to theE P H E S I A N S. iveth you a part and por.tion in the Inheritance ~ith the Children of God; it is~ ~e-ng Called it is having Faith wrought m you, It IS bemg Sanctified; for by all Str. XIII. th~fe are yo~ gathered to Chrifr as your Head. 1 P tt.q. Who hath btgotten tss 1./"V""'-J agaill to all J,d;eritana, faah he,_ ( thofeare hIS words) you mufi be begotten again before you have right to th1s lnhentance, before you can recnve aTJ Inhe_ri• tmzce among thofe th,Jt are {mzt:lzfied; fo you he_ard ou~ of the At:fs. I will g1ve you but one Scripture more to convmce you of It,and It IS a parallel place to this, 'tis Coloj[.I.J2. Giving thanks to the Father, who bath made tts meet to partrJ!u, Cto have; lot, to have ajbare)m the illheritanct of the s ,,!'nts ill tzght. What is it that makes you meet? It isbemg holy; why? becaufe It IS an Inhentance of the Saints and an Inhtntance m light; and while thy heart IS carnal and walketh in darknefs, thou canfr never come to hav~ a part and portion in this matter. Itl whom therefore, faith the Apofrle (here ts the fum of all) we have a part or portio 11 , a11 Inherita11ce jlrangeJy ca(lupo~t 1IS we know not how, we never looked after it,itwaua(lupon 11s by lot. How? Bygtvz1Jg-UJ Fazth, byCallmg 11r, by tttr1ling 1IS to God,andby memJS of that we are come to ha;;e apart andportzo11 m this I11heritance. Soyou have the firft word explamed, I11 whom we have ob• tained a lot, a portion, an Inherita11ce 6y lot, by being called, and fant:lified, and rmewed. Now the Apofrle, when he had thus applied this for their and his own comfort; he leadeth them to confider the Fountain. For, my Brethren, we are apt to think with our felves, we have Grace wrought in us; therefore we have interefi in Chrifr, and in him a part and porti<m in this Inheritance, and fo look no further, But what doth the Apoftle ? He leadeth us up to the eternal love of God, (I pray think of that,) for what followeth? In whom havi11g obtained an Inheritance, [according tobispurpoje, ~howorke~hall thi11gs after the cou1lfel of his ow11 will.] Look to the Fountam of all tlus, faith he, It 1~ your being prede~mated, and this from an everlaftmg purpofe; and although 1t came to you (as It were) by a Lot,and by chance, and you were as far off from being called,when you were called, as any men in the world; but yet, faith he, it was a Lot guided by God's eternal Predefiination, Bei11g pret!eflinated, faith he, according to p11rpo[e. I fhall open this a little. I handled -Predeflinatio1l before, therefore l will notfpeakof it now, onlythi•, Remember that he fpeaks this of the .fews and Apoftles, (for he applieth this to them,) In whom, faith he, we that fir(I trtt(led ;,Chri(l have a portio11, bei11,g prtdejh11ated. You may read in the next verfes, where he goes on to make the like application to the Gmtiles, that he doth not mention Predeftination in that his application to them; he fpeaks of their Calling indeed,but he doth not fpeak of their Predeflination, not but that they were pre– deflinated; but why doth he chufe to mention it in his Speech to the Jtws only ? The truth is this, they had been the People of God, and had it by promife; they had God and Heaven entailed to them, A6rahamwas their Father. Yea,but faith the Apoftle, for all this it was God's etmwl Love, it was his Prede(/inatio11 that was the caufe of lingling us out. And he mentioneth it not in his fpeech to the Gentiles, though he inrendeth the fame thing to them; for if the 'Jews and A– poftles had it by Prede(/i1zatio11, the Gmtiles that were without the Promijtand withottt God i11 theWorld,had it from the fame Fountain much mGre.And he men• 'tioneth it to theJews, becaufe Election carried it away even amongft them and Election, the force of difference it puts amongfrrnen was feen moft amongfr :hem, bec~ufe, I fay, they were the People of God by Promife. Take two Scriptures for It, Fnft,Rom:'l- 7· You fha llfee there, that hemakes the Calling of the Jews to depend efpec1ally upoAElectwn.What thm? Ijrae!(faith he)hath 110 t obtai11ed that whzch lie foeketb for, (multitudes of the People of Ifrael did nor) bttt the Elet:fion hathobtai11td it; it is the Elect amongfl Ijrael that have obtained it, Do not think faith he,it cometh to you by yourFatherAbraham (as they thought) it is the Election that obtained it, Secondly,Rom,9. r1.he fpeak; there ofE(a11 and .7~co6, he faah, the pttrpo{e of God accordi11g to Ele8io1l was it that flood. It was fatd to theMother ofboth,that tbe elderjhotlldJerve theyormger.Election you fee carr~es it among the 'jewJ, therefore his mentioning of Predeflination here com– eth m feafonably,for they would have thought the Promife'to their Fath~rs would have carried it. No, faith he, bei11g Predfj/111ated, · _ A a 1Dut
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