is a means oDefiazr. For if two contradietories cannot :be true, he that evin- ceth the truth of the one, convinceth the underflanding of the untruth of the other : and he that maketh it appear, that this contradiftory, God would have all tobe lawd, re- deemed andcalled, to repent andbelieve, is true, putteth it out ofall doubt to theunderflanding, that the other contra- didory, Godwill have moil men to be abfalutely and inevi- tablydamned, mull needs be falfe, and fo raifeth up that poore foul which was preffed down with an erroneous conceit and fear that it was true. In this manner did ( ) Junius ( though not in the fame temptation) relieve a woman per- plexed exceedingly with a ftrong periwaliion that the and all her children fhould be damned, becaufe thewas bulled aboue her children at a certain time when file fhould have been at Malle. Junius maketh fhort work with her, telleth her that her imployment about her children was a duty ,plcaf;ng to God, but the Maffe was a mere will-worfhip ; and fo deli- vering her of her errour upon which the temptation was built giveth her prefent cafe and comfort. In like manner tell a manwho feareth himfelf to be an abfolute Reprobare, that there are no fuchabfolute Reprobates, and that his fear is but mere fanfie and hisdoubt adream, convince him once by corìtradi &orygrounds, that there is noman in the world in that Bate in which he thinketh himfelf to be, and you drive out one nail by another, and expell the temptation. Thefe are the fword of Alexander, which will cut afunder this Gordian knot of abfolute Reprobation; and thefe are the trueNepenthes of a fick and fot'rovvfull foul. But now thefe true grounds of hope and comfort no Mi- nifler can make ufe of that holdeth abfolute Reprobation ; nor,ifhedo ufurp them,canhe poflibly maintein them again(} the replyes of the tempted, unleffe he relinquifh his opinion : becaufe (as I have Paid) there is a plain contradi&ion be- tween them, and no man is able to maintein two propofiti- onswhich (peak contrary things, to be both true, any more thenhe can make it good, that the fame thing may have a being and nobeingat the fame time. For example ; A Mini- 'ter cometh tocomfort a man that thinketh himfelf to be an `,. abfolute Reprobate: and how dothhe ferabout it ? He tel- leth him, That Godwould- have all tobefaved, that thrift died for all,&c. But what right bath he to there grounds < f comfort Geeing be holdeth the contrary cctnclufions, That God will have a great many to be damned and to F f hays 451
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