A treatise of Mr. Cottons clearing certain doubts concerning predestination together with an examination…A treatise of Mr. Cottons clearing certaine doubts concerning predestination together with an examination…

and so the ends of Gods punishment is, that by them we should learn to amend our lives; as is signified in the Collects of our Church. In a word, natural means tend ⟨p. 85⟩to ends that shall be thereupon; moral means tend to ends that should be; and each are usually said to be in vain, when the end, according to each kind, is not obtained. God sent his Son into the world, not that he should condemn the world, but that the world should be saved by him. Most true; for he sent his Son into the world, to dye for the world; and to dye for them is to save them, and not to condemn them. But, for whom did he send his Son into the world, to dye? Surely, for the world of Elect; even for those whom God the Father had given him: Thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to all them that thou hast given him, Joh. 17. 2. And if we consider the world, in distinction from those whom God hath given him, he plainly professeth, that as he did not pray for them, Joh. 17. 9. so he did not sanctify himself for them, Verse 19. that is, offer himself up upon the Cross; as Maldonate acknowledgeth to be the joint interpretation of all the Fathers whom he had read: And your self have but erst confessed, that God did not (Joh. 3. 17.) give the world unto Christ, by him of grace to be bought (or brought) unto salvation. Undoubtedly, he sent not Christ into the world at all to procure any mans condemnation: neither doth Christ procure any mans condemnation; although infidelity and disobedience to the word of Christ procures the condemnation of many. And I wonder what moved you so to speak, as to imply it was Gods intent (though not chief intent) to send Christ into the world to procure the condemnation of any. At length we are come to the [Greek or Hebrew] of the point controverted between us, in the words following; If they should plead their condemnation to be unjust, for unbelief, because they were not able to believe, Ver. 18. our Saviour answers by a reasonable prevention, ver. 19. This is their condemnation, viz. the just cause of their condemnation, that when light came into the world, men loved darkness rather than light; men chose rather to cleave to their sinful estates, and ways of darkness, than to follow the light of the means of grace, which might have brought them on to believe in Christ.