108 / 504
CAP.fII.4:
9,1o.
The
Unchangeableneffe
of
Gods Purpofes
52
certainty
of
all
the
meanes
they
ufe,
puts
them
upon
many
Devices, and often
to
no purpofe.
But
for
him,who
is
Infinite
in
Wifdome and
Power,to
whom
all
things
areprefent,and
to
whom nothing can
fall
out
VnexpeJed, yea what
he hath
not
himfelfe Determined5untowhom all
Emergencyes
are
but
the
Iffue
ofhis
owne
good
Pleafure,who proportions
out what
efficacy
he pleafeth
unto
the
meanes he
ufeth,
his
Counfells,
his Purpofes, his
Decreer
'hall
Hand,
being
(as
Job
telles us)as
Montaines
of
Braffe.By
this
he
differenceth himfelfe
Ifa.44.7.
from
all
others,Idols and men,
as alfo
by
his
certaine foreknowledge
of
what
25. 26,
faall come
to
paffe,and be accomplifhed upon thofe Purpofes
ofhis
.
Hence
the
Apoftle
Heb.6.
i
7,
i
8.
acquaints us,that
his Promife
and
his
Oath,thofe two
Immutable
things,doe
but
declare
(d8s
-roviñs
pens
)
the
`Unchangeableneffe
of
his counfell,which
God
is
abundantly willing
to
manifeft,though men are a-
bundantly
unwilling
to
receiveit. lob determines
this bufineffe
in
the
23.
Ch.
v.13,14.
He
is
o
f
one
minde, and
who
can turne
him?
What his foule defireth,
even
that
he Both;
for
he
performeth the
thing,
that
is appointed
for
me.
Defires
are the
leaft
andfainteft kind
of
Purpofes,
in
Mr
Goodwin's
Diftin
&ions.
Yet
the certaine
accomplifhment
of
them,
as
they are afcribed
unto
God
, is
here
afferted by
the
Holy Ghoft.
g.
"9.
Were the
confirmation
of
the matter
of
our prefent Difcourfe,my
defigne in
hands I could
farther
confirme
it,
by inlarging
thefe enfuing Reafons.
I.
Firft,from the
Immutability
of
Gods
the
leaft queftioning
whereof
falls
foule on all
the
Perfec`Eions
of
theDivine Nature,
which
requireth
a
cor-
refpondent affeâion
of
all
the Internall, and Eternall Ads
of
his
Mind
and
Will.
2.
Secondly,from
his Soveraignty,in
making and executing
all
his
Purpo-
fes;
which will
not admit
of
any fuch
mixture
of
Confults or Cooperations
of
others,
as fhould
render
his
thoughts
lyable
to
Alteration.
Rom.11.34, 35, 36.
The
Lord
in his
Purpofes
is
confidered
as
the great Former
of
all things, who
having
his clay in
the
hand ofhis
Almighty power
,
ordaines
every parcell
to
what
kind
of
veffell,
and to what
ufe he pleafeth
5
hence
the
Apoftle
con-
cludes the confideration
ofthem,
and thediftinguifhing Grace flowing
from
thein,with that
admiration,w
pasoc,
oh
the
depth!
&c.
3.
Thirdly,
from
their
Eternity, which
exempts them from all fhadow
of
change, and
lifts
them up above
all
thofe fphears,that either from within,and
their
owne nature,
or
from withoot,by
the
impreffion
of
others, are
expofed
to turning; that
which
is
Eternal
/,
is
alfo Immutable.
As
15. 18.
i
Cor.
2.
IL
4.
Fourthly,
from
the
Ahfoluteneffe,
and
Independency
of
his Will,
whereof
they
are
the
A&s
and Emanations, Rom.9.15,16,17,18,19,20. whatever
bath
any influence
upon
that,
as
to
Move
it,
Caufe
it,
change
it,
muff
be
Before
it,
Above
it,
Better
then
it,
as
every caufe
is,
then
its
effeEt, as
fuch. This Will
of
his,as was
faid,
is
the
fountain
of
all beings
,
to
which free
and independent
Aft
all
Creatures owe
their
being and fubfiftence,their operations and man-
ner
thereof, their whole
difference from thofe
Worlds
of
beings, which his
Power
can
produce,
but yet
{hall
lye
bound up
to Eternity,
in
their nothing
-
neffe
and pofiibility, upon the account
of
his
good
Pleafure.
Into
this
doth
our
Saviour refolve
the
difpofall
of
himfelfe, Itlath.26.42. and
of
all
others,
Math:
I
I.
25,26,27. certainly
men in
their
wrangling Dífputes and
Contefl's
about
it,
have
fcarce feriouíly
confidered, with whom they have
to
doe:
'ball
the thing formed
fay
to
him,
that
formed
it,
why
hat
thou made
mee
then?
g.io.
5.
Fiftly, from
the
Ingagement
of
his
Omnipotency,
for
the
accom lifh-
meut
of
all
his
Purpofes
and Daignes,
as
is
emphatically expreffed,.ifa:
i4.
24,