as a Christian wherefore he exhorts them not to be ashamed of it but to glorify God in this respect and then subjoyns the words which Mr. G. hath alledged And thus if the Christian Reader will wisely observe the drift of the Holy Ghost he will not easily be carried away with such impertinent and perfunctory allegations of Scripture Also he may easily see that this is an effectual and truly Christian humbling Doctrine not a snarling against Humiliation as Mr. G. would perswade To see the overflowing bowels of the Lords tenderness towards us that he will not any more call our sins to remembrance or suffer the least evil for them to come nigh our dwellings The discovery of this unmeasurable and undeserved love opens the heart effectually to a true serious and humble acknowledgment with Jacob that we are less than the least of all his mercies and loving kindnesses that have been ever of Old Gen. 30.10 Sect. 7 8 9. Here the Dr. affirmeth that altho' a faithful man should be overtaken with some gross fault yet ought he not to add thereunto unbelief by serving a writ of Damnation upon himself neither ought any other to do it For saith he thou that art ready to charge damnation upon thy self thou doest the greatest injury to the Lord Jesus Christ that can be For in it thou directly overthrowest the fulness of the grace of Christ Here Mr. G. although he grant the matter that none ought to charge Damnation upon another Yet lest he should altogether want matter of a Quarrel he lays to him 1. The unnecessary use of Logick because he proves what he saith though for any Terms of Logick he here useth none 2. Of Law-Terms because he useth the Phrase of serving a Writ of Damnation 3. Of Exceeding Heat because he saith it is a desperate thing in any man to serve such a Writ I entreat the Christian Reader to pardon me if I pass by such trivial Cavils which to recite is to refute which serve to nothing but to blot Paper to engender strife to hinder men from more weighty and serious Matter Sect. 8. But is the charging Damnation upon a mans self the greatest injury that can be done to Christ I Answer that to stretch such expressions as these upon the tentors is a very uncourteous thing When a man dehorts another from any vice what is more usual then to tell him that such a vice such a course is the most dangerous way he can go in that such company is the most dangerous company he can consort with Were it not a frivolous thing to draw such manner of speeches to the exact laws of comparison What sin saith Luther can be more execrable or horrible than to reject the grace and refuse that righteousness that commeth by Christ Which every one doth for the time he doth not believe it And a little after This Blasphemy is more horrible than can be expressed There is no sin which Paul and the other Apostles did so much detest as the contempt of grace and the denial of Christ and yet there is no sin more common And a little after he tells us further that all the world do so And upon the next ver 21. He adds that as the whole world do this so especially such as will be counted more Holy and Religious than others Were it not a frivolous thing to alledg that the false Teachers amongst the Galathians might have been more execrable in their Blasphemy if they had utterly excluded Christ For now they went about to joyn the Law together with him for justification But this saith Mr. G. is the next way to make men believe they have sinned against the Holy Ghost Is it so to tell them that they ought not to charge Damnation upon themselves To charge the sin against the Holy Ghost upon themselves is inevitably to charge Damnation upon them which he so earnestly dehorts Yea but the greatest injury to the Lord Jesus is to sin against the Holy Ghost So that if they that have charged Damnation upon themselves have done the greatest injury to Christ then have they sinned against the Holy Ghost I Answer that where Christ hath distinguished we ought not to confound Christ hath said there is Sin and Blasphemy against him and there is Sin and Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost He saith that all Sin and Blasphemy against him shall be forgiven unto men but the Sin against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven Now here Mr. G. goes about to overthrow this distinction of Christ telling us that the greatest injury to Christ is the sin against the Holy Ghost but he must pardon us if we take Christs word before his at least till he have proved it better for here he offereth no proof at all but his own word directly against Christs Matt. 12.31 But surely saith he those that curse and swear by the name of the Lord Jesus by his blood and wounds c. And such as deny Christ at Peter did and persecute him as the Scribes and Pharisees did do greater injury to Christ than they that charge Damnation upon themselves for their past sins Oh Mr. G. You look with the Pharisees to much upon the outside These sins are more outward and obvious and are more sensible than the secret unbelief of the heart Is unbelief therefore less wicked Is it not the fountain from whence all these wickednesses flow Was it not want or weakness of faith that brought out all these you mention You should rather have gathered from such horrible effects the greater horribleness of the cause You know the ordinary Axiome Quod facit tale est magis tale 1. As unbelief bringeth forth all wickedness so it is the greatest of all wickedness 2. Which is more pertinent to the present purpose Unbelief as I have often heard Mr. Reinolds whom you cite in your Preface say is that which binds all the load of a mans other sins upon his back and thereby it is the main condemning sin If a man have received many deadly wounds yet if there be one medicine that would certainly heal them all and but one the rejection of this one medicine must needs be worse and more dangerous and destructive than all the wounds And the Dr. saith that such unbelief directly overthrows the fulness of the grace and satisfaction of Christ See here the Courtesy of Mr. G's Language He will not say this is a direct lye But it is utterly false Why For saith he when they thus charge damnation upon themselves they do not question Christs Satisfaction or Fulness of grace but their own Faith and Condition fearing they are none of Christs Here is a good boulster and Apology for unbelief It doth not question Gods Grace but the Apostle John is of another mind He that believeth not hath made him a Lyar because he hath not believed the Testimony that God gave of his Son This is the Testimony that God hath given
unto us Eternal life and this Life is in his Son 1 Joh. 5.10,11 Here by unbelief it is apparent that not only the truth of God but also the sufficiency of that life laid up for us in his Son is questioned by him that chargeth Damnation upon himself Nay saith Mr. G. they do only question their own faith Surely he that questions his faith so as to charge Damnation upon himself questions the Author and Finisher of his Faith For how is he the Finisher of it if it fail even to Damnation He Questions the Virtue of the Death and Satisfaction of Christ whereby a faith that shall not fail is purchased Phil 1.29 He Questions the Power of God which is engaged to maintain our Faith even unto Salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 But that is unsufferable which Mr. G. hath vented in the foregoing words That they do more wrong to those poor souls in saying so than these do unto Christ. Is there any comparison between man and God Is the greatest injury that can be done unto man precisely in that consideration which is the case in hand seeing it is opposed unto the injury done to Christ comparable in heinousness to the least injury against Christ Surely as the least work of Christ by the dignity of the person is of more Worth and Merit than any than all the Works of the rest of the sons of Adam yea of Adam himself in his Innocency yea of the Angels in Heaven So questionless the injury done against Christ is by the same dignity of his person of a deeper stain and demerit as the School speak than the greatest injury that can be done to the best of the sons of men which are but worms Job 25.6 Yea all Nations in comparison of him are but as the neglected drop of a bucket but as a small dust in a ballance that hath no weight to turn the scale hither or thither yea less than nothing Esay 40.15,17 The Lord preserve his People from such undervaluing words or thoughts of the Lord our Righteousness Sect. 9. The Doctor Objecteth from the mouths of some That if there be no fear of Damnation then men may do what they list No saith the Dr. Christ is the guide of his people he takes as strict order to restrain and keep in the Spirit of a man as to Save him Here observe that that Slander which is frequent in Mr. G. and others namely That a man Believing in Christ may continue still in his Wickedness was alwayes far from his mouth and thoughts But saith Mr. G. may not a man suspect himself to be no True Believer when he cannot see that Christ hath taken such strict order as to restrain and keep his spirit from such sins I Answer no he may not adde Unbelief unto his other sins He ought to walk by Faith though he cannot by Sight 2 Cor. 5.7 He ought to remember That this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation and therefore of his present acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners 1 Tim. 1.15 He ought to imitate David Wherefore should I fear in the day of evil when the iniquity of his heels compasseth him about Psal 49.5 He ought rather to give unto the Lord the glory of his Grace the glory of the Righteousness and Expiation of his SON Thou needest not fear saith Dr. Preston of Gods alsufficiency pag. 91. that thy disobedience if thou beest once within the covenant will cause the Lord to depart from thee that so thou shouldst charge Damnation upon thy self for he will not be unfaithful to thee though thou be weak in thy carriage to him For he keepeth covenant for ever He doth not suspend his promise of help upon our Disobedience That weighty saying of Luther is very considerable upon Gal. 5.2 When that great Dragon that old serpent the Devil who deceived the whole world and accuseth our brethren and in the presence of God day and night cometh and layeth to thy charge that thou hast not only done no good but hast also transgressed the Law of God say unto him Thou troublest me with the remembrance of my sins past thou puttest me also in mind that I have done no good But this is nothing to me For if either I trusted in mine own good deeds or distrusted because I have done none Christ should both wayes profit me nothing at all See also what the Holy Martyr Mr. Bradford answereth to this inference of Mr. G. in a Letter to Mrs. H. If we want this obedience and worthiness which he requireth should we doubt whether he be our Father Nay saith he that were to make our obedience and worthiness the cause and so to put Christ out of place for whose God is our Father But saith Mr. G. I do not say that any sin can cut off a true Believer from Christ or hinder his Salvation If this be true then may he not suspect the contrary which Mr. G. affirmed in the immediately foregoing words But saith he it must needs shake his hope and confidence and hinder his consolation What a thing doth de facto and what it ought to do de jure and of right are not all one And therefore this is not to the purpose We confess that all sins both original and actual great and small have this as their natural and continual effect that they wound the Conscience that they enfeeble the confidence that they damp the consolation of a Christian and so do as it were becloud the Heavens between us and the appeased face of God our Father which cloud is no otherwise dispelled but by the appearance of the Sun of Righteousness Faith ascending up even through the blackest cloud that is all darkness and no light and laying hold on the Propitiation But he tells us We are not of Davids spirit that are so little troubled for gross sins but can presently close with Christ upon such foul Falls Answer 1. Here Mr. G. goes beyond his knowledge No man knoweth the things of man but the spirit of man which is in him 1 Cor. 2.11 But the heart knoweth its own bitterness and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joâ—… Prov. 14.10 But 2. Suppose the Children of God having less light of the Redeemer were thereby more under the spirit of bondage unto fear than the Children of the New Testament are who have received the spirit of Adoption to cry Abba Father Rom. 8.15 we have the more cause to praise the Lord that hath reserved better things for us Heb. 11.40 than he did for many Prophets and Kings who have desired to see the things which we see and have not seen them and to hear the things which we hear and have not heard them Luke 10.24 to wit the full Revelation of the Mystery of the Gospel of Peace which in other Ages was not known as it is now in the time of the New Testament reavealed Eph. 3.5 I say if God hath
express himself what he meant by For and From sin if Mr. G. had not been willing to mistake that I may say no more Yea but saith Mr. G. for sin is nothing else but from sin Herein your Medicine for the Plague deceived you otherwise you might have observed that for sin notes sin to be the impulsive cause of the Affliction whereas from sin notes sin to be avoided to be the final cause of the Affliction And these are not all one The Learned Grotius De satisfactione Christi cap. 1. hath observed That as often as this phrase for sins is joyned to words of suffering it alwayes signifieth the impulsive cause Which is most true if only the difference of the Type and the Anti-type be observed and the impulsive cause accordingly distinguished For if you grant Socinus but that which Mr. G. here affirmeth That for sin is all one with from sin he will easily frustrate the satisfaction and expiation of Christ For if his dying for sin note nothing else but the final cause viz. That he might thereby teach us to avoid sin then Christ in regard of any Expiation of Sin hath utterly dyed in Vain Now concerning punishments and chastisements for sin whether they be incident to Believers or not Although Mr. G. by his slight and perfunctory passing it over hath not given occasion of any full and large discourse but have taken up the most trivial Arguments whereunto he cannot be ignorant That satisfactory Answers have been given unto which he hath said nothing at all for the satisfaction of the Reader I shall say a few things briefly 1. These words of Punishing and Chastizing for Sin can denote nothing else but the Meritorious and Impulsive cause namely That sin is the meriting cause and chastisements and punishments are the merited effects This Grotius whom I cited before hath fully evinced against Socinus whose words are these It cannot be shewn that these words ob peccata or propter peccata that is for sin especially where they are joyned to sufferings are ever taken otherwise in the Holy Scripture than in this signification of merit Where also he gives satisfaction to those Scriptures which were by Socinus cited to the contrary Now if any part of the just merit or desert of the sins of believers be notwithstanding the satisfactory sufferings of Christ laid upon believers to bear them in their own persons then it is most evidently apparent that Christ did not or did not sufficiently bear the full merit and desert of sin And that these sufferings being inflicted in a way and course of justice Christ hath not by his death fully satisfied the demands of Justice then which nothing can be said more dangerous and destructive to the very foundation of Christian faith Yet 2. I believe that sin as the impulsive cause and punishment or chastisement as the effect of sin may be considered two Wayes 1. In a Typical consideration 2. In a Moral I do not say that he did bear the whole Typical charge of sin pardon the expression I cannot meet with one more fit at this present for that were to make him the Type of himself That charge of sin was born wholly by the people of the old and typical Covenant both in their persons and administrations even until the very death of Christ wherein was exhibited the full Anti-type who only bore the sins of his people in the full merit and desert of them Morally or Really as Real is opposed to the Type For in the Death of Christ the Old Covenant with all its Types had an end and the New Testament or Covenant became in force Heb. 9.16 17. A Testament is of force after men are dead otherwise it is of no force at all whilst the Testator liveth But the Old Covenant did thereby decay wax old and vanish away Heb. 8.13 Yet as I said before several times and say it again that if it be possible the truth of what we hold might appear unto all men breaking through those many clouds of slander wherewith we have been and are encompassed I say that by the promise of the Messias or by the promised Messias they were all freely and perfectly before God justified they as we and we as they Act. 15.11 Christ bore the full Moral or Real charge of their sins in the same measure as he did ours Only I say with all approved Protestants that the Typical and Subservient Administration or Covenant did exceedingly darken this upon their spirits not to hinder the benefits of Christ that they should not so spiritually come upon them But only that the enjoyment should not be with that Lustre and Glory as they are set forth to be enjoyed in the New Testament whereunto therefore in some measure the Gospel is restrained and it is by way of glorious eminence styled the Kingdom of Heaven Even that administration of the Gospel of the grace of God here on earth Mat. 3.2 and 26.29 So then we say that as all Types ceased at the death of Christ so likewise did all Typical charging of sin therewith all cease 3. Albeit we acknowledg the same or rather more hard things to flesh and blood do usually befall the children of the New Testament then did those of the Old in regard of the sharpness whereof and the event also that they have in their conversation they are somtimes called chastisements or corrections or Rebukes Yet their great consolation is that it is not the good pleasure of God their well pleased and fully reconciled Father that they should in any way bear the desert and merit of there own sin charged upon them either typically as though the true Lamb of God which was to bear the sins of the world and take them away were not yet come or Really as though there were no Lamb of God at all for them that either had or ever would suffer for their sins So that their present sufferings be they never so smart yet are but trials and exercises of faith and therein pure testimonies of love not of Anger or of Punitive Justice to the spiritual eye which discerneth all things even as they are the dispensations not only of a Father but also of a well-pleased Father in and through his beloved Son Matt. 3.17 For although here below and to the eyes of flesh all things seem to be black cloudy and tempestuous yet the eye of faith mounts up above the clouds and there discerns the full serenity of Heaven notwithstanding the contrary appearances here below And if in the wayes of God herein towards us there seems to be some reference unto sin yet is it not to sin in its own nature as it is the transgression of Gods Law calling for justice from God in some way or other for so it was utterly purged and done away by the Death of Christ Heb 1.3 1 Joh. 3.5 But as they are grievances unto Gods people as they are a continual trouble and vexation unto
been pleased to establish our hearts with his free Spirit which David Prayed for Psal 51.12 and restore us somewhat sooner than he did David to the joy of his Salvation are we therefore not of Davids spirit And so as the Apostle saith we having the same spirit of faith according as it is written to wit of David I believed and therefore have I spoken we also believe that the Lord for his own SONS Sake alone hath done away our iniquities as a cloud and our transgressions as a mist and that he will remember our sins no more and therefore speak 2 Cor. 4.13 But what is to be thought of Godly sorrow for sin and how we approve of it and practise it if there be not instead thereof obtruded upon us an inforced howling for wine and oil and self-love inconsistent with true faith and the genuine effects thereof I have spoken of it before Sect. 10. Hence the Dr. inferreth by way of answer to an objection That it is the power of Christ and the Beauty of Holiness that draws out the spirits of Gods people to a willing service unto him and not the fear of Damnation Psal 110.3 Here Mr. G. Answereth that therein the Dr. contradicts what he said before Pag. 37. That God hampers Ephraim meaning by chastisements Why so Hath God no way of chastising but by threatning Damnation Hath a father no other way to nurture his son but by threatning to hang him up strait or to run him through I Answer that here he speaks of a people as converted and believing But what he spake of Ephraim he spake of him in reference to his unconverted estate and so not speaking of the same M. G. may easily perceive there can be no contradiction That which he adds that Christ threatned the damnation of Hell to some Pharisees Matt. 23.33 And diverse other times to several Churches in the Revel Chap. 2. 3. is altogether as impertinent as the former because none of these places speak of particular believing Christians but either of notorious hypocrites and unbelievers or else of mixt congregations consisting of chaff and wheat which when he saith he will burn up with unquenchable fire he is to be understood of the chaff only for he hath promised to gather the wheat into his garner Matt. 3.12 Neither doth the Scripture any where determine by way of Sentence or denounce by way of threatning that the truly faithful if they sin so or so they shall be damned but the clean contrary namely that he that believeth in the Son of God hath Eternal life and shall not enter into condemnation but is passed from death to life Joh. 5.24 Sect. 11. The Dr. here affirms that the grass and pasture that Christ hath put a believer into is so sweet that though their be no bounds to keep in such a Soul yet it will never go out of this fat pasture to feed in a barren common This he hath said saith Mr. G. but not proved that the Pasture is so sweet Surely he might well have thought that none professing himself a Christian would have denyed it For the common pasture of all the faithfull is that which David speaks of Psal 23.2 He maketh me to lye down in green pastures he leadeth me beside the still waters or the waters of comfort This is the table which the Lord prepareth for his people at which he maketh their cup to run over ver 5. How can they then but conclude with David in ver 6. surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the dayes of my life And therefore I will dwell in the House of the Lord for ever I shall have no desire or delight to follow after lying vanities for they are vain He cannot but rejoyce that his lot is fallen in so good a ground that he hath so goodly an heritage for the Lord is the portion of his inheritance therefore doth he conclude with Peter here are the words of Eternal Life and whether shall we go Joh. 6.68 The grace and favor of God through Christ enjoyed by faith is that fountain of living water which is in the bellies of the faithful continually bubling forth unto Eternal life whereby they never thirst again to wit after those loathsome and stoln waters which although they may seem sweet to them that have tasted no better who therefore long after them yet to the faithful that have tasted that the Lord is gracious who have found that the loving kindness of the Lord is better than Corn than Wine and Oyl than any of the pleasures of Sin or promises of the World yea than life it self They cannot forsake those fountains of living water to hunt after broken cisterns which they know will hold no water But saith Mr. G. His Christ differs from the true Christ Oh! Mr. G. take heed what you do Our Christ is no other but the only begotten Son of God The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords The Christ of the Patriarchs of the Prophets of the Apostles of all the Saints of God in all Ages We have no peculiar Christ but him that came into the world to save sinners Take heed of stumbling at that stumbling stone which on whomsoever it falls it grinds them to powder And I beseech every one who hath the least dram of reverence unto the Lord Jesus Câ—rist to consider seriously whether here was any the least occasion given to speak thus reproachfully of the Lords Christ or of imagining any other Christ But the true Christ saith Mr. G. told his Disciples that dreamed of such dainties that they must drink of a bitter cup of Affliction What then Shall Christ therefore not be sweet unto them Doth not he himself say that in him they should have peace though in the world they should have tribulation Is not he an hundred fold recompence unto them even in this life for all their losses Mat. 19.29 whereby the bitter cup of affliction is so sweetned unto the truly faithful that they even rejoyce in tribulation Rom. 5.2 Some of the Disciples indeed dreamed of carnal dainties and a temporal Kingdom to sit upon Thrones And let them be told of such dreams of dainties that look for Quiet and Wealth and freedom from the Cross that hope by the assistance of the Sword of the Magistrate to crush all not only that oppose them but that do so much as dissent from them even in the smallest matter let those if there be any such be told of their carnal dreams As for us we have no such thought of freedom from the Cross so long as Ishmael is alive and abides in the house that is until the Lord of the house shall come who shall utterly cast out the bond-woman and her son who shall gather out of his Kingdom every thing that offendeth And notwithstanding we know that although the Cross be not joyous but grievous to the flesh yet is the spiritual bitterness of it taken away ever since
English-man So in the natural body the suffering of a Toe is by Natural Union the suffering of a Head although no part of the Head be touched So might it be said of the Church of Corinth that She to wit in some of her Members was judged of the Lord for sin that She might not be condemned with the World although neither the whole Church was so iudged in all its particular Members absolutely considered no nor in any one of those who were truely Members by being united to the rest by one spirit And also She that is the Body of the Church of Corinth might be said to be chasten'd of the Lord in the removal of Corrupt Members from her that she might not be condemned with the World although those Corrupt Members in their absolute consideration in themselves were indeed condemned with the World The not observing the difference of Predications in this kind hath occasioned a wonderful Confusion in all points of Divinity whereas the diligent observing of them would very much clear and explicate great difficulties So then both according to the scope of the Text and the Analogy of Faith it may be expounded thus For this cause that is for the Prophanation of the Lords Supper by drunkenness and such like ver 21. many among you are weak and sickly and many sleep that is many of those Offenders of which he spake of before which ye retained among you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for if we did judge so the last Translation but it ought rather to be if we did discern not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if we did discern or sift our selves that is separate the Pretious from the Vile put away from our Communion such Notorious Offenders we that is the Church of Corinth being a Collective Body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should not be judged viz. in such Corrupt Members and in the whole as relating to such Members but being judged 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is being punished in such Members and so in the whole Body as having relation to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we that is the Church of Corinth in our whole Body collectively taked are chastised nurtured or instructed of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the World that we might not be accounted a profane Society such as the World affords and that we might not in process of time become onely a Field consisting onely of Bryars and Thorns by the admittance and continuance of evil doers and the departure of the faithful we become a reprobate Society which shall be condemned with the World From hence without question it cannot be proved that any particular Elect Person â—bsolutely considered suffers in any measure the just desert of his sins which Christ onely hath effectually and perfectly and all-sufficiently undergone Thirdly Mr. G urgeth that Zachary was struck dumb because of his unbelief Luk. 1.20 I Answer that this is within the verge of the Old Testament which ends not till the death of Christ where the New begins Heb. 7. which appears by our Saviours submitting to all the Ordinances thereof even to the day of his death for he ate the Pass-over immediately before And by that Administration Zachary with the rest of the Children of God belonging to that Testament was yet under the School-master and so under the Whip which the Children of ripe Age are freed from Gal. 4.1,2,6,7 chap. 3.25 When the Apostle saith Now in the time of the New Testament ye are all the sons of God Gal. 3.26 He understandeth saith Paraeus on the place such sons of God as are not little ones under the school-masters ferula and the custody of Guardians as the Fathers were but such as are of ripe age made free and capable of their Fathers Inheritance He saith therefore that the condition of the Fathers and ours differs as much as an Heir that is an Infant differs from a Son that is of ripe Age. So Calvin vid. ipsum Mailor Fourthly His last place is that of Peter 1 Pet. 4.17,18 The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God as they are opposed to the wicked and ungodly saith Mr. Geree for it follows and if it begin at us what shall be the end of those that obey not the Gospel of God And if the Righteous are scarcely saved where shall the ungodly and sinner appear I Answer 1. That the House of God although it be by Vocation and Profession a Company of Saints and Godly People yet notwithstanding there may be in it Wheat and Tares good and bad not secret onely but sometimes open Offenders through the fault or connivance of those whom it concerns in reference unto which Offenders the Church may be said to have Judgments come upon it That God may first cleanse his own House by casting out of it that which offendeth and is unclean so that there are some that are onely in some that are in and of the House of God Now Judgment may begin at the House of God and yet as a Judgment it toucheth only the former And whereas it is said the Righteous are scarcely saved it is not because their salvation is in doubt or hazard for this same Apostle saith they are kept by the mighty power of God through faith unto salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 But he speaks in regard of the rending of their Members and the sore trials which in their own persons they should undergo so that they should in outward appearance have thir faith sifted to nothing if it were not that the foundation of the Lord standeth sure 2 Tim. 2.19 That the Lord changeth not and therefore the sons of Jacob the faithful are not consumed Mal. 3.6 2. That which Mr. G. takes for granted that this judgment is for Sin whereof he ought principally to have made proof is so far from being asserted in this Text that the clear contrary is evidently held forth 1. In ver 11. he calls this affliction a fiery tryal to try them a metaphor taken from Gold which is not cast into the fire to be punished but purified Yet this is the darkest expression In the next ver 13. he calls it a partaking of Christs Sufferings and bids them therein rejoyce Surely it were very unseemly and incongruous to see an offender rejoyce in suffering the just desert of his offences I am confident if we should make such an exhortation Mr. G. would say as he doth very falsly and without ground in the end of this Section that we went about to keep people from godly Sorrow In the next words ver 14. he goeth higher calling it Reproach not for Sin but for the name of Christ and saith that therein the Spirit of God and of Glory did rest upon them And in the last place both negatively in ver 15. and affirmatively in ver 16. he calls it suffering not as a murtherer not as a thief not as an evil doer c. but