63 / 808
V
E
R.q.,
gods
Eledion.
51
againftpredeftination,
which
is
the
decree
of
meanes,
wherebythe cho-
fen
of
God
(hall
infallibly be brought to
life.
Now
the
firft
part
of
the
reafon thus
limited,
is
falfe:Such
whom Godfaveth,
fuch he
doth
fore
-
fee
them
in his
Decree
of
electing
them to
falvation
;
for
this taketh
a-
way all
predeftination
of
meanes, ferving
to
bringthe
Elea
to
life,
and
prefuppofeth falfly,
that God
cannot choofeany to life,
whom
he
doth
not
finde
or
forefee as actually
fittedthen when
he
doth choofe them
whereas he may
choofe, though never
fo
unfit for
the end,
if
having
chofen
us
he
can make
us
fit; for our
unfitneffe
for
the
prefent, to
the
end, doth
not
make
us
unfit
for Gods
election
:
as
for example, I may
choofe
a
pen
to
write,'
which never
fo
faulty for
the prefent,
and
unfit
to
write
with,
while I know
I
can
mend
it,
and
make
it
fit
for this
purpofe.
I anfwer thirdly; Even
of
the
decree
of
Election, this
is
true,
ifright-
ly taken, viZ; Such
whom God
faveth
in
time,
Such he
eleéìed
to
fal-
vation, fuch
nowwhen he
was
in
electing them
;
this
is
falfe
:
Such he
elated,
to
wit, becomming fuch
through
his
election, this
is
true
:
The
firft
prefuppofeth
in
Gods
fore-knowledge
an
antecedency
of
faith be-
fore
the
act
ofelating
:
The
latter,
a
concomitancie
of
faith,
in
the
per
-
fon
chofen
to
falvation, and
thatby
force
of
Gods
eleeîing.
For
elation
doth choofe men
as
well
to
meanes,
as
to
the
end
;
and thefe decrees,
though diverfly named,
and in
our conceits different, yet
they
are one
thing
in
God.
To
the third
I anfwer
;
That
the
firft
part
is
falfe ;
for
itprefuppofeth
that whatfoever
is
a caufe,
or
an
antecedent to life,
mutt be
an
antece-
dent going before election to
life
:
It
is
not
neceffary
that
all
which
is
required
to
life, fhould be
required
to
election
unto
life
:
Say I have
twenty
pounds a yeere, which I may give
to
any I
(hail
choofe,
and
that
my
will
is
none
(hall
have my
Land,but
he
(hall
pay
forty
fhillings
a
yeere, tothe die ofcertaine poore
whom
I
fhall defigne
;
having many
good friends,
I
choofe one amongft them all,
who
(hall
have my
Land,
paying
to
filch
poore I name
forty
fhillings
a
yeere. In
this
example,
his paying
forty
fhillings
yeerely,
is
a'condition
on which
he hath the
Land, not
any condition moving me
to
choofe him
before others, to have my Land
:
So
God
choofeth
fuch
to
falva-
tion, upon condition
they
beleeve
;
this
condition belongeth not
to
the
action
of
God choofing, butto the
terminus
to
life,towhich wearecho-
fen.
Would they
prove
that
God doth choofe
to
life
on faith, they
fhould reafon
thus.
Vpon
what condition
Godoffereth
life,
upon
that
bechoofeth.
But
on
condition
of
our
faith,he
o
ffereth
to
cheap
us
with this
eternaR
elellion,
Ergo.
But we
fee
the fecond part
ofthis
reafon
would be evidently
falle
;
for in
what Gofpel
is
it written,Beleeve,and
thou
Jhalt
be
ele/led
?
Laftly,
I
anfwer,
that we
cannot gather the
decree
of
God
within himfelfe,
by
promife
or
threatning
;
for then we might truely gather,
that
God
bath decreed the eternal!death
ofall
man
-
kinde,but on finning,
in
F
2
the
3. Anfwered