Chapter XVI
That the decrees of God in election are of such sure efficacy that we may be
ascertained of their infallible performance. That nothing can hinder or
frustrate their success in working, because God works all things according to
the counsel of his own will. What assurances we have that his good pur
pose concerning us shall be invincibly accomplished, both from the nature of
election decrees, and the interest which the attributes of God have in the
performance of them.
As the decree of election, or predestination, is the efficacious will of God, which for his own good pleasure intends our salvation, and has prepared such means by which and through which he brings his elect unto that end
efficaciously and infallibly.
1. This efficacious will of God in this matter is to be distinguished from
other decrees. We call this the efficacious will of God, because it does not
leave a man in the hands of his own free will, as Adam was left, and because
it also respects and decrees the very event; for it is such a will of God as is
joined with his power to effect it. As, for instance, Eph. i. 11, In whom,
in Christ namely, we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of
his own will. And this is backed with two other scriptures out of the Old
Testament ; Isa. xiv. 27, For the Lord of Hosts hath purposed, and who
< But our God is in the heavens, he hath
shall disannul it ? Ps. cxv. 3,
done whatsoever he pleased. And this distinction might be cleared by many instances, as by Saul s being chosen king, whom he did cast out; and
that of Jeroboam, to whom God made the same promise of establishing his
kingdom, as he had done to David, but left it in the hands of his own will,
1 Kings xi. 37, 38, as the event shewed how it succeeded. And thus before
he had done as to Adam s state, which is perfectly the state the Arminians
put God s election and promises into, which the event also shewed how fatal
it proved. And this was the case of the Israelites present in the wilderness, whom God promised Canaan to, but left the issue to the counsel of their
own wills, and thereupon God destroyed them in the wilderness, and then
twits them with it : Num. xiv. 34, After the number of the days in which
ye searched the land, even forty days (each day for a year), shall ye bear
your iniquities, even forty years ; and ye shall know my breach of promise. But God s decrees of election and predestination, as expressed m that
place of Eph. i. 11, are not such; they are absolute and infallible, and all
along so described to be ; they have their effect, which if it be proved to be
the genuine scope of the place, there is no more to be said, there is an end
of the controversy for our side.
420 OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
I shall prosecute for the present, first, but this one argument, the spirit of which lies in this, out of that llth verse, that the decree concerning God s
election is the decree of God, as he is an effecting God of what he does
determine in the counsel of his own will ; which words, and the sense thereof,
is plain, that it is of God ; not a contemplating only what he desires to be
done, but of a God that actually works and effects according to what his
counsel was to do, not leaving it to the counsel of our will, but working
according to the counsel of his own will, and therefore considered as infal
libly working what he had decreed ; working and effecting his counsels of
election according to the measure of his working all things else, which he hath peremptorily resolved to do ; and as such a God, a working God, and
effecting what he will, he is described here to be, and therefore is to be
looked upon as a God so effectually working. I shall take up a more com
prehensive discourse, inferred from the general scope, and argued from
divers particulars of the words, which will evince almost from every word
that God s decrees of election and predestination are efficacious decrees, that do attain infallibly their event.
First, for the general scope, the fabric of the Arminian doctrine, with its
enlargements since, does not so much as necessarily suppose the foundations
the apostle goes upon, yea, lies cross and thwart unto the main design the
apostle has in his discourse.
As, first, the doctrine of election itself, which the apostle makes to be but one grand fundamental act at once passed in the counsels of God and Christ
themselves between them, upon which the particular blessings that follow
spring and have their course, and that act to have been before the world was ; this grand act they nullify and make nothing of, whereas the apostle
says that he has chosen and predestinated us before the foundation of the
world, they place instead thereof their foundation to be that which is no
election, no predestination ; for election, as nature teaches us, is a choice of some persons segregated from others passed by. Instead of this funda mental and total act of God, completed and finished at first, and deter-
minately pitched upon particular persons, they substitute in the room of this
act another upon condition, which they make their foundation, which is so
far from being an election, that it is a general choosing of all, which is a
manifest contradiction. And it is but upon condition neither of what may never fall out in any -one person, the whole depending upon man s will, which they say God doth not, cannot rule, and so at best is but an incom
plete act, held in suspense, and left utterly uncertain, and intermitted with
its contrary ; that in one and the same day a man is elected, if his free-will has consented, and then becomes non-elect if his free-will falls off; and this
happens a thousand times in the course of a man s life !
Secondly, The apostle supposes, in asserting an election, a church unto
Christ under the New Testament, at least a church designed out by election, and formed out to Christ by the following blessings with which he blesses them. He necessarily supposes such a church to be elected under the New
Testament, against which the gates of hell shall not prevail, as Christ has
promised. But this their doctrine supposes may not be ; and so not only the Scriptures, which were on purpose writ for their sake, that they might have comfort and hope, may not only be frustrated, but that Christ himself may be said to have died in vain, and so to frustrate the whole of the grace of God toward his church, and of glory to Christ, whose glory it is to have
at latter day his full church about him : The children which thou hast
given me, says he in John xvii.,* who are said to be the glory of Christ ; * Rather Heb. ii. 13. ED.
CHAP. XYI.J OF ELECTION . 421
2 Cor viii. 23, Whether any do inquire of Titus, he is my partner and fellow-helper concerning you ; or our brethren be inquired of, they are the messengers of the churches, and the glory of Christ; and Christ to be glorified m his saints. And if we find Paul triumphing so much in the thoughts of them he had converted, that they should be his joy and his crown m the latter day, then how much more will Christ s joy and crown depend upon the same event, how much will Christ s joy be augmented or lessened according to the success ! This in general as to what is their whole doctrine. But this paragraph m Eph. i., from ver. 3 to 15, may easily be discerned to be divided into two parts : the one a discourse of election and predestination, and the eflects of it, as it is common to all saints ; and secondly, the execution itself, which we have asserted infallibly to follow the said act of election in the doctrine describing it. And the reader may as readily observe, with a cast of his eye, that he handles the point of election twice ; first in the doctrine of it, as was said ; secondly, in the execution and application of it unto the two sorts of persons that are elected. 1. The performance of it upon the Jews, ver. 11, 12, In whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things alter the counsel of his own will : that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom also the Ephesians and the jentiles, unto whom he speaks, trusted, ver. 13, In whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation : in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. He contents not himself to have delivered election in the doctrine only, and to apply it there in particular, but he goes over the two sorts that were elected, like two great arms of the great body of a tree ; yea, and which is most to be observed home to my purpose, this second applying of it is to shew the accomplishment, the effect upon either. So as you have the per formance infallibly following the general doctrine, and that both upon Jew and Gentile, which divide the whole breadth of the sorts of mankind between them. So as nothing can be plainer than that the apostle should conjoin these two together as cause and effect, and that the apostle would have the saints to take notice of this universal conjunction. In the forepart, the doctrinal part, he puts in the word us, and he has it up again,
* we who first trusted in Christ, we Jews ; and so carries it all along, as including himself, his own person, as the eminent instance, pur posely to include himself as one that in common was elected with the rest, and a chief pattern of the election of the rest, to them that should after believe. The grace of Paul s election was the same substantially with the grace vouchsafed in election to every ordinary saint ; they may differ in degrees of favour, and extraordinary circumstances accompanying their
election, as the election of the first fathers in Bom. xi. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, though for the special honour of their persons they are called the fathers and patriarchs, yet the grace of their election for substance is the same one uniform grace. So the election of Paul and of all the saints
is one common grace and uniform thing for the substance of it. The same power works, and the same graces wrought, let the adversaries plead what circumstances they may or can out of Paul s example, it will prove but cir
cumstantial, as that Christ himself should call him from heaven, and he should hear him by the way, and hear himself speak. But yet Paul s election and conversion, and the effects thereof, were but one and the same with ours, for the example of his conversion is made a pattern to them that should after believe. And Christ himself, giving an account of it, tells
422 OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
Ananias, he was a chosen vessel to bear his name, and in him the event and the doctrine of election were infallibly and inseparably conjoined.
Besides this general, there are sundry particulars almost in every word of
this paragraph, in Eph. i., from ver. 3 to 15, that are found to confirm that God s decrees of election, and of the whole fabric of our salvation, are efficacious in the sense that has been given, and shall infallibly have
their event.
First, Take the word election. God is not at ifs and ands with us in it, but if it be according to election, it stands firm, fixed. This the apostle
asserts, Rom. ix. 11, That the purpose of God according to election might stand. Whatever stands, that does, and has its effect in due time, by
calling, which is the necessary consequent of it : That the purpose of God
according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth.
Secondly, As in this place of the Romans it is said that the purpose of God according to election might stand, you have it varied elsewhere. Predestinated according to his purpose, Eph. i. 11, and it is made a
sufficient distinction of elect from reprobates, that they are called accord
: Rom. viii. 29, All things work together for good to them that love God, the called according to his purpose. And so Austin makes use of the word vocati secundum proposition, as a note of distinction. His purpose is said to have its effect in an efficacious calling.
ing to his purpose
Thirdly, Especially when the purpose of grace is said to have been before the world : 2 Tim. i. 9, Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and
grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Divines have observed that the works of creation, that were made at first out of
nothing, are never resolved into nothing again ; as the third heavens, created the first day, from the foundation of the world, as Christ says, were not nor ever shall be annihilated. And the same we may say of God s first
thoughts and purposes, such as those of election were, for the perfection of
them, and are therefore termed counsels, they shall never suffer an alteration.
And therefore, fourthly, they are called the immutability of his counsel, confirmed by an oath: Heb. vi. 17,
* Wherein God willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed
it by an oath.
And fifthly, add to this, they are the counsel of his own will. It would be a dishonour to God s wisdom to alter what he professes to have done by counsel. And it is of his own will, and which he purposed in himself; he did not look out of himself for the reasons of that his counsel : Eph. i. 9, Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself. God did not look out of himself upon anything in the creature, as the motives why he chose, but
his own innate thoughts were his sole measure.
And then, sixthly, their election, and all the benefits that succeed and flow from it, are said to be in Christ ; he has chosen us in Christ, pre destinated us by Christ to the adoption of sons, graciously accepted us in
Christ, and all to the glory of his grace. Now I lay this for a sure founda
tion, as Christ himself, that there is nothing God hath promised or spoken
of, that he will do in Christ, but he efficaciously performs it. If he makes
* they are yea and amen. 2 Cor. i. 19, 20, For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea. For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him amen, unto the glory of God by us.
promises, as all his promises concerning our salvation are, in Christ,
If they all be yea, then they must be effectual. Paul s scope there is to
CHAP. XVI.] OF ELECTION. 423
shew the faithfulness of God in his performances, that though Paul himself, being but a creature, he might and did fail, they were yea and they were
nay, speaking of his coming to them ; but God s promises in Christ are yea, and not nay, and you may set amen in every one of them infallibly to be
performed.
You have the same thing asserted of the covenant of grace, which God made to Abraham, which was but a bundle of absolute promises ; and yet the apostle says further of it, Gal. iii. 16, 17, And this I say, that the
covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise ; but God gave it to Abraham by promise. The covenant of the gospel is but a collection of a many promises simply and freely given as an inheritance, and election is the donor, and declarer, and confirmer of them : and doth God say in Christ, I do this for that end, you may set amen to it, it shall certainly be performed.
Lastly, Extract we but the many attributes which are engaged by God for
the effectual performance. The three persons in the Godhead, they are the
joint efficients and contrivers of God s decrees ; but the attributes in God,
it is they that afford the matter of the performance of God s promises, or God s declarations, when they are set together with God s decrees to back them. They are the springs in God of whatever he doth efficaciously decree to do. The synodists of Great Britain, they therefore say, they are
effectual decrees, because they are decrees conjuncta cum potentid, because
he, though a mean man, who came with a commission efficacious enough to
effect the business for which he came, being commanded to shew where his commission was, he pointed to a regiment of horse, There is my commission,
says he : it was decretum cum potentid conjunctum. But you shall see not one attribute only, but that many of the attributes of God, which are most
proper to effect the thing, are discovered, and made to appear to back and command, and not demand only ; as, for example, the divine love, and
wisdom, and counsel, and will that is in God, do all stand out, and appear
to accompany and maintain these decrees, and that must needs be judged effectual which is so armed, and completely furnished.
The attributes are these, to rehearse them more largely.
First, An inexhaustible fund of divine love in the bottom of God s heart
laid up, and provided to maintain all the expense, and heartily, and willingly
to perform it all along, in the doing of it. This he speaks first of election,
* According as he has chosen us in him, that we should be holy, and without
blame before him in love, Eph. i. 4. This passage, before him in love,
Dickson, Glasgow, professor, interprets of the love of God borne tons, when
he chose us to make us every way perfect in holiness all along, to the highest
degree of perfection we are capable of : ut gradatim vere sanctificaremur, et
tandem plene, perfecteqiie sancti in ccelo sisteremur : as by that love which by
degrees truly sanctifies us, and at last fully and perfectly presents us holy
in heaven, without blame. And so interprets those words by those that
follow in the fifth chapter, where, speaking of the same love in the heart of God and Christ, Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the
church, and gave himself for it ; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with
the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a
glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but that it
should be holy and without blemish. Which words in the fifth chapter
are apparently spoken of the love that is in the heart of Christ ; for it is,
love your wives, as Christ his church, with a special love, whereas the
424 OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
Arminians would have God s love equal, and alike to all ; and likewise he
speaks of the love in the heart of God the Father, and so of Christ in his other text, verse 4 of the first of the Ephesians : for the apostle speaks of
it, as the worker of all that holiness, which is not only in us at the first, but which is perfected to the last and utmost degree, which we are ordained to have in heaven. To be unblameable, says that first chapter, before him, whom God can find no fault with, not having spot, nor wrinkle, or any such thing, says the fifth chapter; that is, that we should appear before him, not only without all sin, but without any imperfection or misery, or any such thing, that has the appearance of imperfection, but be rendered blessed and glorious at last before him, and this out of pure love, which the
apostle makes the cause of our election, and of all that happiness and holi ness which follows upon it. And love being here presented as the cause of
all, this must therefore necessarily be taken of what we shall be, when per fect in heaven ; thus he. And it is not barely said, out of love, or with
love, or by love, but in the following chapter to the Ephesians, it is said to be with his great love, wherewith he loved us ; which love is there men tioned as the foundation of all, as of God s rich mercy to us, to which is added, for the great love wherewith he loved us, as the bottom of all that
great mercy; the latter being spoken of as respecting man s election, in his pure condition of holiness as it was in Adam ; but the riches of mercy, which is the first mentioned, respects man as fallen into sin and misery, whereof he treats in that chapter. But that great love, which was in the heart of God as the foundation, that continued in man, though fallen, and wrought in mercy, was that which had begun toward his elect, I do not say to all men in Adam, nor to them in that holiness which was in Adam, but to bring them to that perfect holiness of another kind, which he meant to
give us in heaven, whereunto he had elected us.
2. And seeing we are upon it, if the next be mercy, which properly respects the misery we were fallen into ; and that doth not pass the apostle without an exaggeration of it in the 7th verse of the second chapter to the Ephesians,
1 The exceeding richness of his grace in his kindness towards us. Here is love, and mercy, and all the interest that they have to move the heart of God with, that conduce to make our salvation effectual.
3. The will of God is set upon it in the fifth verse, Having predestinated us according to the good pleasure of his will. There it is once mentioned, and it is not purely will, which were enough ; for where love s power and will meet, as you shall see here they do, what is there will not be done that God can do ? It is his own will, it is emphatically said so, who works
* ac
all these things (as was interpreted) that go to make the work perfect,
cording to the counsel of his own will, ver. 11. Kegeneration is the first product of election, and the same expression is used of it,
* Of his own will he begat us, by the word of truth, James i. 18. Observe it, how diametri
cally opposite it is to the language and estate the Arminians would put it into. Is it man s will ? No ; it is God s own will which is the state of the
question : John i. 13, Who were born not of blood, nor of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. It is the good pleasure of his will, Jer. xxxii. 41, Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, with my whole heart, and with my whole soul. When God intends to do his people good, he
rejoices to do it, yea, to think of doing it, with his whole heart, and with his whole soul. Now, election is omne bonum, as God said to Moses, is the intention of the highest good, and to effect it his joy must be answerable. And what a man does with his whole heart, and with his whole soul, the whole of him is in it. It is not so in his other works, of throwing men to
CHAP. XVI.] OF ELECTION. 425
hell, Jer. ix. 24, Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth me and knowledgeth me, that I am the Lord which exercises loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth ; for in these things I delight, saith the Lord. Which words the apostle applies to the benefits we have
by Christ in our salvation, which are the fruits of election, 1 Cor. i. 30, 31,
* But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption : that according as it
is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
But there is no act of will but an understanding goes before it, and leads on to it. And so it is with man ; and thus far it is with God. The depth of his wisdom and knowledge proceeds and concurs with this act of his will : Rom. xi. 33,
* Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! spoken of election. And observe, the counsel of God expresses his deepest wisdom. And although in man it is upon deliberation for time which perfects a man s thoughts, and the after second thoughts are best, yet these first thoughts of God (who must not be said to deliberate, that notes
imperfection), his first thoughts that he fell upon before the world was, are
said to have the solidity of counsel in them, and to be as perfect as to
eternity they could have been made, and so perfect that they are not capable
of alteration unto any other. Hence in Heb. vi. 7, Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heir of promise the immutability of his
counsel, confirmed it by an oath. He deliberately ventures to swear, as
being privy he had considered all things that concerned their salvation ;
pauca respiciens cito pronunciat, but he that considers all, as he that deli
berates is supposed to do, is bold to swear. Observe only this at last, that it is said the counsel of his will, as if his
will had been of the two the most forward, and had set his understanding a-work about all those counsels.
OF ELECTION. [BOOK V.