Goodwin - BX9315 G6 v2

----------~--o~r_E~k_a_io~n·-----------------~ proved true of Men. Take Adam and bvah their Wills, they were perfect-~· Jy holy, and yet what became of tl10fe rwo ftout Wills ? If but one ot' thtm Ctwp. 1 . indeed had fall'n, you would have thought the orher might have been immu- ~ table: But you may fee they both fell; and fo it was oxperimcnred they were mutable: And that all their Children they ihould have put lorth were fuch, and would at one time have fall'n as thefe have done , who were all of Mmkind that were then in the World. We!:, God forefaw all would be a going , there is a happy word in the Text, Rom. 11 •••,..,.. !v, he rrisde t1 rejerve of fame before the World was, he laid his hand upon them; nay, faid he, I will have a remnant ; !'le have fome. He made a roferve, when he forefaw all would, or might in the end be loft; and that Referve was made by Election: It was Election it felf; the Apoftle interpr•ts that word,verf. 'i· The great Gcd had reafim ( Jhall I fay, or rather that his infinite Grace joyned with Wifdom) to have fomething out of All what he had made ( fol'whom are all things) that Jhould live with him, be happy in him , blelfed ef him, that might Eternally blefs him again: And accordingly he kept forne of the Angels, and caufed them to abide with him, a11d ordained fame of Men, though when fall'n, who Jhould return to him again: And this was done by EleCl:ion, which is that o– ther Well-head of all Super-creation or Super-natural Grace, oppofed o that of Creation-Holinefs, and Affi(\ance. You read of the Angels who flood, 1 Tim. 'i• 21. that they are called theE– ldl Angr/J: You read elfewhere that they are called the holy A1lgr/s,for tbey never finned; and they had as great an Holinefs as any Creature could be ca– pable of by Creation· Alfo thty e:;cel in jlrenlth, and fo their Holinefs was a ftrong Holinefs. But W3S it that which kept them? No; you heard Gcd could not trufi them in the hands of their own Wills; therefore it was that they were EleCl: Angels , that ker.t them. In that new fuper added •Title , you read the Grace of God exprefi 'd as that which kept them in that Holinefs, and fo lixt them. Now further , Confider that where Elellion is, there is Grace; whether the Creature be fall'n or not fall'n , its called thr Etrelio11 of Grace, and whatfoe– ver is above the Dues ofCreation, and the Rule5 thereof, is Grace, and 2s truly fuch as that which is called Mercy, as lhews to a Sinner or Creoture actu– ally fallen, is called Grace. Grace and Works, we read in the Words of Rom, rt. 6. are fo oppofed, as thole which intermingle not, The Privilcdges of Grace are Eternally feparated by an Eternal Law. If a thing be of Grace, it is 1!10 more of Works; and if of Works, it is no more of Grace. It was not therefore their Creation Holinefs fixed them, for that was Works, both in the Principle and in the Affifiance of it. Indeed, without their Holinefs they had not fiood; but what was it fixt their Holinefs but Grace? To afcribe their !landing unto their own Holinefs,is to found a Priviledge ot Grace upon Works; Grace were no more Grace, if that took place.A perf eel: HoliAefs,and a ftrong• er Holinefs that Mans was their due by Creation ; but to be kept by fo ftrong an affiftance as Jhould effectually fix their Wills and for ever after keep them fo,this was above the ordinary Creation Law, and fo above the Law of works. Had the evil Angels had fuch a prevalent Super-cre:tti<m affiftance, they had not fallen: And therefore it mufi be Super-creation Grace kept thofe other. And allGrace that faves, is from Eled:ien; And Election is the Fountain offL·ch a gracious Stream, the Chanel qf which fhould run on to Eternity without tai– lure or drying up, as this in them did and doth. Election and Grace are never to be ferved; the Angel• then were faved by it, and not any one Angel, but thofe who were eleCl:, were faved: For all that fiood are called Eleel:. · And on the contrary, all of them that were EleCl: were Caved, and none mifcarried, The Eleel:ion obtained it amongfi them. And you know what became of the Rejl. Thus you fee what made the-difference even amongfi them alfo. 0! let us therefore adore God for his Election Grace , as without which none of his Creatures had infallibly been faved. Thus much for a Demonftration of this taken from tbe Angels. For

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=