The Project to save Souls, is diversly laid down by Dissenting Brethren. Some give it in thus: 1. That there should be a Mediator and Redeemer unto Mankind, considered as fallen in the State of Sin. 2. That all such should be received into Favour, as shall Repent, and Believe, and Persevere unto the End. 3. That sufficient and necessary Means of Grace should be offered and administered unto all Men without Exception. 4. That certain singular Persons should be saved, whom God fore-saw would Repent, and Believe, and Persevere. This way is justly opposed by Others, who deny God's Acts in Intention, to be in the same order as we see them in Production: In order of Material Existing, it is granted, that Christ is Revealed, Promised, and Exhibited after Sin; and that we Repent, Believe, Persevere before we are Saved: But in order of God's Intention, Christ is before Sin, and Salvation before Repentance, Faith, Perseverance. The Apostle reckoned the Order, in which Things exist, thus: 1. The World. 2. You, The Elect. 3. Christ. 14. God, 1 Cor. 3.22, 23. But he gives us to understand the Order of Intention thus: As First, God intends His own Glory, then Christ, then the Elect, then the World. Certainly, it is an hard thing to marshal the Eternal, Immanent Acts of the Divine Understanding, or Will, into First, Second, Third, Fourth: All God's Projects are like Himself,2 who is a whole and perfect Possession of Himself together and at once; so as in Him considered, there is no Prius nor Posterius in any of His acts; but considered in Effects, or in respect of us, one thing may be said to be First, Second, or Third in Nature, Time, & Being, before or after another. And thus in respect of us, we say the End must be in Nature before the Means to the End: Now the Permission of the Fall, Repentance, Faith, Perseverance, are used by God as Means to bring some to Salvation: God therefore doth first project our Salvation, and then the Means; and both the End, and the Means, are the Product of God's Election, or Predestination. Here then is the Project, That God will glorify His Grace; & to this end He will predestinate Christ, & in Christ He will choose some of the Sons of Men to Salvation; whom, 3notwithstanding Sin, He will make holy, and without blame before Him in love. This Project, or Plot, or Design of God, will be further enlarged in the next Passage, viz. His Counsels.
THe Project to save Souls, is diversly laid down by Dissenting Brethren. Some give it in thus: 1. That there should be a Mediatour and Redeemer unto Mankind, considered as fallen in the State of Sin. 2. That all such should be received into Favour, as shall Repent, and Believe, and Persevere unto the End. 3. That sufficient and necessary Means of Grace should be offered and administred unto all Men without Exception. 4. That certain singular Persons should be saved, whom God fore-saw would Repent, and Believe, and Persevere. This way is justly opposed by Others, who deny God's Acts in Intention, to be in the same order as we see them in Production: In order of Material Existing, it is granted, that Christ is Revealed, Promised, and Exhibited after Sin; and that we Repent, Believe, Persevere before we are Saved: But in order of God's Intention, Christ is before Sin, and Salvation before Repentance, Faith, Perseverance. The Apostle reckoned the Order, in which Things exist, thus: 1. The World. 2. You, The Elect. 3. Christ. 14. God, 1 Cor. 3.22, 23. But he gives us to understand the Order of Intention thus: As First, God intends His own Glory, then Christ, then the Elect, then the World. Certainly, it is an hard thing to marshal the Eternal, Immanent Acts of the Divine Understanding, or Will, into First, Second, Third, Fourth: All God's Projects are like Himself,2 who is a whole and perfect Possession of Himself together and at once; so as in Him considered, there is no Prius nor Posterius in any of His acts; but considered in Effects, or in respect of us, one thing may be said to be First, Second, or Third in Nature, Time, & Being, before or after another. And thus in respect of us, we say the End must be in Nature before the Means to the End: Now the Permission of the Fall, Repentance, Faith, Perseverance, are used by God as Means to bring some to Salvation: God therefore doth first project our Salvation, and then the Means; and both the End, and the Means, are the Product of God's Election, or Predestination. Here then is the Project, That God will glorify His Grace; & to this end He will predestinate Christ, & in Christ He will choose some of the Sons of Men to Salvation; whom, 3notwithstanding Sin, He will make holy, and without blame before Him in love. This Project, or Plot, or Design of God, will be further enlarged in the next Passage, viz. His Counsels.
- 11 Cor. 3.22, 23.
- 2Tota simul & perfecta possessio sui.
- 3Eccles. 1.4.
