those who should love Him not of those who should cease to love Him or apostatize from their affection towards Him nor yet to teach imply or insinuate in the least the undecayablenesse or unquenchablenesse of this affection in Men. But enough for the clearing of this place I shall only Propound and Answer one Scripture more upon the account §. 52. we are now drawing up which is frequently argued with great importunity for the Doctrine of Perseverance The tenor of the place is this And I will give them one heart and one way that they may feare me for ever for the good of them and of their children after them And I will make an everlasting Covenant with them that I will not turne away from them to doe them good but I will put my feare into their hearts that they shall not depart from me a Ier. 31. 39. 40. In these words say our Antagonists in the present controversie is manifestly contained an absolute Promise of Perseverance made by God unto his Church To this I answer that it can no wayes be proved nor is it any wayes probable that the grace of Perseverance should be here absolutely Promised unto Saints or Believers For 1. Evident it is from the whole tenor of the Chapter that the words contain a speciall Promise made particularly to the Jews 2. As evident it is upon the same account that the Promise here mentioned was not made only to the Saints or sound Believers amongst the Jews who were but few but to the whole body or generality of them Peruse the latter part of the Chapter from about ver 30. to the end 3. It is yet upon the same account as evident as either of the former that this Promise was made unto this Nation of the Jews when and whilest they were or at least considered as now being in the iron furnace of the Babylonian captivity Behold I will gather them out of all Countries whither I have driven them in mine anger and in my sury and in great wrath and I will bring them again unto this place c. ver 37. 4. From these words now cited so immediately preceding the Passages offered to debate it cleerly appears that the Promise in these Passages relates unto and concerns their Reduction and returne from and out of that captivity into their own Land Therefore 5. It cannot be a Promise of absolute and finall Perseverance in grace unto the end of their lives respectively For 1. The Promise was made unto the body or generality of this People even unto all those that God had driven into all Countries in his anger and fury and not only unto the Saints or true Believers amongst them unlesse we shall say that they were only the holy Persons amongst them that were thus driven by him The Promise then respects as well the unfaithfull as the true Believers in this Nation and so cannot be a Promise of Perseverance in grace unto these 2. The Promise here exhibited was a Promise appropriated and fitted to the present State and Condition of the Jews who were now scattered up and down the World and in a sad captivity at least were thus considered in this promise as was lately said in which respect it must needs be conceived to containe somewhat peculiar to that their condition Now the promise of perseverance in grace according to the Doctrine of our adversaries was a standing promise amongst them and so had been from the first equally respecting them or the elect amongst them in every estate and condition 3. The promise of perseverance in grace according to the same principles includes in it or supposeth such an interposure of God by his spirit and grace which shall and will and must needs infallibly produce the effect of perseverance in all those to whom it is made i. e. true Believers wherâ—as evident it is from the Prophet Ezekiel that this promise notwithstanding the Jewes might rebell against and apostatize from God The whole passage in Ezekiel is this Therefore say thus saith the Lord God although I have cast them far off among the Heathen and although I have scattered them among the Countries yet will I be to them as a little Sanctuary in the Countries where they shall come Therefore say thus saith the Lord God I will even gather you from the People and Assemble you out of the Countries where yee have been scattered and I will give you the Land of Israel And they shall come thither and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence And I will give them one Heart and I will put a new Spirit within you and I will take the stony Heart out of their Flesh and will give them an Heart of Flesh That they may walke in my Statutes and keepe mine Ordinances and doe them and they shall be my People and I will be their God a Ezek. 11. 17. 18. c. There is nothing more clear then that the promise contained in these words is for substance and import the same with that in consideration from the Prophet Jeremy Yet here it followes But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations I will recompence their way upon their own head saith the Lod God b Verse 21. Which evidently supposeth that notwithstanding the former promise pretended to be a promise either in whole or in part of persevering in grace yet they to whom it is made may walk after the Heart of detestable things i. e. so practise detestable things as to promote their interest and cause them to be practised by others and that to their own ruine and destruction For that this threatning But as for them c. concernes the same persons or nation to whom the precedent promises were made the carriage of the Context makes out of question and besides is the generall sence of Interpreters upon the place yea and Calvin Himself understands it of the Israelites c Nec aliud vult Propheta quam Deum sore vindicem si cor suum sequantur Israelitae ut ambulent in suis spâ—rcitiis abominationibus So that no absolute perseverance can with reason be supposed to be contained in the said promise 4. And lastly If absolute perseverance should be here promised there is no time or season can be imagined wherein the promise should have been fulfilled by God If it be said that it hath alwayes been fulfilled in the Elect and faithfull I answer 1. That it hath been already proved that it was made to the maine body and community of the Jewish Nation and not only to the Elect or faithfull amongst them And therefore if it should be fulfilled in these only it should be fulfilled but by half and indeed not to that proportion and consequently if propriety of speech be admitted not fulfilled at all 2. If this be all the fulfilling of it it was as
1 Chro. 28. 9. And thou Solomon my Son know the Lord God of thy Fathers if thou seek him he will be found of thee but if thou forsake him he will cast thee off for ever 351 2 Chr. 36. 15 16. And the Lord God of their Fathers sent to them by his messengers rising up betimes and sending because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place Bâ—t they mocked the messengers of God and despised until the Wrath of the Lord arose against his people till there was no remedy 88 426 Job 2. 4. Skin for skin yea all that a man hath will he give for his life 443 10. 8 9. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me together round about yet thou dost destroy me Remember I beseech thee that thou hast made me as the clay and wilt thou bring me into dust again 72 14. 1. Man that is born of a woman is of few days 9 14. 5. Seeing his days are determined the number of his moneths are with thee thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass 10 15. 32 33. His branch shall be green He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine and c. 8 22. 15 16. Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden who were cut down out of time whose foundation was overflown with a flood Page 8 31. 13 14 15. If I did despise the cause of my man-servant or of my maid-servant when they contended with me what then shall I do when God riseth up and when he visiteth what shall I answer Did not he that made me in the womb make him and did not one fashion us in the womb 72 73 33. 13. Why dost thou strive against him for he giveth not an account of any of his matters 349 34. 19. How much less to him that accepteth not the persons of Princes nor regardeth the rich more then the poor For they are all the work of his hand 73 Psal 1. 3. He shall be like a tree planted his leafe shall not wither c. 257 22. 26. They that seek the Lord shall praise him 452 34 8. O taste and see that the Lord is good 285 51. 6. thou desirest Truth in the inward parts 742 55. 23. bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days c. 8 91. 7. A thousand shall fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy right hand but it shall not come nigh thee 11 104. 19. Thou hidest thy face they are troubled thou takest away their breath they dye and return to their dust 3 115. 3. He hath done whatsoever he pleased 50 138. 2. For thou hast magnified thy Word above all thy Name 482 Prov. 14. 15. The simple beleeveth every word c. 412 497 17. 18. A man voyd of understanding striketh hands and becometh surety c. 264 18. 23. The poor useth entreaties but the rich answereth roughly Ibid. 19. 2. that the Soul be without knowledg it is not good and he that hasteth with his feet sinneth 496 23. 5. Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not for certainly c. 446 Eccles 2. 9. also my wisdom remained with me 351 3. 3. There is a time to kill and a time to heal a time c. 429 Isai 5. 4. What could have been done more to my Vineyard that I have not done in it Wherefore when c. 429 473 7. 8. Within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken that it be not a people 8 27. 11. for it is a people of no understanding therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them and he that formed them c. 71 29. 14. For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid 5 38. 5. behold I will add unto thy days fifteen years 9 49. 5. though Israel be not gathered yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord and my God shall be my strength 215 54. 10. For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the Covenant of my peace be removed c. 226 227 59. 2. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God 248 59. 21. As for me this is my Covenant with them saith the Lord My Spirit that is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seed c. 226 227 c. Jer. 7. 16. Therefore pray not thou for this people neither lift up a cry neither make intercession to me for I will not hear thee 490 32. 39 40. And I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me for ever And I will make an everlasting covenant with them to do them good but I will my fear into their hearts that they shall not depart from me c. 219 220 c. Ezek. 11. 17 18 19 c. Therefore say thus saith the Lord God I will even gather you from the people And they shall come thither and take away all the detestable things thereof And I will give them one heart and I will put a new Spirit within you But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations c. 220 221 c. 16. 55. When thy Sisters Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former estate and Samaria and her daughters then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate 442 18. 5 6 9. But if a man be just and do that which is lawful and right and hath not eaten upon the mountains he is just he shall surely live saith the Lord God 514 18. 24 25. But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity shall he live yet ye say the way of the Lord is not equal Hear now O house of Israel is not my way equal are not your ways unequal 269 270 c. 514 24. 14. because I have purged thee and thou wast not purged thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more c. 187 188 33. 12 13. c. the righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression as for the wickedness of the wicked he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness c. Again when I shall say to the wicked tho ushalt surely dye if he turn from his sin and do that which is lawful and right none of the sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him c. 514 Hos 2. 19. 20. And I will betroth thee unto me for ever yea I will betroth thee in righteousness and in judgment and in loving kindness and in mercies I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness c. 229 230 Mal. 2. 17. Ye have wearyed the Lord with your words yet ye say wherein
goodnesse i. e. of the great beneficialnesse of the Word of God or the Gospell unto them as being able to build them up and to give them an inheritance amongst those that are sanctified a Acts 20. 32 Goodnesse seemes to be interpreted by the Holy Ghost Himself by bountifulnesse or beneficialnesse For sâ—arcely for a righteous Man will one die yet peradventure for a GOOD Man some would even dare to die b Rom. 5. 8. For a good Man i. e. for a liberall or bountifull Man and who is a benefactor unto many So againe Is thine eye evill because I am good c Mat. 20. 15. i. e. because I am bountifull or beneficent unto Men Upon this account doubtlesse it is that the Law of God is termed good d Rom. 7. 12. viz. because as David saith in keeping it and the Precepts of it there is great reward e Psal 19. 11. the Law of God is a great benefactresse to those that observe it Now then this tasting the goodnesse of the Word of God the Scripture cleerly appropriateth unto the Saints Are not My Words GOOD or doe not My Words good as our last translation readeth unto him that walketh uprightly f Mic. 2. 7. implying that they are not so to wicked Men. The Law of thy Mouth saith David in his holy applications unto God is better unto me then thousands of Gold and Silver g Psal 119. 72 unto me tacitly implying that other Men of a different spirit from Him doe not Taste any such sweetnesse or goodnesse in them And the Apostle Paul puts the Point in question out of question in that decision of His To the one meaning to unbelieving and wicked Men we are the savour of death unto death and to the other i. e. to those that truly believe the savour of life unto life h 2 Cor. 2 16 So that Hypocrites and Unbelievers are uncapable whilest such of Tasting the good Word of God i. e. the Word of God in the goodnesse sweetnesse bountifulnesse of it the taste which they have of it is in the terror and severity of it against wicked Men. And whereas Tasting is not without touching nor touching without application of the Object it appeares that those who Taste the good Word of GOD must needs make application of the goodnesse of it unto themselves and their own Soules which our Adversaries frequently make a distinguishing character between Hypocrites and true Believers 7. And lastly the Persons we speak of are yet further said to have §. 26. Tasted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the powers of the World to come i. e. not the powers of Miracles as Pareus interprets there is a manifest incongruity in such an Interpretation which we leave to the Reader to conceive but either the joyes of Heaven as our English Annotators or the might and glorious things of immortality which is the more generall Interpretation or rather as Cameron expoundeth the Incarnation Humiliation Sufferings Death Resurrection Ascention c. of the Son of God i Cameron Myroth p. 320. which may therefore be termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the powers of the World to come either because they are in respect of their full notification unto Men appropriate to the times of the Gospell wherein the great change and new state of spirituall affaires in comparison of what they were under the Law may well be termed the World to come as Pareus and other understand the expression both here and elsewhere in the same Epistle and w 〈…〉 ll are exceeding full of efficacy and power to ravish the Hearts of Men into the Heavens or else because the glorious estate of life and immortality in the World to come as it is attainable and enjoyable by Men depends upon them as a meanes full of efficacy and power to bring them hereunto But whatsoever in particular be meant by these powers of the World to come incontrovertible it is that in the generall somewhat transcendently excellent and glorious was intended by the Apostle to be signified by them So that for any person to be admitted to the taste of them i. e. to a reall and inward feeling of their vertue influence and vigor upon his Heart and Soul fully evinceth him to be a member of the Congregation of the first borne to have spirituall Communion by Faith with Jesus Christ The Premisses relating to the two Passages yet under debate considered §. 27. I am so far from questioning whether the Apostle speakes of true and sound Believers in them that I verily judge that He purposely sought out severall of the most emphaticall and signall characters of Believers yea such which are hardly or rather not at all to be found in the ordinary sort of true Believers but only in those that are most eminent amongst them that so he might give them to understand and consider that not true Believers only and such who though sound yet were weake in the Faith might fall away and perish but that even such also who were lifted up neerer unto Heaven then their fellowes might through carelesnesse and carnall security dash themselves in pieces against the same stone and make shipwrack of their Souls as well as they Yea I conceive yet further that that impossibility of being renewed againe by Repentance upon or after a falling away which he asserts in the former Passage of the two was not asserted by him with an eye to the state or condition of ordinary believers in case of their falling away as if he intended to conclude them under the heavy doome of such an impossibility but with an eye only to the most deplorable condition of such who having been Sons of the Morning and shined with more lustre and brightnesse then other Stars in the firmament of Christian Profession should notwithstanding afterwards fall with Satan like lightening from Heaven a Luke 10. 18. My meaning is not to imply that true Believers if but of a mean statute and growth in the Faith are in no danger of finall obduration or under no great difficulty of recovering their former standing in case they shall fall away but onely to observe that that most serious and severe admonition administred by the Apostle in the Passages in hand by way of Antidote against the great evill of Apostasie was in a more speciall manner calculated for the estates and conditions of grand Believers But that it was no part of his intent in the said passages to caution Hypocrites §. 28. or outside Professors against falling away but true Believers onely besides the characters already observed and examined upon the Point there are these reasons Pregnant of Proof 1. There is no Clause Phrase or Word in either of the places any ways characteristicall or Descriptive of Hypocrisie or Hypocrites there are none of those colours to be seene which are wont to be used in drawing or limming the Portraitures or shapes of these Beasts as distinguished from
Apoc. p. 172. also expounded in the words immiediately following But we are not of those who draw back to perdition but c. From hence then evident it is that such a Man who is a just or righteous Man and under Promise of living for ever by his Faith and therefore also a true and sound Believer may draw back or be withdrawn to the contracting of the hatred of God and to destruction in the end The forlorne hope of evading because the sentence is Hypotheticall or conditionall not positive hath been routed over and over yea and is abandoned by some of the great masters themselves of that cause unto the defence whereof it pretendeth And however in this place it would be most preposterous For if it should be supposed that the just Man who is in a way and under a Promise of living by his Faith were in no danger or possibility of drawing back and that to the losse of the favour of God and ruine of His Soul God must be conceived to speak here at no better rate of wisdome or understanding then thus The just shall live by his Faith but if he shall doe that which is simply and utterly impossible for him to doe my Soule shall have no pleasure in him What savor of wisdome yea or of common sence is there in admonishing or cautioning Men against such evills which there is no possibility for them to fall into yea and this known unto themselves Therefore this testimony for confirmation of the Doctrine we maintaine is like a King upon his Throne against whom there is no rising up The same Doctrine is cleerly taught and asserted by our Saviour Himself §. 32. in the Parable of the Sower But He saith He that received the seed into stony places the same is He that heareth the Word and anon with joy receiveth it Yet hath he not root in Himself but dureth for a while for when Tribulation or Persecution ariseth because of the Word by and by He is offended a Mat. 13. 20 21. The words are part of the Explication or Application of the said Parable wherein our Saviour plainly declareth that the Persons typified by the severall grounds specified therein were severall kinds of hearers of the Gospell some whereof should or would heare upon such terms that their hearing would turne to the blessed account of saving their Soules these saith he were signified by the good ground spoken of in the Parable Others of them would heare without reaping any such benefit thereby and this partly by not setting their minds at all upon what they should heare who were resembled to the high way partly by a neglect to ground and establish themselves throughly in the truth and goodnesse of the Gospell after their hearing and imbracing of it these saith he were shadowed by the stony ground partly also by suffering the cares and lusts of the World to overgrow â—â—e sproutings or puttings forth of the Gospell in their Hearts and Souls by means whereof they came after 〈…〉 to wither and die quite away and these saith He were pointed at by the Thorny ground Now those signified by the stony ground He expresly calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Persons who continue for a time or a season i. e. as Luke explaineth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who BELIEVE for a season b Luk 8. 13. So that those who onely for a time Believe and afterward make defection from Christ and from the Gospell are neverthelesse numbred and ranked by him amongst Believers The words in Luke are very particular They on the Rock are they which when they heare receive the word with joy and these have no root which for a while believe and in time of temptation fall away From whence it appeares that the hearers here described are not compared to the Rock or Stony ground for the hardnesse of their hearts in as much as they are said to receive the word with joy which argues an ingenuity and teachablenesse of spirit in them and is elsewhere viz. Acts 2. 41. taken knowledge of by the holy Ghost as an Index or Signe of a true Believer but for such a Property Disposition or Temper as this viz. not to give or afford the word so received a radication in their hearts and souls so intimous serious and solid which should be sufficient to maintaine their belief of it and good affections to it against all such occurrences in the World which may oppose or attempt either the one or the other For this is the nature or condition of a Stony or Rocky soyle which hath but a thin coate or covering of Mould or Earth upon it viz. to exhibit a speedy and sudden Spring or Blade from the seed that is sown in it but not to afford this Blade or seed any such rooting which is sufficient to preserve it from scortching when the Sun beats violently and for any considerable space of time together with his fiery Beames upon it But as the Blade which springs from one and the same kinde of seed as suppose from Wheat or any other graine though sown in different yea or contrary soyles is yet of the same Species or kinde the nature of the soyle not changing the specificall nature of the seed that is sown in it and God giving to every seed it s own body of what temper soever the ground is where it is sown in like manner that Faith which springs from the same seed of the Gospell must needs be of one and the same nature and kinde though this seed be sown in Hearts of never so differing a constitution and frame the temper of the Heart be it what it will be not being able specifically to alter either the Gospell or the naturall fruit issuing from it And as a blade or eare of Wheat though it be blasted before the Harvest is not hereby proved not to have been a true blade or eare of wheat before it was blasted in like manner the withering or decay of any Mans faith by what means or occasion soever before his death doth not prove it to have been a false counterfeit or Hypocriticall faith or a faith of any other kinde then that which is true reall and permanent unto the end Therefore the possibility of a finall defection in those who for a time truly believe believe with the same kinde of Faith whereby others persevering in it to the end are saved is cleerly asserted by the Lord Christ Himself in the said Parable yea there is not onely a possibility in this kinde asserted by Him but a futurity also of many instances wherein this possibility would be acted upon the great stage of the World Against the interpretation given and the inference drawn from the words §. 33. lately opened it is commonly objected that our Saviour in the second ground and so in the third doth not set forth the condition of true Believers or speak of true justifying Faith but of temporary