6 11 DISPLAY of having till then fufpended his determination, expelling the Taft refólutiou of this changeable Proteus. Nay, that God's decrees, concerning mess eternal eftates, are in their judgment temporal, and not beginning until death, is plain from the whole eourfe of their deGrine ; efpecially where they ßrive to prove, that if there were any fúchdetermination, God could not threaten punilhments, or promife rewards. (a) Who, fly they, can threaten prmPament to him, whom by a peremptory decree he will have to be free from punifhment: it feems he cannot have determined to fave any, whom he threa- tens to punifhif they fin, which is evident he doth all fo long as they live in this world, which makes God not only mutable, but quite deprives him of his foreknowledge, and makes the form of his decree run thus if mall will believe, I determine he fhall be faved, if he willnot, I determine he íhall bedamned ; that is, I mufì leavehint in the mean time todo what he will, fo I may meet with him in the end. (3.) They affirm no decree of almighty God concerning men is fo unalterable, (b) but that all thofe who are nosy in rell, or mifery, might have had contrary lots : that thofe which are damned, as Pharoah, fudas, &c. might have been Caved, and thofe which are faved, as the bleffedvirgin, Peter, lobe, mighthave been damned, which mull needs refleft with a ßrong charge of mutability on almighty God, who knoweth who are his. Divers other inftances in this nature I could produce, whereby itwould' be tùrther evident, that thefe innovatorsin chriftian religion do overthrow the eternity, and unchangeablenefs of God's decrees, but theft are Sufficient to any difcerning man, and I will add in the clofe an antidote againft this poyfon, briefly !hewing what the fcripture, and right reafon, teach us concerning theft fecrets of themoil high. [t.] Known unto God, faith faint lames, are allhis works from thebeginning, ADsxv. t 8. whence it bath hithertobeen concluded, that whatever God doth in time bring to pals, that he decreed from all eternity foto do, all his workswere from the beginning known únto him; confider it particularly in the decree of eleftion, that fountain of all fpiri-. tual blefíings; that a flaying fenfe, and affurance thereof (z Per. i. ta.) being attain ed, might effeft a.fpiritual rejoycing in the Lord, (t Cor. xv. st.) fah things are every where taught, as may raife us to the confiderationof it, as of an eternal aft, irrevocably and immutably efiablifhed ; He bath chafen e. before the foundation of the world, Ephei i. 4. his purpofe according toelation, before we were born malt J?and, Rom. ix. t I. forto the irreverfible liabilityof this a& of his will, he bath fet to the feal of his infallible knowledge, z h im. ii. 19. his purpofe of our fill vacion by grace, not according toworks, was before the world began, z him. i. 9. An eternal purpofe proceeding from fuck a will, as which none can refift, joyned with fuels a knowlege, as to which all things paff, prefent, and to come, are open, and evident, direfted by an infallible wifdom and counfel, mull needs alfa be like the laws of theMedro and Per- fans, permanent and unalterable. [z.] The decrees of God being conformable to his nature, and efferce, do require eternity, andimmutability, as their unfeparable properties. God, and he only, never was, nor evercanbe, what now he is not; paffive poffìbility toany thing, whichis the fountainof all change, can have no place in him who is aillus fimplsx, and p relyfree' from all compofition, whence faint lames affirmeth, that with him there isno vartableneft, norfhadow of turning, Jam. t. 17. with him, that is, in his will and purpofes s andhim- felf by hisProphet,. I am the Lord, and I change not, therefore ye font of Jacob ar, nor con- fumed, Mal. iii. 6. where, he proveth the not changingof hisgracious purpofes,. be- caufe he is the Lord, :the eternal alts of his will, toot really differing from his nn changeable effence, mull needsbe immutable. [3.] Whatfoever God hach determined accordingto the comrfel of his wifdom, and good pleafure of his will to be accomplifned to the praife of his glory, flaixleth fare, and immutable : For the frength of Ifrael will not lye, nor repent, for he is not. a-man, that he Amid repent, r Sam. xv. 29. He declareth the end _from the beginning, and from ancient times, the things that are not yet done, flying, My eounfl (hall stand, and I wi(l do all my ple f re, Ifa. xlvi. r o. which certain and infallible, executionof his plealisre,: isextended to particular contingent events, Chap. xlviii. sq. yea, it is anordinary thing with the Lord, to confirm thecertainty of thofe things that are yet for to come, fromhis own decree : 00 the Lord of hafts hash froorn fling, Surelyas Ihave thought, fo it Pall come tá ¡aft, and ar Ihave purpofed se (hall fand, that I willbreak the Affyrian, &c. ¡fa. x:w 24. 25. it is certain, the Affyrian (hall be broken, becaufe theLord bathpurpofed it :- which were a weak kind of reafonmg, if his purpofe might be altered : nay, he is of Inc mind (a) Qüis enim comminetur pcenam ei, quern' peremptorio decreto a pima immunem efieviilt?Rem. ¿tpol. .cap. 17. fol. 187. (I) Author of God's tuve co mankind?. p. q. (e) Cu69uid operator, operator ut eft. nod
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