CAP.fII.4: 9,1o. The Unchangeableneffe of Gods Purpofes 52 certainty ofallthe meanes they ufe, puts themupon many Devices, and often to no purpofe. But for him,who is Infinite inWifdome andPower,towhom all things areprefent,andto whom nothing can fall out VnexpeJed, yea what he hathnot himfelfe Determined5untowhom all Emergencyes arebut the Iffue ofhisowne goodPleafure,who proportions out what efficacy he pleafeth unto themeanes heufeth, his Counfells, his Purpofes, his Decreer 'hallHand, being (as Job telles us)as Montaines of Braffe.By this hedifferenceth himfelfe Ifa.44.7. from all others,Idols and men,as alfo by his certaine foreknowledgeofwhat 25. 26, faall come topaffe,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 -roviñspens ) the `Unchangeableneffe ofhis counfell,which God is abundantly willing tomanifeft,though men are a- bundantlyunwilling to receiveit. lob determines this bufineffe in the 23. Ch. v.13,14. He is o fone minde, and who can turne him? What his foule defireth, even that he Both;for he performeth the thing, that is appointed forme. Defires are the leaft andfainteft kindof Purpofes, in Mr Goodwin'sDiftin&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 ofthe matter ofour prefent Difcourfe,mydefigne 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 requiretha cor- refpondent affeâionofall the Internall, and Eternall Ads of his Mind and Will. 2. Secondly,from his Soveraignty,in making and executingall his Purpo- fes; which will not admit ofany fuchmixtureofConfults or Cooperations of others, as fhould render his thoughts lyabletoAlteration. Rom.11.34, 35, 36. TheLord in his Purpofes is confideredas the great Formerofall things, who having his clay in thehand ofhis Almighty power , ordaines every parcell to what kind ofveffell, 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, whichexempts 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 ofothers, are expofed to turning; that which is Eternal /, is alfo Immutable. As 15. 18. i Cor. 2. IL 4. Fourthly, from theAhfoluteneffe, and Independency ofhis Will, whereof theyare theA&s and Emanations, Rom.9.15,16,17,18,19,20. whatever bath any influence upon that, as toMove it, Caufe it, changeit, muff beBefore it, Above it, Betterthen it, as every caufe is, then its effeEt, as fuch. This Will of his,as was faid, isthe fountain ofall beings , to which free and independent Aft all Creatures owe their being and fubfiftence,their operations and man- ner thereof, their wholedifference 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 ofhis goodPleafure. Into this doth our Saviour refolve the difpofall of himfelfe, Itlath.26.42. and of all others, Math: I I. 25,26,27. certainlymen 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, thatformedit, why hat thou made mee then? g.io. 5. Fiftly, from the Ingagement of his Omnipotency, for the accom lifh- meut ofall his Purpofes and Daignes, as is emphatically expreffed,.ifa: i4. 24,
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