Part 58

To this we may farther add, that to deny that God fore-ordained whatever comes to pass, is, in effect, to deny a providence, or, at least, that God governs the world in such a way, as that what he does therein was pre-concerted. And herein we expect to meet with no opposition from any but the Deists, or those who deny a God; and if it be taken for granted that there is a providence, or that God is the Governor of the world, we cannot but conclude from hence, that all the displays of his glory therein, are the result of his eternal purpose. This is also agreeable to what is said concerning him, that _he doth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth_, Dan. iv. 35. the meaning of which is not barely this, (which is a great truth) that he acts without controul, inasmuch as his power is infinite: But that all he does is pursuant to his will; and, indeed, it cannot be otherwise, if we suppose that the divine power, and will, are so inseparably connected, that he cannot be said to produce any thing, but by the word of his power; or when he willeth that any thing should come to pass, it is not in an efficacious will, as ours is, for want of power, to effect what we have done. Therefore for God to will the present existence of things, is to effect them, which seems to be the reason of that mode of speaking, which was used when he produced all things at first; he said, let them exist in that form, or perfection, which he had before designed to give them, and the effect immediately followed, Gen. i. 3, 6, 9, &c.

Hitherto, I presume, our argument will not be much contested; for the main thing in controversy is what relates to the divine determination respecting intelligent creatures, which will be considered under a following head: What I have hitherto attempted to prove is, the proposition in general, namely, that whatever God brings to pass, or is the effect of power, is the result of his determinate purpose. And herein, I think, I have carefully distinguished between God’s will to effect, and his will to permit; but that will be farther explained, when we speak of the decrees of God, with a particular application to angels and men, under the head of election.

Having endeavoured to prove that God hath fore-ordained whatever comes to pass, we shall lay down the following propositions relating to his end and design in all his purposes, together with the nature of things, as coming to pass pursuant thereunto, and the method in which we are to conceive of the decree, when compared with the execution thereof.

1. God cannot design any thing, in his eternal purpose, as the highest end, but his own glory, which is here assigned, as the end of his decrees. As this is the principal motive, or reason, inducing him to produce whatever comes to pass; so it must be considered as the end of his purpose relating thereunto: This is very evident; for since the divine glory is the most excellent of all things, he cannot, as an infinitely wise God, design any thing short of it, as the great motive or inducement for him to act; therefore, whatever lower ends are designed by him, they are all resolved into this as the principal, to wit, the advancement of his divine perfections. Though God designs his own glory as the highest end, yet he has purposed not only that this should be brought about, by means conducive thereunto, but that there should be a subserviency of one thing to another, all which are the objects of his decree, as well as the highest end, namely, his own glory. As, for instance, he determines that the life and health of man shall be maintained by the use of proper means and medicine, or that grace shall be wrought instrumentally by those means, which he has ordained, in order thereunto: thus his purpose respects the end and means, together with the connexion that there is between them.

2. According to the natural order of things, the divine purpose is antecedent to the execution thereof. Therefore it seems very absurd to distinguish the decree of God, as some do, into antecedent and consequent, one going before the use of means, the other following, of which more hereafter: It is certain, that every intelligent being first determines to act, and then executes his determinations; so that nothing can be more absurd, than to say, that a person determines to do a thing which is already done. Therefore we conclude, that God first decreed what shall come to pass, and then brings it to pass: Accordingly he first determined to create the world, and then created it; he first determined to bestow the means of grace on men, and to render them effectual to the salvation of all who shall be saved, and then he does this accordingly; so, with respect to his judicial actings, he first determined by a permissive decree, not to prevent the commission of sin, though infinitely opposite to his holiness, and then, knowing the consequence of this permissive decree, or that men, through the mutability or corruption of their nature, would rebel against him, he determined to punish sin after it should be committed. Thus the decree of God is, in all respects, antecedent to the execution of it; or his eternal providence, as his decrees are sometimes called, is antecedent to, and the ground and reason of, his actual providence.

3. Though the purpose of God be before the execution thereof, yet the execution of it is first known by us; and so it is by this that we are to judge of his decree and purpose, which is altogether secret, with respect to us, till he reveals it; therefore we first observe the discoveries thereof, as contained in his word, or made visible in his actual providence, and from thence we infer his eternal purpose relating thereunto. Every thing that is first in the order of nature, is not first with respect to the order of our knowing it: thus the cause is before the effect, but the effect is often known before the cause; the sun is, in the order of nature, before the enlightening the world by it; but we first see the light, and then we know there is a sun, which is the fountain thereof: or, to illustrate it by another similitude, which comes nearer the matter before us; A legislator determines first to make a law, which determination is antecedent to the making, and that to the promulgation of it, whereby his subjects come to the knowledge thereof, and act in conformity thereunto; but, according to our method of judging concerning it, we must first know that there is such a law, and from thence we conclude, that there was a purpose relating to it, in him that gave it; Thus we conclude, that though the decree of God be the ground and reason of the execution thereof, yet we know that there was such a decree by its execution, or, at least, by some other way designed to discover this to us.

These things being duly considered, may obviate an objection, which is no other than a misrepresentation of the doctrine we are maintaining, as though we asserted, that our conduct of life, and the judgment we are to pass concerning ourselves, relating to our hope of future blessedness, were to be principally, if not altogether regulated, by God’s secret purpose or decree; as though we were first to consider him as determining the event, that is, as having chosen or rejected us, and, from this supposition, to encourage ourselves to attend upon the means of grace; or otherwise that we should take occasion to neglect them; since it is a preposterous thing for a man, who considers himself as reprobated, to attend on any of those means, which are ordained to salvation.

What has been said under the foregoing heads, is sufficient to take away the force of this objection; but this will be more particularly considered, when we come to answer several objections against the doctrine of election: Therefore all I shall add at present is, that since our conduct and hope is to be governed by the appearances of things, and not by God’s secret purpose relating to the event thereof, we are to act as those who have not, nor can have, any knowlege of what is decreed, with relation thereunto, till it is evinced by the execution thereof; or, at least, those graces wrought in us, which are the objects of God’s purpose, as well as our future blessedness; and our right to one is to be judged of by the other.

This leads us to consider the properties of these decrees of God, as mentioned in the former of the answers we are now considering; in which it is said, they are _wise_, _free_, and _holy_. This is very evident, from the wisdom, sovereignty, and holiness, which appear in the execution of them; for whatever perfections are demonstrated in the dispensations of providence, or grace, these God designed to glorify in his eternal purpose; therefore if his works, in time, are wise, free, sovereign, and holy, his decree, with respect thereunto, which is fulfilled thereby, must be said to be so likewise. These things we shall have occasion to speak more particularly to, under a following head, when we consider the properties of election, and particularly that it is wise, sovereign, and holy; I shall therefore, at present, only add, that whatever perfections belong to the nature of God, they are demonstrated by his works, since he cannot act unbecoming himself; for that would give occasion to the world to deny him to be infinitely perfect, that is, to be God. If we pass a judgment on creatures by what they do, and so determine him to be a wise man, who acts wisely, or a holy man, who acts holily, or a free and sovereign agent, who acts without constraint, certainly the same must be said of the divine Majesty; and consequently, since whatever he does has the marks of infinite wisdom, holiness, and sovereignty, impressed upon it, it is evident that these properties, or perfections, belong to all his purposes. If all his works are performed in wisdom, as the Psalmist observes, Psal. civ. 24. then we have reason to admire that wisdom which appears, from hence, to be contained in all his purposes relating thereunto, as the apostle doth, Rom. xi. 33. _O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!_ If he be _righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works_, Psal. cxlv. 17. and therein demonstrates a divine sovereignty, as acting without any obligation, or constraint laid upon him to bestow the favours he confers on mankind; then we must certainly conclude, that his eternal purpose which is executed hereby, is free and sovereign. This leads us to consider,

III. That intelligent creatures, such as angels and men, with respect to their present or future state, are the objects of God’s eternal decree, or purpose, which is generally called _predestination_. And this, as it relates to the happiness of some, or misery of others, is distinguished into election or reprobation, which is a very awful subject, and ought never to be thought of, or mentioned, but with the utmost caution and reverence, lest we speak those things that are not right concerning God, and thereby dishonour him, or give just occasion to any to deny or reproach this doctrine, as though it were not founded on scripture.

Hitherto we have considered the purpose of God, as including in it all things future, as the objects thereof; and now we are to speak of it in particular, as it relates to angels and men. When we confine the objects of God’s purpose to those things that come to pass, which have no dependence on the free-will of angels or men, we do not meet with much opposition from those, who are in other respects, in the contrary scheme of doctrine; for most of them, who are masters of their own argument, and consider what may be allowed without weakening their cause, do not deny that God fore-ordained whatever comes to pass, nor that he did this from all eternity, if we except what respects the actions of free agents. Thus they will grant that God, from all eternity, determined to create the world, and then to govern it, and to give laws to men, as the rule of government, and a free-will, or power to yield obedience thereunto: but when we consider men’s free actions, as the objects of a divine decree, and the final state of men, as being determined by it, here we are like to meet with the greatest opposition, and therefore must endeavour to maintain our ground in the following part of this argument.

The decree of God, respecting intelligent creatures, is to be considered as containing in it two branches, namely, _election_ and _reprobation_: the former of which is contained in those words, that God, out of his mere love, for the praise of his glorious grace, hath elected some to glory in Christ, and also to the means thereof; and as for reprobation, that is described in the following words; that according to his sovereign power, and the unsearchable counsel of his own will, he hath passed by, and fore-ordained the rest to dishonour and wrath, to be, for their sin, inflicted, to the praise of the glory of his justice. Both these are to be considered; and,

_First_, What respects the doctrine of election. To elect, or choose, according to the common use, or acceptation of the word, signifies the taking a small number out of a greater, or a part out of the whole; and this is applied, either to things or persons.

(1.) To things. As when a person has a great many things to choose out of, he sets aside some of them for his own use, and rejects the others, as refuse, that he will have nothing to do with.

(2.) To persons. As when a king chooses, out of his subjects, some whom he will advance to great honours; or when a master chooses, out of a number of servants offered to him, one, or more, whom he will employ in his service; this from the nature of the thing, implies, that all are not chosen, but only a part, in which there is a discrimination, or a difference put between one and another.

But we are more particularly to consider the meaning of the word _election_, as we find it in scripture, wherein it is used in several senses.

To elect or choose, according to the acceptation of the word, does not connote the particular thing that a person is chosen to, but that is to be understood by what is farther added to determine the sense thereof; as sometimes we read of persons being chosen to partake of some privileges, short of salvation; at other times, of their being chosen to salvation; sometimes it is to be understood as signifying their being chosen to things of a lower nature, at other times their being chosen to perform those duties, and exercise those graces that accompany salvation; and we may, very easily, understand the sense of it by the context.

Again, it is sometimes taken for the execution of God’s purpose, or for his actual providence, making choice of persons to fulfil his pleasure, in their various capacities; at other times, as we are here to understand it, for his fixing his love upon his people, and purposing to bring them to glory, making choice of some out of the rest of mankind, as the monuments of his discriminating grace; we have instances of all these senses of the word in scripture; and,

1. It is sometimes taken for God’s actual separation of persons, for some peculiar instances of service, which is a branch of his providential dispensation, in time: thus we sometimes read in scripture, of persons being chosen, or set apart, by God, to an office, and that either civil or sacred: thus, upon the occasion of Saul’s being made king, by God’s special appointment, Samuel says, _See ye him whom the Lord hath chosen_, 1 Sam. x. 24. so it is said elsewhere, _He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheep-fold; from following the ewes great with young, he brought him to feed Jacob, his people, and Israel his inheritance_. Psal. lxxviii. 70, 71.

It also signifies his actual appointment of persons to perform some sacred office: thus it is said, concerning the Levites, that _the Lord had chosen them to carry the ark, and to minister unto him_, 1 Chron. xv. 2. and our Saviour says, to his disciples, _Have not I chosen you_, namely, to be my disciples, and as such to be employed in preaching the gospel, _and one of you is a devil_, John vi. 70.

2. It is sometimes taken for God’s providential designation of a people, to be made partakers of those external privileges of the covenant of grace, which belong to them as a church, which, as such, is the peculiar object of the divine regard: thus the people of Israel are said to have been chosen, or separated, from the world, to enjoy the external blessings of the covenant of grace, as Moses tells them, _Because the Lord loved your fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them_, Deut. iv. 37. and elsewhere, _Thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God; the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth_, chap. vii. 6, 7. And, in many other places in the Old Testament, the word _election_ is taken in this sense, though something more than this seems to be included in some particular scriptures in the prophetic writings, in which the Jews are described, as God’s chosen people, as we shall endeavour to shew under a following head.

3. It also signifies God’s bestowing special grace on some, who are highly favoured by him, above others, as having called, or set them apart for himself, to have communion with him, to bear a testimony to him, and to be employed in eminent service, for his name and glory in the world. Thus it seems to be taken, in 1 Cor. i. 26, 27. where the apostle speaks of their _calling_, which imports some special privileges, that they were made partakers of, as the objects of divine power, and grace, to whom Christ was _made wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption_; which therefore signifies the powerful, internal, effectual call, and not barely the external call of the Gospel, as appears, by the foregoing and following verses, ver. 24. compared with 30. and they, whose calling he speaks of, are said to be chosen: _You see your calling, how that not many wise men_, &c. _are called_, but _God hath chosen the foolish things of this world_, &c. so that to be chosen, and effectually called there, seem to import the same thing.

And sometimes it is taken, for some peculiar excellency, which one Christian has above another; as that hospitable, or public-spirited person, to whom the apostle John directs his second epistle, is called by him, _The elect lady_, ver. 1. as an excellent person is sometimes styled a choice person.

But, though the word is taken, in scripture, in these various senses above mentioned, yet it is not confined to any, or all of them; for we shall endeavour to make it appear, that it is often taken, in scripture, as it is expressed in this answer; for God’s having fore-ordained particular persons, as monuments of his special love, to be made partakers of grace here, and glory hereafter, as it is styled, their being chosen to eternal life, and the means thereof. This is what we shall endeavour to prove, and accordingly shall consider the objects thereof, namely, angels and men, and that it is only a part of mankind that is chosen to salvation, to wit, that remnant which shall be eventually saved; and that these are chosen to the means thereof, as well as the end; and how this is said to be in Christ.

The objects of election are _angels_ and _men_. A few words may be said concerning the election of angels, as being particularly mentioned in this answer; we have not, indeed, much delivered concerning this matter in scripture, though the apostle calls those who remain in their state of holiness and happiness, in which they were created, _elect angels_, 1 Tim. v. 21. But, had we no mention of their election in scripture, their being confirmed in their present state of blessedness, must, from the foregoing method of reasoning, be supposed to be the result of a divine purpose, or the execution of a decree relating thereunto; though there is this difference between their election, and that of men, in that the latter are chosen unto salvation, which the angels are not subjects capable of, inasmuch as they were never in a lost, undone state; neither are they said to be chosen in Christ, as men are.

But we shall proceed, to that which more immediately concerns us, to consider men as the objects of election. This is variously expressed in scripture; sometimes it is called their being _appointed to attain salvation_, or being _ordained to eternal life_ or their _names_ being _written in the book of life_; and it is also called, _the purpose of God, according to election_, or his having _loved them before the foundation of the world_, or his having _predestinated_ them, (who have been blessed with all spiritual blessings, in heavenly places in Christ) _unto the adoption of children_, by him, according to the good pleasure of his will. That the scriptures speak of persons as elect, and that this is always represented as a great instance of divine favour and goodness, is not denied: But the main thing in controversy is, whether this relates to the purpose of God, or his providence; and whether it respects particular persons, or the church of God in general, as distinguished from the world; and, if it be supposed to relate to particular persons, how these are considered in God’s purpose, or what is the order and reason of his determination to save them.

That election sometimes respects the disposing providence of God, in time, has been already considered, and some particular instances thereof, in scripture, referred to; but when they, on the other side of the question, maintain, that this is the only, or principal sense in which it is used therein, we must take leave to differ from them. There is a late writer[185], who sometimes misrepresents, and at other times, opposes this doctrine, with more assurance and insult, than the strength of his reasoning will well allow of; and his performance on this head, and others, that have some affinity with it, is concluded, by many of his admirers, to be unanswerable; and the sense that he has given of several scriptures therein, as well as in his paraphrase on the New Testament, in which he studiously endeavours to explain every text, in conformity to his own scheme, has tended to prejudice many in favour thereof; and therefore we shall take occasion sometimes to consider what he advances against the doctrine that we are maintaining; and particularly, as to this head of election, he supposes, “1. That the election, mentioned, in scripture, is not of particular persons, but only that of churches and nations, or their being chosen to the enjoyment of the means of grace, rather than a certainty of their being saved by those means; that it does not contain any absolute assurance of their salvation, or of any such grace, as shall infallibly, and without any possibility of frustration, procure their salvation. 2. That the election to salvation, mentioned in scripture, is only conditional, upon our perseverance in a life of holiness[186]; and he attempts to prove, that election, in the Old Testament, belongs not to the righteous and obedient persons only, but the whole nation of the Jews, good and bad; and that, in the New Testament, it is applied to those who embrace the Christian faith, without any regard had to their eternal happiness.” These things, ought to be particularly considered, and therefore we shall endeavour to prove,