A51839:594
XVIII sermons on the second chapter of the 2d Epistle to the Thessalonians containing…
XVIII sermons on the second chapter of the 2d Epistle to the Thessalonians containing the description, rise, growth, and fall of Antichrist : with divers cautions and arguments to establish Christians against the apostasy of the Church of Rome : very necessary for these times / by that late reverend and learned divine, Thomas Manton ...XVIII sermons on the second chapter of the 2d Epistle to the Thessalonians containing the description, rise, growth, and fall of Antichrist : with divers cautions and arguments to establish Christians against the apostacy of the Church of Rome : very necessary for these times / by that late reverend and learned divine, Thomas Manton ...
London: printed by J.D. for J. Robinson, 1679
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.
1. God's Decree is both of End and Means, for all his Purposes are executed by fit Means. He that hath chosen us to Salvation, bringeth it about by the belief of the Truth, and sanctification of the Spirit. 2 Thess. 2.13. and without Faith and Holiness no Man shall see God, and escape condemnation. God had assured Paul, That there should be no loss of any ⟨p. 317⟩Mans Life among them, except of the Ship, Acts 27.22. And yet afterwards, vers. 31. Paul telleth them, Except these abide in the Ship, ye cannot be saved. How could that Assurance given to Paul from God, and Paul's Caution to the Mariners stand together? Doth the Purpose of God, depend upon the uncertain Will and Actions of Men? I Answer, Not as a Cause, from whence it receiveth its force and strength, but as a Means, appointed also by God to the execution of his Decree. For by the same Decree God Appointeth the Event, what he will do, and the Means by which he will have it to be done: And the Lord revealing by his Word this conjunction of end and Means, there is a necessity of Duty lying upon Man to use these Means, and not to expect the End without them. God intended to save all in the Ship, and yet the Mariners must abide in the Ship; therefore what God hath joined together, let no man separate: If we separate these things, God doth not change his Counsel, but we pervert his Order to our own Destruction.
2. God that hath bidden us to believe his Promises, hath forbidden us to tempt his Providence, Mat. 4.7. Now we tempt God, when we desire him to give an extraordinary proof of his care over us, when ordinary Means will serve the turn, or be useful to us.