bearing witnesse to our spirit that we are the sonnes of God And this very testimony of the Spirit although the seed thereof be never utterly extinguished yet in regard of the fruit and sense thereof sometimes it either withdrawes it selfe so that our owne infirmity may be evident to us or else for a time it is as it were raked up under the ashes by our rebellion and ingratitude 2 Therefore that other weaknesse doth arise from temptations by which this perswasion is assaulted And those are partly afflictions which seeme to menace us with the evill of punishment and partly our owne perverse concupiscences which doe brand our soules with the evill of sinne and guilt thereof and partly the snares and assaults of the Devill by which he doth set upon us in both those kindes But the maine skirmish consists in the mutuall wrastling and strugling of the flesh and spirit Whilest this wrastling lasts our faith is weake but if so be the spirit overcomes the flesh then our spirit cheeres up and triumpheth in this manner Who shall separate us from the love of Christ But if which often falls out the spirit thus wearied and weakned receive the foile for a time being either overborne with the load of afflictions or tainted with the spots of hainous sinnes then there remaines no such actuall perswasion a stop is made of al spiritual comfort and the light of Gods countenance is hidden from us Hence those mournfull complaints of holy men Iob 6.4 The arrowes of the Almighty are within me the poyson whereof drinkes up my spirit the terrors of God set themselves in aray against me Lament 3.42 We have transgressed and rebelled Thou hast not pardoned thou hast covered thy selfe with a cloud that our prayers should not passe through But if the waves of temptation arise yet higher and the fiery darts of the devill doe wound the conscience already pressed downe with its owne burden then not onely this sweet perswasion is banished but also a perswasion utterly contrary commeth in stead thereof by force whereof holy men thus affrighted doe apprehend God as an angry Iudge and seeme to themselves to be now falling headlong into the open gates of Hell This case is set downe in those almost despairing speeches of Iob Let the day perish wherein I was borne And that of David I said in my haste I am cut off from before thine eies THE FOVRTH POSITION WHen a faithfull man after much struggling hath got the upper hand of these temptations that act by which he doth apprehend the fatherly mercy of God toward him and eternall life to bee conferred without faile upon him is not an act of floating opinion or of conjecturall hope such as may be built on a false ground but it is an act of a true and lively faith stirred up and sealed in his heart by the spirit of adoption AS it fares in nature so in grace after the cloud is removed the day is the clearer and certaine diseases after they are overcome prove occasions of future health A faithfull man escaping out of the waves of great tentations doth not only receive the confidence which was almost extinguished but gaines a greater measure thereof For hee is made stronger by the conflict and more cheerefull by the conquest Nay if in this wrastling some of his bones bee broken after they be set againe they will knit the stronger Psal. 51.10 The bones which thou hast broken shall rejoyce 1 Because the life and state of a regenerate man is spirituall he may be said while he is transported by the force of sin or tentation to be with-held from his naturall place The spirit therefore doth easily returne backe again to his own bent and againe acknowledgeth his former confidence in the fatherly mercy of God This is manifest out of the examples of the Saints who have expressed their owne vehement conflicts still ending in the lively voyce of faith So Ionas being in the belly of the Whale said I am cast out of thy sight yet I will looke againe toward thy holy Temple And Saint Paul O wretched man that I am who shall deliver mee from the body of this death I thanke God through Iesus Christ our Lord. In them both their conquest following their conflict breaks forth into a vigorous act of faith 2 Because the panting soule thirsting for Gods fatherly reconciliation doth run more greedily to the fountaine of living waters and relisheth more sweetly that whereof it perceived it selfe for a time debarred namely the fruition of God appeased Thence it acknowledgeth in it selfe the seed of faith by the force whereof it ariseth againe to repaire the very breaches made upon faith whose root indeed spreadeth the further by this loosening and sends forth new tendrells from which sprout our new shoots of greater certainty By this conflict and affliction the faithfull Christian learnes patience by which he mortifieth himselfe by patience probation by which he searcheth himselfe from probation hee mounts up to an hope of overcomming likewise future tentations Who delivered us from so great a death and will deliver us in whom wee trust that he will yet deliver us and of persevering and consequently attaining eternall life 1 Cor. 1.18 Who shall confirme you unto the end that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Iesus Christ. And this same hope maketh not ashamed as it followes in the same Apostle It is not therefore a fleeting opinion or uncertaine conjecture but an hope which as it springs from faith so it hath the same certaintie with faith and therefore is solide and undeceivable Wee have in David an example of this renewed and confirmed confidence after that his spot of that great sinne was washed away Psal. 51. After that the assault of that dangerous temptation was abated Psal. 73. In both these cases there are to be seene cleerely shineing forth the spirit of prayer spirituall joy and the seale of adoption Take not thy holy spirit from me Thou hast holden mee by the right hand Thence proceeds that confident conclusion It is good for mee to draw neere unto God and to trust in the Lord. Erroneous Opinions rejected by us THE FIRST THat the perseverance of those who are truly faithfull is not an effect of Election but a benefit offered equally to all upon this condition namely if they shall not be wanting unto sufficient grace WE have confuted the first part hereof at the first Article in our third Position and in the third Erroneous Opinion and also in this fifth Article in the eighth Position Of the certainty of perseverance in it selfe The second part of this Opinion containes many incongruities 1 It is not true that perseverance is a gift onely offered and not given also For the Scriptures witnesse that God doth not onely offer unto his the grace of perseverance but also that he gives it them and puts it into their hearts Ier. 32.40 I
alone that man should come unto him And this grace he placed in him in whom wee also have obtained this our lot who were predestinated according to his purpose THE THIRD POSITION FAith Perseverance and all gifts of grace leading home unto salvation are the fruits and effects of Election WE acknowledge in some men certaine gifts of grace which are to be reduced to the common supernaturall providence of God But those gifts which have an infallible connexion with glory and doe worke effectually for the obtaining thereof as justifying faith and persevering are the very effects of eternall election Act. 13.48 As many as were ordained to eternall life beleeved Tit. 1.1 The faith of the Elect of God 1 Pet. 1.5 We are kept by the power of God by faith unto salvation By this predestination of the purpose of God they are faithfull who are fore-ordained unto eternall life The predestination of God is the preparation of grace and grace is the very effect of predestination When therefore God promised to Abraham that the Gentiles should beleeve in his seed he made not this promise with respect to the power of our will but out of his owne predetermination for hee promised that which hee himselfe would doe and not what men would doe Hath he not said Not of workes but of him that beleeveth Hee hath taken wholly even this from man that he might attribute the whole to God Let us understand the vocation by which they are made the Elect not as if they were chosen because they had beleeved but they are chosen that they may beleeve For if they were therefore chosen because they had beleeved they had chosen him first be beleeving in him that they might so come to be chosen These gifts of God are given to the Elect who are called according to the purpose of God of which kinde of fruits these are namely both to begin to beleeve and to persevere in faith to the end of this life THE FOVRTH POSITION THe decree of Election is definite not conditionall it is irrevocable and immutable so that the number of the Elect can neyther be increased nor yet diminished IN predestination the meanes to salvation are no lesse absolutely decreed than salvation it selfe For howsoever salvation in the execution thereof dependeth upon the conditionall use of the means yet the will of God electing unto salvation is not conditionall incomplete or mutable because hee hath absolutely purposed to give unto the Elect both power and will to performe those very conditions namely repentance faith obedience and perseverance For the Decree of God predestinating cannot bee conceived after this forme I will choose Peter to eternall life if it shall so happen that he doth beleeve and persevere But rather after this manner I doe choose Peter unto eternall life which that he may infallibly obtaine I will give unto him persevering faith 2 Tim. 2.19 The foundation of God standeth sure God knowes who are his Rom. 9.11 That the purpose of God might remaine according to election Rom. 11.28 29. Beloved according to Election For Gods gifts and calling are without repentance This adoption of the sonnes of God this fulnesse of the Gentiles was foreknowne and preordained in Christ which from the beginning unto the end is built up with liuing and choice stones Of these stones not one is cast out not one lessened not one snatched away Erroneous Opinions or unsound Doctrines concerning Election which we reject THE FIRST THat the Decree by which God hath purposed in Christ and for Christ to save those which repent and beleeve unto the end is the whole and entire decree of predestination unto salvation TRue indeed this is Gods decree declaratorie of salvation to be proclaimed to all equally and without difference as also prescribing the manner by which the elect are to be brought to salvation But in this the whole fabricke of Gods praedestination set downe in the holy Scriptures is not explained For the decree of predestination doth inferre some certain particular persons to be predestinated those being knowne to God and severed from others by this very decree of Election Matt. 20.16 Many are called but few are chosen Rom. 11.5 A remnant according to Election 2 Tim. 2.19 The Lord knowes who are his But the above-named decree doth predestinate no mā de facto or by certaine event it severeth none frō the rest it writeth no name in the booke of life Though such a decree bee established yet might all men notwithstanding bee reprobates God might neither have now nor haue had nor have hereafter any Church upon earth Which absurditie being granted not only that promissory decree might faile Matt 28.30 I am with you alwaies unto the end of the world but even the whol Scriptures might be annihilated which doth necessarily suppose a church in being to which and for which the Scripture was indited Lastly if there were no other decree of predestination then this Christ himselfe should not be appointed by any fore-going decree of God to be for certaine the head of the Church because to him there should be no members infallibly assigned neither could Christ be said infallibly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to have the preheminence as a King except there were given unto him by the positive decree of God some who were to be certainly his subiects When yet the Scripture doth no lesse intimate unto us the certaine and irrespective decree of God in making Christ our head King then it doth concerning his taking our flesh and suffering for us The Apostle Eph. 1. hauing set downe the mystery of our Redemption by Christs Passion Resurrection Ascension presently adds vers 22. as flowing from the same decree and gaue him to bee the head ouer all things to the Church which is his body Lu. 1.33 Of his kingdome there shall be no end Act. 2.30 God hath made him Lord. This predestination of the Saints is nothing else then Gods foreknowledge and preparation of those benefits by which they are most certainly freed whosoever are freed THE SECOND ERRORNEOVS OPINION THat the peremptory Election of particular persons is made upon the fore sight and consideration of their faith in Christ and of their perseverance in the same faith as upon a Condition fore-required in electing FAith foreseene and perseverance in faith doe follow the decree of vocation according to Gods good purpose But such vocation doth depend upon the foregoing decree of predestination Rom. 8.30 Those whom hee predestinated those he hath called Act. 13.48 As many as were ordained to eternall life beleeved 1. God foresees no man as persevering in faith and holinesse unto the last gasp but him whom he decreed by his foregoing will so to keepe but him whom he really guideth and directeth through his whole course of life and preserveth in the way of salvation by an operation and speciall protection flowing from Gods foresaid will Iohn 10.28 29. My sheepe shall
not perish for ever neither shall any one take them out of my hand neither can any one of them take them out of my Fathers hand Mat. 24.24 That they should seduce if it were possible the verie Elect. Since therefore perseverance in faith is grounded upon the Election of God Election cannot proceed from the fore-required condition of persevering faith 2. Furthermore the decree of giving glorie and salvation vnto stedfast beleevers in the end of this life as the reward of faith and obedience performed is an act of Iustice or at least of faithfulnesse and truth But according to the Scriptures Election is a free act not of debt but of grace an act of loue and speciall mercy founded upon the meere good will of God Luke 12.32 It is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the kingdome Eph. 1.11 Being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsell of his owne will 3. By the like reason faith foreseene is to be excluded frō Election as fore-seen works that is to say God may be sayd as well to haue elected holy men for the condition of sanctification as beleeuers for the condition of faith For who seeth not that this faith foreseene doth in truth passe into the nature of a worke which appeares more evidently by the annexed condition of perseverance by which is intended nothing else but the fruits of obedience and holinesse and the whole harvest of all good workes 4. Lastlie by granting this Election upon Gods foresight it followes that Christ was chosen by vs before we were chosen by him contrary to that Ioh. 15.16 Ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you Which divine Oracle is often urged by St. Augustine to this purpose Neither doth faith it selfe goe before that Election which the Lord intendeth saying yee haue not chosen me but I have chosen you for he did not choose us because we have beleued but that we may beleeue lest we should be said to have chosen him first No merits of man-doe goe before the Election of grace yea and faith it selfe whence begin all merits is the gift of God lest grace should not bee grace if any thing should goe before it for which it may bee given THE THIRD ERRONEOVS OPINION THat faith and perseverance in faith are not fruits or effects of Election to salvation IF God who is the onely giver of persevering faith before he gives such faith or decrees to give it doth foresee that it will by the very giving of it bring salvation to the receiver then without doubt hee gives it also with this intent and absolute purpose that it shall bring salvation But so to give is to give out of a foregoing purpose infallibly to save which is all one as to give by the decree of Election Therefore persevering faith is the fruit of this decree or a speciall grace prepared in this decree Whence it is called Tit. 1.1 The faith of the elect of God Ephes. 1.5 Having praedestinated us into the adoption of Children But into the actuall estate of this adoption we are admitted by faith Ioh. 1.12 He gave them the power or priviledge to become the Sonnes of God even to them that beleeve on his name Therefore faith it selfe arises from praedestination THE FOVRTH ERRONEOVS OPINION THat Election to salvation is not one and the same but that there is one indefinite another definite and this either incomplete revocable changeable Or complete irrevocable unchangeable ALthough there are divers acts of Gods Election which may bee assigned according to divers objects namely of the end and of the meanes yet the Scripture no where makes mention either of the divers degrees or kindes of Election 1 For Election is a certaine infallible ordaining of severall persons to salvation in the minde and will of God Therefore this indefinite Election here supposed is no true election because it ordaines no singular person to salvation but it onely shewes and prescribes the manner of comming to salvation promiscuously to all 2 Besides seeing Election is perfited with one act and ex natura rei according to the nature of the thing it selfe is as the Schoolemen speake in the number of those things which doe not grow and increase by degrees as sanctification mortification and such like but which doe consist in indivisibili without latitude such as justification or absolution from sinnes surely it cannot bee imagined to be capable of intention or remission and therfore by no meanes doth it admit a graduall perfection that it may be thought to bee incomplete or unfinished to day and complete or fully finished to morrow Much lesse can this maimed halfe-election be accompted election which doth not ordaine to salvation infallibly but disposes onely by some qualitie or contingent act which in the judgement of the very devisers thereof hath no necessarie connexion with eternall life 3 Lastly that which is said to bee revocable and changeable cannot be true election because election signifies the constant purpose and unchangeable counsell of God ordaining the elect unto blisse Heb. 6.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God shewes unto the heires of promise the immutability of his counsell Two things follow predestination an affording of aid to obtaine the end and the very obtaining of the end it selfe He that will have Gods disposall of things to bee changed according to the mutability of free will professeth that the judgements of God can be searched by him THE FIFT ERRONEOVS OPINION THat the object of peremptory and complete Election is man considered no otherwise than in the end of his life 1 IN the end of this life a beleever is considered not as to bee elected but to bee brought into the kingdome prepared for him before the foundation of the world 2 Tim. 4.7 I have fought a good fight I have finished my course Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crowne of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Iudge shall give me at that day The Apostle did not say henceforth now God shall elect me to the Crowne of righteousnesse but shall give it 2 Furtherfmore if election should beginne at the end onely of this life the reason or argument drawne from predestination or election could conferre nothing at all to the faithfull for finishing their course in faith and godlinesse But predestination extends it selfe as well to the meanes in the way as to the end in the conclusion of our life and as it were carieth the Elect by infallible meanes to the appointed marke or goale Rom. 8.30 Whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom hee called them he also justified and whom he justified them hee also glorified But if man considered onely as in the last moment of this life were the object of complete election all those things should bee inverted thus Whom hee called those he will justifie and whom hee justifies those hee will hereafter predestinate 3 Moreover 2 Tim. 1.9
lawes Acts 14.16 God in times past suffered all Nations to walke in their owne wayes Yea and in our daies scarce the sixt part of the habitable world have given their names to Christ. But if in fact and event God hath never vouchsafed the preaching of the Gospel to all and every one certainly then hee is not bound so to afford it For he doth whatsoever he hath bound himselfe to doe The same also is to be said of saving grace We no where in the Scriptures meet with any mention of any promise by which God hath bound himselfe to impart this grace to all and every one Nay rather the Scripture makes mention of Gods liberty in commiserating Rom. 9.18 God hath mercy on whom hee will have mercy notwithstanding this covenant grounded in the blood of Christ. And although God doth blesse with many benefits all men yea even the most ungratefull which live without the lists of the Church and although all men as being sinners stand in need of saving graces yet is hee obliged to none either to bestow the one or the other 3 Lastly it is concluded out of the holy Scriptures that some are iudged and condemned for sinnes committed onely against the law of nature Rom. 2.14.15 Whereby is implyed that upon invincible ignorance they are excused for not fulfilling the Law of faith Which excuse can have no place where God proclaimes his Law and men are bound to obey ERRONEOVS OPINIONS rejected by us THE FIRST THat Christs death being granted God hath no other intention of saving any particular persons then conditionall and suspended upon the contingent act of mans faith 1 FOr the refuting this sufficient grounds are laid by us in our former positions and reasons concerning the first Article in which the election of particular persons is established and incomplete Election confuted Item where the certaine meanes of salvation flowing from the decree of Election are set forth Lastly in this second Article at the first and second Positions where is proved that Christ dyed with that intention that hee might bestow speciall graces upon the elect 2 All theologicall Arguments drawne from the Scriptures and analogy of faith by which Christs incarnation humiliation and exaltation are either proved or confirmed do tend to the demonstration of Gods expresse intention for a fruitfull effect of this so great a mystery not producing it upon condition namely if men would that this fruit might hence arise when it was equally in their power to nill the same but effecting it without faile the power of God working it 3 Moreover the house of God being to be built ex hominibus of men hath not sufficient firmenesse and solidity if it be built ab hominibus by men this fabricke must bee reared by Gods owne hand Mat. 16.18 Vpon this rock will I build my Church 1 Cor. 3.9 Yee are Gods husbandry ye are Gods building Ephes. 2.20 Being built upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Christ himselfe being the chiefe corner stone In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy Temple c. In whom you also are builded together Ephes. 4.16 From whom the whole body fitly joyned together and compacted by that which every joint supplyes according to the effectuall working in the measure of every part c. Therefore God building a Church for himselfe doth with his owne hand prepare the stones polish them and cyment them hee doth not expect that they should by hap hazard fit themselves and joyne themselves to the foundation 4 Vpon no less certainty of a speciall decree the salvatiō of the Church is fore-ordained to be effectually broght to pass by Christ thē that by which Christ himselfe is sent The same voice of God which at first promised Christ to bee exhibited doth also seale unto us by an absolute promise the effect thereof without any condition Gen. 3.15 The seed of the woman shall breake the Serpents head But the Serpent is not crushed but by the certaine freeing of some men from the captivity of Satan and transplantation into the kingdome of the Sonne of God Esa. 53.10 When thou shalt make his soule an offering for sinne hee shall see his seed hee shall prolong his dayes Hebr. 2.13 Behold I and the children which God hath given me Therefore the decree of God concerning the continuance of his seed to be adopted into the houshold of Christ is inseparably knit to the decree of laying downe Christs soule for sinne and unto Christ offering himselfe for a sacrifice children are given not by or of themselves but of God who indeed gave Christ unto them 5 If the fruit of Christs passion bee onely conditionall then the benefit redounding from the second Adam is not more certaine then it had beene from the first Adam for to him salvation was propounded under this condition Doe this and live which condition that he might perform if he would ability was given him by God yet not so that hee should without faile performe it actually But in the new Testament grace being obtained for us by the death of Christ salvation is not onely offered unto us under a condition beleeve and thou shalt be saved but God brings to passe by his holy Spirit that we beleeve actually Heb. 8.6 He is the Mediator of a better covenant which was established upon better promises And what that promise is it is evident v. 10. I will put my lawes into their mindes and write them in their hearts THE SECOND ERRONEOVS OPINION THat it was the proper and entire end of Christs death that he might purchase right and power unto God the Father to save men upon what conditions he would 1 IF the death of Christ did purchase nothing else for us then to open a meanes for the making of any new covenant with mankinde then are we not freed from the yoake of the Law because notwithstanding this it shall bee free for God the Father yea even after the payment and acceptation of this sacrifice againe to impose upon us the condition of performing the Law But Christ to take away the curse of the Law was for us that is in our stead and that once made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a curse Gal. 3.13 Therefore we cannot in respect of the Law not performed by us bee made againe guiltie of the Law and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the second time accursed 2 Christ by his death hath merited for us the very reconciliation of our persons with God yea and grace to be actually imparted to us Ioh. 1.16 Of his fulnesse have all we received Otherwise the second Adam being the Lord from Heaven had bin lesse helpfull to his thē the first Adam being from the earth earthly had beene harmefull to his both in respect of imputation if Christ had not undergone punishment for us and also in respect of transfusion if no propagating grace bee derived from Christ the head into his members THE THIRD ERRONEOVS OPINION THat
will put my feare into their hearts that they shall not depart from me Iohn 4.14 The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up unto eternall life 1 Cor. 10.13 But will with the tentation make a way to escape 2 It is false that it is offered equally to all as appeares out of our Positions set downe before in the first Article Where wee have proved that perseverance in faith doth belong to the Elect alone 3 It is false that perseverance is a grace offered upon condition for it is a gift promised absolutely by God without any respect at all of condition The reason is this Some promises of God are touching the end others touching the meanes which conduce to the end The promises concerning the end that is to say Salvation are conditionall Beleeve and thou shalt be saved Bee faithfull unto the death that is persever and I will give thee the Crowne of life But for as much as no man is able to performe the conditions God also hath made most free and absolute promises to give the very conditions which he workes in us that so by them as by meanes we may attaine the end Deut. 36.6 And the Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soule that thou maist live The end here promised is life which the Israelites could never attaine without the performance of the condition namely their love of God But here God promiseth absolutely that hee will give unto them this condition Since therefore the promises of Faith and perseverance in Faith are promises concerning the meanes they are expresly to bee reckoned among those absolute gifts by which God considering mans disability both to attaine the end without the meanes and also to performe the meanes or conditions of himselfe doth promise that he will make them able to performe the conditions God promiseth life to those that constantly feare him the promise of life is conditionall but of constant feare it is absolute I will put my feare in their hearts that they may not depart from me 4 Be it so that this gift were conditionall yet it is not offered upon this condition if men will not be wanting to themselves in the entertainment of this sufficient grace Against this condition those reasons are of force which we brought before against the strength of free wil in mans conversion to which we adde also these 1 First it will follow out of this condition that wee doe in vaine intreat God in the behalfe of any men that he would give unto them the gift of perseverance because of course he offers them universall and sufficient grace to which if they themselves will not be wanting they shall persevere 2 This is an idle condition For it makes perseverance to be the condition of perseverance For to persevere is nothing else but not to be wanting unto this sufficient grace If therefore God offers perseverance upon this condition he offers the same upon condition of it selfe 3 Lastly the second part of this opinion is soundly confuted by Saint Austine de corrept grat cap. 11. 12. of which disputation this is the summe It was given to Adam that hee might if he would persevere in good but it was not granted to him to will to persevere But such grace is given to us who are truly engrafted into Christ that not onely we may if we will but also that wee shall will to persevere in Christ. Againe in his booke de unitate Ecclesiae cap. 9. the same Austine doth contemne this very opinion maintained by the Donatists namely that Men beleeve if they will if they will they persevere in that which they beleeve if they will not they persevere not THE SECOND THat perseverance is a condition required in the new Covenant and foregoing Gods Election SEE the second and fift Erroneous Opinion rejected by us in the first Article THE THIRD THat hee who doth truely beleeve may sinne against the Holy Ghost These reasons confute this Opinion 1 FIrst to sinne against the Holy Ghost is to sinne unto death 1 Iohn 5.16 Those who are truely faithfull cannot sinne unto death Because to sinne unto death is to commit that sinne upon which death shall surely follow to wit that eternall and second death which never hath power over those who are truely faithfull as being those who dye unto sinne and doe rise againe from their sinnes unto newnesse of life Apoc. 20.6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection on such the second death hath no power 2 They who sin against the Holy Ghost shall never come unto glory or unto the Kingdome of Heaven to which all true beleevers do without faile come For it is the same to bee a true beleever as to bee justified and to be the adopted Sonne of God but the justified shall come to glory Rom. 8. Whom he justified them also he glorified and the adopted sonnes of God shall attaine the Kingdome of Heaven Gal. 4.7 If sonnes then also beires of God through Christ. 3 1 Iohn 3.9 Whosoever is borne of God as is every true beleever doth not commit sinne which by the Apostles owne interpretation ver 8. He that commiteth sinne is of the Divell is to be understood of those sinnes which estate a man under the Kingdome and power of the Divell such as principally the sinne against the holy Ghost is Hither tends the speech of the Apostle 2. Tim. 4.18 The Lord shall deliver mee from every evill worke and will preserve mee unto his heavenly Kingdome What From every evill worke without exception Not so But from every such evill worke which might wholy deprive him of all right to the Kingdome of Heaven of which kind no question the sinne against the holy Ghost is not onely for the inward malice but also for the finall impenitency joyned to it THE FOVRTH THat no true beleever or regenerate person can be assured in this life of his perseverance and salvation without speciall revelation OF the first part of this position we handled before in this Article But now that a man may know that his perseverance for the future may be secured without any speciall revelation wee prove by this reason T is confessed that some Saints especially Saint Paul did obtaine this certainty Rom. 8. I am perswaded that neither life nor death c. But Saint Paul did not fetch this perswasion from extraordinary revelation but from those grounds which are common to him with other the faithfull vers 32. He that spared not his owne Sonne but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that justifieth vers 33. It is Christ that makes intercession for us What was Christ only given for Paul and not for other beleevers also Was Paul