Goodwin - BX9315 G6 v2

Of 1::./etlion. x. That to Mankind, and to All Nations, reaches One of aa hundred thou- ~ {,nd; and where there Js an hundred thoufand to One, there is noreafon that Chap.6. All £hould be accounted holy, for the fake of rhofe ElectOoes. ~ 2: That the Promife to the Poor [God hath cho{tn the poor of thu world] ."f.•mes 2. s. IS nearer, bur nor fo near as to pronounce them holy upon it ; for the Poor are the grearell part of Mankind, and rhe Elect but as an haneful a– mong rhem, ir may be one among a rhoufand; and though there are not m. 1• ny nch or uo61e calleti, r Cor. r. 26. and fo more of the poorer fort than of the rich, yet this was llill too large, or indefinite to defign Election forrh for rhe poor are an hundred rimes the greatell part of Mankind: And fo, th~ugh there be fewer Elect among the rich, yet it is becaufe indeed there are fewer of Mankind that are rich; wherefore the account may come near unto one in this refpect: As many of the rich, comparing Number to Number, may be Elect as of the poor; only the poor being fo much the greater number, there ar~ rhc moreof them Elect. But none ot the defignments are near enough to be Cognif•ncesof Election, nor to know LoveorHarred by. But this of being Children of Believers is fo near, this Lump contains fo much of Election in it, as that whereas All otl]ers are ten thoufand to One, rhis is buns Two to One, yea, it may be the Moll, it may be All in fame Fami– lies. So that God thought good to make this an outward Badge of Holinefs for the Church to account them holy upon it. It is not here, as among }t{fr'; Sons, One of Seven; but it may be, (and fomerimes falls out ) Seven to One of rhem prove godly : (Notwirhilanding Samuel bad A!l.7effe'sSons fan– ctifie themfelves upon it, and come to the Sacrifice, 1Sam. 16. 5.) and God to whom his Decrees, and Works, and where his .Elect lay, were known from tht 6rgin11ing, bath pronqunced them to us in an indefinite Propofition, to be holy•, and bidden us to fanctifie themAll, and bring them to the Sacrament of Baptifm. Thus, you fee, how far the reality of the thing it felf, it is an Indefinite Propofltioo, that their Chi!drm art holy and Elect; and yet not of that va!t Indefinitenefs that other Promifes are of, but exceeding near to a particular de– lignment, and of all Promifes the moll cxprefs. • Now for the Third and tall Head propounded for the making up an harmo– ny between thcfe Two, namely, the Realityof fuch Childrens holinefs in the event; and fecondly, the txtmt of ottr 'Judgmmts about fuch Childrens holi– ntfi; as alfo between God's Revealed Will and his &cret,thefe things may be ~. . '· That if thefe Two, the extent of the Reality it felf,and our Judgments, befingly and alone compared together, they will never be commenfurable, as made up even and adequate each to other. At the ·latter Day, when our Ca: talogue of Saints, whom we judged fuch, !hall be brought in, it will be found much larger than God's, and that we did fer down Cyphers for Figures; and fo qur Account numerically taken will fall lhort of God's. This mull be ac– knowledged, that an Arithmetical Harmony can never be made between rhefe Two. Yet, Secondly, We mu!t withal confider, That between thefe Two even now mentioned, there comes a middle put by God between both, namely , that fame indefinite B..evelation of God's mind to us, both about thefe Chil– d.rens holintfs, and about what is our Duty to think of them: And take tbat in with the other Two , and between all thefe Three compared one with ano– ther, there will be found fonie kind of Harmony: For you !hall fee, that this indefinite Exprellion of God's Mind differs not on God's part from the Reality of what in the Event falls out; and alfo that this his Revealed Will about them, and his Secret Will towards them come all to one, and fo, that they Two a· gree: And you fhall fee withal , that This our Judgment of each Childrens holi>ufi, is bur rightly conformable to that Indefinite Exprellion. And there– fore, fecing they agree in this Third, they mull in the end meet together, for, Qut£ conveTJitmt 111 altquo tertio, inter fe co11Vt11iunt. I ii 1. To

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