Annotations on Chap. 9. Covenants. s. Andbeëáitfe they di&inguilh not the Common LawofGrace made to fallen Mara- kind, from the Covenant of Peculiarity proper to the Jews. X. Many think that Paul here giveth the Reafon fromGod's meer Will and Reprobating Decree why fume are Unbelievers and hardened in Sin, and are not pardoned and laved, when others are. 2. And fo they think, that God pardoneth and junifieth, and favethMen, without any Reafon or Caufe fetch'd from their differentQialifications, but meerly.from his Will. 3. And they think, that Flag was not only lhutout from theCovenant of Peculiarity, but alto from theCommoner Covenant or LawofGrace, andwas hated to Damnation, meerly &oni the antecedentWill of God. But con- trarily, . I. It is evident, that St. Paul isbut proving and ¡unifying God's free Mercy in calling the Gen- tiles, while hepermitted the obftinate part of the yews to cut off themfelves by Unbelief, andwil- fully rejecting Chritt.' IL And that he fpeaketh notat allofany arbitraryInequality in hisRewards and Punilhments, but only in his free Gifts ; all Men thould underftand, that God is to Man, I. Our Owner. a. Our Be- nefa&or. 3. Our Rector, r. As an Owner, he may dowith hisown as he with z. As our Benefaáor, he giveth many things antecedently to his Laws, and many thingsbetides what he there promifeth. And as a Lord and Benefaáor, he dinributetb his Gifts with rncomprehenfble arbitrary variety s andnone have caufeto accufe him for giving another morethan them. Hewrongs not the Stars, by not making them Suns; nor the Clouds, bynot making them Stars, nor Men, by not making them Angels ; nor Beans, in not making themMen; nor Worms, or Toads, by making them t?o better, And fcarce two things in the World are like, without any difftmilitude or inequality. But when he harts made a Lawof Precepts, Prohibitions, Rewards and Punithments, it is his Juftice equally to perform them to all, according to their Qualifications and Titles. He pardoneth all Believers and none elfe: He glorifieth all that are ¡unified and fanáified, and none elfe: and giveth the Reafon of the diffsent Sentences, from their Qualifications andWorks, Mat, s t,. erc1 which he Bothnot in his Gifts, as meer Benefa&or. So that he doth not fay, that the Reafon why fome arepardoned and Caved, is not in him that willeth, and him that runneth ; but the reafon why, of two illdeferving Perlons or Nations, one is overcome bydecreed effe&ual Grace, and the other bath not that Grace that fo overcometh his wilful Refinance. III. And when Paw/ fpeakethofEfau being hated, the Text alledt;ed meaneth no more but that the Ede:vises were expofed to God's overflowing Punithments on Etrrh. and that fau wes left loved than 3acob, and he and hisSeed reje&ed from the Covenant ofPeculiarity : Butas it is cer- tain that they were under the Law of Mercy made to Mankind in fallen .Adam and Noah, fo it is not faid in Scripture, that From was damned, or void ofSaving Grace. II. As to the Hardeningof Pharaoh and others, it being agreed by all fober Chriftians, that God caufeth not Sin, we need to debate it no further, Whether the fenfe be, That hedenieth them foft- ning convertingGrace when they have forfeitedit by wilful Refinance, and to permitteththem to be hardened, or, Whether it be, thathe Both choregood and righteous Adswhich heknows they will be wilfully hardened by, asOccafions andObje&s: or both there. Here is not the lean hint, that God damneth any, or decreed fo to do, meetly becaufe he will do its without any Reafon taken from their own Deferts : Or, that he makerhCome Men Sinners s or damneth them, meerly as the Potter differenceth his Veffels of Clay : But only, that when all have deferved to be forfaken and condemned, and he giveth common Grace for their Recovery to all, why he freely giveth more, which ]hall be infallibly effe&ual to force, rather than to others, when tholè Comewere no betterthan the refi. It's faidby force School-men, That Mens damnation is caufed by Sin, hut God's decree to damn them is nor, nor bath any Caufe. But this muff be more dininály anfwered. By God's decree is damn Men, is meant, I. Either the Effe&s ofhis Wills 2. Or his Will it fe/f ; 3, Or his Will extrir& tally denominated from the Obje& correlated to ir. I. No doubt but Puuilhment, which is the Effe& of his Will, bath a Meritorious Caufe, in Man's Sin. a. The Will of God, or his Decree, confidered as in God, is nothing but his Effence, which hash noCade; and is not in it (elfcalled a Decree to damn Men. ;. The Denomination of God's Will from its relation to the extrinfick Obje&, bath obje&ive Caufe, the Objeáqualified. Whoever truly Repenteth and Believeth, may be Cure of his Junification; and it's finful to doubt ofit on pretence that God may condemn whom he will, when he bath told whomhe will notcondemn : Andwhoever is unregenerate and ungodly, mayhe farehe is unjunified, and unpar- doned, and in a damnable flare; for God hash offered us ofthis in his Word. CHAP.
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