312 SERMONS UPON ROMANS vni. [Ser. XL.
to do this or permit that ; therefore he knoweth that this or that will come to pass : Acts ii. 23, ' Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foiekuowledge of God ; ' so that God determineth as well as foreknoweth. Many will say that God doth foreknow what men will do in time by their own fi-ee will, but hath not determined ; but the scripture teacheth us that nothing is done in time, by rational or irra- tional agents, but it was by the determination of God working the good and permitting the evil : Acts iv. 28, ' For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.' God foreseeth nothing as certainly future but what he hath before determined shall be, nothing good but what he hath decreed to work in us, nothing bad but what he hath decreed to permit, and serve his providence of it, and so it will certainly come to pass ; so that all the difference between us and others cometh merely from God, and is to be ascribed to him : 1 Cor. iv. 7, ' Who made thee to differ ? '
2. That what God so willeth and purposeth doth infallibly come to pass. Certainly what God intendeth to do, he will not cease till he hath done it ; for what should hinder ? Any change in God himself, or any impediment without ? No change in God himself ; no, for he is Jehovah, that change th not : Mai. iii. 6, 'For I am God, I change not;' Job xxiii. 13, 'But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? And what his soul desireth, even that he doth ; for he performeth the thing that is appointed for me.' Certainly God is unchangeable ia himself, and also in his mind, and in the purpose of his love towards his children ; and he carrieth on the pleasure of his own will by his efficacious providence, without coutrolment. It is spoken by Job in his vexation ; but it is usually observed that in that whole book there are good doctrines, though sometimes misapplied by the speakers. If God himself should change his purpose, it must be either for the better, that reflecteth on his wisdom, or for the worse, and that reflecteth oa his goodness. Nothing without God can hinder God, when he applieth himself to the performance of what he hath purposed ; for all creatures are at his beck, can do nothing without him, much less against him : Ps. cxv. 3, ' But our God is in the heavens, he hath done what.soever he pleased.' None can resist the counsel of his will, seconded by his almighty power, or the work of his hands. Men may wish things, but God effecteth them. Nothing is faulty, nothing is wanting, whea he will work ; therefore his purpose, backed with almighty power, cannot be disappointed.
3. Whatever so cometh to pass is brought about in the most con- venient order. The purpose of his will is also called the counsel of his will : Eph. i. 11, 'He worketh all things according to the couusel of his wiU ; ' not that God deliberateth or consulteth as men consult, out of ignorance or doubtfulness of what is most convenient ; but God's will is called counsel, because there is depth of wisdom to be seen in what he doth. The creation showed his vrisdom, for the world is estab- lished in an excellent order : Ps. civ. 24, ' Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all.' God hath disposed variety of excellences in the world by a wise contrivance, which striketh the heart of man with reverence whenever he beholdeth them. So for his providence; there is an excellent contexture of occurrences, which
VeB. 30.] SERMONS UPON ROMANS VHI. 313
maketh the whole frame the more beautiful: Eccles. iii. 11, ' He hath made everything beautiful in its time.' There is at first a seeming con- fusion in the government of the world, and the events that happen in it ; but when we see all in their frame, when his whole work is done, it is full of order. So in the work of redemption, and all the means to bring the effect of it about, there is much more a great deal of wisdom to be seen. It is said, Eph. i. 8 (in the dispensation of his grace by Christ), ' He hath abounded towards us in all wisdom and . prudence.' Means are fitly ordered to bring God's purpose about with honour to himself and benefit to us, and are so set, as links in a chain, that not one of them can be left out, and so as no violence is offered to the creature, and the liberty of second causes is not taken away. For though the decree be fixed and absolute, yet the dispensation thereof is conditional ; for whom he hath predestinated, them he hath called. God will not discover his eternal differencing intent to any person before the actual application of Christ by faith; our particular election cannot be known till we do believe. All to whom the gospel Cometh are children of wrath, Eph. ii. 3, in the sentence of his law, whatever they may be in the purposes of his grace ; and so they can only look upon themselves as all alike in sin, and so all alike in danger of condemnation ; and so God proceedeth with them in such a way as is most agreeable to a reasonable creature, by persuasion and proposal of arguments to come out of this wretched estate ; and the outward dispensation being alike to elect and reprobate, the one having no more favour than the otlier, those that are passed by are found without excuse for their unbelief. Jesus Christ is propounded to them as an all-sufficient savioui', and also a promise that whosoever believeth shall be saved. More than this, in respect of external means, is not tendered to the elect, nor less than this to reprobates ; though the elect's receiving be the fruit of special grace, the others rejecting is without excuse. God indeed giveth to the one a heart to receive, yet the external offer is made to both ; and if they embrace it not, it is long of themselves. This then is the wisdom of God, that his absolute fixed purpose taketh place by an efficacious, conditional dispensation.