Baxter - Houston-Packer Collection BT70 .B397 1675

and Décreef of qod, &c. it felf; And now referr fuch to Haven:Ws Differtation de pneclefl, where it is fully proved, and defended. 456. One thing which deceiveth fuch men is,that they forget thatGod ftandeth to man, not only in the Relation of a Reftorper Leges, ( for fo he dealeth equally with all thatmake not the inequality themfelves :) But alto as a Proprietor and a Benefattor, in both whichRelations he is free to do with his own as he pleafeth. And free Lords and Benefaetors ufe not to diftribute equally their gifts. Nor do they confider that defaro God vifibly maketh wonderful inequalities; He maketh not men as great or good as Angels, nor Stars as glorious as theSun The whole fheweth us admirable variety , arbitrarily made by the great Benefa tor, who giveth not to usa Reafon of his will. 457. The word [äd3x &] Reprobus,in Scripture is ufed no where that I remember, but Rom. I. 28. t Cor. 9.27. 2Cor. 13. 5, 6, 7. 2 Tim. 3.8. Tie.' . r 6. Heb. 6. And the word [ Reprobation ] isnot ufed at all, as any ad of God. But predeflination and ele&ion are oft ufed on the. better fide, and rejecting, hating, forfakingon the other fide: And elect- ing implyeth that forte are not ele&. 4.38. About the objeft of that which many call Reprobation, be lure to diftingi(h, between a true objeft of any 4c1, circa g000d verfatur, and which is frebjeltum inbafionis, and a meer objecl offpeech, or fula jectum pradicationis : Elfe you will with many be enfnared to think that every fubjeft or objet of a predicationwhich in the feries of Gods judgements you meet with, is the objeft of forne pofitive a&of God. 459. And though we would quarrel with no man about meet words, yet left words deceiveyou I add, that as the word Reprobation femeth to fignifie a pofitive Aft,and yet agreat part of the defertion of the Re- probates is by Gods preteritions and not-acling and privations ; there= fore it is not the whole feries that the Word Reprobation aptly expreffeth, but only (bite particular Aft;. 46o. The word Predeflinate ufed Rom. 8. ag, 3b. and Ephef. Cor. i. 5. (it's a&^weiose though not fpoken of perfons) .RCt. 4. 28. (tranflated [fore-determined]) when applyed to perfons is ever taken in Scripture as an a& of mercy : And the ancients Auguflene, Pi-ofler and Fulgentiue rife thewords [Predeflinati Prefciti, the predeftinateand the fore - known] as of late menufe amongus the words Elect andReprobate. 461. Though men differ as their opinions lead them in the expofition óf fuch texts as kRom.8.28, 29,3o. Ephe¡: r. 5,6,7, 8,9,ro,r1. and fume take them to fpeakof predeftinating Individuals, and othersonly of jpecier, that is, of believers, fufferers, Lovers of God, rc. yet as to the matter it felf none that is judicious canor doth denybut that God eter- nally Predeftinateth individuals ; The Jefuits commonly confefs it, though they differ on the queftion, how far it is on fore-fight of faith: But that forefeen Believers individually are eternally eleftcd to falvation, they cannotdeny: And the Learnedit Jefuits maintain that Grid giveth faith in time, and electeth Individuals to faith it fell from eternity : That is, eternally decreed to give them faith, or to give them that Grate by which he fore-knew that in the advantagious circumftances in which he decreed to put them, they would freely, and he decreed fhould infalliblf, believe. 462. The conceit And fuppofition Of many,that Eleftion and Repro- bation are fuch perk& contrar;es, as that they run pari paffü, and that God wìlleth in the one ju(tas !'c d rh in the other, End and means,for matter and order, is a grofs iil1ahe görifline, P ofper, Fulgentiü3 K a and JCS. 6. C. The prefumption of the Schoolmen rn defining the Aft ofpredeninariou is tremendous : SeeRaï{ de provid. dilp. 3. feci. 9. ad r r. who conchrdetfi that Predeftination is an AR , of Gods Intellett, and a Praftical aft, and is Atha alarmant Dei vn- litiömm libere decernentem de finib,ee rerum 6' me- dirt, Ste. c]. d. Volo Pe- tram beatificare&per talid media, Ste. It is not this will, but the knkledge of it. ''Vid. Rotem ix ttoni.8i 28. depropófite;

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