2. That this outward dispensation being presupposed, yet in effec- tual working iipon particular persons, there is no less variety ; for " he hath mercy on whom he "will have mercy.''
3. Discover the rules of this whole administration.
1. For the first, The promise was at first made vmto Adam, and by him doubtless conveyed to his issue, and preached to the several generations which his eyes beheld proceeding from his own loins;* but yet by the wickedness of the old world, all flesh corrupting their ways, Ave may easily collect that the knowledge of it quickly departed
' Non tantiun res, sed rerum modos.
' " Videturergo quod non sit aliquadeordinatio, deformitas, aut peccatum sim- pHciter in toto universe, sed tantummodo respectu interiorum caiisarum, ordina- tionem superioris causae vol^tium, licet non valentium, perturbare." — Brad, de
Cans. Dei, lib. i. cap. 34. ^ 'H a/^a^r/a Xa-riv h a.t()f/.ia.
* " Adeo summa justitiae regula est Dei voluntas, ut quicquid vult, eo ipso quod vult, justum habendum sit." — Aug., Isa. xlvi. 10. ' Gen. iii. 15, iv. 26.
12 A VISION OF
from the most; — sin banishing the love of God from their hearts, hindered the knowledge of God from continuing in their minds.^ After many revivings, by visions, revelations, and covenants, it was at length called in from the wide world, and wholly restrained to the house, family, and seed of Abraham,^ with whom alone all the means of grace continued for thrice fourteen generations. They alone were in Goshen, and all the world besides in thick darkness; — the dew of heaven was on them as the fleece, when else all the earth was dry. God " showeth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation," Ps. cxhii. 19, 20. The prerogative of the Jews was chiefly in this, that to them were committed the oracles of God, Rom. iii. To them per- tained " the adoption, and the glory, the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises," Rom. ix. 4. But when the fulness^ of time came, the Son of God being sent in the likeness of sinful flesh, drew all men unto him ; and God, who had before winked at the time of their ignorance, then called them every where to repent, commanding the gospel to be preached to the uni- versality of reasonable creatures, and the way of salvation to be proclaimed unto all; — upon which, in few years, the sound of the gospel went out into all nations,"* and the Sun of righteousness dis- played his beams upon the habitable parts of the earth. But yet once more this light, by Satan and his agents, persecutors and se- ducers, is almost extinguished, as was foretold, 2 Thess. ii., — remain- ing but in few places, and burning dim where it was, — the kingdom of the beast being full of darkness. Rev. xvi. 10. Yet God again raiseth up reformers, and by them kindles a light, we hope, never to be put out. But, alas ! what a spot of ground doth this shine on, in comparison of the former vast extents and bounds of the Chris- tian world ! Now, is all this variety, think you, to be ascribed unto chance, as the pliilosopher thought the world was made by a casual concurrence of atoms? or hath the idol free-will, with the new goddess contingency, ruled in these dispensations? Tnily neither the one nor the other, no more than the fly raised the dust by sitting on the chariot wheel; — but all these things have come to pass accord- ing to a certain unerring rule, given them by God's determinate purpose and counsel.
2. Presupposing this variety in the outward means, how is it that thereupon one is taken, another left ? The promise is made known to Cain and Abel; — one the first murderer, the other the first mar-
' Gen. vi. 5. = Gun. v. 24, vi. 18, xii. 1, xviii. 1, 2; Ts. Ixxvi. 1, 2; John iv. 22.
' Gal. iv. 4; .Toliu xii. 32; Acts xvii. 30; AEaik xvi. 15; Mai. iii. 4; Trov. viii. 31.
* See Tertullian, iAh. ad Jud., rockoninj^ almost all the known nations of the world, and aftinninj^ tliat they all, — tliat is, some in them, — in liis days, submitted to the sceptre of C^hrist. lie lived in the end of the second century.
UNCHANGEABLE, "FREE MERCY. 15
130". Jacob and Esau had the same outward advantages ; but the one becomes Israel, the other Edom, — the one inherits the promises, the other sells his right for a mess of pottage. At the preaching of our Saviour, some believed, some blasphemed; — some said he was a good man; others said, nay, but he deceived the people. Have we not the word in its power this day, and do we not see the like various effects, — some continuing in impenitency, others in sincerity closing with Jesus Christ ? Now, what shall we say to these things ? What guides these wheels ? who thus steers his word for the good of souls ? Why, this also, as I said before, is from some peculiarly distinguish- ing purpose of the will of God.