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

Secondly, If so be that God did Elect and choose to Eternal Life because he did fore-see our Faith, then the whole difference of one Believer from another would be attributed solely to mans Power; For to say, That this is Gods Decree, and his Appointment, that whosoever shall believe shall be saved, doth not in the least work upon any person, no more then that Decree of God, Whosoever shall do this shall live, doth suppose any that will exactly keep the Law, so that no man in the world may believe for all this Decree; And thus when Christ prayed for those who shall believe, he might have prayed for a Non ens, a thing which might never have been; Therefore all the Question is, How come some to believe and not others? How is it that of many who live under the same means of Grace, some are called effectually, and others grow more wicked and sinful? Certainly the Scripture doth not give this unto mans Will, but to Gods free-grace and Love, as Matthew 13. To you it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God, and unto others not: Thus Christ also Matthew 11. solemnly blessed and thanked God, That he had hid these things of Heaven from the wise and prudent ones of the world, and that he had revealed them unto Babes: And the Apostle expressly, Who hath made thee to differ from another? 1 Corinth. 4.7. Therefore it's horribly injurious unto the Grace and goodness of God to say, That under the same Means of Grace I made my Self to believe, to repent rather than another: Certainly such an Opinion as this is so gross and absurd, that well may Arminianism be said not only to be repugnant to many places of Scripture, but even to the common sense and experience of all believers; They have a witness within their own breasts, That they were ⟨p. 539⟩as unwilling, as froward, as opposite to the work of Grace as any; That it was God that made them of unwilling, willing: Even as there were many others that heard Paul, yet God is said to open the heart of Lydia rather then others.

Secondly, If so be that God did Elect and choose to Eternall Life because he did fore-see our Faith, then the whole difference of one Beleever from another would be attributed solely to mans Power; For to say, That this is Gods Decree, and his Appointment, that whosoever shall beleeve shall be saved, doth not in the least work upon any person, no more then that Decree of God, Whosoever shall do this shall live, doth suppose any that will exactly keep the Law, so that no man in the world may beleeve for all this Decree; And thus when Christ prayed for those who shall beleeve, he might have praied for a Non ens, a thing which might never have been; Therefore all the Question is, How come some to beleeve and not others? How is it that of many who live under the same means of Grace, some are called effectually, and others grow more wicked and sinnefull? Certainly the Scripture doth not give this unto mans Will, but to Gods free-grace and Love, as