An Expofition of the epijlle --:------- ~ th't he did not know the Man Chri!l: Jcfus? and pitch particularly upon that Man ~~ thatwas m the Womb of the Vtrgm? Dtd he only f.1y, I will have a Mediate Comewhere out of Mankind, fall as it will.? No, he did ordain that Man: s~ AHs '7· 31. And he was jore-ordomed; fauh I Pet. r. 21. that very Man that is now in Heaven, that mdtvtdual Nature, and no other. And [o he did do with the Members likewife : For there is the fame reafon of both• . But then fccondlf; As his love is thus fet out to us, that it was not indefinitely J;ttchcd,. but as havmg all the Perfon; '? htS eye, and having them all in view; io by tl11S alfo, that he bath not pttchd It upon every Body. This is diO:inCl: from the former; for an indefinite is not knowing whom he pitched it upon. Now as he knew whom he pitched ~pon, fo he bath pitch'd but upon Come, not on every one. Hemtght havepttohd upon all, but the Text faith otherwife, [M,] not others. So then here IS another tlHng that fets forth this Love, it is a fpecial Love, and that greatneth It alfo. .MY Brethren, tf God would love, it was fit he {bould be free. It IS a O:range thmg, that you will not allow God that which Kings and Princes have the prerogatiYe of, and you allow it them: they will have Favourttes whom they will love, and wtll not love others; and yet Men will not allow God that liberty, but be mull: either love all Mankind, or he mull: be cruel and unjuft. The fpecialnefs of his Love greamcth it, endeareth it to us. You {ball find almoft all along the Bible, that when God would cxprefs his Love, he cloth it with a [peciality to his own Eleil:,. which he illu!l:ratcs by the contrary done to others. In I Theff. 5· 9· he IS not content to f.1y, He bath appointed "'to obtain Salvation, but he illul\rateth it by its contrary, He hath not appointed"' unto l'Vrath, b11t to obtain Slllvatioll: Not to Wrath, for it might have been our Lot for he bath appointed others to it. In Ifa. 4 t. 9· Thou art my Servant, I have cho: fen thee. And he cloth not content himfelf to Gty fo only, for if he had [aid no more, it implies only, that he had taken them out of the heap of others that lay afore him; but he adds, I hove chofen thee, and not coft thee away ; that is, I have not dealt with thee as I have done with others. ~nd you !hall find frequently in.the Scripture, whenhementioneth hischoice of fame Perfons, he holdethup likewife on purpofe his refu!ing of others. When he fpeaks of 'Jocob, and would exprefshisLove, andfetitout to him-ward, he faith, 'Jacob hove I loved; that might have been enough for 'Jacob, but he fets it out with a foil, Efm have I ha– ted. And in Pfd. 78. 67. when he (peaks of an Eleil:ton out of the Tribes, he contents not himfelf to f1y, he chafe '}11dah, but he puts in the rejeCtion, the pre– tcrition at leaO: of'}ofoph: He refitfed the Tabemacle of Tofeph, a11d chofe 11ot the Tribe of Ephraim: B111 he chofe the Tribe of Judah, the Mo1ml Sion which he loved. So among the Difciples, how doth Chrift fet out his Love to them? John 6. 70. Have not I cho[e11 fOit twdve, and om of JOlt is a Devil? And, chop. Ij. 18. I JPea/z not of yo~e ,,//, I }pm• whom I have choji11. And, v. I 9· I hove chofen JOlt 0111 of the World. And, chap. 17. 9· I pray not f{}f' the World, but for them which tho11 haft given me, &c. I will give you but one eminent place, which in– deed concerns us in thefe times. In 2 Thejf 2. It. fpeaking of the times of Popery, and the Apo!l:acy thereunto, he faith, God fba/1 fend among them ftrong deh<{ion, that they jbo11ld believe that Lie, that great Lie of Popery; and among other things why he mentions this, what ufe doth he improve this to, his harden– ing the Popi!h and Apo!l:ate World, that would not receive the Truth in the love thereof? That they all might be damned, v. I2. But that, in v. Ij. to fet out his Love to his EleCt, B11t1•e are bound always to give thllnk} to God for )'Oil, Bre– thren, beloved of the Lord, bewtfe God hoth f'om the beginning chofen )'Oil to Sol– vatioll, tho he hath done, and will do thus with others. The thing I quote tt for is this, that he fetteth off, inhanceth the greatnefs of God·s Love to them, in re– gard of the fpecialnefs of it, that he bath not dealt with them as with others: Thank} be given to God ah.ays for yo11. Now this concerns us, for we Jiye in the Times of fopery; the ChriO:ian World began to warp towards it then, and we and our Fore-f.1thers have lived in the height and ruffof it. Now whatfatth Rev. I3. 8. (it is a parallel place) All th<~t dwell upon tbe f,arth jbo//,•orjhtp the Beajl, ,./..ofe N<~mes are not written in the Boo/z of Life of the Lamb. You fee the reafon, why many Men now are [et againft Po~erJ:', and imbrace .the Truth in the love thereof, and are favingly kept from behevmg tfiat great Lte ; and that * thefe
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