believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 1 John iv. 9. John iii. 16.
Art. III. And that men may be brought to believe, God mercifully sends the messengers of these most joyful tidings, to whom he will, and at what time he pleaseth; by whose ministry men are called to repentance and faith in Christ crucified. Rom. x. 14, 15. “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent?”
Art. IV. The wrath of God abideth upon those who believe not this gospel. But such as receive it, and embrace Jesus the Saviour by a true and living faith, are by him delivered from the wrath of God, and from destruction, and have the gift of eternal life conferred upon them.
Art. V. The cause or guilt of this unbelief as well as of all other sins, is no wise in God, but in man himself: whereas faith in Jesus Christ, and salvation through him is the free gift of God, as it is written, “By grace ye are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” Eph. ii. 8. “And unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him,” &c. Phil. i. 29.
Art. VI. That some receive the gift of faith, from God, and others do not receive it, proceeds from God’s eternal decree, “For known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world." Acts xv. 18. Eph. i. 11. According to which decree, he graciously softens the hearts of the elect, however obstinate, and inclines them to believe; while he leaves the non-elect in his just judgment to their own wickedness and obduracy. And herein is especially displayed the profound, the merciful, and at the same time the righteous discrimination between men, equally involved in ruin; or that decree of election and reprobation, revealed in the word of God, which though men of perverse, impure and unstable minds, wrest to their own destruction, yet to holy and pious souls affords unspeakable consolation.
Art. VII. Election is the unchangeable purpose of God, whereby, before the foundation of the world, he hath, out of mere grace, according to the sovereign good pleasure of his own will, chosen, from the whole human race, which had fallen through their own fault, from their primitive state of rectitude, into sin and destruction, a certain number of persons to redemption in Christ, whom he from eternity appointed the Mediator and head of the elect, and the foundation of Salvation.
This elect number, though by nature neither better nor
