o8 Of Eletlion. ~Earth, fuch as A dam and live rhemfelves dtd, which is the Op;nion of many Bil o Kill. Dtvtr.e,, he only fhould have enJoyed. What an wfimte dtfference would this ·~ have been? as much as of an eanh!y and heavenly Stare. And thereby even all along, during that e!lare fo continuing, there had been an infinite illcflra– ftration given unto that heavenly Glory, in that a compleat hoppinefs on Eanh, in cnjoymrnt of God had, as a lower way been extant, infinircly lhort .of that heavenl y Glory Election had deGgned fomeof them O\"er the Head, as we fay, ofthat Earthly State. But ll~rthcr, if we withal fuppofe (as dt f,,[!o it was) that all rh is hol inefs and happincfs in Adam's State did mutually d<·pend upon the changeaGie ver– tibtlity and Oipporinefs ol Free· will, lyable to foil, and foro forfeit it all in the twinkling of an C) e, by admitting one liniul thought, whereas in ihat firft Act of Election we have been fpeakmg of, this ultimate Glory was immutably and unchangeobly endowed upon rhofe God for< knew ; and fo whereas that other holy and happy ftate hung but as a Comet or Meteor , w~vering in the Air, this Gift of Glory was fixed in God's heart towards them , as the Sun is in the Firmament, as Pfal. 89. whereas the other .were not liable only to fall , but de faC1o would have fain (even as Adnmalfo did) at one rime or a– nother. What an infinite Favour and Grace then was it aforehand to enfure this Victory ofhis Elect? .whether fall they, or not fall, they lye under an un· changeable Decree. - Again, Under this Head the Comparifon comes in between God's imerition of our Salvntion, ash is End in Election, and of Mens Damnation in the point of Rejection. 'Tis true, that in his Decrees of either, his own Glory is the Supreameft End in both Decrees, but yet in the p~int of Election, the Glory and Salva– tion of the Elell rhemfelves, is an ultimate End, which his heart is di– reelly and abfolutely fet upon. An End limply and for it fclf defired by him, as which his Soul fingly and abfnlutely delighted in, for and in it felf: WhereC•"'"'" as in Reprobation the Cafe is otherwife; Damnation is the End indeed ofthe D'm'"'' non Perfons, yet no otherwife, but as Death is faid to be the end of Life, which is fitfinUhar~~inir, indeed the Hfue , the Termimts which Life expires into; but •tis not the End ~;,;:~";; .,. for which we live. And accordingly God proleffeth of the Death of a Sinner, '-x•"~· '' rhor he harh no plcafure in it, that is, not limply for it felf. Every end of any 1111'tl·~fi~;;:;1• thing is optzmumqrud, and the perfection of a thing .: But Damnation is the :;,:~,m q•id Extremity of Evil, and the higheft Imperfection ; nod therefore was not die ~!:!:~!;;;~'End God prounded to himfelf, which he cannot be f.1 id to make the Creature ,,m ri txm· for. And there:ore moft affuredly the Matter ot Elect.on and Reprobauon , m•m~,J,m, & is not flared well by thofe \\·hofay, That Mens Damnation and Reprobation, f,";;::::J;;~. and Mans Salvation in Election, do fiand in a like Pofture or Reference .in RU/,P<" mo•• God's IOt<ntton, that IS, thtended by God upon hke terms, for Ins own Glones ·~ ,,m;,, vi- fake.--No there is an infinite difference; for belides the Tendency \1· hicl1 :;;,"q:ftfi::; our Salvation hath unto his Glory, it was alfo intended by God limply ~nd di– vit•. K«k". redly in it felf, as hi< End, though in fe riour to his own Glory ; but that of ~Y~h;;.~~t.ttb. Damnation was never intended by him for it [elf, as an End which he delights tn. This for the Act of Election, confidered as afore and without the Fall, and a Comporative of that Glory denied in that i\ct unto thofe God paft by, with all the other good things God did or might bellow upon them. But it pleafed our God permillively to Decree thofe Elect to fall together with the reft., as for many other holy Ends, fo for this one efpecially that ref– pects the matter in itand, tharwe might difcern the difference of immutable Holinefs runn ing along."ith Glory which Election brings unro, 1 Ephej. 4· from that of Created Holinefs; which if we fuppofc Man had not fain from , but flood by, his free. will·Grace had not been fo manifefily defcerned, but the Glory of it would have been obfcured and attributed unto mans Free-will , and not the Grace of Election.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=