conceive. Now this unchangeableness of his purposes, the Lord brings as one demonstration of his Deity, and those who make them liable to alteration upon any account, or supposition whatsoever, do depress him, what in them lies, into the number of such dunghill gods, as he threatens to famish and destroy.

Psal. xxxiii. 9-11. 'He spake and it was done, he commanded and it stood fast. The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought, he maketh the devices of the people of none effect. The counsel of the Lord stands for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.' The production and establishment of all things, in that order wherein they are, are by the psalmist ascribed to the will and power of God: by his word and command, they not only are, but stand fast; being fixed in that order by him appointed; both the making, fixing, and sustaining of all things, is by 'the word of his power.' As the first relates to their being, which they have from creation, so the other to the order in subsistence and operation, which relates to his actual providence. Herein they stand fast. Themselves, with their several and respective relations, dependencies, influences, circumstances, suited to that nature and being, which was bestowed on them by his word in their creation, are settled in an exact correspondency to his purposes (of which afterward) not to be shaken or removed. Men have their devices and counsels also, they are free agents, and work by counsel and advice; and therefore God hath not 'set all things so fast, as to overturn and overbear them, in their imaginations and undertakings. Saith the psalmist, 'They imagine and devişe indeed, but their counsel is of nought, and their devices are of none effect, but the counsel of the Lord,' &c. The counsel and purposes of the Lord, are set in opposition to the counsel and purposes of men, as to alteration, change, and frustration, in respect of the actual accomplishment of the things about which they are. Their counsels are so and so: but the counsel of the Lord shall stand. He that shall cast ver. 11. into ver. 10. and say, The counsel of the Lord that comes to nought, and the thoughts of his heart are of none effect,' let him make what pretences he will, or flourishes that he can, or display what supposals

e Heb. i. 3. Rev. iv. 11. Acts xvii. 28. ii. 23. iv. 28. Gen. 1. 20. Eccles. iii. 11.

emphatically expressed, Isa. xiv. 24-27. 'Surely the Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, it shall stand; that I will break the Assyrian in my land: this is the purpose of God, that is purposed upon the whole earth, and this is the hand, that is stretched out upon all the nations; for the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul. it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?' The Lord doth not only assert the certain accomplishment of all his purposes, but also to prevent and obviate the unbelief of them who were concerned in their fulfilling, he manifests upon what account it is that they shall certainly be brought to pass; and that is by the stretching out of his hand, or exalting of his mighty power, for the doing of it; so that if there be a failing therein, it must be through the shortness of that hand of his so stretched out, in that it could not reach the end aimed at. A worm will put forth its strength for the fulfilling of that whereunto it. is inclined; and the sons of men will draw out all their power for the compassing of their designs: if there be wisdom in the laying of them, and foresight of emergencies, they alter not, nor turn aside to the right hand, or to the left, in the pursuit of them; and shall the infinitely wise, holy, and righteous thoughts and designs of God, not have his power engaged for their accomplishment? His infinite wisdom and understanding are at the foundation of them: they are the counsels of his will; Eph. vii. 11. Who hath known his mind' (in them?) saith the apostle; and who hath been his counsellor?' Though no creature can see the paths wherein he walks, nor apprehend the reason of the ways he is delighted in; yet this he lets us know for the satisfying of our hearts, and teaching of our inquiries, that his own infinite wisdom is in them all. I cannot but fear sometimes, that men have darkened counsel without knowledge in curious contests about the decrees and purposes of God, as though they were to be measured by our rule and line, and as though by searching we could find out the Almighty to perfection.' But he is wise in heart; he that contendeth with him let him instruct him. Add, that this wisdom in his counsel is attended with infallible prescience of all that will fall in by the way, or in the course of the accomplishment of his pur

poses; and you will quickly see, that there can be no possible intervenience upon the account whereof the Lord should not engage his almighty power for their accomplishment; ' he is of one mind, and who can turn him? he will work, and who shall let him?'

Sixthly, By demonstrating the unreasonableness, folly, and impossibility, of suspending the acts and purposes of the will of God, upon any actings of the creatures whatsoever; seeing it cannot be done without subjecting eternity to time, the first cause to the second, the Creator to the creature, the Lord to the servant, disturbing the whole order of beings and operations in the world.

Seventhly, By the removal of all possible or imaginary causes of alteration and change; which will all be resolved into impotency in one kind or other; every alteration being confessedly an imperfection, it cannot follow but from want and weakness. Upon the issue of which discourse, if it might be perused, these corollaries would ensue :

First, Conditional promises and threatenings, are not declarative of God's purposes concerning persons, but of his moral approbation or rejection of things.

Secondly, There is a wide difference between the change of what is conditionally pronounced, as to the things themselves, and the change of what is determinately willed; the certainty of whose event is proportioned to the immutable acts of the will of God itself.

Thirdly, That no purpose of God is conditional, though the things themselves, concerning which his purposes are, are oftentimes conditionals one of another.

Fourthly, That conditional purposes concerning perseverance, are either impossible, implying contradictions, or ludicrous, even to an unfitness for a stage. But of these and such like, as they occasionally fall in, in the ensuing discourse.

This foundation being laid, I come to what was secondly proposed, namely, to manifest by an induction of particular instances, the engagement of these absolute and immutable purposes of God, as to the preservation of the saints in his favour to the end; and whatsoever is by Mr. Goodwin excepted, as to the former doctrine of the decrees and purposes of God, in that part of his treatise, which falls under

our consideration, shall, in the vindication of the respective places of Scripture to be insisted on, be discussed.

The first particular instance, that I shall propose, is that eminent place of the apostle, Rom. viii. 28. where you have the truth in hand meted out unto us, full measure, shaken together, and running over. It doth not hang by the side of his discourse, nor is left to be gathered, and concluded from other principles and assertions couched therein; but is the main of the apostolical drift and design; it being proposed by him, to make good, upon unquestionable grounds, the assurance he gives believers, that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to his purpose; the reason whereof he farther adds in the following words, 'For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified.' What the good aimed at is, for which all things shall work together, and wherein it doth consist, he manifests in the conclusion of the argument produced to prove his first assertion, ver. 35-39. 'Who shall separate us from the love of God in Christ? shall tribulation,' &c. The good of believers, of them that love God, consists in the enjoyment of Christ and his love; saith then the apostle, God will so certainly order all things, that they shall be preserved in that enjoyment of it, whereunto in this life they are already admitted, and borneout through all oppositions, to that perfect fruition thereof, which they aim at; and this is so unquestionable, that the very things, which seem to lie in the way of such an attainment and event, shall work together, through the wisdom and love of God, to that end. To make good this consolation, the apostle lays down two grounds or principles, from whence the truth of it doth undeniably follow; the one, taken from the description of the persons, concerning whom he makes it; and the other, from the acts of God's grace, and their respective concatenation in reference to those persons.

The persons, he tells you, are those, who are 'called according to the purpose of God;' that their calling here men

tioned, is the effectual call of God, which is answered by faith and obedience, because it consists in the bestowing of them on the persons so called, taking away the heart of stone and giving a heart of flesh, is not only manifest from that place, which afterward receives in the golden chain of divine graces, between predestination and justification, whereby the one hath infallible influences into the other; but also from that precious description which is given of the same persons, viz. that they love God, which certainly is an issue and fruit of effectual calling, as shall afterward be farther argued. For to that issue are things driven in this controversy, that proofs thereof are become needful.

The purpose, according to which these persons are called, is none other than that, which the apostle, chap. ix. 11. terms the 'purpose of God according to election;' chap. xi. 5. The election of grace, as also the foreknowledge and foundation of God, as will in the progress of our discourse be made farther appear; although I know not, that this is as yet questioned. The immutability of this purpose of God, chap. ix. 11, 12. the apostle demonstrates from its independency in any thing in them, or respect of them, concerning whom it is, it being eternal, and expressly safeguarded against apprehensions, that might arise, of any causal or occasional influence from any thing in them given thereunto, they lying under this condition alone unto God, as persons that had done neither good nor evil. And this, also, the apostle farther pursues from the sovereignty, absoluteness, and unchangeableness of the will of God. But these things are of another consideration.

Now this unchangeable purpose and election being the fountain, from whence the effectual calling of believers doth flow, the preservation of them to the end designed, the glory whereunto they are chosen, by those acts of grace and love, whereby they are prepared thereunto, hath coincidence of infallibility, as to the end aimed at, with the purpose itself; nor is it liable to the least exception, but what may be raised from the mutability and changeableness of God in his purposes and decrees. Hence, in the following verse upon the account of the stability and immutability of this purpose of God, the utmost, and most remote end in reference to the good thereby designed unto believers, though having its pre