2. Nor could it •e any foresight of works to be done in time by them, or of Faith, that might determine God to choose them. What good could he foresee resulting from extreme corruption, and a nature alienated from him? What could he foresee of good to be done by them, but what he resolved in his own will, to bestow an ability upon them, to bring forth? His choice of them was to a Holiness, not for a Holiness preceding his determination, Eph. 1.4. He hath chosen us, that we might be Holy before him, he ordained us to good works, not for them, Eph. 2.10. What is a Fruit, cannot be a moving cause of that whereof it is a fruit. Grace is a stream from the spring of electing love; the branch is not the cause of the Root, but the Root of the Branch, nor the stream the cause of the spring, but the spring the cause of the stream. Good works suppose Grace, and a good and right habit in the person; as rational acts suppose reason. Can any man say that the rational acts man performs after his Creation, were a cause why God Created him? This would make Creation and every thing else not so much an act of his will, as an act of his Understanding. God foresaw no rational act in man, before the act of his will to give him reason; nor foresees faith in any, before the act of his will determining to give him Faith. Eph. 2.8. Faith is the gift of God. In the Salvation which grows up from this first purpose of God, he regards not the works we have done, as a principal motive to settle the top-stone of our happiness, but his own purpose, and the Grace given in Christ. 2 Timothy 1.9. Who hath saved us, and called us with a holy Calling, not according to our own works, but according to his own purpose, and Grace, which was given to us in Christ, before the World began. The honour of our Salvation cannot be challenged by our works, much less the honour of the Foundation of it. It was a pure gift of Grace without any respect to any spiritual, much less natural, perfection. Why should the Apostle mention that circumstance, when he speaks of God's loving Jacob, and hating Esau, when neither of them had done good or evil, Rom. 9.11. if there were any foresight of mens works, as the moving cause of his love or hatred?
2. Nor could it •e any foresight of works to be done in time by them, or of Faith, that might determine God to choose them. What good could he foresee resulting from extream corruption, and a nature alienated from him? What could he foresee of good to be done by them, but what he resolved in his own will, to bestow an ability upon them, to bring forth? His choice of them was to a Holiness, not for a Holiness preceding his determination, Eph. 1.4. He hath chosen us, that we might be Holy before him, he ordained us to good works, not for them, Eph. 2.10. What is a Fruit, cannot be a moving cause of that whereof it is a fruit. Grace is a stream from the spring of electing love; the branch is not the cause of the Root, but the Root of the Branch, nor the stream the cause of the spring, but the spring the cause of the stream. Good works suppose Grace, and a good and right habit in the person; as rational acts suppose reason. Can any man say that the rational acts man performs after his Creation, were a cause why God Created him? This would make Creation and every thing else not so much an act of his will, as an act of his Understanding. God foresaw no rational act in man, before the act of his will to give him reason; nor foresees faith in any, before the act of his will determining to give him Faith. Eph. 2.8. Faith is the gift of God. In the Salvation which grows up from this first purpose of God, he regards not the works we have done, as a principal motive to settle the top-stone of our happiness, but his own purpose, and the Grace given in Christ. 2 Timothy 1.9. Who hath saved us, and call'd us with a holy Calling, not according to our own works, but according to his own purpose, and Grace, which was given to us in Christ, before the World began. The honour of our Salvation cannot be challeng'd by our works, much less the honour of the Foundation of it. It was a pure gift of Grace without any respect to any spiritual, much less natural, perfection. Why should the Apostle mention that circumstance, when he speaks of God's loving Jacob, and hating Esau, when neither of them had done good or evil, Rom. 9.11. if there were any foresight of mens works, as the moving cause of his love or hatred?
