REPROBATION ASSERTED; OR, THE DOCTRINE OF ETERNAL ELECTION AND REPROBATION PROMISCUOUSLY HANDLED, IN ELEVEN CHAPTERS: WHEREIN THE MOST MATERIAL OBJECTIONS MADE BY THE OPPOSERS OF THIS "What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded." That there is a Reprobation. In my discourse upon this subject, I shall study as much brevity as clearness and edification will allow me, not adding words to make the volume swell, but contracting myself within the bounds of few lines, for the profit and commodity of those that shall take the pains to read my labours. And though I might abundantly multiply arguments for the evincing and vindicating this conclusion, yet I shall content myself with some few scripture demonstrations; the first of which I shall gather out of the 9th of the Romans, from that discourse of the apostle's touching the children of the flesh and the children of the promise. 1. At the beginning of this chapter we find the apostle grievously lamenting and bemoaning of the Jews at the consideration of their miser able state: "I say the truth in Christ," saith he, and lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish myself accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh." Poor hearts, saith he, they will perish; they are a miserable, sad, and helpless people; their eyes are darkened that they may not see, and their back is bowed down alway, Romaus, xi. 10. Wherefore, have they not the means of grace? Yes, verily, and that in goodly measure; first, they are Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever, Amen. What, then, should be the reason? Why, saith he, "though they be the children of Abraham according to the flesh, yet they are the children of Abraham but according to the flesh; for they are not all Israel (in the best sense) that are of Israel; neither because they are the seed of Abraham, are they children; but in Isaac shall thy seed be called"—that is, they that are the children of the flesh, they are not the children of God; but the children of the promise shall be counted for the seed. Then here you see that they that are only the children of the flesh (as the greatest part of Israel were) they are those that are neither counted for the seed, the children of promise, nor the children of God; but are rejected, and of the reprobation. This, therefore, shall at this time serve for the first scripture demonstration. 2. Another scripture you have in the eleventh chapter of this epistle, from these words, "The election have obtained it, and the rest were blinded," Rom. xi. 7. These words are shedding words, they sever between men and men; the election, the rest; the chosen, the left; the embraced, the refused: "The election have obtained it, and the rest were blinded." By "rest" here must needs be understood those not elect, because set one in opposition to the other; and if not elect, what then but reprobate ? 3. A third scripture is that in the Acts of the Apostles, "And as many as were ordained to eternal life, believed," Acts, xiii. 48; Isaiah, i. 9, 10, 22, 23; Rom. ix. 27. "And as many"by these words, as by the former, you may see how the Holy Ghost distinguisheth or divideth between men and men; the sons and the sons of Adam. "As many as were ordained to eternal life, believed." If by "many" here we are to understand every individual, then not only the whole world must at least believe the gospel, of which we see the most fall short, but they must be ordained to eternal life, which other scriptures contradict; BB for there is the rest, besides the elect; the stubble and chaff, as well as wheat; "many," therefore, must here include but some; "for though Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved." I might here multiply many other texts, but in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. Let these, therefore, for this suffice to prove that there is a reprobation. For this I say, though the children of the flesh, the rest besides the election, and the like, were not mentioned in the word; yet, seeing there is such a thing as the children of the promise, the seed, the children of God, and the like, and that too under several other phrases, as predestinated, foreknown, chosen in Christ, and written in the book of life, and appointed unto life, with many others, I say, seeing these things are thus apparent, it is without doubt that there is such a thing as a reprobation also, Rom. viii.; Ephes. i. 3, 4; 1 Thess. v. 9. Nay, further, from the very word election it followeth unavoidably; for whether you take it as relating to this, of distinguishing between persons as touching the world to come, or with reference to God's acts of choosing this or that man to this or that office, work, or employment in this world, it still signifieth such a choosing as that but some are therein concerned, and that therefore some are thence excluded. Are all the elect, the seed, the saved, the vessels of mercy, the chosen and peculiar? Are not some, yea, the most, the children of the flesh, the rest, the lost, the vessels of wrath, of dishonour, and the children of perdition? Rom. xi. 9; 1 Pet. ii, 8, 9; Matt. x. 16; 2 Sam. vi. 21; Ps. lxxviii. 67, 68; John, xv. 16; 2 Cor. iv. 3; Romans, ix. 21, 22; John, xvii. 12. CHAPTER II. What Reprobation is. HAVING thus shewed you that there is such a thing as a reprobation, I come now to shew what it is; which that I may do to your edification, I shall first shew you what this word reprobation signifieth in the general, as it concerneth persons temporary and visibly reprobate. Secondly, more particularly, as it concerneth persons that are eternally and invisibly reprobate. First, Generally, as it concerneth persons temporary and visibly reprobate; thus: to be reprobate is to be disapproved, void of judgment, and rejected, &c.; to be disapproved, that is, when the word condemns them either as touching the faith or the holiness of the gospel; the which they must needs be that are void of spiritual and heavenly judgment in the mysteries of the kingdom, a manifest token they are rejected. And hence it is that they are said to be reprobate or void of judgment concerning the faith; reprobate or void of judgment touching every good work; having a reprobate mind to do those things that are not convenient, either as to faith or manners. And hence it is again, that they are also said to be rejected of God, cast away, and the like, 2 Cor. xiii. 6, 7; 2 Tim. iii. 8; Titus, i. 16; Rom. i. 28; Jer. vi. 30; 1 Cor. ix. I call this temporary visible reprobation, because these appear, and are detected by the word as such that are found under the above-named errors, and so adjudged without the grace of God; yet it is possible for some of these, (however for the present disapproved,) through the blessed acts and dispensations of grace, not only to become visible saints, but also saved for ever. Who doubts but that he who now by examining himself concerning faith doth find himself, though under profession, graceless, may after that, he seeing his woful state, not only cry to God for mercy, but find grace, and obtain mercy to help in time of need? though it is true that for the most part the contrary is fulfilled on them. But to pass this, and more particularly to touch the eternal invisible reprobation, which I shall thus hold forth: It is to be passed by in, or left out of, God's election; yet so as considered upright; in which position you have these four things considerable First, The act of God's election. Thirdly, The persons reached by that negative; and, Fourthly, Their qualification when thus reached by it. For the first. This act of God in electing, it is a choosing or foreappointing of some infallibly unto eternal life, which he also hath determined shall be brought to pass by the means that should be made manifest and efficacious to that very end, Ephes. i. 3-5; 1 Peter, i. 2. Secondly, Now the negative of this act is, a passing by, or a leaving of those not concerned in this act; a leaving of them, I say, without the bounds, and so the saving privileges of this act; as it followeth by natural consequence, that because a man chooseth but some, therefore be chooseth not all, but leaveth, as the negative of that act, all others whatsoever. Wherefore, as I said before, those not contained within this! blessed act are called the rest besides the election. "The election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.” Thirdly, The persons then that are contained under the negative of this act, they are those, and those only, that pass through this wicked world without the saving grace of God's elect; those, I say, that miss the most holy faith, which they in time are blest withal who are foreappointed unto glory. Fourthly, And now for the qualification they were considered under when this act of reprobation laid hold upon them-to wit, they were considered upright. This is evident, First, From this consideration, that reprobation is God's act, even the negative of his choosing or electing, and none of the acts of God make any man a sinner. Secondly, It is further evident by the similitude that is taken from the carriage of the potter in his making of his pots; for by this comparison the God of heaven is pleased to shew unto us the nature of his determining in the act of reprobation, Rom. ix. 21. "Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump ?" &c. Consider a little, and you shall see that these three things do necessarily fall in to complete the potter's action in every pot he makes. 1. A determination in his own mind what pot to make of this or that piece of clay; a determination, I say, precedent to the fashion of the pot; the which is true in the highest degree in him that is excellent in working; he determines the end before the beginning is perfected: "For this very purpose have I raised thee up," Isaiah, xii. 22; xlvi. 10; Exod. ix. 16. 2. The next thing considerable in the potter, it is the so making of the pot, even as he determined, a vessel to honour, or a vessel to dishonour. There is no confusion or disappointment under the hand of this eternal God, his work is perfect, and every way doth answer to what he hath determined, Deut. xxxii. 4. 3. Observe again, that whether the vessel be to honour or to dishonour, yet the potter makes it good, sound, and fit for service; his foredetermining to make this a vessel to dishonour hath no persuasion at all with him to break or mar the pot, which very thing doth well resemble the state of man as under the act of eternal reprobation, for "God made man upright," Eccles. vii. 29. From these conclusions then consider, 1. That the simple act of reprobation is a leaving or passing by, not a cursing of the creature. 2. Neither doth this act alienate the heart of God from the reprobate, nor tie him up from loving, favouring, or blessing of him; no, not from blessing of him with the gift of Christ, of faith, of hope, and many other benefits; it only denieth them that benefit that will infallibly bring them to eternal life, and that in despite of all opposition; it only denieth so to bless them as the elect themselves are blessed. Abraham loved all the children he had by all his wives, and gave them portions also, but his choice blessing, as the fruit of his chiefest love, he reserved for chosen Isaac, Gen. xxv. 1—6. Lastly, The act of reprobation doth harm to no man, neither means him any; nay, it rather decrees him upright, lets him be made upright, and so be turned into the world. CHAPTER III. Of the Antiquity of Reprobation. HAVING now proceeded so far as to shew you what reprobation is, it will not be amiss in this place if I briefly shew you its antiquity, even when it began its rise; the which you may gather by these following particulars First, Reprobation is before the person cometh into the world, or hath done good or evil; this is evident by that of Paul to the Romans-Rom. ix. 11; Gen. xv. 4, 5; xvi. 4, 5, 16; xvii. 25; xxi. 5, "For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, it was said unto Rebecca, The elder shall serve the younger." Here you find twain in their mother's womb, and both receiving their destiny, not only before they had done good or evil, but before they were in a capacity to do it, they being yet unborn; their destiny, I say, the one unto, the other not unto, the blessing of eternal life; the one chosen, the other refused; the one elect, the other reprobate. The same also might be said of Ishmael and his brother Isaac, both which did also receive their destiny before they came into the world; for the promise that this Isaac should be the heir, it was also before Ishmael was born, though he was elder by fourteen years or more than his brother. And it is yet further evident, 1. Because election is an act of grace: "There is a remnant, according to the election of grace," (Rom. xi. 5 ;) which act of grace saw no way so fit to discover its purity and independency as by fastening on the object before it came into the world, that being the state in which at least no good were done, either to procure good from God or to eclipse and darken this precious act of grace; for though it is true that no good thing that we have done before conversion can obtain the grace of election, yet the grace of election then appeareth most when it prevents our doing good, that we might be loved therefor; wherefore he saith again, "That the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth, it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger." 2. This is most agreeable to the nature of the promise of giving seed to Abraham; which promise, as it was made before the child was conceived, so it was fulfilled at the best time for the discovery of the act of grace that could have been pitched upon: "At this time will I come," saith God, “and Sarah shall have a son ;" which promise, because it carried in its bowels the very grace of electing love, therefore it left out Ishmael, with the children of Keturah: For in Isaac shall thy seed be called," Rom. iv. 16—19; ix. 9. 3. This was the best and fittest way for the decrees to receive sound bottom, even for God both to choose and refuse before the creature had done good or evil, and so before they came into the world: "That the purpose of God according to election might stand," saith he, therefore before the children were yet born, or had done any good or evil, it was said unto her," &c. God's decree would for ever want foundation should it depend at all upon the goodness and holiness either of men or angels, especially if it were to stand upon that good that is wrought before conversion, yea, or after conversion either. We find by daily experience how hard and difficult it is for even the holiest in the world to bear up and maintain their faith and love to God; yea, so hard as not at all to do it without continual supplies from heaven. How then is it possible for any so to carry it before God as to lay, by this his holiness, a foundation for election, as to maintain that foundation, and thereby to procure all those graces that infallibly save the sinner? But now the choice, I say, being a choice of grace, as is manifest, it being acted before the creature's birth, here grace hath laid the corner-stone, and determined the means to bring the work to perfection. "Thus the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth who are his," (2 Tim. ii. 18-20;) that is, whom he hath chosen, having excluded works, both good and bad, and founded all in an unchangeable act of grace, the negative whereof is this harmless reprobation. But, secondly, To step a little backward, and so to make all sure; this act of reprobation was before the world began, which therefore must needs confirm that which was said but now, that they were before they were born both destinated before they had done good or evil. This is manifest by that of Paul to the Ephesians, at the beginning of his epistle, where, speaking of election, whose negative is reprobation, he saith, "God hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world." Nay, further, if you please, consider that as Christ was ordained to suffer before the foundation of the world, and as we that are elected were chosen in him before the foundation of the world, so it was also ordained we should know him before the foundation of the world; ordained that we should be holy before him in love before the foundation of the world; and that we in time should be created in him to good works, and ordained before that we should walk in them. Wherefore reprobation also, it being the negative of electing love-that is, because God elected but some, therefore he left the rest, these rest therefore must needs be of as ancient standing under reprobation as the chosen are under election, both which it is also evident were before the world began; which serveth yet further to prove that reprobation could not be with respect to this or the other sin, it being only a leaving them, and that before the world, out of that free choice which he was pleased to bless the other with. Even as the clay with which the dishonourable vessel is made did not provoke the potter, for the sake of this or that impediment, therefore to make it so; but the potter of his own will, of the clay of the same lump, of the clay that is full as good as that of which he hath made the vessel to honour, did make this and the other a vessel of dishonour, &c. 1 Peter, i. 20, 21; 1 Cor. ii. 6, 7; Ephes. i. 3, 4; ii. 10. CHAPTER IV. Of the Causes of Reprobation. HAVING thus in a word or two shewed the antiquity of reprobation, I now come in this place to shew you the cause thereof; for doubtless this must stand a truth, that whatever God doth, there is sufficient ground therefor, whether by us apprehended, or else without our reach. First, then, it is caused from the very nature of God. There are two things in God from which, or by the virtue of which, all things have their rise to wit, the eternity of God in general, and the eternal perfection of every one of his attributes in particular; for as by the first he must needs be before all things, so by virtue of the second must all things consist. And as he is before all things, they having consistence by him, so also is he before all states, or their causes, be they either good or bad, of continuance or otherwise, he being the first without beginning, &c., whereas all other things, with their canses, have rise, dependence, or toleration of being from him, Col. i. 17. Hence it follows that nothing, either person or cause, &c., can by any means have a being but first he knows thereof, allows thereof, and decrees it shall be so: "Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?" Now, then, because that reprobation, as well as election, is subordinate to God, his will also, which is eternally perfect, being most immediately herein concerned, it was impossible that any should be reprobate before God had both willed and decreed it should be so. It is not the being of a thing that administers matter of knowledge or foresight thereof to God, but the perfection of his knowledge, wisdom, and power, &c., that giveth the thing its being. God did not foredecree there should be a world because he foresaw there would be one; but there must be one, because he had before decreed there should be one. The same is true as touching the case in hand: "For this very purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew in thee my power," Lam. iii. 37; Exod. ix. 16; Rom. ix. 17. Secondly, A second cause of eternal reprobation is, the exercise of God's sovereignty; for if this is true, that there is nothing either visible or invisible, whether in heaven or earth, but hath its being from him, then it must most reasonably follow that he is therefore sovereign Lord, &c., and may also according to his own will, as he pleaseth himself, both exercise and manifest the same, being every whit absolute, and can do and may do whatsoever his soul desireth; and indeed, good reason, for he hath not only made them all, but for his pleasure they both were and are created. Now the very exercise of this sovereignty produceth reprobation; therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will be hardeneth. Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump? and doth he not make his pots according to his pleasure? Here therefore the mercy, justice, wisdom, and power of God take liberty to do what they will, saying, "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure," Job, xxiii. 13; Dan. iv. 35; Rev. iv. 11; Rom. ix. 18; Isa. xliii. 13; xlvi. 11. Thirdly, Another cause of eternal reprobation is, the act and working of distinguishing love and everlasting grace. God hath universal love and particular love, general love and distinguishing love; and so accordingly doth decree, purpose, and determine, from general love, the extension of general grace and mercy; but from that love that is distinguishing, peculiar grace and mercy. Was not Esau Jacob's brother? yet I loved Jacob, saith the Lord. Yet I loved Jacob"-that is, with a better love, or a love that is more distinguishing, as he further makes appear in his answer to our father Abraham when he prayed to God for Ishmael: "As for Ishmael," saith be, "I have heard thee; behold, I have blessed him, 66 |