17 / 504
A
Preface
to theReader.
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R
É
ADER
F
thy enquiry
be
o&y
after the fub/lance
of
the
Truth
in
the enfuing
Treatife contended
for
,
I delire thee
not to
flay
at
all upon this
preti-
minary difcourfe,but
to
proceed
thirher,where it
is
exprefly
handled from
the
Scriptures ,
without the intermixture
of
any
humaneTeflimonies
,
or
other
lets necessary
Circumfiances, wherein perhaps many
of
them may
not
be concerned,whofe
interest yet
lies in
the
truth
it felfe,and
it
is
pre..
clous
to their
Soules.
That
which now
I
intend and ayme at,
is
to
give
an
account
to
the
learned
Reader
,
of
Tome
things nearly relating to
the
doRr:ne
,
whose
proteftion
(
in the
ftrength
of
him ,
who
gives
to
his.,
fuitable
helps
for the
works
and
Employments he
calls
them to ) I have undertaken and what
entertainment it
hath
formerly found,and
received in
the Church,and among the
Saints
of
God.
Dr
the
Ac-
complishment
of
this
intendment,
A
breife mention
of
the
Doetrine
it
felfe
will make way.
Whom
in
thiscontroverfy we intend by
the
name
ofSaints ,
andBeleivers
the
Treatife
fol-
lowingwill
abundantly manifeft. The word Perfeverantia
is
ofmoft
knowneufe
in
Eccles
fiaflical
writers
:
Auflin bath
a
book with the infcription
of
it in
its
forehead. The word in
the New Testament fignifying
the
fame
thing
is,mswriì.
Of
them that followed
Paul
it
is Paid
that
he
perfwaded them,
talgillIP
T
y
e
ntT
yes
",
A.
13.43.
That
is:to Per
/
euere. `s
risitoth
is
of
the
fame
import.
'04
izrooyivat
£is
-rae-
`u'sos
ors..:4
.Math.I
0,2
3.
Ile
that
perfevereth
to
the
end;
The
Vulgar
Latin renders
that word
almoftconftantly
by
perfivero.KapTre:ia
is a
word alto
of
the
fame fignification
and which
the
Scripture ufeth
to
express
the
fame
thing
:
xesíT'
is,
fometimes by aMetathefis
expreffed
xapr@;Thence
is
KJrta,vald'e :and
xap,sp:W,fpoken
of
him
who
is
of
a
valiant
refolved
mind.
By
faith
cA'lofes
left
Egypt,
not
fearing
the Wrath ofthe
King,
rir
y5
0I'6e,m,
W
ç
útWr
trtjpr
pnes.He.r
ï.ay.As
eying
the
invifible
he endured(his
tryal
)
with
a con-
flaw
valiant
mind. riessrapnplis
from thence
is
moftfrequently to
perfevere.
A&
E.
14.
and
$,ov J4
4e9o41p7Sp
,7v7e5
Tî,dtJxx
,r:''Azrn5vEmr A
l.2.4a.
They
persevered in
the Doeirine
of
the
Apoftles.
rreoeepaieiiess
once
used
in.the New
Testament,
is
rendred
by
our Tranfiatours
perfe-
verance.
Eph.6.
r8.
In
whatvariety
of
Expreflion the
thing
is
revealed in
the Scripture,
is
in
the Treatifeit
serfs
abundantly declared.
The
Latin word
is
Clafcal,Terfevero,
is
Confianter
funs
feveru:
:
In
that felfe
as Seneca
hies
Res
fevera
eft venom
gaudinm.
It's
extreme
in
ex-
cels
is
,
Pertinacy;
if
there are
not
rather diftinguifbed from theirobje
&s,
then
in
themselves.
Varro
lib
4.de
ling:Lat
:Tells
us
that
Pertinacia
is a continuance
or
going en,
in
that,
wherein
one
ought
not to
continue,or
proceed.
Terfeverantia
is
that,
whereby any
one
continues
in
that
Where-
in
he
ought
fo
to
doe. Hence
is
that
definition
of
it commonly given by
the
School-men
from
Au(lin:
Lib
87.
qu:3 r,who took it
from
Cicero
(one
they little acquainted themfelveswith
-
all)
lib.
z,de Invent:
it
is
fay
they, In
ration
bent
fundatâ,
flabilis
&
perpetua
permanfio.
And
this at present may
pats
for
a
general defcríption
ofit,
that
is
used in an
ethical
;
and
Pvan.
gehcal
fenfe.
Perfeverance
was
accounted
a
commendable
thing among
Philofophers.
rite-
-t rally
Perfeverance
is
that
part
of
Fortitude
whereby the
mind
it
eflabliffled
in
the performance
ofa-
ny good
and
nece
far'
work,
notwithflanding
the
affaults
and
opposition
it
meets
withal
,with
that
tedioufnefs
and
Weerifomners,
which the
protrailion
of
time , in the
pur
/uit
of
any
Jain
atten-
ded
withal.
Ariflotle informes
us
that it
is
excercifed
about things
troublefome
, lib.
7.
Eth:
Nicom : giving
a
difference between
Continence
with it's oppofite
vice
,
andforbearance
,
or
yer
/everance ro
uo
J'
ó
pti
,ei
riAr.Z
isparis,
i
¡s'rywgazñs.
`O
4
,*..;
Tires; uaSauós
,;
dt
xaprsas
ç.
He that abides
in
his
undertaken
work
fo
it
be
good
and
honeft, notwithftanding
that trou-
ble and perplexity he may meet withal
is
xarneasìc.
Hence he tells
us
that xatrepici'ç'r
as
well
as jw,p.vus is
not
pleasant
CO
many,
lib.
ro.cap.9.
And that
becaufe
fo
to
live, implies dif-
ficulty
and opposition. And He
alto,
as
Varro in
the
place above
mentioned, diftinguifhes
it
from
pertinacy;
And
of
men
infefled with
that
deprav'd habit
ofmind,he
fays
there
are
three
forts;léleyea;aeieo,Ju
«
so
and
s'
yevcoi:
all Thefe are
in his
Judgment,l,v,.yeduovss.1Picom.lib.
7.
cap: 9.
Which
perverfe difpofition
offpirit
he
there clearly manifefts to
be fufficiently
diffetenced from
a
fruits
refolved
frame
ofmind,whatever
it
may refemble
ir
in.Now though
B
there