Chap.t.Sect.7 Book II· 4,Becaufe Eled:ion ori faith forefeene, is all one as to fay , weare ordained to ecernallife becaufe we beleeve'; but the Scripture fpeaks contrary, M many .u were ordained to eternal life ACl: s13· 4 8~ beleeved, and not as many as beleeved were ordained to eternal life. 5. Becaufe a prime and eternal caufe cannot depend upon the felf-fame temporal effects which are t\1ereby caufed; Now,Election is the prime and eternal caufe whence our faith, repentance, and·perfeverance were derived, and therefore our faith, repentance, and perfeverance cannot be imagined antecedent caufes, conditions, or motives unto the divine Election. 6. Bf'caufe Election on faith forefeene, or Election of men beleeving and perfeveriug in faith and holine!fe unto the !aft. gafp, brings with it many abfurdities. As, 1. This is to EleCl: men , not conl!dered as in the ilate of innocency, nor of mifery, but as in ftate ofgrace, contrary to their own tenets. 2. This is not to bring faith , hohne!fe, perfeverance out of the gracious benefit ofElection, but to bring Election out of the forefeen acts ofbeleeving, obeying, perfevering, quite con.trary to Scriptures, he harh choft'n m in him before the foundllrion of the world ,that , »C fhould be holy and without biam,e before him in love; 3. This Ecclef,J, 4.. were to fay that Election or preddl:ination afords no man any help at all, in the way unto eternal falvation; for how can that be the caufe leading infallibly in the way unto eternal life, which comes not fo much as into confideration, until a man have runne out his race ( at leaft in Gods foreknowledge) in faith, and godline!fe, and be arrived at heavens gates? Such a fa tidy named predeftination might more truly and properly have been called a Pofr:deftin~ti?n. ~utI have too long l.l:ood on this contraverfie; · a~d mdeed tt ts agamft my defigne, which is not to minifler quefls ,ns, but r~~the~ edijjin.r;, -rr;hich is i, faith. I remember what 1 Tim. 1~; ~have read, ~nd mdeed I begm already to fede, that thefe con- · · traverllal pomts will but difcompofe our fpirits , and wafte our ~eale, our love? o~r delight in 'fefm (this lovely fubjeet, and obJCCt we are a vtewmg) even by the interruption and diverlion of our contemplations, not a word_more in that kind. . L .2 SE~I
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