Of EMlion. ~mens outward condition) m1ght have had any place with God, fo as to have BooK Ill. given their places away ere you had come into the World, and have fill"d \/Y'...J Heaven, and the Number of whom he meant to fave with fuch Goodly Perfonages as tbefe; }et thofe places zn Heaven rejerved for ;ou !load thinly Inhabited, and in a manner vacant all that while. Oh! ther<fore !land afio– nifhed at his fpecial Grace to you, lays the 1\pofile, That he rejervedrtfor you, and that he fiill fa id all alongwith himfelf; pafs them by, kt them all go, I have others who are [ytl] tn mtne eyes, I ltecp thofe Manfions empty for, and none fhall have them from them.. And . the wonder JS fet forth by this, that it Wt14 for tho[e that are 6or11 m thrje latttr days of the World;And as Pattl fays of himfelf, /;orn o11t of ltmt. As one would think, I may illu– firate it, by ( what indeed was the Type of this) 1 Sam. 16. Evm 6y the . JI•IJ of Oavids choice to tht Kingdom. God to f~t o'ffthe grearnefs of his Grace, ordered firfr, that Tm 5ons ofJdfe, }houldpajs afore Samuel (as the word is in Verft 8,g, to.) the Elder firfr, fo goodly al'erfon, and that looktlikea Prince already, and fo great a Majefiick Grandurc in his Perfon, that Samu– el when he lookt on htm, faid at fir{\ fight, Srrrdy, the Lords .A11ointed;. a– fore me, Vtrf. 6. If Samuel had been to choofe, this fhould have been the Man, he would have faid, what fhall we look any further? Bttt the LOR'D faidunto Samuel, look not otJ !m Couutena11cr, or at the.height of hi< Staturr, for the LOR'D (us not .uman fees, &c. Vtrf. 7· Andm ltke manner to this, did the other N111e Brethren tn a jttccej]ive way pafs afo>·e him. But God had (to fpeak in Peters language) RESERVE'D this Kingdom for 'Davtd 'the Youngefi, not yet grown up, nor now at home, but out of fight in the 'lield,and fo out ofmind a Young-ling born out of time.l t enrred not fomuch as into his Fathers thoughts, that Go,d fhould have intended him;Or that he have !laid his comi-ng,haviog fucl1 other choice of fa many Won hies afore him; But Samuel enq11irmg if he hadno more Sons,. 6ad him fmd for him, a11d11o Jooner camehei11, 6tttGodfaid,ThuuHe, Verj. 12. I have flaidfor ti!Jhejhou!tl come &c. And by this, or fucb hke Reprefentations as thefe, mayfi thou in like 'manner quicken and actuate thy Meditations of thy EleCtion , and the mercy in it, And we that are born SIXteen hundred Years yet further downwards in the World, after Pettr wrote this unto them, after fo many more Revolutions have pall over the Generations of the So11s ofMm, we have more occalion, and matler greater to improve, and enhaunce this Grace to– wards us, that by venue of Eternal Election, we fhould be in this latter end ofthe World, begottrn tothu InhrritauCf, Refrrvedall along for '"• from the Begim1i11g, I fay, by venue of Election. I For what was it that had thus Referved it for thee in thefe days, and for them then ? The Apofile had Premifed it at the firfr dafh, in an entrance in Verje 2, Elect according to the foreknowlrdge ofGod the Ftfthrr, that WM the Original of all, and 'twas 11 he had fatd, that God had viewed all others that had been afore them, but Fore-k11tw, and fixt his Love by choice on thefe, and overlookt all the Reil, wink't at them, as the Apofiles phrafe is in ano– ther cafe. Theft havt my hmtds made' 6ttt 'ItS theje to whom I look. EleCtion it felf is in refped of the Perfons chofen, fiiled a refrrvation ofa Rem11m11, R.om, 11. 4· 5. I h:~vt refrrvedtmto my ~r!f Sevm thoufand that htWt 11ot bowed the ·knee to the Image of Baal. Evm fo thm that at this prefmt time alfo, there is a Remnant according to thr EleCitmr_ ofGrace. As aman forefeeing common an<l general Rmns, make' a refervatJon of tome few whom be efpeoally fanc .es to be kept oot ofit. Thus Election is there expref– fed, and here in Peter, There ts arr[ervat1011, or htp111g ofa11 Inhert/atlcr, 6y ver/tte ofthe fame ElrCito1l; as by a Father for a Son whom he loves, till he come of Age, as A6raham dtd t he Inhemauce of Ijaack, Referv2tions both, equipollent unro which, is that acknowledgment of the Apofile Pmdof h1m· felf. and thofe others in the Primitive times, That God had htd thr e:Jd;{ltry of ;hr Go{j;dfrom jorego1ze Ages: havi11g Orda111ed itfor o~tr Glory, Kings a1ld 'Prophets havittg dejired to fee and hear what we do, as Chrijl fpeaks, Luke 10. 25. Alld
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