t88 An Expofit?on of tbe Epiftle ~ There is no reafon why thou !houldefl believe, and another not; no reafon I Srr. XIV. fay, why God having infinite things before him, lhould choofo fuch and fuch ; ~why he lhould take fuch and fuch of thofe he meant to make; why he fhould love fuch, and not others; there is no reafon but hi.s will. His counfel propound– Fd, that it was good to love thefe; but that it was better to love tbis man than that m•n, here his Will determineth it. It is not"the Will of his Counfel , but theComtjel of" his Will. As when he came to create, (it is the comparifon that ..tlqt~i?Jas hath, and it is an exceeding good one;) Take, faith he, that lirfl Chaos, that h1mp of Darknefs,out of which God made all things; that out of this piece Ftre !l10uld be made, that that piece fhould go to make Earth, that the other piece lhould go to make .dir; that fuch a piece of the Element fhould make a Tree, fuch a piece fhould make Beafls, fuch,F1jbes ; that that Duflfhould make a Man, ./ltlam, rather thari other Dufl: there is no reafon of it, it is his will; that'Of Mankind, that Nature of man fhould be alfumed, that .7eftts Chrif/ hath now in Heaven, it was his will. So, faith he, is it in Election ; for God works all things, not according to the will of his counfel, as judging this man better than that by an act of Counfel; but it is the Counfel of his will. But when he bath pitched his love upon .thefe and tbefe men, then Counfel is fet awork indeed, to contrive all ways to (hew love to them; and all the ways the wifdom of God takes, is but to vent that love that was in his heatt. Therefore Chrifl is giv·en to die, and you to fall into fin ; there is a thoufand conrrivements that the counfel of his will had to manifefl the glory of his Grace, and the riches of his Love, And fa now I fall off from that, and come to the 12th verfe. That wejhou!d6e to theglory of hi& Grace, whofin'ltrujled hz Chrijl. Here are two things in this Verfe : r. Here are the Perfons whom he applieth this ·to, deligned out with a lj>e– . cial Priviledge; We, .dpoflles and Jews, that hadtbis priviledge,lirfl totr11jl in Chrijl; We, faith he, were thus prede!\inated and called,.and have obtained an Inheritance. · 2. You have what ought to be the end, what is the duty that every man is obliged unto, that cometh unto thefe benefits, that is prrdefli11ated thus, and caOrdthus; We jhot1ld6e ( faith he) to the praifr if his Grace. To begin with the latter, becaufe it lieth firfl in the Text. The coming in of thefe words, the coherence of them, it is not fo much to !l1ew what was God's end in predeflinating us, ( that he had ll!ewed before,) as what is the duty of every one that is predeflinated; what this benefit fhould work upon their hearts, ( for here the Apoflle fpeaks by way of application;) their duty is this, faith he, to be to thepraife of hi& glory. I will not fland diflinguifhing Praife.and Glory; I did it before, when I o– pened the praife of theglory of hu Grace. Only firft here, Praije is all that God requireth. Pfal. 50. Wilt tho11, faith he, offer to me the R ams or the Ettllocks 1tpo11 a thot<ji:md Hills ; they are all mine already, what do I care for them, I can make enough of them; Thou wilt offer God thy Duties, what are they to him? What is it then that will pleafe him ? Saith he at the !all: verfe, He that offerethprai[e,glor~fie:t. me, It is Glory he would have ,. nothing takes God elfe. D~what you Will, If you do not a~m at thepraife of huglory, it ne– ver pleafethlum. He .turns a~vay a Chapman, that would have given him Ri– vers of Oil. What care I, faah he, for thy Fir{l-6or11, that is the fruit if t!y 6od)•? why, he would have Glory. Nothing I t1y takes God elfe. In the Second place obfcrve, He cloth not, as before, fay, To the praife ofthe glory of hisgrace only, he doth not limit it to that; but he uitb, when he cometh to obedience, to the prmje of his glory in the general : For though in our Fa~th we do mofl magmfie the glory of fi1s Free grace IO the pardon of Sin, which Faith laieth hold upon; {Cl in obedien~e we !l10uld aim at all his glory, all the ways he can be glonfied m, And he will have glory out of every thing you do; Whether .J'OII eat or drmk, or whatfoever; ·ou do, do alt to the glory of God, 2 Cor.ro. rr . In
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