Sixthly, All alterations are in the things concerning which the acts of the will of G od are ; none in the will of God itself.
These things being premised, what was before proposed I shall now in order make out, beginning with the eternal acts of the will of God towards us, antece- dent to all or any consideration of the death of Christ.
CHAPTER VII.
In particular of the will of God towards them for whom Christ died, and their state and condition as considered antecedaneous to the death of Christ and all efficiency thereof.
First, then, the habitude of God towards man, antecedent to all foresight of the death of Christ, is an act of supreme sovereignty and dominion, appointing them, by means suited to the manifestation of his glorious properties, according to his infinitely wise and free disposal, to eternal life and salvation, for the praise of his glorious grace.
That this salvation was never but one, or of one kind, consisting in the same kind of happiness, in reference unto God's appointment, needs not much proving. To think that God appointed one kind of condition for man if he had continued in innocency, and another upon his recovery from the fall, is to think that his prescience is but conjectural and his will alterable.
In this instance, then, we suppose no kind of affection in God, properly so called, no changeable resolution, no inclinablcness and jjropensity of nature to the good of the creature in general, no frame of being angry, with only a non-averseness to the laying down of his anger, etc. ; all Avhich, and the like, are derogatory to the infinite perfection of God; — nor yet any act of pitying and pardoning mercy, much less any (putting or clearing of sinners, whereby they should be justified from eternity; the permission of sin itself in the purpose of it being not presupposed, but included in this habitude of God's will towards man, to make it complete; — neither any absolute intention of doing good unto man, without respect unto Christ and his merits, they referring to the good to be done, not to his appointment ; for by them is this purpose of his to be accomplished. Nor, lastly, doth it contain any actual relaxation, suspension, or abrogation of that law and its penalties by which it is his will the creature shall be regulated, in reference to the person concerning whom this act of his will is; they standing, indeed, in that relation thereunto, as, in
1 Cum voluntas .sit ejus essentia, non movotur ab alio a se, sed a se tantum, co modo loqucndi, quo inlelligore, et vcUc, dicitur motus, et secundum hoc Tlato dixit, primum movcns movet seipsum.— Aq. p. 1, q. VJ, a. 2, a y.
god's will towards those for whom CHRIST DIED. 455
the season of their existence, their several conditions expose them to, by virtue of the first constitution of that law.
But it is such an act of his will as in the Scripture is termed ^poyvaa-i;. Acts ii. 23; Rom. viii. 29; 1 Pet. i. 20;— ^piho-is, Rom. viii. 28, ix 11; Eph iii. 11;— EuSox/a, Matt. xi. 26; Eph. i. 5; 2 Thess. i. 11; Luke xii. 32; — (iouxh ^ix^y,aris, Eph. i. 11; — 9-!fiiXt!)s rou Siou, 2 Tim. ii. 19; — 5r^«a^/(r^«;, Ej^h. i. 5, 11; Rom. viii. 29; — ordination or appointment unto life. Acts xiii. 48; 1 Thess. v. 5, 9. All which, and divers other expressions, point at the same thing-.
Divines commonly, in one word, call it his " decree of election," and sometimes, according to Scripture, " election" itself, Eph. i. 4. Neither doth the word hold out any habitude of God towards man, antecedaneous to all efficiency of the death of Christ, but only this, I speak of them only, in this whole discourse, for whom he died.
That this is an act of sovereignty or supreme dominion, and not of mercy, properly so called, hath been by others abundantly proved. And this I place as the causa, -rponyovyAvYi, of the satisfaction of Christ, and the whole dispensation of making out love unto us, through various acts of mercy.
This in the Scripture is called the " love" of God, Rom. ix. 13, and is set out as the most intense love that ever he beareth to any of his creatures, John iii. 16; Rom. V. 8 ; 1 John iv. 9, 10 ; being, indeed, as properly love as love can be assigned unto God. His love is but an act of his will, whereby ^ixit rm r aya^iv' and in respect of effects (in which respect chiefly affections are ascribed unto God), it hath the most eminent possible. Now, this being discriminating, can no way be reconciled with the common affection before disproved.
For the order and sei'ies of the purposes of God, as most natui'al for our appre- hension of God, and agreeable to his own infinite wisdom, tending to the completing of this love in all its issues and fruits, as it is more curious perhaps in the framing than necessary to be known, so certainly it would be too long and intricate a work for me to discuss at present, in reference to this intendment. Onl}', in general, this must be granted, that all the thoughts of God concerning the way of accom- plishing this act of his will must be subordinate hereunto, as comprising* the end, and co-ordinate among themselves", as being concerning the means.