unto sin, so we should always exercise the acts of repentance, and for ever seek the favour of God. This, then, is the comfort of the Gospel, that, as it discovereth sin within us, so it propoundeth a remedy unto us.

ARTICLE XVII.

Of Predestination and Election.a

PREDESTINATION to life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby (before the foundations of the world were laid b) he hath constantly decreed by his counsel,

a Predestination is with reason considered as one of the most abstruse doctrines of theology; and it has, in different ages of the Christian church, been the source of a great variety of controversies. These disputes have been chiefly upon points far beyond the capacity of men, and have tended but little to promote the true interests of Christianity. This article is drawn up with great caution and judgment: in the former part of it, which relates to the meaning of the terms Predestination and Election, the words of Scripture are chiefly used; and the latter part is obviously designed to guard against the evils and mischiefs which might arise from mistaken ideas upon these intricate subjects.

PREDESTINATION ACCORDING TO THE PURPOSE OF GOD.

b Eph. i. 4, 5." According as he hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will." And, Matt. xxv. 34. “Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." 2 Tim. i. 9. "Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to

secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation, as vessels made to honour. Wherefore they which be endued with so excellent a benefit of God, be called according to God's purpose, by his Spirit working in due season: They through grace obey the calling :f They be justified freely: They be made sons of God by adoption: They be made like the image of his only

our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."

THE PREDESTINATED DELIVERED FROM THE CURSE.

c Gal. iii. 13. "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us."

d 1 Peter i. 2. " Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ."

THE PREDESTINATED CALLED.

e Rom. viii. 30. "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." Rom. ix. 23. “The vessels of mercy which he had afore prepared unto glory."

THEIR OBEDIENCE.

f Psalm cx. 3. "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power." Acts xiii. 48. "As many as were ordained to eternal life, believed." Rom. vi. 17. "Ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you."

THEIR JUSTIFICATION.

g Rom. iii. 24. "Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Rom. viii. 30. "Whom he called, them he also justified."

begotten Son Jesus Christ: They walk religiously in good works, and at length, by God's mercy, they attain to everlasting felicity.'

As the godly consideration of predestination, and our election in Christ, is full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort to godly persons," and such as feel

THEIR ADOPTION AND PRIVILEGES.

h Gal. iv. 6, 7. "And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father,"

i Rom. viii. 29. "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."

Eph. ii. 10. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them." Titus ii. 14. "A peculiar people, zealous of good works."

1 Eph. i. 11. "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will.” 1 Pet. i. 3, 4, 5. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept, by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.

THEIR SALVATION.

Matt. xxv. 34. "Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." m Rom. v. 11. "We also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement." 1 Pet. i. 8. "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory."

q

in themselves the working of the Spirit of Christ," mortifying the works of the flesh, and their earthly members," and drawing up their mind to high and heavenly things, as well because it doth greatly establish and confirm their faith of eternal salvation, to be enjoyed through Christ, as because it doth fervently kindle their love towards God: So for curious and carnal persons, lacking the Spirit of Christ, to have continually before their eyes the sentence of God's predestination, is a most dangerous downfall," whereby

n Eph. iii. 20. "According to the power that worketh in us." • Rom. viii. 13. "If ye, through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live."

P Col. iii. 5. "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth."

a Philip. iii. 20. "Our conversation is in heaven." Col. iii. 1, 2. "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth."

Rom. viii. 33, 34, 35. 38, 39. "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?... I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

s 1 John iv. 19. "We love him because he first loved us." Jude 19. "These are sensual, having not the Spirit."

" The Latin word is præcipitium, (a precipice,) which seems better to describe the dangerous situation in which such per sons are placed.

the devil doth thrust them either into desperation, or into wretchlessness of unclean living, no less perilous

than desperation.

Furthermore, we must receive God's promises in such wise as they be generally set forth to us in Holy Scripture. And in our doings, that will of God is to

That is, carelessness.

THE PROMISES OF GOD TO BE RECEIVED.

Deut. xxix. 29. "Secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things that are revealed belong unto us, and to our children." Isa. lv. 7. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." Rev. xxii. 17. "Let him that is athirst come; and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Matt. xi. 28. "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Micah vi. 8. "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good: and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God."

z Luke x. 25, 26, 27, 28. “ And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? How readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live."

The first proposition in this article is our church's definition of what she means by "predestination to life." She says, first, it is "the everlasting purpose of God." Now every purpose of God is everlasting; because God from all eternity knew all contingent events, and was resolved concerning them either to permit or to prevent them. Secondly, by this purpose he “constantly decreed," for inconstancy is impossible in God. Thirdly,