain that in our Saviour's last and long Discourse to his Disciples John 14.16 26. in which he promised to send them his Spirit he calls him another Comforter to be sent in his stead or to supply his Absence and the whole Tenor of the Discourse runs on him as a Person John 16. â— 13. He shall abide with you He shall guide you into all truth and shew you things to come He shall bring all things into your remembrance He shall convince the world of sin of righteousness and of judgment In all those places he is so plainly spoken of not as a Quality or Operation but as a Person and that without any Key or Rule to understand the Words otherwise that this alone may serve to determine the matter now in dispute Christ's Commission to Preach and Baptize in the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost does plainly make him a Person since it cannot be said that we are to be called by the Name of a Virtue or Operation St. Paul does also in a long Discourse upon the Diversity of Gifts 1 Cor. 12.4 8 9 11 13. Administrations and Operations ascribe them all to one Spirit as their Authoâ— and Fountain of whom he speaks as of a Person distributing these in order to several Ends and in different Measures 1 Cor. 2.10 Rom. 8.26 Eph. 4.30 He speaks of the Spirit 's searching all things of his interceeding for us of our grieving the Spirit by which we are sealed This is the Language used concerning a Person not a Quality All these says he worketh that one and the self-same Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will Now it is not to be conceived how that both our Saviour and his Apostles should use the Phrase of a Person so constantly in speaking of the Spirit and should so critically and in the way of Argument pursue that Strain if he is not a Person They not only insist on it and repeat it frequently but they draw an Argument from it for Union and Love and
Doctrine as to note those who obey not the Gospel 2 Thess. 36.14 15. and to have no company with them that they may be ashamed yet not so as to hate such a one or count him as an Enemy but to admonish him as a Brother Into what neglect or prostitution soever any Church may have fallen in this great point of separating Offenders of making them ashamed and of keeping others from being corrupted with their ill Example and bad Influence that must be confessed to be a very great defect and blemish The Church of Rome had slackned all the ancient Rules of Discipline and had perverted this matter in a most scandalous manner and the World is now sunk into so much corruption and to such a contempt of holy things that it is much more easy here to find matter for lamentation than to see how to remedy or correct it ARTICLE XVII Predestination and Election 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 unto 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 Iesus Christ they walk religiously in good works and at length by God's mercy they attain to everlasting felicity As the godly consideration of Predestination and our Election in Christ is full of sweet pleasant and unspeakable comfort to godly persons and such as feel in themselves the working of the Spirit of Christ mortifying the works of the flesh and their earthly members and drawing up their mind to high and heavenly things as well because it doth greatly establish anâ—â—â—â—firm their Faith of eternal Salvation to be enjoyed through Christ as because it doth fervently kindle their love towards God So for curious and carnal persons lacking the Spirit of Christ to have continually before their eyes the sentence of God's Predestination is a most dangerous downfall whereby the Devil doth thrust them either â—nto desperation or into wrechlesness of most unclean living no less perillous than â—esperation Furthermore We must receive God's promises in such wise as they be generally set forth to us in holy Scripture and in our doings that Will of God is to be followed which we have expresly declared unto us in the Word of God THere are many things in several of the other Articles which depend upon this and therefore I will explain it more fully For as this has given occasion to one of the longest the subtilest and indeed the most intricate of all the Questions in Divinity so it will be necessary to open and examine it as fully as the Importance and Difficulties of it do require In treating of it I shall First State the Question together with the consequences that arise out of it Secondly Give an account of the differences that have arisen upon it Thirdly I shall set out the strength of the Opinions of the Contending Parties with all possible Impartiality and Exactness Fourthly I shall see how far they agree and how far they differ and shall shew what reason there is for bearing with one another's Opinions in these matters and in the Fifth and last place I shall consider how far we of this Church are determined by this Article and how far we are at liberty to follow any of those different Opinions The whole Controversy may be reduced to this single Point as its head and source Upon what Views did God form his Purposes and Decrees concerning Mankind Whether he did it merely upon a design of advancing his own Glory and for manifesting his own Attributes in order to which he setled the great universal Scheme of his whole Creation and Providence Or whether he considered all the free motions of those rational Agents that he did intend to create and according to what he foresaw they would chuse and do in all the various circumstances in which he might put them formed his Decrees Here the Controversy begins and when this is setled the three main Questions that arise out of it will be soon determined The First is Whether both God and Christ intended that Christ should only dye for that particular number whom God intended to save Or whether it was intended that he should dye for all so that every Man that would might have the benefit of his Death and that no Man was excluded from it but because he willingly rejected it The Second is Whether those Assistances that God gives to Men to enable them to obey him are of their own nature so efficacious and irresistible that they never fail of producing the Effect for which they are given or Whether they are only sufficient to enable a Man to obey God so that their Efficacy comes from the freedom of the Will that either may co-operate with them or may not as it pleases The Third is Whether such persons do and must certainly persevere to whom such Grace is given or Whether they may not fall away both entirely and finally from that State There are also other Questions concerning the true Notion of Liberty concerning the Feebleness of our Powers in this lapsed State with several lesser ones all which do necessarily take their determination from the decision of the first and main Question About which there are four Opinions The First is of those commonly called Supralapsarians who think that God does only consider his own Glory in all that he does and that whatever is done arises from its first Cause from the Decree of God That in this Decree God considering only the Manifestation of his own Glory intended to make the World to put a Race of Men in it to constitute them under Adam as their Fountain and Head That he decreed Adam's Sin the lapse of his Posterity and Christ's Death together with the Salvation or Damnation of such Men as should be most for his own Glory That to those who were to be saved he decreed to give such efficacious Assistances as should certainly put them in the way of Salvation And to those whom he rejected he decreed to give such Assistances and means only as should render them inexcusable That all Men do continue in a state of Grace or of Sin and shall be saved or damned accâ—rding to that first Decree So that God views Himself only and in that View he designs all things singly for his own Glory and for the manifesting of his own Attributes The Second Opinion is of those called the Sublapsarians who say That Adam having sinned freely and his Sin being imputed to all his Posterity God did