Of EleClion. ~ Rev.J. 2, Jh,Jve 1101 formd( fays Chri11 )thy works PafeClaforeGod: This BooK IV. alfo is fpoken unto them that were true Believers, t hat had fame Spiri– v-v""oo.o tual Life remaining in them: Vtrj: 2, Bt watchf"J, ,1rengtht1J the thmgs · that r<mazn, th"t are rtady to d;-e: And they were not thole Principles you are wont to call, the rtmamders of pure nat,.re i11 Adam, "s natural confci– ence, C!lc. But of that Life they had received by Regeneration from Chrill:. For we may not think that all confcience was a dying in thefe Profrffors; for Chrifl writes to them as a Church that had many good works, which they !\ill exercifed , though cemparatively dead to what they had been. But their con– dition was fain to this, .that their Spirit~:~al Life was ready to dye: And like a Snuffor Week, funk Into the Socket; (which Chri!l's Comp>rifdn reaches) was ready utterly to go out, and exptre tts Iaft wrth the next attempt, which it made to !hme. And thrs befell them, through a drowflnefs which their Wills had entertained, by degrees corn~ on the":~: So as they were greatly declined through that neghgence, whtch a wtlhng, and mdulged fleepinefs brought upon them: Although the fecond Ver(r, Be watchjuJ, andj/re11gth– '" thr thmgs which remai11, that are ready to d.J·e: For I have 11ot found tf?yworks perfr&t 6eforr God: This infinuates that they had Life , but were next degree to death : In adead-he:lrted frame as to Spiritual AClings; efpe– cially Inward; fo the words Be watchfuJ, mtdJlrengthm, do import. Now when 'tis faid of them, That their works were ttot found perfr&t afore God, or not full; it notes that they omitted fame Duties which they had afore pra– Cl:ifed ; or were declined fo far, as not to perform them: Or if they did 'twas formally; cuftomarily, deadly; without much agitation of fpiritual Life in the exereife of Them: Not fron:J out ofrenewed, inward Principles f\irrod up, and exerted, and put forth in them, (though· habitually they remained in them) of Love to God, zeal for God, faith un feigned; continually exercifing it felf upon Chrift afreih every day, both for Juilification, and lor deriving new f\rength for the AClingof the111, ( witbottl whom w e ca11 do twthit;g) aC~:ompanied with holy aims at the Glory of God, and that proceeding out of a pure Confcience, without the predominancy of By-ends, prevailingly in– fluencing the good works they did, and carrying them on to thole Duties more than the Energy and provocation of Gods Glory in their Hearts thereto. And this Livelefs dead frame of heart,had not been for a fpirt or a fhort parox}fm, or fit, but by the reproof Chrift gives, it appears it had been for fome long fpace, and continuance of time. Yea, 3· We further find, that not only fuch aprivative Celfation, and de– praved Omiilion, and ObftruClivenefs in the motion, and circulation of Good Works, but Convulfion fits of falling inro the Cammillion of grafTer ads of Sinning, do fame times befall true Believers, that havo been caflcd, where– of there are many lnflances in Scripture; But we need no further than the cafe of our Apollle Peter, and which was the occafion of C hri!i's Command to him; in Obedience whereunto he wrote this confortatory or confolatory of our Text. You know, how he did with Oaths, and Curfes, thrice deny our Lord, after he had true Faith; and yet that principle of Faith was not utterly extinct by his fo grievous a tranfgreilion. HisHeart poor Man throb'd within him; and beat fome inward, though faint refilla11ces to the contrary; even when his Will gave confent to perpetrate that high wickednefs. And both thefe things ofhim our Saviours words inflnuate,Luke 22.32. Bttf I havr pray– ed tbat thy Faith faiJ tJot : therefore he hod Faith afore, and that Faith nm extinct, but [mothered as in a fmol<e; which a Look of Chri!i's blew up into a flame of the deepefl, ~nd moll vehementRfpmtrwce; And Cllrift fully re– covered , and refiored him again, ond made him perfect, and firengthned him more than ever; and i,t was a new con verfion to him, as Chrifl there terms it. But my bufinefs is to enquire for the fupport and comfort of fuch Chri!li,ns; whither none of thefe fcur words in the Text, be not in their fignification ap· plicable to thefe cafes, and fa the Promifes thereof to reach them : And al– though many other promi!ing Scriptures, may be intend~d to ~hat purpofe, yet my defign is, and undertaking bath been all along my handl!llg thts Text, · ro
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