THE ABSOLUTE AND Peremptory Decree OF ELECTION TO ETERNAL GLORY REPROBATED.  
In A SERMON Preached before the University in Great St. MARY'S Church in CAMBRIDGE.  
By Robert Nevil, B. D. Rector of Ansty.  
LONDON, Printed for Benj. Billingsley, at the Printing Press under the Piazza of the Royal Exchange, 1682.   

To my Truly HONOURED FRIEND, and quondam Chamberfellow at KING'S COLLEGE IN CAMBRIDGE. THOMAS FOUNTAIN, Esq  
Honoured Sir,  
THere are two dangerous Opinions in the World, against which, as against two Rocks, we may suffer Shipwreck, Pelagianism on the One hand, and Calvinism on the other; these are the Scylla and Charybdis, between which if we do not steer our Course evenly and carefully, we may Ruin and Undo ourselves: Pelagianism pleads too much for a Natural Power and strength in man; it ascribes too much to man, and makes him by Nature Omnipotent; it makes a God of him in Power and strength: And Calvinism, like Medusa's head in the Poet, turns men into stones, robs them of all their Powers and Faculties, and determines them irresistibly to all their Actions, by a Necessity no less unavoidable, than the falling stone moves towards the Centre; the latter of these Opinions wrongs Nature in defect, by allowing her no strength, which by Consequence must make men desperate; the first wrongs Nature in Excess, by allowing it too much strength, which must needs blow men up with too swelling a Confidence; and both of them do equally destroy the reason of our Application to God for strength; for neither will the man that is well in Conceit, nor yet the desperate, apply himself to a Physician; because the one cries there is no need, the other, there is no help. The former of these two, namely Pelagianism, sets up and trafficks upon its own Credit, and depends upon the large stock of its own natural Abilities; and scorns to own the Grace of God so far, as to take it into a share and Partnership with it: The other, namely Calvinism breaks, when it needs not, and then declares itself a bankrupt, and pretends Insufficiency, that so it may upon easier terms Compound with God for its debt of Obedience; because the Absolute Decree of Reprobation hath taught men to fancy they have no power, it also makes them to have no Will to obtain Salvation; They are of opinion, that the Goats are more numerous than those few Sheep, which are within the little Fold of the Absolute Decree of Election; which is diametrically Opposite to St. Paul's Doctrine, 1 Tim. 2.4. That Christ will have all men to be saved; and as contrary to St. Peter's 2 Pet. 3.9. who affirms, that the Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to Repentance; and having so good Seconds as these, I shall not need to fear to enter into the Lists against the Asserters of that unjust Decree; A Decree too Arbitrary and Tyrannical to be Enacted by the just, gracious, and merciful King of Kings; A Decree, as Arbitrary as that Government, their great Patron Calvin set up at Geneva, after the Expulsion of their Lawful Bishop; to whose both doctrine and discipline your great Reason and Learning have always made you a professed Enemy; so that I assure myself that you will kindly accept of, and not pass your Decree of Reprobation against this discourse now devoted to you by  
Honoured Sir, Your Faithful and humble Servant, R. Nevil. Ansty, Octob. 25. 1682.   

A SERMON Preached before the UNIVERSITY, At Great St. MARY'S CHURCH IN CAMBRIDGE.  EPHES. I. the former part of the 4th. Verse. 
According as he hath chosen us in him before the Foundation of the World.  
THere is no one Conceit that engageth men so strongly to persist in Sin, as the Persuasion that God's Irresistible Decree is the Cause or all Events, of all their Actions; and though they are not arrived to so high a degree of Blasphemy, as to adventure to Define God, totidem verbis, the Author of Sin: yet (which is tantamount) some men are of Opinion, that because all things depend on God's Decree; all the Sins they commit, are entailed upon them by A Fatal Necessity; and that they are but as so many links of one Fatal Chain, wherewith they are fettered and fast bound to Satan; and that all their Care and Industry cannot take off one Link from that Chain; nor Deduct one single transgression from the whole Sum, and numberless number of their iniquities.  
Others again, on the other hand, think they have Gods Absolute Decree for their security; and ground their hopes of Heaven upon no other basis, no other bottom, letting lose the reins to all licentiousness, because they assure themselves that God's Decree of Election to Eternal Glory is passed in favour of them: When alas, that Decree of Election, which they build upon, is grossly mistaken by them: God having determined by his Decree of giving Christ, to call men from a vicious course of Life to Christianity; which is only an Election to Evangelical Grace and Holiness; and a separating men to the participation of those singular benefits, contained in the Gospel, not an Absolute Decree of Election to Eternal glory, without any regard of their Works and Actions: and this is clear and evident from this Clause of the verse, that contains my Text, [that we should be Holy and without blame before him,] which immediately follows these words of my Text, According as he hath chosen us in him before the Foundation of the World.  
In which words are these two general parts.  
First, God's Eternal Decree of Election [He hath chosen us before the Foundation of the World.]  
Secondly, The Author, the Procurer of this Decree, namely Christ, [He hath chosen us in him] in or through Christ:  
First on the  
First, Or Gods Eternal Decree of Election [He hath chosen us before the Foundation of the World] for the better understanding whereof, 'tis necessary to acquaint you with a threefold acceptation of this word [Election.]  
First, It imports some special Dignation and Favour, or a special separation of some persons, to any particular Office or Function: in which sense, Luke 6.13. Christ is said to have chosen twelve, whom he named Apostles: Or else it implies some eminent Prerogative, and Dignity, given to one above another, without any intention of excluding the person, that is not so Dignified, from Eternal Salvation; and in this sense I take those words, Rom. 9.11. that the purpose of God according to Election might stand; where the word [Election] signifies a special separation of Jacob, to an eminency and Prerogative above Esau; because God had said verse 12. The Elder shall serve the Younger; and verse 13. Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated, but this is not the sense that the Text here speaks.  
Secondly, The word, Election, or Choosing, imports a peremptory Decree of Election to Eternal Life: and in this notion 'tis most frequently taken by Divines; but the word [Chosen] in the Text will neither admit of this sense; but imports rather  
Thirdly, An Election to Evangelical Grace, or Gods free and undeserved Mercy, in Decreeing to bestow Christ upon all, as the most Effectual means to engage men to Holiness of Life; that is, by what Christ hath done and suffered, for Gentiles as well as Jews, to call and bring home sinners of all sorts to Repentance; and this farther appears from the ninth and tenth verses of the chapter of my Text, where, the Mystery of his will according to his own good pleasure (which is all one with his choosing us, here in the Text) is specified to be, the gathering of all things, both Jews and Gentiles together in Christ: and this is the Subject of the second chapter, and of a great part of this Epistle.  
Now that these words [He hath chosen] imply only an Election to Evangelical Grace, and not any Absolute Decree of Election to Eternal Glory; I shall further evince and manifest to you, by these following reasons and arguments;  
First, Because God hath declared in Scripture, that those, who believe in Christ, and persevere in that Faith, shall be saved; and that such, as will not believe in Christ, nor persevere in that Faith, shall be Damned; Which declaration of his is inconsistent with any such Absolute Decree.  
Now the Adequate Objects of the Divine and Peremptory Election to Eternal Glory, are All, and only Such, who believe in Christ, and persevere and die in that Faith: and the Objects of Reprobation are such, and only such, who either believe not, or persevere not in their Faith: John 3.36. He that believeth on the son, hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him: and John 6.40. This is the will of him that sent me, that every one, which believeth on the son, may have everlasting life. And as the objects of the Divine Election are such as believe, so are they also such as persevere in that Faith, Matth. 24.13. He that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved, and the first Epistle of John 2.24. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the son, and in the father; i. e. you shall continue in the favour of God. From which places of Scripture it is clear and eminent, that when any mention is made of Gods Will and Decree, either of saving or damning any; no other Will or Decree, of his is meant, but only that, whereby he will save Believers, and damn all Unbelievers.  
Secondly, No Absolute Decree can be inferred either from this, or any other Text of Scripture; because thereby we should destroy the nature of Grace and Virtue; which are nothing else, but an Habitual Power and ability in the rational Soul of man, to bear all sensible pain and loss, and forbear all sensible pleasure and profit, out of love to Reason, and the Divine Law: this excellent power and ability of the Soul, as far as 'tis natural, or acquired by our own acts and endeavours, is of moral Consideration; but as it is supernaturally wrought in the Soul, or infused into it by the Spirit of God, so far it concerns Theology, and is above the sphere of morality; but because Grace is confessed by all to be the perfection of Nature; and acquired and infused virtue are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or inconsistent; I have thrust them into one definition, in which Divines and Philosophers both agree: Now if we were determined irresistibly either to Vice or Virtue, by any peremptory Decree of the Almighties; this definition of Grace or Virtue, would be a vain and useless notion; and all the Divines and Philosophers, that have been since the Creation, would have been great Cheats and Impostors: and all the excellent Discourses to incite men to Virtue, or deter them from Vice, which they have penned with such admirable Reason and Rhetoric, would be but idle and unprofitable Harangues; and as insignificant to the impotent race and nature of men, as the practical Rules of Dancing to a Cripple, or a Metaphysical Lecture to a natural Fool: to which I may also superadd, that Virtue and Vice would be dashed together and confounded, were our Actions the result of necessity, occasioned by any such Decree; for as Justin Martyr saith very well, 
(a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  If it be fatally Decreed, that one should be good, another bad, the one cannot be approved or accepted, nor the other blamed or censured: Now if any such Absolute Decrce should be supposed to be passed in favour of any; we must either Assert, that God Decrees to Save them, be they never so lewd and dissolute, which is contrary to the whole Tenor of the Gospel; or else that God does irresistibly determine them to the use of such means, as must necessarily bring them to heaven; which would make men utterly uncapable either of Reward or Punishment; for as Clemens Alexandrinus hath truly told us, 
(b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  Neither Rewards, nor Punishments are just, if the Soul hath not a free Power both to embrace and refuse evil. Neither is it possible any man should repent of doing what he could not but do, or of omitting to do, what was never in his power to effect, no more than that he cannot fly like a Bird, or move like an Angel: I must indeed confess, that it is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure, Phil. 2.13. but this is so far from taking away our power, that 'tis brought as a reason by St. Paul, why we should work out our Salvation, spoken of in the twelfth verse: God does indeed work it in us; but how? By giving us the knowledge of his promises, by exciting and strengthening us by his Spirit: He works it who supplies us with all sufficient means to work it; he does it, but not without us, not whilst we lie like men asleep, or like dead men in their graves: God works the Ability to Act, but not the Act itself; for if he did, it would be his Act, not Ours; much less does he work it forcibly, and irresistibly;  
And though by his primitive and natural will, he would have all men happy; happiness having been the very end of their Creation; and though he forbids sin, and detests it, as contrary to his Essential Goodness; yet he may justly permit it; and the will of man may have in itself a power for natural and sinful actions: it may resist God's grace, it may obstruct its workings and operations, it may receive the grace of God in vain; and Heb. 10.29. Do despite to the Spirit of Grace, and Judas 4. abuse and turn the grace of God into wantonness: I shall conclude this particular, with those words of St. Cyril of Jerusalem 
(a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  It is God's part to bestow Grace, but it is your parts (as ye are men) to receive and keep it.  
Thirdly, No Absolute Decree of Election can be supposed to be made by God, because he hath granted the will of man a Patent for Freedom; which freedom is incompatible with any such Decree. We are not drawn by secret and invisible wires, but move voluntarily, and from a principle within; we are not hurried by external accidents, but steer our own course; we are free Agents, and God made us so when he made us men; and our actions are voluntary, not necessary, 
(b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  Goodness (saith St. Basil) is the work of our will and choice, not of necessity; if it could be wrought in us against our will, it could not be Goodness or Virtue: They who would have been wiser than God, and seemed to murmur, that in their natural Constitution there was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a necessity of being good, and an impossibility of being evil, did (as St. Basil tells them) 
(c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  neither love goodness, nor hate wickedness; and that in this vain desire, to raise man to that pitch, which nothing but fancy could set up, they much dishonoured him; and that in seeking to make him more than an Angel, they made him less than a man.  
God made man after his own image, endued him with a reasonable Soul, having the use of Understanding, and freedom of will; he gave him power to consider, and deliberate, to consult and choose, whereby he was made master of himself, and Lord of his own actions: for if God should force the will of man, it were (in effect) a destroying the nature of his Creature, which the grace of God was never designed for, but rather to strengthen and assist it. We read indeed of infused Habits; and what then? Though we should, as we may, grant that good habits are infused to us, yet they are not infused without our own concurrence: they are poured into us, not as water into a cistern, but as into living Vessels, fitted and prepared for them; for if they were infused into us without our own aid or help, without our preparing ourselves for their reception, they could never be lost.  
God only uses such means to save us, as are necessary for one, who is to deal with rational Creatures, and such as he intends either to reward or punish: He makes use of his Calls, his Promises, his Threaten, his Judgements, his Grace Preventing, Exciting, and Assisting; in a word, he uses all means but violence and coaction: If we were under the ties and restraints of necessity, or were overpowr'd by some secret irresistible Cause, we should not be so much Agents, as Patients, and be the objects of Compassion, rather than of censures or Penal Inflictions: from whence Porphiry was wont to say, 
(a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  He that is moved by Force and Compulsion, is no less where he was, than if he had not been moved at all; for whatsoever alteration in appearance may for the present be made by Necessity and Violence, when the Compulsion is taken off, every thing returns to its first natural state: But without peradventure in all moral Accounts, Man is to be supposed to be in that State, in which his own choice did first place him, and in which he would still have been, had not violence removed him: So that Seneca was in the right, when he said 
(b) Magnum humanae imbecillitatis patrocinium necessitas, Quae quicquid cogit excusat.  Necessity is the great Sanctuary of humane Infirmity, which excuses all its Acts of Compulsion.  
God hath placed before every man Good and Evil, that he 
(c)  bonum non necessitate obiret, sed voluntate.  might do good, not out of Necessity, but willingly, saith St. Cyprian; for 'tis no Commendation not to commit that Evil, which we had not the Power to Act, 
(d) Nulla laus est non facere quod non potes.  saith Lactantius: Will you say a Lion is a Lamb, when he is within the Grates? Will you call an Eunuch chaste? Or a man in fetters patiented? Was Bajazet no Tyrant when he was in the Iron Cage?  
In this consists our Obedience, that we many times do That which is contrary to our own inclinations; but that we always do That, which if we would, we might not have done: For 'tis impossible for any finite Creature, who hath not his compleatness and perfection within himself; to purchase Heaven upon other terms than these, that he might have lost it: St. Augustin, that great Champion for the grace of God, saith, 
(d) Homo potest peccare, & Deum negare, sed si nolit non facit.  A man may Sin, and deny God, but he doth not unless he will: in a word, God Commands Obedience, but doth not Force it. In fine, if any shall be so irrational, as to maintain the Necessity of sinning, they run into that absurd paradox of the Stoics, and place all sins upon the same level of equality, equalizing the smallest frailties and infirmities of humane Nature to the most horrid and flagitious crimes; they multiply sins at a strange rate, but withal lighten the weight, and extenuate the guilt of sin, allow it to be only a Notion, and instruct men to entertain slight thoughts of it; For prevention whereof it will be necessary to acquaint you, that all the Providences of God, how apt soever they are, in their own Nature, to affect the Spirits, and awaken the Consciences of men; yet being intended by God only as motives, persuasives, and convictions; and not designed as instruments of violence to force the Soul, leave men still in the Natural Liberty of their wills; and work in such manner, as is fit for a reasonable Soul, not leading it in chains, nor dragging it by Violence like a Slave. And St. Cyril of Jerusalem speaks the same sense; 
(a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  God is prone to Beneficence and Mercy, but yet he expects that the will of every man should accompany his Grace and Goodness, by making a good Choice, and this is rendered as the reason of men's being rejected by God, Prov. 1.29. Because they did not choose the fear of the Lord: Sin, as St. Cyril of Jerusalem affirms, is 
(b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  An Evil, but Voluntary, Branch, that grows from free will; and that we sin voluntarily, the Prophet tells us, Jer. 2.21. I had planted thee a noble Vine, wholly a right seed, how then art thou turned into a degenerate plant of a strange Vine unto me? Upon which words the forenamed Father makes this Descant; 
(c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc.  The plantation was good, the fruit evil, and that evil was chosen, he that planted it therefore is not culpable, because it was planted to a good end, though wilfully it brought forth bad fruit: for, as the Royal Preacher saith, Eccles. 7.29. God made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions; so that you see plainly, man is so set in the Horizon, either of Happiness, or Misery, that he may betake himself to which of the two he pleases, and make himself either a Saint of Heaven, or a Fiend of Hell, either an Angel, or a Devil. God would not limit his happiness, he left him power to increase it, to polish and beautify himself; or if he refuse it, he gives him liberty to ruin himself; according to that of the Prophet, Hos. 13.9. O Israel thou hast destroyed thyself.  
Fourthly, No Absolute Decree of Election can ever be supposed to have been made by God, because Christ died for all; which could not be said, if there were any such Decree, only to choose some few persons to Eternal Life, and exclude all others: Now that Christ died for all, is clear and evident, from 1 Tim. 2.5, 6. For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and Men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for All, and (as it is in the 4th. verse of that chapter) will have all men to be saved; the force of which words the Contra-Remonstrants endeavour to avoid, by telling us, that the word [All] is to be taken there, not Pro singulis generum, sed pro generibus singulorum; not for all of every kind, but for some few only of every sort and nation; which distinction of theirs cuts the sinews of the Apostles Exhortation, and enervates the strength of his reasoning: For these words of his [who will have all men to be saved] are used by St. Paul as an Argument, why Prayers and Supplications are to be made, not only for Kings, and all that are in Authority, verse 2. but also for All Men, verse 1, and that because God will have all men to be Saved: Now if these words [All Men] were to be understood of some few only of every sort and Nation, the Scripture might have said with far more reason, that God will have All Men to be damned; since that of every Nation and Condition, (according to the Contra-Remonstrants) the number of the damned does far exceed the number of the saved; and reason requires, that the Denomination should be taken from the Major part. Our safest position than concerning Christ's death and satisfaction, is this, that he died for All: For those that Perish, as well as for those that Perish not; Luk. 19.10. For all that were lost: That Christ died for the Elect, the Contra-Remonstrants themselves will grant; and that he died also for Castaways, and those that Perish, is clear and evident from 1 Cor. 8.11. where the Apostle tells us, that unless we temper our Christian Liberty with prudent Charity, 'tis possible that through our knowledge a weak Brother may perish for whom Christ died: One for whom Christ died (if St. Paul speaks truth) may perish, and be a castaway; and the words in the following twelfth verse do more strongly confirm this Truth; where the Apostle saith, when ye sin so against the Brethren, and wound their weak Consciences, ye sin against Christ, to whom they were so dear, that he was willing to die for their Salvation; and that therefore we sin against Christ himself, whilst by our imprudent use of our Christian Liberty, we rob him of any of those, whom he Redeemed, not with Corruptible things as Silver and Gold but his most precious Blood. 1 Peter 1.18. Christ tasted Death for every man? for the ungodly; Romans 5.6. In due time Christ died for the ungodly? for the unjust, 1 Pet. 3.18. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. Christ died for Judas as well as Peter, as Judas and Peter were both sinners, quoad Impetrationem Reconciliationis, as to the Impetration of Reconciliation, which was obtained for All, promiscuously, and without distinction, as Sinners: But only the Faithful, Penitent, and Obedient, are concerned in the Fruits, and good Effects, of this Reconciliation; of which Judas could not participate, because through his own default, he was an Infidel, an Unbeliever: The Death of Christ was not as Beneficial to Judas, as to Peter; because Judas superadded a new Infidelity to his former sins, which Peter did not.  
Christ hath purchased Salvation for as many as will believe it; He shed as much Blood for Judas as for Peter. Peter Believed, and Repent and was therefore saved; Judas would not believe, and was therefore condemned.  
And now let me remove one Objection of the Contra-Remonstrants against the universality of Christ's satisfaction, and I will conclude this particular.  
They Object,  
That the Death of Christ is, in itself, a sufficient ransom for the whole World, if we look upon the intrinsic worth and value of it; but that God's Decree, and Christ's intention was, that a few persons only should receive the benefit of it.  
What is this better, than to cast a Reflection upon God's Justice, and blemish his Goodness? For, if God (after he hath declared in Scripture, that 1 John 2.2. Christ is the propitiation for the Sins of the whole World) should secretly Resolve and Decree, not to extend the benefits of his Death to one half of it, but confine them only to some few Select Persons; we might justly impeach his Truth and Sincerity, question his Justice, and say Gen. 18.25. Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do right? If the Death of Christ were sufficient for All, and yet All were not redeemed by it; the impediment must be either in God, who will not accept this ransom, or in Christ that offers it; there being no impediment in those, for whom 'tis offered; which, if any, must be their sins: but they can be no impediment, because the Ransom was paid to take away sin, according to that of John 1.29. Behold the Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the World; therefore the impediment must be in God; who will not allow that Christ's death should be sufficient for all; and so God's Secret Will must be repugnant to his Revealed Will in Scripture; which but to imagine, is to abuse his Sincerity and Justice; and make him like the Inhabitants of Biscay; who, when any of the Spanish Kings come into the Frontiers of their Country, customarily proffer him some few small pieces of Brass, called Maravedis; but tell him withal, that he must not take them: So these men make God offer the Blood of his Son to all mankind for their Redemption; but then they say his secret Will and Decree is, that they shall not All take or receive, the benefit of it. And what is this better than to make God injure his own Justice, and trapan and mock his poor Creatures?  
You see then there can be no impediment in God; and as not in him, so neither in Christ, that offers this Ransom: For if, as the Calvinists affirm, the sufficiency of the Ransom were, in itself, the Cause, that that might be rightly said to be given for All, which is only given for some few, because in itself it was sufficient for All, though God would not allow, that All should enjoy the benefit of that sufficiency; then Christ might be said to have died, even for Infidels, and Unbelievers, as such; because the price of Christ's blood, if considered in itself, in its own worth and value, is sufficient even for the Redemption of these; when yet, according to Gods revealed will in Scripture, though Christ obtained Reconciliation for all, the benefit thereof accrues only to those, that Repent of their sins, and apply that Reconciliation to themselves in particular, by Faith and Obedience; and this brings me to the Fifth reason, Why no such Absolute Decree of Election, to Eternal Glory, can ever be supposed to be made by God;  
And that is,  
Fifthly, Because Christ, who died for All, shed forth his Blood, upon terms befitting Mercy and Justice, which could never have been, if there were any such Decree; and this invites me to take in the  
Second General Part in the Text; where we have the Author, and Procurer, of this Decree of Election, namely Christ; He hath chosen us in him, in Christ; Matthew 26.28. this, saith Christ, is my Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many, for the remission of sins; and this effusion was, upon terms befitting Mercy and Justice: For though God was mercifully affected towards man, yet out of respect to his Truth and Veracity, he would not allow his Mercy to save any, till his Justice was satisfied; and therefore he made Christ, who shed his blood for us, the Foundation of our Election; and that not in the sense of the Contra-Remonstrants; who tell us, that God first decreed the Salvation of some few Select persons, and then the giving of Christ, as a means to bring this Decree to pass; so that with them, God the Father is the Author of Our Election, Christ but the instrument or executor, whereas (if we will not derogate from the power of Christ) he is to be so held the Foundation of our Election, as to be the Author and Procurer thereof: Christ paid the large score of our sins by his precedent satisfaction, before God would choose any person to Life Eternal; not that God could not have acted otherwise, but that he might have some regard to his abused Justice, before he opened a door of Mercy: 'Tis true indeed, that his Will and desire, to save Sinners, went before either the Actual giving, or his Decree to give them a Saviour; for John 3.16. God is said to have loved the World, and out of his love to have given his Son: but That his Will, or Desire, was no peremptory Decree to save sinners; for then the whole satisfaction of Christ would have been vain and unprofitable; because there would have been no need of His being reconciled, who did before love peremptorily, and with so great a Love, as to confer eternal Life upon those, who were the Objects of it: so that Christ may be styled the Foundation of God's Decree of Election upon a double account.  
First, Because unless God's Decree of giving a Mediator had gone before, there had been no place for his Decree of saving them, who believe in this Mediator.  
Secondly, Because this Mediator satisfied the Divine Justice, which before obstructed God's being simply Reconciled to sinners; so that That satisfaction to God's Justice being first made, God resolved afterwards to carry on the whole business of our Salvation, by that very Mediator, by whom his Mercy and Justice were reconciled; by that Mediator, who Titus 2.14. Gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity. Now to what end did Christ bleed a whole Life for sinners, if God had before determined, that only some few select persons, tied fast to him by an Absolute Decree, should taste the benefits of his Death? Hear therefore what Clemens Romanus says in this case; let us consider how precious his blood is to God; which being shed for our Salvation, 
(a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  brought to the whole World the grace of Repentance: You see then, that whoever espouses the Doctrine, of an ABSOLUTE DECREE, seems to contract the beams of God's Love, and Philanthropy, which are universally diffused upon all, who do not (as that sullen Tree in India does it leaves against the beams of the Sun) wilfully close their eyes against them.  
There is no person now under Heaven, for whom Christ did not die; Christ's Death is no enclosure, no Monopoly for some few, it is common to All; His blood is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, an universal remedy for the sins of the whole World.  
I now come to the Uses that may be made of this whole Discourse; is it so that no Absolute Decree of Election can be inferred either from this or any other Text of Scripture? this then may serve,  
USE, I.  
First, To comfort those, who are under the dismal Apprehensions, that they are (by some secret Decree of Gods) made Reprobates to all Eternity, thereby they are sunk into the very gulf of Despair; which makes them fancy the terrors of the Divine vengeange set in Battle Array against them, and the Curses of the Law thundering out their sentence of condemnation: and the mouth of Hell gaping wide, to swallow them up and devour them: these frightful apprehensions do continually haunt them, like so many ghosts and Apparitions; and follow them, like their own shadows. To whom let me return this answer; that this their fear is groundless and unreasonable; and that it is only, either some sudden storm raised within them by the power and subtlety of the Devil; or else it is the result of their Melancholy, which is of a very impressive temper, and Poetic Nature; and is apt, like a dark room, to receive in the Images of Objects without, in very strange and monstrous Shapes and Representations; let them therefore be courageous, and rouse up their fainting and desponding Souls; for there is help at hand; there is an  Rock for them to Anchor upon, in the midst of these waves of despair, which will not suffer them to be quite overwhelmed by them; they have a Merciful and Loving Saviour, who by the sacrifice of himself hath purged away their sins, and delivered them from the curse of the Law, and the Wrath to come; and satisfied the Divine Justice, and obtained Reconciliation and pardon for them: O then if there be any consolation in Christ, let them raise up their drooping and dying Spirits! Let them not Die, only out of a fear and Apprehension that they must Die! Let them not determine and devote themselves to Death by a fatal Necessity! God hath passed no Absolute Decree of Reprobation against them, and why then should they Enact one against themselves? If they will be saved, they may; God affords them the helps of his Grace and Spirit; Let them not therefore shut the mouth of the bottomless pit upon themselves, nor (like contented Vassals) kiss their chains, and hug their fetters being their own Jailers. The door is open, they may come out, there is Light enough to guide them out, and all the darkness, they were in, shall vanish at the brightness, of God's Grace and Mercy, as a Mist before the Sun: Let them therefore roll away those Grave-stones, they have pulled upon themselves, by the strength of their fancy and imagination! Which they will be the better enabled to Do; if they will but consider, that they, who sincerely endeavour to please God, and keep his Commandments, have not the least ground from Scripture, to suspect any secret Decree of Gods, that shall cause their Ruin or Damnation: and whatever the secret Decrees of God are, concerning the Eternal state of men, they must not be made by them, the standard and rule, either of their Duty or Comfort: Let them not therefore search into God's secret Decrees, but his Revealed Laws; and since he hath given them rules of Life, which (upon the severest penalties) he requires them to Study and Practice: let them not turn aside from these, and make it their business to trace his Cabinet Counsels: let them not gaze at the Stars to read their destiny, and not look to, but disregard their feet, and by that negligence experiment the worst Fate, they could have portended; For, I think, we may say, our wild fancies about God's Decrees, have in event Reprobated and Damned more, than those Decrees, upon which they are so willing to charge their ruin. And as the thoughts of God's Absolute Decree of Reprobation should not drive men into despair, on the one hand; so neither should the thoughts of their being chosen by God's Absolute Decree of Election make them presumptuous on the other; and this brings me to my  
II. USE, or use of Reproof to those Predestinarians, who think they are so fast tied to God by his Absolute Decree of Election to Eternal Glory, and that they are such special Confidents and Favourites of Heaven, that all their sins shall not be able to separate them from the Love and Favour of God: they have, through the false perspective of presumption seen their names written indelibly in the Book of Life, and are therefore of opinion, that all their Provocations and Rebellions against Heaven, cannot disturb their Horoscope, nor reverse their fatal and destined bliss and happiness; and herein they resemble the Scholars oft Marcus in Irenaeus, who pretended, they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, naturally spiritual, and that they could be no more blemished or tainted, by all the sins and debaucheries in the World, than the Sunbeams can be profaned or sullied by a Dunghill: but let me tell those, who have espoused this dangerous Opinion; that continuance in sin, and God's favour, are inconsistent; that there is no Absolute Decree of the Almighty's will secure Heaven to them; their Holiness is the best security, that they can give, or God will take for it: This is the Tenor of the Gospel, and this is the sum of our Commission, that are the Preachers of it: We cannot give out Copies of God's Decrees, or give men an immediate Assurance of Heaven, but we must proceed, by a just inference from those Conditions, and Qualifications, which the Gospel expresses: We search not the Records of Heaven, but the Books of the Scripture; whereby Isa. 3.10, 11. We may say to the Righteous, that it shall be well with him; and to the wicked, that it shall be ill with him; which is the same sense with that St. Augustin spoke when he declaimed against the Fate and Necessity of the Stoics, 
(a) Deus Praedestinavit bonitati mercedem tribuere malum punire.  God hath Decreed to reward Goodness, and punish wickedness: If therefore you desire that Heaven and Happiness should make their approaches to you, make you your approaches to God in Holiness; Jam. 4.8. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. This is the standing Law of Heaven, and God will not recede one jota or tittle from it: For, it is not because our Brains are filled with a strong Conceit of God's Eternal Love to us, or because we swell into a mighty bulk with airy fancies and presumptions of our Election, that we become the more dear and acceptable to God; unless our sins sink, as our Hopes keep up, unless our sins Ebb as much as our Hopes do flow: It is not a pertinacious imagination, of our Names being enroled in the Book of Life, or of the Debt-books of Heaven being crossed, that can Entitle us to Heaven; Nor will the fancying our sins washed away with the blood of Christ, whilst the foul stains thereof remain in our Souls, make us ever the Cleaner; he who thinks, that God is so certainly espoused to his soul, as to be bound to take it for better, for worse, being far from the Kingdom of God: To which Kingdom that we may All at length arrive, God preserve us all from this fatal and dangerous Opinion, either of Absolute and Peremptory Election, or Reprobation; and this we beg of him for the sake of that Mediator, whose Blood was a Propitiation for the sins of the Whole World; to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be all Honour, and Glory, and Praise.  
FINIS.   

Three Sermons lately published by the same Author and sold by Ben. Billingsley.  
1 A Sermon Preached before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen of the City of London at Guildhall.  
2 The necessity of Receiving the Holy Sacrament, declared in a Sermon at a Conference of the several Ministers of the Deanery of Braughin, in the County of Hertford, appointed by the Right Reverend Father in God Henry Lord Bishop of London to be held at Ware.  
3. The great Excellency and Usefulness and Necessity of humane Learning, declared in a Sermon preached before the University, at Great St. Mary's Church in Cambridge, Aug. the 7th. 1681.  
As also another by an Ingenious Author.  
The Italian Ship or Paul's Transportation to Rome a Discourse on Acts the 27 and 15 made on March the 20th. 1681. by Will. Ramsey B. D. and then Lecturer in Isleworth in Middlesex.