The Divine Will Considered in its Eternal Decrees and Holy Execution, Chapter 4

The Divine Will Considered in its Eternal Decrees and Holy Execution · Chapter 4

p. 23CHAP. IV. Of Gods Decree of Election, as touching Men.

HAving spoken of God's Decrees in general, I pass on to his Decree of Election in particular; this is respective either of Angels or Men: pretermitting p. 24it in the first respect, I shall treat of it in the second. God's Decree of Election, as touching Men, is set forth in Scripture under various words, which do not a little illustrate the nature of it: 'tis called foreign, because God's purpose; foreign, because his gracious purpose; foreign, because he separates or singles out some to mercy, in a way of Choice; foreign, because he knows them as his own, in a way of singular love; foreign, because he infallibly predestinates them to Grace and Glory; and foreign, because all is out of the pure Self-motion of his own good Will. Election is that gracious Decree of God, whereby, out of the mere good pleasure of his own Will, he chuses some certain individual men out of the corrupt mass of Mankind, unto the infallible attainment of Grace and Glory, in and through Jesus Christ. Now in the opening of this Description, there are several things considerable, viz.

1. Who is the Great Agent?

2. What are the things designed?

3. To whom these things are designed?

4. What is the Impulsive Cause thereof?

5. In and through whom it is done?

1. Who is the great Agent? It is no other p. 25than God himself: He chuses us, Eph. 1. 4. he predestinates us, ver. 5. Hence the Elect are called God's Elect, Tit. 1. 1. and Election is stiled God's Election, 1 Thess. 1. 4. the Elect are said to be God's own, John 17. 6. and Election is named God's own purpose and grace, 2 Tim. 1. 9. He that frames this high Design must be a God indeed, a Creator of Souls, and Infuser of Graces, one able to provide an infinite Ransom for the satisfaction of Justice, and a glorious Heaven for the patefaction of Mercy; no less than an Almighty Potter, able even out of the Mass of perdition to make Vessels of Mercy, and fill them with Glory. All Divines will at least in words confess God to be the great Agent; but how the Remonstrants according to their Principles can own him as such, is well worthy their consideration: for they assert that the Object of Gods Election is a Believer; and whether there shall be a Believer or not, after all the operations of Grace, ultimately depends upon the Will of Man; and if so, how can God chuse at all? seeing the Act of his Election depends upon the Object, and the Oject upon the Will of man. The Remonstrants will contend, That Man, with his petty p. 26created Liberty, cannot chuse as a man, if he be under the Pre-determining Will of God; and can God, with his Soveraign Supreme Liberty, chuse as a God, if he be under the Pre-determining Will of Man? And what is he less than under it, when, whether he shall have an Election or not, depends upon the Object; and whether there will be an Object or not, depends upon the Will of Man? Man's Will must go before, and make the Object, or else for want of one, God's Will must stand still and not chuse at all. And is this for God to chuse like himself? Are not all Souls his own, and may he not chuse which he pleases? Is not all Grace and Glory his own, and may he not do with his own what he pleases? But how can he do so, if as to the Act of Election he be under the Pre-determining Will of Man? But you'l say, God is not under it for all this: for he first, and antecedently to any foreseen Faith in Man, did decree in general to save Believers, and Believers only, as appears in the Gospel; and thereby did, out of his mere good pleasure, set down this Law or Rule to himself, That Believers, and Believers only, should be the Object of particular p. 27Election; and so he is not pre-determined by man's Will, but his own, and chuses particular persons in his own way: Unto which I answer two things.

1. That God hath set such a Law or Rule unto himself, That Believers, and those only, should be the object of his Election, is utterly untrue: for then all Infants, dying such (because no Believers) must be out of the Sphear of Election, and by consequence, out of the Sphear of Salvation also; unless (which is very strange) we could imagine those to be actually saved, whom yet God never elected or decreed to save. Neither is there any such Law or Rule manifested in the Gospel: there God's Will is thus set forth, Whosoever believes shall be saved; which imports that Believers are the objects of Salvation, but not in the least that they are the objects of Election. It is written in the Gospel, Relieve and thou shalt be saved; but in what Gospel is it written, Believe and thou shalt be Elected?

2. That Law or Rule (if supposed) doth not answer the Argument; for still (as to particular Election) God is under the pre-determining Will of Man: If that p. 28say, Nay, God shall have never a chosen Vessel in all the World to fill with Grace and Glory; and how then is he the great Agent in Election? Solomon set a Law or Rule to Shimei, That if he passed over Kidron, he should die for it; he passes over, and dies: What now was the chief cause of his death? Solomon's Law or Execution, or else Shimei's passage? Clearly, it was Shimei's own Act; Solomon was but as a Legislator. Pariratione; If God set a Law or Rule, that Believers should be elected, if a man believe and be elected, that which chiefly determines the business is not God's first Law or after Choice, but Man's Faith; God is no Agent therein, but as a mere Legislator. So naturally do the Remonstrant Principles run out into that of Theophylact, 'Tis God's part to call, but Man's to be elect Theoph. on Matth. 22.Matt 22or not; which Principles must be renounced, or else God cannot be owned as the Great Agent in Election. And here a three-fold Enquiry offers it self.

1. What the things themselves are?

2. In what Order these are designed?

3. In what manner these are designed?

p. 291. What the things themselves are? These are Grace and Glory, or Faith and Salvation.

1 Grace is designed: hence we are said to be called according to purpose, Rom. 8. 28. and chosen that we should be holy, Eph. 1. 4. Do we see a Saint in his spiritual Glory, clothed with Humility, arrayed with Righteousness, girt with Truth; his Eyes flowing with repentant Tears, his Heart burning with holy Love, and his Hands laden with good Works? All these were prepared in Eternal Election, as well as wrought by the Holy Spirit in Time; there was Decretum Dei in the foreordaining, as well as Digitus Dei in the forming of them. Thus shall it be done to the man whom the King of Heaven will honour. In Election there is a designing of Grace, nay all Grace; Faith it self not excepted. The Remonstrants shut out Faith from this design, in as much as they pre-require Faith thereunto. But how unscriptural is this? Paul was chosen to know God's will, Acts 22. 14. not to a bare notional Knowledge, but to a saving practical one, such as justifies, Isai. 53. 11. such as is Eternal life, Joh. 17. 3. which must needs include Faith. The Apostle calls Faith, p. 30the faith of Gods elect, Tit. 1. 1. If Faith had been precedent to Election, he would have told us, that Election is of Believers; but because it is consequent, he saith, that Faith is of the Elect. And how irrational is it also? Election is a design of secretion; it is foreign, a chusing or singling out of some to Grace and Glory; the Elect are said to be chosen out of the world, Joh. 15. 19. and chosen unto God, Acts 9. 15. foreign, (saith Christ) thine they were, Joh. 17. 6. thine in a select peculiar manner: and Faith is the choice and prime Grace of secretion, it is not foreign, of all, 2 Thess. 3. 2. If all men did believe without any foreign, or difference, the Righteousness of God would be upon them all, Rom. 3. 22. the Rivers of living Water would flow in them all, Joh. 7. 38. but Faith is not of all, whereby it appears, that of all inherent Graces, Faith firstly and properly makes the secretion. Now that such a prime Grace of secretion as Faith should not be decreed, in suoh a great design of secretion as Election, seems to me incongruous even to absurdity. If Faith go before Election, then how doth God chuse them out of the World, who by Faith are out of it already? How doth he chuse p. 31them unto himself, who by Faith are his own before? If Man's Will in believing make the first and proper secretion, then God's Will hath no room to make one by electing; wherefore, if we will allow God his choice indeed, we must confess Faith it self to be designed in Election.

2. Glory is designed in Election; we are chosen to Salvation, 2 Thess. 2. 13. and before prepared to glory, Rom. 9. 23. the Names of the Elect are written in heaven, and registred in the Book of life. All the glory above rayes out of the bosom of Election, and every Crown of bliss is set on by God's good pleasure.

2. In what order are these things designed? No doubt, by one pure simple Act in God. But what is our most congruous conception thereof? Some Divines assert, that God first decreed Salvation and then Faith. Salvation is the end, and therefore first; Faith the means, and therefore last in God's intention. But this Reason is not cogent; for neither can any thing in the Creature, no, not its utmost perfection (such as Salvation is) be God's end, all whose Decrees do circulate into himself: Neither (if it were such) should God therefore will it in the first p. 32place, and in order before Faith; for he wills the End and Means with one simple Act. Excellent is that of Aquinas; Sicut Deus uno actu omnia in essentia sua intelligit, it a uno actu Pars prima quast. 19. Art. 5.omnia in sua bonitate vult: Unde sicut in Deo intelligere causam, non est causa intelligendi effect us, sed ipse intelligit effect us in causa; it a velle finem, non est ei causa volendi ea quae sunt ad finem, sed tamen vult ea quae sunt ad finem ordinari ad finem. Vult ergo hoc esse propter hoc; sed non propter hoc vult hoc. Other Divines conceive thus; That God first decrees Faith and then Salvation, and that upon this account: Such and in such order as God in time doth save, such, and in the very same order, doth God in Eternity decree to save: But God in time doth save only Believers, therefore God in Eternity did decree to save only Believers, that is, such as were so considered by him; and so considered by him they could not be, without a precedent Decree of giving Faith unto them. Wherefore Faith is first decreed, and then Salvation; and thus the Decree and its Execution harmonize, and both sute with the Gospel Method, which sets Faith in order before Salvation. But p. 33neither hath this colourable Reason any Nerves in it: For that Proposition, Such, and in such order, as God saves, such, and in the very same order, he decrees to save, may be taken two ways: Either thus; God decrees to save in the very same order as he saves, that is, as in time Faith goes before Salvation, so in Eternity he decreed that Faith should go before Salvation; and this is true. Thus the Decree harmonizes with the execution, and both with the Gospel; but thus Faith is not made first in the Decree, but first in the execution according to the Decree. Or else thus: there is the very same order observed in God's decreeing as in his saving; that is, as Faith is first in time, so it was first in God's Decree; and thus it is untrue: for it stands upon this false bottom in general; There is the very same order in God's internal Intention, as there is in the external Production, that which is first in the one is first also in the other. This bottom is such, as neither the harmony between the Decree and the Execution, nor yet the Gospel-way and Method doth require. The harmony between the Decree and the Execution doth not require it; for that only requires that p. 34that, which is decreed to be and exist first, should accordingly be and exist first; but it requires not that that, which is first in Production, should be first in Intention. In production the Sun was first before the Beams; but was it first also in intention? then God decreed a Sun, and in that instant meant no Beams. In production, the Chaos was first before the complete World, but was it so in intention? then God decreed a Chaos, and in that instant meant not a complete World. Neither can it avail to say, that these instances are in Naturals; for the harmony between the Decree and the Execution is as accurate in Naturals as in Spirituals. Neither doth the Gospel-way or Method require it; for that only requires, that Faith be and exist first, but not that it be first intended or decreed. In order of nature, Faith is first before Adoption; but was it first also in intention? then God decreed Faith to some persons, and in that instant meant not their Adoption, which yet by the Gospel is a necessary resultance from their Faith. In order of existence, Faith is first before Salvation; but was it first also in intention? then God decreed Faith to some persons, and p. 35in that instant meant not their Salvation, which yet by the Gospel is a necessary consequence of their Faith. And this is the rather to be marked, because the Remonstrants assert, That God first, and antecedently to his Decree of giving Faith, did decree in general to adopt and save all Believers; and if so, then how doth God decree Faith to a person, and not in and by the same Decree, decree Adoption and Salvation to him? These are a Conclusion naturally flowing from Faith, by vertue of the general Decree; and therefore that Decree, which designs Faith to a person, cannot but design these also to him. In order of nature Faith is before Perseverance, yet both are by one and the same Decree: for God in decreeing Faith, decrees the duration thereof, which is but Mora in esse a kind of stay in Being; else his Decree would be very imperfect. In point of existence, Perseverance is not simultaneous or all at once, but successive, one sand as it were dropping after another, and one instant drawing on another: yet all Perseverance is in one and the same Decree. To imagine a succession of Decrees in Eternity, suiting with the succession p. 36of instants in Time, were strangely to Metamorphose Eternity into Time. Thus it evidently appears, that there is not the same order in the internal Intention, as in the external Production; that which is first in existence here, is not first in contrivance there. Wherefore the Argument for Faiths firstness in the Decree, because of its firstness in the Execution, falls to the ground. In brief; waving both these opinions, as built on sandy foundations, I conceive it is most congruous to say, That God decreed Faith and Salvation in the very same Decree, yet so, as that withal he intended, that in the execution, Faith should go before Salvation. As in Naturals, God decrees the Sowing and Harvest in the very same Decree, yet so, as that in actual existence the Sowing shall precede the Harvest: So in Spirituals God decrees Grace and Glory, the sowing to the Spirit and reaping of Life eternal, in the same Decree; yet so, as that in actual existence, first there is Grace and then Glory; first sowing to the Spirit, and then reaping Life Eternal. Wherefore in God's Decree Faith is not before Salvation, nor Salvation before Faith, but both are simultaneous: p. 37nevertheless, in time Faith comes forth first, according to the Gospel-method, and afterwards Salvation crowns it.

3. In what manner are these things designed? I answer, in an Infallible way, such as never fails: Hence Election is called foreign, an infallible Predestination, or Predestination of Grace and Glory to the Elect. Thus the Apostle: Whom he did predestinate, them he called; whom he called, them he justified; whom he justified, them he glorified, Rom. 8. 30. The first link of Predestination and the last of Glorification are surely joined by the middle links of Vocation and Justification. The Remonstrants to decline the force of this golden place, tell us, that the Apostle here speaks only of Believers, such as love God, Ver. 29. and of a predestination and vocation to the Cross, and of a justification and glorification after it patiently endured. But what is this interpretation but mere a perverting of Scripture? The Apostle speaks of Believers, such as love God; but did they believe and love antecedently to God's Election or consequently, and as the fruit thereof? If antecedently, What is the Calling according to purpose? What purpose is this but the p. 38purpose according to Election, Rom. 9. 11? the purpose according to which God saves and calls us, 2 Tim. 1. 9? What Calling is this, but that efficacious one which makes a man hear and learn of the Father, so as to come to Christ by Faith and Love, Joh. 6. 45? Wherefore Faith and Love stream out of the fountain of Vocation, and Vocation comes down out of the bosom of God's Purpose. To say, that the called according to purpose, are those which are ready to obey all the Will of God, is against the usage of Scripture, to turn God's Call into man's Obedience, and God's Purpose (which is the measure of his own acting) into his Command (which is the measure of man's.) Again, if antecedently, what becomes of the foreign, Ver. 29? How could God foreknow, that is, fore-love them who loved him before? If they loved first, the foreign must out, it is not Pre-dilection, but Post-dilection. It remains then that they did believe and love consequently to God's Election, and by a divine influence from thence. But to go on; What is the Predestination here, but to a Conformity to the Image of Christ? And are Sufferings all the Image of Christ? Are p. 39and Glory no part thereof? What Divine will not blush to say so? And how then is not Predestination to these? But if Sufferings were all Christ's Image, yet are all Sufferings his Image? What if they be mere Sufferings, such as have no tincture of Faith and Holiness upon them? Are these his Image also? If not, the Predestination to his Image must include in it a Predestination to Faith and Holiness. And what is the Calling following upon Predestination? Is it a Calling to Sufferings? Such a Calling uses to be particularly expressed; Hereunto were you called, saith St. Peter, 1 Pet. 2. 21. and We are appointed hereunto, saith S. Paul, 1 Thess. 3. 3. But where in all the Scripture doth the word [Calling] being put absolutely, and without such addition, ever signifie a Call to Sufferings? foreign, we meet with therein, but not foreign Wherefore the Calling is to Faith and Holiness. And what is the Justification which hangs upon Calling? If the Calling be to Sufferings, are they not justified before that Calling? No doubt they are in the instant of believing; and how then is Calling set first and Justification last? You'l say, this place speaks not of the Justification of p. 40their persons, but of the Approbation of their cause. And where in all this Epistle is the word [justifie] so taken? And why so here? Lastly, the Called are Justified, and the Justified Glorified, saith the Apostle. And are all those which are called to Sufferings Justified and Glorified? The experience of thousands denies it. You'l say, they are all justified and glorified, if they bear the Cross with Faith and Patience. But who dares add an [it] to Gods Word, and in this Text to the two links and not to the former? The Apostle faith expresly, whom he did Predestinate, them he also Called, and whom he Called, them he also Justified, and whom he Justified, them he also Glorified. In the Original, the words foreign fasten every link to its precedent, and that with appropriation to the very same persons; foreign fastens Calling to Predestination, and Justification to Calling, and Glorification to Justification, and the foreign appropriates all throughout the whole chain to the same persons. If therefore any person predestinated or called within this Text, be not also justified and glorified, the chain is broken, and the truth of the Text cannot (for ought I see) be salved. p. 41Wherefore I conclude that this Text doth not treat of Predestination and Calling to Sufferings, notwithstanding which many fall short of Justification and Glorification; but of Predestination and Calling to Grace and Glory, such as doth infallibly bring them to Justification and Glorification. God's Electing mercy towards his chosen ones is sure and unfailable; before they had any being, free Grace embraced them in an Eternal Decree, and laid them in its bosom, and when they left the Common Nullity, and in the first moment of their Being, lay in the blood of their natural enmity and iniquity, free Grace would not pass them by, but there must be foreign, (as the Sept. hath it, Ezek. 16. 8.) a time for love to let out and dissolve it self in gracious operations; to cast its skirt over them, wash them in the blood of the Covenant, anoint them with the holy Spirit, and put a Chain of Graces about their necks. And after all this, when their Faith wavers like a Wave of the Sea, his Faithfulness is as a Mountain of Brass; when their Love cools and slacks, his Love is ever the same, and inflames theirs afresh; when their Holiness is full of Creature-weakness p. 42and impersection, there are with him foreign, holy Mercies and Compassions which never fail; when they sin and go on frowardly in the way of their hearts, yet he will see their way and heal them, as the Expression is, Isai. 57. 18. How many millions of times, after their Conversion, might he have seen their way and damned them? but because of his unchangeable Love he will see their way and heal them. His Covenant is as the Waters of Noah, Isai. 54. 9. When they sin again and again, yet his pardoning Mercy and healing Grace will never suffer them to lie under water, nor the deluge of sin to overwhelm them for ever. In a word; his Electing Love never leaves off till it hath lodged them safe in Heaven. Thus the Foundation of God standeth sure, and the Election infallibly obteineth Grace and Glory.

3. To whom are these things designed? I answer in two things.

1. These are designed to some certain individual persons.

2. These certain individual persons are considered as lying in the Mass of perdition.

1. These are designed to some certain p. 43individual persons. The Lord knoweth them that are his, 2 Tim. 2. 19. Their names are all down in the Book of life, Phil. 4. …. he called them foreign, by name, Joh. 10. 3. foreign (saith God to Ananias) this individual persons, this very Paul, who but now was breathing out blood against tho Church, this is a vessel of Election, Acts 9. 15. The Elect are a determinate number; What else were the 7000. which bowed not to Baal, 1 Kings 19. 18? What the 144000. which were sealed in their foreheads, Rev. 7. 4? If there were no set number, why are they called a remnant according to the election of Grace, Rom. 11. 5? What remnant can there be unless made up of individual persons? What Election but of such? A chusing or singling out, if not of individuals, is no chusing or singling out at all. And this is one remarkable difference between the Will of God's Complacence, and the Will of his Benevolence: the Will of his Complacence is properly respective of Graces, and that where-ever those Graces are, without any distinction of persons, in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted with him, saith St. Peter, Act. 10. 35. If Cain do p. 44well, shall he not be accepted? If a Judas believe, shall he not be justified? Without any foreign, the righteousness of God is upon all them that believe, Rom. 3. 22. His pleasure is in them that fear him, Psal. 147. 11. A good man (where-ever he be) foreign ▪ draws out favour or complacence from the Lord, Prov. 12. 2. And the reason is, because this Will of Complacence, issuing out of his perfect Sanctity, cannot but embrace his Image where-ever he finds it; but the Will of Benevolence (such as Election is in the supreme degree) is distinctive of persons: for this is decretive of certain blessings, and (unless the persons, to whom those blessings shall be given, be designed also) the Decree is very imperfect: and this is decretive of certain blessings out of supreme and sovereign liberty; and to this as a flower of its Crown, it appertains to define all persons as well as blessings. Wherefore, in Election, not only Grace and Glory, but the very individual persons, who shall have and receive the same, are punctually designed. In Heaven there are many Mansions, and the Elect Vessels must fill them up; or else there might be a Vacuum in that blessed place: Wherefore p. 45those Elect Vessels are all numbred in God's Decree.

2. These certain individual persons are considered as lying in the Mass of perdition: this (as I conceive) is most congruous to Scripture. There Election is stiled Voluntas miserendi, a will of shewing mercy, Rom. …. 18. and the Elect are called vessels of mercy, Rom. 9. 23. there we are said to be chosen in Christ, and chosen that we should be holy, Eph. 1. 4. there we are said to be appointed to obtain salvation, and that in and by Jesus Christ, 1 Thes. 5. 9. But if God electing did not consider men as sinners lying in the corrupt mass, what need was there of Mercy where there was no misery? What room for a Christ, a Mediator, where there was no Transgressor? Why should Holiness be designed, which was yet in being and unforfeited? Why should Salvation be appointed, when as yet there was none lost, or in the state of perdition? Wherefore I conceive, that in Election Men are considered as sinners lying in an undone condition; such only are objects capable for Mercy to embrace, Christ to redeem, Holiness to sanctifie, and Salvation to crown. The Remonstrants assert, that Men in Election are considered p. 46not merely as Sinners, but as Believers; but the Scripture doth pregnantly contradict them: for Predestination is set before Vocation, Rom. 8. 30. and yet Vocation goes before Faith. Christ calls the Elect his sheep, before their bringing home, Joh. 10. 16. and yet that bringing goes before believing. Again, Christ tells us, Thine they were, and thou gavest them me, Joh. 17. 6. which passage, if compared with that other, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, Joh. 6. 37. doth evidently point out to us the true Method of these things: Election, imported in that phrase [thine they were] is antecedent to giving, and giving to coming or believing. Whence it appears clearly, that Faith is not antecedent to Election as a Condition prerequisite in its object, but consequent thereunto, as a stream flowing out of its fountain. Wherefore I conclude, that in Election men are considered not as Believers, but as Sinners.

4. What is the impulsive Cause of Election? I answer, There is no other impulsive Cause but his own good pleasure. It was the saying of Plato, That the first Mover moves himself. God in the volition of himself, doth as it were move himself; p. 47the divine Essence, as volent, being ravished with it self as infinite Goodness. But in other volitions he moves other things, himself remaining unmoveable. Learned Bradwardine distinguishes the objects of God's Will into Volita priora & posteriora; priora ut Deum esse, posteriora ut Mundum esse: Volita priora sunt aliqua causa divinae volitionis, volita autem posteriora nonsunt causa ejus; Voluntas Dei cst causa omnium posteriorum: si ergo aliquid esset causa Volitionis divinae, illud esset causa sui ipsius. But to speak in particular; the Decree of Election hath no other Cause but the divine pleasure only. This is evident in Scripture; we are predestinated according to the good pleasure of his will, Eph. 1. Ver. 5. To the praise of the glory of his grace, Ver. 6. According to the purpose of him who worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will, Ver. 11. If we ask, why God will call a Church out of the common Mass, Samuel will tell us, It hath pleased the Lord to make him a people, 1 Sam. 12. 22. But if we ask, why it pleased him so to do, Moses will tell us, God loves his people because he loves them, Deut. 7. 8. When God will set forth the Self-beingness of his Essence, he stiles himself p. 48by that wonderful Name, I am that I am. When he will magnifie the Selfmovingness of his Grace, he gives a wonderful Reason, I love because I love. God is an immense Sea of Being and Love; let the Elect vessels sail by the Plerophories of Faith and holy Contemplation, as far as they can, still there will be a boundless Sea of Being and Love before them. He that will presume to spie out the Cause of either of these, must first pass over Immensity, and through Eternity. When Moses desired to see God's Glory, God proclaims the absolute sovereignty of his Will, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. Methinks these words, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, import a perfect Absoluteness and Incausability in Gods Will; even as that Name, I am that I am, imports a perfect absoluteness and Incausability in God's Essence. Some have grounded Election on good Works foreseen; but this is utterly exploded by the Apostle, who tells us, that God hath saved and called us, not according to our works, but his own purpose, 2 Tim. 1. 9. and that there is a remnant according to the election of grace, and if it be by grace, it is no more of works; otherwise grace is no p. 49more grace, Rom. 11. 5. Canaan, the land of Promise and type of Glory, was divided by Lot, and suitably the Apostle saith, that foreign, we inherit by lot, Eph. 1. 11. Now in the disposal of a Lot, what reason or cause can be assigned, exparte creaturae? Is not the whole disposing thereof of the Lord, Prov. 16. 33? Can any thing in the World hang more purely on the Will of God than a Lot? Why have such and such Worms a lot in light, and not in utter darkness? The Apostle answers in that place, foreign, Predestination lots them in, the Lord shews whom he hath chosen by giving Grace and Glory, according to his good pleasure. When Ahasuerus could not rest, he calls for the Records, and reading there of Mordecai's service, he thereupon resolves to honour him, Esth. 6. this was done like a man: But it is not so with God, who doth not honour after the manner of men, 2 Sam. 7. 19. but in a way becoming his glorious sovereignty and bounty, he purposes in himself, Eph. 1. 9. Perinde valet (saith Calvin) ac si diceretur, nihil extra se considerâsse, cujus rationem in decernendo haberet; he rests in his love, Zeph. 3. 17. and unless that complacential p. 50rest, which he takes in his own Will, could be broken, we cannot imagine, that he should fall a searching the Records of his Prescience; and for the good Works written therein, make a Decree of Election unto glory; for such an Election would not be an Election of grace but of works; and the Elect Vessels would be vasa Meritorum, and not vasa Misericordiae. But where is the holiness and obedience of the Saints recorded, but in the very Decree of Election? Therein God doth not only chuse men to glory, as the end, but also unto saith and holiness, as the way leading thereunto. God hath chosen us that we should be holy, Eph. 1. 4. Non quia futuri eramus, sed ut essemus sancti. I have chosen you (saith Christ) that you should go and bring forth fruit, Joh. 15. 16. and happy are ye if you do these things, saith he, Joh. 13. 17. But would all the Apostles bring forth fruit? would they all do so and be happy? Our Saviour answers plainly, Ver. 8. I speak not of you all, I know whom I have chosen. He speaks not of Election to the Apostleship, but of Election to Grace and Glory; for it is such an Election as shuts Judas out of the number. Neither doth he say, I p. 51know which of you will be holy and obedient, but I know whom I have chosen, because all the holiness and obedience of the Saints is built upon free Election. Inter gratiam & praedestinationem hoc tantùm interest (saith De Prad. Cap. 10.St. Austin) quòd praedestinatio est gratiae praeparatio, gratia verò est ipsa donatio. Quod ait Apostolus, Ipsius sumus figmentum creati in Christo Jesu in operibus bonis, gratia est; quod autem sequitur, quae praeparavit Deus ut in illis ambulemus, praedestinatio est. Si propriè appellentur (saith St. Bernard) ea quae dicimus nostra merita, sunt quaedam spei seminaria, De Grat. & Liber. Arbitr.charitatis incentiva, occultae praedestinationis indicia, futurae foelicitatis praesagia, via regni, non causa regnandi.

Others build Election on foreseen Faith and Perseverance, as if these were the moving Causes, or at least the antecedent Conditions thereof. Thus the Remonstrants, herein outstripping the Jesuits themselves. Praedestinatio, (saith Ruiz.) tota est ex voluntate De Praed. Disp. 15.Dei, & quantùm ad merita, & quantùm ad retributionem. And in another place; Deus dat ut velimus, facitque p. 52ut faciamus, and withal gives an instance in Faith and Perseverance. Bellarmine spends some Chapters in proving this Thesis, Praedestinationis De Grat. & Lib. Arb. Li. 2.nulla est causa in nobis: Electio (saith he) non pendet ex ulla praevisione operum nostrorum, sed ex mero beneplacito Dei. Si spectes (saith Gregory de Valentia) praedestinationis rationem, nihil est De Praed. cap. 1.in praedestinato, sed potius in ipso Deo; imò est ipse Deus, à quo (quae sua est infinita perfectio) nulla ejus operatio reipsâ distinguitur. And, Praedestinationi sunt ascribenda omnia Dei dona quibus salus nostra continetur. Deus suos electos (saith Suarez) ante praevisa Opusc. 346.merita suâ gratuitâ voluntate elegit, non tantùm ad unum vel aliud beneficium gratiae, sed ad totam seriem Mediorum, quibus infallibiliter perducuntur ad regnum. And again, Electio non est ex praescientia perseverantiae futurae, sed est origo illius. Who can but blush at these passages, wherein the Jesuits themselves attribute more to free Grace, than the Remonstrants? But for the thing it self; the very same Scriptures, which overthrow Election as founded on foreseen Works, do overthrow p. 53it as founded on foreseen Faith. That place, Rom. 11. 5. is very pregnant against it; There is (saith the Apostle) a remnant according to the Election of grace: the reservation there spoken of is not man's act but God's, foreign, saith the holy Oracle, Ver. 4. Non dixit (saith Austin) relicta sunt mihi, aut reliquerunt se mihi, sed reliqui mihi. The word in the Old Testament is very emphatical foreign faciam remanere, I will cause or make to remain, 1 Kings 19. 18. And how doth God reserve or make men to remain unto himself? how, but by giving of Faith unto them? This is that which puts them into the Ark of Salvation, neither is there any other way of reserve found in the Gospel. Now this reservation (which imports in it the giving of Faith) is (saith the Apostle) according to the Election of grace: Election therefore is not according to Faith, but Faith according to Election. But as if the Apostle had not yet spoken enough in calling it the Election of grace, he goes on, and if by grace, then it is no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace; where he doth include Faith within the word [works.] Indeed in other places treating p. 54of Justification, he opposes Faith to Works, but here speaking of Election he includes Faith within them; and the reason is evident, Faith hath a peculiar Organicalness or Receptivity to receive the free Grace of God, that the Believer may be justified, Gal. 2. 16. but it hath no Organicalness or Receptivity to receive the free Grace of God, that the Believer may be elected: Wherefore, as to Justification it is opposed to Works, but as to Election it is included within them. It is written in the Gospel, Believe and thou shalt be justified; but in what Gospel is it written, Believe and thou shalt be elected? Now that Election is not bottomed on foreseen Faith and Perseverance, I shall demonstrate divers ways.

1. From the glory of Election, which breaks forth in its Eternity, Sovereignty, Grace and Efficacy. If Election be founded on foreseen Faith and Perseverance, where is the Eternity of it? No man, according to the Remonstrants Doctrine, is completely Elect until he believe, nay, not until the last instant of Perseverance, wherein he ceases to believe. But if this may be salved by the Divine Prescience, yet where is the Sovereignty of it? Hath p. 55not the Potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel to honour, and another to dishonour, Rom. 9. 21? To order different Vessels out of the same lump to different ends is glorious power; but to sever out Believers from Unbelievers is not so much power as skill. Whether God in Predestination look on men in statu integro, or in statu lapso, it is out of the same lump still; but if he elect out of foreseen Faith, it is not out of the same lump with the unbelieving World; for he looks on them in statu reparato. To elect out of skill, according to the goodness of the object, becomes a Rational Creature; but to elect out of Sovereignty and supreme Liberty becomes the great God, who can make and meliorate the object as he pleaseth. But if this also might be satisfied, yet where is the Grace of it? If God do but eligere eligentes, if Man's Faith be earlier than God's Grace, then we chuse God before he chuseth us, contrary to that of our Saviour, Joh. 15. 16. then we loved God before he loved us, contrary to that of the Apostle, 1 Joh. 4. 19. To love, as moved by the attractive goodness of the Object, is to love like a man; but to love Blackamores, & then give p. 56them beauty; to love enemies, and then overcome them with love, is to love like God, whose Grace is pure Grace, whose Love is all from himself; which is emphatically implied in that remarkable reduplication, Mark 13. 20. The elect whom he hath chosen; as if our Saviour should have said, In Election there is nothing but pure Election; like that speech of God, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, in which there is nothing but Will and Grace, Will and Grace doubled, as the only reason of it self. But if all the rest might consist, yet where is the Efficacy of it? If Election be founded on foreseen Faith and Perseverance, then it affords no help at all to any man in the way to Heaven. How can that (saith a Learned Bishop) be the cause leading infallibly in the way to Eternal Life, which cometh not so much as into consideration, untill a man have run out his race in Faith and Godliness, and be arrived at Heavens Gates? Such a falsly named Predestination might more truly be called Postdestination: but call it as they please, it enacteth only, per modum legis, that men thus living and dying shall be received into Heaven; but it doth not, per p. 57modum decreti operantis, infallibly work those Graces whereby men are brought unto Heaven. If Election take its rise from the last gasp of persevering Faith and Holiness, then how came the poor Church by the Chain of Graces on her neck, the Bracelets on her hands, the Crown of Gold on her head? Whence had she her fine Linnen, Wedding-garment, Gold tried in the fire? These are not Natures Riches, but Pearls of Grace; common Providence gives no such gifts; wherefore they are the love-tokens of Election, sent indeed in time unto the Church, but prepared for her in Eternity. O how much better were it that the Sun should be snatched out of the World, than that the Influences of electing Love should be suspended from the Church! All her light and life, holiness and comfort comes down from God in these precious Beams. But the Remonstrants (instead of these heavenly influences) have framed such an Election, as hath no more influence on the Faith and Holiness of the Church, than a Sun set up at Domesday would have upon the World that was before it: it is so far from working, that it presupposes all the Faith and Holiness of the Church, p. 58even to the last minute of Perseverance.

2. 'Tis evident from the Predestination of Jesus Christ, who was God's chosen servant, Matth. 12. 18. The Lamb foreordained, 1 Pet. 1. 20. and (as St. Austin stiles him) Praeolarissimum lumen praedestinationis & gratiae, he was, as man, predestinated unto the superlative glory of the Hypostatical Union; and this high Predestination was not out of any foreseen holiness in his Humane nature, for all that did flow out of the Hypostatical Union, but it was ex mera gratia. Respondeatur quaeso, (saith the same Father) ille homo, ut à Verbo patri coaeterno in unitatem personae assumptus silius Dei unigenitus esset, unde hoc meruerit? quid egit De Prad. Sanct. cap. 15,ante? quid credidit? quid petivit, ut ad hanc ineffabilem excellentiam perveniret? Nonne faciente & suscipiente verbo ipse homo, ex quo esse coepit, silius Dei unicus esse coepit? Nonne filium Dei unicum foemina illa gratiâ plena concepit? Nonne de Spiritu sancto & virgine Mariâ Dei filius unicus natus, non carnis cupidine, sed singulari Dei munere? Respondeat hic homo Deo, si audeat, & dicat, Cur non & ego? & si audierit, O homo! p. 59tu quis es qui respondeas Deo? nec sic cohibeat, sed augeat impudentiam, & dicat, Quomodo audio, tu quis es, O homo! cùm sim quod audio, id est, homo, quod est & ille de quo ago, cur non sim quod & ille? At enim gratiâ ille talis & tantus est, cur diversa est gratia, ubi natura communisest? Certè non est acceptio personarum apud Deum. Quis non dico Christianus sed insanus haec dicat? Apparuit it aque nobis in nostro capite ipse fons gratiae, unde secundùm uninscujusque mensuram se per cuncta ejus membra diffundit; sicut est praedestinatus ille unus ut caput nostrum esset, it a multi praedestinati sumus ut membra ejus essemus. Humana hîc merita conticescant, quae perierunt per Adam, & regnet quae regnat Dei gratia per Jesum Christum. Surely the Members must not be set above the Head. The Members were not elected to the beatifical vision out of foreseen Faith and Perseverance, when the Head was elected to the Hypostatical Union out of mere Grace. The elect Stones in Zion were not laid for their orient lustre and beauty, when the precious Corner-stone (who bears up all the building) was laid with a Behold, in a wonder of Grace and Love.

3. 'Tis utterly impossible that Faith p. 60and Perseverance should be the causes or antecedents to Election, when these are the fruits and effects thereof. If we search the Scripture for the Well-head of these, we shall find it to be in the Decree of Election. Therefore when the Apostle blesses God for the work of Faith in the Thessalonians, he elevates his praises as high as Election it self, knowing brethren beloved your Election of God, 1 Thess. 1. 4. And in the very same strain of praise, blessing God for blessing the Ephesians with all spiritual blessings in Christ, (amongst which Faith cannot but be a prime blessing) he sets forth the eternal Rule of dispensing them, he hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings, foreign, according as he hath chosen us, Eph. 1. 3, and 4. Where it is plain, that those whom God blesseth with Faith and Perseverance, he chuseth unto Faith and Perseverance, because he blesses according as he chuses. The Remonstrants strangely interpret these words, he hath chosen us in Christ, that is, say they, being in him in the divine Prescience. But this Interpretation cannot stand; the Apostle saith not, he hath chosen us foreign, or foreign, but he hath chosen us foreign, in him, that is, p. 61in Christ; now where in all the Scripture do the words [in Christ] import our being in Christ in the divine Prescience? The words [in Christ] in such Scriptures as relate to Justification or Adoption, do import our being in Christ by actual Faith; but in such Scriptures as relate to Election, they do import that all the Grace and Glory, prepared in Election, is conferred in and through Christ: this appears in that famous place, 2 Tim. 1. 9. Who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began: here the words [in Christ] relating to Election, do not import our being in Christ; for the Text saith, that he called us according to his Grace given us in Christ, and Calling goes before Faith or being in Christ, and is the immediate cause or fountain thereof: but they import that Vocation and Salvation, with all the blessings thereof, are communicated unto us in and through Christ, and that the eternal Decree or Design was so to communicate them. Neither doth the Apostle simply say, he hath chosen us in him, but he hath chosen us in him p. 62foreign, that we should be holy; thereby pointing out unto us Christ as the designed Fountain of all the holiness in the Elect. Moreover, the Apostle saith, that he hath chosen us in him, that we should be holy, and Faith is a choice part of holiness; and that he hath blessed us in him with all spiritual blessings, and Faith is a prime spiritual blessing; and that he hath blessed us according as he hath chosen us, and therefore he chuses us to Faith as well as blesses us with Faith: but if he chuse us for Faith, and bless us with Faith, he doth not bless us according as he chuses us. By all which it appears that the Remonstrants Interpretation is an Arrow shot besides the Text. But to go on to other Scriptures; Blessed is the man (saith the Psalmist, Psal. 65. 4.) whom thou chusest and causest to approach unto thee; and what approach can a sinful worm have to the holy one, what but by the Faith of Christ? and whence is this approach but from God and God electing? He chuseth and causeth to approach unto him. If Faith were antecedent to Election, the approach must have been before the chusing, the contrary whereof appears in the Text. As many as were ordained to eternal life, believed, p. 63Acts 13. 48. The Apostle saith not as many as believed were ordained to Eternal Life, but as many as were ordained to Eternal life believed. But here the Remonstrants tell us, that in the Text 'tis not foreign but foreign, and that imports not God's eternal preordination, but man's present condition or disposition; so that the meaning is, as many as were disposed or well-affected to Eternal Life, believed. Should it (say they) import God's preordination, then all of that Assembly (which were elected) did believe at that one Sermon, and all the rest were absolutely reprobated; for the [foreign] in the Text is an universal particle: now that all the Elect of that Assembly did believe that day, or that all the rest were Reprobates, is not imaginable. I answer; first, as to the word foreign, the import thereof will best appear by taking notice in what sence St. Luke doth use this word, in the Book of the Acts, Acts 15. 2. foreign, They decreed or appointed that Paul should go up. Acts 28. 23. foreign, having appointed him a day. Acts 22. 10. God promises Paul that it should be told him of all things foreign, which are appointed or ordained for him to do; and p. 64what these were Ananias sets forth by foreign, God hath chosen thee to such and such things, Ver. 14. Now in all these places of the Acts, the word signifying appointing or ordaining, why should it be taken otherwise in this controverted Text? Nay, where in all the Scripture doth this word import an inward quality or disposition? In that place (which seems most of any to speak that way) foreign, they addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints, 1 Cor. 16. 15. there this word imports no less than a certain purpose of mind in them to do that work. Wherefore I conceive that the foreign, in the Text, doth import an ordination, and that of God: neither doth the absence of foreign at all hinder it; for the foreign, Acts 2. 23. doth without a foreign import God's eternal counsel, and the foreign designs an antecedent ordination, and that ordination must be God's; unless (which is the grossest Pelagianism) it be said that they were ordained by themselves to Eternal life. But to pass over the word; the Remonstrants take the Text thus, As many as were disposed to Eternal Life, believed: but can a man without Faith, who neither p. 65lays hold on Christ the Prince of life, nor yet hath any thing of the Spirit of life, can such a man be disposed to Eternal life? Every disposition to Eternal life must be such, either because it hath some intrinsecal dignity meriting Eternal life, or else because it hath some Evangelical congruity, to which Eternal life is annexed by Promise. As to the former, the Remonstrants as Protestants cannot own it; and as to the latter, they cannot in all the Gospel shew forth one Promise of Eternal life made to a man void of Faith; and how then can a man void of Faith be disposed to Eternal life? But if he could, the Remonstrants of all others must not say so, for they assert that none but a Believer can be the object of Election; because (say they) God cannot will Eternal life to any but to a Believer, to a man in Christ; and how then can an Unbeliever, a man out of Christ be disposed to Eternal life? Such a mans disposition to Eternal life, if it be not such by its meriting condignity, must be such divinâ ordinatione; and if so, what is that but to say, this is the man to whom God wills Eternal life; and if before Faith God may will Eternal life to him, why p. 66may not he before Faith elect him? Again; This disposition to Eternal life must be either some moral Virtuousness, or else some better Grace of the Spirit; if but a moral Virtuousness, how can it dispose to Eternal life? if a better Grace of the Spirit, how can it precede such a Mother-grace as Faith? But let us hear how the Remonstrants paint out this disposition in words of Scripture. These disposed ones (say they) are the sheep of Christ, Joh. 10. 4. the drawn of the Father, Joh. 6. 44. such as do the truth, Joh. 3. 21. such as will do God's will, Joh. 7. 17. such as have honest and humble hearts, apt and idoneous to embrace the Gospel. But what a perplexed Labyrinth of words is here? To be the sheep of Christ, argues a being in the state of Election, which is antecedent to all good dispositions in us; they are called sheep before their bringing home to God, Joh. 10. 16. and their bringing home goes before all gracious dispositions. The Fathers drawing imports God's action, and not man's disposition; the doing of the Truth is man's action, and not his disposition; the willing to do God's will is a gracious disposition, but such as goes not before Faith. p. 67Indeed the young man (who yet had no true Faith) had some kind of will to walk in God's Commandments, Mark 10. 20. but it was not of the true stamp; but with a reserve of his darling Covetousness. To have a right Will to do God's Will is to be one spirit with the Lord, which without Faith is unimaginable. 'Tis not to be conceived that an heart can indeed be either honest to God, which is not purified by Faith, or humble before him, which is not irradiated by Faith. As for the last objection, That if these words import God's Preordination, then all the Elect of that Assembly did believe at that one Sermon, and all the rest were reprobated, it is built upon two false hypotheses; The one as if the Evangelist spake only of one Sermon, whenas the Apostle had now preached two Sabbath-days there; so that these words are most properly to be understood of the continued success of the Gospel, according to that, Acts 2. 47. The Lord daily added to the Church such as should be saved; which continued success is also hinted out in the foreign, immediately following after the words, Ver. 49. The other as if the word [foreign] were always an universal Particle; p. 68whenas in some Scriptures, as Acts 4. 6. it doth not design universality, (for all the High Priest's kindred were not at that meeting) but quality: also in the Text in question, the foreign rather points out the condition of Believers than their number. Wherefore I conclude, that this famous Text holds out such an Eternal Preordination of God, as is the very Wellhead of Faith in men. Every Believer is an Isaac, a child of Promise, wonderfully begotten, begotten of God's own will, saith St. James, Chap. 1. 18. and begotten according to his abundant mercy, saith St. Peter, 1 Pet. 1. 3. And what is this Will and Mercy but God's gratuitous design of Grace and Glory to his Elect? The Will in St. James is such a Will as designs Grace and Consecration to God in holiness, even as the first fruits were holy; and the Mercy in St. Peter is such a Mercy as designs Glory, even an incorruptible and undefiled Inheritance in Heaven: and both places demonstrate that the Believer is generated out of Electing Love. And as Faith is an effect of Election, so also is Perseverance, which is no other than Fides continuata, Faith standing in the power of God, 1 Cor. 2. 5. and fulfilled by p. 69the same power, 2 Thess. 1. 11. God (saith the Apostle) shall confirm you unto the end, 1 Cor. 1. 8. and as a Reason, he subjoyns, God is faithful, Ver. 9. Faithful, as in his gracious Promises, so in his gratuitous Election; therefore he confirms his own unto the end. There are Rivers of living Water in the Godly, but the eternal Spring thereof is Election; there is the Seed of God in them, but the vital Root of it is Election. Hence the false Christs and false Prophets cannot seduce them, Mark 13. 22. The canker of Hymenaeus and Philetus cannot eat into them, 2 Tim. 2. 19. Now if Faith and Perseverance are the fruits of Election, they cannot be the causes or antecedents thereof. Let me shut up this Reason with that of Fulgentius: Deus praedestinatione suâ & donum illuminationis ad credendum, & donum perseveraniiae ad proficiendum & permanendum, & donum glorificationis ad regnandum, quibus dare voluit, praeparavit; nec aliter persicit in opere, quàm in sua sempiterna & incommutabili voluntate habet dispositum.

4. My last Reason shall be taken from the grand Scope and Design of the Scriptures, which is to exalt God and abase the Creature. There God's glory is revealed, p. 70and all flesh is but grass; there God is all in all, and all men are nothing; the willer and runner are nothing, and Gods mercy is all; the planter and waterer are nothing, and Gods giving the encrease is all. There all men lie very low in a Dungeon of Darkness, Grave of Sin, and miserable Chains of Hardness and Unbelief; and God sits very high, and out of the sovereign Self-motion of his own Will, shines into one Heart and not into another; opens one Grave and not another; frees one spiritual Prisoner and not another. There Zions dust, I mean the Creatureweakness, and defectibility of the Church and all her inherent Graces, appear on the one hand, and the sureness of God's Mercy, and the everlasting immutability of his Love and Counsel shines forth on the other: and what's the meaning of all this, but to cut off boasting and stain pride, abase the Creature and exalt God? In nullo nobis gloriandum quando nostrum nihil est. But if (as the Remonstrants assert) Election be built on Faith and Perseverance, and this Faith and Perseverance be wrought by God in a superable way only, so as men may believe or not, or believing, may persevere or not; p. 71then the Crown is plucked off from Free Grace and clapt upon Free Will; God is dethroned and man is exalted, and so may fall a boasting in some such language as that of Theophylact; 'Tis God's part to call, but mine to be elect or not; 'tis God's part to reveal Gospel, but mine either to believe and persevere, and so found the Decree of Election, or else not to believe and persevere, and so to impede it. And if, to silence such swelling words of vanity, God should put forth such astonishing questions to him about the Spiritual World, as he did to Job about the Natural, yet might man return an answer to his Maker. Should God ask, Where wast thou when I laid the foundation of my Church in my divine Decrees? when I laid the measures of her Graces in my Eternal purpose? Man may say, My Faith was there stretching out the Line, and fastning the Corner-stone of Election. Should he ask, Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Predestination, that it shall not cause a Spring of Faith and Holiness in my Church? Man may say, I can so bind them up, that (if I please) God shall have never an Elect Vessel to fill with Mercy, nor Christ any where to lay his Merits p. 72among all the sons of men. Should he yet ask, Who hath known the mind of the Lord, or been his Counseller? Man may answer, My Free Will was consulted with from time to time, even to the last gasp of Perseverance, before the Decree of Election was concluded in Heaven. Should he ask on, Who made thee to differ from another? The Believer may answer, Adam did not difference me, for he left me in the common Mass; neither did God difference me, for he gave me only the Common Grace: but I my self have made the difference, by freely embracing the very same Grace which others freely rejected. In a word; should he expostulate with his Church as with Jerusalem, Ezek. 15. 2, 3. What is the vine-tree more than any tree? Will men take a pin of it to hang a vessel thereon? The Church may answer, My own Free Will is such a pin, that my Faith and Perseverance chiefly hang upon it, and my Faith & Perseverance are such pins, that God himself hangs up the eternal Rolls of his Election upon them. Thus and much more may the Will of man by the Remonstrants Principles, sit as a Queen glorifying her self, and opening her mouth in Blasphemies against the Sovereignty of God's Will, and the freeness p. 73and power of his Grace. But all this while a deaf Ear is turned to the Scriptures, which cry aloud, No flesh must glory in it self; he that glorieth must glory in the Lord; 'tis not of the runner or willer, but of God who sheweth mercy; he hath mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardneth: And if any man reply to this, he must hear his own nullity; Nay but O man who art thou? and God's sovereignty, hath not the potter power over the clay? that so he may fall down astonied at the Glory of God, and cry out, foreign, Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! Indeed according to the Remonstrants Doctrine (which bottoms God's Election on mans Faith and Perseverance) there is no foreign at all in it, all is ultimately resolved into the shallow Will of man; there is no unsearchableness or untraceable difficulty at all in it, all is plain and easie, every jot of it carries a clearness and visible equity. Election being only God's Decree to save Believers, there is no more scruple or intricacy in it, than there will be in the Judicial proceeding at the last Judgment, p. 74when all things shall be as obvious to every eye, as if they were represented in a Sea of Glass. But if, according to the Apostles Scope, we do consider the absolute Sovereignty of God's Will in that Expression, He will have mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardneth, there is a very glorious abyss in it, such as may justly astonish us into eternal admiration. Oh the heights and depths of divine Love! All the Elect of God may here lose themselves in holy Mazes and trances, My God! my God! (may every one of them say) Why hast thou chosen me? I know, and not without wondring, that Heaven is mine through Christ, and Christ is mine through Faith, and Faith is mine through the Election of Grace: but my God! my God! why hast thou chosen me? I know that thy blood was shed for me, and thy Spirit is shed into me, and thy Glory is reserved for me; and all this out of love: but my God! my God! why hast thou loved me? Oh that I could adore Calling, Justifying, Glorifying Grace, from the top of Predestination! Thou hast loved me because thou hast loved me; thou hast chosen me because thou hast p. 75chosen me: Even so (holy Father!) because so it seemeth good in thy sight.

5. Having dispatched the Impulsive Cause of Election, I proceed to the last thing, viz. in whom God doth Elect us; I answer with the Apostle, God chuseth us in Christ, Eph. 1. 4. But because these words are variously taken, it is to be considered how Christ may be stiled the purchaser of Election; whether only quoad res in Electione volitas & praeparatas, or also quoad actum volentis: to which I answer.

1. Affirmatively; Jesus Christ as Godman our glorious Mediator did purchase Election, quoad res in Electione volitas. All the Churches Grace and Glory, Sanctity and Salvation, Faith and Fruition must sing Hosannahs and Hallelujahs to him, whose precious Blood (more worth than a thousand Worlds) is the glorious price of all these. God, in the Decree of Election, did not only design the communication of these to his own Elect, but also he did design that communication to be in and through Christ.

2. Negatively; I conceive that Jesus Christ as God-man our Mediator did not purchase Election, quoad actum volentis: p. 76and that for these Reasons.

1. That phrase [chosen in Christ, Eph. 1. 4.] doth not evince Christ to be the Cause of Election; for in another place we are said to be chosen to Salvation foreign, in the sanctification of the Spirit, 2 Thess. 2. 13. Which sanctification is for all that not a Cause but an Effect of Election.

2. Christ was delivered up to death foreign, by the determinate counsel of God, Acts 2. 23. First, he was delivered foreign, by a Counsel or Decree of God; and if being delivered by God's Decree, he merited the Decree of Election, then God made one Decree, that Christ should come and merit the making of another. Christ our Mediator stands in the midst between God and man; but that he should stand so between the two Decrees of God, as a fruit of the one and a cause of the other, seems very incongruous. But further, he was delivered foreign, by the determinate counsel of God, that is, by a Decree perfectly designative of his Death and the fruits thereof, and in a special manner perfectly designative of those individual persons, who should have Grace and Glory in and through him. If p. 77it be not so perfectly designative, how is it a determinate Counsel? If it be so perfectly designative, is not the Decree of Election at least included therein? Undoubtedly it is. Now this determinate Counsel (which is inclusive of the Decree of Election) was not merited by Christ; for he was delivered by it, and did not merit that by which he was delivered.

3. Christ came to do his Fathers will, Heb. 10. 7. all that he did and suffered was a faithfulness foreign, to him that made him a Mediator to do and suffer the same, Heb. 3. 2. Now aliud est facere voluntatem Deo, aliud facere voluntatem Dei. Christ did not make a new Will in God, but do the Will of God: if he had made a new Will in God, then at his death there was not only a passion in the flesh of God, but (as it may seem) in the very Will of God too; wherefore he not making a new will in God, did not merit the Decree of Election. But further; how did he do the Will of God? Did he not do it by laying down his life for his sheep, Joh. 10. 15? By redeeming a people out of every nation, Revel. 5. 9? By purifying to himself a peculiar people, Tit. 2. 14? By bringing many sons unto glory, Heb. 2. 10? p. 78And what is all this but the executing of the Decree of Election? And if Christ's errand into the World was to execute Election, then how did he merit it?

4. God might have exacted satisfaction from poor sinners in their own persons, he was not bound to accept payment from another; wherefore Christ's Blood and Righteousness are meritorious as for us, not merely by their intrinsecal dignity, but by the divine acceptation; God receiving them as on our behalf. Whence it clearly appears that the divine Will doth guide the Merit of Christ in all its procurements; and how then doth the Merit of Christ guide the divine Will in its eternal Election? Can it guide its Guide? Can it go before its Leader? Surely that divine Will which goes before those meritorious procurements by its Acceptation, doth not follow after them in its eternal Decrees.

5. The Father is the first Person in the sacred Trinity, and works from himself; the Son is the second and works from the Father. Thus he tells us, that he can do nothing of himself but what he seeth the Father do, Joh. 5. 19. And in his Prayer to his Father, he saith; Thine they were p. 79and thou gavest them me, Joh. 17. 6. Thine they were by Election, and thou gavest them me, as the peculiar purchase of my Passion. But now if Christ by his Merits do found the very Decree of Election, is not the Order of working in the sacred Trinity inverted? Is not the Son the first Origine of our Salvation? Doth not the Father, even in his Eternal Election, work from the Son? Might not the Scripture rather have said, that the Elect were given by the Son to the Father, than by the Father to the Son? Wherefore to me it seems most congruous to say, That the Fathers Love laid the first plot of our Salvation, and then the Sons Blood purchased Grace and Glory for us.

I shall shut up all with an Answer to an Objection. This Thesis [that Christ did not merit the Decree of Election] seems to abase Christ, as if he were a mere medium for the executing of Election; nay, to nullifie his Merits; for it supposes, that God doth amare peccatores ad salutem etiam extra Christum, that God doth destinate eternal Life to them, even without a Mediator; and then what necessity is there at all of Christ's Merits?

p. 80I answer: Far be it from every Christian to abase and nullifie the Merits of Christ; but (as I take it) the Thesis aforesaid doth neither of these. Not abase Christ as a mere medium under the Decree of Election: for though he merited not the Decree of Election, yet must his praise be ever glorious, and his Name above every name; in that he is both the glorious Head of the Elect, and the meritorious Fountain of all the blessings and good things of Election. In Eternity the Elect are predestinated to be conformed to his Image, as the first-born of all, and in time they are called, justified, sanctified and glorified in and through him, as the purchaser of all. Neither doth he vilifie Christ, who calls him the grand Medium for the executing of Election: the Apostle cries up Christ by those glorious Titles, The head of the Church, the beginning, the first-born from the dead, one who hath the primacy or preeminence in all things, Col. 1. 18. yet immediatly after puts all under the Father's foreign, Ver. 19. His Decree or good pleasure did preordain and direct all. Neither doth this Thesis nullifie the Merits of Christ; for these consist not in procuring the Decree of Election, but in p. 81procuring Grace and Glory; and these he procured, though not the Decree it self. Neither doth it at all follow, that, if Christ merited not the very Decree, then God doth amare peccatores ad salutem extra Christum, or destinate Eternal life to them without a Mediator. For seeing Christ is predestinated to be the Head of the Elect, and Fountain of all Grace and Glory unto them; and the Elect are predestinated to be the Body of Christ, and to receive all Grace and Glory in and through him; and both these Predestinations are simultaneous in the heart of God, and framed together in the same instant of Eternity: There is not, nor cannot be any colour at all to say, that God doth love sinners extra Christum, or destinate Eternal life to them without a Mediator. When God in free Election resolves with himself, such individual persons shall by an effectual Call be united to Christ as members of his Body, and being such, shall be washed in his blood, filled with his Spirit, and at last crowned with his everlasting Salvation; when he resolves, every grain shall come through Joseph's hands, every particle of Grace, every income of the holy Spirit, every p. 82glimpse of Divine Favour, every beam of glory in Heaven, shall pass through Jesus Christ's hands; nay, through his very Heart-blood and crucified Flesh unto the Elect, Doth he now love them extra Christum? Doth he yet destinate them to Eternal life without a Mediator? Undoubtedly he doth not. If therefore you ask me, what necessity there is of Christs merits, I must answer, That all Grace and Glory, Sanctity and Salvation, Faith and Fruition are thereby purchased and procured for the Elect. The pure fountain of Election rises of it self in the Will of God, but the gracious streams thereof issue forth through the bleeding Wounds of Christ.