that if through the Spirit which is given to every Man to profit withal 1 Cor. 12.7 we do mortify the Deeds of the Body we shall live Rom. 8.13 If a Man purge himself from these he shall be a Vessel unto Honour sanctified and meet for the Master's use 2 Tim. 2.21 Thus 't is evident that in God's Choosing or Electing he only has respect to them who by the due Use and Improvement of their common Talent have made themselves fit for those Joys which he has promised to them that will heartily and sincerely serve him the Favours of Election or Choosing to the Happiness of Salvation are conferr'd on none but those that have a Right to the Tree of Life Rev. 22.14 by Virtue of those Conditional Promises which God out of his free Grace and Mercy has made to Men. His Mercy is only on them that fear him throughout all Generations Luke 1.50 If we confess our Sins so as to forsake them he is faithful and just to forgive us our Sins according to his Promise and to cleanse us from all Vnrighteousness 1 Joh. 1.9 Hence 't is plain that all the well-grounded Hope that Men can have in God's Mercy does wholly depend upon the Assurance of their having to the utmost of their Power performed those Conditions upon the Performance of which God has promised to be merciful to Mankind It plainly appears from the most general Scope of the Scriptures that God in his Electing and Chusing is no Respecter of Persons but of Qualifications neither does he reprobate any Man meerly because he will do so but because they do wilfully commit Sin and Wickedness That God decrees to elect some and reprobate others is a most undoubted Truth and these his Decrees are unalterable in themselves but yet conditional in respect of them on whom they take place it being the standing Law of Heaven that if Men live after the Felsh they shall die or that Damnation shall be inflicted in case Men will commit Sin but if through the Spirit they mortify the Deeds of the Body they shall live Rom. 8.13 Here the Terms and Conditions of Happiness or Misery are plainly exprest these are the Reasons of God's different way of dealing with Mankind 't is for this Reason that he loves one Man and hates another that is to say he always loves good Men and hates the Wicked If thou dost well saith he to Cain shalt thou not be accepted and if thou dost not well Sin lieth at thy Door Gen. 4.7 These things well considered are a clear Proof that the Calvinist Notion concerning Election is an Error and that the contrary Doctrine is the undoubted Truth of God For certain I am that no Man can prove it a Dishonour to God to say that in his Electing or Choosing he does not respect the meer Person of any Man but the fitness or meetness of Men for the Master's Vse and that in every Nation he that feareth God and worketh Righteousness is accepted with him or that he sets apart the Man that is Godly for himself Neither is the Advancement of Religion any ways hindred by declaring that God would have all Men to be saved and come to the Knowledg of the Truth and that all Men may be saved if they will but give diligence to make their own Calling and Election sure and be careful not to grieve the Holy Spirit or in other Words not to receive the Grace of God in vain Nor can it be any ways injurious to the Good of Souls to tell Men as Christ hath done that if they will enter into Life they must keep the Commandments and that God commands all Men every where to repent and having repented to be stedfast and unmoveable in their Resolutions of keeping God's Commands for the future and that they study how to abound more and more in the Work of the Lord forasmuch as they know that their Labour shall not be in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15.58 This Doctrine is much more sutable to the great End and Design of the Gospel which was to advance among Men the Practice of true Piety and Godliness than the contrary Doctrine which teaches that Vertue and Piety do not recommend us to God who 't is said does first decree to save and then does irresistibly sanctify Righteousness not being as the Predestinarians say the Means of Mens being elected or chosen but that Election is the Means or Cause of their being made righteous by God If Men are elected say they God will then sanctify them without their own Endeavours that so the Glory thereof may redound wholly to himself which they think could not be should God make Men capable of doing any thing towards the saving of themselves So that the Result of this Opinion is tht if God have elected any Man he shall but not by any Endeavour of his own be made a good Man before he dies and that if he be not elected all the Endeavours he can use shall never reverse that Decree to the saving of his Soul which plainly is no other than a Doctrine proper to encourage a licentious Carelesness in great numbers of unthinking Men and take others off from that holy Care and Caution which is absolutely necessary to the Attainment of Life eternal and doubtless this is that which encourages the looser Sort who are of this Perswasion to do many unjustifiable things upon Presumption that no Sin can damn the Elect. And 't is worth observing here that all do think themselves among the Number of the Elect that do believe this Doctrine and this makes great Numbers of them so remiss and careless as they are for they are perswaded that before they die God will some way or other without their own Endeavours irresistibly sanctify them hence it is that so many of them go on with so much Confidence and Comfort in a Course of Wickedness than which nothing can be more unsafe and unsecure Of Vniversal Redemption The Predestinarians teach that as God did not intend the Salvation of all Men so neither did Christ die for all so as to put all Men into a Capacity of obtaining Life eternal but this Notion is contrary to Scripture and for that Reason is undoubtedly false The Scripture tells us plainly that the Redemption by Jesus Christ was universal that he gave his Life a Ransom for all 1 Tim. 2.6 that by the Grace of God he tasted Death for every Man Heb. 2.9 that he is the Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World 1 Joh. 2.2 that as in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive 1 Cor. 15.22 that as by the Offence of one Judgment came upon all Men to Condemnation so by the Righteousness of one the free Gift came upon all Men to Justification of Life Rom. 5.18 And 't is evident that the Design of God in his sending of Christ was the Salvation of all for God so loved the World that
God who will have all Men to be saved and to come to the Knowledg of the Truth 1 Tim. 2.1 4. And that the Grace of God that brings Salvation hath appeared unto all Men Tit. 2.11 That Christ is a Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World 1 Joh. 2.2 That he gave himself a Ranson for all 1 Tim. 2.6 That he tasted Death for every Man Heb. 2.9 And that as by the Offence of one Judgment came upon all Men to Condemnation even so by the Righteousness of one the free Gift came upon all Men to Justification of Life Rom. 5.18 Now from thes plain Scriptures 't is evident that no particular Man's Damnation is unavoidably decreed by Go If Men die the Death eternal their Destruction is from themselves and not from him When he made the Generations of Men to dwell upon the Face of the Earth he made them free Agents that is to say he gave them a Power either to do or not to do what he did intend to command them but withal he let them know that if they did disobey they should be punished for their so doing and that if they did obey they should for ever be blessed It was not his purpose therefore to damn any Man absolutely but conditionally in case he should so far abuse the Powers he had given him as wilfully to commit Sin when he might as well have forborn it Now the Truth of this is evident from many plain and undeniable Testimonies For eternal Punishments are only denounc'd against Men in Case of Wickedness God's Decrees are that the Soul that sins shall die Ezek. 18.4 And that all should be damned who believe not the Truth but had Pleasure in Vnrighteousness 2 Thess 2.12 And that if Men live after the Flesh they shall die but if on the contrary they through the Spirit do mortify the Deeds of the Body they shall live Rom. 8.13 And therefore he faith Whosoever sinneth against me him will I blot out of my Book Exod. 32.33 By the Sins and Wickednesses then which Men commit they make themselves Reprobates 't is because of these things says S. Paul that the Wrath of God cometh upon the Children of Disobedience Eph. 5.3 6. God hathsworn that some shall notenter into his Rest But to whom swear he that they should not enter into his Rest but to them that believe not Heb. 3.18 All which shews that God reprobates none but suh as by Sin are the Authors of their own Damnation and therefore 't is said of the wicked Jews O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self Hos 13.9 To say therefore that God is the chief and principal or main Cause of Man's eternal Destruction is a Notion you see which is contrary to Scripture and is therefore an Error 'T is also an Error because 't is built upon such a Sense of Scripture as we have all the reason in the World to disbelieve for that can never be the true Sense of God's Word which naturally tends to debase the Glory of the Justice and Righteousness of God but this those Notions do which these Men do build on these mistaken Senses of Scripture for they tell us that as God has decreed the End of those whom he has resolv'd to reprobate so he has also decreed the Means which shall bring them to that End that is to say he has decreed that they shall unavoidably be Sinners that so he may manifest the Rigour of his Justice in punishing them for being wicked But were this true it would be so far from exalting that it would plainly debase the Glory of the Justice of God among Men for according to all the Notions which we have of Justice nothing can be more unjust and cruel than first to lay an unavoidable Necessity upon a Man to do ill that so with a seeming Justice he may be tormented for being wicked Should one Man do so to another we should count him unjust in the highest and shall Man be more just than God Job 4.17 Then and then only is the Justice of God glorious when he punishes Men for wilfully refusing to do that which he has made them sufficiently able by one means or other to perform This Reprobating Notion of theirs does make the Gospel a meer piece of Nonsense for the Gospel tells us that Repentance and Remission of Sins should be preached in Christ's Name to all Nations Luke 24.47 And that God does command all Men every where to repent Acts 17.30 But all this the Predestinarian Doctrine opposes as an impossible Thing a useless Precept for it declares that none of them whom God has decreed to reprobate can repent and become good Men for he has decreed they say that those Men shall be Sinners that so he may bring on them in a way of Justice that eternal Death to which he has foreappointed and designed them all which say they no Endeavours sof theirs can prevent for the most profound Repentance which they can perform will never reverse what God has thus doom'd them to by an eternal and irreversible Decree Which Doctrines are a plain Contradiction to that express Command of God that all should repent They have been also the dreadful Occasion of all that Horror and Despair which has been found in a great Number of men who have been afflicted with doubting and troubled Minds and has occasioned others to entertain in themselves very hard Thoughts of God for such Notions as these do make God seem worse to some Men than the Devil for the Devil they know can force no Man to sin he can only tempt and endeavour to perswade but God according to these Notions of the Predestinarians does force and compel Men to sin by an absolute Decree that so the Damnation he has design'd them to may appear more Just All which are the occasion of very hard and evil Thoughts concerning God in those who under Despair are apt to think themselves of the Number of those whom he thus has reprobated which evil and wicked Surmises concerning God had for ever been prevented had not these Doctrines been taught in the World On the contrary 't is evident beyond Contradiction that the opposite Doctrine does much more advance God's Honour because it teaches that 't is possible for all Men to repent and become good Men and herein saith Christ is my Father glorified that ye bear much Fruit John 15.8 It likewise tends more to advance the Interest of Religion which consists in every Man 's being perswaded to live a sober righteous and godly Life and it is also a Doctrine which is every way more truly conducive to the good of Souls because it declares that all Men may be happy if they will but diligently improve that Talent of Grace that God has given them in order to the working out of their own Salvation and the making their own Calling and Election sure 'T is plain to every common Man's Understanding that those Doctrines which teach
according to the Scriptures that God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance 2 Pet. 3.9 That he would have all Men to be saved and come to the Knowledg of the Truth 1 Tim. 2.4 That the Manifestation of the Spirit is given to every Man to profit withal 1 Cor. 12.7 And that by the Improvement of this their Talent they may make themselves fit to enter into their Master's Joy 't is evident I say that such Doctrines as these do noways tend to God's Dishonour nor are they iniurious to the true Interest of Religion nor do they any ways endanger the Good of Souls Nor can any thing be more certain than this that these and none but these Doctrines can yield true Comfort to them that on the account of Sin are in Disconsolation because they everywhere and always declare it to be the Will of God that if the Wicked will turn away from hsi Wickedness that he hath committed and do that which is lawful and right he shall save his Soul alive all his Transgressions tha he hath committed they shall not be mentioned unto him in his Righteousness that he hath done he shall live Ezek. 18.21 to 28. Were the Reprobatarian Doctrine true then all that profess it are bound to live up to those Payticulars that are naturally consequent thereupon and then it must sollow of course that if all the Actions of Men are fore-determined by God's Decree and Sin be necessitated in some as well as Vertue is in others that then Wickedness ought not to be look'd upon as more criminal in a Reprobate than Thirst or Hunger for what is unavoidable may be a Man's Infelicity in some Cases but not his Sin for can it be a Crime in any one to do that which it is the Will of God he shall do If God have decreed from Eternity that some Men shall sin unavoidably that so his Design of reprobating them may not prove uneffectual then those that act evil things are not to be charged with Disobedience because they act some say as God designs they should act and by consequence according to these Notions they are intirely obedient to the Will of their Maker Wherefore those that pretend to believe these Doctrines ought not to blame and censure and punish them for Wickedness but say rather that since God has decreed from Eternity whatsoever shall come to pass in time that these cannot avoid so doing and therefore 't is the Duty of all to rest satisfied under the unavoidable Execution of the Divine Decrees of God Now thus to do would be for Men to live up to the Tenure of those Reprobatarian Doctrines of eternal Predestination which they profess to believe but yet we don't see this done which shews that these Dictates of the Spirit of Error are over-powered by those natural Notions of Truth implanted in the Minds of the Predestinarians Experience shews that they all daily cry out against the Wickedness of Mankind as a thing unsufferable among humane Beings and they do all that lies in their Power to bring those to Punishment who do such things as are destructive to the general or common Good of Men which sufficiently demonstrates that the Predestinarian Faith which they outwardly profess is undoubtedly contrary to that Divine Law which God by Nature has written in the Heart of Man and for this reason these Men by their Actions do plainly confute the Faith which they profess for by this they declare unto the World that they do not believe that Men are wicked by necessity from God for then 't would be inhumane to punish them but this no Man believes for they as well as we are verily perswaded that the Punishment of the Wicked is just and necessary that so by their Example others may be deterred from committing the like Crimes which shews that all Men do naturally believe that Sin may be avoided and if Sin which is the Cause of Damnation may be avoided then Damnation which is only the Effect of Sin may be avoided too which proves that the Predestinarian Notion of Reprobation is contrary to the natural as well as to the revealed Law of God and for that reason ought to be rejected by all Man especially by them whose Business it is to perswade all Men to be reconciled unto God which they can never do unless htey declare that 't is possible for all to repent Of ELECTION The Predestinarians tell us that God by an eternal Decree hath elected or chosen to make some particular Persons happy in a Life eternal and that none shall be saved but those whom he has thus predestinated unto Glory in which Predestination they say no respect was had to any Act of Obedience to be perform'd on Man's Part for according to these Men Obedience is only the fruit of their Election or what necessarily does follow thereupon and not the Means which makes Men fit for Election or Choice of God But this is an Error because contrary to plain Scripture or the revealed Law of our Maker For God has therein fully assured us that our being in favour with him depends upon our doing well see Gen. 4.7 that is to say upon our well using those Talents he has entrusted us with or upon our doing those things that his Word and Law have commanded and therefore it is that we are bid to work out our own Salvation with Fear and Trembling for 't is God that worketh in us to will and to do Phil. 2.12 The meaning is that God has made us capable of doing his Will in order to make us fit Objects for his Love and Favour and that therefore we ought to work according as he has enabled us that by so doing we may make our Calling and Election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 which will not be unless our own diligent Endeavours do concur with the Assistance of God and therefore it is that Men are exhorted not to receive the Grace of God in vain 2 Cor. 6.1 'T is plain that God is no Respecter of Persons but that in every Nation he that feareth him and worketh Righteousness is accepted with him Acts 10.35 And accordingly a good and vertuous Life is every where made the necessary Condition of Salvation Obey my Voice saith God and then I will be your God and ye shall be my People Jer. 7.23 If thou wilt enter into Life saith Christ keep the Commandments Mat. 19.17 For as the Psalmist has declared He that is God hath set apart the Man that is godly for himself Psal 4.3 In which Words a plain Reason is given why God makes one Man happy and not another 't is the Man that is godly that he sets apart for this Purpose Hence Christ is said to be the Author of eternal Salvation to all them that obey him Heb. 5.9 'T is only by Obedience that we obtain an Interest in the saving Redemption of Christ and accordingly his Gospel does declare