There is not, nor cannot be any colour at all to say, that God doth love sinners extra Christum, or destinate Eternal life to them without a mediator. When God in free Election resolves with himself, such individual persons shall by an effectual Call be united to Christ as members of his Body, and being such, shall be washed in his blood, filled with his Spirit, and at last crowned with his everlasting Salvation; when he resolves, every grain shall come through Joseph’s hands, every particle of Grace, every income of the holy Spirit, every glimpse of Divine Favour, every beam of glory in Heaven, shall pass through Jesus Christ’s hands; nay, through his very Heart-blood and crucified Flesh unto the Elect, Doth he now love them extra Christum? Doth he yet destinate them to Eternal life without a Mediator? Undoubtedly he doth not. If therefore you ask me, what necessity there is of Christ’s merits, I must answer, That all Grace and Glory, Sanctity and Salvation, Faith and Fruition are thereby purchased and procured for the Elect. The pure fountain of Election rises of itself in the Will of God, but the gracious streams thereof issue forth through the bleeding Wounds of Christ.
– Polhill, Edward. The divine will considered in its eternal decrees and holy execution of them by Edward Polhill … Esquire (London: Printed for Henry Eversden, 1673), 81-82. (Click on the book for info on the modern re-print edition of Polhill’s works.)
