A55305:148
The divine will considered in its eternal decrees, and holy execution of them. By…
The divine will considered in its eternal decrees, and holy execution of them. By Edward Polhill of Burwash in Sussex Esquire
London : printed, and are to be sold by Thomas Shelmerdine, at the sign of the Rose-Tree in Little-Britain, 1695
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.
2. In the Visible Church, the Orb of Gospel-light, God doth not give saving Grace unto all. 'Tis true, the mercy of God is so immense, that all the sins of men are but as the drop of the bucket to it; the Blood of God is so meritorious, that all the crimson Crimes in the World are as nothing to it; and the Spirit of God is so almighty, that all the chains of hardness and unbelief fall off before his converting Grace. Nevertheless this immense Mercy doth not pardon all; this meritorious Blood doth not wash all; nor this almighty Spirit doth not convert all unto God. Oh the wonderful Abyss of the divine Counsel! All men naturally lie in bloody pollution, and God saith to one, Live, and not to another; all are as it were one entire Rock of obstinacy against God, and he calls Abraham's children out of one part of the Rock, and leaves all the rest to be Rock still. All are dead in sins and trespasses, nay, and sealed up in their Graves with a stone of hardness and unbelief; and one Grave-stone is rolled away, and the dead under it raised up by almighty Grace, and not another. External Revelation is all over the Church, ⟨p. 118⟩why is not the inward holy Unction so too? The Gospel sounds in every Ear, why do not all hear and learn of the Father? The Gospel calls and knocks at every door, why are not the Demonstrations of the Spirit, and the drawings of the Father in every heart? The Gospel says in general, Whosoever will, may take the Water of Life freely, why doth not God work the Will in all? Why are any dimissi libero arbitrio, left to the miserable servitude of their own free Will? Here there is no other resolution but that of the Apostle, He will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth; and beyond this we can only wonder, and in quodam mentis excessu cry out, Oh the depth! Cur hoc illi operetur (saith St. Austin) illi non operetur, 1metuentem me & trementem judicia ejus inscrutabilia & incomprehensibilia nolo interroges, quia quod lego ercdo & revereor, non autem discutio. And, Ne dicas Deo interrogando, Quae est voluntas tua? sed tremendo, Fiat voluntas tua. And again; Posset Deus (saith he of wicked men) ipsorum voluntatem in bonum converter, quoniam Omnipotens est; posset planè, cur ergo non fecit? quia noluit; cur noluerit? ⟨p. 119⟩penès ipsum est.