47 / 808
V
E
R.4.
Gods Elecbon.
any bath
a
faith
unfained," and
trueendeavour
of
holineffe
;
we may
in
judgement
of
charity,
fay
that
fuch are
elected.
Thus
Saint
Peter and
1ehn,may
give
the name
ofEjea,to
the members
ofthe
viable Church-
es,
to whom they
write
:
If
we
know by experimental certainty, or
by
faith, that
any
have
truebcleefeand
holineffe, we
doe
in
the fame
roan
-
ner,certainly know,thar we,or they
are eleeted.
Thus
we may by
Faith,
know
that
in
every true
vifible
Church, there
are
fome eleet
of
God;
becaufe
the word teacheth, that where God giveth
his
word, there
are
Tome
Saints,whom he will gather
and
cdifie;fome ground good where
he fendeth his
feeder
-men: Thus
we may
know certainely our
felves
eleet,
becaufe we
may by
certaine experience know our
(*elves
to have
Faith. 1f I
fee
one put into the
office
of
the court
of
Wards or
into the
Treafurers
Place,or
fo;
I
know
that
fuch
a
man was
theman, whom the
king had
chofen with himfelfe to have
the
place
:
So
when
God
now
bath
by
faith and
fanetification, taken one
out
ofthis world;
we may
know
thathe
was
chofen
forth
of
the world,unto life:things
may be faid
to be,
when now
their being
is
made manifeff;
While
a
babe
is in
the
womb,
we know
not what
is
there conceived,
but when
we
fee
a
man-
child
born,then we knowthat
fuch
an
one was
conceived
:
So when the
babe
is
bornywhen
the being
of
faith and holineffe are
apparent;we may
fay that
fuch
a
perfon, before
all
worlds, was conceived
in
the womb
of
Gods fecret
Eleetion.We
may know
a
will fecret
three
waits.
i.lfa
man will himfelfe tell us. 2.
If
he
will write
to us.
3.
If
he doe
this or
that,weknow
then
by
event, he had
a
will
to
fuch
matters,which
now
we
fee
him execute: So here
God
mayfpeake
by
extraordinary re-
velation, which hath
been
the
priviledge
of
fome few.
2.
God
may
make his will
knowne
by the
ordinary enlightning
of
his
fpirit, which
is
that
unto the minde,
as a
word untothe
tare
:
We
have received
the
fpirit, to teach
us
to know
there deepes
of Gods
gracious purpofe
to-
wards
us,r
Cor,
z.
r
z.by
the letter
of
his
word,thatgolden
cham
e,
Rom.
8.29.If
I be fanetified with
the divine nature,inwhich glory
is
begunne,
I
ani
juftified; ifjutlified,
I
have
beene called
according
to
purpofe;
if
called,l
was
predeftinate;ifpredeftinate
to meanes,l
was
foreknowne,
as
one whom God would choofe
to the
end,even
to glory.
3
When
I
fee
my
felfe fet
apart by
God,
from
the world;
the
event
dothtell
me, God
chofe me from amongft
others:
When!
love
God,
come out
of
the
world,
choofing him
as
my
portion; then
I
may know
he
bath loved me firft,and chofen me,even
as
I
know
afealehath
beene
fet
there, where
I
behold the print
of
it-One
may
objed,that
God onely
knoweth who
are his.
vinf..God
onely knoweth byhimfelfe
whothey
are
whom heapproveth for
his
own,but with this,may
(land
the know-
ledge
of
fuch
to whom God revealeth it;as none but
the Some knoweth
the Father,
and fuch
to whom the
Sonne revealeth
it.z. God
onely
knoweth
his
collectively taken,
that
is,
the whole
univerfity
of
his
cho-
fen;no meere man
norcreature,doth
in
this
fenfe
know
who
are
Gods.
obje.
Could
we know
that
w8
havetrue
faith and hólineffe,
wemight
know our
Elcition,
but
we
cannot;for many who have them not; thinke
they
3s