to himself a certain number of Persons to whom alone excluding all others that Promise of Grace and Salvation shall be made good But God hath made a Promise of Life and Salvation to some particular Persons only excluding all others therefore God hath elected and chosen to himself a certain number of Persons to whom excluding all others the Promise of Life and Salvation shall be made good That God hath made a Promise of Life and Salvation to some particular Persons only excluding all others is evident and plain to such as acknowledge the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be of Divine Authority Gen. 17.7 And I will establish my Covenant between me and thee and thy Seed after thee in their Generations for an everlasting Covenant to be a God to thee and to thy Seed after thee Here the Judicious and Unprejudic'd reader may plainly see that Abraham and his Seed were particular Persons distinct from all other Nations and People which were round about him And these it pleased God of his meer Soveraign Grace to single out for his own peculiar Use that they may be a Holy People to bear his Name and to give him a pure and spiritual Worship and Service which should be according to his own Holy Institution and Divine Appointment And that they may be made Partakers of the promised Inheritance which was the sure Possession of the Kingdom of Heaven of which the promised Land of Canaan was but a Type and Shadow The People of the Jews was but a small People when God fixt his Love on them and called them Deut. 7.6 7 8. For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all people that are upon the face of the earth The Lord did not set his love upon you nor choose you because ye were more in number than any people for ye were the fewest of all people but because the Lord loved you And because he would keep the Oath which he had sworn unto your fathers hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand and Redeemed you out of the hoâ—â—â— of Bondmen The same Promise which was made to Abraham and his Seed under the Old Testament Dispensation is confirmed by the New And evident it is that as God chose and called Abraham under that dark Dispensation with whom he entred into a Covenant of Grace the Benefit of which was to be of equal extent to himself and his Children even so many of them as were the Children of the Premise So under the Gospel Dispensation God who is a free Agent acting all he doth in a way of Soveraignty saw fit to make known by the Gospel that among the Gentiles also he had a select and chosen People on whom he had decreed to conferr the Riches of his free Grace through the plenteous Redemption that is in his Son Jesus Christ and that pursuant to his own immutable Decree and Purpose electing and choosing them before Time began Acts 2.39 for the Promise is to you and to your Children and to all that are afar off even as many as the Lord our God shall call Here is that Promise formerly mentioned which looks at Abraham and his Children and also discovers the gracious Design of God to make a certain number of the Gentiles actual Partakers of the self-same Grace and Blessing The manner of the Apostle's expressing himself is full of Clearness and Perspicuity proving that the promise of that Grace and Salvation is not designed for all and singular the Gentile Sinners that then were or in after times should be in the Word but he limits and restrains the Promise to a certain peculiar number least Sinners should mistake the Apostle and conclude that because he had laid down an universal Term saying And to all that are afar off he by way of Explanation shews what the Spirit means by that universal Term adding even as many as the Lord our God shall call in which he plainly shews and invincibly proves that none of the Gentile Sinners shall ever partake of God's special Grace but such as are in time effectually called out of a State of Nature to a State of Justification and Sanctification the which is never granted to any but in the Right of a Covenant-promise which Covenant-promise respects that gracious Act of God electing and choosing in Christ his Son as many of Adam's Posterity both of Jews and Gentiles as his own Soveraignty pleased according to that of the Apostle Rom. 8.30 Moreover whom he did praedestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified And our Saviour himself in Jo. 10.16 designs the Gentiles whom God had in his electing Love given in charge to him in those Expressions And other sheep I have which are not of this fold them also I must bring and they shall hear my voice c. Arg. 2. If among the many thousands of People who hear the Gospel Preached but some and that very few comparatively are savingly Converted receive Mercy are Justified and Sanctified and are made to Persevere in a course of Faith and Holy Life then God hath elected and chosen only a certain peculiar number of Men to Life and Salvation But among the many thousands of People who hear the Gospel Preached but some only are savingly Converted receive Mercy are Justified are Sanctified and do finally Persevere in a course of Faith and Holy Life Therefore God hath elected and chosen only a certain peculiar number of Men to Life and Salvation There is nothing more evident than that the greatest number even of those People who are outwardly called by the Gospel do slight and contemn the Gospel and the Grace offered therein Witness that of our Saviour Mat. 20.16 For many are called but few are chosen Luke 14.16 17 18 19. That Parable of the King who made a great Supper to which the King by his Servants invited the Guests notwithstanding which many of them made blind Excuses and shifted it off By which Practise in the Guests we are to understand that great slight and contempt which worldly minded Sinners put on the Lord Jesus and his great Salvation wrought for the Elect which God offers in the Gospel the which they undervalue preferring the Accommodations of this perishing World before that great and precious Salvation To this also pertinent is that of Paul Rom. 10.16 But they have not all obeyed the Gospel for Esaias saith Lord who hath believed our report Rom. 9.27 Esaias also crieth concerning Israel Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea a remnant only shall be saved Now then if among those many who are Externally called and the very many who make a Profession there are but very few who savingly Believe Repent and finally Persevere in a course of Faith and Holy Life then
it is beyond all Controversy that those few who so Believe Repent c. are particular Persons whom free Grace elected to that state of Believing and Persevering and the rest who were by far the greater number were left to inward Blindness and hardness of Heart according to Rom. 11.7 What then Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for but the election hath obtained it and the rest were blinded According as it is written God hath given them the spirit of slumber eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear unto this day Arg. 3. If God hath chosen Persons by Name to be Partakers of Life and Salvation by Christ his Son then hath he chosen particular Persons But God hath chosen Persons by Name to be Partakers of Life and Salvation by Christ his Son Therefore God hath chosen particular Persons c. The major Proposition is not questioned the Minor or Assumption is secured by the express Testimony of the Spirit Rev. 13.8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship the beast whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of life Luke 10.20 Notwithstanding in this rejoyce not that the spirits are subject unto you but rather rejoyce because your names are written in Heaven Philip. 4.3 And I intreat thee also true yoke fellow help those women which laboured with me in the Gospel with Clement also and with other my fellow-labourers whose names are in the book of Life Argu. 4. If Jeremiah and Jacob c. were particular Persons Chosen and Lov'd of God before they were Born then God did Elect and Choose particular Persons to Life and Salvation but Jeremiah and Jacob c. were particular Persons Chosen and Lov'd of God before they were Born Therefore God did Elect and Choose particular Persons to Life and Salvation That Jeremiah and Jacob c. were particular Persons no Man of Sense will deny that they were Beloved of God before the natural Birth the word of God is full and express Jer. 1.5 Jer. 31.3 Rom. 9.11 Argu. 5. If God knows his Elect from all others before he calls them in Conversion then hath God Elected particular Persons to Life and Salvation But God knows his Elect from all others before he calls them in Conversion Therefore God hath Elected and Chosen particular Persons to Life and Salvation That Gods Praecognition or foreknowledge joyned with his purpose of Grace to Save his Elect goes before his actually calling them in effectual Conversion is beyond Dispute Rom. 8.29 30. 2 Tim. 2.19 Jo. 13.18 Argu. 6. If they who believe in Time were before their Believing ordained to Eternal Life then did God Elect and Choose particular Persons unto Life and Salvation But they who believe in time were before their Believing ordained to Eternal Life Therefore God hath Elected and Chosen particular Persons unto Life and Salvation That Gods Praeordination of Persons to Life and Salvation doth preceed or go before Believing and Repentance is plain from Acts 13.48 And as many as were ordained to Eternal Life Believed Rom. 11. The Election hath obtained it Jo. 10.26 But ye Believe not because ye are not of my Sheep as I said unto you From which Scriptures it is most plain that none do or can in time Believe and reput to Salvation but such Persons as are theretofore appointed by Gods gracious purpose Argu. 7. If the Term Elect doth signifie and presuppose a Calling or Choosing some particular Persons or Things out from among other Persons or Things then hath God out of so many Elected some particular Persons unto Eternal Salvation But the Term Elect doth signifie and presuppose a Calling or Choosing some particular Persons or Things out from among other Persons or Things Therefore God hath out of many Called and Chosen some particular Persons unto Eternal Life Argu. 8. If the Lord Jesus did lay down his Life but for a certain particular number of Sinners then did God Elect and Choose a particular number to Life and Salvation But the Lord Jesus did lay down his Life for a certain particular number of Sinners Therefore God did Elect and Choose a particular number to Life and Salvation That the Lord Jesus did lay down his Life for a certain particular number is obvious and plain to him that can but Read Jo. 10.15 As the Father knoweth me even so know I the Father and I lay down my Life for the Sheep With this accords that of Paul to Titus Chap. â— 14 who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purchase to himself a peculiar People Zealous of good Works Ephes 5.25 〈◊〉 love your Wives even as Christ also Loved the Church and gave himself for it c. The Sheep of whom Christ speaks can be understood to be no other but Believers even such as Dy'd in the Faith before his Incarnation with the Believers of that present day and all who in time to come were to Believe in him And these are the Souls who were by the Father committed to the Pastoral care and charge of Christ the Great Shepherd of the Sheep as Sheep are committed to the care and charge of an under Shepherd For these Christ lays down his Life To these he by his Spirit actually applys the virtue of his Death Over these he Watches And to these only excluding all others he gives Eternal Life That these were given to Christ by the Father to be redeemed and brought to Glory appears from Jo. 6.39 And this is the Fathers Will which hath sent me That of all which he hath given me I should loose nothing but should raise it up at the Last Day Jo. 17.6 Thine they were and thou gavest them me c. And Verse 2. As thou hast given him Power over all Flesh that he should give Eternal Life to as many as thou hast given him ☞ Mark this Reader To as many as thou hast given him This plainly proves that God did commit to the care and faithfulness of Christ his Shepherd a certain particular number to be Justified and Saved by him and therefore not all the Race of fallen Mankind as Papists Arminians Quakers Free-Willers c. vainly teach and hold Another Consideration which is full of clearness to convince and satisfie any right in their Minds That not Adams Posterity in General as the Hereticks above named would fain have it but a certain particular and definite number were Elected and Chosen by God and by him given to Christ his Son to be Redeemed and Saved is Christ his refusing to concern himself for any others in the discharge of his Office of Intercessor as appears from Jo. 17.9 I Pray for them that is for the Elect for whom he had undertaken as Vedemâ—â—y and Surety I Pray not for the World that is those of the World who were by God left in a Reprobate State and Condition as is evident from Jo. 17.14 I have given them thy Word
and the World hath hated them because they are not of the World even as I am not of the World Here are two distinct Partys described by Christ the one is Prayed for the other is not the one is hated the other hates the very Practice of the latter denotes the Persons to be Children of another Father distinct from those they hate There is nothing more discovers Men to be the Children of the Devil than their hating Righteousness and not loving those who appear to be Godly 1 Jo. 3.10 In this the Children of God are manifest and the Children of the Devil whosoever doeth not Righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his Brother As Love to God his Truth and such as bear his Image is an infallible Character of an Elect Child of God Jo. 13.35 1 Jo. 3.14 1 Jo. 4.7 So to hate God his Truth and such as bear his Holy Image is the indelible Character of a Reprobate designed for Eternal Destruction 1 Jo. 3.10 The second thing in the Proposition to be considered is the End and Design of God in that Act of his in Electing and Choosing which is twofold First as it respects the Creatures Elected viz. that they might partake of the Special Grace of God here on Earth and of Eternal Glory in the Kingdom of Heaven through Christ his Son according to that of Paul Ephes 1.4 According as he hath Chosen us in him before the Foundation of the World that we should be Holy and without blame before him in Love 2 Thes 2.13 Because God hath from the beginning Chosen you to Salvation through Sanctification of the Spirit and Belief of the Truth Vers 14. Whereunto he called you by our Gospel to the obtaining of the Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ 1 Thes 5.9 For God hath not appointed us to Wrath but to obtain Salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ Secondly with respect to God Electing viz. That the Glory of his Soveraign Free and rich Grace might be Extolled and Praised for ever according as the Apostle expresseth it in Ephes 1.6 To the Praise of the Glory of his Grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved Vers 11 12. In whom also we have obtained an Inheritance being predestinate according to the purpose of him who worketh all things according to the Counsel of his own Will that we should be to the Praise of his Glory who first trusted in Christ The third thing in the Proposition to be considered is to take Notice of the Properties in that Act of God Electing Those Properties are in number three First God in Electing and Choosing some Sinners to himself out of the corrupted Mass of fallen Mankind on whom he purposed to shew Mercy He did Elect and Choose them most freely there was nothing at all in the Objects Elected and Chosen that could move God wherefore he should Elect one Sinner more or sooner than another for as fallen into Sin and equally obnoxious to the Curse of the Law and the Wrath to come were all the Sons and Daughters of Adam lookt on by God when he fixed his Electing Love on some and actually rejected and passed others by on whom the most High God as an uncontrolable Soveraign purposed to execute the fierceness of his Wrath for Sin The reason or impulsive cause of this Difference which the tremendous God saw fit to make between Sinners equally guilty and obnoxious to the Curse and Wrath of God is not to be sought out of God himself An Example and lively Instance hereof we have in Rom. 9.11 which the Wise God hath seen sit should be recorded on purpose to stop the mouth of Carnal reason which is so wretchedly prone to Question and Dispute against his Soveraignty over his Creatures The Children being not yet Born neither having done any good or evil that the purpose of God according to Election might stand not of Works but of him that calleth It was said unto her the Elder shall serve the Younger As it is Written Jacob have I Loved but Esau have I Hated The Wise God foreseeing the purblind Reasonings and Cavillings of Carnal Mens unsanctified Brains against the Doctrine of Gods absolute Soveraignty in disposing of the Eternal concerns of his rational Creatures fallen by Sin into a state and condition of Misery through their own default hath seen good for the vindication of his own Prerogative to make known to the Sons of Men and that by the unerring Wisdom and unquestionable Authority of so great a Man as Paul the great Apostle of the Gentiles the reason of Gods Method in proceeding to Elect some of fallen Mankind to a state of Life and Salvation through a Redeemer and Reprobating others leaving them for ever to perish in that Sin and Misery into which they did without any constraint wilfully plunge themselves to be no other than his own most free and holy Will seeing that he alone is the undoubted Soveraign of the World who hath an indisputable right to determine what to do with or how to dispose of Sinning Rebels without being any way liable to the controulment of any of his Creatures especially such of them as by Sin have forfeited their very Being to the Divine Justice and who while in an unreconciled State are not capable of knowing him or of being subject to his Divine Law The good Will and Pleasure then of the Blessed God is the Source and Fountain whence the great Disparity between the Elect and the Reprobate World doth spring not any thing in the Creatures themselves as Arminian Cavillers dream and conceit it doth This will evidently appear if the Reader will but with a becoming modesty and unprejudic'd judgment read the whole Chapter at length and with fervent Prayer to God for the Wisdom of his Spirit look narrowly into and with sobriety consider the 11th and the 16th Verses where it plainly appears that the two conceited Qualifications of which the Enemies of Election are usually proud and which they hold and teach are the procuring cause of the Difference between the good and the evil Men on Earth viz. the Free Will in Man and the good Works which unregenerate Men do but conceit they do they are both met with and equally discarded by God from having any room or place among the causes which put God either upon Choosing the Elect or rejecting the Reprobate Mark the 11th Vers That the purpose of God according to Election might stand not of Works but of him that calleth With this agrees Ephes 2 8.9 For by Grace are ye Saved through Faith and that not of your selves it is the Gift of God Not of Works least any Man should boast And Tit. 3.5 Not by Works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his Mercy he hath Saved us c. Vain unregenerate Man would fain perswade himself that he is worse than Threadbare Rags of his polluted Morality negative and positive is a covering sufficient
refusing to receive and submit to the contrary Doctrine which is according to the Scriptures and the only Doctrine which designs the Destruction of Sin in the Hearts and Lives of true Believers and the Promoter of true Holiness God most Justly punisheth such People with a giving them up not only to believe the most Nonsensical Lyes for true Religion but even to wallow like Swine in the Mire of the grossest Immoralities even to an excelling the very Pagan World To illustrate the point I am now defending against the Quakers and Arminians viz. That God in Electing some and Reprobating others doth Act therein most freely as an absolute Soveraign Let them give me leave to put this Question to their Reason and Conscience such as it is suppose that all the several Parties in the City who differ in their Mode or Way of Worshipping God should in their respective Meetings instead of Worshipping God lay all their Heads Hearts and Hands together to contrive and carry on a Plot against the King and the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom with a full intent to destroy both the one and the other to which Plot all the several Parties do as one Man harmoniously and unanimously agree the Law condemns not only the Practice as Traiterous and Treasonable but Sentences the very Persons all and singular who are prov'd to have had any hand in such a Plot to a shameful and cruel Death The Plot comes to be Discovered upon Discovery the King who hath the Executive Power of the Law in his own hand he considers the matter and finding that all these several Parties whom he took to be Loyal Subjects are turned Rebels as most evidently appears by the unnatural Plot lately engaged in by them all against both his Person and Government for which both he and they know full well the Law condemns them all alike The King to whom the Executive Power of the Law belongs according to his Prerogative he Nominates two Select Parties out of all the rest viz. Quakers and Arminians to whom he resolves to extend his Favour in giving to them his Royal Pardon the other several Parties distinct from them he resolves to leave them to the Sentence of the Law to undergo the deserved Penalty thereof for that horrid and unnatural Rebellion I would fain know what the Quakers and Arminians could object against the King of England for passing an Act of Indemnity or Free Pardon on the People called Quakers and Arminians and leaving all the other Parties to suffer Death Seeing that herein the King Acts by Prerogative not according to Desert for the Quakers and Arminians deserved Death as well as the rest who are excluded out of the Pardon My reason tells me that the Quakers and Arminians would be so far from charging the King with Injustice or Partiality that they would rather sound forth his Praise for saying them by his Favour and Mercy no way deserved whom in strictness of Justice he might have left to the Sentence of the Law And in case any of the Criminals condemned to Die should offer to murmur against the King for making such a Difference between his equally guilty Subjects would not the Quaker and the Arminian both Plead the Kings Prerogative for saving themselves when at the same time and by the same Soveraignty he past by the rest and shall the King of Kings be Disputed against and Reflected on for Acting in matters of the like nature by his own undoubted Prerogative If any should be so saucy and bold as to demand a reason why or wherefore the King of England should leave seven or eight several Parties out of his Royal Pardon and extend the Benefit thereof only to two Select Parties who were both as liable to Death by the Law as the others the Answer is ready it is the Kings Soveraign Will and Pleasure to make the two Select Parties Nominated in his Pardon Objects of his Pity and Mercy and the rest to be the Objects of his incensed Justice to undergo that Death and Misery which they by Rebeilion brought upon themselves Now in all this hath not the Potter power over the Clay of the same lump to make one Vessel to Honour and another to Dishonour Rom. 9.21 Reader I pray consider that the lump in the place now quoted intends no other than Men and Women whom God the absolute Soveraign of the World Decreed to Create The making Vessels is Gods Creating Mankind with a purpose to permit their Fall His making one Vessel to Honour and the other to Dishonour is Gods Creating one with a sixed purpose to recover him out of that fallen State into which he was to fall and that by Soveraign Grace the other he leaves to Die and Perish in that wretched State into which he of his own default fell In this Procedure God is altogether free neither can the Creature so left by God any way reflect on God as dealing unjustly or unequally with him and the reason is because God is under no Tye or Obligation to give Grace to that Creature who of his own accord did abuse and throw away that stock of Grace whereby he was rendred capable of keeping the Law of his Maker and who by the Instinct of his vitiated and corrupted Nature doth obstinately oppose and resist the means of Cure propounded and tendred in the Gospel So that the point in Controversy between me and the Adversaries already Named is in this comparison propounded in the Verse last quoted lively set forth from which it is apparent that the design of the Apostle is to prove that God as the undoubted Soveraign of the World who Acts what him pleaseth and that according to the Counsel of his own most Holy Will decreed to make some of the corrupted Mass to be Vessels of Mercy and of the rest Vessels of Wrath and that by Electing some unto himself upon whom he purposed to bestow his Love with all the means tending to fit and prepare those Persons so Elected and Chosen for the actual enjoyment of that Love Such as a Redeemer to Die for them Faith whereby they should be made Partakers of that Redeemer with all the saving Graces of the Spirit promised in the Covenant of Grace with final perseverance in Grace to the end the rest as hath been before observed he left or passed over purposing to leave them in that wretched and deplorable Condition into which they causelesly plung'd themselves Neither is God therefore the cause why the Reprobate is Sinful and Wicked but his own Will which being left to its own natural freedom did most freely and readily choose that which was by Gods Law forbidden upon pain of Gods Displeasure and Curse The second Property in Gods Act of Election is its unchangeableness and therefore most certain it is that he or she whom God hath once purposed to Love and Save shall never finally or totally fall away from Grace or miscarry eternally Psal 33.11 The
Counsel of the Lord standeth for ever the Thoughts of his Heart to all Generations What is Gods Election of some to Life Eternal and the means leading thereto but the Birth or Product of his own Counsel Rom. 9.11 The purpose of God according to Election must stand And Oh what an unspeakable cause of rejoycing is this very Consideration to that Man or Woman who find in themselves the Fruits or Effects of the New Birth to think and believe that they in particular are chosen to Life Eternal by him who cannot change that purpose of his wherewith he hath purposed to Save so poor and miserable a Sinner as the effectually called Sinner looks on himself to be Neither is the poor weak Believer to doubt but that those Sins and Backslideings both of his Heart and Life for which he will be but too apt to fear and conclude God will at length cast him off were all perfectly known to God even then when he Elected him to Salvation notwithstanding which God fixt his Love and embraced the poor Sinner in the Bosom of his irreversible Decree when nothing of Loveliness but rather the contrary appeared to the Eye of Gods Praecognition or fore knowledge in the Soul so pitcht on by his Decree Whom God once loves with that Electing Love he loves them to the end Jer. 31.8 Mal. 3.6 Jo. 13.1 Rom. 11.29 And as Gods Act in Electing is without change so in the third place it was from Eternity though the work of effectual Calling and Saving Conversion be in time yet Gods decree and purpose of bestowing that Grace and Mercy on the Elect Sinner was before time So witnesseth the Apostle Acts 15.18 Known unto God are all his Works from the beginning of the World Ephes 1.4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the Foundation of the World 2 Thes 2.13 From the beginning hath God chosen you Rev. 17.8 Whose Names were not written in the Book of Life from the Foundation of the World The Electing Love of God it is from one Eternity to another as it did commence before time so when time shall be swallowed up of endless Eternity this Love of God to his Elect and chosen in Christ will be and continue the same for ever And therefore let that Believer who feels himself inwardly and frequently annoyed with those discouraging Fits of fickleness and unconstancy in walking with God in the way of New Obedience take Sanctuary here by Faith applying to himself the sweet Benefits of these Properties of Gods Electing Love filling both his Head and Heart with the thoughts and fixed perswasion that the Blessed God who is the Infinite Soveraign of the World who Acts all things which pleaseth himself according to the Counsel of his own Will hath of his own good pleasure chosen him a poor unworthy empty nothing Creature to be a Vessel of Mercy through Jesus Christ to the Praise of the Glory of his own Grace And that Love wherewith God hath Loved him it began towards him before he had an actual Being yea before the World was And as that Love of God was set on him before time began so when time it self shall be no more that Love of God to him shall still be endless like God himself Nothing more conduceth under God to Heart Settlement in the ways of God then to be well Verst in Understanding and Believeing with application to ones fels these Fundamental Principles of Gospel Religion And this one thing I desire the Reader to remember and carefully to observe viz. That if there were no other Argument to evince and make good the Truth I have now asserted than the Arduous and Elaborate endeavours of Satan and his busy Agents both in Preaching and Printing against the Doctrine of Election and Reprobation it were sufficient The Devil and the Pope know full well how destructive and pernicious to both their Kingdoms the bringing Sinners to the Scriptural Knowledge and right Believing this Doctrine will be And therefore for preventing hereof the Doctrine it self must be expos'd in the blackest hue as a Doctrine which makes Men proud secure and careless of good Works and which leads Men to loose Living and in the end to final Desperation And as the Doctrine it self is shot at by the Romish and Arminian Archers so the most zealous and bold Assertors and Maintainers of it are set out in the most odious and black colours which Envy and Malice it self can devise but maugre all the Crast and Envy of Devil and his most subtil and industrious Tools the Doctrine of particular Election before time is plainly held forth and asserted in the Writings of Moses the Prophets and the Holy Apostles And in case Divine Providence calls to a suffering Condition for defence of it I do not doubt but God hath a Sealed number in these Kingdoms known to himself who will be enabled to Seal the Truth of it with their dearest Blood An Objection or two lyes in the way to be answered before I can proceed to what remains behind Object 1. The Doctrine of particular Election puffs Men with Pride Answ The contrary to this the Devil himself knows to be true For I doubt not but Satan hath made his Observations that none of all Gods called Children have more abounded with Humility and self Abasement than those who have had the highest assurance of Gods Electing Love None but these can rightly admire and adore the Grace and Love of God in Christ Jesus To me who am less than the least of all Saints is this Grace given c. crys that great Apostle of the Gentiles Ephes 3.8 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation That Jesus Christ came into the World to save Sinners of whom I am the chief 1 Tim. 1.15 For I am the least of the Apostles that am not worthy to be called an Apostle because I Persecuted the Church of God 1 Cor. 15.9 But by the Grace of God I am what I am Vers 10. It is to be observed that among all the Apostles none was more highly advanced in respect of extraordinary Manifestations and Gospel Revelations than Paul was and yet among all the Apostles none more abased No greater admirer of Free Grace than he was and indeed not only Paul but others also both under the Old Testament and under the New whom Free Grace singled out to be Vessels of Mercy These were still addicted to go out of themselves in a way of self Abasement and crying up the Riches of Gods Grace and Mercy every way free and undeserved by them And herein I appeal most freely to the Personal Experience of every regenerate Believer now Living whether they do not find in themselves that the nearer they come to know and perceive the Love of God to themselves in particular the more vile they are in their own esteem and the more the Sight and Sense of their own Nothingness grows and abounds the more are they
for there is no Argument which more stongly proves a Man or Woman to be of the number of Reprobates than to expect or hope to go to Heaven in the continued and approved Neglect of Believing in the Son of God Repenting of Sin living a Holy Life and Persevering in the same to the end of Life Object 4. The Doctrine of Election before time doth not only encourage to Sin but it leads People to final Desparation for preventing of which all imaginable care ought to be taken to suppress and decry it Answ To this Horrid and Blasphemous Objection I shall in Christs strength Answer in four Particulars And First I do boldly affirm in the Name of the ever Blessed Trinity That this Blasphemous Objection did originally spring from that Spirit which charged the Son of God with casting out Devils by Beelzebub which if I mistake not is the unpardonable Sin against the Holy Ghost and such as peremptorily with allowance and approbation persist in making and liking the same against the Doctrine of Election so plainly revealed and so positively asserted by the Holy Ghost I am not afraid to declare and pronounce them the Children and Successors of those Pharisees now in Hell who vented that unpardonable Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost Mat. 12 24.32 Let all Cavilling Adversaries who bring this Objection against the Doctrine of Gods absolute and free Election before time have a care they be not found Ranked among those mighty Sinners who in the height of their Wickedness run themselves most desperately upon the thick Bosses of the Almighties Buckler Job 15.26 Secondly If the Doctrine of Election be such a dangerous Doctrine as leads to Licentiousness and which in the end brings Men to Desparation I would fain know how it comes to pass that the Enemies of this Doctrine are such Slaves to their Brutish Lusts and why so many of them Die in Despair when under powerful Awakenings and common Convictions in their guilty Consciences Thirdly I do with greatest confidence and certain assurance grounded on the Word of God and backt with my own Personal experience affirm That as the right Knowledge and Believing of the Doctrine of Election before time with a particular application thereof to ones self is the only Doctrine that sets the Heart of a true Believer against all Sin and which secures and keeps the Believer from Desparation in the time of the deepest Desertion and most violent Temptation so the Doctrine of Free Will and general Redemption is a Doctrine which encourageth to Sin and which necessarily leads to Desparation Here two things are to be demonstrated First That the Doctrine of Election before time rightly understood and particularly applied by Faith is the only Doctrine which engages the Heart of a sound Believer against all known Sin and which fortifys and secures the Believer against Desparation in the time of the deepest Desertion and the most violent Temptation Secondly That the Doctrine of Free Will and general Redemption is a Doctrine which encourageth to Sin and which necessarily leads to Desparation The first of these will evidently appear to him that rightly considers and believes the Particulars following First the Purpose and Design of God the Father in Electing which was That his Elect and Chosen who were fallen into Sin and Misery in Adam their Natural and Faederal Head might be delivered and by strong hand rescued out of that state of Sin and Misery and made effectual Partakers of that Liberty and Redemption purchased by Christ his Son the Sponsor and Surety of his Elect. Secondly the design of Christ the Surety and Sponsor of the Elect in the whole Work of Mediation which he undertook to go through for the Elect which his Father had chosen in him which was to purchase for and in time to apply actually to the Elect the saving Benefit of that Freedom and Redemption purchased by himself Thirdly The design and office of the Holy Ghost which is to sanctify and renew the Souls of the Elect in effectual Calling and to carry on and maintain the Work of Grace begun in the Believer to the end Fourthly The design of the Gospel in revealing and discovering the Mistery of Gods Love and Grace to his Elect and Chosen which is that Believers might by virtue of Christs Death savingly applyed Dye unto all Sin and that they might by virtue of Christs Resurrection walk in newness of Life before God Fifthly The design of Divine Providence towards true Believers which is to purge them from the remains of indwelling Sin more and more and to make them more and more to abound in Holy Conformity to Christ their Mystical Head All these as so many Lines in a Center do meet in the Doctrine of particular Election the which when the Believer seriously considers and by Faith applys to himself he is so far from being drawn either to Sin or Desparation thereby as that he finds the quite contrary in himself viz. an admirable Aversion and Repugnancy to yield consent to the flattering Sollicitations of Sin and an Anchor hold which powerfully keeps him from descending into the Darksom Valley of Desparation which is as I may say the very entrance into Hell it self When the Believer is at any time attacked by Satan his enticing Instruments or by indwelling Corruption to yield to the motions of Sin he fetcheth Arguments against Sin from the Doctrine of Gods Election thus Hath God from all Eternity fixt his gracious purpose of Delivering and Rescuing me out of that state of Sin and Misery into which the Apostacy of Adam my Natural and Faederal Head plunged me and that by choosing out and fixing on his own Son to be a Surety and Saviour to purchase a liberty and to work out a perfect and compleat Redemption for me and shall I can I with approbation yield my full consent to grieve and offend this freely and this dearly Loving God I cannot do it neither can all the Craft and Pollicy of my Spiritual Enemies ever work me to a willingness to go back into that state of Spiritual Captivity under Sin and Satan from which the Grace of God in Election and effectual Calling hath set me free Secondly Hath Christ the Son of God pursuant to his Fathers Holy Decree and Gracious Purpose and in compliance with so noble and glorious a Design as Redeeming Captive Sinners and reconciling them to his Father consented to become a Mediator for me to work ou a work of perfect Redemption for me that I might be set at liberty from the Laws Curse from the dominion of Sin and the Usurpation and Tyranny of the Devil and shall I consent to commit Sin against such Bowels of Mercy and Love I cannot do it Thirdly Hath the Holy Ghost who in conjunction with the Father and the Son had a Hand in my Election to Eternal Life vouchsafed to take on him the Office of a Sanctifier to Sanctifie and Renew the Elect in effectual Calling
the obtaining from God the true sense of the Scriptures so much boasted of he will plainly see how egregiously they are mistaken in both the one and the other for neither doth God intend the Death of his Son for Salvation to any of Adams Children save those whom he Elected and from Eternity Chose in Christ neither doth God make such an Universal tender of it to all Men as the Quakers rashly and boldly affirm he doth This lyes on me to demonstrate and make good against these boasting Universalists the which that I might do to satisfaction of the judicious and unprejudiced Reader I shall propound my Argument dilemma-wise thus The Terms All Any and Every on which they ground their Unscriptural Assertion they are to be taken either in an Universal sense intending every individual of Mankind or else they are to be taken in a limited and restrained sense as intending some of all sorts ranks and degrees of Men indifferently If by the Universal Terms above named some of all sorts ranks and degrees of Men indifferently be to be understood then the Assertion of the Adversaries is manifestly false and consequently the Doctrine of particular Election is true If by those Universal Terms all Men and Women without exception be intended as the Adversaries will have it then must I be allowed to demand of them how any of Adams Children come to be Damned For seeing that God willed that Christ should Redeem all the Children of Adam who fell by his Transgression I would fain know how any created Power can effect the hindering God of bringing about his own purpose or frustrate the end and design of Christ in laying down his Life for undoubtedly if God should absolutely will and purpose the Salvation of every individual Son and Daughter of Adam it is not to be questioned but that he being the Elshaddai the Mighty God every way perfect and all sufficient would find out ways and means to effect and bring about his own purpose seeing that he works all things according to the Counsel of his own most Holy Will As Paul witnesseth Ephes 1.11 It is in the Work of Regeneration as it is in the Work of the first Creation 〈◊〉 Cloaths his Word with a creating Power so that whenever and where-ever he sends forth that creating Voice of his Mighty Spirit neither Devil nor Self nor any other Enemy or Impediment whether internal or external shall ever be able to give any stop to his intended Work As the Lord himself tells his Church by the Prophet Esa 43.13 Yea before the day was I am he and there is none that can deliver out of my Hand I will work and who shall let it Whom God in Justice and Righteousness will Damn and Sentence to the Flames of his deserved Wrath for Sin who can rescue and save them Whom God in Sovereign Mercy and Grace purposeth to save and deliver who can hinder or prevent him Jo. 10.27 My Sheep saith the Lord Jesus hear my Voice and I know them and they follow me And I give unto them Eternal Life and they shall never perish neither shall any Man pluck them out of my Hand My Father which gave them me is stronger than all and no Man is able to pluck them out of my Fathers Hand I and my Father are one Here 't is plain that from the invincible Power of God and Christ the cortainty of the Life and Salvation of the Elect is inferred and proved That many of Adams Children are already in Hell and that many more will be Lodged there the Scriptures affirm and the Quakers cannot deny How comes this to pass seeing God if we must Believe the Quakers designed a general Redemption for all Mankind and that the Son of God laid down his Life to Ransom them from the Curse and Wrath of God due for their Sin to say that God willed their Salvation but that their own Obstinacy and Wickedness hindred that his Will should be accomplished on them is in effect to say that God did seriously and efficaciously will and purpose that all the Children of Adam should be saved but indeed the grant est part of Adams Posterity fell by the Power of Satan and their own rebellious Will Now whether to think or say that either the power of the Serpent or the corruption in a Sinners Nature can or ever did or shall overturn or prevent the efficacious Will of God being accomplished be not Impious and Blasphemous I leave to every impartial and sober Reader to judge Thus the first Member or Branch of the Objection appears to be rotten and unsound neither is the second any better which affirms that God makes a general offer of that Salvation to every individual Sinner in the World the which if it be true as the Quakers affirm they are highly obliged to shew how it comes to pass that the greatest part of the World by far should remain in Darkness I mean with respect to the very external means of Salvation the which God hath seen sit to deny to many Nations in the World to which also the very Letter of the Holy Scripture bears witness A few Instances hereof I lay down that the Reader may plainly see how vain these foolish Beasters are in their Imaginations who would fain impose on all that God doth love all the Children of Adam with an equal Love and that the offer of his Grace in general is made to all without any exception or limitation wherein they prove themselves as false in their sayings as they appear vain in their deluded Imaginations They say and boldly affirm that the tender of Salvation is made to all alike I say they belye the Spirit of God in pretence of pleading for God by whose Instinct and immediate Inspiration they would make the World believe they themselves above all Men are guided and not only so but they egregiously thwart and contradict the very Letter of the Scripture which they seem to own and acknowledge to be Holy True and the Rule and Standard of Tryal of all matters in Religion wherein they and Christians differ For satisfaction herein let the Reader peruse and with serious consideration weigh in the ballance of Gods Sanctuary what is recorded in Psal 147 19.20 He sheweth his Word unto Jacob his Statutes and his Judgments unto Israel He hath not dealt so with any Nation And as for his Judgments they have not known them Praise ye the Lord. Whether the place now quoted doth not evidently prove that when God chose called and settled a Church unto his own peculiar Use and Service to whom he gave his Word and Ordinances for a rule of Faith and Holy Obedience he did not leave the other Nations of the Earth out of whom he chose his People with a peculiar Love and Favour in their Native Darkness and Blindness is a matter to be enquired into That of our Saviour in Mat. 20.16 Many are called but few chosen Doth also