dwells in me, never finally to leave me till his good work of grace begun in my soul in effectual calling, be completely perfected, despair of mercy and salvation, as the devil, wicked men, and my own carnal reason would have me do? I can by no means do it.'

Fourthly, 'Shall I, who have all the sweet and precious promises of the gospel, of God's love and grace to comfort and assure me, that God, Christ, and the blessed Spirit, will never, never fail or forsake me, despair of mercy and salvation as mine enemies would persuade me to do? I cannot do it.'

Lastly, 'Shall I, who have the divine providence engaged for me, to uphold me, to purge out the remains of indwelling sin in me, and to forward me in conforming to my mystical head, Christ, in holiness, despair of mercy and salvation as my enemies would have me? I cannot do it.' This is the use which a true believer makes of the doctrine of God's election before time, while faith in the believer is in its right exercise; none will stumble at it, so as eternally to perish, but such as are not, by that act of God's electing decree given to Christ before time, to be actually redeemed in time.

Secondly, The doctrine of free-will and general redemption, is a doctrine which encourageth to sin, and which necessarily leads to desperation. I shall offer two things to consideration for evincing and clearing up this for truth; the which I desire

the reader to weigh and consider without prejudice.

First, The use which all unregenerate men make of the doctrine of free-will, which sad experience teacheth, is this: I will turn to God by repentance; I will believe in an atoning Saviour; I will fall on the work of reformation, and thereby prevent my perishing by the deserved judgments of God, when I see my own time, and when I am thereto disposed. Who sees not, except one spiritually blind, how greatly this doctrine doth encourage to sin? For, saith my carnal reason, as often it hath while I was in a state of nature, if I do not return to God upon his call and invitation this day, this month, this year, I fully purpose and resolve to do it the next; for God hath implanted in my soul a principle of free-will whereby I am enabled to answer his call, by repenting, believing, and reforming; the which, when I do, though not at present, God will have mercy on me, and I shall be accepted, being secured by that general redemption provided for all who so repent, believe, and reform. Woeful and sad experience convinceth me, that many god-provoking follies and vanities of youth, in my heart and life, have been indulged by this deceiving cursed doctrine. Oh! how often hath carnal reason within me cried out, when the common notions of the Spirit of God hath touched my conscience, to call on me to convert and turn to God? I will repent, I will

convert, I will turn to God to-morrow, to-morrow: as Augustin confesseth of himself, he often put God off with his free-will, Cras, cras, to-morrow, tomorrow;' till at length he grew both ashamed and weary of his graceless to-morrow, crying out to the Almighty, in the very hour of his effectual conversion, Quam diu Domine clamabo cras, cras? Quare non hodie Domine, &c.-How long, O Lord, shall I cry to-morrow, to-morrow? Why, O Lord, should I not be converted this very day?'

And as an unregenerate man takes encouragement from this principle to go on in sin, so it leads him to desperation of this also my sad experience hath fully convinced me, as plainly appears by the near approach I made to hell, in my own apprehensions, while I bordered so near the confines of final desperation, finding in myself how vastly short my personal qualifications came of answering the law's demand, as a condition of life and salvation. I found that nothing could possibly quiet or satisfy my wounded despairing conscience, but what doth effectually appease and satisfy that Holy God, against whom I have so many thousands of times offended, which can be nothing short of an infinite righteousness; which righteousness can be had no where but in Christ God-Man, and no way to be had but in a way of believing, of which mystery my blind and perverted reason was as ignorant as a beast: and not only so, but my heart and soul

were zealously set against looking for life and salvation in any other way than that of free-will and general redemption.

This principle, so every way quadrating with my legal frame of heart, which was acted by no other principle but Do, and live.

Here it might not be amiss or unseasonable, for the relief and encouragement of a poor tempted soul, who, as touching this very point of election, may, by walking in darkness, having no light of comfort in his own spirit, to answer or resolve this needful question. How shall a poor, bewildered, tempted soul, come to know that itself in particular was elected of God before time?

To this question, about which many of God's called ones are not a little distressed in their own spirits, I shall answer in three particulars.

First, The way to know thou art elected before time, is to go about it in a right way or manner. By this I mean, thou art not to attempt to pry into the secret counsels of the Most High concerning this matter, knowing that secret things belong to God, and to none else, until he pleaseth to reveal them, Deut. xxix. 29. Therefore, in order to know this mystery to thy comfort, do as thou wouldest do, if thou wert to bring both ends of a bottom of thread or yarn to meet together; the way is not to begin at that end which is hid in the very centre of the bottom, but to take the end which is outmost and next to thee, and by thus doing thou wilt soon bring both ends to meet; whereas, if

thou go about it in any other way, as by cutting or ravelling the bottom to hasten the work, thou wilt but fret and vex thyself, and which is worse thou wilt mar and spoil the work. Do not then attempt, as the devil and carnal reason would have thee, to climb up to heaven to inform thyself of this matter; God's work must be done in the way of his own appointment; which is, that thou begin first with thy own heart. See, examine, and search thy own soul, to find out whether his Holy Spirit hath ever been at work there. The cause must be known by its proper effects, not the effects by the cause, 2 Cor. xiii. 5. Gal. vi. 4. 2 Pet. i. 10.

Election, the thing thou wouldest fain be resolved about, is the cause (this is a secret in God's breast) which can be known by thee no other way, ordinarily, but by its effects, which are faith in thy heart, and obedience to Christ's commands in thy life and conversation. If the Spirit of God hath called thee to embrace and close with Christ, held forth in the gospel; and if the fruits of that thy closing with Christ do discover themselves in thy life and conversation, thou hast no ground or reason to question thy election, but what the devil and thy carnal reason suggest. Acts xiii. 48, "And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed." John x. 26, "But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. In the scriptures now quoted, election to eternal life is beld forth as the cause of faith; and faith, or be