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they are, plainly beholds and views the state and temper of this apostate world; and let men pretend what they will, he knows their hearts; he knows they do not love him, nor care for him: he sees all their hypocrisy, and their inward contrariety to him and his law, and how much they are settled in their temper; so far from repentance, that they will not so much as see their sin, but stand to justify themselves, insensible of their guilt, and insensible of their desert, hating the light. He sees they hate to perceive their sin, and guilt, and desert, and to be humbled, and lie down at his foot, and be absolutely beholden to him; and that they would make the utmost resistance if he should take them in hand, and go about thoroughly to convince them, by his spirit, how things really are. Thus he views his apostate, rebellious creatures, and sees how sinful, how dead in sin, how contrary to all good, and how irreclaimable they are, and, upon the whole, how much they deserve eternal damnation. In the days of eternity, he saw just how things would be beforehand ; and now, in time, he sees just how things actually are. In the days of eternity, therefore, he saw that there would not be any thing in them to move him to have mercy on any; and now, in time, he finds it to be the case: and yet he was pleased, then, of his mere sovereign pleasure, to determine not to cast off all, but to save some: so, now, he is pleased to put his sovereign pleasure in execution; and he has mercy on whom he will have mercy, and compassion on whom he will have compassion, and many times takes the meanest and vilest, that the sovereignty of his grace might be the more illustrious, and the pride of all flesh might be brought low, and the Lord alone be exalted. And surely such a conduct infinitely well becomes the supreme Governor of the whole world.

Indeed, if any of Adam's race were so well disposed, as, of their own accord, merely upon reading the Bible, hearing the gospel preached, and enjoying the common means of grace, to believe and repent, and to return home to God through Jesus Christ, they might be accepted, pardoned, and saved : nor would there be any room for, or need of sovereign grace. But God, who knows the hearts of all, sees that all the pretences of sinners that way are but mere hypocrisy, and that at heart

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they are his enemies, and utterly opposed to a return. there was any virtue to be found among any of the fallen race of Adam, antecedent to God's grace, this might move him to have mercy upon one, rather than another. But he sees that all are entirely destitute of love to him, and entirely at enmity against him, wholly void of real goodness, and dead in sin, and that the only reason why some are not so outwardly extravagant and vicious as others, is, because he has, by one means and another, restrained them, and not because they are really better. And while God thus beholds all alike dead in sin, and, in the temper of their hearts, by nature equally averse to a return to him, and views all as guilty and helldeserving, there is nothing, there can be nothing, to move him to determine to show mercy to one, rather than another, but his own good pleasure; and therefore he has mercy on whom he will have mercy: he awakens, convinces, humbles, converts whom he pleases, and leaves the rest to follow their own inclinations, and take their own course, enduring, with much long-suffering, the vessels of wrath.

Let it be here noted, that many of those warm disputes about the doctrine of divine sovereignty, which have filled the christian world, turn very much upon this point. All are agreed, that whosoever believes, repents, and returns to God, through Jesus Christ, shall be saved. All will, therefore, yield that if mankind in general, were so well disposed as to return to God, through Jesus Christ, of their own accord, upon the calls and invitations of the gospel, and only by the influence and help of those advantages which are common, then all might be saved; nor would there be any need of, or room for, this sovereign, distinguishing grace. But if mankind have none of this disposition, but are every way diametrically opposite thereto; if all the calls of the gospel, and common means and methods of grace will have no effectual influence upon them; if nothing but an almighty, all-conquering grace can stop them in their course of rebellion, subdue their lusts, and recover them to God; if this be the case of all mankind, then it is plain that nothing but the mere mercy of God can interpose and prevent an universal ruin. And it is plain, that the sovereign Governor of the whole world is, in the nature of things, at most perfect

liberty to show this mercy to none, or to some few, or to all, just as it seems good in his sight: and since, from eternity, he foresaw just how things would be, from eternity he might determine what to do. So that the great question is, Whether mankind are naturally so entirely averse to a true conversion? For if they are, the reasonableness of the divine sovereignty must be admitted in this case; and if they are not, none will any longer plead for it: and what the natural opposition of mankind to conversion is, may be easily seen, if we consider what the true nature of conversion is, and compare their temper herewith. And what the true nature of conversion is, may be easily known by considering the true nature of the moral law. In a word, if the law does only require what the Arminians and Pelagians suppose, and religion be just such a thing, it is a plain case that mankind are not so bad, nor do they need such an irresistible grace. But if the law requires quite another sort of holiness, and so true religion be quite another sort of thing, even such as I have described, which lies so diametrically opposite to the natural bent and bias of our whole souls, it is a clear case that grace must be irresistible, and can proceed from nothing but mere free mercy, nor result from any thing but the sovereign pleasure of the most High. So that, in short, the whole dispute is resolved into this question: What does the law of God require, and wherein does a genuine conformity thereto consist? But of this more afterwards.

And from what has been said, we may easily gather a plain and short answer to all the mighty cry about promises, promises to the unconverted, if they will do as well as they can; for it is plain, heaven's gates stand wide open to all that believe and repent, and return to God, through Jesus Christ. John iii. 16. And it is plain, the wrath of God is revealed against all who do not do this. John iii. 36. And it is plain that there is nothing but the want of a good temper, together with the obstinate perverseness of sinners, that hinders their return to God; and that, therefore, all their pretences of being willing to do as well as they can, are mere hypocrisy. They are so unwilling to return to God, or take one step that way, that they can be brought back by nothing short of an almighty

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power; and are so far, therefore, from being entitled to the promises of the gospel, that they are actually, and that deservedly too, under condemnation by the gospel, (John iii. 18.) and under all the curses of the law. Gal. iii. 10.

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heed, therefore, O sinner, thou enemy of God, when you pretend that you desire to repent and do as well as you can, that you be not found quieting yourself in a state of estrangement from God, hiding your natural aversion to God and holiness under fair pretences. And know it, if you do, though you may deceive yourself by the means, yet it will appear, another day, before all worlds, and it will be known that you were an enemy to God, and would not be reconciled, and did but flatter him with your lips, and lie unto him with your tongue, in all your seemingly devout pretences. You think yourself good enough to have an interest in the promises, but infinite goodness judges you deserve to be numbered among the children of wrath and heirs of hell. John iii. 18. 36. Your high conceit of your own goodness is the foundation of all your confidence, and both join to keep you secure in sin and under guilt, and insensible of your need of Christ and sovereign grace." Luke v. 81. Rom. x. 3. Did sinners but see the badness of their hearts, they would be soon convinced that the promises are not theirs, but the threatenings; and would feel and know that they have no claims to make, but lie absolutely at mercy. Luke xviii. 13.

9. And if it is nothing but the mere grace and sovereign good pleasure of God, which moves him to stop sinners in their career to hell, and by his irresistible and all-conquering grace, and by the supernatural influences of his Holy Spirit, subdue their stubbornness, take down the power of sin in their hearts, and recover them to himself: and if he does this for them, when they are at enmity against him, and are his open enemies by wicked works, and so are altogether deserving his wrath and vengeance; I say, if this be the case, there is all reason to think that he who thus begins, will carry on the work to perfection. He knew how bad the sinner was when he first took him in hand; how he hated to be converted, and how he would resist, and that his own almighty arm must bring salvation; and yet this did not discourage his first undertaking. And he knew how the sinner would prove after conversion; just how barren and unfruitful; just how perverse and rebellious, and just how apt to forget God and turn away from him, and that his own almighty grace must always be working in him to will and to do. Phil. ii. 13. He knew all the discouraging circumstances beforehand, and his infinite goodness surinounted them all; and he had mercy on the poor sinner, because he would have mercy on him, of his mere good pleasure, from his boundless grace, aiming at the glory of his own great name. Eph. i. 6. And now, this being the case, we have all reason to think that God will never alter his hand, or leave unfinished the work which he has begun; for there always will be the same motive from which he undertook the work, to excite him to carry it on; even the infinite goodness of his nature; and he will be always under the same advantages to answer the end he at first proposed, namely, the advancement of the glory of his grace. And he will never meet with any unforeseen difficulties or discouragements in his way. We may, therefore, be pretty certain, if really God begins this work under such views and such circumstances, that it is with design to carry it on, as Samuel reasons in a parallel case, 1 Sam. xii. 22. For the Lord will not forsake his people for his great name's sake; because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people. So that if the doctrine of the saints' perseverance were not expressly taught in scripture, yet on this ground we might argue very strongly for it. But that this is a doctrine plainly revealed in the gospel, we may learn from Mat. xiii. 23. John iv. 14. x. 4, 5. 27, 28. 1 John iii. 6. 9. Heb. viii. 10, &c. When St. Paul kept under his body, and brought it into subjection, LEST he should be a cast-away, (1 Cor. ix. 27.) he did no otherwise than he was wont to do in temporal concerns, in cases wherein he was, beforehand, certain of the event. So he sent word to the chief Captain of the Jews, lying in wait to kill him, lest he should be murdered by them; although it was revealed to him from God, but the very night before, that he should live to see Rome. Acts xxiii. 12-21. So he would not allow the sailors to leave the ship in the midst of the storm, lest they should some of them be drowned for want of their help; although, but a little before,

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