persecution has not hindred it, but my grace has, and doth, and will reign, and with confirmation too, both ministerial, and by my spirit. Psalm ii. 6, Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Sion. The like we have in Ezek. xlvii. 7, Now when I had returned, behold, at the brink of the river, were very many trees on the one side and on the other. What did that fignify but this? that notwithstanding all their afflictions that they had suffered for their idolatry, and tho'

they

traction. If I add to any thing, it is from a supposal that that thing was not complete before; if I detract from it, it is supposed that that detraction renders it less perfect than it was before, but the knowledge of God being infinitely perfect, cannot consistently with that perfection, be either miscarried or lessened.

2d, That the will of God is fluctuating, mutable, and unsteady; consequently that God himself is so, his will coinciding with his essence, is contrary to the avowed assurances of scripture, and the strongest dictates of reason.

The absolute will of God is the original spring and efficient cause of his people's salvation. I say the original and efficient; for, sensu complexus, there are other intermediate causes of their salvation, which however all result from, and are subservient to, this primary one, the will of God.

Such

they were utterly unworthy of any mercy, by virtue of their own covenant, or being the seed of Abraham, yet he would perform his covenant with his Son, and make his grace appear in restoring of them; and not only so, but he would make this grace of his, or promise, run amongst the heathen in the New Testament time, according as it was signified by that river in the garden of Eden, which divided itself into four parts or heads, with the tree of life.

First.

Such are his everlasting choice of them, to eternal life, the eternal covenant of grace entered into by the Trinity, in behalf of the elect, &c..

Since this absolute will of God is both immutable and omnipotent, we infer, that the salvation of every one of the elect is most infallibly certain, and can by no means be prevented, &c.)

God is essentially unchangeable in himself, were he otherwise he would be confessedly imperfect; since whatever changes must change for the better or for the worse; whatever alteration any thing undergoes, that being must, ipso facto, either become more excellent than it was, or loose some of the excellency which it had, but neither of these can be the case with the Deity, he cannot change for the better, for that would necessarily imply, that he was not perfectly good before; he cannot change for the worse, for then he could

First. To signify that his grace should go into the four parts of the world.

Secondly. That this grace should be by virtue of a covenant like that of Adam's for form and matter, confirmed by a seal of life, notwithstanding all that the devil, or the world, or the elect themselves could do. I think I have the mind So that in the Revelations

of Christ in the text. does but prove, that God has and will perform his promise of grace, notwithstanding all the op

position

not be perfectly good after that change. Ergo, God is unchangeable, and this is the uniform voice of scripture: Mal. iii. 6, I am the Lord, I change not. James i. 17, With him is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Psalm cii. 27, Thou art the same, and thy years have no end.

God is likewise absolutely unchangeable with regard to his purposes and promises: Num. xxiii. 19, God is not a man that he should lie; neither the son of man that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? 1 Sam. xv. 29, The strength of Israel will not lie nor repent, for he is not a man that he should repent. xxiii. 13, He is in one mind, and who can turn him? Ezek. xxiv. 14, I the Lord have spoken it, it shall come to pass, and I will do it, I will

Job

not

position that it has met withal from the Devil, from Antichrist, or from the elect themselves, for they no more can hinder it than they can hinder death; for there is no more acts of ours that can make the disobedience of one, or the obedience of the other ours, but the imputed act of God constituting them two heads over us. Was it our conditions, we might hinder it, the Devil might hinder it to reign, sin might hinder it: but no, the Devil is but a creature, the world is but a crea

ture,

not go back; neither will I spare, neither will I repent. Rom. xi. 29, The gifts and calling of God are without repentance. 2 Tim. xi. 13, He abideth faithful and cannot deny himself.

The decrees of God are not only immutable as. to himself, it being inconsistent with his nature to alter in his purposes, or change his mind, but that they are immutable likewise with respect to the objects of those decrees: so that, whatsoeverGod hath determined, concerning every individual person or thing, shall surely and infallibly be ac complished in and upon them. Hence we find that he actually sheweth mercy on whom he hath decreed to shew mercy, and hardeneth whom he resolved to harden, Rom. ix. 18. For his council shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure, Isaiah xlvi. Io. Consequently his eternal predestination of men and things must be immutable

ture, I myself am but a creature, and so not able to hinder it, for God has promised his Son, that he will be merciful to our unrighteousness, and our sins and iniquities he will remember no more, Sin can do nothing at it, for where sin hath abounded, grace hath much more abounded. If I should sin, as I shall (though not on purpose) all my life, he will outdo me, for he will outlive, and so will have the last word; and I will be merciful, he will conquer me. If I think to

weary

as himself, and so far from being reversible, can never admit of the least variation.

"Although God never swerves from his decree, yet he often varies in his declarations; that is always sure and immoveable; these are sometimes seemingly discordant, so when he gave sentence against the Ninivites, by Jonah, saying, Yet forty days and Niniveh shall be overthrown: the meaning of the words is, not that God absolutely intended, at the end of that space to destroy that city, but that should God deal with these people according to their deserts, they would be totally extirpated from the earth, and should be so extirpated unless they repented speedily. Likewise, when he told king Hezekiah, by the prophet Isaiah, Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live.. The meaning was, that with respect to second causes, and considering the