Of Eleflion. ~ And, S;condly, That the fJme things that tended mofl unto their hur t: BooK V. lhould be mclns of conveying the grcatefl good. \.~ Yea, Thirdly, Hereby he juflifies his Courfe in convey ing fin; and takes off much of the feeming harlhnefs and inequality that wicked men lay to his charge therein , in that he ufeth the fame way t<> derive a Bl,fling of Grace. If they quarrel the Imputation of anothers fin, the Anfwcr 1s ready, That God hath provided that we may be faved by the Imputation of anothers Righteoufnefs : If that feem harlh, that Men lhould convey umo thclf Ch1ldren Sm and Death together with their Being; and that Mens very iffuing out of the Loins of Adam lhould render them finful and corrupt; how doth this lenifie it, "that if they will turn to God, they may be made Inflruments of conveying a Bleiiing to their Children greater than . that Curfe, a Grace furpaiiing that fin; (for fo the Promile runs:) Why then, 0 Man, lhouldft thou quarrel againft God! Secondly, God therein fhews forth the glory of his Wifdom, that in thofe very things wherein Satan dealt proudly, God fhould go beyond him. Satan knowing tho Curfe denounced by God, that if A dam fell , all his Children lhould fall in him , and lhould by a juft Law have in their ve– ry Generation from him that fin derived; thought he, M1n"s Fall will be fuch a cheok and blemilh unto God's proceedings , that it will quite fpoil the Game, that it can never be played out; but will hold all Mankmd , young 'and old, under an inevitable Law of being Damned, and that by a Law which God bath fet; which Satan h3d put this Ab~Jrdity now up– on, that through that very thing by which they are made Men, they lhocdd at once be made fmful Men, at once 11111i, and dflmMti, Bu t how c~oes God circumvent and go beyond him herein, and not only rtmovcs ou t of Check, but gives him a Mat€! He lets that Law !!and in fu ll force, and fuffers all Mankind by Generation to be corrupted, and cares not, he hJ– ving an Eled: under hand among them (whom only he means to !ave, and who above all his Works, are known uuto God from tbe begitmiug, .Af1s '5· r6,) whom he bath fo ranked and mufiered in their Succeflion and Genealogic written in his Book, that fiill it may fall out, that by Go– neration this Bleiiing may be conveyed, nnd that in that Line Eled:ion may run. Thus did God's Wifdom lye in ambufhment to retort this Ab– furdity back again on Sin and Satan, to their greater Confufion , which is the mofi pure. revenge and glorious vid:ory that could be. And this third and !aft Reafon of the former Rule hints me to another Rule, by which I have obferved God to have regulated his proceedings of Grace; which alfo holds in the matter in band, and may be a further rea– fan for it; and it is, That God bath made his proceedings of Grace fuita– ble to, and jufiifiable by the like comm0n proceed:ngs and principles of Men one towards another; fo as he will be able to. juftifie them ar.cording to the Principles taken up by, ood current among Men themfelves,and to take in all forts of R.eafons to malte good his wnys. As for inftwcc; That God lhould love one Man, and ordain him a Veffel of Honour, nnd not a– nother; do not Kings the like ? ('Dfln. 5· r9• And for the ?IJ,,jefly tbot he gove b1m, fl!J people, 11fltions, aud lang~tages trtmMed , rmd fe,<red brfore h1m: wborn be woutd, be jltw, a11d wbom he 'f>IOtt!d, he kept rJlive, mu/ whom be would, he (et 11p, and whom he woutd, be p111 ckwt~.) And you quarrel not them. Does not the Potter take the fame Lump, and make Vrffils of' hotJOur, r111d of drfbo11o11r? Who rJYI thou, 0 Mtm , that di{ptttefl rlj!,<li11{1 God? Rom. 9· 2t, Again, that for the Sin of Mnn .rhe Cn:ature fhould be Curfed, and his Children fall from their Digoity "ith him: Do not Men ordain <he like by a Law of Nations? namely, .rhat Tra~tors 1-lou– fcs be made Jakes, their Children accounted Tainted, and often umes the If whole Families ruined, and rooted out. So among the Pofows, and Gre– cians, and others, Yet again, That the Death and Sati.<fad:ton of another ( namely Chrifi) fhould be accepted to acguit us (which <he Socwirms can by no means fwallow) is jull by the confcnt and !nffragc of all Na– tions, when as the Party that farisfics for that other, fhall be willing to l!,
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