seeks to compass his Design by not onely Permitting but Assisting Men to Transgress his Holy Laws as one that bids them Obey and Swear he desires they should Obey his Commands and yet by his Secret Will would not have them do it As one that Denies when he seems to offer them the Means of Obeying refuseth to help their Weakness and yet Punisheth them for not accepting his Help To represent him as one that thus colludes and deals hardly with his Poor Creatures and all this that in the end he may shew his great Power over them and satisfie his own absolute and irresistible Will and to please himself with their Everlasting Unspeakable Torments This is to Degrade God beneath his most perfect Self to make him equal if not exceed the most Barbarous Tempers to extinguish his Glory to throw upon him the very dregs and filth which the worst Natur'd Man is capable of and to destroy those Divine Attributes which are the Lustre and Excellency of the Deity God is Love saith the Apostle and the Genuine Notion of his Love is that he is ready to do his Necessitous Creatures and especially the Precious Souls of Men all the Good they need The Genuine Notion of his Justice is that he evermore Acteth Righteously according to the Rules of Eternal Reason Rewarding every Man as his Works are whether Good or Evil. The Genuine Notion of his Truth is that his Words are agreeable with his Purpose and Mind that he cannot Lye or Dissemble because it is Repugnant to the Excellence of his Nature The Genuine Notion of his Power is that he can do whatever doth not involve a Contradiction nor Argueth Evil or Imperfection in the Agent The Genuine Notion of his Goodness is that he is inclined to provide all the means that are necessary or becoming him to provide for the Welfare of his whole Creation according to the Capacities and Faculties of every part of it The Genuine Notion of his Mercy is that he is Compassionate Benign and Patient towards the most undeserving Men though by their own Faults they are Sinful and Enemies to their own Souls These are the Glories of his Essence Attributes which adorn his Nature and which shew him to be the most Perfect and Excellent of all Beings Therefore in forming our Notions and Conceptions of God we must be sure to have a constant Eye and a tender Regard to these his adorable Perfections and Construe his Works with Respect to them especially the Works of his Love which is the Attribute he seemeth particularly delighted with himself and for that Reason 't is said Jam. 2. 13. That Mercy Rejoyceth against Judgment And when God was Pleased to shew his Glory to Moses on Mount Sinai as he passed by before him he Proclaimed himself in this Stile The Lord the Lord God Merciful and Gracious Long-suffering and abundant in Goodness and Truth keeping Mercy for Thousands Forgiving Iniquity and Transgression and Sin and that will by no means clear the Guilty Exod. 34. 6 7. CHAP. V. That we should not Judge of God's Love to us by accidental Events which depend upon our own Choice Secondly HAVING thus according to this Description possest our Minds with True and Genuine Apprehensions of God we must be careful Secondly That we do not Judge of his Love towards Mankind by accidental Events which depend upon our own choice By accidental Events I mean those Miseries and Punishments of Men which befall them by their own foolish wilfulness besides God's Sincere Desire and Primary Intentions He is not willing that any should Perish 2 Pet. 3. 9. As I Live saith the Lord God I have no Pleasure in the Death of the Wicked Ezek. 33. 11. And yet it appears by the last Words of that verse That the House of Israel took a ready course to Die and in Probability many of them did Where then lieth the Cause of this Miscarriage why even at Wicked Men's own Doors because either they make no Use at all or make a very Ill Use of God's Love towards them O! Israel Thou hast destroyed thy Self but in Me is thine Help saith the Holy One of Israel Hos 13. 9. This is the plain Account of the Matter Help is not wanting on God's part He giveth to all Men Liberally Jam. 1. 5. He provideth Means enough to keep us all from Destruction if we will set our Hearts to Apply them duly he is Loving unto every Man but every Man is not so Loving to himself as God is And hence it cometh to pass that though God's Intentions be equally Benevolent yet it happens accidentally that they have not equal Success because all do not take an equal Care to Answer God's Goodness Some Reject or Frustrate the Counsel of God Luk. 7. 30. Which could not be if Mercy were not offer'd and if God's Intentions towards them were not Kind and Real Some Resist the Holy Ghost Act 7. 51. Which could not be if the Holy Ghost were not there to Operate and strive with them Some Grieve the Good Spirit of God Ephes 4. 30. Which could not be if the Comforter were not given them first to Seal and Mark them as Men Purchased with the Blood of Christ to be his Servants Some are in danger of Quenching the Spirit 1 Thes 5. 19. Which could not be if the Spirit had not Kindled some Sparks in them Some hide their Talents in the Ground Mat. 25. 25. Which could not be if a Talent were not first put into their Hands Some presently lose out of their Hearts the Seed of Eternal Life others will not suffer it to take deep Root and others Choak it with the Cares and Pleasures of this Life so that it bringeth no Fruit unto Perfection Luk. 8. Which could not be if the Seed had not been Sown Events in this Case are different according as Men's Hearts are either Good or Bad and according as their Care and Husbandry is greater or less and hence it is that when all Men are called to a State of Salvation some Work it out and some Neglect it One Judas continues the Servant of Christ and another hath the Character of the Son of Perdition and Simon Peter Weeps for his own Sins and Converts his Brethren from theirs while Simon the Sorcerer remains in the Gall of Bitterness and the Bond of Iniquity The Reason of this is within Men because some are Diligent to continue and grow in the Grace of God others Frustrate it and turn it into Wantonness It doth not become the Wisdom of the great Legislatour of the World to Drag People to Heaven against their Wills or to force their Obedience to his Laws by a Power that is Irresistible For this would be to Destroy the Nature of Obedience which ought to be Hearty Chearful and Free and it would take away the Reason of Rewards which Obedience cannot be capable of if it be not an Act of Choice no more than Machines and Engines
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
Therefore to kindle and maintain in our Hearts a Rational Holy and Divine Love we should represent God to our Minds under such charming Ideas as become a Being so admirably Perfect in himself so Transcendently and Gloriously Excellent We should Conceive of him as a Being that knoweth how to order all things for the best and with a strict regard to the good of his whole Creation and of every part of it that is but capable of participating of his Goodness As a Being that taketh a Particular care of Mankind and more especially of those Men who Study to live in conformity to his Laws as a Being that is always steddy and constant to his Promises nor is capable of Lying a thing so Repugnant to his most Blessed Nature that none but the Devil can be the Father of it As a Being that is Righteous in all his ways that loveth Righteousness and hateth Iniquity that giveth Laws which are Just and Good that rewardeth every one according to his Works and punisheth none but according to Equity and Eternal Reason We should Conceive of him as a Being that is ready to take Compassion upon all that need it and are capable of his Mercies that is unwilling to have any of us Lost that is slow to Anger that is patient towards all that is Merciful Gracious Long-suffering abundant in Goodness and Truth keeping Mercy for Thousands forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin In short we should Conceive of God as a blessed Being that loveth and careth for our poor Souls Infinitely more than we our selves do Under these lovely Ideas God representeth himself in the Holy Scriptures and to behold him under such ravishing Conceptions is an effectual way of raising in us a Rational affection to him because one great Branch of Love consisteth in Esteem in that Honour and Admiration which springs from the Excellencies we Discern or believe to be in the Object of our Affections 2. ANOTHER Branch of it is the placing of our Hearts upon the Object we highly Admire the desiring and Seeking after it and delighting in it as the precious and dear thing wherein we conceive our Happiness to be Lodged And to raise our Affections to this noble pitch we should represent God to our Minds also as a Being that is actually Communicative of Goodness and Happiness to us Love naturally commandeth Love again 'T is an Affection of the Soul that cannot resist any thing which is like it self but presently closeth with the object that by suitable expressions of Kindness invites and meets it Here then we should consider how that most perfect and excellent Being hath been before hand with us what good he hath done us and doth do for us daily The Life we now live and are so very tender of was given us at the first by that Father of Spirits and is every Moment supported by his sole Providence which Feeds and Cloaths us and hath Preserved us all along from innumerable Dangers from many which Time may have worn out of our Memories and from more which we have not minded or were so hidden that we could not discover them Those Blessings which lie in common to Mankind every one hath had his share of And were particular Persons so advertent as to observe God's particular Providence to them there is not one in the World but would find himself obliged to make God particular returns of Thankfulness and Affection God is so Good to the meanest and most Ungrateful People that if every one would but keep by him two private Registers one of God's Mercies and another of his own Actions the very sense of God's Goodness to every Man I mean as to the things of this Life could not but warm all our Hearts towards him especially if we did open both Registers and then fairly compare what we have had with what we have deserv'd BUT above all we should consider what God hath done for our Immortal Souls by his wise and gracious ordering all things that relate to a Life Eternal That State being Everlastingly Unchangeable when once Men enter into it whether it be a State of Blessedness or Torments God of his Infinite Goodness and most tender Compassion was pleased to make such ample Provision for the well-fare of us all that one might think it hardly possible for People of Probity and Thoughtfulness to miss of a Blessed Eternity He sent the Son of his Love to transact the weighty business of a Mediator that God and Men might be no longer at a distance The Lord Jesus did innumerable Miracles to prove and confirm his Divine Authority He declared unto the World the whole Counsel of God that nothing of Light might be wanting He deliver'd us such Precepts as are suitable to our own Reason and such as are Easie and Delightful to those who will but Accustom themselves to the observation of them He hath encouraged us with such Promises as are enough to Animate us in the greatest Difficulties and to carry us undauntedly through all He submitted to a most Painful and Reproachful Death that he might offer up a full perfect and sufficent Oblation Sacrifice and Satisfaction for the sins of the whole World and that in Vertue of his Death he might for ever make Intercession for us He gave his Holy Spirit to inspire his Apostles and to assist us all by such kindly Operations as are suitable to Creatures endued with Rational faculties to Illuminate our Understandings to perswade our Wills to purifie our Affections to strengthen our Hopes and to Comfort and Cherish us in our Trials He wooeth us daily by his Ambassadors who beseech us in Christ's stead that we would be reconciled unto God He hath instituted Ordinances to Seal the Mercies of God to every particular Soul which will use those Ordinances in a due manner In short he hath afforded us all the means which Reasonable and Immortal Souls stand in need of and all this for no other end but to make us Eternally Happy happy in the fruition of Himself who is so infinitely Happy in his own Perfections and Condition that he needeth not the Service or Attendance of Men or of Angels These things therefore could not flow from any other Principle but a Principle of Goodness And this is the true genuine Reason of Love whereas those frightful Ideas under which some have misrepresented the most Blessed God serve to cast a Damp on Men's Spirits and to Alienate their Minds and Affections from that Divine and most Amiable Being Plutarch in his Book of Superstition describes those People as God's Enemies and their own too who think hardly of God and believe him to be Fierce False Mutable Revengeful Cruel Angry upon every light occasion Austere Rigorous and Hurtful He tells us there that of all Men such are in the very worst condition that they are Afraid of him even when they have Recourse to him that they Reproach at the same time and Flatter him that they
Iâ—â—â—â—matur 〈…〉 R.P.D. 〈…〉 Lond. à 〈…〉 A Practical Discourse CONCERNING God's Love TO MANKIND WRITTEN For the Satisfaction of some Scrupulous Persons By EDWARD PELLING D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to their Majesties and Rector of Petworth in Sussex LONDON Printed by W. H. for W. Crooke at the Green-Dragon without Temple-Bar 1694. An Advertisement TO THE READER THough the Doctrine of Gods Decrees if rightly understood as those Decrees are set forth in the Scripture with equal Conditions and the most precious Promises annext unto them though I say the right Notion of them be of great Use and unspeakable Comfort to such as lead Godly Righteous and Sober Lives yet Mistakes about them are of very dangerous consequence especially when â—hose Errors rise so high as to render the ever Blessed God a Stern Arbitrary and Cruel Being that hath Consigned the far greatest part of Mankind to Eternal Torments meerly of his own absolute Purpose and Pleasure This naturally serves not only to discourage People from the Practice of Vertue and Holiness and to make them Careless whether they do well or ill which alone is enough to prove the Falshood of such Opinion but moreover to fill their Minds with Horror and by degrees to cast them into the very Gulph of Desperation unless they can screw up their Imaginations to such a lofly Pitch as to believe themselves to be absolutely Elected unto Salvation which yet is to contradict their own Principles by pretending to understand a Decree which they confess to be Secret It is therefore a most Necessary work of Charity especially where ones Conscience is burden'd with a Cure to teach People such open and such encouraging Truths as these That the Lord is Good to All and his tender Mercies over all his Works Psal 145. 9. That God is no Respecter of Persons but in every Nation he that feareth him and worketh Righteousness is accepted with him Act. 10. 34 35. That he is not willing that any should Perish but that all should come to Repentance 2 Pet. 3. 9. And that their Labour shall not be in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15. 58. Nor are such Instructions ever so seasonable as when Peoples Minds are disq uieted and gall d with frightful appr ehensions of God as if he had put the generality of the World under a fatal necessity of Eternal Damnation and that too to shew his Power and without Consideration had of their Actual Enormities If the Case of so many Millions of Men comparatively Innocent be so Miserable and Desperate such as Reflect upon the many Sins and C mes they have in the Course of their Lives committed cannot well chuse but be possess'd with such sad and dismal Thoughts as directly tend to make them sink under the pressure of them and to throw away all hopes of Mercy and what a wretched Condition such Souls are in none can tell but those that feel it nor indeed are they themselves able to express it sufficiently To prevent this intolerable Mischief is the Design of this following Discourse which was occasioned first by a long Paper that in December last came to my Hands from a very Sober Worthy Person in this Town though then unknown to me The Substance of it in short was this That He and divers others of the Parish had somewhere heard such bold Doctrines concerning God's Decrees as seemed utterly Repugnant to the Divine Goodness Mercy Righteousness and Truth That their Minds were very much discompos'd and troubled upon it and therefore did earnestly desire me out of tenderness to their Souls speedily to Preach upon some Subject that might ease their Minds and give them satisfaction Having Read and Consider'd this serious Letter to me I could not but hold my Self Obliged by the Duty of my Place and in common Charity and Justice to those whom the Providence of God hath committed to my Care to do something that might tend towards the removing of those Scruples and Anxieties which I perceived did disturb and ruffle divers of them Such inward discomposures are of dangerous Consequence if not duly regarded in time and though Men who understand the Business of a Pulpit know very well that generally it is no fit Place for Controversies yet it must be acknowledg'd that special Emergent Occasions do sometimes make it necessary for us to handle Points which People doubt of especially if those doubts become an affliction and if the Points do nearly concern the Substantials of Religion and if the clearing of them maketh way for Plain and Practical things which we should always have an Eye upon as being much better because more useful in order to the great ends of Christianity of which kind is that weighty Point in Hand For as long as God is believed to be truly loving unto us all and Christ is lookt upon as a common and conditional Saviour all thinking Men will find great necessity and encouragements for them to live Godly Righteously and Soberly according to Christ's Laws But if instead of this People think themselves sure of Salvation whatever the Quality of their Lives and Actions be and learn the Art of relying upon particular absolute Decrees they must in the Consequence believe the Entire Practice of Christian Morality to be an unnecessary matter Talk while you will of the Essential Duties of Religion God and Man must stand to their Courtesie for them because they think there is behind the Curtain an Absolute and Irresistible Decree that is on their side and secures them from all Danger of Eternal Perdition Besides it is Notorious â—hat among those who have believed the Rigid Doctrine of Fatality and could not work themselves into such a favourable and confident Perswasion of their Safety as others have done but have Reflected upon their condition with a Melancholy Eye as if they were under God's absolute Displeasure and Sentence Divers have Proceeded to final Desperation and by their own Hands have fallen most sad Sacrifices to their Opinion which would not have proved so mischievous had it been Rectified in time These single Considerations relating to the great Interest of Religion and to the Peace and Welfare of People did very strongly induce me to Answer in some measure the repeated importunities I found in the Letter I Speak of And yet there was something else in it which did much affect me tho' for some Days I knew not who was the Author yet by the general Air of it I perceived that the Person who Writ it had a very Religious Sense and Esteem of God For one thing which seemed to disquiet him in a great measure was how to Reconcile the Doctrine of the supposed absolute Decrees with the Honour of God especially with those glorious Attributes his-Veracity Righteousness Goodness c. which shine so very bright in the Holy Scripture and in his Works which render him a Being Transcendently adorable and lovely This was to me an Argument of great Piety and goodness
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