1. From the glory of Election, which breaks forth in its Eternity, Sovereignty, Grace and Efficacy. If Election be founded on foreseen Faith and Perseverance, where is the Eternity of it? No man, according to the Remonstrants Doctrine, is completely Elect until he believe, nay, not until the last instant of Perseverance, wherein he ceases to believe. But if this may be salved by the Divine Prescience, yet where is the Sovereignty of it? Hath ⟨p. 55⟩not the Potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel to honour, and another to dishonour, Rom. 9. 21? To order different Vessels out of the same lump to different ends is glorious power; but to sever out Believers from Unbelievers is not so much power as skill. Whether God in Predestination look on men in statu integro, or in statu lapso, it is out of the same lump still; but if he elect out of foreseen Faith, it is not out of the same lump with the unbelieving World; for he looks on them in statu reparato. To elect out of skill, according to the goodness of the object, becomes a Rational Creature; but to elect out of Sovereignty and supreme Liberty becomes the great God, who can make and meliorate the object as he pleaseth. But if this also might be satisfied, yet where is the Grace of it? If God do but eligere eligentes, if Man's Faith be earlier than God's Grace, then we choose God before he chooseth us, contrary to that of our Saviour, Joh. 15. 16. then we loved God before he loved us, contrary to that of the Apostle, 1 Joh. 4. 19. To love, as moved by the attractive goodness of the Object, is to love like a man; but to love Blackamores, & then give ⟨p. 56⟩them beauty; to love enemies, and then overcome them with love, is to love like God, whose Grace is pure Grace, whose Love is all from himself; which is emphatically implied in that remarkable reduplication, Mark 13. 20. The elect whom he hath chosen; as if our Saviour should have said, In Election there is nothing but pure Election; like that speech of God, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, in which there is nothing but Will and Grace, Will and Grace doubled, as the only reason of it self. But if all the rest might consist, yet where is the Efficacy of it? If Election be founded on foreseen Faith and Perseverance, then it affords no help at all to any man in the way to Heaven.
1. From the glory of Election, which breaks forth in its Eternity, Sovereignty, Grace and Efficacy. If Election be founded on foreseen Faith and Perseverance, where is the Eternity of it? No man, according to the Remonstrants Doctrine, is completely Elect until he believe, nay, not until the last instant of Perseverance, wherein he ceases to believe. But if this may be salved by the Divine Prescience, yet where is the Sovereignty of it? Hath ⟨p. 55⟩not the Potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel to honour, and another to dishonour, Rom. 9. 21? To order different Vessels out of the same lump to different ends is glorious power; but to sever out Believers from Unbelievers is not so much power as skill. Whether God in Predestination look on men in statu integro, or in statu lapso, it is out of the same lump still; but if he elect out of foreseen Faith, it is not out of the same lump with the unbelieving World; for he looks on them in statu reparato. To elect out of skill, according to the goodness of the object, becomes a Rational Creature; but to elect out of Sovereignty and supreme Liberty becomes the great God, who can make and meliorate the object as he pleaseth. But if this also might be satisfied, yet where is the Grace of it? If God do but eligere eligentes, if Man's Faith be earlier than God's Grace, then we chuse God before he chuseth us, contrary to that of our Saviour, Joh. 15. 16. then we loved God before he loved us, contrary to that of the Apostle, 1 Joh. 4. 19. To love, as moved by the attractive goodness of the Object, is to love like a man; but to love Blackamores, & then give ⟨p. 56⟩them beauty; to love enemies, and then overcome them with love, is to love like God, whose Grace is pure Grace, whose Love is all from himself; which is emphatically implied in that remarkable reduplication, Mark 13. 20. The elect whom he hath chosen; as if our Saviour should have said, In Election there is nothing but pure Election; like that speech of God, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, in which there is nothing but Will and Grace, Will and Grace doubled, as the only reason of it self. But if all the rest might consist, yet where is the Efficacy of it? If Election be founded on foreseen Faith and Perseverance, then it affords no help at all to any man in the way to Heaven.
