Thirdly, The discourse of this section hath a contribution of strength, such as it is, from a squaring of the love of God unto the sweet nature and loving disposition of men ; which is perhaps no less gross anthropomorphitism than they were guilty of who assigned him a body and countenance like to ours.
And upon these three stilts, wdiereof the first is called " Petitio Principii," the second " Ignoratio Elenchi," and the third " Fallacia non causae pro causa," is this discourse advanced.
I shall not need to transcribe and follow the progress of this argu- mentation ; the observation of the fallacies before mentioned will help the meanest capacity to unravel the sophistry of the whole. The close only of it may seem to deserve more particular considera- tion. So, then, it proceedeth : " The unchangeableness assumed by God himself unto himself in the work in hand, ' I am the Lord, I change not,' is, I conceive, that which is found in him in resf)ect of his decrees; the reason is, because it is assigned by him as the rea-
138 DOCTRINE OF THE saints' PERSEVERANCK [CIIAP.
son why they were not utterly destroyed : ' I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed/ In the begin- ning of the chapter he did declare unto them his purpose and decree of sending his only-begotten Son, whom he there calls 'The messenger of the covenant/ unto them. He predicteth, verses 3, 4, the happy fruit or consequence of that his sending, in reference to their nation and posterity. To the unchangeableness of this his decree he assigns the patience which he had for a long time exercised towards them under their great and continued provocations ; whereby he implies, that if he could have been turned out of the way of his decree concerning the sending of his Son unto them in their posterity, they would have done it by the greatness of their sins. But insomuch as this his de- cree, or himself in this his decree, was unchangeable, and it must have been changed in case they had been all destroyed, for the decree was for the sending to their nation and posterity, 'hence,' saith he, ' it comes to pass, that though your sins otherwise abundantly have deserved it, yet I have spared you from a total ruin.' Therefore, in these two last Scripture arguments, there is every wdiit as much, or rather more, against than for the common doctrine of perseverance." Ans. That the unchangeableness of God, which is mentioned in this text, hath relation to the decrees of God is granted ; whatever, then, God purposeth or decreeth is put upon a certainty of accom- plishment upon the account of his unchangeableness. There may be some use hereafter made of this concession, when, I suppose, the evasions that will be used about the objects of those decrees and their conditionality will scarce waive the force of our arguing from it. For the present, though I willingly embrace the assertion, yet I cannot assent to the analysis of that place of Scripture which is introduced as the reason of it. The design of the Lord in that place hath been before considered. That the consolation here intended is only this, that whereas God purposed to send the Lord Christ to the nation of the Jews, which he would certainly fulfil and accom- plish, and therefore did not, nor could, utterly destroy them, will scarcely be evinced to the judgment of any one who shall consider the business in hand with so much liberty of spirit as to east an eye upon the Scripture itself That after the rehearsal of the great pro- mise of sending his Son in the flesh to that people, he distinguisheth them into his chosen ones and those rejected, his remnant and the refuse of the nation, being the main body thereof, threatening de- struction to the latter, but engaging himself into a way of mercy and love towards the former, hath been declared. To assure the last of his continuance in these thoughts and purposes of his good-will to- wards them, he minds them of his unchangeableness in all such pur- poses, and particularly encourages tliem to rest upon it in respect of his love towards themselves. That God intended to administer con-
II.] THE IMMUTABILITY OF THE DIVINE NATURE. 189
solation to his saints in the expression insisted on is not, cannot be, denied. Now, what consolation could redound to them in particu- lar from hence, that the whole nation should not utterly be rooted out, because God purposed to send his Son to their posterity? Not- withstanding this, any individual person that shall flee to the horns of this altar for refuge, that shall lay hold on this promise for suc- cour, may perish everlastingly. There is scarce any place of Scrip- ture where there is a more evident distinction asserted between the Jews who were so outwardly only and in the flesh, and those who were so inwardly also and in the circumcision of the heart, than in this and the following chapter. Their several portions are also clearly proportioned out to them in sundry particulars. Even this promise of sending the Messiah respected not the whole nation, and doubt- less was only subservient to the consolation of them whose blessed- ness consisted in being distinguished from others. But let the con- text be viewed, and the determination left to the Spirit of truth in the heart of him that reads.