Abfolute, Definite, Unconditional, Complete, Irrevocable and Immutable. It maketh God to chufe Man, and not Man firft to chufe God." It hath no affinity at all with Pelagianifm in the matter of Predeftination, nor in the matter of Grace; unless this be Pelagianifm, to hold that under the aids of Grace, the Will is ftill free to Evil, of which we fhall difpute in the third part. It maketh Predeftination the root and caufe of Calling, Juftifying, Glorifying of Faith, Repentance, Perfeverance; and of all the Good that is in us: which are the effects of Predeftination, and effects of the love of God Predeftinating them unto us. 4. It miniftreth no matter of defpair, nor of prefumption, but cherisheth both Hope and Fear. Not of despair; for first, no Man is Decreed againft, but upon the foreknowledge of his own refufal of Life offered him. Secondly, the promises are General, and he may truly think them to belong to him. Thirdly, there is fufficient Grace in the means of converfion, to remedy all the Weakness and Perverseness that is in Man's depraved Nature: every fincere Perfon may therefore entertain a well grounded hope. Not of Prefumption; for firft, no Man is Decreed for, but with the foreknowledge of his own acceptance of Life offered him. Secondly, though the Promifes of God are general, they have conditions, which he must be careful to obferve, who will inherit the things Promifed. Thirdly, the Grace, that is in the means of converfion, is not tyed unto them by any Phyfical connexion, but is difpenfed by the Good pleasure of God, who may offer and unite it to the Word, when and how long he will; or may with-hold the influence of it, and fo harden or forfake the careless or the proud; fuch therefore have reafon to fear. 5. It miniftreth as much fweet comfort to all Godly perfons, who find themfelves walking in the ways that lead to Life, and confirmeth their Faith of Eternal Salvation to be enjoyed thro' Chrift, and as fervently kindleth their love to God, as any way or order of our Election conceived otherwife. 6. Lastly, it acknowledgeth the deepness of God's Judgments, and the unfearchableness of his Counfels; for who can tell why God by his Decree refolved upon Peter, rather than upon Judas; why he loved Efau less than Jacob; why he fuffered one Man to perish, and not another, when he was able out of the Treasures of his Wifdom and Knowledge to have difpofed their Courfe, Calling, and Government to quite contrary ends? Who can tell a reason why he diftributed the Gifts of Nature, and of Grace fo diverfely? Why he beareth fome with fo long Patience, and cuts of others in fo great feverity? Why fome have fo much, fome fo little, both of Rom. 11. Temporal and Spiritual Bleffings? Who hath known 34-35.36. the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his Coun fellor? Or who hath first given unto him? For of him, and through him, and to him are all things. be Glory for ever. To whom The End of the firft Part. CHA P. VII. The Transition to the fecond Part. HAVING now propounded that which I con ceive to be the Truth, and commended it by comparing it with other Opinions that feem defective; I have yet one thing more to do, neceffary for the confirming and vindicating this Truth against all exceptions either of Herefie in general, or of Schifm in this Church of England. I am therefore to show how all the Articles, or Heads of Divinity, that neceffarily run into this Queftion, being rightly Explained do cohere and confent to this Doctrine. That I may demonftrate it to be what Truth fhould be, harmonious and confonant with it felf in all its parts and circumftances. I am to declare then the Orthodox doctrine both of the antient Church, and of the Church of England: First, of these things, as Eternal viz. God's Knowledge, Will, Providence, Predeftination, Election, Reprobation; Thefe fhall make a fecond Part. Secondly, of thefe things as done in time, viz, of the Creation, of the Fall of Man, the effects of the Fall, the Reftauration of Man, his Vocation, Converfion; Of Grace, Freewill, Perfeverance, and of the last Judgment, which is commonly neglected and left out by them that difpute of these matters and thefe fhall make a third Part of this Work, through God's Goodness and affiftance. + Το μιὰ γὰρ ἀληθεῖ πάντα συνάδει τὰ ὑπάρχονα, τῷ δὲ ψευ Ai mxv Agaves' dλntés. Ariftot. Ethic, Lib, 1. cap. 8. CHAP. Acts. 15. 29. CHA P. I. OF GOD's KNOWLEDGE. K NOWN unto God from Everlasting are all his Works, Saith St, James; and St. Paul telleth us, that whom he foreknew, he Predeftinated: and we 1. Pet. 1. 2. find St. Peter writing to fuch as were Elect according to the Fore-knowledge of God the Father. There be fome indeed who interpret these two laft places See Pareus rather by the word Precognition, than by the word Prefcience; and Tropically, fo as to fignify Approbation, and Love, rather than Knowledge properly taken and they complain of the Ignorance of the Latines who understood not the Greek, and of the Ignorance of the Greeks who understood not the Hebrew phrafe in this word; and that by the word Prefcience, they occafioned the Pelagian Herefie, of Election upon Prefcience of works. But notwithftanding this charge of unskilfulness upon the Antients, they are beholden to Origen for this their interpretation, who as he was not ignorant either of Hebrew or Greek, fo neither is he by them thought altogether guiltlefs of giving occafion to Pelagius his Herefie. But if it be their Minds in the word poyvwois, fo to include approbation, as to exclude fore-knowledge properly taken, 、 1. I will for once appeal to the Almanack-makers, who will wipe away this Glofs by the common use of the word Prognoftication. 2. Next, I will fay that an Hebraifm, or Grammatical nicety, is too weak a thing to fway a caufe of this Weight and Value. 3. That it is very improbable that St. Paul, and St. Peter, not being in any Poetical or Popular Vein, but but in a Solemn and Grave Difcourfe, fhould use any figurative, or improper Term, where most propriety, and perfpicuity, and certainty was needful to be used. 4 I demand a proof that the use of the Verb fimple fhall draw the compound to follow it in the like fignification; that because The Lord knoweth Pfalm. 1.6i the way of the Righteous, is well interpreted, the Lord approveth it: therefore that God Foreknoweth the way of the Righteous, is well interpreted God Foreapproveth the way of the Righteous; which though it is true, it doth not follow by any neceffity of the Connexion. 5. Laftly, if this interpretation makes the whole, and the only fenfe of this word Foreknowledge here, then I fay the difference is quite taken away which St. Paul and St. Peter make between thefe two, to Foreknow, and to Predeftinate; to Foreknow, and to Elect; nay worse, that is put into Foreknowledge, which more properly belongs to Predeftination, and Election; for Approbation and Love is more difcovered by the act of the Will which is to Predeftinate and to Elect, than it is by the act of the Understanding, which is to Foreknow. 8. 29. Yet if their defire be only to have it admitted and granted, that there goes with the foreknowledge of God, a Good liking and a Well-pleafing, and approving of the fubject foreknown, as fit to be loved, and capable of being chofen, which was *Origen's mind, I fhall not only allow, but maintain in Rom. their opinion. For this is the reafon why the Scriptures obferve a diftinction which the Schools neglect, calling only the Good and the Elect Prafciti, or foreknown, and not the Reprobate; for tho' they alfo were fimply Fore-known, God not being ignorant of them, yet there was not that in them which he might approve or think well of. Notwithstanding, this doth neither hinder the proper accepta |