Of the Antiquity of Reprobation.
Having now proceeded so far as to shew you what reprobation
is, it will not be amiss if in this place I briefly shew you its
antiquity, even when it began its rise; the which you may gather
by these following particulars.
First, Reprobation is before the person cometh into the world,
or hath done good or evil: This is evident by that of Paul to the
Romans: 'For the children being not yet born, neither having done
any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand not of works, but of him that calleth; it was said unto
Rebecca, The elder shall serve the younger' (9:11). Here you find
twain in their mother's womb, and both receiving their destiny,
not only before they had done good or evil, but before they were
in a capacity to do it, they being yet unborn; their destiny,
I say, the one unto, the other not unto, the blessing of eternal
life; the one chose, the other refused; the one elect, the other
reprobate. The same also might be said of Ishmael and his brother
Isaac, both which did also receive their destiny before they came
into the world: for the promise that this Isaac should be the
heir, it was also before Ishmael was born, though he was elder by
fourteen years, or more, than his brother (Gen 15:4,5, 16:4,5,16,
17:25, 21:5). And it is yet further evident,
1. Because election is an act of grace; 'There is a remnant according
to the election of grace' (Rom 11:5). Which act of grace saw no
way so fit to discover its purity and independency, as by fastening
on the object before it came into the world; that being the state
in which at least no good were done, either to procure good from
God, or to eclipse and darken this precious act of grace. For
though it is true that no good thing that we have done before
conversion, can obtain the grace of election; yet the grace of
election then appeareth most, when it prevents[3] our doing good,
that we might be loved therefore: wherefore he saith again, 'That
the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of
works, but of him that calleth; it was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger' (Rom 9:11,12).
2. This is most agreeable to the nature of the promise of giving
seed to Abraham; which promise, as it was made before the child
was conceived, so it was fulfilled at the best time, for the
discovery of the act of grace, that could have been pitched upon:
At this time will I come (saith God) 'and Sarah shall have a son'
(Gen 18:14); which promise, because it carried in its bowels the
very grace of electing love, therefore it left out Ishmael, with
the children of Keturah: 'For in Isaac shall thy seed be called'
(Rom 4:16-19, 9:7).
3. This was the best and fittest way for the decrees to receive
sound bottom, even for God both to choose and refuse, before the
creature had done good or evil, and so before they came into the
world: 'That the purpose of God according to election might stand,'
saith he, therefore before the children were yet born, or had done
any good or evil, it was said unto her, &c. God's decree would for
ever want foundation, should it depend at all upon the goodness
and holiness either of men or angels; especially if it were to
stand upon that good that is wrought before conversion, yea, or
after conversion either. We find, by daily experience, how hard
and difficult it is, for even the holiest in the world, to bear
up and maintain their faith and love to God; yea, so hard, as not
at all to do it without continual supplies from heaven. How then
is it possible for any so to carry it before God, as to lay, by
this his holiness, a foundation for election, as to maintain that
foundation, and thereby to procure all those graces that infallibly
saveth the sinner? But now the choice, I say, being a choice of
grace, as is manifest, it being acted before the creature's birth;
here grace hath laid the cornerstone, and determined the means to
bring the work to perfection. Thus 'the foundation of God standeth
sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his' (2 Tim
2:19). That is, who he hath chosen, having excluded works, both
good and bad, and founded all in an unchangeable act of grace;
the negative whereof, is this harmless reprobation.
Second, But secondly, To step a little backward, and so to make
all sure: This act of reprobation was before the world began;
which therefore must needs confirm that which was said but now,
that they were, before they were born, both destinated before
they had done good or evil. This is manifest by that of Paul to
the Ephesians, at the beginning of his epistle; where, speaking
of Election, whose negative is reprobation, he saith, 'God hath
chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world.' Nay
further, if you please, consider, that as Christ was ordained
to suffer before the foundation of the world, and as we that are
elected were chosen in him before the foundation of the world;
so it was also ordained we should know him, before the foundation
of the world; ordained that we should be holy before him in love,
before the foundation of the world; and that we in time should be
created in him to good works, and ordained before that we should
walk in them. Wherefore reprobation also, it being the negative of
electing love; that is, because God elected but some, therefore
he left the rest: these rest therefore must needs be of as ancient
standing under reprobation, as the chosen are under election;
both which, it is also evident, was before the world began. Which
serveth yet further to prove that reprobation could not be with
respect to this or the other sin, it being only a leaving them,
and that before the world, out of that free choice which he was
pleased to bless the other with. Even as the clay with which the
dishonourable vessel is made, did not provoke the potter, for the
sake of this or that impediment, therefore to make it so; but the
potter of his own will, of the clay of the same lump, of the clay
that is full as good as that of which he hath made the vessel to
honour, did make this and the other a vessel of dishonour, &c. (1
Peter 1:20,21; 1 Cor 2:7; Eph 1:3,4, 2:10).[4]