for the deterring men from their impious and destructive courses I say God forbid To put it then to an issue God here promiseth that they who here trust in him shall never be remooved What I pray is the Conditiō on which this Promise doth depend It is say they who oppose us in this if they continue trusting in him that is if they be not removed for to trust in him is not to be removed if then they be not removed they shall not be removed and is this the minde of the Holy Ghost Notwithstanding all the Rhetoricke in the world this Promise will stand for the consolation of them that believe as the Mountaines about Jerusalem that shall never be removed In some it is said to be a Promise of abiding in Happinesse §. 15. not in Faith but it plainely appeares to be a Promise of abiding in trusting the Lord which comprehends both our Faith and Happinesse Ob. It is not promised that they who once trust in the Lord shall abide happy though they cease to trust in him Ans. It is a Promise that they shall not cease to trust in him Ob. It is not that they shall be necessitated to abide trusting in him Ans. No but it is that they shall be so far assisted and effectually wrought upon as certainely to do it Ob. It is no more then the Apostle sayes to the Corinthians 2 Cor. 2. 3. which frame towards them he would not continue should they be changed and turned into Idolaters and Blasphemers Ans. First the Promises of God and the affections of men are but ill compared 2. Paul loved the Corinthians whilst they were such as he mentioned God promiseth his Grace to Believers that they may continue such as he loves Ob. All the Promises are made to Qualifications not to Persons Ans. Prove that and 1. Take the case in hand and 2. Cast downe the Church to the ground it having no one Promise on that account made unto it as consisting of Abrahams Seed and so this witnesse also is freed from all exceptions put in against it and appeares with confidence to give in its Testimony to the Vnchangeablenesse of God unto Believers I shall in the next place adjoine another portion of Scripture of the same import with those foregoing §. 16. wherein the truth in hād is no lesse clearly somewhat more pathetically convincingly expressed thē in that last mentioned It is Isa. 54. 7 8 9 10. For a small moment have I forsaken thee but with great Mercies will I gather thee In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment but with everlasting kindnesse will I have Mercy on thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer For this is as the waters of Noah unto me for as I have sworne that the Waters of Noah shall no more cover the Earth so have I sworne that I will not be wrath with thee nor rebuke thee for the Mountaines shall depart and the hils be removed but my Loving-kindnesse shall not depart from thee neither shall the Covenant of my Peace be removed saith the Lord that hath Mercy on thee The place I have mentioned before but only as to one speciall inference from one passage in the words I shall now use the whole for the confirmation of the generall Truth we plead for the words are full plaine suited to the businesse in hand No expressions of our finding out can so fully reach the Truth we assert much lesse so pathetically worke upon the Affections of Believers or so effectually prevaile on their understandings to receive the Truth contained in them as these words of God himselfe given us for those ends are suited to doe Goe to men whose minds in any measure are free from prejudice not forestalled with a contrary perswasion and furnished with evasions for the defence of their opinions and aske whether God doth not in these words directly and positively promise to those to whom he speaketh that he will alwaies continue his kindnesse to them to the end and that for the daies of eternity his Love shall be fixed on them and I no way doubt but they will readily answer It is so indeed it cannot be denied But seeing we have to deale as with our own unbelieving hearts so with men who have turned every stone to prejudge this Testimony of God the words must a little more narrowly be considered and the mind of the Holy Ghost inquired into V. 5. mention is made of the desertion of the Church § 17. by the eclipsing of the beames of Gods countenance and the inflicting of some great affliction for a season in opposition unto which momentary desertions in that and in the beginning of the 8. v. he giveth in Consolation from the Assurance of the great Mercies and Everlasting Kindnesse wherein he abideth to doe them good with everlasting kindnesse will I have mercy on thee I will pardon pitty and heale thee with that mercy which floweth from Love which never had beginning that never shall have ending that cannot be cut off Everlasting Kindnesse Beare with patience your present desertion your present trialls whatever they are that befall you they are but for a season but for a moment and these also consistent with that Mercy Kindnesse which is everlasting and turneth not away If this Mercy and Kindnesse dependeth on any thing in us and is resolved lastly thereunto which may alter and change every moment as our walking with God in its selfe considered not relating to the Unchangeablenesse of his Purpose the efficacy of his promised Grace is apt to doe what opposition can there be betwixt that desertion wherewith they are exercised and the kindnesse wherewith they are embraced as to their continuance As that is said to be for a little while for a moment so this also may be of no longer abode It may possibly be as Jonah's Gourd that grew up in the morning and before night was withered what then shall become of the foundation of that consolation wherewith God here refresheth the soules of his people consisting in the continuance of his kindnesse in an Antithesis to the moment arinesse of their desertion Least that any should call this into Question §. 18. as our unbelieving hearts are very apt and skilfull in putting in pleas against the truth of the Promises of God and their accomplishment towards us v. 9. the Lord farther confirmeth the Assurance formerly given and removeth those objections to which through the Sophistry of Satan and the Sottishnesse of our own hearts it may seem to be lyable This is saith he as the waters of Noah Gods dealing with thē in that mercy which floweth from his everlasting kindnesse is like his dealing with the World in the matter of the waters of Noah or the floud wherewith it was drowned and destroyed when he with his were saved in the Arke He calleth upon his Children to consider his dealings with the World in respect
of preserving them from all such unworthinesse as should render them utterly uncapable thereof And this is plainly here asserted in the Assurance given of the perpetuall residence of the Spirit in them with such continuall supplies of Grace from him as shall certainly preserve them from any such state or condition as is imagined Of being necessitated to Believe I have spoken formerly The expression is neither used by us nor proper to the thing it selfe about which it is used nor knowne in the Scripture as to this purpose and therefore we justly reject it as to its signifying any thing of the way and manner whereby we are preserved by the power of God through faith unto Salvation If it denotes only the certainly and infallibility of the event as the phrase or locution is improper so to deny that there is a Promise of our being preserved by the Spirit of God in believing is not to Answer our Argument but to beg the thing in Question yea to deny the positive assertion of the Lord Christ But if there be not such a Promise in the words what then is in them what doe they containe Saith he 2. They are only a Declaration and Assertion made by Christ of the Excellency and desireablenesse of that life which he comes to give unto the World above the life of nature which is common unto all This by comparing the words with those in the former verse is evident whosoever Drinketh of this water shall thirst againe but whosoever Drinketh of the water that I shall give him c. that is the best meanes that can be had and enjoyed to render this present life free from inconveniencies will not effect it but whosoever shall Drinke Injoy Receive and Believe the Doctrine which I shall administer unto him shall hereby be made partaker of such a life which shall within a short time if men be carefull in the interim to preserve it by reason of the nature and perfect condition and constitution of it be exempt from all sorrow trouble and inconvenience whatsoever as being eternall Ans. 1. That these words are only an Assertion of the excellency and desireablenesse of that eternall life which Christ would give above the naturall that the Woman sued to sustaine and that this appears from the Context is said indeed but no more It is true our Saviour doth divert the thoughts of the Woman from the naturall life and care for provision about it with an insinuation of a better life to be attained but is this all he doth or is this the intendment of the words under consideration Doth not the maine of the opposition or difference which at present he speakes unto lye in the supplies that are given for the two kinds of Life whereof he speakes The Water he tells her which she drew from that Well by which he fate for the supply of her naturall life was such that after her drinking of it she should quickly returne to the same Condition of thirst as formerly before she drank of it But that which he gave was such as that who ever drank of it should thirst no more but be certainely preserved in and unto the full fruition of that Life whereof it is the meanes and supply The opposition is not between the lives continued but the meane of consolation and its efficacy 2. It is not the Condition of the Life naturall which is subject to dissolution not capable of perfection that is the Reason why they thirst again againe that have Water naturall for the refreshment thereof But 't is the nature of the meanes it selfe which is supplyed that is not fitted nor suited to permanency abiding usefullnesse as the Water which Christ Promises is that he insists on There is not any thing leades us to suppose that it is the Imperfection of Life and not the Condition of the meanes of naturall life that is primarily intended in the instituted Comparison though the frailty and nothingnesse of that life also be afterwards intimated in the substitution of Eternall life unto the thoughts of the poore woman in the Roome thereof 3. I say that it is not the Doctrine of Christ but his Spirit principally that he is here said to give as Water and that this is not promised to make men partakers of Eternall Life if in the interim they be carefull to preserve it but to preserve them to it and to give them that Care which as a Grace is needfull thereunto The plaine intendment of the Promise is that by the water they drinke they shall be kept and preserved in the Life whereof they are made partakers unto the fulnesse and perfection of it which preservation by the parenthesis if any be carefull in the interim to preserve it is directly taken away from the Spirit that Christ promiseth and assigned to mens owne care even in contradistinction to all the benefits which they receive by him being so bestowed on them The difference then here between Jesus Christ and Mr Goodwin is this Christ saith the Water that he shall give will be a well springing up to Everlasting Life Mr Goodwin That it is the Care of men to preserve themselves that produces that Effect 4. The present exemption which we have by the Waters of Christs giving is not from sorrow and trouble but from thirst that is from what is opposed unto and is destructive of that Life which he also gives as naturall thirst is unto naturall life But of this thirst and our exemption from it I have spoken before It is not then the nature and condition of the Life promised that he points unto no farther then as it is coincident with the meanes of it here spoken of Indeed this meanes of life is our life as to the inchoation of it here below and its daily growing up unto perfection But he adds Sect. 11. 1. That he doth not oppose that Life which accrues unto mē by drinking that Water which he gives thē §. 33. unto the naturall life which they live by other means in respect of the present Condition or Constitution of it or as it is enjoyed by men in this present world is evident from hence because he asserts it free from thirst shall never thirst Now we know that the Saints themselves notwithstanding that life of Grace which is in them by drinking that Water that Christ hath given them are yet subject to both kinds of Thirst as well that which is corporeall or naturall as that which is Spirituall yea the Spirituall Thirst unto which they are now subject though it argues a deficiency of what they would farther have or desire to be and in that respect is troublesome yet is it Argumentative of the goodnesse of their Condition Mat. 5. 6. Ans 1. The summe of this Answer is that the Life here spoken of and promised is not that Spirituall life whereof we are here made partakers but eternall life which is for to come which when
5. Heb. 10. 22. universall habituall uncleannesse to holinesse from d Rom. 6. 10. Eph. 2. 12 13 14 15. Col. 1. 21. Heb. 12. 22. a state of enmity stubbornnesse rebellion c. into a state of love obedience delight c. and as to their relative condition whereas they were e Eph. 2. 3. Galat. 3. 13. 4. 4 5 6 7. Rom. 8. 1. 2 Cor. 5. 21. Col. 2. 10. Rom. 5. 1. 8. 32 33. 1 Ioh. 3. 1 2. Ephes. 3. 15. children of wrath under the curse and condemning power of the law they are upon the score of him who was made a curse for them and is made righteousnesse to them accepted justified adopted and admitted into that family of heaven and earth which is called after the name of God These alone are they of whom we treat of whose state and condition Perseverance is an inseparable adjunct wherein and in what particulars they are differenced from and advanced above the most glorious Professors whatever who are lyable and obnoxious to an utter and everlasting separation from God shall be afterwards at large insisted upon And though M. Goodwin hath thought good to affirme that that description which we have Heb 6 of such as is supposed may be Apostates is one of the highest and most eminent that is made of believers in the whole Scripture I shall not doubt but to make it evident that the Excellency of all the expressions there used being extracted and laid together doth yet come short of the meanest and lowest thing that is spoken of those concerning whom we treat as shall be manifest when through Gods assistance we arrive unto that part of this contest That the other terme to wit Perseverance may be more briefely explicated §. 23. I shall take the shortest path For Perseverance in generall he came neere the nature of it who said it was in ratione bene fundatâ stabilis ac perpetua permansio The words and termes whereby it is expressed in Scripture will afterwards fall in to be considered The Holy Ghost restraines not himselfe to any one expression in spirituall things of so great importance but using that variety which may be suited to the instruction supportment and consolation of Believers Rom. 15. 4. this grace as is that of Faith it selfe in an eminent manner is by him variously expressed 2 Sam. 7. 14 15. To walke in the name of the Lord for ever to walke with Christ as we have received to be confirmed or strengthened in the faith as we have been taught Psal. 1. 3. 23. 6. 37. 24. 52. 10. 89. 31. 125. 1 2. 3 128. 5. to keep the waies of Gods commandements to the end to runne stedfastly the race set before us to rule with God to be faithfull with the Saints to be faithfull to the death to be sound and stedfast in the precepts of God to abide or continue firme with Christ in Christ in the Lord in the word of Christ in the doctrine of Christ in the faith in the love and favour of God in what we have learned and received from the beginning Isa. 46. 4. 54. 10. to endure to persist in the Truth to be rooted in Christ Ierem. 31. 3. 32. 39 40. to retaine or keepe faith and a good conscience to hold fast our confidence and faith to the end Zech. 10. 12. to follow God fully to keep the word of Christs patience Math. 7. 24 25. 12. 20. 16. 18 24. 24. Luk. 8. 5. 22. 23. Ioh. 6. 35 39 56 57. 8. 12. 10. 27 28 29. 14. 16 17. 17. 20 18 28. Rom. 8. 1. 16. 29. 34. 36 37. 1 Cor. 3. 8 9 10 13. 15. 58. to be built upon and in Christ to keep our selves that the wicked one touch us not not to commit sinne to be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation 1 Ioh. 5. 17. 3. 9. to stand fast as mount Syon that can never be removed to stand by faith to stand fast in the faith to stand fast in the Lord to have the good work begun 1 Pet. 1. 5. Rom. 11. 20. 1 Cor. 16. 13. perfected to hold our profession that none take our crowne These I say and the like are some of those expressions whereby the holy Ghost holds forth that doctrine which we have in hand Phil. 4. 1. Phil. 1. 6. Ephes. 1. 13 14. which is usually called the Perseverance of Saints regarding principally their abiding with God through Christ in faith and obedience which yet is but one part of this truth The reasons causes investing this proposition 4. 39. that Saints such as we have described Gal. 2. 20. Phil. 1. 6. shall so Persevere with a necessity of consequence and on which the truth of it doth depend 1 Thes 5. 24. both negatively considered and positively with the limitation of Perseverance 2 Tim. 2. 12. what it directly asserts what not with what failing 1 Pet 1. 2 3 4. backsliding declensions on the one hand and other it is consistent and what is destructive of the nature and being of it 1 Joh. 2. 19 27. c. the difference of it as to being and apprehension in respect the subject in whom it is with the way and manner whereby the causes of this Perseverance have their operation on § 24. and effect in them that persevere not in the least prejudicing their liberty but establishing them in their voluntary obedience will afterwards be fully cleared And hereon depends much of the life and vigor of the Doctrine we have in hand it being oftner in the Scripture held forth in its fountaines and springs and causes then in the thing it selfe as will upon examination appeare As to what is on the other side affirmed §. 25. that Believers may fall totally finally away something may be added to cleare up what is intended thereby to enquire how it may come to passe We doe suppose which the scripture abundantly testifieth that such believers have a Ezek 36. 27. Isa 59. 21. Luk 11. 13. Psal. 51. 11. Rom. 8 9 11 15. 1 Cor 2. 12. Gal 4. 6. 1 Tim 1. 14 Rom 5. 5. Gal 5. 22. Ioh 14. 16 17. Ioh 16. 13. 1 Cor 3. 16. 1 Cor 6. 19. the holy Spirit dwelling in them by his implanting a b Math 12. 33. 2 Cor 5. 17. 2 Pet 1. 4 Gal 5. 22 23 Ephes. 4. 23 24. new holy habit of Grace the enquiry then is how believers may come utterly to loose this holy spirit to be made naked of the habit of Grace or new nature bestowed on them That and that only whereunto this effect is ascribed is sinne Now there are two wayes whereby sinne may be supposed to produce such effects in reference to the Soules of Believers 1. Efficiently by a reaction in the same subject as frequent acts of Vice will
it and to preserve it from being destroyed But may it not at one time or other be surprized into desolation No saith he I will keep it night and day but what if this vineyard prove barren what will he then doe Nay but he will so deale with it that it shall never be so barren as to cause him to cast it up He is not with it for nought his presence is attended with Grace and Kindnesse I water it saith he and that not now and then but every moment He powres out fresh supplies of his Spirit upon it to make it fruitfull Thence it becomes a vineyard of red wine v. 2. the best wine the most delicious the most pretious to cheare the heart of God himselfe as Zep 3. 17. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty he will Save thee he will rejoyce over thee with joy he will rest in his Love he will joy over thee with singing He causes them thereby that come of Iacob to take root he makes Israel blossome and bud to fill the face of the World with fruit This is that which God promiseth his people he will not forsake them he will alwaies give them his presence in the kindnesse and supplies of a God in Covenant to protect them from others to make them fruitfull to himselfe This is his not forsaking them He will preserve them from others who shall take them out of his hand he will make them fruitfull to himselfe he will worke and who shall let him 2. The Reason why the Lord will not forsake his People why he will continue doing them good is expressed in these words for his owne name sake and in this Assertion two things are considerable 1. A tacite exclusion of any thing in themselves for which or upon Consideration whereof God will constantly abide with them It is not for their sakes for any thing in them or what they have done may or can do it is not upon the account of any Condition or qualification whatever that may or may not be found on them but meerely for his name sake which in the like case he expresseth fully Ezek. 36. 32. Not for your sakes doe I this saith the Lord be it knowne unto you be ashamed and confounded for your owne wayes oh House of Israel The truth is they may prove such as on all accounts whatever shall deserve to be rejected that nothing in appearance or in their owne sence as well as others though the root of the matter be in them may be found upon them when God takes delight in them Like those you have described at large Isai. 43. 22 23 24 25. But thou hast not called upon me Oh Jacob but thou hast been weary of me Oh Israel thou hast not brought me the small Cattell of thy burnt offerings neither hast thou honoured me with thy Sacrifices I have not caused thee to serve with an Offering nor wearied thee with Incense thou hast brought me no sweet cane with money neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy Sacrifices but thou hast made me to serve with thy sinnes thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine owne sake and will not remember thy sinnes any more Weary of God they are neglecting his worship making his Patience and Forbearance to serve with their iniquities It seemes to be impossible almost for any Creature to apprehend that God will not give them up to everlasting confusion Yea perhaps they may be forward in their follies and contend with God when he goes to heale them Isai. 57. 17. For the iniquity of his covetousnesse was I wroth and smote him I hid me and was wroth and he went on forwardly in the way of his heart Iniquity is upon them a vile iniquity the iniquity of Covetousnesse God is wroth with them and smites and hides him and they goe on frowardly and yet for all this he forsakes not for ever he abides to be their God and that because his so doing is not bottomed on any consideration of what they are have been or will be but he doth it for his Names sake and with regard unto that which thereupon he will doe for them And upon this account this Promise of Gods abiding and continuing with his let Grace be never so weake corruption never so strong temptations never so violent may be pleaded and the Lord rejoyces to be put in remembrance of it by the weakest frailest sinfullest Saint or Believer in the World 2. The Cause or reason is positively expressed § 6. why God will not forsake them it is for his Great Name sake His Great name is all that he consults withall about his continuance with his people this he calls himselfe Isa. 43. 25. I blot out thy sinnes for my own sake that is for no other cause in world that may by found in thee or upon thee The Name of God is all that whereby to us he is knowne all his Attributes his whole will all his Glory When God is said to doe any thing for his name it is either the Cause and End of what he doth or the Principle from whence with the motive wherefore he doth it that is by him intended In the first sence to doe a thing for his Name sake is to doe it for the manifestation of his Glory that he may be known to be a God in the Excellency of those Perfections whereby he reveals himselfe to his with most frequently a speciall regard to his Faithfulnesse and Grace it is in those properties to make himselfe knowne and to be exalted in the hearts of his So all his dispensations in Jesus Christ are for the praise of his glorious Grace Eph. 1. 6. That he may be exalted lifted up made knowne believed and received as a God pardoning iniquity in the Sonne of his Love And in this sence may the Lord be said to abide with his people for his Name sake for the exalting of his Glory that he may be known to be a God faithfull in Covenant and unchangeable in his Love who will not cast off for ever those whom he hath once received into favour It will not enter into the hearts of Believers sometimes why the Lord should so deale with them as he doth and not cast them off their soules may goe to rest as to this thing he himselfe is glorious herein he is exalted and doth it on that account 2 ly If by his name you understand the principle from whence he worketh and his motive thereunto as it comprehends the whole long-suffering gratious tender unchangeable nature of God according as he hath revealed himselfe in Iesus Christ in whom his name is Ex. 23. 21. and which he hath committed to him to be manifested Ioh 17. 6. so evidently two things in God are engaged when he promiseth to work for his Names sake or according to his great Name 1. His Power or sufficiency
Judgement Loving-kindnesse and Mercies and Faithfulnesse whose efficacy also in reference unto their abiding with him whom he doth betroth to himselfe he mentioneth in the close of v 20. thou saith he shalt know the Lord. I shall not insist on the particular importance of the severall Expressions whereby the Lord hath set forth himselfe and his goodnesse here unto us It is plaine that they are all mentioned to the same end and purpose namely to give Assurance unto us of the Unchangeablenesse of this worke of his Grace and to prevent the objections which the fears of our unbelieving hearts from the consideration of our weaknesse wayes and walkings temptations trialls and troubles would raise upon it The Lord when he betroths us to himselfe sees and knows what we are what we will be and how we will provoke the eyes of his Glory He sees that if we should be left unto our selves we would utterly cast off all knowledge of him and obedience unto him Wherefore saith he I will betroth thee unto me in Righteousnesse and Judgment allowing full measure for all thy weaknesses that they shall not dissolve that union I intend As if a Prince should goe to take to him in Marriage a poore deformed Beggar who being amazed with his kindnesse and fearing much least he should be mistaken and account her otherwise then indeed shee is which when it is discovered will be her ruine she plainly telleth him she is poore deformed and hath nothing in the World that may answer his expectation and therefore she cannot but feare that when he knoweth her throughly indeed he will utterly cast her off But he thereupon replieth Feare no such thing what I doe I doe in Righteousnesse and Judgement knowingly of thee and thy Condition and so as that I will abide by it Perhaps as some think by this betrothing us in Righteousnesse the Lord may intimate his bestowing upon us Righteousnesse yea his becoming in Jesus Christ our Righteousnesse to supply that utter want Isa. 45. 24. which is in us of that which is acceptable unto him Now because we are not only unmeet to be at first accepted into any such termes of alliance with the Lord but also shall certainly in the carrying of it on behave our selves foolishly and frowardly unanswerable to his loving-kindnesse so that he may justly cast us off for ever he telleth us farther that he betroths us to himselfe in Loving-kindnesse and Mercies knowing that in entring into this alliance with us he maketh worke for his tenderest bowels of Compassion his pitty and pardoning mercy In his continuance in this Relation whatever his Kindnesse Patience and Pardoning mercy can be extended unto that he will accomplish and bring about But will not the Lord when he pardons once and againe at length be waried by our innumerable provocations so as to cast us off for ever No saith he this will I doe in Faithfulnesse He doubleth the expression of his Grace and addeth a Property of his nature that will carry him out to abide by his first Love to the utmost I will saith he even betroth thee unto my selfe in Faithfulnesse His firmenesse constancie and truth in all his waies and promises will he use in this work of his Grace Deut 32. 4. But perhaps notwithstanding all this the heart is not yet quiet yet it feareth it selfe and its own treachery least it should utterly fall off from this gracious Husband wherefore in the close of all God undertaketh for them also that no scruple may remaine why our soules should not be satisfied with the sincere milke that floweth from this breast of Consolation Thou shalt saith he know the Lord This indeed is required that under the Accomplishment of this gracious Promise you know the Lord that is believe and trust and obey the Lord and saith he thou shalt doe it I will by my Grace keep alive in thy heart as a fruit of that Love wherewith I have betrothed thee to my selfe that Knowledge Faith and Obedience which I require of thee This then is some part of that which in this Promise the Lord holdeth out unto us and assureth us of notwithstanding his Rejection of the carnall Jewes yet for his elect both the Jewes and Gentiles he will so take them into a Marriage Covenant with himselfe that he will continue for ever a Husband unto them undertaking also that they shall continue in Faith and Obedience knowing him all their dayes and of all this he effectually assureth them upon the account of his Righteousnesse Judgement Loving-kindnesse Mercy and Faithfulnesse I cannot but adde that if there were no other place of Scripture in the whole Book of God to confirme the Truth we have in hand but only this I should not doubt the Lord assisting to close with it upon the signall Testimony given unto it thereby notwithstanding all the specious Oppositions that are made thereunto For the Close §. 32. I shall a little consider that leane and hungry Exposition of these words which is given in the place before metioned Ch. 11. Sect 8. pag. 229. I will betroth them unto me in Righteousnesse and in Judgement and in Loving-kindnesse and Mercy so the words are expressed in a different Character as the very words of the Promise in the Text. 1. Thee that is the Church is changed into Them that is the Jewes and their Children or carnall seed as a little before was expressed and then that emphaticall expression for ever is quite thrust out of the Text as a stubborne word not to be dealt withall upon any faire termes Let us see then how that which remaineth is treated and turned off I will betroth thee that is I will engage and attempt to insure both them and their affections to mee by all variety of waies and meanes that are proper and likely to bring such a thing to passe But who knoweth not that this is wooing and not betrothing we need not goe farre to find out men learned in the Law to informe us that to try and attempt to get and assure the affections of any one is not a Betrothment This then is the first part of this Exposition I will betroth that is I will wooe and essay attempt and endeavour to get their affections which besides the forementioned absurdity is attended with another sore oversight to wit that God promiseth to doe this very thing in the last words of v. 20. which is affirmed that he doth but attempt to doe To proceed he saith I will doe this 1. By shewing my selfe Just and Righteous unto them in keeping my Promise concerning their deliverance out of captivity at the end of 70 years So then in this new Paraphrase I will Betroth thee that is the Election of Jewes and Gentiles to my selfe for ever in Righteousnesse is I will essay to get their affections by shewing my selfe Righteous in the Promise of bringing the Jewes out of captivity That this Promise is not made
thing that is free noble ingenuous filiall and of an heavenly descent in the Saints of God thus 1. It strengthens their Faith in God and in Jesus Christ which is the bottome of all acceptable Obedience whatsoever All that which proceedeth from any other Roote being but a product of labouring in the fire which in the end will consume both Root and Branch That which prevailes upon and drawes out the soule to Faith and believing I meane as it is peculiar to the Gospell and Justifying that is as it is in God as a Father and in the Lord Christ as a Mediator is the discovery of the good will of God to the soule in Christ and his designe to advance his Glory thereby I speake not of the formall cause of Faith in generall but the peculiar motive to Faith and Believing in the sence before mentioned So our Saviour giving the command in generall to his Disciples Ioh. 14 1. ye believe in God believe also in mee in the whole ensuing Chapter provokes them to it with gratious discoveries of the good will of God his Fathers and his own good will towards them And indeed propose what other considerations ye will provoke the soule by all the feare and dread of Hell and the most dismall representation of the wrath to come untill it be convinced of this it will never take one steppe towards God in Christ Now our Adversaries themselves being Judges the Doctrine we have had under consideration abounds above all others with the discoveries of the good will and kindnesse of God to poore sinners yea the great crime that is laid to the charge of it is that it extends it too farre it doth not only assert that God freely beginnes the good worke in them but that he will also powerfully perfect it to the day of Jesus Christ It assures the soules of the poore Saints of God that he who lookt upon them in their bloud and said unto them Live when no eye pittied them who quickned them when they were dead in trespasses and in sinnes begetting them of his own will by the word of Truth that they should be a kind of first fruits to himselfe wasting them in the bloud of his Sonne and delivering them from the old Tyrant Satan that he will not now leave them to themselves and to the Counsell of their own hands to stand or fall according as they shall of themselves and by themselves be able to withstand opposition and seduction but that he will keep them in his own hand giving them such constant supplies of his Grace and Spirit as that in the use of meanes they shall waite upon him to the end And that howsoever or whensoever by the power of Temptation and surprisalls of corruptions they are carried aside from him he will heale their back-slidings and receive them freely and though they change every day yet he changeth not and therefore they are not consumed And hereby I say it confirmes and strengthens their Faith in God as a Father in Jesus Christ taking everlasting care of them 2. Of their Love there is the same reason Gods love to us is of his free Grace he loves us because so it seemes good to him Our Love to him is purely ingenerated by his Love to us and carried on and increased by farther Revelations of his desireablenesse and excellency to our soules Herein is Love not that we loved God but that he loved us first There is no Creature in the least guilty of sinne that can put forth any acceptable Act of Love towards God but what is purely drawn out upon the Apprehension of his Love and lovelinesse in his Grace and mercy A man I confesse may love God when he hath no sence of his Love to him in particular but it must all be built upon an apprehension of his Love to sinners though he may come short in the Application it is the terrour of the Lord that causes us to perswade others but it is the Love of Christ that constraineth us to live to him Shee loved much to whom much was forgiven Looke then the more abundant discoveries are made of the lovelinesse and desirablenesse in the riches of his Grace the more effectuall is the sole and only motive we have to love him with that fiâ—iall chast Holy Love that he requires For the Love of God to his Saints our Doctrine of their Perseverance sets it forth with the greatest Advantage for the indearement of their soules to draw out their streames of Love to God especially doth it give it its Glory in three things 1. In its freedome It setts forth the Love of God to his Saints as that which they have no way in the least deserved as hath been manifested from Isa. 48. 8 9 11. chap. 54. 9 10. As he first loved them not because they were better then others being by nature Children of wrath and lying in their Blood when he said to them Live quickning them when they were dead in trespasses and sinnes So he doth not continue his love to them nor purpose so to do because he fore sees that they will so so walke with him in Holinesse uprightnesse for he â—oresees no such thing in them but what he himselfe purposeth effectually to worke upon the account of his loving them but he resolves to do it meerely upon the account of his owne Grace He neither resolves to continue his Love to them on Condition that they be so and so holy at randome and with uncertainty of the Event but freely that they may and shall be so Eph. 1. 4. And this is the Glory of Love the most Orient pearl in the Crowne of it 'T is not mercenary nor selfe-ended nor deserved but as a Spring and fountaine freely vents and powers out it selfe upon its owne account And what ingenuous truly noble Heavenly descended heart can hold out against the power of this Love It is effectually constraining to all manner of sutable returnes let the soule but put it selfe in to the actuall Contemplation of the Love of God as it lyes represented in this property of it every way free undeserved the great Love of God to a poore worme a sinner a nothing and it cannot but be wrought to a serious Admiration of it delight in it and be pained and straitned untill it make some suitable Returnes of Love and Obedience unto God If not it may well doubt it never tasted of that Love or enjoyed any fruits of it 2. It gives the Love of God the Glory of its Constancy and Unchangeablenesse This is another Starre of an eminent Magnitude in the Heaven of Love It is not a fading a wavering an altering thing but abides for ever God rests in his Love Zeph. 3. 17. It is a great thing indeed to apprehend that the great God should fixe his Love upon a poore Creature But adde hereunto that he may love them one day and hate them the next embrace them
is this Because such a signification of it would render the sence altogether inconsistent with the scope of the Apostle which is to exhort Christians unto righteousnesse and Love of the brethren now it is contrary to common sence its selfe to signify unto those whom we perswade to any duty any such thing which imports an absolute certainty or necessity of their doing it whether they take care or use any meanes for the doing of it or no and a cleare case it is that the certainty of a perpetuall remaining of the seed of God in those that are borne of him importeth a like certainty of their perpetuall performance of that duty whereunto they are exhorted Ans. If this be all it might have been spared The Argument consisteth of two parts 1. An aspersion of the infinite wisdome of God with a procedure contrary to all Reason and common sence 2. A begging of the thing in question betwixt its Author and its Adversaries That there is any thing at all in the Text even according to our Interpretation of it that importeth an absolute necessity of mens doing any thing whether they take care to use the meanes of doing it or no the Reader must judge The abiding of the Seed is that we say which shall effectually cause them in whom it is to use the meanes of not sinning that eventually they may not doe so and that a certainty of the use of meanes is imported is no Argument to prove that their necessity of Persevering is proved whether they use meanes yea or no. To take care to use meanes is amongst the meanes appointed to be used and this they shall doe upon the account of the abiding seed That indeed which is opposed is that God cannot promise to worke effectually in us by the use of meanes for the accomplishment of an appointed end but that withall rendreth uselesse and vaine all his exhortations to us to use those meanes This is M. Goodwins Argument from the place it selfe to inforce that improper Acceptation of the word remaineth in us What remaineth of M. Goodwins long discourse upon this Text of Scripture §. 72. is but a fencing with himselfe and raising of Objections and Answering them suitably to his owne principles wherein we are not in the least concerned There is not any thing from the beginning to the end of it that tendeth to impeach our Interpretation of the place or impede the progresse of our Argument but only a flourish set upon his own Exposition which if he were desired to give in briefely and in termes of a plaine downeright significancy I am verily perswaded he would be hardly put to it to let us know what his mind and conceptions of this place of Scripture are But of this subject and in Answer to his Fifth Argument with this Chapter this is the issue CAP. XVI 1. M. G's seaventh Argument about the tendency of the Doctrine of the Saints Aposlas◠as to their consolation proposed 2. Considered what that doctrine offereth for the consolation of the Saints offered the impossibility of its affording the least true consolation manifested 3. The influence of the Doctrine of the Saints Perseverance into their consolation 4. The medium whereby M. G. confirmes his Argument examined what kind of Nurse for the Peace and consolation of the Saints the Doctrine of Apostasy is whether their obedience be farthered by it what are the causes and springs of true consolation 5. M. G. Eight Argument proposed to consideration 6. Answer thereunto the minor Proposition considered the Holy Ghost not afraid of the Saints miscarriages 7. The confirmation of his Minor Proposition proposed and considered 8. The Discourse assigned to the Holy Ghost by M. G. according to our principles 9. Considered 10. Exceptions against it the First 11. The Second 12. The Third 13. The Fourth 14. The Fifth 15. The Sixth 16. The Seaventh 17. The foundation of M.G. Pageant everted 18. The proceedings of the Holy Ghost in exhortations according to our principles 19. Sophismes in the former discourse farther discovered 20. His farther plea in this case proposed 21. Considered 22. The instance of Christ and his obedience considered and vindicated as to the application of it to the businesse in hand 23. M.G. last Argument proposed 24. Examined 25. 1 Ioh 2. 19. explained 26. Vindicated 27. Argument from thence for the Perseverance of the Saints 28. M.G. exceptions thereunto 29. Considered and 30. Removed 31 32 33 34 35 36 37. The same words farther perused 38. M.G. Consent with the Remonstrants manifested by his trascriptions from their Synodalia 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47. Our Argument from 1 Ioh. 2. 19. fully cleared 48. The conclusion of the examination of M. G. Arguments for the Apostasy of the Saints THE seaventh Argument which Mr Goodwin insisteth upon §. 1. in the 36. Section of his 13. Chapter containes one of the greatest Rarities he hath to shew in the whole packe concerning the influence of the Doctrine of the Saints Apostacy into their Consolation in their walking with God an undertaking so uncapable of any Logicall Confirmation as that though Mr Goodwin interweave his Discourse concerning it with a Sillogisme yet he quickly leaves that thorney path and pursues it only with a Rhetoricall flourish of words found out and set in order to deceive At the head then of his Discourse he placeth this Argument as it is called That Doctrine whose genuine and proper tendency is to advance the peace and joy of the Saints in Believing is of a naturall sympathy with the Gospell and upon this account a truth such is the Doctrine which informeth the Saints of a possibility of their totall and finall falling away Ergo. The Proposition of this syllogisme he supposes we will grant §. 2. and not to trouble the Reader with the Qualifications and limitations formerly annexed to that which proposed the furtherance of the obedience of the Saints as a proofe of the truth of any Doctrine for my part I do For the proofe of the Assumption wherein alone Mr Goodwin's interest in this Argument doth lye He referrs us to his 9. Chapter where as he tells us if we may believe him he hath undenyably demonstrated the truth of it But we have considered whatever looks that way in that Chapter and have found it all as Chaffe and stubble before the breath of the Spirit of the Lord in the Word That which lyes upon his shoulders to support A burthen too heavy for him to beare whose demonstration he hath undertaken is that it tends to the Peace Joy Consolation of the Saints of God in their walking with him which arises from and solely depends upon that assurance they have of their eternall fruition of him through Christ to be instructed that indeed they are in themselves weake unable to do any thing as they ought that they have no strength to continue in the Mercy of God but carry about with them
shall be startled in their sinnes troubled in their consciences forced to seeke out for a remedy and shall come so farre as to have some though but a light tast of the excellency of the Gospell and the remedy provided for sinners in Jesus Christ and then through the strength of their lusts and corruptions shall cast it off reject it and spit out of their mouth as it were all that of it whereby they found the least savour in it no creature under Heaven can be guilty of more abominable undervaluing of the Lord Christ and the Love of God in him than such persons What degree of Love Joy Repentance Peace Faith persons many times arrive unto when with Herod they have heard the Word gladly and done many things willingly c. hath been by others abundantly demonstrated This sufficeth our present purpose that they do make such a progresse in the wayes of God and finde so much excellency in the treasure of Grace and mercy which he hath provided in Jesus Christ and tenders in the Gospell that he cannot but look upon their Apostacy renunciation of him whereby they proclaime to all the world as much as in them lyes that there is not that reall goodnesse worth and excellency to be found in him as some pretend as the highest scorne and contempt of him and his Love in Christ and revenges it accordingly 2. To the second which consists of instances collected by the Remonstrants to manifest the use of the word tasting to be other than what we here confine it to I say 1. That the word as it is applyed to Spiritualls being borrowed and metaphoricall not in its Analogie to be extended beyond making triall for our coming to some knowledge of a thing in its nature the use of it in one place cannot prescribe to the sence of it in another no more than any other metaphoricall expression whatever but it must in the severall places of its residence be interpreted according to the most peculiar restriction that the matter treated of doth require If then M G. can prove that any thing in this place under consideration enforces such a sence all his other instances are needlesse if he cannot they are uselesse It might easily be manifested and hath been done by others already that in all the places mentioned by Mr Goodwin the word is not expressly significant of any thorough solid eating participation of that which is said to be tasted as is pretended But to manifest this is not our concernment there being no reason in the world to enforce any such sence as is contended for in the place under present consideration 2. To the third wherein he argues with his predecessors from our opinion concerning Faith a briefe reply will suffice That a faint weake perception and relish of heavenly things is sufficient to make a man a Believer is so farre from being our opinion that we utterly disclaime them from being Believers to whom this is ascribed if nothing else be added in their description from whence they may be so esteemed It is true Faith is sometimes little and weake in the exercise of it yea a man may be so overtaken with Temptations or so clouded under desertions as that it may not deport it selfe with any such considerable vigour as to be consolatory to him in whom it is or demonstrative of him unto others to be what he is but we say that the weakest lowest meanest measure and degree of this Faith is yet grounded and fixed in the heart where though it be not allwayes alike lively and active yet it is allwayes alive and gives life How farre Believers may fall into the guilt of enormous courses has been already manifested The intendment of the expression is to disadvantage the perswasion he opposeth We do not grant that believers may fall into any enormityes but only what God himselfe affirmes they may yet not utterly be cast out of his Love favour in Jesus Christ. Farther the weakest Faith of which we affirme that it may be true and saving though it may have no great perception nor deepe tast of Heavenly things for the present yet hath it allwayes that of adherence to God in Christ which is exceedingly exalted above any such preception of Heavenly things whatever that may be had or obtained without it so that from the consideration of what hath been spoken we may safely conclude that M.G. hath not been able to advance on steppe in his intendment to prove that the persons here described are true Believers I know no sufficient ground or reason to induce me to any large consideration of the other two or three expressions that remaine §. 34. that are insisted on by M.G. seeing it is evident from their associats which have been already examined that there is none of them can speak one word to the businesse in hand I shall therefore discharge them from any farther attendance in the service they have been forced unto The next priviledge insisted on which to these persons is ascribed is that they are made partakers of the Holy Ghost In mens participation of the Holy Ghost either the guifts or Graces of the Holy Ghost are intended The Graces of the Holy Ghost are either more common and inchoative or speciall and compleating of the worke of conversion that it is the peculiar regenerating Grace of God that is intended in this expression of being made partakers of the Holy Ghost and not the guifts of the Spirit or those common graces of illumination unto which persons not truly converted but only wrought upon by an effectuall conviction in the preaching of the word may attaine M G is no way able to prove And there is also this consideration rising up with strength and power against that interpretation viz. that those that are so made partakers of the Spirit as to be regenerated quickned sealed comforted thereby which are some of the peculiar acts of his Grace in and towards the soules of those that Believe can never loose him nor be deprived of him as was manifested before at large being sealed and confirmed not only in the present enjoyment of the Love and favour of God but also unto the full fruition of the Glory which is provided for them and therefore cannot fall away as these are supposed to do What there is in Mr Goodwins Discourse on this passage Sect. 23 24. to weaken in the least what is usually answered or farther to enforce his exposition of the place I am not able to apprehend and shall therefore proceed with what remaineth All that followes in the place of the Apostle under contest §. 35. is regulated by the word Tast they have tasted of the good word of God and the powers of the World to come what the sence and importance of that word is hath been already declared neither can it be proved that the persons here described doe so tast of the good word of God as to
their thoughts as to particulars in great variety according as their concernments may be yet the Reasons which are generally pleaded as directions for the choise of them to whom with their labours and writings they so address themselves are for the most part uniforme and in their various course transgress not the Rules of certaine heads from whence they flow To express a gratitude for respects and favours received by returning things in their kind eternal for those which are but temporal to obtaine Countenance and Approbation unto their endeavours in their breaking forth into the world from names of more esteem or at least more knowne then their own to advance in repute by a Correspondency in Judgment with men of such esteem intimated thereby are the more ingenuous aimes of men in the dedications of their writings Though these and sundry other pretences of the same kind might justly be drawn into my plea for this address unto you yet your peculiar designation and Appointment through the good hand of the providence of God to the defence of the Gospel and your eminent Furnishment with Abilities from the same hand for the performance of that glorious duty is that alone upon the account whereof I have satisfied my selfe and hope that I may not dissatisfie others as to this present Application What there is of my own peculiar concernment wherein I am like to obtaine a more favourable Condescention in Judgment as to my present undertaking from you then from other men will in the close of my address crave leave to have mention made thereof Brethren the outward obligations that are upon you from the God of truth with the Advantages which he hath intrusted you withal for the defence of his Truth above the most of men in the world are evident even to them that walke by the way and turne little aside to the consideration of things of this nature importance and Condition And it is to me an evidence of no small incouragement that God will yet graciously imploy you in the work and labour of his Gospel by his constant giving a miscarrying wombe to all them who have attempted to defraud the Nation and the Churches of God therein of those helpes and furtherances of Piety and Literature with whose management for their sevlice you are at present intrusted Of the Jewels of Silver and Gold whereof by the Lord's appointment the Children of Israël coming out from amongst them spoiled the Egyptians did they dedicate to the Tabernacle in the wilderness when the Lord planted the Heavens and laid the foundations of the Earth and said to Sion Thou art my people Though some outward provisions and furnitures of Literature now through the good hand of God made serviceable to you in your Attendance upon the great Worke and imployment committed to you were first deposited when thick darkness was over the land Yet that they may be made eminently subservient to the will of God in raising up againe the Tabernacle of David that was falne down the Experience of a few yeares I no way doubt will abundantly reveale and manifest That in the vicissitude of all things given them by the mysterious and dreadful wheeles of providence your good things also as every thing else that is pleasant and desirable or given of God unto the Sons of men hath done have fallen into the possession and disposal of men some enemies others utterly useless and unfruitful to the Lord in their generations cannot be denyed But what is there in his waies or worship in his workes or word that God hath not at some season or other delivered into the power of the men of the world though they have abused and perverted them to their own destruction Neither is there any other use of this Consideration but only to informe them of the Obligations they lye under to a due and zealous improvement of them to whose Trust and Cate the Lord committe any of his mercyes when he rescues them from the Captivity under which they have been detained by ungodly men This is now your lot and condition in reference to many who for sundry generations possessed those places and advantages of eminent service for the house of our God which you now enjoy What may justly be the Expectation of God from you under this signal dispensation of his goodness what is the hope prayer expectation of very many that feare him concerning you in this nation what are the designes desires aimes and endeavours of all sorts of them who beare ill will at whatsoever is comely or praise worthy amongst us you are not ignorant Whatever consideration at any time or season may seem to have had an efficacy upon the minds and wills of men under the like Sacrament and designement to the service of truth with your selves to incite and provoke them to a singularly industrious and faithful discharge of their duty is eminently pressing upon you also and you are made a spectacle to men and Angells as to the acquitment of your selves The whole of your imployment I confess both in the General intendment of it for the promoting and diffusing of light knowledge and Truth in every kind whatever and in the more special designe thereof for the defence furtherance and propagation of the Antient inviolable unchangeable truth of the Gospel of God is in the dayes wherein we live exposed to a Contention with as much opposition contempt scorne hatred and reproach as ever any such undertaking was in any place in the world wherein men pretended to love light more then darkness It is an hellish darkness which the light of the Sun cannot expel There is no ignorance so full of Pride folly and stubborness as that which maintaines it selfe in the midst of plentiful meanes of light and knowledge He that is in the darke when the light of the Sun is as seven dayes hath darkness in his eye and how great is that darkness Such is the Ignorance you have to contend withal stubborne affected prejudicate beyond expression maintaining it's darkness at noon-day expresly refusing to attend to the Reason of things as being that alone in the thoughts of those men if they may be so called who are possessed with it wherewith the world is disturbed From those who being under the power of this enthralment do seem to repine at God that they are not beasts and clamorously traduce the more noble part of that kind offspring whereof themselves are which attempts do heighten improve the difference between Creatures of an intellectual Race and them to whom their perishing Composition gives the utmost Advancement whose eternal seeds and principles are laid by the hand of God in their respective beings you will not I am sure think it much if you meet with Oppositions Those who are in any measure acquainted with the secret triumphing exaltations of wisdome and knowledge against folly and ignorance with the principles and conditions wherewith they advance themselves in their
be the Author of these Epistles Hierome was of an other mind speaking of Didymus Imperitus saith he sermone est non scientia Apostolicum virum ex ipso sermone exprimens tam sensuum nomine quam simplicitate verborum But seeing Ignatius was a Syrian and near to Martyrdome though he writes his Epistles from Troas and Smyrna which without doubt were not in his way to Rome from Antioch yet every where he saith he is going to Rome ad Ephes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in the close he affirmes he wrote from Smyrna whither he was had to his Martyrdome what is it to any man what style he used in his writings what swelling titles he gave to any or words he made use of Who shall call those writings especially Ignatius being a Syrian into question But perhaps some farther Question may here arise which hath by sundry been already started about the use of divers Latine words in those Epistles wich doubtless cannot be handsomely laid on the same account of their Author being a Syrian and nigh to martyrdome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are usually instanced in words to whose use no Roman customes observations Orders nor rules of Goverment do administer the least occasion Of these the Doctor tells you he wonders only that in so many Epistles there are no more of this kind And why so The Epistles are not so large a Volume a very few hours will serve to read them over and yet I am perswaded that in all that compass of reading in the Greek Fathers which our Doctor ownes he cannot give so many instances of words barbarous to their language no way occasioned by the meanes before mentioned as have been given in these Epistles But he wonders there are no more and some wonder that all are not of his mind But he farther informes us that a diligent Reader of the Scripture may observe many more Latine words in the new Testament then are used in these Epistles and for a proof of his diligence and observation reckons up out of the end of Passor's Lexicon sundry words of that kind made use of by the Sacred writers I feare unto some men this will scarce be an Apologie prevalent to the dismission of these Epistles from under the Censure of being at least fowly Corrupted Of the whole collection of words of that sort made by Passor among which are those especially cull'd out by our Doctor to Confirme his observations there is scarce one but either it is expressive of some Roman Office Custome mony order or the like words of which nature pass as proper names as one of those mentioned by the Doctor is and no otherwise used in the new Testament from one Country and language to an other or are indeed of a pure Greek Original or at least were in common use in that Age neither of which can be spoken of the words above mentioned used in the Epistles which were never used by any before or after them nor is there any occasion imaginable why they should Parvas habent spes Epistolae si tales habent I would indeed gladly see a faire candid ingenious defensative of the Style manner of writing used in those Epistles departing so eminently from any thing that was customary in the writings of the men of those daies or is regular for men of any generation in Repetitions affected compositions Barbarismes Rhyming expressions and the like for truly notwithstanding any thing that hitherto I have been able to obtaine for help in this kind I am enforced to encline to Vedelius his answers to all the particular Instances given of this nature this and that place is corrupted this is from Clemen's Constitutions this from this or that Tradition which also would much better free those Epistles from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 us'd in the sense whereunto it was applyed by the Valentinians long after the death of Ignatius then any other Apologie I have as yet seen for the securing of its abode in them It is not a little burdensome to the thought of sober and learned men to consider how frequently causlesly absurdly in the midst of discourses quite of another nature and tendency the Author of those Epistles or some body for him break in upon the Commendation of Church Officers Bishops and Presbyters exalting them with titles of honour to the greatest Potentates on earth and compareing them to God the Father and Son where as none of the Sacred writers that went before him nor any of those good and holy men who as is supposed followed after him do hold the least communion or society with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epist ad Tral whereunto is immediatly subjoyned that Doctrine concerning Deacons which will scarcely be thought to be exegetical of Act. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What the Writer of this passage intended to make of a Bishop well I know not but thus he speaks of him Epist ad Magnes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle speaks concerning God Heb 6 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus indeed some would have it who to help the matter have further framed such an Episcopacy as was never thought on by any in the dayes of Ignatius as shall afterwards be made evident And in the same Epistle this is somewhat uncouth and strange 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whether the Lord Christ hath bound any such burden upon the shoulders of the Saints I much question nor can I tell what to make of the comparison between God the Father and the Bishop Christ and the rest of the Church the whole sentence in word and matter being most remote from the least Countenance from the Sacred writings Epist ad Philadel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 well aimed however 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Epistle to the Church at Smyrna is full of such stuff inserted without any occasion order coherence or any colour to induce us to believe that it is part of the Epistle as first written One passage I may not omit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the language of our Saviour repudiating the Pharisees corrupted glosses on the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So Peter's mistake is corrected his reasons follow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as was Jesus Christ and it is added 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How well this suits the doctrine of Peter and Paul the Reader will easily discerne Caesar or the King is upon all accounts thrust behind the Bishop who is said to be Consecrated to God for the salvation of the World him he is exhorted to obey and in express opposition to the Holy Ghost the Bishop's name is thrust in between God and the King as in away of preheminence above the latter and to doe any thing without the Bishop is made a farre greater crime then to rise up against the King As this seemes scarce to be the language of one going upon an Acculation to appeare before the
Faith of others is to be obtained 23 What is meant by Perseverance How in Scripture it is expressed 24. The grounds of it pointed at 25 What is intended by falling away whether it be possible the Spirit of Grace may be lost or 26 27 28 The habit of it and how 29 30 The state of the Controversy as laid downe by Mr G. 31 The vanity thereof discovered 32 33 34 His judgement about Believers falling away examined what principles and meanes of Perseverance he grants to them 35 The enemies of our Perseverance Indwelling sin in particular considered 36 No possibility of preservation upon Mr G grounds demonstrated 37 38 39 40 41 42 The meanes and waies of the Saints preservation in Faith asserted by Mr G at large examined weighed found light 43 The Doctrine of the Saints Perseverance way of teaching it cleard from Isa 4 44 45 That Chapter opened 47 48 49 The 43 verse particularly insisted on and discussed 50 The whole state and Method of the Controversy thence educed THe Truth which I have proposed to handle §. 1. and whose defence I have undertaken in the insuing discourse Iud. 3. is commonly called the PERSEVERANCE OF SAINTS 2 Cor. 13. 8. A Doctrine Isai. 4. 5 6. whereof nothing ordinary Low or Common is spoken by any Ierem. 31. 31 32 33 34 35. that have ingaged into the consideration of it To some it is the very Salt of the Covenent of Grace Ier. 32. 39 40 the most distinguishing mercy communicated in the blood of Christ Isa. 59. 21. so enterwoven into Heb. 8. 10 11. and lying at the bottome of all that consolation which God is abundantly willing that all the Heires of the promise should receive That it is utterly impossible it should be safe guarded one moment 1 Cor. 1. 9. without a perswasion of this truth Phil. 1. 6. which seales up all the mercy and grace of the new Covenant Rom. 8. 32 33 34 35. with the unchangeableness and faithfulness of God To others it is no grace of God Pelag. Armin. Socin Papist Thomson de Intercis Justif Diatrib Bertius Apost Sanct. Remon-Coll Hag. Scripta Sinod no part of the purchase of Christ no doctrine of the Gospell no foundation of consolation but an invention of men a delusion of Satan an occasion of dishonour to God disconsolation and perplexity to believers a powerfull temptation unto sinne and wickednesse in all that doe receive it A Doctrine it is also whose right apprehension is on all hands confessed to be of great importance upon the accompt of that effectuall influence which it hath and will have §. 2. into our walking with God which say some is to Love Gen. 17. 1. Humility Thankefulness Feare Fruitfulness To Folly Stubborness Rebellion Psal. 23. 6. Dissolnteness Negligence say others The great confidence expressed by men concerning the evidence and certainty of their severall perswasions Phil. 2. 12 13. whether defending or opposing the Doctrine under consideration Heb. 10. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22. the one part professing the truth thereof to be of equall stability with the promises of God 2 Cor. 7. 1. and most plentifully delivered in the Scripture 2 Pet. 1. 3 4 5 6 7. c. others at least one who is thought to be pars magna of his Companions that if it be asserted in any place of the Scripture it were enough to make wise impartiall men to call the authority thereof into question must needs invite men to turne aside to see about what this earnest contest is quis is est tam potens who dares thus undertake to remove not only antient Landmarkes boundaries of doctrines among the Saints but mountains of brass the hils about Ierusalem which we hoped would stand fast for ever The concernement then of the Glory of God and the Honour of the Lord Iesus Christ with the interest of the soules of the Saints being so wrapt up and that confessedly on all hands in the Doctrine proposed I am not out of hope that the plaine discoursing of it from the word of truth may be as ae word in season like apples of gold in Pictures of silver Moreover §. 3. besides the generall importance of that doctrine in all times and seasons the wretched practizes of many in the daies wherein we live and the industrious attempts of others in their Teachings for the subverting and casting it downe from its excellency and that place which it hath long held in the Churches of Christ and hearts of all the Saints of God have rendred the consideration of it at this time necessary For the First these are daies wherein we have as sad and tremendious examples of Apostacy §. 4. back-sliding and falling from high and glorious pitches in profession as any Age can parallell As many starres cast from heaven As many trees pluckt up by the rootes Revel 12. 4. as many stately buildings by winde raine and storme Jud. 12. cast to the ground as many Sons of perdition discovered as many washed swine returning to their mire Math. 7. 26 27. as many Demases going after the present evill World 2 Thes. 2. 8. and men going out from the Church which were never truly and properly of it 2 Pet. 1. 20 21 22. as many Sonnes of the morning and Children of high illumination gifts setting in darkness 2 Tim. 4. 10. that of all sorts as ever in so short a space of time 1 Joh. 2. 19. since the name of Christ was known upon the Earth What through the deviating of some to the wayes of the World Heb. 6. 4 5. 6. and the Lusts of the flesh what of others to spirituall wickednesses and abominations it is seldome that we see a Professor to hold out in the Glory of his Profession to the end I shall not now discourse of the particular causes hereof with the temptations and advantages of Satan that seem to be peculiar to this season but only thus take notice of the thing it selfe as that which presseth for and rendreth the consideration of the doctrine proposed not only seasonable but necessary That this is a stumbling block in the way of them that seeke to walke with God §. 5. I suppose that none of them will deny It was so of old and it will so continue untill the end And therefore our Saviour predicting and discoursing of the like season Mathew 24. Foretelling that Many should be deceived ver 11. That Iniquity should abound and the love of many wax cold v. 12. that is visibly and scandalously to the contempt and seeming disadvantage of the Gospell adds as a preservative consolation to his own chosen select ones who might be shaken in their comforts confidence to see so many that walked in the House of God and took sweet counsell together with them to fall headlong to
they runne themselves through Was this inded the case with David Solomon Peter and others who totally Apostatized from the Faith But if it be so if they are thus secure whence is it that it doth arise what are the Fountaines Springs and causes of this generall Security Is it from the weakenesse of the Opposition and slightnesse of all Meanes of diversion from walking with God to the End that they meet withall Or is it from the nature of that Faith which they have and Grace wherewith they are indued Or is it that God hath gracionsly undertaken to safegard them and to preserve them in their abiding with him that they shall not fall away Or is it that Christ intercedeth for them that their Faith faile not but be preserved and their Soules with it by the Power of God unto the End Or from what other Principle doth this Security of theirs arise From what Fountain do the streams of their Consolation Flow Where lye the Heads of this Nilus That it is not upon the first account I suppose cannot enter into the Imagination of any person who ever had the least experience of walking with God or doth so much as assent to the letter of the Scripture How are our Enemies there discribed as to their Number Nature Power Policy Subtility Malice Restlessenes and Advantages With what inimaginable and unexpressible variety of Meanes Temptations Baites Allurements Inticements Terrors Threats doe they fight against us Such so many are the enemies that oppose the Saints of God in their abiding with him so Great Effectual the Means weapons wherewith they fight against theÌ„ so unwearied and watchfull are they for the improovement of all Advantages Opportunityes for their ruine that upon the supposall of the Rejection of those Principles and those meanes of of their Preservation which we shall finde Mr Goodwin to attempt they will be found to be so farre from a state of no danger and litle probability of Falling or only under a remote Possibility of so doing that it will appeare utterly imposible for them to hold out and abide unto the end Had the choisest Saint of God with all the Grace that he hath received but one of the many Enemies and that the weakest of all them which oppose every Saint of God even the feeblest to deale withall separated from the Strength of those Principles and Supportments which M r Goodwin seeketh to cast downe let him lye under continuall exhortations to watchfulnesse close walking with God he may as easily move Mountaines with his finger or climbe to Heaven by a Ladder as stand before the strength of that one enemy Adam in Paradise had no Lust within to intice him no World under the Curse to seduce him yet at the first assault of Sathan who then had no part in him he fell quite out of Covenant with God Psal. 30. 6 7. I shall give one instance in one of the many enemies §. 35. that fight against the welfare of our soules and ex hoc uno we may guesse at the residue of its companions This is indwelling sinne whose power and policy strength and prevalency neerenesse and trechery the Scripture exceedingly setts out and the Saints daily feele I shall only poynt at some particulars First concerning its Neerenesse to us it is indeed in us and that not as a thing different from us but it cleaveth to all the faculties of our soules it is an Enemy borne with us Psal. 51. 5. bred upâ—with us carried about in our bosomes by nature Math. 5. 29 30. our familiar friend our guide and councellor deare to us as our right eye usefull as our right hand our wisdome strength c. The Apostle 7. Rom. 17 20. calleth it the sinne that dwelleth in us Iam. 3. 15. 6. it hath in us in the faculties of our soules its abode and station It doth not passe by and away but there it dwelles so as that it never goes from home is never out of the way when we have any thing to doe whence v 21. he calls it the evill that is present with him When we goe about any thing that is good or have opportunity for or temptation unto any thing that is evill it is never absent but is ready to pluck us back or to put us on according as it serves its ends it is such an Inmate that we can never be quit of its company and so intimate unto us that it puts forth it selfe in every acting of the ming will or any other faculty of the soule Though men would faine shake it off yet when they would doe good this evill will be present with them Then 2. Secondly Its Vniversality and compasse Act. 26. 18. 2 Cor. 6. 14. Ephes. 5. 8. Isa. 29. 18. 35. 5. 42. 7. It is not straightned in a corner of the soule 't is spread over the whole all the faculties affections and passions of it That which is a Ioh. 5. 6. Math. 6. 23. ch 11. 79. Luk. 11. 34 35 36. borne of the flesh is flesh t is all flesh and nothing but flesh it is Darknesse in the Vnderstanding keeping us at best that we know but in part and are still dull and slow of heart to believe naturally we are all Darknesse Rom. 2. 19. nothing but Darknesse and though the Lord shine into our mind to give us in some measure the knowledge of his Glory in the face of Jesus Christ Col. 1. 13. 1 Pet. 2. 9. yet we are still very darke it is a hard work to bring in a little Light Luk. 4. 8. Eph. 4. 18. Revel 3. 17. upon the soule especially this is seen in particular practicall things though in Generall Math. 23. 16. we have very cleare light and eviction yet when we come to particular Acts of obedience Math. 4. 16. How often doth our light grow dimme and failes us causing us to judge amisse of that which is before us Ioh. 1. 5. 2 Cor. 4. 6. by the rising of that naturall darknesse which is in us It is perversenesse stubbornnesse obstinacy in the Will Luk. 4. 18. Ioh. 8. 34. that carries it with violence to disobedience and sinne It is sensuality upon the Affections Rom. 6. 16. bending them to the things of the World alienating them from God Rom. 7. 18. 8. 7 8. It is slipperinesse in the memory making us like leaking vessells lerem 6. 16. that the things that we heare of the Gospell doe suddainly slip out when as other things abide firme in the Cells and Chambers thereof Gen 6. 5. It is senselesnesse and errour in the Conscience lerem 13. 23. Heb. 2. 1. staving it off from the performance of that duty which in the Name and Authority of God it is to accomplish and in all these is dayly enticing and seducing the heart to Folly conceiving bringing forth sinne Iam. 1. 14 15. 3. Thirdly
filth and purging away blood Spirituall filth and blood Joh. 16. 9 10 11. is the defilement of sinne the Scripture to set out it 's abhomination Psal. 38. 5. 7. comparing it to the things of the greatest Abhorrency to our nature Prov. 13. 5 6. even as that is to the nature of God And this is the second promise Isa. 1. 5 6. that in and by Isa. 64. 6. the Branch of the Lord is here made to them who are written unto life in Jerusalem Ezek. 16. 4. 5. 24. 6. But now least any should suppose that both these are for a season only Hos 8. 8. that they are Dying priviledges Perishing mercies Jewells that may be lost Zech. 13. 1. so that though the persons to whom those promises are made Rom. 3. 13. 2 Pet. 2. 22. are once made Glorious and Comely being in Christ freely accepted yet they may againe become odious in the sight of God and be utterly rejected that being once Washed Purged Cleansed they should yet returne to wallow in their mire and so become wholly defiled and abhominable In the Third place He gives a promise of Perseverance in the two last verses and that expressed with Allusion to the Protection afforded unto the people of the Jewes in the Wildernesse by a Cloude and Pillar of fier which as they were created and Instituted signes of the presence of God so they gave assured protection preservation and direction to the People in all their waies The summe of the whole intendment of the Holy Ghost in these two verses seeming to be comprized in the last words of the Fift and they being a suitable bottome unto the ensuing discourse comprising as they stand in Relation to the verses foregoing the whole of my ayme with the way or method wherein it may conveniently be delivered I shall a little insist upon them Vpon all the glory shall be a defence The words are a Gospell Promise Expressed in Law termes or a New Testament Mercy §. 47. in Old Testament Clothes the subject of it is all the Glory and the thing Promised is a defence over it or uppon it By the Glory some take the People themselves to be intended who are the Glory of God Isa. 46. 13. In whom he will be Glorifyed and who are said to be made Glorious v. 2. But the Pillar of fier and the Cloud lead us an other way As the Protection here Promised must Answer the Protection given by them of olde so the Glory here mentioned must answer that which was the Glory of that People when they had their Preservation and Direction from those Signes of the presence of God in the midst of them It is very true the signe of Gods Presnce among them it selfe and the Protection received thereby is sometimes called his glory Ezek 10. 10. But here it is plainely differenced from it that being afterwards called a defence That which most frequently was called the Glory in the Ancient dispensation of God to his People was the Arke when this was taken by the Philistims the Wife of Phineas calls her sonne Johabod and sayes the Glory is departed from Israell 1 Sam. 4. 2. 22. Which the holy Ghost mentions againe Psal. 78. 61. And delivered his Strength into Captivity and his Glory into his Enemies hand The Tabernacle or the Tent wherein it was placed is mentioned v. 60. He forsooke the Tabernacle of Shiloh the Tent which he had placed among them And the People to whom it was given v. 62. He gave the People over also to the Sword That Arke being the Glory and Strength which went into Captivity when he forsooke the Tabernacle and gave his People to the Sword That this Arke the Glory of Old was a Tipe of Jesus Christ besides the end and ayme of its Institution with its use and place of its abode appears from the Mercy seat or Plate of Gold that was layd upon it which Jesus Christ is expresly said to be Rom. 3. 25 26. compared with Heb. 10. 5. It is he who is the Glory here mentioned not considered absolutely and in his owne Person but as he is made Beauty and Glory unto his People as he is made unto them Righteousnesse and Holynesse according to the tenor of the Promises insisted on before Isa. 45. 25. and this is indeed all the Glory of the Elect of God even the presence of Christ with them as their Justification and Sanctification their Righteousnesse and Holynesse The matter of the Promise made in reference to his Glory and them upon whom it doth abide §. 48. Is that they shall be a defence upon it the word Translated here a defence comes from a root that is but once read in Scripture Deut. 33. 12. Where it is rendred to cover The Lord shall cover him all the day long So it properly signifyes From a Covering to a Protection or a defence is an easy Metaphor a covering being given for that end and purpose And this is the native signification of the word Protego Psal. 17. 8. 36. 7. 57. 1. 63. 7. 121. 5. to defend by covering as Abimelek called Abraham the covering of Sarahs eyes or a protection to her Gen. 20. 16. The Allusion also of a Shade which in Scripture is so often taken for a defence Isa. 30. 2. 49. 2. ariseth from hence This word it selfe is used twice more and in both places signifye a Bridechamber Ezek. 31. 6. c. Psal. 19. 6. Joell 2. 16. From the peace covert and protection of such a place The name of the Mercy seate is also of the same root with this In this place it is by common consent rendered a defence or protection being so used either by Allusion to that refreshment that the Lord Christ the great Bridegroome gives to his Bride in his Banqueting House Cant. 2. 4. or rather in pursuit of the former similitude of the Cloude that was over the Tabernacle and the Arke which represented the Glory of that People Thus this defence or covering is said to be upon or above the Glory as the Cloude was over the Tabernacle and as the Mercy seate lay upon the Arke Adde only thus much to what hath been spoken which is also affirmed in the beginning of the verse viz. That this defence is created or is an immediate product of the mighty Power of God not requiring unto it the least concurrence of Creature Power and the whole will manifest the intendment of the Lord everlastingly to safegarde the Spirituall Gloryes of his Saints in Christ. As there was before shewn §. 49. there are two parts of our Spirituall Glory the one purely Extrinsecall to wit the Love and Favour of God unto us his free and Gracious Acceptation of us in Christ on this part of our Glory there is this defence Created it shall abide for ever it shall never be removed His owne Glory and Excellencies are ingaged
Corruptions are strong and God doth not appeare in my behalfe Judgment is not executed on them and what will be the issue of this my sad estate What the Lord proposeth and holdeth out unto them for their Establishment in this condition and to assure them that what they feared should not come upon them he ushers in by an effectuall expostulation v. 27. Hast thou not heard Hast not thou been taught it by the Saints that went before thee Hast thou not knowne Hast thou not found it true by experience What it is he would have them take notice of and which he so Pathetically insinuates into their understandings and affections for their establishment is an Exurgency of that Description of himselfe which he gives v. 28. 1. From his Eternity he is the Everlasting God 2. From his Power he is the Creator of the ends of the Earth 3. From Vnchangeablenesse he fainteth not he waxeth not weary and therfore there is no reason he should relinquish or give over any designe that he hath undertaken especially considering that he layes all his purposes in that whereby he describes himselfe in the last place even his Wisdome there is no end of his Vnderstanding He establisheth I say their Faith upon this fourefold description of himselfe or Revelation of these foure Attributes of his Nature as ingaged for the effecting of that which he incourageth thē to expect Who is it ô Jacob with whom thou hast to doe that thou shouldest feare or complain that thou art rejected He is Eternall Almighty Vnchangeable Infinitely Wise if he be ingaged in any way of doing thee good who can turne him aside that he should not accomplish all his pleasure towards thee He will worke who shall let him It must be either want of Wisdome and fore sight to lay a designe or want of Power to execute it that exposeth any one to variablenesse in any undertaking Therefore that they may see how unlikely how impossible a thing it is that their wayes should be hid from the Lord and their judgment passed over from their God he accquaints them who and what he is who hath undertaken to the contrary but alasse They are poore faint Creatures they have no might no strength to walke with God Vnstable as water they cannot excell It is impossible they should hold out in the way wherein they are ingaged unto the end To obviate or remove such fears and misgiving thoughts he lets them know v. 29. That though they have or may have many decayes for they often faint they often faile wherof we have Examples and Complaints in the Scripture made lively by our owne experience yet from him they shall have supplyes to preserve them from that which they feare He is Eternall Almighty Unchangeable and infinitely Wise he will give out Power increase Strength when they Faint in themselves have no might at all The Lord doth not propose himselfe under all these considerations to let them know what he is in himselfe only but also that he will expert and act sutably to these Properties in dealing with them and making out supplyes unto them notwithstanding all their misgiving thoughts which arise from the consideration of their owne faintings and totall want of might Though in themselves they are weake and faint yet their springs are in him and their supplyes from him who is such as he hath here described himselfe to be Hereupon also he anticipates an Objection by way of Concession v. 30. Even the youth shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly faile Men that seeme to have a great stock of strength and Ability may yet faile and perish utterly An objection which as I formerly observed these daies have given great force unto We see many who seem to have the vigor of youth and the strength of young men in the wayes of God that have fainted in their course and utterly failed they began to runne well but lay downe almost at the entrance and be it so saith the Lord it shall so come to passe indeed many that goe out in their own strength shall so fall and come to nothing But what is that to thee O Jacob my chosen thou that waitest upon the Lord v. 31. The unchangeable God will so make out strength to thee that thou shalt never utterly faint nor give over but abide flying running walking with speed strength and stedfastnesse unto the end That expression they that wayt upon the Lord is a Description of the Persons to whom the Promise is made and not a condition of the Promise it selfe It is not if they waite upon the Lord but they that waite on the Lord if it were a Condition of this Promise there were nothing promised it is only said if they wait on the Lord they shall waite on the Lord But of the vanity of such conditionalls I shall speak afterwards A Scripture of the like importance you have Isaiah 44. §. 12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. verses Yet now heare O Jacob my servant and Israel whom I have chosen thus saith the Lord that made thee and framed thee from the wombe which will help thee feare not O Jacob my servant Iessurun whom I have chosen for I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and stoods upon the dry ground and I will put my Spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon their off-spring and they shall spring up as among the grasse as Willowes by the water courses One shall say I am the Lords and another shall call himselfe by the name of Iacob and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord and surname himselfe by the name of Israel thus saith the Lord the King of Israel and his redeemer the Lord of Hosts I am the first and I am the last besides mee there is no God c. I shall not need to insist long on the opening of these words the generall designe of them is to give Consolation and Assurance unto Israel from the Eternity Vnchangeablenesse and Absolutenesse of God with some peculiar references to the Second Person the Redeemer who is described Rev. 1. 8. with the titles for the substance of them whereby the Lord here holds out his own Excellency I shall only observe some few things from the words for the Illustration of the Truth we have in hand contained in them The State and Condition wherein Iacob Israell Iessurun severall titles upon severall accounts given to Believers are described to be is two fold First of Feare and Disconsolation as 't is intimated in the redoubled Prohibition of that frame in them v. 2. feare not and v. 8. feare ye not neither be afraid some temptation of farther distance or separation from God the only thing to be feared was fallen upon them This they are frequently exercised withall 't is the greatest and most pressing temptation whereunto they are lyable and exposed To conclude because some Believers in Hypothes◠may
be carried on through innumerable contingencies and yet as I have seen it so have I told it and my counsell concerning it shall certainely be executed Secondly by his Power in using what Instruments he pleaseth for the executing of his Purposes and bringing about his own designes calling a ravenous Bird from the East One that at first when he went against Babylon thought of of nothing lesse then Executing the Counsell of God but was wholly bent upon satisfying his owne Rapine and Ambition not knowing then in the least by whom he was Anoynted Sanctifyed for the Accomplishment of his Will All the thoughts of this heart all his Consultations Actions all his Progresses Diversions his Successe in his great and dreadfull undertaking to breake in pieces that Hammer of the whole Earth with all the free deliberations and contingencies wherwith his long Warre was attended which were as many strong Ierem. 50. 51. and various as the nature of things is capable to receive were not only in every individuall Act Isa. 44. 25 26 27 28. with its minutest circumstances by him foreseene and much also fore told but also managed in the hand of his Power in a regular subservience to that call Phil. 45. 1 2 3 4. which he so gave that Raveinous Bird for the Accomplishment of his Purpose and Pleasure Thirdly by the Immutability of his Purposes which can never be frustrated nor altered My Counsell shall stand and I will doe all my Pleasure I have Purposed it and I will also doe it The Standing or Fixednesse and Unchangeablenesse of his Counsell he manifests by the accomplishment of the things which therein he had determined Neither is there any Salve for his Immutability in his Counsell should it otherwise fall out And if we may take his owne Testimony of himselfe what he Purposeth that he doth And in the Actuall fulfilling and the bringing about of things themselves Purposed and as Purposed without any possibility of diversion from the reall and intended is their Stability and Unchangeablenesse in them manifested An Imaginary Immutability in God's Purposes which may consist and be preserved under their utter Frustration as to the fulfilling of the things themselves under which they are the Scripture knowes not neither can Reason conceive Now this Vnchangeablenesse of his Purposes the Lord brings as one Demonstration of his Deity and those who make them lyable to Alteration upon any Account or supposition whatsoever doe depresse him what in them lyes into the number of such Dungehill Gods as he threatens to famish and destroy Psa. 33. 9 10 11. He spake and it was done §. 8. he commanded and it stood fast The Lord bringeth the Counsell of the Heathen to nought he maketh the devices of the People of none effect The Councell of the Lord stands for ever the thoughts of his Heart to all Generations The Production and Establishment of all things in that order wherein they are are by the Psalmist ascribed to the Will and power of God By his Word and Command they not only are but Stand fast Heb. 1. 3. being fixt in that Order by him appointed both the Making Fixing and Sustaining of all things Revel 4. 11. is by the VVord of his Power As the first relates to their Being Act. 17. 28. which they have from Creation so the other to the order in subsistence and Operation Act. 2. 23. 4. 28. which relates to his Actuall Providence Herein they Stand fast Gen. 50. 20. Themselves with their severall and respective relations dependencies Eccles. 3. 11. influences circumstances suited to that Nature and Being which was bestowed on them by his Word in their Creation are setled in an exact correspondency to his Purposes of which afterwards not to be shaken or removed Men have their Devices and Counsells also they are free Agents and worke by Counsell and Advice and therfore God hath not set all things so fast as to overturne and overbeare them in their Imaginations and undertakings Saith the Psalmist they Imagine and Devise indeed but their Counsell is of nought and their Devices are of none effect but the Counsell of the Lord c. The Counsell Purposes of the Lord are set in opposition to the Counsell and Purposes of men as to Alteration Change and Frustration in respect of the Actuall Accomplishment of the things about which they are Their Counsells are so and so But the Counsell of the Lord shall stand he that shall cast v. 11. into the 10. and say The Counsell of the Lord that comes to nought and the thoughts of his heart are of none effect let him make what pretences he will or flowrishes that he can or display what supposalls and conditions he pleaseth he will scarcely be able to keepe the field against him who will contend with him about his Prerogative and Glory And this Antithesis between the Counsells of men and the Purposes of God upon the Account of Vnchangeablenesse is againe confirmed Prov. 19. 21. There are many devices in a mans heart neverthelesse the Counsell of the Lord that shall stand Isa. 8. 9 10. Herein is the difference betweene the Devices of men and the Councell of God men have many Devices to try what they can doe If one way take not Iob. 8. 9. they will attempt an other hâc non successit aliâ aggrediemur viâ and are alwayes disappointed Iob. 11. 12. but only in that wherein they fall in with the Will of God Eccles. 8. 7. 9. 12. The Shallownesse of their Vnderstanding the Shortnesse of their Foresight the Weakenesse of their Power the Changeablenesse of their Minds the Vncertainty of all the meanes they use puts them upon many Devices and often to no purpose But for him who is Infinite in Wisdome and Power to whom all things are present and to whom nothing can fall out Vnexpected yea what he hath not himselfe Determined unto whom all Emergencyes are but the Issue of his owne good Pleasure who proportions out what efficacy he pleaseth unto the meanes he useth his Counsells his Purposes his Decrees shall stand being as Job telles us as Montaines of Brasse By this he differenceth himselfe from all others Isa. 44. 7. 25. 26. Idols and men as also by his certaine foreknowledge of what shall come to passe and be accomplished upon those Purposes of his Hence the Apostle Heb. 6. 17 18. acquaints us that his Promise and his Oath those two Immutable things doe but declare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Vnchangeablenesse of his Counsell which God is abundantly willing to manifest though men are abundantly unwilling to receive it Job determines this businesse in the 23. Ch. v. 13 14. He is of one minde and who can turne him What his soule desireth even that he doth for he performeth the thing that is appointed for me Desires are the least and faintest kind of Purposes in Mr Goodwin's
Resolution fall upon the Sonnes of men to whom God is pleased to continue the use of that little sparke of Reason wherewith they are indued If you say God purposed it should continue in case their disobedience hindered it not I aske againe did God fore-see the Disobedience that would so hinder it or did he not If he did not the same difficulties will arise which formerly I mentioned If he did then God decreed and purposed that the Priesthood should continue in the House of Eli if they kept themselves from that disobedience which he saw and knew full well they would runne into Cui sint 2. Secondly if God did thus Purpose and Decree he was able to bring it about and accomplish his designe by waies agreeable to his Goodnesse Wisdome and Righteousnesse or he was not If he was not where is his Omnipotency who is not able to fullfill his Righteous Designes and Purposes in waye corresponding to that state of Agents things which he hath allotted them How can it be said of him he will worke and none shall let him That God ingageth his Power for the Accomplishment of his Purposes was shewed before If he were able to accomplish it why did he not doe it but suffer himselfe to be frustrated of his end Is it suitable to the Soveraigne Will and Wisdome of God eternally to purpose and Decree that which by meanes agreeable to his Holinesse and Goodnesse he is able to bring to passe and yet not to doe it but to faile and come short of his Holy and Gracious intendment 3. Thirdly the Obedience of the House of Eli on which the Accomplishment of the pretended Decree is suspended was such as either they were able of themselves to performe or they were not To say they were is to exclude the necessary Assistance of the Grace of God which Mr Goodwin hath not in termes declared himselfe to doe not are we as yet arrived at that height though a considerable progresse hath been made If they were not able to doe it without the Assistance of the Spirit and Concurrence of the Grace of God did the Lord purpose to give them that Assistance working in them both to will and to doe of his own good pleasure or did he not If he did so purpose why did the not doe it If he did not purpose to doe it to what end did he Decree that that should come to passe which he knew could not come to passe without his doing that which he was resolved never to doe It is all one as if a man knew that another were shut up in a prison from whence it was impossible that any body but himselfe should deliver him and should Resolve and Purpose to give the poore prisoner an hundred pound so that he would come out of prison to him and resolve withall never to bring him out 4. Fourthly God from Eternity fore-saw that the Priesthood should not be continued to the House of Eli therefore he did not from Eternity Purpose and Decree that it should To know that a thing shall not be and to determine that it shall be is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rather beseeming an halfe frantik Creature then the infinitely Wise Creator Againe upon what account did God Foresee that it should not be so Can the futurition of Contingent Events be resolved in the Issue into any thing but Gods Soveraigne Determination God therefore did not Determine and Purpose that it should be so because he Determined and Purposed that it should not be so Whatsoever he doth in time that he purposed to doe from Eternity Now in time he remooved the Priesthood from the House of Eli therefore he Eternally Purposed and Determined so to do which surely leaves no place for a contrary Purpose and Decree not so much as Conditionall that it should so continue for ever The truth is the mystery of this Abomination lyes in those things which lye not in my way now to handle A disjunctive Decree a middle Science Creature Dependency are Father Mother and Nurse of the Assertion wee oppose whose monstrous Deformity and desperate Rebellion against the Propertyes of God I may the Lord assisting hereafter more fully Demonstrate But you will say §. 24. doth not the Lord planely hold out a Purpose and Decree in these words I said in deed Did he say it Will you assigne Hypocrisy to him and doubling with the sonnes of men I say then secondly that the expression here used holds out no intention nor Purpose of God as to the Futurition and Event of the thing it selfe that the Priesthood should continue in the House of Eli but only his Purpose and Intention that Obedience and the Priesthood should goe together There is a Connexion of things not an Intendment or Purpose of Events in the words intimated The latter cannot be ascribed to God without the charge of as formall Mutability as the poorest Creature is liable to Mr Goodwin indeed tells yee Sect. 43. pag. 209. That the Purpose of God it selfe considered as an act or conception of the minde of God dependeth not on any Condition what soever and all Gods Purposes and Decrees without exception are in such respect absolute and independent How weake and unable this is to free the Lord from a charge of Changeablenesse upon his supposalls needs little paines to demonstrate The Conceptions of the minds of the Sonnes of men their Purposes as such are as absolutely free inconditionall as the nature of a Creature will admit only the Execution of our Purposes and resolves is suspended upon the Intervention of other things which render them all Conditionall And this it seemes is the state with God himselfe although in the Scripture he most frequently distinguisheth himselfe from the Sonnes of men on this acompt that they purpose at the greatest rate of uncertainty imaginable as to the accomplishment of their thoughts and therefore are frequently disappointed but his Purposes and his Counsells stand for ever so Psa. 33. 10 11. The expression then here I said relates plainly to the in vestiture of Aaron and his seed in the Priesthood There was a twofold ingagement made to the House of Aaron about that office one in Generall to him and his Sonnes the other in Particular to Phinehas and his Posterity The latter to Phinehas is farre more expressive and significant then the other you have it Numb 25. 11 12 13. Phinehas the Sonne of Fleazar the Sonne of Aaron the Priest hath turned my Wrath away from the Children of Israel while he was Zealous for my sake among them that I consumed not the Children of Israel in my Jealousy wherefore say I Behold I give unto him my Covenant of peace and he shall have it and his seed after him even the Covenant of an everlasting Priesthood because he was Zealous for God and made an Attonement for the Children of Israel Here is a Promise indeed and no Condition in termes expressed But yet
of his Will So Heb. 10. 9. I come to doe thy Will O God that is to fulfill thy Command as it is expressed Psa. 40. 8. Thy Law is written in my heart Thy Law all that thou requirest at my hand as Mediator I am ready to performe On this account is Christ said to take on him the forme of a Servant Phil. 2. 7. that is to become so indeed in the assumption of his Humane nature that he might doe the Will of him that sent him For which Reason also his Father expresly calls him his Servant Isa. 42. 1. Behold my Servant whom I uphold mine Elect in whom my soule delighteth I have put my spirit upon him he shall bring forth Judgment to the Gentiles He is the Servant of the Father in the Accomplishment of that work for which the spirit was put upon him and v. 19. Who is blind but my servant or deafe as my messenger that I sent who is blind as he that is perfect and blind as the Lords servant God gives him in command to fulfill his will which accordingly he performes to the utmost Againe the Will of God is taken for his Purpose his designe decree and good pleasure for the fulfilling and Accomplishment whereof the Lord Christ came into the world and this appears to be the sence and importance of the Word in this place from the distinction which is put between the will of the Father and any such private Will of Christ as the Jewes thought he went about to establish it was some designe of his own in opposition whereunto he tells them that he came to doe the Will that is to fulfill the Councell Purpose and Designe of the Father However should it Principally be taken for the Command of God yet there is and must needs be an universall coincidence and onenesse in the object of Gods Purposing and Commanding Will in all commands given unto Christ because all of them shall certainely and infallibly by him be fulfilled and so the thing certainely accomplished which is commanded What now is this Will Purpose Ayme Designe and Command of the Father whose Execution Accomplishment is committed to the Lord Christ and which he faithfully undertakes to performe as he was faithfull in all things to him that appointed him for the clearing of this let these two things be observed 1. Who the Persons are concerning whom this Will of God is and those he describes by a double Character 1. From their Election the Fathers giving them to him all which he hath given me that is all his Elect as our Saviour expounds this very expression John 17. 16. Thine they were and thou gavest them to me Thine they were in Eternall designation thou having Chosen them from the Foundation of the World and thou gavest them to me for actuall Redemption to deliver them from every thing that keepes them at distance from thee 2. From their Faith or Believing which he calles seeing the Sonne and Believing on him v. 40. The persons then here designed are Elect Belivers Persons Chosen and Called of God What next then is the Will of God concerning them This also is set out both in Generall and in some pariicuars 1. In Generall that none of them be lost that by no meanes whatsoever by no Temptation of Sathan Deceits of sinne Fury of oppressiours Weakenesse or decay of Faith they perish and fall away from him This is the Will the designe and Purpose of God this he gives to Jesus Christ in command for to accomplish 2. In particular 1. That they might have Eternall Life v. 40. That they be preserved to the Injoyment of that Glory whereunto they are designed 2. That they may be raised up at the last Day so never be lost neither as to their being nor well-being of these two v. 40. Everlasting Life is placed before the Resurrection or raising of Believers at the last Day plainely intimating that the Spirituall Life whereof in this world they are partakers is also as to its certaine uninteruptible continuance an Everlasting Life that shall never be intercepted or cut off That then which from this Portion of Scripture I Argue is this God having Purposed to give Eternall Life to his Elect Believers and that none of them should ever be lost and having committed the Accomplishing and perfomance of this his Goodwill and Pleasure unto the Lord Jesus who was Faithfull unto him in all things and indued with Power all Power from above for that end they shall certainely be Preserved to the end designed The favour and Love of God in Christ shall never be turned away from them for his Counsell shall stand and he will doe all his Pleasure Some thing is by M. Goodwin offered to take off the strength of this testimony but yet so little §. 45. that had I not resolved to heare him out to the utmost what he can say in and unto the case in hand it would scarse be thought needfull to divert to the consideration of it This place of Scripture he binds up in one bundle with nine or tenne others to the composure of one Argument which almost uno Halitu he blowes away Cap. 11. Sect. 36 37. c. Pag. 251 252 c. To the consideration of the Argument it selfe there by him proposed I am not yet arrived the influence of this Text into it is from what is said of Christs Preserving Believers my present Consideration is cheiflly of the will and Intention of the Fathers giving them to him to be preserved so that I shall observe only one or two things to his Generall Answer and then proceed to the vindication of this Particular place we have in hand 1. First he tels you That the Conclusion of the former Argument that true Believers shall never miscarry or fall away opposeth not his sence in this Controversy whether it oppose his sence or no must be judged this I know that he hath to his utmost opposed it all this while shewing himselfe therein very uncurteous unkind but why so on what account is it that this conclusion which hath so much opposed is now conceited not to oppose him Those who thus fall away saith he are noe true Believers but wicked Apostates at the time of their falling away That the conclusion mentioned opposeth his sence to me is evident but that it is sence wherewith in this place he opposeth the Conclusion is not so cleare The Question is who fall away not Believers but Apostates faith Mr G. We say so too in the naturall first sence of those words who eventualitèr are Apostates were never antecedentèr to their Apostasie True Believers But this is not your sence doubtlesse That those who fall away in their falling away which is the sence of that clause at the time of falling away were Apostats that is were fallen away before they fell away is neither our sence nor yours for it is none at all Bertius hath one Argument against
suppose that he shall prevaile with the Saints of God to believe it will make for their Consolation to apprehend that there is no ingagement in his Covenant assuring them of the continuance of the Favour of God unto them to the End of their Pilgrimage hath no reason to doubt or question the Issue of any thing he shall undertake to perswade men unto Doubtlesse he will find it very difficult with them who in time of Spirituall Straights pressures have closed with this ingagement of God in the Covenant have had experience of its bearing them through all perplexityes and entanglements when the Waves of temptation were ready to goe over their Soules Certainely David was in another perswasion when upon a view of all the difficulties he had passed through and his house was to meet withall he concludes 2 Sam. 23. 5. This is all my desire and all my Salvation that God hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things sure The Covenant from whence he had his sure Mercyes not Changeable not Alterable not liable to failings as the temporall Prosperity of his House was was that he rejoyced in I shall close this with two Observations First §. 5. it may doubtlesse and on serious Consideration will seeme strange to any one acquainted in the least measure with God and his Faithfullnesse that in a Covenant established in the Blood of Christ he should freely promise to his that he would be a God unto them that is that he would abide with them in the Power Goodnesse Righteousnesse and Faithfullnesse of a God that he would be an Allsufficient God to them for ever when he might with an Almighty facility prevent it and so answer and fullfill his Ingagement to to the utmost he should yet suffer them to become such Villains and Devills in Wickednesse that it should be utterly impossible for him in the Blood of his Sonne and the riches of his Grace to Continue a God unto them this I say seemeth strange to me and not to be received without casting the greatest reproach imaginable on the Goodnesse Faithfullnesse and Righteousnesse of God Secondly if this Promise be not absolute Immutable Unchangeable Independent on any thing in us it is Impossible that any one should pleade it with the Lord but only upon the account of the sence that he hath of his own accomplishment of the Condition Psal. 73. 26. Isa. 8. 17. Isa. 50. 10. on which the Promise doth depend I can almost suppose that the whole Generation of Believers will rise up against this Assertion to remove it out of their way of walking with God This I know that most of them who any time have walked in darknesse and have had no Light will reprove it to the Faces of them that mainetaine it and professe that God hath witnessed the contrary truth to their hearts Are we in the Covenant of Grace left to our owne Hearts Wayes and Walkings Is it not differenced from that which is abolished Is it not the great distinguishing Character of it 2 Cor. 1. 20. that all the Promises of it are stable shall certainely be accomplished in Jesus Christ Heb. 7. 22. 8. 7 8 9. One place I shall adde more wherein our intendment is positively expressed § 6. beyond all possibility of any colourable evasion especially considering the Explication Enlargement and Application which in other places it hath received The place intended is Jeremy 32. v. 38 39 40. They shall be my People and I will be their God and I will give them one heart and one way that they may feare me for ever for the good of them and their Children after them and I will make an everlasting Convenant with them that I will not turne away from them to doe them good but I will put my feare in their hearts that they shall not depart from me in conjunction with those words of the same importance Ch. 31. v 31 32 33. Behold the daies come saith the Lord that I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah not according to the Covenant that I made with their Fathers but this shall be my Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those daies saith the Lord I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my People and they shall teach no more every man his Neighbour and every man his Brother saying Know the Lord for they shall all know mee from the least of them to the greatest of them saith the Lord for I will forgive their iniquities and remember their sinnes no more 1. The Thesis under demonstration is directly and positively affirmed in most significant and emphaticall words by God himselfe seeing then the Testimony of his holy Prophets and Apostles concerning him are so excepted against and so lightly set by let us try if men will reverence himselfe and cease contending with him when he appeareth in judgement Saith he then to Believers those whom he taketh into covenant with him This is my Covenant with you in the performance whereof his Allsufficiency Truth and Faithfulnesse with all other his glorious Attributes are eminently engaged I will be your God what that expression intends is known and the Lord here explaines by instancing in some eminent Spirituall mercy thence flowing as Sanctification and Acceptance with him by the forgivenesse of sinnes and that for ever in an everlasting Covenant that He will not turne away from them to doe them good This plainely God saith of himselfe and this is all we say of him in the businesse and which having so good an Author we must say whether men will heare or whether they will forbeare Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto men more then unto God let all judge Truly they have a sad taske in my Apprehension who are forced to sweat and labour to alleviate and take off the Testimony of God 2. Secondly That the way the Lord proposeth to secure his Love to his is upon termes of Advantage of Glory and Honour to himselfe to take away all scruple which on that hand might arise is fully also expressed Sinne is the only differencing thing between God and man and hereunto it hath a double influence First Morall in its guilt deserving that God should cast off a sinner and prevailing with him upon the account of justice so to doe Secondly Efficient by causing men through its power and deceitfulnesse to depart from God Heb. 3 1 Prov. 1. 31. 14. 14. untill as back-sliders in heart they are filled with their owne waies Take away these two provide for Security on this hand and there is no possible case imaginable of separation between God and man once brought together in Peace and Unity For both these doth God here undertake for the first saith he I will
Efficiency That the taking away of a heart of Stone the giving of a new heart and Spirit the writing of the Law in their hearts and which is all one the quickning of the Dead the opening of blind eyes the begetting of us a new as they relate unto God doe signifie no more but his administration of meanes whereby men may be wrought upon and perswaded to bring their hearts and spirits into such a condition as is described in those expressions to quicken themselves to open their blind eyes c. Mr Goodwin shall scarce be able to evince 2. Conversion and Pardon of Sinne being both in this promise of the Covenant I take in also that place of the same importance cap. 31. and relating alike to the Grace of God if Conversion or the giving of a new heart be done only by administring outward meanes and perswasions unto men to make the new heatrs the forgivenesse of Sins must also be supposed to be tendred unto them upon the condition that their sinnes be forgiven as Conversion is on condition they be converted or doe convert themselves 3. This Promise being by the Prophet and Apostle insisted on as containing the Grace whereby eminently and peculiarly the New Covenant is distinguished from that which was abolished If the Grace mentioned therein be only the laying a powerfull and strong obligation on men to duty and obedience upon the account of the gracious and bountifull dealing of God with them both as to their Temporall and Spirituall condition I desire to know wherein the difference of it from the old Covenant as to the collation of Grace doth consist And whether ever God made a Covenant with man wherein he did not put sufficient obligations of this kind upon him unto obedience And if so what are the better promises of the New Covenant And what eminent and singular things as to the bestowing of Grace are in it Which things here are emphatically expressed to the uttermost 4. The scope of this Exposition which lookes but to one part of the Promise about bestowing of Grace overlooking the maine End and intendment of it as hath been shewed being to darken the words of the Holy Ghost so farre as to make them represent a contribution of means instead of an effectuall working the end and the event on which the means supplied have an influence of perswasion to prevaile with men to doe the things they are afforded them for I desire to know First What new thing is here promised to them which exceeded that mentioned ch 25. v 4 5. Wherein the Lord testifies that he had granted them formerly a large supply of outward means and especially of the word for the end here spoken of Secondly To what end and on what account is this administration of means for a work expressed by termes of a reall efficiency in reference to the work it selfe which proceeding from the intendment of God for the event aimed at must needs produce it And Thirdly Why these words should not be of the same importance with the associate expression which of necessity must be interpreted of an actuall and absolute efficiency v. 41 42. And Fourthly Whether the Administration of outward sufficient means for the producing of an Event can be a ground of an infallible prediction of that Event As God here absolutely saith they shall all know him from the Greatest to the least Ch 31. 34. which how it is brought about the Holy Ghost acquaints us Is. 4. 13. They shall be all taught of the Lord and Ioh 6. 44 45 46. It is written of the Prophets And they shall be all taught of God Every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto mee But Mr Goodwin hath sundry Reasons to confirme his Glosse which must also be considered and he saith 1. That it is the familiar Dialect of Scripture to ascribe the doing of things or effects themselves to him that ministers occasions or proper and likely meanes for the doing of them so God is said to give them one heart and one way to put his feare into their hearts when he administers motives means occasions and opportunities to them which are proper to work them to such a frame and disposition of heart out of which men are wont to love and obey him whether they be ever actually brought thereunto or no and this Promise was fulfilled to the People after their returne out of Captivity in the mercies they enjoyed and the Preaching of the Prophets Ans. 1. We are not now to be informed that this is Mr Goodwin's Doctrine concerning conversion that God doth only administer meanes motives and oportunities for it but that man thereupon converts himselfe And 2 ly That when God hath done all he will or can that the Event may not follow nor the work be wrought But 3 ly That this sence by any meanes or opportunities can be fastned on the Promise under consideration we are not as yet so well instructed When God once intendeth an End and expresseth himselfe so to doe promising to work really and efficiently for the accomplishing of it yea that he will actually doe it by that efficiency preventing all interpositions whatever that may tend to frustrate his designe that that End of his shall not be accomplished or that that working of his is only an Administration of meanes whereby men may doe the things intended if they will or may doe otherwise he affirming that he will doe them himselfe is a Doctrine beyond my reach and capacity 4 ly His saying that in this sence the Promise was fulfilled to the People after the Captivity is a saying against his own light He hath told us not long since that it could not be a Promise of those things which were enjoyed before it was ever given as in our sence they did the Grace of Perseverance c Surely the means he mentioneth untill at least the coming of Christ in the Flesh were advanced to a farre higher pitch and eminency on all hands before the Captivity then after and at the coming of Christ it was eminently fulfilled in our acceptation of it unto all to whom it was made But he adds 2. That if it be not so to be understood §. 16. and so said to be fulfilled as above it is impossible for any one to assigne how and when this Promise was fulfilled For first it was made to the whole People and the fulfilling of it to a few will not confirm the Truth of it Secondly The Elect had no need of it knowing themselves to be so that they should never fall away so that this is but to make voyd the glorious Promise of God And thirdly to say that it was made to the Elect is but to begge the thing in question Ans. 1. As farre as the Body of the People was concerned in it it was and shall be in the latter daies absolutely accomplished towards them It was is shall be fulfilled
free and that they are so proved all flowing from the first great Promise of giving a Redeemer 6. How they are discoveries of Gods good-will How made to Sinners consequentiall Promises made also to Believers 7. Given in and through Christ in a Covenant of Grace Their certainty upon the Account of the engagement of the Truth and Faithfulnesse of God in them of the maine matter of these promises Christ and the Spirit 8. Of particular Promises all flowing from the same Love and Grace 9. Observations of the Promises of God subservient to the End intended 1. They are all true and faithfull the ground of the Assertion 2. Their accomplishment alwaies certaine not alwaies evident 3. All conditionall Promises made good and how 10. 4. The Promise of Perseverance of two sorts 5. All Promises of our abiding with God in Faith and Obedience absolute The vanity of imposing conditions on them discovered 6. Promises of Gods abiding with us not to be separated from Promises of our abiding with him 7. That they doe not properly depend on any condition in Believers demonstrated instances of this Assertion given 8 Making them conditionall renders them voyd as to the Ends for which they are given given to persons not Qualifications 11. The Argument from the Promises of God stated 12. Mr G's Exceptions against the First Proposition cleared and his Objections Answered The Promises of God alwaies fulfilled Of the Promise made to Paul Acts 27. 24. c. Good men make good their Promises to the utmost of their abilities The Promise made to Paul absolute and of infallible accomplishment Of the promise of our Saviour to his Disciples Mat. 19. 28. Who intended in that Promise not Judas the accomplishment of the Promise The Testimony of Peter Martyr Considered The conclusion of the forementioned Objection 13. The ingagement of the Faithfulnesse of God for the accomplishment of his Promise 1 Cor. 1. 9. 1 Thes. 5. 23 24. 2 Thes. 3. 3. 14. The nature of the Faithfulnesse of God expressed in the foregoing places inquired into perverted by M. G. His notion of the Faithfulnesse of God weighed and rejected what intended in the Scriptures by the Faithfulnesse of God The close of the confirmation of the proposition of the Argument proposed from the Promises of God 15. The assumption thereof vindicated The sence put upon it by M. G. The Question begged THe consideration of the Promises of God §. 1. which are all branches of the forementioned Roote all streaming from the fountain of the Covenant of Grace is according to the method proposed in the next place incumbent on us The Argument for the Truth under contest which from hence is afforded and used is by Mr Goodwin termed the first-borne of our strength cap. 11. Sect. 1. pag. 225. and indeed we are content that it may be so accounted desiring nothing more ancient nothing more strong effectuall and powerfull to stay our soules upon then the Promises of that God Heb. 6. 18. Titus 1. 2. who cannot lye I shall for the present insist only on those which peculiarly assert and in the name and Authority of God confirme that part of the Truth we are peculiarly in Demonstration of namely the Unchangeable stability of the Love and Favour of God to Believers in regard whereof he turneth not from them nor forsaketh them upon the Account of any such Interveniences what ever as he will suffer to be interposed in their communion with him leaving those wherein he gives Assurance upon Assurance that he will give out unto them such continuall supplies of his Spirit and Grace that they shall never depart from him to their due and proper place I am not unacquainted with the usuall Exception §. 2. that lyeth against the Demonstration of the Truth in hand from the Promises of God to wit that they are conditionall depending on some things in the Persons themselves to whom they are made upon whose change or Alteration they also may be frustrated and not receive their accomplishment Whether this plea may be admitted against the particular Promises that we shall insist upon will be put upon the tryall when we come to the particular handling of them For the present being resolved by Gods Assistance to pursue the Demonstration proposed from them it may not be amisse yea rather it may be very usefull to insist a little upon the Promises themselves their Nature and Excellency that we may be the more stirred up to enquire after every Truth sweetnesse of the Love Grace and kindnesse they being the peculiar way chosen of God for the manifestation of his good will to sinners that is in them and I shall doe it briefely that I may proceed with the businesse of my present Intendment Gospell Promises then are §. 3. 1. The free and gracious dispensations and 2. Discoveries of Gods good will and Love to 3. Sinners 4. through Christ 5 In a Covenant of Grace 6. Wherein upon his Truth and Faithfulnesse he engageth himselfe to be their God to give his Sonne unto them and for them and his Holy Spirit to abide with them with all things that are either required in them or are necessary for them to make them accepted before him and to bring them to an enjoyment of him I call them Gospell Promises § 4. not as though they were onely contained in the Bookes of the New Testament or given only by Christ after his coming in the flesh Gen. 3. 14 15 Gal. 3. 17. for they were given from the beginning of the World or first entrance of sinne Titus 1. 2. and the Lord made plentifull provision of them and by them for his People under the Old Testament but only to distinguish them from the Promises of the Law which hold out a word of Truth Faithfulnes engaged for a reward of Life to them that yeeld obedience thereunto there being an indissolveable connexion between entring into life and keeping the Commandements and so to manifest Gal. 3. 12. Luk. 2. 10. that they all belong to the Gospell properly so called Ephes 2. 15. or the tidings of that peace for sinners which was wrought out Isa. 52. 7. and manifested by Jesus Christ. 2. Farther I doe not give this for the description of any one single individuall Promise as it lyeth in any place of Scripture as though it expresly contained all the things mentioned therein though vertually it doth so but rather to shew what is the designe ayme and good will of God in them all which he discovers and manifests in them by severall parcells according as they may be suited to the Advancement of his Glory in reference to the persons to whom they are made Upon the matter all the Promises of the Gospell are but one and every one of them comprehend and tender the same Love the same Christ the same Spirit which are in them all None can have an interest in any one but he hath
great Promise of giving Christ to us and for us who is Peace Ephes. 2. 14. And who of God is made unto us Wisdome Righteousnesse Sanctification and Redemption 1 Cor 1. 30. Who loves us and washeth us in his owne blood and makes us Kings and Priests to God and his Father Revel 1. 6. Giving himselfe for his Church that he might purify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himselfe a glorious Church Eph. 5 26 27 not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be Holy and without blemish Tit. 2. 14. Doing and accomplishing all things Gen. 3. 15. that are required for the fore-mentioned Ends And this is the first maine Streame Job 19. 25. that flowes from that Fountaine Christ as a Redeemer Eph. 2. 14. a Saviour Heb. 2. 17. a Mighty one a Priest a Sacrifice an Oblation a Ransome our Peace Righteousnesse Eph. 5. 2. 1 Tim. 2. 6. and the Author of our Salvation is the Subject matter thereof 2. That we may be kept and preserved meet for communion with him as our God and for the enjoyment of him as our Reward For this End flows forth the other great Streame from the former Fountaine namely the Promise of the Holy Spirit which he gives us to make us meet for the inheritance with the Saints in Light Col. 1. 11. to put forth and exercise towards us all the Acts of his Love which are needfull for us and to worke in us the Obedience which he requires and accepts of us in Jesus Christ so preserving us for himselfe This Promise of the Spirit in the Covenant Isa. 59. 21. with his worke and peculiar dispensations Ezek. 11. 21. is plentifully witnessed in very many places of the Old Testament and New Ch. 36. 26 27 some whereof must afterwards be insisted on Hence he is sometimes called the Promise of the Covenant John 14. 15 16. c. Acts 2. 59. The Promise is to you which Promise is that which Christ receiveth from his Father v 33. even the Promise of the Holy Ghost I shall only adde that though this be a great Streame flowing from the first Fountaine yet it comes not immediately thence but issues out from the Streame before mentioned the Promise of the Lord Jesus Christ for he is given by him unto us John 14. 16. Gal. 4. 6. as procured for us and given only unto his Now from these two grand Streames § 8. doe a thousand Rivulets flow forth for our refreshment All the mercy that Christ hath purchased all the Graces that the Spirit doth bring forth which in the former description I call all things that are either required in them or needfull to them to make them accepted before God and to bring them to an enjoyment of him all Promises of Mercy and Forgivenesse all Promises of Faith and Holinesse of Obedience and Perseverance of Joy and Consolation of Correction Affliction and Deliverance they all flow from these that is from the matter of those Promises doth the matter of these arise and hence are the ensuing Corollaries 1. Who ever hath an interest in any one Promise hath an interest in them all and in the Fountaine-Love from whence they flow He to whom any droppe of their sweetnesse floweth may follow it up unto the Spring Were we wise each tast of Mercy would lead us to the Ocean of Love Have we any hold on a Promise we may get upon it and it will bring us to the Maine Christ himselfe and the Spirit and so into the bosome of the Father It is our folly to abide upon a little which is given us meerely to make us presse for more 2. That the most Conditionall Promises are to be resolved into absolute and inconditionall Love God who hath promised life upon Believing hath promised Believing on no Condition on our parts at all because to sinners This in generall being given in §. 9. concerning the nature of the Promises I shall proceed to some such Considerations as are of particular usefulnesse unto that improvement which the Lord assisting I intend to make of them for the confirmation of the Truth under debate And they are these 1. All the Promises of God are true and faithfull and shall most certainely all of them be accomplished His nature his veracity his Unchangeablenesse his Omniscience and Omnipotency do all contribute strength to this assertion Neither can these Properties possibly continue intire and the honour of them be preserved unto the Lord if the least failing in the Accomplishment of his Promises be ascribed unto him Every such failing must of necessity relate to some such Principle as stands in direct Opposition to one or more of the perfections before mentioned It must be a failing in Truth Unchangeablenesse Prescience or Power that must frustrate the Promise of any one We indeed often alter our Resolutions and the Promise that is gon out of our mouthes and that perhaps righteously upon some such change of things as we could not foresee nor ought to have supposed when we entred into our engagements No such thing can be ascribed unto him who knowes all things with their Circumstances that can possibly come to passe and hath determined what shall so do and therefore will not engage in any Promise that he knowes something which he foresaw would follow after would cause him to alter It were a ludicrous thing in any sonne of man to make a solemne Promise of any thing to another if he particularly knew that in an hower some such thing would happen as should enforce him to change and alter that promise which he had so solemnely entred into And shall we ascribe such an action to him before whom all things are open and naked Shall he be thought solemnely to engage himselfe to do or accomplish any thing which yet not only he will not do but also at that instant hath those things in his eye and under his Consideration for which he will not so do as he Promiseth and determined before that he would not so do If this be not unworthy the infinite Goodnesse Wisdome and Faithfullnesse of God I know not what can or may be ascribed unto him that is Yea the Truth and veracity of God in his Promises cannot be denyed him without denying him his Deity or asserted without the certaine Accomplishment of what he hath Promised 2. There are sundry things relating to the Accomplishment of Promises as to Times Seasons Persons Wayes c. wherein we have beene in the darke and yet the Promises concerning them be fully accomplished The rejection of the Jewes supplyes us with an instance pregnant with this objection The Apostle tells us that with many this Objection did arise on that Account If the Jewes be rejected then the Promises of God to them do faile Rom. 6. 9. He layes downe and answers this Objection
1. The Promise only assures them that trust in the Lord that they shall be preserved but not at all that they that trust in him shall be necessitated to doe so still or that so they shall doe So Paul saith it was in my heart to live and dye with the Corinthians but doubtlesse with this proviso that they alwaies continued such as they then were or as he apprehended them to be when he so wrote to them Ans. I must be forced to smite this evasion once and againe before we arrive at the close of this contest it being so frequently made use of by our Adversary who without it knowes himselfe not able to stand against the evidence of any one Promise usually insisted on This is the substance of all that which with exceeding delightfull variety of expressions is an hundred times made use of The Promise is conditionall and made to those that trust in the Lord and is to be made good only upon the account of their continuing so to doe but that they shall so doe that they shall continue to trust in the Lord that is wholly left to themselves and not in the least undertaken in the Promise and this is called a discharging or dismissing of places of Scripture from the service whereunto contrary to their proper sence meaning they are pressed a delivering them from the bearing the crosse of this warfare with such like Imperiall termes and expressions To speake in the singlenesse of our spirits we cannot see any one of the discharged Souldiers returning from the Campe wherein they have long served for the safety and consolation of them that doe believe Particularly this Scripture detests the glosse with violence imposed on it and tells you that the end for which the God of truth sent it into this service wherein it abides is to assure them that trust in the Lord that they shall be preserved in that condition to the end That in the condition of trusting and depending on God they shall be as Sion and the Favour of God unto them as immoveable mountaines he will for ever be with them and about them And that all this shall certainly come to passe Christ does not say that they shall be as established mountaines if they continue to trust in the Lord but they shall be so in their trusting abiding for ever therein through the safegarding presence of God For their being necessitated to continue trusting in the Lord there is not any thing in Text or in our Argument from thence or in the doctrine we maintaine that requires or will admit of any such proceeding of God as by that expression is properly signified Indeed there is a contradiction in termes if they are used to the same pupose to Trust in the Lord is the voluntary free act of the creature to be necessitated unto this Act and in the performance of it so that it should be done necessarily as to the manner of its doing is wholly destructive to the nature and being of it That God can effectually and infallibly as to the event cause his Saints to continue trusting in him without the least abridgement of their liberty yea that he doth so eminently by heightning and advancing their spirituall liberty shall be afterwards declared if by necessitated to continue trusting not the manner of Gods operation with and in them for the compassing of the end poposed and the efficacy of his Grace whereby he doth it commonly decryed under those termes be intended but only the certainty of the issue rejecting the impropriety of the expression the thing it selfe we affirme to be here promised of God But is urged 2. That this Promise is not made unto the Persons of any § 14. but meerely unto their Qualifications like that he that believeth shall be saved it is made to the Grace of Trusting Obedience and walking with God for threatnings are made to the evill Qualifications of men Ans. This it seemes then we are come unto and what farther progresse may be made the Lord knowes The Gratious Promises of God made to his Church his People in the bloud of Jesus on which they have rolled themselves with safety and security in their severall generations are nothing but bare declarations of the will of God what he allowes and what he rejects with the firme concatenation that is between Faith and salvation Obedience and reward And this it seemes is the only use of them which if it be so I dare boldly say that all the Saints of God from the foundations of the World have most horribly abused his Promises and forced them to other ends then ever God intended them for Doubtlesse all those blessed soules who are fallen a sleepe in the Faith of Jesus Christ having drawn refreshment from these breasts of Consolation could they be summoned to give in their experience of what they have found in this kind they would with one mouth professe that they found farre more in them then meere conditionall declarations of the will of God Yea that they received them in Faith as the engagement of his heart and good will towards them that he never failed in the accomplishment and performance of all the good mentioned in them neither will that emphaticall expression in the close of the second verse which being somewhat too rough for our Author to handle he left it quite out beare any such sence That the Promises of the Covenant are made originally to Persons and not to Qualifications hath been in part already proved and shall be farther evinced God assisting as occasion shall be offered in the ensuing discourse The Promises are to Abraham and his seede and some of them as hath been declared are the springs of all Qualifications whatever that are acceptable unto God what be the Qualifications of Promises of opening blind eyes taking away stony hearts c. hath not as yet been declared But it is farther argued 3. That this and the like Promises are to be interpreted according to the rule which God hath given for the interpretation and understanding of his threatnings unto Nations about temporall things and his Promises that are of the same import which we have Jer. 18. 7 8. Plainely affirming that all their accomplishment dependeth on some conditions in the Persons or Nations against whom they are denounced Ans. God forbid shall those Promises which are branches of the everlasting Covenant of Grace Heb. 7. 23. called better Promises then those of the old Covenant upon the account of their infallible accomplishment 2 Cor 1. 20. ratified in the blood of Christ made yea and amen in him the witnesse of the Faithfulnesse of God to his Church 2 Pet. 1. 3. and grand Supporter of our Faith exceeding great and pretious shall they be thought to be of no other sence and interpretation to make no other Revelation of the Father unto us but in that kind which is common to threatnings of Judgements expresly conditionall
which in and by themselves to a believing soule they cast upon it Now least any should think that there is the least tendency in such Promises as these as held out to Believers to turne them aside from close walking with God before I enter upon the consideration of any other this seeming of all others most exposed to Exceptions of that nature I shall give some few Observations that may a little direct Believers to whom I write and for whose sake this taske is undertaken into the right improvement of them The genuine influence which this §. 20. and the like Promises have upon the soules of the Saints is mightily to stirre them up unto and to assist them in answering what lieth in them that inexpressible Love and Kindnesse which their God and Father in Jesus Christ holdeth out unto their hearts in them This the Apostle inferreth from them 2 Cor 7. 1. Having these Promises that is those especially mentioned in the words preceding the conclusion and the inference the Apostle here maketh Ch. 6. v. 16 18. I will dwell in them and will be a Father unto them and they shall be my children therefore saith he let us cleanse our selves from all pollution of slesh and spirit perfecting holinesse in the feare of the Lord. Universall purity holinesse and close walking with God is that which these Promises doe presse unto and naturally promote in the hearts of Believers and in 2 Pet. 4. 5 6. that Apostle pursueth the same at large God hath called us to Glory and Vertue hath given us exceeding great and pretious Promises that by these you might be partakers of the Divine Nature having escaped the corruption that is in the World through lust Besides this giving all diligence c The exceeding great and pretious Promises which are given unto us in our calling are bestowed for this end that by them we may be made partakers of the Divine Nature they have no tendency to communicate to us the Nature of the Divell and to stirre us up to Rebellion Vncleannesse and hatred of the God of all that Love that is in them But lye indeed at the bottome the Root and foundation of the practice and exercise of all those Graces which he enumerates and from the receiving of those Promises exhorts us to in the following verse Some 〈◊〉 â—â—â—fesse doe or may turne the Grace of God into lasciviousnesse that is 〈◊〉 â—â—trine of grace and of pardon of sinne in the bloud of Jesus Christ and so the mercy mentioned in such Promises as these meerely as in them it is mentioned Grace and Mercy communicated cannot be turned into Wantonnesse but what are they that doe so Vngodly men men of old ordained to condemnation Jude 4. Paul rejecteth any such thoughts from the hearts of Believers Rom. 6. 1. Shall we continue in sin that Grace may abound God forbid Nay suppose that that naturall corruption that flesh and bloud that is in Believers be apt to make such a conclusion as this Because God will certainly abide with us for ever therefore let us walke carelesly and doe him all the despight we can these Promises being not made for the use and exalting of the flesh but being given to be mixed with Faith which is carefully to watch against all abusing or corrupting of that Love and Mercy which is held out unto it flesh and bloud can have no advantage given unto it thereby as shall afterward be more fully and clearly demonstrated The Question is then what conclusion Faith doth will and ought to make of these Promises of God and not what abuse the flesh will make of them Let then the meanest and weakest Faith in all the World that is true and saving speake for it selfe whether there be any thing in the nature of it that is apt to make such conclusions as these My God and Father in Jesus Christ hath graciously promised in his infinite Love and Goodnesse to mee through him in whom he is well pleased that he will be my God and guide for ever that he will never forsake mee nor take his Kindnesse from mee to eternity And he hath done this although that he saw and knew that I would deale foolishly and treacherously that I would stand in need of all his Goodnesse Patience and Mercy to spare mee and heale mee promising also to keep me from such a wicked departure from him as should for ever alienate my soule from him therefore come on let mee continue in sinne let me doc him all the dishonour and despight that I can this is all the sence that I have of his infinite Love this is all the impression that it leaveth upon mee that I need not love him againe but study to be as vile and as abominable in his sight as can possibly be imagined certainly there is not any smoaking flax or any oruised reed there is not a soule in the World whom God in Christ hath once shined upon or dropped the least dramme of Grace into his heart but will look on such a conclusion as this as a blast of the bottomlesse pit a detestable dart of Satan which it is as proper for Faith to quench as any other Abomination whatever Let then Faith in reference unto these Promises have its perfect worke not abiding in a naked contemplation of them but mixing them with its selfe and there will be undoubtedly found the improvement before mentioned for the carrying on of Godlinesse and Gospell obedience in the hearts of Believers But this I shall have occasion to speake to more afterward Hosea 2. 19 20. §. 20. is pertinent also to the same purpose I will betroth thee unto mee for ever I will betroth thee unto mee in righteousnesse and in judgement and in loving kindnesse and in mercies I will even betroth thee unto mee in faithfulnesse and thou shalt know the Lord. The words themselves as they lye in the Text doe directly confirme our Assertion The Relation whereunto God here expresseth that he will and doth take his People is one of the most neer and eminent which he affordeth to them a conjugall Relation he is and will be their Husband which is as high an expression of the Covenant betwixt God and his Saints as any is or can be used Of all Covenants that are between sundry persons that which is between Man and Wife is the strongest and most inviolable So is this Covenant expressed Isai 54. 5. Thy maker is thine Husband the Lord of Hosts is his Name and this Relation he affirmeth shall continue for ever upon the Account of those Properties of his which are engaged in this his Gracious undertaking to take them to himselfe therein He doth it in Righteousnesse and in Judgement in Loving-kindnesse and in Mercies and in Faithfulnesse so that if there be not something in the Context or words adjoyning that shall with an high hand turne us aside from the first immediate open and full sence of these
as can well be expressed wherefore these being exceptions expressely against the scope of the whole It is objected 3. That it cannot be proved that this promise properly or directly intendeth the collation of Spirituall or heavenly good things unto them so as of Temporall yea the situation of it betwixt Temporall Promises immediately both behind and before it perswadeth the contrary Read the Context from v. 8. to the end of the Chapter Ans. The other forts being demolished this last is very faintly defended That it cannot be proved that it doth so properly or directly but if it doth intend spiritualls properly and directly though not so properly or directly the case is cleare And that it doth properly intend Spiritualls and but secondarily and indirectly Temporalls as to sundry limitations is most evident For 1. The very Conjugall Expression of the Love of God here used manifesteth it beyond all contradiction to be a Promise of the Covenant I will Betroth thee unto mee I will take thee unto mee in a Wedlock covenant What! in Temporall mercies Is that the tenor of the Covenant of God God forbid 2. The Foundations of these Mercies and the principles from whence they flow are Loving-kindnesses and Mercy and Fathfulnesse in God which are fixed upon them and engaged unto them whom he thus taketh into Covenant and surely they are Spirituall Mercies 3. The Mercies mentioned are such as never had a literall accomplishment to the Iewes in Temporalls nor can have and when things promised exceed all accomplishment as to the outward and temporall part it is the spirituall that is principally and mainely intended And such are these v. 18. I will breake the bow and the sword and the battell out of the earth and make you to lye downe in safety How I pray was this fulfilled towards them whilest they lived under the power of the Persian Graecian and Roman Empires to their utter desolation and v. 23. he telleth them that he will sowe them unto himselfe in the Earth and have mercy on them which as I said before Paul himselfe interpreteth and applieth to the speciall Mercies of Faith and Justification in the bloud of Christ So that both the verses going before and those that follow after to the consideration whereof we are sent containe directly and properly spirituall Mercies though expressed in words and termes of things of a temporall importance Thus notwithstanding any Exception to the contrary the Context is cleare as it was at first proposed Let us then in the next place consider the intendment of God in this Promise with that influence of Demonstration which it hath upon the Truth we are in the consideration of and then free the words from that corrupting Glosse which is endeavoured to be put upon them In the first I shall consider §. 25. 1. The Persons to whom this Promise is made 2. The Nature of the Promise it selfe 3. The great undertaking and engagement of the Properties of God for the accomplishment of his Promise 1. The Persons here intimated are such as are under the power and enjoyment of the Grace and kindnesse mentioned in v. 14 16 17 18. Now because a right understanding of the Grace of those Promises addeth much to the Apprehension of the Kindnesse of these particulars insisted on the opening of those words may be thought necessary 1. V. 14. they are those whom God allureth into the Wildernesse §. 26. and speaketh comfortably unto them He allureth and perswadeth them there is an allusion in the words to the great originall Promise of the conversion of the Gentiles and the way whereby it shall be done Gen 9. 27. God perswades Iaphet to dwell in the tents of Shem. Their alluring is by the powerfull and sweet perswasion of the Gospell which here is so termed to begin the Allegory of Betrothing and Marriage which is afterwards pursued It is God's beginning to Wooe the Soule by his Embassadors God perswadeth them into the Wildernesse perswadeth them but yet with mighty power as he carried them of old out of Aegypt for thereunto he evidently alludeth as in the next verse is more fully expressed Now the Wildernesse condition whereunto they are allured or perswaded by the Gospell comprizeth two things 1. Separation 2. Intanglement 1. Separation as the Israelites in the Wildernesse were separated from the residue of the World and the pleasures thereof the people dwelling alone being not reckoned with the Nations having nothing to doe with them So God separateth them to the love of the Gospell from their carnall contentments and all the satisfactions which before they received in their Lusts untill they say to them Get you hence what have we to doe with you any more They are separated from the practice of them and made willing to bid them everlastingly farewell They see their Aegyptian Lusts â—ye slaine or dead or at least dying by the crosse of Christ and desire to see them no more 2. Intanglement as the Israelites were in the Wildernesse they knew not what to doe nor which way to take one step but only as God went before them as he took them by the hand and taught them to goe God bringeth them into a lost condition they know not what to doe nor which way to take nor what course to pitch upon and yet in this Wildernesse state God doth commonly stirre up such gracious dispositions of soule in them as himselfe is exceedingly delighted withall hence he doth peculiarly call this time a Time of Love which he remembreth with much delight All the time of the Saints walking with him he taketh not greater delight in a soule when it cometh to its highest peace and fullest assurance then when it is seeking after him in its Wildernesse Intanglement So he expresseth it Ierem 2. 2. Thus saith the Lord I remember thee the kindnesse of thy youth the Love of thine Espousals when thou wentest after mee in the Wildernesse in a land that was not sowen And what he here affirmeth holds proportion therewithall The Time of their being in the Wildernesse was the Time of their Espousals and so it is here the Time of the Lords Betrothing the Soule to himselfe the Wooing words whereby he doth it being intimated in the next verse For 1. He speaketh comfortably to them §. 27. speaketh to their hearts good words that may satisfy their spirits and give them Rest and deliverance out of that condition What it is that God speaketh when he speaketh comfortably to the very hearts of poore soules he telleth you Isai 40. 1. Comfort you comfort you my People saith your God speake you comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished that her iniquity is pardoned It is the pardon of iniquity that enwrappeth all the Consolation that a poore Wildernesse soule separated and intangled is capable of or doth desire And this is the first description of the Persons to whom this Promise is given They are such as
of God hath nothing to lay to their charge That which in God maintaines the Quarrell against sinners Is attoned and is no more their Enemy than Mercy it selfe And this not upon condition of Believing to be antecedently accomplished before this be done The Satisfaction of Justice vindictive depends not at all on any thing in us it requires only that there be vindicta noxae and a vindication of the Soveraignty of God over the sinning Creature by the inflictioon of that punishmient which in his Infininite Wisdome and Righteousnesse he hath proportioned unto sinne on a supposition of sinne in such Creatures as being made meet and fit to yeild voluntary Obedience unto God and so standing in a morall subjection to him being their cutting off what lyes in them their dependance on God which that it should be contlnued is as necessary as that God be God or the Lord of all Those Creatutes are upon the account of the Soveraignty Righteousnesse of God whereof we speake indipensably obnoxious unto punishment which is of necessity required unto Gods retaining his Dominion over them By the Death of Christ this Condition is so farre repaired that the dependance and subjection unto God of those for whom he Dyed is made up so farre as to a deliverance of them from a necessity of being obnoxious unto punishment and that compleately without any Abeyance upon conditions in themselves which can have no influence thereunto So that though the proces of the Law sent forth John 3. 36. be not instantly recalled but man is suffered to lye under that arrest for a season Ephes. 2. 3. yet God le ts fall his suit on this account 2. Cor. 5. 18. and will never passe his first sentence Psal. 21. 3 4. from which we are reprieved unto full and finall execution pronouncing himselfe Math. 17. 5. well pleased with his Sonne resting satifyed with his mediatory performances and seeking no farther 2. The Law of God is fulfilled Unlesse this be answered in all concernements of it the Lord would be thought to change his Will to reverse his Word and to blurre the Coppy of his owne Holinesse There is in the whole Law and every parcell of it an eternall indispensable Righteousnesse and Truth arising either from the nature of things themselves concerning which it is or the Relation of one thing unto another That to feare God to Love him to Obey him to doe no wrong are everlastingly indispensablely good necessary is from the nature of the things themselves only with this supposition that God would make Creatures capable of yeilding him such Obedience That that which is good shall be so rewarded that which is evill so punished is also an everlasting truth upon supposition of such actuall performances Whereas then of this Law there are two parts the one Absolute or Preceptive in the Rule and commands thereof The other Conditionall and rewarding in its Promise or condemning in its curse Christ by his death put himselfe in their behalfe for whom he Dyed to speake to that particular under the curse of it Rom. 8. 3. Gal. 3. 13. He Redeemed us from the curse of the Law Kom 10. 3 4. being made a curse for us Gal. 4. 4 5 6. neither is this at all suspended on our Believing The Law doth not threaten a Curse Philipp 3. 9. only if we do not Believe but if we do not all things written therein Deut. 27. 26. whether we believe or not the Law takes no notice as to the Curse that it denounceth If there hath been any sinne that must be executed Gen. 27. 28. And the Law is for the Curse as Isaac for the the great Spirituall Blessing He had but one it hath but one great Curse and that being underrgone by Christ it hath not an other for them in whose stead Christ underwent it 2 Cor. 5. 21. God having made him to be sin for us who knew no sin we become the Righteousnesse of God in him All separation from God is by the Curse of the Law All that is required in it by it is that it be undergone this is done by Christ for all Believers that thereby is taken away which alone can separate them from God or put any distance between them But of this and their subjection to the Curse before their Believing more afterwards 3. The Truth §. 10. or veracity of God was particularly ingaged to see sin punished upon the account of the Promulgatiō of the first expres Sanction of the Law In the day thou eatest Gen. 2. 17. thou shalt dye For the satisfying the ingagement of God's Truth there seem'd to be a tender made in the Sacrifices instituted of old but it was rejected as insufficient to make good that Word of God so eminently given out There was neither any such Relation Union or Conjunction between the sinner and the innocent Creature Sacrificed or any such reall worth in the Sacrifice it selfe as that the Death of the substituted beast might by any meanes be so interpreted as to amount to the accomplishment of the Truth of God Death being once denounced as the reward of sinne Heb. 10. 5 6. Sacrifices and Offerings for sinne thou wouldest not in burnt-Offerings and Sacrifices for sinne thou hadst no pleasure but saith our Saviour Lo I come to do thy will O God v. 7. Will that do it Yea it will assuredly for in the volume of his Booke it is written that he should so do All that God willed to be done for the accomplishment of his Truth was fulfilled by Christ when he came to give up himselfe a sweet smelling Sacrifice Ephes. 5. 2. God then may be true His Truth being salved to the utmost though never any one of them for whom Christ Dyed doe dye But this to the Salvation of Believers is only as removens prohibens 4. The distributive Justice of God is Isa. 53. 10 11. upon this Oblation of Christ ingaged upon the Covenant and compact made with Christ as Mediator to that purpose to bestow on them for whom he Offered and Dyed all the good things which he promised him for them in and upon the account of his undertaking in their behalfe The distributive Justice of God is that perfection of his Nature Gen. 18. 24. whereby he rendreth to every one according to what either his vindictive Justice on the one side Psal. 5. 31 35. 65. 5. 71. 2. 96. 13. 98. 2. 103. 17. 141. 1. 11 or his Uprightnesse and Faithfulnesse on the other do require In rewarding it respects his owne Faithfulnesse in all his ingagements immediately in punishing the demerit of the Creature there being no such naturall connexion and necessary coherence from the nature of the things themselves between Obedience and Reward as there is between Sinne and Punishment Now the Lord having given many eminent and Glorious Promises to his Sonne Jesus Christ Psal. 2. 7
name in the great worke of Redemption And therefore he informes us Ioh. 17. 4. 6. that when the Comforter whom he procureth for us shall come he shall Glorify him and shall receive of his and shew it unto us Ioh. 16. 14. farther manifest his Glory in his bringing nothing with him but what is his or of his procurement so also instructing us clearly and plentifully to aske in his name that is for his sake which to doe plainly and openly is the great priviledge of the New Testament for so he tells his Disciples Ioh. 16. 24. hitherto have you asked nothing in my name who yet were Believers and had made many addresses unto God in and through him but darkely as they did under the Old Testament when they begged mercy for his sake Dan. 9. 17. But to plead with the Father clearly upon the account of the Mediation and Purchase of Christ That I say is the priviledge of the New Testament Now in this way he would have us aske the Holy Spirit at the hand of God Luke 11. 9 13. Aske him that is as to a clearer fuller Administration of him unto us for he is antecedently bestowed as to the working of Faith and Regeneration even unto this Application for without him we cannot once aske in the name of Christ for none can call Jesus Lord or doe any thing in his nane §. 22. but by the spirit of God This I say then He in whom we are blessed with all spirituall blessings Eph. 1. 4. hath procured the Holy Spirit for us and through his Intercession he is bestowed on us Now where the Spirit of God is 2 Cor. 3. 17. there is liberty from sinne peace and acceptance with God But it may be objected although this Spirit be thus bestowed on Believers yet may they not cast him off Rom. 8. 14. so that his abode with them may be but for a season and their Glory not be safegarded in the Issue but their condemnation increased by their receiving of him This being the only thing wherein this proofe of Believers abiding with God seemes lyable to exception I shall give a triple Testimony of the certainty of the continuance of the Holy Spirit with them on whom he is bestowed that in the mouth of two or three witnesses this Truth may be established and they are no meane ones neither but the three that beare witnesse in Heaven the Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghost The first you have Isa. §. 23. 59. 21. But as for me this is my Covenant with them saith the Lord my Spirit which 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 nor out of the mouth of thy Seeds Seed saith the Lord hence forth and for ever That which the Lord declares here to the Church he calls his Covenāt Now whereas in a Covenant there are two things 1. What is stipulated on the part of him that makes the Covenant 2. What of them is required with whom it is made which in themselves are distinct though in the Covenant of Grace God hath promised that he will worke in us what he requires of us that here mentioned is clearely an Evidence of somewhat of the first kinde of that Goodnesse that God in the Covenant doth promise to bestow Though perhaps words of the future tense may sometimes have an Imperative Construction where the import of the residue of the words inforces such a sence yet because it may be so in some place therefore it is so in this place and that therefore these words are not a Promise that the Spirit shall not depart but an injunction to take care that it do not depart as Mr Goodwin will have it is a weake inference And the close of the words will by no meanes be wrested to speake significantly to any such purpose Saith the Lord henceforth even for ever which plainely make the words Promissory an ingagement of God himselfe to them to whom they are spoken So that the interpretation of these words this is my Covenant with them by Mr Goodwin Cap. 11. Sect 4. Pag. 227. That Covenant of perpetuall Grace and Mercy which I made with them requireth this of them in order to the performance of it on my part that they quench not my Spirit which I have put into them doth plainly invert the intendment of God in them and substitute what is tacitely required as our duty into the roome of what is expressly promised as his Grace Observe then Secondly that as no Promise of God given to Believers is either apt of it selfe to ingenerate or by them to be received under such an absurd notion of being made good what soever their deportment be it being the nature of all the Promises of God to frame and mould them to whom they are given into all Holinesse and purity 2 Cor. 7. 1. and this in especiall is a Promise of the principall Author and cause all Holinesse to be continued to them and is impossible to beapprehended under any such foolish supposall so also that this Promise is absolute not Conditionall can neither be colourably gainesaid nor the contrary probably confirmed so that the strength of Mr Goodwins two next Exceptions 1. That this cannot be a Promise of Perseverance unto true Believers whatsoever their deportment shall be And 2. That it must be Conditionall which cannot as he saith be reasonably gainesaid The first of them not looking towards our perswasion in this thing And the latter being not in the least put upon the proofe is but very weakenesse For what Condition I pray of this Promise can be imagined God promises his Spirit of Holinesse that sanctifyeth us and worketh all holinesse in us and therewith the holy Word of the Gospell which is also Sanctifying John 17. 7. that they shall abide with us for ever It is the continuance of the presence of God with us for our Holinesse that is here promised On what condition shall this be supposed to depend Is it in case we continue Holy Who seeth not the vanity of interserting any condition I will be with you by my Spirit and Word for ever to keep you Holy provided you continue Holy 3. Thirdly It is a hard taske to seeke to squeeze a condition out of those gracious words in the beginning of the verse As for mee which Iunius renders de me autem words wherein God graciously reveals himselfe as the sole Author of this great blessing promised it being a worke of his owne which he accomplisheth upon the account of his free Grace And therefore God signally placed that expression in the entrance of the Promise that we may know whom to look unto for the fulfilling thereof And it is yet a farther corruption to say that as for me is as much as for my part I will deale bountifully with them provided that they doe so
so what I require from them which is Mr Goodwins Interpretation of the words for of this supposition there is not one word in the Text as incumbent on them to whom this Promise is made in contradistinction to what God here promiseth yea he promiseth them at least in the root and principall whatsoever is required of them Let it be that as for mee is as for my part I will doe what here is promised and there is an end of this debate 4. The Persons to whom this Promise is made are called thee and thy Seed that is all those and only those with whom God is a God in Covenant God here minds them of the first making of this Covenant with Abraham and his Seed Gen. 17. 7. Now who are this Seed of Abraham Not all his carnall Posterity not the whole Nation of the Jewes which is the last subterfuge invented by our Author to evade the force of our Argument from this place Our Saviour not only denies but also proves by many Arguments that the Pharisees and their followers who doubtlesse were of the Nation of the Jewes and the carnall seed of Abraham were not the Children of Abraham in this sence nor his Seed but rather the Devills Ioh 8. 39 40 41. And the Apostle disputes and argues the same case Rom. 4. 9 10 11. and proves undeniably that it is Believers only whether Circumcised or Vncircumcised whether Jewes or Gentiles that are this Seed of Abraham and Heires of the Promise So plainly Gal. 3. 7. Know ye therefore that they which are of the Faith are Blessed with Faithfull Abraham and then concludes againe as the Issue of his debate v. 9. So then they which he of Faith are Blessed with Faithfull Abraham And this is the summe of what Mr Goodwin objects unto this Testimony in our case to the perpetuall abiding of the Spirit with the Saints The force then of this Promise §. 24. the influence it hath into the establishment of the Truth we have in hand will not be evaded and turned aside by affirming that it is made to the whole people of Israel for besides that the Spirit of the Lord could not be said to be in the ungodly rejected part of them nor his Word in their mouth there is not the least in Text or Context to intimate such an extent of this Promise as to the object of it and 't is very weakly attempted to be proved from Pauls accommodation and interpretation of the verse foregoing and the Redeemer shall come to Sion c. in Rom 11. 26. for it is most evident and indisputable to any one who shall but once cast an eye upon that place that the Apostle accommodates and applies these words to none but only those who shall be saved being turned away from ungodlinesse to Christ which are only the seed before described And those he calls all Israel either in the spirituall sence of the word as taken for the chosen Israel of God or else indefinitely for that Nation upon the account of those plentifull fruits which the Gospell shall find amongst them when they shall feare the Lord and his Goodnesse in the latter daies Hos. 3. 5. 5. This then is a Promise equally made unto all Believers it is to all that are in Covenant neither is there any thing that is of peculiar importance to any sort of Believers of any time or age or dispensation therein comprized It equally respecteth all to whom the Lord extends his Covenant of Grace Certainly the giving of the Spirit of Grace is not enwrapped in any Promise that may be of private Interpretation the concernment of all the Saints of God lying therein It cannot but be judged a needlesse labour to give particular instances in a thing so generally known in the word Though the Expressions differ the matter of this Promise is the same with that given to Abraham the Holy Spirit being the great blessing of the Covenant Gen. 17. 1. and bestowed on all and every one and only on them whom God hath graciously taken into Covenant from the foundation of the World Mr Goodwin then labours in the fier § 25. in what he farther objects Sect. 6. That this Promise exhibiteth and holds forth some new Grace or Favour which God had not vouchsafed formerly either unto the persons to whom the said Promise is now made or to any other but for the Grace or favour of final Perseverance it is nothing at least in the opinion of our Adversaries but what is common to all true Believers and what God hath conferred upon one and other on this Generation from the beginning of the World Ans. The Emphasis here put upon it doth not denote it to be a new Promise but a great one not that it was never given before but that it is now solemnely renewed for the Consolation and Establishment of the Church If wherever we finde a solemne Promise made and confirmed and ratified to the Church we must thence conclude that no Saints were before made partakers of the Mercy of that Promise we must also in particular conclude that no one ever had their sinnes pardoned before the giving of that solemne Promise Jerem. 31. 32. 6. We say that the Grace of Perseverance is such as Believers may expect not upon the account of any thing in themselves nor of the dignity of the state whereunto by Grace they are exalted but meerely on this bottome and foundation that it is freely promised of God who hath also discovered the rise and Fountaine of his Gracious Promise to lye in his Eternall Love towards them so that they can lay no other claime unto it then to any othe Grace whatsoever When we have the Assurance given by any Promise of God to say that what is promised of him may be expected of course is an expression that fell from Mr Goodwin when in the heate of disputation his thoughts were turned aside from the Consideration of what it is to mixe the Promises of God with Faith 7. Whereas this is given in for the sence of the words that God will advance the Dispensation of his Grace and Goodnesse towards or among his People to such an Excellency and height that if they proove not extremely unworthy they shall have of the Spirit and Word of God abundantly amongst them and consequently abundance of Peace and Happinesse for ever It is most apparent that not any thing of the mind of God in the words is reached in this glosse For 1. That Condition if they prove not extremely unworthy is extremely unworthily inserted the Promise being an ingagement of God to keepe and preserve them to whom it is made by his Spirit from being so the Spirit is given and continued to them for that very purpose 2. It is supposed to be given to all the Nation of the Jewes when it is expressly made to the Church and Seed in Covenant 3. It carryes the Mercy promised no
them to dwell in them personally for the Accomplishment of all the ends and purposes of his Oeconomie towards them to make them meet for and to bring them unto the inheritance of the Saints in Light Personally I say in our Persons not by Assumption of our Natures giving us mysticall union with Christ not Personall Union with himselfe that is not one Personality with him which is impious and blasphemous to imagine by a Gracious inhabitation distinct from his Essentiall filling all things and his energeticall operation of all things as he will as shall afterwards be declared Now this being a Doctrine of pure Revelation our Demonstrations of it must be meerely Scriptuall and such as will instantly appeare we have provided in great plenty In the carrying on then of this undertaking I shall do these two things 1. Produce some of those many Texts of Scripture which are pregnant of this Truth 2. Shew what great things do issue from thence and are affirmed in reference thereunto being inferences of a supposall thereof all conducing to the preservation of Believers in the Love and Favour of God unto the end For the first I shall referre them to 4. heads unto 1. Promises that he should so dwell in us 2. Positive Affirmations that he doth so 3. Those Texts that hold out his being distinguished from all his Graces and Guifts in his so doing 4. Those that ascribe a Personality to him in his indwelling in us Of each sort one or two places may suffice 1. The indwelling of the Spirit is the great and solemne Promise of the Covenant of Grace The manner of it we shall afterwards evince Ezek. 36. 27. I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walke in my wayes In the verse foregoing he tels them He will give them a new heart and a new Spirit which because it may be interpreted of a renewed frame of Spirit though it rather seemes to be the renewing Spirit that is intended as also Cap. 11. 19. he expressly points out and differences the Spirit he will give them from all workes of Grace whatsoever in that Appellation of him my Spirit my Holy Spirit Him will I put with in you I will give him or place him in interiori vestro in your inmost part in your heart or in visceribus vestris in your bowels as the Soule is frequently signifyed by expressions of sensuall things within you In his giving us a new heart new Spirit by putting in us his Spirit certainly more is intended then a meere working of Gracious qualities in our Hearts by his Spirit which he may do yet be no more in us then in the greatest Blasphemers in the world And this in the carrying of it on to its accōplishment God calls his Covenant Isa. 59. 21. This is my Covenant with them saith the Lord my Spirit that is upon thee shall not depart from thee upon thee in thee that dwels in thee as was promised And this Promise is evidently renewed by the Lord Christ to his Disciples clearely also interpreting what that Spirit is which is mentioned in the Promise of the Covenant Luk. 11. 13. Your Heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to them that aske him of him that is that pray to him for the Holy Spirit Our Saviour instructs his Disciples to aske the Holy Spirit of God upon the account of his being so promised as Acts 2. 23. All our supplications are to be regulated by the Promise And surely he who as shall afterwards appeare did so plentifully Rom. 8. 27. and richly Promise the bestowing of this Spirit on all those that believe on him did not instruct them to aske for any inferion Mèrcy and Grace under that name That Spirit which the Lord Christ instructs us to aske of the Father is the Spirit which he hath promised to bestow so on us as that he shall dwell in us That the Spirit which Christ instructs us to aske for and which himselfe promiseth to send unto us is the Holy Ghost himselfe the Holy Spirit of Promise by whom wee are Sealed to the day of Redemption I suppose will require no labour to prove what is needfull to this end shall be afterward insisted on 2. Positive affirmations that he doth so dwell in § 2. and remaine with the Saints are the second ground of the Truth we assert I shall name one or two Testimonies of that kind Psal. 51. 11. saith David take not thy Holy Spirit from me It is the Spirit and his presence as unto Sanctification not in respect of Prophesy or any other gift whatever that he is treating of with God All the Graces of the Spirit being almost dead and buried in him he cries aloud that He whose they are and who alone is able to revive and quicken them may not be taken from him With him in him he was or he could not be taken from him And though the Gifts or Graces of the Spirit only may be intended where mention is made of giving or bestowing of him sometimes yet when the Saints begge of God that he would continue his Spirit with them though they have grieved him and provoked him that no more is intended but some Gift or Grace is not so cleare I know men possessed with prejudice against this Truth will think easily to evade these Testimonies by the Distinction of the Person and Graces of the Spirit Wherefore for the manner how he is with them with whom he is the Apostle informes us Rom 8. 9. yee are in the spirit that is spirituall men opposed to being in the flesh that is carnall unregenerate unreconciled and enemies to God if so be the spirit of Christ dwell in you and if any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his Not only the thing it selfe is asserted but the weight of our Regeneration and Acceptation with God through Jesus Christ is laid upon it If the Spirit dwell in us we are spirituall and belong to Christ otherwise not wee are none of his This the Apostle farther confirmes v. 11. if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus dwell in you I know not how the Person of the Holy Ghost can be more clearely decyphered then here he is The spirit of him that raised Jesus from the dead Why that is mentioned shall afterwards be considered And this Spirit as he bears Testimony of himselfe dwells in Believers which is all we say and without farther curious enquiry desire to rest therein Doubtlesse it were better for men to captivate their understandings to the obedience of Faith then to invent Distinctions and Evasions to escape the power of so many plaine Texts of Scripture and those litterally and properly not Figuratively and Metaphorically expressing the Truth contained in then which though it may be done sometimes yet is not in a constant uniforme tenure of expression any where the manner of the Holy Ghost The Apostle also affirmes farther v. 15.
with a farther opening of his mind as to what he had last spoken of The world the world being vile wretched deceitfull and set upon Opposition against them a man would have thought that the Lord Jesus should have desired that his Saints might be taken out from the midst of this world and set in a quiet place by themselves where they might no more be troubled with the baits and oppositions of it But this is not that which he requests he hath another worke for them to do in the world they are to beare witnesse to him and his Truth by their Faith and Obedience to convince the wicked unbelieving world They are to Glorifie his name by doing and suffering for him so that this is no part of his request I pray not saith he that thou shouldest take them out of the world but that they may not be prevailed on nor conquered by the evill that is in the world That they may be kept and preserved from the power of evill which would separate them from me and my Love This he presseth for and this he is heard in and that not only for his Apostles and present followers but as he tells you v. 20. for all that should believe on him to the end of the world The things prayed for the Reason of his Intercession the opposition against the accomplishment of the things interceded for the distinction put between them for whom he Intercedes and the perishing world all delivered in plaine and expresse termes evidently evince the intendment of Christ in his Intercession evidently to regard the safeguarding of Believers in the Love and Favour of God by their continuance in Believing and preservation from the Power of temptations and oppositions arising against their Perseverance in communion with God The result of what hath been spoken §. 5. as to its influence into the confirmation of the Truth under Demonstration amounts unto thus much That which the Lord Jesus Christ as Mediator requesteth and prayeth for continually of the Father according to his mind in order to the Accomplishment of the Promises made to him and Covenant with him all his desires being bottomed upon his exact perfect performance of the whole will of God both in doing and suffering that shall certainly be accomplisht and brought to passe But thus in this manner upon these accounts doth the Lord Jesus intercede for the Perseverance of Believers and their Preservation in the Love of the Father unto the end therefore they shall undoubtedly be so preserved It is confessed that the Persons Interceded for are Believers all Believers that then were or should be to the end of the World the efficacy of this Intercession having commenced from the foundations thereof the thing prayed for is their Preservation in the state of Union with Christ and one another the motives used for the obtaining this request in their behalfe are taken from the work they have to doe and the opposition they were to meet withall and all the Saints being thus put into the hand of God who shall take them from thence On what account is it that they shall not be preserved To say they shall be thus preserved in case themselves depart not wilfully from God is to say they shall be preserved in case they preserve themselves as will afterwards be farther manifested This Argument is proposed by the Apostle §. 6. in the most triumphant assurance of the Truth and Certainty of the inference contained in it that he any where useth in any case whatsoever Rom 8. 33 34. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that justifieth Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen againe who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh Intercession for us he laies the immunity of the Elect justified Persons from just crimination or Condemnation on the foundation of the Oblation and Intercession of Christ The first part of this Argument from the Oblation of Christ who shall condemne It is Christ that died asserting the immunity of Believers from Condemnation upon the account of the punishing of all their sinnes in Christ and the perfect satisfaction made by his death for them whence the justice of God in the issue will not have any thing to lay to their charge we have formerly insisted on The other which the Apostle induces emphatically and comparatively though not in respect of procurement and purchase made yet of assurance to be given with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in respect of his Oblation is that now before us To make the Assurance of Believers plentifull that they may know both the Truth of his first generall Assertion that all things shall work together for good to them and this particular conclusion now laid downe by way of interrogation rejecting all evill opposed to their former enjoyments who shall lay any thing to their charge who shall condemne He gives them a threefold consideration of the state and actings of the Lord Christ after the Expiation of their sinnes by this bloud in reference to them 1. He is Risen 2. He is at the Right hand of God 3. Makeeth Intercession for them the First denoting his Acquitment and theirs in him for he died in their stead from all the sinnes that were charged on him For he was declared to be the Sonne of God accepted with him and justified from all that debt which he undertook in his Resurrection and if he be risen who shall lay any thing to the charge of them whom he died for and for all whose sinnes in their stead he was acquitted The Second is his Exaltation and Power for having purged our sinnes he is sate downe at the right hand of the Majesty on High Heb. 1. 3. receiving thereby a most plenary demonstration of his Fathers good will to him and his in respect of the work that he had undertaken and gone through for them For if he had not made an end of sinne when he was obedient unto death the death of the Crosse he could not expect that God should give him a name above every name with fulnesse of power to give Eternall Life to all that the Father gave him This to assure us that he will doe having power in his own hand the Apostle addes who also Intercedes for us hereby thirdly testifying abundantly his good will and care for our Salvation Upon these considerations the Apostle leads the Faith of the Saints of God to make a conclusion which is to be believed as a Divine Truth that tenders to us the Doctrine we have under Demonstration triumphant against all Objections and oppositions that can be made against it And hence we thus argue Those against whom no Charge can be laid who cannot by any means be separated from the love of God in Christ cannot totally and finally fall away from Faith and fall out of Gods Favour but that this is the condition of all true
them that are concerned therein And this I shall do in the Order that I have named giving the Preeminence unto their Obedience which more immediately respecting the Glory of God the honour of the Gospell is to be preferred before their Consolation yea though God should never afford his Saints any drop of that Consolation which we affirme to streame from the Truth discussed yet it is Honour unspeakable for them that he is pleased to admit them and inable them to do him Service in this life and it will be their infinite Consolation that they have done so to Eternity For the making our way cleare to the demonstration of that influence which the Doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints hath into their Obedâ—ence and close-walking with God and so to manifest what weight is to be lay'd upon it on that Consideration I shall give some previous Observations which may direct and give us light in our passage both concerning Gospell Truths Gospell Obedience and Gospell Motives thereunto I hope it will not be thought amisse if I looke a little backwards to fortify and cleare this part of our progresse there being no concernement of our Doctrine that is more clamoured by the Adversaries of it nor can any respect of it or any Truth of God more causelessly meet with such entertainement as I hope will abundantly in the progresse of our businesse be evinced to the consciences of all who know indeed what it is to walke before God in a course of Gospell Obedience and who have their communion with the Father and his Sonne Jesus Christ. For the first 1. Every Truth revealed from God is to be received not only with Faith and Love but with equall Reverence to any that is revealed though we are not able to discerne such an immediate tendency unto usefullnesse in our Communion with him as in some others we may The formall Reason whereunto our Faith Love and Reverence unto the Word of God is resolved is that it is His Now this is common to the whole for he is the Author of every part and portion a like And though perhaps we may want some part of it at a lesse fatall price then some other yet to reject any one title or jot of it as that which is revealed of God is a sufficient demonstration that no one jot or title of it is received as it ought upon whatever this Title Inscription is Verbum Jehovae there must we stoope and bow downe our soules before it and captivate our Understandings to the obedience of Faith Whatsoever then may hereafter be spoken concerning the usefulnesse of the Truth under Consideration and that comparative regard which in respect of others ought on that account to be had thereunto doth not in the least exalt it as it is in it selfe in respect of Faith and Reverence due thereunto above any other Truth whatsoever that is in Scripture revealed 2. That next to the Revelation of God his Will and his Grace the grand immediate tendency of the whole Scripture is to worke them to whom the Revelation is made into a conformity to himselfe and to mould them into his owne Image All Scripture the Apostle tells us 2 Tim 3.16 is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for reproofe for correction for instruction in righteousnesse that the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all Good workes Hereunto all Scripture tends and is usefull profitable for this end And the Gospell is called the Truth that is according to Godlinesse Titus 1. 1. As the end of the Law is Charity out of a pure heart and a Faith unfained 1 Tim. 1. 5. That which in respect of the prime Author of it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word of God 1 Thess. 2 13. and in respect of the principall matter of it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word of the Crosse 1 Cor. 1.18 in respect of its end and tendency towards us is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word or Truth that is according to Godlinesse The Word is that revealed Will of God which is our Sanctification 1 Thess. 4. 3. and the Instrument whereby he workes our Holinesse according to that prayer of our Saviour Sanctifie them by thy Word thy Word is Truth John 17. 19. And that which when we are cast into the mould of our Obedience is in some measure wrought Rom. 6. 17 the substance also or matter being written in our hearts is the Grace and Holinesse promised unto us in the Covenant Jere. 31.33 And that this is the Improvement which ought to be made by Believers of every Gospell Truth or rather that it hath an Efficacy to this purpose the Apostle tells us 2 Cor. 3. 18. We all with open face beholding as in a glasse the Glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord By apprehensions of the glorious Truths discovered in the glasse or mirror of the Gospell we are changed and moulded into the frame and Image therein discovered by the power of the Spirit effectually accompanying the Word in the dispensation thereof And unlesse this be done whatsoever we may pretend we have not received any Truth of the Gospell as it is in Jesus in the power of it Eph. 4. 20 21 22 23 24. Ye have not saith the Apostle so learned Christ If so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the Truth is in Jesus That ye put of as concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitfull lusts And be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that ye put on the new man which after God is created in Righteousnesse and true Holinesse Whatsoever men may professe if we have learned the Truth as it is in Jesus it will have these Effects in us even universall relinquishment as to sinceritie of all ungodlinesse and a through change both as to principles and practices unto Holinesse and to Righteousnesse which the Gospell teaches us which if we have not learned we have not yet learn't it as it is in Jesus Tit. 2. 11 12. The Grace of God that bringeth Salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodlinesse and worldly lusts we should live Soberly Righteously and Godlily in this present evill world 3. Some Truths have a more immediate direct and effectuall tendency to the promotion of Godlinesse and Gospell Obedience then others This the Apostle emphatically ascribes as a priviledge to that Doctrine that reveales the Love of Christ unto us 2 Cor. 5. 14. the Love of Christ constraines us other things effectually perswade but the Love of Christ constraines us to live to him it hath an importunity with it not to be denied an efficacy not to be put off or avoided and what is in the things themselves as in the love of Christ that is in its manner in the
Rom. 5. 1. and Justified by Faith to have Peace with him which as to his present condition the Adversaries of the Doctrine of Perseverance acknowledge that he may attaine though how upon their principles I understand not consider a little how he can safegard his Peace for a moment and deliver himselfe from perplexing thoughts and feares renouncing any interest in the ingagement of the Love and Faithfulnesse of God for his preservation He may say within himselfe I am for the present in some good state and condition but were not the Angels so that are now Devills in Hell were not they in a farre better and more excellent state then I am and yet they are now shut up under chaines of everlasting darknesse to the judgment of the great day Adam in Paradise had no lust within him to tempt and seduce him no World under the curse to intangle and provoke him and yet being in that honour he had no understanding he abode not but became like the beast that perisheth was it not in their power to persevere in that condition if they would Did they want any meanes that were usefull thereunto And what hope is there left to me Rom. 7. in whom there dwelleth no good thing who am sold under the power of sinne and encompassed with a world of temptations that I shall endure unto the end I see thousands before mine eyes partakers of the same heavenly calling with my selfe of the same Grace in Jesus Christ every day falling into irrecoverable perdition There is not any Purpose of God that I should be preserved nor Promise that I shall never depart from him no prayer of Christ that my Faith may not faile but I am rolled upon mine own hand and what will be the end of this whole undertaking of mine in the wayes of God I know not Let I say a man be exercised with such thoughts as these and then try if any thing under heaven can bring his soule to any possible composure untill it be cast into the mould of that Doctrine which hath been delivered But of this more directly afterwards when we come to treat of the Consolation which from the breast of it doth flow 2. §. 11. It is exceedingly suited to the deliverance of the Soules of the Saints from all such hard thoughts of God as are apt to impaire and weaken their Love towards him and delight in him so setting the two principles of all their Obedience Faith and Love at liberty and free from their intanglements to act in the duties they are called unto He that had hard thoughts of his absent Lord as an austere man though he was not excused in his disobedience by it yet he was evidently discouraged as to his Obedience When men shall be taught that God takes no more care of his Children in his family but that the Divell may enter in among them and and take them away making them Children of Hell when he might with the greatest Advantage of Glory and Honour to himselfe imaginable prevent it That the Lord Jesus Christ the great Shepheard of the Sheep takes no more care of his flock and fold but that the Lion Beares and Wolves may enter in and make havocke and spoile at their pleasure May they not think that God is little concerned in the Salvation of his and that all that which is so Gloriously expressed of his peculiar and speciall Love carries nothing but an empty noise the burthen of their preservation being thrown soly upon their owne shoulders And are not such thoughts fitte only to cast water upon their flames of Love to God and insensibly to weaken that delight which they ought alwayes to take in the riches of his Grace and Love Is there any thing possible more indearing to the heart of a Creature then to heare such a testimony as that Zeph. 3. 17. concerning the stability of the Love of God and its excellency The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty he will save he will rejoyce over thee with joy he will rest in his Love he will joy over thee with singing Gods resting in his Love towards his Saints fixes their soules in their Love to him 3. §. 12. It puts high and unspeakable Obligations on the Saints to live to God and to perfect Holinesse in the feare of the Lord Saints we suppose to have their Birth from above to be begotten of the Will of God through the immort all seed of the Word and to be quickened with a Noble Child-like Ingenuity befitting the family of God Neither is any thing more injurious to the worke of God's Grace then to suppose that those whom God calls Children Friends Heirs of Heaven and Glory his Crowne his Diadem Brethren of his only Sonne are to be dealt withall or that God deales with them as if they were wholly acted by a servile slavish Principle and were wholly under the power of such an unworthy disposition There are two things usually spoken to the prejudice and disadvantage of § 13. the Truth we have under Consideration much insisted on by Mr Goodwin Cap 9. As 1. That a perswision of the certaine continuance of the Love of God to any one is a ready way to make them carelesse negligent and to give up themselves to all manner of abominations But what Vipers Snakes and Adders do such men suppose the Saints of God to be that their new nature their Heavenly Principles for what the flesh in them is prone unto we now consider not should conclude that it is good to sinne that Grace may abound that because God Loves them with an Everlasting Love therefore they will hate him with a perpetuall hatred that because he will assuredly give them Grace to serve him with reverence Goâ—ly fear therefore they will despise him and trample on all his Goodnesse because he will never forsake them that they will no more abide with him What is in the inner man what is in the new Creature what is in the nature of any Grace wherewith they are indowed that is apt or inclinable to make such hellish Conclusions If we heare of any such thing among the Sonnes of men if we see a Child or a servant resolving to be profligate wicked stubborne prodigall because his Father or Master is kind loving and will not disinherit him or put him away we looke upon him as a monster in nature and think that it would be good service to the interest of mankind to take him off from the face of earth And yet such monsters are all the Saints of God supposed to be who if their Father once give them the least Assurance of the Continuance of his Love they presently resolve to doe him all the dishonour despite and mischeife they can I appeale to all the experience of all the Saints in the world whethâ—â— if any such thought at any time arise in them that they may continue in sinne because Grace
put to it for an Answer finding him contenting himselfe with such sorry shifts and evident pervertings of the words of the Text as those here mentioned For first How come the words to be changed into a working as to will so to doe that is perhaps neither the one nor the other who taught him to render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as to will so to doe But Secondly the chiefe of the sport made with the words consists in the Exposition given of them as they lye in this new Translation to work in them as to will so to doe that is to do what they first will not that he workes in them to will but that he assists them in doing what they first will but what is now become of the tà m quà m above mentioned how doth he work in them as to will so to do if he only assists them in doing what of themselves without his assistance they first will Rather than it shall be granted that God by his grace works effectually on the Wills of men to the producing of their elicite acts of Believing and Obedience any course may be warranted for the perverting of the expressions where such an operation seems to be held out Perhaps this perswasion also of the efficacy of the grace of God on the wills of men is such that if it be found in any place of Scripture to be declared or asserted it is enough to make wise and considering prudent men to question their Authority But Thirdly saith he This is not infallibly to work Perseverance I say shew what else is required to Perseverance but to will and doe according to the mind of God which of his own good pleasure he promiseth effectually to work in Believers and you say something that may render your reasonings considerable but it seems we must be kept in abeyance for an answer to this untill his criticisme be ready to manifest how God is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 working in men perhaps what is never wrought without any such effect as is imagined What may by him be brought forth to this purpose time will shew But if he be able to make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God is working in you to will and to doe forsooth from the Participall expression of the verbe he will manifest more skill in Greeke then he hath hitherto in Divinity in all his Learned Treatises So that here is a Second instance of a conjunction of Promises of Perseverance with Exhortations to use the meanes suited thereunto which who so denies to have a just and sweet consistency doe charge the Holy Ghost with folly or weaknesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thirdly §. 52. The verses pointed to out of Heb. 6. 4 5 9. doe not so directly expresse the conjunction insisted on as those places already considered doe only the discourse there used by the Apostle is peremptory that men may without any disparagement to their wisdome or reason earnestly deale with others and exhort them to avoid falling away from God though they are fully perswaded that those whom they so exhort by the help of those Exhortations and upon other considerations shall abide with God to the end or be attended with things accompanying Salvation But had Mr Goodwin been pleased to look to the following verses wherein the Apostle gives an account of the ground of this perswasion of his he might have found somthing to exercise the best of his skill upon The words are Beloved we are perswaded better things of you things that accompany Salvation though we thus speake for God is not unrighteous to forget your work labour of Love which you have shewne towards his name in that ye have Ministred to the S t s do Minister and we desire that every of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end he tels them v. 10. it is upon the account of the Righteousnesse of God in carrying on the worke of their Labour of Love which was begunne in them and which they had shewen or manifested that he had this perswasion concerning them which in the insuing verses he farther pursues clearing up the ingagement of the Rightcousnesse of God in his Oath of which else where So that notwithstanding any thing attempted to the contrary evident it is that in carrying on the worke of our Salvation the Holy Ghost doth make use of Promises of effectuall Grace for Perseverance and eminent Exhortations to abide with God in such an harmony and consistency as is well suited to the things themselves and in a course which takes Sanctuary under the shade of his wisdome from all the charges of folly and weakenesse which poore weake and foolish men may under their Temptations and in their darkenesse rise up against it withall whether there are expresse Promises of Perseverance in the Scripture some advantage I hope will be given to the pious Reader to judge from what hath been spoken and what by the Lords Assistance may be insisted on to that purpose Unto this debate about the Exhortations of the word we find a Discourse of the same nature importance subjoyned about the Threatnings that are therein § 53. which as it is asserted are rendered uselesse ineffectuall for the end whereunto they are of God appointed by that Doctrine of Perseverance w eh is opposed We freely acknowledge That if any Doctrine whatever do enervâ—te and render vaine any Ordinance or institution of God as to the Ends and purposes wherereunto itis of him appointed that that Doctrine is not of God whose pathes are all plaine and equall and whose commands do not enterfere one with an other Now that the principles of the Doctrine of Perseverance do destroy the efficiency of Threatnings is attempted to be proved by an Induction of observations which being the summe of all that is spoken to this head must be transcribed at large and is as followeth Sect. 12. §. 54. If the principles of the Doctrine we speake of dissolve the efficiency of the said Threatnings towards the end for the accomplishment whereof they are given then they render them unsavoury uselesse and vaine But the principles of this Doctrine are guilty of this offence Ergo The tearmes of the Major proposition are sufficient witnesses of the truth thereof in order to the proofe of the Minor we suppose first that the end intended by God in such Threatnings which threaten those that shall Apostatize with eternall death is to prevent Apostacy in the Saints to worke or cause them to persevere 2. That this is one of the principles of the common Doctrine of Perseverance God hathabsolutely promised finall Perseverance unto the Saints and this another God will certainely infrustably infallibly worke this Perseverance in the Saints These two things only supposed the light of the truth ef the said Minor proposition breakes forth from between them with much evidence and power For First if the said
in hand as the fine notions of the Spirits returne to move Believers when his motions have been rejected with the manner whereof according to his conception must be afterwards considered apart as the fall of David into Adultery and Murther if there be need to go forth to the consideration of his examples and instances and therefore I shall not longer insist upon it only the close of it consisting of an inference made from some words of Peter Martyr deserves consideration Vpon Davids sinne saith he Peter Martyr makes this observation That the Saints themselves being once fallen into sinne would alwayes remaine in the pollution of it did not God by his mighty Word bring them out of it which saying of Martyr clearely also implyes that the Saints many times sinne with their whole wills and full consents because were any part of their wills bent against the commiting of the sinne at the time when it is committed they would questionlesse returne to themselves and repent immediately after the beat and violence of the Lust being over by reason of the satisfaction that hath been given thereunto Ans. The close insinuation in Peter Martyr's words of the Saints sinning with their whole wills and the Logicke of Mr Goodwin's inference from them I believe is very much hidden from the Reader To the Theology of it I say that the Saints 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do immediately returne to God by Repentance as Peter did upon their surprisalls into sinne nor have they any rest in a condition of the Eclipse of the countenance of God from them as upon sinne it is alwayes more or lesse of Davids particular case mention may afterwards be made But the proofe that they sinne with their whole wills and full consent because they would continue in sinne did not the Lord relieve and deliver them by his word and Grace is admirable I would adventure to cast this Argument into as many shapes as it is tolerably capable of had I the least hope to cause it to appeare any way Argumentatives we deny then that Believers have any such power habitually residing in them as whereby without any new supplyes of the Spirit or concurrence of actuall Grace they can effectually and eventually recover themselves from any sinne whatever Which supplyes of the Spirit and Grace we say and have proved are freely promised to them in the covenant of Graces But what will here follow to the supportment of Mr Goodwin's Hypothesis that therefore in all their sinnes or in any of their sinnes they sinne with the full and whole consent of their wills I suppose he alone knowes Sect. §. 23 26. He endeavoures to take off that of the Apostle Rom. 7. 19 20. from appearing against him in this cause of the Saints finning with their whole wills and consents not not-willing the things they do to this end he tells us That when the Apostle saith the evill which I would not that I do his meaning is not that he did that which at the same time that he did it he was not willing either in whole or in part to do but that he sometimes did that upon a surprisall by temptation or through incogitancy which he was not habitually willing or disposed in the inward man to do But this no wayes implyes but that at the time when he did the evill he speakes of he did it with the full and entire consent of his will Ans. 1. It is probable the Apostle knew his owne meaning and also how to expresse it having so good a teacher to that end and purpose as he had now he assures us in the person of a Regenerate man that as what He would He did not so what He did He would not He hated it v. 15 16. And againe he did that which he would not and therein consented to the Law by his not willing of that he did that it was good which whether it expresse not a Renitency of the will to that which was done in part and so farre as to make the Action it selfe remisse and not to enwrappe the whole consent of the will he farther declares v. 17. telling us that there is a perfect unconsenting I or internall principle in the very doing of evill Is is no more I that do it but sinne that dwelleth in me 2. The Apostle doth not say what he was not habitually willing to but what he was habitually unwilling to that is what the bent of his will lay habitually against having actuall inclinations and elicite acts alwayes to the contrary though sometimes overcome Neither in his discoursing of it doth he mention at all the surprisall of sin upon incogitancy inadvertency but the constant frame temper of a regenerate man upon the powerfull acting striving of the principle of lust and sin dwelling in him and remaining with him which saith the Apostle doth often carry them out to do those things which are contrary to the principle of the inward man which habitually condemnes and actually wills not or rather nills the things that are so done even in their doing And this doth manifest sufficiently that when he did the evil he speakes of he did it not with the full and entire consent of his will as men do in whom there is no such principle opposite to sinne and sinning as is in him that is Regenerate there being very much taken off by the habituall principle of Grace that is in them and its constant inclinations to the contrary But he farther argues §. 24. If we shall affirme that the contrary bent or motions of his will at other times is a sufficient proofe that when he did the evill we speake of he did it not with his whole will or fulnesse of consent in such a sence is a distinguishing Character betwixt men Regenerate and unregenerate we shall bring Herod and Pilate and probably Judas himselfe into the list of men Regenerate with a thousand more whom the Scripture knowes not under any such name or relation viz. all those whose Judgments and consciences stand against the evill of the wayes and practises wherein they walke And this he proves at large to the end of the Section in the instance of Herod and Pilate proceeding against their owne Judgements and Consciences in the killing of John and of our Saviour Ans. First we do not only assert a contrary bent and inclination in the Wills of Believers at other times but also that in and under the prevalency of indwelling sinne there is in them an I that doth it not and a not-willing it from a Principle though by reason of the present prevalency of the other its actings and stirrings are not so sensibly perceived So that though they prevaile not to the totall prevention of the will from exerting the Act of sinne yet they prevaile to the impairing weakening and making remisse its consent thereunto Secondly The residue of this Paragraph is intolerably Sophisticall confounding the Renitencie of the inward
guidance of their judgement in the receiving or rejecting of them On the account of its destructivenesse to Godlinesse and obedience do the Socinians reject the Satisfaction and merit of Christ and on the account of conducingnesse thereunto do the Papists assert and build up the Doctrines of their owne merits Penance Satisfaction and the like On that principle did they seeme to be acted who pressed Legall Judaicall suppositions with a shew of wisdome or will worship and humility and neglecting the body Col. 2. 23. Neither did they faile of their plea concerning promotion of Godlinesse in the Worship of God who reviled rejected and persecuted the Ordinances of Christ in this Generation to set up their own Abominations in the Roome Yea it is generally the first word wherewith every Abomination opens its mouth in the world though the men of those Abominations do rather suppose this pretence of Godlinesse to be serviceable for the promotion of their opinions than their opinions any way really usefull to the promotiō of godlines Neither need we go far to enquire after the Reasons of mens miscarriages pretending to judge of Truth according to this Rule seeing they ly at hand are exposed to the view of all for besides that very many of the pretenders to this plea may be justly suspected to be men of corrupt minds dealing falsely treacherously with their own soules the truth the pretence of furthering Holinesse being one of the cunning sleights wherewith they ly in wait to deceive which may justly be suspected of them who together with this plea and whilst they make it are apparently themselves loose and remote from the power of a Gospell conversation as the case hath been with not a few of the most eminent assertors of Arminianisme How few are there in the world who have indeed a true notion and Apprehension of the nature of Holinesse in its whole compasse and extent as in the Fountaine Causes Rise and Use and end thereof And if men know not indeed what holinesse is how shall they judge what Doctrine or Opinion is conducing to the furtherance thereof or is obstructive to it Give me a man who is perswaded that he hath power in himselfe being by the discovery of a Rule directed thereinto to yeild that obedience to God which he doth require who supposeth that threats of hell destructiō are the greatest most powerfull effectuall motive unto that obedience that the Spirit Grace of God to worke create a new heart in him as a suitable principle of all holly actings are not purchased nor procured for him by the Bloud of Christ nor is there any holinesse wrought in him by the Almighty efficacy of that Spirit and Grace he having a sufficiency in himselfe for those things that there is not a reall Physicall concurrence of the Grace of God for the production of every good act whatever and that he is Justifyed upon the account of any act or part of his Obedience or the whole and I shall not be much moved or shaken with the Judgement of that man concerning the serviceablenesse suitablenesse of any Doctrine or Doctrines to the furtherance of Godlinesse and Holinesse There are also many different opinions about the nature of Godlinesse what it is and wherein it doth consist I desire to be informed how a man may be directed in his Examination of those opinions supposing him in a streight and exigency of thoughts between them in considering which of them is best suited to the promotion of Godlinesse I do not intend in the least to derogate from the certaine and undoubted truth of what was premised at the beginning of this Discourse viz. That every Gospell Rule whatever is certainly conducing to the furtherance of Gospell Obedience in them that receive it in the Love and power thereof Every errour being in its utmost Activity especially in corrupting the principles of it obstructive thereunto much les do we in any measure decline the tryall of the Doctrine which I assert in opposition to the Apostacy of the Saints by this touch-stone of its usefulnesse to Holinesse having formerly manifested its eminent Activity and efficacy in that service and the utter aversenesse of its corrivall to lend any assistance thereunto But yet I say in an inquiry after and dijudication of truth whatever I have been or may be streightned between different perswasions I have and shall rather close in the practice of Holinesse in prayer Faith and waiting upon God to search the Scripture to attend wholly to that Rule having plentifull promises for guidance and direction than to weigh in any Rationall consideration of my owue what is conducing to Holinesse what not especially in many truths which have their usefullnesse in this service as is the case of most Gospell Ordinances and institutions of Worship not from the connexion of things but the meere will of the appointer Of those Doctrines I confesse which following on to know the Lord we know from his Word to be from him and in which doing the will of Christ are revealed to us to be his will a peculiar valuation is to be set on the head of them which appeare to be peculiarly and eminently serviceable to the promotion and furthering our Obedience as also that all opinions what ever that are in the least seducers from the power truth and Spirituality of obedience are not of God are eo nomine to be rejected yet having a more sure rule to attend unto I dare not make my apprehensions concerning the tendency of Doctrines any Rule if God hath not so spoken of them for the judging of their truth or false-hood if my thoughts are not shut up and determined by the power of the Word The next proposall made by M. Goodwin §. 7. is of the advantages he hath to judge of Truths which he hath done unto plenary satisfaction according to the Rule now considered The first thing he offereth to induce us to close with him in his judgement of Opinions is the knowledge he hath of the generall course of the Scripture what is intended by the generall course of the Scripture well I know not so am not able to judg of M. Goodwins knowledge thereof by any thing exposed to publique view If by the generall course of the Scriptures the matter of them is intended the importance of the expression seems to be coincident with the Analogy or proportion of Faith a safe rule of Prophesy but what ever M. Goodwins knowledge may be of this I am not perfectly satisfied that he hath kept close unto it in many Doctrines of his Book entituled Redemption Redeemed and so the weight of his skill in judging of truths on this foundation will not ballance what I have to lay against it for the inducement of other thoughts than those of closeing with him The course of the Scripture cannot import the manner of the expressions therein used in that there
the Jewes peculiarly and suited to the peculiar state and condition wherein they were do not concerne the People of God in generall And why may not the same be the condition of Threatnings given out upon a parralell account Compedes quas fecit ipse ut ferat aequum est 2. That it is the determination and stating of a particular Controversy between God and the people of the Jewes suited to a peculiar dispensation of his Providence towards them which is here proposed is evident from the occasion of the words lay'd downe v. 2 3. What mean ye c. that use this proverb concerning the Land of Israel saying the Fathers have eaten sower Grapes and the Childrens teeth are set on edge As I live saith the Lord c. It is the use of a Proverb concerning the Land of Israel that God is descrying and disproving the truth of the Proverb it selfe under consideration and that this should be the standard and Rule of Gods proceeding with his people in the Covenant of mercy no man that seemes to have either understanding judgement or conscience can reasonably imagine 3. That it is not the nature and tenour of the Covenant of Grace and Gods dealing with his chosen secret ones his Saints true Believers as to their eternall condition which in these words is intended but the manifestation of the Righteousnesse of God in dealing with that people of the Jewes in a peculiar dispensation of his providence towards the body of that people and the Nation in generall appeares farther from the occasion of the words and the provocation given the Lord to make use of these expressions unto them The proverbe that God cuts out of their lips and mouthes by the sword of his Righteousnesse in these words was concerning the Land of Israel Used perhaps mostly by them in captivity but it was concerning the Land of Israel not concerning the Eternall state and condition of the Saints of God but concerning the Land of Israel v. 2. God had of old given that Land to that people by Promise and continued them in it for many Generations untill at length for their wickednesse ' Idolatry Abomination and obstinacy in their evill wayes he caused them to be carryed captive unto Rabylon In that Captivity the Lord revenged upon them not only the sinnes of the present Generation but as he told them also those of their fore-Fathers especially the Abomination Cruelty Idolatry exercised in the dayes of Manasseh taking this season for his worke of vengeance in the Generations following who also so farre walked in the steps of their fore-Fathers as to Justify all Gods proceedings against them Being wasted and removed from their owne Land by the Righteous Judgement of God they considered the Land of Israel that was Promised to them though upon their good behaviour therein and how instead of a plentifull enjoyment of all things in peace and quietnesse therein there were now a small remnant in captivity the rest the farre greatest part being destroyed by the sword and famine in that Land In this state and condition being as all other of their frame and principle prone to justify themselves they had hatched a proverb among themselves concerning the Land of Israel promised to them excedingly opprobrious and reproachfull to the Justice of God in his dealings with them The summe of the intendment of this saying that was growne rise amongst them was that for the sinne of their fore-Fathers many yea the greatest part of them was slain in the Land of Israel and the rest carried from it into bondage and captivity To vindicate the Righteousnesse and equity of his wayes the impartiallity of his Judgements the Lord recounts to them by his Prophet many of their sinnes whereof themselves with their Fathers were guilty in the Land of their nativity and for which he had brought all that calamity and desolation upon them whereof they did complaine confirming under many supposalls of rising and falling that principle of rising and falling that principle he layd downe in the entrance of his dealings with them that every one of them suffered for his own iniquity whatever they suffered whether death or other banishment and not for the sinnes of their fore Fathers Whatever influence they might have upon the procuring of the generall vengeance that overtooke the whole Nation in the midst of their iniquity This being the aime scope and tendency of the place the import of the words and tenour of Gods intendment in them I cannot but wouder how any man of understanding and Conscience can once imagine that God hath given any Testimony to the possibilty of falling out of Covenant with him of those whom he hath taken â—igh to himselfe through the Bloud of his Sonne in the Everlasting bond thereof As though it were any thing of his dealing with the Saints in reference to their Spirituall and Eternall Condition that the Lord here reveales his will about being only the tenour of his dealings with the House of Israel in reference to the Land of Canaan 4. This is farther manifest in that principle Rule of Gods proceedings in the matter laid down v. 4. which is not only a line from but also directly opposite unto that which is the principle in the Covenant of Grace The soule that sinneth he shall dye That soule and person and not another when in that Covenant of Grace he sets forth his Sonne to be a propitiation through faith in his Bloud giving him up to death for all causing the just to dye for the unjust the soule that never sinned for the soules that had sinned that they might go free And I would faine know on what solid grounds an answer may be given to the Socinians triumphing in the 4. v. against the satisfaction of Christ nolesse than Mr Goodwin in the 24 25. against the Perseverance of the Saints If you do not manifest the whole tendency of this place to be accommodated to Gods providentiall dispensation of temporall Judgements and Mercyes in respect of that people and the Covenant whereby they held the Land of Canaan and not at all to respect the generall dispensation of his Righteousnesse and Grace in the Bloud of Christ. So that 5. The whole purport and intendment of the Scripture under consideration is only to manifest the tenour of Gods Righteous proceeding with the people of Israel in respect of his dispensation towards them in reference to the Land of Canaan convicing them of their own abominations confuting the profane proverb invened and reared up in the reproach of his Righteousnesse beating them from the vaine pretence of being punished for their Fathers sins and the conceit of their owne Righteousnesse which that people was perpetually puffed up with all He letts them know that his dealing with them and his wayes towards them were equall and righteous in that there was none of them but was punished for his owne sinne and though some of them might have made some
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 Ans. What small cause Mr Goodwin hath to quarrell with Beza §. 39. or other Translatours and with how little advantage to his cause this Text is produced shall out of hand be made appeare 1. The words as they cry are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the foregoing part of the chapter the Apostle had treated of two sorts of persons 1. Such as so forsake the Assemblies of the Saints withdrew from the Church and Ordinances of Christ and so by degrees fell off with a totall and everlasting backsliding of these the Apostle speakes describing their wayes and end from v. 25. unto v. 32. thence forward 2. He speaks to them and of them who abode in their persecutions and under all their afflictions to hold fast their confidence which he also farther exhorts them to that by patient abiding in well doing they might receive the reward concerning these both having told them of the unshaken Kingdome of Christ that should be brought in notwithstanding the Apostasy of many of whose iniquity God would take vengeance on he laies downe that eminent promise of the Gospell the just by Faith shall live wordes often used to expresse the state condition of Believers of those who are truly and unfainedly so the Lord being faithfull in his promise the justified person shall live or obtaine life everlasting It is the promise of eternall life that is here given them as that which they had not as yet received but in patience they were to waite to receive after they had done the whole will of God that any of these should so draw back as that the Lords soule should have no pleasure in them is directly contrary to the promise here made of their living The particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the next words is plainly adversative and exceptive as it is very many times in the New Testament and that as to the Persons of whom he is speaking at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the period is full the description of the state of the just by Faith is compleated and in the next words the state of backsliders is entred upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 referring to them whom by their Apostasy and subduction of themselves from Christian assemblies he had before described there is an elleipsis in the words to be supplied but some indefinite terme to give them the sence intended this Beza and our translators have done by that excepted against causelessely by M.G. for if a Translator may make the Text speake â—ignificantly in the language whereunto he translates it the introduction of such supplements is allowed him 2. The following expression puts it out of all question that this was the intendment of the Apostle for he expressely makes mention and that in reference to what was spoken before of two sorts of people to whom his former expressions are respectively to be accommodated the words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as above M. Goodwin to make us believe that he took notice of these words hath this passage of them as it is also expounded in the words immediately following but we are not of them who draw back to perdition but c. but what I pray is expounded in these words that drawers back shall be destroyed this is all he takes notice of in them Evidently the words are an application of the former assertions unto severall persons there are saies he some who are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and some that are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those saith he who are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shall be destroyed those who are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shall live Evidently and beyond all contradiction assigning his former assertions of the just shall live by Faith and if any man shall draw back to severall persons by a distribution of their lot and portions to them in v. 28. he layes downe in These the state and condition of believers and backsliders in v 29. he makes application of the position he laid downe to himselfe and them 1. negatively that they were not of the former sort of them that draw back c. 2. Positively that they were of the rest of them that believed and those expressions v. 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doe undeniably affirme two sorts of persons in both places to be spoken of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 can by no meanes be referred to our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which would entermixe them whom the Apostle as to their present state and future condition held out in a contradistinction one to the other unto the end All that ensues in M. Goodwins discourse being built upon this sandy foundation that it is the Believer of whom God affirmes that he shall live by Faith who is supposed to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contrary to the expresse assertion of the Apostle it needs no farther consideration although he is not able to manifest any strength in conclusion drawn from suppositions of events which may be possible in one sence and in another impossible But before we passe further §. 40. may not this witnesse which Mr Goodwin hath attempted in vaine to suborne to appeare and speake in his cause be demanded what he can speake or what he knowes of the truth of that which he is produced to oppose This then it confesseth and denyeth not at first word that of professours there are two sorts some are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of such as doe or may draw back unto perdition some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which believe to the saving of the soule and that in opposition to the others Also that those who withdraw are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not true Believers nor ever were notwithstanding all their profession and what their guifts and attainments in and under their profession So that the Testimony produced keepeth still its place and is as a King upon his Throne against whom there is no rising up but yet speaks quite contrary clearly evidently distinctly to what is pretended both on the one hand the other is our thesis undeniably confirmed in this place of the Apostle If all those who fall away to perdition were never truly nor really of the Faith then those who are of the Faith caÌ„not fall away but they who fall away to perdition were never truly nor really of the Faith or true Believers Ergo. The reason of the consequent of the first proposition is evident for their not being of the Faith is plainly included as the Reason of their Apostacy their being of the Faith intimated as that which would have preserved them from such defection the Minor is the Apostles we are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of them that draw back but of them that believe which plainely distinguisheth them that draw back from
sinne of infirmity and the least a sinne of Presumption It is possible a Believer may be overtaken or rather surprised with any sinne so he be overtaken or surprised A surprisall into sinne through the power of Temptation subtilty of Sathan strength of indewlling sinne contrary to the habituall standing frame of the heart not alwayes neither through a defect of watchfullnesse is all that we grant a Believer may be lyable to and fo upon Mr Goodwins confession he sins only out of infirmity such sins being not exclusive of the Love and Favour of God And therefore Fourthly we say that true Believers cannot be said to walke according to the flesh to do the workes of the flesh to do the Lusts and desires of the flesh which the Holy Ghost so cautions them against which as Mr Goodwin observes are none of them charged upon true Believers but only such persons as are enemyes of God and Children of wrath so that those expressions hold out to Believers only what they ought to avoid in the use of the meanes which God graciously affords them and do not discover any thing of the will of God that he will suffer them contrary to his many Faithfull Promises to fall into them And so the close of this Discourse is contrary to the beginning M. Goodwin granting that true Believers cannot fall into these sinnes but only such as are enemies to God and yet he hath no way to prove that true Believers may cease to be so but because they may fall into these sinnes which that they may do he here eminently denyes Wherefore he adds If by sinning out of malice they meane sinning with deliberation with plotting §. 37. and contriving the methods and meanes of their sinning sinning against Judgement against the dictates of conscience and what they should meane by sining out of malice but sinning upon such tearmes as these I understand not certaine it is that true Believers may so sinne out of malice or at least such as were true Believers before such sining and this our Adversaries them selves confesse Ans. All this falles heavy on the shoulders as it is supposed of poore David and yet we think it evident that God tooke not his holy Spirit from him but that his Covenant continued with him ordered in all things and sure and that sinne had not dominion over him The reasons of this perswasion of ours concerning him shall farther be insisted on when we come to the consideration of his case in particular in the meane time I confesse the dreadfnll falls of some of the Saints of God are rather to be bewailed than aggravated and the riches of Gods Grace in their recovery to be admired than searcht into yet we say First That no one Believer whatever in the world upon any temptation whatever did fall into any sinne of malice that is accompayned with any hatred of God or despite of his Grace or whole delight of his will in the sin whereunto he was by temptation for a season captivated though they may fall into sin against their judgements dictates of their consciences as every sin whatever that they have or may possibly have knowledge of or acquaintance with in their owne hearts and wayes is Yet this doth not make them to sinne out of malice for that would leave no distinction between sinnes of infirmity whereinto men are surprised by Temptation and of Malice Even sinnes of infirmity being in generall and particular directly contrary to the dictates of their inlightned sanctifyed judgements consciences Secondly for sinning with deliberation plotting and contriving the methods and meanes of sinning the proofe whereof that so they may do will ly as was before obseved on the instance of David I say it being the will of God for ends and purposes knowne to his infinite Wisdome to give us as to his fall his darke side and his sinne to the full with the Temptations wherewith he was at first surprised and afterward violently hurryed upon carnall reasonings and considerations of the state whereinto he had cast himselfe having lost his old friend and counsellour as to any shines of his countenance for a season not acquainting us at all with the frame and working and striving of his Spirit in and under that fall I shall not dare to draw his case into a Rule that what he then did a Believer now may do judgeing of his frame in doing of it only by what is exprest That Believers may have morosam cogitationem or deliberation upon some sinnes whereunto they are tempted upon the strength of indwelling sinne which may possibly so over come and prevaile against the workings of Grace for a season as to set the flesh at liberty to make contrivances to fulfill the lusts thereof I say many have granted and I shall not for the sake of poore returning soules whose backslidings God hath promised to heale deny but yet I say all their actings in this kinde are but like the desperate actings of a man in a feaver who may have some kind of contrivance with himselfe to do mischiefe as I have known some my selfe and aime at opportunityes for the accomplishment of it all the facultyes of their foules being discomposed and rendered unserviceable to them through their distemper Through the violence of temptation the tumultuating of lusts the whole new man may be for a season so shattered his parts laid out of the way as to such a due Answering to another that the whole may be serviceable to the worke of Faith as a disordered army wherein is all its fundamentall strength as well as when it is rallied in battalia is altogether unserviceable 'till it be reduced to order that sinne taking the opportunity to fill their corrupt part as farre as it is corrupt with its pleasure and desireablenesse and so to set the thoughts of it on worke to continue meanes for its accomplishment Now as through the goodnesse of their Father and supplyes of Grace which through the Covenant thereof they do receive this distemper seiseth not Believers but rarely extraordinarily so it doth no way prove them to sinne with malice or without hatred of and opposition secret opposition which may be as secret as some inclinations to sinne are not known to our selves to the things they do in and under that condition That which followes in this Section being suited to the apprehension of some particular men though of great name and esteeme according to their worth and desert in the Church of God as Vrsin Paraeus and the rest about reigning sinne wherein as I have declared my thoughts fall not in with them I shall not need to insist any longer upon it Paraeus after all his aggravations of the sinnes of Believers yet adds that they sinne not nor did David ex contemptu Dei but through a preoccupation or surprisall of sinne which I believe to be the perswasion of far the greatest number of Saints in the world
whatever Mr Goodwin is pleased to think or say to the contrary nor is their apprehension weakened by Nathans charging upon David his despising of the commandement of the Lord. in doing evill which as it is virtually done in every sinne and in great sinnes in an eminent manner so that it did amount indeed not only to a consequentiall but a formall voluntary contempt of God Mr Goodwin shall never prove A Father often and severely chargeth upon his sonnes a despising of his command when he hath been carryed out to transgresse it when yet he kowes his sonne honoureth and reverenceth him in his heart and is exceedingly remote from any resolved contempt of him The close of all is a concession of the Contra-Remonstrants at the Hague Conference §. 38. That Believers might fall into such sinnes as that the Church according to the Commandement of Christ must pronounce that they shall no longer abide in her communion and that they shall have no part in the Kingdome of Christ which being usually made an argument for the Apostacy of the Saints I shall consider how it is here improved by M. Goodwin Certainly saith he their sence was That true believers may sinne above the rate of those who sinne out of infirmity in so much as there is no commandement of Christ that any Church of his should eject such persons out of their Communion who sinne out of infirmity only so that by the confession of our Adversaries themselves even true Believers may perpetrate such sinnes which are of a deeper demerit than to be numbred amongst sinnes of infirmity yea such sinnes for which the Church of Christ according to the Commandement of Christ stands bound to judge them for ever excluded from the Kingdome of God without repentance from whence it undeniably followes that they may commit such sinnes whereby their Faith in Christ will be totally lost because there is no condemnation unto those that are by Faith in Jesus Christ whether they repent or not and therefore they that stand in need of Repentance to give them a right and title to the kingdome of God are no sonnes of God by Faith for were they sonnes they would be heires also and consequently have right and title to the inheritance so that to pretend that howsoever the Saints may fall into great and grievous sinnes yet they shall certainly be renewed againe by Repentance before they dye though this be an assertion without any bottome on Reason or Truth yet doth it no wayes oppose but suppose rather a possibility of the totall defection of Faith in true Believers Ans. First That true Believers may sinne above the rate of sinnes of Infirmity because they may so sinne as that according to the appointment of Jesus Christ they may be cast out of a particular Church is not attempted to be proved M. Goodwin think none may be excommunicated but such as have sinned themselves out of the state of Grace That a man may through infirmity fall into some such sinne as for it to be amoved from a Church society that a motion being an ordinance of Christ for his recovery from that sinne I know not that it can be reasonably questioned So that by our confession that true Believers may so sinne as to be righteously cast out of the externall visible society of a particular Church doth no way inforce us to acknowledge that they may sinne above the rate of them who are overtaken with or surprized in sinne upon the account of their weaknesse or infirmity Secondly The Church of Christ in rejecting of one from its society according to the appointment of Jesus Christ is so farre from being obliged to judge any one for ever excluded from the Kingdome of God that they doe so reject a man that he may never be excluded from that Kingdome It is true he may be Ecclesiastically and Declaratively excluded from the visible Kingdome of God and his right and title to the outward Administration of the good things thereof but that such an one is and must be thought to be properly and really excluded from his interest in the Love of God and grace of the Convenant being still by the appointment of God and command of Christ left under the power of an ordinance annexed by him to the Administration of that Covenant it doth not follow Thirdly The non-restauration of persons cast out of communion by the Church to their place in the Kingdome of God but upon Repentance holds proportion with what was spoken before upon exclusion The Repentance intended is such as is necessary for the satisfaction of the Church as to its expressenesse and being known yet we grant withall that all sinnes whatever without Repentance in that kind and degree that is appointed and accepted of God are exclusive of the Kingdome of God and we doe much wonder that M. Goodwin to the Text Rom. 8. 1. should adde whether they repent or not which is not only beyond the sence of what went before but directly contrary to that which followes after that walke not after the Flesh but after the Spirit not to repent of sin is doubtlesse to walke after the flesh and no one of them who are freed from condemnation in Christ doth good and sinneth not The words we confesse are not the condition in the intention of God on which their non-condemnation is suspended but yet they are a description infallible of them who through Grace are made partakers of it We say then that Believers may so fall as that being on that account rejected from the communion of the Church so as not to be restored but upon the evidence of their Repentance and we say that Repentance is required for all sinnes or men cannot be saved wondring what Mr Goodwin according to his principles intends by the addition to the Text of Rom. 8. 1. unlesse it be that no man stands in need of Repentance unlesse he have cast off all Faith and interest in God a most Anti-evangelicall assertion and yet not commit such sins as whereby their Faith must needs be wholly lost Fourthly There 's a twofold Right and Title to the Kingdome of God a Right and Title by the profession of a true Faith to the externall Kingdome of God in regard of its outward Administration and a Right and Title to the Eternall Kingdome of God by the possession of a true Faith in Christ The former as it is taken for jus in re believers may loose for a season though they may not in respect of a remote originall fundamentall Root which abides the latter they never loose nor forfeite We say also that repentance for sinne being a thing promised of God for those that come to him in Christ upon the account of the ingagement of his Grace for the Perseverance of Believers All such fallers into sinne shall certainly return to the Lord by Repentance who heales their back-slidings which Mr Goodwin hath not been able to disprove Of whose Arguments