133 / 504
Our
Expofccion
of
thofeplaces, vindicated.
C
A.
pill.
4:
;8.
dall among
Believers
thereon
(as
in fuch cafes
it
will fall
out)
infued;&
with-
77
all
a
Temptation
of
a
not
to
be
defpifed
prevalency
,
and
fad confequence,
(which we formerly
granted
to
attend
fuch
eminent Apoftafie)
feems
to have
laid
hold
on many
weake Saints: they feared,leaft
they alto might be over
-
throwne,
and
after
all
their
labouring,
and
Peering
in
the Work
of
Faith,and
Patience
of
the
Saints, come short
of
the
inarke
of
the high calling
fet
before
them, confidering their own
weakneffe
and
instability,
with
that
powerfull
oppofition,whe,reunto
(in
thole
daies
efpecially)
they
were expofed.Upon
the
contemplation
of
fuch
Apoftafes
or
defections,
they wereopportune
and
ob-
noxious
fufficiently
to
this
Temptation.
Yea
their thoughts
upon
the
Cafe
under
confideration, might lead them
to
feare
a
moregenerall
defeétion
: for
feeing
it
is
thus with
forne, why
may
not
this be
the
Condition of
all
Belie=
vers?
and
fo
the
whole Church may ceafe;and come
to
nothing, notwithftan-
ding all
the
Promifes
of
building
it
on a
Rock,
and
of
the
prefence
of
Chrift
with
it to the
end
of
the World. Nay
may
not
his
whole Kingdome on
earth
on this account
,
poffibly fall
to
utter
ruine
,
and
himfelfe be left
a Head
without
members,
a King
without
Subje
&s
?
This
by
Mr
Goodwin:
own
con
-
feffion,
is
the
Objei on,which
the
Apoftle anfwereth,
and
removes
in,
and
by
the
words
under
Confideration. Cap.
r4.pag.35g.
36o.
Seeing thefe
fall
away,
are not
wee li&ewife
in
danger
of
falling
away,
and fo
of
Tooling
all that
we
have
done
andfujfered in
ourChri
ian
profe on?To
this
ObjetIion
or Scruple,
the A-
poftle Anfwereth
in
the Words
in
hand;
So
he
Thus
farre then are
we
agreed.
About
the
fence
of
the words themfelves, and
their
Accommodation
to
the
removall
of
the
Objeftion, or
Scruple
nientioned,is our
difference.
I
know
Dot
how M.
Goodwin
comes
to
call
it
an
Objetlion
or
Scruple,( which
is
the
ex-
preflion
of
thoughts
or
words,
arifing
againO
that
which is,
in
the
truth
ofit)
Peeing
it
is
their very
State and Condition indeed, and
that,which
they feare,
is
that
which they are really expofed
unto, and
which
they ought
to
believe
that
they
are
expofed
to. In
his
Apprehenfion,
they who
make
the
Objeëlion,
or
whole
scruple
it was, were
as
liable
unto
in
his
judgement,
and
in
the
fame
danger offalling
away,
or greater, (their Temptations
being
increafed, and
heightned by the
Apoftafie
of
others) then them
that
fell
the
day and
hour
before,
neither could
that
falling away
of
any
be
Paid
to
raife
a
Scruple in
them
that
they might do
fo
to,
if
this were one
part
of
their Creed,
that
all
and
every
man
in
the
world might
fo
doe.
The
Anfwer given
by
the
Apoftle,
is
no
doubt
fuited
to
the
Objetlion
and
st.
38é
fitted
to the
removeall
of
the
Scruple
mentioned,
which
was
alone
to
be
accomplished by an effe&uall
removing
away
the
felicitous fears
and
cares
about the
prefervation
of
them,
in
whofe behalfe this
is
produced. This
therefore the
Apoftle
doth by
an exception
to the
inference,
which they,
made, or
through temptation
might make upon
the former
confederations.
(AP
701
are exceptive particles, and
an
Indutlion
into the
exemption
of
Tome
from
the condition
of
being
in
danger
of
falling, wherein they were
conclu-
ded in the
Objellion
propofed.
The
intendment
I
fay
of
the
Apoftle
in
that
exceptive plea he
puts
in
,
nevertheleffe
is
evidently
to
exempt force from
the ftate
of
falling away, whichmight be argued againft
them
from
the de-
feftion
of
others.
Neither doth
he fpeake
to
the thing
in
hand, nor are the
particulars mentioned
exceptive
to
the former Intimation,
if
his
fpeech
looke
any
other
way.
'Moreover he
gives
yet further the account
of
thisException
he
makes,
including
a
radicali discrimination
of
profeffours,
or
men
elleesned
to
belielievers, exprefíing alfo
the
Principle and ground
of
that
difference.
The
differing
Principle
he
mentioneth
is,the
Foundation
of
God
that
Rands
fare,
or the
firma Foundation
of
God,
that
is
eftablifhcd,
or
ftands firme: This
is
not
L
3
worth