of Mind in the Author accompanied with a Serious Admiration and Affection towards the Divine Majesty And when I came to understand who it was and what his Circumstances were I had great reasons to believe that the earnest request to me proceeded from no other principle but a Religious and well governed Zeal for God's Glory I could not but be exceeding glad to find one of his Age and Condition to entertain such worthy Notions of his Creator and to be so concern'd for his Honour because the like Instances are not common especially in some Places and after all this to have slighted a request which I believed could come from nothing but a Thoughtful Mind and a True Principle of Piety would have been an Omission Inexcusable Upon these Motives I resolved to Compose a little Discourse concerning this Matter though one of another Nature was just then under my Hand and for my Subject I pitch'd upon those Words in St. Joh. 3. 16. a place of Scripture which I thought was the more proper to be considered because the pressing of that single Text and the Reasoning out of it at the Famous Synod of Dort had such a wonderful Effect upon our Learned Mr. Hales that it quite changed his Judgment as to some Opinions which he carried with him when he went thither as that Excellent Person Mr. Farindon assures us in his Letter prefix'd to Mr. Hales his Golden Remains One of my mean Abilities and ordinary Station cannot hope to make such Happy and Useful Impressions as were so Providentially made upon the Mind of that great Man My business lieth in a Country Parish where Nice and Scholastical disputations would be lost even among those who are more Intelligent and more Inquisitive into matters of Speculation than others have Time to be And therefore my purpose was to digest what I had to say into such a plain Method and Form as I conceived might be most for the Edification of People whose Education cannot furnish them with Extraordinary and Eminent capacities especially as to this sort of Knowledge In order to it I thought it best to omit a great many things which are Collaterally incident to this Copious Subject and of an Abstruse Nature and to say no more than what was just Necessary that I might contract all within as Narrow a Compass as 't was possible for me And that People might not run away with Notions only as many are very apt to do quite Forgetting or over-looking the Principal business I endeavoured to render the whole Discourse the more Useful by making it as Practical as the subject Matter would allow And first I did not intend this thing should have gone any further than my own Pulpit where I was desired to Satisfie some Scrupulous Persons and that being done I was Satisfied my Self in having answered my Duty But divers of my Parishioners having requested that the Discourse might be made Publick in hopes that it may have the same good Effect upon others which They say it had on Them I am the more willing to comply because some Heady People in these Parts who are very fond of Rigid Principles and seem to value themselves upon them have as I am credibly told scattered abroad many false Representations of the whole thing In short if what is here done may be of good Use to any one Person in the World I shall count my Labour very well bestowed Edw. Pelling Petworth Feb. the 1st 1693 4. John III. 16. For God so Loved the World that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life CHAP. I. The Interpretation of our Saviour's words John 3. 16. What is meant by the World and what by God's Love to the World THESE are our Blessed Saviour's own words delivered in as Express and Positive a manner as is possible for any Tongue to speak and therefore Men should take all imaginable care that they do not either Wrest or Mistake the true sence of them THEY contain Two things which are most observable in them 1. The great Principle or Inward Cause that moved God to send his Son in the Flesh it was out of pure Love to the World 2. The great End which he proposed and designed thereby it was That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life FOR our more profitable Instruction out of this portion of Scripture Three things are necessary to be consider'd in their order First What is the true meaning of our Saviour's words in this place Secondly The Article which they yield us Thirdly And Lastly What Practical Inferences may be gather'd from the whole 1. FIRST That we may rightly understand our Saviour's meaning these two things are to be explained 1. FIRST Who are here meant by the World 2. SECONDLY In what sence God is said to have loved the World antecedently to the coming of Christ and while the World yet lay in a state of sin and wickedness 1. SOME understand by the World onely a small part of the World a few People whom they suppose to have been ordained to Salvation by God's absolute will and peremptory pleasure without any consideration had of their Faith and Repentance the little World of the Elect as those Men are wont to express it But this is a very False and Groundless notion for the word is no where used in this sence in all the New Testament It never signifies the Vessels of Election onely but is always taken in a Bad sence for the Children of wrath for the Evil World as the expression is Gal. 1. 4. for the World of the ungodly as it is 1 Pet. 2. 5. Usually the word denotes all sinful Men together in a Lump and sometimes it means the very worst part of them So said Christ to his Disciples John 15. 18. If the World hate you ye know that it hated me before it hated you there it signifies the malicious Adversaries of the Lord Jesus and his Religion And so John 17. 9. I pray not for the World there it signifies Impenitent and Obstinate Infidels So 1 Coâ— 2. 12. We have received not the Spirit of the World but the Spirit which is of God there it signifies Men of a wicked and Ungodly Temper Again 2 Cor. 5. 19. God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself there it signifies the Enemies of the ever blessed Being Again 1 John 5. 19. The whole World lieth in wickedness there it signifies abominable People whose minds are set upon that which is evil and that continually Again John 14. 17. Christ saith The World cannot receive the Spirit of Truth there it signifies the Oppugners of Christianity And again St. Paul saith 1 Cor. 11. 32. When we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the World there it signifies the Sons of Perdition This fearful account cannot possibly be given of God's Elect it is utterly inconsistent
sendeth out his good Word into the whole World and his Good Spirit along with it that all the Earth may be full of Good People and of his Glory That they may be prepared and fitted to Participate of his Infinite Goodness and Glory in another Life And if after all this any come short of that Glory of God and of their own Happyness that they may have no reason to accuse any but their own Perverse and Wicked Selves This is the real way of leaving all Men without Excuse They are not Inexcusable for not doing things which are out of their Power or for being Miserable when they cannot avoid it for Impossibilities would excuse all Mankind But this renders Wicked People Inexcusable that Salvation is Tender'd them and means given them of attaining to it and they willfully neglect the things which belong unto their Peace This is the Condemnation That Light is come into the World and Men love Darkness rather because their Deeds are Evil Joh. 3. 19. AGAINST all this which hath been said to prove the Universality of God's Love to Mankind from the Universality of that Grace which hath been exhibited to the World by the Preaching of the Gospel every where I foresee it may be Objected THAT the Gospel is not yet Publish'd to the whole World ARE there not divers parts of the Earth that are yet Undiscover'd And in those we know or have heard of are there not multitudes of Blind and Idolatrous poor Wretches without any Footsteps of Christianity among them And if so how then was the coming of Christ an Argument and Expression of God's Unfeigned Love to them and especially to those their Ancestors who since Christ's time have Dyed in a State of invincible Infidelity TO this I presume to say these four things 1. FIRST That it is impossible for Us now to tell where the Gospel hath not been Preached And consequently it is not a certain Principle that neither any of the Apostles nor yet any of their Successors Publish'd it in those Countries which are unknown to us at this distance or in others which are known to be addicted still to Heathenish Idolatries and Superstition How probable soever Mens Conjectures may be 't is impossible for them in this as in other Cases to prove a Negative 2. SECONDLY Nor can we tell but that in those Regions of the World which are now Infidels the Christian Faith hath been formerly rejected upon the Preaching of it Nothing is so contrary to the Perswasions Customs and Vices of Heathens as the Christian Religion and therefore it is no Wonder if it hath not been Received by People every where The Gergesens desired Christ himself to depart out of their Coasts He came unto his Own and his Own Received him not and so it is no Wonder if his Disciples found ill Usage at the Hands of Strangers When he sent them out he foresaw that they would not find the Sons of Peace every where and therefore he Commanded them to leave Obstinate People and to shake off the Dust of their Feet as a Testimony against them St. Paul told some of the Jews that they put the Word of God from them and Judged themselves unworthy of Eternal Life And for that Reason that he would turn to the Gentiles Acts 13. 46. Nor were all among the Gentiles disposed to Believe Though the Apostles had generally better success among them than among the Jews yet among some of those too they met with unconquerable Opposition 3. THIRDLY Suppose some whose Office it was to propagate the Faith were wanting t o some People either through Carelessness or for fear of Death and Persecution This doth not Argue any want of Love in God whose Intentions were that all Men should come to the knowledge of the Truth and whose Commands were that the Gospel should be Preach'd to every Creature CHAP. III. Proved Secondly from the Universality of that Redemption which was Purchased by our Saviour's Death HAVING thus Proved the Universal Love of God towards Mankind from the Amplitude of that Commission which Christ gave his Apostles and their Successors to Publish the Gospel Universally I proceed now to a farther Demonstration of it from the Consideration of the Extensive Merit of our Blessed Saviour's Death AS to this Matter I think fit to premise these two preliminary Observations 1. FIRST That the Doctrine of our Universal Redemption by the Blood of Christ is Deliver'd in the Holy Scripture in as plain and as clear Terms as could possibly have been used Supposing the Doctrine were Unquestionably True nay as fully in as few Words as could have been Wish'd had Mankind been Empowr'd to have Penn'd the Doctrine themselves for their own Satisfaction HERE the Lord Jesus himself saith God so Loved the World that he gave His only Begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life Joh. 3. 16. And elsewhere it is said That God will have all Men to be Saved 1 Tim. 2. 4. That Christ gave himself a Ransom for all v. 6. That He is the Saviour of all Men especially of those that Believe 1 Tim. 4. 10. That he Tasted Death for every Man Heb. 2. 9. That he was Deliver'd up for us All Rom. 8. 32. And that he is the Propitiation for our Sins and not for our Sins only but also for the Sins of the whole World 1 Joh. 2. 2. These Expressions are Clear and Open to the Sence of every one in the World nor is any Article of our Faith Deliver'd in Terms that are freer from Ambiguity or less liable to doubtful meanings than these are The very Being of God though the Belief of it be the Foundation of all Religion yet it is no where more clearly Taught nor I think of sett Purpose so often and so Expresly Inculcated as this Principle is For the Holy Scriptures suppose God's Being and tho' they be full of Declarations and Proofs of God's Attributes his Singularity Omniscience Immutability Mercy Justice and the like Divine Perfections yet his Existence and Being Consider'd Abstractedly from his other Infinite Glories is no where to my Remembrance so Expresly Openly Directly and Frequently Proposed to our Belief as this Truth is That he gave his Son to die for all Men. 2. SECONDLY It is Observable That in those Places of Scripture I have now Cited this Principle is laid down as the Ground-work Motive and Reason of some Important Duty wherein all Mankind are concerned Our Saviour's Words about God's Love to the World were intended to Invite and Incourage all People to come unto Him and to Believe on Him In the next place it is used as a strong Argument for Supplications Prayers Intercessions and giving of Thanks to be made for all Men. Then it is laid down as a sure Ground for our Trusting in the Living God notwithstanding all Labouring and suffering Reproach Next it is mentioned as the great Reason of our Universal Obedience
with the notion and state of all such because the Chosen ones of God are those and onely those who shew the truth and vigour of their Faith by all holy conversation and godliness Though they are in the World yet in the Scripture-sence they are not of the World but chosen out of the World as our Saviour said of his first Disciples John 15. 19. And for this reason the World hateth them because they are not of the World even as Christ himself was not of the World John 17. 14. Therefore the World knoweth them not because it knoweth not God whose Sons they are 1 John 3. 1. WHEN Men meddle with points of Divinity and especially with such a Tender and Weighty Point as this is touching God's Love to Mankind they should very carefully observe what words really mean in the Scripture style and should form their Notions of things accordingly not daring to fix upon the great Rule of our Faith a construction of their own and that too quite contrary to the Sence of the Holy Spirit as some have taken the Confidence to doe whether out of Ignorance or out of Design or out of Both God knoweth Now not to urge any more places of Scripture to this purpose those already cited are enough to shew that in the Sacred Dialect the World is taken commonly in the softer sence for Mankind in general and many times in a severe construction for those of them who are in the most desperate condition the more wretched sinful and provoking part of mankind but we never find it used to signifie a Peculiar People Approved of God Acceptable to him or so in Favour with him as to be elected by him unto Everlasting Glory And should these places of Scripture be applyed to those who are supposed to be so elected such consequences would necessarily follow as to all Rational and Sober men would appear not onely very Absurd but very Impious and Horrible also To come close then to the matter in hand When our Saviour said God so loved the World c. his plain meaning was that God's sending his onely begotten Son into the World was an Act of his Love to the whole Race of Adam to all men without any exception not onely to the Jews but to the sinful Gentiles also to all and singular that did or should live upon the face of the whole Earth nay an act of Love even to those who are the Ungodliest of the World the most Corrupt People the Greatest Sinners that are most of all under God's Wrath and Displeasure 2. SOME may be ready to enquire here How the God of Purity can be said to Love People that are in such a sad and wretched state why this is the Second thing I am to consider and before I proceed to the Explication thereof I must intreat you to observe that Love and Anger are not at all Inconsistent Love and Hatred indeed are opposite affections but Love and Displeasure may go together and very often there is Kindness even where there is Indignation As frail and infirm Beings as we our selves are we find in our own Nature a mixture of these Dispositions Thus a Magistrate is angry with a Malefactor though at the same time he Pitieth him A Father is Incensed against an Undutiful Child though at the same time he Loves him and for that reason Correcteth because he bears a Tender and Entire Affection towards him One Man is highly Displeased with another and reckons him an Enemy though at the same time he is Benevolently affected to him as a Neighbour and a Christian and is ready to do him any Charitable Offices as one for whom the Lord Jesus was pleased to Die And if these several Affections thus meet in us though our Natures are Vitiated and Corrupt How can it seem incredible that at the same time Displeasure and Love should come from that Divine Being who is absolutely Perfect transcendently Righteous Infinitely Necessarily and Inexhaustibly Good and Merciful This being premised that I may now proceed Distinctly and Clearly upon this Subject I must desire you again to observe that there is a Twofold Love to be consider'd here or rather a Two-fold Degree of Love and of each of these we find in our selves a daily Sense and Experiment 1. First There is in our Nature especially when it is smooth'd and softned by Religion an inclination to do a Man good consider'd under the notion of a Man though his actions towards us be such that he deserves not thereby any kindness at our hands but rather the contrary This Divines are wont to call The Love of Benevolence a Love that we bear towards all Mankind for common Humanity sake and an affection which the Laws of Christ require us to have even for our bitterest and most implacable Enemies How provoking soever their Practices be Works of Mercy and Charity are due to their Nature and Persons so that we must bless them that curse us do good to them that hate us and pray for them that despitefully use us and persecute us Matth. 5. 44. 2. Secondly We feel in our Souls an earnest and vehement desire of doing all the Kindest Offices we can possibly to those that Love us again and that endeavour to oblige gratifie and serve us a very Great and Tender affection grounded on their Personal Qualities and Merits over and above that which they call for on the account of Common Nature and this is usually stiled A Love of Friendship or Complacency Now these Two Sorts or Degrees of Affection are ascribed unto God I mean abstracting those Passions and Perturbations of Mind which are ever incident to us by reason of the frailty and weakness of our Constitution That Particular and most Intense Love whereof there is some Analogy and Resemblance in the Divine Being he expresseth onely to those that are very Dear to him those that Love him that Serve him with all their Soul that Keep his Commandments and that acquire that Noble Character of being his Friends as Abraham was called the Friend of God James 2. 23. And the Blessed Jesus said to his Disciples Ye are my Friends if ye do whatsoever I command you John 15. 14. Hence it was that he told them That he Loved them and that the Father himself Loved them meaning with a more Peculiar and Ardent Assection and he told them this Reason for it too because they Loved him and Believed that he came out from God John 16. 27. For the same reason St. Paul saith Ephes 5. 25. That Christ Loved the Church that is those whose hearts are purified by Faith and whose consciences are purged from all dead Works to serve the Living God Those Gracious Dispositions and moral Perfections which by the operation of the Holy Spirit are formed in all Honest Humble and Obedient hearts are the onely ground of that Love I now speak of that Great and Abundant Kindness which God extends to such as perfect
he Fed all and Provided for all that were Hungry because he had enough to have done it if he would enough and to spare and yet would not vouchsafe so many Perishing Souls so much as the Crumbs that fell from his Table To instance in these plain Cases is enough to clear the Point under our present Consideration The Scripture tells us positively That Christ Died to give himself a Ransome for all and that he bought even those that deny him and bring upon themselves swift Destruction Therefore he intended on his part that all the very worst of Men should be put into a Capacity of receiving Benefit by his Blood If this was not his design nor his Bloodshed to that purpose he cannot with Truth be said to have Bought and Died for them which yet the Scripture expresly affirmeth A Sufficiency of Merits is not enough to denominate him every Man's Redeemer That Sufficiency must have been given on his part and that too with an intent That it should be a Ransom for every Man otherwise we may say by parity of Reason that he was the Redeemer also of the Devils themselves because there was a Sufficiency as to that too His Merits were so Infinite by reason of the Infinite Dignity of his Person that they would have served them too had God been pleased to accept of the Ransom and had Christ intended to lay it down for them In short unless we will shake the very Principles of Piety and offer direct Violence to Truth and common Reason we cannot deny any People room in our Saviour's Heart or shut them out of his kind purposes and wishes or think them deprived by a fatal antecedent Decree of the means and hope of Peace The Opinion is so repugnant to the Notion of the Divine Goodness and Clemency and so contrary to the Express Word of God and so inconsistent with that great Love of Christ that abundance of Grace that Tenderness of Mercy those Riches of Goodness and Bowels of Compassion which appeared so gloriously throughout the Work of our Redemption 4. FOURTHLY But there is one Text of Scripture more which I have reserved for my last Argument because it carryeth such a clear light with it as is enough to strike any Eyes that are but open to receive it It is the Principle supposed by St. Paul as a Truth acknowledg'd and taken for granted by all Faithful Christians then 2 Cor. 5 4. we thus judge That if one died for all then were all dead Where the Apostle's purpose is to shew the whole World how strictly they were concern'd to make the Lord Jesus a return of the most Ardent and Operative Affections from the consideration of that miserable and lost Condition whereinto the whole World without exception had fallen and wherein the whole World must have continued had not Christ come to offer up his Soul for them All were Dead that is in a deadly forlorn and undone Condition all were concluded under Sin The Medium to prove this Universal Ruine is taken from the Universality of the Redemption of the World All were Dead because One Died for All which shews that Christ Tasted Death for as many as were lost for as many as needed a propitiation to restore them to Life and Happyness otherwise the Argument would have been altogether short and inconclusive if Christ had made an Atonement for God's Elect only If one Died for a few this indeed would have proved that those few were in a lost Condition but how would it have follow'd hence that therefore all were Dead Rather it would have follow'd that all were not Dead nor stood in need of a Redeemer if one had not Died for the Redemption of all Mankind FROM all these premises the Truth of the point I proposed to consider will I hope evidently appear to those whose Minds are not quite Captivated to an Opinion that the coming of the Son of God into the World was a strong Argument and a plain Expression of God's Sincere and boundless Affection to the Children of Men. Those means which are necessary for Reasonable and Voluntary Creatures in order to their Happiness the Father of Lights hath of his own good Pleasure and Grace afforded Mankind in such abundant measure that if any People Perish the fault must be in themselves Christ's descending from Heaven was to declare those Truths which could not be discover'd or made known without Divine Revelation His Cloathing himself with Humane Flesh was that he might the better Converse with us and Transact the Office of a Mediator and be in a suitable Condition to Die at last for us His Holy Life and Heavenly Doctrines were to direct our Feet into the Ways of Peace that he might be not onely the Glory of his People Israel but a Light to Lighten the whole Gentile World His Miracles were to shew the greatness of his Person and his Divine Authority that he might be relyed on as the sure Hope of all the ends of the Earth His Blood that was shed by his most bitter and dolorous Passion was to speak far better things than the Blood of Abel or of all Abel's Sacrifices It was the Blood of Atonement to make Peace between an offended God and a wicked World to procure Remission of all Sins that were past to deliver Mankind from a necessity of Perishing and to open the ways of Mercy to all that would desire to enter into the Kingdom of God It was the Blood of the New Covenant that was confirmed upon the Cross to ascertain People of all God's Promises in it on condition of Faith on their Part and of Obedience to God's Laws for the future It was the Blood of Sprinkling to cleanse us from all Filthiness of Flesh and Spirit to Purifie unto Christ a peculiar People Zealous of good Works Besides these means of Grace and Salvation now mention'd God was pleas'd of his abundant Mercy to add divers more after our Lord's Ascension for the particular Application of his Son's Merits to the Soul of every Believer that the Blood of Christ might not be shed in vain like water spilt upon the Ground Great was the Company of Preachers whose business was to Publish the Gospel to every Creature to proclaim the Terms of the New-covenant to shew the necessity of repentance for the compleat and actual remission of sins and to invite all Nations to turn unto the Lord to perswade them to seek and flie unto him and to gather up those Mercies which he had purchas'd for all And so the descent of the Holy Ghost was not only to strengthen the Apostles and their Fellow-labourers for the Discharge of their great and most Charitable Office but to enable all those to whom they should Preach to receive with meekness the engrafted Word which is able to save their Souls His Gracious and Kindly Operations are to enlighten our understandings to help our Infirmities to subdue our wild and unruly Affections to
deserve a Reward when they move as they are stirred without any inward Principle of their own God sets before us Life and Death Blessing and Cursing and bids us choose Life Deut. 30. 19. He calls upon us by his Ministers Word and Spirit to conform to his Laws he affords us all the necessary means of Happiness he gives us a new Principle and a Sufficiency of Spiritual Strength to help our Natural Weaknesses and to enable us to become New Creatures and having shed abroad such abundance of his Love he leaves us in our own Power to Employ it Because we are Rational and Voluntary Agents it is fit we should be dealt with in a Moral way by Instruction Arguments Perswasion and such other Motives as are consistent with our Natures and suitable to Beings which know the differences between Good and Evil and have not onely a Power of choosing and refusing but are moreover deeply concern'd in Point of Duty and Eternal Interest to chuse the Good and to refuse the Evil. The Divine Grace serves to Help and Rectifie our Nature but not to take away our Powers and Faculties of Acting nor do we cease to be Men when we are called to be Christians Still we are in our own Hands in a great measure and still the Proposals are like those formerly made to Cain If thou dost well shalt thou not be accepted And if thou dost not well Sin lieth at the Door Gen. 4. 7. If any of us fall under a Curse after all as Cain did or be Banisht from God's Presence as Cain was it is because our Hearts are Evil like his and because we throw off as he did the Love of God and of our Brother If Men become Reprobates it is because they will be of Reprobate Minds for God doth not deliver them up to a State of Reprobation or to strong Delusions So that in the end they are Damned till they refuse to receive the Love of the Truth that they might be Saved 2 Thes 2. 10. Such Miscarriages ought not to be imputed to the God of Truth Purity Mercy and Compassion or to him that loved us and gave himself for us God forbid He intended to Save all to the uttermost that would come unto God by him and he did all that lay on his part to draw all to him therefore he is the Saviour of all though all are not actually saved That they were to blame themselves for and none else but themselves because nothing was wanting in their Redeemer He had been the Saviour of the whole World though none had believed on him but his Blessed Mother because it would have been their own Crime if others had not believed on him as well as she because they would not have been gathered unto him as he himself said of Jerusalem and her Children when he would have gather'd them as an Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings The Sun is truly said to Enlighten the World should all Mankind shut their Eyes and refuse to behold its Rays or hide themselves in Holes and Caverns from the Heat of them So did the Son of Righteousness rise upon all upon the Evil and upon the Good upon the Just and upon the Unjust He was Good to all Mankind though some hate the Light and will not come unto the Light but love Darkness rather because their Deeds are Evil Job 3. 19. Now this is purely Accidental in respect of God's Intentions and Desires and therefore we may not judge of God's Love by such Accidents no more than we allow our selves to judge of one anothers Purposes and Wishes by Events that are quite beside them nay contrary unto them An upright Law-giver consults the Good of the whole Commonwealth gives them Rules to be the Measures of their Actions and encourages them all with Promises of Rewards upon their Obedience and if notwithstanding all this some will be so Perverse and Headstrong as not to be Govern'd but will follow still such irregular Courses as will bring some to the Gibbet and others to the Flames The Condemnation of such People is very Just because it is from themselves A tender Physician consults the good of all his Patients provides Remedies for them adviseth them to make a due Use of them and tells them the danger that will attend their wilful neglect especially if the Disease be in its nature Mortal and if notwithstanding all this a sick Man will fly in the Physicians Face and throw away that which he should Receive his Death is Accidental and ought not to be charged to his account who would have saved him from it A Conscientious Divine I am sure consults the Eternal good of all that are committed to his Charge prayeth for them directs them according to the best of his Skill and Power calls upon them to be merciful to their own Souls admonishes and intreats them thinks no Service too much for them seeks to do them good sincerely wisheth their good and if notwithstanding this they will not hearken nor mind but Destroy themselves after all by the violence of their wicked Passions or by their willful Stupidity this doth not argue any want of affection in Him it is besides what the good Man Intends or Desires that which he is Grieved and Afflicted at the very apprehensions of the Event is sad and accidental but He himself is clear from the Blood of all No Man questions the Affections of a Father to the Children of his Bowels and yet it is common for Children by their own Folly and Obstinate temper to Ruin all their Fortunes notwithstanding the Cares Counsels and Endeavours of their Parent and thereby bring down his Gray Hairs with Sorrow to the Grave Now if in these Cases Intentions ought not to be Measured by Accidents much less are we to judge of God's Decrees and Purposes by any Man's Ruin because God of his Goodness doth much more for us all than what we poor Creatures are able to do for one another how great soever our mutual Zeal and Affections may be He giveth Grace which none of us can give He bestoweth his Holy Spirit which is not in our power He strengthens us with Mâ—ght in the Inner-Man which is out of the reach of our Hand He Prevents Follows and Furthers Men with secret Operations which are beyond and above our capacities to do and if notwithstanding all outward and inward means of Salvation and notwithstanding God's wishes to the contrary some for whom Christ Died will go on still in Error and Sin till they Destroy themselves finally this doth not argue any want of Love or gracious Intentions in God but is a sad argument that some might have been Healed and would not an act of Perverseness and Intractability which in God's day will turn to their greater condemnation CHAP. VI. That we must not measure God's Purposes as to things Eternal by his present Acts of Providence in dispensing some special outward Favours in this
do now Faithfully serve him of this purpose of God there is no manner of Question and therefore if Men conceive that we dispute against any such Decree they do but beat the Air and Talk of Matters which they do not understand The thing insisted on is this that none are chosen to Eternal Happiness without any consideration of their Faith and Works and perseverance to the end in well doing And as touching a Man's particular Election unto Glory or the Gracious purpose of God towards this or that Person in particular this we say is a Secret a Decree not to be known till the Book of Life comes to be opened that is till the Day of Doom cometh Therefore every one of us must stay our time nor must any dare to go now upon fond presumptions of their own especially so as to condemn or think hardly of others I call such partial Conceits fond Presumptions of Men's own because though many People be strongly perswaded that they are absolutely and particularly Ordained unto Life and cannot miscarry yet as to this they believe without Book and without sufficient Grounds because they want the Authority of Divine Revelation which is the only sure Ground-work of a right Faith 'T is Imagination only and Opinion how strong and violent soever it may be and instead of being bottom'd upon the Word of God it may proceed from two very evil Causes 1. FIRST From a Spirit of Pride which Tempteth some to think their Names ought to be Written in Heaven and therefore are soon perswaded to believe that they really are so though for this they take either their own Word or the Opinion of others whose Persons they have in equal admiration I heartily wish that all such as go upon this imagination would seriously consider whether this be not one prime reason of it because it is a Notion so very pleasing and suitable to their own Hearts 2. SECONDLY It may proceed too from a Principle of Carnality for it is an imagination that is Friendly and Kind to Flesh and Blood Where-ever it prevails such as are possest withit find no necessity for them to mortifie their Lusts and to be careful of Living Godly Righteouss and Sober Lives This they call good Morality but cannot think it of any use to them because they suppose themselves sure of their Salvation by God's Absoute Decree upon this Account they and their Vices may dwell very quietly and lovingly together They may be Lew'd Dishonest Unjust Hypocritical Malicious Revengeful False Troublesome Uncharitable Proud and Lovers of the World and yet these Vices are as they think consistent with their State of Grace because they are perswaded that stands firtm upon the immutable Will of God Considering therefore the Vanity and Origical of such Pharisaical conceits it is very dangerous for People to give any way to them and more dangerous to trust to them after a presumptuous manner and most of all dangerous to value themselves upon them especially so as to Judge uncharitably of others as if they were no better than Reprobates and Cast-aways This is a very ill thing and that which is far from being a Sign of their particular Election rather indeed an Argument of the contrary because all Uncharitableness is a direct Violation of the Law of Christ by which we shall all of us be Judged in the Day of God Since God Loves us all instead of shutting any out of his Kingdom every one should lend his Brother his Hand to help him in 2dly FOR secondly there is as Divines usually speak an Election unto Grace which we have all a Title unto Election unto Grace is when People have this great Blessing and Privilege given them to Live under the means of Grace when they have the Gospel Mysteries Publish'd and Revealed to them and when they have the Assistance of the Holy Spirit offer'd and afforded them so that they Receive the Truth as it is in Jesus Whatever Fancies some are apt to entertain concerning this matter this is the true Scripture Notion of Election Accordingly the Scripture means by the Elect of God not such as are supposed to have been from Eternity particularly and by name designed for Glory for I can confidently say it that the Word is not in that Sence any where used in the whole Scripture but generally such as now profess true Faith in Christ and especially such Eminent Persons among them as by their Vertuous and Holy Lives adorn the Doctrine of God their Saviour in all things and resolve firmly and faithfully to Persevere unto the end in so doing The Reason of this honourable Appellation is taken from the different Effect which the Word of God hath upon the Hearts of them that hear it On some it maketh a slight and superficial Impression like the Seed cast on the Way side Others receive it with Joy and Believe for a while but in time of Temptation immediately fall away In others it taketh deeper and better Root but yet in time is choaked with the Cares and Riches and Pleasures of this Life so that it bringeth no Fruit to Perfection But others there are though the fewest in number that lay up the Word in Honest and Good Hearts and that bring forth Fruit plentifully and with perseverance in well-doing to their Lives end Now of all that Profess Christ's Religion those who adhere close to it are the best the most Eminent and Principal ones and therefore the Scripture calleth them after a more peculiar manner The Elect. Many are called to the knowledge of the Truth but few are chosen saith our Saviour or according to the Greek the Elect are few that is the Faithful and Choice Professors of the Truth are few in comparison So Matt. 24. 22. Our Saviour speaking of the great Tribulation that was to come upon Jerusalem said That for the Elects sake those Days should be shorined meaning that out of Respect and Love to the true Believers among the Jews God would shorten the time so that a remnant even of the Unbelieving Jews should escape too though they did not deserve it So again v. 24. Our Lord foretold that False Christs would arise which would if it were possible deceive the very Elect that is the most Sincere Persevering Christians to use the Words of our incomparable Paraphrast Dr. Hammond And so in divers other places where it is said that God will gather together his Elect that he will Avenge his own Elect that none shall lay any thing to the Charge of God's Elect that we must put on as the Elect of God Holy and Beloved Bowels of Mercy and the like the Word signifies those who are now in a Blessed State of Faith and Holiness those who Serve Obey and Love the Lord Jesus in Sincerity Briefly if you search the New Testament throughout you will find this Observation true that generally speaking People are called the Elect of God not in respect of any Antecedent particular Decree