CXLV expository sermons upon the whole 17th chapter of the Gospel according to St.…

In the last place, It's plain from hence, That Gods Election, and so Christs dying for us, is not conditional, or upon the supposition of our believing, but our belief is the true and genuine effect of Election, and Christs death. For whereas Christ ⟨p. 535⟩here prayeth for those who shall believe; The Question may be, Whether this belief be supposed as a Condition Antecedent to Election, and Christs death, or as an absolute Effect of both; so that Christ doth not only pray for believers, but also that they may be believers? There is a great Controversy between Arminians and the Orthodox, for they say, God elected some such persons to eternal life indeed, and gave them to Christ as a Mediator, but it was upon a supposition and fore-sight, that they would believe and persevere in that faith to the end. But the Orthodox do more consonantly to the Scripture, and to the greater exaltation of Gods grace, and magnifying of Christ, affirm, That God by one single act of the same time, did elect a man both to grace and glory, both to salvation and faith: So that God did not elect us, because he foresaw we would believe, but he did elect us to believe, as well as to salvation: So that faith is not a condition, but the effect and fruit of our Election. This is a necessary truth to be proved, and therefore the next day it is to be considered; for the present I take it for granted, That those who shall believe, are such, not who by their own power shall either believe or dispose themselves to it, but who by the grace of God shall be enabled thereunto: For the present, consider the aggravation of this love of God in Christ to us before we had a being. And

In the last place, It's plain from hence, That Gods Election, and so Christs dying for us, is not conditional, or upon the supposition of our believing, but our belief is the true and genuine effect of Election, and Christs death. For whereas Christ ⟨p. 535⟩here prayeth for those who shall believe; The Question may be, Whether this belief be supposed as a Condition Antecedent to Election, and Christs death, or as an absolute Effect of both; so that Christ doth not only pray for believers, but also that they may be believers? There is a great Controversie between Arminians and the Orthodox, for they say, God elected some such persons to eternal life indeed, and gave them to Christ as a Mediatour, but it was upon a supposition and fore-sight, that they would believe and persevere in that faith to the end. But the Orthodox do more consonantly to the Scripture, and to the greater exaltation of Gods grace, and magnifying of Christ, affirm, That God by one single act of the same time, did elect a man both to grace and glory, both to salvation and faith: So that God did not elect us, because he foresaw we would believe, but he did elect us to believe, as well as to salvation: So that faith is not a condition, but the effect and fruit of our Election. This is a necessary truth to be proved, and therefore the next day it is to be considered; for the present I take it for granted, That those who shall believe, are such, not who by their own power shall either believe or dispose themselves to it, but who by the grace of God shall be inabled thereunto: For the present, consider the aggravation of this love of God in Christ to us before we had a being. And