it be further asked, Who " hath wrought all his works in him?" it must be answered, Godm. It is God who laid the foundation, and who carries on the spiritual building even to the end : and when the top-stone is brought forth, every sinner in the universe must " cry, Grace, grace unto it"."]
2. All presumption —
[The doctrine of predestination is objected to by many, under the idea that it authorizes and encourages persons to say, " I am elected, and have therefore no cause to fear, or even to take heed of my ways." But, if any man were so to abuse the doctrine, we would immediately ask him this ques- tion ; Are you conformed to the image of Christ ? Here is a test whereby to try our pretensions : and it will instantly dis- cover of what value they are in the sight of God. If a man have an evidence in his own soul, that a work of grace has been begun within him, and that he has been enabled, in a consider- able degree, to " put off the old man, and put on the new," then, in proportion as that change is manifest, he may infer from it his election of God : but, if that change do not appear in his life and conversation, then he may know infallibly, that, in speaking of himself as one whom God has predestinated unto life, he deceives his own soul, and gives advantage to his great adversary to destroy him. Let this then be well known, that we must try ourselves whether we be in the faith : and we must determine the matter, not by any groundless conceits of our own, but by our proficiency in righteousness and true holiness.]
3. All despondency —
[The doctrine of predestination, if abused, may generate both presumption and despondency : as our Church, in her 17th Article, has told us. But this does not militate against the doctrine itself; for on the same ground, we might decry every other doctrine of Christianity. Be it so : a man has not at present any evidence that he is one of God's elect : Does this warrant him to conclude that he is given over to a state of reprobation ? Surely not : for, if he look into the Scriptures, he will find that even the Apostles themselves were once in a carnal unconverted state, yea, " were children of wrath, even as others0." But as the Apostles were in God's own time delivered from that state, so may we be, notwithstanding we are at this moment in a state which is most unpromising. God did not choose the Apostles for any good that was in them, or that he foresaw would be in them : and therefore he may magnify his grace towards us, even as he did towards them.
m Isai. xxvi. 12. 2 Cor. v. 5. n Zech. iv. 6—9. ° Eph. ii. 3.
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His grace is his own, and he may confer it on whomsoever he will : and it is a most consolatory thought, that, as he may, so he often does, cause his grace to abound where sin has most abounded. This we are sure is the doctrine of our Church ; and we cannot do better than refer you to her Article upon
this subject Nevertheless, if any man be not able to
receive this doctrine, we would on no account press it upon his mind : we would rather say to him, Discard it from your mind : and take the broad promises of Scripture, wherein it is de- clared, that " the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin," and that he "will save to the uttermost all who come unto God by him." Take, I say, these promises, not with any reference whatever to God's eternal counsels towards you personally, but with a perfect confidence that he will fulfil them to all who rely upon him ; and that no sinner in the universe, who comes to him in his Son's name, shall ever be cast out.]