A discourse of the saving grace of God

3. They say, we Impeach the Sincerity of God, when he by his Word calls such as Perish to Repentance, that they may be Saved; and yet has Decreed no• to give them Repentance, but to Damn them: So that it is certain, (while those Invitations and Offers are made in the Word) that they shall not Repent and be Saved. This, they say, makes the Word and the Ministry of it Delusive, and no better than Simulation, making show of that to Sinners which is never intended, and which it is impossible they should have.

The ground of this Charge, is a certainty that such shall never Repent and be Saved: But their own Principles make this no less certain: For they say, God foresees from Eternity that such will never ⟨p. 116⟩Repent, and so shall never be Saved: And what he foresees (his Foreknowledge being Certain and Infallible) will as certainly come to pass, and is as impossible not to be, as that which he Decrees. Nay, they say, that the Lord, upon his Foreknowledge that such would not Repent, did Decree from Eternity to Damn them, and never Decreed to give them Repentance, nor any Grace or Aid that would effectually bring them to Repentance; no, nor any, but what he certainly foresaw would be ineffectual. So that here also they must either Justify our Doctrine, as to this Charge, or Condemn their own.

The ground of this Charge, is a certainty that such shall never Repent and be Saved: But their own Principles make this no less certain: For they say, God foresees from Eternity that such will never ⟨p. 116⟩Repent, and so shall never be Saved: And what he foresees (his Foreknowledge being Certain and Infallible) will as certainly come to pass, and is as impossible not to be, as that which he Decrees. Nay, they say, that the Lord, upon his Foreknowledge that such would not Repent, did Decree from Eternity to Damn them, and never Decreed to give them Repentance, nor any Grace or Aid that would effectually bring them to Repentance; no, nor any, but what he certainly foresaw would be ineffectual. So that here also they must either Justifie our Doctrine, as to this Charge, or Condemn their own.