First. Will you not Admire, O Chosen of God, Admire the Absolute Sovereignty of God in His Choosing of you! Vast is the Difference which the Choice of God puts between One Man and Another. But what is the cause of His putting such a Difference? Tis even so, Lord, Merely because it pleases thee. Thus we are advised; Rom. 9.16, 18. It is not of him that Willeth, nor of him that Runneth, but of God that showeth Mercy: He hath Mercy on whom He well. Why has our God Elected One, and Rejected Another? Tis that First Cause of all things, that is the Sole Cause of this; namely, The Will of the Glorious One. The Royal Prerogative of God is wonderfully Exerted in this matter; and He will give none Account of the matter. Is the Fore-sight of our Faith and Obedience, the Cause why God has Chosen us? Then say, We first choose God before He chooses us! Not at all. It was a Text often quoted by Austin, to confute this Fancy; Joh. 15.16. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. We are chosen TO Faith and Obedience; not chosen FOR our Foreseen Faith and Obedience. They are the Effects of our Election; they cannot be the Causes of it. Our Gods Foresight of our Faith and Obedience, presupposes His purpose to bestow Faith and Obedience upon us; For these are always the Gifts of God. Now this very purpose is our Election it self; And hence, ⟨p. 12⟩the Fore-sight of those Gifts cannot be the cause of our Election. What says our Apostle? Rom. 9.11. The Purpose of God, according to Election, tis not of Works. Our Election is indeed Absolute. No Decree of God is Conditional, tho God may decree a Condition. It were derogatory to the Perfection of God, for His Decree, to depend on any Condition; tho' the Things Decreed, may in the Execution thereof, do so. The Decree of Election is not, That if we will Believe we shall be Saved, but it is, That we shall be Saved, and that in order to it we shall believe. So Absolute our Election. And how Gratuitous! Altogether Free. The Great God is Blessed for ever in and of Himself. He has no Need of Us. He was under no Necessity to Choose any of us unto Eternal Blessedness. If He would choose any, He was under no Necessity to pitch upon Such or Such, Make thy Reflection, O Chosen Vessel. Oh! why am I a Chosen Vessel of Mercy, and not a Vessel of Wrath! Why would God set His Love upon me, rather than upon another!
First. Will you not Admire, O Chosen of God, Admire the Absolute Sovereignty of God in His Chusing of you! Vast is the Difference which the Choice of God puts between One Man and Another. But what is the cause of His putting such a Difference? Tis even so, Lord, Meerly because it pleases thee. Thus we are advised; Rom. 9.16, 18. It is not of him that Willeth, nor of him that Runneth, but of God that sheweth Mercy: He hath Mercy on whom He well. Why has our God Elected One, and Rejected Another? Tis that First Cause of all things, that is the Sole Cause of this; namely, The Will of the Glorious One. The Royal Prerogative of God is wonderfully Exerted in this matter; and He will give none Account of the matter. Is the Fore-sight of our Faith and Obedience, the Cause why God has Chosen us? Then say, We first choose God before He chooses us! Not at all. It was a Text often quoted by Austin, to confute this Fancy; Joh. 15.16. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. We are chosen TO Faith and Obedience; not chosen FOR our Foreseen Faith and Obedience. They are the Effects of our Election; they cannot be the Causes of it. Our Gods Foresight of our Faith and Obedience, presupposes His purpose to bestow Faith and Obedience upon us; For these are alwayes the Gifts of God. Now this very purpose is our Election it self; And hence, ⟨p. 12⟩the Fore-sight of those Gifts cannot be the cause of our Election. What sayes our Apostle? Rom. 9.11. The Purpose of God, according to Election, tis not of Works. Our Election is indeed Absolute. No Decree of God is Conditional, tho God may decree a Condition. It were derogatory to the Perfection of God, for His Decree, to depend on any Condition; tho' the Things Decreed, may in the Execution thereof, do so. The Decree of Election is not, That if we will Believe we shall be Saved, but it is, That we shall be Saved, and that in order to it we shall believe. So Absolute our Election. And how Gratuitous! Altogether Free. The Great God is Blessed for ever in and of Himself. He has no Need of Us. He was under no Necessity to Chuse any of us unto Eternal Blessedness. If He would chuse any, He was under no Necessity to pitch upon Such or Such, Make thy Reflection, O Chosen Vessel. Oh! why am I a Chosen Vessel of Mercy, and not a Vessel of Wrath! Why would God set His Love upon me, rather than upon another!
