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offspring, out of that finful and miferable eftate, into which, by his primitive tranfgreffion, they were to fall" and in which fad condition they were equally involved, with thofe who were not chosen : but, being pitched upon, and fingled out, by God the Father, to be veffels of grace and falvation (not for any thing in them, that could recommend them to his favour, or entitle them to his notice, but merely because he would fhew himfelf gracious to them), they were, in time, actually redeemed by Chrift; are effectually called by his fpirit, juftified, adopted, fanctified, and preferved fafe to his heavenly kingdom. The fupreme end of this decree, is the manifeftation of his own infinitely glorious and amiably tremendous perfections: the inferior, or fubordinate end, is the happinefs and falvation of them who are thus freely elected. (4.) Predeftination, as it regards the reprobate, is "That eternal, moft holy, fovereign, and immutable act of God's will, whereby he hath determined to leave fome men to perifh in their fins, and to be juftly punished for them."

CHA P. II.

Wherein the Doctrine of Predeftination is explained, as it relates in general to All Men.

THUS much being premised, with relation to the Scripture terms commonly made ufe of in this controversy, we fhall, now, proceed to take a nearer view of this high and myfterious article. And,

particular perfons, (who, collectively, make up a very great, though precifely determinate, number) in and on whom he would make known the ineffable riches of his mercy.

I, We, with the Scriptures, affert, That there is a predeftination of fome particular perfons to life, for the praife of the glory of divine grace; and a predeftination of other particular perfons to death: which death of punishment they fhall inevitably undergo, and that juftly, on account of their fins. (1.) There is a predeftination of fome particular perfons to life. So, Mat. xx. 15. Many are called, but few chofen; i. e. the gofped revelation comes indifcriminately, to great multitudes; but few, comparatively speaking, are fpiritually and eternally the better for it and thefe few, to whom it is the favor of life unto life, are therefore favingly benefited by it, because they are the chofen, or elect of God. To the fame effect are the following paffages, among many others; Mat. xxiv. 22. For the elects fake, those days fhall be shortened. A&s xiii. 48. As many as were ordained to eternal life, believed. Rom. viii. 30. Whom he did predeftinate, them he alfo called. And, verfe 33, Who fhall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? Eph. i. 4, 5. According as he hath chofen us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we fhould be holy, &c. Having predeftinated us to the adoption of children, by Jefus Chrift, unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. 2 Tim. i. 9. Who hath faved 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, before the world began. (2.) This election of certain individuals unto eternal life, was for the praife of the glory of divine grace. This is expreffly afferted, in fo many words, by the apostle, Eph. i. 5, 6. Grace, or mere favour, was the impulfive caufe of all it was the main fpring, which fet all the inferior wheels in motion. It was an act of grace, in God, to chufe any; when he might have paffed by all it was an act of fovereign grace, to chufe this man, rather than that: when both were equally undone

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undone in themfelves, and alike obnoxious to his difpleasure. In a word, fince election is not of works, and does not proceed on the leaft regard had to any worthiness in its objects; it must be of free, unbiaffed grace: but election is not of works, Rom. xi. 5, 6. therefore, it is folely of grace. (3.) There is, on the other hand, a predefination of fome particular perfons to death. 2 Cor. iv. 3. If our gofpel be hid, it is hid to them that are loft. 1 Pet. ii. 8. Who ftumble at the word, being difobedient; whercunto also they were appointed. 2 Pet. ii. 12. Thefe, as natural brute beafts, made to be taken and destroyed. Jude ver. 4. There are certain men, crept in unawares, who were before, of old, ordained to this condemnation. Rev. xvii. 8. Whofe names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world. But of this we shall treat profeffedly, and more at large, in the fifth chapter. (4.) This future death they shall inevitably undergo: for, as God will certainly fave all, whom he wills fhould be faved; fo he will as furely condemn all, whom he wills fhall be condemned; for he is the Judge of the whole earth, whofe decree fhall ftand, and from whofe fentence there is no appeal. Hath he faid, and fhall he not make it good? hath he fpoken, and fhall it not come to país? And his decree is this; that thefe, i. e. the non-elect, who are left under the guilt of final impenitence, unbelief, and fin, fhall go away into everlafting punishment; and the righteous, i. e. thofe who, in confequence of their election in Chrift, and union to him, are juftly reputed, and really conftituted fuch, shall enter into life eternal, Mat. xxv. 46. (5.) The reprobate thall undergo this punishment juftly, and on account of their fins. Sin is the meritorious and immediate caufe of any man's damnation. condemns and punishes the non-elect, not merely as men, but as finners: and, had it pleafed the great Governor of the univerfe, to have entirely prevented

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fin from having any entrance into the world, it fhould feem as if he could not, confiftently with his known attributes, have condemned any man at all. But as all fin is properly meritorious of eternal death; and all men are finners; they, who are con demned, are condemned moft juftly; and those who are faved, are faved in a way of fovereign mercy, through the vicarious obedience and death of Chrift for them.

Now, this twofold predeftination, of fome to life, and of others to death, (if it may be called twofold, both being conftituent parts of the fame decree) cannot be denied, without likewife denying, I. most express and frequent declarations of Scripture, and, 2. the very exiftence of God: for, fince God is a being perfectly fimple, free from all accident and compofition; and yet, a will to fave fome and punish others is very often predicated of him in Scripture; and an immovable decree to do this, in confequence of his will, is likewife afcribed to him; and a perfect fore-knowledge, of the fure and certain accomplishment of what he has thus willed and decreed, is alfo attributed to him; it follows, that whoever denies this will, decree, and fore-knowledge of God, does, implicitly and virtually, deny God himfelf: fince his will, decree, and fore-knowledge, are no other than God himfelf willing and decreeing and foreknowing.

II. We affert, that God did, from eternity, decree, to make man in his own image; and alfo decreed to fuffer him to fall from that image in which he fhould be created, and, thereby, to forfeit the happiness with which he was invefted: which decree, and the confequences of it, were not limitted to Adam only; but included, and extended to, all his natural pofterity.

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Something of this was hinted already, in the ceding chapter: we fhall now I ro ced to the proof of it. And, (1.) That God d.d make man in his

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own image, is evident from Scripture, Gen. i. 27. (2.) That he decreed from eternity fo to make man, is as evident; fince, for God to do any thing without having decreed it, or fixed a previous plan in his own mind, would be a manifeft imputation on his wisdom and, if he decreed that now, or at any time, which he did not always decree, he could not be unchangeable. (3.) That man actually did fall from the divine image, and his original happinefs, is the undoubted voice of Scripture, Gen. iii. And, (4.) That he fell in confequence of the divine decree*, we prove thus: God was either willing that Adam fhould fall; or unwilling; or indifferent about it. If God was unwilling, that Adam should tranfgrefs, how came it to pass that he did? Is man ftronger, and is Satan wifer, than he that made them? Surely, no. Again; could not God, had it fo pleafed him, have hindered the tempter's accefs to paradife? or have created man, as he did the elect angels, with a will invariably determined to good only, and incapable of being biaffed to evil? or, at least, have made the grace and strength, with which he indued Adam, actually effectual to the refifting of all folicitations to fin? None, but atheifts, would anfwer thefe queftions in the negative. Surely, if God had not willed the fall, he could, and no doubt would, have prevented it: but he did not prevent it, ergo, he willed it. And, if he willed it, he certainly decreed it; for the decree of God is nothing else but the feal and ratification of his will. He does nothing, but what he decreed; and he decreed nothing, which he did not will, and both will and decree are abfolutely eternal, though the execution of both be in time. The only way, to evade the force of this reafoning, is, to fay, that "God was indifferent and unconcerned, whether man ftood or fell." But in what a fhameful, unworthy light

See this article judiciously ftated, and nervously afferted, by. Witfius, in his Oecon. 1. 1. cap. 8. f. 10-25.

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