Owen - Houston-Packer Collection BT300 .O9 1679

1 44 The Principle oft!Je )J!ignation of 'Divine nonottr it. In fome ofthem ther·e was an Ampliation ofGrace in the more fL1ll Declaration of the Nature of this Promifc , as veil as an Application unto their Perfons unto whom they were made. Such was the Promife made unto A6rabam, which had a direfr refpecr untoChnfl: as the Apoftle proveth, Gal. 3d. 4th. 7· Thofe who vo!tmtari!J through the contempt ofGodand Divine Grace fell off from theknowledg and Faith of this Pro– mife, whether at once and by choice, or gradu~lly through ·the Love of Sin, were in no better conditiOn than rhofe have been, or would be, who have fo fallen off,or flwuld fo apofla– tize from Chriftian Religion after its Revelation and Pro– feilion. And althemgh this proved in procefs of time, both before and after the Flood, to be the condition ofthe genera– lity of mankind, yet is it in vain to feek after the means of Salvation among them, who had voluntarily rejelledtheonly way which God had revealed and provided for that end. God thereonjitjfered all Nations to walk in their own waies, Afis 14. r6. Winking at the times of their Ignorance not calling them to Repentance, Chap. 17. ~o. Yea he gave them up unto their own hearts lufls, and they walked in their own coun– Jels, Pfal. ~I. r2. And ~othing can be more .der~gatory unto the W1fdom and Holmefs of God, than to 1magin that he would grant other waies of Salvation unto them, who had ~ejefred that only one which he had provided, which was by Fait 1 in ChriJl: as revealed in that firfi Promife. · 8. From thefe confiderati9ns, which are all of them un– quefiiQnable Principles of Truth, two things are evident. ( r.) That there was no w.c1 '\ of the J ufrification and Salvation of !inners, revealed and propofed from the Foundation ofthe \Vorld, but only by Jefus Chrifi, as declared in the firfl: Pro· mifc, ( 2.. ) Th~t there was no way for the Participation of the Benefits of that Promife,or of his work of i\-iediation, but by Fv1ifh

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