is no means ofDefair. will and the inconilancythereof,though aid- ed with fufficient grace, but will eafilier be perfwaded to a comfortable apprehenfion of his EleTion or certain falvation,when he conceiveth it as depending on Gods fpeciall 'and meremercy, then if he Ihould conceive it as depending upon the fpeciall good a6ls of his own free-will and forefeen perfeve- rance therein unto his lives end : For this is, as S. Augufline fpeaketh , Firmiori potiús guam infirmaarifpernpaan committere. As for his inflance in theEmail number of the Eleí`I and great number of the Repro- bate, though (peakingofChriftians, weal- low not his account of an hundredfor one, yet we acknowledge the number of the E- 1 e ( great in it felf) to be frnaller then the number of theNon-elegy. But fo it is like- wife in the doarine of the Remonflrants: &there is farre leffereafonfor any finfull man to hope that he israther one of the Jewell then one ofthe mofl,when the difcrimination muff arife from the goodneffe of his own free- will, then when it is fuppofed to arifefrom the mere mercyofGod. IfGod in hiseter- nail decree ofElelion fay, Iwill have mercy upon whom Iwillhave mercy, as everyman is under the fame efiate of mifery, fo every manbath reafon toconceive hìmfelfa capa- ble fubjet of this mercy, though defacio it flaouldbe extended to never fo few. But if in 459
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=