502 FREEDOM OF WILL. And if we read the whole ninth chapter to the Romans, we. find God is there represented as making a distinction of mercy between Isaac and Ishmael, between Jacob and Esau, between the Jews and Gentiles, first in favour of the Jews, and after- wards rejecting the Jews, and receiving the Gentiles : Let these texts be construed in what sense you please with regard to per- sons, or families, or nations, or with regard to temporal, spiri- tual, or eternal blessings; still all are representedby the apostle as instances of God's sovereign goodness and special mercy; in the free choice of some, and the neglecting of others. But according to this opinion, there is no such thing as liberty of choice or indifference with God in any of these actions ; for he cauld have acted no otherwise than he did in any one punctilio of grace or providence : His will was necessarily determined as to all his benefits ofeverykind, and to the persons who were objects of them, by antecedent superiorfitness, so that he could not have bestowed nor withheld these blessings in any other manner than he has withheld or bestowed them. I grant always, and have always granted, that wheresoever there is such an antecedent superior fitness of things, God acts according to it, so as never to contradict it ; and particularly in all his judicial proceedings as a Governor and Distributer of rewards and punishments, he has a constant regard to vice and virtue, to superior fitness and unfitness, though he may reward or rather bestow beyond our merit, or he may punish less. And even in acts of mere bounty and free goodness, we must always grafit and suppose him never to act what is not fit. Yet we may also suppose, when we consider God as a Benefactor, that in his infinite survey of things, there may be a thousand equally fit objects for his goodness, anda thousand equal ways of manifest- ing it. Now this reasonable supposition leaves him a very large field for the exerciseof his sovereign goodness and pleasure, and the free determinations of his will and choice, both as to the bles- sings which he bestows, and the persons or nations on whom he bestows them. Let us take one further step, and shew that even the grace 'of God in sendinghis own Son to redeem us, is much obscured by this opinion of the constant determination of the will of God by some superior fitness ; John iii. 16. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him shouldnot perish, but have eternal life ; that is, according to this opinion, God sogreatly loved the world of mankind because he saw it antecedently most fit for his love, and therefore could not love it less ; and he gave his only begotten Son, because he saw it so supremely fit, that he could not withhold him ; and he made this covenant of grace and proposal of salvation, that who- soever believeth in him should not perish, because this proposal
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