to the E P H E S I A N S. 6) the world, toc01ifctmdthemtght)' ; thi1t.~s whtch are 11ot, to bring to Hought the ~ thtn s which are. There are other things fpoken of; that [are,] and [are SeriiJ. V. mig~ty] and greatthings in the Worlds eye, as Honours, W1fdom, Strength, &c. ~ . (ver.26.) but glory nor of rhefe (fays the Apoflle,) as havmg any bemg; [Of him) 'Ott are i11 f.:hrljl,] that (accordmg tU tl ts wnttert) he th,Jt gloneth /bottle: glory i 11 the Lord, ver.J z.. Here IS) our bemg, and all the betn~ you. have; a0<1 (fays he) reckon of no bemg dfe; glory 10 notlu?g, but only m this,. that rou are itt Chrifl: For God chole you in !urn; the betng you had was m !urn before the World was. · . And fo much for that, which indeed is the greatefi difficulty r am like io meet with in this Chapter, or in this Epifile, Now in the Second place, as it is faid,God bath chofen tls i11 Chrifl; fo the time when is fpecified next, [Before thefotmdati~11 of the World.] . There are twofenfes wh'ch D1vmcs (wuh whom I have met) do g1ve of thefe words. (And I love frill to give the largefi fenfe that will hold.) Firfi, ( fay they) [before the formdatioll of the world] figmfies as much as from eterntty. Why l Becaufe before the World was, there w~s nothmg but Eternity. If you look pafi the World, you put your head up mto Etermty. And to mal<e good this lnrerpretotion they cite .'loh~t I .I. where, when the E– vangelifl: would cxprefs, that Chrifi was Etrrttal, he fays, Ht WMwthe begin11i1lg. And if he were in the Qeginning, at that very infiant when the World was made, certainly he was from everlafling. Therefore (further to confirm this,)Prov.8.2J. Wifdomfays, I was [et t<p from everlaf1i11g; from the 6e– gilmillg, ereever the earth was. Thefe three Phrafes (you feo) are equivalent, and all one. The Second Interpretation that I have rnet withal (in the works 'of fome who are yet alive, and which Mr.Bai11ts likewife hath) is this, That thofe words do note out the order of God's decree, namely, that God chofe us in Chrifl in his own purpofe, before the foundation of the .world was laid in his decree or purpbfe; [peaking herein of God after the manner of men. Not but that God thought of all at once; for all his works are known to him from the beginning : But becaufe he did fubordinate one thing to another; and fo, he did intend and make the World for his Elect; and in that fenfe he chafe Chrifi before them, and them before the world. They were jet "P (as the Phrafe is) firfi and primarily, in his aim and intention, and the world fubordinately unto them. And there is a 1\.eafon or two for this Interpretation; for otherwife, where it is faid, I Pet. 1.20, that God did pre-ordai11 Chnjl before the fouJJdatiotl of the wortd: If the meaning were only this, Before the world began to be, and not before the world was in God's Purpofe too; then there were no fpeci•l thing faid of God's ordaining Chrifi : for (in that fenfe) he likewife ordained the world before the world "as; that is, he pre-ordained it to be, ere it did actually exifi. But (fay they) this Phrafe importeth a fpeciallove from God unto Chrifi, in that he thought of him before he thought of the world, and ordained the world meerly for him. . The other Reafon is, That otherwife it were incongruous to compare things m a hke fiate with things in a different fiate. When therefore the Apoflle fpeal<s of God's' De~rees, and ~f our election in comparifon of the world, he means the world as 1t alfo was mGod's Decrees. And perhaps it may be one reafon why the word [Predef1i11atio11] and [Fore-kt1owtedge J are ufed in Scri– pture, only of God's Decrees about Man, and not about the World. I /hall only add a Scnpture for the confirmation of this, I Cor. l· u. Whether Paul, o>' Apollo,, or Cephas, or [tbr world]; allm·eJ'Otn·s, a11d)•011are Chrijls, imd Cbrifl ts Gods, rv:ark here the order of things; God ordained Chrifi for himfelf, Chrt(/IS Gods. He ordamed you for Chrifl:, To 11 are Chrijls: And he ordained the world for you, Apollo, Cephas, mtd the Wortd, a/J are J•ours. So that the World was ordamed both for ydu, and for Chrifi, and for God himfelf alfo. I will give you an Obfervation or twoupon thi~place and fo pafs on to the next. ' ' K Firll
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