Baxter - Houston-Packer Collection BT70 .B397 1675

OfStficient andEpinal Grace. 9. You teach all Gods Children in the World, to acknowledge no mercy, nor be thankful for any, till they are fure that theyare Ele&, And how few have that affurance ? to. You injure the Lord Jefus and his CovenantofGrace, whileyou fay, that a conditional Gift of Çhrift andLife, Pardon and Salvation, evenif they will but accept it, is no mercy to any that refufe it 5 nor yet the bloodthat purchafed it asfuch. It. You meafure and denominate Godsgreat Mercies, according to mans vile abufe : As if itwere no mercy, what tendency foever in it felf, it had to their Salvation, unlefs they accept it, andufe it well, or.ifthey reje& it: 12. You are ungular from almofc all the Churches ofChrift in the World : Contraryto the judgment of the ancient Churches, and of all prevent Churches of Greeks, Abafnet, Arminians, Papilts,or Protefisnts: exprefly contrary to the Synod of Dort, and the particular fuffrages of ourBritifh Divines there : except avery fewmen that bythe heat ofper verfe Difputings againft Amyraldue, the Arminian, &c. have been car- riedintoSuch extreams. C. " What mercy is itto aman to have Pleafure here a while, and Torment " in Hell for ever ? yea to haveChrf and Life offered him to make him "more unexcufable andmifirable. B. In all this Difcourfe, it is not the nature of the mercy init felf that youdeny, bnt Gods merciful Intents: It is your mif-apprehenfions about Predeftination, which you are vending all this while, and there is the Coreof your miltake, which we have fufficiently fpoken to already. You talk as if Goddecreed men to Sin, toreje& Chrifc, to abufe Mercies, to Impenitency, and confequently to Hell for fo doing g which is all falfe. Goddecreed no man to thefe, or anyother fin, nor to any punifh- ment, butas for fm by them committed againft his holy Law, which he forefaw, but willed not. Yea Goddecreed to fit open the door of Grace to Sinners, andto tender them mercy when theydeferved mifery, and tobringLife to the acceptance or refufal of their own Wills, and to in- treat and importune them to accept it : His end in giving them mercy, isnot tomake them miferable, though confequently he will their mifery fortheir fin. Now you feign inyour own erronious Imagination, that God firft decreeih mens fin and damnation, and then giveth them all which We call Mercies as a means thereto, and then denominate them as bad as you have feigned them tobe by fuchan imagination. And you conceiveóf Gods Decree asthat whichdoth tranire inpreteritum, is pall and gone, when toGod all time is nothing, but eternity is one everlafting Mutant. C. "Whenyou have talkt all that you can forfuch kind of Mercy, it "will notfatisfiea mans under, ftanding, who believeththat moft ofthe world "(hall be damned, and that God fore-knew this from eternity, and would "notprevent it when he early could. Mercy that ends in Hell is fadmercy : "Hewill havemercy onwhom he will have mercy. B. Even under the terribleLawat Mount Sinai, Godproclaimeth his Name and Nature, As gracious and abundant inMercy. This Glory of hiswhich he (hewed toMofes, is more glorioufly {hewed to the World inChrifc: And this you ftudy perverily to obi-cure. And when you haveconrra&ed Salvation it felf out of .our own brain, intoanarrower compafs than God in Scripture doth, ( who in every Nation accepteth them thatfear him, and work Righteoufnefs,) then you devífe falfe Decrees and Intents, and father themonGod to obfçure the rent. And what

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=