Davenant - Houston-Packer Collection BT810 .D38 1641

?'obteth not God ofhis TruthatdSinceritie. e,.4nfer. Whether etbfolute Reprobation oppugne the Truth and SinceritieofGod. WE grant it is impoflîble for God to be either untrue in his fayings and promifes, or hypocriticall in his dealings or anions And here we might in one word cut the finews of his whole difcourfe with this generali Anfwer, That theeternal! de- crees ofEle&ion and Reprobation, as they were terminated unto fingular perfons be- fore they had any being in nature, arenot uttered or declared by any revealed word, promife, ordination , or convention made betwixt God and us. Be the decrees there-. fore whereby force are eleted eternally, others eternallynon - elected, never fo abfo- lute, they cannot oppugne the truthof Gods word or fidelitie ofhis promife, where no wordor promife was ever revealed or made to any man. As for Gods dealings and temporali actions with men , there is no more difficultie in clearing them from by- pocrifie holding Election and Reprobation as we dó, then there is, holding it as Armi- nius doth. But let us come to fatis fie his particular objédions. Firft , abfolute Reprobation argueth not hypocrifle in God, command- ing beliefor repentance unto any man. The reafon 349

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