Of Eleflion. minds ofthat A!fembly, and caufe the greater obfervation by them: He adds,~ Vtrj: 1 8. Known tmto God are aO hu works, fi'bm the 6rgm11111g of the~ World. . . The Coherence of which pa!fage, with what afore, bring• forth ttlis Con– clufion : That as GoJ.had fore/mown, ond Decreed ; Even fo He had foretold : And as He had both Decreed from Eternity' and for.et<ild ; Even fo in thee– vents it came to pafs: And that, at that time wher.ein he had Foretold, and Decreed they 1hould, Therefore in the clofe of the 1~~h. Verf. You read how the Prophet Amos doth add thefe words to his·Prophefy of it : Saith the Lord, who doth AO thtje tbings: It was nottherefore h1s limple f~refeemg what man would do ; Nor what thefe Genttl" would do m the1rturnmg to God· And that this Converlion of them thould fall out at ttiat very Time, or Age; For the Prophet notes that circum!lance alfo: After th .s, I will return fays God, to do fo, and fo : Whereby it appears, that the Convertion ofthe Gentiles, and that at That time; And not for Two thoufand Years time afore I Notwith!landing All thofe common helps that had been (as mu!\ be fuppofed) continued to them. This he fays was the Lords doing, tlndw~t~ marveiloM in tbeir eys: It was the Lord that doth AO tbefe things, that fo Foretold it All; and every particularoftbem, who is fa id to work AO thmgs accordi11g to tbe · Counfol ofbu Wi 11, as Epbef. I. And the Apollle he impmes and afcribes it thereunto, Ver[.18. Kttown u11to God art AO hu works,from tbe 6egi1mi11g oftbt world. He brings this matter of Fact, or Event; Or that tlrefe things thus fell our, and Gods Everlafling Foreknowledge ofthem as his foie Work together, and fhews how the I!fue, or Event, and his Decree correfponded, and were Anfwcring one to the other : He had foretold them long afore he did them, or brought them to pafs, and Foretells withall that it thould be his dc– ing, and not Mans that effected them : And both his Foretelling, and the Effe– cting them, He tells us were from out of his Foreknowledge, and Decree fo to do, · So tlwmyConclufion from All three !lands firm, that All thefe Things, ot thefe matters ofFafl, and real Events, ( as I'Ie terms them ) as they fall out, fo they were Foreknowa and Decreed: And that therefore by the like I!fues, and Events in point ofmens having had Grace, and being faved; We may In– fallibly Judge and Infer what were his Decrees. Let us hold then the contem– plation of this Rule in our Eye, in All the Infiances that I fhall give ofPer– fons: That look what we find fell out in the Execution, was but the Effect of Go1s Foreknowledge. Even as the Converlion ofthe Gtntilrs at that time, was-·the fame : and will hold true of the Converlion, Faith, and Salvation of every Perfon Recorded in the Scripture Story of their Godlinefs : Yea, and therefore a!fo we tiQd matters ofFact, or things to be doiie and co:ne to pafs, are fa id to be written in Gods Fore-Decrees, as in the Scripture of Truth. Dan. I 2, 21. lwiOuO Thufaith the Angel, whatu nottdintht Scripture of Trutb: And yet there was no outward Scripture as yet had fpoken of it ; Gods Decrees therefore are the Scriptures in which matters ofFact are firfl written. And therefore what our Scriptures have fet down, and written; are All but Extracts and Copies taken out ofthe Scriptures in Gods Heart; In which tbey were written from Everla!ling : Wherein it is equally faid, The Names of All thofeparticular Perfons that are Elect Men, were firfl wri.tten as the Firfi• born: And thus C!emmt, and thofe with Him, whofe ntlmts art in tbt Book of Life, Phi!, 4·l· faies the Apoflle: And therefore by the fame Law, and Rule, we conclude that All thofe particular Perfons whom out of the Scriptures we fhall make recital of, as Ju!l, and Holy, ~c. We may fafely write upon li:ach 1 and e~ery Perfon ofthem. that they were Elect; and tl:at they bec&me Holy, and R1ghteous, it was by Eleltioa : And ofthe other fort of Wicked, add Un. god!y, left to their natural blindnefs ; We may fay," They never were writ– t~n m that Book of Life : But underthe Title 9ftbeRtfl, left out: Yea, and as the Apofiles word is, Judt 4• Fore-written too in another Book: We may fay ofevery one ofeacb fort, The Scripture gives the different Catalogue of, Concordat mm origit1.1li. ~ , Aqd
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