destin'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Infidelity and consequently to Damnation as the effect of it therefore there is such a Decree as Absolute Reprobation referring 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the invalidity and absurdity of this Explication will appear 1. That it is a manifest contradiction to say that the persons here mentioned were Predestinated to Disobedience for in that it was destinated and decreed of God it ceases to be disobedience and is properly an acting according to that immutable will and purpose of God which is passed upon the inobedient persons if therefore God wills and determines that they shall reject and contemn his precepts and commands how are they criminal 2. It makes God the Author of sin by predestinating and forcing men to the commission of it These words therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into which they were appointed must be referred to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those which stumble fall and bruise themselves at the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 disobeying and rejecting it when preached So that the sense is that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those which stand out obstinately against the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were decreed and appointed See Joh. xv 16. Act. xiii 47. 1 Thess v. 9. to fall at that stumbling stone and be destroyed which is not that they should be incredulous or disobedient but that since they would not believe they should be most justly punished Thus the Gospel is said to be the savour of death to them that perish 2 Cor. ii 16. And Christ is said to be Set * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the fall of many that is of these that believe not on him Luk. ii 34. not that God appointed Christ to come into the World and set on foot the Gospel to destroy men but that he primarily intended by that sacred Dispensation the Salvation of all the World and decreed that whoever would be disobedient and contemn those means should perish by their contempt Prov. xvi 4. The Lord hath made all things for himself yea even the wicked for the day of evil That there is no mention here of an eternal Decree appears 1. That the Praeter-tense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is here put by an usual manner in Hebrew for the Present Worketh Maketh or Provides 2. There is no necessity it should be rendred impium the Wicked in the Accusative case for the Text may very well be read by an Ellipsis And the wicked at the day of Evil supply shall fall by the just judgment of God 3. The clause for himself may very well be translated since the Hebrew Version will bear it according to his word or as the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The sense therefore of the whole verse briefly is this That God by his perpetual Providence and Government of the world not only takes notice of and regards good and holy men that all things may tend to their welfare but likewise beholds and observes the actions of wicked persons and that they may not think they shall go unpunished and say in their hearts There is no God most wisely orders that a just Nemesis shall overtake them for their sins and impieties and at last a final vengeance and destruction seaze upon them John xii 39 40. Therefore they could not believe because that Esayas said again He hath blinded their eyes and hardned their heart that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their heart and be converted and I should heal them I cannot see how this Text makes any thing for the Calvinistical Reprobation but there are some men so subtle and acute that they espie something or other for the patronizing and defending their self-chosen opinions almost in every verse of the holy Scriptures That which they most aime at and would inforce from hence is That this Excaecation and obduration is a Physical Action of God upon the mind arising from his peremprory Decree of Reprobation * Sicut credere nolunt Reprobi ita certum est non posse velle credere quia tenebrae in quilus nati sunt lucem comprehendere non possunt Deus autem inquit Paulus quos vult miseratur quos vult indurat Beza in Annot. in Joh. xii v. 39. then which nothing is more inconsistent with or unworthy of the Divine Majesty But the Excaecation here mentioned seems not to be an Act of Gods because it is said Excaecavit he hath blinded in the third Person and presently subjoyned Ne ego sanem least I should heal them in the first Excaecavit therefore may be taken impersonally for their eyes are blinded by whomsoever or by what means soever it came to pass as Act. xxviii 24. Some believed the things that were spoken and some believed not But we will suppose it to be an action of Gods yet that action can be no other then penal which by the just judgment of God is inflicted on them for their precedent crimes and not from any Absolute Decree as is expressed vers 37. But though he had done so many miracles before them yet they believed not on him And in Mat. xiii 13. their incredulity is put as the cause and reason of their blindness Because seeing they see not and hearing they hear not which clears the like expression in Mark iv 12. That seeing they may see and not perceive as if their Excaecation were primarily intended by Christ for whereas it is said that seeing it is a plain indication that they did either understand those things which were propounded to them or at least might but would not understand them Whereas 't is said likewise they could not believe it is not to be understood as if they wanted Power and ability but that their minds and inclinations were wholly averse to it being addicted and carryed after self-interest as 't is said vers 43. Many did not confess Christ because they loved the praise of men more then the praise of God For oft-times those are said not to be able whose mind is altogether averse to this or that although they might easily do it if they would Thus a Candid and Ingenuous person cannot Lie a Liberal person cannot be sordid and base and he that is born of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cannot sin 1 John iii. 9. and Christ himself once could do no mighty work Mark vi 5. See 2 Cor. xiii 8. Acts iv 20. John viii 43. Jude ver 4. For there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation The great stress of the Calvinists Argumentation from hence lies in the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we though something improperly render of old ordained but might better have translated predicted for so the word ought to be taken here for a prediction or description aforehand by which these kind of men and also their Impostures and their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have been long ago described
be excogitated more infallible for the Exploration of whatever falls under humane cognizance which is in some measure made good in the following Discourse they likewise put a certain stop to the progress of Christianity throughout the World and are the greatest impediment to the dissemination of the Gospel to them that are without it being given to be the Religion of all mankind to run and be glorious and to conquer and subdue the Nations to the entertainment of it For unless we will imagine men so stupid and ignorantly devotional that they will embrace any thing though never so disagreeing with the native sentiments of their own minds it is impossible they should ever give any real and unfaigned assent to such Dogmata of Christianity as pretend to no other Author but the Eternal Logos and Wisdom of God and are propounded to rational and intellectual creatures endued with a discriminative sense and perception between truth and falshood and yet by all the reason that is in them cannot make them to appear so And though the Doctrins themselves should not be in their whole frame and contexture irrational yet if we give absurd and inconcinnous explications of them there will be as small hope and expectation that any man should be convinced and perswaded by them as if they were altogether false Such is the intellectual Fabrick of mens minds that they cannot believe or disbelieve what they will but there are certain laws and principles interwoven in the essential frame of their Natures by the great Architect of all things by which they are bound up and limited and which are the foundations of all Knowledge whether Natural Moral or Metaphysical And 't is very strange to think that infinite Wisdom which alone works constantly and evenly and according to the capacities and measures of creatures should now in this grand Mystery of the recovery of the World which of all things is the most like that high and incomprehensible intellect which gave birth unto it so deviate from the unchangeable laws of it 's own being as to propound such Articles and Propositions to the World which without the greatest reluctancy and violation of their Natural Powers and Faculties they can never fully credit or believe And questionless such a way and method of proceeding would so miserably confound the beautiful Order and Symmetry of things that beside it must necessarily engage the Divine Power to the production of a perpetual Miracle for the begetting Faith and Assent in men it likewise layes them open and obnoxious to inevitable Errors Falsities and Delusions and there will be no means left for the attaining to the truth of any thing And now let any man consider what little probability or plausibility of reason there is that such a Doctrine as this whether positively declared so in it self or made so by the perverse Glosses and Paraphrastical Expositions of others should win and gain ground upon the World and effect that purpose for which it was at first intended It was the advice and counsel of the Apostle 1 Cor. x. 32. that we give no offence either to the Jew or to the Greek whereby to alienate their minds from so excellent a Religion for there is nothing so much obstructs the diffusion of any Principles or Dogmata be they of what sort they will as when they contain something which may administer just cause of scruple and beget an aversion to it in the mind of a rational and unprejudic'd person He therefore that would bring over a free and ingenuous Spirit whether Jew or Heathen to Christianity must be sure that he assert nothing Dogmatically or positively lay it down as an indispensable Article of the Christian Faith which the other can reject upon clear and solid grounds of Reason for assuredly no part of Christianity can be repugnant to Right Reason Therefore to begin with the Jew who taking just exceptions against many Dogmata of Christianity as they are in common vogue amongst us but particularly disgusting that harsh and rigid Doctrine of Inconditionate Reprobation expresses his dislike and dissatisfaction in such like terms as these That God gave Statutes and Judgments and delivered a Law to Moses on Mount Sinai I am sufficiently convinced of from the constant and uninterrupted Tradition of our Fathers and that I am equally obliged to perform due obedience to it is in my apprehension a truth as indubitable as the other But that I should desert the Religion of my Ancestors and embrace a Novel Doctrine wholly repugnant to and inconsistent not only with the common principles of Reason but the Law of Moses and Prophetick Writings and manifestly tending to the eversion and extirpation of all Religion in the World for who will put his trust in that God who takes greater pleasure in Destroying than in Saving of his Creatures will argue as great Impiety as it will appear Fantastickness and Imprudence in the eyes of all that believe a God and Providence in the World For under the Mosaical Oeconomy God like a just and prudent Legislator makes the ground and foundation of all his Promises and Menaces to be the Obedience or Disobedience of his Subjects and Benefits are not conferred but hypothetically and with respect to the condition annexed to them nor Punishments executed but upon the actual breach and violation of a Law And beside this you tell us that when the Messias comes he will bring into the World such a Religion and Service as will most suit with our rational and intellectual Natures such as may approve it self to our inward and divine sense as truly excellent and lovely comprehending the flower and summe of whatever is Worthy Noble and Generous which you say is most lively depainted and set out to us in that which you call the Christian Religion the great Arcanum and Mystery of which according to the principles of your Doctrine seems to be this That God hath eternally Elected a certain number of persons to inherit Blessedness with him and sent his son to signifie the same to them and to publish this his decree but to cast away the rest upon the pretence of his Soveraignty and Dominion over them either therefore the coming of Christ is upon rational grounds yet expected or if he have been already manifested to the World your Religion is none of his nor was he ever the Author of it but the spurious results and effuxes of fanciful persons obtruded as necessary Articles of faith upon the World It is impossible I should ever believe that the great Creator of the Vniverse who in our Law declared himself to be The Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and who so often forgat the Crimes and Apostacies of our Forefathers when they returned and sought him with their whole heart should now so change his Nature and suspend the rayes and benign emanations of his communicative life in this which you affirm to be the last and
himself or how the Grace of God which came by Christ did abound and was made more efficacious then sin For if the sin of Adam destroyed and slew more than the Death and Passion of the Lord Christ made alive then were Sin of a larger extent and more potent than Grace 〈◊〉 v. and the Apostle could not truly affirm That where Sin abounded Grace did much more abound CHAP. IV. A fourth Argument against the Doctrine of Inconditionate Reprobation taken from the Evangelical Dispensation wherein is shown the purport and design of the Gospel which is to reinstate all men into the Participation of the Divine Nature and that that Rigid Doctrine is destructive of so high and glorious an end THere is no Man that knows himself and discerns the true frame of his own Being what sublime and noble perfections the soul is capable of and withal reflects upon the weak and imperfect state of the Sons of men how uncertain and fluctuating their judgments are at the best and how frequently obscured with prejudice how impotently stubborn their wills to the election of substantial good and how broken and disordered the faculties of their whole man but will assuredly conclude that all Mankind however it comes to pass are extremely alienated and apostatiz'd from that innate purity and excellent state in which they were created for no Man that believes himself made by an Alwise and infinitely perfect Author can imagine that he came thus lame and maimed out of his hands and sunk as low as the capacities of their Nature will permit being only vivacious and active to trifling low and bodily interests and concernments carrying on such poor and momentary designs as are unworthy the native generosity of their minds in a word so devoid of that life in the possession of which consists their true felicity that they are past hopes of recovering by their own solitary endeavours their pristine and ancient glory But although Man by that venturous and bold revolt from the blessed Kingdom of Light dispossessed himself of Gods favour and forfeited all right and title to his ordinary care and Providence yet that ever-to-be-magnified Goodness which made him at first Lapsable beheld him as a calamitous object of compassion and designed the erecting and reedifying that glorious Temple which sin and unrighteousness had miserably defaced and ruined and the repossessing his own life of it's rightful Government and Dominion in the Souls of Men which however they come into the World the subjects of bruitish lusts and passions are yet capable of Angelical accomplishments and a Vital Union with the Creator of all things God therefore being the highest and most perfect life and feeling and knowing his Nature to be the most pretious thing in all the World and the utmost perfection of every Rational Being could not but intend graciously to his lapsed Creatures and seek the extension and dispreading of his goodly Attributes over all capable subjects of the World of life For he that shall look upon the diligence and activity of the dark Powers in enlarging the bounds of their usurped Kingdom and consider the contagious and disseminating Nature of every pitiful and degenerate lust how every crazie and sickly vice attempts and offers at a further explication of it self and every small Exarchat of that Hellish Principality endeavours dayly to make new additions and take in fresh supplies to maintain the general cause of unrighteousness and augment their petty Royalties can never think that God will sit as a disinteressed spectator but promote and advance his own good life to the command of the whole Creation and brake down the power of that great Arimanus who captivates the sons of Men in the fetters and shackles of Mortality and Death The life of God is a strong and powerful principle and hath alwayes the arme of Heaven to aid and assist it but all sin and unrighteousness is a meer poverty and deficiency not able to exist in the World did not the self-wills of men uphold it and can never stand against the potent assaults of the Heavenly Nature Which holy life that God might reestablish in the World he hath delivered the Gospel the last and most perfect dispensation that ever was or shall be communicated to Men which consists not in an external and dead form of words nor is it a meer systeme and compendium of such precepts that like the Mosaical Law sanctifie only to the purifying of the flesh but cannot 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Perfect him that doth the service as pertaining to the Conscience that is Purge and cleanse his mind from dead Works and make way for the consummation of the life of God within him whereby he shall no longer be in bondage and servility to every caitive lust but act spontaneously under a free and generous principle and become a law to himself but such a Method of perfect Righteousness and Virtue as shall purifie refine and exalt the spirits of Men from all feculent concretions and subdue every irregular motion and unruly desire that would tempt and sollicit their choice of corporeal joyes and beget in them so true a relish of unblameable Goodness and Holiness as should at the end of their mortal life instal them in the full possession of everlasting Tranquility and Peace Of which glorious contrivance though we have a Scheme and Model drawn out in the Holy Gospels yet there is a life and spirit in Christianity that cannot be blotted on paper but lives and acts in such hearts as are framed and squared according to those Rules contained in the Sacred Writings And this he who is the Author of our Faith and Blessedness testified when he said that his Words were Spirit and Life such as were able and designed to revive the dead and sensless minds of Men and propagate a vital heat and motion through the torpid and benummed World and accordingly the Apostle St. Paul tels us that Christianity is indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Law of the Spirit of life Rom. viii 2. 2 Cor. 3. and in another place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The ministration of the Spirit and the ministration of Righteousness in opposition to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The dispensation of Death and Condemnation intimating that under the Gospel men shall not have a Mechanical and Artificial Religion but such as frames the life and spirit of God in their hearts and becomes a Vital forme tuning their souls into an Universal consent with Gods own Will whereby they send forth most harmonious and Divine accents not only when they are stricken and beaten upon by an external hand like Memnon's statue whose Musical notes ceased so soon as the Sun-beams were withdrawn from it but from an internal Power incorporated and made one with their own spirits It is true when God at first made Man and sent him into this lower World he left him to be governed by those innate prescriptions and rules of Righteousness
with them for not creating the World or raising the dead 3. The Gospel in propriety of speech cannot be said to be offered at all to Reprobates without the greatest Hypocrisie and Dissimulation imaginable much less that by it they should be fairly rendred without excuse For by the Gospel we understand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the New Covenant which God hath made with the world in the Lord Christ to which both God and Man have set their Seals God hath promised for his part that he will give a free pardon and indulgence for all their sins upon their true Repentance and will assist them in the performance of his Commands with his Divine Spirit and Benediction and at last upon their perseverance in Holiness bestow upon them Immortality and Life And Man engages that he will faithfully perform the conditions according to the utmost of his power and ability which on his part he is obliged to which are expressed to be Faith and Repentance a putting off the Old man and putting on the New a being buryed with Christ in his Death and rising again with him to Newness of life And this Notion seems to be intimated by the Apostle 2 Tim. ii 19. The foundation of God standeth sure having this seal The Lord knoweth who are his And let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity Where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our translation renders foundation signifies here the Compact or Covenant of God the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stability or firmness whereof there enforced assures us that there is no salvation to be expected but according to the contents of that Great Indenture once for all sealed in the blood of Christ of which as that indeed is one part which is inscribed on one side of the Seal the Lord knoweth who are his that is he will never fail to own those who continue faithful to him so on the other side is most Emphatical let every man that nameth the name of Christ depart form iniquity which if he do not he hath forfeited all the priviledges of Christianity And it may further be observed that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is sometimes rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is also expressed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isay 30.1 as a Learned Critick notes This being then the Nature of the Gospel it cannot without deceit and fraud be offered to Reprobates for God cannot in his Word command them to believe in Christ as their Saviour and Redeemer without injoyning them to believe a lie nor can he exhort them to Repentance without Hypocrisie having by a peremptory Decree secluded them from a participation of those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 free and gracious donations whereby they should be impowered to forsake their sins and which he hath obliged himself to extend to all the World on his part of the Covenant If God therefore intended not to own them for his nor give them his Grace and assistance to conquer and subdue their rebellious Natures they are not included within the terms of it And how can any man be convinced of Contumacy and so left inexcusable for rejecting a Doctrine not at all belonging to him for conviction supposes a man to have done otherwise then he might have done and to have left undone something which was in his power to perform which cannot be affirmed of Reprobates To conclude this Argument if this Doctrine of Irrespective Reprobation may be admitted as true and genuine the whole Ministery of the word is but a more solemn kind of Pageantry and flattery and Gods Ambassadors by whom he beseeches mankind to be reconciled unto him treat with the greatest part of them upon false grounds and beside Gods will and intentions bearing them in hand that God desires their welfare and happiness tolluntur in altum Ut lapsu graviore ruant till they have brought them to the confines of Hell where they shall feel those acute pains to never-dying ages which were their destin'd portion from before the foundation of the World And now let any rational man judge whether this Doctrine as it is here represented all along and 't is no otherwise then may easily be proved out of the writings of the favourers of it do not infinitely obstruct the progress of real and unfeigned Righteousness in the World and scatter a malignant influence upon mens practice in order to Holiness and a good life while some as if they had been of Heavens counsel and seen their Names enrolled above cannot look upon themselves under any other position but that of Gods peculiar and selected ones and for that very reason believe themselves out of the reach of Apostacy and miscarriage than which there can be no greater allay to a diligent search after the true and living Nature of God for while their endeavors after it cool like the air by intervening showers and they swallow every bait and neglect to excite their powers and faculties by a timely care and industry upon the stock of a secure confidence of heaven the enemy forrages and spoils and makes dayly inrodes upon their hearts and they are upon the margins of destruction ere they are aware Others despairing of life and believing every thing adverse to their felicity have no heart to go forward and either wear out their lives in a sottish senselessness and stupidity or spend them in jollity and crown their heads with rosebuds and forget God resolving to make as good use of the present time as they can knowing that when this fleeting and perishing life is ended they shall be plunged into everlasting misery CHAP. V. A fift and last Argument wherein is shewn that the Doctrine of Irrespective Reprobation takes away the liberty of Mans Will and consequently leaves no place for reward of Virtue or punishment of Vice THat there is a free principle in Man a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a self-moving power and life which is able to segregate Truth from Falshood Good from Evil Hence the Stoicks say the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Greek Fathers add to those Epithetes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and accordingly elect as the Arguments shall appear more or less convictive is not only the judgment of Reason but the sense of the most Orthodox Antiquity whether Theology or Philosophy although the Truth is in this diseased and distempered condition all men lie under the manner of the Wills election shews that it is in the greatest measure inclinable to evil as will appear further hereafter And that I may not seem barely to assert what others so strenuously oppugn I shall alledge some plain and perspicuous testimonies out of the ancient Fathers and Philosophers who have manumitted the will of man and left it free to chuse Good or Evill though when it is determined to one it may be drawn by weightier grounds and reasons to the election of
denoted and depainted out in their proper colours and lineaments Such is the propriety of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only here by the addition of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it signifies Prophesie as is intimated in ver 17 18. of this Epistle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to this judgment that since they rejected the truth and turned the grace of God into lasciviousness and denyed the Lord Christ that bought them they might be as instruments for the exploration of Saints and true Believers as God is said to make use of false Prophets to try his People Deut. xiii 3. and after be destroyed with all false Christians and Rebellious Jews Mark xiii 22. For false Christs and false Prophets shall rise and shall shew signs and wonders to seduce if it were possible even the Elect. Hence the Contra-remonstrants collect an Absolute and peremptory Decree because 't is utterly impossible to seduce or draw the Elect from the Faith but while they argue thus they declare to the World that they neither understand the impossibility nor Elect here mentioned For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this place doth not denote an absolute impossibility otherwise Christ's exhortation to them ver 23. to take heed had been wholly useless and supervacaneous but is used to express the intent and design of the False-Christs and false-Prophets as if he should say They will omit nothing nor leave any means untryed whereby to compass their pernicious and wicked purpose The same form or speech we have Rom. xii 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If it be possible as much as in you lies live peaceable with all men that is doe your endeavour do what lies in you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as much as lies in your power being an Exegesis of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if it be possible But why must the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be such as are absolutely and immutably Elected Sure I am the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used where there is no denotation of any Election from all eternity To avoid multiplicity of quotations we may instance in two or three more remarkable passages The Hebrew word to which this answers is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to approve examine and chuse and accordingly Prov. vii 3. the Hebrew word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and our English Version reads The Lord tryeth the heart and the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hearts elect before the Lord. And in Esay xxviii 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendred a tryed stone To this purpose Eccles xlix 7. Jerusalem is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an elect City that is preferred and esteemed before others Sometimes the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies the designing and chusing to some office and peculiar employment a sequestring some from others Luke vi 13. And when it was day he called unto him his Disciples 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and of them be chose twelve To add no more Rufus is called by St. Paul Rom. xvi 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chosen in the Lord that is a special Believer for as to his particular person what Decree had passed on him was unknown to the Apostle therefore it must be that he receive this Elogium from his visible Christian deportment 2 Thess ii 13. But we are bound to give thanks alwayes to God for you brethren beloved of the Lord because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth That the Apostle treats of no such absolute and eternal Election as our Antagonists imagine appears 1. In that this form of speech being directed to all the Thessalonians it would follow that the whole visible Church of them were elected unto glory which were a very precarious Assertion 2. This kind of Election being absolute and irreversible it were impossible that any of the Believers mentioned in the Text should fall and desert the faith of the Gospel which is altogether inconsistent with that solicitous and earnest Exhortation twice inculcated in this Chapter ver 1 2 15. wherein he beseeches them by the coming of the Lord Jesus that they be not soon shaken in mind or troubled and again That they stand fast and hold the traditions which they have heen taught by word or Epistle 3. This Separation of them from the rest of the Heathen World was grounded upon their good conversation and belief of the Gospel which directly thwarts an Inconditionate Decree Through Sanctification of the Sprit and belief of the truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chosen or separated you from the beginning that is from the beginning of the Preaching of the Gospel so that they were among the first of those that gave up themselves to the obedience of the faith This is all the import of this phrase the former part of it we have Deut. xxvi 18. The Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his people in the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which respected Temporal benefits but here by the Apostle 't is added 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Eternal Salvation which is reserved only for Christians Now as the Jews by their disobedience might become non populus so Christians may disinherit themselves and frustrate by their evil wayes Gods intentions of bringing them unto glory As for the addition of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it no way extends it to an Eternal but Temporal Election or Separation and is used in Scripture to denote the beginning of the Preaching of the Gospel as in 1 Joh. ii 7 24. I write no new Commandment to you but an old Commandment which ye had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the beginning the old Commandment is the word which ye have heard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the beginning Again Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the beginning See Joh. xv 27. The old Latine translation reads it Primitias 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is that they were set apart and consecrated to God as first-fruits by the Preaching of the Gospel which phrase the Apostle likewise useth Rom. xvi 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who is the first-fruits of Achaia unto Christ Rom. viii 28 29 30. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose For whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son that he might be the first-born amongst many brethren Moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified Here say the Calvinists you may see the chain of Salvation and behold how the beloved of God are drawn by each golden link till they are brought to their appointed bliss and happiness This is the sacred method of Gods Predestination in which he goes by certain steps and degrees and in every one of them