748 / 772
Apoc
2.4.
What
the Lord
vader(landeth
by lo
fing
their
fig
ft
foie.
klpoe.3.
S.
7220bie6tionstaken
from tefziimoniesofScripture
,4nfivered.
courfes, like the
dog to
his
vomit,or the
fow
to the mire.
The
twentieth
place
obieeled
is
Apoc.2.4.
Neuerthelef,
I
havefomewhat
againg. thee, becaufe
thou haft left
thy
firli
lorie.
From which
place
they thus reafon They who
lofe
their
charitie may
lofe
their faith alto, and
finally fall from
grace;
but
the Angell
of
the
Church
of
Ephefus loft
his
charitie:
Erz
o.
I anfwere,
the
affumptiori
is
manifeftly
falfe, and
quite
contrarie to
the
teftimonie aileaged
:
for in
the
former
part
of
the
Epiftle,as the Lord had highly commended the
angeli
of
this
Church,for many
fingular
graces, approoued
by
di-
uers
excellent fruits
oftheirfaith,
fo
efpecially hee praifeth
their
conilancie and
perfeuerance in thefe
godly
and
religi-
ous
courfes,
in
the next
verfe
going
before. Whereas there-
fore
he
admonifheth
them
that they
had left
their
firi
loue,
and willeth them to remember from
whence
they
were fal-
len,his
meaning
is
not that they
had
vtterly
Ioft
their chari-
tie,
and
were fallen
from faith and grace,
of
which there
JIM
remained
fo
excellent fruits and infallible
figtes
;
but that
they
had left
that high
degree.
oflouc,
and
that
ardentaffe-
¿tlion,which they had formerly
fhewed towards
God
and
his Saints.
Neither
doth
he abfolutely
fay
that they had
loft their charitie
altogether,
but
their
Ertl
charitie.
That
is,
their
zealous
heate
of
loue,.
which
.they
had (hewed
.
foone
after their
firft
conuerfion,
which
was very extra
-
ordinarie
and
fingular,
as
appeareth
in
the
florie
of
the
A6is
of
the Apoftles. And this
nothing
impugneth
that
truth
which
wee
maintaine,
for wee
hold that Gods
fan
-
tlifying
graces
cannotbee
utterly loft, and quite
extingui-
fhed,yet
they may decay,be weakned
and
diminii}cd
in
their
rneafure and.
degree.
The
2
z
.
place
obieeled
is
Apoc.3.5.
He
that
ouercommeth
(hall
be
clothed in white
aray, and
.1
will
not
put
out
his
name
out
of
the
booke
oflife,
but
.1
willconfeffe
bicname
before
my
father,
and
hefore his QA
nvis.
From which
place
they
thus reafon
:
If
they who ouercome
(hall
not
be
blotted
out
of
the booke
of
line
;
then contrariwife
it
follov'eth
by
like
reafon,that thole
who
doe
not
ouercome
fhall
be
blotted
out;
but
the
lira
is
true, therefore
the fecond likewife. This
argument
I haue
alreadie