~10 Of Eleefion. -~ prepare Mercy mul trttth, whJCh may preferve me. As if be had faid, I BooK IV. hlve yet a long Journey to go, and through many hazards, and thy Promife ~ is, I fb,,/t ab1dt afore for ever: Lord thou halt need lay up and aforehand, prtpare an abundance of lt1ercy and trttth to pre{erve me for time to come. I have cited this , and that other paffage of David's, rather than any other Scriptures (which abound as to the effect of this /l.ffertion) to gain the advan– t age and light which this word(: ordering] fir!t ufed by 'David, gives to this gre:tt Point in hand, and yet is indeed no other than in the plain-fong of it , and in fuller terms more largely, you find in the Apollle, Rom, 8, 28, 29.30. Aud we !mow that aJt things work togtthrrfor good to them that love God, to them who are the catledaccording to hi< purpoje. For whom he didforeknow, he aljo did predej/i?wte to be conformed to the Image of hi& Son, that he might be rhe (irfl-born among mmry brethrtn. Moreover, whom he didpredeflitJate, them he alfocaJtfd ; andwho11rhe called, them he alfo juflljied ; and whom be jujlifted , them he alfog!orifted. And the real i[ue of all is this, that if God did rhus appoint them afore the World was, unto Salvation, as Epb 1 I.~· 2, ThefJ.2.I ~· then alfo he ordered and difpofed Allthat lhould fall out to them, or from themfelves in this World, fo as they lhould no way difannul their Sal– vation, but work together for it: So M neithrr life 11ordeath, &c. you know the Triumph in the Conclufion of that Rom. 8. that as 'tis faid ofthe Law,that coming four hundred years after the promife, Galat, 3· 17. it can never make the Promife of none effect: So here. 6. Now lixthly, If all things were thus ordered aforehand to the Salvation of them, then Jpeciat/y alt their Temptations,SuffiriTJgs, 'Diflrej[es,Sins,ar~ fo either prevented or precluded, (as Pjal. 59• I O. The God of my Mercy jbaltprevent me ) or fo difpofed, over-ruled , and fucceede.d with Repeotan– ces, Reducements , and Elut!:ancies out of them , and all fo forelaid together with the Temptations, that there is a jurene{s (which is 'David's word) yea an impof!ibillty ( which is Clui!\'s) that they lhould mifcarry by all or any of thefe. And unto this his fpecial ordtril{~ of TEMPT AT10 N S, our Apollle in thefe words of the Text, and in what is round about it, hat h. a fpccial and particular Eye and aim; and as in the whole,fo in feveral words points at it. He fir!t particularly and exprelly fets out Temptations, ~c. as the object matter about which His Difcourfe was intended under the name offufferings from Satan, as bath bene thewn. 2 , He then had prefented God as aforehand, Ve~f6. to be a God that ca– rtth for zu in reference untothofe Temptations ; as one whofe vigilant and lore-knowing care is taken up, and bufied both over us and thofe o~r fuffer– ings : And it is the property of Care you all know, in one that is Wife and a– ble , to forefee, and ordera preveotion or relief, at~d it is accordmgly often fynonimou!ly cxpTe!t by foreca!t to forelay and provide agairrll: \ 3· To this Scope alfo it is, that he draws our Eyes upon, and would have us look at God in all thefe things that fo fall our , os upona foveraign God, that hath a mighty ha11d in bringing them upon us (with which accords that m Afls4· 28. concerning Chri!tour Pattern ; to do w hatfoever [they have] m1d thy Cotm{tl determined before to be don<) and then in delivering us from un– der them, and who bath a prerogative, a power to order the_m, f~bdue them ~c. And withal, a God of all Grace, which Grace makes h1m w1lhng to ex• ercife and ufe that Soveroignty towards us , and this in relation unto all that may deprefs us , or ca!t us down, as thofe words. Verf. 5. clearly thew; hum6/t)'Otlr{tlvn tmder the mighty ha11d of God, that he may exalt 1'011, C§c. Such aprerogative handit is, as he is faid to have brought I{rael with out of Ef.ypt, and de!troyd the Egyptimts; whereof the fame , and hke phrafe 1s u– fed, Exod, I 4• 3 I, Chap. j-<·1 r, 'Deuq.24. and by which Chri!t was incarnate, and the blelfed virgin conoe>ived, Luke. I. 49· ·5 I. 4• And farther , he declares, how in thofe fufferings and deprefsments,that his Prerogative bath a defign upon you to exalt you the more in the Ilfue. Humblt yow Jelves, that he may e.valt y otl ; with which that of 'D.1vd accords , . Thou has1 lifted me up, andcafl medow11, P{at. 10 2. 10. Yea
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