Ans. How he hath predestinated them is not expressed, but being so predestinated, God purposes to call them ; — that is, them and only
III.] THE IMMUTABILITY OF THE DIVINE PURPOSES. 157
tlieni ; for it is a uniform pi-oceeding of God towards all whom he attempts to bring to himself which is here described. That is, when men love him and are approved of him, and are thereupon pre- ordinated to conformity with Christ, then he decrees to call them, or, as the calling here mentioned is described (that ye may not mis- take, as though any internal effectual work of grace were hereby in- tended, but only an outward moral persuasion, by a revelation of the object they should embrace), "he gives a more plain and effectual discovery of Christ to them than to any others." Doubtless it is evident to every one that (besides the great confusion whereinto the proceedings of God in bringing sinners to himself, or belaying their coming with some kind entertainments, are cast) the whole work of salvation is resolved into the wills of men ; and instead of an effectual, operative, unchangeable purpose of God, nothing is left on his part but a moral approbation of what is well done, and a pro- posing of other desirable things unto men upon the account of for- mer worthy carriage. And this is no small part of the intendment of our author in this undertaking.
That God decrees to call them, and only them, who love him, and upon that account are approved of him, when all faith and love are the fruits of that calling of his, is such a figment as I shall not need to cast away words in the confutation of it.^
Yet, lest any should have too high thoughts of this grace of voca- tion, he tells them by the way "that it doth not necessarily suppose a saving answer given to it by the called, no whit more than the calling mentioned. Matt. xx. 16, xxii. 14."'
First, By Mr Goodwin's confession there is as yet no great advance made towards the proof of the assertion laid down in the entrance, and for the confirmation whereof this series and concatenation of divine graces is insisted on. Though men love God, are predes- tinated and accepted, yet when it comes to calling they may stop there and perish everlastingly; for "many are called, but few chosen.'' They are indeed belaid by a calling, but they may miss the place of its residence, or refuse to accept of its entertainment, and pass on to ruin. But, —
Secondly, They are so called as upon the account thereof to be justified; for " whom he calls, them he a\so justifies." "Yea, in case they obey." But this is the interpretation of the new apostle, not the old; neither hath the text any such supposition, nor will the context bear it, nor can the design of the apostle consist with it, nor any more consolation be squeezed from this place upon the account of it than of milk from a flint in the rock of stone. Neithei', —
Thirdly, Doth the calling here mentioned hold any analogy with that of the many that are called but not chosen, pointed at in the • Deut. vii. 7; Ezek. xvi. 6; Matt. xi. 26; Eph. ii. 1_7.
1 .58 DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP.
second place instanced in, being indeed the effectual calling of the few who arc chosen: for as our Saviour, in those places of Matthew, mentioned two sorts of persons, some that have a general call, but are not chosen, and others that, being chosen, are therefore distin- guished from the former as to their vocation; so Paul here tells you that the calling he insists on is the peculiar call of God "according to his purpose" (the same purpose intimated by our Saviour) ; which, being suited of God to the caiTying on and accomplishing of that purpose of his, must be effectual, unless he through mutability and imjootency come short of accomplishing the design of his will and wisdom.
Neither is this salved by what follows, "that it is the intention of God to make this call sufficient for the end purposed ;" yea, this part of the wallet is most filled with folly and falsehood: for as general purposes of giving means for an end, with an intention to bring that end about, that may or may not attain it, are most remote from God, and, being supposed, are destructive to all his holy and blessed attributes and perfections, as hath been shown ; so the thing itself, of sufficient grace of vocation, which is not effectual, is a gross fig- ment, not, whilst this world continues, by Mr Goodwin to be made good, the most of his arguments being importunate suggestions of his own hypothesis and conceptions. But he goes on, —
" The apostle advanceth towards his proposed end, and adds, 'Those whom he called, them he also justified,' or decreed to justify, in case the called obstruct him not in his way, or by their unbelief render not themselves incapable of justification."
Ans. That exception, " In case they obstruct him not," is a clue to lead us into all the corners of this labyrinth, and a key to the whole design in hand. Such a supposal it is as not only enervates the whole discourse of the apostle and frustrates his design, but also opens a door for the questioning of the accomplishment of any pur- pose or promise of God whatever, and, in one word, rejects the whole efficacy of the grace of the gospel, as a thing of naught. AVhat strength is there in the discourse and arguing of the apostle, from the purpose and ensuing series of God's grace, to prove that "all things shall work together for good to them that love God," if the whole issue and event of things mentioned to that end depend not on the efficacy or effectual influences of those acts of God, one upon another, and all upon the end, they being all and every one of them, jointly and severally, suspended upon the wills of the persons themselves concerning whom they are (which yet here is concealed, and [not] intimated in the least)? How doth it prove at all that they shall never be separated from the love of Christ, that they shall be made conformable to him in glory, notwithstanding all op- position, upon the account of the dispensation of God's eternal and