to move the Lord God to do them good Hence it is that Samuel saith to Israel (r) 1 Sam. 12.22 the Lord will not forsake his people and the reason he gives is this because it hath pleased him to make you his people Thus it is with God upon the account of any mercy he bestoweth upon the Creature of any nature whatsoever David declareth the same (i) Psal 44.3 for they got not the land in possession by their own sword neither did their own arm save them but thy right hand and thine arm and the light of thy countenance because thou hadst a favour unto them Thus we read in the Gospel when the Lord Jesus worked a Cure of any bodily or spiritual Disease he made it wholly depend upon his will as in the Miracle upon the Leper he said (k) Matth. 8.3 I will be thou clean and in the case of working Faith (l) chap 11.27 neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him So (m) Joh 5.21 the Son quickneth whom he will Thus as of our Election so of our Regeneration and Conversion there is no other cause but the will of God for (n) Jam. 1.18 of his own will begat he us with the word of truth In few words the whole work of Salvation is an effect of his free-grace (o) Ephes 2 â— ad vers 8. When we were dead in sin he hath quickned us the reason he giveth there is this by grace ye are saved in both verses for he repeats it three verses lower by grace ye are saved through faith and that not of our selves it is the gift of God We further say there was no foresight or consideration of any work faith or merit in us why God should Elect us (p) Ezck. 16.6 And when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own blood I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood live yea I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood live What sign of Faith or comeliness in that condition was there in us what ornaments in us there have been since they are the work of God in us whether repentance faith holiness or any other grace For after God said to us live he washed and anointed us clothed and decked us c. as may be seen in the following verses vers 8 9 10 11 12 13. We add that sin is the only cause of damnation as in St. Matthews (q) Matth 25.42 43. Gospel by me quoted already (r) Rom. 2.9 Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil In another place of Scripture he says positively (s) Rom. 6.23 the wages of sin is death But here by the by this I must take notice of how though Damnation be the reward for Sin it doth not follow that Salvation should be the reward of Faith or good Works the just reward of Sin is Death it is its due but the Apostle doth not say that Eternal Life is the wages of Faith or Righteousness as Death is of Sin (a) Ver. 23. but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. There is a great disparity between the rules and means of Justice and of Mercy as hereafter we shall have occasion to shew as also why God leaves and Elects one and not the other as in the ease of Esau and Jacob. (b) Malach. 1.2 3. I have loved you saith the Lord yet ye say wherein hast thou loved us Was not Esau Jacob's Brother yet I loved Jacob and I hated Esau of which no account but God's pleasure for St. Paul makes to the same purpose use of the place in Rom. 9. as already quoted But now we must come to the proof of our 3d. Article namely that the Elect do constantly obey God's call when the time is come when (c) Cant. 1.4 God draweth they follow nay they run draw me we will run after thee and (d) Lament 5.21 turn thou us unto thee and we shall be turned The Elect obey the call When St. Paul heard the voice from Heaven he said (e) Acts 9.6 Lord what wilt thou have me to do This inward call for St. Paul's was such as well as outward makes a great change in Man how willing how ready to obey (f) Gal. 1.16 he confered not with flesh and blood but submitted So did the Jailour he said to Paul and Silas (g) Act. 16 30. Sirs what must I do to be saved The new Converts willing to be directed said unto Peter and other Apostles * Acts. 2.37 men and brethren wha shall we do though at first all know not what to do ye are prepared to obey and desirous to be instructed when the Lord said unto Paul arise and go into the City and it shall be told thee what thou must do he complied and went So Samuel assoon as (h) 1 Sam. 3.4 6 8 10. the Lord called Samuel he answered Here I am and though he at first did not well know the nature of the voice nor whose it was yet he ran to the place whence he thought the voice came disposed to obey and when heat last was better informed then he said Speak Lord for thy servant heareth For though may be at first God's people do not distinctly understand the call yet God never gives over calling till we are come to him God makes known unto us the mystery of his will to this end saith St. Paul (i) Ephes 1.10 That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ both which are in heaven and which are on earth even in him But God is never disappointed of his ends he worketh effectually and unresistibly Ver. 19. wherefore this is called the exceeding greatness of his power to us ward who believe according to the working of his mighty power Observe the Emphasis This dealing of God in and towards Believers is in one and the same verse called the working of Gods power yea his Mighty Power and in the beginning of the verse not only his Power but the greatness and the exceeding greatness of his Power The effectual preaching of the Gospel to People or Persons is an effect of their Election as the Cause is known by the effect so a posteriori Election is by a powerful preaching of the Gospel (k) 1 Thes 1.4 5. Knowing beloved your election of God saith St. Paul for our Gospel came not you unto in word only but also in power and in the holy Ghost and in much assurance c. to the Elect ever it comes so in the due time and by its coming so they may judge themselves to be Elect for he saith also in much assurance We add further that the Elect neither do nor can finally and totally resist the inward powerful and effectually calling of God's spirit in the very
to his disciples (d) John 15.16 chap. 13 1â— Ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you and I know whom I have chosen Now though Election be the cause of Faith it doth not follow by the rule of relatives which are said to be the cause of one another that Faith should be the cause of Election that maxim is to be understood of the natural respect and relation of the Subjects not of the Subjects themselves of relations else it would a so follow That because the Creator is the cause of the Creature the Creature ought also to be the cause of the Creator which is Blasphemy It is the part of a wise Agent when he doth appoint to the end also to appoint to and provide the means So the only wise God having predestinated us to the end eternal life hath also predestinated us to the means namely Faith For saith the Apostle (a) 2 Thes 2.13 God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth here are the decree election chosen the efficient cause God the Object you the end to salvation with the means sanctification of the spirit and belief of the Truth or Faith Farther I say if prevision of Faith had been the cause of our Election it would also be the cause of our Vocation in time which is contrary to the word (b) 2 Tim. 1.9 God hath called us with his holy calling not according to our works but according to his purpose and grace I bring one Argument more which is this if Faith and Holiness fore-seen had been the cause of our Election it would follow that the object of Election had been Man already restored through Grace and justified which is false Take notice that there are not two Decrees one to Grace the other to glory as they say Scripture maketh no mention of a double Election by one and the same Decree we are elected to Glory through Grace as the means and way for the first in Intention is last in Execution We are saved by Faith yet not elected by Faith the reason of both being different Election is an eternal act of God inward and immediately proceeding from God but Salvation is a temporal act of God outward and mediate which is perfected thorough many other means and second causes if the causes of Election and Salvation be the same then the Law of God the Gospel Sacraments and Ministers are the causes of our Election for God makes use of all these means to bring us to eternal life We are elected in Christ not for Christ God was never moved by the merit of Christ to Elect us but he decreed to save us in Christ who is not the cause of the Decree but a medium or means appointed in the Election to execute it We must have a care not to confound between the cause and sign of things which do very much differ thus the Rainbow is not the cause why the world shall no more be drowned with a general Flood 't is only the sign of it the cause is God's Will and Promise thus Sacraments are signs not causes of the things they represent Circumcision was the sign of God's Covenant with Abraham but not the cause which was God's Free-grace and Mercy to him the Lords Supper is the sign of Christ's Passion but not the cause which is God's Free-grace and Mercy to mankind When our blessed Saviour saith (a) Matth. 16.2 3. When it is evening ye say it will be fair weather for the Sky is red c. that colour of the Sky is not the cause but the sign of fair or foul weather Thus to make an Application to our Subject I say we must take heed not to make Faith the cause of our Election when it is the sign and effect of it so much posteriour to it for Election is from eternity when Faith is given but in time and yet serveth to prove Election for wheresoever true saving Faith is there is an infallible sign but no cause of Election which far from being caused by any grace is the sole and only ground of all and every grace we receive Faith it self the chief Gospel grace is an effect of it as it appears out of many places of Scripture which I already quoted so out of (b) Acts 18.27 Acts where 't is said Apollos helped them much which had believed through grace And those men who will not believe this will have much cause to fear they are of the same sort of those whom our Saviour speak of when he saith (c) John 9.39 For judgment I am come into this world that they which see not may see and that they which see might be made blind There is mercy for the first and judgment for the last for certainly Christ came into the world both for mercy and for judgment to make some unexcusable (d) John 15.22 If I had not come and spoken to them they had not had sin but now they have no cloak for their sin It was said of Christ almost after his very Birth That (a) Luk. 2.34 he was set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel and for a sign which shall be spoken against And as the Prophet says (b) Isa 3.14 a stone of stumbling a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel for a gin and for a snare to Jerusalem And Men are too apt to fansie things to be the cause of God's actings which are not thus the Disciples themselves thought because a Man was born blind the Man's sins or his Parents must be the cause of it but our Saviour tells them they were in an error for (c) Joh. 9.3 neither hath the man sinned nor his parents but he was born blind that the works of God should be made manifest in him This place sheweth clearly how God in whatsoever he doth in upon or for Men he minds chiefly his own Glory and followeth his own will and pleasure Thus (d) Chap. 11.4 Lazarus's Sickness and Death was for the glory of God and of Christ God denyed the Man his sight from his Birth here are his Will his Power and Justice over his Creature the Lord Jesus gives him his sight there is mercy thus the works of God are made manifest in this Man and why not so too in others in relation to eternity as well as to time This Man was naturally blind but God is pleased to give him his sight as he might without any wrong have left him in his blindness if it had been his pleasure So if God be pleased to leave some Men naturally dead in that condition and quicken others that were in the same state what hath wretched Man to do to cavil against or find fault with it Or presumptuously not to be satisfied with this cause the meer will and pleasure of God but must prye into his Secrets and forge other Motives instead
of sticking to the Rule and Word of God To such we may put St. Paul's question (e) Rom. 11.34 35. Who hath known the mind of the Lord or who hath been his counsellour Hast thou known his mind or hast thou been his Counsellour Or who hath first given to him hast thou then it shall be recompensed to thee again Thou hast chosen him to be thy God before he predestinated thee to the adoption of Children thou hast believed in him before he elected thee to believe in Christ since thou makest God as accomptable to thee be sure if he owes any thing he will pay it but one should know that (a) Job 33.13 there is no striving against God and that he giveth not account of any of his matters For (b) Prov. 21 30. there is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord. As to the question whether or not the decree of Election be absolute I say 't is not in some respect and in some other it is 't is not absolute in relation to the means conducing to the obtaining of Salvation which are included in the decree whereof the merits of Christ and Faith are the chief though I must say that the Use and Application of those means is the work of grace God saith Job (c) Job 23 1â— performeth the thing that is appointed for me And St. Paul by the grace of God I am what I am ... Yet not I but the grace of God that was with me 1 Cor. 15.10 And I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me Philip. 4.13 It is absolute in relation to any impulsive or instrumental cause or any condition which the decree should depend upon which is the question between Arminians and us In the execution of the decree Faith is the instrument and hand whereby we receive and apply Christ's merits unto us but it is under no such Notion in the making of the decree What I said before I repeat here that there are not two decrees one for the end another for the means but one and the same for both because God willeth together end and means where one can do two are superfluous Now God doth nothing in vain Let us now speak of the matter of Election or who are those whom God elected unto eternal life They are Men fallen in Adam and for sin in the sight of God guilty of eternal death yet God hath not chosen all men sinners but only some few of every sort especially of those which are low and contemptible in this world As to the first they are Men fallen in Adam We think this to be the order of God's decrees about Men First to Create Man for the glory of his Name Secondly to permit they should fall from the integrity wherein they were created and so become guilty of eternal death Thirdly Out of that whole lost lump of mankind to restore some to everlasting life thereby to shew his mercy and leave the rest in the state of Perdition and Damnation for their sins to manifest his Justice Our reasons why God hath chosen men in that state are First Because he hath (a) Ephes 1.4 elected us that we should be holy and without blame Therefore he lookt upon such as unholy and sinners Secondly Scripture calleth Election (b) Rom. 9.15.23 a will to shew mercy and a little lower the Elect are called vessels of mercy therefore considered as in misery for misery is the Object of Pity and Mercy We say in the second place all men are not elected only some out of all sorts on which Scripture is positive (c) Matth. 20.16 few are chosen Neither doth God give eternal life to all for some are Damned therefore he decreed not to do 't for God doth nothing in time but what from eternity he decreed to be done God hath not mercy upon all but (d) Rom. 9.18 he hardneth some neither doth he give the means of Salvation as calling by the word Faith in Christ Repentance Justification by Faith to all but only to some so that we may say they who are not elected to the means are not elected to the end for God will not bestow the end but through the means the very name of Election signifieth a choice of some out of many he cannot be said to chuse who taketh all promiscuously The Adversaries we are now disputing against to prove that God decreed from eternity with an antecedent will to save in time all and every Man do argue thus (e) 1 Tim. 2.4 God will have all men to be saved therefore he decreed to save them all but the consequence is not good for in the Text the Apostle doth not mean every particular Man but men of all sorts as Princes and Subjects which is the scope of the place For there he exhorteth to have prayers made for all men for Kings and all in authority Rich and Poor Old and Young Men and Women great Men and of low degree that is of all Ages Sexes Quality Nation and People c. The particle all is distributive as School-men say into the genders of singulars not into the singulars of genders we do not our selves give that sence but 't is Scripture interpretation The four Beasts and twenty four Elders said to the Lamb (a) Rev. 5.9 chap. 7.9 and chap. 11.9 chap. 13.6 chap. 14.6 chap. 19.18 Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation Which is repeated in several other places of the same book as are quoted in the Margin to shew this is the true meaning of the Spirit of God And the Reader may peruse them with that of Colos 3.4 Again they object (b) 2 Pet. 3.9 God will have none to perish but all that should come to repentance But there the Apostle speaketh not indifferently of all Men but only of the Elect as appeareth in the same verse God is patient or long suffering to us ward so he is not willing that any of us should perish and who those are whom he speaks to they are the same he writes his Epistle to and them he nameth in the first verse of the first Chap. To them that have obtained like precious faith with us thorough the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ He will have none of these to perish but that they all come to repentance and certainly they will Thus the word all is taken for the Elect in the two following places (c) 1 Tim. 2.6 Christ gave himself a ransome for all and (d) 2 Cor. 5.15 Christ died for all and not for every Man whether Believer or Reprobate as it will be proved in its place by the grace of God What St. Paul saith that (e) Rom. 11.32 God hath concluded them all in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all is not to be understood of every particular Man but
of Jews and Gentiles indefinitely to whom he gives hopes of Salvation through Faith in Christ for that is the scope of that whole Chapter so the sence is this God hath concluded under sin Jews and Gentiles to have mercy on both in Christ apprehended with Faith so that Jews and Gentiles may ascribe their Salvation only to God's mercy This Text compared with another (f) Gal 3.22 Scripture hath concluded all under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe doth clear the point this last interpreting the other for as it appeareth that all are concluded under sin so it sheweth how special mercy reacheth only those who through the grace of God do believe and through Faith are elected to everlasting life To say that God hath from Eternity decreed to save all and every Man under this condition if they believe in Christ not only they find in Scripture nothing to ground it upon but withall intangle themselves in two very great difficulties First to God they attribute a vain and imprudent Decree for if from Eternity God hath foreseen that the condition of Faith in Christ shall not be performed by many to what purpose to make such a Decree of Salvation to depend upon such a condition Such a Decree doth not become the wisdom of any Man much less of God The Second inconveniency is this they submit and make faith a free gift of God to depend upon the free-will of man dead in trespasses and sins that it is in the power of Man to believe or not believe which is meer Pelagianism and wholly contrary to Scripture These considerations have so wrought upon some that they wave off the fore-sight of Faith but betake themselves to the fore-sight of the right use which Men would make of outward means of Conversion and Salvation as the serious saving hearing reading and meditation of the word of God receiving of the Sacrament frequenting of Churches c. But alas the first of these is the fruit of the Spirit not of corrupt Nature the saving hearing of the Word as well as Faith proceedeth from our Election For (a) 2 Cor. 2.15 16. the word is a Saviour of life unto life to none but the Elect but to others that perish it is the Saviour of death unto death And if going to Church and every hearing of the word of God could make a difference between chosen and reprobates and was necessarily joyned with Election all those that perform those duties would be Elect which we know to be false Experience teacheth us how sometimes the worst of Men most averse from hearing of the Word or walking in the way of Salvation are converted to God others who seemed better and fitter for the Kingdom of God being passed by and left so calling is sometimes for those who seemed the worst not for those who appeared the best Farther this opinion makes the rejecting of the grace of the Gospel outwardly offered the only cause of reprobation What then shall we say of those who from the beginning of the world to the birth of our Saviour were damned whereof the thousandth part never heard a word of Christ Now we proceed and say in the third place the lesser part òf sinners is elected and the greatest part left in their state of Damnation which Scripture clearly affirmeth (a) Rom. 9.29 Chap. 11.5 4. Except the Lord of Sabbath had lest us a seed 't is but a Seed a remnant a little one seven thousand amongst all the people of Israel our Blessed Saviour who knew it very well saith though (b) Matth. 20.16 Chap. 7.13.14 many are called yet few are chosen and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be that go in thereat But strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it They are called the little Flock whereof the Members at certain times are so few as thereby invisible to man's eye some times in God's not one Fourthly Kings 19.14 Ezek. 22.30 We say that these few ones are chiefly chosen out of those that are low and contemptible in the world for which we have that famous Text (c) 1 Cor. 1.26 27 28. For ye see your calling brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and the weak to confound the mighty and base things of the world and things which are despised hath God chosen c. Hence we learn two considerable things First Not to judge of the love of God or his special grace out of humane Wisdom Power or Nobleness The Second patiently to bear the lowness meanness weakness and despicableness before the world for they are signs rather of Grace than of Wrath. To that purpose also is that passage in the Gospel (d) John 7.48 49. Have any of the Rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed These learned and wise High-priests and Pharisees in their own conceit would not go into Heaven nor suffer others to enter into it Ver. 47 not only they called the people cursed but also the Officers they had sent deceived are ye also deceived But upon occasion our Saviour plainly tells them the truth ye who think your selves so wise and righteous are fools in comparison of those whom you despise For (e) Matth. 21.31 Publicans and Harlots go into the Kingdom of God before you As every wise Agent proposeth an end to himself in every thing he doth so likewise the only wise God in our Election purposed the manifestation of his mercy in his gracious Salvation of some sinners this St. Paul speaks of when after having said (a) Ephes 1.4.6 We are elected in Christ he addeth to the praise of the glory of his Grace Hence it is that the Elect be called (b) Rom. 9.23 Vessels of mercy Which mercy when God gives us grace to depend upon then we are grounded on the rock of Eternity but Man's Pride makes him desire to be loose from the Rock and stand on his own bottom which is meer quick Sand and Mud. So at last he must needs sink into it if God leaves him Now two things belong to the Decree of Election and are inseparable from it which do afford us matter of unspeakable comfort they are Eternity and Immutability for our Election is eternal and unchangeable First Eternal (c) Ephes 1.4 chap. 3.9 God hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world which in the same Epistle is called the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God And in another place (d) 2 Tim. 1.9 Grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began And in another the same Epistle calls it (e) Rom. 16.25
in the Prayer in time of War and Tumult amongst the Thanksgivings that we may in Heart and Mind ascend into the Heavens Surely 't is to deny those Prayers if one denieth the effectual Power of God on the Will of Man In another place Almighty God c. whose power no Creature is able to resist in Spirituals as in Temporals But I must not much longer stand upon this for the Stream runs strong that way only few places more I shall quote as that wherein we own (k) Collect on 4th Sunday after Trinity God to be our Ruler and Guide and beseech him to be so In another we say (l) Collect on 6th Sunday after Trinity and Collect on 7th Sunday after Trinity Pour into our Hearts such Love towards thee And we pray (m) Collect on 14th Sunday after Trinity for increase of Faith Hope and Charity And almost in every Collect we pray to God to rule our Hearts and in one place to work upon and move our Wills in these Words (n) Collect on 25th Sunday Stir up we beseech thee O Lord the Wills of thy People They are not free nay they are asleep and dead to every good thing except thou be pleased to stir them up The Question is about the Will and here the Will is named God may well rule the Heart for (o) 2d Collect on Good Friday by his Spirit the whole Body of the Church is governed In the Church-Prayers we own he ruleth the Hearts of Kings (p) 1st and 2d Collect on the Communnion Rule the Heart of thy Servant the King The Hearts of Kings are in thy Rule and Governance and thou dost dispose and turn them as it seemeth best to thy godly Wisdom We humbly beseech thee to dispose and govern the Heart of thy Servant our King that in all his Thoughts Words and Works he may ever seek thy Honour and Glory If Men have free-Will and Power to do those things as to purifie themselves why do we pray for them 'T is in vain for us to pray to God to do for us that which we can do our selves But if therein we want his Assistance then we must need want that Power I shall conclude with two or three places out of the Litany where 't is prayed for the King That his Heart may be ruled in the Faith Fear and Love of God In another place That the Church may be called and universally governed in the right way and That God would bring into the way of truth all such as have erred and are deceived Here the Church doth plainly acknowledge the Efficacy of God's Grace on the Wills and Hearts of Men for when we pray that God's Grace may work such Effects 't is owned such Effects to be the proper Works of God's Grace One thing more I shall take notice of and it is this In a Prayer are these Words We beseech thee for all sorts and conditions of Men that thou wouldest be pleased to make thy ways known unto them Hence we see how Men cannot of themselves know God's Ways but it is God that makes them known unto them therefore we therein beseech God to do it Which if it were not proper for God alone the Prayer would be in vain Hence we also learn the Sense of the Church as to the signification of the word all used in Scripture as it ought to be the Object of our Prayers and then by a consequence apply it to those for whom Christ died against an universal Redemption in their way for in the Collect it is not said for every single and individual Man but for all sorts and conditions of Men. Now to proceed We should bring something out of the Book of Homilies and of the authorised Catechism of Edward the 6th As to the first take notice of the following places out of the Edition quoted in the Margin London 1623. Part. 1. pag. 8. Ephes 2. St. Paul in many places painteth us out in our own Colours calling us the Children of the Wrath of God when we were born Saying also that we cannot think a good Thought of our selves much less can we we say or do well of our selves c. And we be of our selves of such Earth Pag. 10. as can bring forth nothing but Weeds Nettles Brambles Bryars Cockle and Darnel we have neither Faith Charity Hope Patience Chastity nor any thing else that good is but of God and therefore these Vertues are called there the Fruits of the Holy Ghost and not the Fruits of Man In another place Of our selves and by our selves we have no Goodness part 1. p. 11. and Part 2. p. 181 182 183. Help nor Salvation but contrariwise Sin Damnation and Death everlasting Our Salvation comes only by Christ We are all become unclean but are not able to cleanse our selves nor to make one another of us clean We are by nature Children of God's Wrath but we are not able to make our selves the Children and Inheritors of God's Glory c. He is the God who of his own Mercy saveth us and setteth out his Charity and exceeding Love towards us in that of his own voluntary Goodness when we perished he saved us and provided an everlasting Kingdom for us And all these Heavenly Treasures are given us not for our Desert Merit or good Deeds which of our selves we have none but of his meer Mercy freely Doth not this wholly and only attribute our Salvation to the free Grace of God in Christ and consequently excludeth any thing in or from us to move God to be so gracious to us As to the great point of our Justification before God in the Sermon of the Salvation of Mankind by only Christ our Saviour from Sin and Death everlasting are these Words But our Justification doth come freely by the Mercy of God of so great and free Mercy that whereas all the World was not able of themselves to pay any part towards their Ransom it pleased our heavenly Father of his infinite Mercy without any our Deserts to prepare for us the most precious Jewels of Christ's Body and Blood c. And further to shew there is nothing of ours Part 2. p. 172. it is said elsewhere It is of the free Grace and Mercy of God by the Mediation of the Blood of his Son Jesus Christ without Merit or Deserving on our part Part 2. p. 81 82. that our Sins are forgiven us that we are reconciled and brought again into his Favour and made Heirs of his Heavenly Kingdom And as to the Certainty and Immutability of our Election it is said in another place Let us by such Virtues as ought to spring out of Faith shew our Election to be sure and stable Part 1. p. 28.29 c. And elsewhere we read this The holy Man Simon saith Part 2. p. 152. that Christ is set forth for the fall and rising again of many in Israel As Christ