Of EleClion. to take in the knowledge of God more fublimely and largely than the wide(\~ in outward Wifdoni, al though withal they be Saints, when God yet doth not Chap. 5·. voucltfaie a greater meafure of intuitive bight unto them. The Saints that ~ are of the large(\ {,ze of Unded\anding, an~ of the grcatefi capacity here, lhall not at all have the grcatefl mealure of knowmg God 111 Heaven; but Babes and weak ones may excell them. Much more it IS rrue of Worldly wife Men. , t hat their great Parts make them not t:1eercr t:!lc. God bath no need of any kind of Mens Abilities to make them more capacious of feeing his Face in Glory, no nor of attainments to a greater meafure of Faith or fl olmcfs here. And therefore God in Elect.on is at a perfeClliberty ro choofe out of· Babes, and to leave out thofe wife ones; yea their wifdom is the grcatefi hinderancc unto that Gra<:c Election worketh. And what Chrif\ applies to Wifdom in fuch refpcct unto Electing Grace, t hou mayfl apply the fame unto any other Excellencies whatfcever; as Rich. – es, Glory, Power, Renown r:gc.. Ifai. 4t· 10. God magnrfymg Eledmg Grace I h,Jv. chofim thee and 11ot cafl thee away fets it it out by this, that he lingled them, he chafe them out from the chiet Men of the Earth, Again on the other hand, thofe few Eled that are Honourable, and Rich, and Mighty in this World, t hey have in other refpeds a< great caufe toglori– fie God as the former, as upon another occalion James fpeaks, The poor re– joyceth, he iux,tlted; the Rrch bath caufe to do fo, .and t hat both in refped of the few nefs of that fort of men Not ma11y wife, 11or mmry Noble; and t hereforefame, Thcfe of high Degree, may exalt and adore that Grace whrch finglcd them forth from the Hea p ofthofe their Peers, in Riches and Honours; rhus a Prince and Nobles, that are Godl v, have caufe to do fo, in relpect ofthe fewnefsoffuch, NE VNVS EX CENTVM,faysCdvi1zofren, as he a dying, fcnt back word to his King, having fent to vif1t bim. Tell hzm I amgoittg to a place where few Kit~gs come; fo tor Nobte.r, &c. H1vr at;Y of thr Rulers, or Ph JYi(tes belteved o1t him? John 7· 48. Which 11o11e of the Pri11ces of thi; /4/o.-ld k~tew, 1 Cor. 2. 8. BM o11ly Nichodemll!, aud Jofeph of Arimathea. And as for the Rarity fo the Privrledge, !or a Prince to be born to a Crown here, and hereafter, what a great mercy is it! And here in the manage of thy Meditations about this Branch, thou mayf\ again a!fumeand make ule ofthat forementioned furvey of the Condition• of Men in all Ages pnft, and through that Tdefi:ope, take in the Profped nf all Men that have been Great and \.Yon hy in this World upon any fuch refpt ds, and then viewing thy felt in thy differing condition ofMcennefs, Lownefs Contemptiblencfs , every way, mayft thereby take occalion toexalt the Grace of God to thee, who bath loved thee, and cnofen thee! Oh thin k with thy fel l what and how many Wife, Heroick, Valiant, Virtuous, Generous Grandees; What Great Souls have been in the World; Men of Renown in the Famous Nations, as the Prophet fpeaks. Ezek. ;z. 18. Soil of @..fif,zn, wad for the mllltitude of Egypt, mtd c<l{l thtm dow11, tven her, a11d the'D1zughttrs o(tht Ft~mottf N. 1t1ou.r, WJto tbe 11fther parts ofthe Earth, with them th,zt go down iuto the ptt, Whom God hath laidnjide i" Ht lt with their Swords tmder thrir Heads, rmd their Z1ti– quitits upou their 6oues, as the Prophet Ezek. fpeaks, Chap. F• 1 ~. zg, 20, 21, 22. But hath chofen thee a de{pzjed mmr, and as Godly lf,ziah fa) s,Hehatb chofe~tthet from thetnds ofthe Earth,mzdfrom the chtef mm thertof, m1d not Crlft thee aW.l)', ( that is ) as hr h:1th doru thtm. T here is a fmall word in Peter, wh ich is yet ofinfinite import to this, 1(/. Ept{l. 1f/. Chapter, Vrr(5. BrgottetJ fays he, to art t11hentance [ rtf'erved) i11 HetJven for yotJ, ready to 6e •·evealed ilt tbr lafltime--- [ Referved] foryou, (that's the word) t hough it had been ready, or prepar.d evm from the Begmni•g of thr World, as CtlTif\ fpcak•; and the import it feems to fpeak to me is, Tllat God having l)ad in all Ages paf\, multitudes of Perfons that had palfed afore him, whom he might havebef\owed this Inheritance upon, and as they palfed along, they might have tempted him ( Ifmay fo Jpeak afttr the mamur ofmm) to have Jetted and beflowed this Inheritance upon millions or great and excelleAt Souls. Ifrefped of Perfons ( which Phrafe isproperly meant of a ufped unto mens
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