114 / 504
CA
13.111.ß.
id.
MrG's Expofition ofRom.8.a8, farther
Confidered.
58
per
acceptation
of
theword.
Not
only
the
originall
fence
,
and
Campo
-
fition
of
the word,
but
alfo
the
confiant
ufe
of
it
in
the
Scripture,
leads us a-
way from the
Interpretation here
pinned upon
it.
Further, what
is
the
meaning
of
Preapprooving?
Gods
Approoving
of
any
perfon,
as
to
their
Perfons,
is
his
free
and Gracious Acceptation
of
them
in
Chrift.
His Preapprooving
of
them
in Anfwer
hereunto,
muff
be
his
Eternal!
Gracious Acceptation
of
them in Chrift But
is
this Mr
Goodwin's
intend-
ment
?
Doth
God
accept any in Chrift antecedently
to
their
Predeiination,
Calling,
and7uflißcation
(for
they are
all confequentiall
to
this
a&
of
Pre-
appro
bation)?
This then
is
that
which
is
affirmed:
God
approoves
and
accepts
of
men
in
Chriff;
thereupon he
Predeffinates Calls,
and
juflifies
them. But
what
need all
thefe,
if
they
be
Antecedently accepted
?
I
fhould
have expe-
tied, that
this fore
-
Knowledge
fhould
have been refolved
rather
into
a middle,
or Conditionate
Prefcience,
then into
this
Preapprobation,
but that
our
Great
Mafiers were
pleafed(in the place
newly
cited)though without
any
attempt
of
proofe,to
carry
it
another
way.That God
fhould
approve of,love,accept
perlons
antecedently
to
their Predeftination,
Vocation,
& Juftification,
is
doubtleffe
not
fuitable
to
Mr
Goowin's
Principles.
But
that
they
fhould.
love God alfo,
before
they
fall
under
thefe
A
&s
of
his
Grace ,
is
not only openly
contra
-
dii`tious
to
the
Truth, but
alfo
to
it
felfe.
The
phrafe
here
of
Loving God
is
confeffedly a
defcription
of
Believers:
Now
to
fuppofemen
Believers,
that
is
to
anfwer
the
Call
ofGod,antecedently
to
his Call, will
fcarce
be
Calved
from
a
flat
contradi
&ion,
with
any
referved Confiderations,that may
be invented:
4, 16.
Thisfolid
Foundation
being laid, he proceeds;
'Theft who
thus
love
him
, and
he
approves
of
them,
he
Predeffinates
to be
conformed
to
the Image
of
his
Sonne.
It
is
true, the
Apoftle
fpeaks
of
them, and
to
them
that
Love the
Lord
;
but
Both
not(in the
leàfi) fuppofethem,as fuch,to be
theObje
&s
of
the
As
of
his
Soveraigne Grace
after
mentioned.
If
God
Call
none,
but
thofe
that
Love
him Antecedently
to
his
Call, that
Grace
of
his
muti eternally
ref}
in his
own
bofome, without the leali
exercife
of
it, towards
any
of
the
Sonnes
of
Men.
It
is
thofe perlons indeed
,
who
in
the
proceffe
of
the
Work
of
Gods Grace
towards them, are brought to
love
him,
that
are thus
Predeffinated
and
Called:
but
they
are
fo
dealt withall, not
upon the Account
or
Confideration
of
their
Love
of
God (which
is
not
only in
order
confequentiall
to
fome
of
them,
but
the
proper
Effell
and
produ&
of
them)
but
upon
the
Account
of
the Unchan-
geablePurpofe
of
God,
appoynting them
to
Salvation;which I
doubt
not
but
Mr
Goodwin
f}udioufly
and purpofely
omitted
to
infift
upon, knowing
its
ab-
folute
inconfif}ency
with
the
Conclufion,
(and
yet
not
able
to
wave
it, had it
been once
brought under
confideration)
which from
the Words
he aimeth
to
extra
&. As
then,
to
make
mens Loving
of
God
to
be antecedent
to
the
Grace
of
vocation,
is
an expreffe
contradi
&ion
in
it
felfe;
fo
to
make
it,
or the
Confi-
deration
of
it,
to
be previous
unto
Predeflination
,
is
an
infinuation
of
a
groffe Pelagianßgment,giving rife and fpring
to
Gods Eternal! Ptedef}ination,
not
in his
owne
Soveraigne well,
but the
felfe-differencing
Wills
of
men
: La-
tet
anguis
allo in
the adding
graffe
of
that
exegetical/
terme
,
(Preordinated)
Predeffinated,
that
is
Preordinated;
Though the word
being confidered
in
the
Language,
whereofit
is,
Ceemes
not
to
give
occafion
to
any
fufpicion
,
yet
the
change
of
it
from
Preordained
into
Preordinated,
is
not
to
be
fuppofed
to be
for nothing, in
him who
is
expert
at
thefe Weapons.
To
ordaine,
is
either
ordinare ut aliquid
fiat,
or
ordinem
in
fallis
ffatuere; or according
to
fame,
fub-
jeElum
difßonere
ad/nem: to
Preordaine,
is
of
neceflity
,
precifely
tyed
up
to
the
firft
fence:to Preordinate,I feare,in
Mr
Goodwins
fence,
is
but
to
Predifpofe
men by fome good inclinations in
themfelves:
and
men Preordinated, are but
men