Chapter V
The infinite grace of God in election, by a view of the particular conditions of
elect and others compared.
These particular conditions are drawn from the several sizes and degrees
CHAP. Y.j OF ELECTION. 171
of actual sin greater or lesser in the elect, compared with others passed by ; or else some other outward circumstances, wherein many of the elect and
those others are found sometimes the same, sometimes again diverse in the one and the other (all which conditions are disposed of upon the foresight of
the fall), and yet all of them do in various, and sometimes contrary respects, in a way of comparing each condition with the other, conduce and conspire
all and each of them unto the magnifying of God s special and super-emi-
nently singular grace of election (as indeed all things serve to do). The
particular instances will shew the truth and meaning of the premiss. There are many of them, and it may prove that I shall instance but a
very few.
And yet, ere I come to those particulars, I must yet premise one thing
further; namely, that the elect, in comparing any of these particulars I
shall instance in, may take a survey, for the affecting of his heart, of the
conditions not only of believers in the present age, but that have been in all
ages past, yea, and to come, and some way or other (as I shall endeavour
to direct) improve it for the adoring God s grace to himself. Look, as in
the last general comparative, common to all mankind, thou hadst the whole world of mankind afore thee, in respect to the common condition of sin and
misery, so here thou hast, in forming up this new sort of comparison, the
particular cases and various conditions of all sorts of men in all ages, and
those as fore-viewed by God when he chose them, to compare with thine
own, to the end to glorify his grace towards thee in particular the more.
My warrant for our entering this comparative into the condition of persons in all ages, is, first, that passage in 2 Thes. ii., &c., which shall be my present text : But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. For that particle, but for you, sending us to the verses afore, there we find
the condition of others set out, whom God had rejected, but hath chosen
you. Now who were these others, but such as the apostle foretells were
yet to come, and to be a more corrupt generation than ever had been in the world before them, and that were to come many years after ; concerning whom he prophesies thus, ver. 3, There must be a falling away, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition ; ver. 9-12, Even him, whose
coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish ; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusions, that they should
believe a lie ; that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. And then follows that,
* But we are bound to give thanks for you, that God hath chosen you, &c. And this man of sin he means is antichrist, the pope and his deceiving clergy, the whole body of them, who for so many ages should be able to deceive the whole world, as their multitude, those deceived, are termed, Rom. xiii. 3, and to continue and prevail throughout many and many ages after these
Thessalonians should be in their graves, being at this day, and to make up the greater part of the European world. Now these Thessalonians, that
lived in the first pure age of Christianity, were notwithstanding, in blessing God for their own election, to take their view unto that whole succession and multitude of men, and for so many ages, during which popery was to
continue, and comparing themselves (though but a particular comparison) with the condition these generations were to be left unto by God s just pre ordination, to magnify that love of God to themselves, as illustrated by all
172 OF ELECTION. [BOOK III.
that unrighteousness and infidelity so great a multitude, for so long a con
tinuance, should be given up unto.
Thus doth he propose this very comparative to heighten this love of God s, and their thankfulness for election. In Rev. xiii. 7, 8, the Holy Ghost makes the same comparison, indeed, between a few elect and the others of
all nations, tongues, kindreds ; yea, in a manner all that dwell on the earth
that worshipped the beast ; and, on the other hand, a few elect that should
not be deceived by him ; which he doth to greaten the same love of election. Thus expressly, ver. 8, And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship
him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. There is this small difference between
these two comparatives in these two scriptures, both of which yet remain
full to this purpose we have in hand, that that in the Revelation concerned and was spoken of those elect who should live in those very ages wherein
popery and antichristianism should reign, and be in its ruff, who should be
then alive, and see with their eyes all the whole world, &c., worshipping the
beast (who is the same man of sin in the Thessalonians), that so they might adore and worship God and the Lamb for their election out of the rest of
the world, with whom they then lived, and with the highest admiration
attribute their preservation from that idolatrous worship unto their having been written in the Lamb s book, and glorify God. Whereas these Thes
salonians lived in the apostle s times, when that mystery began but to work
in heresies that were the forerunners of that apostasy, and as smaller streams,
emptying themselves at last into that great sea or lake, and yet were to take
in the prospect of this apostatising world so long afore, and yet to adore and
glorify God, that by election had secured them in their effectual salvation ; and this they were to do, as well as those other elect, that were to live in
those times amongst those idolatrous worshippers. However, both instances
serve to our argument in hand, viz., that this comparative with others ought to be made by us both with the present world, and corruption of the times and persons we live in, and with whom we live ; and also to be intended to
all ages to come, yea, and the world that shall be, to the end of the world ; and then, by like reason, ought also to be improved to the like glorifying of God for his electing mercies, in comparison with his rejection of men in all
ages that are past, since the beginning of the world.
So, then, this our comparative stretcheth itself over all times, and to take
into the account the infinite number of persons that have been, are, and
shall be, whom God hath cast off; and are accordingly bound to give thanks unto God for his election of us, and not them, from out of all, as we and
they lay in one heap and view afore him. And the reason is clear ; for when God elected thee, thou wert not chosen out of the lump of this present age, but all the sons of Adam lay afore him in a like great level. It was
free to him to have appointed then any of the several times they should live
in, when he disposed of their several everlasting conditions. He then ap pointed the times they should each live in, so as he might have allotted thee to have lived in any of those ages, past or to come, as easy as the
present time thou livest in ; and therefore there is the same reason thou shouldst set thyself in this comparison with the whole lump of mankind in
all times as with that with whom thou livest. And thou art to consider election to have proceeded upon the common first level, and so to compare thyself with all men that are, or have been, and when all mankind shall be
visibly extant, either the goats at the left hand, and this little flock at the
right, when with us they shall hear that voice, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the
CHAP. V.] OF ELECTION. 173
world. To the other the contrary pronounced, Depart from me, I never knew you ; and thereby reprobation expressed in its negative act of nescio, I never knew you, as in the other speech declared oppositely, you were foreknown and chosen hereunto ; and accordingly that kingdom they were
entering into was prepared from the foundation of the world, unto which
they were chosen. And the opposite negation thereof will be avowedly pro fessed and acknowledged by Christ himself to have been at the head of these two issues of the sons of men. Whereby, how will (as it must needs)
electing grace be infinitely extolled, and with what exaltation of it, and exul
tation of spirit in us, and adoration of God, will this comparative (so little
minded) be then entertained by us, even which I have all this while exhorted
you unto ; and yet whose heart almost doth the consideration of this enter
into and strike ? Indeed, because what is yet to come we know not, and what
is past is failed out of sight, and so affects us not. Oh, yet how conspicuous shall all this be at that day when Christ shall have the whole world ren dezvoused afore him ! even when the succession and account of the world
shall have been finished and perfected, and the stories of all be told.
You that are the chosen of God, having this large prospect afore you, may further affect your hearts with these particulars of your several condi
tions.
First particular. You were fore-viewed by God when chosen, as those
that would actually of themselves run into the same excess of sinnings, the
very same sins, with all and the like circumstances of aggravation, and in a continued course of sinning, afore their effectual calling, that others, the rest, are and have been, and shall be left unto ; no difference at all in that respect neither, as the same Eph. ii. 2, 3,
* Wherein in time past ye walked accord
ing to the course of the world, according to the prince of the power of the
air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience : among whom also we had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind ; and were by nature the children of wrath, as well as others. And then comes in the like but
* But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with
ver. 4,
Christ, &c. as in that 2 Thes. ii. 13, 14. Now consider that God hath and doth suffer these others to go on and persist in that course to the end of
their days, and to die in their sins. And if thou hadst gone on, what a monster in sinning wouldst thou have proved to be ! How great and swell
ing a toad in wickedness ! This might have been thy lot. But God hath ordained thee by faith and repentance (whereby he called thee with an holy
calling) to obtain salvation through Jesus Christ. This the foregone rule
given, concerning both calling and election, doth sufficiently also confirm ; for calling finds us in all the sinfulness of our forepassed course, and there
fore election viewed us in the same at calling. The same horrid sin of
crucifying Christ, which the elders of the Jews ran into, and the generality of the people, for which they were remitted to that condemnation/ thousands of the elect Jews were guilty of, together with them, and yet they were saved from that froward generation, which expression, used by Peter, respecteth the generality of that nation in that age, and is used to set forth the great ness of that salvation tendered them (they now beginning to repent), so to move and promove them thereunto, and to draw them unto faith on Christ ; and yet the sin of crucifying Christ was committed by them that were there
saved, as well as by those that perished. And as the persons were ordained to one or the other of these ends or issues of them, so all things that con cerned that hideous act, were all fore-determined by God s eternal counsel,
174 OF ELECTION. [BOOK III.
as they were committed by the one as by the other : Acts iv. 28, For to
do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.
Second particular. That even after effectual calling many of these elect
(and it may be it hath been some of their cases that hear me) were fore-
viewed to run through many of the same sinful temptations, yea, and to fall
into the like gross acts of the like kind of sinning for a season, which of
themselves would hazard and endanger their ever coming unto glory, if elec
tion redeemed them not, as much as de facto it falls out that the damnation
of the other is carried on thereby. And the difference lies in this^that God
takes and resolves to take advantage against the one, as he did against Saul,
and the Jews that crucified Christ, when not against David, nor against
those. This magnified electing love in the case of David and Solomon, in
that though they forsook his laws, and walked not in his judgments, but
* Nevertheless, I will not break my covenant, &c. Ps.
brake his law, &c.
Ixxxix. from verse 28 to 35. The apostle Jude doth the very same, for
writing to the saints of that age, the preserved in Christ from amongst such
fatal ruins as other professors had then fallen under, the whole structure of
their profession falling on them, and the fall of that house was great, as
Christ speaks, he, to magnify God s electing grace to us, sets before them,
first, their having been chosen and beloved by God the Father, in ver. 1, as
the foundation of their preservation ; and then the contrary fate of those
wicked men in that age, ver 4, There are certain men, who were ordained
afore of old to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of God
into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus
Christ. And the very measures, both of their sin and their condemnation,
he, to this our purpose afore us, sets out, ver. 11-13, Woe unto them !
for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of
Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah. These are spots
in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves with
out fear : clouds they are without water, carried about of winds ; trees whose
fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots ; raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame ; wandering stars, to whom
is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
Third particular. Thou mayest single forth the worst of mankind that are now in thine eye alive, and acting the height of wickedness, or whom thou
: the gigantic monsters of mankind, as
hast heard or read of in ages past
were the sinners of the old world, great for renown in sinning, the Hectors
in wickedness, as the worst of emperors, the Neroes, or the wickedest popes, the men of sin, many of whom sin hath sublimated unto meriting the name
of men of sin, in comparison of other sinners ; thou mayest take also such
as have had their spirits envenomed with that which is the devil s sin, a
wilful malice against God, his Christ, and their saints, the sin first against the Holy Ghost, the Pharisees, the Julians, &c., that have been in the world ;
pitch upon any, the thought of whose case did at any time most dread thee
to be in, and go home and bless God he left thee not to the same ; that
thou wert not Cain, nor Judas, nor any of these fore-mentioned (which thou
mightst have been) ; and, further, that God hath chosen thee to such a
glory. For what in God made thee to differ ? That which you heard out of
the Thessalonians : But God hath chosen you. That very Scripture doth
not only give the warrant to do this, but doth plainly and directly excite to
it, whilst he sets afore them some of those wicked popes, &c., whom he
brands with the dreadful mark worse than Cain, the man and men of sin, on
purpose to aggrandise the mercy of this particular election thereby, that they were not left by a permissive decree to have been such as one of them.
CHAP. V.J OF ELECTION. 175
Fourth particular. On the contrary, compare thyself and thy condition in
sinning, with those that have been far less sinners than thou hast been, and
this consideration also will conduce to exalt electing grace towards thee ; for
upon the consideration of the fall God viewed this their condition of less
sinning, together with thine, and yet chose thee and refused them, when it
is certain there was found a far greater matter of reprobability (as I spake
afore) in thee than was in them. It is certain, both from Scripture and
experience, that God vouchsafes that transcendent mercy and privilege of his word and gospel unto some that were, and afterwards prove, the wickedest of men, whenas he denies unto others far less wicked, and more teachable and
receptive of it. Thus in the prophet Ezekiel, God tells the prophet that if he had sent him to any other nation, utter stranger to any of his messages from God, as a prophet, which were familiar to the Jews, yea, that were un
acquainted with the prophet s language, had I sent thee unto them, they would have hearkened unto thee : Ezek. iii. 7, But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee ; for they will not hearken unto me : for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted. And yet God passed by them
nations. Now God, according to his pleasure, disposeth the outward privi
lege of his word with so great a difference towards men, even of them whom he calls, away so much more doth he sbew it in electing grace, in his not
vouchsafing to cast it upon lesser sinners, nor to go by such a rule, but often
upon greater, as upon publicans and harlots, when not upon pharisees, the
strictest sort of justiciaries, as Paul, Acts xxvi. 5, said, and as Christ s
speeches and parables shew. And look as God s vouchsafing his word
(gospel) to those fore-mentioned, was the highest aggravation by reason of
the comparative difference between them, so, on the contrary, that God hath
left such a multitude of better-disposed sinners in all ages past than we, and
yet given us both the outward knowledge of his word, and inward grace of his
Spirit to accompany it, this heightens his love and mercy to us. In Mat. xi. Christ having instanced in the most debauched cities that have been in the
world, Sodom and Gomorrah, and withal in the most civil and most in
genuous of all the heathens, Tyre (I characterise them such, because of their
ingenuity unto God s people the Jews; not malicious as was Edom, &c., but
friendly and assistant, even to the building of the temple, and who by their
vicinity might easily have been made partakers of the privileges of the Jews),
all advantages they had, and their susceptiveness and aptness to have received the gospel if preached unto them was such, as Christ says, that if those works had been done in Tyre, they would have repented in sackcloth and
ashes. And yet God afforded not to these the knowledge of his ways, much
less of the gospel, as he had done to these cities of the Jews whom Christ
there upbraids, the mercy of which towards them he upbraids them with to
their just condemnation; which, when he had done in verses 22-24, he
takes occasion from thence much more to magnify God s mercy vouchsafed unto his elect (whether those few of those cities whom his ministry had
wrought upon, or others elsewhere converted by himself or John) in his
subsequent thanksgiving, we have so often made mention of : ver. 25, 26, At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid those things from the wise and
prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father ; for so it seemed good in thy sight. In which speech he had his eye upon those
fore-cited examples, both of Tyre and Sodom, in compare with these hardened
Capernaites ; that God had hid these things from both lesser and greater sinners, and had not only outwardly declared them, which he had done unto
Capernaum, but inwardly and effectually had wrought upon his babes
176 OF ELECTION. [BOOK III.
thereby for it was upon occasion Christ broke forth into so solemn an
adoration of God, as these words At that time Jesus answered and said
do shew, for they are continuatio oration**, a continuation of his former
discourse, as Chemnitius observes; and the word he answered, referreth not
to others having first spoke to him, whom he should have answered, but it
relates to the matter foregone, and so that he speaks answerably thereto, so
as this of Christ, and the matter by-past, do hold a congenial connection with
the former. And Christ s adoration of God for electing those he had con
verted, drew down into it, and involved in it, a comparative with those ex
amples of those others mentioned that had been passed by, both Tynans,
Sodomites, and those of Capernaum.
And indeed, if there were no other, this alone would argue what 1 intend,
viz., that by the same rule whereby Christ aggravates the sin and punish ment of those cities, a sin so highly perpetrated against so great a mercy of
Christ, his preaching the gospel, which he had not vouchsafed to sinners of
a lesser size, and that would have repented if they had enjoyed it, and that
notwithstanding God had not designed it to them ; by the same rule, I say,
by way of parallel, a like reason (though alleged to this clean contrary pur
pose) ought those that had been converted by Christ s ministry in those
cities (and so ought we) to have celebrated God s electing grace, in his hav
ing revealed those things to them inwardly and effectually
: the very
outward manifestation of which to those Tynans, &c. in former ages, would,
if they had known them, have brought forth some fruits of repentance, as
the Ninevites had also done. And these babes he speaks of, upon Christ s
speech, and after his example they might have said, We, whom our Lord
hath thus converted, and God fore-chosen, had yet as hard and impenitent
hearts as any in Capernaum and Bethsaida had, until God, by his mighty
power, inwardly revealed his Son to us ; yea, and they were some of the
nations that were our neighbours in former ages, that were far less sinners
than we, and of more noble and ingenuous spirits, more readily to have
entertained the gospel (as of the Bereans it is said), and God passed by them,
! What cause have we
but hath revealed it unto us. Unspeakable mercy
then to bless God in the sense thereof, for this his discriminating good
pleasure towards us. And if Christ involves and wraps in the examples and
instances of these into his thanksgivings, as matter of thankfulness, then how ought we ?
But we need not go by inferences thus to make good the truth of this
branch, for God hath more plainly and explicitly resolved this difference of
: Deut. x. 15, 16,
greater and lesser sinners, &c., into his electing grace
Only the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their
seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day. Circumcise
therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked. When
he says only, that secludes all other motives and considerations, and shews God barely and simply chose thee out of love above all nations else, not for
thy righteousness. He speaks it in a comparison with other nations, and
not simply alone ; for he there brings and presents them to a view of other
nations, and so the scope runs thus, that they were no more righteous than
other nations whom he refused, nor did he refuse other nations upon that
account ; and not only so, but that they were worse than other nations, as
that additional, be no more stiff-necked, imports ; insinuating thereby the
special obduration of that nation above any other ; it is a comparative speech that too. And with that character God frequently brands and upbraids them,
as more peculiar to them ; as in Exod. xxxii. 9, I the Lord said unto
Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.
CHAP. V.] OF ELECTION. 177
And in chap, xxxiii. 3-5, and Moses in his time had said the same of them ; Exod. xxxiv. 9, which in Deuteronomy he repeats again and again to them, as upon his constant experience of them ; and tells them, though the nations
that were cast out were very wicked, and for their wickedness cast out, that
yet they themselves were in a more eminent manner, a stiff-necked people ; compare for this Deut. ix. 5, 6,
* Understand therefore that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness, for thou art a stiff-necked people. This was that brand and black mark of
them, by God himself, which Moses terms hardness : Look not to the hardness of this people, and their wickedness, Deut. ix. 27, which God fore
saw, yet he chose them ; yea, he saith it of them, whilst he is a-telling them he chose them above all people, as those places shew ; insinuating also
thereby, that as he chose them above all, so that they were stiff-necked above all.
Fifth particular. Thou mayest compare thy condition with others, whom God hath wrought great and mighty works upon, that yet fall short of saving grace ; as those in Heb. vi. 4, 5, that have been enlightened, tasted the
good word of God, and the power of the world to come, and yet fall away, as ver. 7, in a way of supposition he there intimateth, and experience hath shewn in multitudes in our days afore our eyes. And as in the third par
ticular, I bade thee there single forth the highest and worst of sinners, and
magnify the grace of God towards thee, in that thou mightest, and wouldest of
thyself have been like to them, yea, the same; so now I send thee to the
best of sinners (as I may so term them, for, for a time they are such), that have by a work of the Holy Ghost been elevated and raised up to the highest
pitch of gifts (I cannot say graces) which brought them near the kingdom of
God, that were even at the door, as the foolish virgins were, and yet at
length shut out ; and many other instances of such do the Scriptures afford. The first prove last, and the last first, that is, some of the most forward and eminent professors vanish, and come to nothing ; and poor weak believers,
they come to be the first, that is, the highest attainers of grace. Now, what is it that puts the difference but (originally) electing grace, as our Saviour hath resolved us ; Mat. xx. 16,
* So the last shall be first, and the first last ; for many be called, but few chosen. Those last words, as that
particle for shews, give that as the reason of it. By the like comparison, though of a lower size, the apostle Paul doth magnify electing grace in the
latter end of chap the 9th and 10th to the Romans, and at the beginning of
* The Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even
the llth, which continues that his discourse, chap. ix. 30, 31,
the righteousness which is of faith : but Israel, that followed after the law
of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. And again, x. 20, 21, But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that
sought me not ; I was made manifest to them that asked not after me. But
to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a dis
obedient and gainsaying people. Which in the beginning of chap, the llth, he resolves into election of grace, ver. 5 and 11,
* Israel hath not obtained
that which he seeketh for, but election hath obtained it, and the rest were
blinded.
Thou mayest in the contemplation of this branch, enlarge thy thoughts unto all the several sizes of those who have been more or less wrought upon by works not saving, which defect is herein, in their not persevering, and so
* Look diligently lest any man fail the grace of God ; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and VOL. IX. M
they fall short of grace ; as Heb. xii. 15,
178 OF ELECTION. [BOOK III.
thereby many be defiled. And herein thou mayest extend thy thoughts unto the highest attainments, of such that have after proved apostates, thou
hast ever read or heard of, that have abounded in all knowledge, come be
hind in no spiritual gift, whilst thou a poor, weak, yet sincere saint, art
behind in all such kind of spiritual gifts of praying, speaking, utterance,
memory, &c., and yet hast a little thing in thy heart, called sincerity and
honesty of heart (as Christ calls it), towards God, which is the fruit of elec
tion, which puts as great a difference between thee and those, as is between
a star in heaven and a -meteor in the air, or glow-worm on the earth. The
other may have done far greater outward service to Christ in outward works,
as in prophesying in his name, &c,, and have suffered as great things for
Christ, and may have inwardly been wrought upon with affection to things
spiritual, though not spiritually ; their conversation, their speeches, their
prayer about holy things, the same ; and the difference to be but as of oil
in the lamp, serving to present performances, and oil in the vessel, in the
heart itself, inwardly and habitually bringing forth fruit, but yet without root
in themselves. They have yet wanted that great principle of love unto God, and his saints, as 1 Cor. xiii., Paul there, though in a way of supposition, affirmeth their defect to lie therein : ver. 1-3, Though I speak with the
tongues of men and angels, and have not charity, I become as sounding
brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and
understand all mysteries, and all knowledge ; and though I have all faith,
so that I could remove mountains, and have no charity, I am nothing. And
though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have no charity, it profiteth me nothing. But, if thou
canst (though in a very weak, yet sincere measure), say, as the apostle, of
these believing Hebrews, chap. vi. -9, 10, that thou hopest better things, and things accompanying salvation ; for God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed towards his name, in
that ye have ministered to his saints, and do minister ; the difference be tween thee and them in appearance so small, but yet is such in that respect,
as is between the counterfeit of a jewel and a diamond itself ; and yet in
reality, and according to true worth, and the price which God sets upon things, should have so infinite a difference as by the issue and event (so great as
salvation and damnation are -of), appears, which issue it is that election -did
design to bring the one unto ; and that same providential free-will-grace
rising no higher than mere self-love, wrought upon by spiritual objects,
brings the other unto. Oh, what thanks art thou bound to give unto God, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation and belief of
the truth, whereunto he called you by the gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ !
This, as to the point of -actual sinnings, and a comparative reared there upon in these several variations. Secondly, there are certain circumstances which were cast and disposed of by God upon the fall among the sons of men, the continuation -of which serve in as great a variety to enhance this election
grace also towards those that are his.
Sixth particular. As take such as are hard ; contempt, poverty, honour, and riches, thou mayest consider the great disproportion of thy outward condition in this world, with what hath been and is of those others, flie rest, whom God hath past by, that give a just occasion in the like variety for the declaration of God s grace to thee. Thou art poor, and mean, and
despicable in the world : and take thy intellectual parts, the most of you are weak, and comparatively a foolish generation ; and the children of this
world, says Christ, are generally wiser in their generation. You know how
CHAP. V.] OF ELECTION. 179
Paul urgeth and indigitateth this for the saints to reflect upon in comparision with others : 1 Cor. i. 26, For ye see your calling, brethren, how
that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called ; and resolves the obtaining of it into election, as the dis
poser that it should so be : ver. 27, 28, But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise ; and God hath chosen the weak
things of the world, to confound the things which are mighty ; anc? base
things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are. So as an eminent glory ariseth to God thereby. Our Saviour also particularly instanceth in such a difference of wisdom for all other whatever, &c. For it is
the greater excellency man hath to glory in, and excelleth folly, as Solomon
says, as far as light excelleth darkness : Eccles. ii. 13. Wherefore Christ
* At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou
magnifies this grace of election : Mat. xi. 25, 26,
hast hid those things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. And it
is for certain, that the consideration of these kind of outward differences,
although they are but such as are and continue, but whilst we are in this
world, had a mighty weight and impression upon our Saviour s heart whilst he thus extolled his Father thereupon, as those considerations which do
mightily tend to the glory of God s grace in choosing such comparatively to others, and therefore should have the like place and esteem with our
hearts ; for Christ was privy to God s counsel, and an equal estimator of
things as they stand in God s own intention and esteem. I need not
amplify how much the Scriptures do inculcate this very thing, as James ii. 5.
If you say these are but outward respects, that are but for the moment
of this life, how should these then have much subserviency to glorify
electing grace, which is to eternity and from eternity ?
I answer, Even as well as our outward sufferings, though but for a
moment, work an eternal weight of glory to us, these small differences in
condition insinuate and conduce to the everlasting glory of God s decrees, and particularly for that of wisdom. The matters of the other world run
upon other feet, another account, from what in this world men s natural
abilities and gifts, largeness and quickness of understanding, and notional
knowledge, even in divine things in this world proceed upon ; they con
tribute nothing at all as any preparative of the understanding, the subject
they are in, to widen or extend it the more, or capacitate men to take in
the knowledge of God, as in heaven he is known ; but an understanding that was narrow, and clung, even of fools and weak ones here, is there
stretched by an intuitive height of glory to take in the knowledge of God more sublimely and largely than the widest in outward wisdom, although withal they be saints, when God yet doth not vouchsafe a greater measure
of intuitive height unto them. The saints, that are of the largest size of
understanding, and of the greatest capacity here, shall not at all have the
greatest measure of knowing God in heaven ; but babes and weak ones may excell them. Much more is it true of worldly-wise men, that their
great parts make them not nearer, &c. God hath no need of any kind of men s abilities to make them more capacious of seeing his face in glory, no, nor of attainments to a greater measure of faith or holiness here. And,
therefore, God in election is at a perfect liberty to choose out babes, and to
leave out those wise ones ; yea their wisdom is the greatest hindrance unto
that grace election worketh.
And what Christ applies to wisdom in such respect unto electing grace,
180 OF ELECTION. [BOOK III.
them mayest apply the same unto any other excellencies whatsoever, as
riches, glory, power, renown, &c., Isa. xli. 9. God magnifying electing
grace, I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away, sets it out by this, that
he singled them, he chose them out from the chief men of the earth.
Again, on the other hand, those few elect that are honourable, and rich,
and mighty in this world, they have in other respects as great cause to
glorify God as the former, as upon another occasion James speaks, The
poor rejoiceth he is exalted ; the rich hath cause to do so, and that both in
respect of the fewness of that sort of men, Not many wise, not many noble,
and therefore some. These of high degree may exalt and adore that grace which singled them forth from the heap of those their peers in riches and
honours ; thus a prince and nobles that are godly have cause to do so, in respect
of the fewness of such. Ne unus ex centum, says Calvin often, as he a-dying
sent back word to his king, having sent to visit him, Tell him I am going to a
* Have any of the rulers
place where few kings come. So for nobles, &c.
or pharisees believed on him ? John vii. 48 ; which none of the princes
of this world knew, 1 Cor. ii. 8, but only Nicodemus and Joseph of Arima-
thea. And as for the rarity, so the privilege, for a prince to be born to a
crown here and hereafter, what a great mercy is it ! And here in the manage of thy meditations about this branch, thou mayest
again assume and make use of that forenientioned survey of the conditions
of men in all ages past, and through that telescope take in the prospect of
all men that have been great and worthy in this world upon any such re
spects, and then viewing thyself in thy differing condition of meanness,
lowness, contemptibleness, every way, mayest thereby take occasion to
exalt the grace of God to thee, who hath loved thee and chosen thee ! Oh
think with thyself what and how many wise, heroic, valiant, virtuous,
generous grandees, what great souls have been in the world, men of renown
in the famous nations, as the prophet speaks, Ezek. xxxii. 18, Son of Man,
wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her, and the
daughters of the famous nations, unto the nether parts of the earth, with them that go down into the pit ; whom God hath laid aside in hell, with
their swords under their heads and their iniquities upon their bones, as the
prophet Ezekiel speaks, chap, xxxii. 18-22, but hath chosen thee, a despised man ; and as godly Isaiah says, He hath chosen thee from the ends of the
earth, and from the chief men thereof, and not cast thee away, that is, as he hath done them. There is a small word in Peter, which is yet of infinite
import to this, 1 Pet. i. 5, Begotten, says he, to an inheritance reserved in heaven for you, ready to be revealed in the last time. Reserved for you (that
is the word), though it had been ready, or prepared even from the beginning
of the world, as Christ speaks ; and the import it seems to speak to me is, that God having had in all ages past multitudes of persons that had passed
afore him, whom he might have bestowed this inheritance upon, and as they passed along they might have tempted him (if I may so speak after the manner of men) to have letted and bestowed this inheritance upon millions
of great and excellent souls. If respect of persons (which phrase is pro
perly meant of a respect unto men s outward condition) might have had any
place with God, so as to have given their places away ere you had come
into the world, and have filled heaven, and the number of whom he meant
to save, with such goodly personages as these, yet those places in heaven reserved for you stood thinly inhabited, and in a manner vacant, all that
while. Oh ! therefore stand astonished at his special grace to you, says the apostle. That he reserved it for you, and that he still said all along with himself, Pass them by, let them all go, I have others who are yet in
CHAP. V.] OF ELECTION. 181
mine eyes I keep those mansions empty for, and none shall have them from them. And the wonder is set forth by this, that it was for those that are born in these latter days of the world, and, as Paul says of himself, born out of time, as one would think. I may illustrate it by what indeed was the type of this, 1 Sam. xvi., even by the stay of David s choice to the
kingdom. God, to set off the greatness of his grace, ordered first that ten* sons of Jesse should pass afore Samuel (as the word is in ver. 8-10) the
elder first, so goodly a person, and that looked like a prince already, and so
great a mnjestic grandeur in his person, that Samuel when he looked on
him, said at first sight, Surely the Lord s anointed is afore me, ver. 6.
If Samuel had been to choose, this should have been the man, he would have said, What shall we look any further ?
* But the Lord said unto
Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or at the height of his stature, for the Lord sees not as man sees, &c., ver. 7. And in like manner to this did the other ninef brethren in a successive way pass afore him. But God had
(to speak in Peter s language) reserved this kingdom for David, the young
est, not yet grown up, nor now at home, but out of sight in the field, and
so out of mind, a youngling, born out of time. It entered not so much as
into his father s thoughts that God should have intended him, or that he have stayed his coming, having such other choice of so many worthies afore him. But Samuel, inquiring if he had no more sons, bade him send for
him, and no sooner came he in but God said, This is he, ver. 12. I have
stayed for [him] till he should come, &c. And by this, or such like repre sentations as these, mayest thou in like manner quicken and actuate thy meditations of thy election, and the mercy in it. And we that are born
sixteen hundred years yet further downwards in the world, after Peter wrote
this unto them, after so many more revolutions have passed over the gene rations of the sons of men, we have more occasion and matter greater to improve and enhance this grace towards us, that by virtue of eternal
election, we should be in this latter end of the world begotten to this in
heritance, reserved all along for us from the beginning, I say, by virtue
Of election.
Form what was it that had thus reserved it for thee in these days, and for them then ? The apostle had premised it at the first dash, in an entrance
in ver. 2, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, that was the original of all, and it was it he had said, that God had viewed all
others that had been afore him, but foreknew and fixed his love by choice on these, and overlooked all the rest, winked at them, as the apostle s phrase
is in another case. These have my hands made, but it is these to whom
I look. .
Election itself is, in respect of the persons chosen, styled a reservation of
a remnant : Rom. xi. 4, 5, I have reserved unto myself seven thousand
that have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Even so then that at this
present time also, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. As a man foreseeing common and general ruins, makes a reservation of some few whom he especially fancies to be kept out of it, thus election is there
expressed ; and here, in Peter, there is a reservation or keeping of an inhe
ritance by virtue of the same election ; as by a father for a son whom he
loves, till he come of age, as Abraham did the inheritance of Isaac, reserva
tions both, equipollent unto which is that acknowledgment of the apostle Paul of himself, and those others in the primitive times, That God had hid
* Seven. The three that are named, ver. 7-9, are included amongst the seven in ver. 10, as appears from the next chapter, xvii. 12. ED.
t Six. ED.
182 OF ELECTION. [BOOK IIL
the mystery of the gospel from foregone ages ; having ordained it for our
glory, kings and prophets having desired to see and hear what we do, as
Christ speaks, Luke x. 25.
And hereby thou mayest adore the constancy of God s love, and the firm
ness of his purpose, according to election, as the apostle s speech imports, Rom. ix. 11. It is like as if a prince having (as some have feigned) had when young, a foresight in a dream, of a great beauty as then unborn, should be so set and fixed in love unto her, that although when grown
up, he hath a thousand greater beauties perhaps to pass afore him at sundry
times, yet is so constant in his purpose to the person whose idea he had
taken in, and resolved to make his spouse so long afore, as he refuseth them, and stays till she is both born and grown up marriageable for him. And by this similitude (casting off what after the manner of man was to be supposed to make up the parable, and for the imperfection thereof must not be applied to God), you may help your conceptions also of God s love to you, who
having had but the idea and image of you afore the world was, yet bore that
entire and indissoluble affection to you, comparatively to those infinite mil
lions that have been in the world, and hath shewn it by this in refusing them, though appearing in all sorts of excellencies unto him, and staying all
that while, reserving himself for you, as in that speech, I have reserved to
myself, &c., you have it; and reserving the inheritance of heaven and glory likewise for you.
Seventh particular. There are other sorts of outward circumstances, rela
tions, and considerations, that the elect are placed, wherein God comes near home to you, as in near relations, &c., that are more approximate. Thou mayest perhaps behold this much of differencing grace put between thee and others
in thy father s house, thy own family, kindred, thy relations, and compa nions, play-fellows, school-fellows, friends, colleagues, fellow-servants, and multitude of the like relations. By the providences of God, others have been yoked and conjoined with thee, and thou with them ; and by the dif ferences which by election God hath put (as in the issue of men s lives, courses, and spirits, doth and may appear) between thee and them, thou mayest discern conspicuously God s special electing love that hath taken hold of thee, when not on them, they remaining still in nature, or some, yea perhaps many of them, having died without any evidence of a saving work upon them, and so in their sins.
That infinite love of God to thee, hath cast about and contrived all sorts of ways (and even by such ways as these) to make endearments of itself unto us ; and his variety of wisdom did, upon the foresight of the fall, dispose of men s conditions several ways, to the end to enhance this love to ,his own by, if we had but eyes to see and understand, hearts disposed to be affected therewith accordingly.
But you will say, do such small differences as these put between men so conjunct in one and the same relations, or like employments, partnerships, office, &c., that one should be taken and chosen of God, and the other rejected ? Have such small circumstances as these any weight or influence to heighten electing love ?
Yea, verily, much every way ; for evidence of which take these instances : 1. The instance of Jacob and Esau : Mai. i. 2, I have loved you (says God to Israel, as ver. 1),
< yet ye say, wherein hast thou loved usV Do you say so ? says God. Nay, then, I will give you a manifest demonstration of it. Was not Esau Jacob s brother ? saith the Lord. Yet I loved Jacob and hated Esau; thus speaks God again. This so near relation of being brethren, although but an outward relation, yet served wonderfully to enhance
CHAP. V.] OF ELECTION. 183
and make apparent the grace shewn to Jacob through so vast a difference ; yea, and the greater nearness of the circumstances there were in that con
junction, proportionally the love appeared ; and so, by the like reason, proportionably in other relations that are more afar off. This instance the
apostle Paul takes the advantage of, and improves it to this very purpose I now insist on, applying it to election and rejection, Rom. ix. (for thereof he
plainly treats in that chapter), ver. 10-13 ; and his instance is so full to my purpose as nothing can be fuller, and he accordingly presseth it. These two, Jacob and Esau, were not half brothers only, as Ishniael and Isaac, whom he had spoken of afore, ver. 7-9, having but one father, but not one mother, and yet he argues it from them also ; but here are two, who had one and the same father and mother, of whom also they came not in a succession of
time, one in one year, the other in a year after, as. brethren use to do, but both were conceived at one time, yea instant, which those words indigitate, ver. 10. When Rebecca had conceived
* by one, even our father Isaac, at one and the [same] act of generation, she conceived them both out of the same substance of matter that came from Isaac s loins at once ; where (when fallen into her womb) there was a division made by God s providence, one part thereof settling to the one side of her womb, and made Esau, another to the other side, and made Jacob : they were twins ; and, as we say of two pieces of the same cloth cut out for several uses, there was but a pair of shears went between them; no difference, whether in worth or works foreseen or the like ; born also at the same birth, wherein if were there any difference, Esau had it ; for he was the eldest, and so by the law then in force had the dignity of the
birthright ; and afore they were born God declared his different purpose and counsel about them,
* The elder shall serve the younger, and so be deprived of his birthright, and thereby of the blessing and of the inheritance of Canaan, the type of heaven.
Now this nearness of relation and circumstance heightened the love in the
purpose of God according to election ; that is, his discriminating purpose in
his freely having aforehand chosen the one and rejected the other ; for to
that very purpose God, in Malachi, mentions it, to set out and greaten his love
to Jacob, as Paul, in this his citation of it, doth to make good his assertion of the different grace in the promise of salvation, whereof election was the
original, and the promise the extract copy. Yea, and to this purpose of
aggrandising God s love to Jacob, it is that Paul also intends it, as those words in ver. 10, which are introductory to this instance, do shew,
* Not
only this, &c., as connecting this new instance with the former instance of Ishmael and Isaac, ver. 7 and 9, and both to the same purpose ; who,
although Abraham s children, yet on Isaac was the blessing settled and
entailed, and not Ishmael, which greatened God s special love to Isaac in
that respect. Well, but saith the apostle, Not only this instance or
example of Isaac s, &c., doth shew this, but much more that which I now
bring (saith he) of Jacob and Esau ; and from both I have what I pursue to make good, viz., that the nearness of such relations, through circumstances
therein, that do make relation between brethren the nearest, ought to be a
matter of provoking such persons elected to glorify God s grace towards their
particular, and taking up God s own words, to say with themselves, Hath not
God loved me, and that with a transcendent discrimination, when he hath
afore mine eyes laid aside those that lay in the same womb that I did, or that were my brethren by the same father, or perhaps my parents themselves ?
And you may and ought to extend this comparative to other relations and
circumstances wherein thyself and others do stand, and are or have been
184 OF ELECTION. [BOOK III.
yoked and coupled together in, though not rising up to so great a nearness. Thus Peter and the apostles did, that Judas who ate bread at Christ s table with them, was an apostle sent forth as they: For he was numbered with
us, and had obtained part of this ministry, Acts i. 17, should prove a cast
away, and themselves chosen. Compare this : John xiii. 18, I speak not of you all ; I know whom I have chosen : but that the Scripture may be
fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me. And John xvii. 12, While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name : those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition
: that the Scripture might be fulfilled. Take for con firmation of this the instance of the two thieves, both brethren in iniquity, and fellows in the same condemnation in being crucified together, the one on Christ s right hand, and the other on his left ; and that whilst they were hanging on the cross, election should break forth in the one and call him, and Christ should take him within an hour or two after into paradise to him
self, and the other left to his own accursed cursing spirit, and at the same time dying with the other, should go to hell. Do not you think that this association or fellowship in these circumstances, though remoter than that of brethren, did not wonderfully affect the good thief s heart, whilst he with out question heard Christ promising him, This day shalt thou be in para dise, whilst with the other ear he heard his fellow thief persisting in his blasphemy, and dying in his sin ? A difference put in such like near cases and circumstances as these, although but in outward mercies, and not in
point of salvation, do use wonderfully to affect men s hearts ; as in the case of Pharaoh s butler and his baker, both in the same prison and in danger of death together, Gen. xl. ; and that, according to Joseph s prophecy of the fate of each, ver. 33, 19, that Pharaoh should, upon his birth-day, when princes use to do acts of grace, as ver. 21, restore the butler to his place again, and he gave the cup into Pharaoh s hand ; and so, on the contrary, hanged the chief baker, ver. 22, as Joseph had interpreted ; and thereupon, is not that butler s ingratitude eminently branded, that he laid no more to heart the kindness of Joseph, although shewn but in telling him his different fate and destiny, that was shewn within three days, as ver. 13, Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him. And if the mere predic tion of this should have obliged him unto a grateful acknowledgment, &c., unto Joseph the diviner, as he styles himself, how much ought he to have done it unto Joseph s God, who it was that revealed this to Joseph, and whereof assuredly, to the end that God might have the glory, Joseph had declared so much unto him, who in his everlasting purpose and providence was
the^ author of this merciful difference ? And if you say he knew him not, this yet however you must say, he was obliged then to extol the grace of Pharaoh towards him herein. And there fore all you that know God and are known of God, and that it is he who made thee to differ so greatly from another that is thy fellow and companion ; now should this comparative affect thee to think with thyself, [he] who lived so many years in one and the same family together, and were joined in part-
rship or office together, so and so familiar in a constant converse, and that it now proves God hath received me for himself and left him to Satan, and his lot and portion, and has so cast and designed this difference that thou mightest understand and consider it, and be affected accordingly
! And this as certainly thou shouldst do, as on the contrary thy fellow and marrow and associate once with thee, doth in hell for ever lie under this tormenting Consideration amongst others ! That such a brother, such a companion" sucn a fellow-apprentice, fellow-servant of mine, is by electing grace calling
CHAP. VI. J OF ELECTION. 185
him gone to heaven, and there is in everlasting bliss (as Abraham told the
rich man that Lazarus was), and, lo, here I am tormented, and shall be for
ever ! As the loss of heaven will cause weeping and wailing, so that thy fellow should obtain it when thou art refused, will cause indignation and
gnashing of teeth. Shall hell be affected at this difference put, and that in
respect unto such relations as have been mentioned, and at the day of
judgment shall the stones thereof affect angels and men, when Christ comes
to be glorified in his saints, and shall not these things have due place in our
hearts, according to the merit of them in the things themselves, and inten
tion of God in his love therein ? I conclude, referring you for more such
particular conjugates or yokings together, unto what Christ hath so seriously declared : Mat. xxiv. 40, 41, Then shall two be in the field ; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill ; the one shall be taken, and the other left. And in Luke, hath enlarged it,
chap. xvii. 33-35, Whosoever shall seek to save his life, shall lose it ; and whosoever shall lose his life, shall preserve it. I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed ; the one shall be taken, the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together ; the one shall be taken, and the other left. And certainly, among many other blessed aims Christ had in these speeches (as that he will take some few instances, and other the
like) he certainly had also this in his eye, that through this comparative difference men might learn to bless and adore God.