and who hath begun in me the Work of Special Sanctification and will never finally leave me till he hath perfected his Work begun in me and shall I can I willingly grieve and offend that Holy Spirit by whom I am Sealed to the day of Redemption I cannot do it Fourthly Is the Gospel appointed by Father Son and Holy Ghost to be a Word of Revelation to discover to me how the Heart of God his Christ and Holy Spirit stood affected towards the Elect and toward me in particular from Eternity and to endless Eternity and not only so but that the same might be a rule of Direction to me all my Days to discover the false ways I am to shun and avoid as also the Paths I am to walk in in order to a pleasing the Holy Trinity and coming safe to Heaven and shall I can I consent to abuse so sweet and excellent a Gospel I cannot do it Fifthly Is the design of Divine Providence in all its various Dispensations to the Elect and to me in particular to purge Believers from the remains of indwelling Corruption and to make them more and more to abound in Holy Conformity to Christ their Mystical Head and shall I abuse it by Sinning against it and taking an occasion therefrom to be vain and secure in my Conversation I cannot do it And as the true Believer is enabled being taught and guided by the Holy Ghost to fetch Arguments against Sin from the five Sacred Topicks now mentioned so is he in like manner enabled being savingly influenced by the Inhabitation of the Holy Ghost in him to fetch from the above Named Topicks Arguments to keep him from final Desparation in the most violent Hurrycane of Temptation which can attend on a deserted or an afflicted Condition To evince and clear up this Truth for the comfort and encouragement of the Poorest Believer in an Hour of sore Distress when the Waters of Affliction reach even to the very Soul to a sensible endangering the extinguishing the little Grace lodged in the Soul let it be seasonably and seriously considered that the Believer when he finds Satan his wicked Instruments and indwelling Corruption all conjunctly together pressing and working his Soul within to despair of Mercy and Salvation he falls on Arguing from the sweet Doctrine of Gods Election thus shall I can I who am secured of Life Eternal by the Gracious and Unchangeable Decree of the immutable God despair of Mercy and Salvation as Satan the wicked World and my own Carnal reason would have me do I cannot do it If it were possible that my finking Soul should drop through the very Jaws of Despondency into Hell it self from thence would Gods unchangeable purpose of Grace fetch and deliver it Secondly Shall I or can I for when Christ the Son of God hath undertaken as a Sponsor and Surety and for whom he hath wrought a perfect Reconciliation by his own Mediatorial Righteousness in which no Spot or Defect ever was or ever shall be found by God Angels or Men despair of Mercy and Salvation as Devil wicked Men and my own Carnal reason would fain perswade me to do I cannot do it Thirdly shall I to and for whom the Holy Ghost is become a Sanctifier and a Renewer of my Nature and who by his saving influential Presence dwells in me never finally to leave me till his good work of Grace begun in my Soul in effectual Calling be compleatly perfected despair of Mercy and Salvation as the Devil wicked Men and my own Carnal reason would have me do I can by no means do it Fourthly Shall I who have all the sweet and precious Promises of the Gospel of Gods Love and Grace to comfort and assure me that God Christ and the Blessed Spirit will never never fail or forsake me despair of Mercy and Salvation as mine Enemies would perswade me to do I cannot do it Lastly Shall I who have the Divine Providence engaged for me to uphold me to purge out the remains of indwelling Sin in me and to forward me in conforming to my Mystical Head Christ in Holiness despair of Mercy and Salvation as mine Enemies would have me I not do it This is the use which a true Believer makes of the Doctrine of Gods Election before time while Faith in the Believer is in its right Exercise none will stumble at it so as Eternally to Perish but such as are not by that Act of Gods Electing Decree given to Christ before time to be actually Redeemed in time Secondly The Doctrine of Free Will and General Redemption is a Doctrine which encourageth to Sin and which necessarily leads to Desparation I shall offer two things to consideration for evincing and clearing up this for Truth the which I desire the Reader to weigh and consider without prejudice First The use which all unregenerate Men make of the Doctrine of Free Will which sad experience teacheth is this I will turn to God by Repentance I will Believe in an Attoning Saviour I will fall on the work of Reformation and thereby prevent my perishing by the deserved Judgments of God when I see my own time and when I am thereto disposed who sees not except one Spiritually Blind how greatly this Doctrine doth encourage to Sin For saith my Carnal reason as often it hath while I was in a state of Nature if I do not return to God upon his Call and Invitation this Day this Month this Year I fully purpose and resolve to do it the next for God hath implanted in my Soul a Principle of Free Will whereby I am enabled to answer his Call by Repenting Believing and Reforming the which when I do though not at present God will have Mercy on me and I shall be accepted being secured by that General Redemption provided for all who so Repent Believe and Reform Woful and sad experience convinceth me that many God provoking Follys and Vanitys of Youth in my Heart and Life have been indulged by this deceiving cursed Doctrine Oh! how often hath Carnal reason within me cryed out when the common Notions of the Spirit of God hath toucht my Conscience to call on me to convert and turn to God I will Repent I will Convert I will turn to God to morrow to morrow As Augustin confesseth of himself he often put God off with his Free-will Cras Cras To morrow to morrow Till at length he grew both asham'd and weary of his graceless to morrow crying out to the Almighty in the very hour of his effectual Conversion Quam Diu Domine Clamabo Cras Cras Quare Non Hodiè Domine c. How long O Lord shall I cry to morrow to morrow Why O Lord should I not be Converted this veryday And as an Unregenerate Man takes Encouragement from this Principle to go on in Sin so it leads him to Desparation Of this also my sad Experience hath fully convinc'd me as plainly appears by the near approach I made to
it is beyond all Controversy that those few who so Believe Repent c. are particular Persons whom free Grace elected to that state of Believing and Persevering and the rest who were by far the greater number were left to inward Blindness and hardness of Heart according to Rom. 11.7 What then Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for but the election hath obtained it and the rest were blinded According as it is written God hath given them the spirit of slumber eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear unto this day Arg. 3. If God hath chosen Persons by Name to be Partakers of Life and Salvation by Christ his Son then hath he chosen particular Persons But God hath chosen Persons by Name to be Partakers of Life and Salvation by Christ his Son Therefore God hath chosen particular Persons c. The major Proposition is not questioned the Minor or Assumption is secured by the express Testimony of the Spirit Rev. 13.8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship the beast whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of life Luke 10.20 Notwithstanding in this rejoyce not that the spirits are subject unto you but rather rejoyce because your names are written in Heaven Philip. 4.3 And I intreat thee also true yoke fellow help those women which laboured with me in the Gospel with Clement also and with other my fellow-labourers whose names are in the book of Life Argu. 4. If Jeremiah and Jacob c. were particular Persons Chosen and Lov'd of God before they were Born then God did Elect and Choose particular Persons to Life and Salvation but Jeremiah and Jacob c. were particular Persons Chosen and Lov'd of God before they were Born Therefore God did Elect and Choose particular Persons to Life and Salvation That Jeremiah and Jacob c. were particular Persons no Man of Sense will deny that they were Beloved of God before the natural Birth the word of God is full and express Jer. 1.5 Jer. 31.3 Rom. 9.11 Argu. 5. If God knows his Elect from all others before he calls them in Conversion then hath God Elected particular Persons to Life and Salvation But God knows his Elect from all others before he calls them in Conversion Therefore God hath Elected and Chosen particular Persons to Life and Salvation That Gods Praecognition or foreknowledge joyned with his purpose of Grace to Save his Elect goes before his actually calling them in effectual Conversion is beyond Dispute Rom. 8.29 30. 2 Tim. 2.19 Jo. 13.18 Argu. 6. If they who believe in Time were before their Believing ordained to Eternal Life then did God Elect and Choose particular Persons unto Life and Salvation But they who believe in time were before their Believing ordained to Eternal Life Therefore God hath Elected and Chosen particular Persons unto Life and Salvation That Gods Praeordination of Persons to Life and Salvation doth preceed or go before Believing and Repentance is plain from Acts 13.48 And as many as were ordained to Eternal Life Believed Rom. 11. The Election hath obtained it Jo. 10.26 But ye Believe not because ye are not of my Sheep as I said unto you From which Scriptures it is most plain that none do or can in time Believe and reput to Salvation but such Persons as are theretofore appointed by Gods gracious purpose Argu. 7. If the Term Elect doth signifie and presuppose a Calling or Choosing some particular Persons or Things out from among other Persons or Things then hath God out of so many Elected some particular Persons unto Eternal Salvation But the Term Elect doth signifie and presuppose a Calling or Choosing some particular Persons or Things out from among other Persons or Things Therefore God hath out of many Called and Chosen some particular Persons unto Eternal Life Argu. 8. If the Lord Jesus did lay down his Life but for a certain particular number of Sinners then did God Elect and Choose a particular number to Life and Salvation But the Lord Jesus did lay down his Life for a certain particular number of Sinners Therefore God did Elect and Choose a particular number to Life and Salvation That the Lord Jesus did lay down his Life for a certain particular number is obvious and plain to him that can but Read Jo. 10.15 As the Father knoweth me even so know I the Father and I lay down my Life for the Sheep With this accords that of Paul to Titus Chap. â— 14 who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purchase to himself a peculiar People Zealous of good Works Ephes 5.25 〈◊〉 love your Wives even as Christ also Loved the Church and gave himself for it c. The Sheep of whom Christ speaks can be understood to be no other but Believers even such as Dy'd in the Faith before his Incarnation with the Believers of that present day and all who in time to come were to Believe in him And these are the Souls who were by the Father committed to the Pastoral care and charge of Christ the Great Shepherd of the Sheep as Sheep are committed to the care and charge of an under Shepherd For these Christ lays down his Life To these he by his Spirit actually applys the virtue of his Death Over these he Watches And to these only excluding all others he gives Eternal Life That these were given to Christ by the Father to be redeemed and brought to Glory appears from Jo. 6.39 And this is the Fathers Will which hath sent me That of all which he hath given me I should loose nothing but should raise it up at the Last Day Jo. 17.6 Thine they were and thou gavest them me c. And Verse 2. As thou hast given him Power over all Flesh that he should give Eternal Life to as many as thou hast given him ☞ Mark this Reader To as many as thou hast given him This plainly proves that God did commit to the care and faithfulness of Christ his Shepherd a certain particular number to be Justified and Saved by him and therefore not all the Race of fallen Mankind as Papists Arminians Quakers Free-Willers c. vainly teach and hold Another Consideration which is full of clearness to convince and satisfie any right in their Minds That not Adams Posterity in General as the Hereticks above named would fain have it but a certain particular and definite number were Elected and Chosen by God and by him given to Christ his Son to be Redeemed and Saved is Christ his refusing to concern himself for any others in the discharge of his Office of Intercessor as appears from Jo. 17.9 I Pray for them that is for the Elect for whom he had undertaken as Vedemâ—â—y and Surety I Pray not for the World that is those of the World who were by God left in a Reprobate State and Condition as is evident from Jo. 17.14 I have given them thy Word
and the World hath hated them because they are not of the World even as I am not of the World Here are two distinct Partys described by Christ the one is Prayed for the other is not the one is hated the other hates the very Practice of the latter denotes the Persons to be Children of another Father distinct from those they hate There is nothing more discovers Men to be the Children of the Devil than their hating Righteousness and not loving those who appear to be Godly 1 Jo. 3.10 In this the Children of God are manifest and the Children of the Devil whosoever doeth not Righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his Brother As Love to God his Truth and such as bear his Image is an infallible Character of an Elect Child of God Jo. 13.35 1 Jo. 3.14 1 Jo. 4.7 So to hate God his Truth and such as bear his Holy Image is the indelible Character of a Reprobate designed for Eternal Destruction 1 Jo. 3.10 The second thing in the Proposition to be considered is the End and Design of God in that Act of his in Electing and Choosing which is twofold First as it respects the Creatures Elected viz. that they might partake of the Special Grace of God here on Earth and of Eternal Glory in the Kingdom of Heaven through Christ his Son according to that of Paul Ephes 1.4 According as he hath Chosen us in him before the Foundation of the World that we should be Holy and without blame before him in Love 2 Thes 2.13 Because God hath from the beginning Chosen you to Salvation through Sanctification of the Spirit and Belief of the Truth Vers 14. Whereunto he called you by our Gospel to the obtaining of the Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ 1 Thes 5.9 For God hath not appointed us to Wrath but to obtain Salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ Secondly with respect to God Electing viz. That the Glory of his Soveraign Free and rich Grace might be Extolled and Praised for ever according as the Apostle expresseth it in Ephes 1.6 To the Praise of the Glory of his Grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved Vers 11 12. In whom also we have obtained an Inheritance being predestinate according to the purpose of him who worketh all things according to the Counsel of his own Will that we should be to the Praise of his Glory who first trusted in Christ The third thing in the Proposition to be considered is to take Notice of the Properties in that Act of God Electing Those Properties are in number three First God in Electing and Choosing some Sinners to himself out of the corrupted Mass of fallen Mankind on whom he purposed to shew Mercy He did Elect and Choose them most freely there was nothing at all in the Objects Elected and Chosen that could move God wherefore he should Elect one Sinner more or sooner than another for as fallen into Sin and equally obnoxious to the Curse of the Law and the Wrath to come were all the Sons and Daughters of Adam lookt on by God when he fixed his Electing Love on some and actually rejected and passed others by on whom the most High God as an uncontrolable Soveraign purposed to execute the fierceness of his Wrath for Sin The reason or impulsive cause of this Difference which the tremendous God saw fit to make between Sinners equally guilty and obnoxious to the Curse and Wrath of God is not to be sought out of God himself An Example and lively Instance hereof we have in Rom. 9.11 which the Wise God hath seen sit should be recorded on purpose to stop the mouth of Carnal reason which is so wretchedly prone to Question and Dispute against his Soveraignty over his Creatures The Children being not yet Born neither having done any good or evil that the purpose of God according to Election might stand not of Works but of him that calleth It was said unto her the Elder shall serve the Younger As it is Written Jacob have I Loved but Esau have I Hated The Wise God foreseeing the purblind Reasonings and Cavillings of Carnal Mens unsanctified Brains against the Doctrine of Gods absolute Soveraignty in disposing of the Eternal concerns of his rational Creatures fallen by Sin into a state and condition of Misery through their own default hath seen good for the vindication of his own Prerogative to make known to the Sons of Men and that by the unerring Wisdom and unquestionable Authority of so great a Man as Paul the great Apostle of the Gentiles the reason of Gods Method in proceeding to Elect some of fallen Mankind to a state of Life and Salvation through a Redeemer and Reprobating others leaving them for ever to perish in that Sin and Misery into which they did without any constraint wilfully plunge themselves to be no other than his own most free and holy Will seeing that he alone is the undoubted Soveraign of the World who hath an indisputable right to determine what to do with or how to dispose of Sinning Rebels without being any way liable to the controulment of any of his Creatures especially such of them as by Sin have forfeited their very Being to the Divine Justice and who while in an unreconciled State are not capable of knowing him or of being subject to his Divine Law The good Will and Pleasure then of the Blessed God is the Source and Fountain whence the great Disparity between the Elect and the Reprobate World doth spring not any thing in the Creatures themselves as Arminian Cavillers dream and conceit it doth This will evidently appear if the Reader will but with a becoming modesty and unprejudic'd judgment read the whole Chapter at length and with fervent Prayer to God for the Wisdom of his Spirit look narrowly into and with sobriety consider the 11th and the 16th Verses where it plainly appears that the two conceited Qualifications of which the Enemies of Election are usually proud and which they hold and teach are the procuring cause of the Difference between the good and the evil Men on Earth viz. the Free Will in Man and the good Works which unregenerate Men do but conceit they do they are both met with and equally discarded by God from having any room or place among the causes which put God either upon Choosing the Elect or rejecting the Reprobate Mark the 11th Vers That the purpose of God according to Election might stand not of Works but of him that calleth With this agrees Ephes 2 8.9 For by Grace are ye Saved through Faith and that not of your selves it is the Gift of God Not of Works least any Man should boast And Tit. 3.5 Not by Works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his Mercy he hath Saved us c. Vain unregenerate Man would fain perswade himself that he is worse than Threadbare Rags of his polluted Morality negative and positive is a covering sufficient
not only to hide his Ulcerous and plague Sores of Guilt and Vileness from the pure and All-seeing Eyes of an Infinite Majesty but also to deck and adorn his Soul so as to bespeak him an Object sit for a Holy God to behold with delight Oh horrid delusion worse than Frenzy or Madness it self this being but a Temporary Malady which may by the use of ordinary means be holpen but that the Bane and Destruction of the Immortal Soul which nothing but the despised Grace of God in Christ can cure such miserably deluded Souls will not find it easy to believe that to think so highly of their own Qualifications is the greatest bar or hinderance which keeps them from Salvation Read also with care Vers 16 So then it is not of him that Willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth Mercy Let the Adversaries of the Doctrine I am now vindicating but consider that Man as fallen into Sin and Misery of his own accord is the Object of Election and Reprobation and let them if they can tell or shew me how a Natural Man in his Lapsed Guilty State can possibly either Will or Act any thing but what is both for matter and manner most vile and abominable in the sight of that God who is Purity and Holiness it self in the Abstract And if so wherefore then should the most Just and Holy God be conceived to elect Men for that which he can do no other than hate and loath as the best Duties of an unregenerate Person are both contrary to the Nature of God and also repugnant to his Just and Holy Law When unregenerate Men talk and brag of their Duties and Qualifications as that which must recommend them to God and purchase for them a Right to the Crown that fades not away they think and speak as Men in a midnight Dream not understanding what they say or whereof they affirm and the head Spring of this their Boasting of their Qualifications is the profound Ignorance and Luciferian Pride which sways their unrenewed Spirits having never passed under the killing Severity of the Law of God set home on the Conscience by the Spirit of Bondage to prepare them for healing by the Lord Jesus Christ Until this Work of the Lord pass on the Soul no Child of Adam can possibly prize the Son of God or see himself to be utterly undone till with the Rich Man in the Parable the unquenchable Flames of Hell discover his Misery to him Luke 16.23 From what hath been observed from the Scriptures now referred to plain it is that God in Electing some and Reprobating others of Adam's Posterity cannot without Blasphemy be said to elect or choose any Man to a state of Life and Glory for any thing of good which he foresaw would be in the Sinner fallen into a state of Sin and Misery And therefore if there was nothing of foreseen Good in the Creature elected for which God had respect to him more than to another it must unavoidably follow that in God electing not in the Sinner elected is the impulsive or moving Cause viz. His own Soveraign good Pleasure God as hath been already observed in Electing and Reprobating Men looks on them as fallen and guilty Creatures who had wrought their own Misery by their voluntary breach of his Royal Law To none of them was the most High any way obliged He might have sent them all to the same Place and Condition of the fallen Angels whose Conduct and Example they followed in rebelling against their Holy Soveraign And which of all the Reprobates now in Hell will it avail to dispose the Point of God's Soveraignty with him or to enquire why or wherefore he hath left them in that sad and deplorable Estate of Sin and Misery Pertinent to the Business in hand is that Query which Augustin puts in his Book of the City of God Quis fecit Reprobum saith he Who made the Reprobate to which he himself replies Quis nisi Deus Who saith he but God Again he Queries Quare Deus fecit Reprobrum Why did God make the Reprobate to which he answers Quia ita voluit Because saith he it was his Will Again he Queries Quare Deus voluit Reprobum facere Why saith he was it God's Will to make the Reprobate a Reprobate He answers the Cavilling Querist or Saucy and Pragmatical Enquirer with that of Paul Rom. 9.20 O Homo tu quis es Qui Respondeas Deo O Man who art thou that Replyest against God If Augustin were now living on Earth and should Read the Reply which Grevincovius that Blaspheming Proud Arminian made to the Query which Paul put to the called Corinthian who excelled in the Gifts of God 1 Cor. 4.7 For who maketh thee to differ and what hast thou that thou hast not received to which Grevincovius most Arrogantly and Blasphemously replies I my self make my self to differ I say if Augustin were to Read this Arminian's Answer to Paul it would not be difficult to guess at what rate Augustin would treat his Insolency If the abused Grace of God changed him not before Death it is most dreadful to think and seriously to consider how little the Freewil and Learning of which he was greatly proud do now avail him at the Barr of the Great Judge no doubt but he finds in woful Experience what an Impar Congressus or unequal Match he is for the great Jehovah to dispute Matters with Oh! that Men of his Spirit and pernicious Principle were Wise to consider things aright before they see and feel their Folly in the unquenchable Flames of God's Wrath in Hell Let it be farther considered how express the Spirit of God is in charging on Adam and all his Off-spring without Exception the breach of his Law and on that very account accounting them all guilty Criminals and unclean Polluted Sinners who by their voluntary Apostacy have forfeited his Favour and lost his Blessed Image wherein the Glory and Happiness of the Rational Creature consisted as the Apostle witnesseth Rom. 3.23 For all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God And in ver 19. Now we know that what things soever the Law saith it saith to them who are under the Law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God The conclusion whereof he sets down in ver 20. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight for by the law is the knowledge of sin With Paul concurrs all the Prophets and the other Pen-men of Holy Scriptures setting forth the wretched Condition of all Mankind by the Apostacy of Adam the natural and faederal Head of his Children The Condition then of all Adam's Posterity being such as renders every Sinner Culpable before God and not only so but utterly uncapable of willing or acting the least part of that Duty which God's Law requires to a helping or recovering himself out
on directing and sending the poor sin-sick wounded Sinner to the Son of God with his Wounds and Plague-sores to be healed pressing him to believe in the Son of God out of whom no Salvation is to be found Hereto I add the peremptory Command of God himself that the poor despairing Soul believe on the Son of God 1 Jo. 2.23 Mark 16.16 By these Methods and Ways of God's own appointment God is pleased to work saving Conversion and effectual Faith in the Souls of elect Sinners To what hath been offered out of God's own Word to prove the Doctrine of Particular Election before time I here set down the Judgment of the most Orthodox Protestant Churches concerning the same Not that I think the Word of God stands in any need of Humane Testimony to help it out but rather to shew forth the sweet Harmony which is between the Holy Scriptures and the Saints of God in their Holy and Orthodox Confessions of their Faith concerning the present so much controverted and impugned Doctrine of Election and Reprobation before time As also to shame those nominal Protestants both Non. and Conformists who have so apparently turn'd the back upon their own Articles of Faith whereby both the one and the other Party hath not a little strengthened the Foundation of the Jesuits hope of bringing England's Neck once more under the Papal Yoke From which I heartily wish and sincerely pray that God will ever keep us I begin with the Church of England Predestination to Life is the everlasting Purpose of God whereby before the Foundations of the World were laid he hath constantly decreed by his Counsel secret to us to deliver from Curse and Damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of Mankind and to bring them by Christ to everlasting Salvation as Vessels made to Honour Wherefore they which be endued with so excellent a Benefit of God be called according to God's Purpose by his Spirit working in due season They through Grace obey the Calling they be justified freely they be made Sons of God by Adoption they be made like the Image of his only begotten Son Jesus Christ they walk religiously in good Works and at length by God's Mercy they attain to everlasting Felicity See 39 Articles of the Church of England Article 17th of Predestination and Election Secondly The Confession of Faith agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster By the Decree of God for the Manifestation of his Glory some Men and Angels are predestinated to everlasting Life and others to everlasting Death 1 Tim. 5.21 Mat. 25.41 Rom. 9.22 These Angels and Men thus Predestinated and fore Ordained are particularly and unchangeably design'd and their number is so certain and definite that it cannot be either encreased or diminshed Those of Mankind that are Predestinated unto Life God before the Foundation of the World was laid according to his eternal and immutable Purpose and the secret Counsel and good Pleasure of his Will hath chosen in Christ unto everlasting Glory out of his meer free Grace and Love without any foresight of Faith or good Works or Perseverance in either of them or any other thing in the Creature as Conditions or Causes moving him thereunto and all to the praise of the Glory of his Grace As God hath appointed the Elect unto Glory so hath he by the eternal and most free Purpose of his Will fore-ordain'd all the means thereunto 1 Pet. 1.2 Ephes 1.4 5. Ephes 2.10 2 Thes 2.13 Wherefore they who are Elected being fallen in Adam are Redeemed by Christ are effectually called unto Faith in Christ by his Spirit working in due Season are Justified Adopted Sanctified and kept by his Power through Faith unto Salvation 1 Thes 5.9 10. Tit. 2.14 Rom. 8.10 Ephes 1.5 1 Pet. 1.5 Neither are any other Redeemed by Christ effectually Called Justified Adopted Sanctified and Saved but the Elect only Jo. 17.9 Rom. 8.28 Jo. 10.26 The rest of Mankind God was pleased according to the unsearchable Counsel of his own Will whereby he extendeth or withholdeth Mercy as he pleaseth for the Glory of his Soveraign Power over his Creatures to pass by and to ordain them to Dishonour and Wrath for their Sin to the praise of his glorious Justice Mat. 11.25 26. Rom. 2.12 2 Tim. 2.19 1 Pet. 2.8 See The Assemblys Confession of Faith Chap. 3. of the eternal Decree of God To this the Church of Scotland hath fully agreed With this also agrees the Articles of Faith of the Church of Ireland in Bishop Vsher's time See those Articles And Vsher's Body of Divinity Quest What are the parts of Predestination Answ Election and Reprobation 1 Thes 5.9 Rom. 9.13 22 23. Quest What is Election Answ It is the everlasting Predestination or Fore-appointing of certain Angels and Men unto everlasting Life and Blessedness for the praise of his Grace and Goodness 1 Tim. 5.21 Jo. 15.16 Rom. 9.22 23. Ephes 1.4 5 6 9. Quest What is Reprobation Answ It is the eternal Predestination or Fore-appointment of certain Angels and Men unto everlasting Dishonour and Destruction God of his own freewill determining to pass them by refuse or cast them off and for Sin to Condemn and Punish them with eternal Death Prov. 16.4 Exod. 9.16 Rom. 9.17 22. 2 Tim. 2.20 Mat. 25.41 See Vsher's Body of Divinity pag. 91 92. The Church of France in the 12th Article of the Confession of her Faith hath these words viz. We believe that God out of that Corruption and general Curse into which all Men were plung'd doth free those whom in his eternal and immutable Counsel he elected of his meer Goodness and Mercy in our Lord Jesus Christ without the Consideration of Works leaving the rest in the same Corruption and Damnation to shew forth in these his Justice and in them the Riches of his Mercy for none of them are better than others because God hath separated them c. The Synod of Dort in the 7th Canon doth lay down this plain and clear Definition of Election thus viz. Election is the unchangeable Purpose of God by which before the Foundation of the World according to the free good pleasure of his Will of his meer Grace he hath chosen out of all Mankind to Salvation in Christ a certain and set number of Men neither better nor more worthy than others but lying in the common Misery with others and fallen from original Righteousness into Sin and Destruction by their own fault c. And in the 15th Canon of Reprobation they say thus viz. The Holy Scripture doth manifest and commend unto us this eternal and free Grace especially when it doth farther witness That not all Men are elected but that some are not elected or are passed by in the eternal Election of God viz. Those whom God according to his free just unreproveable and immutable good Pleasure decreed to leave in the common Misery into which they had cast themselves by their own fault and not to
for there is no Argument which more stongly proves a Man or Woman to be of the number of Reprobates than to expect or hope to go to Heaven in the continued and approved Neglect of Believing in the Son of God Repenting of Sin living a Holy Life and Persevering in the same to the end of Life Object 4. The Doctrine of Election before time doth not only encourage to Sin but it leads People to final Desparation for preventing of which all imaginable care ought to be taken to suppress and decry it Answ To this Horrid and Blasphemous Objection I shall in Christs strength Answer in four Particulars And First I do boldly affirm in the Name of the ever Blessed Trinity That this Blasphemous Objection did originally spring from that Spirit which charged the Son of God with casting out Devils by Beelzebub which if I mistake not is the unpardonable Sin against the Holy Ghost and such as peremptorily with allowance and approbation persist in making and liking the same against the Doctrine of Election so plainly revealed and so positively asserted by the Holy Ghost I am not afraid to declare and pronounce them the Children and Successors of those Pharisees now in Hell who vented that unpardonable Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost Mat. 12 24.32 Let all Cavilling Adversaries who bring this Objection against the Doctrine of Gods absolute and free Election before time have a care they be not found Ranked among those mighty Sinners who in the height of their Wickedness run themselves most desperately upon the thick Bosses of the Almighties Buckler Job 15.26 Secondly If the Doctrine of Election be such a dangerous Doctrine as leads to Licentiousness and which in the end brings Men to Desparation I would fain know how it comes to pass that the Enemies of this Doctrine are such Slaves to their Brutish Lusts and why so many of them Die in Despair when under powerful Awakenings and common Convictions in their guilty Consciences Thirdly I do with greatest confidence and certain assurance grounded on the Word of God and backt with my own Personal experience affirm That as the right Knowledge and Believing of the Doctrine of Election before time with a particular application thereof to ones self is the only Doctrine that sets the Heart of a true Believer against all Sin and which secures and keeps the Believer from Desparation in the time of the deepest Desertion and most violent Temptation so the Doctrine of Free Will and general Redemption is a Doctrine which encourageth to Sin and which necessarily leads to Desparation Here two things are to be demonstrated First That the Doctrine of Election before time rightly understood and particularly applied by Faith is the only Doctrine which engages the Heart of a sound Believer against all known Sin and which fortifys and secures the Believer against Desparation in the time of the deepest Desertion and the most violent Temptation Secondly That the Doctrine of Free Will and general Redemption is a Doctrine which encourageth to Sin and which necessarily leads to Desparation The first of these will evidently appear to him that rightly considers and believes the Particulars following First the Purpose and Design of God the Father in Electing which was That his Elect and Chosen who were fallen into Sin and Misery in Adam their Natural and Faederal Head might be delivered and by strong hand rescued out of that state of Sin and Misery and made effectual Partakers of that Liberty and Redemption purchased by Christ his Son the Sponsor and Surety of his Elect. Secondly the design of Christ the Surety and Sponsor of the Elect in the whole Work of Mediation which he undertook to go through for the Elect which his Father had chosen in him which was to purchase for and in time to apply actually to the Elect the saving Benefit of that Freedom and Redemption purchased by himself Thirdly The design and office of the Holy Ghost which is to sanctify and renew the Souls of the Elect in effectual Calling and to carry on and maintain the Work of Grace begun in the Believer to the end Fourthly The design of the Gospel in revealing and discovering the Mistery of Gods Love and Grace to his Elect and Chosen which is that Believers might by virtue of Christs Death savingly applyed Dye unto all Sin and that they might by virtue of Christs Resurrection walk in newness of Life before God Fifthly The design of Divine Providence towards true Believers which is to purge them from the remains of indwelling Sin more and more and to make them more and more to abound in Holy Conformity to Christ their Mystical Head All these as so many Lines in a Center do meet in the Doctrine of particular Election the which when the Believer seriously considers and by Faith applys to himself he is so far from being drawn either to Sin or Desparation thereby as that he finds the quite contrary in himself viz. an admirable Aversion and Repugnancy to yield consent to the flattering Sollicitations of Sin and an Anchor hold which powerfully keeps him from descending into the Darksom Valley of Desparation which is as I may say the very entrance into Hell it self When the Believer is at any time attacked by Satan his enticing Instruments or by indwelling Corruption to yield to the motions of Sin he fetcheth Arguments against Sin from the Doctrine of Gods Election thus Hath God from all Eternity fixt his gracious purpose of Delivering and Rescuing me out of that state of Sin and Misery into which the Apostacy of Adam my Natural and Faederal Head plunged me and that by choosing out and fixing on his own Son to be a Surety and Saviour to purchase a liberty and to work out a perfect and compleat Redemption for me and shall I can I with approbation yield my full consent to grieve and offend this freely and this dearly Loving God I cannot do it neither can all the Craft and Pollicy of my Spiritual Enemies ever work me to a willingness to go back into that state of Spiritual Captivity under Sin and Satan from which the Grace of God in Election and effectual Calling hath set me free Secondly Hath Christ the Son of God pursuant to his Fathers Holy Decree and Gracious Purpose and in compliance with so noble and glorious a Design as Redeeming Captive Sinners and reconciling them to his Father consented to become a Mediator for me to work ou a work of perfect Redemption for me that I might be set at liberty from the Laws Curse from the dominion of Sin and the Usurpation and Tyranny of the Devil and shall I consent to commit Sin against such Bowels of Mercy and Love I cannot do it Thirdly Hath the Holy Ghost who in conjunction with the Father and the Son had a Hand in my Election to Eternal Life vouchsafed to take on him the Office of a Sanctifier to Sanctifie and Renew the Elect in effectual Calling