BOOK 2. FROM ETERNITY.
CHAPTER 1.
2.1.7. The Purpose.
The Purpose.
Of the purpose of God concerning man's salvation before all worlds we read in scriptures, "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose," Rom. viii. 28. And it is said of Jacob and Esau, that "being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand," Rom. ix. 11. And, "in Christ we are said to obtain an inheritance, being predestinate according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will," Eph. i. 11. And elsewhere the apostle speaks of, "the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose, which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord," Eph. iii. 11. And again, "He hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus, before the world began," 2 Tim. i. 9. All these hold forth this truth, That God purposed in himself from all eternity to bring them, whom he foreknew, to life and to salvation. This purpose of God, in order of nature, comes before predestination, in that we are said to "be predestinate according to his purpose," Eph. i. 11. And yet it must needs follow after his foreknowledge and counsel: for, first, he loves before he will purpose, "And every purpose is established by counsel." Yea, "without counsel purposes (saith the wise man) are disappointed," Prov. xxx. 18. and xv. 22. Why then, first he counsels (I speak after the manner of men) and then he foreknows, i.e. either he knows whom he will choose, for God doth not blindly choose he knows not whom, or else he sets his love to life on some, he knows them with a knowledge of approbation, and then he settles a purpose to bring them to life, whom he so foreknows, in that especial and unspeakable way.
This purpose of God speaks our stability and certainty of salvation in Christ; when God once purposeth, it is past altering; "Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass, and as I have purposed (saith God) so shall it stand." You may write upon it, that God's purposes are immutable. Would not Paul lightly alter purposes taken up by him; "When I was therefore thus minded (saith he) did I use lightness? Or the thing that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be yea, yea, and nay, nay?" Would not Paul (I say) alter his purpose? And will God, think you, alter his? Methinks this word speaks to me, as if I heard God say from all eternity, "It is my purpose to save a remnant of mankind, though all are lost by sin, yet my wisdom hath found out a way to choose cut some, and though those some, those few that I have purposed to save, stand in very slippery places, yet I will be the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever," Heb. xiii. 8. I foresee indeed many thousands of failings and exasperations, to alter the purpose that I have towards my people, I foresee their daily provocations of my justice, I foresee their many lusts within, and their many enemies without, I foresee that grace inherent, I will give them to be as mutable in all the progeny, as in their father Adam; and if I leave them in the hands of their own counsel, they cannot but depart daily from me, even as water, though it could be made as hot as fire, yet being left unto itself, it will quickly reduce, and work itself to its own original coldness again; I foresee them in their best condition, at full sea, at their highest tide of grace, to be as changeable and moveable several ways, as wheels; to be as perplexed, hindered and distracted in themselves, as cross wheels in one another; grace swaying one way, and flesh another way, and what stability can I think in such? Why yet (says God) yet I purpose to bring this little flock to heaven, my purpose is in, and from myself, and I am God, and not man, and therefore I cannot repent, nor call in the purpose which now I have. Have I said, and shall not I do it? Have I spoken, and shall I not make it good? Numb, xxiii. 10. Yes, yes, my purposes must stand, and for this purpose I will set my Son betwixt my people and myself, so that if they sin, I will look on him, and by that means, I will see no iniquity in Jacob, nor transgression in Israel, Numb, xxiii. 21. And for this purpose, I will join to the wheels the living creatures, that when the living creatures go, the wheels shall go, and when the living creatures stand they shall stand; and when the living creatures are lifted up from the earth, the wheels shall be lifted up against them, for the spirit of the living creatures shall be in the wheels, Ezek. i. 21. My meaning is, that my saints shall not have their stability from themselves, for they are like wheels, but they shall have it from me, and from my Son, unto whom, by the same Spirit of life, they shall be united. Thus may I imagine the Lord from all eternity to say, and speak, and purpose with himself; and surely his purposes must stand upon this account, "For the gifts and calling of God, are without repentance," Rom. xi. 29.