Wesley Corpus

It may be, you also hold reprobation, though you know it not. Do not you believe, that God who made “one vessel unto honour,” hath made “another unto.” eternal “dishonour?” Do not you believe, that the men who “turn the grace of our God into lasciviousness, were before ordained of God unto this condemnation?” Do not you think, that for “this same purpose God raised Pharaoh up, that he might show his sovereign power in his destruction?” and that “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated,” refers to their eternal state? Why, then, you hold absolute reprobation, and you think Esau and Pharaoh were instances of it, as well as all those “vessels made unto dishonour,” those men “before ordained unto condemnation.” 11. To set this matter in a still clearer light, you need only answer one question: Is any man saved who is not elected? Is it possible, that any not elected should be saved ? If you say, “No,” you put an end to the doubt. You espouse election and reprobation together. You confirm Mr. Calvin’s words, that “without reprobation, election itself cannot stand.” You allow, (though you was not sensible of it before,) that “whom God elects not, them he reprobates.” Try whether it be possible, in any particular case, to separate election from reprobation. Take one of those who are supposed not to be elected; one whom God hath not chosen unto life and salvation. Can this man be saved from sin and hell? You answer, “No.” Why not? “Because he is not elected. Because God hath unchangeably decreed to save so many souls, and no more; and he is not of that number. Him God hath decreed to pass by; to leave him to everlasting destruc tion; in consequence of which irresistible decree, the man perishes everlastingly.” O, my brethren, how small is the difference between this, and a broad, barefaced reprobation | 12. Let me intreat you to make this case your own. In the midst of life, you are in death; your soul is dead while you live, if you live in sin, if you do not live to God. And who can deliver you from the body of this death? Only the grace of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.