Of EleEiion. "-Af\ herein by any Law of their Creation it was meet for God to give them, he or– BooK Ill. datned to gtve them 1t to the utmott, and to deal wnh them therein according ~to that Law, even wharever; as to Creatures was any way requiiite, all the ,good of Holinefs, Life and reward , that by Cre2 rion could be meet .J 0 r intel– ligent Creatures, endowed with Free-will, to have, [which wai·the Law of their Creation;] This God did fer our Jor them; but mark \Vhat HolineJs by a Supercreation title, was to be renewed in Chrift, and.,Py Chri(l, if they fell, the unchangeablenefs of ·that Eftate m Holinefs, w!irch as 1 take it is the Holinefs whtch in I Ephef. 4- is faid, That in Eledioff[ as there 'tis inr'en– ded J we were chofen unto, what Life, and _Glory, and a participation of God above the Law of Creation, or the attamment thereof, fuch as is in Heaven, thefe were Supernatural blellings in Heavenlies , and in Chrift . wherein God was at full liberty todifpofe thereof, where he pleafed.'Twas n~ part of that Eftate which was due to Creatures,a5 Creatures, but as a third part of a Lo11diner's Eftate, is by Law purely his own to befiow. Now thefe were the Blellings cnly which God left them out of his Will abcur. Now fearch the Scriptures , and you fhall generally find, that the ftrefs of Reprobation is put upon this Negative All;.as throughout_the Scriptures of the New Tellamenr, I m1ght !hew you how us exprefi by th1s Negative, of not choofing : As the Electionobtaitud it, the Rtjl, Rom, u. 5· that is the Non-eleded were left out; So the one written in the Book of Life, implies the other not writ·· ten : So of the one , the Lord ktwws who are hu ; of the other, I 11evrr Mmh.pJ· ktteW_Jftt: That word [Never] reacheth backward to Eternity. So of the one, fbey are my Shetp, .John 10, •4· which my Father bath givm me, John 6, 36, 17· B11t I [aid tt11to yott, that ye alfo have (em me, and believe 1101. /1/Jthat the Father givethme, jha!Jcome tome, f!ic, /111d I m11~ brmg them, &c. Verf. 16. BecmJfe I ktww the Father, Verf. I). and whom he bath decreed to fave. Billye believe tJot, becaufeye are tJot "!Y Sheep, Ver(. 26. it runs on the Negative. 2. But now you will fay to me, But here in this place there is a Pofitive ad cxprefi, a being of old forewrittm to this Cot~demnatiotJ, and that cloth import, that God not only had a Book of L1fe, which they were left out of, but a Book of Death , their names were fet down in. I will not anfwer you here, as Dr. H1mmondcloth; they were fo>'< wnt/eJJ, that is, prophecied of by Chrift, Matth. 24. which Gofpel wcs th€n writ in ]t.de's time. I fhall in few words give you my thoughts of this. 1. Thofe Men, as to this Ad, are looked upon by God as fain: For how– ever Election, and Non-election, in the fenfe given, wight have proceeded upon Man, confidercd asnot fain; yet fore-writing to Condemnation, neccf– farily importeth more. And in that their Fall, God ufed no Prerogative Will at all, no fupercreation Ad ; only decreed to permit it: And that Adom fin. ned, was from the mutability of his own Will, and defcd, unto which, as a Creature he was obnoxious; and for God to have kept him from Jailing, as here , Verf. 24. . 'lttde !peaks of us, had been fupcrcrcntion Grace , and be– longed to the rank of thofe Benefits, 'which are in Chrift, as, to be prefer– vtd iu Chrif/, is fa id here to be; God mufi have gone out of his line of Com– munication, to have kept him, and it had been an Ad of fupercreation Grace. Then the fir!l man being fain, by the fame Creation Law it was, that all Men fell, or finned in him, as Rom,). 1 z. I fay by the Law of Creation, the Law of our Nature, viz. that equal Law, rhat holds as juftly one way as th'other; that he, being the firft Father of all Mankind [ as l fai. 4l· 27.] if we lhould have received Holinefs from him, by the fame we fhould receive fin from him; it was the Law of our Propagation from him, fuch as was giv– en to all Creatures, having feed of Life, Gm. 1. to bring forth in their kind; And in that fenfe we are Children of wrath 6y tliltr;re; that is, by the force of the Law of nature, Ephef. 2, l· as well as by Birth. Now then fecondly, all Men being fain, and their being fain, having been atone and thcfamc in!lant fore-feen by him, as all his own Works were, tmo aefu
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