electing of some and passing by of others is not an act of justice, but dominion ; for he doth not act here as a judge, but as a lord ; it is a matter of favour, not of right and wrong. Condemnation of a man for sin, or punishing a man for sin, is an act of justice ; but to have mercy, or not to have mercy, that dependeth merely upon God's will, otherwise it would follow that God were a debtor unto man. Justice supposeth debt, or something due ; no wrong is done them in not giving grace : the elect can speak of undeserved grace, and the reprobate of deserved punishment. When we are not bound to do good, if we act according to pleasure there is no injury, as in invita- tions, preferments, and all acts of favour. We cannot endure that a right should be challenged. The good-man in the parable pleaded, ' I may do with mine own as it pleaseth me,' Mat. xx. 15. The Lord may justly challenge grace as his own, and therefore leave him to his pleasure in the distribution, for he is bound to none. (3.) God's not giving grace to the reprobate is not their sin, but their misery ; pre- terition made them miserable, but not sinful : it doth not infer a coaction and compulsion to sin ; sin followeth upon it not as an effect, but a consequent; as upon the absence of the sun darkness doth necessai'ily follow, and yet the sua is not the cause of darkness. In grace God purposeth, God worketh ; in sin God ordereth the sin, and maketh use of it to the glory of his justice. But man sinneth freely : the water, while it runneth its own course, serveth the end of the lord of the soil, in driving mills, and bringing fish into his ponds, and overflowing his meadows, &c. So God causeth not sin in any, only permitteth it and endureth it, and serveth his righteous ends of it: Kom. ix. 22, 'He endureth with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction.' He preparetJi the vessels of mercy, as the apostle there expresseth, but endureth the vessels of wrath while they fit themselves for ruin. (4.) Sin is the cause of punishment, though God's will is the cause why they are passed by. They are not punished because not elected, but because not obedient : ' Wherefore doth a living man complain but for his sins ? ' Lam. iii. 39. It is here as it was in that case. David gave order to Solomon that Joab and Shimei should ' not die in peace,' 1 Kings ii. 6-9. Yet David's order was no cause of Joab's death, but his own treason, nor of Shimei's death, but his own flight. God never damneth the creature, or decreeth to damn it, without respect of sin. God's will is the cause of preterition, his justice is the cause of pre-damnation, for damnation is an act of puni- tive justice. God is so just that he doth not condemn any but for sin ; so gracious, that he doth not condemn every man that doth sin. (5.) The formal and proper end of God in reprobation is not the eternal destruction of the creature, but the discovery of his own justice or glory, promoted or shining forth in and by that destruction. In election God desireth and elfecteth the salvation of a sinner in a sub- ordination to his own glory ; but in preterition, God endureth a sinner with much long-suffering, till, by his own destruction, he bringeth to him the glory of his justice: Ezek. xxiii. 11, 'As I live, saith the Lord, I desire not the death of a sinner ; ' so Ezek. xviii. 32, ' Have I any pleasure at all, that the wicked should die ; ' the meaning is, God doth not will these things with such a will as is terminated in tlie
] 32 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [VeR. 4.
destruction of the creature, but only ordereth them in a subordination to his own glory ; or, in plainer terms, God delighteth not in the destruction of a sinner, as it is the destruction of the creature, but as it is the execution of justice. In the execution of a malefactor there is a difference between punishment and destruction ; his punishment is of the judge, his destruction is of himself ; so in this case, ' Thy destruction is of thyself, 0 Israel,' Hosea xiii. 9.
[2.] Concerning the second objection, whether it doth not infringe our comfort, and discourage men from looking after their salvation ? If I am elected, I shall be saved, if I am not elected, I shall be damned: thus many men plead. They say, And how will you stir up the negli- gent and encourage the distressed, supposing that doctrine which you have laid down ?
I answer — (1.) This scruple is but affected, not offered, and therefore should be chidden, and not answered: a questioning God's secret will, when we know his revealed. God's secret will hath relation to his own actions, his revealed will to ours. We must not look to God's will in the depths of his counsel, but his precepts : not what God will do him- self, but what he will have us do. God saith, ' Believe in Christ, and thou shalt be saved ; ' that is our rule. A physician offereth cure to all that will come ; it were a madness to dispute away the opportunity, and say, I do not know whether he intendeth it to me. If men were ready to perish in the deep waters, and a boat should be offered to carry to land as many as would come in it, to be making scruples when we are ready to be drowned, whether this help be intended to us, yea or no, were a very fond thing : in such cases we would not wrangle, but thankfully take hold of what is offered. (2.) This doctrine can be no ground of despair to any, because reprobation is a sealed book ; no man for the pre- sent can know his reprobation, nor is to believe himself to be a reprobate, but is called upon to use the means that he may be saved. He is no reprobate that falleth into sin, but he that persevereth in sin unto the end. Therefore it is no good conclusion, I am a sinner, therefore I am a reprobate ; it is midnight, therefore it will never be day. This is a book sealed with seven seals; none but the Lamb can open it. (3.) The opposite opinion is encumbered with more difficulties and scruples. What comfort can a man have in universal redemption ? A man can- not have solid comfort in that which is common to good and bad, to those that shall be damned, and those which shall be saved ; all comfort ariseth from a practical syllogism. Now make the practical syllogism according to the principles of universal grace : Christ died for all men; I am, a m-an, therefoi'e for me ; where humanity, or being a man, is made the ground of claim and interest ; and then, unless with Puccius a;id Huberus, we hold universal salvation, as well as universal re- demption, the argument will yield no comfort. How can I, according to that opinion, comfort myself in the death of Christ, when men may be damned that have an interest in it? (4.) As to the other part of this objection, concerning the profit of this doctrine, and whether it doth not take off men from industry : so some have thought. But I answer — No ; for (1st.) God hath enjoined the end and the means together : ' Except ye i abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved,' saith