V ER.5, Predeflination. 6; Made a Sonne, admire it. When David was told ofmatching with Souls daughter, what r faid he,feemeth it afmall thing to heforme inLaw teaKing ? And (hall it feeme a fmall matter tous that we are now, ac- cording as we were predeflinated, that we are fonnes inLaw, adopted heyres,joynt- heires with Chrift of the kingdome ofglory Wemay fee hence what dutywe owe toGod ; we, I fay, whom he hath now adopted for his children,even as ofgrace, hedid predeftinate; ifIbe a Lord, where ismy feare ? ifa Father, where it my honour ? Earth- ly Parents, thegreater things theymeane to leave their children, the more they expel all obfequtous and dutiful' behaviour from them; fo doth God from us; the greater and more excellent condition he hath apointedus unto, the more heBothchallenge fromus all fuch care anddutyas may declareus not unworthy fo great favour. Secondly, that we are predeffinate to adoption ; Obferve that the lifewhich God bathordainedby meanes prepared to bring us, is a life comming immediately from his grace, that life which is a confequent of Adoption, yea called adoption it felfe, that which accompanieth fonnefhip is an inheritance ; that life cannot but come from the free grace ofGod our Father: Adoption and fonnelike inheritance are not things purchafedby contra6t ofJuflice, but are freely vouch fafed : Be- hold, what love the Father bath Jhewed ea, that weJhouldbe calledhis chil- dren, t Mkt 3.t .Ergo, lifeit called agiftof Godsgrace, Rom. 6. ult. And that whichGod will doe about his children in thedayofjudgment, is called mercy. a Tim.i.The Lord/hew onejipheri a mercy in that day.This istobe marked againft the Papifts, the firft force of theirerror inthe matterofmerit beginning here. For they grant this propofition true, that GodBoth out ofhisgrace predeflinate us to life ; but this they will not admir,that God dothpredeiinateustolife ,whichfhall comeimme- diately from this grace. Now toconceive thusof predeftination, is to take away all the grace ofpredeftination.For to choofe oneout of race g to havethisor that he fhall well pay for, is grace not worth God have mercy, as they fay ; this is grace, when he might have chofenothers, and left us, he did take us, as who fhould have life purchafed from his Juftice.I answer,here is an a&tion of liberty, to take onebeforeano- ther;but whilethis is it to which 1 am taken,viZ;to have apennyworth for my penny, there is no grace at all (hewed me. Forwhen aCtions are definedaccording to the object about which theyareconverfant, if the objectoflifehave not grace in it,therecan be nograce in electing to it. Secondly, predeftination fhould bean intermedled aetion partly a preparation ofthings Godwould doe out ofhis grace, as ofcalling, the firft juftification accordingto the Papifts ; partly a preparation ofthings Godwould doe out ofJuftice,as ofour glorification. Thirdly, this maketh all that God doth out ofgrace,tend to this end, that his juftice may be glorious ingiving life:Weread the contraty,that juftice fhutteth all under finne,that grace may be glorious inall;this we readenot, and it were abfurd to thinke ir,whenall his juftice doth in re- probation tend to this end, that the riches oflais grace may be more difplayed. G z Fourthly, Dail. They mate m"C d bef°8 dtg ptynm tütotnaw,wu uriedtnmitxsa Rimw.
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