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Show 2. To quicken you all to labottr for tbiJ <'Jpatity, That you may be. able to fay, my ~rluvt<l ;, mine and I ~m his, I fhall begin wtth the lirlr, whtch I fhall enlarge t>pon in fome particu• Jar~. I'irfi, This may let you. fee the fa/jhood'of the Dotlrine of the Church of Rome, who deny that any fuch thing may be 4ttained rvitboztt a [pecial Revelatio" ; and the Armini~ns do very much Edipfe the comfort of Chrifiians in it, by their Dochine of the poffibility of the s~ints faUing bothtotaUy ~nd finaUy; if that be polfi? Ie, t~e certa_hty .of Chriflians,can be very little,and mufi bevery rncertam : But wuh the latter I fhall have a fairer opportunity to difcourfe under the following Propofitions, Jet me at prefenc onIr deal wit? the other Adverfaries of this great Truth. OrdinaJJly TruthJs rndangered by two extremes ; and fo it fareth with that portion ofit under our prefent debate. Antinomia11s and fame An•bapti~J, on. the one hand, de !troy the comfotrs of thottjimds of s.,IJ,by a1ferung foufe the priviledg of every jullilied Soul and allowing no Fai.!h, but that of evidence, which is afuUper{d,afion of the love of God to our s,uls. This defiroys the peace of all thofe poor Souls, who live by Faith, and not by fight who fear the .bord and obey ~be voice of hitS ervant,yet wal~ in tb~ d~rk.. and fee no light, trrl}rzng 111 t~e .namt oft be Lotd, and /laying themfolvu upon thtrr God; and thts ~s doubtlefs. the greatell number of Chriflianr, even fuch as are Chrijlzans, not tn name, not in "'ordand in tongue cnry, but in dud and int~ztth, Befides that, I fear is a temptation,to many to boaft h•yo11d thezr lme,and flatter themfelves with unwar~ antahle prefumptions; inllead of this weU-grou11ded certainlj-.This Js too much evidencea, by the lives of thofe which bear no proportion fo much as to ag .. d hope, (for he that hath ftich an hope purifittbhimfolfasthe Lord i1pure, 1 Joh·3·3·) much lefs to~ fuU perfwa{im, which always obligeth a Soul to higher and flronger J>roportionJ of love, they continually being at lofs, what to render,. the Lord for fo great manifefiations of himfelf unto their Souls. And as on this fide, thefe perfons dellroy the comfort of all Souls living meerly upon faith of Rdherence: So the Papif/s would dellroy all the comfort and peace of thofe Souls that pretend to any faith of evidence. So that betwixt them both the comforts of all Chrifiians are defeated. But how falfe this Doctrine of the P~pijlt is as..V..cll as pernicious to the confolation of Chrillians, I fhewed you in opening the Dothlne:in vain do they urge,E••·9· ~I; where where the wife man doth not deny, that the love and favour of God may be known; but only that it can be known by whaf hap-peneth to us in this life. They urge that, Prov. 2 o. 9· who c~n fay I bavt made my heart clea11, I ~m cle~nfrom fin? Davitl ( you know) faith, Ihavecltan(edmy hrart, Pfal.73· I3· neither is it nece1fary in order to our eertainty in this point, that we lbould be able to fee our heart ltgaUy clean, much lefs that our felves have made it fuch; and though Saint Paul, I Cor, 4· 4· faith, that he knew 11otbi•gby himfelf, yet he was not thereby ju{tified; yet he doth not fay that bt ftne,., not that he ,.,as juftijied, but that tbmby he "'as not ;u!fifi-ed; nor could he know that, for he hath abundantly te!lilied that ju!fification i1 not by the work..s of the /~,.,. It is true we arc com- . manded to work.. out our Salvation, withftar ~nd trembling, but Phd. •· t2: furely that precept only excludeth vain prefumption, and finful fe-curity, not hory b.ld,.efi. But Secondly, What you have h~ard may fhew you the unwarrantablenefs of 2 , Branch; thofe poor Souls dejd]ions, who for wam of this certainty wiU blot· ••ttheiro,.,ll >umu outoftbe book., of lifo, and conclude themfelves to have no relation unto God ; what you have heard of the pof]i-· ltilzty of l',racious So,ls, not being able to fay this ; yea and of one and the fame Soul not being able to fay fo at all tim!S,may be fuffi-cient to fatisfy you in this point; but why 0 Chritlian! fhouldft thou be thus call down? why lbould thy Soul be thus difquieted within thee? 1. Confider tternJllife, a! in it felf, the gift of God 1 may I not have a true right unto a thing which is anothers gift, unlds 1- . know it, indeed my not knowing it fpoils my joy, and the complacency of my Soul in it, bur certainly it doth not fpoil my right to it: m1ny aman hath an efiate given unto him, and !ball certain· ly po1fe{s it, who yet at prefent knows nothing ofit. :z. But Secondly, Confider it as a gift to be attained by.[ome a{] of ours as a means .( fuch indeed it is.) A man hath no all,al tight , until be btlieveth ; b~t m1y not a m1n be fometimes, unable to difcern the aa ofhit own miJJdJ? Love is as difcernible an aff'raion and ad: of our mind as any other; but luve you never feen any denyiog that they love their relations, or the S1ints and Minifiers ofChrifi, when yet every one that knows them fees rhe contrary by the effects of it? Every one knows, that a natural difeafe affecting the head will fo cloud the mind that it fhall not difcern the truth of its own acts" Our lnterell in God dependeth upon rege-neration , |