Of )l:leC/ion. _ - . 447 grr to thu Commonwealth of !frarl: In this refpect there u 110 d 1 ffermet. :~ So the Apo{lle tells us ; but 11~ (both Jew and Gentil~ ) of whom h~ Chap. 8. had before fpokcn) . hav_e Jimud. And there,,. no d•.fftrrnc,, when it comes~ to the ma'Uer of bemg JUlhfiec!; they are Juf/•fied fruly 6y hu Grace : So Rom.j.~J,24· Thou mufr fee tohy depepdance upon Free Grace 10 be as great as any Mans, and lay thy felf.before the Throne and Soveraign– ty of it, and.fubmtt .to. ~he Sentence of tt; and thy fclf ro pe as much beholding to tt, to Javt Tha; as the Turks and HeatheAs. And· the . gro~nd of this may b~ fetched 1 from what w_as before delivered. For; :t'hat you ori>-t'he Ghtldr.:n nf g~dlyiParents, IS not the ground o f your Elel\ion, but ~he. et~nftquen~ of_tt, .God .chafe you out of the Lump of Men, not r.efpe&tng any thmg m you, only he fo ordere<l it, thot his £led: -lhould ocome 1lf :P.aren.ts .godl,y, rather than others,. Now it is cer– tain that That only which had influence into God's heart as the Me– live'of Election, That only is .to have influence into our Faith at. our firfr Believing, ' as lfhe ~;round :of u. What ~od lookt not at to ·fway his choice by, 'Th•t Fanh IS not to look at as the fou'ldation of our confi– dence; Ged ehofe Tbee! far nothing i_n thy (elf, or in thy Parents; and thpu ni1o1ft look at nothtng m.thy felf; or m thy Parents; for which thou Be. Iieveft, and1'e·!tefr on H:tm. · Nor, i. Is it ~o be tGokt at:as an Infallible Sign or Eviden~e ; that Is the proper Confe'lue.nt "f ,EJcchon; Gfuch a~ Graces ~f the Spirit are) . (o as -thou fhould~ Jl;>e .Wle .to<argue thy ·F;lectron from tt , as from the qua– {ificatiotis'·or dtfpoliwms of 16race whtch are wrought by Oonverfion; which ~tre as _P~oprium rqua~to modo, infallible 'Clraracters of it. Wa 1 not E{a11 Jaco'li1s >Brother 1 lays ~od, Matach. i . 2., yea, a Twin of the fame Womb; yea, t~e ~eliler Brother, and yet hated, and Jaco6 lovedJ -God ·hath •a Rcpr.obatton among them , .as well as an Election. A/J art ·not lfrael, who art of l.frael: ntither 6tcau[t th•y tJrt th, Sud of Abra~ barn, are ·th')' aU Ckirldr.en, Rom. 9· 6, 7· The Apo{lle u_tters together both thcfe thmgs whtch I have now fpoken. lt JS theretore neither a Sign, as verfdJ. implies; nor the reafon of Eteffio", as vtrfe 7• But although it cannot, nmher ought to be the ground of y~ur Faith either of thete .ways; yet .it may frtll fcrve you as a great furtherance to _your 'faith other ways, and in <Other refpects, both when you come firft to ·Believe and like-wife in Temp~ations. The Mothel of Faith it is not • but it ~ay -be a Midwife ,to it, and fo facilitate that hard Labour, Ma: ity things ferve ·to the furthermg, and eafing of the 'York of Faith,which yet .are not tR the le.afi way made the ground of tt: As for inftance , 'The ·ver-y Example of o~hers bemg .faved, who were as great Sinners, ~ives ·great relief and enclltJragement to the heart of ~ Sinner; and ye-t 1t is ·no way a .ground of Confidence for our felves, So Paut fays, He was made a Pattern , and hung out as a· Flag of Mercy to them who Thould 'believe hereafter, 1 Ttm, I. 16. to toll others in, And therefore ·thofe who fir(\ 'believed , had an harder pull of it; as Eve at firfr , arid Abraharn afterward, becaufe they had no Examples before them to lead. the way; and therefore, for the eminency of their Faith; they d&rved the Name. the One, Of the Mothtr of nOwho Jive 61 Faith, and the Other, Of 'Father t!f thtm, And as ·thofe who made the firtl Voyage's. to the Ea/land Wefl·Indits, found their Adventures fuller of hazards. and difficulties., than thofe finee have; whofe Voyages, through their Dire' ctions who werit afore them, are made mote eafie: So it is in the 'vork of F~ith, through the ·Examples of others. In this y6ur Palfage from Death to Life , though you are all to go through the fame Strait!, (through a Work of P.uiTiiliatiorl, and a,it' apprehenfion of your felves "' loft ~c.) yet you ma:y have, both the help of f.>me D'irections 1 which may keep you frorn rnany Shelves and SaiiC!s_, wherei'n others have be_en g rounded, ·and !tuck fafi ; and wh'ereby yoU'r S11uls may be fo i'ceatltly , . F~
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