Of EleCJion. 1. It is the whole heap or harvell of the tirll Creation! as llandiog on the~ ground afcre him, he means by Creatures; whereof the!e are faid to be the Chap. ~· hril Fruits: For it is the Saints univerfally, all of them, that are as the fira-..:.rv-·'-.... Fruits, fevered and d,fferenced from the reil of God's Creatcon, as univerfatly taken, and not of fome fpccial Saints of that Age, the firil Fruits of other Saints to come, as Vorfhur would have it. 1 . The fir(\ Fruits were in their Ori[>inal Condition, but of the fame that o. rher their fellow Fruits were of, and were conlidered bur as fuch in themfelves;. only were by God's choi:e confecrated to himklf in a fpccial manner, bccaufe th< fir{l; as the firll Fruits 6f their kind. , , . i· ·Thefe in J.;mes were made thefirll Fruits wholly by a Free Eledion or Choice of them; but thofc other firil Fruits were thofe that were fir(/ by Na; rures produdion fl1ot forth our of the Earth, and then con[ecrated by God: But that rhefe Perfons fhould be r!Je firil Fruits, was the whole of it mecrly • from a Choice m•de of them, from a fpecial love and good will; calling and lingling them forth out of that common Creature Cond ition, that which they were by Creation. And the Text infinuares thus much, even God's fpecial good will to have been the Caule, as the immediate words afore do fhew, Of hu good wi!Jhe begat tu, that we might bt the jirfl Fruits. What wt!J? that ;,ii:J•, (whereof Eph. r. s.) Thai fpeciat good will, from whence their beingbegotten agaiu- aod their being tht {irjl Fruits, which is the End and llfue thereof, and all do flow. And indeed, the reafon of the thing it felf would carry fo much: For it is Eledion from Eternity that moulds all, order~ all, ro the main End thereby aime'd at, arid fo mull have done this, and it could have no other Original it depended on. , 4• Then furely that fpecialgood will and choice moil be foppofed to have taken them up as viewed in the common Condition of Crearurefhip : And it mull riot be faid that this their Etedion .was only (in the order of Ad) af~ rer the Fall; bur he climes up higher, and pl•ces it from the firil, with tha t of their own and other$ CreAtion, our from amongll whom, and confide red limply at Creation (together with the re(\ of their fellow Creatures, whereof, as fueh, they were to be the 6ril Fruits ) it was they were chofen. And why clfedoth he fay of the Creatures or Creation? And not of Mankind, WhY. not of man fa in, bur of the Creation? And the firil Fruits of the whole lirft Creation? This doth at leail import that they were chofen tlw firll Fruits , as early as they and their fell ow Creatures, confidered as Creature!, and decreed to be Created. So as rhefe two Decrees of Creating all things, and Eleding of rhefe with the firll, mu(\ at leail have been Twins of the fame Birth at once brought forth, for they have mutual refpeds of Creaturefhip and firll Fruits one to the other, and are as old 0 ne as the other. And what is fa:d rd be the firll thing compared with other things, mull be fuppofed to Exill from the firll, with thofe they are compared unto. And therefore rhefe rwo,Creo· tures and firll Fruits, had the fame Order in God's Decrees ; and thofe two Ads and Decrees are allied (and akin, and alfociated more than any other) comported and connext together. . 5· Add this alfo ; That the fir{\ Fruits were not ililed the firft Fruits of the reil of r)le kind, when corrupted and proved rotten."'-'--N?t ofa Baske~ of Eztktetls bad Figs , fo bad as they could not be eaten, No, 11 were moll Improper to in{\irute fuch a Comparifon: It relates therefore to the Creation of all rhmgs, when viewed in his Purpofe and Decree, os Good, (as after the Creation l''~feded, God did view them and approve them) a·nd fuch li!,ewife 10 lm i.ntultion of them in his Decree and purpofe fuch to make, and under that vrew ordained thefe in the Ilfue to be made fuch : And therefore this doth refer w a Decree made of them at that of the Creation, and that then it was God dtd wrll them the firll Fruits. If it be objecttd, That he fpeaks there of what they are mado by Regene!. rauon, and not of God's firll Decree and Regeneration, fuppoling their being– ordatned the fir{\ Fruits, and upon·the conf1deratiM of the fall.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=