A26935:65
Gods goodness vindicated for the help of such (especially in melancholy) as are tempted…
Gods goodness vindicated for the help of such (especially in melancholy) as are tempted to deny it, and think him cruel, because of the present and future misery of mankind, with respect to the doctrine of reprobation and damnation / by Richard Baxter ... ; published and prefaced by a friend at whose desire it was written, and to whom it was committed.
London: printed for N. Simmons, 1671
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
13. And if besides all the mercy that God showeth to others, he do antecedently and positively Elect certain persons, by an absolute Decree, to overcome all their resistances of his spirit, and to draw them to Christ, and by Christ to himself, by such a power and way as shall infallibly convert and save them, and not leave the success of his Mercy, and ⟨p. 83⟩his Sons preparations to the bare uncertainty of the mutable Will of depraved man, What is there in this that is injurious to any others? or that representeth God unmerciful to any, but such whose eye is evil, because he is good, and as a free Benefactor may give more mercy to some than others of equal Demerits? If they that hold no Grace but what is universal, and left, as to the success, to the will of man, as the determining cause, do think that this is well consistent with the mercifulness of God; surely they that ⟨p. 83⟩hold as much universal Grace as the former; and that indeed all have so much as bringeth and leaveth the success to mans will, and deny to no man any thing which the other give, do make God no less merciful tha• they, but more, if they moreover assert a special Decree and Grace of God, which with a chosen number shall antecedently Infallibly secure his Ends in their repentance, faith, perseverance and salvation; Is this any detraction from, or diminution of, his universal Grace? or rather a higher Demonstration ⟨p. 84⟩of his Goodness? As it is no wrong to man that God maketh Angels, more holy immutable and happy.
13. And if besides all the mercy that God sheweth to others, he do antecedently and positively Elect certain persons, by an absolute Decree, to overcome all their resistances of his spirit, and to draw them to Christ, and by Christ to himself, by such a power and way as shall infallibly convert and save them, and not leave the success of his Mercy, and